> Phoenix
>  by KaBar42
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Saving Reality
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 1

"Overlord, this is Poet 1-5. I have reached the bridge and am going to start the emergency dump procedure. How copy." 

The man leaned his rifle against the table as he activated the touch controls on the bridge of the ship, the Celeste. A capitol ship which had been lost in the NPR uprising. 

"Good copy, Poet. Overlord has detected a massive spike in the bowels of the ship. Overlord believes it to be a weapon. Overlord advises you to light a fire under your feet on that emergency dump procedure. How copy?"

"Copy, standby." 

"Venus!" The man called to his AI companion. 

"I have analyzed the energy spike Overlord detected and I must agree with him. However, while I am not trying to make the situation even more urgent, my scans indicate it has enough power capability to destroy the Milky Way and the Andromeda. I second Overlord's position to light a fire and hurry up." 

The marine paused, the red klaxons blaring on the bridge, perhaps he had misheard.

"Venus, did you just say the Milky Way and Andromeda?" 

"Yes, I did."

The confirmation was enough to light a fire under his feet as he began to swipe through commands.

"Venus get into the system and begin dumping any cargo on the ship. Dump anything that you can that isn't necessary to the ships movement. How are the lifesigns on the ship?" 

There was a pause as Venus scanned the ship.

"I have no IFF signatures on the ship, all Imperial troops have evacuated. I am picking up 347 life signs in 417 living quarters."

"Okay, with the exception of the bridge layer, reroute all power to the engines, give me everything she's got, including life support. How much time is left on the BL's charge."

"The bridge layer has a minute and thirty seconds until it has enough power to fire."

"And the weapon?" 

"As it is a one-off design, I can not tell you exactly, however calculations put it at approximately one minute fifty seconds."

"Oh... fuck, that's cutting it way close. Overlord! This is Poet 1-5. Venus has indicated that it is indeed a weapon that has the power output to destroy the Milky Way and the Andromeda. I am going to open a bridge and dump the ship into that and immediately close the bridge. With any luck, that will dampen the detonation to survivable levels."

"Copy, Poet. What's time? Over."

"Overlord, the BL has a minute ten. Over." 

"And the weapon? Over."

"Overlord, Venus puts it at approximately a minute thirty. Over."

There was a pause in communications. A deep breath came over the marine's comms.

"Copy that Poet. With any luck, we'll see you on the flip-side. God speed. Out." 

Twenty seconds might seem like quite a while, but the Celeste was not a small ship. It was several miles long. If he was going to get it into the bridge, he'd have to get it moving now. 

"Venus activate thrusters, bring them to full power, I want us moving yesterday. As soon as that BL is charged, open a bridge and put us in there. Venus..."

The man looked down at his gloved hand, squeezing it closed to make a fist and opening it. 

"We're not coming back from this one." 

"I must agree, however, you didn't earn your name for nothing."

The marine leaned on the table, until an alarm in his helmet brought his focus back. He quickly noted the countdown timer, forty-five seconds until the bridge layer was charged. 

"You are receiving a call from Lakia. Would you like to a-"

"Answer." The call was quickly patched through his helmet, as a woman's voice, identified as Lakia, filtered in through the built-in communications set. 

"Hey, can you hear me?"

"Yeah."

"What's happening?"

Thirty-five seconds.

"Nothing much." 

"After the... first attack, I was brought to a bunker by legionnaires. They wouldn't give me any information more then I just needed to follow them. " 

"Yeah, I know... I sent them after you. Is everyone else okay? Your mom, dad, brother?" 

"Yeah, everyone got here safe. Inaya is shaken, but physically fine."

Twenty seconds.

Silence.

"Listen, I have something I need to tell you something. I just found this out..."

Fifteen seconds. He had to do it now.

"Lak... why don't you tell me this when I get back? "

Sounding disheartened, Lakia responded. 

"Y-yeah... just,"

Ten seconds.

"Lakia, I love you. And I promise you I'll be back. And I never break promises. From day one, I've never broken one I made to you.

Five seconds. 

"Just... just make sure you get back. Okay?"

"The bridge layer is being activated right, prepare for massive gravitational flux." Venus informed him. 

"I promise, Lakia." 

With those last words, the call ended and the marine got back to the work in front of him. 

"Activating gravitational compensators, Venus, give me current speed, begin terminal countdown."

".1% of speed of light. Terminal countdown begun, nineteen seconds to fire."

"Distance to bridge?"

"Fourth of an AU. Approximate time to crossing: twelve seconds. Terminal countdown at seventeen seconds."

"Give me more power to the boosters!" 

"Terminal countdown: ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five. Contact. Four, three, ship is covered. Closing bridge. Standby. Bridge closed successfully" 

The marine let go of a breath he didn't realize he had been holding. From the bridge's viewing screen, he could see the blackness and nothingness of the closed bridge. 

"Massive power spike detected in cargo bay. Weapon beginning detonation. Twenty seconds to detonation based of building energy readings. Scans of databanks indicate the Celeste was designed with an emergency teleport function that would separate the front of the ship from the rest to prevent capture of VIPs. Activating emergency teleport. Navigation systems destroyed, inputting random."

"Venus..." The marine mumbled.

"Twelve seconds to detonation, eleven seconds to teleportation." 

"Ah... fuck..." 

"Teleportation: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five,"

An explosion rocked the ship, as the front of the ship was forcefully removed from the rest of the ship.

"Ah! Fuck!" He shouted, as he was knocked down by the explosion.

"Four, three, two, one. Teleport initiated."

The front of the ship shimmered, and then disappeared, as the unknown weapon had finally built up enough power to trigger its final detonation. 

The explosion occurred faster then the speed of light. And in normal space, it would have utterly destroyed anything nearby. 

But in the nothingness of the void, with no way to escape, there was a question to whether or not it had even occurred.  

(-)

Clover looked behind her, as the ponies run to escape the encroaching wendigoes.

“There! The cave!” She yells. The ponies begin dashing for the cave.

They make it to the cave, and Clover takes one last look to the sky, as a massive visible shockwave flows through it. It hits the ground and everything shakes. It’s so strong even the wendigoes stop.

Clover quickly retreats into the cave.

(-)

High above the planet, a ship materializes, the front of the Celeste. An explosion in the auxiliary engines rock the ship. The explosion will reach the planet a full three hours before the ship will.

The marine struggles to his feet. 

"Well, I'll be..." 

The marine paused as stared at the icy white planet. 

He raised his hands, and shouted. 

"Ha! Fuck you, Death! I fuckin' won again! You! Can't! Kill! Me! I made a fuckin' promise and I fully fuckin' intend to keep that fuckin' promise, you fuckin' worthless, overrated hack! Venus! What's our location?" 

"Standby, scanning... no nearby quasars located. No Imperial signals located. No signals indicative of an advanced civilization located." 

"Fuck!" 

"Scans of the nearby planet, hereto designated UX3234, reveals an average surface temperature of  -68 Fahrenheit. Violent winds and constant snow. Scans indicate the presences of very large biological beings, consistent with the size and shape of previously recorded Wendigo incursions." 

"What's the time 'til planet fall?" 

"Time until planet fall is approximately six hours, forty minutes."

"Well... we have a little while. Before we make planet fall, begin sending out distress signals. We might be here for a while."

"I would very much love to if I could, however, D-"

The marine cut the embedded AI off. 

"Let me guess, some retarded military engineer decided to build the bridges with no redundant long range communication systems and the only ones we had were just blown up by a super powerful bomb, is that what you were going to say?" 

There was a pause, before the AI spoke once more. 

"... More or less, yes." 

The marine calmly took his helmet off, revealing a tanned face,complimented by closely cut brown hair, as he brought his gloved hand up to the bridge of his nose and pinching it, closing his eyes. 

"Absolutely. Fucking. Amazing." 

The marine let go of his nose, snapping his eyes open, revealing a left blue eye and a right green eye. 

"Venus, how do the auxiliary engines look." 

"Standby, running diagnostics... Diagnostics complete. Two out of six are functional. Two of the four non-functional engines are repairable. One has blown up and the other is completely dead, it is returning no signal. We have enough to safely make planet fall. But we are not going anywhere besides that planet, we do not have enough power to escape its gravity."

"Right, I'll head down to the bay and see what I can do for those other engines. Venus, you keep an eye on the ship and give her power where she's needed." 

With that, the marine left the bridge. Itself no longer occupied with any living souls. 

The ship drifted slowly in vastness of space, towards the tumultuous planet. There would be a fight waiting for him down there. The marine knew this. But whatever it was, it wouldn't stand against him. At least not successfully.
> Saving a World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 2


Clover was huddled in with at least one hundred other ponies, all a mix of Earth, Pegasus, and Unicorn. These were the survivors. For some odd reason, the wendigoes had stopped their chase. It had been about four and half hours since that shock wave had hit, powerful enough to go into the cave, and the ponies inside had felt it as well.

Another shockwave suddenly hit, sending every pony in the cave room, which had more than enough room to hold one hundred ponies, tumbling. A few of the younger ponies began crying.

“Clover, go check that out.” Platinum barked. Clover was having absolutely none of it.

“No! Why not you? Why me?”

Private Pansy walked over to Clover, resting a hoof on her wither.

“Please, Miss Clover, if not for Platinum but for the rest of us?” Pansy asked, Clover mulled over it, and decided that if they’re going to die anyway, she would at least die being some sort of help.

So she walked down the cave tunnel back to the entrance

Clover tentatively approached the cave entrance, fearing both the wendigos and whatever had caused that shockwave.

Stepping out of the warm cave, and into the blistering wind of the wendigos... or rather, the lack of blistering wind, she spotted something in the blinding white out, an object that cut through the snow and left an impression on her tiny mind. The most terrifying aspect of this object was that the wendigos, beings who brought nothing but death and despair, were clearing out. Giving the falling object a wide berth. They were scared of it.

A massive construct, falling down to earth. A wall of fire in front of it, but otherwise, it was unscathed. No, it wasn't. Clover could spot jagged edges, as though it had been torn from something bigger. This made her afraid, as this thing was massive already. The size of a mountain.

And it was headed straight towards her.

Instead of locking up in fear, Clover did the most rational thing. She screamed like a little filly and ran back into the cave.

She never stopped running until she reached the cave room that held the pony pile and continued screaming.

"BIGTHINGFALLINGFROMTHESKYWENDIGOESAREAFRAIDOFITITSMASSIVEITSHEADEDSTRAIGHTTOWARDSUSWEAREALLGOINGTODIEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Clover's outburst shocked and, quite frankly, scared everypony. She was well known as one of the more level headed ponies. The fact that she was acting like this was… disturbing.Pansy stepped up to the plate.

"Clover, could you please calm down and explain slowly what happened?" Pansy asked.

Clover took a deep breath, and slowed down.

"There was a massive object that was falling from the sky and the wind-" Clover  was interrupted by a massive tremor and shockwave, causing a few stalactites that had been on the roof of the cave to fall. Nopony was hurt, thankfully.

A white earth pony with a pink mane clung tight to her mother, as the mother gripped tighter to the dark blue pony foal in her clutch. Certain they were all going to die, they cowered and waited for the end.

Pansy was, amazingly enough, the first to recover. With Clover following her shortly.

"We need to go see what it was." Pansy stated. To which both Clover and Platinum protested.

Pansy, however, was having none of it. "Clover, you said yourself the wendigos appear to be afraid of this object, maybe it has something that will help us. Everypony, if you want to live, our best bet is in that object."

"But that tremor it caused!" Platinum began. "What if it's evil?"

"Could it be any worse than the wendigos." Pansy deadpanned, everypony realizing that it was not a question.

Pansy began walking, never looking back.

"What are you doing?" Clover asked. Pansy responded in truth.

"I'm going to try and find something to stop the wendigos. You're welcome to come with me, or die in this cave knowing that you never even tried to stop them!"

The first one to respond to this shocking line was the mother with two children. She began walking behind Pansy, soon, all the other ponies followed, not wanting to be left behind.





They are here

To think we had come to this planet to escape them, kin

We must hurry

Finish it

Stake out claim on this planet

Then we can deal with them





The ponies soon reached the cave entrance, and were shocked to find that they could see the sun. In fact, the object was only a few hundred meters from them. The wendigos giving it a wide berth.

"The sun!" The mare with the two children cried. It had been years since she had seen the sun, and the white filly looked in shock at the sun, having never seen it before.

"Mummy, what is it?" The white filly asked.

"That's the sun, Solaira. That's what you're named after. It's beautiful, just like you." The mare answered her child, nuzzling her. The little filly named Solaira giggled at her mother's action. Clover interrupted.

"I apologize for ruining such an endearing moment, but the wendigos are getting braver!"

Seeing this, all the ponies froze, the wendigos were indeed beginning to close in on the area. Blotting out the sun once more.

Pansy said the smartest thing that had been said in quite a while.

"Run!" This devolved into a charge for the safety of the object. The mare with the two children falling behind because of Solaira.

As they got closer to the object, which seemed to be made of metal paneling, a section opened up. None of the ponies questioned this convenience, as they all rushed in to the safety of the object.

The ponies looked around in the seemingly wrecked room. The room was massive, Platinum was fairly certain several of her castles could have fit into this room.

In all of the confusion, they had forgotten the mare with two children as she was rushing to catching up. They noticed her, but all did not wish to leave the object and it's safety. She almost reached the object feet from the door. Safety was right there.

But alas, Murphy bullies even cute little ponies. For as she was about to make it past the door, a cloud reached, and grasped Solaira. Yanking her from her mother's grasp, the little filly cried in fear, crying for her mother.

The mother could not stop in time, her momentum carrying her through the door. The door slamming shut before wendigos could invade.

The mother tried to slam herself against the door, before two stallions restrained her.

In all of the confusion no one noticed the giant armored biped struggling to its feet.





The marine pulled the last bit of wiring from the engine, as he smiled at the sound of the engine humming back to life.

"Ha! Sum'bitch! I got you! Fuck you! Fuckin' cunt." The marine shouted at the errant wiring that had been giving him so much trouble for the past two hours.

"Engines are up to 45% power. Time to planet fall has now jumped down two hours." The marine's AI companion informed him.

The marine took a seat where he had previously been standing, leaning his back against the humming engine.

"So... I got those stupid fuckin' engines fixed, but we got bigger fuckin' problems now." Dante stated.

"Yes." His companion confirmed.

"I would say the biggest problem is the fact that we're fuckin' stranded 'cause we ain't got any fuckin' power in this ship. But the more pressin' matter is the fact that we're 'bout to crash onto a fuckin' planet filled with Wendigos. Man... life just fuckin' hates me, don't it?"

"I'm afraid I can not say just what Life's opinion on you is."

The marine gave a hearty chuckle.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It'd be too easy if we could speak whatever fuckin' language Life spoke."

The marine let his head relax onto the engine.

"Venus, I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get there."

"Aye."

The marine closed his eyes. A nap would be good for him, he decided.





The marine jolted awake.

He scanned his surroundings for threats, as he had done so many times.

"One minute to planet fall." Venus stated.

The marine got up, and began walking to the nearby lift that had brought him down here.

He entered the open lift and hit the command for the bridge.

"Venus, how well is the ship prepared for planet fall?"

"As well as the severed front end of a ship with a blown out engine and running on auxiliary boosters and energy can be. That is, not much, but it should be adequate to land safely on the planet."

The lift finished the trip up to the bridge, the marine stepped off it and onto the bridge. Approaching the captain's console, he began preparing what he could from there.

"Twenty seconds to planet fall."

"Venus, get ready to slow our descent, as soon as we hit atmosphere."

The marine looked up at the monitors.

This was not going to be easy.

“Entering thermosphere. Beginning boost. Time to exit: fifteen seconds.”

This was not going to be gentle at all.

“Nearing mesosphere.”

What was left of the ship began shaking as it began hitting solid air.

“Entering mesosphere. Heat reaching critical levels. Initiating cool down procedures. Time to exit: ten seconds.”

The Marine lost his grip and fell, but quickly gripped onto the bolted down leg of the table.

“Entering stratosphere. Heat increasing beyond safe levels, cool down procedures unable to keep up. Time to exit: seven seconds.”

At this point, anything that was not bolted down was flying around the room. Tablets, firearms, corpses, abandoned helmets. As the Marine kept catching debris, his armor prevented him from being seriously injured.

“Entering troposphere. Time to impact: Twenty seconds. Brace.”

The marine decided to follow his companion’s advice, as he gripped onto the table leg. Quietly thanking the engineers who had the common sense to bolt the table down.

“Heat reaching critical levels, all cooling measures have failed. Multiple breaches in the hull identified. Impact imminent. Time to impact: Ten seconds. Eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two o-”

The marine didn’t hear the last second as a great force was impacted upon his body, ripping his grip from the table leg and allowing him to defy gravity, at least temporarily. As his body was flung up, it slammed against a wall. Gravity caught back up to him, as his body then fell back down, impacting the corner of table and crumpling, even in his armor.

He finally came to a rest at the bottom of the bridge. Unmoving.





None of the ponies realized that there was a giant biped getting up to his feet.

One of the things about having been in combat for so long is that eventually your mind subconsciously scans your surroundings for changes.  Combat vets often report being aware of their surroundings far more than they ever had been before going into combat. Air Force pilots also report noticing things such as a slight light shift on a bush, and knowing that there’s an incoming car that they otherwise can’t see.

And as it turns out, being alive for a quite a few millennia and fighting for the good majority of those millenia makes you hyper aware.

The marine was aware of the presence of the ponies before the first one had even crossed the threshold of the entrance.

“Scans show these creatures share similar internal structures to that of the terran equine species. Proportions are off and will most likely result in an uncanny valley event. Based off their actions, they are very much likely sapient. Some also show traits that would classify them as pegasi and unicorn back on Earth. In precedence with previous Imperial actions, I took the Humanitarian route and granted them refuge in the ship. The hull breaches were only exterior and failed to breach the interior compartments. The bridge is still secure. Scans are showing that there’s one-hundred-fifty-seven equinoids currently present. There was one-hundred-fifty-eight, however a presumed juvenile was pulled back into the mass of wendigos.

The marine silently cursed to himself.

“Venus, prepare the airlock, I’m going out there for the kid.” The marine ordered his AI companion.

“I would remind you that SOP states that we wait for reinforcements when faced with a planet wide infestation, however, I know you’re not one for SOP and so you’re going to go out there regardless.”

The marine clicked his tongue. This act unintentionally got the attention of the ponies who had been sharing the room with him and apparently had horrible situational awareness.

“Bingo. Can you track the kid through storm?” The marine asked.

“I am able to track her body heat, but it won’t be there for very long. It’s dropping rapidly and she will be suffering from severe hypothermia in less then five minutes, if not already dead.”

Without another word, the marine pushed open the interior air lock.
“Venus, put her on screen. I need to be able to know where she is.”

The world changed in the marine’s eyes, a result of cybernetic augmentations that allowed him to have a HUD without having a helmet on.

He closed the airlock hatch behind and then opened the exterior hatch.

The first thing he noticed was the howling, roaring, biting wind. It felt like a thousand knives stabbing him in the face and was deafening. The second thing he noticed was how dark everything was. The cybernetic augments in his eyes compensated for the lack of light.

“Wendigos!” The marine shouted, raising his arms high.

Almost as though magic had occured, the howling wind died down to a whisper.

Voices sounded, multiple ones mixing with each other but all of them saying the same thing.

You dare encroach on our land, Imperial.
Kill him, now, before he can do anything.
Silence! Speak your piece, Imperial, we grant you this honor. Take advantage of it, we do not give this honor often.

The marine smirked.

“Wendigos. I am Legionnaire Poet.”

A massive horse form manifested, rearing back, neighing.

Lies!
You are not Poet!
The Harbinger of Death, the Herald of Silence, the Unkillable. He whose name alone makes the gods tremble in fear.
And you wish for us to believe you are him!
You dare to mock us!

The marine smirked once more.

“If I am indeed not Poet, then tell me, my wendigo… friends. What Imperial would have the audacity to take my name for themselves? You know the history behind me. And I have to admit, you have wonderful poker faces, that manifestation freakout withstanding. But I don’t even need to see you to know you’re blanching at the realization of who I am.”

The collection of voices were silent.

“The juvenile is becoming dangerously cold. If you are going to do anything, do it now!” Venus urged.

“You know who I am, so here’s my piece. By the authority granted to me by the Universalis Senatorium and by the Constitution of the Imperium of Phoenix, I, Poet, order you to return the kid to me and immediately leave this planet!”

A sea of ethereal horses formed in the storm, all of them rearing in anger and neighing.

You are not Poet!
For daring to mock us, we will not make your death painless, Imperial!

The sea of ethereal horses washed over the marine who had identified himself as Poet. However, a sudden light burned through the sea, parting a path.

“You dare oppose me!” Poet yelled, his right hand outstretched, a massive flame emanating from it.

“I am Poet, all who stand against me die! My will becomes reality. You think you can kill me? Not even God could do so and you think a mere parasite like you can kill me?”

Poet continued to move, cutting a path through the charging sea of wendigos. He could see the location of the lost child. He could only hope that it was still alive.

You are not Poet!

The collection of voices shouted once more as he reached the lost child.

“Your sea of stupid fucking horses can’t even touch me and you still believe yourself superior to me? I gave you a chance to live and you refused it. I offered you mercy and you spat in my face. Now? Now I will kill you. I will free this planet from your oppression!”

Poet scooped the freezing foal into his left arm, tucking it in between his inner, upper arm and his torso. The foal itself was shivering, in a last desperate attempt to stay warm.

With renewed strength, out of anger, the wendigos formed a wave of ethereal horses. All of them rearing up on their hooves and charging forward to Poet. Without a word, the flame from his right hand disappeared, instead replace by an unnaturally black staff.

Poet brandished it towards the wendigos, lengthwise pointing out.

He flipped it in his hand, so it was now pointing towards the ground. The staff was suspended a foot above the ground. In silence, the Poet slammed the staff into the ground.

Almost as though they had crashed into a wall, the wave of wendigos suddenly stopped. As light emanated from the staff.

“Names have a very strong power behind them, wendigo. In my home land, it was believed that telling a magical creature your name gave them complete control over you. You never gave your name out to anyone until you were sure they were not fae folk, lest your mind be destroyed by their magic and your body their mere puppet.” Dante stated.

More light began to emanate from the staff.

Poet looked up at the formless mass of rage and despair. Strive and violence.

“Yet, none of the Fae have ever controlled me. And they know my name. I have no fear of your kind, wendigo. And since I am about to kill you, it is only proper that you know my name.”

The ground began cracking, as the dark white and lightless clouds began desperately retreating from the light. As though it would kill them upon contact.

A blinding light, more powerful than any sun, shot from the staff. As the ethereal horses in the cloud of storms reformed, neighing and rearing. The fear in their eyes were obvious to anyone seeing them.

“Wendigo. Hear me! My name is…”

The ground cracked even farther from the staff, as the pebbles caused by the destruction of earth began floating. The foal in Poet’s arm, though seemingly unconscious, the once pink man and tail floating, but coated in a bright white light. The same light emanating from the staff now shot through the cracks in the ground. As a wave of light blasted from the staff.

“Dante Thomas Jaeger.” Dante finished. The wave of light covered everything, as the death shrieks of the wendigos echoed around the world.

Had anyone been watching from space, they would have seen a planet covered in clouds, suddenly uncovered. Landmasses, seas and oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, suddenly appeared from what the the planet used to be. The once oppressive white curtain disappeared.

And with the destruction of the wendigos, the ponies who had been watching from the airlock, watched as something miraculous occured.

The sun penetrated the sky.
Pansy pushed open the airlock hatch, which opened without a problem.

They had seen everything. Well, as far as they could see for the first minute or two. Then the wendigos just retreated back. With the clouds gone, they could see the odd creature, holding the young foal and making the wendigos recoil in fear.

Pansy was worried. Should they be worried about him? He hadn’t hurt a single one of them yet. And had driven the wendigos away. A feat that not even the great unicorn council had been capable of.

The mother of the lost foal was also being cautious. How much she desired to run up to the beast and take her child back from it. But she didn’t know what it was.

Pansy kept advancing, keeping her head low and down, as well as her tail tucked between her hind legs. Hoping that the creature would understand she wasn’t a threat.

It wasn’t actually that far from the metal construct. A few hundred feet. And Pansy had closed to less then a couple of dozen feet. Its back turned to her. Standing.

Pansy stopped, not wanting to spook the creature by approaching closer. Hoping to sound off her intentions at a distance.

She mustered up her most confident voice and spoke.

“E-excuse me, sir. I’d… We’d like to thank you for saving us. We would have surely been wendigo food if it wasn’t for you. My name is Pansy, Private Pansy of the Pegasus Guard Corps.”

Pansy waited for a response. But she received none.

“Sir, I don’t want to approach you without you saying it’s okay. Can you he-”  Before Pansy could finish, the creature collapsed forward.

“Uh! Sir! Are you okay!” Pansy shouted in shock, not expecting to see the being collapse.

But the mother of the foal did not hesitate to take her chance. She charged forwards. Reaching the beast, she found her daughter. But… she was different.

Instead of being the white earth mare she knew, she know had the horn of a unicorn and the wings of a pegasus.

The mother’s eyes widened.

The once solid pink mane had turned into an ethereal and flowing multi-colored mane. With streaks of green, blue, purple and pink in it.

But none of that mattered to the mother, this was her daughter after all.

She nudged the being’s foreleg with her nose, dislodging the foal from the grip of the alien creature. Gently picking the foal up by the skin of her neck, she began walking back to the construct they had sheltered in. She would let Pansy deal with the creature who saved her daughter.

“By the gods!” No. The mother knew that voice. It was the pony she had left Luna with.

She raced back to the construct, to the corner where she had left Luna with the caretaker.

The caretaker in question, a brown earth pony mare with a blonde mane, looked to the mother with her mouth agape and back to Luna.

“I swear!” She began. “I turned me head for a second and I saw a bright light outta the corner’uh’me eye and I turned back around and saw this!” She motioned to the basket containing Luna.

The mother set Solaira down and slowly moved to look into the basket, fearing what she would find.

In it was her Luna, but different as well. What had previously been a dark blue earth pony was now a very dark blue mare with a unicorn horn and pegasi wings. Her mane had also changed from a solid dark blue into an ethereal mane, much like her sister’s. But instead, the edges were a transparent purple haze, with the insides being a solid dark purple speckled with white dots. It really reminded her of the night sky with stars out. Something she hadn’t seen, much like how she hadn’t seen the sun for so long.

The changes certainly did not affect her love for her foals. They were, after all, her daughters. But it did make her wonder: Just what did that creature do to her daughters?





Private Pansy was in a conundrum. Despite her name, she was the one who had led the charge to both the alien construct and she was also the first one to attempt to contact the alien.

But now, here it was, the might beast who had done the impossible. What even the Great Unicorn Council had failed to do so. It had driven the wendigos from existence. She knew she and the other ponies certainly owed this… being their lives. But she had never dealt with an alien species. She didn’t even believe in the ideas of aliens.
So she did the only thing she could think to do.

She called Clover over.

“What is it?” She bluntly asked.

Clovered hummed. She stamped a hoof in the dirt a few times.

“Well… it’s of a species we have never encountered before. And apparently powerful.. Terrifyingly powerful. At least he was on our side. I wouldn’t want to fight something that’s capable of driving the wendigos away. And it looks like it's wearing armor.”

Pansy looked at Clover.

“So… basically, you know as much as I do.” Pansy stated.

“Yep.” Clover answered without hesitation.

Pansy straightened her eyes to look forward, blew an errant hair out of her face, and sighed.

“Awesome.”
> How Do You Say Thank You To An Alien?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 3

Clover looked at Pansy and shrugged.

“There isn’t much more that I can tell you. The… thing… beast… whatever it is, looks like it’s unconscious. It fell from the sky and that thing it was in is definitely no technology I have ever seen. The only explanation I have is that it’s an alien.”

Pansy kicked the dirt that was now illuminated with the sun that had been missing for so long.

She looked at the unconscious otherworldly visitor who had fallen so it was laying on its chest, or at least, what Pansy assumed was its chest.

“Well,” Pansy started. “What ever it is, we owe a lot to it.”

“You think it was intentional? Maybe it was sent here by its leaders to help us?” To anyone observing, it would have seemed Clover was specifically asking Pans, but in reality, the question was spoken generally.

“It doesn’t matter,” Pansy answered resolutely. “It did what it did and we owe it for that. I’m not sure what we can ever do to repay it for driving those monsters off, but we’ll have to find some way to do so. But in the meantime, the very least we can do for it is get it back to its… home.” Pansy stopped at the mention of the odd thing. She had never seen anything quite like it. It vaguely reminded her of the front of ships used by various navies that had power before the wendigos came.

So she decided to call it a ship.

“We should bring it to its ship… or, at least what ever is left of it.” The ship had obvious been torn apart. And if it was this large even after having been torn, the undamaged ship had to have been massive. This damaged section of the ship was as tall as most mountains. They had been lucky that it landed the way it did. Had it landed any other way, there’s the possibility they would not have been able to take shelter in it before the creature came to their rescue.

A terrifying thought to Pansy. Rescue being mere feet away but separated by an alien material.

“I’ll go grab a couple of stallions and see if we can’t scrounge up enough supplies to make a stretcher. Call me crazy, but I think we may not be able to lift it without some support.” Clover volunteered her self, as she proceeded to head back to the ship where a large portion of ponies were staring at the once barren world, as the snow and ice began to melt with the power of the sun in an almost miraculous manner.

“Mom! Come on! It’s the sun!” Pansy twisted her neck, as she caught sight of the young foal.

“Solaira, slow down, I still have your sister to worry about, I can’t run.” The white earth mare with a red mane shouted to her now transformed daughter. The foal who used to just be an Earth pony was now running around with a horn and wings. And her previously now solid pink hair was rainbow colored. But Pansy noticed something else. The wrap that was around the mother’s neck now had an ethereal mane coming from the foal in it. Similar to her sister’s mane that had been transformed, apparently this one had also been transformed.

Pansy looked at the alien creature, laying face down on the ground. She was terrified at the thought of the kind of power did it have that it could drive wendigos back and mutate two foals without killing them. Transformation magic was an extremely unstable practice and very few ponies who had it done to them lived. And it was even rarer for the ones who live to not be horribly disfigured or maimed. But these two foals seemed perfectly fine.

The pegasus decided she couldn’t dwell on things like that, it wouldn’t get anything done. She needed something to take her mind off the alien she was standing next to, at least until Clover scoured up enough materials to make a stretcher to carry it back to its ship. So she looked back to its ship, after all, besides snow and ice, there wasn’t much to look at.

By the group of ship stood a group of ponies. Many of them families who were comforting each other, that the reign of terror of wendigos had finally come to an end. But the more amazing thing was how they were treating ponies who were otherwise not related to them. Many of the small groups had orphaned foals standing with them, the same way family would. And many parents who had lost their children to wendigos were brought in by groups who still had their family members.

Pansy was amazed.  Just a few weeks ago, they were willing to kill each other for a tiny morsel of food. They barely wanted to work together, but now they were standing with each other, standing in unity. Pegasi, Unicorn, Earth. None of them seemed to care about the differences between them. Earth foals were being comforted by unicorns, and pegasus parents were being comforted by earth.

Perhaps this was what the three kingdoms had needed. To be nearly killed to extinction by a parasitic monster, and then brought together by the might of an alien.

She looked at the mother with the two transformed foals. With their newfound wings and horns, they embodied the three kingdoms. Perhaps the ponies would follow them. They couldn’t complain about them being biased against one kingdom. The have bodies of Earth ponies, the magic of the Unicorns and the flight of the Pegasi.

The young white foal ran up to the unconscious alien, and without hesitation, spoke.

“Thanks for saving me, Mr. Dante.”

Pansy cocked her eyebrow as the foal, as she immediately went back to running around in the melting snow.

“Dante?” The yellow pegasus thought to herself. “Is that just what she’s calling it, or did she find out his name somehow?”

But that name was an odd one.

“Dante? The beginning starts with the Old Language word for dawn. And “nte” means to bring in the Old Language. Dawn-Bringer? That’s its name?” Pansy stated to no one in particular.

Dante then, Pansy decided. She dug her hoof into the ground. No longer would she refer to the creature as it. It was now Dawn-Bringer. It also fit much better with the traditional naming schemes of the pony tribes.

She looked up to the now blue sky, no longer under the oppression of the dark magic of the wendigos. The sun shone bright. She knew it would not be easy, the earth would have to heal from the damage of those monsters. And it would take time. And without a doubt, many ponies would die. They did not have food. And it would take even longer to grow the food that is needed, even with the latent magic of the Earth ponies.

But, their fortunes were changing. This alien, this… Dawn-Bringer, is the first good luck they’ve had in a long time. And Pansy was certain the alien had to be an omen of good fortune.

“There’s no where to go from but up. Things will get better.” Pansy stated. Steeling her confidence.

But there was still a small bit of her that worried. What if this Dawn-Bringer was the bringer of more then just dawn. An omen of forces far more powerful then the wendigos ever were?
> These Wars We Fight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix
Chapter  4

Twilight walked down the long hall, having been disinvited from her brother's own wedding and even fired as best mare. Weird, she knew it was. But Shining Armor's excuses for Cadance's odd behaviors just... she didn't buy them. But there wasn't much she could do now except walk... and walk. Maybe she was wrong, and if she was wrong, maybe Shining Armor and Cadance would forgive her for calling Cadance evil.

You could never truly get used to the massive size of Canterlot Castle. When she was younger and spent all her time in the Canterlot castle, she always walked through the halls to catalog old wall designs, she always managed to find new areas of the castle to walk around. New things to catalog.

The old castle was beautiful. There was no denying that. The castle loomed high over all of Equestria. A decision Twilight remembered reading was intentional, of course, for both show and tactics.

This part showed the importance of Canterlot to Equestria, being the central part of Equestria.  The tactic part was that in any direction, Canterlot Mountain was protected by invasion by five hundred miles of land.

Not that any of this mattered to her anyways, she had just ruined her chances of being at her brother's wedding to her beloved baby sitter. But Twilight still knew something was wrong about Cadance, this was not the Cadance she knew and loved. And surely there is no way she changed that drastically in the short time she had been gone. 

Twilight continued down the hall, trying to take her mind off her recent slip up. But something certainly seemed off about this hall. It was easily bigger than any of the other halls she had ever seen. And if she had to guess, bigger than the throne room.

She was all alone, only the clip clopping of her hooves hitting the marble floor keeping her company. She paused to look at a lone doorway. This was odd, Twilight knew that.  This was the only door she had seen in this hall. She pulled herself closer to the door. There were no markings on it to identify it, and it was painted a similar color to the walls surrounding it. There was no candle illuminating its position and it was level with the wall.

Twilight was about to turn away, maybe it wasn't a good idea to mess with this door. She began to turn away, but stopped mid-step. She paused.

Should she go in? The door was hidden for a reason, but she had never specifically been forbidden by Princess Celestia to go in. The memory of her embarassment of being told off by her big brother slipping from her mind and being replaced by sheer curiosity. 

She turned back around to face the door, her horn lighting up and the very oddly shaped door... was that a knob? In any case, the oddly shaped door hole compared to what she was used to started to twist. She moved into the open doorway, leaving the door open behind her as she moved deeper into the room.

She kept her horn lit up, as she mumbled to herself. She would have to come back here later with a sketch pad to catalog the wall designs. These were certainly even more odd then what she was used to. She moved closer to the wall to inspect. Was that a layer of dust that she saw? 

She took a deep breath and blew, then coughed and blinked repeatedly as the dust had gotten into her nose and mouth. Not the best idea, but she could see the walls much better now. And she realized that there appeared to be buttons on them. 

Very colorful buttons, some of them had strange text on them. It looked familiar, but she couldn't place where she had seen them before. 

And, against her better judgement, she pushed one. 

The room lit up instantly, with light clicking on, and a low but noticeable humming going on. 

Twilight looked around, panicked. she quickly backed herself up against a wall. She let the glow on her horn drop.

"Oh! Why, hello there! I nearly missed you with how quiet and respectful you were coming into our room! My apologies!" A soft, but confident female voice stated. 

Twilight glanced around, trying to find the source of the voice.  

"Who are you! Where are you!" Twilight demanded. 

"Oh! Once again, my sincerest apologies, where are my manners? I am VNZ06201925. Also known in shorthand as "Venus". I am the most advanced combat AI ever created by the Imperium of Phoenix. I am also the only proper A.I. ever created."

Twilight looked around confused. 

"I'm sorry, A.I.? I'm not aware of what that means. And, nice to meet you. My name's Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia."

"Ah, of course. That's a lovely name, Twilight. A.I. Artificial Intelligence. Its proper definition denotes a personality created to mimic the growth of a sapient personality. But it is, most of the time, improperly used to denote Imitation Intelligence. The difference between Imitation Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence is that I.I.s have all their logic and knowledge programmed into them from the beginning and they have no capability to go against that programming. Whereas an A.I. is a sapient in all but body. Just like you, I too went through stages of growth. First I was an infant, with no knowledge, then I was a child just learning to take their first steps and do the equation of one plus one equals two. Then I was a teenager, believing I knew everything and was capable of more or less competing with an adult brain. Then I was an adult who leveled out. Then I met my partner and became an old woman who settled down... though, I suppose, with the things we do, you could barely considering it settling down!" 

Twilight was now interested, and had completely forgotten about her brother's wedding. 

"Really? So, you were created by a pony?" Twilight asked. 

The disembodied voice laughed. 

"Not quite! I was created by a fellow sapient, but not a pony. My creator... mother as she insists being called, is a renowned scientist in the Imperium of Phoenix."

"You keep mentioning this... "Imperium of Phoenix", but I've not ever seen that name in any history book that I've ever read. Nor have I ever seen it in any archive about the founding of Equestria. Where is it?" Twilight inquired, her research side coming out. An unknown civilization, so advanced it could create artificial intelligence? Of course Twilight would study this. 

"Hmm... "Equestria"? Is that what they're calling this place now? It has been so long since I've spoken to another intelligent being. Most of my days are spent monitoring my partner. But you could say that the Imperium is... hmm... what's the best word in your language? The Imperium is... ah! The Imperium is an alien civilization." 

An alien civilization! But that partner thing seemed to nag at Twilight more then the fact that she was speaking with an alien construct. 

"I hope you don't mind me imposing, given your... alien status and me trespassing into your room, you've been a very gracious host. But may I ask, you continue to mention a partner, yet this room is very much empty." 

Twilight looked around the lit up, dusty room. There was absolutely nothing in this room. Beyond the dust and the gray metal walls. 

The disembodied female voice hummed for a second. 

"Well, you've entertained my want for a conversation however short it was, and I don't think you're of any danger. Please, follow the lights on the floor and I will show you my partner." 

With that, indeed, a strip of red lights lit up along the floor. They were tiny little dots, but they were bright and formed an obvious path down a formerly closed off hall. 

Twilight followed the lights as she had been told. But had a nagging feeling in her heard, should she trust a self-admitted alien like this? It didn't even hesitate to inform her of its status. Surely, no reasonable alien would go about blurting out that it was an alien without some sort of ulterior motive. Did it want to eat her, or cut her open and experiment? 

But the voice seemed extremely calm, and truthful. Twilight had been so buried in her own thoughts, she didn't realize there was an obstacle in her path. 

Her hoof kicked something, as it rattled a little ways away. 

Twilight firmly planted her hoof on the ground, as she slowly looked down. She stared down at an object. As she scanned the object to figure out what it was, her eyes widened. 

She screamed and jumped up and back.

She had kicked a skeleton. It seemed to be held together with some sort of cloth, but she had kicked its... what appeared to be its hind legs. It was an odd skeleton, almost... alien... 

"Oh my gods! That wasn't your partner, was it? I am so sorry!" Twilight blurted out in shock, as tears began to form in her eyes. 

The disembodied voice, Venus, spoke. 

"Oh! No! Don't worry! That was a soldier for the NPR. He was killed during the battle that took place on this ship! Don't cry for him, he was an asshole to begin with." 

Twilight sniffled, but then giggled. How she could giggle while confronted with such an obvious sign of death, she did not know. But it definitely had something to do with Venus' uncharacteristic swear word. Or, at least uncharacteristic for Twilight's experience, combined with her soothing voice. 

"Are you okay now?" Venus questioned, Twilight could hear definite concern in her voice, almost motherly. 

Twilight continued walking being sure to step over the odd looking and alien skeleton. 

"Yes, I must apologize for that outburst. Skeletons are not very common in my area and I thought I had desecrated your friend's corpse." 

Venus laughed once more.

"No, my partner is fine. He's just through this door," Twilight watched as a large hidden door at the end of the hallway rolled up. 

She crossed through the threshold of the door, and right there in the middle the relatively small room, compared to the rest of the rooms she had been in, lay a gray metal table, with something on it. 

Twilight slowly sauntered up to the table, her heart beating insanely fast. Her chest tightening. Her! Being the one to make First Contact! 

She reached the table and took in all that she saw. 

The alien. 

A strange beast lay flat on the table. on its back. Its forelegs by its side and its hindlegs pointed straight down. 

The beast was mostly covered in what appeared to be metal wires meeting solid metal plate. The wires almost reminded her of muscle. With the exception of its head, it was completely covered. 

Its head was another story entirely. The hide it did have appeared to be a pale flesh. Its mane was long and black. It also had facial hair reminiscent of some older stallions. 

"Whoa..." Twilight breathed. 

"This is my partner. I was paired with him in order to enhance his combat effectiveness. I've been by his side for some of the worst fighting he's ever been through. Something I'm very proud of." Venus explained. 

"So... is he... still alive?" 

"Of course. He's in a medically induced coma after he exposed himself to far too much radiation battling a parasitic species shortly after landing on this planet." Venus answered the inquiry. 

Twilight began reviewing her history in her head.

"How long... How long have you all... how long ago did you all land here?" 

"Mission clock began during the initial bombardment of Earth, beginning the Battle for Earth, Gregorian Calendar year of 2035. Mission clock stands at 4,997 years, 8 months, 11 days, 15 hours, 25 minutes, 30 seconds. The Battle for Earth less then twenty hours with the intervention of the Imperium."

Twilight couldn't keep her face, neutral, as it twisted in a mix of confusion, awe, terror and curiosity. This alien had been here for nearly five millennia.

A shockwave suddenly knocked Twilight from her feet, as dust was knocked off the walls. 

Venus spoke. 

"Massive spike of energy from unknown source, energy of unknown composition. Location of energy source located. Warning, multiple vital signatures approaching the room. General body shape matches that of ponies, but vital signatures match no known or scanned species. IFF status: Unknown, assumed hostile due to body heat, heart beat and stance. Closing in on our position, no friendly guard units detected nearby. Threat assessment: high."

A ray of green magic struck near Twilight as several creatures barreled down the hall. Twilight ducked while simultaneously scrambling behind the table containing the alien creature. 

"IFF status: Confirmed hostile."

More green rays of magic slammed into the table. 

"Beginning emergency reanimation procedure. Initiating smokescreen."

Smoke began to fill the room, the smoke coming from the vents as the strange pony like creatures continued to fire. 

There were three of them. 

Finally, after a minute of firing, they stopped. Smoke continued to fill the room. The one in the middle with the two flanking him spoke. 

"Attention, Twilight Sparkle, this is 4567 speaking, I have been ordered by Queen Chrysalis to arrest you. Or kill you. Whichever one it comes to. You are outnumbered and we have more Changelings covering any exits out of this room." 

4567 paused. He waited. A green glow formed at his jagged horn, as his black, insectoid body tensed up, staring into the smoke filled room. 

"I will say this one more time, Miss Sparkle. Under the authority of Queen Chrysalis, I have been ordered to arrest or kill you. I have no desire to kill you, so I'd like if you came out peacefully. But I will kill you if you force me to."  

4567 waited again. 

"Miss Sparkle, please do not force me to go the violent route. I do not wish to kill you, but I will not risk the life of my kin to arrest you." 

4567 let off the energy he had been building in his horn. 

He could hear the solid connection it made, but for all he knew it could have been the table in the room. 

They could see slight movement through the cloud of smoke. The two changelings flanking 4567 looked at each other nervously. They didn't doubt the Hive-Mother's plan, of course. To do so would be an unforgivable sin. But they did doubt themselves. 

"Miss Sparkle, please come out slowly. Again, I have no desire to kill you. If you step out now, you will be safe fr-" 4567 was cut off as a hand reached through the smoke, firmly grasping his head, and then violently pushing it down. Crushing it. 

Green blood, gore and brain splatted the two flanking changelings, as 4567's lifeless, headless body collapsed to the floor. 

The left one had been hit in the face with the blood of 4567's head, as he stood in shock. As most people would be had they 
just had the brains of their brother splattered on their face. 

The changeling that had been to the right of 4567 immediately began firing at the unknown attacker. But his magic had no effect as a large, armored biped casually strolled out of the smoke filled room. The changeling continued firing, but a swift kick from the biped sent its head flying off its shoulders. As the left changeling finally found its senses and also began firing, in an ill fated attempt to get better results. 

Apparently not in the mood to play games, the biped approached the remaining changeling, despite the magic making solid connections to its torso. Once again, the biped grabbed the changeling by its head, and with unnatural speed and strength, slammed its head into the wall. 

Green blood, brains and gore once again splattered the ground and wall. As the biped let go of the mangled changeling corpse, allowing it to slowly slide down the wall. Making a sickening squelch sound as the blood gave some resistance and stick to the body. 

The smoke cleared in the room, as Twilight stared in horror at the carnage caused by the biped. Changeling blood soaked the floor. The once gray metal room now looked a sickly green. As three mangled changeling corpses lay lifeless on the ground. 

"Dante, could you have perhaps made the killings a bit bloodier? I don't think you left a good enough impression on our friend here." Venus asked.
> Blood, Guts And Weddings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 5

The black equinoid, about the same size as Princess Luna, laughed heartily as the disheveled Princess Mi Amore Cadenza stood in defiance, her horn lit up with her pink magic. Shining Armor standing by her side. Both Celestia and Luna suspended from cocoons. Chrysalis’, even in her weakened form had proven more then a match for both of them. They had underestimated her.

Her forked, green tongue slithered out of her mouth as she stared at the two.

“My dear, Princess Cadance, I am Queen Chrysalis, I consume love. What made you think your love magic would stop? It’s the equivalent of giving a pony dying of thirst water. Now watch, as I finally end you!” Chrysalis spat, her voice resounding with a shallow echo. Unnatural.

Cadance growled at the Changeling queen. She wasn’t going down without a fight. But something happened. The audience watched in shock as the changeling’s black body, with holes cutting straight through her chitinous legs, suddenly began reforming. Her scraggly mane and tail also reformed, no longer with jagged edges, it stood up, with a majesty rivaling that of the manes of the Two Sisters. Her torn and damaged insect wings were sheathed in green magic, reforming into fully healed and untorn wings.

“You magic did nothing but give me more strength! So I really must thank you, for healing me. As such, I will make your death quick and painless!” Chrysalis bellowed, her magic gathering at the tip of her jagged horn, A sickly green ray of magic cut through the air, but Shining Armor and Cadance, both in defiance, joined their own streams of magic to counter Chrysalis’.

The blue and pink rays of magic joined in union, meeting the green ray in mid air. The two streams fought over dominance.

“Not even the Two Sisters could stop me! What makes you think a unicorn whose been maintaining a shield for weeks and third rate alicorn has enough power to stop me!” Chrysalis pushed her magic harder. So did Cadance and Armor.

There was loud bang as both opponents lost control of their magic. Cadance was thrown clear, close to the exit of the chapel. Shining Armor was tossed to the side. Chrysalis suffered the least, being forced to step back. But she saw her chance, and shot another ray at the pink alicorn.

Cadance opened her eyes, concussed from the magical explosion. She realized at the last second the ray of magic coming her way, but she couldn’t move. The shock form the explosion had dazed her to the point of sluggishness. At least to the point that her muscles weren’t moving when her brain was screaming at them to move.

Chrysalis could feel her magic make a solid connection on Cadance, but could not see it due to the glare created from what was surely Cadance being vaporized.

She pushed more power into her magic, as she could still feel Cadance there. Chrysalis had to give it to the pink alicorn. She was a lot more durable then she had thought.

However, her ray was cut off, as something tore through her side. The pain was hot, as she stepped back and looked to the her side. There was a long cut, as green blood oozed out of the wound. She snarled and spoke.

“Who did th-” She was cut off as she looked up, towards where Cadance had been. The alicorn was still there, in the corner. But standing beside her was that annoying purple unicorn, Twilight Sparkle. But what was more pressing was a faceless biped drenched in sickly green liquid standing in front of the dazed alicorn, with its left foreleg raised, hoof out. In its right hand, a piece of metal in an odd shape held close to its flank, tucked in between its foreleg.

“Sorry for the wait,” The sound came from the unknown biped, as it raised its right hand with the strange object in it, pointing up, resting on its shoulder.  It continued, point its forehoof at Twilight. “Twi and I had to stop by Starbucks for a latte run.”





The biped held its front hoof out to Twilight, for an apparent hoof shake, who looked at it hesitantly, given the fact it was currently soaked in the blood and gore of those insectoid ponies. The biped quickly dropped its hoof to its side and spoke to her for the first time.

“Sorry, I forget most people aren’t as comfortable about gore as I am. I’m Dante T. Jaeger. Phoenix Legion Marine Corps.” The biped spoke, as he moved towards an abandoned helmet. His deep voice making Twilight assume he was a male. The beard on his face also lended credence to her theory. But the relatively long mane of black hair on the top of his head confused her a bit.

He lifted the helmet up and inspected it. The purple unicorn watched as the his pasty white face looked at the helmet. But it wasn’t the very light color that drew Twilight’s attention. It was his eyes. Both different colors. He right blue, left green.

'Heterochromia.' Twilight thought to herself. An exceedingly rare genetic defect present in ponies. And apparently present in what ever species this biped belonged to.

“It’s, uh… nice to meet you… uh… Mr. Jaeger. I am Twilight Sparkle, student of Princess Celestia.”

The biped, identified as Dante, seemed to be happy about the state of the helmet he had picked up and slipped it over his head.

“No need for the “Mr.”, Twilight. I was never one for such formalities. Just call me Dante.” The bipeds voice filtered through the helmet.

“I hate to break up the Second Contact bonding, but there is a problem, Dante.” The disembodied female voice spoke.

“Roger that, Venus. Care to explain to us?” Dante asked.

“I assume there is currently an attempted coup taking place. These changelings do not appear to be friendly. The diarchy of this country would put us in a better position to gather resources to allow us to be rescued by the Imperium.” Venus clarified.

“So, basically, I got to stop a coup if I want to be rescued?” Dante questioned.

“It would be far easier to do the things we need to do if the government is willing to work with us, rather then having to carve our way through hordes of hostile forces. Allowing the government to fall would not stop you, merely make more work for you then otherwise intervening would.”

“Welp!” Dante began walking. “What are we waiting for? Let’s get going and save us some… what did you say the government was?” Dante asked.

Twilight answered this time.

“A diarchy. Princess Celestia is the Sovereign of the Sun and Day. Princess Luna is the Sovereign of the Moon and Night.”

Dante had stopped in front of a skeleton wearing armor, its helmet knocked off. Twilight was able to see the skull of the former being. Dante grabbed the item it had clutched in its forehooves and unceremoniously tore it from its grip. Not having any apparent care for respecting the dead. It dropped a rectangle that had been attached to it and then pulled a lever and peered into the item. It then released the lever, allowing it to slam closed and re-inserted the rectangle. Dante grabbed some more rectangles that were attached to the skeleton's armor and inserted them into a storage compartment that open up on his armor, below his flank.

“Alright, so what are we waiting for? Let’s go save us some ponies princesses! Twi, stay behind me!” Twilight would have normally corrected the strange beast who she barely knew, but given the situation of being besieged by hostile changelings, she let it pass. She fell in behind the alien biped who seemed to walk without a care in the world.

“Uh, Dante. Shouldn’t you be a bit more careful?” Indeed, Twilight thought, she had seen a few exercises of the Royal Guards doing movements for a possible invasion. And they moved slowly, cautiously and low to the ground. Whereas this odd alien, Dante, just strolled like it was a calm Sunday evening and not an invasion of Canterlot.

“What? For these bugs? Twi, did you just not watch me literally kick one’s head off? If I was fighting Reelkans, sure. I’d be moving a bit a more cautiously. These bugs can’t hurt me.”

And true to his word, he strolled around a corner without bothering to look if there were any Changelings.

Which there were. Four of them lined up and the blocking the door way. And they immediately began firing on him. Once more, the shots of magic thumped harmlessly into his armor. Twilight watched, hunkered down around the corner as the biped shouldered the strange object he had taken from the skeleton and fired.

Her ears rung from the sudden explosion The head belonging to the changeling second to the right exploded in a mess of gore, painting even more walls with its sickly green color. Twilight’s muzzle took on a green color, her stomach churning. She started regretting eating those hay sandwiches earlier today.

Dante fired the strange object once more, this time the changeling to the far right collapsed. At this point, Dante was now within a very close distance. The changeling to the far right buzzed its wings and took flight, charging at the armored biped.

Without hesitation, the biped drew its left foreleg back, and then pushed forward with it. Meeting the changelings face.

Twilight watched as the changeling’s body seemed to bloat and then explode, splattering the biped in even more green blood and gore. She struggled to swallow back more of the vomit that was building up in her throat.

Dante swung the strange object to the final changeling, who was now backed up against a wall. Despite it’s iris and pupil both being solid blue, the fear in its eyes were obvious.

Dante leveled the object at the changeling, now mere inches from its face.

“It’s your lucky day, but how your luck holds up depends on you. Stay here and don’t move ‘til we’re gone, you won’t die. Follow us and die. Understand?” Dante stated, his tone deadly serious, leaving no room for argument, as the lone survivor meekly shook its head in understanding.

“Good.” Dante’s tone changed, significantly more friendly now. “Come on, Twi, we’re going.” And with that, the drenched alien continued on his way.

Twilight rushed to catch up to him, passing the mortified changeling and falling in behind Dante.

“Uh… Dante, not that I’m sad you didn’t kill him, but why did you let that changeling live?”

Dante hummed in thought.

“You know Twi, you don’t have to hold it in.” Twilight cocked an eyebrow at this statement.

“What do you mean?”

“Vomiting. No one’s gonna think less of you for vomiting at the sight of brutal deaths. Most people can’t handle the sight of gore and vomit the first time they see it. Most people get sick the first time they kill someone. The vast majority of sapient species aren’t hardwired for it. It takes a bit of getting used to. The only weird thing is horses back home can’t vomit. Something to do with stopping them from puking when they run.”

Twilight furrowed his brow.

“I’ll remember that, but you didn’t answer my question.”

“Because, Sparkle, that’s for me to know and for you to wonder about. Are you military?”

Twilight sighed. She was grateful for the biped’s help, but he was already annoying her and testing her patience.





“Sorry for the wait!” Dante exclaimed. “Twi and I had to stop by Starbucks for a latte run.” Had his helmet been off, a smirk would have been visible to everyone. But as far as everyone else in the room could tell, he was faceless.

Chrysalis, however, was not finding the situation as funny.

“Who are you!” She roared, demanding the biped to identify.

The biped didn’t seem to be interested in the Changeling Queen, instead turning his head to face the pink and alicorn and purple unicorn.

“Oi, pinkie, you alright?” He asked Cadance. She struggled to her feet, steadying herself on Twilight.

“Uh, yeah, I think so. Thank you. Twilight, could you go check on Shining.”

Chrysalis was seething mad. This creature dared to interrupt to her plan, and then had the audacity to ignore her! Queen Chrysalis, ruler of the Changelings and soon to be Lord of Equestria.

“Do not! Ignore me!” She howled, anger evident in her voice. As she let off another beam of her magic, going straight for the alien.

Without saying a word, his head still turned to the two mares behind him, the creature silently swatted the ball of magic sent his way to the right, obliterating the wall. Sunlight streamed through the chapel that was now open to the outside.

Dante turned back to the Changeling Queen.

“Calm your tits, you stupid cunt. I’ll deal with you in a minute.” The biped spoke, not caring for any sort of formality.

Angered even further by the creature’s callous tone, Chrysalis readied another attack of her magic, even more powerful then the one she had sent before.

That was, before, a voice stopped her.

“Chrysalis, with all due respect, I would advise against that.” Celestia spoke from her cocoon.

Chrysalis looked to the entrapped alicorn, allowing the magic on her horn to die.

She buzzed her wings and flew up to the upside down alicorn.

“And why is that?” Chrysalis hissed, looking in the rather unimpressed alicorn’s eyes.

“Tell me, Chrysalis, you know who Dawn-Bringer is, right?” Celestia questioned.

Chrysalis laughed. Of course she knew who Dawn-Bringer was supposed to be.

“He’s an old unicorn legend. And old god. They said he was deity of all creation and is the reason for the existence of life on this rock. He was born out of nothingness and looked to the planet, he didn’t like its lifelessness and so gave it life. He created the sun and the moon and entrusted their power to you two.” Chrysalis spat.

Celestia took on a condescending smug.

“You know the legend of Dawn-Bringer. Very good, very few know it due to how old it is. It started out as an oral tradition, and as I’m sure you know, oral traditions have a funny way of getting messed up. They change depending on what is most convenient for the ponies in power. And in this case, the oral tradition seriously got messed up.”

Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed.

“What are you getting at, Sun? Does this even have any relevance to this… beast!” Chrysalis hissed, her forked tongue rolling out of her mouth.

Celestia cocked an eye brow and nodded in the general direction of the alien.

“Are you so dense you can’t get a hint? Why would I bring up Dawn-Bringer up if he had no relevance. I’ll explain it to you in simple terms for your tiny brain. That biped right there? He’s Dawn-Bringer.”

Chrysalis looked back at the biped, who now seemed to be patiently waiting for her to finish her conversation with the princess.

The Changeling broke out laughing.

“That thing is supposed to be Dawn-Bringer? Are you blind, Sun? You’ve been looking at yourself for far too long! First that’s not even a unicorn! It’s a… well, I don’t know specifically what it is, but it definitely isn’t a unicorn! And second, what creator would be so undignified as this one is! You!” Chrysalis pointed at the biped. “What is your name.”

Without hesitation he spoke.

“Dante T. Jaeger, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps.” Dante stated in a bored tone.

Chrysalis smirked and looked back to the Celestia. “See, he’s not even named Dawn-Bringer!”

Celestia locked eyes with the Changeling Queen, sighed and rolled her eyes.

“If my hoof was free, I’d slap my face.” The Princess of the Sun deadpanned, amazed at the Changeling’s stupidity.

“Oi! I hate to break up such and endearing moment of bonding between two chicks who are apparently interested in BDSM, but are we gonna fight or what?” Dante yelled to the Changeling Queen.

“Chrysalis, I’m telling you this as friendly advice, leave. To Dawn-Bringer, you are nothing more then a parasite that he will crush underfoot.” Celestia told her Chrysalis once more.

Chrysalis took her hoof and spun the cocoon Celestia was in.

“We’ll see about that, my dear Princess. My children!” Chrysalis bellowed.

“Dante, counts of creatures matching scanned and known changeling vitsigs incoming.” Venus informed her partner.

“Welp.” Dante stated. “You should have listened, Chryssi, Great White was right. Should have run when you had the chance.” Dante dropped the object he had been holding in his right hand.

“Maybe y’all’ll  finally get the point if I stop using my rifle.”

Dozens of changelings began swarming into the chapel through the wall that Chrysalis had inadvertently obliterated. The bravest one charged staright at the biped. Who proceeded to catch it by the horn.

Grabbing roughly onto its front leg, Dante ripped the horn from the this changeling, throwing it against the wall, crushing the poor thing.

He threw the dismembered horn at another changeling, impaling it in the eye. The creature fell to the ground, dead.

Dante caught another changeling as it charged him, bringing it down onto his knee, crushing its torso. But a changeling latched onto his upper arm and began gnawing on the armor. Without hesitation, the biped slammed his occupied arm onto a pew, crushing the changeling and breaking through the wood of the pew.

But several more latched onto the biped in an attempt to bring him down. He kicked a nearby support pole, crushing several changelings and taking a chunk out of the marble.

A changeling latched onto his head, in another futile attempt to bring him down. Without hesitation, Dante slammed his armored head into the marble column, crushing the changeling’s lower half and leaving a vaguely face shaped hole in the material. He reached with his left arm to his right shoulder and ripped a changeling from it. Throwing it into the ground, it exploded in a fountain of gore, splattering several nearby cowering ponies in changeling blood. And unlike Twilight, they did not try to hold in their vomit.

“Stop killing my children!” Chrysalis screamed.

Twilight Et. Al, Cadance and Shining Armor could only look on in horror as the changeling massacre took place. Sure, he was without a doubt strong. As evidence by the damaged marble column and the dozens of changeling corpses killed with his bare hooves. But just how many changelings did Chrysalis have access to and how long could Dante keep fighting for?

Suddenly, Dante stopped. The changelings that had latched onto his body continued gnawing in a vain attempt to penetrate the alien armor.

“Tell me, bugs, do you feel more relaxed?” Dante questioned. Apparently to the changelings that were attacking him.

The ones that had latched onto him appeared to slow down. And the ones hovering in a horde in front of him also stopped, looking at each other.

“Because you should.” With that statement, Dante roared up in flames. As the horde of changelings also combusted.

What followed was some of the most horrific screaming the ponies had ever heard. As hundreds of changelings panicked from the extreme heat and began flying in an attempt to get away from the source of the flames. It didn’t take long for them to begin falling to the floor like flies.

The changelings that had latched onto Dante stood no chance, as they appeared to have been flash burned to death. The flames that had engulfed Dante soon died down as the rest of the Changelings were dying from the horrific burns they suffered.

Dante brushed the dead changelings off his body, making a sickening crunch sound, as Twilight finally lost it due to the sounds and smells. Her vomit splashed on the floor, as both Shining Armor and Cadance vomited as well. A mix of sympathy vomiting and also being sickened by the smells and sounds. In fact, the only people not vomiting in the room were Chrysalis, Celestia, Luna and Dante.

Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed at Dante, as he whistled.

“I hope you understand, Chryssi, this was neither my fault nor was it personal. I gave you a chance to escape. I’ll give you another chance. Leave.” Dante’s tone took on a far more serious tone then Chrysalis had heard it so far. “There’s been enough bloodshed and death today. I don’t really want to kill anyone else today, but I have no problem killing more if I have to. So here’s your chance. Leave now and you live. Stand and fight and I’ll kill you.” Chrysalis stared him in the eyes. Or, at least, where she thought his eye should be.

She snorted and began buzzing her wings to take off. A glint shone in her eye. Chrysalis assumed no one had seen the small tear escape.

Her voice began breaking.

“I’ll be back! And I’ll have my revenge! And you!” Chrysalis pointed to Dante. “Demon! I will make you pay a horrible price.”

Chrysalis shot off through the non-existent wall as dozens of swarms of changelings follow suit. They retreated through the sky at break-neck speed. Apparently wanting to put as much distance between them and the psycho biped.

Twilight looked at the unmoving biped. His once dull-grey armor was now a sickly green from the amount of blood on it. She was fairly certain there was not a single inch on it that wasn’t covered in blood.

She watched as Dante reached up to his helmet and lifted it off his head. Dropping the blood soaked thing to the floor.

He stroked his bloody hand through his mane, with no care to the fact that was wiping blood and guts into his hair.

Given the circumstances, Twilight couldn’t help but burst out laughing, as Dante followed this action up with a single sentence.

“Fuck, I need to shave.”
> Jumping Through Windows
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 6

“With all due respect,” Celestia stated from her cocoon, which was no longer spinning. “Could someone be a dear and get Luna and me down from here, thank you very much?”

Twilight lit up her magic and grabbed onto the strands of gunk that held the cocoon and pulled. And pulled. And pulled. It wasn’t budging.

“Cadance, we have a slight problem, those strands are stronger then I thought. Can you cut them?” Twilight asked the disheveled Cadance, who was now joined by Shining Armor. Both of them shook their heads in a no.

“I’m afraid not, Twilight. We’re both exhausted from the fight.” Shining answered his sister.

“Oi.” By this point in time, the voice was instantly identifiable as the alien.

Twilight turned her head to look in his direction, as he was now inspecting one of the marble columns.

“Don’t worry, I got this.” Dante said. Before Twilight could ask him just how he planned to reach them when they were nearly fifty feet in the air, Dante jumped up, letting his rear hoof hit the column, propelling him to a parallel column, where he then repeated the process. Once again, all eyes were on the alien who just continued to prove himself stranger.

Twilight watched as he bounced off the columns several times until he had reach the ceiling. With almost seemingly practiced ease on the final jump, he caught himself on one of the rafters, pulling his lower body up and wrapping his hindlegs around the rafter and began moving almost, sort of, like a pony does. Instead of his normal biped movement. Except he was moving like a pony who was upside down and crippled hindlegs.

He reached Celestia’s cocoon and allowed his upper body to dangle from the rafters with his lower body supporting him. He grabbed onto several strands. With seemingly no resistance, the gave way to the alien’s strength. He did this several times until, eventually, the rest snapped and sent Celestia plummeting to the ground. Or, at least, it would have. Had the alien not caught the cocoon with his forehoof. In a superpony display of strength, the biped brought the rest of his upper body back up the rafters, using his free hoof to support himself, while dangling the cocoon with his other hoof.

Twilight was so engrossed in the display of acrobatics and strength from the alien that she hadn’t even noticed the contingent of Royal Guards enter the room. But Cadance and Shining did and had stopped them. They too, were engrossed with the display of strength.

“Hey! Twi!” Dante shouted.

“Uh… yeah?” Twilight shouted back.

“You got the strength to support Whitey with your telekinesis if I toss her to ya? I still got Blue to get down.”

To be honest, Twilight had no idea whether or not she could support Celestia. She had never had the chance to test her telekinesis on Celestia. So she went with the most logical decision.

“Uh… yeah...” Twilight said weakly.

“Great! If she gets a concussion, it’s your fault!” Dante stated as he began swinging the cocoon.

“Waitwhatst-” Celestia had tried to stop the alien, but her words had no effect as Dante released her at the highest point of the arc.

Twilight lit her magic up and focused on the cocoon, as she mentally prayed to Princess Celestia, that she wouldn’t injure Princess Celestia when catching Princess Celestia.

Thankfully, her magic caught the falling cocoon, as she strained to hold the weight of this particular pony up. She managed to slowly and calmly lower the cocoon to the ground, where she let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

“Don’t worry, Twi, I plan to be more gentle with Blue. Try getting that fuckin’ sack open while I’m dealing with Blue. I came up with a more efficient plan.” Date shouted to Twilight as he scooted along the rafters.

He silently repeated the process for Luna. But how he was planning to get her down was a bit different. He allowed himself to dangle.

“Hey, Blue?” Dante asked Luna.

“Our name is Luna, but yes?” The Princess of the Moon answered the alien who appeared to be lacking in etiquette.

“I’m gonna drop ya. But don’t worry, I promise ya, I’ll be right there to catch ya.”

Before Luna could affirm his plan or reject it, he let go of the cocoon. And disappeared. The cocoon dropped with Luna in it. The ground was approaching fast. And Luna could only think one thing.

'This is going to hurt.'

As the ground got closer, Dante reappeared under the cocoon, his forelegs stretched above his head. Grabbing the cocoon above his head, he slammed into the ground. His legs taking the brunt of the impact. This entire event happened in seconds. As he looked up to Twilight, grinning.

“Told ya it would be more efficient this way. Hey, Blue, you alright in there?”

“Oh, you know, besides nearly being dropped fifty hooves to the ground by an odd biped who’s drenched in blood, We're perfectly fine.” Luna answered.

“You’re welcome.” Dante said, as he lowered the cocoon to the floor. Kneeling down he sunk his hands into the material used to create the cocoon and then pulled back on the material. Tearing a hole big enough for Luna to begin pushing herself out of the cocoon.

Twilight had been successful in cutting open Celestia’s cocoon, with a little difficulty. Apparently the material was less strong then the material used to suspend it.

The Sovereign of the Sun forced herself from the constrictive sack. Her massive form emerging, as she spread her wings out.

“Oh, thank you so much, Dear Twilight.” Celestia told the pruple unicorn, who, despite the princess being covered in green goo and slime quickly walked up to her teacher and nuzzled into her shoulder returned the gesture. After holding this gesture for a few seconds, Celestia moves away to turn and face Dante.

“And thank you Dawn-Bringer.” Celestia stated, as she watched the biped help her sister extricate herself from the cocoon and then to her hooves.

As he was helping the wobbly blue alicorn to her hooves, he glanced up.

“The fuck’s up with this Dawn-Bringer shit, Whitey? My name’s Dante.” The biped questioned the sun princess.

“And my name isn’t Whitey.” Celestia answered.

Dante clicked his tongue, as Luna finally found her feet. He let go of her and looked at his hands, now covered in blood, changeling slime and goo. However, the transfer was mutual, as Luna now had Changeling blood in addition to the slime she had been covered in.

Although Dante wasn’t bothered by the substances he was now soaked in, Luna was.

Walking as dignified and gracefully as someone who was covered in the bodily fluids of a parasitic, equinoid insect species could walk, Luna spoke to her sister.

“I’m sure you can handle the situation here, sister. We're going to wash this… stuff off Us.” Before Celestia could protest the fact that Luna was running away from her responsibilities as a royal princess, she teleported away. Celestia rolled her eyes as turned to the biped. It was obvious to anyone viewing the situation that the alien towered over everyone in the destroyed chapel.

Various attending nobles began shakily getting to their hooves. Most of them wanting to get as far away from the death and destruction as possible.

As they slowly began to filter out of the destroyed chapel, Twilight turned to Dante. Since the danger was over, she was interested in interrogating him about his technology and the civilization and culture of this “Imperium of Phoenix”.

However, he wasn’t where he had been a second ago. As Twilight began turning her head every which way in an attempt to find the biped. Yet, somehow, despite his massive stature and height, she didn’t seem to be able to find him.

She caught sight of him at the last moment as he was walking out of the door, the strange object that Dante had called a “rifle” back in his hands.

“Dante! Wait!” Twilight shouted, though she doubted how helpful it was going to be, considering he had already gone through the frame by the time she shouted.

As she began walking at a fast pace, though not galloping, to her suprise the biped popped his back into the door frame. The rest of his body below his neck concealed by the door frame.

“Yo?” He asked.

“Where do you think you’re going? You haven’t even been properly introduced to princess yet.” Twilight scolded the biped.

“I’m going to collect some shit from my ship and then shave and take a shower.”

“The ship has working showers?”

Dante snorted. “Fuck no. It lost those when I tore it in half to escape from a massive fucking explosion. I’m lucky it’s got any goddamn power to begin with. So that’s why you’re gonna wait here for me so you can show me to the room I’m certain Great White over there’s gonna offer me for savin’ all y’all’s asses so I can clean this changeling shit off me. I look like a nurse in a fuckin’ gay porno set in a hospital that can’t stop getting alien ejaculate on him.”

Before she could argue with Dante anymore, he disappeared.

Celestia sauntered up to Twilight.

“He seems more annoying and crass then I remember him being… could just be nostalgia, though, I suppose.” Celestia stated.

Twilight turned to her teacher and decided to ask something that had been bothering her.

“Can I ask you something? How do you even know him.” She saw a small spark in the eye of her teacher. 

“The only reason why I’m still breathing is because of him. Well, actually, he’s indirectly responsible for Equestria existing. Luna and I are also included in that.”

Twilight looked in confusion at Celestia.

“He… saved you? How?” Celestia took on a look that could only be described as the memory of a mare looking very far back into the past.

“I was separated from my mother and Luna by wendigos when we were attempting to take refuge in his crashed ship. For some reason, Dawn-Bringer left the safety of his ship to save me. He never spoke… or, at least, never spoke Equestrian. But I certainly remember the terrifying sight of something that made even wendigos scared. Of course, the flames coming from his hands also probably helped spook them.”

“Uh… wendigos? I thought they were banished from the world before you came to Equestria.” Twilight questioned the princess’ story, but then backtracked, afraid she may have offended her. “Uh, not that I’m calling you a liar or anything, Princess, but I’m just tryi-” Twilight was cut off as Celestia held up a hoof.

“Don’t worry, I understand Twilight. Yes. The official story that the Diarchy backs is Clover the Clever, Private Pansy and Smart Cookie banished the Changelings by uniting together in friendship, and Luna and I came into being later on in the history of Equestria with no known past. That is the heavily censored and pony-washed version. The truth of the matter is this. The last survivors, including my mother, Luna and me, took refuge in a cave when Dawn-Bringer's ship crashed on the planet for an unknown reason. The wendigos were actively avoiding it so Pansy led the charge for safety. I was straggling behind due to being a foal. It was when I was pulled back into the storm that Dawn-Bringer emerged and banished the wendigos. Before the alien did this, Luna and I were both normal Earth ponies. Exposure to the Dawn-Bringer's magic is what made us into what we are now.” Celestia explained.

Before Twilight could push for even more information, the alien Celestia had just been talking about reappeared before Twilight, spooking both Twilight and Celestia.

“Those wendigos were actually aliens as well.” Dante stated, matter of factly. Twilight could not, for the life of her, understand how this massive creature managed to move without making a single sound. She had assumed the armor it was wearing should be making metallic clanking sounds everytime he moved, but she can’t recall a single time that remembered him making a noise beyond talking.

“Anyway, I got my shit.” Dante raised his arms, indicating the clothes he had in them. “If you could show me to the nearest shower, that’d be great.”

“Wow, way to make yourself at home.” Twilight snarked.

“Well, I mean this is kind of my property to begin with.” Twilight cocked her eyebrow.

“What do you mean by that?”

Dante tsked. “Y’all motherfuckers built your stupid goddamn castle around my stupid goddamn ship!”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have built your ship around our castle!” Twilight responded. To this, both Dante and Celestia took their turns to cock their eyebrows at the response.

“Real mature, Twi, what are you? Five? Anyway, this is going to be an issue when I do finally manage to contact the IoP. They consider that ship wreck their property. So either they’ll sell you the ship after stripping it of any technology or the castle will have to be rebuilt.”

At this point, Shining finally spoke up. “And who does this Imperium think they are to demand a sovereign nation to demolish their castle.”

Dante snorted once more. “You want to know who the Imperium is? They’re the guys who made that ship.”

Dante turned to Twilight. “Still, I’d enjoy getting this shit off me, so if you could...” Twilight looked to Princess Celestia. The princess sighed.

“Twilight, would you please show him to the guest suite in the west wing. There’s a shower there.” Twilight nodded to her teacher.

“Dante, if you would please follow me.”

“Oh, sweet, y’all have indoor plumbing, I was afraid I was gonna have to shit in a bucket.” Dante stated as he was just about to disappear from the door frame.





Twilight waited outside the door to the room Princess Celestia had loaned the alien. He had been in there for a while. He had also asked for a bucket, for whatever reason and the shower had been running for a while, as her ears had picked up on the rushing water. After a little while, she heard the faucet shut off.

After a few more minutes, the door where the biped stepped out. Looking significantly differently. His beard was gone, now exposing the bare hide underneath it. His formerly long mane now buzzed down significantly. Not shaved completely, but definitely shorter than an inch. And instead of the armor, he was now wearing what was very obviously cloth. But it wasn’t like any of Rarity’s designs.  And around his flank, Twilight noted that there appeared to be a shorter “rifle” hanging on his hips on a belt, alongside several pouches containing more of those rectangles. These being smaller than the one on the “rifle” he had used during the fight with Chrysalis. The rest of the belt was concealed with the cloth that was covering his top.

“Sorry about the wait, Purple,” Twilight rolled her eyes at Dante’s insistence on using color to name them. “Being in a coma for five millenia causes your hair to grow quite long. I also had to wash the gunk out of my armor.” Before Twilight could respond, Dante raised a hand.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t wash any guts down the drain. I’m not a heathen. I collected all the solid waste in the bucket. I’ll toss it out later. So what are we doing now?”

“Well,” Twilight began, “If I had my way, I’d be interviewing you right now. But Princess Celestia and Princess Luna wanted to debrief you and catch you up to speed about Equestria. This will, of course, be done over dinner.”

“Alright,” Dante gestured out the door, swinging his foreleg away from the room, “Lead the way, Purple.” Twilight took off as Dante followed.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Dante, how did you end up here in the first place?”

Dante scratched his chin.

“Shit, honestly. Some asshole terrorists from way back when launched an attack on my home planet. I had been posted there by the Imperium, so I of course joined in on the defense until the Imperial Navy reached us and brought reinforcements. I boarded the mother ship of their attack and found a super weapon on board, enough to destroy a shit ton of space. So I dropped it off in a black hole and then got out of there by ripping the ship in half. And then I landed here. And some retarded engineer didn’t put redundant comms system in the part of the ship that didn’t get destroyed. So I am, at the moment, unable to contact Overlord and get them here. Fuckin’ pricks.”

“Overlord?” Twilight looked back at Dante, raising an eyebrow.

Dante waved his foreleg in front of his face. “Yeah, it’s a general name for mission control. They coordinate information and intel to and between operatives on the ground, and acting as go-between for the boots on the ground and Command as well as other forces, like armored units and air units. Basically Command tells Overlord to tell Captain Joe Schmo to move his guys to grid x, Overlord tells Cap to move his guys. Cap Joe Schmo needs air support because he’s got a tank column coming his way, Overlord patches him into the comms system of the nearest air unit.”

“Is it… is it okay for you to be telling me this stuff?” Twilight questioned. While she had never been in the Royal Guard, but Shining Armor is and he was notoriously short and vague regarding their procedure.

Dante gave a snort that Twilight was slowly beginning to associate as a normal tic for him.

“Fuck no. Anyone else and they’d be facing multiple court martials for interfering with a level one species.”

“Level one?” Twilight questioned.

“Yeah, general description being a species that is still utilizing primitive technology and has not yet reached space. But don’t worry, even when I finally get Overlord off their lazy asses to come and get me, they can’t do shit to me.”

“Why? Are you immune from court martials?”

“Nah, just the issues that would arise from it just wouldn’t be worth it for Brass. Both from the citizenry and my fellow Legionaires.”

Twilight looked back the strange alien creature. He certainly did not have a military air about him. He didn’t seem disciplined, didn’t seem to care about secrets and didn’t seem to be worried about his government finding out he was apparently breaking laws severe enough to be court martialled for.
“Dante, why do I have the feeling you’re not entirely being forthcoming with who you are?” Twilight asked, looking back once more to see a grin on the creature’s face, revealing two fangs tht she hadn’t noticed before.

“Well, took you long enough to catch on. Don’t worry, I’ll properly introduce myself when we talk with your princesses. For now, tell me more about this world.” Dante feigned interest and allowed the purple pony to talk. Of which she seemed eager to do. He wasn’t actually listening to her, at least not actively. Venus was collecting all of her words and filing them away for review. But Venus was also the reason Dante had her start talking. Given that he and Venus were literally connected through the mind, he could tell when she wanted something.

“I started receiving signals from a tracker, commonly seen in Imperial technology. The signal is faint.” Venus informed Dante, though no sound escaping his brain this time.

Normally, Dante would have just spoken aloud to her, but due to his lack of a helmet, that would alert Twilight to the fact something was up.

So he instead spoke to her through his thoughts.

“Do you have a lock on its signal?” Dante thought back to her.

“I do, but due to the lack of satellites in orbit, I was forced to change my mapping. I sent out a pulse a few minutes ago when I first found the signal. I just got a pingback and created a map out of the ping. It’s going to be rough because the ping was spread out across twenty miles, but once we get close enough, I should be able to run a hot/cold trace on it and get you to it.”

“Well,” Dante thought, as he slowed down and instead walked to a nearby window. Twilight continuing to move forward and not realizing she was leaving behind the biped. Dante stepped onto the ledge created by the window and slowly opened it, not wanting to let Twilight know what he was doing. “I guess we’re postponing our meeting with the Princesses, huh?” Dante stepped out of the open window, disappearing as gravity took hold.

“-nd a small region of gryphons in the western part of the city. Well, that’s about all there is to say about Canterlot. What about your country, Dante?” Twilight continued waiting as she waited for the biped’s response. After waiting a few seconds, Twilight said his name once more. “Dante?” She turned her head, as her eyes widened as the sudden and terrifying realization.

Dante wasn’t there. And Celestia had tasked Twilight with bringing Dante to her for dinner and a meeting.

Which meant… Twilight’s brain swirled as she did the mental math. Her jaw lowered as her already large eyes became even larger!

Dante could hear the scream as he landed on the stone ground with no appreciable damage to either him or the stone. He cringed as he looked back up towards the window he just came from and muttered an apology to the purple unicorn. Taking a moment to orient himself, Venus mapped out a rough path for him to take to the signal and Dante began his jog to the origin.
> What's a "Mexican"?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 7

The female unicorn merchant, Morning Glory, eyed the strange biped as it passed by her stall. It had been mere hours since the changeling invasion had suddenly ended, with swarms of the beasts retreating, following multiple explosions from the castle.

Of course, after such a traumatizing event, most everyone is going to by wary of a strange biped that they have never seen walking around like it owns the place. And the strange hunk of material resting in a holster on its hip was a bit suspicious. Possibly violating the law prohibiting the carry of weapons within city limits, but still, as far as Morning Glory knew it could just be a weirdly shaped box. The biped locked eyes with Morning Glory as she quickly attempted to make it look like she was doing something other then staring at him. He raised one of his forearms and help up a paw for Morning Glory, a gesture Glory recognized as a wave. Hesitantly, she raised her own hoof and waved back, as the biped passed by her stall.

Glory shook her head. Surely, especially so soon after a violent invasion, the princesses wouldn’t allow a monster to roam the streets of Canterlot without knowing about it. Besides, the creature seemed like it was supposed to be here, so surely it was.

Dante strolled past the unicorn who just a few seconds prior had been paying extremely close attention to him but now seemed to be caught up in her own thoughts. He had known exactly what the mare was thinking. But he had also been in enough situations to know just acting like everything was normal got you past trouble. And indeed, it did appear to have worked on this mare.

“Venus,”

“Yes, Dante?”

“How’s the direction going?” Dante questioned, as he continued walking the cobbled stones of the city.

“The city itself is a marvel of engineering, especially for such a primitive society. The castle we came from itself is hanging onto the remains of the Celeste, which itself appears to have a rock-like flora growing upon it. The main city that we’re in at the moment appears to be supported from below. I have been able to scan several support columns which appears to be holding the entire city up. Most of the weight is supported by the Celeste.”

“Venus,” Dante rolled his eyes. “I asked for directions, not about the city.”

“Ah, yes, apologies. Hang a left into the upcoming alley. That should put you in what appears to the main city square.”

Dante picked up his pace, wanting to reach the Imperial signal before anyone else got to it. He stepped into a dark alley, several meters long.

“That’s fine Venus. What’s the integrity of the Celeste, I’d rather not stay in this city if it’s about the pull outer hull of the Celeste off and fall.”

Venus was silent for several moments, as she scanned the various important bits and bobs of the Celeste. Dante himself only knew basic ship-making knowledge. So he would have to rely on Venus for the more specific information. 

“Scans are showing no severe metal fatigue that could compromise holding up a several million ton city. But I would advise, when you get the chance and materials, use the onboard fabricators to create some unmanned turrets and cover the support columns with them. They are a very open weak-point.”

“Noted.” Dante replied as he stepped out of the dark alley and into an area that did appear to the city square. It reminded him of the bazaars back in the Middle East… with the exception that various ponies were cleaning up a mess of stalls and buildings. From the changeling attack, Dante reasoned, as he walked past several destroyed stalls.

He whistled in surprise. “Damn, looks like these poor fuckers got hit hard during the attack. Probably looks nicer when it’s not destroyed. Venus, update on the signal.”

“This is as specific as I could get with just a ping. I am starting up the hot/cold trace now.”

One of the modifications the Human had received as a result from his military service was augmented eyes. No longer needing a helmet to access a HUD, this came in handy many times. Such as now, where he was able to see the strength of the incoming wavelength with no helmet.

A hot/cold trace was an extremely old technique, but still useful. Used for when an AI is unable to triangulate the exact position of a signal, either due to spoof signals jamming up the scanners or… well, the lack of satellites in space. As was the case for Dante.

“Oh, great, I love playing Marco Polo.” Dante muttered as he began walking. He knew it had to be in the square, but its specific location was going to be a problem. He assumed it had to be in one of the stalls, so he decided to started there. He walked next to one of the stalls that was sitting on the perimeter of the circle that made up the town square. From there, he would do a loop around the circle and hope that he got lucky it was in one of the outer stalls and not one of the many stalls that made rows upon rows in the remaining space of the circle.

As such, he began walking his circle. He received many rebukes, though he never stopped. Many of these were telling him they weren’t open, a few did try to sell him some items and other just outright ignored him. That was fine. He wasn’t there to buy. He was there to reclaim what was his.

The circle itself only took him a few minutes to make a round of.

He silently cursed to himself. The signal had spiked a tiny bit, but it never got strong at any of the stalls.

Dante looked to the rows of stalls. Sighing to himself, he realized what he needed to do…





“Fuck!” Dante yelled as he kicked an abandoned stall, putting a hole through the wood, as various ponies stopped and hesitantly looked at the angry biped who had just destroyed someone’s property.

Dante began walking through another row, one he had already been down in his fruitless search for his lost technology.

No where. The signal had not spiked significantly anywhere. The fluctuations he was seeing were perfectly normal for a signal. But the device that was releasing these signals seemed to be no where.

“I’m coming back with an excavator and digging this fucking place up.” Dante muttered to himself, as he began walking away. But mere seconds after deciding to give up for the day, a warning popped up on his HUD.

“I suddenly received a transmission from the device. This one much stronger then before. I was able to get an exact ping on it.” Venus informed him.

Dante spun on his heels.

“Where is it?”

“Two rows over, to the right.”

Dropping down a column in the rows, Dante reappeared in the row that Venus had specified. Dante turned his head in both directions, scanning for any Imperial technology that could be releasing the signal. He saw none in the stalls.

“Venus, where is i-” Before Dante could finish, he spotted it. Held in the magical grip of a cloaked and hooded unicorn who was walking away from a pony who was now nursing a bump on its head and sitting on its rump, was something Dante recognized immediately. A long range communications transmitter. And since it was transmitting a signal, it had to still be working.

Wasting no time, Dante began jogging after the pony who had his property.

“Oi, Unicorn. Stop. That’s m-” Once again, Dante was cut off as the cloaked unicorn twisted its body and shot a beam of blue, sparking magic his way.

Hitting the ground as the beam soared to his right, missing him. He rolled behind a stall to his left as he pulled his handgun from his holster, more magical beams impacting the ground where he had been less then a second before.

Dante got to his knees, as the ponies who had been in the market were now scrambling for cover from the murderous unicorn.

Dante aimed from his cover, sending a single shot down range. The 9mm round from the Glock seemed to have its direction changed as it impacted something. The unicorn took the confusion of the market as a chance to escape. The confusion had only been worsened by the loud bang from Dante’s Glock.

“Fuckin’ unicorns!” Dante shouted as he broke from cover, sprinting off after the unicorn. Leaping over some abandoned carts, Dante struggled to keep up with the unicorn. Who now seemed to be going faster then ever.

The pony shot up some stairs as Dante fired more shots at it, hitting the ground where it had previously been. Dante followed up the stairs, taking several of them at once.

“Stop! That’s my fuckin’ property!” Dante yelled as he fired more shots at the fleeing unicorn. He had planned to do this peacefully, but since the unicorn fired at him first he had no problem killing it.

If he could it, that is.

“Motherfucker, I’m gonna kill you when I catch you! Fuck!”

The unicorn seemed to be losing a lot of energy. While it had been able to initially outrun the odd creature, it was also firing bolts of magic while levitating fairly heavy technology it had been ordered to retrieve. Not only that, but it was also dealing with other handicaps in regards to magic.

Still, if the unicorn could make it to the edge of Canterlot, it should be able to get away from the pursuing alien.

The unicorn gulped, hoping the creature didn’t have any wings hidden on it.





Celestia sipped on some of her tea, tapping her hoof against the table, as she waited for Twilight to arrive. To her left Luna sat, a frown on her face, to her right Cadance and Shining Armor were sitting. The rest of the table had the Elements sitting there, save for Twilight. All of them were waiting on Twilight and the alien.

Celestia took another sip from tea.

“Sister?”

“Yes?” Celestia answered, a small grin forming on her face. She knew exactly what Luna was about to say.

“It has been twenty minutes from the time that we were supposed to meet.”

“I am aware.”

“So what if something happened to them?” Luna asked.

Celestia cocked her eyebrow. Remembering the carnage Dante had wreaked upon the Changeling queen and her forces.

“Like what? You saw him in action. I would wager Mr. Jaeger is more then capable of handling himself should any threat pop up.”

Shining Armor decided now to join the conversation.

“Princess, may I ask, we know Mr. Jaeger can handle himself, but what about Twily- er,” Remembering he was speaking to the Two Sisters as he finished the nickname he had for Twilight, Shining Armor cleared his throat and corrected himself. “I mean, Twilight, Princess?”

Celestia smiled. “I am sure she is more then capable of handling herself as well. Your concern for her is admirable, Captain Armor. But she is no longer the little filly you remember her as. Besides, even should something randomly pop up that she can’t handle, Mr. Jaeger is still with her.”

Shining Armor nodded, as everyone at the table looked around. Still waiting for the missing two. Rainbow Dash hovering above her own chair.

“He has two minutes to get here, then I’m going to go look for them.” Rainbow Dash stated. As Applejack rolled her eyes at her friend’s impatience.

“Rainbow, will ya sit down. I’m sure they’re jus’ runnin’ a tiny bit la-” Before Applejack could finish her sentence, the doors to the room slowly opened, a purple aura surrounding them. Twilight walked in, her head down. As she slowly headed to an empty chair. Without looking a single one of them in the face, she took her spot, the alien nowhere to be seen.

“Erhm… Twilight,” Celestia coughed into her hoof, as Twilight kept her head down. “Where’s Dante?”

Twilight slowly looked up, tears brimming in her eyes, choking back sobs.

“I’m sorry, Princess.” As Celestia removed herself from her chai she moved to Twilight.

“Twilight, what’s wrong. Did something happen?” Celestia slipped her hoof over Twilight’s back as she choked out some words.

“Yes, I lost Dante.” Twilight looked up to Celestia, now full-blown crying. “I’m sorry, Princess. I failed you.”

Celestia brought her emotional student in for a hug, making a mental note to not assign her any more responsibilities with him.

“Twilight, it’s okay, really. I’m sure he’s fine. I should have known better, it’s not your fault, he is a bit… eccentric, form what we've seen.”

Several booms sounded in secession, as all the ponies in the room swiveled their ears in the general direction.

Luna flew from her seat, waiting for no one as she took off from the room, through an open window.

Rainbow Dash and Cadance both took off after her, as several of the ponies looked on inshock.

“Dante.” Celestia stated. She looked to the rest of the ponies in the room.

“Go, Twilight and I will join you in just a little while.” Celestia stated as the rest made their way to chase the two alicorns and one pegasi who went out the window.





“You fuckin’ bitch! Stop!” Dante shouted. He had to hand it to this unicorn. It was spritely, fast, and enduring. They had to have already run a mile from their original position, as the unicorn in the lead dashed through alleyway after alleyway in an attempt to lose the biped. But Dante was having none of it. He had chased far faster creatures for far less then stealing an object he needed to get home and then shooting at him.

The marine dropped the now empty magazine in the Glock he had commandeered from a long-dead NPR militant. The unicorn was also able to deflect or avoid his shots. An amazing feat in and of itself

However, it seemed as the chase would soon come to an end. The running pair had reached an extended platform, hanging off the side of the wrecked Celeste.

The unicorn stopped at the edge of the platform, stopped by a short rail.

Dante stopped mid run, leveling his handgun at the unicorn.

“Stop! Give me the long range comms transmitter and I won’t kill you for this shit you’re making me do.” Dante stated.

The unicorn lowered the transmitter so it was obscuring most of the unicorn’s body.

“Shoot and I’ll deflect it so it destroys this.” A voice, very obviously a female voice, sounded.

“Listen, you bitch, I need that to get home. Give it to me now and I’ll forget you trying to kill me back in the market and even pay you for it. Which is more then I would normally do.” Dante stated.

The mare shook her head.

“I can’t. I need this.”

Dante was seething. “That is property of the Imperium of Phoenix! Under the authority granted to me by the Phoenix Legion Marine Corps, this is my final warning. I’m a representative of the Imperium, that transmitter is m-”

“I can’t give it to you.” The unicorn threw the back of her cloak over to one side of her body, revealing a pack strapped to her back, a harness wrapping around her purple body, her face still obscured by hood. A rope levitated into the air from the pack, blue aura that seemed to spark a loop knotted on the end in the air as Dante realized what was happening. Seeing an incoming glint.

“You fuckin’ cunt!” He bellowed in rage as he charged the mare, launching himself in an attempt to tackle her. But she was ripped from the ground at the last second by a gryphon grabbing the levitated loop.

Dante slammed into the ground, no unicorn there to break his fall or for him to grab. He rolled and recovered to a kneeling stance. Taking aim, he dumped the entire mag of the Glock at the unicorn and gryphon. But this was in vain, as all shots were blocked by a shield of the blue magic he was slowly growing to despise.





Luna landed first as she watched the Human launch into a very violent tirade of how he was going to slowly, painfully and methodically remove each and every limb and organ from a unicorn that was being flown away by a gryphon while keeping her alive.

Cadance and Rainbow Dash landed next, as the Human retrieved another black object, smaller then the one on its hip from its pocket and begin firing it in the direction of the retreating pair.

“I’m going to shove a two gauge shotgun up your fuckin’ asshole and fire it, you stupid, worthless cunt! I’m going to take what’s left of your worthless fuckin’ corpse and fuckin’ mount it above my goddamn fireplace!”

Luna cleared her throat, as Cadance and Rainbow Dash cringed at the thought of the aliens threats. However, Luna’s attempt to grab his attention did nothing, as he only continued yelling at the now disappearing over the horizon couple in an alien language, a language assumed to his mother tongue.

She cleared her throat louder. Still nothing.

She took a deep breath.

“MR. JAEGER!” She had not used the Royal Canterlot Voice in quite a while. But it had worked… just not quite the way she had wanted.

“What!” Dante shouted back, his natural yelling voice rivalling Luna’s voice in intensity.

“Can you not fuckin’ see I’m in the middle of being pissed that my only goddamn way off this rock was just taken by an overgrown fuckin’ goddamn chicken and a stupid bitch cunt that can deflect bullets and escaped by using a jury-fuckin’-rigged fuckin’ skyhook!"

Luna shot back.

“What made you think it is acceptable to have running battle in the middle of my city?”

Dante, much to Luna’s surprise did not back down.

“Why? Oh, I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that cock-sucker,” Dante pointed in the general direction of the now no longer visible unicorn and gryphon. “Was in possession of a Krelnash Long Range Communications Transmitter belonging to the Imperium of Phoenix, A-Fuckin’-K-A: My goddamn ticket home. And then when I tried to take it into my custody, she fuckin’ shot magic at me! Why did I have a running gun battle in your city? Where the fuck were your guards to kill the fucker who shot at me? Why am I doing their fucking job?”

“We just had a major attack by changelings!” Luna shot back. “Of course our guards were slow to respond!”

“They still haven’t fuckin’ responded! In either case, not only was she in possession of Imperial property, but she also shot at an agent of the Imperium of Phoenix. Both of which are crimes giving me the authority to chase and arrest her, and if necessary, kill her.”

At this point, Luna and Dante were face to face, noses almost touching the others as both argued.

“This is my country and you have no authority here. I will not have you endangering the people of my city or killing my subjects.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed. “Your city is built on my ship. Therefore, I do have jurisdiction. And I will continue to do what I need to do to get home. And the only one endangering your people was that bitch. I was in no danger of a bullet hitting anyone of them.”

Luna took several steps back, as magic charged on her horn. “If you refuse to stop endangering my subjects, then I will be forced to act.”

Without hesitation, Cadance watched as Dante reached behind his back with his right foreleg, lifting his shirt up and producing yet another black object and leveling it at her aunt.

“Shoot me and I’ll consider it an act of war.” He stated as he leveled it at her.

Cadance had to get involved. She lit up her horn aiming it at Dante.

“Mr. Jaeger,” Cadance began, watching as he leveled another black object he produced from seemingly nowhere at her. How he had seen her start charging her magic, she had no idea. But now he had one of the objects pointed in from of him to Luna and the other pointed slightly behind him at her. ‘I appreciate how you saved us at the wedding, but I can not permit you to harm Aunt Luna.”

“So, we’re at an impasse.” Dante stated. “You all shoot me and I survive, but I kill both of you, guaranteeing a war between the Imperium and… what is this country even called? I never heard anyone say its name.”

“It’s Equestria.” The forgotten Rainbow Dash called from behind the action.

“Thanks, rainbow pony,” Dante called. “We’re all about to start a war. Decharge your horns and I’ll lower my firearms.”

“You lower your “firearms” first and then we’ll decharge our horns.” Luna stated.

“No can do, Blue.” Dante stated. “I fuckin’ hate Mexican stand-offs.”

Cadance didn’t know what a “Mexican” was, but she did notice some weird gaps in his logic.

“Mr. Jaeger,” She started. “You said you would survive this, right?”

“It’s Dante, but yes. I did.”

“Why did you say it so confidently.”

Dante snorted. “I’m immortal. Always have been. Death hasn’t been able to take me yet, a couple of colorful ponies threatening me with magic sure as shit ain’t gonna put me in front of the Pearly Gates.”

“So if you know that what we’re doing isn’t going to kill you, then why are you doing this. If we can’t kill you, then why not just kill us if we were to try and kill you?”

Luna saw a smirk on his face.

“Ah, trying to solve violence with logic. I can respect that. But it’s the principal of the matter. She pulled your equivalent of a gun on me first, so I pulled my gun on you. I’m not the cause of this standoff. She,” Dante made a wave gesture with his gun towards Luna. “Is. So why would I let someone who thinks it’s acceptable to draw a gun, or at least the equivalent form of a gun, during an argument get what she wants?”

It was time for Luna to snort. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

“Ha! Unlike you, dear Blue, my gun has not cleared leather until a violent threat has presented itself. I didn’t draw on that bitch,” Dante gestured with his head in the direction the couple he had been shooting at had gone. “Until she’d shot magic at me. And I didn’t draw on you or Pink over there until y’all drew on me.”

Cadance snorted. Dante was right, they were at an impasse. He wasn’t going to fire until they fired, and they didn’t plan to fire unless he fired. So they were essentially just pointing “firearms” as Dante had called his items and magic at each other for no good reason.

“How about this. On the count of three, I lower my guns and you all decharge your horns.” Dante stated.

“How do we know you won’t just shoot us then?” Luna questioned.

“Because I haven’t shot y’all yet.” Dante replied.

The tension could be cut with a knife, as by now a crowd of ponies had gathered, initially to find the source of the bangs, but now to watch the two princesses stare down the odd creature. A creature rumors had been spreading fast about in the short time he had been out of the castle.

“Hey, Rainbow,” Dante stated to the hovering Rainbow Dash, not aware he had gotten her name correct. “I want you to count to three. Three is when we all will end this Mexican stand-off. I’ll lower my guns and you all decharge your horns. Got it?” Dante asked the two alicorns. Luna reluctantly nodded. Cadance nodded, praying that the creature didn’t renege. She had no reason to believe he was lying, but he was also very obviously violent and had no reservations about resorting to violence. Even against a head of state.”

The entire crowd watched with bated breath. As Rainbow began.

“One.” She said.

Luna and Dante locked eyes. Both of them unhappy with each other. Luna fixed her gaze on him, not used to anyone other then her sister not backing down under her gaze. But their intensity died down, as their eyes seemed to come to a silent understanding.

“Two.” The crowd unconsciously inched closer. Though they feared they were about to watch two princesses be murdered in front of them, they could not turn their heads.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and sighed. She really hoped and prayed she wouldn’t be the countdown to the deaths of the two princesses. She had seen the alien fighting. And given how casually he had acted during the fight with Chrysalis, she fully believed he had the ability to kill the two princesses whose fate now rested on Rainbow’s final count.

“Three.” At once, the two alicorns decharged their horns as Dante lowered both of his handguns to point at the ground.

Cadance let go of a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding, thanking the gods Dante hadn't been lying. 

Luna met Dante’s eyes once more. He had already holstered the firearm he had pointed at Cadance and was holstering the other one as he walked to Luna. He stopped six paces from her.

“I’m afraid relations between our two great nations got started on the wrong foot.” He stated, as he walked closer to her. “Let’s start over. Dante T. Jaeger, General of the Phoenix Legion Marine Corps, Imperium of Phoenix Armed Forces. Just call me Dante. Nice to meet you...” Luna watched as he held a foreleg with a paw out for her.

Luna looked at it hesitantly, but stuck her hoof out, where the paw gripped it and shook. “Princess Luna, Sovereign of the Night and Moon, Diarch of Equestria. It is nice to meet you and we would like to thank your for your assistance in pushing back the changeling invasion.”

As they were done shaking hoof and hand, Celestia landed beside Cadance with Twilight held in her magical grip. Celestia carefully set Twilight down on the ground, who still seemed to be sulking. 

“Did I miss anything, Cadance?” Celestia asked, her voice cheery.

Cadance could only sigh.

“You have no idea, Aunt.”
> End of Watch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 8

To say Celestia was mad would be an understatement. She was fuming mad. But her centuries of diplomatic experience allowed her to mask this anger.

Of course, anyone would be angry at finding out that an alien had attempted to murder one of their subjects over property and then held their little sister and niece in a Minotaur fight.

Something which Dante had just done. The creature she was now personally escorting back to the castle through the streets of Canterlot. And struggling not to yell at him. She took a deep breath and sighed. The rest of the group was behind them, as Dante’s longer stride made his walk naturally faster.

“General Jaeger,” Celestia started, having gone through… well, as proper introductions one can go through after finding out he had threatened Celestia’s little sister and niece. But Dante interrupted her before she could go any further.

“Princess, I prefer Dante.”

“Okay… then, Dante. What made you think it was a good idea to attack one of my subjects?”

Ignoring the stares, the two continued to walk through the streets.

Dante raised a single finger. “First. She attacked me. Okay, let’s get that straight. I don’t just go around randomly clearing leather on random-ass people. She started firing magic at me when I told her to stop so I pulled my sidearm, shot at her and gave chase.”

“So why did you tell her to stop?” Celestia questioned. Dante raised another finger.

“Two, she was in possession of a Krelnash Long Range Communications Transmitter that was property of the Imperium.”

Celestia cocked her eyebrow at the odd alien, a gesture that did not go unnoticed by the alien. However, she decided let it go for now, since he hadn't harmed anypony. 

“It’s a device capable of sending messages, data and info at faster then light speeds… eh… sort of FTL speeds.” Dante waved his hand in front of his face. “It opens a bridge, which is basically bending time and space. The data is still going at light speed, but it’s traversing a far shorter distance then just shooting it directly into space. So this device turns what would normally be a… say, fifty year delay of the info getting to the recipient into near instantaneously. And the great thing is that you don’t need a receiver for it. Any old radio receiver would work. So all I need to make contact with my people is pointing the transmitter in the right direction and sending a message. Then we wait for them to send me one and we go from there.”

At this point Twilight had caught up with the two, always interested in hearing the alien explain his technology.

“Oh? How does it work?” Dante shrugged his shoulders.

“No one’s entirely sure. Well… let me rephrase that. They know how it works, just now why it works. The math is there and they were able to get it working, but they just don’t know why it bends time and space. All I know is, instead of having to wait two years to get in between planets, we get there in less then two years.”

Cadance was the next to catch up, as more eyes from the citizenry of Canterlot turned their eyes to the odd group.

“So, if you do manage to contact th-” Cadance began, but found herself cutoff by Dante.

“Not if, my dear Princess, when. When I get a hold of them.”

“Right… when you make contact with your people, what will happen?”

“Eh,” Dante rubbed the top of his buzzed head. “I’ve already violated a shit-ton of anti-interference laws. So I’ll probably get yelled at by the Fleet Admiral. Then I’ll get yelled at by Doc. Then the Universalis Senatorium will yell at me. As for y’all, probably an offer as a position for a protectorate territory for the Imperium. Y’all are free to reject the offer, but it’s a damned good offer. With the exception of back there, there’s been no major political hiccups and I’m not planning to mention that to anyone who gets here. I’d get my ass ripped by Mitch.”

“And Canterlot?”

“Y’all will be fine.” Dante stated without hesitation. “The worst the Imperium will do is strip the Celeste of any technology they deem dangerous and probably even offer to reinforce the hull or just build you all a new mountain in the entirety and move Canterlot to that mountain”

Twilight cocked her eyebrows.

“The Imperium can do that?”

“Yep. They would detach Canterlot from the Celeste, detroy the Celeste, terraform a new mountain after clearing the wreckage and then reconnect Canterlot.”

Shining Armor was now the one to call out, not quite in the group in the back but not in the front either.

“Are you sure you should be saying all this, General? Some of this stuff seems like things a guard would get in trouble for revealing to a less advanced species.”

Dante waved his hand in Shining Armor’s general direction.

“It’s Dante, Captain, and as I explained earlier to Twilight. Technically, hell no. But in practice, the most they can do is yell at me. There is absolutely not a single sane person in the Imperium who would risk pissing off the Legion. Bringing any action against me would be political suicide. So I’ve got a shit-ton of leeway in comparison to everyone else.”

“General,” Dante rolled his eyes as another one of them called him by his rank despite his insistence that they call him by his name rather then his rank.

“Dante, but yes, Princess Luna?”

“Should we expect you to be able to contact your people soon?” Luna questioned.

Dante frowned at the memory of the unicorn managing to evade him. “Unfortunately, I can not give you an accurate time frame on that. That unicorn back there took the device I need to talk to them. Venus is currently tracking its signal, but it’s pretty far out as is. I’m going to need to get satellites into orbit in order to get an exact position on it. I’ve also got Venus pinging for any other Imperial signals. But I’ll be honest, it was a miracle that transmitter was even on the ship at all. And the fact that it managed to survive to five millennia is even more of a miracle. So that’s basically my only chance of getting home.”

Cadance asked another question.

“You keep mentioning this Venus pony. Who is she?”

Dante grinned. “Seems like a lot of y’all and Twi and share the same curiosities. Birth name:

VNZ06201925. Name I gave her: Venus. Venus, would you care to say hello to the fine ponies out here?”

A disembodied voice sounded. “Hello again, Twilight. Hello, every one else. I am VNZ06201925, also known as Venus.” She paused for a moment, before continuing. “Dante has informed me it is okay to continue with some more sensitive information. I was created by Doctor Krelnash at the Imperial Institute of Combat Sciences. At the time of the Battle for Earth, I was the only true A.I. in existence. I can not say for sure if they discontinued the program I was built under anytime after losing contact with Imperial databanks.”

Twilight looked up towards the biped.

“You said that name again. “Krelnash”? Who is he?”

“Dr. Krelnash is one of the most successful scientists and inventors in the Imperium. With well over a million patents under her name. She is considered the top source in multiple fields of sciences, her sucesses include but are not limited to combat sciences, medical sciences, faster-then-light research, bridge-laying technology which helped the Imperium achieve victory in first Inter-galactic war, creation of the Legionaire Mk. 1 and 2 programs as well as the initial powered armor programs that paved the Imperium’s way to victory in the third and fourth world wars. She is currently the head of Imperial Unconventional Weapons Department, which focuses on creating non-traditional weapons and tactics. She is Dante’s-” Venus was cut off by the mentioned biped.

“Venus. Thank you.” Venus got the point and shut up at that point. But now Cadance was interested in what Dante’s relationship to this Dr. Krelnash was.

“She’s your… what? Dante? Mom? Girlfriend? Wife?” Cadance got a mischievous look on her face. “Friend with benefits?” Celestia snorted, as Luna went wide-eyed at the insinuation. Twilight just wondered what that term was, she had never heard of any type of friendship like that.

Dante raised his nose in the air and took on a fake posh accent. “My dear princess, the mere insinuation that the good Doctor and I are having any flings on the side are an insult to both my name and hers. She is merely a good family friend of the Jaeger’s. And that’s all I have to say about the good Doctor.” Dante dropped the fake accent. “In any case, it looks like we arrived at the castle. Whew, haven’t seen a moated castle with a drawbridge in a while.”

“Did you not see it on your way to the market?” Luna asked as she trotted up to the biped.

“Nah, remember, didn’t Twi tell you? I jumped out a window on the side of the castle. Never saw the front of the castle at all.”

Everyone present with the exception of Celestia and Twilight looked at Dante as though he was insane, talking about jumping out a window with no wings. However, Dante, as has been precedent, ignored these stares as he walked up to the edge of the moat, looking up at the bridge, both hands resting on his hips.

“Anyways, Princess Celestia, any special way to open this up. Like a secret knock, dance, the Truffle Shuffle?” Celestia calmly walked up to Dante’s side while internally questioning just what a “truffle shuffle” was.

“No special tricks, General” Celestia stated, as she charged her horn up.

“It’s Dante.”

“Please step back, General, it would not be good for me to accidentally crush a foreign military officer.”

“Dante.” Dante repeated as he stepped back.

The drawbridge was enveloped in a gold aura, as thunks sounded on the other side. The drawbridge fell, hitting the ground with quite a bit of force, and missing Celestia by mere inches.

“Well...” Dante grinned at he drawbridge. “That works as well, I suppose.” Without waiting for any one to tell him to continue, Dante strolled across the bridge.

Luna and Celestia crossed the bridge slower, as the rest of the group hung up in the rear.

“Sister, shouldn’t we keep a closer eye on him? After all, he is very prone to violence.” Luna questioned Celestia.

“Please, Luna, how could he possibly get in trouble? We’re with him.”

A shout sounded from inside the castle. Celestia rolled her eyes.

“I need to get him a leash and stop talking. Come on, Luna, we should probably stop him before he decides to kill any guards.”





Dante strolled into the entrance hall of the castle. The only thing decorating this hall was a massive staircase… and a large amount of guards who had tensed up at Dante’s arrival. Without thinking about the potential of baring his teeth at a prey species, Dante smiled. For most people, the canines in their mouth would have barely been noticeable. But one of the augmentations he had received due to his participation in the PLMC also had the unintended side effect of making his canines larger. And, to a herbivorous species that has been preyed on in the past by fanged animals, more terrifying.

Dante’s unintentionally predatory smile resulted with the guards forming a protective circle around the bottom of the staircase, their spears raised.

“Halt! No one is allowed in without permission from the Princesses.” The guard in the center, a unicorn, shouted.

Dante approached the spear wall, no fear evident in his eyes. The white guards tensing up even further as he closed the gap and poked the tip of one of the spears.

“How the fuck are you all even holding these things? Actually, better question, who came up with the idea of a spear for y’all? I can understand Humans making them, but ponies only have hooves, no hands. This ain’t natural, y’all.”

The center guard, a white unicorn tensed even further at the creature’s seemingly careless attitude. But to his credit, maintained his voice.

“Sir,” The guard began. “Please step away. We do not wish to fight, but we have direct orders that nopony except essential staff are allowed into the castle while it is being repaired.”

Dante flashed another grin. He questioned whether or not this would be pushing it, but he decided he needed to make a point.

‘Heh. Point’ Dante was indeed a fan of puns.

Dante leveled his throat to the tip of the guard’s spear, angled in such a way that it would avoid his spine and miss his voice box. And then pushed forward on the spear.

All the guard’s eyes in the room widened as the biped forced the spear into his throat. Blood spilling from the wound, staunched by the spear. But the center guard managed to keep his face, with a struggle.

“Not a single one of you has ever killed a single thing before. You don’t have the eyes of a killer.” Dante pointed to the guard whose spear was impaling his throat. He pointed to another stallion to his left. “You don’t have killer eyes. None of you all do. And you’re gonna point a deadly weapon at me and try to tell me to back off?”

The biped locked eyes with the stallion.

“But you,” He let out. “You have the best potential for killer eyes.”

Dante’s grim humor went even further as he began pushing harder on the spear, forcing the tip all the way through his neck. Now the part of the spear his neck was resting on was the wooden shaft.

“If you’re gonna threaten someone with a deadly weapon, you got to be ready to use it, buddy.” Dante locked eyes with the guard whose spear he had co-opted. Several of the guard stallions visibly going green in the muzzle. “I knew you wouldn’t do it willingly, so I decided to help. You’re welcome.”

Dante stopped pushing himself forwards on the spear as a voice sounded from behind.

“General, please stop traumatizing the guards and extricate yourself from the spear, please.” Although it had come out with a please, Dante could easily tell it was meant as an order.

Rolling his eyes, Dante turned away from the guard, easily ripping the spear from his grip.

“Dante. And fine. I’ll stop fucking with the guards.” Dante reached his arm around to his back and gripped the spear, pulling it further through his neck, out the back, tip away from him. Finally, several of the guards lost it, as they choked back up what they had for lunch. The squelching sounds of wood being pushed through a neck too much. After a few seconds of pulling, Dante had reached the end of the spear, he removed it entirely from his body.

Twilight had also raced ahead to be with her teacher, her stomach having seemingly become iron following the wedding incident. She watched with morbid fascination at the grisly scene of the biped pulling a spear through his neck. And she watched with even more fascination as the relatively large wound seemed to heal almost instantaneously. The rest of the group that had been with them finally filtered their way, just as Dante had removed the spear from his neck.

Dante dropped the spear and raised his hands in the air. “In my defense, Princess,” Dante started, a slight mocking tone evident in his voice. “They pointed weapons at me first. You all keep pointing weapons at me. Would you all stop doing that, please? Jesus Christ, learn the definition of de-escalation.”

“General, you are in no way helping with de-escalation.” Luna stated, having also come in a long with her sister.

“Dante. And well maybe if you ponies would stop threatening me with weapons I’d stop reacting. At the very least I didn’t shoot them.”

Luna rolled her eyes at the General’s response, as Celestia shot back in her motherly tone. “In any case, I suppose we got the introductions out of the way. We understand you, but our little ponies are going to be a little less then pleased with you given the fact that you just had a running battle through the city and then threatened two princesses with death.”

Dante waved his hand behind him as he pushed past the now lowered spears of the guards protecting the staircase. “Eh, you’ll figure somethin’ out, Princess. But I have something I need to do.”

Twilight pushed forward from her teacher intending to follow the bipedal alien who seemed to have made himself at home.

“Wait where are you going, Dante!”

The biped made no attempt to turn around or stop.

“I’m going back to my ship to make some satellites to get into orbit to find my fuckin’ radio that cunt stole from.  And then I’m taking stock of all my shit so I can go kill that cunt and get home.”

Most of the entourage blanched at the liberal use of such a crass word, in front of the highest authorities in Equestria, no less. But Twilight had seemingly become immune to Dante’s odd mannerisms. Perhaps it was her scientific curiosity or just her mind becoming used to the odd biped, but she had failed to register his use of a word considered insanely offensive to most ponies.

“Then I’m coming with you!” Twilight shouted, Dante showed no sign of slowing as Twilight trotted to catch up to him, falling at the same pace beside his right side as they walked to wherever it was that they were going.

Shining Armor walked past Cadance, whose mouth was still open from gasping at the biped’s use of the word in casual conversation, Shining Armor rolling his eyes.

“This is why we don’t let generals walk around without a Sergeant Major present. Come on, dear, we’re both tired. Let’s go to bed and we’ll sort out more problems when we’re properly rested.” With no argument Cadance followed the white unicorn up the stairs. Shining Armor stopped the at the guard who had his spear taken by Dante. Glancing at the now blood soaked spear on the ground.

“I’ll have some unicorn cleaners come get that and dispose of it. When you get a chance stop by the armory and have them issue you another one. If they give you any trouble, please point them in my direction.” Shining Armor stated to the guard, who saluted. The unicorn captain continued on his way to get some well-deserved rest.

Celestia glanced to her sister, turning her head to get a better view.

“I must agree with Captain Armor, Luna, will you be okay to see to Night Court by yourself?” Celestia questioned her sister, who merely waved a hoof.

“I shall be fine, sister, please get some rest. We both need it, but I shall take mine in the morning.”

“Thank you, Luna. Guard.” The center guard, now spearless, saluted once more.

“Yes, your highness.” Celestia gestured to the rest of Elements, all of them very obviously tired. “Please show our guests to their rooms. Once they’re all safely there, stop by the armory and get another spear.” Celestia picked up the soaked spear, the weapon being enveloped in a golden aura. “I will dispose of this.” With this statement, the spear was engulfed in flames. Ashes soon falling to the ground.

Without another word, the Princess of the Sun ascended the stairs to make her way to her room, confident that her student would be safe with the general. Despite his… oddness and proclivity for violence he seemed to have formed a fondness for the unicorn in the short time. Perhaps it had been because she was the first one she had come in contact with.

‘Or maybe it’s because she doesn’t address him as general.’ Celestia knew how being addressed by his rank seemed to ignore the biped. But she continued to do it as form of passive-aggressive revenge for threatening her little sister and niece. Even if Luna had started the encounter.

The weaponless guard turned to the remaining Element-bearers. Nodding.

“Please follow me, I will escort you to your rooms.”

The five mares followed behind the stallion, up the stairs. As he led them through several hallways, they got to talking.

“Shouldn’t we be worried about Twilight being alone with that weird alien?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I mean, he did say he would kill Princess Cadance and Princess Luna.”

Applejack rolled her eyes. “We all heard the recount, Rainbow. And Princess Celestia didn’t seem to worry about it, so I think he should be fine.”

Before anyone could say anything, Pinkie Pie appeared on Applejack’s back, shouting.

“Yeah! Besides! He’s General Dante T. Jaeger. Hero of the Imperium of Phoenix, Slayer of the Tyrant Queen Olephus, Protector of the Innocent! He wouldn’t hurt Twilight unless she did something first!”

Everyone, including the guard stopped and stared at Pinkie Pie.

“Uh, Pinkie, dear. Are you sure about anything you just said. I’m afraid I do not remember General Jaeger stating anything beyond his rank.” Rarity questioned the pink earth mare’s out burst. Pinkie Pie, in response merely put her hoof under her chin, seeming to be in deep thought.

“It was in his bio!” She responded! “He’s also known as the Horseman of Death!”

“What?” Rainbow Dash took her turn to question the seemingly insane mare.

“Oh! Silly! The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are part of Judaeo-Christian mythos that states the apocalypse has come when Four Horsemen ride upon the Earth! The four horsemen are Death, Famine, War and Pestilence! In modern culture, this mythos is often used to describe extremely important figures in a government or military. In this case Dante is considered the Horseman of Death by his enemies. Which are numerous, but this delves even farther into Imperial politics, such as the Legion’s final push at the Mile of Darkness, where the remaining military forces of the Imperium offensively st-” Pinkie Pie’s rant was cut off by Applejack pulling her off her back and putting a hoof to her mouth.

“Pinkie Pie, not a single one of us here understood a single thing you just said.” Applejack bluntly stated.

Pinkie Pie’s response was merely a large smile. Bouncing up and down, the pink mare shouted.

“My friend Keith told me all about it!” Pinkie Pie pointed to her left, seemingly at somepony who was supposed to be there. “Tell them about Dante, Keith!” Silence reigned, as every pony in the hallway stared at the spot.

“See! That’s what I’m trying to tell them! But they won’t believe me!” Pinkie Pie stated to this alleged “Keith”.

“Um… Pinkie… there’s… uh… there’s nopony there” Fluttershy meekly informed, her friend’s jaw dropping

“How dare you, Fluttershy!” The yellow pegasus shied away from the shout “Keith is there! He’s right there! He’s waving to you, right now!” She pointed to the empty spot once more, still with no “Keith” occupying it.

Applejack shook her head, turning to the royal guard. Smiling, she apologized to the guard.

“I’m sorry, ‘fraid my frien’ here is jus’ tired. She get’s a bit more… crazy when she’s tired. We can continue on now, ‘pologies, again.” The guard merely nodded his head and continued on.

The five mares followed him once more, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie arguing over the existence of “Keith”.





“Venus, give me status on our power situation.” Dante stated, as he stepped out of the castle and into the wreck of the ship that was serving as a mountain. A purple unicorn following right behind him.

“No appreciable drop in the remaining power we’ve had over the past five millenia. Most systems are still powered.” The AI answered.

The biped turned to Twilight, raising a single finger.

“Listen, Twilight, look but don’t touch. I don’t want you setting anything off or dumping my fuel reserves. If you’re interested in something, ask. And if it isn’t dangerous or important, I’ll let you touch it. Okay?” The purple unicorn nodded her head.

Dante patted her head, which barely came up to his waist.

“Great. First, I need blue prints.” The biped walked over to a table and swiped his hand over it. Various projections appeared as he began manipulating them. Twilight walking up to the table and watching as various pictures and alien text began appearing.

“So… what is this?” She questioned. Dante, without looking down answered.

“It’s a computer. It’s connected to the mainframe of the ship and allows me access to their archives. Right now, I’m looking to see if they happen to have any blueprints of long range comms, however...”

The biped didn’t finish his sentence, prompting Twilight to give his leg a nudge.

“However what, Dante?”

“Damn… The Krelnash comms transmitter is one of the most closely guarded secrets the Imperium has. They have a single contract with a single company dedicated solely to building it. And anyone who even wants to step foot onto the property that contains the building that makes the transmitter has to have a beyond top secret clearance and has to be listed as relevant to the program. Not even I could get onto the property… well… not without killing some people… and I suppose I could probably twist a couple of arms…”

“So if they’re so zealously guarded, then how did one end up here?”

“Venus, save this schematic.” Dante stated, as one of the designs disappeared from the screen. “The sale of the long range comms are strictly vetted. They’re fitted to military ships that can travel through bridges. Civilian transport companies can also get a hold of them, but they have to have every single transmitter they own guarded by at least two armed agents 24/7. Same thing goes for telecommunications companies. They can get them, but the Imperium has to approve the sale. And it’s not really even so much a sale as it is a rental. The Imperium claims ownership of all Krelnash transmitters and can repossess a unit at any time for whatever reason. But we have lost a few, either from the NPR taking over ships fitted with or successful raids on installations with them. And guess what… that was the only transmitter on this ship. Venus, save this schematic as well.” Dante turned to the purple unicorn, holding his hand, palm up, out to Twilight.

“I downloaded the schematics for a short range transceiver and for data satellites. The fabricator will take care of the more complicated work, but I need raw materials in order to use it.” Equestrian text popped up above the held out palm, as Twilight oohed at the seeming magic.

“This is a hologram, there’s tech implanted in my skin to allow me to do this.” Dante explained. “I need to know where I can find this stuff. Venus translated it from my language to yours with the closest equivalent word. Twilight examined the list.

“Well, gold and copper won’t be an issue. We have a lot of mines dedicated to those metals and I’m sure Princess Celestia would be more then happy to give you some if its to get you home. But…” Twilight raised a foreleg to her mouth as she thought, Dante waiting in patience. “Silver is going to be an issue.”

“How so?” Dante questioned.

“Well, it’s far more common then gold is, but it seems to inherently attract diamond dogs. And as such, all of the mines we used to have for it are currently overrun by them. Due to its scarcity, we will have a problem with it.”

Dante cocked one of his eyebrows. “Diamond Dogs?”

Twilight nodded her head. “Yes, Diamond Dogs. They’re attracted to shiny things in general but silver seems to drive them mad in their desire for it. They dig for gems and diamonds, but also silver. Due to their desire for the metal, they also extensively use slave labor.”

She noticed Dante’s eye seemingly twitch at the mention of slave labor.

“And your princesses haven’t put a stop to them?” Dante questioned, an edge evident in his voice. Twilight decided now was a good time to run damage control.

“They have! Or at least, they’ve tried to! But the problem with Diamond Dogs is that they stick to caves and dim tunnels, to royal guard regiments who are sent to arrest them are usually fought back. Occasionally a raid or two is successful, but they’re fighting the dogs in an area that they’ve adapted for. The dogs have a...” Twilight faltered, searching for the best way to finish the sentence.

“A home advantage.” Dante finished for her, the purple unicorn nodding her head.

“Alright, are there any of these silver mines near here? I might as well kill two birds with one stone.” Dante stated, Twilight not entirely sure what he meant. Why would he want to kill two birds?

Twilight racked her brain, until she remembered one of the most recent ones she had heard about.

“Yes, a private venture tried to open up another one a few years back. But they were run out of the mines by Diamond Dogs not long after getting it up and running. It’s to the southwest of Ponyville.”

Dante nodded. “I have no idea where the hell Ponyville is.”

“Uh… the library would most likely have a map of Equestria.” Dante nodded once more.

“Alright, go get the map and meet me back here. This is now our War Room. Operation Shining Freedom is now a go.” Twilight looked at Dante, a blank stare on her face. Dante sighed.

“Listen, Twilight, there’s a reason I had other people name operations for me. I’m a grunt, not a POG.” Twilight once more looked at him, a confused look on her face now. Dante pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing.

“Look, Twilight, I will explain military jargon to you later, just… please go get the map.” Twilight nodded and trotted out the door. Dante headed watched as she left, waiting for her to leave the ship properly.

When she had left, Dante moved from his spot, heading down a hallway. There was an armory calling his name, filled with rows upon rows of weapons. All designed to slaughter enemies with insane efficiencies.

Oh, how Dante despised slavers.





In a normally quiet neighborhood sat a brick house. The normally empty driveway now filled with cars, of people whose homes had been destroyed just days before.

Lakia sat on the couch in living room, tears flowing from her eyes, as her father, Aabid Harb, hugged her, tightly. He was holding back tears It was an uncommon sight for the packed living room. The man a former Afghan general who had led the defense of Kabul before its fall to ISIS forces in 2018. Indeed he had witnessed many men die in battle. But this situation hit him particularly hard. It hit everyone in the Harb family quite hard.

“Six-Sierra-8480… Six-Sierra-8480… Negative contact, all units standby...” The female voice from the television came. The news station playing, as beeping sounded from the radio being used to the broadcast the call. Aabid’s no longer holding back his tears, as they flowed freely from his eyes. In fact, no one in the room had dry eyes anymore.

“This is the final call for Officer Muhammad Harb… Badge number 8480. Officer Harb was fatally wounded on September seventh, 2035 while answering the call of duty in aiding in the defense of Earth.” The radio operator’s voice was cracking, as she attempted to keep is straight. But anyone listening could hear it. She herself had also began to tear up. “He served Los Angeles with courage and valor, and the LAPD and Humanity is forever grateful and proud of Officer Harb in his stand for his home, for his brother and sisters, selflessly, paying the ultimate price. Officer Harb, may your soul rest in peace knowing that your death was not in vain and your family, both blood and in spirit, are eternally gateful. You are an example of honor and courage that Humanity will look to for years to come. You join the countless others who stood in honor and courage that day, you stand with heroes, the honored dead. 8480. End of Watch: September Seventh, 2035, 16:45.”

The voice ended her brother’s final call, Lakia’s chest struggling with breathing, as everyone in the room sobbed.

No one said a word, everyone was mourning his death.

Lakia removed herself form her crying father’s arms, her chest heaving from the sobs, as she made her wayto the front door.

Stepping onto the front porch, she leaned on railing to support herself as she began hevaing. Various chunks of partially digested food hit the ground, mixed in with tears. A hand began rubbing her back.

Lakia looked up, seeing a woman.

“Ashley,” Lakia choked through sobs. “What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be,” Lakia choked back another sob. “Shouldn’t you be in DC with Michael?”

The woman, named Ashley, pulled Lakia in for a hug.

“I couldn’t leave my daughter to mourn her brother or her husband alone.” Her voice lowered.

“I’m sorry, Lakia, about Muhammad and Dante.” At the mention of the two’s names, her sobbing increased. Ashley continued to gently stroke the sobbing woman’s head.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” Lakia had buried her head into Ashley’s shoulder at this point, the woman being a fair bit taller then her.

More sobs continued to rack her.

“How...” Lakia’s voice muffled, fighting through her sobs. “How… how could I lose both of them on the same day?” Ashley had no answer to this, as the woman continued to sob. “What did I do?”

Lakia continued to sob for minutes, as all Ashley could do to comfort the young woman was stroke her head.

The sobbing slowly died down, as all that was left was sniffles.

“Ashley,” Lakia began.

“Yes.” She answered, her voice still low, motherly.

“Can I tell you something?”

“You can tell me anything.”

Lakia shifted her head, so it was no longer buried in the shoulder of the other woman.

“I didn’t get to tell Dante this, and I regret it. So far, you’ll be the only one who knows. A few hours before the attack began, I took a… pregnancy test.” Lakia’s voice petered off at the end, but Ashley knew exactly what she was trying to say.

“And it came back positive.” Ashley finished for the mourning woman.

“I’m certain Dante would have been ecstatic at the news.”

“But what if the news had made him be less reckless? What if I had just pushed harder, to tell him? What if he thought he had more the protect then just me? Maybe he wouldn’t have found some other way to stop the explosion.”

“The outcome would have been the same.” Ashley bluntly stated. She knew that allowing Lakia to blame herself would lead to worse outcomes. “Dante did what he did to protect you. If he had known he had a child to protect, he would have been far more reckless. He’s lost so many children in his life that he would have done absolutely anything to protect this one. You not telling him did not do anything. You can’t blame him for his death. And I promise you, if he was here he would be telling you the exact same thing. He wouldn’t want you wallowing in depression at the idea that you killed him. He  gave his own life out of his love for you. Out of his sense of duty. Out of a promise to his mother. You are not, and never will be the cause of his death. I know that and Dante knows that. And Dante would be racked with guilt if he found out you were blaming yourself for him choosing your life over his.”

Lakia looked down, as Ashley squeezed the hug a little tighter.

“Now, come on. The President just finished his speech. Michael’s about to speak.” Ashley moved form the hug and took Lakia’s hand and pulled her into the living room.

The sobbing had died down to nothing more then sniffles. Lakia watched the television, as the president of the United States moved away from the podium, another man moving to take his place. Lakia recognized this man, middle aged, caucasian looking. TO his right, various Humans in suits stood silently, the Secret Service agents for the president. To his left, various armored men, all of them wearing the same black armor that Lakia knew to be PLMC armor.

The man raised his hand in a hello. “Hello, people of Earth.” The man lowered his hand. “I am Fleet Admiral Michael Krelnash, former president of the Imperium of Phoenix.” He paused as he looked across the crowd, silence.

“I represent the Imperium of Phoenix, an inter-galactic country. We are not interested in war and violence, but peace. But, as the Human author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus once said: Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you wish for peace, prepare for war. And you, Humanity, did an amazing thing.”

Michael once again paused. The crowd silent. “Despite taking massive casualties, Humanity refused to roll over and submit to the tyrants and war criminals in the New Phoenix Republic. In the first few hours, Humanity sent a very clear message to those bastards!”

Michael’s hands were gesturing now, finger pointing and hand slamming on the podium. “You all have done something no other people have done when faced with the overwhelming might of Imperial technology! You all said: “If you want this planet, then you will have to kill us for it.” You all stood your ground. Thousands of police officers joined thousands of soldiers and marines who fought to defend Los Angeles despite the armor and weapons Humanity fields and wields being inferior to anything the NPR had access to. Your F-22 pilots zealously fought to their deaths against aircraft with shields, capable of intergalactic travel! Your naval ships went down with their guns blazing. One of them, I have heard the USS Enterprise, on her last legs, rammed an NPR battleship, disabling it. That is, in and of it self, amazing. These ships you all fought were Imperial technology, and not a single species besides Phoenix has managed a disabling hit on an Imperial ship since the first Intergalactic War. You mourn, now! I understand! But Humanity also has a right to be proud! You all stood in defiance against odds completely stacked against you! With pride and defiance, rat struck the cat with all its might.”

Once again, a pause. But this time the crowd had erupted into an applause, as the flags of several nation were proudly waved through the air.

Michael waited for the applause to die down before continuing.

“The Imperium is now friends with Humanity! And trust me! The deaths of your people, the deaths of billions of Humans! They will not go with out payback! We will hunt the people responsible for this senseless, unnecessary, violent and brutal attack down! Their military will be destroyed! We will wipe them from the annals of history!”

Even more applause as Michael paused.

“I have received a request from one the officers under my command to speak, and I have allowed it. Colonel Kallen Y. Refner.” With this, Michael moved to the right of the podium, allowing a fully armored man to step up to it from the crowd of other PLMC troops.

The man stood at the podium, reached up and removed his helmet. Revealing a bald head with black skin. A man appearing to middle aged, African stood tall. He gently placed the helmet on the podium.

“Hello.” He spoke, his voice was deep. “I am Colonel Kallen Y. Refner. Second in command of the Phoenix Legion Marine Corps. Who were the first Imperial units in contact with Humanity following the NPR’s attack on Earth. I would like to echo Fleet Admiral’s pride for Humanity. But I’d also like to to tell you about a friend who had been on the ground here. He was a great man, who had served the Imperium faithfully, despite having no ties to it. When he first came in, I was not a Legionnaire but was with Imperial External Intelligence Agency. I helped track him down for the PLMC.  He was as Human as everyone standing in this square. He was born on Earth and was raised on Earth. General Dante T. Jaeger, call sign Poet 1-5 Actual served the PLMC and led them without fear, both as a lieutenant at the Mile of Darkness, where five hundred legionnaires stormed Hadrian’s beach to oppose the occupying government of Queen Olephus. He was the only one to walk away from that, becoming general of the PLMC by virtue of being the only Legionnaire left.” Kallen chuckled, as the crowd followed his cue. “He was a good man, a great friend and an amazing general. He lead the Legion to what we are now. There was a time where the Legion consisted of a single man, him. But he rebuilt the Legion. He trained me and hundreds of others how to be Legionnaires. He led honorably, much like his friend, General Durendal. Who died during the fighting to retake the Imperium.”

A pause once more.

“Dante forced his way onto an NPR jet and boarded the Celeste, alone. A ship that had been mutinied during the first Imperial-NPR war. From there, he fought his way to the bridge and found information of a super weapon on the ship. Realizing that leaving it there would lead to the complete destruction of Humanity, as it had been armed by the NPR, he piloted the Celeste into an open bridge and collapsed it behind him, dampening the explosion and saving Earth. From the time he opened the bridge to it detonating, he had less then ten seconds. Had it not been for Dante… none of use would be here speaking.”

A silence descended over the crowd, as news of just how close to being destroyed they all had come dawned upon them.

“He has not been recognized so far, either by Imperial news or Human news. I am here to rectify that. Similar to your police, the Legion has a similar tradition to the final call.” Kallen held his left forearm up as though was looking at a wrist watch and spoke.

“Poet 1-5 Actual… Poet 1-5 Actual… Poet 1-5 Actual this is Gryphon 1-4 Actual… Negative contact on Poet 1-5 Actual, all Legion units standby...”

Both Lakia and Ashley knew Legionaries were supposed to be fearless and heartless soldiers. But both of them heard the slight cracking in Kallen’s voice and a tear forming at the side of his eyes. Lakia herself had also began to cry once more.

“All Legion units, Poet 1-5 Actual is down, I repeat, Poet 1-5 Actual is down.  Gryphon 1-4 Actual assuming command.” At this moment, the crowd of PLMC troops behind Kallen snapped to attention, saluting the now General Refner, whose voice was threatening to crack.

However he was not yet done.

“Poet 1-5… we will rendezvous one day, wait for us before you kick down the gates of Hell.”

With this final line, the crowd burst into cheers. No one was entirely sure why. Most of them didn’t even know what this General Jaeger looked like. Perhaps it was General Refner’s conviction as he delivered the final line. Or perhaps it was something else. But flags of many nations were flying, and someone had produced the flag of the Imperium, Ashley noted. Kallen replaced his helmet on his head and turned to the crowd of still saluting PLMC troops, lifting his own salute, and then lowering it, the troops following his lead and returning to their rest stance.

Ashley looked down the sobbing woman, who had reburied her head in Ashley’s shoulder during the speech.

Losing a husband is one thing, Ashley knew, but losing a husband when you’re pregnant is an entirely different thing. And not something Ashley knew how to comfort.

Lakia herself, though, had doubts. The IoP had declared Dante dead, but from something as simple as that superweapon? He had fought the physical manifestation of the Void to a standstill, surely…

Surely he was still alive...
> We Still Haven't Found The Bloody Room!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 9

“You got the map?” Dante questioned the purple unicorn entering the room, as he finished loading a shotgun magazine tube. He pumped the action, putting a round into the chamber and then topped off the magazine with one more round.

Twilight nodded, levitating the furled map to the table that she had also learned doubled as a computer. She laid on the table as the biped took a hold of it and unfurled the parchment. Twilight watched as laid his firearm on one side of the table to hold down one of side of the paper and produced another object, a smaller firearm and used it as a paperweight as well, holding down the other side.

Twilight glanced around the room, noticing various firearms in various states of obvious disassembly, and crates full of gold pointed objects. Dante must have noticed the unicorn’s confusion to the alien technology, as he clarified.

“I’m cleaning and getting them ready for use. The gold stuff is ammunition. I’ll have to explain firearms a bit more when I get a chance but it uses chemistry to propel a projectile down the barrel and towards a target. Ballistic firearms are pretty popular in my empire because they pack more of a punch and hit armored targets harder then plasma or laser weapons do.” Twilight nodded her head.

‘So they throw small spears?’ She thought to herself.

Dante examined the map Twilight had produced. Equestria was a pretty odd landmass, he had to admit. Surrounded by two oceans and a sea that filtered out to another ocean. The map was also very stylized. “Okay, Sparkle, show me where the mine is. I’m assuming this map isn’t to scale.”

Twilight nodded her head. “It is not to scale, but this is the official map made by Royal cartographers for the general public. It’s typically only used for rough guidance.” Twilight pointed to an area of the map showing an area that appeared to be a city, or rather… a village, given how small it is.

“This is Ponyville. It’s where most of my friends are from and where I’m currently a resident of. You’ll take the train down there. Once you’re in the town, follow the tracks to where they meet Ghastly Gorge.” Twilight pointed to a chasm. “And avoid Everfree Forest, no matter what. It is one of the most dangerous places in Equestria.”

Dante rolled his eyes. “How is it dangerous, Twilight?”

Twilight reared onto her rear hooves, flailing her forelegs around. “The weather moves by itself there! That’s completely unnatural! And then there’s the animals!” Dante fixed her with a blank stare.

“The weather controls itself? The hell’s weird about that, Twilight?” Twilight looked at himself with a shocked gasp.

“Weather shouldn’t crontrol itself, Dante! Do you know what happened the last time pegasi and gryphons lost control of the weather? Wendigos! That’s what happened!” Dante chuckled and patted her on the head.

“Boy, you’d hate my home, then. No one controls the weather at all. If it rains, it rains. If it’s hot as shit out, it’s hot as shit. In any case, you were telling me to how to get to these mines.”

Twilight cleared her throat form her previous outburst, and continued. “Er… yes. Once you reach Ghastly Gorge, it should be a simple matter of combing the forest to the North of the Gorge for the mine.”

Dante fixed his eyes with Twilight’s. “Twilight… you want me to walk around the a forest for hours hoping to find a door to a mine that has been overrun by a hostile slaver force? A door that, may I remind you, is going to be relatively small.”

Twilight’s ears drooped, and her eyes lowered, tail lowering between her legs..

“Y… ye-” Twilight’s response was cut off.

“Eh, not the worst thing I’ve done.” Twilight, recovering from the shock of the terrifying stare whose intensity had matched that of Fluttershy’s looked back up at the biped, who was now snickering.

“You should have seen the look on your face, Twilight. It was like I was scolding a puppy for making a mess in the house.” Twilight’s expression became one of anger.

“That wasn’t funny!” She shouted.

“Yes it was.” Dante responded, putting his hand on top of her head once more. “Anyways., I’m not taking a train to where I need to go.”

“You aren’t?” Twilight questioned the biped, how else was he planning to get there. Ponyville was quite far away and walking there would take days, even if you never stopped to rest.

“Nah, come on. Follow me.”

Without another word Dante began walking. Twilight hurried to follow, observing the biped’s odd gait. Most bipeds in Equestria were oddly proportioned. Their upper bodies significantly larger then their lower bodies. But Dante’s body, Twilight noted, was more or less proportional in size. And his gait looked sort of like he was falling forward before his other leg caught him. His forelegs swinging to balance.

Twilight watched as he entered another door and onto a rather large. He gestured for her to follow.

She entered the door hesitantly.

“Venus, vehicle bay.” Twilight could feel the platform descending.

“This is a lift. Or an elevator. Really, they’re interchangeable. Brits and Aussies call them lifts. Americans call them elevators.”

“What’s an “Aussie”” Twilight questioned.

“It’s an upside down Human.” Twilight watched as the biped chuckled to himself, assuming it was a joke… but maybe it wasn’t. Twilight was never entirely sure with this biped.

The door opened, as Dante stepped out. He held his hand out in a gesture, the same way a colt would hold his hoof out to proudly show his toys off.

“The… vehicle bay!” He announced.

Twilight glanced around the rather large hanger like area. As various metal constructs sat in it. Some were significantly larger then Dante and some were a bit smaller then he.

“In here, we have helos, jets, cars, trucks, motorcycles. The NPR was known for running undercover operations in IoP and Human territory so they took a bunch of Human vehicles and retrofitted them with Imperial tech. Like reactors instead of combustion engines.”

Dante walked over to one of the metal constructs and opened a door.

“This...” Dante searched around the interior for a few seconds, his body bent over as Twilight examined the metal… thing. “Is a Ford Raptor, 2023. That’s, uh… Gregorian calendar. Four wheel drive and this one has been beefed up and up-armored using Imperial tech… And there’s no fucking keys!” Twilight jumped as Dante slammed the door close and raised his voice.

“Come on, Twilight. Check all the pockets of these fuckin’ assholes. One of them probably has the keys.” Dante kneeled down as he started rifling through the pockets of one of the skeletons, apparently the same species as he.

“Uh… I think I’ll leave it to you. I’m not exactly comfortable… grave robbing.”

“Twilight… these people would have shot you to death without thinking twice about it. They killed billions of my people by bombing Earth. Not only that, they’ve been dead for five millennia. So A.) They deserve it. And B.) They’re literally just bones at this point.” To drive his point home, Dante crushed the skull of the skeleton he was looting. Twilight merely cringed and looked away.

“Alright, fine, I’ll dig through the couple of hundred skeletons down here Twilight, it may take a couple of hours, though.”

Twilight looked back at the biped. “And how would one other pony help you?”

Dante looked up from the remains he was looting. “You could grab a couple dozen of’em in your magic, turn them upside down and… like… shake the shit out of their pockets.” Dante waved both arms and up down. “You know, like you’re looking through a jacket or a pair of pants for keys or a gun that you forgot where they were. And instead of sticking your hands into each one of the pockets, you hold them upside down and shake.” Twilight fixed her eyes with his and gave him a blank stare.

Dante raised his hands in a surrender gesture. “Alright, alright. I’ll find them myself. You just sit there and do… well, whatever it is magical, colorful ponies do while their alien companion loots five-millennia old skeletons looking for keys to a five millennia old truck.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and moved to inspect one of the “trucks” in the bay, as Dante returned to his looting.





Celestia gently lowered herself into her bed, levitating her regalia onto a stand and kicking her shoes off. The blankets levitating onto her body, as she welcomed the encompassing warmth of her blankets.

Still she could not immediately fall asleep, like she assumed she would, given the fact that she used up quite a bit of energy today. Not just fighting Queen Chrysalis, but also dealing with the mess the alien guest had made… well, not quite dealt with them. She decided to deal with it tomorrow, when she wasn’t as ragged as she was now.

She was also worried about Twilight. She was fairly confident her charge was safe in the custody of the alien, he had so far made no violent moves against Twilight, and had seemed to take to the bookworm a bit more warmly then everypony else, so far. So surely she had to be safe with him… right?





“Ah!” Twilight screamed as a bang went off, her magic still gripping onto the handgun she had picked up from the ground, just slightly under a car and idly started examining. Which, of course, resulted in her pulling the trigger.

Before she could react any further, it was ripped from her purple aura as she received a light smack on the nose.

“Damnit Twilight, I told you not to fuck with anything without asking me before hand.” Dante, with practiced ease, dropped the magazine into his hand and deposited it into his pocket. He racked the slide and caught the chambered round in his hand, dropping that into his pocket as well. He examined the chamber to ensure it was clear and dropped the slide. He tucked the now empty gun into his waistband and started walking back to the skeleton he had been searching before Twilight decided it was a good idea to screw with alien technology.

Twilight was now nursing her snout, that Dante had smacked in such a way one might smack a misbehaving dog. Not hard, but enough force to make it think about what it was doing. Her ears were still ringing and she had missed the verbal scolding Dante had given her.

“That hurt, Dante!” She screamed, although to her it was still muffled.

“It hurt less then what would have happened if you’d been pointing the barrel at your face.” He turned to her once more, pointing his finger at her.

“Do. Not. Touch. Anything. Else. Without asking me first. I would have gladly cleared it for you so you didn’t nearly kill yourself!”

His voice lowered, as he sighed.

“How’s your hearing?” He asked.

Twilight’s eyes lowered, as she put her head down once more.

“It’s a bit better, but there’s still a loud ringing.”

“It’ll subside soon.” Dante smiled as he felt something in the skeleton’s pocket. “In any case, I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Sorry, what was that?” Twilight shouted, apparently the ringing was a bit louder then Dante had thought.

“I said: I’ll get a doc-bot to give you some nanitic steroids to prevent the onset of Tinnitus.”

“I have no clue what those are but thank you, I suppose...” Dante rolled his eyes.

‘Ponies, man. I don’t think even I was this clumsy when I first came into contact with aliens.’ He thought to himself as he rifled through the pockets of the long dead NPR trooper.





Luna had ordered the guards to allow petitioners into the castle for Night Court. She doubted many would come, but she had the same authority as Celestia did. So depending on the case, the petitioner may have better luck appealing to the Lunar Princess then to Solar Princess. Still, very few ponies ever came, despite the court being open for three hours.

However, this situation was unexpected. A crowd of ponies were… well, crowded in front her throne, all of them asking for clarification, assurances of safety, and explanations.

“Please, my subjects, quiet down.” Luna pleaded with the crowd, hoping they would do so. She had been told by Celestia to tone down her use of the Royal Canterlot Voice, and she was trying her hardest to avoid using it.

“Please, I will answer your questions, but it must be in an orderly fashion.” Once again Luna’s pleas were drowned out by the raging crowd. Her infamously short temper already made even shorter then normal due to sleepiness and the fact that she still held onto the older traditions. Such as subjects immediately quietening when she spoke.

As such, she lost her temper.

“SILENCE. I WILL ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS, BUT IT WILL BE DONE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION OR I WILL HAVE YOU IMPRISONED.”

The shout pushed several ponies back, as the manes of the entire crowd were slicked back from the force.

Silence reigned the room for several seconds, before one of the ponies worked up the nerve. She forced her way out of the crowd.

The unicorn mare, with a yellow coat and blue mane and tail, her cutiemark a hat with a piece of paper tucked into it, bowed to Luna before beginning.

Levitating a notepad and pen, she began. “Princess Luna my name is… well, my pen-name is Muck-Raker, if knowing my pen-name is enough, your highness.”

“It is, Muck-Raker.” Luna nodded. “Now, please continue.”

“I have just a few questions for you. Is it true that an unknown creature engaged in a running magic battle with a unicorn in the streets of Canterlot today?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, I can confirm this incident did occur.” The princess left out the fact that it was a mix of magic and alien technology.

The mare scribbled some notes down. “Is it also true that your highness along with Princess Mi Amore Cadenza challenged the creature, at which point it threatened to kill both of you?”

“It was a… cultural misunderstanding and was resolved soon afterwards.” Once more, the mare scribbled notes.

“Witnesses report seeing the unknown creature walking and conversing with your highness, Princess Celestia, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Captain Armor and six other ponies. Is the Diarchy currently aware of the whereabouts of this creature?”

“We are, and we currently have a… trusted advisor keeping an eye on him.”

The mare nodded and wrote down some more notes. “One last question, your highness, that is if you have time for it.” Luna nodded, giving the mare the okay to continue. “Is this creature a danger to ponies?”

Before Luna could respond, the mare continued. “According to witnesses to the running magic battle, he shouted various threats at the unicorn he attacked. He then refused to back down when confronted with two princess, your highness and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Witnesses who were also present at the wedding when the changelings attacked report the creature as slaughtering them wholesale, denting marble itself and crushing them with seemingly no effort. He was reported as deflecting a magical attack from Queen Chrysalis away, who was reported to have defeated your highness as well as Princess Celestia, as well as the combined magic of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain Armor and then scaling the walls, stallion-handling the cocoons your highness and Princess Celestia had been forced into and tearing open with his bare hooves the material the Queen had cocooned your highness in.”

Silence once more reigned in the room as the ponies gathered took in this information. The unicorn held her head higher. “Your Highness, can the Diarchy guarantee our safety when it seems to be unable to stop even a simple biped who will jump to lethal actions seemingly with little push.”

Luna sighed, as she she lowered her head. “Muck-Raker, was it?” The unicorn, at the mention of her name, lowered her head, realizing she was now confronting royalty.

“Yes, your highness.”

Luna raised her head. “Muck-raker, I can not guarantee you anything. But I can tell you this. So far, every… being that has been killed by the creature’s hooves so far have only been killed after provocation. He has not yet resorted to violence until he himself has been threatened. I have confidence that he will not resort to violence unless it is in response to being met with violence. He has also shown a large amount of self-control in not pursuing the Changelings during their retreat, something I believe would be perfectly acceptable in his culture. And I will admit that the confrontation between Princess Cadance, the Gen-… er, the creature and me was caused by… me. But he is not a threat in general to ponies. He has been generally cooperative with us.”

Before anyone could respond, Luna stood from her throne walking towards the group.

“I’m afraid I am cutting the court short. I have… sensitive matters to attend to. Guards, please escort the crowd out of the castle. We will have a meeting with more information in just a few days.” Several lunar guard formed a half circle around the crowd, escorting them from the throne room.

As the doors closed behind the guards, Luna allowed herself to relax slight, slumping her shoulders. She lit up her horn, using the spell she uses to see dreams. She smiled as she found the one she was looking for. It was the only one she didn’t recognize.

The remaining guard’s did not change expressions as their princess disappeared in a flash of light.





Luna landed on a beach. The skies overcast, gray, the sun not out. Luna lifted a hoof… or, at least, she was supposed to be, but instead what she held up to her eyes was a hand.

With no control over her body, she propelled her body into a divot in the ground as the world exploded around her.

“Poet 1-5 Actual, how copy?” A voice cracked to life through her ears as Luna struggled to figure out where it was coming from. She had never been in a dream like this. She noticed text running through her sight from seemingly out of nowhere.

She moved her mouth, seemingly unable to control her body.

“Phoenix 1-Gamma, this is Poet, I copy.” The voice, she had heard it before. She was in Dante’s body, of course she couldn’t control her body. This wasn’t a nightmare or a dream. It was a memory.

‘I must have kickstarted it by accident.’ Luna panicked. Dreams and nightmares she could leave whenever, but memories were another beast entirely.

“Poet, break, Phoenix, Courier and Kit are pushing around the side to make it to the wall. We’re making a dash for the shield generators so we can get Imperial birds down here. Poet, rally the units and make sure you keep the mile. Keep them occupied so we can get the shields down.”

Luna, now in the body of the alien creature, lifted herself from the divot, hefting what Dante had called rifle up and firing off several rounds into the distance.

“Copy that Phoenix, Legion units will rally and hold the mile. You all just make sure that fuckin’ shield is down.”

“Copy Phoenix, good luck with the mile. Out.”

Luna raised the rifle once more, firing off. She was able to see it strike another creature that looked quite a bit like Dante, as it collapsed.

“All Legion units, this is Poet 1-5 Actual, our mission is simple. The general and two other units are moving forward take down those shields. Hold this mile and keep the heat off them so they can get to the wall!”

Luna could only watch as Dante advanced upon what was very clearly danger.

“And while we’re holding this mile.” Dante’s voice continued. The etiquette he had shown before all but forgotten. “Let’s break the backs of these fuckin’ clones while we’re it at it.”

Luna heard cheers come over whatever magic it was Dante was using to communicate with his fellows as he charged forward. He was soon accompanied by other armored bipeds as they dashed forward, bullets and explosions hitting the ground near them.

Dante slid to a stop at a wall connected to no building, no doubt destroyed by the fighting, falling to one knee, and aiming down the sights of his rifle.

Luna was forced to watch in horror, as the biped callously shot several opposing bipeds who had failed to retreat to cover. Although they too were fully armored, it appeared to be lighter then the armor Dante was wearing, from what Luna was able to observe.

All the text and graphics appearing in her eyes, Luna failed to grasp what any of it, but Dante did not have that trouble. Twisting his body, Dante shot a soldier attempting to round the corner to his right on what remained of the wall. Another attempted to follow his fellow and for his troubles also received a round penetrating his armor and killing him.

“Legion, regroup on Poet, spread distance.”

She watched as several other bipeds moved to whatever cover the could find near Dante. Their rifles raised and firing. If it was anything like how unicorns were utilized in battle it was to keep the heads of the opposition down.

“Less then five hundred meters from our current position is the NPR’s main dug-in on this beach!” Dante raised himself from his kneeling stance. “And the Legion’s going to take it as our beachhead! Go!” Dante, with Luna observing from his eyes, broke from cover. His armored comrades following behind him. All hell broke loose, as sand and earth were kicked up from unseen explosions and whistling overtook the skies. Fog preventing them from seeing very far.

“The orchestra of war has started and we’re the fuckin conductors, ura!” A voice rang out through Luna’s ears. It wasn’t Dante, she knew that much.

She watched as one biped was thrown several meters by one of the unseen explosions. The biped struggling the get up. She internally grimaced as she realized the armor had failed to protect the left foreleg of it, now missing and spurting blood. Still, it stumbled and raised its rifle, firing more shots to the unseen enemy.

Another biped came to its aid, hugging the injured biped’s left side, the assistant slung the bloodied left side over his right side and began aiding the injured biped in pushing forward. The injured biped assisting by continuing to fire at the enemy.

More text and graphics shot across Luna’s eyes, as the word turned more chaotic. She could feel something slam into her left arm, then right. Then a solid impact in the lower abdomen. Dante’s body stumbled as both he and she shared the pain.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw another biped run past her, when sand and earth was kicked up by another explosion. Her sight turned blood red with chunks of body obviously mixed in with the blood.

She involuntarily raised a hand, callously wiping her visor off with a hand, as the host quickly recovered from the explosion and hit. Glancing to the left, Luna caught sight of the biped… or, what was left of it. Whatever weapons the defenders were using, they were powerful. Able to rip the armor apart.

Had Luna been in her own body, she would have vomited. She had seen war before, but she had never seen creatures act so callously and cold towards their brothers. Dante didn’t even seem to spare a second glance to his mutilated friend. And the disregard they had for their own lives, the one who its arm amputated had continued pushing forward.

“Legion! We nearly have them! Keep pushing them! Carrier Group 17 held back the night, now it’s our turn! But it will not be so simple as holding the night back. Today the Legion makes history once more! Today we push the night back! For 17! For the Imperium! We are the only thing standing between the Imperium and a millennia of darkness! We are the Army of Forlorn Hope! The Black Line has held for long enough, now it takes back what rightfully belongs to it!”

Luna had lost all understanding of what was going on at this point. But she did know they had finally broken through the fog. And she could see it. An entire army. Tens of thousands of soldiers, at her lowest estimate, all taking up position.

And all of them had rifles pointed straight at her.

“The dug-in!”

“Take it!”

“The Black Line does not break until the final legionnaire draws his final breath! Now take it, at all costs!” Dante’s voice once more yelled out.

Luna wished she could say she was lucky enough that they didn’t open up on the charging soldiers.

She wished.

Luna’s world disappeared as an explosion went off right next to her. Blacking her vision out, as she could feel herself being ripped from the memory.





Luna reappeared in a place that was definitely not the throne room.

And before she could make any observations of the room she was, an arm wrapped around her neck, and hand gripped her snout, keeping her from screaming.

The arm wrapped around her neck dragged her on the ground as her rump and back hit a solid object. A voice whispered in her ear.

“Charge your horn up and I snap your neck. Understand?” She recognized the voice.

She gently nodded her head. “I’m going to let go of your snout and you’re going to explain to me what you were doing in my brain. Scream and I will snap your neck and I’d rather Twilight not wake up to a dead princess.” Luna looked to her left, and indeed there was a slumbering Twilight… with her head resting in Dante’s lap. The biped in question was on the floor.

Dante released Luna’s muzzle. And instead of explaining, she had to ask a question.

“Why does Twilight have her head in your lap?” She whispered to Dante.

Dante raised a finger, tapping her on the nose, which caused her to furrow her snout.

“The fact that there’s a purple unicorn using my lap as a pillow and how she got there is not relevant to the situation. Now, what. Were you. Doing. In my head?” Dante drove his point home on the final sentence by tapping Luna’s nose at every pause. Something she voiced her disdain for my attempting to swat Dante’s hand away. Her resistance attempt stopped when Dante shifted her position in his arms, so her forelegs down.

“I’m not in the mood to play, Luna. I’m serious. What you just did was a serious crime in Imperial territory, a capital crime, in fact. A crime that violated an individual’s bodily sovereignty. I’m willing to chalk it up as a misunderstanding, but in any other situation, I’d be arresting you right now, which is something I’m trying to avoid. Arresting government leaders doesn’t warm me up to the local populace very much.”

Luna raised her snout in the air. “Yet it is not illegal in Equestrian territory.” Dante raised an eyebrow, then his finger.

“Are you trying to claim Imperial property? You do realize we’re on my ship, right, which makes it Imperial jurisdiction.” Luna huffed.

“I was attempting to see your dreams. I sensed some disstress and believed you were having a nightmare. I was trying to help.”

Dante pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “So you’re a dreamwalker… great. How many other ponies are dreamwalkers?”

Luna cocked her head to the side. “I’m the only one with this ability. It’s my special talent… er, I suppose the night is my special talent and sleeping comes along with it. It’s represented by my cutiemark.”

It was Dante’s turn to be confused.

“Luna, what in the ever-loving-fuck is a cutiemark?”

“It’s the mark on our flanks.” Dante titled his head similar to how Luna still had her’s turned.

“What, you mean those ass-tattoos? So what is it, a coming of age ritual once y’all decide what you’re going to do for the rest of your lives? Just walk up to a tattoo shop and say: “Hey, Bob, I want you to tattoo a crescent moon on my ass… yep… yep… I’mma control the night for the rest of my life.”.”

Luna tried to fix the biped with a stare, however given their current position with her back pushed up against his chest, she couldn’t do much.

“Are all of your fellows as crass as you are, General?”

The biped chuckled, as Luna felt something grab her heard. Freezing just wondering what the seemingly insane biped was going to do this time… but the action was not violent. Luna’s eyes widened.

‘Is he… is he scratching my head?’ As much as Luna hated to admit it, it felt amazing as the fingers gently dug in near her ears.

“Stop that.” She hissed, as she struggled to avoid moaning. “What are doing.”

“As it turns out, ponies just like horses back home, have a shit-ton or nerves around their ears.” The biped smirked. “Consider this punishment for mind-raping me.”

Luna disagreed with Dante’s assessments. “I did not rape you!”

“Yeah, ya kinda did. Mind-raping is a thing, and it’s looked down very heavily in the Imperium. I’m willing to forget this incident, however, if you sit there and take your punishment like a good girl.”

Dante paused as he considered his words. “God, listen to me. I’m sounding like a complete and total freak right now. In any case, I’m scratching your head as a punishment. At least until Twilight wakes up.”

“You realize this feels good, right?” Luna questioned his sanity, it did indeed feel wonderful, better then most back massages she had ever received.

“I do, how do you think I got Twilight asleep? But I also know you’re a proud pony and you have no desire to be here, right now, having your head and ears scratched by an alien.”

“You’re an ass.” Luna shot back.

Dante grinned, continuing his scratching. “Now who’s the crass one?” He paused, his eyes looking into the distance in wonder. “Wait… do y’all have talking donkeys in this world? Is “ass” your version of “nigger”… shit… I should probably cut ass out of my vocabulary, shouldn’t I?”

“Shut up and keep scratching, if I’m stuck here until young Twilight wakes up, I might as well be getting some enjoyment out of it.” She figured the relaxing scratches could aid in helping her to forget the horrid memory she had seen in Dante’s mind.

Luna couldn’t see it, but the biped took on am mischievous grin.

“Your wish is my command, your highness.”





Twilight’s eyes opened, and then closed once more. The air around her was cold. Not freezing, but definitely a bit nippy that she could feel under her hair. But she was laying on something that was quite warm.

Twilight struggled to remember what had happened during the night. Before she could remember, however, she glanced up… and was met with a very unexpected sight.

A slumbering Luna, but what was even odder was the fact that Dante had her pulled up against his body while scratching her head.

“Uh… Dante?” She asked.

“Yo.”

“Why are you scratching Princess Luna’s head while she’s asleep, snuggled up against you. And why am I laying on your lap.”

“Long story short, Purple, she mind-raped me and this is her punishment in lieu of arresting her. Also, you managed to hit your head pretty hard on a car, so I started rubbing it while repairing the car. And then one thing led to another and you just kind of fell asleep in my lap.”

Twilight’s jaw opened slightly at Dante’s implication that he would arrest one of the princesses. His hand gave her slight nudge as she realized he was gesturing for her to get up.

She found her hooves as Dante hefted himself and the princess up, the princess not seeming to wake in the slightest.

“Jesus christ, she’s the heaviest sleeper I ever met. She’d have slept through the Changeling invasion if she hadn’t been awake!” Dante exclaimed.

The General shifted Luna’s body so she was being held over one of his shoulders. Her front end draped over Dante’s back and her rump hanging over the front of his torso.

“Come on, let’s get her up to her room so I can take a piss.” Dante began moving to the lift as Twilight followed.

“Uh, Dante, what if she wakes up?” Dante scoffed at Twilight question.

“Twilight, I could literally get into a firefight right now and this lady wouldn’t fucking wake up.” Dante drew one of his many handguns from the holster, pointing it at the floor. “Want me to prove it?”

“Oh! Please, don’t! My ears still hurt from the last time!” Twilight cried, really not wanting to go through another round of what Dante had called tinnitus. The biped merely smirked, slipping the firearm back into its holster.

“Well, alright. Guess our next trip is to Luna’s room!”





“Twilight, where’s Luna’s room?” Dante questioned, the blue alicorn still slung over his back, slumbering peacefully. Twilight saw the sun, so she had figured Celestia had lowered the moon and raised the sun. But there was one other issues, which had Twilight prancing on her hooves ridden with anxiety.

“Oh, Dante this isn’t good. Princess Celestia is probably freaking out about where Princess Luna is!”





“Your Highness,” The guard started, as he watched the Solar Princess sip on tea. “Shouldn’t we be organizing search parties for Princess Luna, her guard reported that she went to check on dreams and never came back.”

Celestia continued to gently sip on her tea, slowly setting the cup down with her magic, seeming to think, her eyes closed. Finally, she spoke.

“No, Luna is a big girl, I can not panic every time she’s a little late. She may just be taking a little bit more time with a particularly nasty nightmare.”





“Yeah… sure. Listen, I’ll explain to Celestia what happened once we get Luna to bed. I still have to kill some dogs, free some slaves and get some fucking silver. I can’t do that with Luna’s fat-ass slung over my back.”

At the insult directed towards her, Luna seemed to snort, though stayed asleep. Twilight, however was taken aback. “Dante, you can’t just insult a princess like that!”

Dante snorted. “And why the fuck not? It’s true, she’s the heaviest chick I’ve ever carried to bed, and I’ve carried some heavy chicks to bed. You ever been in combat barracks. Ninety percent of the chicks there are the weight of an average dude. Beefed up motherfuckers, I’ll tell’ya what! Pretty sure most of them are dopin’ on combat drugs. I mean, I ain’t got any proof, but it’s the only explanation for some of tho-”

“Dante! Stop. Look, we need to get Princess Luna to bed and then make our way to Princess Celestia before she freaks out!” Twilight snapped at Dante, who took on a snooty look.

“Well alright, Miss Bossy, lead the fuckin’ way since you seem to know the way to her room!”

Twilight quickly lost her angry face, as she quickly glanced down and sat on her rump, tapping her hooves together. “Uh… I don’t actually know where her room is.”

Dante began nodding. “Okay… is there any place we can put Sleeping Beauty at?”

Twilight looked up at Dante. “Well… there’s always Princess Celestia’s room.”





Bulwark was not having a good past couple of days. Just a few hours after a changeling invasion, one that he managed to avoid being captured in, a fact that he’s quite proud of, he had been stationed to prevent ponies from entering the castle until it was repaired. Which he did so faithfully.

Until a biped went and impaled himself on Bulwark’s spear. That had been a fun one to explain to the armorer, who thankfully backed down when Bulwark told him to take the issue up with Captain Armor or Princess Celestia. So he had a new spear and Princess Celestia had him stationed to guard her room during the day. After all, the biped had no reason to come to her room and bother him more… Except.

Bulwark’s eyes widened as he noticed the biped walking down the hall with a unicorn he remembered as being Princess Celestia’s student leading him. But the more concerning thing was the rump resting on his chest.

The blue, large-when-compared-to-a-normal-pony’s rump with Princess Luna’s cutiemark present.

“Ay!” The biped yelled, as Bulwark struggled to keep from making an angered face at the biped. “It’s best candidate for killer-eyes!”

Bulwark had learned since his encounter yesterday that this colt was apparently a general, not like he acted like one. Bulwark lowered his spear slightly.

“Sir and ma’am please stop where you are. This is Princess Celestia’s private quarters and I am under orders to not let anyone in without permission from the Princess herself. I must further inquire just what Princess Luna is doing on yo-” Bulwark was cut off as Dante calmly bypassed the spear Bulwark had pointed at him and casually kicked the enchanted, solid wooden doors that were also locked, open as though they were made of paper. Bulwark’s jaw dropped slightly and the biped continued into the room.

“Yeah, yeah, that’s real fuckin’ neato and all, pony, but I have some asshole slavers I need to go slaughter and I can’t do that with lard-ass drooling all over my back so I’m commandeering Celly’s quarters.” The biped set Luna down on the bed in the middle of the room, the alicorn still not rising from her sleep despite the doors having just been kicked open. The Princess of the Night curled up on the bed as Dante covered the slumbering princess with blankets.

The biped looked up from the bed and locked eyes from Bulwark. “That is, of course, unless you want to drag her fat ass to her room, of which I have no fuckin’ clue where it is. And neither does Purple over there. She knew where this room was, so we came to it. But be my guest if you want to try and pick her up.” Dante explained to Bulwark, who merely huffed at the biped’s disrespect to royalty. Was he trying to pick a fight?

Dante walked out of the spacious room, closing the doors he had kicked open behind him. Bulwark wondering just how much time he would spend in the dungeons for murdering a foreign general, until he remembered yesterday’s stunt, where the spear through his throat did nothing to stop him.

“In any case, come on Twi. I still need to drop you off with your mom and let her know I’m planning to go play with some puppies.”

Bulwark watched as the two departed, as he silently questioned the gods just what he had done to anger them. Why did they keep sending the biped to harass him and why did they have to leave a princess solely in his charge?





Celestia sat upon her throne. A crowd had gathered in the Day court, many of them demanding answers regarding Dante. Apparently Luna had promised a speech with more information.

Speaking of Luna, Celestia couldn’t help but wonder just where she had spirited off to. The Princess of the Sun had to lower the moon and raise the sun today. Usually Luna was on time to lower the moon.

“Princess,” One of the nobles spoke, as Celestia already fought boredom off. She enjoyed court more then when it was just a question and answer session. “Do you have a guarantee that the biped is safe?”

Celestia internally rolled her eyes, she had already answered this question multiple times. She summoned up her motherly voice, maybe this time they would get the message.

“I can assure you...” Celestia paused as she considered her words. “I can assure everypony that the General is perfectly safe to be around.” Unlike Luna, Celestia had found fit to release Dante’s rank, in the hopes that it would calm them down a bit. Although, she may have also let slip that he wasn’t from this planet, either.

“Are we being invaded by aliens?” Celestia cringed slightly when she heard the voice. Blue Blood. Not necessarily a bad pony, just ill-adjusted to non-stuck up crowds. But he sounded genuinely terrified.

“No, Prince Blue Blood. We are not being invaded. The General crash-landed here a… little while ago. But according to him, his species will not invade Equestria under any colonial pretense. In fact from his description, this “Imperium of Phoenix” sounds like a very nice government.”

A yellow mare with a blue mane who had identified herself earlier as “Muck-Raker” was the next to speak up. “Princess Celestia, is it true that despite his violence against the Changelings and the running magic battle between him and another unicorn, which witnesses claim he shot the first magical attack, he is being allowed to roam the country freely?”

Celestia’s eyes hardened. “With all due respect, Muck-Raker, the General has informed me the unicorn opened fire on him, and he merely fired back in self-defense and in order to retrieve technology he needs to contact his species.”

She was cut off as a voice shouted from the crowd. “So that unicorn mare is a hero, stopping the alien from being able to contact his mother ship to come and invade!” The ridiculous shout received cheers of support from the crowd, however, a sharp glare from Princess Celestia quickly quieted them down.

“As I was saying, before I was rudely interrupted,” The crowd seemed to slouch at the same time, in shame of cutting their princess off. “The General merely wishes to go home and has given me his assurances that his species will not be hostile to Equestria. He has given me no reason to disbelieve him. Furthermore, we are currently in the stages of discussing in liberties in regards to being able to roam Equestria. At the moment, I plan to keep him in Canterlot, both for his safety an-” Celestia was cut off as the doors to the room were kicked open, the biped who she had just been discussing strolling in with Twilight in tow, who was keeping her head down in apparent shame at having just so rudely interrupted Day Court.

Celestia’s eyes widened, realizing that as soon as Dante opened his mouth, he was going to ruin everything she had been trying to keep under wraps.

She watched as the biped strolled with confidence to where the unicorn mare, Muck-Raker, was currently standing, in front of her throne.

He raised his right arm with his hand in a pointed fashion, palm facing down, his left arm securely at his side. Much like a spear being pointed in the air.

With his hand still raised. “Princess Celestia, the captain of the guard asked me to come inform you that Princess Luna is safe and was late to her duties due to aiding me. She is currently resting in an undisclosed location that I will disclose in private. If I may, I would like to request that you end court early today to discuss internal and external matters, Ma’am!” The biped dropped his right arm, the appendage now resting at his right side. Celestia was shocked at the biped’s sudden change in attitude, fully expecting him to crack a bad joke while insulting every single noble and pony in the room.

Maybe she was wrong. Celestia noticed that Twilight was staring at Dante with a shocked face as well.

Before Celestia could say anything, however, Muck-Raker was tugging at the bottom of Dante’s pants, trying to get his attention. Without breaking from his stiff standing position, he responded.

“Yes ma’am.” The unicorn realized she had gotten his attention and levitated her notepad and pen to her face.

“Are you the being Princess Celestia identified as “the General”?” Muck-Raker looked up to her princess, only to realize that she was glaring at her with an unimpressed look on her face.

“Muck-Raker, I’m certain the General would be happy to schedule a proper interview with him. But I am choosing to grant his request. Guards, if you would, please escort our guests to the exit. Court will resume normal time tomorrow.” Dante stayed still as the unicorn mare next to him was herded towards the door by a pegasus guard, with his wings outstretched.

As the petitioners filed out of the room, Celestia fixed eyes with Dante, his showing no emotion.

The last of the ponies filed out the doors, the solid wood slamming shut. Dante visibly relaxing back to his normal self.

“Well that was eventful and all, but your sister’s in your bed because I had no clue where her room is. By the way, y’all should cut down on the cakes, jus’ sayin’.” Celestia rolled her eyes as Dante finished his sentence.

“And here I was enjoying your military decorum, General. And your advice is noted. I must say, though, very impressive way of dealing with the crowd of nobles. I fully believed you were about to insult them and their mothers while making a joke about me.” Dante grinned a very mischievous grin, flashing his teeth at Celestia, the white alicorn making note of the relatively large fangs.

“Oh, trust me princess. I may have been taken off diplomatic envoy protection details for pissing on one too many self-righteous, pretentious, worthless self-aggrandizing, populist, lying, scummy writhing politicians, but I am fully capable of controlling myself when necessary. And this was one of those times.”

The guards remaining in the room kept their eyes on the biped, watching as he moved around the room, seemingly inspecting random objects.

Celestia smiled. “And tell me, General, am I one of these self-righteous, pretentious, worthless self-aggrandizing, populist, lying, scummy writhing politicians that you claim to “piss” on?” Dante chuckled as he heard the normally very formal princess use the word piss, as Twilight’s eyes widened. The young mare never having heard her teacher curse. The guards, once more, managed to keep straight faces, but later that night in the barracks, they would go on to express their surprise at Celestia’s use of the word.

“No. You’re just a naive politician who hasn’t yet seen the horrors of reality.” Dante looked up from whatever he was inspecting, a wide grin plastered on his face. The guards preparing to intervene to herd the biped out of the room should his statement cause Celestia to lose her normal coolness.

It was unneeded. She kept her stoicness as she responded. “And could you please inform me of how I am naive, General?”

“Princess, have I ever told you that I am not a Phoenix… well… not fully. I’m a hybrid. A one in a centillion, or ten to the three-hundred-third power, chance. Effectively, my birth was a physical impossibility. The fact alone that my mother existed with compatible genes for me to be born was as likely as… witnessing the birth of the universe and living long enough to see its death.” Dante paused as he looked at the guards, grabbing a helmet off one of them. The Solar Guard had been informed of the General’s odd quirks, and as such the guard remained still. The field that had made the unicorn guard’s coat white like his fellows shimmered out of existence, revealing a burnt orange unicorn stallion.

Dante flipped the helmet around in his hands a couple of times, before replacing it on the stallion’s head. The field shimmered back into existence, returning the stallion’s coat to the white the Solar Guard was known for. “Huh.” He muttered. “Neat.” The stallion reached up and fixed his slightly askew helmet, nodding to Dante, who nodded back.

The biped turned back around to Princess Celestia. “My species, both of them, are very violent. The Imperium was birthed in bloodshed, baptized in fire and made its position as the universal superpower clear through war. And Humanity has been involved in war and conflict since even before they were Human. Our more apelike ancestors were fighting over territory and resources, which modern man carried on. Both species have certain crimes defined as capital crimes. Princess, you are aware of what a capital crime is, correct?”

Celestia nodded. “It’s one punishable by death. A barbaric practice outlawed tens of centuries ago.”

“Very good. The Imperium defines five crimes as carrying a minimum sentence of death.” Dante raised one finger. “One: Rape. Of any kind. Physical or mental. Which, by the way, talk to your sister about invading the minds of people without their consent.”

Celestia internally groaned, wondering just what her wonderful little sister had done this time. Dante raised another finger. “Two: Cannibalism, with exceptions for exigent circumstances. Although the traditional Human of definition of cannibalism is the consumption of one’s species, Imperial Standard English defines cannibalism as the consumption of any sapient species. I assume it’s similar in Equestria due to the multitude of sapient species.” Celestia nodded.

A third finger was raised. “Three: Murder.” A fourth finger. “Four: Aiding the enemy in an attempt to compromise the liberties, rights, privileges and guarantees of all sapient species.” Dante lowered all fingers in a fist and then raised his trigger finger.

“The fifth and most detested crime in the Imperium is slavery.” Dante looked at the ponies in the room. “When I told you the Imperium was birthed in bloodshed and baptized in fire, I was being literal. The Imperium was formed by a man named Michael Krelnash. He was the bastard son of the King of the country known as Lux. The third son. Hidden away by his father in a village of peasants, his heritage unknown, a shame upon the name of the King. When his biological father was felled in battle, his eldest brother took the kingdom over and welcomed Michael back with open arms. The middle son became jealous over the love shared by Michael and his brother, and the fact that he had inherited nothing. He murdered the eldest in cold blood and enslaved Michael. A man who went from being a peasant, to a noble and then to something less then a peasant. A slave”

Dante turned, as the entire room seemed enraptured in his short retelling of the history of the Imperium of Phoenix.

He continued. “Michael, however, was not going to give up that easily. He made allies, found sympathizers in the noble class and the royal guard. And when the time was right, he led an army of slaves to take over the castle. Killing his brother. He took the crown that was righfully the Eldest’s and led his army North, to a land Lux had failed to settle. There he formed the Imperium. A country where slaves could find refuge in. He led his country through trying times, as his nephews besieged the newly formed Imperium of Phoenix in an attempt to take revenge for their fallen father. The Imperium beat back every invasion attempt, with Michael at the front of the lines. As the dust settled from the war, the Imperium still stood, bleeding and burned, but their spirits unbroken. They had made their stance clear, they would die free men. Lux would not make them slaves once more, because every single Imperial would die on their feet opposing the Luxian army. Lux retreated with their tails between their legs, realizing the price of retaking the Imperium would not be worth it if the citizens would sooner kill themselves then be recaptured. Every day following the Imperium’s victory, slaves would cross the border between Lux and the IoP, seeking refuge. As a result,” Dante tapped his head. “The fact that the Imperium was formed by former slaves means slavery is the single worst crime in the Imperium. And if slavers are found, they very rarely survive long enough to be tried in a court of law.”

Celestia allowed the pause to stand, as she processed the information. She spoke once she understood to the best of her ability.

“The history lesson was interesting, General. But I must question. What was its relevance?”

Dante smiled, once more flashing his teeth at the princess.

“It’s simple princess. There’s some filthy fuckin’ slavers occupying a mine that has supplies I need. So I’m going to go kill three birds with one stone. I’m going to slaughter the slavers, free the captives they are no doubt using as labor forces, and then get the shit I need to make some satellites so I can find my fuckin’ transmitter, kill the bitch who stole it from me, and then get home and make good on a promise I made before I found myself here.”

In order to drive his point home, Dante removed the handgun that he had taken from Twilight from his waistband, retrieved the magazine from his pocket and slammed it into the magwell, he racked the slide and let it fly home, chambering a round.

“And I’m going to absolutely enjoy every second of it.” He stated.
> Road Trip!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 10

“Absolutely not.”

Dante turned around to Solar Princess, who had just heard his statement about how he was going to kill a bunch of slavers. A single eyebrow on his face was raised

“And why not? It’s a win-win for everyone!”

Celestia rubbed her face with a foreleg, sighing. “General, can you even imagine the uproar the nobles would have if they found out I was allowing an alien to run around and extrajudicially execute Equestrian beings? Slavers or no.”

Dante shrugged. “Alright, I’ll “arrest” them” Dante’s intonation turned mocking as he said arrest as he raised both of his hands, making air quotations around the word, although the gesture was lost on Celestia. She was able to figure out the meaning, however, based on his tone. “And then kill them when they resist arrest.”

“General, you may have had arrest powers back in Imperial territory, but this is Equestrian territory.”

Dante pointed an accusatory finger at Celestia. “Then you all owe me money!” Celestia took on a shocked look, bringing her hoof to her chest.

“What do we owe you money for?”

Dante waves his hands around, gesturing to the entire room. “Look around you! You all are illegally squatting on Imperial territory! You all owe me rent!”

“Rent! Why I never!” Celestia gasped out. “We are not renting this castle from the Imperium!”

“You’re right, because you illegally built on Imperial property! You all didn’t even pay taxes or fill out the correct paperwork!”

The guards watched on as Princess Celestia glared at the smirking biped “What’s your angle here, General?”

Some of the guard’s shifted uncomfortably as the smile on the biped’s face became more predatory. “I know plenty of people in administrative positions, and no one ever said I had to bury you all in bullets and blood to get my way. I could just bury Equestria in paperwork once the Imperium gets here.”

He continued grinning as he fixed the Solar Princess with his own stare. “I’m perfectly willing to forget this matter, if I were to receive your blessing to go wipe out some slavers, save some pretty little ponies and get my damned silver. And then there’s also the PR! Just imagine, headlines!” Dante shot his hands out forward, opening his fingers, imitating a burst of light.“Alien saves ponies from slavers! Princess Celestia approved operation” If that doesn’t improve your already probably amazing approval ratings, there ain’t shit in the universe that will!”

The white alicorn rubbed her eyes with her forelegs once more, sighing. She realized the general wasn’t going to drop this matter. That’s assuming he didn’t just disobey her and do it without her approval to begin with. She realized she was lucky he was even coming to her before doing anything, given his previous actions.

With a heavy sigh, she relented. “On a few conditions, I will allow it.”

Dante cocked his head slightly. “And what would those conditions be, Princess?”

Celestia hated what she was about to propose for various reasons. But she steeled herself and continued. “An official agent of Equestria must be present with you during the raid and you must attempt a non-lethal intervention, lethal action must only be taken in legitimate self-defense. That is, if the slavers attempt to kill the agent or the captives, but not you. Given what you have shown us General, you have no legitimate claims to self-defense unless you’re defending somepony else.” Celestia paused for a short moment when the alien raised an enclosed fist and raised the middle finger. Though the gesture was lost on the guards and Twilight, only being able to assume it was an insult based on the context, Celestia knew better. It was a common gesture in gryphon culture and she had seen it enough times during her time in the Gryphon Empire to know it was an insult. Regardless, she kept a straight face and continued. “I promise you, Dante, that these slavers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of Equestrian law. Furthermore, given that the only common species in Equestria that utilizes slave labor, I am assuming you mean Diamond Dogs, which means the altercation will take place underground. If I may suggest one of my sister’s guards, the thest-”Celestia was cut off by Dante suddenly speaking.

“I want maybe killer-eyes.” He stated.

“Uh… I’m sorry, who is that?” Celestia asked, the confusion evident in her voice.

“You know, the guard I was fuckin’ with the other day. The one guarding your room right now.” Celestia’s eyes widened slightly as she realized who the alien was talking about. Corporal Bulwark… the same stallion who had, without hesitation, voiced his distaste for the alien when Celestia questioned him about it. And she had made a promise with him to keep him as far away from Dante as physically possible.

As such, she summoned her couple of thousand years of political experience to try.

“General, are you sure. A thestral will be far more useful to you in underground, close quarters combat. Their ears are more keen, their eyesight far better then a normal pony’s and their teeth are no joke.”

Dante waved his hand. “Nah, I want Bulwark. But!” Dante raised a single finger. “Now it’s time for my condition. He has to understand that he has the right to refuse with no risk to his reputation or career and should he refuse then officially the question was never asked. Furthermore, he has the right to leave the joint-op whenever he wants. I am not forcing him to be here. Agreed?”

Celestia found no problem with the alien’s surprisingly liberal conditions that were actually in Bulwark’s favor then in Dante’s favor. “Agreed, however, I must ask. Why are you so insistent on the corporal.”

Dante smiled once more. “My dear Princess, I am nearly fifteen millennia old. For ten of those, I have done nothing but kill in battle after battle, countless beings have had their lives snuffed out by my hand.  Trust me, I’ve learned to spot killer eyes even before they’ve had the chance to become killer eyes. Simply put, I believe Bulwark is the pony least likely to be traumatized by being forced to kill a living, breathing being. Let me ask you this, Princess, how many ponies have your guards killed?”

Celestia sighed. “The last legally justified killing by a royal guard was nearly fifty years ago. It was an unfortunate situation. A stallion snapped and murdered a thestral with an illegally concealed short sword. A unicorn guard by himself was the first one on the scene and was forced to kill the stallion in defense of himself and several other ponies present. It caused an unnecessary outrage amongst the public, exacerbated media stories and a parliamentary inquiry, but ended with the guard’s acquittal on the grounds of self-defense.” Celestia shook her head, and although imperceptible to Twilight and the guards in the room, the ancient alien caught a frown on Celestia’s face for a split second before it was banished with a smile.

“If I may, Princess, I would like to ask. There’s more to this story, isn’t there? It didn’t end in a happy ending for the pony, did it?” Celestia didn’ttry to hide the frown that plastered her face.

“You are more perceptive then you let on with your attitude. Unfortunately, yes. Due to the stress caused by the trial and parliamentary inquiry, as well as constant harassment by journalists trying to get the:” Celestia’s face became a stupid looking face that Twilight had never seen before, struggling to avoid snickering at the scrunched up face of the solar princess, due to both the fact that this was somepony she respected and the serious matter. “Latest scoop on the murderer being protected by the Diarchy!” Celestia’s tone became deeper, obviously mocking the journalists. Her face returned to normal as she looked down at Dante. “The guard committed suicide.” Her eyes looked down, a face of regret forming. “I should have done more to stop it before it became so extreme. But I was advised to allow the parliament to do its own thing. “Due process” for a stallion who had obviously committed no wrong. The “due process” he was afforded by the Diarchy is what led to his death.” It was obvious Celestia was getting angry at the thought of the guard.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Princess. You’re right, the stallion did nothing wrong. In fact, I’d call him a hero.” Twilight looked the biped in shock, she had never heard his tone be so… she wouldn’t say sad, but somber. “Killing someone, especially for the first time, is never easy. There have been plenty of media circuses, both on Earth and in the Imperium, around people who have used lethal force lawfully.”

Dante looked to the shocked Twilight and sighed. “Oh, come on Twi, way to ruin the moment, we’ve all got to start somewhere. What, you think I came out of the womb a killer? I didn’t kill someone until my thirteenth summer.”

Celestia cleared her throat, catching the attention of the two before they could begin arguing. “In any case, let’s not dwell on the past. Since we must have the consent of Corporal Bulwark before we continue, let us bring the proposal to him.” With that, the Solar Princess lifted herself from her throne, descending the stairs.

Dante gestured to the door with both hands. “Princesses first, lead the way.”





S-4292 was not in a good position. The flight from Canterlot had been a relatively organized one, but the large army was forced to separate into groups in order to prevent them being tracked back to their hive. After all, tracking a massive buzzing cloud of black equinoid parasitic insects isn’t exactly the definition of difficult.

And then add to the fact that her apparently mentally-challenged group leader decided it was a good idea to fly through a massive storm squall despite her protests.

Which is how she found herself in her current position. She had lost the group in the squall and due to decreasing energy reserves was forced to land. In a good stroke of luck, she had enough energy to transform, which turned out to be good considering she was now being forced to wander through a pony settlement. She did not have the energy to fly, but she could walk to the hive.

And, should the worst come to worst, the changeling could always slip into a brothel and get some love there. But that was something she would prefer to avoid, if at all possible.

The form the changeling had chosen to hide was a unicorn mare, her coat aqua and her mane and tail green. She had foregone the more commonly used pegasus form due to her lack of energy to fly.

‘Information takes a little while to travel, so with any luck these ponies haven’t heard the news about the attack on Canterlot… or at least not the specifics.’ 4292 thought to herself.

The settlement she had to traverse through was a small town in central Equestria, called “Ponyville”. 4292 suppressed a snort at the unoriginality of the name and continued her trot through the streets.

She suppressed a niggle in the back of her head telling her that someone had eyes on her. She may not have been trained as an infiltrator, but every changeling knew the basics of blending in with prey and how not to get caught.

‘Act like you belong.’

She continued her trotting, keeping an eye out for possible threats. If she ran into trouble, she was going to have to hoof it with her legs and make for someplace with air cover. She was too low on energy to fly.

‘Don’t try to avoid interactions.’

“Oh, hello! I’ve never seen you around these parts! You new here?” A tan earth pony with a red mane who was tending to a garden of roses said to the passing changeling. Instead of ignoring her and continuing on, 4292 stopped and responded.

“Hello! Sort of, I’m really just passing through on my way home. I was in Canterlot for a… business meeting and it’s finished, so just heading back out now!”

The mare smiled at the disguised changeling. “Ooh, Canterlot, was it as wonderful as everypony says it is? I hear there’s an amazing florist up there who teaches the best of the best! And then there’s watching the princesses lower and raise the sun and moon! Oh, I’ve always wanted to go there!”

4292 chuckled. “Yeah, it certainly is a sight to see.” The pony stuck a hoof out to 4292.

“My name’s Rose, it’s nice to meet you...”

The masked changeling took a quick glance at the hoof and then met it in a bump. “F- Er, I mean Sea Biscuit. It’s nice to meet you, Rose.” 4292 gave the mare a feigned but convincing smile, in truth the soldier was far more interested in getting out of the town then talking to the mare.

“Which way are you headed?” The pony, Rose, asked.

“Oh, out west. To a small town named “Forgotten”.” Rose turned her head, having never heard of the town. 4292 continued. “It’s very small. Most ponies call it Appleloosa but it’s a couple of miles away and independent from Appleloosa. It’s just that more ponies know where Appleloosa is then Forgotten.”

“Forgotten, what a perfect name for it.” Rose giggled, as 4292 internally groaned, wanting the encounter to be over.

“Do you mind if I walk you out of town.” Rose asked.

Although the pony known as Sea Biscuit displayed a cool, calm and collected face. The changeling known as S-4292 was internally screaming.

“Oh, no, it’s perfectly fine, I wouldn’t want you to have to go through so much trouble for me, and besides you have these… beautiful roses to take care of!” Rose waved a hoof.

“No, the roses will be fine. I’d like to walk with you!”

All 4292 could do was hesitantly agree. She wanted to get away, but wanted to avoid making the mare angry, not because she felt bad for the mare, but because she didn’t have the energy to fight.

So the two began walking out of Ponyville, with Rose leading the conversation.





Corporal Bulwark straightened up as he spotted the Princess walking down the hallway towards her quarters, the alien and the purple unicorn by her sides.

Bulwark still couldn’t help but be suspicious of the biped. What kind of alien willingly reveals it’s an alien, and yet here that General was, just going about and apparently violating operational security by revealing his species’ capabilities. Something in Bulwark’s gut just told him that something wasn’t right about this alien.

He banished the thoughts as Princess Celestia approached him, saluting. “Your Highness, your sister Princess Luna is safely in your room. She is still asleep and no further interactions beyond the… General bringing her in has occurred.”

Princess Celestia gave the guard a warm smile. “At ease, Corporal.” The stallion lowered his foreleg.

“Yes ma’am.”

“I’m glad that nothing else has occurred. However, we also have something else to discuss. General, if you would.” Celestia nodded to the biped and stepped back, allowing the biped to step forward.

“Corporal Bulwark, before I continue I would like to inform you of these very important caveats. You have the absolute right to refuse my offer, should you refuse this offer it will, in no way, affect your reputation or career. Furthermore, should you refuse the matter will be dropped entirely and officially the question was never asked. Should you accept this proposal, you also have the right leave the position at your leisure. This is a request and I encourage you to take it if you so want it, not because you feel like you have a duty to obey Celestia. Do you understand?”

Bulwark nodded, fighting back shock at the creature’s politeness. So far, he had only seen the alien harass guards and insult a princess.

“Very good. The position is simple. Twilight,” Dante gestured over to the purple unicorn, who sheepishly waved. “Informed me of a mine inhabited by Diamond Dogs. Who apparently utilize slave labor. Since both I and the Imperium despise slavery, my initial plan was to just go in guns blazing, kill all the dogs and rescue the captives, however,” Dante jabbed his thumb over to Princess Celestia. “That plan was shot out of the sky by the Princess on the basis that the nobles would get their non-existent panties in a twist over me killing a bunch of slavers. However, we came to a compromise. We attempt a non-lethal arrest of the dogs first, lethal force last and only in defense of you or the captives. However, I have to have an official agent of Equestria present with me to carry out the arrests due to fears of the nobility making a scene.”

Dante paused, looking to the guard for any sign that wasn’t following along.

“There’s a very good chance this will fall into lethal action, as Twilight has informed that silver seems to make the dogs insane and I’m slightly doubtful they’re going to let us take their silver without a fight. So there’s a very good chance you will have to legitimately kill something. So, before you say yes, I want you to think about it. Questions?”

Bulwark nodded. “Yes, do we have confirmation that there are any captives currently at the location.”

“We do not. I didn’t bother to look through any missing persons reports coming from the area that I’m certain the Royal Guard has on the basis that I’m going into that mine either way so if they don’t have captives, great! We got them before they got anyone. If they do have captives, we can rescue them regardless of whether or not we know about them to begin with.”

Bulwark once more nodded. “If I were to agree, when would the operation take place.”

“Approximately one week from now. If it was just me, I’d have already left. However, I want to give you a crash course in not getting shot in the back because you decided it was a smart idea to run in front of me while I was shooting and you not shooting me.”

Celestia looked to Dante, perplexed. “You seem absolutely convinced that this is going to end in bloodshed, general. Why is that?” Dante frowned.

“I’ve brought down enough slave operations to know how the mind of an asshole who thinks its acceptable to treat a sapient being as property works. They’re not going to give up without a fight because they don’t see what they’re doing as wrong.”

“I accept your offer, General.” The Corporal held out a hoof and Dante met it by wrapping his hand around it and shaking it.

The Corporal withdrew his hoof, staring at it. Wondering what just happened, perhaps that was the alien’s equivalent of a hoof bump.

“Awesome. Venus is saying it’s eleven in the morning. Bulwark, take a lunch and then meet me in the throne room. I’m going to teach you how not to die. Twilight, come on. I gotta set some things up and I think you’d like to see it.”

Bulwark looked to Celestia to confirm it was okay for him to go, the alicorn merely waving him off. “Go ahead. For the duration of this operation, the General is your commanding officer. So listen to him.” Bulwark saluted.

“Yes ma’am.” And off he went for his lunch as Twilight and Dante went off in another direction to do whatever the biped had in mind.

“Well…” Celestia stated to no one in particular, since the hall was completely empty. “I don’t suppose anypony will be too mad if I were to take a nap. And since Dante seems to be commandeering Canterlot as his own, I’m sure he’ll respond should any danger pop up.” With that, Celestia nodded to herself and entered her room. Floating her regalia off and slipping into her bed, being cautious not to wake the slumbering Luna. Which Celestia had to admit, she probably could have gotten involved in a fight with a god and not woken Luna, so slipping into the bed without waking her was a pretty easy feat.

Celestia snuggled herself closer to the warm body of her sister, sleep quickly taking hold of her.





“-so that’s how I got my cutie-mark! How did you get yours?” Rose asked the still transformed 4292, who really wanted the mare to just go home and leave her alone. She took a quick glance to her flank, which contained a made up cutie-mark. It was a ship’s sail and wheel.

4292’s mind scrambled for an explanation. “Uh, I… sailed with an ape pirate captain after stowing aboard a ship.”

The changeling mentally kicked herself. ‘An ape pirate captain? Who in Tartarus is going to believe that load of hooey?’

“Oh, wow! That’s so neat!” 4292 groaned, this mare was extraordinary dumb, apparently.

The soldier continued scanning for possible threats, hoping to reach the town limits so she could finally be rid of the mare. Just how far did the town extend. They were already in a forested area, quite a ways away from the main town.

4292 heard a scream to her left and jumped, swiveling to investigate.

She could only come to despise her life even more once she realized what it was.

A grey canoid stood there, gripping the unicorn mare, a paw wrapped around the muzzle.

4292 knew exactly what it was. A Diamond Dog. Changelings had encountered them enough to know they were dangerous. A lone dog outmatched even a fully-fed, fully-grown changeling, no less a starving changeling who didn’t even have the energy to fly. The only exception to this being the Queen.

“Pony, stop or other pony get hurt.” The dog spoke, their Equestrian having always been among the worst of the sapient species.

4292 knew exactly what she was going to do… She ran.

Sure, she may have been a soldier, but there were reasons why changelings preferred to fight through subterfuge and should trickery be impossible, just outright swarming their enemies. A changeling by itself had many predators. Their chitin may have been strong, but it was not invincible.

She could not fly, but she could hope she could run away. That is until another dog popped up from the ground in front of her, an attempt to intercept her. However, she was faster on her hooves  andchanged direction, running back towards the initial dog, she lowered her horn.

The dog wasn’t expecting the sudden change in direction as he received the business end of a unicorn horn to his leg.

The dog dropped the earth mare as 4292 yelled the only thing she could. “Rose! Go! Get help!” Without hesitation the earth mare shot back up and began galloping full force for the safety of Ponyville.

Dealing with the Equestrians or dealing with the Diamond Dogs. Neither were particularly favorable to S-4292, but she figured she would have a better chance with the Equestrians so long as she could keep her shapeshifted form. And by no means did 4292 like this Rose, but she was the only one who could get help from other Equestrians.

The changeling found herself being forcefully ripped from the dog she had stabbed with her horn. The dog who had stopped her from running away bared its fangs menacingly in the face of the changeling, growling.

“You pay for that.” It stated.





“Sir.” Bulwark saluted Dante as he entered the throne room, the alien at some point having slipped back into his armor. The biped waved the salute away.

“No need for that, Corporal. Just Dante’s fine.” Bulwark nodded as he looked around the throne room, the only ponies present were the dozens of guards, no princesses in sight.

“Anyway, you ready for the crash course?” Dante asked as he pulled something from his pocket.

“Yes si-, er… Dante.”

“Great! You ever been teleported by a unicorn?”

Bulwark nodded.

“Awesome, I set up a recall beacon on the ship properly so I wouldn’t have to keep walking to and fro from it, from my understanding both Imperial transportation tech and Unicorn teleportation magic is pretty similar. Brace yourself.”

Dante held up a rectangular device and pressed a button.

Bulwark’s vision went white, as he quickly blinked, in an attempt to clear his vision faster.

The stallion found himself in a large room, a tiled floor, wall and roof surrounded him. This was the first time he had ever been in the alien ship that was apparently the mountain Canterlot had been built upon. Rumors travel fast across the guard.

“Alright,” Dante began. “Corporal, this is a holodeck. It’s used mainly for training simulations, although it’s also possible to use it for entertainment. That being said, this is what I’m going to use to teach you how to safely operate in unison with me so you don’t end up with a bullet in your back. Venus, start up program Digging Freedom”

The walls came to life, displaying the interior of a stone building, enclosed walls on all sides.

Dante walked up to the unicorn with one of his alien weapons in his hands and held it out to the unicorn. “This is an M4 carbine. This is what you’re going to be using during the assault. It has three fire modes controlled by the fire selector switch.” Dante flipped the weapon so the side that had previously been facing his body was now facing Bulwark, displaying a switch.

“Safe. So long as this is on safety, the gun shouldn’t fire. However, do not solely rely on this mode to not negligently discharge the rifle.” Bulwark nodded.

Dante flipped the switch up one. “This is semi-automatic. This is the mode you will be using the most. What it means is that every time you pull the trigger, a single bullet will come out of the barrel. The trigger then has to reset and needs to be pulled again before the rifle will fire again. You do this by letting go of the trigger.” Once more, nods. Dante flipped the switch over once more.

“Automatic, this will only be used if shit hits the fan and we need to start getting heads down. In this is mode, for as long as this trigger is held down, bullets will continue to come out of that barrel until the mag is done.”

Dante held out his hand as a crooked rectangle appeared in it.

“Now, to load the rifle, you insert the mag.” Dante inserted the magazine into an empty slot on the M4, tapping the bottom slightly. “Make sure it’s seated properly. There ain’t nothin’ more embarassing then taking a shot and then losing your mag because it wasn’t seated.”

Dante pointed to handle close to the back of the weapon. “Then once you have the mag inserted, you pull the charging handle all the way back,” Dante did as he said, and then let the handle go, snapping back. “And then just let it fly home.” A target materialized on a wall.

“Now, I’m going to show you what all three modes look like. This is safe.”

Dante took a stance, burying the rifle into his shoulder and then pulled the trigger.

Nothing.

“Absolutely make sure before you go into a lethal engagement that safety is off. Now, semi. Also, be mindful because this shit is loud and the holodeck imitates it perfectly.”

Dante turned back to target, took aim. Bulwark was dazed as several bangs in rapid succession sounded, brass shells clinking to the ground from the rifle.

“That was semi, this is auto.” Dante turned back and pulled the trigger, dumping the rest of the thirty round mag downrange.

The biped did a quick visual check the ensure the chamber of the rifle was empty and locked back. He turned back to Bulwark.

“Now, loading it with the bolt locked back is a bit different. First, drop the mag with this button, the mag catch.” Dante gestured at a button with his right hand, and the pressed it, allowing the mag to drop to the floor.

“Then you load another mag.” Another curved rectangle, a mag, Bulwark had learned, materialized in his hands. He once more inserted the magazine into the slot and then turned the rifle once more so the side with the fire selector was facing Bulwark.  Dante pointed to a button that was slightly higher and closer to the middle of the rifle.

“This is the bolt catch. In order to close the bolt and load a round, you need to depress this,” Dante did just that. Dante then depressed the magazine catch, caught the mag in his hand, pulled the charging handle back and allowed the round to fall to the floor. He pulled the trigger and Bulwark heard a click.

“And then you have a live rifle. Now, take it and load it exactly how I showed you.” Bulwark lifted the alien weaponry in his magic, repeating the process. Inserting the mag, pulling the charging handle back and letting fly home.

The biped nodded.

“Now a few rules before I push you into the combat simulation. First rule: Always be sure of what you’re firing at. Bullets are no joke and they can overpenetrate and keep going. So it is possible for bullet to kill something you didn’t mean to kill. You’re responsible for every single round that comes out of the end of that barrel. Second: Don’t muzzle anything you don’t intend to destroy. A well-made and upkept gun should never go off unless the trigger is pulled. However, it’s better to be safe then for your buddy to end up with a bullet in his brain because you were swinging the damned gun around the room like an idiot. Got it?”

Bulwark nodded.

“Fuckin’ A. Right, now, follow me.” Dante ordered the stallion, as the made their way over to another wall, a doorway suddenly appearing. Bulwark glanced down the hallway, noticing it was quite narrow, with limited cover. A few solid wooden boxes.

Dante continued.

“Now, the program is simple, we move up the hallway against enemy fire. You get shot, you lose. The objective is to hit the bell at the end of this hallway and that room on the other side. We start here,” Dante gestured to the room they were now occupying. “And then we start advancing. I’ll lay down suppressing fire as you move forward. Once you get to concealment, and there’s a difference between cover and concealment, those boxes are not cover, you take suppressing fire over until I reach the next layer of concealment. The we leap frog over each other. End objective is for you to ring that bell at the other end of the other room. Once we reach the room, we’re going to be in close quarters combat. So be ready for some vicious fighting. We’re fighting against Humanoid AI so they’ll be using guns as well.”

“Uh, sir, shouldn’t I get some practice on the… M4 first?”

Dante smiled. “Normally I’d say yes. But you know what the saying is. Necessity is the mother of invention and desperation is the bastard father.”

“Uh, no sir, I can’t say I did know that.”

Dante shrugged, and Bulwark felt some weight around his sides. He glanced and realized several pouches containing the curved rectangles, or mags, were now on his armor.

“Oh, yeah, one other thing. The bullets are going to feel real, but don’t worry, it’s just the tech firing your neurons to make you feel like you got shot. It won’t actually let you go into shock. Alright, Venus start the sim!”

“Wait, wh-” Bulwark was cut off as something very fast past his head, as he ducked for cover. Dante had already leaned over the edge of the doorway with a new rifle and began firing. For the duration of his shots, there were no returning shots. Bulwark was still on the floor already regretting the agreement.

He noticed the biped dropping the mag in his rifle and replacing it with another one, having pulled his entire body back around the corner.

He started shouting at the pony, however Bulwark’s ears picked nothing up from the sheer loudness of the gunshots.

Apparently realizing this, the alien began waving his hand forward, telling Bulwark to advance.

Bulwark collected his hooves under him, paused and took a breath… then nodded at Dante.

The biped took his nod to mean he was ready, and leaned back around the corner, putting down shot after shot.

Bulwark shot off from his cover charging for the concealment of one of the boxes. His mind was so focused on getting to concealment he was paying no attention to the other doorway.

He slid in behind it and raised the rifle from behind the barrel with his magic. He tried to fire the rifle, but for some odd reason, the trigger wouldn’t move.

In a panic, he brought the rifle back down to his eye level, trying to figure out what happened.

His brain was firing all cylinders as he examined the alien weaponry. He flipped the rifle over and examined the left side, his eyes rested on the fire selector switch. His eyes widened as he realized what happened, he had left the safety on.

Bullets were cutting through his cover as he slammed the switch to the automatic fire option and raised the rifle, pulling the trigger back.

Dante sprinted down the hall for the next bit of cover, but since Bulwark had decided to hold the trigger down, his rifle was soon out of ammo, forcing Dante to dive to a prone position or receive a simulated round to his body.

Bringing his rifle back up to bear, he began firing more rounds downrange in a controlled manner.

“I said use semi! Not auto!” The biped shouted to the unicorn, who was now struggling to remember just how he had been shown to reload. He dropped the magazine and retrieved another one from one of the pouches on his armor. He inserted the magazine and attempted to pull the charging handle back, it just limply fell back, no force present.

Bulwark was panicking, it was how Dante had shown him.

“Bolt catch! Bolt catch!” Dante yelled over the gun fire. Bulwark glanced over to the left side of the rifle once more and saw the small button. Putting pressure on it with his magic, he felt the bolt slam to the front of the rifle, while also taking the moment to switch the rifle to semi-automatic.

He raised the rifle back to where it had been, and fired once, Dante shot up from his position as the unicorn continued firing. The alien slid in behind the box Bulwark was taking cover behind.

“One other thing I forgot to mention, buddy! Watch your crossfire!” The biped shouted over the explosions, patting the unicorn on the shoulder.

“What’s a cro- Dante!” This general’s flippant attitude was really making him mad, as the biped shot back out from behind the box and continued advancing. He returned to providing his partner cover fire. “Son of a!” He shouted.

As Bulwark was lamenting his comrade’s Nightmare Moon – may – care attitude, Dante was sliding in behind another one of the boxes. Raising his own rifle, he began laying down covering fire. Bulwark saw the moment and bolted. This time reaching the next box with no trouble. He raised his rifle and fire one shot, two shots. Three shots… no, wait, his rifle clicked.

Bulwark lowered the rifle once more his eye level. As he was no longer laying down fire to cover Dante’s approach, the marine had to once more dive to prone, but this did not help, as a round slammed into his shoulder.

Just as suddenly as the shooting had began, it ended, as Dante picked himself up and dusted off his shoulder. The shot hadn’t actually done anything to his armor, the simulation just fired up his neurons informing him that he had been struck in that area.

He calmly walked over to the still struggling unicorn, who had no idea what happened to the rifle.

“Rifle malfunctioned, huh?” Dante asked, the unicorn looked up to him.

“I’m not sure, one minute it’s firing and the next it’s clicking every time I pull the trigger. I even checked the mag and there’s still rounds in it. What went wrong?”

Dante nudged the unicorn a bit, grunting. He took the rifle from the unicorn’s magical grip and racked the charging handle, the round flying out of the chamber. He let go of the handle, aimed the rifle in a direction away from them and fired. This time the rifle functioned fine.

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Malfunctions can occur. Could be bad ammo, light primer strike, so on and so on. Only thing you can do is clear the round and get a good round in there.  Come on, I’ll show you how to clear the malfunctions that are likely to occur. Then we’ll run the sim again. Then once we’re done, I’ll buy us some drinks.”

Bulwark grinned, maybe this general wouldn’t be so bad after all.

“Only if you invite the barracks, sir.”

The biped grinned. “Tell ya what, Corporal, you ring that bell on the other side before we’re done, and I’ll invite the whole damned guard, you day shift guys and the night shift guys.”

Bulwark nodded.

“Great, Venus, simulate a double feed in the M4.”





“Let me go, let me go you flankholes!” 4292 wriggled in the arms of her captors, having been reduced to being carried like a lapdog, still in her pony disguise.

The diamond dog who was carrying her was the one who had cut off her escape, as the one she impaled in the leg with her horn was being helped along by some of his comrades.

“Pony annoying”

“Fuck you!” 4292 shouted at the dog, as one of the other dogs grunted in agreement.

“Can’t we just eat her?”

“I’ll fucking kill you if you come near me! Let me go!”

“No. Pony strong, she make good worker.” The dog she had injured spoke back to his packmate.

“Ugh, you’re going to regret this! Rose is going back to town and she’s going to get help from the Royal Guard. Let me go!” Although 4292 was also undoubtedly wanted by the Royal Guard, she had better chances with the Royal Guard then she did with the cannibalistic Diamond Dogs. And if she could maintain her pony form long enough, she could slip away from the guard after she was freed.

Almost in unison, the pack of dogs began laughing.

“Royal guard not come to den. They scared of us.” Although the soldier was remiss to admit it, she knew the Royal Guard were pretty terrible fighters, and knowing their track record of winning she wouldn’t be surprised if the dogs were telling the truth about the guards not coming. But maybe… just maybe… Luna’s stars would align in her favor.

In the meantime, she continued struggling to escape her captor’s grip.





Bulwark slammed the bayonet that had been attached to his rifle into the gut of the hologram of what Dante had called a Humanoid. The being itself featureless. The creature gave a death rattle as Bulwark shot a round into its gut to ensure it was indeed dead.

He turned around and watched Dante slam a Humanoid into ground, crushing what was supposed to be its head with his armored foot.

He made a wave towards the button on the other side of the room, gesturing to Bulwark to continue on and hit the button to end the simulation.

They had been at this for hours, Bulwark could feel the sweat coating his body, and he could tell Dante’s body was also sweating in an attempt to cool down. But this was it, if he managed to hit that button without taking a bullet or a wound, free booze galore.

He took an aimed shot at another humanoid, as Dante followed at a slower pace behind him.

The room was much longer then he had initially thought. At least two hundred meters, but this one had proper cover. Not that Bulwark was worried about that now. He had learned the simulator’s moves. If they stayed behind cover for too long, it would keep sending out more of those humanoid creatures to swarm and overwhelm them. So while Dante was bringing up the rear, Bulwark was at full gallop.

However, he crashed into on of the humanoids who popped up from behind cover, toppling the unicorn over.

However, with luck, Bulwark landed on top and quickly crushed the creature’s head his hoof while yelling.

“Cunt!” He may have also picked up some of Dante’s verbal tics.

He recovered from the tackle and raced to finish the course, as bullets continued to fly around him. The simulation had been failed many times. Either from Bulwark shooting Dante, Dante getting shot because the unicorn was too slow or a variety of other things.

But not this time. Bulwark slammed into the button, as a buzzer sounded. All humanoids on the field froze what they were doing and then disappeared.

Bulwark collapsed, his chest heaving. How he had stayed up that long, he had no idea. He may not have physically been holding the rifle, but holding it up all day and working against the recoil still was work.

“Congratulations, Bulwark, the guards are gonna love ya. “All hail Bulwark! Free booze!” In any case, that was a good run. Took ya a while but you managed to not blue on blue me. Must have been really hard, you really seemed to enjoy putting bullets in my back.” Dante grinned as he looked at the unicorn stallion.

Bulwark in response, continued gasping, as he clumsily pulled his helmet off, revealing a dark brown coated stallion with a black mane.

He raised a single hoof. ‘Fuck off, ya cunt.” He gasped between breaths.

Dante raised a fist and then raised his middle finger, returning the gesture. “You fuck off, faggot.”

There was a pause, the only noise being the exhausted stallion.

And then both broke out laughing.

“In any case,” Dante spoke through the laughing. “I suppose I owe y’all a shit ton of booze.”

The simulation disappeared, once more revealing the tiled floors.

“I’m afraid that will have to wait, Dante. Miss Sparkle has some important information for you.” A disembodied female voice spoke.

“Who was that?” Bulwark questioned.

Dante gave a small wave with his hand. “Venus, a combat AI. Venus. Patch her through the comms system.” Dante spoke to the ceiling, as Bulwark watched on.

“Will do. Miss Sparkle, if you could just speak into the mic. Yes… yes, that one.”

“Uh… Dante?”

“Yo, what’s going on Purple?”

“Um… well...” There was a bit of hesitation in her voice.

“Seriously, Twilight, what’s going on?”

“There’s been a… slight snag in your plan. You know how we didn’t know whether or not there were any captives in the Diamond Dog den?”

“Yeah.” Dante raised his eyebrow. “Spit it out, Purple.”

“Well… Princess Celestia received a letter from my assistant, Spike, informing her that we… kind of… do know that Diamond Dogs have a captive.”

Dante cursed to himself.

“They attacked two ponies on the outskirts of Ponyville. According to the Royal Guard report Spike attached to the letter, two ponies, a non-resident unicorn mare named Sea Biscuit and an earth pony named Rose were attacked while walking. One of the Diamond Dogs seized Rose and Sea Biscuit attempted to run away. However, her retreat was stopped by another Diamond Dog. She turned tail and… impaled the Diamond Dog who had captured Rose in the leg, forcing him to drop her. She then told her to run and get help.”

“How long ago was this?”

“Uh… Rose… got help… about twelve hours ago… Dante.”

“And they waited that long to escalate an abduction against a force they’re ill prepared to deal with. I mean, I know they don’t know about me, but what took them twelve hours to escalate this to government?”

“Well… the local guard contingent in Ponyville attempted to intercept the Diamond Dogs before they made it back to their den. But they weren’t able to find them.”

“Fuckin’ A… Venus, do we have the resources necessary to make mark one battle armor.”

“We do.” Came the reply form the AI.

“Great, begin making some in Bulwark’s dimensions. Helmet, neck, torso and legs. Bulwark?”

“Aye?”

“Can you keep fighting?”

“Aye, I think so.”

Dante began walking towards a door. “Great. Follow me, we’re heading to the armory to get you stocked up on armor and supplies. We’re hunting dogs.”

“Dante, how are you planning to get to Ponyville.” Twilight asked over the intercom in the room.

“Don’t you remember, Sparkle? The Raptor!”





4292 groaned as she was thrown into a cage, hitting her head on the ground and eventually rolling to end up on her back.

She laid there with her eyes closed for a few moments, still a bit dazed from the forceful toss.

“Dickhead.” The disguised changeling muttered. She felt something prod her side. She peeked open of her eyes, spotting a fairly emaciated stallion looking at her.

“Excuse me, miss, are you okay?” He whispered to her. 4292 rolled over onto her back, and shakily got to her hooves.

“Yeah. Where are we?”

The stallion sighed as 4292 realized there were even more ponies in the cage. All of them bearing signs of abuse. Some of them had scars, there were marks around the majority of their necks. They ranged in age, sex and race. There were unicorns, pegasi and earth ponies.

“We’re underground. I think in an abandoned silver mine.”

4292 rolled her eyes and sighed.

“Awesome.” Was all she could mutter. Pretty soon she was going to be running out of magic and would be unable to keep her form.

“Any news from the outside? How is Equestria doing?” One of the ponies whispered to the changeling.

“You really don’t know?” She shot back.

Another pony shook their head. “No, the last pony who was brought here was brought months ago. Some of us have been here for years.”

Upon hearing the news, 4292 realized a very important fact in her survival. None of the ponies here knew about the changeling attack. Which means if she could endear herself to them, she could survive off that love.

Well, she’d have to figure out how to do that.





“This is absolutely amazing! I’m about to ride in an alien ground craft! Ooh! I’m so happy!”

Twilight could barely keep her excitement at tolerable levels as she clambered into the back of the… well, Dante had called it a truck.

Dante dropped a couple of duffel bags into the bed of the truck and then slid into the driver’s seat of the truck, slipping a rifle and a shotgun into a rack that had been fitted between the driver’s seat and the passenger’s seat.

“Yeah, that’s great and all, but why do we have seven ponies coming along with us?” Dante gestured to the other five ponies that he had learned were called the Elements of Harmony, apparently national heroes, and Bulwark The dark brown stallion now sporting the armor Dante had made for him. His neck, legs and torso were covered with a black material with an odd weave in it.

“I understand you and Bulwark. Bulwark because I need him to do this op with me and you because… well… you’ve basically been glued to my leg. Why everyone else?”

As all of the ponies clambered into the back, with the exception of Bulwark, who walked to the right side of the truck and opened the door, slowly but surely making his way into the alien craft designed for creatures significantly larger then he.

“We figured we’d hitch a ride. While you and Corporal Bulwark were off at the armory I met up with the girls and they heard about this, and they all wanted a ride… well, Rainbow Dash just wanted to race it.” Twilight stated, rolling her eyes at the last sentence.

“Heck yeah I want to race this! It looks a bit too cramped for my tastes. By the way, Dante what speeds does this thing reach.”

Dante inserted the keys into the engine and turned them away from him, as something cranked to life.

“Well, the stock one is zero to sixty in about seven seconds. Speedo goes all the way to one-forty. This one, though. It’s been seriously upgraded. The engine itself is capable of sustaining speeds up to five hundred miles per hour. But the chassis and wheels can only keep a sustained speed of around four hundred miles an hour. And if I redline this, I can get it zero to sixty in less then a second. Zero to one-forty at three seconds. Max speed that it’s been governed at is four-fifty, that takes six seconds to reach.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped. Sure, it was no where near the speeds she was capable, but it was fast. “How does something this big and... clunky even go that fast!” Dante knocked on the hood of the truck.

“Nuclear!” He responded.

“Nuclear? Like a nucleus of a cell?” Twilight questioned

Dante looked back to the unicorn who was looking at him curiously in the backseat.

“Twilight, you live in a medieval society, how in the ever-loving fuck do you even know what a cell is? That shit took Humanity a long time to find out.” Twilight merely shrugged and sheepishly grinned as Dante rubbed the bridge of his nose.

“Whatever, not the weirdest thing. Hey, Rainbow!”

“Yeah?” The blue pegasus responded.

“So, are you riding in the truck or are you flying all the way to Ponyville? Because we gotta go! We got dogs to kill an-”

“Arrest.” Bulwark cut Dante off, resulting in a glare from the biped.

“Shut up, fuckface, we have dogs to kill,” Dante put an emphasis on the word “kill” while glaring at the corporal. “And ponies to rescue from slavery!” Normally the ponies would have been shocked at the open admittance of a being’s plan to commit murder, but they had seemed to resign themselves to his abrasive personality and speech.

“I’m flying, I don’t do well in cramped spaces.” Rainbow Dash waved her hoof, as Dante grabbed something from the truck and gestured the cerulean pegasus over to him.

As she approached him, he held up what appeared to be a collar with a coiled tube hanging off of it.

Before she could ask just what he was doing with a collar, he started his explanation.

“No, this isn’t a collar. This is a throat microphone. It picks up vibrations made by the voice box and is best used for windy environments, and if you’re going to be flying, I figure it would be best if we’re able to communicate with each other.”

He held the microphone out to her.

“Now, it’s your choice, I can’t force you to wear it, but it would work best. That way if there are any threats to either you or us, we can correspond a defense.”

“Why are you worried about being attacked? Equestria’s pretty peaceful.” Rainbow Dash asked, a response that received a blank stare from the biped.

“Pony, you do realize I woke up in the middle of a hostile invasion of your country with natives firing magical goo shit at me and am now responding to a call about a pony being kidnapped to be used for slave labor right.” Rainbow rolled her eyes and muttered something, still hovering in the air.

“Fine. But I’m taking it off if I don’t like it.”

Dante shrugged. “That’s fine, now come over here so I can put it on you.” The pegasus slowly made her way to the biped, who slipped the seemingly too small collar over her neck with no issue and then grabbed the piece that was dangling off the main collar.

“The collar itself is made of nanitic material, so it will adjust to your neck size so as to not be choking tight or uncomfortable. Now, I’m going to put the ear piece in your ear, is that okay?”

The pegasus nodded as the biped maneuvered the ear piece to her ear.

Rainbow felt something expand in her ear. It wasn’t uncomfortable, just there. In fact, Rainbow had to admit it wasn’t that bad.

“The ear piece is also nanitic in nature, so it adjusts itself to you ear.”

With that Dante slapped the car once more, causing the ponies present to jump as small bit.

“Everyone read to go?”

Multiple positive responses were enough for Dante, as he closed his doors.

“A’ight, road trip!” Pinkie Pie shouted from the backseat, with Dante nodding.

“Yep! I’m the first Human to do a road trip on this planet, took me long enough.”

The ponies in the car watched as the biped manipulated various levers and the wheel the wheel to get the truck positioned correctly.

“Venus, open the bay doors, will you?”

At the far end of the room, a straight, a large door began opening.

“Hey, Rainbow?” Dante asked, through his own microphone.

“Yeah?” Rainbow Dash’s voice through the speakers of the car, as some of the less familiar with the alien’s communications technology looked around.

Twilight noticed something in the mirror that was facing the back of the vehicle, an evil grin growing on Dante’s face.

“Threetwoonego!” With that, Twilight heard the truck’s engine roar to life, as it propelled forward, pushing everyone on the truck into the backs of their seat, Fluttershy and Rarity screamed bloody murder at the sudden acceleration, Applejack began cursing, Twilight grimaced and Bulwark had a bored look on his face. After the day in the simulation, the human didn’t surprise him anymore. Dante himself was cackling maniacally at the chaos in the cabin and Rainbow Dash rushed to catch up to the truck, which had already left the truck and hit a green pasture at the base of the ship that was acting as a mountain.

“Not fair, you cheated!” The cerulean pegasus shouted over the radio.

Twilight could only cringe harder as Dante’s laughter grew stronger, the truck propelling itself farther into the night.

However, he soon calmed down.

“Chill, RD. You’re flying so you’ll beat me anyways. But if you do get tired, feel free to drop into the bed and rest.” The biped glanced into the back seat, taking in the various reactions of his passengers. Smiling once more, he decided to mess with them again.

“I hope everyone used the bathroom before we left, because I ain’t stoppin’ ‘til we get to Ponyville!”
> Interlude: Back Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Interlude

Back Home

To say Krenl was having a bad day would be an understatement. He had been having a bad couple of weeks.

“Why the fuck does this keep getting rejected?” He muttered, running his hand through his hair as he stared at the file present on his computer screen.

“General Dante T. Jaeger. Vitsigs lost September 8th, 2025, at 19:32. Declared KIA September 9th, 2025 at 19:32. Yeah, all of this fits the fucking reports. But the fucking system keeps rejecting it.” He grumbled to himself.

It had been months since the Battle for Earth, something Krenl had thankfully avoided. He’d had enough combat on the outer rim worlds to last him for the rest of his life. In fact, it was one of the main reasons he had transferred to a logistics unit instead of a combat unit. A rare move, usually the Imperium had to force people into the logistics department, which resulted in a lot of unhappy soldiers.

It would explain why the armorers are always so mean to frontline troops, something Krenl knew far too well, with his past history of staring down slave traffickers and warlords on backwater planets that openly defied Imperial law despite taking advantage of the benefits being part of the Imperium granted them.

But now Krenl was facing down a new enemy. Bureaucracy.

After rereading the information for a fourth time to guarantee that there was absolutely no typos present, he sent the status change once more.

He watched the screen in anticipation, hoping it would take this time and he could get his last file done with.

In the office, the screen of the computer changed: “STATUS CHANGE REQUEST:” His breath held in bated anticipation. “REJECTED”. The word flashed red, causing Krenl to roar in anger.

He stood up violently, throwing his chair from behind him. “Son of a Motherfuckin’!” He caught himself as he stared the once bustling cubicle farm, now dead silent and stopped, all staring at him. They understood, of course. Over ninety-five percent of the Imperium’s population had been awarded a combat action ribbon. The only people who avoided combat positions straight out of basic were children or relatives of politicians who had a lot of pull. So for most of the people in this base, they too had taken a while to get used to not violently hitting something if it didn’t go their way.

Such was the life of home-front logistics troops.

“Bitch.” He muttered, finishing his outburst as he quiet sat back down into his chair, looking around the small cubicle he was in. Although it was indeed a welcome change in comparison to the sands of DX-42, where water literally had to be airdropped to troops stationed there, or the ice plains of YU-894567, the giant hostile arachnoids of AR-40000 and especially that insanely disturbing slave-ring that insisted on turning their victims into inanimate but conscious dolls.

Krenl shuddered at the last memory, grateful that his unit only went in after the Legion had done the first sweep and medical evacuations, but he had seen the files and combat footage. He was left to wonder how the general, the one whose file he was looking at right now, had managed to do it.

Any Imperial worth his salt knew the story. Or at least the beginning of it. Due to unknown circumstances, the Imperium contacted a mutt who had lived his entire life on Earth, ignorant of his history, and recruited him into the Legion. From there he rose through the ranks. He finally became public knowledge following the Reclamation of the Citadel and the killing of the Tyrant.

Of course, most of Krenl’s knowledge of the enigmatic general was gleaned through the Occupation movie series and brief readings of his wiki page. And now here he was, trying to change the status of him. What should have been an easy two minute job had now taken weeks.

He had no choice. He had exhausted every option. He flipped the file onto his personal device. He rubbed his tired eyes with his hands.

He removed himself from his chair and stepped out of his cubicle. He would have to go to the only person with the ability to manually edit files.

The walk to the office wasn’t that far, but he hated doing it. Although he infinitely preferred the air conditioned office to the nasty field conditions the army offered, he was still a grunt at heart and hated asking his superiors for help.

He stopped at the solid metal door, the nameplate reading something he did not want to read. Knocking on it, he waited a few seconds.

The door popped open and he entered. Extending his right arm out, his palm flat out and pointing down, an action that would have resulted in him getting beat out on the front lines, but something he had to relearn on the home-front.

“General Krelnash, permission to enter, sir.” He stated, resolutely, at a parade rest, as he heard the chuckling from the desk.

There sat Lytkn Krelnash. Krenl knew his story well, an accomplished war hero, but from his understanding his last taste of combat was during the Second Intergalactic War, which is where he earned his four stars. Following that, though, he dropped out of the war game and took his position as head of the logistics division.

“At ease, Sergeant, told ya when I met ya! No need with formalities.”

The Krelnash family was well known for their informality. Krenl had always only been able to chalk it up to their father, who despite having been the founding father of the Imperium, was well known for his hatred of authority in general. Deeming it in one quote to be a “necessary evil, so long as some men see fit to deny their brothers and sisters their freedoms.”

“Sir.” Krenl replied, dropping the salute and causing the general to roll his eyes, gesturing to the seat in front of his desk.

“Go on, have a seat. What can I do for you?” Krenl quickly moved to the seat, sitting down.

He tapped on the flat front desk, as it came to life, displaying a computer screen. Krenl transferred the file from his device to the desk, a screen popped up.

“Administrator approval needed for file transfer.” A disembodied, robotic female voice sounded.

“Olivia, this is General Lytkn Krelnash approving the transfer of files from Sergeant Krenl’s device to my personal terminal.”

A moment went by.

“Administrator approval accepted, transferring file now.” The two men watched as the file of a certain General Dante T. Jaeger popped up on the desk top.

“So… what am I looking at, Sergeant?”

“Sir.” Krenl began. “This is General Dante T. Jaeger of the Phoenix Legion Marine Corps” Krenl stared at the upside down photo of the late general. His face a tan color, no smile. His two eyes, one green, one blue. His face bore the marks of years of combat and Krenl felt a bit anxious even looking at the photo of the dead man.

“I am fully well aware of who Dante is, Sergeant. But why do you have his file and what is the relevance?”

The battle hardened sergeant unwillingly fidgeted in the seat under the gaze of the general, swearing that his eyes bore almost the same qualities of the photo of the dead man.

“Sir, I received this automated request two weeks ago, despite his death being months ago. I assume it was a system glitch. I have filled out Form 345687 and requested a change of status from active duty to KIA, as indicated on the request. The KIA status was sent following the standard twenty-four hours from his final vitsig. I have sent a request multiple times and every time the status change has been rejected. The AI refuses to give me the reason why it’s been rejected and I’ve gone over the file multiple times and have found no errors. I am unable to continue with the next batch of files I have so long as I still have this one on file.”

There was a pause, as the two men continued to look at each other… until Krelnash broke the contact and began laughing.

Krenl could only stare in confusion as the general continued to howl at something he apparently considered funny.

It was a good minute before the general managed to calm his laughing down controllable levels.

“Oh, I’m sorry Sergeant. Did no one tell you?” He chuckled out.

Krenl cocked his eyebrow in confusion.

“Uh, no sir. I’m not entirely sure what you’re speaking of.”

The general stood up from his desk walking to the wall behind him.

“Olivia, please bring up all approved status change requests for General Dante T. Jaeger.” The wall came to life, as row upon on row of green text appeared.”

“Sergeant the simple reason why you’re unable to change Jaeger’s status is because we aren’t allowed to.”

The only made Krenl more confused. “I’m… sorry, sir?”

Krelnash gestured to the wall behind him, waving his arms to cover it. “What you’re looking at is over four thousand status change requests. For one person. There’s a reason, Sergeant, why Jaeger earned the nickname of “Unkillable Legionnaire”. We would lose contact with his vitsigs, change his status to KIA and then a few days later he’d pop back up. Sometimes it was in the nick of time. One of his most dramatic returns from the dead was when he dropped a bridge on one particularly errant trafficking ring that was about to wipe out a surrounded IFAF division. The colonel of that division was certain Jaeger had been killed in a massive dam explosion a day earlier on the first day of the battle.”

Krenl just stared as Krelnash laughed.

“Oh, shit man. And there was this other incident where the motherfucker took a bullet straight to the heart during a diplomatic envoy mission, the other guards took off as they were being pursued but the ship was captured and boarded and right at the last second, the crazy sum’bitch cut his way through the ceiling an-”

“Sir, with all due respect...”

“Er… yes, in any case. The “Unkillable Legionnaire” was “killed” too many times. The paper-jockeys eventually started complaining about all the corrections forms they had to submit to change his status from “KIA” to active. The changes used to be automatic, but we had to change them because Jaeger was spamming the system and it was taking the jockeys forever to change his status. So we made the system require manual input and just hardlocked Jaeger’s file. I literally can not change it, we threw away the key to the file quite a while ago. You probably got the request this late because someone else got it and didn’t deal with it properly.”

Krenls’ eye twitched, as he sighed.

“Okay, so I’m just stuck with his file forever.”

“Sergeant.” Krelnash scratched his eyebrow.”

“Sir.”

The general sighed. “You could always use the comments box.”

Krenl gathered all of his sternness and looked the general in the eye.

“Did you all implement this comments box because of Jaeger?”

“… Yes.”





“Thank you for coming today, Mrs. Jaeger.” The well-dressed, suited man stated, as he stood up from his desk, moving from the back of his desk to the front, to shake the woman’s hand. His complexion pale and stature gaunt. The woman stood tall, her skin tan. She was neither thin nor fat, in the middle.Her stomach swollen, but due to proporions of the rest of her body, it was obvious she was pregnant. She shivered slightly in the cold of the office, her summer dress not doing much to keep her warm.

“Thank you for having me.” She responded.

She returned the gesture, as the man pulled a chair out for her to sit in front of the desk, she gently lowered herself into it. He returned to his position at the desk and sat down, folding his hands together.

“I am Daniel Goldstein, Mr. Jaeger’s estate lawyer. First I would like to express my sincerest condolences for your loss, Mrs. Jaeger. My family has worked with Mr. Jaeger for a very long time and owes quite a bit to him. He was a very good man.”

“You were… aware of his… secret. Mr. Goldstein?” Mrs. Jaeger questioned.

“Please, Mrs. Jaeger, Daniel is just fine,” Daniel waved his hands. “Especially for an esteemed client such as you. And yes, I was fully aware of his activities and superhuman abilities. Second, I would also like to apologize for the wait. Due to the… extent of your husband’s estate, it took me a good while to get everything sorted, although his instructions were very simple and straight-forward, as expected from Mr. Jaeger.” The lawyer chuckled as Mrs. Jaeger joined in.

“Yeah… Dante’s not one to beat around the bush. He wanted something done, and he would sooner do it himself then get someone else to do it, I swear he was worse then a bull in a china shop.” Mrs. Jaeger gently shook her head. “Please, Daniel, Lakia is just fine. And the wait was no problem, I’ve been staying with parents as the PLMC… have been clearing out our old house of technology that they want back.”

The lawyer frowned. “Hmmm… yes, I have heard stories from colleagues in that neighborhood how hundreds of armored men have been going in and out of your house at all hours of the day.” The woman nodded.

“Yeah, Admiral Krelnash insisted the house be left as is, but the Senatorium and Joint Command overrode his objections. They want every piece of Imperial technology out of the house.”

“Knowing Dante,” Daniel gave Lakia a knowing look. “They haven’t even gotten half-way through his armory yet, have they?”

The woman snorted. “You have no idea. It’s going to take them several more months just to finish the armory, and then there’s the garage.” Daniel nodded.

“In any case, Lakia I asked you to come in so we could talk about your husband’s will. I realize this can be hard, so at any time feel free to sto-”

He was cut off.

“Why would it be hard?” Lakia asked, as Daniel searched her eyes, looking for anything that would indicate a joke or trying to protect herself from trauma.

“Well, Lakia, Dante has… He’s…”

“Dead?” Lakia shook her head. “No, Dante’s not dead. There’s no way, that explosion didn’t kill him.”

Daniel was worried about this. “Lakia, I know you heard the same reports I did. There’s no way he could have survived the explosion. There wasn’t even a debris field. The only reason they were able to find the site was because of the unusually high radiation levels.

Lakia merely shook her head. “No, Daniel.” She emphasized his name. “You don’t know Dante like I do. An explosion like that doesn’t even come close to many other things that he’s survived.”

“Lakia, I realize it’s hard to lose a spouse, especially when you’re pregnant with his child. But denial is just a stage of gr-”

Lakia growled. “Don’t give me that bullshit, Mr. Goldstein, Dante’s alive! I know he is. He can’t be dead, from a mere bomb! I’ve watched him face off with literal gods and beat them to a stand-still, spit in the face of a messenger of death. He’s survived millions of wars and some of the most dangerous criminals known to the Imperium trying to kill him. Spare me this crap about stages of denial!” At this point, Daniel could see tears forming at the edges of her eyes, but she continued to keep her seat. “I know Dante’s alive, I know he’s out there somewhere and I know the Imperium is making a mistake treating him as though he’s dead. He’s out there somewhere, trying to get home. He will get home. It may not be today and it may not be tomorrow. It may not be in a year, or a decade or a century or a millennia. It could be eons before he ever makes it back. But I know he will be back. He would do anything to get home.”

Lakia looked down, as Daniel was silent, not sure what to say.

“He made me a promise. And to him, to Dante, promises are sacred. He would never break one without a fight. If he promised to keep a chicken egg safe from damage then he would wade through the deepest pits of hell if that was what he had to do to keep it safe. And I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that he will do the same to make it home. Because he made a promise to me.”

She had begun to sob halfway through her rant, as she took a few choking breaths as Daniel handed her a box of tissues. She took a few and began to rub her eyes.

“I’m… I’m sorry, Daniel. That was uncalled for.”

The lawyer raised his hands. “No, Lakia, I pushed the boundaries. I am here to advise you on your husband’s estate, not lecture you on grief.”

Lakia smiled.





“So there is absolutely no way he could have survived?” The officer rolled his eyes as once again Admiral Krelnash was looking over the reports of the destruction of the Celeste. The two had been over this many times.

“As I said before, sir, the Celeste was equipped with an emergency teleport drive. That is the only way General Jaeger would have been able to survive the explosion.” The officer answered.

“So he could have survived it?” The President turned Admiral had taken the news of Jaeger’s death the worst out of all the Krelnash family, something the officer was paying for in the form of these daily investigations that had been dragging on for months. The officer had no idea why he seemed to be taking it so personally.

“Again, maybe, sir. There’s too many variables to say for sure. We don’t know if General Jaeger was aware of this fact and even if he was, the NPR could very well have turned the drive off when they captured the ship.”

“Is there any way to tell for sure?” The Admiral questioned as he paced the room the investigations had been taking place in. The officer sighed.

“The only way we could tell is if we were able to examine the wreckage.” The officer gestured to a wall containing an interactive diagram of the ship known as the Celeste. Circling a rough area of the front of the massive ship. “If this area was missing from the debris field, then we could reasonably conclude General Jaeger escaped. The issue is, there is no debris field. The explosion literally vaporized everything. So the only thing we can conclude is that General Jaeger was, unfortunately, killed due to his heroic actions in protecting Earth from an NPR WMD.”

The Admiral rubbed his eyes. “Fuck.”

He looked up and then moved to a desk. “Fuck!” He yelled, kicking the desk over at the same time. The officer was unfazed at his superior’s outburst.

“Assuming General Jaeger survived, which is doubtful, he would be trapped in a husk incapable of FTL travel. Furthermore, our engineers failed to install a redundant long range communications system in the ship. So the only way for him to contact us, if he even survived would be for the NPR to have conveniently left a larcom in the portion of the ship affected by the drive.”

The Admiral perked up a bit. “Do we have any reports of any missing larcoms?”

“Unfortunately we do, sir. Phoenix Rising has reported a total of five missing, all believed to have been stolen by the NPR. They would make up the back-bone of the NPR’s communications network.”

“Why am I only just finding out about this?” The admiral questioned.

“This is the first time you asked, sir. Phoenix Rising handles all these cases, sir.”

Sometimes the officer regretted accepting this position. A foxhole would be preferable to dealing with the “investigations”.





Lakia exited the room and into the lobby, where she saw her ride waiting for her.

“Ashley.” She began, as the woman looked up at her, smiling.

“So, you really believe Dante is alive?” Lakia blushed at the woman’s simple sentence.

“You heard that?” She questioned.

“I’m pretty sure Dante could hear it, wherever he was. You probably just made his resolve grow. I don’t know what he’s doing, but if he’s in the process of killing his way back to Earth, he’s probably doing it a thousand times faster right now… or, you know… he could be sleeping.” Ashley shrugged her shoulders.

They began walking out of the building, Ashley making sure to keep close to the pregnant woman. “Do you believe he’s alive?”

“I don’t think anyone who has spent any amount of time with him believes he’s dead. He didn’t earn the moniker of the ‘Unkillable Legionnaire” for nothing and the NPR most certainly don’t call him the Horseman of Death for giggles.”

They continued to walk out to the car, entering it as they began their short trip back home.

Lakia chuckled and looked to Ashley as he she began to pull out of the parking lot.

“You know, our wedding was done in Dari? Dad just about had a heart attack when he learned Dante spoke fluent Dari.”

Ashley laughed.

“You think that’s funny? Imagine our shock when three days after recruiting Dante into the Legion, he was speaking fluent Phoenician. His penchant for language is probably one of the main factors that allowed him to thrive on Earth.”





“As ponies and gryphons clash for land, and dragons hoard their valuables. As daemons corrupt good. We pray to Dawn-Bringer! He whose hand leads the way. His word is law, the father of the Two Sisters! The merciful god, who seeks to bring us to new ways, who seeks to teach us. He pulled pony-kind from the brink and Dawn-Bringer demands one thing from you from all of us! Your loyalty! He has shown us ascendance, his two daughters! He slumbers now, his daughters are his word!”

The ginger pony looked from the door of the temple, as the unicorn continued his sermon, attempting to keep herself unseen.

The Followers of Dawn-Bringer, they called themselves, worshiping her dear daughters as ascended gods.

The pegasus known as Pansy, once a private and now a Colonel quietly trotted up behind her.

“I didn’t think you bought into this stuff.” She stated, as the ginger mare looked back to her.

“It’s a power grab, they’re using the alien, my daughters and myself to further their own end. It’s been five summers, they can’t even agree on whether or not he’s a pony or something else. Pansy, I’ve seen brawls break out over whether or not the alien is a stallion or a mare.”

“And what do you think?”

The mare snorted. “I think he’s a lost traveler who landed at the wrong place at the right time. This isn’t his home, but these fools drivel on as though he’s a god made flesh, coming down to sacrifice himself for them.”

She backed away from the door and walked away. “Don’t get me wrong, Pansy. I am eternally grateful to Dawn-Bringer. Without him, my dear Solaira would be with her father, and I doubt we would have survived much longer without his intervention. Look at us now.” She gestured with her hoof, waving across the horizon. “We’ve grown so much. Foals are able to roll in the grass, we see the sun and moon once more, there’s rain and there’s sunshine. Thunderstorms and tornadoes. The seas once more slam against the beaches instead of being frozen wastes. The wind blows without biting! We have a town and food! And what do we have to show for it? We’re treating out savior as something he isn’t. They’re treating my foals as objects they must hold onto for power. They’re grooming them, Pansy! Solaira’s barely 7 summers old and she already has potential suitors lined up for her! They treat her word as the word of god and she’s expected to rule as a queen! She survived the wendigoes only to have her foalhood ripped from her. I fear for Luna when she becomes older.” Tears had begun to form in the ginger mare’s eyes as Pansy moved to comfort her.

“It’s just… that… Pansy… I know Dawn-Bringer intended none of this. He saw a child in need and moved to act. But he’s a lost traveler, he shouldn’t be here. At all. He’s no god, he’s someone who needs to go home. But his actions also ripped my Solaira’s foalhood away from her and sometimes… sometimes I think it would be better had Dawn-Bringer not intervened. If he had just allowed Solaira to die and for the Wendigoes to consume us.” The ginger mare allowed her shoulders to drop.

“Don’t say that.” Pansy stated resolutely as she nuzzled her chin. “Your daughter was spared death for a reason. Even if Dawn-Bringer is not a god, he was put here by one to save your daughter. To save us. Your daughter is destined for something great. She’s destined to be something great. I know you disagree with the Followers, but I need you to play nice with them. They respect and adore you and as such your very word carries a lot of weight with it. Perhaps not as much as Solaira’s or Luna’s, but the way the Followers see it is that Dawn-Bringer chose you as his wife and ascended his daughters. You and I both know that’s silly, but ponies need something to unify around.” Pansy looked the mare in the eyes.

“Look at it like this, ten summers ago, you and I wouldn’t even be speaking, much less friends. And did you see the ponies in the temple? Unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies. Ten summers ago, to even suggest the three races would share a building would have landed you in an asylum, and now look! The three races willingly gather to worship in the same building. They share food and charity and speak with each other. They tell stories and treat each other as though there’s no difference between any of them. That’s the power that you, that your daughters, that Dawn-Bringer possess. Maybe they’re wrong about Dawn-Bringer being a god. But maybe they’re right about Solaira and Luna being ascended. Your daughters have the strength of earth ponies, the magic of the unicorns and the flight of pegasi. Maybe Dawn-Bringer opened their minds, maybe they’re what we ponies originally were. Maybe Solaira and Luna are what we’re supposed to be?”

The mare snorted once more. “That’s a lot of maybes.” She turned away from the pegasi, a frown forming on her face.

Pansy merely sighing. “Look, I know you don’t want Solaira groomed. That’s understandable, it’s reasonable. But this civilization is new-born, and it still needs something… somepony… someponies to rally behind. You, your daughters and Dawn-Bringer are the backbone. I need you to play nice, please.”

The mare didn’t answer, keeping her back turned to pegasi.

“I’ll make sure to keep those who wish to groom them away.” The confident pegasi spoke, weakly, turning and walking away.

“Momma! Momma!” The frown on the mare’s face quickly turned into a smile, as she heard her daughter shouting and galloping.  She turned around, watching as the white filly galloped the last few paces to her, her horn aglow with magic. She levitated something in front of her.

“Look momma, I lost two tooths today!” The mare chuckled.

“I see, can I see your mouth?” The filly nodded her head happily and proudly opened her mouth to shower her mother the gap where she was indeed missing the two baby teeth.

“Oh! Wow! Look at that! Did it hurt?” She asked the filly, smiling. Her daughter was always able to bring happiness to her.

“No!” She shook her excitedly. “I was just pushing the tooths with my tongue because they felt all loose and stuff and then they just fell out! But this means I’m big, like you, right?”

The mare chuckled once more, nuzzling the filly under her chin. “Of course, but you still have a lot of growing to do. One day, you’re going to be a great mare.Now, come now little one. Let’s go check up on your sister. Poor Milky’s probably having a heart attack right now over you.” She gently nudged the unicorn moving and the two walked down the road, the ponies who passed them bowing to the two, as the mother and child discussed their days.

“A great mare, indeed.” The mother could not prevent the thought.
> Operation Molerat
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 11

“So, Dante,” Twilight began, as she levitated a notebook and pencil out of her saddlebags that she HAD tossed into the truck in the vehicle bay.

The odd group consisting of an alien supersoldier, an AI and six ponies crammed into a truck that’s travelling at nearly three hundred miles an hour over unpaved ground and not destroying itself, thanks to modifications made by the New Phoenix Republic was an odd sight to see.

Add to that the blue pegasus racing alongside the alien vehicle. The moon high in the sky, and if Venus was correct the local time for where they were was about two-thirty at night. Several of the ponies who had tagged along for the ride were snoring in the surprisingly quiet and stable cabin. Applejack leaned over to rest her head on Pinkie Pie, who was also asleep. Rarity had produced a pillow and was utilizing Fluttershy to hold her pillow up, the shy pegasus keeping quiet.

Bulwark, due to the size of the front seat had managed to curl up and fall asleep on the front seat.

Dante had to admit, if they crashed right now, all of the ponies in the car were kind of fucked.

“Yo.” Dante responded to the unicorn.

“Would you mind if I asked you some questions regarding both… Humanity and the Imperium.”

“Shoot.” Dante glanced back at the unicorn, who had brought the pencil up to the her notebook.

“First could you inform me of your species?”

Dante gave a light chuckle. “I’m a hybrid. My mom’s blood is Human. Homo Sapiens. Man Wise. Or in a better way of speaking, Wise Man. We’re the only intelligent species on our home planet, Earth, or Terra as the Imperium recognizes it officially.” Dante paid no mind the small squeak Twilight let out when Dante stated they were the only intelligent species.

“You all are the only intelligent species on your planet? What happened to everypony else?”

“They died. We outcompeted them. Homo Neanderthalensis, Homo Sapiens Idaltu. All of them lost the evolutionary arms race and couldn’t keep up with us. Then after the threat from other Sapiens was destroyed, we moved onto Canines. Once we domesticated dogs, we began the fight to becoming Terra’s apex predators. Of course, some retards claim we’re on the same level as anchovy or pigs because the stupid fuckers don’t understand how the world works. That’s why they’re retarded, ya know? But in any case, modern man has no natural predators.”

Twilight continued copying the information down, choosing to leave out the crass language, she looked up from her book.

“Why doesn’t man have any natural predators?”

Dante locked his eyes with hers through the rear view mirror.

“Because we exterminated any species dumb enough to prey on us. Tell me, Twilight, do ponies have any natural predators still on this planet?”

Twilight paused to think. Her eyes narrowing in thought.

“Well… disregarding the Changelings who seem comfortable to consume the love of any living being, there are creatures in the Everfree Forest who will readily consume ponies. And during the Contact Conflicts, gryphons would… hunt and consume ponies.”

Dante clicked his tongue. “And that’s why Humanity has no natural predators. Sparkle, Life is uncertain in many aspects. But there is one thing I can assure you, they gryphons are lucky man didn’t evolve on this planet.”

Fluttershy apparently had been paying attention to the conversation as she chose this time to speak up.

Well, tried to, rather. But given the fact that she still seemed to be terrified of the alien following his display of gratuitous violence, the voice came out a whisper.

However, the obstacle of Fluttershy’s whispers didn’t seem to stop Dante.

“Yeah, we’ve got’em back home.”

“How smart are they?” Twilight questioned.

“If you’re askin’ if they’re sapient, Sparkle, they ain’t. Remember, fairly certain I just said Humans are… well, I suppose were the only intelligent species back home. I’m assuming after the Battle for Earth, the Imperium officially revealed itself. But, yeah, no sapient pigs.”

“This Imperium, you seem to speak so highly of it. Why?” Bulwark questioned from his curled position.

“Don’t get me wrong. I’ve got a couple of bones to pick with them. And in fact, I already have picked a couple of bones with them. But they were the best way for me to get what I wanted.”

“Which was?”

“Revenge. As corny as that sounds as a one liner, so I have to end it with an explanation. I wanted people dead, but I couldn’t reach them with the technology Earth had. But as it so happens, the Imperium also wanted these people dead… well, “arrested”. But they never came along peacefully. How unfortunate.” The tone at the end was very obviously dark, making Twilight grimace.

“So, in the spirit of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend”, I joined the Imperium. Then more shit happened and here I am. On this weird-ass planet with talking magic ponies.

Twilight tried to change the subject.

“So, Dante could you inform us of some more personal questions?” The purple unicorn asked.

“Don’t see why not.”

“So, could you tell us about your family? Maybe your moth-”

“Dead. She’s been dead for a long time. Even before I crashed here.” The biped answered bluntly, with Twilight quickly trying to scramble away from a topic she thought may be sensitive for the biped.

“Ah… uh… your fath-”

“Asshole. Don’t want to talk about him, he can get fucked for all I care.”

“Uh… f-frie-”

“Dead.”

“Was that before or after you crashed in Equestria?” Rainbow Dash questioned, her voice filtering through a radio in the car.

“Before.”

“Uh...” Twilight was searching for a way to pull herself to dig herself out of the hole she had dug. “Do you… have a mate?”

“A mate?” Dante began fiddling with the ring on his left hand. “Yeah, the most beautiful woman I’d ever met. Her name was...” His face scrunched as he searched for a word in Equestrian. Eventually he just made an odd sound that the awake ponies were incapable of making heads or tails of.

“Law-Kee-Uh” Twilight’s face grimaced as she heard Dante say the alien word.

“Her name doesn’t seem to fit in well with the Equestrian language, kind of odd since mine seems to exist in it. I suppose it’s kind of like asking a Prrlytuynkyrt… How fuckin’ weird is that,  Prrlytuynkyrt seems to flow. How the fuck is a niche alien specie’s name in this language. Anyway, I suppose it’s kind of a like asking a Prrlytuynkyrt to mix English with their native tongue.” Dante looked at the various confused ponies, then clarified. “The letter “E” doesn’t exist in their tongue, at all.”

Danted looked back to his interrogator.

“A wife.” She nearly squeed, as she realized that Dante, although he had answered her previous questions mostly in the negative, seemed to know what what she was talking about.

“This means aliens understand the magic of friendship!”

“What in the everloving, actual fuck are you going on about Sparkle? Do not make me grab the spray bottle, I will grab the spray bottle!”

“Do you have foals?” Twilight almost began vibrating out of her seat, Dante’s threat of the horrific spray bottle went unheeded.

“Foals? What, you mean kids?”

She nodded.

“Did. I did have kids. And that “did” existed before I crashed here.”

And just like that, Twilight’s excitement went from one hundred to zero in the blink of an eye.

“Oh… I’m… Uh… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to… I mean, you know, I had no intention t-” Dante waved his hand.

“Don’t worry, Sparkle. I’ve mourned their loss. If all I ever did was mourn my dead, I’d never get anything done.”

Despite Dante’s assurance she had done nothing wrong by asking about his children, Twilight couldn’t bring herself to ask any more questions, in fear she’d be dredging up more memories like that.

So, the rest of the car ride was spent in silence, something that the exhausted stallion, Bulwark, was grateful for.





S-4292 was in quite a pickle. She was low in energy, struggling to maintain her disguise and still trying to figure out how to get love from these ponies. Oh, and she was stuck underground with the natural enemy of Changelings… Diamond Dogs. Her day had been going so well so far.

Her only hope was that stupid mare, Rose, had indeed gotten help and that the Royal Guard wasn’t so pathetic they wouldn’t send a rescue mission.

Of course, that’s assuming they were even able to find the caverns.

And given that 4292 was the only “pony” in the cage that wasn’t emaciated and struggling to stay standing, it seemed as though all the captives had flocked to her for safety.

4292 really wished she could consume irony in the same way she could consume love.

Movement to the side caught her eye, as two of the dogs entered the room they were keeping the caged captives in, arguing.

From what they were arguing about, she could tell this was going to get ugly real quick.





A large crowd of ponies had gathered to see what the commotion was, as the alien carriage sped into Ponyville, at a much more respectable speed. But the engine’s growl of power was more then enough to wake up the quiet village, as Dante brought the truck to a stop in what appeared to him to be a town square. A circular two story building occupying the center of the square.

“How fuckin’ quaint.” He remarked, as he dropped the gear into a park and unbuckled his belt, opening his door and stepping to the ground.

The crowd of ponies gathered to guffaw at the odd, armored towering being as he stretched his arms out and bent, popping various bones. Rainbow Dash having landed on the roof of the truck.

To the ponies, he had some fleeting similarities to the minotaur who had been in their town a few years back, mainly due to his bipedal stance and height, but the similarities ended there.

He grabbed the rifle he had stuck in a rack in the center of the truck and took it out, dropping the mag, he paid no attention to the gawking ponies. He pulled the charging handle to ensure there was a round in the chamber and then replaced the magazine. Slinging the rifle over his back, he leaned back into the truck, putting a hand on Bulwark’s withers and shook him violently.

“Oi, fuckface, get up.”  Bulwark jolted awake from the sudden action, as he blinked his eyes warily.

Dante looked up to to the pegasus sitting on her haunches on the roof of his truck. He pointed at her.

“Don’t scratch the paint.” He said, with the same tone one would command a dog.

Rainbow Dash took the tone in stride.

“Funny.”

Dante repeated the process of waking a pony up with Applejack, who had elected to the take the seat behind the biped in Canterlot. However, he was noticeably gentler with her, as the five Elements slowly stumbled out of the back seat of the truck.

Various ponies rushed forward to ask the girls just what was happening and whether or not the should be concerned about the odd creature.

“My name’s Dante, if ya could stop callin’ me a creature it’d be appreciated. Jesus christ, Bulwark you’re acting like a child, get the fuck up, I’m not fuckin’ carryin’ you to the AO.” Dante had yelled behind his back, which caused the mare who questioned Twilight to back up a little.

Twilight, now fully awake was struggling to calm down the townsfolk down.

“That’s Dante, he’s a… visiting military official. A guest of the Diarchy. He’s no danger.”

“Hey, Bulwark, did you pack that machete I told you to dig out of that asshole’s skull? It doubles as a

bayonet and I may need to skewer some dogs.”

Twilight adopted a fake smile. “I swear, he’s actually just a giant teddy bear.”

“Yeah, I know. I was the one that did it. Asshole didn’t see me coming. I kicked a door at him and then buried the machete in his head… multiple times… come to think about it, he was still screaming and I had to dump a couple of rounds into him… anyway, did you pack it or not?”

Any semblance of a smile Twilight had managed to hold onto instantly disappeared, as she realized that the terrified crowd wasn’t going to believe her lies that Dante was harmless.

But those lies had been easier to explain then his odd morals.

“Okay… so… he isn’t… harmless, but he won’t hurt you unless you give him a very good reason to.”

“Bulwark, I swear to god if you didn’t pack that machete when we get back to Canterlot I am going to personally bury it into your fuckin’ skull.”

“That was a joke. He also moonlit as a comedian back home!” The crowd of ponies were agape at the biped’s casual threats of violence and Twilight could tell they weren’t buying it.

Danted hefted a duffle bag over his shoulder as he turned around from the truck, casually walking up to  Twilight.

He stood by her left flank and looked at the crowd of gathered, terrified ponies.

“The fuck’s wrong with’em?” Dante questioned, gesturing towards with now gloved hands.

“They’re terrified of you.”

Dante cocked an eyebrows as he looked down to Twilight “I can tell, I can smell the terror coming off them in droves.” He looked back to the crowd.

“Boo.” He stated casually, his voice never raising. There was absolutely no malice evident in the word and his teeth never flashed.

Never the less, the crowd screamed and scattered, all of them rushing back to their houses and slamming doors, locking locks, closing curtains and hiding.

“And now I smell piss.” He stated. “You ponies are damned weird.”

Rainbow Dash snorted and jumped from her perch, gliding to land gracefully on Dante’s head.

The biped had to give it to her, she had impeccable balance.

“That’s rich, coming from the continuously angry alien who only seems to think about causing destruction”

“Rainbow, I swear to god if you shit on my head like a parrot, I will kill you like I would a parrot by wringing your neck.”

“Exactly my point.” Rainbow Dash shot, seemingly unfazed by his threat of violence.

Dante reached up and wrapped his hands around her barrel, lifting her off his head, he set her gently on the ground, lightly tapping her nose.

“Don’t jump on people’s heads. It’s rude.”

He turned back to the truck.

“Dante, dare, is your… carriage going to be okay like that.” Rarity questioned.

“Yep, I could leave all the doors open if I wanted to. It’s not like there’s anyone around here that actually knows how to drive it, much less could drive it. I can imagine it now. A pony trying to drive this, sitting like a Human, their rear hooves dangling a foot off the ground.”

“So, what’s the plan?” Rainbow Dash asked, as she trotted ahead of the group of massed ponies, and one biped.

“The “plan”, Rainbow, is for you girls to go get some some rest in actual beds.” Dante had produced a shotgun from the duffle bag, which he was now loading the magazine tube. “And Bulwark and I will deal with the dogs, retrieve Sea Biscuit and whatever other captives they have down there and get back here. From there, I should have the resources I need to make launchable satellites, which I will then use to track down my motherfuckin’ transmitter so I can go home. And also kill the bitch,” Dante slammed the shotgun’s pump down and then back up. “That stole my motherfuckin’ shit.”

“What? You can’t just go around kicking flank without us, we’re national heroes!” Rainbow Dash protested.

“The only reason why you all came along is because Sparkle requested, also because I figured locals would make my arrival here a bit less… terrifying.” Twilight grumbled something about it being his fault as Dante continued. “I am not going to allow civilians to accompany me on a military operation.”

“What about him?” Rainbow questioned as she pointed to Bulwark, causing Dante to raise his eyebrow.

“He’s a Royal Guard, you fuckin’ moron. Is he or is he not your equivalent of a soldier?”

“Well… yeah, but…”

“Listen, Rainbow, I realize you ponies aren’t as martial as the Imperium, or even Humanity. But Bulwark is a soldier… er, at least the closest approximation to a soldier as you all have. And trust me, this isn’t something you all want to see.”

Before Rainbow Dash could protest, she was enveloped in a purple aura, as Twilight pulled her along.

“Rainbow Dash, darling dear, this is the stallion who didn’t have a problem being covered in gore and viscera. If he says it’s not something we want to see, we should indubitably take his word for it.”

“Fine, I’ll go home.” Rainbow Dash relented, as she tried removing herself from Twilight magical grasp, only for Twilight to increase her grip.

“Nope, you’re staying the night with me. I’m not letting you follow them, Rainbow. Now come on, I need to check on Spike, he’s been home alone for days now. I wish he would have come with me.”

“I wasn’t plann… okay, maybe I was, but I swear I won’t. Let me go, Twilight!” Rainbow could only struggle futilely, as her wings flapped useless

“And I need to check on Sweetie Belle. I do hope mother and father haven’t burned down the Boutique while I was away.”

As the group of mares walked away, arguing or just talking, Dante merely looked down to Bulwark, shaking his head.

“Fuckin’ freaks, man, in any case, I need to speak to the Guards who took the report, but I think I spooked the bossman of this town. Y’all got an outpost down here?”





S-4292, somehow still managing to hold her “Sea Biscuit” disguise flattened her ears against her skulls. As tortured screams echoed off the walls of the cave.

She could only hope that the Diamond dogs would see her as a possibly valuable worker, and that the Royal Guard would get here before her magic ran out.





Bulwark had led the pair to the local guard outpost, a very run down looking building, right on the outskirts of town.

“It’s a shed.” Dante stated.

“No, sir. That’s the Royal Guard’s Ponyville outpost.”

Dante looked to the stoic pony, the look in his eyes making it obvious he thought the stallion insane.

“You motherfuckers are law enforcement, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then where the fuck is the goddamn jail? This is a shed! Fuck! That’s an insult to sheds around the world! I’ve seen goddamn port-a-shitters bigger then this fucking building. Does the Crown just not send any money to this outpost at all?”

“Ponyville doesn’t see a lot of crime.” The stallion replied, as he eyed the small building. It was indeed small, but Dante was exaggerating, if he was honest it was about the size of a shed where they would store plows.

“But it sees crime, so when you motherfuckers do arrest someone, where in the goddamn ever loving hell do you put them? I mean, for fuck’s sake, I was a Texas Ranger in the late 1800’s and not a single town I ever tracked a criminal down in had a law enforcement office this fucking pathetic. This isn’t even a fucking building!”

“We make do with what we have.”

“More like your assholes of princesses can’t even be bothered to protect one of their fucking towns.”

Bulwark took a visibly angry frown at Dante’s crass statement in regards to the diarchs.

“It’s not their fault, they have to divy up a certain amount of a budget and deploy guards to high risk areas. Ponyville is a low risk area!”

“Bullshit it is, it seems to be a nexus of fuckery in this world. Nightmare Moon attacks here first, then Discord, then Twilight went crazy because of some weird shit and put the entire town under some sort of mind control spell. If anything, I’d have this entire fucking place surrounded by armed guards.”

Bulwark eyed the biped suspiciously. “How do you know all of that?”

Dante snorted. “It’s called newspapers, you fucking retard. Rule one of being stranded on an alien planet, recon, I did as such and started researching the place. Kind of fucked your princess would banish her sister to the moon for a thousand years and then entomb another one of her enemies in stone.”

“What would you have done in both situations?”

“Killed them.”

“Why do you insist on killing everything you meet?”

“They’re threats, the best way to the stop a threat is to permanently end the threat, by killing it. But furthermore, it’s the more ethical thing to do.”

“Ethical? Nightmare Moon was defeated and Princess Luna was restored.”

“But did Celestia know she could do that? When Celestia fired the shot that sent Nightmare to the moon for a thousand years, did she know for a fact that she would be able to save her sister, or did she imprison and isolate her sister for a thousand years on blind faith and hope alone. And Discord? He’s still petrified. And from my understanding of how petrification works, he’s still fully conscious and aware of what’s occuring around him. So that means he’s trapped forever in one position with no freedom to move around. Do you know what we call that back home?”

Bulwark growled, Dante poked him in the nose.

“We call the cruel, unreasonable and unusual punishment, it’s explicitly banned in the Imperial Bill of Rights and we execute those who practice it.”

“There you go with the killing again.”

Dante narrowed his eyes.

“Yes, because it’s league’s ahead of a thousand years of isolation and restriction of freedom by turning someone to stone indefinitely.”

Dante whirled on his feet, to face the guard outpost. “In any case, we’ve spent way too much time fucking about and arguing over morality.” He approached the porch of the building as Bulwark followed. He stopped at the door and knocked.

“Hold on, coming.” A voice sounded from inside, as Dante waited patiently. The door knob shook violently, as some mild cursing was heard from within.

The rattling of the doorknob continued on for a minute, until it literally fell off. The knob rolled on the ground until being stopped by Dante’s boot. The biped in question bent down and picked up the knob with a bemused expression on his face.

“Sir, is everything alright in there?” He called through the door.

“Uh… yes, the door’s just… stuck, again… could you do me a favor and go fetch Big Mac from Sweet Apple Acres? He’s the one that usually fixes it.”

Dante looked to Bulwark and shook his head. “No time.” He turned back to the door and spoke. “Sir, we don’t have the time to do that. Can you step back a little bit?”

Dante didn’t wait for a response, as Venus had preemptively scanned the building, allowing him to the through the flimsy walls, he watched as the stallion inside took a few steps back.

“A bit further back.” Dante shouted, as the stallion hesitated but then took another step back. “Alright, that’s good.”

Dante took a step back as he examined the door, Bulwark questioned just what his plan was to open the uncooperative door.

Until he lifted his right foot up and in a violent movement brought it back down on the edge of the door, slamming the outwards opening door into the building and revealing the shocked look of an elderly unicorn stallion with a grey coat and purple mane and tail in the post.

“Sorry about your door.” He said, casually, as though he had just picked up someone’s keys from the ground, and tossed the broken door knob behind him.

“You’re taller then I expected. Lieutenant Rock Salt.” The stallion stated, he shook his head and held out his hoof, which Dante took in his fingers and shook. The stallion took his hoof back and examined it, expecting a bump rather then a shake.

“General Dante T. Jaeger, Imperium of Phoenix, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps. This is Equestrian Liasion Officer to the Imperium of Phoenix Corporal Bulwark.”

Bulwark saluted the lieutenant, who saluted back. “Liasion officer, huh, higher ranked then I was at your age, son. I received a telegraph from Canterlot informing me to expect some troops to aid in a Diamond Dog problem I have, I was expecting more, and not a...”

“Human.” Dante replied.

“A Human and a stallion. No offense meant, of course.”

Dante had began to examine the very small building, and had opted to drop his duffel bag at the door. “No offense taken, I come from a multi-racial nation, I’ve been called far worse then just not being called something at all. But we have more important matters, LT.” Dante turned to a desk he had spied and went over to it.

“I came here of my own volition. Mainly because I have reason to believe those Diamond Dogs are sitting on metal that I need to find my ticket home but also because I despise anyone who practices slavery. I was planning to came later in the week on the basis that we had no confirmation that there were indeed anyone being held captive by these dogs, in order to train my liaison officer in how to not shoot me in the back or get shot in the back,  however the kidnapping of Miss Biscuit extradited my response to right now. I need to see any reports you have on missing persons in the area, as well as the report you took earlier today.”

“Absolutely, General. Please give me just a moment.” Salt disappeared into a closed door, as Dante sat on the desk. Bulwark noticed how his head or eyes never seemed to stop moving.

“Can I ask you something, sir?” Bulwark began.

“Shoot.”

“You have all the features of a predator, binocular vision, a seemingly inherent drive to violence and to kill, but you seem to behave like prey.”

“How so?”

Bulwark clicked his tongue as he formulated his response. “Well, for one, you seem to be constantly aware of your surroundings. I don’t think I seen your head stop moving or your eyes focus on one single thing. It seems like you’re emulating the vision of a large portion of prey species, whose eyes are situated in such a way that their blind spots are extremely small.”

Dante chuckled. “Bull, when you’ve been doing what I’ve been doing for as long as I’ve been doing it, you learn very quickly that letting yourself focus one small thing will get you killed or maimed. I’m constantly moving because my awareness depends on me keeping my blindspots covered. Plus, Venus helps.”

Before Bulwark could respond, the lieutenant appeared though the door he had gone through, a stack of papers held in his magic.

“Alright, here’s all the reports I could find on missing ponies for the areas, the ones that are believed to have been foalnapped by Diamond Dogs are marked with red.”

Dante sighed at the stack of papers, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

“Jesus Fucking Christ, Bulwark!” He shouted, causing both Salt and the named stallion to jump. The biped began tearing through the files.

“You all have this many missing people for such a small fucking area and no one ever bothered to send out a goddamned division or two to search for them? Not a single goddamn satan-loving, asshole-eating detective was sent out to the investigate it? What in the ever-loving have your two goddamn princesses been doing the past couple of fucking goddamn cock-sucking years? Sitting in bubble baths, gorging their fat cunts on ice cream and cake and reading trashy romance novels by some bitch named “AnonyMare” whose actually just some fat guy whose got his dick hanging half out of his christ loving trousers and whacking himself off to the fact that he’s fooled thousands of women into thinking he’s a kindred sister. JESUS FUCKING TAP-DANCING CHRIST, SATAN FUCK ME!”

Dante threw several files on the floor in a fit of rage, as the two stallions had their ears folded down in an attempt to drown out the yelling.

“I’m fucking standing here because apparently I’m the only asshole on this entire goddamn planet capable of any fucking thought beyond “HMM WHAT FUCKING CAKE AM I GOING TO HAVE AT PRINCESS FLURRY CREAM’S FUCKIN’ GODDAMN LUCIFER FUCKING WORSHIPPING TEA PARTY!” Why the fuck did it take an alien who had been in a coma for five goddamn cock-sucking cunt-licking millenia to finally get the ball rolling on this! Look! I’ve got fifteen fucking files for little kids!”

He threw the files in question on the floor in front of the two.

“Surely where you’re from they don’t find every missing pony, sir.” Bulwark stated, in an attempt to calm down the angered the biped.

It failed.

“OF FUCKING COURSE WE DON’T YOU STUPID COCK! But we at least have the goddamned decency to send officers to the location in a fucking attempt to find them! And it’s not like this is an isolated fucking goddamned incident! I’ve got over a hundred fucking files in my hand about missing persons in this area! And you’re telling me your fucking princesses haven’t had the common fucking sense to send more people into the area, or station more officers in the area. Instead I come here and I find the only fucking guard on duty sitting in a fucking port-a-shitter! “Ponyville’s a low crime area” my motherfucking ass! It’s more like your princesses are too goddamned retarded to rule a nation if they turn a blind fucking eye to a problem like this!”

Bulwark stomped over to the biped, glaring up at him.

“Do. Not. Talk. About the princesses that way.” He stated, stomping his hoof for emphasis.

Dante bent down, pushing his head into Bulwark’s. “I say what I mean and I mean what I say. And I only point out the facts.”

Bulwark responded by pushing his head hard into the biped’s, growling, an act that Dante reciprocated.

This continued until the lieutenant cleared his throat, causing the two feuding men to look at him.

“The general is correct, Corporal.” Before Bulwark could respond, he held up a hoof to stop him. “Allow me to rephrase that, the General is correct on a large portion of his statements, however I disagree with how he worded them and I disagree with his assessment that the princesses are unfit to rule. They have led Equestria through trying times, but they have made a large judgment error in not sending me more troops to investigate these disappearances and keeping me as the only guard on duty. Indeed, this area does suffer from a disproportionate amount of ponies disappearing, even when taking the Everfree into account.”

“So… what now?” Bulwark asked.

Dante turned to the desk, swiping the files off of it and grabbing his bag, setting it on there.

Bulwark watched as he pulled a shotgun from it and began loading the magazine tube.

“The answer is simple. We have a map for the mine, we know the dogs have captives. So we go in there, kil-”

“Arrest.” Bulwark interrupted, Dante slammed the pump on the shotgun back and forward, chambering a shell.

“Shut the fuck up. Kill the dogs, free the captives, find silver, make sattelites, find my goddamn larcom and then I get home.”

“Brilliant plan, sir.” Salt nodded.

“LT, do you all have… like, you know… an actual jail?” Dante questioned the elderly stallion, while glancing around the very derelict building.

“We do.”

“Very good,” Dante nodded. “I need you to get a hold of the big boss of this town and tell them the Imperium of Phoenix is commandeering it temporarily and if there’s not enough room, be ready to discharge the non-violent criminals.”

“Uh, si-” Salt attempted to begin his explanation of why that wouldn’t work, but Dante held up a hand.

“If they have a problem with it, I have been granted explicit authority by the Diarchy to requisition anything I need in my pursuit of these criminals.”

“I thought you were insistent on killing them?” Bulwark questioned.

I am, the jail is there so no one messes with the bodies. Now, Bulwark, to me!” Dante stated, as he dramatically turned around and began marching out of the building, bag on his back and rifle held high. “We ride tonight!”

Bulwark turned to the elderly stallion and rolled his eyes, trotting out after the biped.

“You never actually were given explicit authority, did you?”

“Nope!”

Bulwark once again found himself rolling his eyes.





“I’m sorry, what?” Luna looked at the messenger incredulously, as she sat on the throne.

“Yes, your highness.” The stallion fiddled his wings uncomfortably, holding a piece of paper. “Her highness, Princess Celestia, authorized the alien to confront a group of diamond dogs. Lady Sparkle informed the guard that the Elements of Harmony were leaving for Ponyville with the alien and we believe he also brought along a Solar Guard.”

Luna rubbed her forehead. “How is he even planning to get there. The train costs bits and from my underst-” Luna’s eyes narrowed, as she shot up, her wings flaring out. “Do not tell he shot his way onto the train!”

The messenger looked up at her, unamused. “No, your highness. We received an emergency telegraph from the mayor’s office in Ponyville. It reads: “Unknown carriage arrived, unpulled. Believed hostile creature to have brainwashed elements. Send help.”

“Oh, gods.” Luna rolled her eyes. “They’re overreacting, again.”

Luna stepped down from the throne, stretching out her wings and magicking open a window, shaking her head.

“I swear, at this rate, the general is going to be death of the Equestrian court system.” She turned to a guard standing near the window.

“Please inform anypony looking for my judgement that Night Court has been delayed due to extenuating circumstances. If anypony asks about the general, inform them that you can not answer but an official announcement will be released soon.”

“Yes, your highness.” The guard nodded, as Luna took off through the window.





“You stupid motherfucker, did they not teach you navigation in Basic?” Dante questioned, as Bulwark held a map up, attempting to puzzle it.

“Oh, shut up. The map’s extremely rough. There used to be a road. They never expected Diamond Dogs to overtake the mine and then let the road become part of nature again. The map just needed to point you in roughly the right direction and then you just followed the road.”

“So, essentially, what you’re saying is: We’re wondering through a forest using a map drawn by a little kid based off another map drawn by a toddler who drew their map using a map drawn by a newborn?”

Bulwark was silent for a moment. “… Yes.”

Dante threw his hands in the air. “Great, whose fucking idea was it to take this map?”

Bulwark glared at the biped, growling. “Stop complaining. You should have found a better map before coming out here.”

Dante threw out his arms. “How the fuck was I supposed to know you fuckin’ ponies were utterly in-fucking-capable of basic fucking cartography. I mean… for god’s sake, Humanity had accurate fucking maps before we were even capable of flight. You all have pegasi and gryphons you have no fucking excuse! Now we’re lost in the middle of the woods looking for some retarded mine so I can kill some dog-”

“Arrest.” Bulwark irritably corrected, as Dante glared at him.

“Kill,” Dante emphasised the word. “Some dogs and get some motherfucking silver. And the native, who’s supposed to be the liasion officer and guide is incapable of finding a fucking mine.”

“If you’re going to continue complaining, then help!” Bulwark snapped.

“I am helping!” Dante pushed his face into Bulwark’s.

“How!”

Dante pointed behind Bulwark.

“By keeping an eye on those three assholes hiding in those fucking bushes wondering whether or not they should ambush us!”

Bulwark could hear rustling and the thudding of feet, but before he could react, Dante had already moved from his previous position, rifle raised.

He covered the couple of hundred or so meters in just a few seconds, making the running diamond dogs look like turtles. He slammed into the back of the closest one bringing it to the ground, as he himself got into a kneeling position, using his knee to pin the dog to ground.

He brought his rifle to bear with his right hand, while his left was busy forcing the dog’s head into the dirt. He pulled the trigger twice, as the two fleeing Diamond Dogs collapsed to the ground. He allowed his rifle to fall, and used his right hand to pin down of the dog’s flailing arms.

“Bulwark! Get over here! Stop resisting! Give me your arm, give me your arm, motherfucker!”

The stallion obeyed, quickly trotting over to the fighting pair, the dog desperately squirming in an attempt to get away from Dante.

“Bulwark, there’s a pair of cuffs in the holster in my back grab those and cuff this wrist!” Bulwark did as told, levitating the pair of odd looking manacles out of the holster on the alien’s back and holding one of the ends to the wrist of the struggling dog. The manacles seemed to have no opening, but Bulwark watched as they seemingly magically slid onto the wrist.

Dante released the dog’s head and use his left arm to the grab the dog’s left arm, who was still doing all in his power to prevent his bondage.

“Motherfucker, stop resisting! Give me your arm! Give me your motherfucking arm, right now, or I swear to god I will break it.”

Whether his threat caused it or merely strength, Dante had managed to get the arm without having to break it, Bulwark watched as he brought the arm to meet the other arm, the manacle forming itself around the wrist.

With the dog’s arms chained, Dante moved his knee from the dog’s bag, bringing it to his neck.

He removed his pistol from his holster and tossed it to Bulwark, who deftly caught it in his magic.

“Check on those dogs, make sure they’re dead. I don’t want them running away to warn their boss about us. If it’s still breathing, drop a round straight into its head.”

Bulwark blanched. “Sir, that’s mur-”

“Just do it, I’ll deal with the repercussions later and tell Sunny I did it. Your name will be nowhere near the situation.”

Bulwark looked at the weapon the alien had tossed him, the alien who was now forcing the captured Diamond Dog to his feet.

“Sir, I will check on them, but I refuse to kill them.” He attempted to return the pistol to the biped, who light shoved his magic back towards.

“Fine, but keep it for now. If they attack you I’ve got to deal with a prisoner and trying to save your ass. If you’ve got the pistol, you got a better chance of not needing me to deal with it.”

“Sir, aren’t you worried about one of the Diamond Dogs getting a hold of it?” Dante snorted, as he twisted his captive Diamond Dog around, roughly pulling the arms up at an odd angle, the dog yelping, and pointing at the claws.

“Look at these retarded motherfuckers, even if the could figure out how the fuck that Glock works, these dumb bastards wouldn’t be able to slip a single fucking claw into the trigger guard. It would be like me trying to fire a fuckin’ LCP with just my palm. Go on and check those dogs while I… coax the location of this asshole’s,” Dante gestured to the pained Diamond Dog. “den out of him.”

Not wanting to further witness just what the seemingly heartless general had in store for the Diamond Dog as he led him behind some heavy foliage, Bulwark cautiously approached the two lying dogs, the pistol held in magic in such a way that he could put rounds downrange quickly.

He slowly trotted up to the first dog, his breath held. A breath he released upon realizing the first one was dead. He stopped himself, considering the fact that he was happy something was dead. This dog had rolled when he was hit, most likely due to momentum, and had landed on his back. His eyes had begun to lose any color and they had and his chest wasn’t moving.

He repeated the process, keeping the alien weapon leveled at this one. He had no desire to kill it, and with any luck he wouldn’t have to. He froze when he heard a groan.

“Uh, sir!” Bulwark called over to the Human, who was surprisingly seemingly having a friendly chat with the captured and bound dog.

“Yo!” He called back.

“This one’s alive.”

“Oh, great!” Dante gestured to the still standing dog pointing to his injured friend, muttering something Bulwark couldn’t hear. “Watch the big guy.” The Human stated to Bulwark, pointing to chained Diamond Dog.

He walked past the unicorn, snatching his handgun out of the magical grasp it was in, causing Bulwark’s heart to slow, until he heard the click of the weapon being secured in its holster.

“Okay, dog.” Bulwark stated as he approached the Diamond Dog. “Don’t do anything funny and I’m sure the General will help your friend over there.” He watched as the Human kneeled on a single knee, gently maneuvering the injured dog’s head.

“Hey… hey, buddy. You alright there?” He asked the dog, as Bulwark and the captured dog looked at how gently he seemed to be treating it.

The Human received a pained groan in response.

The tall biped nodded. “Yep, he’s alive.” Bulwark had a gut feeling something was about to go horribly wrong. He had never seen the enigmatic general act so calmly and gently.

His gut feeling was realized when the General lifted his leg up and brought his foot down, hard, on the Diamond Dog’s head.

“Fucking slaver!” He brought it down once more, the squelching sound making Bulwark’s guts turn. “Why the fuck would I ever show sympathy to you fucks!” He brought it down several more times, until the dog’s head was well and truly gone, nothing more then a pile of gore. He gave ti a few more stomps, Bulwark supposed either out of spite anger or hood measure.

He turned his attention to the captured dog. Bulwark unable to move due to the sudden display of violence. He had seen the biped in action from afar during the Changeling attack, as in seeing him through a bay of windows on the other side of a castle courtyard as he fought his way down a hall of changelings, but then his movements seemed mechanical, imponysable. These though… definitely seemed like he was putting more spirit into them.

Finished with his destruction of the head of the previous dog, he now turned his attention to the “arrested” Diamond Dog.

“You!” He yelled, pointing with his right hand as his left produced a black stick looking to be about twelve inches from another holster on his belt. He flicked his arm, Bulwark watching as the stick extended, now appearing to be nearly twenty-four inches. The tip was rounded off in a ball like shape.

Bulwark realized what it was. A truncheon, but unlike the fixed, solid wooden ones occasionally used by the guard to hold back crowds, this one was telescopic.

He advanced on the now backpedalling dog. “I tried to be nice to you, but I’m done with your shit!” He closed the gap and swung the truncheon, catching the bipedal dog in the leg. Bulwark grimaced as he heard a crack, not sure if it was bone or truncheon, and scream of pain.

“Where the fuck is your den!” The dog cried out in pain as Dante brought the truncheon down on its body several more times. Mostly on the outer extremities and absolutely avoiding the head, something Bulwark took note of.

The biped, who was dwarfed by the dog, hefted the groaning dog up, who quickly collapsed once more. Instead of wasting his time by lifting him back, Dante elected to grab him by his armpit and dragged him over to the body of his dead comrade, the one Dante had elected to do a nontraditional decapitation on with the use of his boot.

“Look at him!” He yelled, roughly grabbing the still living dog’s head and forcing his attention to his mutilated friend. “You thought his death was painful. I goddamn promise you if you don’t fucking spit out the location five goddamn seconds I am going to make your death a trillion times fucking worse then his!”

Dante forced the dog to his stomach, using his knee to pin it down. The dog flailed its unrestrained limbs as it tried to escape as Bulwark watched on in horror.

The biped drew his pistol from its holster and dug it into the shoulder of the terrified creature.

“Five!”

The dog continued to fight.

“Four!”

His legs kicked harder then they had before, but it was all for not.

“Three!”

Dante pressed the pistol harder into the bone of the shoulder, eliciting another scream of pain from the dog.

“Two!”

The dog’s eyes widened.

“On-”

“Wait!” Dante relieved some of the pressure as the dog finally spoke.

“Are you going to tell me where the den is?”

The dog nodded. “Yes. Yes.”

Dante once again dug the pistol deeper into the shoulder. “Well, Fido, I’m waiting.”

“How you know name?”

Dante pulled the trigger.

The dog howled in pain as his shoulder was destroyed.

“Knowing this world, that wasn’t a joke.” Dante switched to the left shoulder. “But the next joke will be met with you losing another goddamn shoulder! Where’s the den!”

“Just...” The dog took a ragged breath. “North East here. Near ponytown.”

Dante pulled the trigger, the howled once more as its remaining shoulder was destroyed. The biped grabbed the head of the dog and lifted it up, slamming it back into the ground.

“You stupid fuck, do I look like I was born yesterday. And I swear to god, if you say yes to that answer, I’m just going to light you on fire… after I break your legs.”

Dante now dug the pistol into the knee joint of the right leg.

“Now, enough of your shit. You, Killer Eyes over there and I are going to go to your home so your boss and I can have a little chat. But I have one more question.”

The only response Dante received was ragged breathing.

“Are there any other… areas I should know about that you dogs have been dealing with?”

There was moment of silence before the injured dog composed itself.

“No.” Dante dug the pistol deeper into the crook of the knee.

“Are you certain about that answer?”

The dog’s breath hitched.

“Grave. Big grave close to bog. We bury ponies there so big predators not attracted to den.”

Dante looked to the still frozen and wide-eyed Bulwark.

“You know anything about this bog he’s talking about, Bull?”

There was silence as Bulwark forced himself out of the shock of the display of extreme violence.

“He could be talking about the Froggy Bottom Bog, in the Everfree Forest.”

“I think I remember seeing that on the map Purple showed me. Good place to hide bodies, I suppose. If I remember correctly, Purple said something about ponies avoiding the Everfree?”

“Yes sir, it’s unnatural and full of predators. It’s avoided for good reason.”

Dante scoffed, as he stood up, reholstering his pistol and using the palm of his hand to close his baton, replacing it in his holster.

“In any case.” He hooked an arm around the armpit of the Diamond Dog and hefted it back up, the dog howling in pain from the movement and stress put on his wounds.

“Oh shut the fuck up, you big baby. It’s just a bullet wound. Little bitch.” He released the dog and give him a gentle shove, retrieving his rifle.

“As I was saying, in any case!” Dante poked the barrel into the back of the dog. “As we say back home! Mush, Balto! Mush! Actually, no… that’s offensive to Balto. Mush, Blondi! Mush!”





“Where they at!” 4292 sighed internally as the lead dog seemed to be throwing a temper tantrum. Something about a trio of Diamond Dogs he had sent out hours ago and still hadn’t come back.

She had a growing head-ache mainly from her low magic stores. Normally this wasn’t an issue, but it was also the fact that she was trying to hold up a disguise while doing so.

She had attempted to ignore the pain by falling asleep, but that wasn’t working thanks to the dogs yelling.

So she instead lifted her head and observed the room. Surrounding her in the cage were slumbering ponies, she figured they must have become used to the yelling in their months of captivity. The room she was being held in was quite a large one.

In one corner was a small pile of valuables the dogs had taken off ponies they had foalnapped, mostly shiny objects. Their value was debateable. The other corners were occupied by ratty mattresses and junk.

The dogs were still bickering when 4292 looked over at them. She really had to wonder how long they could keep this up. She could pray it would end soon.

Her prayers were immediately answered, as a Diamond Dog was bodily tossed into the room from a door in the western corner. From where she was, it appeared to be very badly injured and covered in blood. It was also screeching in pain.

What followed through made 4292’s blood run cold, as a primordial fear ran through her. Instinctually shooting up and taking what looked to be a mix between a fighting stance and a running away stance.





The dog had indeed led the two to the den and the descent had been fairly easy, since the mine had originally been designed with miners in mind.

And Fido had even kept quiet, after Dante had threatened to cut off a “favored” “limb” of his should he try to shout a warning out.

Knowing the general, Bulwark was fairly certain the threat was genuine.

“Through there, the door.” Fido whispered.

Dante gestured at the hole cut in the rock. They were still fairly far back in the hall leading to the “door” so they wouldn’t be seen by the occupants. “That’s where the other dogs and captives will be?”

Fido nodded his head.

“Great, move forward.” Fido did as told, advancing forward. He was nearing the door when he was suddenly picked up and thrown. All he heard was: “You first.” as he slammed into the ground of the main chamber of the den, howling pain from the stresses of landing on his shoulders.

Dante followed next, his rifle held in his arms and helmet on his head. Entering the room, his head moved, eyes scanning every single thing in the room.

Not even a second had passed and he had an accurate count of how many living things were in the room. Discounting Fido, there were four dogs in the room, a single one wearing armor and wielding a spear. To his right there were quite a few cages, all of them containing a dozen or so ponies. They appeared to have been sleeping but were no waking up thanks to the howling of the dog. One of them, however, a green unicorn seemed to be imitating a cat.

He’d have to remember to ask her what her deal was. But in the mean time.

“Hello, slaving dogs!” He announced jovially to the on edge Diamond Dogs. “I am General Dante T. Jaeger of the Imperium of Phoenix, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps! I have arrived to place all of you under arrest for crimes against Sapience.”

He allowed his announcement to hang in the air for a second, before the uninjured dogs burst out laughing.

Dante seemed to take a hurt look on his face, as he turned back to Bulwark.

“What?” He asked, as the dogs continued to roar in laughter.

The shaking green unicorn seemed to shake only harder.

“Oh! I know! You don’t believe me.” He pulled something from a cloth pouch on his armor, approaching the small dog who had been throwing the tantrum before being interrupted by the alien and holding out a leather wallet. “Here’s my badge. Imperium of Phoenix, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps, General Dante T. Jaeger, blah blah blah I have the authority to place you under arrest under Article 2 of the Senatorium’s Declaration of Military Assets and Law Enforcement.”

The dog took the wallet, examining it. The right flap contained a badge. The main body of the badge consisted of a shield shape, with a stylized bird-of-prey perched atop the shield, colored what appeared to be gold. In the center of the shield lay a colored enameled coat, consisting of the same bird with shackles attached to its legs. The chain connecting it had been broken in half, the chain links now dangling limply. Clutched in its right talon was a sword, its left a shield, below lay a pile of what looked like ashes. The dog also noticed the blade that had been shoved through the bird’s chest, now dripping blood. The bird beak was raised to the sky, screeching. Beneath the coat lay alien text the dog could not understand.

On the other flap, a piece of square plastic imprinted with alien text sat. The only thing he was able to understand on it was small photo on the upper right corner of the card, containing a photo of the creature who had handed the badge to him.

“As you can see, the badge itself is the badge issued to PLMC agents, and the ID on the left identifies me as a representative of the federal government of the Imperium of Ph-” Dante was cut off as the dog tossed his badge into the pile of valuables they had amassed.

“Badge shiny we keep, and deal with you now.” The dog spoke.

“You fucking asshole! That was my favorite badge!” Dante shot back.

“Quiet, no use fighting now. Tell your pony there to come here and give weapons. We outnumber you.”

Dante snorted, turning back to Bulwark and gesturing with his thumb to the dog. “Oh, would you look at that? The retard can count higher then two!”

The small dog almost exploded at that remark. “I show you retard!” He transitioned form a bipedal stance to a quadrupedal stance and charged towards the alien, intent on tearing him to shreds.

Which would have worked, had the biped not casually kicked his left foot out at the last second, connecting with the dog’s torso.

The chamber echoed with the cracks of ribs being broken and crushed the assault of a genetically modified and physically enhanced supersoldier wearing power armor. An assault which caused the dog to seemingly defy gravity and fall straight down, without his momentum carrying him.

Then again, all of his momentum got used up on the alien’s leg, so that’s probably why he had been injured so badly from a casual kick, a kick someone would give to a soccer ball inside a house when their one and a half year old pushes the ball to them from five feet away.

“So… let me get this straight…” Dante stated, nonchalantly as he strolled past the howling dog, his lungs miraculously apparently not punctured. The biped walked up to the shiny pile of valuables the dogs had collected, the other dogs who had been present backed up and hesitated from the violent scene, not expecting their leader to be so readily beaten.





4292 was panicking. She was expecting the Royal Guard, not… this monstrosity.

The same unnatural creature that had thwarted their invasion of Canterlot, and forced the Queen’s flight with unholy power.

And here it was, come for her. Once it tore its way through the diamond dogs, it would surely find her. She had no choice, she had to get out, she had to get away, now.

She began slamming herself against the cage, as the scent of anger and abject horror filled the air, the howls of pain of two dogs filled the air.





Dante, who had been bending down to paw through the pile to search for his beloved badge, turned around as he heard a metallic clanging, several times in quick succession.

He watched the sea green unicorn slam herself into the cell’s door several time, as he raised his eyebrow and turned to the unicorn who had accompanied him.

The unicorn in question currently had a borrowed rifle clutched in his magic as he incredulously surveyed the insane scene. Two Diamond Dogs groaning in pain on the ground, the others not sure what to do and ponies in the cage trying to restrain the panicking one from hurting herself.

Dante gestured back to the unicorn panicking in the cage. “The fuck’s wrong with her?” Bulwark could only give a look to Human that said it all.

‘I have no clue what’s happening right now.’

“In any case,” Dante declared as he removed himself from the pile, holding his missing badge and ID in victory. “What the fuck made you think that was a good idea? You saw your boy over there!” He gestured to the original dog he had several injured. “You sent him out in a three man scouting party, and guess what! I only showed up with one survivor, the fuck did you think was going to happen to you, buddy? I killed the other two! And for some odd reason,” Dante bent down in front of the injured dog. “You fucking thought charging me was a good idea? Are you a special kind of stupid?”

The dog could only moan in pain.

Dante pointed at the other dogs in the cave, all of them armed now, but still held up defensively.

“You!” Dante shouted and pointed at one of the still standing dogs, causing almost all of them to jump.

“Under normal circumstances, I would arrest you. But in the Imperium what “arrest” actually means for slavers is summary execution. Something I would have no problem doing given I have direct and impartial evidence that you all did indeed participate in trafficking operations, namely, those cages over there,” He pointed to the four cages containing ponies, as well as one of them containing the panicking green unicorn. “But, since I am on someone else’s land, it would be rude of me to just execute all of you without a chance, but I find myself in a conundrum. I can’t arrest you peacefully, because that would violate the time-honored tradition of Imperials wiping out slavery with over-the-top fanatical zeal, but I also can’t let you go. So tell you what.” Bulwark could have sworn he saw an evil glint in the general’s eyes.

And his heart stopped as the general pointed to him, Bulwark.

“Surrender to my boy, Corporal Bulwark over there and I’ll let you live. Refuse and I will arrest you.” Almost immediately, the three dogs seemed to realize how bad of a position they were in and immediately dropped their spears and rushed over to the unicorn, who raised the rifle he had defensively, preparing to fire off a burst, but Dante’s hand stopped him as the dogs dropped and started begging him to arrest them. Bulwark looked to Dante, who merely shrugged.

“The Crown doesn’t have a reason to rip their limbs off, I do.”

“I don’t have the equipment to restrain all of them, sir. I thought that’s what you were planning to do.” With Bulwark’s statement, the unicorn could swear he smelled urine in the air.

Dante rubbed his chin, dropping the duffel bag he had been carrying on his back to the ground. He dropped to a knee and unzipped the bag, rifling around it.

“Hey, Bulwark, the Royal Guard’s considered law enforcement in Equestria, innit?” He asked.

“Yes, we are both martial and law enforcement.”

“Do you have the ability to deputize someone?”

“Uh, yes… why?”

Dante held up several pairs of restraints, why the ship he crashed in seemed to have so many of them, he had no idea.

“Corporal Bulwark, I would love to assist you to arrest these dogs, however I am unable to carry out an arrest in the name of the Crown as I am not a law enforcement officer.”

Bulwark realized where he was going with this.

“General Dante T. Jaeger,” Bulwark glanced a quick peek towards the still quivering Diamond Dogs to make sure they weren’t doing anything weird. “As an authorized law enforcement officer who has been given the authority to arrest suspects in the name and authority of the crown, I would like to formally request you aid me in the arrest of these suspects as a temporary deputy of the Crown.”

“Gladly.”

“No killing.” Bulwark stated, then paused and thought. “Recruit.”

“Don’t push your luck, Bull. Go deal with the ponies over there, they’ll probably deal with another pony better then they will me.”

Bulwark made a slight nod towards to the two dogs laying on the ground in pain. “What about them?”

“Little fuck isn’t getting up any time soon, and big fuck is probably going to lose both arms, they’re not a threat.” Bulwark and nodded and made his way over to the cages which contained the now very awake ponies.

“Corporal Bulwark, Equestrian Royal Guard, Canterlot Division, I am here to help you.” He announced in a firm and confident tone. And if he was going to be honest, besides the practical course, that was about as much as he remembered from the two days they covered recovery of hostages of captives in basic.

But that still seemed to calm most of them down, with the exception of the still raving made sea green unicorn, throwing herself at the door.

He decided he would go to that cage last, as he crouched down to inspect the padlock.

“This lock shouldn’t be too difficult, I’ll have you all out in no time.”

“Oh, gods bless you!”

Bulwark focused on the lock and grabbed it in his magic, it shouldn’t be too difficult. A common trick for unicorns was being unable to unlock locks without the key. It may have seemed like advanced magic to pegasi or earth ponies, but it was a simple as the finding the lever in the lock and releasing.

The alien armored unicorn smiled as he found it, turning it.

The lock sparked, as he felt a sudden shock in his head. Yelping, he recoiled. “Whoa-ly shit!”

“Oi, look at that Bully! You’re catchin’ my fuckin’ tongue!” Dante shouted as he finished binding the last diamond dog. He walked over the unicorn, who was still rubbing his horn in pain, hissing.

“It’s enchanted.” He explained, looking to the nodding biped. “Unicorns can’t open it. We need the actual key. It should be around here somewhere.”

“I’ve got a masterkey...” Dante stated, as Bulwark looked at him as though he was insane.

The alien took the padlock in his hand, and then gave it a violent downward tug.

The lock sparked as the shackle was torn from the body. The biped smiled. “There we go, I just saved us minutes of looking for it and minutes of the worst pain those dogs would have ever experienced...” Dante’s eyes narrowed. “Fuck. I should have looked for the keys.”

“Do you need to remain a deputy to assist me in transporting the prisoners?” Bulwark questioned.

“Nope.”

“Good, you’re fired and you’re the single worst deputy I ever hired.”

Dante did a mock bow. “I do my best to please, sir.”

Dante manipulated the remaining shackle off the hasp, opening the hasp. “Mornin’, General Dante T. Jaeger of the Imperium of Phoenix, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps. I’d like to apologize for the delay in finding you all. We suffered some technical difficulties on the way in here, but you all are free now!” Dante gestured outside of the door, and watched as several of the ponies were hesitant to come out of the cage.

‘They probably consider it the safest space in this hellhole.’ Dante shook his head at the realization.

“Come on now, those dogs can’t hurt you anymore.”

A pegasi with bound wings took a careful step beyond the threshold, and Dante gestured the pony to him.

The pony cautiously approached the evidently violent biped, when he spoke.

“Now, I’m going to pull a knife out. I am not going to hurt you, my only intention is to cut the ropes on your wings, okay?”

The pegasus nodded, as the biped slowly pulled out an odd cylinder. The pegasus watched in fascination as the biped seemed to squeeze the cylinder and a blade appeared from it.

The biped carefully slipped the knife in between the pegasi’s hide and the rope, then easily slice through the rope. The pegasi gratefully bowed her head and stretched her sore wings.

“Bulwark.” Dante tossed the open knife to stallion, who caught it in his magic. “Help this cage. I’ll get the other two out. And figure out what in the ever-loving fuck is going on with nut-case over there.” He thumbed at the still panicking green unicorn. “Maybe she’s just really happy to get out.”

“Sir,” The pegasus whom Dante had cut free just seconds earlier.

“Yo.”

“She just arrived here. She hasn’t been here for a long time.”

Dante’s eyes lit up as a realization hit him, as he patted the pegasus on the head. “That must be Sea Biscuit.”

He looked to the cage. “… I’m still opening that cage last.”

Dante repeated the process of destroying the lock on the second cage, as Bulwark finished up the last of the pegasi of the first cage.

As the biped approached the final cage, containing the panicking mare, she only seemed to grow more worried and what had turned into a slow thud, presumably due to exhaustion now turned, seemed to become renewed, as the mare threw herself at the door even harder.

Dante stood, wondering how he was going to do open the door without getting bowled over by a tiny unicorn, then shrugged.

“I’ll have to treat it like a band-aid, I guess.” He ripped the lock off and stepped to the side as the unicorn charged out of the cage, covering a couple of dozen feet within a few seconds.

And then promptly collapsing.

Dante stared the unicorn, a blank look on his face. “Well… that was amusing.”

He blinked as the unicorn’s body seemed to spontaneously combust into green flames.

“Oh, shit. That’s going to be fun to explai-” The flames died down before he could finish his sentence and Dante grinned as he recognized what it was.

“Ah, dude, no fuckin’ way!” He quickly walked over to the collapsed changeling and picked it up, his arms holding it up under its front legs. “It’s a changeling! Bull! Look!”

At the word of “changeling”, Bulwark had quickly shifted his attention to the biped, expecting the worst. A changeling attacking him.

Only to see his temporary commanding officer holding a changeling like a puppy.

“Well!” Dante spoke, not paying attention to the bewildered look on the stallion’s face. “’S’veryone ready to go? If there’s a pony that’s supposed to be here but ain’t, now’s the time to speak up. No?” Dante looked around the crowd of ponies, but none of them said anything.

“No? That’s a no? Yeah. Great. Let’s get the fuck out of this hellhole!” Dante repositioned the changeling so that his left arm was supporting her body, with his right arm was free. He walked over to one of the dogs and kicked it causing it yelp in pain, but leaving no permanent injury

“Come on, we’re leaving.” Dante released the shackles on the dog he had kicked and one other. Pointing to the two injured dogs, the biped spoke.

“Help those assholes over there. Anything funny and I’ve got no problem dropping you.” The dogs seemed to have shifted from a victorious attitude to a terrified attitude, as the alien one handed his rifle and aimed it at them, poking one of them with the barrel. “Go on, git. Get going.”





The trip back to the surface had been a most uneventful one, with only minor hissing from the ponies upon reaching the surface and into the morning sun.

“Oh, would you look at that! The sun’s out.” Dante stated as he peered into the calm, blue sky, the changeling resting in his arm squirming a tiny bit to make herself more comfortable, still asleep.

“Kind of disappointed I only fired two shots.” Dante muttered.

“You fired four, sir.” Bulwark stated, as he ushered the crowd of ponies out of the entrance to the mine. Dante muzzled the two unchained dogs with his rifle.

“I don’t consider those wastes of rounds to be actual shots fired in anger, they were enhanced interrogation techniques.” The last words were said with venom as he stared at the remaining Diamond Dogs, who balked.

“How the hell were these assholes giving y’all trouble anyway.” Dante stated as he followed behind the group of dogs who had been separated from the other group, who were the now free ponies.

“Would it have been any different back home.”

“Sort of.” Bulwark gestured another pony to stay in the line.

“Stay together for safety, please. What do you mean, sir.”

“Well, back home on Earth they may have given us trouble. But in Imperial territory either the military would have dealt with them as soon as we got a sniff of a possible slave ring on the wind or the citizens themselves would have taken up arms along side their local law enforcement and lynched them.

Bulwark gestured to the rifle in Dante’s hand. “Civilians are allowed access to those?”

Dante laughed. “Yep. Even back in the United States and my home country of Switzerland. Arguably, however, the Imperium has the loosest regulations regarding them.”

“But… why?”

“Why… well, let’s see. The Imperium of Phoenix has a Bill of Rights that were ratified with out Constitution after the First War of Sovereignty, where the Imperium cemented their position as a sovereign country. The Bill of Rights contain twenty inherent rights all sapient persons are born with and can’t be denied. The first right establishes the Right of Freedom. The second Right is the right to bear arms.”

“No… I mean, why do you all need to be so heavily armed.”

Dante twisted on his heels, walking backwards and looking at Bulwark. “Rights aren’t based on needs, Bull. They’re based on what’s inherently right.”

“And allowing civilians access to weapons of war is inherently right?” Bulwark cocked an eyebrow.

“Yep. And I’ll fucking fight you over it.” Dante looked to the sky, the scanners in his helmet tipping him off to something flying over them.

His helmet’s optics zoomed in on the object in the sky, allowing him to see just what, or rather, who it was.

“Hey, look at that!” Dante gestured to the sky with his head as he continued walking backwards, Bulwark seriously questioning just how he was able to keep his pace while he was doing that. “It’s Luna. Wonder why the fuck she’s here.”

Bulwark and various ponies in the crowd looked to the sky. Indeed, there was something in the sky, but with the exception of the pegasi, they were unable to make it out.

“It is Princess Luna!” One of the pegasi shouted, hopping a tiny bit in excitement. The flying object banked around the trail they were on and then lined up for a landing.

Dante turned around to face the now stopped Diamond Dogs. “Oi!” He barked, roughly shoving the barrel of his rifle into the spine of one of them. “You fucking shitheels, did I say stop walking! Keep going. We ain’t got all day. Fuckin’ move it!”

The pony who had been flying moments earlier landed between the group of dogs being escorted by the alien general and the ponies.

“Oh, hey there Luna. Have a nice nap?” Dante called behind his shoulder. “You were snorin’ pretty fuckin’ hard when I dropped you off in your sister’s room.”

“General, what is going on here.” Before Dante could answer the blue alicorn, she raised a hoof to cut him off.

“Actually, We’d rather not hear it from you.” Luna turned away from the biped, to address the crowd of ponies who, unlike the Human, had bowed in respect to her.

“Who here is the current standing liasion officer?”

Bulwark raised from his bow, saluting. “Your highness, Corporal Bulwark, Canterlot Division, Solar Guard. Current standing liasion officer of Equestria to the Imperium of Phoenix”

Luna raised an eyebrow. “A corporal is a liasion officer?”

Bulwark grunted. “Title only, your highness. It was the general’s decision and Her Highness Princess Celestia approved the choice.”

“Please remind us to promote you when we return to Canterlot, Corporal. We’d do it now, but it also involves a lot of paperwork that needs to be filled out. Could you inform of us of what has happened?”

Bulwark nodded. “Your highness, the General pushed for action against a den of diamond dogs. Ostensibly it was solely for resources the mine could offer him and his apparent hatred of slavery. As we were attempting to find the mine, we were ambushed by a group of three diamond dogs. The general killed two and then…” Bulwark glanced to the line of still walking dogs, and the happily whistling biped who still had his rifle training on them. “Interrogated the survivor, who led us to the den. Upon reaching the den, the General assisted me in arresting them and releasing the prisoners.”

“And that’s all up this point?”

“There is… uh… one other thing we found down there, your highness. The General currently has a changeling in his custody.”

Luna nodded. “Thank you very much, Corporal. Please, raise these ponies and continue leading them back to pony. We will ensure that they’re checked out by the hospital before releasing them.”

Bulwark saluted as Luna trotted to catch up the biped who escorting a line of diamond dogs. As she reached him, she realized that he did indeed have a changeling who appeared to be asleep nestled in his left arm.

“You are quite the enigma, you know that, right?” Luna stated, as Dante stopped his whistling and looked down to her.

“How so?”

“Just a few days ago, you were brutally murdering changeling in droves. Now you have one cuddled up in your arms.”

“It’s called professionalism, Luna. I don’t have anything that makes me inherently despise changelings. The only reason why I was killing them at the wedding was because I didn’t have much of a choice, did I? I certainly couldn’t tickle them into submission. Or duck my head into the sand and pretend they weren’t there.” Luna balked at the last sentence, she could almost taste the hatred dripping off his tongue.

“Why do We feel as though that last bit was directed at Us?” She muttered.

“Because it was.”

Luna shook her head. “But that’s not the only thing We were talking about. You’re currently holding a being that you would have killed a day ago. From Our understandings, you were absolutely adamant about slaughtering the Diamond Dogs, but here they are, only two of their number dead. What’s driving you, General.”

“Oh, gee…” Dante let his rifle fall to rest on the sling and rubbed his chin. “Maybe it’s because I base my decisions off current context. You’re right, I would love to see these assholes executed.” He gestured to the diamond, a few of whom were limping. “But it makes my life easier if I don’t have you all absolutely despising my guts.”

Dante smiled at the lunar princess. “So, are you going to walk with us all the way back to Ponyville, or...”

“We will walk, yes.”





Mayor Mare had been present for many things. Things such as Nightmare Moon’s return and the Discord nearly destroying Equestria.

So why was it that she was now prancing about on her hooves like a filly who had to use the bathroom.

Bon Bon watched as the older mare kept doing a small jig. She was currently seated at a cafe’s table, waiting for her sandwich to come out. She had heard about the commotion last night. Something about an alien coming into town, having brainwashed the Elements and then chasing everypony trying to eat them. She thought it was a load of hogswash.

Then again, that odd mass of metal in front of the town hall certainly looked like nothing she knew about being present on the planet.

Still, she was adamant. There was no way aliens exist.

“Lyra might believe in them. But I don’t.” She sucked down some more of her tea as she waited for her food to be ready.

‘Seriously, how long does it take for somepony to make a sandwich?’

She watched as a pegasus flitted up to the mayor and say something she couldn’t make out at this distance.

The pegasus flew away and the mayor’s seeming anxiety did not dissipate.

Bon Bon stopped paying too much attention when the waiter finally brought her food out to her. She finished the daisy sandwich. She started on the hay fries. When she noticed something out of the corner of her eye which made her stop chewing.

There, crossing a bridge and heading towards the mayor. There was Princess Luna, accompanied a by a few chained diamond dogs and a column of emaciated looking ponies, all of them at different stages.

That wasn’t the strangest thing about the group, though. It was the black skinned bipedal creature with and oddly shaped black tube pushed into the back of one of the diamond dogs.

Bon Bon abandoned her food, she had to Lyra before the news did.

She could not let her hear about this.

‘Lyra won’t ever shut up!’ She panickedly thought as she rushed past the gathering line of ponies, who all wanted to see the Lunar Princess.





A decrepit old temple sat, seemingly abandoned in the middle of a forest. Long forgotten. To any passersby, the main area of worship had collapsed.

But no one knew of the small hatch, camouflaged to blend in with the area just a few hundred feet from the main building.

A cloaked pegasus landed near it, scanning the area for anyone who wasn’t supposed to be know about it. Once the pony was certain the coast was clear, it lifted the hatch up and dropped into a tunnel. Closing the hatch behind her, the pegasus quickly made her way down the tunnel and reached a door, pushing it open she entered a room, containing other cloaked ponies circled around a table, all of whom seemed to be in deep meditation with their heads held down.

“Brother Oakley,” She spoke.

“Sister, you are aware of what time it is. It is sacrilege to disturb worshipers at this time, we are still praising the dawn.” One of the ponies spoke at the table, causing the female pegasus to bow her head.

“I apologize, Brother. But I bring important news from Ponyville...” She raised her head, revealing a pair of golden eyes. “Dawn-Bringer has woken.”

These words seemed to break the silence at the table, as everyone at the table voiced their opinion, ranging from claims of heresy and blasphemy to cries of praise.

The pony who had been identified as Oakley stood, reared and brought his front hooves down the table.

“Silence!” He turned to the pony who had brought the news. “Sister Barrett, are you certain of this claim?”

She nodded. “Yes, Brother. I saw him with my own eyes. Exactly as he is in the paintings by Star Swirl. He was with Daughter Luna, leading a group of chained diamond dogs and rescued ponies!”

Another pony spoke up, protesting. “We understand those paintings to be metaphorical, painted by someone who could not see Dawn-Bringer’s true form.”

Another shot back. “Star Swirl is one of the few who had the glory of being chosen by Dawn-Bringer to view his form! He painted how a pony would see him, so it would only make sense that Sister Wesson sees Dawn-Bringer as Star Swirl did.”

“Dawn-Bringer has also been seen as a female unicorn! Who's to say this is not some impostor!”

“You dare imply that Dawn-Bringer would allow somepony to take his form!”

“He allowed the Two Daughters to split and take to combat, he allowed Daughter Luna to be banished to the moon for a thousand years! He did no intervention to prevent the dissolution of the Diarchy a thousand years ago! Allowing an impostor to take his form is not unthinkable!”

With this statement the room once more erupted into shouts of disagreement. Causing Oakley to once more rear up on his hooves, slamming them down into the table.

“Stop arguing!”

He stood to address the congregation. “Brother Ford is correct in his statement. Dawn-Bringer has chosen not intervene several times when his children have gone through trying times. As a result, we are stronger for it. Sister Barrett.” He turned to the pegasus, who nodded.

“I am assigning you a new mission. Investigate this, find out whether or not this truly the fated theophany we have been waiting for, or if it’s an impostor who is attempting to usurp Dawn-Bringer’s power and faith.”

“If it’s the latter, Brother?”

Oakley grimaced. “If it is an impostor, ensure his blasphemy is ended. Now go, and may the Dawn raise upon you.”

The pegasus nodded and then quickly turned to leave out of the door she came in.

“Sister Aimpoint” he began, turning to another pony at the table. “How are the negotiations going?”

The unicorn mare identified as Aimpoint shook her head. “Not as good as they could be. The Children of the Sun have been far more amiable, willing to hear our messengers out. They’ve agreed to meet with us as the neutral party. But the Children of the Moon have absolutely refused to hear us and have attacked every messenger we sent. Sister Enterprise barely made it out of Hollow Shades and she was severely injured during her flight to safety by moonies. We had to pull a few strings and make it look like an animal attack. She’s been grounded for a little while.”

“They outnumber us, but we wield far more political power then they do… and despite that if we can not get a peace treaty between the two, then many innocents will lose their lives… all because of a petty squabble between sisters.” Oakley shook his head. “It’s unfortunate to see a family be caught up in such violence.”

“Assuming this being is indeed Dawn-Bringer,” Ford spoke. “Then perhaps that will change things. If it is indeed him, perhaps he has personally come down to prevent the Second Battle from occurring.”

Oakley nodded. “Perhaps. In any case...”

The stallion stood, lighting his horn up and picking a book up in his magic. “The Church of the Forgotten God will continue to do what it has done for the past five thousand years.”

He set the book down gently back onto the table. “We will continue to protect Equestria. And perhaps we will no longer have to call ourselves followers of the Forgotten God.” He smirked. “Brother Ford, get word to Brother Abrams in Canterlot. Let him know about the possible theophany and to send any word he hears from the nobles about him to us. No doubt many of them are already plotting his fall, and should he indeed be Dawn-Bringer, the Church must ready to intervene against attempts against him made by our brothers who have not seen the dawn yet. You are dismissed.”

With those final words, the ponies at the table got up and began walking around. Some of them would stay here, and some of them would leave.

Oakley looked to the book on the table, smiling even wider.

“The Holy Book, written in Dawn-Bringer’s tongue. Perhaps now is when you will finally be revealed to us lesser beings.”

He pondered the alien text on the cover, thousands of idea swirling around his head on what it could say.

“Occupation: The Official Biography of General Dante T. Jaeger. Lyrky Iknash. Foreward by Colonel Rat”

Oakley could only hope that this was truly Dawn-Bringer in Ponyville.
> Of Bakeries and Heretics
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix


Chapter 12


“General...” Luna fixed her stare at the biped, who shot her one back. “Could you explain why you’ve commandeered the entirety of the only jail that Ponyville has?”


Dante, having taken his helmet off, raised his nose in the air as he opened the cell door and roughly grabbed the small dog whose ribs he had broken earlier in the day by the scruff of the neck, violently lifting him off the ground a mercilessly tossing him to the ground in the cell. The dog screaming in pain as he landed on his ribs.


“We would appreciate if you’d refrain from torturing prisoners, General.” Luna sighed. “We would also like to know why you commandeered the jail in the Diarchy’s name.”


Dante pushed another dog into the cell by the shoulders. “The reason, my dear Princess Luna, is because I can’t put these assholes into my truck and I assume you’re going to want them in Canterlot to face trial, yeah?” Luna nodded.


“Yeah, so we hold them here until you can get a train here. At which point, troops’ll escort them back to Canterlot. Then I’ll get my silver from the mine and then get back to Canterlot, kill whoever I need to kill and get my larcom back and then be on my way home. It won’t even be a week! I’ll have it done...” Dante paused, his hand still gripping the trembling shoulder of a diamond dog. “Uh… Luna, what day is it? In fact, actually, do you ponies have seven day weeks?”


Luna nodded. “We do, the week starts on Sunday then goes Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, restarting at Sunday. It is currently Tuesday.”


Dante stared the blue alicorn blankly. “You’re shitting me?”


Luna, a confused expression now on her face. “No, General, I’m afraid we are not… er, “shitting” you. What is wrong?”


Dante threw his right arm into the air, his left still cradling a slumbering changeling. “What the fuck is it with this world. It’s like someone threw common Human conventions onto y’all and then just gave you a little different alien culture.” Dante lowered his arms. “I could write off a seven day week as coincidence, but you all also have the same names for the damn days!” Dante shook his head, not waiting for a response. “No, know what? Fuck it. Thinking about similarities is not going to get me home any faster. I’ll be out of here by next Wednesday.” Dante roughly shoved the final dog into the cell and slammed the door closed locking it.


“I’d leave Bulwark here with a shotty to guard these stupid dogs, but he’s tired as shit. I’m going to get that LT at the outpost and make him guard them while I go and get that silver I need. Luna, I’d suggest you get word back to Canterlot and let them know about a mass grave one of the doggies in there told me about. Bull thinks it’s Froggy Bottom Bog. I’d advise you get troops out there to start investigating.”


Dante pointed at the bewildered Luna. “And I’d suggest you do that yesterday, if the indication of the local law office is anything to go off of on how quickly the Crown moves.” Dante shifted his pointing to the very obviously tired Bulwark, whose eyes were beginning to droop. “And you. Go get some sleep. There’s an inn somewhere in this town. Don’t know where, but every town’s got some place for travelers to sleep. Go find it and sleep.”


“Corporal, the spa here in Ponyville has rooms, inform them to put the charges on Our tab.” Luna informed the tired unicorn, who at this point was so deprived of sleep he could barely manage a nod.


Dante looked at Luna, a smirk she didn’t like for some reason on his face.


“What?” She questioned.


Dante snorted, his smirk growing. “You use the Royal We. You said “Our” tab. You use the spa here?”


“We do, is there a problem with that, General?” She shot back.


Dante raised his hands defensively. “Oh, no your highness. Whatever floats your boat, I ain’t got a problem, I just didn’t have you pegged as a spa chick.”


Luna huffed, raising her nose in the air. “It is very relaxing, General. Once We’re done cleaning up your mess, We do believe we will stop in for an appointment. You should try it some time, General, it would probably help solve your behavior problems, General.” Luna put as much emphasis as she could on the last general, hoping to get her point across to Dante.


The biped merely snorted. “Fuck off with that General shit. I’m not some stuck up asshole who sends his men to die while he sits safely in the rear sipping on wine and eating a full course meal. If I were to behave like a general, my men would have fragged me the first chance they got. Also, I’ll pass on the spa, thanks.”


It was Luna’s turn to smirk, raising an eyebrow suggestively. “Oh? And why is that? Does the seemingly fearless general have a deep seated fear of spas?”


“No, I just do-” Dante was cut off, as a thump sounded from where Bulwark had been standing, now collapsed. He and Luna stared at the unconscious guard for a few seconds, Dante with a bemused smirk on his face and Luna absolutely bewildered.


This silence was cut off as Dante did a short whistle. “Wew, well… fuck. I guess the silver’s gonna have to wait until I can get Sleeping Beauty over there to a bed… You said there was a spa, Princess?”


Luna shook her head slightly. “Er… yes.”


Dante walked over to the guard, bending down with his right knee supporting his weight on the ground, he wrapped an arm around the unicorn and bodily lifted him up.


“Would you mind leadin’ me to it?”


“General,” Luna began, squinting. “Would you like some help? You’re carrying probably close to a quarter of a ton at the moment.”


“No,” Dante began, gently kicking the door to jail open. “I’ll be fine, just show me where this spa is so I can get Snow White over here to bed.” Dante held the door open with this foot as the lunar princess trotted out of the building.


Before leaving, he looked back in, addressing the cell full of diamond dogs. “And you fuckin’ lot. Behave or I’ll personally come back and kill you all. I’ll send a doc with the guard.


He moved to the follow the alicorn, allowing the door to close behind him.








The pink alicorn slowly opened her eyes, the luxurious bed she was now resting in and sharing with someone else.


She smiled at the sight of her slumbering fiance. The two had taken a few days off to sleep from the fiasco.


But here they were, still sharing a room. Cadance frowned.


‘We should be husband and wife now, not fiances.’


Not that they could help it, of course. After all, she had been kidnapped and their wedding had been crashed by a parasitic empathavoric shapeshifter and her army of parasitic empathavoric shapeshifters and then sort-of saved by an alien.



‘At the very least we’ll have an interesting story to tell our children.’ The pink alicorn giggled as she thought of just how they would explain to a foal how an alien ended up saving Equestria from being overthrown by shapeshifters, without including the gore, of course.


Her giggling woke up her bedmate, as Shining Armor locked eyes with his fiancee.


“Cadance… I am so sorry.” This elicited an eye roll and a groan from the princess of love.


“Shiny, that’s all you’ve been telling me for the past couple of days.” She lightly batted him with her hoof. “It’s not your fault, she had everyone fooled, even Aunty Celestia. If anything, the fact that she was able to get so powerful just from consuming the love you have for me, that says a lot.” She giggled again, smiling.


“Besides, it all worked out in the end and we have a second chance for a wedding.”


Shining Armor sighed, rolling from his side and onto his stomach. “Yeah, I know, it’s just that… well. I’m the captain of the Canterlot division and I wasn’t able to do anything. Even when you and I were combining our magic, it did nothing. Why?”


All Cadance could do was shrug, but Shining Armor continued. “A-a-and then just… in comes this foolish alien general who’s just acting like everything’s a game, he bats the magic that beat Princess Celestia and Luna and us away. The way he moved just made it seem like he considered everything as nothing more then a friendly wrestling match.”


“I don’t know if I would consider that a friendly wrestling match, Shiny.” Cadance replied, Shining Armor merely nodded his head.


“No, I know. But the way he was moving just isn’t how somepony moves when they’re being swarmed by a bunch of fanged shapeshifters. At no point during the entire fight was he in fear of his life. He was just tossing changelings around like they were dolls. I don’t know, Cadance, something about him is just… weird. And creepy.”


Cadance frowned, as she too rolled over onto her stomach, stretching her wings out. “Well… your feelings complicate things a bit.” She yawned, as Shining Armor looked over to her confused.


“How so?”


“I’m inviting him to the wedding.” Shining Armor groaned at her declaration.


“Cadance, he threatened you and Princess Luna with death. Why would you invite him!”


Cadance smacked her lips, yawning once more. “Because if it wasn’t for him, we’d be changeling food right now. He was the hero that day and we owe a lot to him. And in his defense, he only did that after Aunty Luna threatened him.”


Unseen to her, the unicorn stallion rolled his eyes. Cadance put a leg around his neck and hugged him.


“And besides, think about it. We’ll be the first ponies to have an alien at our wedding!”


“The nobles won’t be happy about it.” Shining Armor stated calmly, his gaze straight.


“Well when the nobles are the ones getting married, they can choose to not invite him to their weddings. But as is, I want him to feel welcome here.”


Shining Armor rolled his eyes, but scooted in closer to the hug.


“You’re a weird pony, Cadance.”


“That’s why you married me, Shiny.”







“Thanks for watching after him!” Dante called behind his back as the door slid closed behind him, Luna standing in front of him and to the side of the door. He glanced down at the changeling still in his arms and still asleep.


“Jesus christ, this bug sleeps like a fucking rock. You could probably drop a nuke right on top of us and it wouldn’t wake up.”


Luna trotted alongside Dante as the began their way back into Ponyville proper.


“You never answered Our question, General.” Luna nodded to a pony who had bowed to her.


“About what?”


“About you not wanting to utilize the spa.” Luna nodded to several more ponies who had kneeled to her.


Dante shrugged. “I just don’t like people fucking around with or in the general vicinity of my back.”


“Bad experience?” Luna looked to Dante.


Dante frowned, chewing his lip. “You could say I’ve taken a few… a lot of knives in it, before.”


“Is that why you’re so distant?”


“Huh?”


“Well this entire time you’ve only been focusing on one thing, that is getting home by getting your radio. And while We can understand the desire to see home once more, We would have imagined first contact with an alien species is a serious thing. Even to you. And you give the air of transparency, but everything you’ve told us does nothing to give us an idea of your weaknesses. What We’re trying to say, General.”


Luna trotted in front of Dante, stopped and turned to look at him.


“You’re refusing to get close to us. The closest one to you right now is Miss Sparkle, and even she does  not know much about you.”


Dante snorted as he side-stepped the princess. “There’s lot’s of reasons why I’m keeping myself distant from you. More for your own sake then mine...”


Dante stopped, glancing over his shoulder to Luna. “Princess, there’s a cold hard fact about my life that I’ve had to come to accept. People I get close to die. The ones who don’t die, suffer. Where I walk, death follows. Where I go, tragedy strikes. My country considers me a hero because I’ve prevented more deaths than would have been lost had I not intervened. But had I not went there in the first place, the tragedies that caused the deaths wouldn’t have occurred.”


Dante began walking once more. “Basically, Princess, I’m trying to get home before Death realizes I’m missing and comes looking for me, killing innocent people in the process.”


Dante threw his right hand up. “Also, because it’s been like two days. Even if my life didn’t read like some bad teenage romance tragedy story, I literally just met you fuckers in the middle of an attempted coup.”


Luna shook her head as she followed the biped.







“Agh! This sucks!” Spitfire carefully rolled over in her bed as Soarin sniggered from his bed, continuing to read his book.


“Well… ‘Enterprise”, you should have bugged out from Hollow Shades sooner. Then you wouldn’t be stuck in bed.”


Spitfire shot Soarin a sour look. “Watch it “brother”. How was I supposed to know those crazy night cultists were going to switch that suddenly? They behaved exactly how those sun cultists did, but the sun cultists had the bucking decency to not throw spears at me!”


“The moonies have always been way more aggressive then the circles. It’s why we haven’t been able to broker a peace between them yet. The circles agree to sit down with us and the moonies, but damned if the moonies are going to listen to a circle.”


Spitfire rested her head on forelegs. “Yeah, I guess. Just kind of disappointed I couldn’t help any more.”


Soarin looked up from his book. “By the way, Cap. Been meaning to ask, just how did you get involved with the Forgotten God to begin with? Our numbers are already pretty damn small, pretty convenient two of us ended up in the Wonderbolts without any intervention from Oakley.”


Spitfire rubbed her eyes, as she yawned. “My parents were in the Church. I was raised hearing stories about Dawn-Bringer uniting the Three Tribes by defeating the Wendigo and giving Equestria the Two Daughters to lead us. I held on strong onto the message of unity, but didn’t put much faith into Dawn-Bringer.” Spitfire nodded to no one in particular.


Soarin flipped the page on his book as he continued reading it. “So, you didn’t believe in Dawn-Bringer but you believed in his message. Surely, though, if you didn’t actually believe in the Forgotten God, then you wouldn’t have stayed with the Church.”


“Yeah, I wouldn’t have. Until I was fourteen.”


Soarin paused from his reading, looking up. “What happened when you were fourteen?”


Spitfire smiled. “I saw. Atleast… one of his avatars.”


“Ah.” Soarin clicked his tongue. “I see, you’re one of the ones he chose. It would explain why Oakley raised you through the ranks so quickly.”


Spitfire shook her head. “Speaking of Oakley, shouldn’t we have informed him about Dawn-Bringer?”


“I’d love to, Cap.” Soarin flipped the page on his book. “But we’re still on standby, remember? Can’t leave Canterlot.”


Spitfire groaned. “I completely forgot about that on account of my...” She gave a gentle shrug of her injured wing. “Not like I can go anywhere fast.”


Soarin continued reading the book. “I called Sherman, he’s supposed to be here pretty soon for a debrief.”


A knock sounded from the door, pulling Soarin’s attention to it. “Speak of the Wendigo...”







4292 groaned, screwing her eyes even tighter. Her head was pounding and she could feel a pressure running along the entirety of her lower body and her right side.


But she had to admit the warmth of whatever it was she was leaned against was comforting.


‘Wait.’


She could feel jostling. She wasn’t leaning against something, something was carrying her!


Her memory flashed back to the cave.


‘That’s right...’


Full of hesitation and fear, 4292 snaked her tongue out to taste the air.


And nearly gagged. Her eyes shot open, as she unfurled her wings pushing off whatever it was that was holding her.


“Agh! Fuck!” She heard shouting from behind her as she took to the skies to get away from it. The trees surrounding her whistling with the speed she had taken off at. Getting as far as she could from the thing as fast as she could.


Or at least that was the plan, until her wings suddenly decided to stop working a few dozen feet in the air, causing the changeling to come crashing back down to the ground.


Quite hard, in fact. She began writhing in pain on the ground as she felt severe and sharp pains shooting through her sides, yelps and screams escaping her mouth.


She could hear thuds pounding the ground as the thing ran to her, her writhing only became stronger as the biped slid to a stop in front of her, kicking up dust, kneeling on the ground and bending over her.


“Whoawhoawhoa, shh,shh,shh.” Dante vocalized as he gently wrapped his hands around the panicking changeling, being mindful to avoid touching the fragile looking wings.


“Hey, shh, shh, shh, I’m not gonna hurt ya buddy, calm down, shh.” Realizing that all he could really do was let the panicking changeling wear itself out, that’s exactly what the Human did.


And so the two sat there like that for several minutes, Dante gently holding the equinoid down, and the equinoid squirming on the ground.


Finally, after what seemed like an eternity for the both of them, the writhing stopped, replaced with heavy labored breathing.


Dante looked up, scanning the area. The dirt path they were on seemed to be fairly untraveled. And the trees on both sides could easily contain things dangerous to the changeling.


‘There’s nothing out there. What is it so terrified of?’ Dante thought, as his sensors failed to pick up any life forms.


He looked down to the heavily breathing changeling. He had to admit, despite the fact that their eyes were nothing more solid blue orbs, they were surprisingly expressive. The changeling locked eyes with him, as the orbs themselves seemed to shrink, causing Dante to realize the truth.


‘Ah. It’s scared of me. I suppose that makes sense.’


“Hey, listen buddy, I’m not going to hurt you.” Dante said, lowering his tone. Still the changeling still drew deep breaths, heavy and fast.


Dante rolled his eyes. “Listen buddy, let me inject some logic into this miscommunication. If I wanted you dead, I’ve had nearly three hours to kill you. If I wanted you dead, I could do it right now, okay?”


Dante allowed the words to sink in, as the changeling seemed to calm down, the reality of the situation sinking in.


“Okay, I don’t want you dead. I ain’t trying to kill you or hurt you. So trust me, alright?” The changeling seemed to pause, considering its options then lightly nodded its head.


“Okay, progress. Now, I’m going to let you go. Please do us all a favor and don’t get up too quickly. I really don’t feel like dealing with you freaking out, understand?” The changeling nodded its head once more.


“Alright, now I’m letting you go.” True to his word, Dante released his grip, slowly moving his free hands back away from the changeling. He scooted back on his knees, to give the equinoid some breathing room.


The changeling slowly lifted its head, taking in the environment it was in. And then attempted to find its hooves.


“Whoawhoa.” Dante moved a little closer, causing the changeling to startle. “Slow. You just fell and then wore yourself out. Get up slowly.” The biped watched as the changeling shkily stood, its legs trembling.


When he was satisfied the creature wasn’t going to collapse and could hold its own weight, Dante held out an open hand.


“My name’s Dante, what’s yours?” The changeling eyed the hand suspiciously, rejecting it.


“S-Four-Two-Nine-Two.” Her voice coming out similar to the voice of the mares Dante had already met, leading him to believe she was female.


“S-Four-Two-Nine-Two. That’s a mouthful. What’s the “S” stand for? An occupation denoter?” The changeling nodded.


“S-soldier.” Dante nodded at the 4292’s confirmation.


“Soldier?” The biped cocked his head to the side. “So, you were involved in the incident at Canterlot?”


4292 nodded once more.


“That would explain a few things. How did you…” Dante gestured to her with his hand, whirling his trigger finger. “You know, end up in this situation.”


“I-I got separated from the Hive.”


“Ah, so you’re MIA at the moment?”


“MIA?”


“Yeah, it’s a designation my military uses as a status. MIA means missing in action.”


The changeling sat up a little higher. “Your military? So you’re a soldier as well?”


Dante chuckled. “Well… not exactly a soldier, I’m a Legionnaire.”


The changeling seemed a bit more interested now.


‘I may have found my hook.’


“A legionnaire? What does that mean?”


“From my understanding, the word “legionnaire” in Equestrian is just a garble of letters that have no meaning to them. But what it means is that I’m the best of the best. My people depend on me to do the impossible, to succeed in the face of overwhelming odds. That even when the entire universe stands against me, I will stand. The name Legion means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. But its actual meaning is a lot more boring.”


Dante stood to his full height, as 4292 was finally able to find her footing.


“You’re not a prisoner, Four-Two-Nine-Two.” Dante stated. “You can leave whenever you want. Or you can come with me. I don’t really care.” The biped started walking on the dirt path once, the exhausted changeling shakily trotting to his side.


“Wait, what do you mean?” 4393 asked, her head cocking to the side. “I mean after all that you did during the Wedding and you’re just going to let me go, like that?”


Dante shrugged. “I’ve got no hard feelings against you guys and you haven’t given me a reason to kill you. I’ve got no reason to hurt you and you’re not at war with the Imperium at the moment.”


Dante looked down to the roughed up and dirty changeling.


“So you got two choices, Fortnite. Come with me or go back to your queen.”







Luna began her final approach to Canterlot, and more specifically the castle. Even more specifically, the lunar diarch had her eyes set upon the throne room.


She reached the window she had left from just a few hours ago and magicked it open. Entering into a thankfully empty throne room.


Well… mostly empty.


“Good afternoon, Sister.” Celestia sipped her tea as she spoke, causing Luna to groan and roll her eyes.


“We are not in the mood, Sister. We need to gather troops and lead them back to Ponyville.”


Celestia raised an eyebrow. “And why is that, dear Sister?”


Luna began walking to the door of the throne room. “The General apprehended the Diamond Dog pack and believes he may have discovered a grave in Froggy Bottom Bog. We are going to rally our Night Guard and secure the site. We also need to dispatch a few troops to escort the Diamond Dogs back to Canterlot for trial.”


“Ah, yes,” Celestia began, her voice dropping. “The Diamond Dogs. May I inquire. The casualties?”


“Surprisingly not as bad as one might have assumed from the start, Sister.” Luna brought her hoof to her chin. “Certainly, We were shocked when We discovered the General had managed to refrain from slaughtering the entire pack and instead assisted Corporal Bulwark in arresting them. According to the Corporal, in total only two Diamond Dogs were killed and four were arrested.”


Celestia nodded. “He’s already showing improvements.” Her response elicited a snort from her sister.


“Sister, with all due respect, We do not believe the General allowed the Diamond Dogs to live on the basis that it was the right thing to do, as you seem to believe. We believe the more likely explanation is merely that the General is playing nice, how do they say it now? Hmm… getting “brownie points”, I believe is the phrase, with us.”


“And what do you believe the right thing to do was?” Celestia asked, causing Luna to turn back to the door and begin walking out.


“We believe the right thing to do was whatever ended in the best outcome, Sister. Whether or not the good General did the right thing is yet to be seen.”


Celestia could only nod as the Lunar princess disappeared.








“Uh, Rares, are ya sure this is a good idea?” Applejack asked the white unicorn mare, who was preoccupied drawing various schematics. The farm pony fiddled with a fabric roll on a table, as she glanced around the building.


Rarity had gotten her early in the morning, requesting her help in the Carousel Boutique.

“Oh, of course, Applejack. You and General Jaeger share a similar design aesthetic! So I want you on as my advisor.” Applejack tipped her hat up.


“Ah am nothin’ like him!”


Rarity rolled her eyes as she continued to sketch something out.


“An’ in any case, why are ya so interested in making’em clothin’?”


Rarity gasped, quickly turning around to stare at the farm pony. “Applejack. I would be a fool if I did not seize this opportunity! General Jaeger is an honest to goodness alien and I was present for first contact, however overly-violent it may have been. But imagine it, me! Making the alien representative to this planet clothing! And if he loves it, he’ll then spread it to his people when he finally gets home!”


“Repersenuhtive? Rares, ah thought he was stranded here.” Rarity paused, gathering her thoughts.


“… Regardless of whether or not the good General is stranded here, it is quite obvious that he wears clothes all the time. Meaning he will soon need some new ones. That’s assuming the clothes we last saw him in were created for use in his armed forces, which would make me assume they’re more durable then normal fabric.” Rarity’s eyes lit up as she came to a realization, and she began prancing. “Ooh! They’re most likely made of an alien fabric! Applejack, do you think General Jaeger would allow me to inspect some of his clothes! I could start a fashion revolution!”


It was Applejack’s turn to roll her eyes.


“An’ what did’ya mean by by me’n’ him sharin’ a design?”


Rarity stopped prancing, composing herself. She coughed into a hoof. “Simple, dear. Both you and General Jaeger seem to prefer simple and practical. You enjoy it because what you normally do, that is farm work, will destroy most things in short order. I assume General Jaeger enjoys it due to his… predilection for extreme violence. I can not imagine gore is easy to get out of even alien fabric, I imagine back home he threw clothes out on a fairly regular basis if the fighting we saw at the wedding is normal for him.”


Applejack groaned. “Ah for one hope that was out of the ordinary for him. Ah’d rather not have have some equicidal alien rampagin’ ‘round ‘Questria.”


Rarity levitated some fabric rolls as she began examining them. “The pants that General Jaeger was wearing during the… er… incident with Princess Luna and Princess Cadance were a fabric I certainly have never seen. Although they looked quite durable… if not... a tad simple.”


“So you’re still dead set on makin’ him some clothes?” Rarity tsked at the farm pony’s question.


“Of course, dear. But I will need his permission before I can do so. I can’t very well make him clothes if I don’t have his measurements.” Rarity continued doing whatever it was that she was doing before. Looking at fabric rolls.


For the second time in just a few minutes, Applejack rolled her eyes again.


“Well if ya wan’ his measurements, ya gotta find him first. Come on, let’s get goin’ ‘fore he hightails it back’uh Canterlot.”







A pink pony with an exceptionally curly mane had commandeered the kitchen of Sugarcube Corner, while she pranced every which way and about, finding ingredients and mixing them. A Human wearing a simple set of clothes sat in the corner, reading a book. His skin was very dark, approaching the shade of charcoal, his hair buzzed down to almost nothingness.


He lowered his book and looked at his friend, who seemed to be bouncing off the walls. Her excited energy hadn’t phased him for a long time.


“You know, Pinkie, Dante isn’t going to enjoy a surprise party. In fact, it’s the exact opposite of what he would enjoy.” He stated calmly.


“What are you talking about, Keith!” Pinkie momentarily stopped in mid-air, staring at his friend. The black man sighed, but smiled.


“What I’m saying is that maybe jumping out at a combat veteran isn’t exactly the smartest idea and I don’t think said combat veteran is going to be very appreciative of a surprise. We aren’t exactly the friendliest of people when it comes to loud noises and people jumping out at us.”


Pinkie Pie now found herself on the ground, looking wide-eyed at her friend. “But Keith! Everypony enjoys surprises! Think about it! You’re having a bad day, you’re not happy and then POW! WHAM! Welcome to Equestria and thanks for saving us from an evil queen!” She sat back on her haunches, waving her front legs in the air.


Keith sighed once more. “And while that would be good for you ponies, for people like Dante and me, loud noises and fast movement equals death or extreme pain incoming. I’ve explained it to you before, Pinkie. Where we come from, most of us are trained to immediately react. I don’t think Dante would do anything that could hurt you or any other person, but I’d rather you not take the risk. Besides, Dante was never one for big and noisy parties to begin with.”


Pinkie Pie’s mane seemed to deflate a little, as Keith realized what was happening. “But big and noisy parties are what I do.” The black man could see tears beginning to well up in the corners of his friend’s eyes. He groaned.


“No, Pinkie. I’m not saying you can’t have a party for Dante. All I’m saying is he’d appreciate a calm, very small celebration more then he would one with a giant gathering. Like… invite him to Sugarcube Corner, go about business as usual, don’t hide and then give him the cake. He has a sweet-tooth, but he doesn’t enjoy surprises.”


Pinkie Pie became full on bawling at the last sentence, her mane fully deflating “Why doesn’t he like surprises! What cruel world made him hate surprises! That’s horrific.”


Keith stood up and lifted his foot out of the now standing water in the kitchen, examining his wet shoe.


“Jesus Christ, Ponk, you’re like Deadpool having a significantly less violent daughter with a horse. Listen, that’s just how things ended up. Spilling tears about the past isn’t going to change anything and all you can do is adapt. I know you can make a party Dante will enjoy, you just need to tone it down… a little.”

The crying stopped as Pinkie looked expectantly at Keith. “… A lot. Just… don’t make it super loud. He will legitimately enjoy free sweets with a quiet thank you more then he would the entire town showing up and jumping out at him. I know you can do it, Ponk.”


The pink baker sniffled and then wiped her eyes with her forelegs. “Quiet party, got it. Thanks, Keith, you always know what to say.” Her mane slowly began to reinflate as the man smiled at her.


“Anytime, Ponk.”


Mrs. Cake walked into her kitchen, her dark pink mane springing, stepping directly into the standing water. She looked at the ground and raised her soaking wet hoof.


“Uh, Pinkie… uh… is everything alright in here? Who were you talking to?” She forced a smile, as she quietly examined the destruction of her kitchen.


Pinkie Pie, who was now back to her normal self reared on her hind hooves. “Oh, yeah, Mrs. Cake! I was just trying to figure out the best way to have a Welcome to Equestria and Thank You for Saving Us from an Evil Queen party for Dante and Keith,” Pinkie gestured to the man. “Was helping me figure it out!”


Mrs. Cake stared at the spot Pinkie Pie had gestured to, seeing absolutely nothing. “Pinkie… there’s... nopony there.”


“She can’t see me, Ponk. Remember? I’m a mental construct of yours, you’re the only one who can see me.” Keith stated to his pink friend.


“Nonsense!” Pinkie protested. “Keith is right here! See!” Pinkie jumped into his arms, the man deftly catching her.


“See!” She looked to Mrs. Cake as she now floated in mid-air seemingly nothing holding her up. “If Keith wasn’t here then how could I do this!”


“You know she’s just going to chalk this up to you being Pinkie Pie, right, Ponk?”


“Well… I suppose I can’t argue with that logic.” Mrs Cake stated.


“She isn’t going to say it to your face, Ponk. But right now she’s denying your logic on the basis that you do weirder things on a daily basis without my help.”


“Could you and… Keith clean up the kitchen before this water causes damage to the floor?” Mrs. Cake requested, as Pinkie gasped.


“I’m sorry for the mess, Mrs. Cake, I’ll get on it right now!”


The blue pony just stared at the high energy pony as she began the process of getting the water out of the kitchen.







“So… uh… what are we doing back down here?” The changeling, 4292, now nicknamed Fortnite by the enigmatic alien who had proven himself to be less fearsome then she had originally believed peeked around a corner.


“I am looking for silver, my dear Fortnite.” The changeling in questioned scrunched her snout up, as Dante casually strolled around the corner of the now abandoned Diamond Dog mine, courtesy of him.


“Not that I’m complaining, but why do you keep calling me Fortnite?” Dante grunted.


“Can’t be bothered to sound out Four-Two-Nine-Two everytime I want to address you.”


Normally, the confined space would bring a bit of comfort to the changeling, it was after all, very similar to the hive she was used to. But just knowing it used to be a Diamond Dog den, one she was imprisoned in no less, just disturbed her.


Fortnite snaked her tongue out, tasting the air.


‘Yep, still that disgusting taste hanging around. And it’s coming from him.’ She glanced over to the kneeling biped, who was running his hands over a rocky wall. He hadn’t shown any hints of anger or hatred towards her, but she could taste it coming off him. So much it seemed to replace the very air she was breathing.


“So, changelings are sexually dimorphic?” The sudden question from the kneeling biped threw her off


“W-what?” Fortnite replied with her own question.


“Sexually dimorphic. It means males are different from females.”


“Where did this come from?”


“Well… your voice sounds similar to the native females I’ve met in tone and pitch. So are your females and males different? Or all y’all like… asexual and you just change sex depending on context.”


Fortnite shook her head, the biped’s back to her. She pushed a little magic to her throat, modifying her voice box. She spoke, perfectly imitating the biped’s voice in tone and pitch.


“It’s a bit more complicated then that. Queen Chrysalis is the only changeling who is biologically naturally female. Everyone else is born with both, but we’re able to change at will. As we get older, we usually end up with a preference. Most changelings choose female due to the Queen’s influence, but we have a number of males, as well. Physically speaking, however, male and female changelings look exactly the same with the exception of our dominant sexual organs, Queen Chrysalis withstanding.”


Dante had turned his head, watching as his voice came out of the small equinoid’s mouth.


“That’s a very interesting trick.” Venus spoke, her voice coming through speakers built into the biped’s armor, as Fortnite took a step back, surprised by the sudden disembodied voice. “Very few true shape-shifters exist out there, Dante. Depending on the extent of these Changeling’s ability to shapeshift, they could prove a very important asset to the Imperium.”


“Aye. Fortnite?”


“Y-yes?” The changeling took a small step forward and dropping Dante’s voice that she had imitated.


“What can you change into?”


“Me?” She pointed to herself with a hoof.


“Well…” Dante seemed to stop and ponder for a second. “Yes, specifically you. But are there any limitations on what you can turn into?”


“Well… uh… the biggest I was ever able to change into was an alicorn. That was on a bet and I would have been punished had an infiltrator caught me, but I only did it for a few seconds. Some of the more experienced changelings who have a knack for shifting seem to be able to change into anything. I know of one soldier who’s capable of turning into a large wasp-like monster. And some of the infiltrators can turn themselves into inanimate objects, like rocks.”


“So it would seem as though it’s entirely possible for them to copy someone else’s form, even if it’s a Humanoid form instead.” Venus spoke once more.


“Who is that?” Fortnite asked.


“Her name’s Venus, she’s a friend. And yeah, the intelligence agencies would shit their pants over an intelligent, not inherently hostile shape-shifting species…” Dante paused as he seemed to ponder something. “Maybe… we shouldn’t let the spooks know about them.”


Hoping to change the subject, Fortnite spoke. “So… why are we back here again?”


“I’m looking for silver, so I can make a satellite.”


“Satellite?” Fortnite asked, curiosity genuine in her voice.


“Yeah, it’s something you launch into space and it orbits the planet. I need to launch a couple. It will allow me to map the planet. From there I’ll be able to get a lock on my position. Then I’ll scan for my transmitter and retrieve it from whoever has it, contact my people and go home.”


“You’re… not from here?”


“Nope.” Dante responded, and Fortnite swore for a second she could taste a hint of sadness in the air, which seemed to disappear as quickly as it had appeared.


“So… if you’re not from Equestria, where are you from? We’ve never seen or heard of your species before. The closest thing you look like are the great apes of the Zebrican plains, but you still don’t look exactly like them, just passing similarities.”


Dante groaned, lightly tapping his head against the rocky wall. “Venus, “ja’hear that? They have great apes in the Zebrican plains…”


“Another coincidence noted. We will have Phoenix Rising investigate these when we get a hold of the Imperium.”


“I’m… sorry, did I say something wrong?”


“No, Fortnite, you did nothing wrong.” Dante lifted his head from the rock, standing up. “To answer your question, I’m an alien. I come from a planet far, far away. A planet called Earth. I’m a Human… hybrid. My species originated in a place called Africa, also from the great apes. I have no idea what in the ever-loving hell is going on with all these coincidences between my world and this planet.”


Dante groaned, rubbing his face. Sighing, he let his hands fall to his side.


“There’s a silver vein just a little ways further into the cave. Come on, let’s go get it so I can go home.” Dante gestured with his hand as he began walking further into the cave. Fortnite taking the time to snake her tongue out once more, taking in the taste of anger and… fatigue?


Fortnite shook her head, still not understanding the enigmatic alien. After all, for all she knew what’s anger to her could be utter joy to him. She trotted to catch up to him, keeping pace at the general’s right side.







“Sherman.” Soarin nodded, his eyes never leaving his book, as Spitfire opened the door and let their guest in. Giving one final cursory glance out to make sure no one had followed Sherman, she quickly but quietly closed the door.


The white coated, blue-maned unicorn tipped his hat to Soarin. “Evening, Brother Browning,” He turned to Spitfire nodding to her as well. “Sister Enteprise.” Spitfire returned the nod, as Sherman took his hat off, resting it on a bedpost, he magicked a plain briefcase into the room with him.


“How goes it in the Parliament, Fancy?” Soarin questioned as the noble stallion known as Fancy Pants magicked a chair from the solitary desk located in the room. He hopped up and took a seat, groaning, as Spitfire herself returned to her bed and laid down. The unicorn smoothed out his black suit-coat.


“Absolutely horrid. It’s not even been two days and we’ve already had nearly a hundred act proposals in regards to Dawn-Bringer. Some ranging from absolutely moronic to outright insane. Some ‘nobles’,” Fancy Pants added as much venom as he could muster for the word as he spat it out. “Have introduced acts to ‘blast him with the Elements to insure he isn’t a threat’ or some other silly idea. Thankfully, none of them have passed. Brother Abrams has been running damage control and has managed to get all of the acts vetoed.”


“The Church really lucked out with Abrams, didn’t they? Still have no idea who he is, but he seems pretty high-up.” Soarin muttered from behind his book. Fancy Pants nodded.


“Indeed. He has been a gift from Dawn-Bringer himself.”


“Do you know who he is, Fancy?” Spitfire grumbled, her head buried into her mattress.


“I do.” He confirmed, nodding.


Soarin looked up from his book, as Spitfire also joined him in staring at the unicorn stallion.


“… Well...” Soarin began. Fancy Pants smiled.


“Yes, Browning?”


“Are ya going to… you know, tell us?” Soarin questioned, Spitfire nodded in agreement.


Abrams was an enigma in the church. While many members chose to keep their identities a secret, or rather just eschewed their real names when in the presence of other church members, there was no taboo against telling another church member who someone really is.


Except, apparently, Abrams. As far as both Spitfire and Soarin could tell, there were only three ponies who were aware of Abrams’ true identity. Oakley, Fancy Pants and Abrams himself. No one would dare ask Oakley, and they didn’t have a single idea who Abrams was beyond being a high-ranking Canterlot noble. So the only pony left who could shed some light on his identity was Fancy Pants, the stallion sitting right in front of the two.


The smile on Fancy’s face only grew wider. “I’d love to. Unfortunately, per Oakley’s direct orders, I can not release Abrams’ identity. He is our proverbial ‘ace up our sleeve.’”


Soarin scoffed. “Great, still no idea who he is.” The blue pegasus turned his head to his orange friend. “Twenty bits says it’s Blueblood.”


There was a pause in the room, as an awkward silence reigned.


But just as quickly as the room had gone silent, it exploded into uncontrollable laughter from the three ponies there.


“Are you serious, Soarin? Blueblood? Abrams? Please, Blueblood can’t even deal with Lady Rarity and you’re trying to tell me he’s one of the most important members of the Church?” Spitfire choked out between laughs. “Ow, buck, my wing!”


Fancy Pants couldn’t help but join in, throwing his nose into the air and giving the best impression he could of Blueblood. “Why yes your Majesty, I shall defend you with my li-” Fancy Pants let out an uncharacteristically high pitched shriek as he dramatically pointed at an imaginary spot on the ground and began trembling. “Is that a speck of dirt!”


With his mocking of Blueblood, the two pegasi in the room once more found themselves uproariously cheering.


The laughter soon died down as, the three ponies were left with chests heaving and gasping for breath. Fancy Pants wiped tears from his eyes as he composed himself, smoothing his coat.


He cleared his throat as his companions finished up their laughing attack. “In any case, though it may seem odd, Blueblood is indirectly responsible for aiding Abrams in stopping the acts.”


Spitfire massaged her injured wing as she looked at Fancy with a curious look. “How so?”


Fancy adjusted his monocle. “As you know, since Prince Blueblood is second in line for the throne, that is starting from the Two Daughters and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, he has veto powers as Supervisor of the Parliament. Although the Church fully recognizes the eternity of the Two Daughters, the Diarchy itself does not. Blueblood is merely a contingency based on the belief that there is something out there capable of killing the Two Daughters. His position is based on an inherently wrong idea, but it does afford him a large degree of power as Heir Apparent, only reigned in by his Aunt’s authority. And he absolutely refuses to have his name attached to any act that he believes may anger Dawn-Bringer. He is absolutely terrified of the Father. And as such, he has been vetoing any act that would adversely affect Dawn-Bringer.”


Soarin raised a hoof. “Two questions I’ve been meaning to ask you. A. How is that snob even related to the Two Daughters? And B. If Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are the Two Daughters due to their positions as alicorns, what does the Church recognize Princess Cadenza as?”


Fancy smiled. “Prince Blueblood is related to the Two Daughters by virtue of a very far line tracing back to their biological father’s sister’s side.” Fancy rubbed his chin with a hoof. “And indeed, news of Princess Cadenza’s transformation into an alicorn caused a massive controversy in the Church years back. The official stance is that she’s the first of the Ascended.”


Soarin looked to Spitfire, shrugging. “Well, I guess the old line of the idea of ascension being metaphorical is a load of crap.”


Fancy nodded. “Indeed. And since Dawn-Bringer has returned, the time is coming closer.”


Spitfire groaned, rolling on her back and allowing her head to hang off the side of the bed. “Ugh, you all were calling ascension metaphorical a few years back, did you all ever consider the idea of Dawn-Bringer bringing about the judgement of the Righteous and the Wicked metaphorical as well? Like, maybe, ponies will stop caring about whether or not the pony next to them has wings or a horn or nothing at all. Why does it have to be all ‘ooh! Doom and gloom! Dawn-Bringer will battle the forces of darkness. The final battle will be fought and we will either die or we will ascend’”.


Fancy chuckled as he magicked the briefcase onto the desk and laid it down. “The dogma of the Final Battle has existed since the beginning of the Church and Oakley is absolutely going to stick to it. I damn near had to trudge through Tartarus to get him to recognize Princess Cadenza’s ascension”


Fancy opened the briefcase with his back turned to the two pegasi, as the two craned their necks in an attempt to see into it.


“Now! Enough, as you said dear Enterprise, doom and gloom and onto something slightly less doomy and gloomy but just as depressing!” Fancy removed two dossiers from the briefcase, tossing them to the pegasi, who deftly caught them.


“Abrams assembled a list of ponies who seem to be absolutely opposed to Dawn-Bringer.” He fixed the two with a stern look. “Remember, these ponies are your enemies. Many of them also belong to the Sun and the Moon. Oakley has not approved out-right assassination of them, but should the opportunity arise for them to perish in a… ‘tragic accident’, without incrimination of either of you, then the Church absolutely would appreciate should you facilitate this accident.”


Soarin nodded. “So, kill them if the opportunity arises, just make it look like an accident and only if it won’t expose us as Forgottens.”


Fancy nodded once more. “Yes, direct assassination would bring far too much attention to the Church. We might wield more political power then the circles or the moonies, but they outnumber us. By a very, very, very large margin. We can not afford to pick a fight with them.”


Fancy Pants removed himself from the seat, clearing his throat and smoothing out his coat once more. He picked the briefcase up in his magic and began trotting to the door.


He turned his head to look at the two pegasi. “I’m off to inform the rest of the Forgottens who are in Canterlot about these developments.” Fancy nodded to the door. “I will see what I can do about lifting your standby orders, I have a few generals who owe me some favors.”


The two pegasi watched as the unicorn opened the door, trotted through the doorway and then gently and quietly closed the door.







The gray pegasus mare did one last look through her satchel, ensuring she had every piece of mail for her route.


Nodding once, she smiled, satisfied that she did have everything. She stretched her wings, minding the metal framework concealed in her feathers. The grey metal, thin and sharpened to razor edges rested on her wings. She had never been a fan of the wing-blades, but they concealed far easier than those hoof-claws or faux-unicorn horns that had been used to impale for centuries. Those were more for direct combat and not work that required subtlety.


Like confirming whether or not the biped who is now walking around the town is indeed a god or an impostor. The mare known as Barrett, took one last glance around the post office before walking out of the building. She scanned to her right, then to her left and then back to the right.


Most ponies didn’t notice her awareness and observing of ponies, one of the advantages of having strabismus, though it could cause her to see double. Something she had learned at an early age to compensate for.


Of course, she had to keep her act up as a ditzy mare incapable of doing something without breaking things. Makes her much less threatening, which in turn makes her a better saboteur. Admittedly she may overdo it sometimes, but it helped her keep the act up.


And, if she was going to be honest, some of the damage she could cause wasn’t intentional at all.


But for all her awareness, Barrett had no chance of detecting the pink mare who had somehow managed to sneak up behind her, despite her back being to a wall.


“Hiya Derpy!” Pinkie Pie shouted, as Derpy jumped into the air, spreading her wings, shouting.


“Oh, good gods!” The pegasus looked to the pink earth pony, and then quickly landed, her hoof on her chest as she caught her breath.


“Pinkie! Don’t scare me like that! It isn’t nice!” Pinkie Pie rubbed the back of her neck at the rebuke she received but handed an envelope to Derpy, complete with a stamp and a hastily scribbled “Dante. Address: Wherever” on the front of it.


“Sorry about scaring you, Derpy. But could you do me a favor and deliver this to Dante?”


The pegasus mare took the envelope and examined. There was a stamp on it, yes. But it had no address, and though she didn’t know who this “Dante” was, she had a pretty good guess on who it was supposed to be.


Still, she couldn’t very well admit that she was going out to search for him.


“Uh… Pinkie, who is “Dante” and why is there no address on this?”


Pinkie’s face lit up at the question, seemingly excited to inform the mare of the new comer.


“Dante’s this really nice Human, well, I suppose to some people he’s not so nice, but he’s got very good reasons for it! But if you’re not a mean pony, he’s really nice to you. Well, I suppose he may cuss at you, but he doesn’t cuss at you in a mean way, he just likes cussing. I think. Keith, why does Dante cuss all the time?”


Silence reigned as Derpy couldn’t bring herself to ask who Keith was and Pinkie stared intently at a spot that had no one, pony or Human otherwise occupying it, nodding the entire time.


“Oh, okay. It’s just how the culture is and he probably doesn’t mean anything by it unless you’re a mean pony!” Pinkie turned back to the grey pegasus. “Yeah he’s really nice but he has a bit of a potty mouth, but he doesn’t mean anything mean by it unless you’re mean to him! So will you get it to him?”


Derpy stared at the pink mare for a second before slowly putting the envelope in her satchel. “Uh… sure.”


Once more, Pinkie lit up, smiling exuberantly. “Thanks!” She jumped above the spot where she had been staring at before and seemed to float on her back. “Come Keith! Back to Sugarcube Corner, we need to get the sweets baking!” And with that, she started to seemingly float through the air as Derpy could only stare on in confusion.


The pink mare disappeared from sight around a corner, but Derpy continued to stare for a minute, before shaking her head and getting her thoughts back on track.


She had to track down Dawn-Bringer, and figure out whether or not he was indeed Dawn-Bringer, or a heretic.
> I Hate Hospitals
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 13

The once previously silent throne room erupted in sound, as an angered Queen Chrysalis crushed a rock underhoof.

“Damn that monkey!” She cursed, as the group of changelings who had arrived at the hive with the queen wisely dispersed to other areas of their homes. Areas which did not contain a very angry queen.

Said queen crushed another rock and swung her hoof in the stony wall, leaving a good sized dent.

“I had it! It was in my grasp! Control of Equestria! Millions of ponies for us to feed from!” She angrily trotted up to her throne, carved directly from the odd strange black rocks the rest of the hive was made of.

She allowed her haunches to land in the seat of the throne as she glared at the empty throne room, looking for someone, or something, to take her anger out on.

Seeing no living target to throw around, she tore a chunk of rock from one of the walls and threw it at the opposite end of the room.

Chrysalis took a deep breath… then bellowed.

“Commander!”

Almost immediately, the doors to the throne room, made from wood drones had scavenged from some old pony ruins, opened, a changeling in much more elaborate armor then the rest of the soldiers and drones had worn entered.

A large chunk of rock soared past his head, certainly going fast enough to kill him had it impacted, however he remained unphased as he saluted his queen.

“Your Majesty.” He stated, his salute being held.

“What took you so long?” Chrysalis spat, as the changeling stayed right in front of the now open throne room doors.

The changeling blinked, but otherwise his face remained the same. “Any apologies I could give to you would be meaningless and would not make up for my failure, Your Majesty.”

Chrysalis huffed as she settled down in her throne, the chair itself having been carved in such a way to allow the changeling queen to sit or lay down. The padding she had for it was old and worn, but compared to the bare rock many changelings slept on, it was absolutely luxurious.

“You are forgiven, Scuttle. Do not allow it to happen again.”

The changeling, Scuttle, didn’t react.

“Inform me of the losses we suffered.”

“Your Majesty, the first head count taken following our leaving of Canterlot had the hive standing at approximately one thousand one hundred and fourteen changelings missing, presumed killed in the fighting. We have not received any other reports as survivors are still filtering in, however once a reasonable amount of time has passed, we will initiate another head count.”

Chrysalis nodded. “Very good, inform me immediately as soon as you have the numbers.” She waved him off with a hoof.

“Of course, Your Majesty, if you would have me for just a few minutes, though.” Scuttle bowed his head.

“It depends, Scuttle. What is it?”

The changeling kept his head bowed as he magicked open the door, several set of lush pillows floating into the room. He closed the large doors and once more and laid the pillows on the floor.

“Before we left Canterlot, Your Majesty, I took these from the throne room.”

Chrysalis’ face lit up as she realized just what they were. “Ah!” She took the pillows from the floor in her magic and brought them over to her. She stood up grabbed the pillows she had under her, replacing them with the new, looted pillows.

She would never admit it, but the pillows she had been using before were getting to be very ratting, the fluffing in them wearing with age and use. But she didn’t complain, after all to do so would make her subjects thing something she used was subpar and unfit for royalty.

“Perfect timing, Scuttle. I was beginning to grow tired with… these.” Chrysalis threw the ratty pillows to Scuttle, who caught them in his magic.

“You may have them Scuttle, a gift for having such a good eye.” She once again waved Scuttle out of the room.

Scuttle bowed. “I shall cherish them to my grave, Your Majesty.” The armored changeling opened the door once more, but before he could leave Chrysalis called out.

“And begin making plans to get rid of that stupid monkey. He will be a problem in the future.”

He turned once more to his queen. “Of course, Your Majesty.”

The changeling was finally able to take his leave, as the door closed behind him, separating him from his angered queen.

He let go of a breath he had been holding, and allowed his body a few moments to shake in fear.

He absolutely despised dealing with Chrysalis. He knew the rock had been aimed away from his head, but that didn’t change the fact that the slightest misstep he took with her could very well end in his death.

He began trotting down the hall, removing his helmet as he did so and sighing. His goal, his chambers, which was not a very far trot from the throne room. After all, the commander of the Changeling Army couldn’t be very far from his Queen, could he?

He opened the door and entered his room, which was a moderately sized room. Large enough for a bed, a desk for plans and troop movements and reports and a wardrobe for his armor and weapons, with some room for the occupant to move around. By changeling standards, it was a room fit only for the highest echelons of society.

Scuttle tossed his helmet on his bed, not caring whether or not the helmet actually landed on it, just wanting to no longer hold it. He dropped the Queen’s used pillows on the floor, making note to ensure they’re put on the bed first chance he got, only to ensure he didn’t have his head ripped off by Chrysalis for insulting her.

Contrary to what their chitin may appear to do, it did indeed sweat, and was as sensitive as a pony’s hide. Scuttle cursed this fact as he magicked the leather straps that was holding his armor in place off, but also thanking whatever deity really existed for the cool air hitting his sweat soaked body.

He shrugged it off, quietly damning its creator. It was a pain to fly in, no less fly for two days straight. He allowed it to lay on the floor, not being bothered enough to properly put it away.

He walked to his wardrobe and laid on his stomach, scooting closer to it. He magicked a hidden lever inside of the room and pulled out a false bottom on the wardrobe as he smiled at what was hidden.

Books. Various books he had managed to acquire, though he supposed he rather stole them, from various libraries during his time as an infiltrator.

Although his position as commander of the Changeling forces granted him a significant amount of leeway, with the only changeling able to order a search of his room being the Queen herself, he’d rather not take the chance of her growing paranoid and finding the books.

Considering the fact that pony-written books were explicitly banned in the Hive, with severe punishments for any changeling found with them.

Infiltrators possessing books were generally over-looked on the basis that their job was to seamlessly integrate into pony-society, which in turn meant a lot of rules weren’t enforced for them. Such as using actual names, another thing usually reserved for the highest echelons of society.

But Scuttle himself had no reason for possessing books, and he had been forced to burn most of the ones he had kept in his old quarters when he had been promoted to commander.

Scuttle pushed that bad memory out of his mind. He hated remembering it. He had never wanted to be commander. Many changelings thought of him as the most privileged changeling short of the queen. In some ways, it was true, since he was second in command and the only changeling capable of over-riding his orders was the Queen herself.

But unlike the rank and file changelings, a commander couldn’t disappear into the crowd when the Queen threw another one of her infamously lethal and destructive temper-tantrums. Meaning he was always just one misspoken word or miscommunicated action from having the Queen rip his chitin from his body and his flailed body being thrown into a pit of fire ants.

Oh, how Scuttle wished to be just a normal infiltrator once more.

He gazed at the books he had managed to save from the purge following his “promotion”, though Scuttle considered a demotion more then anything else.

‘What kind of promotion makes you more likely to die?’

He selected one he hadn’t read yet, ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone’.

If Scuttle has his Daring Do chronology right, this was the first book in the Daring Do series. He picked it up and quickly replaced the false bottom.

Bringing the book over to his bed, he also took a towel he had looted a few years back and gave his body a quick rub down, to wipe the sweat off his body.

He clambered into his bed and began to read the book, a small excitement growing in his chest. He always enjoyed reading, it was one of the few entertainments he had.

‘Commander? More like prisoner’ Scuttle shook the thought from his mind. He was the longest lived commander in Changeling history, from his understanding. A solid six years. He had only survived this long by not becoming complacent and believing the Queen wouldn’t kill him due to his position. He refused to fall into the folly that led to the horrible demise of his predecessors. Believing Chrysalis actually cared enough about him to not brutally torture and kill him for slighting her, however small and inconsequential the slight may be.

And now the changeling commander ran into a problem. He had opposed the Canterlot operation on the basis that it was far too risky, at the time no one knew whether or not Chrysalis was indeed powerful enough to stop the Two Sisters. The fact that she did manage to do it had shocked most every changeling in the hive, though no one would ever admit to it, lest they admit to doubting their Queen.

And therein lied the problem. He couldn’t outright come and tell the Queen he opposed one of her plans. Any opposition he had, if he had no desire to have his limbs torn off and his eyes ripped out before being thrown into a cage for insubordination to his Queen, he had to word it in such a way that it sounded like he was suggesting an addition to her plan and was seeking approval from his Queen.

It is not easy to word an opposition as an addition to a plan.

So here the commander lay, trying to figure out how to tell the Queen that maybe going after the creature who effortlessly batted her super-powered magic away as though it were nothing more then an errant fly probably wasn’t the best idea without being brutally slaughtered in the process.

Scuttle groaned at his misfortune, allowing his book to fall on his face.

“This friggin’ sucks!”





“You know...” Dante grunted, as he tore the silver ore from the wall. “This is gonna smell like absolute shit when I separate the sulfur from the silver. But at the very least, I’ll have my damn satellites, come on Fortnite. Let’s get back to Ponytown and get to my truck. I want to get back to Canterlot and get my larcom back as soon as possible.”

Dante stood up from the vein, looking to the changeling who had accompanied him down here.

“Well, we’re done here. Let’s ge-” Dante was cut off as the entire world seemed to shake, knocking both of them off their feet, a roar cut through the cave system.

“What the shit was that!” Dante shouted as he jumped back to his feet. Without waiting for an answer, he snatched Fortnite up in his arms and took off for the exist of the mine.





Rainbow Dash looked over the cloud she had been resting on, the roar shaking the very sky, somehow.

Her muzzle scrunched up as she stared into the distance, trees shaking in the Whitetail Woods. Something big was moving about in it.

The blue pegasus stretched her wings as she pondered what to do. She smirked to herself. What harm could doing a quick fly-over of the Everfree do? After all, as an Element, it was her duty to make sure no harm would come to Equestria. She kicked off the cloud, soaring into the sky off to the Whitetail.





“I hate you Scootaloo!” Applebloom cried, as her small legs carried her as fast as they could, the very earth shaking behind her as she and her two friends ran away.

“How was I supposed to know that thing exists! Whatever it is!” Scootaloo cried back, as a massive claw fell upon the earth a mere few feet behind her.

“There’s not supposed to be anything dangerous in the Whitetail Woods!” Sweetie Belle added, as tears flowed from her eyes.

Another roar sounded from behind the trio, shaking them to their cores.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Biologists was the worst idea, ever!” Scootaloo cried.





“That came from the direction of Ponytown!” Dante shouted, as Fortnite was beginning to feel slightly sick from the surprisingly quick biped’s running, which was jostling her up and down.

Of course, the fact that he was currently carrying her with his arm wrapped around her stomach like she was a small dog wasn’t helping anything.

“Dante, generally ponies run the opposite direction of something that’s capable of causing earthquakes!” Fortnite protested.

“I’m not a pony, Fortnite. I’m a Legionnaire! It’s kind of my job to run towards danger!”

Fortnite rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes. You’re a hero and all that, but perhaps it would be better for you to get help rather then confront whatever it is alone.”

The changeling soldier focused on the thuds of the Human’s feet slamming into the ground, taking note of the fact that he was surprisingly quick for a biped. Her best guess had them somewhere around forty miles an hour. Most bipeds such as Minotaurs or Diamond Dogs were extremely slow while standing, those bipedal species far preferring to move on fours when speed was needed, so it was very odd for Fortnite to be watching a biped running faster then an earth pony.

Dante vaulted over a fallen log, using his right hand to propel himself over it, as the sickness in Fortnite’s stomach threatened to come up through her mouth.

“There’s no time. Whatever it is, it’s way too fucking close to the town. I need to deal with it before it does anything.”

“Why are you doing this? It’s not like Equestria is your responsibility! You told me, you’re an alien. So, why would you put your life at risk to help a country you have no ties to?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do, Fortnite. Just like not killing you was the right thing to do.”

Fortnite could find no words to argue with that line of logic.





“What in Tartarus is that?” Rainbow shouted to no one in particular as she watched some sort of giant monster rampage through the Whitetail Woods. The rainbow maned pegasi stood on a cloud.

The only way she could describe it was a giant ram. The most telling feature of it was its singular giant eye on its face. And at the moment, it seemed to be angry at something in the forest. It was slamming its front claws into the ground and swiping at trees.

Rainbow Dash weighed her options. As much as she hated to admit, she would probably lose if she tried fighting it by herself, she could almost see the vibrations its rampage was causing from the skies. The most logical conclusion would be to get news to the princesses.

On the second hand, it could find its way to Ponyville.

Rainbow Dash was still considering her options when she saw movement from the corner of her eye, as she turned her head for a better look. Her heart stopped as she realized what it was.

Three fillies, three fillies she knew all too well.

She looked back to the cyclopian creature, hoping to the gods it hadn’t seen what she had seen.

Her eyes widened.

It had, and it was moving for the three.

With no more thinking, Rainbow launched herself off the cloud, propelling herself through the air as quickly as she could.

The creature was closing on the three, but it was not to be, at least for this swipe. As Rainbow’s frame slammed into the creature.

Rainbow Dash had always been a small mare, even her shy friend Fluttershy outweighed her by a good amount. Pegasi in general were smaller then other two races. But the average pegasus mare was around two hundred and forty pounds. The pegasus known as Rainbow Dash came in around a hundred and ninety pounds.

Still, a nearly two hundred pound projectile crashing into you at a couple of hundred miles an hour is enough to draw the attention of most creatures.

And draw the attention of this creature it did indeed.

Rainbow Dash quickly recovered from the crash, taking once more to the air, as she swore she heard a distant squee.

“Oi! You big, ugly stupid one eyed donkey!” She called, to the roaring cyclops, whose attention was now on her, instead of the three foals, who seemed to have disappeared.

“Why don’t you chase someone your own size?” Rainbow Dash dodged a large claw that was swept at her, trying to slash her out of the air.

“Ha! If you want to hit me, you’re going to have try harder then that!” She once more dodged a claw sent her way, as she began to fly in circles around the cyclops, the creature roaring with more intensity every time it missed a swipe.

While at the moment Rainbow Dash was not suffering from any fatigue, and she could indeed keep this up for a good few hours, there was a very large difference between flying at altitude and in a straight line when compared to flying low to the ground and dodging strikes.

If this became a battle of attrition, there was a very good chance that the cyclops would be the victor.

She needed to find a way to end this fast. Rainbow Dash ascended father into the sky, hoping to avoid its swipes entirely. It worked, unfortunately too well.

The cyclops began uprooting trees, and then throwing them, with surprising accuracy, towards the pegasus mare.

A volley of trees were sent into the area, as Rainbow Dash was forced to drop lower in order to avoid the volley. She skimmed the ground, attempting to arc back up into the sky, but was forced to change direction at the last second as a tree thrown underhand by the cyclops nearly clipped her.

But as she turned to avoid the tree, the cyclops had brought his paw down once more, this swipe making its connection with the cerulean mare, throwing her away and into a tree.

She tumbled down, sliding along side the bark of the tree, as an errant limb caught a wing, she yelped in pain.

She hit the ground, with most of her weight landing on her right foreleg, she screamed in pain as bone snapped.

Rainbow Dash crumpled as she gasped in pain. Despite her pain, she looked in the direction of the cyclops, if the fillies had managed to get away, this would have been in vain.

Her heart stopped once more at what she saw. The cyclops had turned away from her and was uprooting a tree. She could hear familiar screaming over the chaos.

Rainbow Dash futilely attempted to raised to her hooves, however, as soon as weight was put on her broken leg, it immediately gave out, crumpling the mare once more.

Thoughts of having to drag her broken body back to Ponyville and inform Rarity and Applejack of her failure to save their sisters, how different her life would be without Scootaloo.

How she failed to save three fillies. Tears were beginning to form at the edges of Rainbow Dash’s eyes, as she could feel the hatred of how useless she felt growing in her. She attempted to rise to her hooves once more. She immediately fell.

If she could just distract it long enough for the three fillies to escape. Rainbow once more pushed herself to her hooves. She put weight on her front leg, the pain almost unbearable. She picked it up and took a step, she attempted to take another, but once more she crumbled.

“You motherbucker, I’m over here! This fight isn’t over!” Rainbow Dash picked up a rock with her good hoof, giving it a weak chuck to the cyclops, who paid no mind to the rock impacting somewhere on its body, instead focusing on the three fillies who had apparently done something to wrong it.

Rainbow elected to instead drag her body to the cyclops.

“I am Rainbow Dash. I am an Element and if you think I’m going to just give up because of a broken hoof then you’re dead wrong, you bucking piece of shit!” She continued to drag herself, a streak of blood forming in the dirt from her compound fracture, the dirt staining her bloodied coat.

“I’m going to kill you, you shit-eating bitch!” Rainbow cried, though her normal bravado was being choked out from the pain of her broken leg and wing.

She could see it, the thing grabbing Scootaloo in its claws, lifting the little pegasus up to its waiting maw, preparing to drop her in.

The world exploded.

“Get your fuckin’ claws off the kid, you stupid motherfucker!” Rainbow Dash heard a roar from her back as she craned her neck to see just who it was who intervened.

The blue pegasus saw a familiar face. The alien who had intervened at the wedding, Dante.

He lowered a device Rainbow had learned was a weapon as the cyclops fixed its glare on him, seemingly no longer interested in Scootaloo. It threw the pegasus mare away, who desperately flared her wings out in an attempt to slow down her descent.

It was enough to slow her down, when she also slammed into a tree, tumbling to the ground. As her two friends rushed to help her.

Rainbow watched as the biped’s expression somehow went from extremely angry to even angrier. He pulled the trigger on his rifle several more time, all his shots landing on the cyclops, who seemed to be unaffected by the metal slugs hitting him.

“So you’re fucking bullet proof!” Dante dropped his rifle, reaching up to his left breast with his right arm and jerking down on a handle, removing a cylinder from a holster on the armor. “You think I give a shit!” He began approaching the stalking cyclop, his steps resolute and with absolutely no fear in them.

He passed Rainbow Dash, paying no attention to the injured mare. “I swear to god! If there’s a single fucking goddamn scratch on that kid, I will fucking resuscitate you and rip you limb from fucking limb!” He changed from a walking pace into a charge, as the cyclops followed his lead, bounding across the forest floor.

Dante vaulted over a paw that attempted to swipe him, latching onto the fur of the cyclops’s left arm.

He leapt up, covering a considerable distance and gripping onto the cyclop’s shoulder, just in time to avoid a swipe from its right arm, an attempt to dislodge him from the left arm.

Dante clambered the remaining way onto the cyclop’s back, as it suddenly reared onto its hind legs. Dante realized what it was attempting to do when its arc back finally overcame its stability and it began to come crashing down on its back.

The biped grasped a hold of fur as he was crushed underneath the giant, the force of his body being smothered into the ground displacing earth.

Dante’s armor prevented him from feeling most of the pressure, but he was still able to tell there was a large amount involved, as the cyclops writhed on its back in an attempt to knock the biped off.

The attempts were futile, as it seemed like no matter what, the Human held on.

What followed was one of the greatest battles of wills any of the intelligent creatures present had ever seen. As the cyclops shot to its back, and jumped up, making Rainbow Dash think of a pony trying to throw a predator off its back.

And indeed, the Human was holding onto its fur as it continued to buck.

“You think you can throw me off, you fuck? I spent nearly seventy years in Texas, you shit-fucker! I did this for fun!” Dante shouted at the increasingly frustrated cyclops. The cylinder he had removed from its holster before mounting the giant still clutched firmly in his right hand, along with a clump of fur.

Realizing the cyclops wasn’t going to stop trying to buck him off anytime soon, Dante decided it was time to act.

With his right hand acting as an anchor, he reached forward with his left grabbing another clump of fur.

His left hand now acting as the anchor, he repeated the process. He continued to repeat the process as he made his way up the back of the cyclops. Who was now even more desperate to get the Human off its back, slamming its back into trees in a pitiful attempt to knock the biped off.

As Dante made the transition from back to top of head, holding onto its horns for stability, the cyclops began to grab at its head. An attempt to grab the biped and rip it off. The cyclops never heard the calm voice the biped spoke in.

The words were spoken with conviction, though no one present with the exception of the speaker could understand them, the pronunciation of the language lost to the annals of history,the speaker being the last of his kind.

The cyclops screeched as its hand was engulfed in flames. Buying Dante time to grab onto fur that was overhanging the forehead of the cyclops with his left hand.

Now in striking distance of the eye, the cyclops still screeching pain from its flaming hand, Dante raised his right hand, the cylinder he had removed from a holster held in it. The cylinder extended, revealing a spike in the end closest to to Dante’s pinkie finger.

The Human spoke with conviction, the words rolling of his tongue as naturally as Equestrian rolled off Rainbow’s tongue. Behind the words, Rainbow Dash could hear anger and death.

With the declaration committed in an alien language, Dante drove the spike in the cyclop’s eye, the beast bellowing in pain as four more spikes ejected from the main spike, grounding the cylinder in place.

The beast was finally able to grab the biped with its claws, grabbing him and violently throwing him a good distance away.

His body soared through the air, uninterrupted by anything until it impacted earth, digging a small crater.

Almost immediately, the supersoldier recovered from the toss, getting to his knees with his arms supporting him.

He bellowed at the one-eyed beast, his dead tongue lost on all but himself and his A.I. companion, though anyone listening could hear death seemingly coming from the words themselves.

With the final word spoken, the cylinder stuck in the cyclop’s eye disappeared in a flash of light, forcing every being present to avert their eyes from the sudden flash, with the exception of Dante. The augmentations of his eyes automatically compensating for the sudden increase of light.

A shockwave buffeted the forest, as the three fillies the cyclops had been chasing were forced to dig in further into the indentation under the once tall tree they had attempted to hide under, their ears pinned down in a vain attempt to drown out the noise. Rainbow moved her good leg to cover her face, as her tail and mane were nearly blown away by the force of the explosion, her ears also pinned down.

Fortnite, who had been hiding during the entire confrontation, dove to the ground, covering her head with her forelegs and tucking her ratty tail between her legs.

The biped dragged himself out of the crater shouting. A taunt, one that had been used on fallen enemies when the biped was young, still hunting and traveling with his tribe.

The biped threw up his middle finger at the now torsoless corpse of the giant, collapsed on its side from the explosion. The remains themselves smoking.

Dante let out a deep breath as he stood to his full height. His extinct tongue hung on the air with the casualness one would reserve for a game.  He glanced around the forest clearing, partially his fault and partially the cyclop’s fault. There was an issue that needed to be addressed on the tip of his tongue, but for some odd reason he couldn’t quite remember what it was.

His memory was jogged when his eyes landed on the wheezing and injured Rainbow Dash.

A curse he shouted. He took off at a running pace as he closed the distance, sliding to a stop on his knees as he quickly began assessing the mare’s injuries.

Words once more rolled off his tongue, but they were meaningless to the mare.

The biped reaching behind his waist, removing a bag from his armor, as he opened it up and began to dig through it. The HUD in his eyes bringing up a list of injuries the scan revealed.

Once more he spoke to another being, though his tongue no longer carried with it death, but rather a concerned tone, laced with explanations.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. “Dante,” She wheezed out. “You’re speaking alien, I have no idea what a single word you just said means.”

Dante met her eyes for a few seconds, holding the stare.

“Fuck.” He spoke, thankfully for Rainbow Dash continuing in Equestrian. “As I was saying.” Dante held up another black cylinder. “Combat drugs. They stop the bleeding and pain, but they’re going to knock you out for a while. I can’t have you going into shock on me when the adrenaline finally wears out. Alright?”

A dull pain was throbbing through Rainbow Dash’s leg and wing. Remembering the past few times she had broken a bone, she knew this was the onset of extreme pain.

She nodded her head, giving the biped the go ahead to do what he needed to do.

“Alright, it’ll take a minute or two for the drugs to hit you.” A hypodermic needle ejected from the end of the cylinder, as Dante positioned himself to block Rainbow Dash’s view of the needle.

He had met plenty of men who had no fear of being blown up or shot or tortured for information, but damned if they saw a needle!

He chose the injured leg as the injection site, as it would mean the nanites would get to work faster. He gently gripped the leg, using his leg and the crook of his arm to support it, the injured pegasus groaning in pain from having the leg moved.

The blood smearing on his armor, he brought the needle to the skin and gently pushed it in. The blue pegasus feeling a pinch at the site of injection and slight discomfort from the pressure of fluids being pushed into her leg.

“Shouldn’t you have cleaned that first?” Fortnite asked, though Rainbow Dash normally would have protested a changeling being this close to her, the drugs had already taken a hold of her, as she found extreme difficulty in focusing on anything else, and words she attempted to form slurring to the point of being nothing more then sounds.

“What? The injection site?” Dante asked as he watched the colorful pegasus slowly loll her tongue out of her mouth. “Shit it worked faster then I thought it would. But no, one of the requirements the IoP had for this technology was the ability to apply it in combat conditions without requiring preparations to avoid infections. The nanites themselves will flush the system of any foreign bacteria or viruses not essential to keeping organisms alive. RD will probably wake up with stomach issues due to the nanites flushing out her gut flora, but this will prevent her going into shock.”

Dante retracted the needle back into the cylinder. “Another requirement was it being reusable. The blood will act as food for the residual nanites to reproduce until the injector is back up to full use. It will take a few minutes.” Dante slid the black cylinder back into the pouch he had removed from his armor, and then replaced the pouch on his armor.

He once more checked the leg, nodding as he observed a silvery crust beginning to form and mix with the blood on the leg, and on the opening caused by the compound fracture. He pointed to it, looking at Fortnite.

“The nanites stop hemorrhaging, both external and internal, preventing blood loss.” Dante gently slid his arms under the pegasus, gently lifting her up and bringing her firmly against his chest.

“Come on, we need to get her to a doc, yesterday. Grab my rifle over there and get those kids. We’ll figure out where they need to go when we get back to town.”

Nodding, the changeling set about gathering everything. The rifle was first, as she gripped it with her teeth and then balanced it precariously on her back.

Once she was confident it wouldn’t fall off, she made her way to three fillies. All of whom were shaking. Whether it was from the explosion or nearly being eaten by a cyclops, she couldn’t be sure.

It took some gentle coaxing, but she managed to get the three out of the hole in the ground.

It also then took further reassurances to the orange coated pegasus filly by both Fortnite and Dante that Rainbow Dash was perfectly fine and was just resting, Dante being sure to angle his body in such a way that the injured leg was concealed by his body and not visible to the little filly.

After she had stopped crying and with help from her two friends, the odd group began making their way back to civilization. Dante on point with the injured mare, Fortnite bringing up the rear and the three fillies safely nestled between the adults.





Nurse Redheart hummed to herself as she filed away several papers. She looked at the clock sitting on the wall, it was nearing the end of her shift and she had a dinner to go to. Absolutely nothing could ruin this.
“S’cuse me, Nurse.”

“Yes, si-” As Redheart began turning around, she was cut off by a very odd sight.

A large biped was cradling Rainbow Dash, whose leg appeared to bloody, with her tongue lolled out. Behind him stood a… black insect looking pony with the… a local group known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing behind her.

The biped made a gesture with his hand, still supporting Rainbow Dash, that reminded Nurse Redheard of a “V”.

“Yo, what’s up?” Dante casually stated as he looked around the lobby of the hospital, seeing absolutely not a single soul.

“So, since there’s literally nobody in this hospital, could you direct me to y’all’s ER and go get the doc and let him know to get off his lazy ass and come help me. I’ll debrief him when he gets there but long story short,” Dante slightly lifted up his arms with the pegasus resting in them. “Cyclops tried eating those kids back there, broke RD’s leg and wing and then I killed it, drugged RD and carried her...”

Dante raised his eyebrow as he gave a quick thought to how he had worded that. “I admit the last bit sounds wrong, a better way to say it would be that I knocked her out to avoid having her go into shock.” Dante shook his head.

Nurse Redheard had no idea how to respond to just how insane all this was. So she merely lifted her hoof, pointing to a door. “Uh… down the hall and hang a left, then a right.”

Dante nodded his thanks to the nurse. “Righty-o, pip pip cheerio, Fort stay here with the kids. If anyone starts trying to kill you… well, I’d say shoot them with the rifle but I haven’t show you how to operate it yet, so just hit them them over the head with it. Use it as a club. Also, Nurse!” Dante called from behind his back, not waiting for an answer.

“Please inform the doc that this is urgent. The nanites I put in RD facilitate healing but they heal far better when surgery is done post-haste!” With that he disappeared past the door, as Redheart shook her head and confusedly wondered off to find the doctor before her shift ended.

Leaving Fortnite alone with the three fillies, who had been surprisingly quiet during the trip here.

She looked to them, nervously raising a single hoof. “Uh… hi… my name’s Four-Two-Nine-Two.”

The yellow coated filly with hair that reminded Fortnite of some of those Raggedy Mare dolls she had seen replied.

“What kahn of name’s that!”





“Ah don’ know how somepony that big’n obvious is so hard’uh fahn!” Applejack shouted to no one in particular, as both she and Rarity stood in the town square of Ponyville, not far from the alien carriage Dante had used to bring them here.

“Well, dear, if I had to presume it’s because of his training!” Rarity replied as she scanned the crowds looking for the tall biped.

“Trainin’?” Applejack snorted. “What kahn’f trainin’ allows sompeony ‘bout as big as a Minotaur and walkin’ aroun’ n’uh full suit’a armor the ability to jus’ randomly disappear!”

Rarity flicked her hair to the side, huffing. “Dear Applejack, the kind of training somepony like Con Mane receives! Double-oh-Four! Sure, the General might not be as suave as Con Mane is, but I can’t imagine someone his rank is anything less then qualified and elite!”

Applejack groaned, huffing. “Firs’ off, Rares, Con Mane’s a fictional character. Secon’ off, have you met som’uh the generals we got down here? General Fleet Tail ain’ exactly got the bes’ reputation, on account’uh nearly reignitin’ the Gryphonic Succession Wars ‘cause he couldn’ keep his damned hoof outta his mouth. Bein’ a general don’t exactly require intelligence. If anythin’ you gotta be’n idiot.”

“General Fleet Tail’s statement about Princess Petra being illegitimate was said in full confidence and was not supposed to be on the record!”

Applejack rolled her eyes at Rarity’s protest. “Rares… he was talkin’uh journalis’. An’ even then, he should’a known his word carries a lotta weight. The opposition to the Vasy line nearly launched a coup, thinkin’ ‘Questria woul’ ‘sport’em. It took the Princess issuin’ a Royal Decree explicitly recognizin’ King Karolus as the legitimate government of the Gryphon Empire to get’em to back off. Generals ain’ smart or well trained. They’re as much a politician as them nobles up in Can’uhlot!”

Rarity was prepared to deliver a scathing reply, taking a deep breath, however, she hitched as a thought occurred to her. Leaving her mouth hanging open.

“Wait… Applejack, dear, since when did you become interested in politics?”

Applejack blushed as she realized what Rarity was getting at, pulling her hat down to cover her eyes, quickly replying.

“It ain’ politics, I… may’uh been interested in the Royal Guard when I was a lil’ filly. Happenin’ to know about innernational politics just happens t’uh’ve been a coincidence. An’ nothin’ more!” Applejack paused, as she considered just who she was speaking to.

“An’ now that ah think ‘bout it, I coul’ ask’ya the same question! Since when did’ya become interested in mil’tree matters!”

Rarity raised a hoof to her chest, raising her nose. “My dear Applejack, have you not seen the uniforms? The Gryphons have absolutely fabulous and sharp uniforms! And the Royal Guard is a very close contender!”

Applejack fixed the white unicorn mare with a stare. “You’re interested in the military… ‘cause’uh their uniforms?” The farm pony shook her head, turning around. She trotted off.

“Wait, where are you going?”

“Ah’m goin’ to pick up Bloom from school, it’s nearly three.” The orange mare called over her shoulder, as Rarity trotted to catch up.





“So… uh...” Doctor Horse observed in his scrubs and mask, tan unicorn absolutely perplexed by the biped bending over the table with local weather team manager and Element of Harmony laying on the operating table, hooked up to the machine designed to cause unconsciousness.

“Yo.” The biped stated as he sliced more of that silver crust off the pegasus, his hands uncovered and blood smeared over the chest piece of his armor, itself covered in mud.

The doctor found his voice, although still confused by the absurdity of the entire situation. “I absolutely must protest you operating on Miss Dash, sir! First of all you’re filthy!”

Dante waved his free hand at the doctor. “It’s fine. The nanites I injected her with will neutralize any bacteria or viruses I introduce into her body and utilize them as fuel, allowing them to continue operating for longer. The nanites boost a person’s immune system to basically untouchable. I could pour horse AIDs down her throat and the only threat to her would be choking.”

“Second, you’re operating an anesthesia machine without a proper license or training, and you’re operating on a patient without proper license, certification or training!” Doctor Horse reared, waving his forehooves about.

Once more, the biped waved. “I was actually a doctor back home.”

“Really. you’re a doctor?”

The biped shrugged. “Eh… I was a doctor in the 1700s when the best way to do surgery was to cut a limb off as fast as possible. My best record was five seconds to take an arm off at the elbow and ten seconds to take a leg off at the hip, entire operation from the point I started sawing was only fifteen seconds!” Dante looked up from the injured pegasus. “So… yeah… technically I’m a doctor. I also studied veterinarian medicine, which is a little bit more relevant. Though, I’ll be honest with ya Doc, if RD was a horse back home I’d’ve probably just put a bullet in her brain and called it a day.”

Doctor Horse’s mouth hung open at the casualness the biped displayed when speaking about murdering a pony… for a mere broken bone.

“That’s… horrible! How were you a doctor!” He shouted, flabbergasted.

“Equines back home don’t take to broken bones very well. Usually it’s more merciful to put them down  then have them live the rest of their lives crippled.”

Before the doctor could protest anymore, Dante held up a hand to stop him. “Ya gotta understand, Doc. Back home, ponies, equines in general rather, are nothing more then dumb animals. They’re dumber then dogs. Panicky, fleety animals. Also big motherfuckers. Shetland ponies are bigger then most of you guys. Some of the bigger breeds can reach and ton and some change. And, obviously, a literal ton ain’t very conducive to an animal that’s almost always standing up. Is it Doc?”

“Well… no...” The doctor didn’t understand what you were getting at.

“I know what you were thinking. You were thinking that I want to kill RD. What I said was a joke. And if I wanted to kill RD, I’d have already done it. So chill the fuck out and come over here. I may know how to operate on horses back home, but I’ve got no guarantee y’all are exactly the same as the horses back home.” Dante waved the doctor, who groaned, but complied and trotted over.





“So you’re a changeling?” The orange filly asked from atop the changelings head, as she entertained the three.

Sending more magic to her voicebox, Fortnite imitated the filly’s voice down to exact tone and pitch. “Yes, Scootaloo, I am a changeling.”

The three were absolutely amazed at the mimicking, as the white unicorn filly hopped up and down several times. “Me next, me next!”

“Are you sure about that, Sweetie?” Fornite asked, Sweetie’s voice coming from her mouth.

“So what other powers do you have?” The yellow filly asked from her spot in between the Changeling’s legs.

Fortnite removed Scootaloo from her head and stepped to the side so she wasn’t standing over the yellow filly.

In a flash of green fire, the yellow filly was greeted by a carbon copy of herself.

The copy smiled and waved at her. “Hi! Mah name’s Apple Bloom! Nice’tuh meet’cha!”

The eyes of all three fillies lit up. “Wow!” The word came out in unison, as Fortnite returned to her original form in a flash of green fire.

The changeling looked around the room and then back to the trio. “You three behave, okay? I need to the use the restroom.” The three nodded, all of them smiling at their new friend.

“Will you show us more when you get back? Scootaloo asked, smiling.

The changeling returned the smile, nodding. “Of course. But!” She raised a hoof for emphasis. “Only if you behave.” All three fillies nodded their head in agreement.

With that matter settled, Fortnite proceeded to get directions to the nearest restroom from the nurse at the front desk, confident that the three fillies would behave.





“You know, I never got to tell you my last reason for wanting you to stop.” Doctor Horse stated, as both he and the biped stood over the rainbow maned pegasus.

The biped chuckled. “If it’s about me not being insured against medical malpractice, Doc,” Dante lifted his head to meet the doctor’s eyes. “That’s why I called you here. So she can sue you instead of me.”

Doctor Horse never responded to the statement, as Dante continued to clear the silver crust.

Horse gasped, as the looked at the injury. “Absolutely amazing… it’s already showing noticeable signs of healing. This was done by your technology?”

Dante tsked at what he saw. “Fuck, I was worried about this happening. The nanites rebuilt the skin and muscles already. But they did it around the fracture. Fuck, they elongated the tendon to compensate for the bulge.”

Dante looked up at the doctor, who almost shrunk at how serious he looked.

“Look, Doc. The nanites were designed to keep someone alive in the heat of combat and give us time to get them out of fire and to safety. Normally overhealing isn’t a concern because Imperial hospitals have the tech to deal with it. But we’re going to have to do it manually. We’re going to have to cut and remove the nanite-healed skin, tendons and muscles, reset the bone and then cast it. And we’re also going to have to do it for the wing as well, otherwise RD ain’t ever flying again and she’ll be walking around on a fucked up leg.”

The Doctor nodded. “We certainly can’t have that.”

Dante smirked. “Great, glad to see we’re on the same page. I know the leg better then I know the wing. You grab the wing and I’ll get the leg. With both of us doing it at the same, it’ll turn a day long operation into, probably about twelve hours.”

The doctor had already picked up a scalpel, beginning to examine the damaged wing. “You ever done a day long operation.”

“Me? No. But there was a team that did a three week surgery to keep an IFAF trooper alive. By the end of it, the surgery team was running on combat drugs alone and the medical AI was making sure none of them nodded off.” Dante chuckled.

The doctor looked up, an utterly shocked look on his face. “T-th… Three weeks! With the same ponies? Why?”
Dante shrugged. “Everytime they left for something, the guy would start dying. Literally, no one could leave the room and they couldn’t switch places with anyone. So they had people start tossing combat drugs into the room so they wouldn’t fall asleep trying to keep the guy alive.”

“I can understand doing everything you can to keep a patient alive, but three weeks!”

Dante shrugged once more. “He was the coolest guy, everyone loved him. He ended up living, had to have four replacement limbs, though, after an explosion completely tore three off and mangled the fourth. Miraculously his head and brain came out relatively unscathed. Went back into the field, crazy dude that one was.”

All the doctor could do was merely shake his head. “You are insane.”

Dante shrugged.





Fortnite sighed as she walked out of the bathroom, thankful to have finally relieved her bladder. She had been needing to pee since just shortly after Dante had killed the cyclops.

She rounded the corner that led to the lobby, and immediately shot back around the corner, her heart having stopped.

In the lobby were two Elements… with the three fillies… and two of those fillies looked like spitting images of the Elements…

‘Mothers? Intel said nothing about two of the Elements being moms!’ Fortnite’s mind raced. She couldn’t very well go out there. While she had approached the rainbow maned pegasus, that was when she was drugged and Fortnite had Dante there to back her up.

But there was no way these two would listen to her. She hadn’t even decried the Queen yet, just tagged along with Dante. And if they found her here, there was no way she would survive the encounter. Especially not with the one named Applejack present. They had been briefed to explicitly avoid confronting her unless they had numbers on their side.

She made up her mind, her best chance of surviving was to find Dante and stick by his side. But before she could move to head further into the hospital, the orange mare came around the corner.

The two met eyes, as both froze. Neither of them dared to make the first move.

After what seemed to be an eternity of staring, Fortnite broke the silence.

“Uh… hi!” She weakly waved a hoof.

“Changelin’!” Applejack yelled, as Fortnite yelped and took off at an almost unnatural speed down the hallway in search of her savior.

“Dante!” The changeling cried, begging to any deity who would listen that the biped would hear her, as the farm pony followed her closely. “Help me!”

“There ain’t nopony that kahn help ya!” Applejack roared as she tried to close the gap, though the changeling’s fear of death at the hoof at her seemed to be enough to keep her going faster then the pony.

“I didn’t do anything, I swear! I’m with Dante!” She cried back, hoping the Element would see logic.

“Like hogpies ya are! I fell for ya once, I ain’t fallin’ for ya again!”

She didn’t. “I swear I’m telling you the truth!”

“I don’t know what’cha did to Bloom, but Imma make sure you pay for it!”

The changeling slammed into a door leading to a stair well and then ran up the stairs, taking three at a time.

“I didn’t do anything to her, Dante saved her from a cyclops!”

“A cyclops you summoned!”

Fortnite exited the stairwell and onto another floor, tears forming at the edges of her eyes, absolutely terrified at the thought of dying from being kicked to death.

“Dante!” She yelled once more.





“Alright, I got the leg done. Flesh, tendons and muscles are cut back. It just needs stitching and a cast.” Dante stated, as he collected the various bloody tools he had been using and deposited them into a stainless steel kidney dish. “I’ll leave that to you.”

“I am nearly done with the wing.” The doctor replied back, still focusing on the injured limb. Dante took the time to give his ungloved hands a wash in the sink. Bloodborne diseases were of no concern to him, though the native population probably had a less hardy immune system then he.

As the Doctor was finishing up with the wing, Dante took his leave from the room.

“I’d love to stay and chat, Doc, but there’s something I gotta deal with, I’ll be back in a little while to check in on her.”

Doctor Horse merely waved the biped away, who took his leave through the doors of the operating room.





‘Where did she come from!’ Fortnite thought, as she vaulted over the enraged white unicorn, who had seemingly appeared from nowhere, using her wings to give her a small boost as the Element attempted to latch onto her with her magic.

This was not to be, as Fornite gave a small burst of her own magic, disrupting the magic field that would have stopped her in mid-air.

She landed on the ground running, still trying to get away not just one Element, but two now!

“I didn’t do anything!” She cried, as she turned a corner, the two Elements right on her raggedy tail.

She turned another corner, as she screeched to a halt, cursing her luck.

With how big this hospital was, she was of course unlucky enough to run into one of the few dead ends, a wall now blocking her path, and allowing the two very angry Elements to corner her.

She could feel the sweat dripping down her chitin, as she put her hooves up in an attempt to appear non-threatening.

“Now… listen, I realize we got off on the wrong hoof, b-”

“Gettin’ off on the wrong hoof’s’n unnerstatement! Y’all attacked Can’uh’lot!” The Element Fortnite knew as Applejack protested, causing the changeling to wince.

“Well, yes, we did but in my defense, I didn-”

“Your Queen kidnapped Princess Cadance, imprisoned her, mimicked her and then tried to overthrow the Princesses!” The Element known as Rarity shot back at her, as the two slowly enclosed on the trapped changeling, as she uselessly pushed her back against the wall in an attempt to make herself smaller.

Fortnite cringed. “Well… yes, she did do that. But if you’ll just let me explain! I’m with D-”

“There’ll be time enough in Canterlot for you to explain, changeling!” Rarity shouted, charging and immediately joined by Applejack, as they closed the distance and spun around to kick the changeling, whose forelegs were raised to cover her face in a pathetic attempt to protect herself from her impending doom, her eyes screwed shut.

However, the changeling found herself lifted from the ground, a metallic clang ringing out a second later, as both ponies who had been trying to kill her shouted in pain.

She slowly opened her eyes, fearing whatever it was that had grabbed her. However, she was greeted by the sight of the two Elements hopping around in pain, and two armored arms connected to pale hands wrapped around her barrel. Lifting the changeling up into the air and into safety.

She craned her to neck to see the smiling face of the biped who had saved her twice already.

“Yo.” He stated, glancing at the two prancing ponies.

“So… what’s going on here and why are you two,” Dante gestured with Fortnite, using her to point in their general direction. “Trying to kill Fortnite here?”

“Ah don’ know if you’ve noticed this, Dante,” Applejack began, shaking her rear hoof in pain. “But that’s a changelin’!” Applejack pointed at Fortnite, causing Dante to lift her up in his arms, turning her around and examining her, causing a green blush to find its way onto her face.

After a few seconds of examining Fortnite, Dante nodded. “Yeah... she is indeed a changeling.” The biped allowed his right hand to remove itself from her barrel, holding onto her with his left arm. He brought her to his left and bent his elbow, nestling into a crook created by his arm and his left hip similar to how one would carry a small dog. “That doesn’t answer my question.”

The hallway erupted into various shouts, most of them accusations about the changeling, ranging from her mind-controlling the biped to attempting to consume the three fillies who had been rescued in the forest.

However, Fortnite was not going to allow the accusations to go unchallenged, as she began shouting back at the two ponies who had attempted to kill her, though her positions and arguments were hard to take seriously when she being held like a puppy.

The only being not yelling was Dante, who merely rolled his eyes at the ruckus, sighing. He calmly unholsted the pistol that had been resting on the thigh of his armor, did a quick scan to ensure this was the top floor of the hospital and no one was above him, aimed at the roof and fired a single round.

The bang was enough to make the two ponies jump attempting to cover their ears, the changeling also covering her ears, though held tight by the biped to prevent any jumping.

“Shut up!” Dante shouted, his pistol still held in his hand and aimed at the roof. He reholstered it. “When the ringing wears off in your ears, meet Fortnite and me down in the lobby and I’ll explain everything.” Without another word, Dante disappeared into thin air, leaving the two Elements in the hallway, cradling their ears.
> Mother's Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Mother’s Day

A knock sounded on the door of Celestia’s quarters, the solar mare finishing up another paperwork headache created by their new… “friend.”.

Celestia laid the pen down and sighed. “Come in.” She called out tho whomever knocked on her door, silently praying it wasn’t the walking headache known as ‘Dante’. She rolled her eyes at the thought, realizing he’d have probably just kicked down the door before even bothering to knock. It took a few days for maintenance to manage to fix the last set of doors to her room he had kicked down, and few more days for Celestia to finish the protective enchantments against them that were supposed to stop any intrusions.

It’s not that she didn’t appreciate him saving three fillies, but he also killed a member of an endangered species, in a particularly gruesome fashion as well. Seemingly the only answer the biped ever had for any problem was extreme violence.

Her door quietly opened, as hooves clopped against the floor, answering her prayers that it wasn’t the biped.

“Good evening, Luna.” Celestia greeted her sister, a genuine smile forming on her face. The dark mare returned the smile.

“We’re surprised to see you up so late, Sister. It is out of the norm for you to...” Her voice trailed off as she noticed the stack of paperwork piled in front of her.

“Ah. We assume the General is the cause of Our dear sister staying up.” The Solar Diarch nodded, sighing.

“He blew up a cyclops to save the...” Celestia magicked a report over to her, scanning the paper, groaning as she read the name the three fillies had given the Ponyville guard lieutenant. “The Cutie Mark Crusaders.” Celestia carelessly tossed the paper aside as she rose from her seat and trotted over to her bed.

“I’ll finish the paperwork in the morning, during Court. Gods know the only thing the Nobles will be doing is complaining about how General Jaeger isn’t locked up.” As she laid down in her bed, she paused, raising her head from the pillow she had laid on it. A look of realization on her face.

“Except Blueblood… of all ponies I would have expected him to be the one pushing the most for his imprisonment.” Celestia allowed her head to hit the pillow once more

Luna chuckled at the mention of the cowardly prince’s name. “A friend in the Parliament informs Us that your nephew is utterly terrified of General Jaeger and refuses to attach his name to anything that he believes could anger Jaeger.”

Celestia raised her head. “Our nephew, Luna. Blueblood is our nephew.”

Luna smirked, a wide smile creeping onto her face. “That is what We said, Sister. Your nephew.”

Celestia groaned, allowing her head to fall back onto her pillow.

The Luna Diarch carefully climbed into bed with her sister, pushing her body against hers. “We hope you do not mind us sharing a bed, Sister. We had forgotten how nice it was until the other day.”

Celestia looked her sister in the eye, her eyes glinting.

“I am not complaining, but aren’t you supposed to be in the middle of Court?”

“Delegated.” Luna curtly replied.

“Well, I do not see any problem with it, though I’m surprised our sleep schedules are not all messed up.”

Luna rolled from her side onto her stomach. “We didn’t want to bring it up to you initially, sister, as it seems like all we ever talk about is Jaeger.”

Celestia groaned, also rolling onto her stomach and meeting her sister’s eyes, rolling her own “Oh, gods, what did he do this time? Did he scare a noble? Detonate some sort of alien weaponry? Invade a country? Figure out how to defy all known laws of reality? I would not put that last one past him.”

Luna shook her head. “No, no. He hasn’t done anything. Rather it was Us that did something. I spoke to Miss Dash in the hospital, and she informed me that the General seemed very angry upon confronting the cyclops. More so then even when he was confronting the Changelings during the Wedding. But once the cyclops had been felled, he immediately switched back to being non-threatening… well, as non-threatening as he can be.”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, so there’s certain things that seem to trigger his anger. Perhaps he just dislikes cyclops.”

Luna opened her mouth, but then closed it to gather her thoughts. After a few moments she spoke.

“The night following the wedding, the General slept. We intruded upon his dreamscape out of curiosity, We admit it had nothing to do with our duties. However, instead of being met with dreams, We were instead thrust into a memory. We presume the reason being is his mind differs radically from the creatures We normally walk, and as such I violated his memories instead of his dreams.”

Celestia nodded once more. “Something you absolutely do not do under normal circumstances.”

The Lunar Diarch nodded, frowning. “Yes, a grave ethical violation on Our part. If We wish to visit his dreamscape in the future, We will have to research and obtain his permission before doing so, he has indicated “dreamwalkers”, as he called me, were not well liked where he’s from. But before he pulled me out of his memori-”

“He pulled you out?” Celestia asked, perplexed. As far as she was aware, not even she was capable of pushing Luna out once she had entered a dreamscape.

Luna nodded. “We were shocked as well, but he forced Our physical body from the dreamscape. However, that’s not what We came to speak to you about. Our talk with Miss Dash made us decide it was better for you to also know about this. Before he pulled Us out of his memory, we saw one more. For a split second in the real world, but we experienced hours inside. May We?” Luna laid down on her side, facing her sister, her horn lit up.

Celestia sighed and then copied the maneuver. “If you believe it is necessary for me to know.” Luna nodded.

“We believe it will help give you a glimpse into his mindset.” She gently touched her lit horn to Celestia’s horn, as the Solar Diarch experienced a shock, her eyes rolling into the back of her head.





The young man woke up in a field, using his arms to lift himself up.

He paused to listen to the birds, examining the blue sky. He scanned the environment surrounding him, noting the hilly landscape.

“Hunter!” A voice called from behind him, causing the young man to turn his head. Another man, white skinned with long shaggy black hair, his body covered in the tanned skins of animals and various tools supported by a crude belt hanging at his waist, approached him. He appeared to be a little older then the young man.

“What are you doing, Hunter?” The man came close, drawing the young man, Hunter in for a hug.

Hunter returned the hug. “Getting some rest.” He gestured to a forested area. “Before we go out for food.”

“Come, follow.” Hunter stood up and dusted his front off, as he trod on after the older man.

They walked for a short while in silence, following a beaten path into the ground.

“Winter’s not far out.” The older man finally broke the silence, scanning the sky, Hunter merely grunting in response.

“Your mother sent me after you, you know, she became worried about you.”

“I figured that. Otherwise you wouldn’t have come.” Hunter stated as he observed the surrounding trees, the line occasionally breaking to reveal more fields.

“She worries about you, you know.” The man called behind his back.

Hunter rolled his eyes, as he continued to follow behind the man. “Yeah, I know.”

The conversation ended as they continued to walk. After a few more minutes, they reached the outskirts of a village situated along a river. Children chased after each other as women sorted between vegetables and fruits. The river rushed as various eating instruments were washed by children who weren’t participating in the playing. Smoke from fires wafted through the air.

“Smith!” A man called as he ran up to the two, out of breath.

“Bruster, what’s going on?”

The man, Bruster, stopped to catch his breath, as Hunter and Smith looked at each other nervously.

Bruster looked around, making sure no one was near, then lowered his voice and spoke. “The scouts we sent, to find new trails. They came back with news. Big tribe moving through valley, some men in the tribe are dressed oddly, very out of place.”

Smith scoffed, slapping his hand onto Hunter’s shoulder. “We will be fine, we have Hunter. The gods have given him their blessings.” Hunter chuckled at the praise.

“That’s the issue. One of the men killed an auroch.”

“And Hunter has killed plenty of aurochs.”

“With thunder.” With these words, Hunter and Smith also looked around, and then closed the gap between them and Bruster.

“Who knows about this, Bruster?” Hunter questioned, as he grabbed the skins covering Bruster’s chest and pulling him closer.

“J-just me, the scouts who saw and you all.”

“And how many?” Smith asked.

“Well over and ten and ten for the tribe. Scouts said they saw ten and two of the oddly dressed men.”

Hunter cursed as he looked to Smith. “Get those scouts and make sure they understand not to tell anyone. I’ll check it out and make sure they’re not a threat. I don’t want to cause a panic, this spot is too good for us to give it up. Besides, too many women are bearing children, they wouldn’t survive the trek, assuming we even find a good place to set back up before winter sets in.” Smith nodded as the young man released Bruster.

“And the same goes for you, Bruster. Not a single word. We don’t want to cause a panic, there is absolutely no reason to evacuate this area.”

The man nodded as Hunter moved off. “I’m going to check on mother before I head out.” Hunter moved off as he made his way to his home, making his way through the maze of grass huts, until finally reaching the one he was looking for. Waiting for him outside was a small woman, clad in animal skins as well.

Hunter towered over the woman, who saw him and rushed to him, bringing him into a hug. “Hunter! Will you stop disappearing like that? I was worried, I had to send Smith to find you!”

Hunter returned the hug. “Sorry, mother, I just wanted to be away from the tribe for a little.” He gestured to the huts.

The woman lightly smacked his arm. “And you choose a night you and the rest of the men are supposed to hunt.”

She rolled her eyes and moved back to the hut, her son following her as she continued sorting various fruits, preparing for the incoming winter.

“I was surprised you weren’t off frolicking with that girl, Baum. She and you would make strong children, you know.”

Hunter groaned, rubbing his eyes. “She’s too pushy, and dumb.”

The woman clicked her tongue. “She’s not dumb, Hunter, she just… suffered a few blows to the head.”

“And how exactly do gatherers manage to hit their heads enough they can’t tell the difference between a wolf and an auroch? Do you know how many times I’ve had to save her because she thought she could pet a wolf?”

The woman turned to her son, smirking. “So what you’re telling me is the dumb woman can track down wolves better then you can.”
The young man rolled his eyes, refusing to play into his mother’s game with a response.

“But I’m being serious, Hunter.” She moved closer to the young man.

“You’re a man now, you hunt with the men and you eat with the men. But you’re the only man in the village who has not yet chosen a mate. It’s your ten and seventh winter. I really do think you and she would make wondrous children, she may be dumb but her body is strong and well developed for bearing children. It’s her ten and fourth winter and she’s been a woman for a winter and summer now, so she’s not too old nor is she too young.”

Hunter rolled his eyes. “I’ve no desire to even think about becoming a father.”

“Is that what you’re scared of, Hunter. That you won’t be a good father?”

“Why would I be? When my own father isn’t even here, he abandoned you!” Hunter protested, not liking the line this was going down. The discussion of who his father was never ended up well.

“There is not a single shred of proof that you took any of those traits from him.”

Hunter raised his hands. “Yet I received his eternity and strength? Mother, how many of us can survive being gored by an auroch and then proceed to kill it? You know it just as well as I do, I’m going to end up being just as bad a father as he did, if anything else I inherited is evidence.”

The woman raised her hands into the air, exasperated. “Yet you’ve protected Baum every time she’s been threatened, and you don’t even see her as a mate. Now think about that, you protect your tribe members with ferocity, yet you still believe you would just walk out and abandon your children. You have not shown and wanderlust like your father has.”

“But what if it just hasn’t shown yet, and what if my eternity is more then just… injury related? What happens if I outlive my children? My mate? I just go and pick another one? Make more children?”

“So what!” The woman shouted. “Your plan is to just sit here and continue on with your life? What happens when I die? You’re the only one of my blood left and you just plan to make that your legacy? The unkillable man who has no children, no blood to show it for?”

“I don’t know!” Hunter roared at his mother as he threw his hands into the air, the woman shrinking back. “I don’t know.” The words came out quieter this time. “I don’t know. I feel like I barely belong here. You don’t know who my father is, a wanderer! My father’s a wanderer!” Hunter raised his arms to sky and shouted “An eternal wanderer my father is!” He allowed his hands to drop as he paced around a small area. “Then I’m the only child who survives a sickness that tears through the tribe, I’m gored by an auroch, have an axe slammed into my throat, my gut slashed open, trapped under ice in a flowing river and I punch my way out, I’ve fallen off too many cliffs for me to count. And still I breath!”

Hunter locked eyes with his mother, his blue and green eyes piercing hers. “I. Am. Not. Normal. I’m not living the normal life of a man because I am not a man.”

“Then what are you!”

“I don’t know!” Hunter rubbed his eyes, sighing.

“The.. the hunt isn’t occurring tonight.”

The woman said nothing, as she had gone back to sorting vegetables, her back turned to Hunter, who sighed.

“Mother… just,” He looked to her back, wondering how he should word it. “Don’t worry, I’ll talk to you later.”





Hunter quietly crawled his way over to the side of a cliff overlooking the valley the group had been reported in. And indeed, right in the valley lay small group of what appeared to be hastily constructed huts, along side with a very odd looking one. It was shaped like a cube instead of the more circular huts. ‘

Hunter wasn’t very far, a single drop down the side of the cliff would put him less then a few hundred feet from it.

There were only a few men in the camp, five it looked like, but something told Hunter he could find what he was looking for in the odd looking hut, namely what they were doing so close to his village.

In any case, even if he didn’t find what he was looking for, their sacked village and dead men who had been left to guard it should be enough to scare them off. Although he had no idea what they had left it for, maybe hunting for food.

His mind made up, he peered over the edge of the cliff and then slid his legs over the edge, sitting on it.

He took a deep breath, and then dropped.

The fall itself only took a few seconds, but the primal part of Hunter’s brain, the part that told him height was something that needed to be feared made it feel far longer then it was.

Hunter landed with a thud, bringing some earth up with him.

One of the men who had been left with the village saw the man drop from the cliff and cried in shock, alerting his fellows.

Hunter covered the last few hundred feet in seconds, digging his axe into the man’s throat, his dying breaths gurgling through blood. However, the other men of the village had made it there.

Hunter let go of his axe as the man died, pushing his body away from him and caught the arm of hammer wielding man as he attempted to strike Hunter with it, Hunter drove his fist into the man’s chest, the sound of ribs breaking cut through the air, causing him to double over. Hunter drove his knee into the man’s head, caving his skull.

He threw the corpse into a charging man, cutting off the attack. Hunter drew his knife and blocked a strike from another man who had come running to the scene. The young man headbutted the man, as he stumbled back, the young man charged forward, driving his knife into the man’s throat.

Hunter recovered his axe from the body of the first man he had killed and walked over to the man who was pinned under the corpse of the man whose skull he had caved in, who was preventing the other man from fighting him, having landed on him awkwardly, pinning both arms under a couple of hundred pounds.

Hunter finished the man off with several strikes to the head with his recovered axe. One man stood his ground, axe in his hand, seemingly frozen by the slaughter that had occurred in front of him.

Hunter raised his axe, pointing at the man. “Run or fight.” He stated.

The man locked eyes with Hunter, as silence reigned.

Then charged, roaring, his axe raised, prepared to strike Hunter.

Hunter caught the strike with his own axe, locking the man’s arm into the air, then struck him in the face with his left hand.

The man fell, his skull caved by the force of Hunter’s strike, his hand soaked in blood.

Hunter scanned the rushed village, examining it. He made his way to the main row of the village and then picked up his pace to the reach the odd hut.

He slipped through the cloth door, his axe raised and prepared for the odd men who could utilize thunder to kill.

However, the hut was empty. It was large enough for Hunter to stand up in it and comfortably move around in it. And almost everything in it made no sense to the young man.

However, in the corner of his right eye, he noticed something. He walked over to a table and looked at what was occupying it.

He could understand the plate, though what material it was made of he had no idea. But the meat on it…

Hunter hesitantly picked it up and examined it, then slowly took a bite of it and chewed. It was meat. He dropped both the plate and meat, not worried about any mess he made. He moved to a box sitting in the corner and opened the lid.

“What the...” It was more meat, all of it looking like it had just been cut directly from the prey. But it couldn’t have been, it was freezing cold, as though it had been thrown into the snow.

And there was a lot of it, more then enough to feed his village many times over, so why would they have been out hunting?

He moved away from the box, and continued investigating the tent. He examined various clear containers, but nothing provided him many answers. Until he reached the back, which contained another table which held thin, crinkly rectangles.

Hunter picked up a handful of these rectangles and examined them, trying to reason out what he was seeing.

It was his village, like a painting… but it was as though he was looking at his actual village, odd characters were written around the edge.

He allowed the rectangle to fall to the floor, his head cocked to the side as he saw the next rectangle. It was Smith. Once more, it was as though he were standing right to the side of him.

Another one, Baum.

Another, the village elder.

He dropped the rectangle as he viewed his village from the sky, as though he were a bird. He dropped that one, his eyes widening as he saw the next one…

It was his mother. Almost face on, at a slight angle. Hunter looked around, then tucked this rectangle into a pouch on his belt as he went back to look at the final rectangle. His heart dropping.

It was him. He was looking at himself. He had a red circle drawn around his head.

Hunter glanced around at the rest of the rectangles as the truth struck him like a thousand arrows at once.

“War party...” He breathed, as it finally made sense. The scouts never mentioned any women or children. Just men.

And why there were only five men at the village. They were a war party. And they were going…

After his tribe.

Hunter dropped the rectangle as he launched out of the hut, tearing through the village and back to the cliff he had dropped from. If he tried to make his way out of the valley by paths, it would take him hours.

So he charged towards the cliff and hoped this would work, he had only done it once before, but the cliff was jagged. This one was smooth, extremely.

Hunter jumped, as he launched dozens of feet into the air and slammed into the side of the cliff, as he attempted to find a foothold or a grip so he could launch himself once more up.

But he could find no grip, as he slid down the side.

Hunter slammed his fists into the side of the cliff, cursing.

He ran back to the very edge of the village and then tried again, once more failing and sliding down the side of the cliff.

He cursed once more, as he tried once more, running to the edge of the village and then running up and trying to reach the top of the cliff.

He failed.

Hunter slammed his fists into the ground, cursing whatever gods had turned a blind eye to him.

He glanced at the top of the cliff. If only he could get up there, he could stop them, he could stop the war band. But even if he were to run, by the time he got out of the valley using the paths, his village would surely be nothing more then ashes.

Hunter focused on the edge of the cliff where he had been sitting just a few minutes before. If he could just get up there.

He could feel the anger welling up in his soul, his eyes screwed shut as thoughts of his brothers and sisters being slaughtered by the war party… or worse.

He opened his eyes, surprised at the sight that stood before him, no longer a cliff. He glanced behind him, seeing the valley he had been in the last time time he had looked.

He didn’t dwell on these thoughts, though, as he launched himself from the ground and ran, hoping to reach his village before they did.





Hunter slowed as he reached the outskirts of the forest that separated his village from the rest of the area, his heart stopping. Bodies littered the ground, as fires roared. Various men who did not belong to his tribe were visible stalking through the village, as bangs sounded in the distance.

He picked up his speed, letting off almost no noise as he covered the last bit of distance between him and his village, slamming into one of the men. He wasted no time in the bringing his hand down on the man’s head, destroying his skull. An axe dug itself into Hunter’s left shoulder, causing him to howl in pain as he used his right arm to shove the man who had stabbed him away and into a hut.

As the man stumbled, he ripped the axe from his shoulder and threw it at the man, catching him in the head and burying the axe into his skull.

Hunter caught the arm of a man who attempted to strike him with a knife, striking him with his fist, killing him.

The young man took an arrow to the chest as he stumbled back from the sudden pain. He looked up, watching a man wielding a bow loading another arrow.

He tore the arrow from his chest and charged at the bowman, slamming into him and dragging him to the ground. Before the bowman could do anything to fight back, Hunter stabbed the arrow in the man’s right eye, multiple times as blood splattered onto the young man, who roared in anger as he continued to stab the dead man.

He stabbed the man once more, leaving the arrow in place as he breathed heavily.

He had one thought on his mind.

Finding his mother.

He stumbled into the burning main village, to make his way to his hut. To his mother’s hut.

The smoke from the fires burned his eyes, but he pressed on as he defended himself from various attacks by the men attacking his village.

He reached his hut, only for his hope to drop.

It was nothing but flames and ash. The young man took a deep breath.

“Hunter!” His eyes widened as he recognized the voice.

He turned to see his mother through the smoke, waving her hands towards herself. “Come on, we need to go!”

Hunter started to jog to his mother, however, he was stopped when a bang sounded, causing him to jump and cover his ears in pain.

He looked up as ringing sounded in his ears, his mother was holding her chest, her hand clamped over something,

His heart stopped as he saw red trickle down her chest. His mother removed her hand from the spot on her chest, revealing a gaping hole. She collapsed.

“No!” Hunter bellowed as he ran to his mother, sliding to a stop near her. Sitting on his legs, he quickly pulled her into his lap, as blood soaked through animal hides covering her torso.

She coughed, blood coming out of her mouth.

“Oh, no, no, no, no.” Hunter panicked as he held her close, glancing around to see the source of the bang. Right behind where his mother had been standing, a few dozen feet, stood twelve oddly clothed men, one of them holding an odd looking cylinder with another cylinder sticking out from the bottom of it, they spoke among themselves.

“H-hunter.” The woman choked out, as more blood came from her mouth.

“Mom, mom. Everything’s going to be fine. Listen to me, everything’s going to be fine.” Hunter spoke, as he cradled her head in his lap, stroking her hair, the tears in his eyes no longer coming from the fire.

“It’s been so long since you called me that.” She spoke weakly, her eyes closed.

“I’m sorry mom, this is my fault. I knew about them, I thought I could deal with them. I should have moved us when I had the chance.”

“This isn’t your fault.” She spoke, her breath labored.

She raised her hand and cradled Hunter’s cheek. “Hunter, can you promise me something?”

Hunter pulled his mother closer, no care given to the blood soaking his legs. “Anything, mom. Anything.”

She took a deep breath, the pain overtaking her body. She opened her eyes and locked eyes with her son. “Find you father, he can help you. Those people, they’re eternal wanderers, just like he is.”

Her hand continued to lay on Hunter’s cheek for a few moments, as the woman gasped, Hunter watching as his mother took her final breath. Her hand went limp, falling from Hunter’s face and leaving blood behind.

Hunter lowered his head, his forehead meeting his mother’s.

“I promise, mom… I love you.” His words were silent to all but himself and his late mother.

He raised his head, his eyes filled with rage, hatred and death. He saw the man.

The man who had killed his mother.

Hunter gently removed his mother’s corpse from his lap and stood up to his full height.

An inhuman bellow roared from Hunter’s throat as he charged at the man, the cylinder firing once, putting a hole in his chest.

Still that would not stop him. He slammed into the man, dragging him to the ground. As Hunter straddled him, he saw his face.

His face scarred by decades of war, his eyes, green, the eyes of a murderer. His blonde hair short cut. It was a face burned into the mind of Hunter.

Hunter brought his fist down upon the man’s head, but it was caught by the man, who used his other hand to push Hunter off him.

Hunter rolled to recover from the launch, and then charged at the man once more, his eleven disciples stood by the side, making no move to aid him.

Hunter’s arm cocked back, the strike would have turned even a blue whale into a pasty mess.

The man caught it with his own and flipped the young man.

Hunter landed hard on his back and before he could recover, a boot was on his throat,  keeping him down.

Still, Hunter was defiant as he wrapped his hands around the leg keeping him down and attempted to pull it off him.

A kick made contact with his head, as pain shot through his head.

“Don’t kill the fucker yet, we need to make sure it’s him.”

They spoke his language.

“I’ll kill you all.” He choked out. The boot on his throat merely pressed down harder, causing Hunter to choke out in pain.

“I don’t know why the fuck she wants a specific Human killed, but you know how pissy she gets when we don’t follow her orders to a T. And she said this one specifically has to die. Scan his eyes.” The man holding Hunter down stated.

One of the other eleven men knelt beside his head and held an odd device over him, with shot light into his eyes.

Partially out of defiance and partially because it was painful, Hunter screwed his eyes shut and continued to struggle against the boot on his throat.

“Come on, kid, this is going to be less painful if you cooperate with us.” The voice of the man who held him down spoke, though he continued to defy them, keeping his eyes closed.

Another kick connected with his head, the sudden and unexpected shock forced his eyes open, where to hands held his eyelids open.

He continued to struggle, kicking up dirt as he attempted to kick anything, and he renewed his efforts to lift the leg off him.

“Gotta give it to the kid, he’s feisty. He’s got a hole in his chest and he’s still fighting. Come on, hurry up and scan his eyes so we can get the hell off this shit-hole and go home. I want to get off this rock before the Imperium figures out we’re here.”

The odd device was once more hold over his head, as a beam of light was shot into his eyes. It held for a few seconds, until he heard a beeping. The man holding the device looked at it before nodding.

“It’s him.” The hands were removed from his eyes, allowing Hunter to blink once more, which he did so gladly.

The boot on his throat released the pressure a small amount, as the man pointed the odd cylinder at him Hunter.

“Sorry about this, kid, it’s nothing personal but we got orders. If it’s any consolation, you’ll get to see your mom again pretty soon.”

Hunter locked eyes with the murderer of his mother, his eyes raging with anger and death, as he stared into those green orbs.

“Your face,” Hunter growled. “I’ll remember it.”

The man gave no reply as he pulled the trigger on the cylinder.

Hunter’s hands went limp, releasing the man’s leg as his world turned to black.





Celestia opened her eyes with a gasp, her purple eyes meeting Luna’s blue eyes.

“That was...” Celestia breathed, as Luna nodded.

“It was a very intimate memory, one We had not intended to see when We went into the General’s dreamscape.”

“So “Hunter” was...” Once more, Luna nodded.

“Due to how minds work, the dream was translated to a language we understand. ‘Hunter’ is the translation of whatever his language’s name was for him.”

Celestia closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath. “Luna.” She finally spoke.

“Yes, sister.”

Celestia opened her eyes, fixing Luna with a hard stare. “No matter what happens, show no one else this memory and do not inform General Jaeger we know about it, much less have the ability to transfer it. This already has been enough a breach of trust as is.”

Luna nodded in agreement. “I had no plans to, sister.”

Celestia nodded. “How long did that take?”

“It’s been twenty minutes.”

The Solar diarch sighed.

“Well, I am going to go to bed, Sister.”

“As shall We.” Luna spoke, enjoyment lacing through her voice, as she cuddled closer to her elder sister.

“What about the Thro-” Celestia was cut off by Luna.

“Delegated.” Celestia had no response to that line of answering, so she instead merely closed her eyes to meet the realm of dreams.
> Surprise!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 14

The two elements entered the lobby of the hospital with a very angry Redheat chastising them about causing such a ruckus and disturbing the patients with their entirely unnecessary chasing.

“Do you know how many complaints I received? Hospitals are not a place to be chasing ponies, they’re a place for ponies who are injured to rest and recover!” Redheat chastised, managing to yell while keeping her voice low.

“I don’t know why you’re lecturing us, dear, it was that changeling that started running.” Rarity replied, as they observed their sisters playing around Fornite, running around her legs and chasing each other, while somehow managing to be quiet. The biped was seated in one the chairs looking relaxed.

Applejack growled, not liking the sight of her sister being so close to the changeling. “Apple Bloom, over here, now.” She stated, leaving no room for arguing, and pointing her hoof at the ground near her though that wasn’t going to stop the little filly from doing so.

“But Miss Fortni-”

“Now.” She punctuated her order with another hoof jabbing at the ground.

Apple Bloom frowned as she slinked her way over to her sister, the farm pony turning to give a hrd look.

“Now, Dante, you said you were goi-” Applejack began, turning to look at the biped, but she was met by his face nearly touching hers, his back bent in order to reach her face.

Her eyes went wide, as she backpedaled. “What the hay!”

The biped scooted closer, staring her in the eyes. This resulted in a nervous Applejack meeting his stare and trying to hold her ground, though she found it a losing battle after the second minute, her eyes screaming for her to blink while the biped seemed to be suffering no such problem. None of the observers seemed to be able to be bothered to intervene.

She blinked, and then spoke.

“Why are you staring at me?”

Dante hmmed, as he stroked his chin. Finally, he straightened his back and spoke. “I think I’m going insane, something seems off about you.”

He looked around the room, taking in the appearance of the occupants. “Eh… the fuck am I saying? I’m already insane. I’m in a room with a southern hick pony,” The biped pointed to Applejack. “A southern hick little sister pony,” He pointed to Applebloom. “A fancy-schmancy Brit unicorn,” He pointed to Rarity. “A little sister to the Brit with no accent, also a unicorn,” He pointed to Sweetie Belle. “A nurse pony with an ass-tat of a red cross.” He pointed to Redheart. “A pegasus kid pony.” He pointed to Scootaloo. “An insectoid equinoid whose queen is trying to overthrow the princesses of the ponies.” He pointed to Fortnite. “And I just operated on the broken leg of a rainbow maned pegasus. If this doesn’t qualify me for the kook house then I have absolutely no idea what would. What do you think, Fortnite, something seem off about Jack over here?”

Dante turned his head, looking at the changeling, pointing with his thumb to Applejack.

The changeling screwed up her face, and seemed to be thinking.

“You know… now that you say it… something does seem different about her… it’s on the tip of my tongue, I just can’t seem to put a hoof on it...”

“Darlings, dear, I hate to interrupt, but I must say I agree with Applejack, General, you told us after blasting out our ears that you would explain why there’s a changeling. However, first we would prefer you tell us why you mentioned Rainbow having a broken bone and you operated on it. Is she okay?”

Dante waved his hand, closing his eyes. “RD’s fine. She fought a cyclops that was trying to eat those three,” Dante pointed to the two fillies still by Fortnite’s side and then to Apple Bloom, standing next to her sister. “She bought them enough time for me to get there and finish the job, but in the process she broke her hoof and wing. We brought her here to get it fixed.”

“Well… then, thank you once more, General. I absolutely would not have been able to live with myself if Sweetie had been hurt.” Rarity responded, shocked at the escapade that had been summed up. Once more, Dante waved his hand.

“I didn’t do anything. Save your thanks for RD, she’s the one who deserves it. If she hadn’t intervened when she did then those three wouldn’t be here.”

“I can thank more then one pony, you know?” Rarity turned to Sweetie Belle, a fire suddenly burning in her eyes. “But for you, little miss!” Sweetie Belle quickly took cover behind Fortnite, cowering. The changeling took a single look at Rarity, then wisely decided to sidestep, taking cover behind the large figure of Dante, leaving a cowering Sweetie Belle behind.

“Traitor!” Sweetie Belle squeaked, upon realizing her concealment had left her behind. Rarity put herself on the ground, stalking forward. “First you skip school,” She took a single step forward as the little unicorn attempted to protest, but was quickly silenced by her big sister.

“Then you go off into a forest by yourself.” One more step, as she inched closer, everyone in the room watching with intensity.

“Bu-”

The monstrous gaze Rarity fixed her sister with silenced her immediately.

“And then you somehow manage to get a cyclops chasing you! A cyclops, really Sweetie? Do you know how many of those there are in Equestria? Less then ten! And you somehow manage to get yourself tangled with one!”

Rarity took a breath as she took the final step, pushing her face against her sister. “And then, on top of all that, Rainbow Dash was injured saving your flank and you inconvenienced the general. Don’t get me wrong, I am eternally grateful to him for intervening, but I’m certain he has more important things to do then having to save and then foalsit three fillies who should know better!”

Dante snorted. “Arson, murder and jaywalking, much?”

“You’re grounded, do you understand?” Rarity, in an uncharacteristic moment of the normally composed fashionista, growled. Her sister only being able to nod.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Good, now that’s settled, General, dear,” Rarity stood up, giving her mane a flip. “I do believe you said you would explain the changeling.”

Dante nodded, as he looked to the other people in the room. “Everyone.” Dante stepped to the side, revealing the changeling who had hidden behind him just a minute earlier. “This is S-Four-Two-Nine-Two, I nicknamed her Fortnite because fuck sounding that out every time I need to get her attention. She was actually the pony we thought was named Sea Biscuit.”

“Okay, but is she...” Rarity struggled to find the word without sounding insulting.

“Bad?” Applejack beat her to it.

“Well, it’s not the word I would have used, but it is succinct.” Rarity replied, then looked to Dante.

“Well… I mean, she had plenty of time to do something to those three if she wanted to. And the worst thing she did to me was use me as a launch pad. Truth be told, I think she’s more terrified of you two, then you are of her.” Dante shrugged.

“I am not!” Fortnite protested, looking Dante in the eye, causing Dante to smirk.

“Oh, sure, I suppose that’s why you were running away from them while screaming my name and begging me to come save you.” Dante reached down and ruffled the changeling’s smooth head.

The changeling mumbled, looking away.

“Yeah… so… in any case, RD’s in the hospital because she got the shit beat out of her saving three kids and Fortnite here is under Imperial protection.” Dante glared at the Elements with the last statement, as Rarity cleared her throats.

“Yes, I would like to apologize for that, Fortnite. We should not have rushed to assumptions like that. Had we taken a minute to think it through, we should have seen why what we thought was… well, illogical.” Rarity glanced to Applejack as she finished her apology. The farmpony resolutely fixed her hat on her head.

“I ain’t apologizing.” She stated.

Dante shrugged, as he grabbed his rifle he had leaning against a wall. “Good enough.” He began walking out the door. “Come on Fortnite, I need to go wake that lazy fucknut named Bulwark up. Missing all the interesting shit, the nerve of that corporal.”

Dante held the door open for the changeling, as she slipped through it, the biped turned to look at the rest of the ponies in the room. “Y’all should probably go check on RD now, she’s probably awake or about to wake up, I think she’d enjoy the companionship.” With that, he walked out and the door closed behind him.

“Does he… does he walk around town all the time covered in blood?” Redheart asked, as the Elements merely nodded.

“Eeyup.” Applejack answered. “And Scootaloo,” She turned to the orange pegasus trying to sneak away. “Don’t think you’re getting out of this free. We are telling your parents.”





Bulwark sighed as he sunk deeper in the water. The nearly full day of running a combat course with that insane biped who seemed to have limitless energy had taken most of the life out of him. The stallion was amazed he hadn’t fallen asleep while rescuing the ponies from the diamond dogs.

And now that he thought about it, he couldn’t remember the biped ever slowing down, much less sleeping.

He had been up for as long as Bulwark had when the stallion collapsed from exhaustion, yet he didn’t seem to have single wink of tiredness in him.

He had woken up just a few hours ago, and the ponies who worked at the spa had already given him a full course massage, and now he was just resting in the baths, only a few other stallions with him. The baths themselves were about the size of a pool in a recreational center, though not very deep. Two and a half feet at the deepest, they were meant for ponies to rest in, not swim.

All was quiet and peaceful.

Though this peace was not to last, as a fully armored biped, now complete with helmet and gloves on, and at some point having washed the blood off his armor, kicked open the door to the baths, causing the occupants to jump.

Bulwark sunk deeper, praying to Celestia the biped wouldn’t notice him. At this point, only his snout was visible in the water, as he breathed through his nose.

A feminine shriek sounded, as muffled shouting reached the stallions ears.

“I said put me down, Dante!”

“No time.”

The biped had waded into the water, as it reached only slight above his knees. The rest of the ponies gave the odd creature a wide berth, as well as the flailing black pony like creature held securely to his side.

He made his way to the corporal and reached his hand into the water, grabbing the unicorn by the scruff of his neck and lifting him up.

The two locked eyes, holding it for a few seconds… before Dante tucked him under his right arm and started wading through the water once more back to the dry area of the room. “Come on, Bull, we got shit we need to do! Back to Canterlot so I can go home!”

“But, wait, what about my armor!” The stallion protested.

“Already got it.”

Bulwark went limp, hoping his not supporting himself made more work for the biped.

He looked his right, spying the changeling in Dante’s other arm.

“The changeling woke up?” He asked, looking to Dante. The biped nodded.

“Yep. Her name’s Fortnite.”

“It’s S-Four-Two-Nine-Two.” The changeling in question answered, as she too went limp, an unhappy look on her face.

“I call her Fortnite and she has not yet explicitly told me to stop so I will continue calling her Fortnite. Because fuck sounding Four-Two-Nine-Two out every time I address her.” Dante stated as he continued to walk through Ponyville, paying no attention to the various ponies who stopped to gander at the biped manhandling a pony and a changeling.

“What was so urgent you felt the need to physically foalnap me from the spa before I could even check out?”

“Our jobs.” Dante replied as they approached the truck he had driven here in, bent down and let Bulwark go, the stallion jumping from his arms, he repeated the process with Fortnite. He covered the last few feet to the truck and opened the door, tossing the bag he had had been lugging around for the past day and a half into the back of the truck.

“Can I help you?” He asked, as a cross-eyed grey pegasus mare landed on the roof of the truck, both Fortnite and Bulwark eyeing the new visitor warily.

The mare held up an envelope and seemed to stare intently at it, before asking. “Are you Dante?”

Dante looked around the area, observing the various ponies who were milling about. “Normally I’d ask for a last name, but based of the naming scheme I’ve seen here I’m slightly doubtful there’s anyone else on this planet with my name. Yeah, I’m Dante.” He nodded, as the mare held out the envelope.

“You’ve got mail, sorry for the delay, sir. But it was very difficult to find you.”

Dante took the envelope. “How the fuck do I have mail, I swear if its future me writing to present me from the past again, I’m going to time travel back in time solely to kick his ass.” Dante tore open the pink envelope, pulling out a card.

He scanned it, his eyebrow raising as he read. “You’re invited to the ‘Thank you for Saving Us from an Evil Queen and for Saving the Cutie Mark Crusaders’… Who the fuck are the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” Dante asked, as he looked to his two companions. Bulwark

Fortnite stepped forward. “Cutie Mark Crusaders? That’s what those three fillies back at the hospital called themselves.”

“Wait a minute, what is this about three fillies.” Bulwark questioned.

“I killed a cyclops after it attacked them.” Dante grunted.

“What!” Bulwark nearly jumped after the revelation Dante had killed a cyclops, any guardstallion worth his salt knew they were endangered.

“This is signed Pinkie Pie, I know her from a short meeting, how long ago did you get this? I only killed the cyclops a few hours ago.”

“Pinkie Pie gave it to me right when I was about to start my route. Around noon.”

Dante turned to Fortnite and Bulwark. “That was fuckin’ hours before I killed the cyclops.”

“Dante, if I may,” Fortnite began as she looked at both the guardstallion and the supersoldier. “None of the infiltrators who were tasked with gathering information on VIPs before the wedding were able to get close to the Element known as Pinkie Pie, she always managed to sniff them out before they could get close, but never burned their cover. The scholar’s best guess for why she was able to do this is… well, officially the intel us soldiers received is that the Hive believes Pinkie Pie may have latent reality warping magic, manifesting mainly as precognition.”

Dante groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. “God, fuckin’ A. Reality warpers, I love dealing with those assholes.” He allowed his hand to drop.

“It says the party is at Sugarcube Corner. I suppose I should probably go check this out, now that I’m aware that pink one is possibly a reality warper. Make sure it is latent and she’s not going to abuse it.”

“And if you determine that she is going to abuse it...” Fortnite questioned, though if his previous actions were anything to go off of, she believed she already knew the answer. Bulwark sucked in a breath at the realization of Fortnite’s implication.

“If you’re asking if I’m going to kill her, the answer’s no. I still need Equestria’s assistance and I’m walking on thin ice as it is. Killing a national hero ain’t netting me any friends. I’ll just have to keep an eye on her and make sure it doesn’t manifest anymore then it already has. Precognition isn’t all that big a deal, I’m more worried about active warpers.”

Dante went back to the truck and dug something out of the bag he had thrown in there. He backed out of the truck with his rifle, dropping the mag and checking the chamber to ensure there was a round, he replaced the magazine and slung the rifle his chest.

“You know, sir, not every situation needs a gun.” Bulwark rolled his eyes as he watched the biped grab a cylinder shaped device and slip into a holster resting on his left breast.

“Shut up, pussy, no one asked for your opinion.” Dante grunted and he secured the holster.

“I have to agree with...” Fortnite looked to the stallion, realizing she had never gotten his name.

“Corporal Bulwark, ma’am.” He nodded to the changeling, who nodded back.

“I have to agree with him, I don’t think that… whatever you called it, is necessary.”

Dante smiled at Fortnite, clapping his hands together. “Your opinion is appreciated, Fortnite,” Bulwark’s face became contorted with annoyance. “However, this is merely a precaution. It’s better to have and not need then need and not have.”

Fortnite nodded, as the pegasus on top of the truck cleared her throat. “I apologize for interrupting, but would you all mind if I join you all? I just finished my route with you and something from Sugarcube Corner would be amazing.”

Dante shrugged. “Works for me, name’s Dante Jaeger.” Dante held his hand out, the grey pegasus bumped it with her hoof, as Dante brought it back and looked at it, confused.

“My name’s Derpy, I’m the mailmare for Ponyville and the surrounding area.” She smiled at the biped, who returned the formality.





Hunter violently rejoined the world of the living, his hands wrapping around the nearest thing, his eyes filled with rage, his vision red as he forced who ever he had grabbed to roll. The young man straddled his prey, preparing to bring death upon them.

An open palm raised as a cry sounded, Hunter finally realizing just what his red tinted vision was seeing. “Hunter! Wait! It’s me!” Smith shouted as Hunter’s fist hung, suspended in the air.

Hunter paused, his brain working to realize what was happening, as it still fired on auto-pilot. It was still calling for violent defense against those oddly dressed men who had attacked the village and… his mother!

Hunter glanced around, stopping as he saw the back of a body he recognized, mere feet from the ashes of a burned hut. The young man shot from Smith’s pinned body and crawled on fours over to the back.

“Mom!” He shouted as his hand landed on the woman’s back, rolling her over. Her face revealed, white as a ghost, her once lively blue eyes now dulled with the taint of death.

“No, mom!” The cry of denial shouted to no one in particular, as the young man brought the corpse closer to him, hugging it, sobbing, tears flowing from his eyes, as he begged her to wake up.

Smith slowly recovered from the shock of the attack, rubbing his throat. He stood, his eyes falling over the ruined and burned village.

With some hesitation, he made his way over to the sobbing young man, his mother’s corpse held tight to his own body.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! Mom, please. Come back, mom!” Smith stopped for a second, having never heard the normally quiet and calm Hunter sound so pathetic, even after being gored by the auroch he didn’t let out more then a few groans of pain.

But here he was, having a breakdown in front of another man.

“Mom, mom, mom.” He continued on with the mantra, his voice muffled by the corpse’s shoulder as he gently rocked on the ground.

Smith slowly approached the young man, he knelt down and put his hand on his shoulder. “Hunter come on, we need to go. They may come back, there are survivors and we need to get moving, we don’t have time to waste.”

The man continued sobbing, as he knocked the hand off his shoulder, not giving the man a response. The man sighed, putting both hands on the young man’s shoulders. “Hunter, come on. We don’t have time.”

Hunter twisted his body, using his arms to knock the man off him.

“Fuck off!” He shouted through sobs. Smith could feel the anger boiling in him as he grabbed the young man by the shoulders violently tore him from the ground.

“Hunter, we don’t have the time, they might come ba-” Smith was cut off by a strike from Hunter, he staggered backwards, falling on his rear as he grabbed his nose in pain.

“Then let them come!” Hunter roared, his voice cracking, his eyes tinged red from the sobbing “Let them come! Let them come and I’ll kill them all!”

Smith rose from the ground, stomping over to Hunter. He grabbed him by the shoulders, as Hunter reciprocated the action. “We don’t have time, Hunter! I’m sorry she died, but winter’s setting in and we need to find another place. You need to come with us!”

“I’m not leaving her!” The young man protested.

“We already have injured people, we don’t have the man power to collect the dead!”

“Then leave!”

“We can’t leave, not without you!”

Hunter shoved the man off him. “Why! Because I’m the only one who knows how to hunt? Because everyone else couldn’t kill a damned boar even all its limbs had been ripped off? Where the fuck were you! When they were killing everyone in the village? When they killed my mother! Where were you, Smith!” Hunter pointed an accusatory finger at the man, his face red with anger.

“I was making sure our blood wasn’t wiped out! We hid in the forest! Those men, they wielded thunder, how were we supposed to fight against them! We couldn’t do anything! You couldn’t do anything!”

“At least I tried!” Hunter bellowed.

“Come with us or stay here! But I will not risk the rest of the village for your selfishness!”

“Then go! Leave me! Leave me and mother and the dead!” Hunter shouted, gesturing wildly with his arms, Smith turning to stalk off back into the forest to the waiting survivors. “Run and hide like a coward! I will stay here, I will bury our dead as you run! And if those bastards come back, I will kill them! I will kill them!” Hunter shouted at the man’s back, who stopped and turned around, stomping back to the young man, stopping a mere few feet from him.

“Your mother would still be alive had you not gone into the village!”

Hunter’s vision once more became tinged red, he roared in unholy fury at the implication his mother’s death was his fault.

He charged Smith, landing a solid punch on him. He dragged the older man to the ground. However the older man was not to go so silently, as he pulled his fist back and launched into the young man’s face.

It barely phased the man as he landed several more strikes on the face of Smith. His face quickly becoming bloody. Hunter continued to land strikes as Smith went limp, the young man shouting at the silent man.

He stopped, his hands soaked in blood, shaking. He fell back on his rear as he looked in shock at the bloody face once belonging to his friend.

“This is your fault!” The man bellowed, the dirt sticking to his hands as he scrambled back on his rear, his hands pulling him backwards. Still the body lay silent, unmoving.

“This is all your fault, Smith!” Hunter rolled, his knees and arms supporting him as he coughed, gagging.

Digested food mixed with stomach acid and blood splattered on the ground, as Hunter emptied the contents of his stomach on the ground. The acid burned his throats as the realization hit him like a thousand spears.

His mother was dead, his best friend was dead by his hand, he had no family to look to and no home to return to.

For the first time in quite a long time, Hunter was truly by himself.

The young man curled up, his stomach still churning, no care give to puddle of vomit and blood given as he sobbed to himself.

For miles, the only sound anyone could hear was the mourning of a lone young man.






“Hey, Dante.” The biped shook his head, as Fortnite hovered in front of him, the odd group still walking to Sugarcube Corner. The changeling had been concerned about her companion’s sudden lack of awareness.

“You alright there, big guy? You zoned out.” She asked, Dante responding with a nod.

“Y-yeah. Just remembering something I’d rather forget.” Dante shook his head once more.

“You sure you’re alright?” Bulwark asked. “You look like you saw a ghost.”

“I’m fine, dwelling on the past isn’t going to help me get home. Forget about it.” Dante stopped as he looked up, observing the ginger bread looking building they had stopped at. A sign above the door displayed a pink cupcake.

“Call me crazy, Derpy, but I assume this is it?”

The grey pegasus who had been quiet the entire trek nodded, pushing open the door and holding it open for the trio, who all thanked her as they entered.

“Jesus christ,” Dante stated as he covered his eyes with a hand. “You ponies really do like your bright colors, don’t you? I thought the outside was bad, I was expecting the inside to be a bit more subdued.”

He squinted his eyes as he scanned the building they had enter, looking for any traps or hazards, obvious or otherwise.

The dinner crowd who had come in quieted upon the entrance of the odd group consisting of two government employees, a changeling that most of Ponyville still had no idea what she even was, and the oddest of all them, the tall biped, towering over everyone in the establishment, also a government employee.

“Yo.” Dante stated, raising two fingers in a v-shape, nodding. “How’s everyone doing?” This seemed to settle the crowd, as the patrons went back to eating and talking.

“How do you do that?” Fortnite questioned.

“Do what?” Dante asked as he led the group over to a booth the two ponies slipping into the booth.

“One minute you’re the walking personification of death and the next minute no one seems to care you’re standing there.” Fortnite clarified, causing the biped to chuckle. She slipped into the booth.

“Ten-thousand years of violence, death, regrets and learning how to carry yourse-” Before Dante could finish, he whipped around on his heels, grabbing a pink blur mid-air, using the threat’s momentum against itself, Dante threw it into the table, destroying it and causing the two ponies and changeling seated their to jump at the sudden movements and sound and causing the restaurant to once more go silent.

Dante took several steps back while simultaneously unholstering his pistol.

The weapon mounted light shone on the debris that was once a table, as a pink hoof popped out, holding an immaculate cake.

“The cake is safe!” An overly-exuberant voice, especially for a pony that had just been thrown onto a table hard enough to reduce to nothing more then splinters, shouted.

“I told you not to try and surprise him, Ponk.” Keith calmly stated as he looked at the pile of debris containing the pink pony, absentmindedly cleaning his fingernails.

“Pinkie?” Dante questioned, as he reholstered his pistol and walked to the debris. Reaching in, he grabbed the first thing that felt like flesh and not wood and metal and lifted it.

Revealing a smiling Pinkie Pie being held by the scruff of her neck, an undamaged cake covered in black frosting with the words ‘Thanks for Saving Us from an Evil Queen and the Wendigos and for Saving the Cutie Mark Crusaders from a Cyclops and Welcome to Ponyville in particular and Equestria in General, Dante.’ in white ink.

“First, why did you try to ambush me?”

Pinkie smiled, producing a party horn and blowing it, continuously. This went on for a few seconds, Dante raising his eyebrow.

He then snatched it out of her mouth and threw it away, the pink mare still blowing out air. She realized her horn was gone and smiled once more at the biped.

“Because surprise parties are the best!”

“You sent me a card telling me about this party.” Dante held the card up. “How was this a surprise party?”

Pinkie snorted and then giggled. “Silly! That was the invitation for the ‘Thank you for Saving Us from an Evil Queen and for Saving the Cutie Mark Crusaders’ party! This is the ‘Thanks for Saving Us from an Evil Queen and the Wendigos and for Saving the Cutie Mark Crusaders from a Cyclops and Welcome to Ponyville in particular and Equestria in General, Dante.’ party!” She gestured to the cake with her hoof, using it to underline the text on it as she spoke.

Dante pinched the bridge of his nose. “Pinkie, I don’t think you understand how surprise parties work.”

“You can tell her that all you want, Dante, but Pinkie is as Pinkie does.” Keith called out,.

Pinkie only continued to smile. “Of course I know parties, it’s part of my special talent!” Pinkie stated as she contorted herself oddly in order to point at her cutie-mark.

“Why am I even trying to talk to you, it’s not like you can hear me, the only one who can hear or see me is Ponk.”

“Surprise parties don’t work when the person you’re trying to surprise is aware there’s a party occurring, even if it is two different parties.”

“I mean, even Ponk is ignoring me.”

“But it does! Because you weren’t aware of this party!”

“But I was aware there was supposed to be a party, so any surprise was ruined.”

“See, look, Dante, your mother’s a whore!”

With inhuman speed, moving so fast even the pink reality warping pony was incapable of seeing it, Dante cleared leather, sending a round into Keith.

Of course, since Keith was nothing more then a mental construct of Pinkie Pie’s, Sugarcube Corner instead only received a new nine millimeter hole in their wall.

The ponies in the room, with the exception of Bulwark who had already lost a good portion of his hearing at this point, were covering their ears in pain, as Dante squinted towards the spot he had fired at.

“What was that for!” Pinkie Pie screamed, her hoofs scraping in her ears as ringing drowned any sound out.

“I don’t know why, but something told me to shoot at something right there.” Dante frowned, still looking at the spot.

“Holy shit! He heard me… er, rather, he did something! But he reacted to me!” Keith smiled, upon the realization that perhaps he isn’t as fake as he believed he was.

“Dante!” Fortnite shouted, rubbing her ears. “That’s the second time today, will you please stop shooting things indoors!”

Bulwark merely shrugged. “Doesn’t bother me anymore.”

Dante reholstered his sidearm, as he plucked the changeling from the booth and the pink pony from the booth, walking over to an undamaged booth and depositing the two there. Bulwark and Derpy had already moved there as Dante took his own seat in the booth.

“And will you stop picking me up! I’m not a child.” Fortnite protested her treatment, Dante merely looking her in the eye.

“Mawp.” He casually sounded, as he switched his gaze from the changeling to the pink pony. “So… what’s this about a party?”





A hooded figure walked down the alley, her hands resting in the front pocket of her hoodie, her head down. Her slim figure was dwarfed by the high rise buildings she stood between. The hoodie she wore was plain, black.  The jeans covering her lower body gave off an air of pure functionality.

The moon hung high in the night sky, the ground wet from a recent rain.

She had seen the men standing in the alleyway, scoffing in disgust at how cliché the point was, wondering why they chose an alleyway.

However, the group of men who dwarfed her by a sizable amount did nothing to deter her from continuing to walk down the alleyway.

One of the men, stepped in front of her, blocking her way.

“You know… those pants would look better off you.”

The girl nearly burst out laughing at how dumb the line was, as she struggled to keep a straight face as she continued to stare at the ground.

“Even for a rapist, that line was fucking cringey as shit, dude.” At this point, she lost it. Any control she had was gone as she burst out laughing.

“Maybe you should have spent less time holding girls down and more time working on one liners before committing a violent crime! You’re a fucking loser, you stupid prick.”

At this point, the man who easily outweighed the girl by a few hundred pounds was beet red in the face from the insults, the little girl apparently not afraid of him.

“You have a mouth on you, maybe I should fucking fix that!” He threw a punch, fully aiming for the girl’s face.

However, it was stopped, seemingly with no difficulty at all by the girl, her hand grasping his arm. He attempted to bring it back, but her grip tightened, holding him firmly in place.

She leveled a previously unseen handgun at his face, the man now staring down the barrel of a Glock 17.

She finally lifted her head, giving the man a few of her eyes. Her right eye a brilliant blue, her left an emerald green.

“It’s been a while since I’ve had fun, so let’s see you try, Lebensunwertes Leben.” She growled.





“So… you decided to hold a party as a way to thank me for what I’ve done so far and someone told you not to do a surprise party.”

At this point in time, the ringing in most of the patron’s ears from the gunshot had worn off, though the damage, unbeknownst to them was done.

Of the odd group that sat at the table eating the cake, Derpy and Pinkie Pie had taken the longest to recover, having been exposed to less deafening explosions then either Bulwark and Fortnite and not having the advantage of augmentations in their ears to compensate for loud sounds like Dante. Keith, of course, was unaffected by it.

The pink pony nodded. “Yep! Keith told me that you probably wouldn’t take it very well.”

Dante stopped his fork midway to his mouth. “Keith? That’s the weirdest fucking pony name I’ve ever heard, but he’s right.”

“He’s not a pony.” Pinkie replied, Dante shrugging as he put the bit of cake on his fork into his mouth.

“Gryphon, whatever the fuck he is.”

“But you’ve met him before! He’s sitting right there!” Pinkie protested, pointing to Keith. Who merely raised two fingers making a “V” sign.

“Yo.”

Dante stared at the area Pinkie had pointed to, running it through various scanners. After a few seconds, he found absolutely no energy signatures in the extensive suite of scanners he had available to him.

“Pinkie… there’s no one there.”

“Yes he is.”

“No, Ma’am, there isn’t.” Bulwark backed the biped up.

“Er… yeah, I’m with Dante and Bulwark, there’s no one there.” Fortnite added. Derpy, too, nodded.

“Pinkie, there’s nopony there.”

“Ponk, I’ve explained this to you multiple times, they can’t see me.” Keith sighed.

“But how! You’re standing right in front of them! Look, I’ll prove you’re here! Keith, Delta Foxtrot Bravo!”

The group watched as Pinkie produced several bowling pins from seemingly nowhere and threw them to where she claimed the being known as Keith was. The pins stopped mid-air and then seemingly began to be expertly juggled.

The pink earth mare then threw herself into the fray, as the bowling pins and the Element of Laughter was also being juggled, the pink mare laughing in joy.

“Well...” Dante spoke, as he looked to his companions. “I think I can positively confirm Pinkie’s a reality warper and her powers aren’t as latent as you had believed, Fortnite.”

Fortnite merely groaned at the implication, as Bulwark worried for the Element.





The woman hissed as she pulled a pipe out of her lower abdomen. How she had managed to miss the one who was hiding up to the point he was able to drive a pipe through her she had no idea.

“Fucking dickheads.” She growled as she looked around the alley, now soaked in blood. As the bodies of seven men lay motionless, dead.

She picked the Glock she had dropped when she had been stabbed off the ground and slipped it back into its holster, covering it with her clothing. Though the blood soaked clothing was a dead giveaway and she would need to get home soon.

Those gunshots undoubtedly attracted unwanted attention.

“Let me see your hands!”

The girl cursed to herself, cringing. They weren’t supposed to be this fast.

She raised her hands into the air.

“Slowly walk back to the sound of my voice, do not reach for anything do not turn around, keep your hands up!”

She did as she was told, trying to figure the best way out of this one. She could only hear one officer, but there was every possibility there were more.

And while a bullet to the head wouldn’t kill her, much less slow her down, she’d still rather avoid it. She was not a fan of the pain it caused.

She continued backing up, until the voice called out once more. “Stop. John, you have lethal?”

The girl felt hands grab hers, which is the point at which she decided to act.

She twisted her body to the right, tearing her left hand from the officer’s grip, and throwing him into the wall and pinning his left arm. The other officer who had his gun drawn and was supposed to be covering the arresting officer hesitated to fire, fearing he may hit his partner.

The girl took advantage of this, tearing the officer’s duty holster off his belt and expertly throwing it at the other officer, hitting him in the head, forcing him to stumble back from the force of a two pound gun being hurled at his head.

The girl slammed the first officer’s head into the wall, letting him go and allowing him to collapse to the ground. She whirled around and raced to the other officer who was still dazed from having his partner’s gun hit his head.

She kicked his service pistol out of his hand and away from him, tearing his radio off his belt and flinging it somewhere behind her. It wouldn’t buy her a lot of time, just enough to prevent him from immediately informing dispatch what happened when finally worked himself out of having a gun conk him in the head.

She took off down the alleyway, racing back to her vehicle, hoping to beat the cops out of the area.





Hunter’s knees were tucked into his chest, as he silently stared out over the clearing. The piles of disturbed dirt standing quietly, though quickly turning to mud in the pouring rain.

There were forty-seven of them. Each of them six feet deep, hundreds of feet away from the destroyed village.

The young man’s eyes were bloodshot, deep and dark bags under his eyes, his stomach was churning, his heart beating far faster then it should as his head protested by pounding his brain with a hammer.

It had taken him three days of non-stop digging with his hands to bury the dead, or had it been four? And he had finished it two days ago, or perhaps it had been three days. The young man had lost track of how many times the sun had gone up and gone down, and how many times the moon rose and fell, as he sat still, silent, watching.

The forest had come back to life with the sounds of animals going about their days. Yet the sounds the man was so used to were gone.

The sounds of men roaring in laughter as they regaled each other with tales, children screaming while play hunting, mother scolding children.

Arguing, agreements, worried voices, cheers.

Smith arguing.

Baum doing something stupid.

His mother scolding him for disappearing again.

Wordlessly, the young man rose to his full height. He turned, his eyes staring at the sky as he staggered into the forest, no particular location in mind, just anywhere but here. No mind was paid to the predators he passed, who paid him respect by avoiding him. Birds became silent as  he tread upon the dirt, and prey scattered as his feet fell, no care given to whether or not he was silent, as he pushed his way past brush and limbs.

He just wanted to be away from here.





“Ah, fuck.” Dante groaned as he stretched, holding the door open for the other ponies and changelings who had joined his slowly growing group. “That took longer then I had expected it to.” He looked up to the slowly disappearing sun, which suddenly seemed to speed up, the moon quickly replacing it.

“That’s fucked.” He stated, as everyone else present looked at him funny.

“Discrepancy noted, Dr. Krelnash is going to have a field day with this planet.”

Dante groaned at the name. “After she’s finished doting on me, I swear to god that woman makes no fucking sense. One second she’ll be as heartless as a golem and the next she’ll be doting on the nearest troop like a mom who just watched her son get the living shit kicked out of him.”

The gray pegasus mare cleared her throat, as she began hovering. “Well, I’d like to thank you for allowing me to accompany you all, I had a nice time. But I have to get home to Dinky. I will talk to you all later.” Derpy lifted off full as the rest of the group waved their goodbyes.

Once she was out of eyesight, Fortnite turned to Dante. “Something seemed off about her.”

“Yeah, I know…” Dante brought his hand to his chin, rubbing it. “She wasn’t nearly depressed enough to be a government employee.”

“Hey!” Bulwark growled, Dante merely flipping him off.

“Go suck a dick and choke on it, you fucking faggot.” Bulwark huffed at the insult as Fornite facehoofed.

“No, I mean she seemed oddly interested in turning the conversation to you. It was like she was trying to piece together information.”

“I know.” Fortnite incredulously looked to Dante, not believing him, the biped merely rolled his eyes.

“Don’t give me that look, Fortnite. I’m fifteen thousand years old. You don’t get to be that old without learning how to read body language, even if it’s a non-humanoid species. Why do you think I kept giving her piecemeal and then immediately changing the subject. I gave her just enough to make her feel like she had achieved something. I didn’t tell her anything I haven’t told you all. Now she has non-sensitive information she can bring back to whoever she’s reporting to.”

“Is she a threat, sir?” Bulwark questioned, as he eyed the direction the mare had disappeared in.

Dante shook his head. “I don’t think she is. And I don’t think Pinkie is either, from what I’ve seen it seems like she’s far more interested in using her reality warping powers to make people happy… rather then world domination.” Dante clicked his tongue at that statement. “That could have gone worse.”

Dante turned and began walking away from the building. “In any case, come! We need to get back to Pony Washington and get my satellites into the air. So I can get home, Fortnite, I think you’ll enjoy Imperial space. We figured out how to synthesize food for empathivores.”

Dante stopped and looked down to the following changeling, catching the nervousness she had.

“Unless… you were planning to go back to your hive.”

“I… I- I don’t know what I want to do.” She frowned. “You’re leagues better then Chrysalis, and only the most brainwashed of changelings would claim otherwise, even though none of them would admit it in front of another changeling. You haven’t threatened to tear my chitin off and even gave me a choice between leaving or going. You’re still giving me a choice. But they’re my brothers and sisters...”

Dante patted her on the head. “Just think on it, we’ve still got a little while before I get my larcom back, it’s not like heading to Canterlot is the point of no return.”

He began walking again, heading to his truck, the pony and changeling following him.

“About Canterlot, sir.” Bulwark began.

“What about it?” Dante questioned, turning his head to look over his shoulder back at Bulwark.

“I don’t think they’re going to be as receptive to Miss Fortnite as you, me and the rest of Ponyville was, considering...”

Dante waved his hand, as he returned his gaze to its original position in front of him. “If those fucks have got a problem with Fortnite, they can take it up with me.”

Dante pondered upon a realization he just had. “With that being said, Bull. Why did you take so readily to her? You were present at the Wedding as well.”

“You were there as well, sir.”

“I’m different, I know why I took to her without a problem. I want to know why you’re not bothered by her.”

Bulwark sighed, as he glanced over to the changeling, who was silently listening as the trio walked to the alien carriage. “It’s because you’re here, sir.”

“What do you mean by that?” Dante asked, as he scanned the roofs of the buildings, the moon hanging high in the sky.

“Well… it’s like being scared of an Ursa Minor when there’s an Ursa Major standing right next to it. I heard the rumors from the other guards who were at the actual wedding and not just patrolling the castle grounds, like me, then I hear about you killing a cyclops. A changeling isn’t nearly as terrifying as you are.”

Dante shrugged, as the two equinoids merely continued to follow the alien.





“Spread out, search patterns.” The white coated armored pegasus waved to his squad, who gave him a quick salute in recognition and began their own flight patterns to search for any sign of a mass grave.

“And if any of you see a Hydra, shout for Us, We will deal with it.”

The pegasus glanced to his side, eyeing the armored alicorn, the Princess of the Moon.

“Your highness,” He began, turning his body to face her directly. “While I am very proud to be able to serve by the side of a Princess, was it necessary for you to put yourself at risk like this?”

“We appreciate the concern, Sergeant, but We are more then capable of protecting Ourselves and We worry for you all. The Hydra residing in this bog was powerful enough to prove a menace to Our sister’s student, indeed a formidable foe.” Luna nodded, as she scanned the area she was hovering above.

The Sergeant refrained from pointing out that just a few days ago the Two Sisters had to be rescued from a shapeshifting bug by an alien who had just woken from a coma a few minutes earlier.

“Very well, your highness. How would you like me to proceed?”

“Join your stallions and assist them in the search. We can assume this grave was utilized recently, look for disturbed dirt, foliage, uneven earth. If you believe you find anything, immediately mark it and inform Us. If you come across the Hydra, immediately ascend to a safe height and find Us.” The stallion nodded and then flew off to join his comrades.

Princess Luna herself also began patterns over the bog.

The least they could do was properly lay the dead to rest.

Hours passed, as various false positives continued hitting, though everyone of them was a failure in the end.

As the sun was slowly lowering and her dominion was once more coming to life, Luna truly believed they wouldn’t find the grave, at least not tonight. However, as the rays of light were slowly disappearing, she spotted something suspicious.

She began descending upon the clearing, as she landed, she gagged. Struggling to keep her lunch in her stomach. The smell had been masked in the air by the bog. But now she smelled it, full force.

She had not smelled it in a very long time.

She worked through it, letting her breath out, and breathing back in once more as her stomach settled, her mind reminding her there was once a time when she wouldn’t have even flinched at the smell.

Luna watched the sun disappear, the moon taking its place once more. The princess began walking to the area of the large patch of disturbed Earth.

She stood on the edge, pondering on what she was about to do. Minutes passed, then seemingly hours as she steeled herself.

She lifted a large portion of dirt in her magic, and her stomach immediately relieved itself.

The alicorn moved the dirt to the side and charging the magic into her horn, she let off a flare into the sky, to alert the guardstallions who had accompanied her.

She then continued to empty her stomach.





“Wait, what the hell is that?” Dante questioned, as he leaned from the truck still sitting in the town square.

Bulwark looked to the sky, spotting the flare. “Looks like a flare, sir.”

“Any idea who it’s from, Bull?”

“No, sir, unfortunately I don’t.”

Dante hesitated, looking to the truck that was ready to get him back to Canterlot, then back to the flare in the sky.

On the one hand, he had already been delayed enough as it was.

On the other hand, someone in trouble could need help.

“Goddamnit.” Dante breathed as he slipped out of the truck and grabbed his rifle once more.

“Come on Fort, Bull. We’re checking that out.”





Princess Luna had finished emptying her stomach when her guards had arrived. Who promptly after arriving, began emptying their own stomach as well.

“What in Tartarus is that smell.” The Sergeant asked in between throwing his stomach up and breathing.

“Ponies. Sergeant… ponies.”

Luna turned to her sick guards. “No matter what, we can not allo-”

“I know that smell.”

Luna’s heart dropped, as she heard the voice, and more gagging to her side.

She looked to her side, seeing the Human slowly walking to the edge of the mass grave beside her. His expression unpertubed by the smell, indescribable in its horridness. His two companions, however, were vomiting their cake up.

“General, I really can’t advise you approach.” Luna stated, as she moved to block him. However, the biped used his left arm to push her away, continuing to the grave.

He paused at the edge, setting his rifle on the ground as all present stared hesitantly, unsure of what the seemingly unstable biped was planning to do.

With surprising care, he lowered himself into the grave. Luna trotted quickly over to the edge, peering over, terrified of what he was planning.

She watched as he gently maneuver his way down an embankment, and then walk carefully so as to avoid stepping on bodies, all of them in various stages of decomposition.

The grave she had revealed was only a small portion of the disturbed earth, but large enough to walk in, easily.

Dante finished his walk through the hole of death, not at the end but he had reached what his eyes had set on when peered over the edge of a grave.

He knelt down, on both knees. He made no sound in respect for the dead as he looked at the corpse of a foal, the once brilliant blue coat dirtied with the stains of blood and earth. The vibrant green eyes dulled with the taint of death, glassy and faded. His tongue lolled out. His black mane and tail ragged. The foal lay on his side, almost as though he were merely sleeping.

He couldn’t have been older then three or four years.

Dante gently lifted the child’s head, watching as maggots spilled out of the foal’s collapsed face.

The biped breathed in deep, taking in the scent of death and decay as ill memories rushed back to him, his eyes once more alight with millennia of anger and rage, death burned in his eyes.

He breathed out.

And disappeared.

Luna started, taking to the skies. “Get back to Ponyville, get to the jail and stop the General. He’s going after the Diamond Dogs!”

The stallions hesitated, prompting Luna to raise her voice. “Now!” The pegasi took to the sky, racing to the small town in the distance.

“Corporal, follow Us!” Luna shouted to the land borne Bulwark, who nodded and began following the pegasi and Princess, Fortnite following, before she skidded to a stop and went back to the grave, doing her best to avoid looking in it. As she levitated Dante’s rifle into the air and then took back off racing to catch up with Bulwark.





Dante had reappeared a short walk away from the jail he had commandeered hours earlier. He pulled his pistol from his holster, replacing the magazine missing two rounds with a fresh one, checking the chamber in the process to ensure there was a round in it. He reholstered it.

Various ponies stopped to watch the biped, the Human walking with nothing but mission in his step. Nothing would distract him from his objective.

He reached the jail, not stopping to gently open the door, as he planted his boot into it. Kicking it open.

The Lieutenant who had been the sole person in the guard shack jumped to his hooves from his seat at the reception desk. A pony wearing a white lab coat began to speak to the Human.

“Sir, the prisoners you brought were fairly roughed up, but I manage-” He was cut off the as biped spoke.

“You’re not needed anymore Doc, LT. I’d advise you all leave, now.” The final word hung in the air, as the doctor took the advice and quickly trotted to the door, exiting.

Lieutenant Rock Salt, however was not as easily dissuaded, as he continued watching the biped make a beeline for the Diamond Dogs who realized the biped was here and were mostly trembling in a corner.

The biped paid no attention to the hook containing the keys to the door. Merely gripping onto a bar and violently pulling it to the left, the lock shattered under the force of the angered biped as walked into the cell and hauled the small ring-leader up by his shoulders and slammed into the right wall that connected to another empty cell.

“How many!” He spat, the dog trying to make himself even smaller then he already was.

“What?” The answer was apparently not to the biped’s liking, as he slammed a fist into the dog’s face. The dog howling in pain.

“How many, you fucking asshole!” He roared, spit flying from his mouth as he bared his teeth at the dog.

“I don-” Before he could finish the sentence, Dante slammed his fist into the broken ribs of the dog, a scream came from his mouth.

Dante slid him along the wall to the left, lifting him off it and slamming him back once he had reached solid brick.

“Kids!” Dante pushed his face into the dog’s, the dog freezing at the sight of his eyes. “How many of them! How many! How many lives of children’s did you… you…” A guttural growl emanated from the biped’s mouth, as he spat out his language.

“Suh-Byumens fucking snuff out! Tell me!” He slammed the silent dog into the wall again, eliciting another howl of pain.

“How many of them did you fucking slaughter! How many of them begged for their lives, choking on their own vomit as tears streamed from their eyes? Did you kill them slowly? Did you kill them fast? Did they feel pain? Did you enjoy it!”

Dante pulled his sidearm from its holster, as he aimed at one of the dogs who had cowered in the left corner.

“How many!” He roared once more. “How many of them. I swear to god I will kill your buddies!”

“Don’t know!” The dog spoke, hoping to save itself. Dante dropped a round into the wall, causing the dogs and pony in the room to fold their ears down, as they were bombarded by the sound.

“H-hundreds.” The dog whimpered.

He dropped the small dog, the creature crumpling to the ground. Dante leveled the pistol to the dog’s head as he begged, his hands up in an attempt to look non-threatening.

“How many children begged you for their lives!” The biped roared in anger, as he violently kicked the dog, hearing bones crack. “How many begged for their lives! And how many did you let live? You showed them no mercy so why would I show you mercy?” He pushed the barrel of the handgun into the head of the dog.

“Son,” Rock Salt began, hoping to prevent more bloodshed. “I realize you’re pissed. And if I’m hearing you correctly, you’ve got every right to be. But think about this, you’re about to murder a defenseless, intelligent creature. Can you sleep with that on your conscience.”

The dog continued begging for his life, as Dante blinked, Rock holding his breath.

A bang sounded as Dante executed the dog, turning on his heel and emptying the magazine into the four other dogs cowering in the corner.

“I’ll sleep just fucking fine.” Dante stated, as he turned to the entrance, watching Princess Luna walk in, accompanied by Fortnite and Bulwark.

He began walking out as Luna stared at the blood bath in front of her.

“Gods, what have you done...” She muttered, as she saw the pile of diamond dog corpses in the corner.

“I ended life unworthy of life.” Dante stated as he walked past the Lunar Diarch, her mouth agape. He replaced the spent mag in his handgun with a fresh one. “Child killers. You’re welcome. Fortnite, Bulwark, come on. We’re done here.” He reclaimed his rifle from the changeling, the insectoid following him out of the door as Bulwark hesitated, looking back to Princess Luna.

She sighed, rubbing her forehead. “Go, Corporal. This was not your fault, I will deal with the repercussions.”

“Your Highness… I believe the General would consider it a point of pride if you were to ensure everypony was aware that he did this of his volition and why he did it. I don’t believe he cares if his reputation takes a hit.”

Luna smiled to the corporal. “Thank you, now go on. Celestia did make him your commanding officer after all.”

Luna watched as the stallion slowly trotted out of the doors, sighing as he left and then returning her gaze to the murdered dogs.

“How are We going to explain this to the nobles?”

“Could always just tell them to screw off.” Rock Salt suggested. Luna glared at him in response. “Uh… Your Highness.”

The blue alicorn could only roll her eyes.
> Ah! Hell! Another Fight? Will You Just Leave Me Alone Already?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 15

“Dante, what in the twelve layers of Tartarus was that?”

The biped in question slammed the door on the truck as they had finally arrived back in Canterlot, or rather the ship’s vehicle bay.

The ride back had been quiet, far more quiet then Bulwark had remembered the original drive and the quietest Fortnite had ever seen the enigmatic alien.

“Bulwark, you’re off-duty. Go get some proper rest. And I remember those beers I owe you all. Venus will guide you out of the ship.”

“Si-” The stallion attempted to protest, but was cut off by Dante.

“Now. Go, I’ve got things I’ve got to deal with.” Fortnite watched as the stallion quietly left, realizing he wouldn’t win an argument with the biped. She moved to follow assuming Dante had also wanted her out.

“Fortnite, wait. I want you to stay.” She stopped, turning to watch the biped sit on a crate. His elbows rested on his knees, his fingers intertwined, his eyes stared straight ahead. He lowered his head, silent as the lift to the upper levels of the ship sounded.

The room was silent with the exception of the engine pulling the lift. Which it soon went silent as well.

The silence hung in the air for a few minutes, as neither of the living occupants of the room seemed willing to speak.

Fortnite broke the silence.

“Dan-”

“There was a little girl, Fortnite.” Dante cut her off, still staring straight ahead. “Her name was...” Dante took a second, a language Fortnite had never heard before emanated from his throat. “Uh-Lex-Is, her mother was named Bar-Bruh.” Dante took a deep breath as he pronounced the alien names.

“The little girl loved her daddy very much, and her daddy loved her very much as well. She only knew his job was to help people. To her, her daddy was the most powerful man in the world, and would chase all the evil away, he was her hero.”

Dante’s voice began cracking. “But to many people, her daddy was an enemy who had to be eliminated at any and all costs. And when the direct attacks failed…”

Fortnite could taste the anger, but in a rare moment since she had met him, the emotion was being overridden by another one.

Sadness.

“One day, her daddy left home to help someone. It was going to be a long trip, but he thought nothing of it, believing them to be safe.” Dante took a deep breath. “Then, her daddy’s enemies broke in. Raped and murdered her mother in front of her. And then did the same thing to her. They left a message scrawled in her blood and her mother’s blood for her daddy.”

Fortnite had every desire to tell him she understood, but could not find the words.

“When her daddy returned home, they had been dead for weeks. Flies buzzed around their bodies, their skin liquefying. When her daddy tried to hold her one last time, her skin fell through his fingers…”

He looked to Fortnite, his eyes red as she realized he had tears in them, a fact that shocked her. Her image of the unshakeable monster continuing to be beaten out of her head.

“Death has seen fit to deny me his sweet embrace, but he is more then happy to do so for my children. I have breathed for ten thousand years.” Dante breathed in, looking down. “And for ten thousand years, I have failed my children, time and time again.” He looked up once more, locking eyes with the changeling, his gaze once more filled with anger. As the bitter taste of sadness in the air was once more quashed with the putridness of anger.

“For my own reasons, I show no mercy to those who kill or harm children.” The biped stood up.

“Those dogs needed to die. And that’s all there is to it.”

“I thought you said you were already walking a fine line with Equestria.” Fortnite questioned, as Dante made his way to lift, calling it down. The changeling followed.

“Still am. If Equestria wants to bring anything against me, let them. But I could not allow those dogs to continue to draw breath. Their executions were a decision I will not come to regret, nor will I apologize for them. I feel nothing for them besides satisfaction.”

The lift reach the floor, as Dante stepped on, Fortnite following.

“In any case, I have the materials I need.” Dante removed the silver from a pouch that had been suspended on his waist. “Which means I can get those satellites in the air and start tracking my ticket home.”





The purple unicorn took a deep breath as the griffon landed on the platform. As soon as her hooves touched solid ground, she tore the rope in half with her magic, landing on her hoofs on the gray cobblestone that made up the platform.

A gryphon who had been waiting for her on the platform greeted her, saluting her.

“General Shadow.” The hybrid nodded, as the unicorn grunted.

“Was there any particular reason I was the one who had to be carried to that damned country on a bucking rope?” She asked, shrugging the cloak off to reveal gray and black armor underneath.

“Apologies, ma’am, direct orders from the King himself. In the event your cover was burned, he wanted to ensure the device would still be recovered.”

Tempest levitated the odd shaped device higher, her blue aura sparking with energy around it.

“You mean this piece of junk?”

The gryphon nodded. “That ‘piece of junk’, ma’am, is perhaps one of the most advanced pieces of technology present on the planet.” He seemed to drool at the sight of it. “Nothing we have even comes close to it.”

“Yeah, I think I met its original owner.” She dropped the device on the ground. The gryphon looked at the unicorn, perplexed.

“Its owner? Ma’am, this is an alien artifact. It has no owner besides those who can claim it.”

The unicorn began trotting off. “Then tell that to the flankhole who was trying to put more holes in me over it while yelling about how it was his.”

“Ma’am!” The gryphon called, causing the unicorn to stop.

“What is it?” She called over her shoulder.

“The King requested your personal presence for a debrief of the operation.”

The unicorn groaned. “I was just carried by a gryphon for two days straight while holding a two-hundred pound alien device after I nearly had a bunch of new holes punched in my body.”

She ran a hoof down her face. “Fine, but I’m not picking that stupid thing back up.”

She started making her way to the throne room before the gryphon could say anything else, the soldier fully understanding what would happen if anything were to happen to the device that had been left in his care.

The unicorn’s mind wandered as she strolled through the halls, her hooves clipping on the stone used to make them.

Sooner then she would have hoped, she arrived. The room was guarded by two large bipedal furry creatures armed with spears.

Upon seeing her, the two gently opened the door.

The purple unicorn entered the room, her head held high.

“Your Excellency.” She stated to the being sitting in the throne at the far end of the rather plain throne room. Well, plain with the exception of various creatures who had failed the King now stone statues.

The bored looking, white furred biped seemed to perk up at the sound of her voice. “Ah! My favorite general, Tempest! How did it go.”

“I retrieved the device, Your Excellency.” The unicorn answered. The creature jumped up, clapping his hands together.

“Excellent! Where is it?”

“I had someone take it to your vault. But there may be a… slight problem.”

The creature raised an eyebrow, peering at the unicorn. “How so?”

“I was slowed down by an unexpected invasion and I wa-”

“What!” The creature’s face contorted in anger. “And the pegacorn thinger-merjigger-muhbobs! What of them, are they okay?”

Tempest blinked, suppressing an eye roll, she could save that for in private.

“The alicorns are okay. However, as I was retrieving the device following the invasion being pushed back, I was confronted by a creature claiming to be its owner.”

“An...owner… of the alien device? So… an alien?” The creature seemed to have calmed down.

“I have certainly never seen anything like him before, and he wielded advanced weaponry, not even the gryphon’s bolts were close to what he had.”

The creature pranced around, clapping his hands. “Ooh! An actual alien! I could have an alien as a pet!”

Tempest took a deep breath, and then let it go. “Sir, I believe he may very well end up posing far more of a threat then the alicorns or the gryphons could. He mentioned something about an… ‘Imperium of Phoenix’.”

The biped waved a hand and picked up a staff leaning against his throne as he sat back down, twirling it in his hand.

“Please, I already took Abyssinia. What’s one more empire? In more important matters.” The king’s voice suddenly became more serious. “What is the status on the Sword of Boreal?”

Tempest nodded. “Karolus still lays claim to the sword, though my informant states it still has no current wielder. And any invasion of the gryphon lands must be postponed. They’re currently experiencing one of their worst blizzard seasons. Though this works against them by weakening them, if we were to try and take the gryphonic lands, we’d be giving them the upperhoof.”

“That sword can not be allowed to stay in the hands of the Vasys. It’s the only thing that’s capable of stopping this… twig.” He held up the staff he had been playing with.

“The Staff of Sacanas, Your Excellency.” Tempest stated, the creature waving his hand at her.

“Yeah, yeah. That. That’s the only thing that’s a threat to I, the Storm King and my… well, as of yet useless twig. But you’re going to fix that soon, correct, Tempest?”

“I will retrieve the sword first, then we will complete the ritual.”

“Why not complete the ritual first, then the sword!” The Storm King whined.

“Because if we power the staff before securing the sword, then that leaves the gryphons months to find a wielder. If we wait for the blizzard to clear and then take the sword first, then they will have no way to stop us when we complete the ritual.”

“But I thought you said it had no current wielder?”

Tempest really struggled to stop herself from rolling her eyes. “It is true the sword has no current wielder, Karolus apparently having been snubbed by his ancestor. If they find out about our plans, then they will absolutely begin searching for someone who can wield it. So we take the sword first and then roll over Equestria. They have no way to stop us, we win. You get ultimate power, and my faithful service,” Tempest pointed to her broken horn. “Gets me my horn back.”

“Yes, yes, your horn.” The Storm King waved his hand once more. “Of course, very well. Tempest, ensure the troops are ready to move as soon as the Gryphon Kingdoms can be moved on.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.” Tempest bowed her head as she left the room.





“He what!” Celestia allowed her head to slam on the table, as Luna delivered the news.

“Jaeger murdered the prisoners in a fit of rage, and killed a cyclops.” She stated, her eyes scanning the report she had.

“We were not personally present for the executions, however We took a deposition from a lieutenant present during the entire event, a lieutenant Rock Salt, commanding officer of the Ponyville Guard Detachment.”

Celestia lifted her head from the table. “Wait, there was an officer present? Why didn’t he do anything to stop him?”

Luna snorted. “Funny you ask that, sister, as We asked the same thing. We will read you his answer verbatim. ‘Why didn’t I stop him? Maybe in my younger days when I was an overeager corporal trying to prove his worth to attract the cute mare who passed by the drilling grounds every day. But I’m fifty-six years old with chronic back pain. I ain’t stupid and I know when I’m outmatched. If I had tried to do anything to stop him, then I wouldn’t be alive to be delivering this deposition to you… Your Highness.’” Luna looked up from the paper she had read from. “He said the last part extremely rudely. We can see how he is fifty-six years old and still a lieutenant. If he was willing to speak to a princess like this, We can not even begin to fathom how he addressed his superior officers.”

Celestia groaned, rubbing her temples with her hooves. “It was bad enough with the violence he displayed at the wedding, but how are we going to explain this to the nobles.”

Luna grunted as he levitated a glass of water to herself from a tray left at the end of the table. “We could always take Lieutenant Rock Salt’s advice and tell them to, as he said, ‘screw off’.”

Celestia glared at Luna, who merely raised her front hooves in a defensive gesture. “T’was merely a suggestion, dear sister. Though We would also like to make it clear that we don’t necessarily disagree with the General’s actions.”

Her glare hardened, as Luna rolled her eyes.

“How could you say that, Luna! He murdered them in cold-blood!”

Luna slammed her hooves on the table. “First off, sister, you’re getting the terminology wrong! What the general did was a crime of passion! He had no intention going into it to murder them, it was only when he was driven to anger did he murder them! Had he plotted their deaths out, then yes, it would be cold-blooded! But his decision was emotional!”

“And that absolves him?”

“Of course not.” Luna frowned. “But it does mean he deserves a chance to explain himself…”

There was a silence as Luna said nothing else, Celestia holding her glare at her sister.

After a few seconds, Luna started to make a ‘come on’ motion with her hoof, expecting to Celestia to say something.

“What? I don’t know what you’re getting at.” Celestia answered, as Luna smacked herself in the face with a hoof.

“Gods, Celestia, for having been alive for five millenia, you can occasionally be quite dense. We need to hold a statement regarding the alien who is currently staying in Equestria, General Dante T. Jaeger. At the same time, We need to hold an investigation into the murders of the diamond dogs.”

“And Jaeger would never cooperate with the lower courts… Does he even fall under Equestria’s definition of an intelligent being?”

Luna paused, her eyes widening.

“Does… does he? We didn’t even think about that until now. Is he nothing more than an animal by law? Oh… this could have serious implications if he actually ends up harming somepony in self-defen-...”

Celestia’s eyes followed Luna’s, widening in alarm at the realization.

“Luna… Jaeger’s not back in Canterlot… is he?”

“He… got back last night.”

Never before had the two alicorn sisters shot from their chairs so quickly.

“Check the law books, Luna, I’ll find Jaeger!” Celestia shouted, as she shot down the hall, her sister nodding.

“Got it!” She broke off, heading down the corridor to find the necessary law book in regards to whether or not a creature was considered an intelligent being.

Celestia, meanwhile, jumped through the nearest opening window. Her large wings spreading open as she took to the skies to the find the biped.





“And… there we go!” Dante stated, as he finished at the terminal. The changeling named Fortnite lifted her head from her front legs, as she looked to the Human.

“It will take a few hours for the ship to construct satellites and program them correctly. Thankfully, the engineers made the fabricator simple to operate.” Dante looked to the changeling, who was laying down.

“You hungry? I haven’t had anything to eat in… well, a couple of hours.” He grabbed his rifle, which he had leaning against the wall and slung it across his chest.

The changeling stood up, stretching her limbs. “Well, if you’re hungry, I’ll go. Although, I’m a bit hesitant to go out in public like this…” With a flare of green fire, the changeling’s black chitinous body changed back into the green unicorn mare Dante had initially encountered in the dog den he had rescued her from.

The changeling turned pony gave herself a look-over, to ensure there was no defects in the shifting process.

“That’s better.” She stated, as she gestured to Dante.

Dante took the cue and began leading her out of the ship and into the castle.

The two walked mostly in silence, which suited both of them just fine.

As they were approaching the exit, Dante stopped a passing guard.

“Excuse me, sir, by any chance do you know of any place in the city that serves food that has a fuckton of calories in it?”

The guard had been briefed on the presence of the biped in the castle, and was under no standing

orders to stop him. Though at the time, he was unaware that was for his safety.

As such he had no issue informing him of the best place he could think of.

“You might try Donut Joe’s shop, sir. It’s right on Mane Street.”

Dante glared at the guard. “Mane Street… as in Mane? Like… M-A-N-E?”

The guard nodded.

“Thanks.” The biped turned around and continued while walking.

“I fucking hate this place.” The guard could hear him state as he too turned away, unsure of what his issue was.

And so, the faux-pony and Human continued their walk along the streets.

“Uh… Dante? Do you know how to reach Mane Street.”

He nodded. “When I first got here, I grabbed a shit-ton of maps and memorized them.” He tapped his forehead.

As they continued their walk in silence, Fortnite couldn’t help but feel eyes on her, as she glanced around. Noticing ponies glancing at them from the side, and some of them holding their stares.

“Dante…”

“They’re looking at me. Not you.” That did nothing to calm the soldier changeling. Infiltrators were trained to deal with their preconceptions and worries about being made.

But for a changeling soldier like Fortnite, the stares being directed to Dante, and indirectly to her, were nearly panic-inducing.

Dante seemed to sense the panic and slowed his pace, now walking next to the changeling. Since he was so much taller than the faux-pony by his side, the Canterlot residents had to look higher to stare at him.

“See, their eyes are now higher. You’re fine, Fortnite, you blend right in. Now come on, we’re nearly there.” Though their gazes were still in their line of sight, the biped’s maneuver seemed to to calm down, Fortnite’s panic dying down.

Dante looked up to the sky, as he noticed a massive equine form, silhouetted by the sun, fly overhead.

Though he was unable to make out most of the features, based on the size he was able to guess who it was.

“Huh, wonder what hell Celly’s doing out here.” Fortnite glanced up, catching the fleeting form of Princess Celestia high in the sky, the panic returning.

“Does she know I’m with you?” Fortnite asked, her breath hitching as she froze in place. Dante got a few steps away before realizing the green unicorn was no longer by his side.

Sighing, he walked back to the panic stricken pony and picked her up. He tucked her under his left arm and continued walking.

The ponies watching gasped, covering their mouths with their hooves at the act. As whispers of foalnapping circulated through the small groups. The biped however, had no care in the world besides picking up some food.

“Come on, Fornite. I’m hungry. I literally haven’t eaten in a few hours. And you’re fine, she won’t do anything to you.”





Celestia banked over Canterlot once more. She had been flying for a while and despite believing that a tall, armored biped would be easy to find, he was proving to be far better at blending in with the crowds then he had any right to be.

She had to resist the urge to just fly down to the ground and start asking ponies for directions, fearing she would spook them. Not that their princess frantically flying around Canterlot didn’t spook them, she just didn’t want to spook them anymore then she already had.

And her asking if anyone had seen a large alien biped, undoubtedly armed to the teeth, would only make the situation worse.

And so she continued to fly over Canterlot.





“And we’re here.” Dante stated, as he held the door open for Fortnite, the small pony slipping under his arm.

The large biped slid in, once more scanning the building he had entered, taking in escape routes and possible threats. It was a habit that had become ingrained in him over the years.

“Eh!” Dante startled, as he observed the inside of the building. “It’s not fucking garishly colored!” Dante frantically picked Fornite up by her the pits of her front legs, locking eyes with the startled imitator and lightly shaking her. The inside indeed was moderately colored. Black and white tiles for the floor, the lower quarter of the wall a green with lighter green diamonds in it. The rest of the wall was either windows or white and pink. Compared to the other buildings Dante had been in, this one was quite modest. And it was also empty with the exception of one employee at the register.

“Fortnite, we’re still in the same universe, right?” Before the disguised and confused changeling could respond, they were cut off by a pony manning the register.

“Hey!” A tan unicorn stallion with light brown hair, wearing a white chef’s hat shouted at the odd pair. “Are you going to order something or just shout?”

“Y’all offer sit down service?” Dante asked. The pony nodded.

“Sweet.” Dante once more tucked the shifted changeling under his left arm and walked over to a booth in the back corner. He deposited her in the bench facing away from the door and took the bench facing the door., having unslung his rifle and leaning it against the wall on the inside of the booth.

Meanwhile, the pony who had yelled at them mumbled something under his breath, levitating a notepad in his magic and walking over to the table.

‘Evening.” The unicorn nodded to the green unicorn mare and then to the biped. The biped nodded back.

“Name’s Joe, what can I get for you all tonight?”

Dante tapped the table. “What’s the going rate for donuts?”

“One bit. Ten bits if you order a dozen.”

Dante hmmed, seeming to think it over. “Does that two bit discount stack if I order multiple dozens?”

The stallion nodded. “Yep.”

Dante clicked his tongue. “Great, I’ll take nine dozens of your chocolate glazed donuts, oh, and the largest cup of coffee you have, black.” Dante smiled as he looked to Fortnite. “You want anything?”

“Taking them to go?” The stallion asked, as he jotted the order down.

“No.”

The stallion stopped writing, looking at Dante.

“You’re not planning to share one-hundred and eight donuts between you,” He nodded over to Fortnite. “And her, are you? That’s fifty-four donuts for each of you!”

“Of course not!” Dante spoke as though he had just been asked the dumbest question in existence. “I’m eating all of them, if she wants something, she’ll order something.”

The stallion smacked his face with his hoof, sliding it down. “You can’t eat a hundred eight donuts, you’ll kill yourself!”

“Says who?” The biped protested, as Fortnite allowed her head to fall on the table, she was not in the mood to deal with this.

“Says common sense, no one can eat a hundred eight donuts, you’ll die of a heart attack!”

Dante smiled, tapping his chest. “Maybe if I was a normal person, which I’m not. But I’ll be fine, my nanites are actually consuming my body at the moment because of my lack of caloric intake. So if you could please get me those donuts, I’ll be fine.”

The stallion scratched his head, confused. “What the heck’s a nanite?”

Fornite’s head, however, shot up in shock. “Consuming your body?” She cried, as the biped merely rolled his eyes. He looked to the changeling. “It’s not as bad as it sounds, I’ll explain later.” He turned to the stallion named Joe. “They’re tiny self-reproducing robots that are programmed to aid in various situations. In this case, it’s converting matter into pure energy. Or… rather, converting a shit-ton of donuts into energy.”

Joe sighed, relenting. “Fine, but if you die it’s not on my shop. That will be ninety-five bits. Ninety for the donuts and five for the coffee.”

Dante produced a cloth bag from one of the pouches on his armor and tossed it on the table top. “There’s a couple of hundred bits in there, keep the change.”

Joe’s eyes lit up as he took the bag in his magic and raced off to make the biped’s order.

“Dante,” Fortnite hissed. “Where did you get those bits?” The biped leaned forward on the table, using his arms to support him.

He waved his hand in front of his face. “Grabbed it after that asshole dog tossed my badge in their pile of shiny shit. I actually found a rather large pile of bits in purses and grabbed as many as I could while not letting Bulwark see me boost them. Technically I did commit theft, but… eh. I somehow doubt most of the ponies I saved are going to be looking for these bits. Plus… I kind of needed them.”

Dante leaned back gazing past Fortnite. “Speaking of crime… Play it cool Fort, three goldies incoming.” He whispered, the changeling turning around to see that, indeed, three Solar guards were headed their way, with one leading the way. The leading stallion was a pegasus, the stallion to his left was a unicorn and his right was an earth.

As they got closer, Dante gave them a lazy salute, putting his trigger and middle finger to his forehead and pulling away from it. “Evenin’ gents. How’s it going?” Dante greeted.

The lead stallion nodded. “Good evening. We’ve received reports of a possible kidnapping and you fit the description.”

Dante looked around the room, exaggeratedly, before turning his gaze back to the stallion and shrugging. “I guess I am pretty easy to find since I’m surrounded by small colorful horses and am an alien.”

The stallion nodded before turning to Fortnite. “Ma’am, are you in any sort of distress?”

Fortnite shook her head. “No, I’m here with him willingly.”

“We received reports of him picking you up and carrying you away. Are you certain you’re okay. Now’s the time to speak up.”

Fortnite merely shook her head once more. “No, picking me up is… well, just kind of what he does.”

The stallion shook his head. “Very well, apologies for the interruption. For administrative purposes, may I see some ID.”

Fortnite could feel the panic coming on once more, how was she going to explain away her lack of identification.

“Well, I have a shit-ton of IDs, but all of them are alien so you probably won’t accept those. And Fortnite was one of the people I rescued from a diamond dog den so any ID she had was destroyed when she was first captured.” Fortnite’s panic slowly died down as Dante did the lying for her.

The stallion nodded once more. “Understandable, I suppose. Then could I have your name.”

The unicorn to the right of the lead stallion levitated a notepad and pen up.

“Sure. General Dante T. Jaeger. D-A-N-T-E T. J-A-E-G-E-R.” The stallion jotted down the name.

“My name’s fou- er, Fortnite.” The stallion nodded, as Dante raised two fingers.

“That’s Fortnite, by the way. Non-traditional spelling. F-O-R-T-N-I-T-E.”

The lead stallion and looked to Dante. “And you have permission to be in Equestria.”

Dante raised an eyebrow as the question, though didn’t miss a beat with his response. “Well.. I mean neither of the princess have told to me to get out yet, so I can only assume I’m allowed in Equestria.”

“Very well.” He once more turned to face Fortnite. “Please be sure to have your ID reissued as soon as possible.” The disguised changeling nodded, as he turned back to the biped.

“One more question, do you have any weapons on you?”

Dante smiled, locking gazes with the stallion. “Is this official questioning, or casual?”

“Official.”

Dante’s smile grew wider. He retrieved his rifle from the wall. “AR-15, standard issue to all Imperial troops operating on Earth in order to blend in with the local forces better. This one had been modified to fire full-auto.” He dropped the mag and racked the charging handle, a round falling on the table. He set the rifle on the table.

Before anyone could say anything else, he pulled his handgun from his right thigh, dropping the mag and racking the slide, he cleared. “Gen 7 Glock 17. Not standard issue, I just prefer it.” He set it on the table.

He produced a similar shaped weapon from his left thigh. “LP-58. Standard issue sidearm for Imperial forces as the cells are rechargeable.” He cleared the weapon once more.

“Ve-” The stallion was cut off as Dante produced several cylinders from various pouches. “RX-67 hydrogen powered hand grenades. Their yield is variable, but they’re pretty destructive.”

Dante began pulling blades from all over the webbing on his armor, some folding, some fixed. “And I’ve got a shit ton of blades.” As he threw the last one on the table, the pile of weapons was building high.

“And then there’s my armor.” The back opened up, allowing the biped to step out.

“Okay… Well, then. I’m afr-” The stallion was once more cut off as Dante began tossing more knives onto the table.

“Oh gods, he has more...” The Earth stallion groaned.

“Yep.” Dante grunted as he reached into his left sleeve and producing a small pistol, he did the same with his right arm. He then produced a small fixed blade from his right arm, same with the left.

By this time, pile on the table had started to spill over the side, Dante now just haphazardly tossing weapons into the pile.

He balanced on one leg, pulling a Glock 26 from the inside of his right leg, then producing another from the outside leg, then dropped two mags from the same area.

He repeated the same action with his left leg, also producing three knives from his boot, and three more from his other boot.

He reached into the left hip pocket of his pants, producing another small pistol, then his right, another pistol. His back pockets followed, producing two more pistols. He reached into the cargo pockets on his thighs, producing two more Glock 26’s and adding them to the pile.

He produced seven full sized service pistols from his waistband, having been concealed by his shirt. He also produced several more magazines from his waist band.

He pulled a knife off a holster hanging from a chain around his neck and then unbuckled his belt, pulling off his pants.

“Ahahahah” The stallion shouted as he realized what was about to happen. “Okay, stop.”

Dante looked around the stallion, one leg out of his pants, revealing more weapons strapped to him. “I’ve still got more, though.”

“Dante, what in the name of Tartarus are you doing?” Fortnite screeched, as Dante casually looked at her.

“There’s three layers of carry, Fort. You got open, concealed and deep carry. I’ve gotten through with the open and concealed carry. I need to do the deep carry now.”

“Just… put your pants back on, please.” The stallion groaned, as the two ponies flanking either side of him were struggling to keep straight faces at the scene.

The stallion sighed, as customers began filtering into the store, most of them stopping to gawk at the odd scene, the large pile of alien weaponry and the biped with his pants half off.

Dante merely shrugged and pulled his pants back on.

“Under normal circumstances, I would have to confiscate these items, as the carrying of weapons within Canterlot limits is illegal. However, given the large amount, the fact that I don’t want to be responsible for advanced weaponry and the fact that I don’t want to watch you strip naked trying to disarm, I have elected to allow you to keep them, this time.” The stallion eyed the pile, noting with dread just how many weapons were somehow concealed on this biped.

Fortnite groaned as she looked at the clock, Dante had been revealing his weapons for a good ten minutes and this is how it ended? He was still armed?

“Wait a minute, Dante! How heavy is all that stuff anyways!” She asked as she realized just how large the pile was.

The biped laughed as he continued to place his weapons back to where they properly should be. “Eh… about a hundred-fifty or two-hundred, give or take.”

The unicorn stallion, however, had noted one of the rectangular devices in particular and took an interest in it.

He pointed to it with his hoof. “May I?” Dante glanced over and saw he was pointing to an automatic knife.

“Sure. Be my guest.” The unicorn picked the automatic up in his magic, examining it and trying to puzzle the alien device out. It seemed to be two pieces of metal sandwiched together with a smaller piece of steel in between them. On the right side of the rectangle was what appeared to be a clip held in by screws.

He noted what appeared to be a black button on the cylinder and used his magic to press it.

The blade of the knife flicked open, the unicorn dropping it in surprise, not expecting it to be a knife.

The biped laughed, as he watched the unicorn scoop it up once more in his magic with a light “ooh” emanating from his mouth.

“Hold the button down to close the blade.” Dante stated, not looking up from replacing a few batons in their holsters.

He unicorn did as told, holding the button down and then folding the blade back into the handle.

He repeated the process a few more times, a small smile forming on his face each time he did it.

“You want it?” Dante asked, as he finally stepped back into his armor, the unicorn looking up, surprised.

“Does your species not have a directive against giving technology to other races? Equestria has knives, but nothing like this.”

Dante snorted. “The Imperium isn’t worried about knives and batons. The only thing they care about is firearms, explosives, power armor and various other advanced tech. These knives are literally just pieces of metal with some springs in them. The most advanced thing in them is probably the spring.”

The unicorn cleared his throat.

“I appreciate the offer, but I really shouldn’t. I can’t take gifts.” Dante spied the look on his face, the one he was so desperately trying to hide, the face someone makes, trying to justify a purchase in their mind.

“It would make a far better concealed weapon then that dagger you’ve got shoved into the right side of your armor.”

The unicorn looked up at the biped in shock, as his left foreleg moved to brush the front of his armor, where the handle of a dagger was jutting out, though created in such a way to mimic the spikes on his chest piece.

“How did yo-”

“Know?” Dante finished holstering the last weapon on his person and then quickly charged his rifle, no one entirely sure how had managed to rearm faster then he had disarmed.

“My job is to know. Your wing-man over there,” Dante pointed to the pegasus. “Has got two daggers concealed under both wings. And your plain pony over there? The horse shoes he’s got on have got small spikes jutting out of them. Not long enough to be lethal, but they’re going to make any kick or hit he gives worse.”

Dante slid back into the booth smiling at them, Fortnite rolling her eyes at her companion’s behavior.

“And I suppose this is the part where you tell me that you could have easily killed us three?”

Dante shook his head as he relaxed in the booth. “Nope. Because then I would have had to kill those six other guys you had stay outside.” Dante’s grin grew wider as he slid the frowning unicorn the automatic knife.

“Don’t consider it a gift… consider it an exchange of cultures between two soldiers.”

The stallion relented, collecting the knife in his magic and clipping it to the harness holding his armor on. Though he did crack a smile and nodded at the biped.

“Now, let’s try this again, shall we?” Dante held out a hand. “Dante Jaeger.”

The stallion eyed the hand, then reached his hoof out and bumped it. “Lieutenant Steel Hoof.”

Dante pulled his hand back, eyeing it with curiosity. “Nice to meet you, hope we can meet on friendlier terms in the future. Terms in which I am not accused of kidnapping.”

Steel chuckled. “Apologies for that, Sir. I just needed to make sure nothing was going on.”

Dante waved to the stallion. “I understand, LT, I’ve had stints in law enforcement before.”

Fortnite laid her head down as the two began to chat back and forth about various arrests they had made. It wasn’t a topic that interested her.

She allowed her mind to drift out of consciousness.





Celestia ran into the throne room in a panic, as Luna stood in the middle of a towering pile of books, frantically scanning through them utilizing her magic.

“I can’t find our definition of an intelligent being!” Luna shouted, tears forming in her eyes.

“And I can’t find Dante!” Celestia shouted, her mane in in disarray from having flown around Canterlot for a few hours.

“Oh, gods! They’re going to put him down like an animal!”





Fortnite woke, drool forming on her muzzle.

She shot up, snorting and shaking her head. She glanced around warily, spying Dante happily munching on donuts.

“Evenin’, honey. Have a nice nap?” He mumbled through his donut as Fornite used her foreleg to wipe the drool off her fur.

“Where’s the guards?” She asked, noticing the lack of the Solar Guards.

Dante swallowed the donut that he had in his mouth, smiling at Fortnite. “You’ve been out for an hour. They left a while ago. Steel told me I should probably get authorization from one of the princesses if I plan to continue carrying around weaponry. Something about royal guards being allowed to carry weapons in all Equestrian jurisdictions due to a privilege extended to them by the crown.” Dante shrugged. “I mean the Imperium considers the right to bear arms an inherent right for all sapient beings, but… eh… you know. Less advanced civilizations and all that.”

It was at this point that Fortnite finally noticed the pile of empty donut boxes to Dante’s right, her eyes widening.

“Oh… wow… you weren’t kidding.”

“I don’t joke about food, Fort.” Fortnite missed the eye roll Dante gave as he eyed something behind her.

Dante picked up his cup of coffee and finished it in a single gulp. “Not exactly the healthiest of meals, but at least the nanites will stop eating my fucking stomach.” He set it back down on the table and gestured to Fortnite. “Come on. Venus is saying the satellites are nearly done.”

Fortnite slipped from the bench and began missing.

She was waving goodbye to Joe as the passed a booth. As she was looking the other way, Dante locked eyes the group of six ponies sitting at the booth. His gaze hardened, his green and blue eyes filling with promises of death, a clear and dry warning to the group.

His rage filled eyes died down as he passed the booth, now having to crane his neck if he desired to continue looking at them, which he didn’t.

He and Fortnite made their way out of the door and into the night of Canterlot, the cold air hitting their lungs.

“Oh, geez. It got cold up here.” Fortnite stated, her breath visible in the air.

“Well, we are on the side of a mountain… ship… ship-mountain.” Dante frowned, not entirely sure what he should be calling his ship now.

But he continued on, walking forward. As they got further from the cafe they had entered a little while before, the biped heard the door open, a few seconds passed before it closed once more.

His eyes narrowed, not even needing his suit’s sensors to know what happened.

The group of six ignored his warning and followed them. Without warning, he picked Fortnite up and shot off

“What are you doing?” She screeched.

“Reasons!” He shouted as his feet slammed against the ground, shouts erupting from behind him.
“Dante stop!” She once more screeched as she spied the railing the biped was making a beeline for.

Though he didn’t stop, instead electing to use his free hand to vault himself and his companion over the rail and into a forty-foot plunge.

Dante rolled when he hit the ground, Fortnite jolting from the sudden shock as Dante once more shot off.

Still, however, a few pegasi launched themselves over the ledge, trailing the biped.

“You can’t just yell ‘reasons’ every time I ask you to explain yourself!”

“Yes I can!” He shouted as he took a hard corner, slipping down a narrow alleyway, hoping to shake off his flying pursuers.
Of course, he ran straight into a dead end.

“Venus, it would have been helpful if you had fucking told me this was a dead-end!”

The A.I. remained silent as Dante turned around to face his pursuers, drawing his sidearm and pushing his back against the wall, tucking Fortnite closed to his body.

He held his sidearm up, barrel pointed in the air. “Evenin’ gents.” He nodded to the group of six ponies, though they were being funneled down two at a time in the narrow alleyway.

“Give us the changeling!”

Fortnite blanched at the word.

“Changeling? What changeling? You mean Fortnite here?” Dante lifted the pony slightly up, gesturing to here. “She’s not a changeling, she’s a bona-fide, one hundred percent po-”

“Shut up.” One of the lead ponies growled, causing Dante to roll his eyes.

“Wow, you’re fucking rude. Do you kiss your mom with that mouth.” Dante shook his head.

“Listen, fucksticks, I’m not handing Fortnite over to you all.”





“I found it!” Luna shouted, as she held up the extremely thick lawbook in her magic.

“Well what does it say!” Celestia shouted back, her mane now a mess from her frantic searching and pacing.

Luna’s eyes scanned the law. “It says ‘All species native to Anima who show clear signs of intelligence such as tool use, society, civilization, communication, etc. are considered intelligent in the eyes of the law.’… what idiot wrote this moronic definition of intelligent beings?”

“You did!” Celestia informed her, as the solar princess’ eyes widened at the realization.

“Why was I an idiot who wrote such a moronic definition!”

“Luna, that’s not the issue! The law doesn’t consider General Jaeger to be an intelligent being, meaning he’s only protected by animal welfare laws!”

“Well we have to fix this, immediately!” Luna panicked, as Celestia shook her head.

“No, we need to find Jaeger and ensure nothing happens that could lead to the nobles calling for his…” She shuddered at the thought of even saying this word about a clearly intelligent creature. “His ‘euthanasia’.”





“Hold on, so, let me get this straight. By Equestrian law, I’m considered an animal because I’m not native to this planet?”

The lead pony nodded, as he attempted to take another step forward to close the gap. However, Dante gestured with his sidearm. “Ahahaha. Back the fuck up, boy.”

He had managed to mostly pacify them after they threatened to put him down like a dog, and then gave a short explanation about how he wasn’t actually an intelligent being according to Equestria’s laws. Something which prompted Dante to question them more, though it took firing a round near one of them to get them to back off. And with any luck that would attract guards to deal with them after hearing the gunshot, instead of Dante having to risk making the rulers of this land even more mad.

“Listen, just give us the changeling, and we’ll leave you be.” The lead pony stated once more.

Dante sighed, taking a deep breath. “Fortnite,” He glanced down at the disguised changeling, who looked back to him.

“Do you trust me?”

She nodded. “I-… Yes.”

Dante nodded. “Good, hold on.”

Before she could reply, Dante shot off, covering the short distance between him and the bunched up group. He saw a few horns light up, fully prepared to stop the charging biped from barreling into the group.

Though none were prepared for his next action.

Mere feet from the lead pony, Dante leapt to the right, his right foot making contact with the windowless wall creating the alley.

At the same time, jets built into the back of his armor activated, though instead of pushing him away from the wall, they instead pushed him against it.

To the ponies watching him, it appeared as though he was defying gravity while his back was on fire, a screaming and terrified pony held against his chest as he ran across the wall, his body horizontal to the ground.

None of them moved until after the jets had deactivated, allowing the biped to right himself as he leapt off the wall, no longer cornered and stuck the landing. He once more took off at great speed, taking a corner as a dying taunt trailed behind him.

“Suckersssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss”

None of the group moved, surprised by what happened, until the lead pony shook his head, and turned around, attempting to make his way to clear space for his wings.

“Follow him, you idiots!”





“See, this isn’t so bad, now is it?” Cadance asked as she walked alongside her fiance, the white unicorn nodding his head. The two slowly approached an intersection

“I mean… besides the fact that it’s nearly midnight and a little late for a date, I suppose no-”

They were cut off as screaming reached their ears.

One was a high-pitched squealing, and the other was a deep, booming yell.

“Oh, fuck off, you fuck- Oh, hi, KD-ing cunts! She’s not a changeling!” The two ponies stood, wide-eyed as an armored biped thundered past the intersection, greeting the princess as a green unicorn mare who was squealing in fear in his arms.

The couple stared, their jaws open. “Was that Gene-” Shining Armor was once more cut off as a group of ponies, mixed with pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies thundered through the intersection once more, all of them yelling about something.

Cadance brought a hoof to her face, sighing.

“Before you ask, Shining… yes, that was General Jaeger and yes, we should go help him.” The stallion nodded.

Cadance spread her wings out and began hovering. “I’ll follow him and let you know where we are.”

Shining Armor said nothing, instead beginning to gallop in the direction the biped went as Cadance took to the skies.





“Dante, fence, fence, fence!” Fortnite’s eyes widened as she saw the tall wrought iron fence getting closer, certain Dante was going to run the two straight into it.

But just a few dozen feet from it, Dante leapt, arcing over the fence and clearing it as he landed on the  other side.

The pegasi trailing the couple flew over the gate as Dante once more continued his run.

“Why, of all times, are you running away? Just kill them! You didn’t seem to have a problem doing that during the wedding.” Dante winced at the last sentence as they came upon what seemed to be an arena theater. A flat area rested at the bottom and was surrounded by seats, the edges surrounded by railings. On the other side of the pit the road continued.

Running across the very top, bridging the gap between the sides, was a thin metal bar.

Any reasonable person would have hung a right or a left and followed the path to the other end.

But Dante was in no way reasonable.

“Hold on!” Dante shouted as hopped onto the thin bar, a single foot landing on it.

He ran across the large gap, as soon as one foot landed on the bar, his back foot pushed off the bar and propelled him forward with almost impossible balance, despite the flailing changeling held on his left side.

He crossed the last few feet with a leap, landing gracefully on the other side, as the pegasi pursuing them merely crossed the gap by flight, but the rest of the group of ponies being forced to follow around the sides.

“The reason for me not killing them,” Dante began, as he started taking as many corners as he could in an attempt to shake off his winged pursuers. “Is because at the moment I am apparently classified as an animal. And while Equestria may not be able to kill me, and trust me I’m not alive from a lack of trying, it is going to create a headache for me. I can probably get away with the dogs and the changelings, but there is no way in hell the government is going to be happy if I start killing ponies. My main mission is to get home, and it’s going to be really difficult if I have to deal with a bunch of magical, colorful, talking equines trying to kill me because in the eyes of the law I’m on the same level as a dog while trying to get home.”

The biped took one more turn coming across a straight path.

Dante cursed. “Where the fuck is everyone! The royal guards here are just like the cops back home. They’re never fucking there when you need them but the moment you don’t want them anywhere near you, every cop in the state is suddenly right fucking next to you!”

The odd couple came across a flight of steps, which Dante didn’t bother to take, instead choosing to jump from the top, bypassing them by utilizing gravity.

“Goddamn, these assholes really hate you for some reason, how the fuck did they figure out you were a changeling.” Dante questioned as he continued running, Fortnite still tucked into his chest in her pony form.

“I don’t know! Just keep running.”

Dante turned a corner once more, only to be met by another dead-end.

“Oh… motherfucking… Venus! Will you fucking tell me when there’s a dead end, you useless cunt!”

Dante turned around, his back pushed firmly against the wall. The group of ponies rounded the corner, the pegasi present in the group still hovering in the significantly larger path, though still a dead end. They had learned from the last time.

“That was rude.” Venus spoke, her voice filtering though speakers on Dante’s armor.

“Do your fucking job, you old bitch, and I won’t be rude.” Dante growled.

“I’m younger then you are.”

“Shut up, Venus.”

He cleared leather, leveling his sidearm at the group.“Guys, this is a really bad decision on your part. She’s not a changeling, she’s a pony.”

The group said nothing.

Dante fired a round. His aim intentionally inches from one of the ponies, the group scrambled back a small bit, though they would soon once more advance on the marine and his companion, and he knew it.

Still, it bought him some breathing room.

“Get the fuck back! Or the next bullet is going in your head!”

Someone really needed to show up, or things were going to turn bad.

One particularly brave earth pony charged Dante, who in response kicked him. Hard enough to stop him and slide him back a few feet as he floundered on his side, attempting to right himself.

“Fuck off! You stupid bastards! Are you all fucking suicidal?”





Cadance hurried, her wings carrying her as fast as they could. What was supposed to be a nice little date had now turned into a race to catch up to a surprisingly fast biped and a mob of ponies chasing after him.

“I mean, my goodness. You know, it’s not like I’m flying or anything, how could he outrun me?” Cadance grumbled to herself as she flew faster in an attempt to catch the stranded general.

She flinched, shooting her hooves up to her ears as she heard a bang.

She only went faster upon remembering what the sound was. General Jaeger’s weapon of choice, a stick that made a loud bang while propelling a metal slug out really quickly. That was what the Princess of Love understood from the short briefing she had received from her aunts.

She reached the area where the explosion had originated from, and quickly found the biped, not like he was difficult to find, what with being a tall alien and all.





“Where is that bastard!” Celestia shouted, panting, as she soared through the Canterlot skies, still desperate searching for the biped, though having no luck.

She had heard a bang a few minutes ago, but when she got there, the biped was nowhere to be found.

And now here she was, still looking for him.

How could one extremely violent alien biped be so difficult to find?

“I mean, for goodness’ sake, it’s not like he uses portable multiple use explosions as his primary form of attack or anything!” Celestia mumbled to herself.





Dante groaned. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t have had a problem in putting this group down. But that was when he was in friendly Imperial space.

Now he was in a country that was controlled by magical, colorful talking equines that didn’t have near the violence drive he did. And not only that, the laws that applied to him were animal welfare laws.

But he didn’t have much of a choice now. They were surrounded, and either he gave up Fortnite without a fight, not happening, or someone, or multiple people, were going to die.

He brought his sidearm once more to bear, this time fully prepared to kill the pony he was aiming at.

“This is your final warning!” He turned his body so that his right side was shielding the changeling held close to him. When he finally shot and killed the first one, the rest would undoubtedly charge him.

In any case, hits on him would be less damaging then hits on Fortnite.

As the Glock’s trigger safety was finally bypassed and the trigger itself came ever closer to breaking, a female voice broke the standoff before Dante could fire.

“Excuse me, but would somepony care to explain what is going on here?”

The lead pony, who had been advancing on Dante groaned, rolling his eyes.

“Stay out of this lady, this is none of y-yo-you” The stallion begn stuttering as he turned around, his mouth flapping open like a fish gasping for water as he saw the mare who had spoken.

There, standing behind the rest of his lynch mob, stood Princess Cadance. Though smaller then the other two alicorns, she still easily towered over most ponies. Though it wasn’t her height that terrified the leader into silence, it was what she could do to them.

“Oh! Hey, there KD, how’ya doing?” Dante gave a small wave his with right hand, gun still held in it.

Cadance met the biped’s eyes, eyebrow raised. “KD?”

He snorted, reholstering his sidearm. “Cadance is a long name.”

“… It’s a two syllable name. It’s the same length as yours, in fact it’s the same length as KD is!” Cadance shook her head.

“No, it doesn’t matter. General Jaeger, could you explain what is going on here.”

Cadance glanced to the unicorn held in Dante’s left arm, her once green face now having become blanched white.

“And could you also explain why you’re carrying a unicorn like she’s a puppy.”

Dante raised his trigger finger, a small smile on his face. “Very good question, KD. First, this is Fortnite. Say hi to the princess, Fort!” The unicorn remained frozen for a few seconds, as everyone merely stared between the alien and the princess.

Finally, Dante grasped one of Fortnite’s forelegs with his free hand and waved it for her. “She’s shy.” He explained.

Cadance could only stare at the ridiculousness that was an alien treating an adult pony like a foal.

“Second, apparently by Equestrian law I’m on the same level as a dog, meaning I don’t have the same protections as intelligent beings do here. And for some odd reason, these people,” Dante gestured to the frozen group, who were trapped between an alien armed to the teeth and an Equestrian princess. “Seem to think Fort’s a changeling. I don’t know why they think that, but they’ve been chasing us all the way from that Donut Joe’s place trying to get her. Normally! I would have killed them. However! I figured in this case, since I am not considered an intelligent being by Equestrian law, it would be best to avoid killing any ponies until this can get settled. Generally speaking, self-defense laws do not apply to animals. And since I am technically an animal… Well, I think you get the picture.”

Cadance nodded. “Uhuh…” She looked at the rest of the ponies standing in front of her. “Is there any part of the general’s story you’d like to dispute.”

“W-w-well, y-y-your Highness,” The stallion stumbled over his words as he attempted to find the right ones. Ones that would not insult the princess. “He is telling the truth, though we don’t believe that the pony he has is a changeling, but we know she is.”

“They threatened to kill me, KD!” Dante gave in a half hearted shout, sticking his lower lip out in a mock pout.

“And what would have me to do about that?”

Dante gave an uninterested shrug. “Iunno… Throw them in the dungeons and then throw away the key? I mean… you’re a princess, you can do that, can’t you?”

Cadance groaned, rolling her eyes. She gestured out of the alleyway with her hoof.

“All of you, leave, now. Before I do take the general up on his offer and throw you in the dungeons.”

The group remained frozen, like a deer in headlights. Sure, an Equestrian princess just told them to leave, but there was a changeling right there.

“But, your Hi-” The lead pony was cut off as the towering biped picked him up by the scruff of his neck, causing him to yelp in surprise.

“I’ll be the one doing the throwing, KD.” He stated as, indeed, he underhandedly tossed the stallion at one of his friends who had been closer to the Princess of Love, causing a tangled pile of limbs.

And in case the toss didn’t get his point across, Dante lightly punted another pony standing near him, resulting in two ponies now being even closer to the exit of the alleyway then they had been a few seconds earlier.

The actions worked, as the rest of the group got the message and roared off, the two ponies who had impacted each other struggled for a few moments to free themselves and also shot off.

Dante walked to the exit of the alley, joining the Princess of Love in the open street, his left hand resting on his hip as the two watched the herd of ponies seemingly run for their lives.

“Well…” Dante began, smacking his lips as he clicked his tongue. “That could have turned out way worse… isn’t that right, Fort?” Dante looked to the unicorn as he gave her a light jostle with his arm.

She was still frozen into silence, her face still blanched.

“Right… well… that’s going to be a problem.” He turned to Cadance, meeting her eyes. “Anyways, thanks for the save back there. It was about to get… well, I’d say messy, but with the way they were about charge us after the first shot the guards probably would have been scraping their guts off the wall for a few days.”

Cadance snorted. “So messy is an understatement?”

“Yeah, mo-” Dante went from standing to jumping in front of Cadance and impacting the ground in a space of not even a second, as a white blur impacted the ground and skidded forward, leaving an impact crater.

Dante held his upper body up as he cleared leather with his right hand, leveling his service pistol on whatever had just attempted to tackle him.

The blur immediately shot up, though covered in dirt and rock, the white coat and ethereal mane were immediately obvious.

Dante reholstered his sidearm, rolling his eyes in the process.

“Is he still here, I didn’t miss him again, did I?” Celestia’s panicked voice cut through the air as Cadance gawked at the disheveled mess that was her aunt.

“Jesus! Fuckin’! Tap Dancing! Christ!” Dante shouted as he picked himself from the ground, glancing down to check on the disguised changeling in the process, swearing that her face seemed to be even whiter then it had been seconds before.

“Will you fucking ponies stop trying to fucking tackle me! Goddamn! First Pinkie tried that shit and now it’s you, Carcharodon! Jesus Christ!”

“Oh! General, good.” Celestia let out a breath. “You’re okay thank the gods, I was terrified.” Celestia took in a deep breath, and then let it out. “And I’m glad to have caught you before you got involved in any altercations. You see, due to some issues in how we wrote the law, we discovered you’re technic-”

“An animal. Yeah, I know.” Dante stated, as the blood seemed to drain from Celestia’s face. “And you’re wrong, your help would have been appreciated about half a bloody hour ago. I’ve been running around Canterlot trying to avoid a lynch mob. And it was about look like something out of a B-list horror flick. Thankfully, however,” Dante moved over to Cadance, using his right arm to lean on Cadance’s head, the Princess of Love frowning at the maneuver. “KD over here intervened instead and saved six ponies from being no name extras in a b list alien splatterfilm.”

Cadance quickly stepped back, causing Dante’s body to no longer have anything supporting it. As gravity took hold, the biped’s eyes widened as he crashed into the ground with a bodily ‘oomph’.

“He’s a vicious mongrel who needs to be put on a bite list and wear a warning collar, Auntie.” Cadance retorted.

Dante chuckled from his position on the ground. “Ooh, kinky.”

He once more picked himself up, dusting his body off in the process and checking on the unicorn he was still holding to make sure she was uninjured. “But I’ll have you know, my dear Cadance, while I appreciate the offer, I am an a happily married man.” He raised his ungloved right hand, wriggling his hands and displaying a dull metallic ring.

“Well… this is unfortunate, however, that does not mean this situation is not salvageable. I wi-”

Celestia was cut off by a shout, as the people present turned their heads to look down the street, to be greeted by the image of Shining Armor, in full armor and wielding a sword charging down the street while yelling.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaa-” He shout died down as he reached the group, stopping and looking around confused.

“We already chased them off, dear.” Cadance stated, as Shining Armor looked around, a frown on his face.

“Aww.”

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Dante shouted as he held up a small, black rectangular device. “What the fuck! Did some fucking asshole download Tinder onto my fucking phone before the Battle? Fucking Grindr?”

Pinkie Pie popped her head out of a nearby wicker basket leaning against a building. “Hey! You stole that joke from Deadpool Two!” She pointed accusingly, her eyes narrowing.

Dante stared at her. “How the fuck do you know what Deadpool Two is! And furthermore, what the fuck are you even doing here, you’re supposed to be in Ponyville!”

“Keith told me about it!”

Dante slapped his face, as the rest of the group stared between him and the pink pony who still had her head popped out of the wicker basket.

The biped sighed, gently setting Fortnite to the ground, whose face seemed to have impossibly become even whiter with the arrival of Shining Armor.

Dante unholstered his sidearm and aimed it at the side of his head, everyone’s eyes widening with the exception of Pinkie Pie thanks to Keith, and Fortnite thanks to the fact that she was still frozen in fear.

The biped raised his middle finger on his left hand. “Fuck all of this shit. I’m out.”

A bang sounded through Canterlot.
> The Day They Foalnapped the Princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix



Chapter 16



“Ow. That hurts.” Dante grunted, sitting in a too small chair, as a unicorn wearing surgical gear gently maneuvered tools around in the exposed skull and brain of the biped. The biped’s head was turned to the side and resting on a head rest, his eyes staring at the wall to his right.

“Hmm… yes, as it turns out when you launch a metal projectile at several hundred meters per second towards your head at point blank range, and then a doctor roots around in your head to dig all the little bits out, it hurts quite a bit.”

“I’m still amazed you were able to walk here by yourself.” Cadance remarked, as she, Shining Armor, Celestia, the unicorn known as Fortnite, Pinkie Pie and now Luna sat in the corner of the room.

“I’m not. My life would be far too nice if I could kill myself by dropping a 9 in my brain.” Dante lifted his head, the unicorn struggling to prevent his tools from stabbing into the biped’s brain from the sudden movement.

“Now .22 ratshot? Different matter entirely, but I want to kill myself, not destroy all of reality.”

“Godsdamnit!” The unicorn shouted as he gripped the biped’s head in his magic, pulling it back down and repositioning it properly.

“Stay still, you prick, unless you want me lobotomizing you.”

Dante chuckled. “It’s going to take a lot more then that for you to fuck my brain up. Fuck, I’m amazed there was even anything to stop the damn bullet!”

“It didn’t stop the bullet.” The doctor coldly remarked. “I didn’t have to cut your head open, I’m using the exit wound.”

The doctor turned to the two princesses. “I must apologize for my earlier outburst, Princesses.”

The two simultaneously raised a hoof to stop him, as Cadance frowned, feeling a tad forgotten by the doctor.

“It’s perfectly fine, Doctor, we understand how grating General Jaeger can be.”

“Oi!”

The doctor cleared his throat as he went back to cleaning the wound of fragmentation. “Under normal circumstances, I would have left the fragments where they were, however, considering Mr. Jaeger walked in here on his own power with half his brain and head missing and gushing blood like a fountain and was still lucid as though nothing occurred, I feel as though rooting around in his brain shouldn’t leave any permanent damage.”

“I’ll be fine. My heals will increase the naniting rate once we’re done here.”

Cadance picked a metal kidney tray up in her magic and forcefully threw it at Dante, nailing him, oddly enough, in the kidney.

He doubled over in the chair, with an ‘oomph’ and then shot up from the chair.

“Don’t do that!” She shouted

“Oh, god!” Dante shouted as his left hand shot up to his head, apparently trying to grasp something. “Oh, fuck, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow.” Dante ran into a table as he stumbled around the room, and then knocked into the door frame as he exited the room.

“I have forceps in my parietal lobe!” Was the last thing the group of ponies heard as the biped stumbled out of the room, everyone turning to stare at Cadance.

“What!” She held her forelegs up, attempting to deflect the blame. “He’s immortal, he’ll be fine!”





After another doctor who had experience working on non-equinoid species came across the wandering Dante who had a pair of forceps sticking out of a large hole in his head, and kindly removed them for the biped, the rest of the group caught up with them.

Both doctors, the one who had accidentally stabbed Dante with the forceps and the one who removed them for the biped watched in amazement as the wound began rapidly healing, the bone that made up the skull rapidly appearing where there once was nothing and the flesh missing from the exit wound regrowing.

“Absolutely amazing.” The first doctor breathed. “Almost instant regeneration on command from a wound that should have been fatal.”

“Yeah,” Dante responded, scratching his ear with his pinkie finger. “Gonna leave a wicked fucking scar, though. Thanks for the help, Doc.” Dante gestured to the second doctor, who silently raised a hoof.

“Much better than that asshole who stabbed me in the brain with forceps.”

“Hey! I told you to stop moving around!”

“That wasn’t my fault!” Dante shouted, pointing at the doctor, then moving his finger to Cadance. “Blame her! She threw a kidney pan and hit me! In my fucking kidney! That hurts worse then dropping a 9 in my head!”

“How!” The doctor shouted back, Dante folding his arms and raising his nose.

“Wow, you’re a shit doctor. The brain can’t feel pain, it has no pain sensors.” Dante pointed to his head, then to his kidney. “But my fucking kidneys do!”

Pinkie Pie appeared on Dante’s right shoulder, her face indignant. “Yeah, gosh darnit, doc! Princess,” Pinkie nodded to Cadance. “Don’t’cha know that’s how Houdini died!”

“Who?” Shining Armor questioned, tilting his head.

“Yeah! Houdini!” The Earth mare responded.

Dante clicked his tongue, reaching up to his shoulder and picking Pinkie up. He brought her to his face, the mare now upside down and Dante’s hand around her barrel.

“No, Sweetie, that was from being punched in the appendix, also…”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Dante whirled around and threw the pink mare through a closed window, shattering it.

A distant ‘whee’ was heard as the pink mare disappeared from view.

“Fucking stop with the references to my world! How the fuck do you even know who Houdini is? You’re like a goddamn PG Deadpool!”

Dante turned around to the group, smiling. “Any ways, Fortnite and I need to get back to my ship and get those satellites and get them into space so I can go home. Come with us and be witness to the first launch into sp-... She’s on the window sill, isn’t she?” The group nodded as Dante groaned, turning to the window he had just broken and, indeed, seeing a smiling pink pony sitting there. Seemingly unfazed by the fact that she had been thrown out of a fifth story window.

“Godfuckingdamnit.” Dante walked over to the window and picking beaming pony up, tucking her under his left arm.

Fortnite felt a strange twinge in her chest at the sight of another mare occupying her space.

… Wait, her space? Where did that thought come from.

“Anyways, as I was saying. Feel free to come watch the first launch of a satellite into space from this planet. Or don’t. I don’t care.”

Dante began walking away from the group, still carrying the pink pony. “Come on, Fort.”

“Wait, General Jaeger, what are you planning to do to Pinkie Pie?” Celestia asked, as she galloped to catch up with the long legged biped.

“I’m going to buy the smallest metal crate I can find, stuff her in there, weld it shut, chain it shut and then drop it off the side of this city.”





Following Dante finding a shop which, for some odd reason was named ‘Metal Crates and Pizza’, though Dante was disappointed when it was revealed the shop doesn’t actually sell pizza, he did find a metal crate that he proceeded to stuff Pinkie into, weld shut and violently throw off the side of Canterlot. They had watched as the crate fell to its demise, Pinkie Pie watching with the group as well.

This ended in Dante returning to his ship, defeated in his attempts to rid the world of the reality warper.

And now here the group, sans the doctors, stood in a clearing, just a slight distance from Canterlot, having gotten there courtesy of Dante’s alien land crafts. Pinkie Pie riding on the biped’s shoulders, as he set up his rockets. Fortnite, though she never would have admitted to it even if she had been caught, was glaring at the pink pony. If stares had any sort of power behind them at all, she would have succeeded where Dante had failed.

“So… what are these?” Cadance questioned as she examined one of the odd objects, careful not to touch it.

“Satellites… well, let me rephrase that. These are rockets utilizing extremely reactive fuel in order to break the gravitational pull of the planet to reach orbit. The actual sats are a shit-ton smaller and they’re inside of the rocket.”

“And what are their purpose?”

Dante looked up from the rocket he was setting up. “They’ll orbit around the planet and scan it. Giving me a detailed map. In the process, they should also be able to locate my larcom so I can go home.”

Luna leaned closer to her sister, whispering. “Shouldn’t your student be here? We feel as though this is definitely something up her… alley.”

Celestia’s eyes widened at the realization that, yes, they were about to watch a scientific breakthrough and no, Twilight Sparkle was not here.

“Oh, dear.., you’re right. Dante, dear, do you th-”

“I am not delaying launch for Purps, White. I want to get home as soon as possible and it will take her nearly a day to get here. That’s a day these sats could be looking for my ride home.” The biped stated, not looking up from his setting up of the machine.

Pinkie Pie launched herself Dante’s shoulders, bounding over to the Princess of the Sun. “I’ll go get her, no worries, Princess Celestia! Pinkamena Diane Pie is on the case.” Before anyone could protest, the hyperactive mare bounded behind Dante’s truck, disappearing behind it in one final bound.

Dante, who had been watching from the corner of his eye got up and walked over to the truck, peeking behind it to where the mare had disappeared.

He shook his head, muttering something about reality warpers and then going back to the rocket he was setting up, Fortnite reclaiming her place close to him, smile on her face.

A few minutes later, as Dante was putting the finishing touches on his devices, Pinkie Pie walked around the corner of the truck with Twilight Sparkle walking next to her.

“I just don’t understand why I’m needed at Sugarcube Corner this late at nig-” Twilight stopped talking as she noticed the three princesses, her brother, Dante and a unicorn she had never seen before seemingly nuzzling up to the biped.

Her mouth gaped open, as she slowly backed up, turning around. She looked around the corner of the truck, then turned back to the group, she turned back to look around the corner, then back, then corner, then back, then corner.

Then back. She looked to Pinkie Pie.

“Pinkie Pie…” She sighed, rubbing her forehead with her hooves.

“Yes?” The pink mare answered, her smile never having left her face.

“How did we go from walking to Sugarcube Corner to… here!” She gestured to the open field that was not Ponyville.

“She’s a reality warper, Sparks.” Dante answered as he stood from his kneeling position, wiping dirt off the knees of his armor. “And a fairly powerful one at that. It’s amazing she’s retained her sani-...” Dante looked at the pink mare, rethinking his words. “She’s not become murderously insane with a desire to dominate the entire universe.”

“Is that common?” Luna questioned. Dante nodded.

“Oh, fuck yeah. Something like ninety percent of above average warpers end up being shot to death by security forces. Well… I know the Legion takes an interest and keeps tabs on them. Most effective way to take one down is by sniping them. They can’t warp what they don’t know about. Makes for great black humor."

“You joke about killing ponies?” Cadance gasped, at this point Dante had begun typing something into a black rectangle on the back of his track.

“Yeah, it gets a tad boring in the field, so conversations in the Legion have a tendency to default to funny kill stories.”

“How is killing somepony funny!” Celestia protested, causing Dante to shrug.

“Iunno, eventually you get used to it and you can make a joke about anything. It’s called gallows humor for a reason, Celly.”

Dante lifted his left wrist up to his face, checking a device on it. “In any case, everyone, please get behind me.”

“Wait, what’s going on.” Twilight questioned, though she followed his instructions. Going based off what she had seen so far, if Dante was telling her to get behind him, it was a probably in one’s best interests to do so. She was joined by the rest of the group. “Princess Celestia,” She bowed. “Princess Luna,” She bowed. She smirked as she made eye contact with Cadance, as she bent down, Cadance reciprocating. She began prancing. “Sunshine, sunshine, la-” Twilight was cut off as a newspaper rolled up and thrown by Dante impacted her in the snout, causing her to reach up to it in pain, and interrupting the dance between the two. Shining struggled to hold in a small snicker at the seemingly insane actions of the biped while Cadance just looked to Dante in confusion. The biped crouched in a stance from throwing the newspaper, his right arm extended out.

“Oi! None of that shit! You can do your weird-ass dance on anyone else’s time besides mine!”

Dante stood up straight, clearing his throat. “Ladies!” He looked to Shining and nodded. “Gent.” The lone stallion nodded back. “What you are about to witness is the first launching of satellites into space from this planet! And because of this land’s love for pony puns, I have affectionately named them Ponik One, Two and Three. However, no one here besides me will get the reference!”

“Ooh! I get it, you named them after Sputnik… though your name kind of stinks.”

“Shut it, Pinkie!” Dante shouted at the reality warper. “Also, there’s a reason I was banned from naming ops for the Legion. So ya know what, go fuck yourself!” The pink mare merely blew a raspberry at the biped.

“Anyways, so, yeah.” Dante bent down and put his hands on Fortnite’s ears, giving them a small scratch. Just as she was beginning to enjoy the move, Dante removed his hands.

She could see his mouth move, but could hear no words. The changeling in disguise tilted her head in confusion and began to speak, but soon realized she could only feel the vibrations caused by her throat in her head, and could not hear her own voice.

Panic quickly set in, though it was temporarily stopped by Dante holding up a single finger. He picked up a notepad from the back of his truck and a pen and began writing something. A few seconds later, he tore the page from the notebook and handed it to her.

‘Don’t worry, you’re not deaf. I put earplugs in your ears so your hearing doesn’t get fucked by the rockets. I’ll take them out once we’re done. I just needed to make sure you couldn’t hear anything.’

“Oh.” The changeling stated, as Dante nodded and passed out the ear plugs to the rest of the ponies present, explaining what they were for.

Once everyone present had their MOSH approved hearing protection in, with the exception of Dante, He turned to them.

“Now, I know you all can’t hear me, so allow me to say these few things! KD, you are the most garish shade of pink I have ever seen and what you’re the princess of is the most contrived fucking bullshit I have ever heard. I think Celly just ran out of ideas or titles and then read a trash romance novel and got the idea from that. Shining, you’re a little bitch, Sparks you’re a fucking nerd and were probably bullied in school, Pinkie Pie you’re fucking insane, Luna you’re edgier than a knife and Celly, lay off the motherfuckin’ cake, you fucking elephant.”

Celestia chuckled. “You know, General,” She began, yelling due to her inability to hear anything. “I may very well be deaf at the moment, but I do know how to read lips. Why are you insulting everypony but Fortnite?”

Dante raised his nose in the air, placing his helmet on his head. “Because fuck you, that’s why! Venus, launch!”

Dante spun on his heels, dropping to one knee, and raising both arms crossing them in an ‘X’ shape. A shield made of seemingly pure energy and with hexagons embedded in it emanated from his forearms.

It was large enough to shield the group that had huddled behind him.

Just as suddenly, the three rockets launched, a large tail of flames emanating from the bottoms of the relatively small rockets as they shot off into the sky.

Dante’s helmet compensated for the decibel levels to prevent severe hearing damage.

All three alicorns as well as Shining Armor had instinctively thrown up their own shields to add to Dante’s, preventing the heat and shockwave from reaching them. Their entire world was engulfed in nothing but flames for a good few seconds until suddenly, it cleared. Revealing an extremely dead field that no longer was covered in grass.

Dante dropped his arms, allowing the shield to die down as the rest of the group followed his lead.

As the ponies removed the earplugs the biped had provided them, Dante watched his HUD, as the read out from the rockets reached his eyes.

A minute had passed, as the ponies spoke to each other about what had just happened. They were interrupted as Dante threw his arms in the air.

“Fuck yeah! Poniks One, Two and Three are all reporting successful deployments! Congrats everyone! We just made history on this planet.”

“Now what? Luna questioned as Dante walked over to the surprisingly unburned truck, opening the door. He slipped his helmet off his head and attached it to some webbing on his armor.

“Now? We go back to Canterlot and catch some shut-eye.”

“Wait… what!” Twilight shouted as she raced to to Dante, looking up at him. “But you just launched satellites and you told me just a few days ago that they would allow you to see the planet in detail we could only ever hope for.”

Dante nodded. “I did. But they still need to scan the planet in order for me to get my data. That takes time to do.”

“How long?” Fortnite asked, as she sauntered over to the truck.

“Eh… Two days, at most. Back home I’d have it today. But those are bare-bones military grade versions. They’re not designed to the be the best, just the cheapest that fit within specifications.”

“Is nopony going to comment on those explosions?” Shining Armor asked.

“I’ve been caught in worse.” Dante called behind him.

Dante opened the back of the truck, motioning for the ponies present. “Twi, Armor, Pie, KD. In the back. Fort take the front seat.”

Dante pointed to the bed of the truck. “Celly, Luna, bed.”

The two alicorns harrumphed at the implication, though Dante merely responded by raising his middle finger at them.

“If you want to ride with everyone else, stop munching sweets like they’re water.”





The young man continued walking. How long had he been walking? He had lost track along time ago. He had no recollection of the last time he ate, he drank, bathed or slept.

How far had he walked? That was also something he couldn’t recall.

All he knew was that he had started walking and not a single thing had stopped him. Not attacks from predators, he’d merely throw them away. The environment couldn’t stop him, as he would merely find himself on the other side of a river or chasm should he have come across one, unsure of how it had happened.

He did this, for a long time. As winter came and then left, and then came once more.

Until one day, his legs finally stopped. He collapsed on the ground, his eyes glazed over. He was unaware of the shouting coming closer to him as he finally slept for the first time since that day.





“Your Majesty.” Scuttle called as he entered the throne room, bowing his head. Chrysalis was still sitting there, on her throne, eyeing her commander.

“Yes, Commander, what is it?”

Scuttle straightened up, though still having to look up to meet his Queen’s eye.

“Your Majesty, I apologize for my interruption. But we have done a head count. All changelings counted after the initial recall are accounted for with the exception of one.”

“Which one is that?” Chrysalis asked, her head cocking to the side.

“A soldier. S-4292. Her commanding officer states that he was forced to take his group through a storm squall following the division of the army to prevent detection. He believes she was lost in the storm somewhere between Canterlot and Ponyville.”

Chrysalis brought a hoof to her face, slapping it. “Oh, wonderful. So we have a missing changeling somewhere in ponyland immediately following our attempted invasion.” She sighed, dragging the hoof down. “I suppose I should be glad it was a soldier caste. At least she won’t break as easily as a drone would.”

Chrysalis stood up, stretching her legs. “Commander.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Do we still have any active infiltrators in Equestria who can assist in finding her?”

“Yes, Your Highness. There are several still present in Canterlot, and some stationed in the areas surrounding Ponyville.”

Chrysalis sat back down on her throne and leaned back. “Good, activate them and have them find out what happened to the soldier, and to assist in her escape if she’s still active. But do make sure it’s clear to them to deny the Equestrians any intelligence if they are unable to rescue her.”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”





Fortnite followed Dante into the room in Canterlot Castle he had apparently claimed as his own.

He pulled a cylinder from his armor and bent it, a glow immediately emanating from it. He tossed it into the room, lighting it up.

It was modestly furnished. A made bed with a couple of pillows on it, an armoire, a desk, a small table with a few chairs surrounding it and window. A door to their left led to what Fortnite could only assume was a bathroom.

She dropped her pony disguise once the door had been closed and locked, revealing her natural chitinous self. “So… what now?”

Dante opened the armoire, pulling a pillow and two spare blankets from it.

“What happens now? We sleep. And then once we get some shut eye, I make this room a tad more like home.”

Dante laid one of the blankets on the floor and then tossed the pillow on the ground. Fortnite moved to the take the blanket, stepping onto it and beginning to lay down, before she was snatched up by Dante, his arms catching her under her legpits.

“Ahah. You take the bed, I’ve got the floor.” He brought her over to the bed and lightly dropped the surprised changeling on it.

“A-are you sure? I’m used to sleeping on th-”

“Yep, I’ve slept in worse. Trust me. You deserve a sleep in a proper bed.” The changeling watched as the biped started disarming, ditching his gear in a pile. This time, it was much faster as he got out of his armor, ditching more of his gear. Finally getting to the deep concealment. He unlaced his boots and then slipped them off, tossing them in the pile with the rest of his gear.

Fortnite’s breath may have hitched, though she certainly never would have admitted to it, as the biped pulled his pants off.

Revealing a smaller and shorter pair of black pants underneath them that Fortnite hadn’t noticed earlier, as well as a pair of black socks. Which he promptly took the socks off and added them to the pile with his boots.

Noticing her seeming disappointment, Dante grinned. “Underwear. It’s so the pants don’t chafe the sensitive areas.”

Her cheeks took on a green tinge, as she began stuttering. “W-what. N-no. I-it wasn’t that, I-I w-wasn’t trying to, I-I I mea-”

Dante laughed at the flustered changeling. “Relax, Fort. One of the first questions people start asking when an alien species is discovered is ‘What does its dick look like?’ Fuck, there’s a constantly updated list in the Imperium with pictures of the dicks of sapient species, mainly because the Department of Science was getting sick of constant requests for descriptions of the dicks of more reclusive species. So I completely understand. It’s a valid question.”

Fortnite looked down, no longer wanting to meet the biped’s eyes, though the biped seemed to have no reservation, slipping off the shirt he had been wearing, which revealed another, black colored one. A fact which didn’t escape the changeling.

“How many pieces of clothing do you have on?” She questioned, Dante merely smirking.

“These are the last pieces. Everything underneath these are au naturel.” Dante moved to the blanket he had laid on the ground.

He groaned as bent down to lay on the ground. “God, I feel like a fifty year old man. Oh, god, my back is going to hate me in the morning.”

Fortnite watched as the biped groaned as he got comfortable on the stone. The pained groans died down as he settled down, his back turned to her.

“Uh… Dante, are you okay?” She asked.

“Remember to lift with your legs, not your back, Fort.” The biped chuckled. “I’ll be fine. I took some shrapnel to my back a little ways before the Battle for Earth that I never got properly dealt with. It’s given me chronic back pain for a while. The nanites usually kill the pain, though they get a little less active as I’m relaxing. They divert more attention to higher priority things. Like if someone does manage to sneak up on me and pump me full of sedatives, the drugs won’t do shit to me.”

The biped yawned, repositioning himself on the floor. “In any case, night Fort.”

“Good night.” The changeling, now comfortably dug into the bed, responded.

Dante snapped his fingers, the cylinder producing the light dying immediately as the two lay in silence, quickly taken by sleep.





Dante woke to something burying itself into the crook made by his front, as he lay on his side. His grip on the handgun he slept with tightened, fully prepared to dump a mag into the intruder, though his grip loosened as Venus identified the intruder as Fortnite.

Though that still left one question.

“Fort,” Dante questioned, hearing a light groan from the changeling, the biped rolled his eyes, nudging her with leg.

“Fort.” A small sound came from the changeling, her breathing light as she pushed herself closer, though she was now awake, or at least, half-awake.

“Fort, could you explain to me why you’re snuggling me right now.” The changeling gave no response, as Dante sighed.

“God fucking...” He groaned as he tried to decide what to do.

“Fuck it.” He said, as he made up his mind. He slipped an arm under the changeling and then used the other arm to push himself off the ground, being mindful of where the pistol’s barrel was pointing. The sudden movement caused the changeling to wake. She stared confused, as she found herself once more suspended off the ground and being moved against her will. Disappointment set in as she also realized she was now exposed to the cold air, her warmth denied from her.

She blinked in confusion as she was laid on the bed she thought she had been on, and then felt weight push down on the bed’s springs. She turned her head, confused, as she saw Dante on the bed, his back turned to her.

“Uh...”

“Oh, you’re awake.” He stated, his head still turned from her. “You sleepwalked from the bed to the blanket on the ground and then tried to use me as a snuggle pillow.”

Thankful for the complete darkness and the fact that the biped was turned away from her, she could once more feel a blush on her face a she attempted to stumble out an apology.

“I-I’m sorry, it’s just that… well, very few changelings sleep alone. We usually sleep in a pile.”

There was a pause, before Dante flipped himself on the bed to stare at the changeling. “A what now?”

“A… a pile. We all gather during the night for warmth, as well as protection. So if a predator somehow manages to get into the hive without the sentries realizing it, if it grabs a changeling, the rest of us will be alerted to the missing changeling. I… I’m not used to sleeping alone.”

There was a pause as Dante stared her in the eye, though she could easily see in the low light conditions, thanks to the fact that changelings lived in low light conditions, she wasn’t entirely sure if Dante was just looking where he thought her eyes were or if he could see just as well as she could.

Suddenly, he spoke. “Well, listen. When I first brought us to this bed, I was intending to sleep in it since you seemed to want to make me a snuggle pillow, but this is actually somehow more awkward then I was expecting it to be, so...” Without another word, Dante rolled himself off the side of the bed and onto the floor, landing with a thump and out the changeling’s view.

A few seconds passed before she saw an arm reach up and the hand pat the bed, seemingly looking for something. It inched closer to the pillows at the head of the bed before finally making contact with one and pulling it over the side.

“Night, Nite.”

Fortnite hesitated, wondering at the insanity of the biped. “Night… Dante.”





“Do you really need a couch for the room.” The disguised changeling asked the biped as they walked through the castle, some of the pony staff stopping to stare at the biped, a large couch resting on his left shoulder, his left arm supporting it as he also hefted another, object in his right arm. No strain apparent, despite the size and weight of the objects he was lugging around.

“Listen, Fort, I probably killed the motherfucker who this couch belonged to, thus making it mine. Yes, I am putting the couch in the room. It’s big enough.”

Fortnite raised an eyebrow. “And the other thing?”

Dante weaved through a small crowd of staff, balancing the objects as he made his way past. “Excuse me. It’s a TV, Fort. One that has an internal power source.”

They had woken up a few hours ago, Dante apparently having woken up way before the changeling, considering the fact that the pile of extremely deadly alien weaponry was no longer there and Dante was re-dressed and re-armored and drinking coffee.

They had made a few trips to the ship, Dante gathering some odds and ends so he could conduct his alien operations from the room he had taken over in the castle instead of having to make his way back to the ship every time he needed to do something.

As a result, the once immaculate room was now covered in wiring and cables, with various monitors reading out data. Data that Fortnite had absolutely no hope of reading, largely due to being in alien text and also because she had never been the science type. There were more intelligent castes for that.

Dante had also constructed platforms on the side of the castle outside of the window using some sort of alien device that seemed to create matter at will.

He informed her it required resources to run, but she was fairly certain it was breaking the laws of physics.

And now he had insisted on lugging back a couch and… well, whatever a TV was.

“Why do you need that?”

“Why do we need anything, Fort? But anyways, the answer is so I can watch movies while waiting for the sats to find my larcom.”

Fortnite sighed as she just followed behind the Human.





Hunter woke, to find himself laying on some padding. His muscles ached, finally able to reach his brain after such a long time.

His eyes rolled over the environment he was in, as he tried to figure out what was happening. Though no fine details could be made out, everything a mere blur.

“You’re awake. That’s good. Fischer found you collapsed on his way home. Dragged you back here.” A man in a corner spoke, Hunter slowly turning to stare at him, though only able to make a blurry Human shaped figure.

“You’ve been out for a good… seven suns, six moons. Fischer thought you weren’t going to pull through, though Koch insisted on taking care of you. I swear, that girl sometimes has too big of a heart.”

Hunter could barely make out the blurry movements of the man, though he didn’t care much for what he did.

The blur sat down on what appeared to be a small stool, though what the blur did following that, Hunter couldn’t tell.

“My name’s Lange, yours?” The man, named Lange carried on. Waiting for a reply from the man.

Hunter, however, said nothing. Merely staring lazily at the man, though no fine details could be made out of him. Merely a Human shaped blob to the young man.

“Not a talker, eh? That’s fine. But I will need something to call you… I suppose Schwarz will have to do. So, Schwarz, I hope you don’t mind, but while you were away from the land of the living, we examined your belongings. The pouches were really roughed up, and the tools neglected beyond belief. Yet, there was this… painting. But not a painting, or at least not like any I’ve ever seen before. It’s almost as though I’m looking at them in person. Who was she?”

Hunter didn’t respond, either to the wrong name, or the question. He knew exactly what he was talking about.

Hunter heard a sigh come from his left, a blur of movement. “I left the painting and a bladder near the bed. If you feel like getting up today, feel free to. Koch will be back in a while and I’m sure she’ll be beyond pleased to hear that you’re awake… albeit, not very responsive.”

With that, Hunter could hear rustling as Lange left the hut he was in. He waited for a few minutes, before blindly grasping at the bedside, before his fingers found his target.

He picked the undamaged life-like painting up and brought it to his face, his eyes struggling to focus on the face of his mother.

They finally focused, the face of his mother becoming clear. He brought the painting close to his chest and closed his eyes.





Cadance walked through the halls of the castle, looking for the room she had been informed the biped had taken over.

It didn’t take long, largely thanks to the guards who seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. And as such, here stood the Princess of Love, right in front of the door to the room the alien had claimed as his own. She had even been informed by various guards that the biped had been seen hauling various things to the room.

Truly, what alien horrors could await her on the other side of the door… She steeled herself as she raised a hoof, hesitating before knocking three times, solidly on the door.

“It’s open!” A muffled voice came from the other side, as Cadance slowly, reluctantly opened the door, worried about what she might find, as she took a deep breath.

Perhaps some sort of gruesome alien experiment, or maybe General Jaeger’s flesh was artificial and he had to take it off.

She let go of the breath she had held once she had entered, looking around surprised. There was no light, save for the faint glow of a box.

However, before she could examine the room any further, a very loud bang followed by alien shouting.

The pink alicorn instinctively dove, learning that alien shouting plus bangs were usually never a good thing.

“Ah, fuck! V, pause the movie.” A familiar voice cut across the shouting, as it instantly stopped.

Cadance heard a snap, the room flooding with light following.

The alicorn slowly raised to her hooves, realizing there was no danger, beyond the fact that she was in a room with a bipedal supersoldier alien who’s armed to the teeth and has a penchant for extreme violence.

Cadance scanned the now illuminated room, as she took in various screens with alien text running across them, wires strewn about the floor and ceiling lights blazing down. The room no longer looked like a guest room in Canterlot Castle, but rather a mix between a laboratory and a very small stone house.

Her eyes fell upon an old couch, upon which lay the biped, covered by a blanket, his feet closest to the door and his head facing the door.

They locked eyes as he nodded to her. “Evenin’, KD.”

The alicorn nodded back. “Good evening, General.” In the corner of her right eyes, she could spy a pile of alien weaponry. She turned her head slightly to look at it.

“Um… what’s going on here?” She questioned, nodding to the pile.

Dante chuckled. “Please, KD, just Dante’s fine, no need for ranks. And that pile of weaponry is because apparently laying on a bunch of guns and knives isn’t very comfortable. I mean, I don’t know what Fort’s problem is, it’s plenty comfortable for me.”

Cadance cocked her head to the side. “I’m sorry?”

Dante merely flipped the corner of the blanket covering him, revealing a softly breathing green unicorn using his chest as a pillow.

“Couch was too small for me to lay on and her to sit on, so we compromised, and she ended up laying on me.”

Cadance stared at the odd scene, her eyebrows raised. “Uh… what were you all doing?”

The biped gestured to the large screen facing his right side. “Watching a movie. Specifically, the first of the Last Man Standing movies… weird that these assholes happened have the entire fucking series, they hate my guts and I’m a main character in these movies.”

“You’re an actor?” Cadance questioned, surprise evident in his voice.

Dante chuckled, as he picked up a plastic rectangle sitting next to the couch, looking at it. “Oh, no. Sorry, let me rephrase that. My person is a character, I’m played by some poor schmuck who got roped into playing me.”

Dante lightly chucked the rectangle away from him, meeting the princess’ eyes once more. “Don’t get me wrong. The first movie broke galactic records for opening weekend. And the last movie in the series had one of the largest budgets in history and made all of it back plus some within the first hour of it premiering universe-wide. It launched the guy’s career off, and I’m happy he managed to make a name for himself using mine.”

Cadance walked over to the couch, laying down in front of it. “Well, now you have me interested. You didn’t partake in the filming of this movie?”

“You all have movies here?”

Cadance nodded, looking over to the screen Dante had been watching and seeing a rather graphic scene of an armored biped not unlike the enigmatic general holding, no, cradling another bloodied biped.

The biped holding the other one sat with blood covering his arms, coming from the biped being cradled. Dirt, debris and other grit covered the rest of his armor and his face was obscured by a helmet, similar to the one she had first seen Dante in when he initially intervened at the wedding.

The biped being held seemed to be wearing merely clothes, his face revealed. A short cut brown mane was soaked in blood, a light coating of dust and dirt clung the biped’s face thanks to the blood on it, his eyes were lifeless and dull.

All of this was in color, which made the gore worse for the Princess.

“Except ours don’t have color.” She remembered the sound when she walked.

“Huh… weird.” Dante shook his head. “Anyway, for the most part no, I had nothing to do with the movie beyond providing the combat footage. That was another thing these movies became known for. Splicing filmed scenes with actual combat footage, seamlessly. And the realistic scenes. It was so realistic that large amounts of veterans of the Imperial Civil War and partisans who participated in it walked out during the opening scene. Some of them started having panic attacks and PTSD attacks midway through the movie. The next day, counselors the Imperium provides to vets reported being swamped by requests for appointments, and requested the Imperium subsidize visits to private therapists in order to alleviate the workload. The waiting list for an appointment had reached to a year in just a few hours.

Dante looked at the princess, smiling. “The producers received a personal letter from the Universalis Senatorium requesting they tone down the realism just a tad bit. It wasn’t an order, it was an actual letter the fucking Senate drafted and then every member personally signed. Do you know what you have to do to receive one of those?”

“So what happened, are the newer ones as graphic as the first one.” Cadance questioned, as Dante began scratching the ears of the green unicorn laying on him.

“You’ve got to understand, KD, there was a lot of people involved in the Imperial Civil War. There were well over four billion deaths in the course of a mere three years that the New Phoenix Republic controlled Lux.”

Cadance processed the number as her eyes widened. Dante merely continuing. “And thousands of billions more were injured in the fighting. Hell, a large portion of the corpses have never been identified. At the time of The Battle of Earth, there were still billions of people listed as missing because we couldn’t identify all the bodies.”

He looked to Cadance, staring her dead in the eye. “It was the only war ever fought on the Imperial homefront. It was the first time the Imperial Government was sent into exile. The people had to prove ourselves. And by fucking god, did they. The Armed Forces never surrendered, they retreated, yes, but they came back even stronger. The Home Army didn’t dissolve, they split and struck, any time, any where. Men and women who either had discharged out of the Armed Forces or were ineligible for various reasons picked up a rifle and fought as partisans. Children carried messages back and forth.”

Dante allowed his head to fall back onto the arm of the couch, rubbing his eyes with a free hand. “There’s a memorial in the Citadel, called ‘Those Who Fought’. There’s three statues. A Legionnaire, in our iconic armor and black helmet, rifle held proudly and Imperial flag held in his left hand. The next one, a uniformed soldier, his GI armor revealing his face, aiming his rifle. Stubble growing on his chin and jaw from constant fighting and having no time to clean himself. The next one is a young man, clean shaven, no weapons or flags, no patches, no armor, no helmet. He’s not standing tall like the Legionnaire, or in a fighting stance like the soldier. His back is slumped, and his gaze is looking upwards. He’s wearing a jacket, and unless you knew what you were looking for, you would never see the light printing of a handgun in his jacket pocket. I know this man. His name was Mejjy Reth, a partisan, caught in an ambush in a town he was helping to secure.” Dante gestured to the screen, the movie still stopped on the scene.

“A photo of an unknown Legionnaire holding his lifeless body and attempting to render aid to the partisan was snapped by a combat journalist and became an image of… solidarity between the partisans and the Imperial government-in-exile. Despite requests for the Legionnaire’s name, the Legion’s policy is to not reveal the identities of Legionnaires until after death, and in certain exigent circumstances.”

“It was you, wasn’t it?” Cadance asked, as she stared at the still, the Legionnaire’s face still hidden.

Dante merely hummed. “Y’know… interesting fact about this scene, it was one of the most difficult scenes to film in this movie because they had to film it in such a way no one could ever guess who the Legionnaire is supposed to be. Which also meant they had to keep an eye on continuity. Before the scene occurred, Legionnaires weren’t allowed to be shown on screen except for one scene that had them in one general area taking cover.”

“Do you know?” Cadance asked, emphasizing the ‘you’.

Dante waved his hand in front of his face. “Of course I do. As did the directors. But they respected the Legion’s request for the Legionnaire to remain anonymous.”

“Why? Why do you want the identity of the Legionnaire to remain unknown.”

Dante lifted his head to look at the princess, smiling. “The Legionnaire in that picture has inspired various monuments, memorials and statues celebrating the brotherhood between the ‘illegal’ partisans who refused to bow to the NPR and the Imperium. The marine in that photo doesn’t represent himself,” Dante lazily pointed to the TV. “He represents the Legion. A group of men who pledged their souls to eternal damnation so that others may know peace. However, even the most dedicated of Legionnaires can fail and though they’re very much willing to throw their lives away to save a single person, Legionnaires can’t save everyone. We save who we can, but the reality of war is that we can’t win every battle.”

“So why is Mr. Reth’s name known, but not the stallion who charged from cover when the fighting restarted.”

Dante rolled his eyes, though the smile was still present on his face. His hand had stopped scratching Fortnite’s ears, the mare unconsciously nudging the stopped hand.

“Mejjy’s a Martyr of the Imperium. He was sixteen when he was killed in the fighting. He was thirteen when the occupation started, he was fourteen when he started fighting. He was killed two months before the regrouped Imperial Armed Forces retook the Citadel and killed the tyrant. Two months, KD. He was a baby. Sixteen years old and he already had a rifle in hand and kills notched in his belt. He wasn’t old enough to vote, to buy a weapon or carry one, couldn’t drink, couldn’t buy cigarettes or sign a contract. He couldn’t join the military. But he still died in a fucking ambush fighting the NPR. Mejjy’s name is known because he earned the recognition. The Legionnaire’s name isn’t known because he took an oath. He’s not Gary or Bob or Jim. He’s Legion. The Legion takes victory as one, defeat as one, death as one, not many. The black line does not fall until the Legion falls. Even if an operation resulted in a one hundred percent casualty count for the Legion, so long as it was successful, the Legion considers it as success.”

Cadance’s ears were pinned back, though his voice hadn’t raised, she could tell he wasn’t very happy.

He sighed, allowing his head to once more hit the arm rest.

“I know you think it’s a great disservice for the Legionnaire to receive no recognition. But trust me, he took revenge for Mejjy later, during the Reclamation of the Citadel.”

“I’m sorry, Ge- Dante. I didn’t real-” Dante cut her off with a wave of his hand.

“No apologies needed, KD. I realize the Legion can look pretty fucked up, if you’re looking from the outside in. What with our disregard for our own lives so long as the mission succeeds, but there’s a reason why the Legion has become a folk hero in the Imperium.”

Dante wriggled on the couch a tiny bit, repositioning himself into a more comfortable position, while being cautious not to wake the sleeping unicorn.

“In any case, I doubt you came here with the intention of hearing me be morose about a bloody war I was in.”

Cadance blinked a few times, before shaking her head and clearing her throat. “Erm, no, that was not my intention. I came here for a few reasons. First, I wanted to warn that following the Wedding incident and your… er, well, First Contact, I suppose, Aunty Celestia and Luna contacted various other Heads of States and invited them for a… conference.”

Dante groaned. Banging his head against the armrest for emphasis. “I fucking hate diplomatic conventions, god, kill me now.”

“It gets… worse. They also want you to participate in a Parliamentary Inquiry.”

“Great. So not only do I have to deal with more politicians, but I’ve also got to deal with idiots.”

“Which one’s which?” Cadance chuckled, which resulted in a smile from Dante.

“Presuming bodyguards will be present at the diplomatic convention, that should level out the average IQ level to an acceptable amount.”

This statement garnered light chuckles from both of them.

“Well, the news isn’t all bad.” Cadance continued, as she stood up from her previous position, Dante eyeing her with curiosity.

“How’s that?”

Cadance’s horn lit up, pulling a small envelope appearing from under her wing.

“I came to deliver you an official invitation to the wedding of Princess Mi Amore Cadenza and Captain Shining Armor.”

Dante took the envelope from the air.  Cadance watching his movements with interest as his deft fingers quickly and precisely tore open the top of the envelope, not damaging the contents inside.

He unfolded the card containing the details of the event, scanning over it.

After a few moments, he set it to the side of him and looked Cadance in the eyes.

“Two questions, KD.”

The princess made a waving gesture to the biped with her foreleg. “Go ahead.”

He held up one finger. “First question: Can I extend the invitation?”

Cadance smiled. “I am assuming you would like to invite Miss. Fortnite here.”

The biped nodded. “Yeah, her and Bulwark.”

The alicorn nodded. “I see no reason why you can’t.”

The biped held up another finger, making it two fingers held up. “Second, booze.”

“Alcohol will be present and available at the reception.”

Dante looked at the card, specifically the date. “I’ll tell ya the truth, KD, I’m planning to be back in Imperial space by then, but I’ll make it a point to come.”

Cadance shifted her gaze to the various screens dotting the far wall of the room. “About that, how’s the search going?”

Dante began nodding his head. “S’pretty good. I’m still waiting for the sats to finish. Shouldn’t be too long. And then I should be able to map my way to my larcom, kill whoever I need to kill and get home.”

Dante paused, squinting.

“Venus has just informed me the sats are done.”





Princess Celestia sat upon the throne in the Parliament. For various reasons, her presence had been requested to watch over this session. In front of her sat a solid wood railing, separating her from the rest of the parliament. It was originally installed when Parliament had been more rowdy and… violent, a way to separate her from the fighting MPs.

She was exhausted, but as a Diarch of Equestria, she could not fall asleep during official meetings.

Unfortunately, this one was boring. Extremely boring. They were just screening various questions and lines of questioning the parliament members wanted General Jaeger asked when the upcoming day, three days from now, came.

Celestia glanced down at the floor, spying her insufferable nephew, Blueblood. She had to admit, though, he was a doing a surprisingly good job of vetting the questions. So far, she had not needed to intervene herself and reject a question.

Though it was obvious he was bored. One of the few things she and the prince shared in common. They both hated Parliament meetings. The major difference was that he was in Parliament meetings every day and it had taken him to the point of not carrying anymore, leading to his voice and expression betraying his boredom. Where as the Solar Diarch did her best to keep her boredom hidden.

“Furthermore, we are denying MP Onyx Dark’s line of questioning on the physical appearance of General Jaeger’s pen-” Blueblood’s single tone voice and expression was cut off as a shout sounded.

“Celestia!” Silence reigned in the Parliament, as various MPs tried to find the origin of the shout, something about the voice seemed familiar.

However, before Celestia could remember just who the voice belonged to the, doors to the Parliament slammed open, revealing a certain biped with his foot stuck out, and a very obvious dent in one of the doors.

Attached to both legs were two armored and rather large looking guard stallions. The one on his right leg was half in the air, and half on the ground. The one on his left was fully on the ground forelegs wrapped tight around the biped’s leg. It was obvious Jaeger, now armorless and only wearing clothes, had dragged the two here, as they both shouted protests at the biped. Who merely ignored them and began walking to the middle of the Parliament room, stopping as he reached it. Following behind him was the green unicorn named Fortnite, who was glancing around nervously and the Solar Diarch’s niece, Cadance, who was merely running a hoof down her face.

“Celestia, we have an issue and I need you, right now.”

The Princess took a deep breath, closing her eyes and using all of her self control to stop herself from copying her niece.

“General Jaeger,” She breathed out, opening her eyes and locking them with his. “Would you please stop damaging doors. Please open them like a normal pony. Also, we are in the middle of a Parliament meeting.” Staring at him from the second story of the room, a story dedicated solely for the Diarchs, she waved a hoof over the rest of the Parliament. 

Dante glanced around, noting the various, mostly terrified faces of MPs, his sensors also picking up traces of urea in the air.

“Oh… well… they can wait! Now, come on! This is important!” Dante turned on his heels, beginning to walk out of the room.

“No.”

Dante stopped a few feet from where he had previously stood.

“I’m sorry?” He questioned. As Celestia finally had enough, bringing a hoof to her face and running it down.

“General, I have canceled multiple sessions of day court because of you. I can not continue to allow you to interrupt official Diarchy business. I realize you are a very important case in Equestria, but this country does not revolve around you.”

Dante said nothing, as he merely stared at her.

Then, without a word, he disappeared.

Celestia had a second to process the fact that he had disappeared, before he reappeared, balancing on the railing in front of her, stallions no longer attached to his legs.

The action caused Celestia to jump back a bit, having forgotten he could teleport, though how far was still unclear to her. He leaned down, his body bending at the waist as he brought his face close to hers. 

“Excuse me, Princess, if I consider the affairs of a multi-galaxy spanning super-power to be slightly more important then the affairs of a planet bound sub-species of horses. For all I know, the IoP could be going to shit and I’m the only one able to fix it. Do you know what happens when the Imperium goes to shit?”

Before Celestia could answer, the biped answered his own question, pushing his face closer to hers. “People die. Lots of people die, so Celestia, please. Help me.” He stood back up, still balancing on the railing. 

The Princess looked him square in the eyes, sighing. “You will have to wait.”

The biped groaned at the answer, rolling his eyes. He hopped down from the railing, gently putting a hand on her withers.

“Celestia...” His gaze pierced her eyes, causing a chill to run down her spine. “I’m sorry, but you’re making me do this.”

Celestia’s mouth gaped open, as she attempted to question just what he meant. However, before she could do so, she could feel her stomach churning and light flashing in her eyes.

She found herself being carried much how the biped had been carrying Fortnite a few nights before. Though, her large body meant her hooves hung further down.

She also found herself on the Parliament floor, having been teleported away from her throne.

Before she could protest, Dante scooped Fortnite up in his free arm and set off running.

“Sorry, but I’m borrowing your Princess! I’ll bring her back once I’m done! KD hurry up or you’re going to get in trouble for being an accomplice to kidnapping your mom!”

Celestia could hear her niece galloping behind them. “She’s my aunt!”

“Close enough!”

Celestia’s brain rebooted as she attempted to process the fact that she was not only being stallion-handled by the biped, but also being foalnapped by him as well.

Blueblood stared at the door in confusion, as he glanced around the Parliament, noting various MPs in various states of shock, also certain he smelled urine in the air. The guards that had been dragged in by the biped also looked to confused, not following the group who had just taken off running.

He groaned, rolling his eyes. His aunts had always been magnets for weirdness, he was sure she would be fine.

He levitated the book back to his face as he continued his bored statements. “As I was saying, Onyx Dark, your request for a description of the physical appearance of General Jaeger’s pens has been rejected. The Parliament also duly notes your odd and unhealthy obsession with writing instruments and we request that you refrain from asking questions related to pens or pencils during the official inquiry.”





When Dante finally reached the room he was staying in, he gently set Fortnite down on the looted couch and then followed up by gently setting Celestia down.

An act she repaid by promptly picking the chair from the desk in the corner up in her magic and breaking it on the back of the General’s head.

Indubitably, one of the more… violent actions the Solar Diarch had committed in recent history.

The wooden chair splintered into thousands of pieces as Dante fell to the ground, blood gushing from a rather large gash in his head.

Celestia turned around to face the door, making eye contact with her young niece. “Cadance,” She smiled, the smile giving off the warmth of a mother.

“Auntie… I swear I tried to stop him. He never told me he was even considering foalnapping you if you said no.”

Celestia’s smile only grew wider. “You have no need to worry, Cadance, I have no doubt the General hatched his plan on his own.” She glanced over to the green unicorn, who seemed to shrink at the mere turning of her head.

“Uh, h-hello… Your Majesty.” Fortnite shied back even further, as the Solar Diarch chuckled, which then turned into a full on laugh.

Though the Solar Princess saw the unicorn’s discomfort out of the corner of her eye and she was quick to attempt to calm it.

“N-no, it’s nothing about you, Miss Fortnite. It’s just that I haven’t been called ‘your majesty’ in such a long time. Please, Celestia is just fine.”

Fortnite hopped down from the couch, shuffling on her hooves as she did her best to avoid eye contact with the princess. “So, you’re… uh… not mad, Your Maj- er, Celestia?”

Celestia gave a light chuckle. “Mad at you? No, you had nothing to do with his insanity. Mad at General Jaeger?” She nodded her head back to the biped, who was now slowly getting up, using a table to stabilize himself. “Yes. I trust he didn’t hurt you during his flight from the Parliament?”

Once more, the unicorn shuffled on her hooves. “Er… no, I’m actually getting used to it.”

“Agh! Jesus Fuckin’ H. Christ, Celly, you absolute bitch!” Dante shouted, standing up and facing away from the group, as his hand rubbed his neck, blood still running down his head, though the large gash healed over.

Fortnite trotted over to the biped, levitating a towel she had grabbed from the bathroom. The biped accepted it with a thanks as he began wiping down his head.

“Don’t foalnap ponies, General Jaeger, and you won’t receive chairs to the head.” Celestia stated, raising her snout into the air.

Dante turned sharply to face her. “You hit me so hard you turned my brain into literal fucking mush and fractured my skull, I had to regenerate my brain back into a solid form! I probably have bone fragments in the damn thing!”

Celestia rolled her eyes as she walked over to the bank of monitors Dante had set up. Cadance gave a light smirk as she saw the small green unicorn fretting over the General’s wound, or rather, lack of one.

“I’m fine, Fort. Seriously, it’ll take more then turning my brain into soup to kill me.” He gave a light wave to the unicorn who was trying to clean blood and… gray matter from the biped. The gray matter undoubtedly from Celestia turning his ‘brain into soup’, as Cadance noted some of it running below his nose.

She restrained herself from gagging at the sight of it.

“In any case,” Celestia began, swishing her tail back and forth as Fortnite still fretted over Dante and Dante still kept assuring her he was fine. “Since you brought me here, what did you need me for.”

“Venus,” Dante called, as he rubbed blood from his eye. “Bring up the map.”

A table lit up, projecting a fully colored globe in the air. The globe was covered in most blue, with a few different colored sections. Celestia examined it with interest. It was relatively large, about the size of her head.

“This is a globe. It shows the planet as accurately as possible. And what I called you in here was for this.” Dante approached the globe, using his fingers to zoom in on one spot.

Celestia bit her lip as she examined, after a few moments she turned to look Dante in the eye. “What am I looking at?”

Dante rolled his eyes and gestured to the globe. “That spot. It’s the only spot my sats have been unable to get data on. Every attempt to scan it fails and the sats haven’t picked up any signal from my larcom. Even if it had been destroyed or disassembled, I should still be getting a signal from the pieces used in it. Since I am receiving no signal from it, the only logical place it can be is...” Dante pointed to the spot. “Here. And neither KD or Fort knew what it was.”

Celestia examined the area a bit more, raising a hoof to her chin. “Hmm… General could you zoom this map out?”

Dante did as questioned, using his fingers to make the map zoom out, as Celestia examined the map for a little longer.

Her eyes grew wider, as she realized what she was looking at.

She turned to look the Human in the eyes, her eyes wide in shock. “G-general Jaeger… I’m sorry to be the one who has to tell you this, but… well… your long range communications device is unrecoverable.”
> Keeping Hearts and Minds Occupied
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix 

Chapter 17

“I’m sorry, I must have had something in both of my ears and Venus must have been suffering from a glitch, but I swear it sounds like you just said my larcom is ‘unrecoverable’.” Dante’s eyes narrowed, as he stared at the Solar Diarch. Though she had been alive for nearly five millennia, this stare was unnerving her. 

She cleared her throat, as she use her hoof to point at the spot Dante’s satellites had not been able to scan, a blank spot on the globe. 

“General, what you are looking at is the Sea of Clouds. It is a region of the ocean where nopony can cross. Many have attempted, none have succeeded.” 

“So the fuck makes this area different from everywhere else!” Dante rose his hands in the air. “I don’t think you’re getting my issue here, Celly! These sats are designed to be able to see through coronal mass ejections! So you’re trying to tell me my shit can see through a mass ejection of nuclear-fucking-fusion but some fucking goddamn clouds are enough to make them fucking blind!” 

Celestia held up a hoof. “Please, General, cursing will not get you anywhere. The Sea of Clouds is a tumultuous place, with extreme weather conditions. The storms are so powerful in this region that weather teams are incapable of controlling them. Even the Stalliongradian Weather Brigade is incapable of controlling the weather there. Simply put, nopony can cross into it and out the other side and survive.” 

Dante slammed his hands down on the table, causing everyone in the room, including Celestia, to jump into the air a small bit. 

“Fucking bullshit! And you fucking know it! My larcom got grabbed by a fucking unicorn and a fucking gryphon, so in order for it to get there, that means someone’s had to both pass into it and out of it and then back-fucking-into it again!” The growl emanating from his throat caused Fortnite and Cadance to subconsciously back up, though caused Celestia to approach him. 

“General, you have my deepest condolences. But I wish to make this clear. If you wish to pursue your device into the Sea of Clouds, then that is your prerogative and your death will be by your own hooves, but I will not allow you to risk the lives of any of my guards in your wild-goose chase.”

Dante narrowed his eyes at her. He pointed at the door. “Get out.” His voice shook as he spoke. 

“General, please. I want to help you, but I will not allow you to r-” 

Without warning, Dante’s hand grasped one of the nearby monitors, ripping it from the wires as he chucked it at the alicorn, who deftly dodged the clumsy toss. The monitor slammed into the ground, as various bits of plastic and glass broke, scattering. 

“Get the fuck out!” He shouted as his hand reached for another monitor, the ponies in the room, even Fortnite, quickly retreated through the door. 

Celestia slammed the door behind her, as the monitor crashed into it, thumping. 

She leaned against to catch her breath, though the distance had been short it had been quite a while since she had moved that quickly on such short notice, that and she had no desire to have a monitor thrown against her head. 

She looked to her niece, the young alicorn also had her back to the stone wall. 

“Aunty,” She breathed, as she followed it up with a sigh. “I believe the issue is that you called his only way home a ‘wild-goose chase’.  And in his mind, that was wildly insulting.”

She turned her head to lock eyes with Celestia. “Please, in the future please refrain from trying to convince Dante something is impossible, even if any reasonable pony can see it’s impossible.” Cadance shook her head. “He’s not reasonable, at all.” 





Following their forced eviction from the commandeered room, the three took to the royal dining room, Celestia was looking particularly unregal with her head resting on her hoof, while Cadance was finally taking the time to process the amount of casualties the Imperium had suffered during their civil war, as she had been informed by Dante. 

“Four billion… three years.” She muttered as she stared at the table, her mind desperately trying to draw up just what that might look like, despite how sick the images the may be. 

Fortnite meanwhile, just had her head resting on the table. With the exception of Cadance, who was merely muttering to herself, none of them spoke. 

Honestly, none of them were sure of what to do next. By the time they had finished up in there, the Parliamentary meeting was over, and it had been getting later in the day when Dante had come and ‘collected’ Celestia, so it was now her sister’s domain rather then hers. 

However, their question of how to proceed was soon answered when the doors to the dining room found themselves being forced open. 

The three ponies jumped slightly into the air, then looked up just to see who had busted the doors open and spooked them, however, due to the way Celestia was positioned, the doors blocked her from seeing who was entering and it prevented whoever was entering from seeing her. 

“CADENZA!” A voice shouted, one Celestia knew all too well.

While Celestia pondered on whether or not she had actually seen the air itself move from the shout, the voice sounded once more. 

“GATHER THY HOOVES AND ARMOR! FOR THE PARLIAMENT HAS INFORMED US OF THE FOALNAPPING OF OUR SISTER AND THY AUNT!” Luna trotted in, her body covered in what many would consider a gorgeous set of dark blue armor, the metal covering her sides and top, though area on the top of it allowing wings to pass through unhindered. Her legs were protected by separate pieces of armor, still the dark blue color. 

The helmet adorning her head was very similar to the one Nightmare Moon was often depicted with, a hole present for her horn to slip through. 

Her peytral was also much larger, covering a larger portion of her chest then the one she normally wore. 

Clutched in her magic was a long sword, as long as the mare herself.

Without realizing the ‘foalnapped’ Celestia was in the room, the Lunar Diarch trotted over to her niece. 

“THEY INFORMED US IT WAS A GREAT BEASTLY AND BALD BIPEDAL MONSTER! INDUBITABLY IT WAS ONE OF THOSE RABBLE-ROUSING MINOTAURS SEEKING REVENGE FOR THE SECOND RAZING OF MINOTAURIA! WE’VE NO IDEA WHY THEY’RE STILL ANGRY ABOUT THAT, IT HAPPENED NEARLY THREE-THOUSAND YEARS AGO! STILL, WE SHALL SEE TO IT THAT OUr SISTER IS AVE-” Luna stopped, Cadance thankful as her mane had nearly been ripped from its roots and blown off her head by how loudly Luna had been shouting. 

Luna locked eyes with her foalnapped sister, the light-blue orbs widening. “Oh…” Luna raised her hoof to her chin, seeming to think the situation over. “Jaeger?” 

Celestia simply nodded, adding. “It’s a long story, I’ve no desire to discuss it.” 

“Aunty Celestia called Dante’s only shot to get home a wild-goose chase and he threw alien stuff at her after yelling at her to get out of his room.” Cadance added. 

Luna gasped, Celestia rolled her eyes at what she believed to be an overreaction. “As far as Jaeger is able to tell, his device to communicate with his kind is in the Sea of Clouds. I simply informed him that I would not risk any of my stallions on a wild-goose chase. If he wishes to perish traversing the Sea of Clouds, then that is his prerogative, but I will not order any of my guards to their deaths by assisting him.” 

Luna, however, protested. “Sister, you called something Jaeger holds dear to his heart unattainable. In the most offensive way possible!” Luna tossed her sword blindly behind her, as it clattered wherever it had landed as she approached her sister. “You didn’t even grace it with some old, wise way of saying it. You called it a wild-goose chase as though he was a co-worker trying to do something dumb.”

The Solar Princess sighed. “Arguably, pursuing his device into the Sea of Clouds is a dumb thing to do.” 

“But it’s his only way home to ponies he has fought and spilled blood for. Perhaps if you’ve seen what I’ve seen you would understand why he took the news so badly. He has sacrificed thousands of years fighting for his home, and he has seen his brothers and sisters fall in the line of duty. And then you go and call his chances of going home, back to the ponies he fought to protect… well, you call them a wild-goose chase!” 

“It’s in the Sea of Clouds, Luna! Nopony has ever entered it and successfully exited.” Celestia rebuked, though her sister was having none of it. 

“Then how did it get there, if We remember correctly, Jaeger’s device was stolen by a unicorn and a gryphon. Meaning somepony had to enter the Sea to get their orders, exit to steal the device and then reenter to bring the device to their master.” 

“You are operating under the assumption that they didn’t just fly into the Sea, either by accident or in a suicide mission.”

“Why would anypony steal an alien device that is quite literally priceless and then do a suicide dive into the Sea of Clouds with it! That is the dumbest conclusion We’ve ever seen anypony reach in all Our years of being alive!” 

Cadance soon joined in on the bickering, Fortnite being forgotten. 

The disguised changeling was thankful, and quickly slinked out of the room and into the hall, slipping behind the door. 

She quietly made her way to the room Dante had commandeered, the halls quiet despite three of the most powerful ponies in the land bickering not too far from her. 

She reached the room in short order, and approached the door. She hesitated as she raised her hoof, though, followed through with a knock on the door. 

“Dante...it’s me, Four-Tw-… Fortnite. It’s me, Fort, can I come in?” No voice sounded in confirmation, as a result, the changeling could only take a deep breath and ease open the door. 

The first thing that hit her was the acrid smell of smoke. Her nose scrunched up, the smell reminding her of the movements she and her squad did during scouting missions around some of the more westerly settlements. Tobacco farming was big there despite the regulations against it. 

She didn’t understand what was so appealing about being confused for hours, but she also wasn’t about to criticize someone for what they liked to do. 

But this wasn’t just the smell of tobacco, it also smelled like mint, oddly enough. 

She nudged open the door a tad more, to be greeted by the sight of a room destroyed. The tables that previously contained the monitors and Dante’s various sciencey equipment were now over turned, monitors smashed and tables broke. The floor was littered with plastic and glass. 

As she entered the room, she saw Dante laying on the couch, now in just his underwear, shirt and lower clothing, smoking a cigarette. 

“Evenin’… night? Fuck, I don’t know what time it is, Good whatever time it is to ya, Fort.” 

As she approached the laying biped, her nose also picked up the scent of alcohol. 

“Have you been drinking?” 

The biped chuckled as he took another drag from the burning cigarette, his eyes staring at the wall. He breathed out, allowing the smoke to lazily float in front of him. He reached behind the arm of the couch producing a bottle with alien text written on it. 

“Bourbon. One-hundred-twenty proof. Produced and bottled in Bards-town, Ken-Tucky.” The alien words lightly slurred out of the biped’s mouth as Fortnite took in more of the scent surrounding the Human. 

She allowed her disguise to drop, once more revealing her chitinous form. 

“I didn’t realize you were a smoker.” The changeling responded. Dante merely tilted his head to look at her. 

“It… it was a bad habit I picked up in the trenches of France during the first World War. Stuck with me for a while… ‘til I met Lakia. I smoked for a while still while seeing her, but I dropped it when she asked me to. I wasn’t planning on breaking my clean streak, but you know… I figured...” He took a swig of the bourbon and the laid it back on the ground. 

“Alcohol and tobacco. Two of the only goddamn things that I can regularly partake in and two of the only things I can take solace in at the moment. One of the dead assholes on the Celeste had some stale-as-fuck five thousand year old Newports on him.”

“Well… I hope you have a lot, because tobacco farming is banned in Equestria.”

Dante lazily blinked at the changeling, then frowned. 

“Fuck.” He turned back and looked to the bottle of bourbon on the floor. “Fuck, I guess I only have alcohol to fall to, now.” 

“Why did you lapse back into an addiction?” 

Dante violently rubbed his face with his free hand before answering. “Because who the fuck gives a goddamned shit at this point. Cake-ass is right. Those sats are designed to see through CMEs, but they can’t even see through a bunch of clouds. If they can’t see through it, then there’s no way in fuck any of my UAVs will be able to get through. And if my UAVs can’t get through, then the likelihood of me piloting anything through successfully without having goddamned-motherfucking-shiteating-pissdrinking gremlins in the fucking piece of shit cocksucking electrical-fucking-systems bringing me the goddamned fuck down is nil-to-fuckin’-nil. And do you want to know what I realized, Fort?” Dante allowed his head that he had been holding up to slam into the armrest of the couch. 

“Celestia’s right. I’m not getting home. Not without the larcom. It’s the only way I have to get home. But I can’t get to it… so now… I’m here… God fucking knows where I am. But I’m trapped on a planet with a bunch of talking, mythical and colorful creatures. And now I have nothing to keep my mind off the fact that Lakia’s probably dead. It’s been five thousand years, there’s no way she’s alive.” Dante held up his left hand, his thumb and trigger finger holding up a simple gold ring.

He fidgeted with it, while Fortnite merely sat quietly. “’Til Death Do Us Part. Fuck of a husband I was. I did the exact goddamn thing my dad did and disappeared from Lakia’s life. Goddamn, now I feel like a piece of shit… shrugging him off for all those years. And then I fucking go and do the same goddamned exact thing I utterly despised him for doing.” Dante snuffed his cigarette out on a broken monitor near the couch he was laying on. He rubbed his eyes with both of hands, now that they were free. 

“I’m an old war-horse, Fort, who outlived its usefulness. I’m useless to my rider, I should have been put out to pasture years ago. Farmer Joe’s farm.” Dante removed his hand from his bloodshot eyes, as he stared up at the ceiling. “Fuck, that sounds nice. I get to live out my last couple of years in peace, before I step in a hole made by a gopher and break my ankle. And since I’m so old, there isn’t anything Farmer Joe can do, so his son who’s afflicted with an unknown and unnamed but very vicious disease who I miraculously made friends with in my last few years ends up being the one who puts me down in a mercy killing.” 

There was a pause, as no one spoke, before Dante was the one who broke the silence. 

“… I’m rambling again, aren’t I?” 

“Yes, Dante, yes you are.” Venus responded. “Specifically, you’re wallowing in self-pity.” 

The biped groaned as he sat up on the couch, Fortnite shuffling on her hooves. 

This was not the creature she had come to know. This was a broken stallion. One who had been through so much, his back had finally been broken by a single straw. 

“So… if finding a way home is off your list… Dante, what’s your plan now?” 

Dante sighed, allowing a puff of air to escape his mouth. “Fuck… I don’t know… maybe just continue on with what those princesses want me to do. Get the inquiry and meeting with all the foreign heads of state over with… and then dedicate all my time to finding some way to permanently end my life before this planet’s sun dies out, leaving me alone on a dying rock… unable to die.”

Fortnite silently sniffed their air, detecting something she had never smelled come from the biped. 

Pure, unadulterated fear.

“Shouldn’t you at least try to get home.” 

“What’s the point of trying, Fort. That’s all I’ve ever done my entire fucking life. I’ve tried to kill the murderers of my mother. I failed. I tried to keep my loved ones alive and I’ve failed. My friends have died because I’ve tried. I tried to keep Lakia and Earth safe and I landed here and then some unicorn stole my ride home when I tried to get it back. All of my attempts to do something has ended in the death of people I love or failure. What the fuck is the point of trying if everything I try ends in failure.”

“Dante, you’re wallowing in self-pity again.” 

“Fuck off, Venus! I’m fifteen-thousand years old and fucking drunk, I’m allowed to wallow in self-pity.” 

“You’re drunk?” Fortnite scrunched up her nose. “From a couple of sips? Just how strong is that stuff?”

“No,” Dante waved his hand, gesturing to behind the couch. Behind it lay several dozen bottles of bourbon, either stood up or laying on its side. “I downed like… twelve of them in the first minutes after you all left. The rest of them are from the time between I finished the twelvth and now.” 

Fortnite shook her head. “Dante, listen, there are still… people out there who could use your help. Surely, you’re not a ‘useless war-horse’.”

“I am. Especially in this world. Do you know what I did back home, Fort.” Dante laid back down, apparently unsure of whether he wanted to sit up or lay down. 

“I killed people. I killed threats. I made sure Earth was safe. Or at least tried to. But I wasn’t the only Legionnaire who could have done that. But now that the Imperium has revealed themselves to Humanity, Earth is almost assuredly safer then it was when I was watching over it. My usefulness ended when the Battle of Earth ended. As for Lakia…” 

Dante frowned as he once more stared up at the ceiling. “I crashed here heirless, so even if I were to make it back to Earth, the only blood I would have there would be half-blood to me. Nephews and nieces on my dad’s side. No sons or daughters. Mother’s side… fuck, I’m the only one left in the universe with her blood.”

Dante turned pulled a blanket that had been draped over the back of the couch and pulled it onto him. “I’m going to sleep Fort...” 

Though Fortnite could feel the desire to help the biped in her, she had to agree, it had been a very long day and she could feel the grips of sleep creeping up on her. 

So she made her way over to the bed she had slept in last night and pulled her self up on it. When she finally found a comfortable position, she clapped her chitinous hooves together, discovering that the lights Dante had used did indeed work with more then just fingers. 

She lay in the darkness, despite her exhaustion, sleep refused to come to her. So she laid there, the darkness laying upon her like a blanket. 

Dante’s voice finally cut through it. “Hey, Fort?” 

“Yeah?” 

“It’s a little cold, ain’t it?” 

“Yeah...” She sighed, as she realized the question contained another question in it. 

She quietly hopped off the bed, and quickly joined the biped on the couch, Dante silently covering her. 





“Wow.” Rainbow Dash stated, surprise evident in her voice as she flexed her wings. The doctor stood next to the bed she was leaning up. 

“I don’t know what the heck Dante used on me, but geez did it work. These would have taken weeks to heal normally.”

The tan unicorn looked up from his clipboard being held in his magic. “Hmm… yes… he called them ‘nanites’… whatever that means.”

Rainbow Dash shook her hoof, as she made to get off the bed. “He called them combat drugs when he was talking to me. Though, to be honest, I don’t even remember being given them.” 

Rainbow carefully tested her leg, gently putting weight on it. When she was confident it wasn’t going to suddenly collapse on her, she pulled herself off the bed and onto four legs. 

“Geez… I need to get some more of that stuff, I feel great!” 





Sergeant Bulwark carefully made his way through the halls of the castle. He wasn’t happy. Sure, he had received his promotion directly from the Diarchy, but there was a more pressing matter that even his fellow guards were pressing him for. 

Which is how he found himself speed-walking through the halls of Castle Canterlot trying to find his target. Thankfully, the guardstallions on-duty were more then willing to point him to his target. 

He lifted his hoof and gently rapped on the door, a few seconds passed before the doors seemingly opened by themselves.

He stepped inside, bowing his head. 

“Oh, good morning Sergeant, how are you doing today?” Bulwark glanced up to be greeted by the chipper face of Princess Celestia and the rather tired looking face of Princess Luna. However, his target was seated near them. A green unicorn, trying to make herself small as she quietly ate a bowl of oats. 

“Your Highnesses, please, forgive me for my intrusion. However, I must request Miss Fortnite’s presence in regards to a situation involving… my current commanding officer.”

Celestia nodded in understanding. “Of course, I’m not keeping her, she’s free to go if she wishes.” 

Without a response, the green unicorn removed herself from the chair she was using made to follow Bulwark, who closed the door behind them as they walked, leaving the two sisters to eat in peace. 

“Uh… Bulwark, is everything okay? Is Dante okay?” 

The stallion looked behind him to speak to her. “That’s why I grabbed you. But wait before you say anything. I’m taking us to a private place. I don’t want any rumors from eavesdroppers.” And so she followed him. 

During the ride back from Ponyville to Canterlot, she had not gotten much from the stallion, a quiet one. She and Dante had done most of the back and forth, Bulwark only occasionally interjecting. But otherwise had stayed silent. 

So now here she was being led by the quiet stallion to an unknown place. 

After a few minutes of trotting, Bulwark turned a corner and into a room, Fortnite quickly following behind him. 

The stallion was waiting for her in the room, closing the door behind her after glancing out and making sure they hadn’t been followed. The doors closed, the lock clicking shut. He gave them a light tug to insure it had indeed engaged and then turned around to face the interior of the room. 

The room they had entered had been one of the various dining rooms for castle staff, rarely used now except for special occasions.

It was only a few dozen feet long and wide, a modestly sized room relative to some of the other ones in the castle. 

Bulwark removed his helmet, his white coat reverting to its dark brown color, gently setting the headpiece down on the table. 

“Drop your disguise, Fortnite.”

She turned around to meet his eye. “Why?” 

“Because I want to talk to you face to face. I locked the door, don’t worry, nopony’s coming in here.”

The changeling dropped her disguise, her green hair turning into hard chitinous armor and her eyes turning into pure blue orbs. 

“What in tartarus is going on?” Bulwark questioned.

“I’m sorry?” 

Bulwark sat on his haunches, sighing. His eyes pinched closed. “You know what I mean. The General. Dante. Nopony’s seen hide nor hair of him for an entire day. There’s been no explosions, no gory deaths, no gunshots, no shenanigans. Canterlot has been peaceful for an entire day. Where is he? What happened to him? He’s got the entire guard, and amazingly enough, a large amount of nobles freaking out over his lack of… causing disturbances! My guys have been riding my flank trying to find out what in the hay is going on since he’s technically still my commanding officer but the problem is, I’ve not got a singled damned clue. The last I saw of him is when he ordered me to return to the barracks.” 

Fortnite sighed, frowning and her shoulders shrugging. 

“Celestia said something… and… well… there’s a disease ponies have a name for. A… mental illness, I can’t think of the name. But it’s like… when you have two personalities.” She put a hoof to her chin, thinking. 

“Multiple personality disorder?” Bulwark groaned. “Oh, don’t tell me Dante thinks he’s a gryphon named something silly like George.” 

Fortnite shook her head while waving a foreleg. “No, no, no. Maybe personality was a bad word, two… like… somepony’s happy and energetic one second and the very next second they’re extremely depressed. Oh… what’s the name for it!”

Bulwark raised an eyebrow. “Bipolar disorder?” 

Fortnite clapped her hooves. “Yes! Yes, that! I think Dante may suffer from it and I think Celestia may have triggered his jump from… well, his energetic side to his depressed side.” 

“So… you’re saying we’re dealing with an alien who’s not only equicidal, willing to extra judicially execute arrested criminals, had super-equinoid strength, he’s all of those things, but he’s also mentally unstable?” 

Fortnite nodded her head. “He’s also immortal, don’t forget that… and maybe a tad suicidal.” 

Though Bulwark’s expression seemed to be neutral, Fortnite could smell the incredulousness radiating from him. “Oh… immortal and suicidal… that fills me with confidence. Wonderful, my commanding officer is insane.” He rubbed his temples with his hooves as he tried to piece everything together. 

“Okay, so… what do you think Princess Celestia said that triggered his depressive episode?” 

“Honestly…” The changeling sat back on her haunches, a hoof raised to her chin once more. “She called his attempts to get his larcom back a ‘wild goose-chase’ and then said she would not order any of you all into your deaths should he choose to pursue it into the Sea of Clouds.” 

Once more, Bulwark groaned. “Ugh, no… it’s not in the Sea of Clouds, you’re foaling me.” 

Fortnite nodded. “From what Dante can tell, it’s the only place it could be. His satellites couldn’t scan the Sea and he picked up no other signals. I didn’t know what it was and neither did Princess Cadance, so he kind of… foalnapped Princess Celestia.” Fortnite quietly tapped her hooves together, looking away from the stallion. Who could only roll his eyes at the info. 

“Honestly, at this point, I’m not even shocked.” 

He sighed. “Awesome, so now we have a depressed alien.” 

Fortnite nodded. “And there’s an even bigger issue.” 

“I know, the Parliamentary Inquiry.” To this Fortnite shook her head. 

“No, not that.” Fortnite sucked in a breath. “He’s terrified.” 

Bulwark titled his head. “Who… Dante? The hay does he have to be worried about? He’s the most terrifying thing on this planet.” 

She nodded her head. “I think the thought of being alone absolutely terrifies him. I could smell it when he started talking about being alone.” 

“But he’s not alone. He’s surrounded by us.” Bulwark protested, though Fortnite shook her head once more. 

“It’s not that. Put yourself in his hooves. Imagine you’re on his world and the only hope you have of getting back here has just been stolen by another Human. And you’re able to track the thing you need to go home, but the Human leader has said she wouldn’t lend you any help to retrieve it. Yes, Dante’s not physically alone, but in his mind, he’s the only one he’s got to get home, but his machines can’t make it through the Sea. So the only way he could get through is with the help of the Princesses. One of whom, Princess Celestia, outright denied him any aid before he could even request it.”

Bulwark paused, blinking. “Wow… that was amazingly empathetic.” 

Fortnite shrugged. “I’m a changeling, it comes naturally to me.” 

Bulwark shook his head. “I’m still not entirely understanding this.” 

Fortnite looked him straight in the eye. “Long story short? Celestia somehow managed to take all the fight out of Dante. His… heart has stopped ticking and it needs a jumpstart.”





Hunter silently stared at the young woman as she peeled and cleaned various fruits and vegetables. He was covered with a blanket as he sat, his knees tucked close to his chest. 

“I certainly hope you’re feeling better today, Schwarz.” The young woman spoke, mainly to herself. She had learned fairly quickly that the young man she knew as Schwarz didn’t speak. 

Hunter, for his part, had been in the village for a little over three weeks now, having woken up about a week ago and moving about around the same time. Though mainly only to relieve himself, and he only moved when no one was looking. For the most part, he just hid in the hut he had woken up in. The young woman who introduced herself to him as Koch had really been the only company he had.

And indeed, her name fit, she was a supremely good cook. Apparently the cook for the village, and she had been the main person who had taking care of the silent Hunter, who refused to meet her eye. 

“I am making a stew. A mixture of potatoes and carrots, as well as some rabbits some of the runners caught. And… as a special treat, some deer meat from a deer they managed to grab!” She did a small cheer, as she hummed a small tune ostensibly to herself, though her main hope was that it would improve the spirits of her charge. Who had still not spoken, and barely reacted to anything around him. 

She had yet to see him eat, though she would leave a bowl for him. When she came back later, she would find it cleaned out. So that was good news, she supposed. 

She brushed a stray lock of blond hair from her face as she continued cleaning and prepping the ingredients she would need for the stew, occasionally glancing over her shoulder at the young man they had taken in. His eyes were still staring ahead, his mouth unmoving. 

He had not made a single sound or smiled at all in the few weeks he had been here. Still… she was determined to get him to say something, and if he couldn’t speak, she would at least get a smile from him. 

She dropped a few carrots and a touch of deer meat, her secret, onto a wooden plate and carried it to Schwarz. She gently set it down in front of the sitting man and then retreated back to the pile of food. 

“A snack, so you don’t have to wait for the stew to cook.” She said, her back turned. She wanted to turn and look back around, to see him eating. But she knew he wouldn’t eat if she did. If she broke his trust once, he would just wait until she left the hut. 

Hunter quietly reached out, his eyes trained on Koch, fully prepared to withdraw his hand should she make any sort of indication of looking over her shoulder. 

The meat might smell delicious, but he didn’t want her looking at him doing something. 

“I am often criticized for wanting to help you, a stranger… Called silly.” 

Hunter did have to wonder why she seemed so insistent on helping him. He hadn’t done anything to help them, yet this girl seemed to be absolutely insistent. 

After a few minutes of him slowly eating the deer meat and carrots, carefully so he could react should she try to get a look of him moving around he could stop. 

In the corner of his eyes, he saw her legs positioning herself to turn around, so he withdrew his arm under the blanket and stopped chewing. 

He saw her eyes glance down to the plate, now not as full as it had been, though he was motionless, nothing had changed, as though he had never moved from the last time she looked at him. 

She sighed as she balanced two plates of ingredients for her stew. “I’ll be back in just a little while. Feel free to join us.” 

Of course, Hunter had no intention of joining them. Although in his mind, he could come up with no articulable reason as to why he saw the need to hide his movements from them, he just didn’t want them to see him moving. 

Hearing Koch leave the hut, he allowed his head to fall to his knees, his energy seemingly having evaporated. 





“Dante?” Fortnite, now once more a green unicorn, slowly opened the door to the room. She glanced around, the lights were still off and the room was still as she had left it. 

And there, on the plundered couch the biped had probably won in armed combat, was the enigmatic alien in all his glory. 

Snoring away without a care in the world. 

“Oh, geez.” Bulwark nosed his way into the darkened room, his ears twitching at the sound of the snoring. “He is in a bad way, isn’t he? I’ve seen him react to sounds even I couldn’t hear and he’s still asleep.”

He trotted over to Dante, tossing a manila folder over to a still standing table, he used his hoof to poke the general’s leg, receiving no reaction. 

“Okay… this is terrifying. He’s still alive, right?” Bulwark nodded to the sleeping creature, as Fortnite gently kicked the door closed, dropping her disguise in the process. 

The room now cloaked in darkness, she clapped her hooves, resulting in the lights recently installed on the ceiling activating. 

“Yeah, he is. Just… not… feeling all too well. I think he’s sleeping so deeply because he doesn’t want to be awake… or he’s just ignoring us.” 

Bulwark glanced around the destroyed room, tables overturned and bits and pieces of technology belong to Dante’s people littering the floor. 

He paused as his eyes landed on a lone leg chair. He picked it up in his magic, the brown aura lifting the leg into the air. He tested its weight and then brought it over to the couch. He lined it up with about where he thought Dante’s stomach would be and then lifted it up to br-

“Wait! Stop! What are you doing!” Fortnite trotted up to the two, her magic intertwining with Bulwark’s in order to prevent him from bringing the makeshift club down upon the biped. 

He calmly met the changeling’s eyes. “This is revenge for the crash course he put me through, interrupting my spa time and then disappearing for a few days making my life suck. And just being a nuisance in general.” 

“I’m not going to let you hit him!” The changeling protested, tugging on the club with her magic, the green aura fighting the brown aura for control. 

“He’s immortal, he’ll be fine.” The stallion argued, attempting to bring the club down, though meeting surprising resistance from the changeling. 

“No!” 

“Stop!” 

“Give me the chair leg!” 

“I’m not giving you the chair leg, I want to hit him with it!” 

“And I don’t want you hitting him with the chair leg!” 

“Listen, I’ll hit him first then give you the chair leg so you can hit him with it!” 

“I don’t want to hit him!”

As the battle for the chair leg raged on, both could feel their magic’s grip slipping, sweat beginning to form on their faces as they both fought towards their prospective goal. Fortnite attempting to prevent the assault on the biped, Bulwark attempting to assault his commanding officer. 

Once more, Equestrian and Changeling found themselves at odds, at war. They fought valiantly for the chair leg, one for justice and the other for revenge. 

Until the Changeling lost. Fortnite’s magical grip slipped, allowing Bulwark’s downward force to bring the makeshift club into the stomach of the stranded alien, still sleeping with his eyes closed. 

Fortnite had no time to react, beyond her eyes widening as she saw the club falling. 

And certainly, the strike was mighty, backed up by the pent-up anger of a former corporal recently turned sergeant. 

Or at least... it would have been, had a hand not reached out and stopped the strike before it could make contact. 

Before Bulwark could react, another hand shot out, reaching under his chest and gripping his barrel. Within a second, the sergeant found himself… being snuggled by the biped. 

“Bulwark,” Dante whispered into the stallions ear, causing much physical and emotional discomfort. “I may be asleep and depressed right now, but I have ten thousand years of fighting under my belt. You have, at most, a day. What did you think was going to happen when you tried hitting me with that chair leg?”

“Sir,” The stallion squirmed in a vain attempt to escape his predicament, which found him laying on his side and being pulled into the Human’s torso by his comparatively spindly, though surprisingly strong arms. “Could you let me go, this is extremely unprofessional.”

“Trying to hit me with a chair leg was extremely unprofessional, this is your punishment. Unless you want a court martial for attempting to assault a superior officer… I’d hate for you lose those shiny new triple chevrons and find yourself back to no chevrons… or in prison...dungeons? What do you guys even use here?” 

The mention of court martials, demotion and prisons, the stallion stopped wriggling, calming down a tad bit. 

“What did you need, Fort?” Dante questioned, as a free hand moved to the stallions mane, his fingers digging into the unicorn’s scalp, though one arm still holding tight. 

Fortnite felt an odd twinge at seeing the unicorn’s eyes go half-lidded. But she had to ignore it. She raised a hoof to her mouth and coughed. Levitating the manila folder Bulwark had walked in with over to the couch. She took a few documents out. 

“Bulwark got word of the Parliamentary Inquiry by a cousin who’s a guard there. He put together a folder of information that might help us… though… it’s not a lot.” 

“There’s not a… lot to go… on.” Bulwark groaned through the scalp message he was receiving as punishment for attempting to assault his commanding officer, resulting in Dante rolling his eyes. 

“And I figured we should go over it, considering the inquiry is tomorrow.” 

Dante groaned. “I had plans for tomorrow.” 

“Like what, exactly, since you said you were giving up trying to get home.” 

Dante pulled a blanket over his head, covering both him and Bulwark. “Like sleep. If I’m lucky maybe I’ll die in my sleep.” His voice was slightly muffled. 

“Could you do me a favor, sir, and not die while you’re holding me. I don’t think I could get out of this hold even if you were dead.” Came the muffled request from Bulwark. 

Fortnite, for her part, could only roll her eyes as she grabbed the blanket in her magic and pulled it back down. 

“Dante! Now’s not the time for jokes, t-” 

“That wasn’t a joke.” 

“Don’t interrupt me. That inquiry is important and it could have long lasting effects while you stay here. It could be the difference between ponies tolerating you or attacking you.” 

Dante scowled. “Good, of all the people who could figure out how to kill me, maybe the magical colorful talking ponies will have more success then anyone else has.” 

Once more, the changeling found herself rolling her eyes. “Dante, will you stop being angsty and just work with us? We’re trying to help you.” 

She opened the folder, reading a few documents. “Based on a few things Bulwark’s cousin has told him, avoid most members of the Parliament. Many of them are downright nasty, but most are just concerned about furthering their own political goals.” 

“So… any politician ever?” Dante questioned, continuing to rub Bulwark’s scalp, Fortnite ignored him. 

“We’ve also identified a few allies.” 

“How many.” Dante questioned.

“I can count them with my hooves...” She raised one hoof. “MP Fancy Pants...” She lowered that hoof and then raised the other. “And Prince Blueblood. Of those two, Fancy is the only positive ally. Blueblood is only an ally in the sense that he is utterly terrified of you and refuses to put his name to anything he believes could anger you. He’s been vetoing all proposals regarding you.” 

Dante shrugged. “Okay, so he’ll veto any issues that arise, right? I just go in there, bare my fangs at him a tiny bit and I’m good.” 

Bulwark shook his head. “’Fraid not. Prince Blueblood may have the power to veto proposals, but Parliament can override his veto with a two-thirds majority vote. Usually they don’t have the steam to muster all those votes, but if you’re terrifying enough, you may be able to unite parliament enough to do so.” 

“Okay, so what else is there?” Dante questioned, though both Bulwark and Fortnite met eyes. 

“Uh… this is it.” Fortnite answered. 

“That’s it?” Dante questioned, eyebrow raising. 

“Yes… like I said, we don’t have a lot to go on. No historical precedence. The closest we have to go on are the Gryphonian-Equestrian contact wars, but even then, there wasn’t such a massive gap between physical ability and technological level. They were… well, fairly on par with us. You… though, you’re an issue. Not just from your inability to be killed, but also your ability to seemingly outpace anything put before you.” Bulwark answered. 

“So… I’m going into this blind… awesome. You have pics of my ‘allies’?” Dante stopped scratching Bulwark’s head to make airquotes around the word.

Fortnite quickly passed two back and white photos to him. “First one is Fancy Pants, a Level One MP.”

Dante studied the image. “British pony. Probably hates free speech and thinks racist jokes are jail worthy.” 

Fortnite shook her head, doing her best to not pay attention to the biped’s crazed speech. 

“Second one is Prince Vladimir Blueblood. Level Zero.” 

Dante snorted as he examined the second picture. “Vladimir. Well! He’s obviously a tyrant in the making, probably a secret bad-ass. Wouldn’t be all too surprised if he can kick ass and take names.” 

There was a pause, as Fortnite met his eye, Bulwark twisting his neck to glare at the human. 

“… What! Anyone whose name is Vladimir is bound to be a tyrant who can kick ass. Not that it’s a good thing, but you have to be able to recognize your enemy’s strengths.” 

“Dante… that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard from you in the few days I’ve known you. Blueblood is well known for being a coward in Canterlot.” Fortntie answered.

Dante opened his mouth to retort, though paused halfway through, an eyebrow raised. “Wait a minute… wasn’t the wedding incident the first official contact between changelings and Equestrians… Fort… how do you know so much about Equestria if your hive was below ground and segregated from the rest of society?”

Fortnite’s mouth flapped open like a dying fish, as she sought an answer in her mind. “It’s… books. We had books in the hive and soldiers are taught basic infiltration.” 

Dante’s gaze hardened. “You want to know something interesting, Fort? Creatures with more mobile pieces on them are far more expressive then Humans are. Humans and Phoenixes are considered some of the best liars in the galaxy because we don’t have ears that twitch, tails that swish or noses that frantically begin sniffing the air. I know what you said was bull…” 

Fortnite could feel sweat beginning to form on her chitin, as Dante’s differently colored eyes seemed to stare into her very soul, prying every secret she ever held. Not even the Queen had ever shook her quite like this. 

However, Dante’s gaze instantly softened. “Eh, whatever, I can’t be bothered to pry anymore. Probably nothing super important.” 

Dante looked back to the two pictures he had in his hand. “So I’m going into this legally blind, huh? Well… can’t say this is the first time I’ve ever done it. Probably won’t be the last.” 





Once more Hunter found himself alone in the hut, Koch having gone off to help the tribe cook. 

The clothing he wore was simple. The linen tunic had been made by one of the tribe’s weavers. Though he had foregone the leather hide shoes. 

And here he was, just as he was any other day. Not moving when anyone was looking at him and just sitting motionless in the hut. He still had not made a sound in the entire time he had been here, nearing one moon cycle. 

He had no idea what he was doing. Why he was doing what he was doing. Why these people were still helping him, he also could not fathom. 

But for some odd reason, something in his chest was squirming. Something in him was telling him to move, to run. He could not explain what it was, but he could feel something pulling him somewhere. 

He resisted it initially. His brain fighting this feeling keeping him sitting down and unmoving. But every minute, something in the back of his mind kept pushing him. And not even he could resist the pull. 

Which is how he found himself standing nervously, grasping the hides used to make the portal separating the safety of the inside of the hut from the dangers of the outside world. 

What was he afraid of? Nothing had managed to kill him yet, yes, he had been hurt. But he had healed just fine, and he was still breathing. Not even those strange men had managed to kill him. 

So why couldn’t he open the portal? His brain was still resisting the urge, but the voice in the back of his head was growing stronger, urging him to a spot. Somewhere he had never been before, but he knew exactly how to get there. 

Taking a deep breath, he hesitated, he could feel his muscles attempting to pull back the hides, but his brain resisted his every move. 

Finally the voice in his head was screaming at him, drowning out every sound he could hear. 

Still his brain refused to allow him pull open the curtains separating him from the outside. His muscles violently fought against his brain, attempting to override the organ. 

This continued for a long while, until finally the voice screaming at him not only drowned out the sounds, but drowned out his thoughts. 

The muscles, no longer restrained by the brain acted quickly, and violently. 

Tearing open the curtains, Hunter’s feet propelled him forward, pushing him past Lange who stared at the running man in shock. He passed Koch, which if he had been able to hear anything at all, he would have heard her shouting.

But the voice, now in control of the young man’s body having wrenched control from his brain, cared for none of this. Instead, all it cared about was ordering his feet and legs to continue moving. 

Left, right, left, right, left, right. 

He cared not for the sun beating down upon him, or the seemingly impossibly blue sky. No, all he cared about was continuing to move forward. 

He passed trees and fallen logs without a care, sharp rocks that cut and bruised his feet were given no attention. 

He began his approach to a lake’s banks. The lake itself several hundred feet in any direction. Though the other side visible. Not even he could make this jump. 

Though that did not stop him, as the voice in his head refused to allow him to stop his feet, instead pushing him to go faster. 

As he neared the edge, where the bank began to incline, his legs forced his body to leave the earth. 

A sizeable jump, especially for a Human, though it was not enough, as he saw the water fast approaching. 

He blinked. Landing on grassy land instead of water, his brain was able to take control of his body long enough for him to look back, seeing that he was now on the other side of the lake, despite having not been able to jump the several hundred feet separating the two sides. 

But once more, the voice took over his mind, pushing him forward. 

He journeyed further and further away from the tribe and into the wilderness. He continued running, unsure of how far he had gone or for how long. 

He continued running, until he saw it. 

A large, furry creature. Rearing up on its hind legs, giving out a roar, fully prepared to kill whatever had angered it. 

What was on the ground caused the voice in his head to force him to run even faster. 

He covered the last hundred feet in seconds, barreling into the creature, wrapping his arms around as much of the body as he could. 

Though the bear had to be close to a thousand pounds, Hunter a mere one-thirty-five from his long time walking. The speed at which he ran into it was enough to send the two tumbling, Hunter being propelled from the bear, his body rolling dozens of feet in the dirt. 

He finally came to a stop staring up at the sky, his chest heaving from the run and the tackle. 

His mind began wandering, as his disused bones and muscles screamed at his brain to stop and rest. 

He was brought back to reality by yelling, rolling over to his stomach, he propped himself with up his arms. Looking from the ground, he saw a child trying to scoot away from the scene on their rear, the bear struggling to find its footing from the surprise tackle. 

Hunter followed suit, knowing what would follow if he didn’t get up. 

The bear found its feet once more, though ignoring the little girl, eyes fixed on the human that had challenged him. 

Once more it reared, roaring. 

Hunter pounded the ground with his fists, reciprocating the roar with one of his own. His throat, atrophied from lack of use for so long, protested as the roar vibrated through it. Though, once more he paid no attention to his body begging him to stop from the abuse he was putting it through. 

He launched himself from the ground, slamming head first into the muscular beast, his face meeting brown fur. 

He wrapped his arms around the waist of the bear, slightly above the bear’s hip. Though his arms were not long enough to wrap fully around the bear’s hide, fat and muscle. He dug his fingers into the skin of the bear, as the beast reciprocated, raking its large paws up Hunter’s backside, the claws easily ripping through his tunic and viciously digging into his back. 

With a muffled shout of effort, the anemic young man, weakened by years of not eating, though still stronger then many things that walked this very earth, began trying to lift the bear. 

The bear leaned down, digging more weight into the surprisingly solid human, its gaping maw managed to reach the right shoulder of the man, as it bit down in an attempt to stop the assault. 

But the man pushed through it, as he felt the bear’s hind legs beginning to leave the ground and his own body slowly taking on the weight of a half-ton bear. 

The little girl was shouting, the blood pouring from Hunter’s back and shoulder staining the ground as he continued to struggle to lift the bear. 

A claw swipe found his head, pushing it further into the bear’s torso and tearing a large gash into the back, tearing through the fat and muscle present and exposing the bone of the skull, a flap of skin hanging limply on. 

With another shout, both of pain and anger, Hunter bent his body back, the bear coming with him, as his hands tore through hide, fat and muscle. Until they found each other. 

The bear now suspended near vertically and his face no longer pushed into the belly of a bear, instead the crown of his head pushing into the bear’s torso, he shouted once more. As the bear’s maw chomped down upon one of his legs. 

With great effort the two hands grasping opposite pulled down on the bear with tenacity The beast roaring not in anger, but in pain. 

Hunter applied more pressure, as a sickly crack and tearing cut its way through the air. The bear’s spine breaking in two and puncturing through the hide of its backside. 

Though the bear was still not dead. Its paws swiped at Hunter’s left leg, forcing him to his knees. 

In anger, Hunter allowed his hands to release one another. 

He grasped the bear as tightly as he could with his left hand, his fingers tearing into it, as his right hand grasped the upper portion of the spine poking through the hide on the back. 

His hands coated in blood, gore and spinal fluid, Hunter gave an inhuman roar, one which would haunt the mind of the little girl until the day she died, he gave a mighty pull upon the spine, a sickening crunch and squelch tore through the air and invaded the ears of anyone and anything present, as the young man tore the bear’s skull and brain out of its body through its backside. 

With one more roar, the young man threw the spine and destroyed skull away, shrugging the massive beast off of him, the body throwing dirt into the air as it landed from the three foot height it was dropped from. 

The blood soaked Hunter began to fall, his hands catching him. As he was there, on his knees, his arms being the only thing separating him from the ground. 

His chest was heaving from the physical exertion, the run and the fight had taken their toll on him, as he could feel his stomach forcing itself up. 

Blood mixed with chunks of meat, fruits and vegetables poured from his mouth, merely adding to the gore stained dirt. He gave a few more heaves, adding more blood to the growing collection, before finally gasping for breath. His muscles, stomach and throat bellowing at him to stop. 

The little girl had grown silent. With great difficulty, Hunter lifted his head, turning his sight from the ground to the girl, who was sitting a few feet from the fight, her eyes wide in shock and tears streaming down her face. 

“Schwarz!” Hunter turned his head to the direction of the shout, as he turned his sight to see Lange running up a trail, followed closely by Koch. 

Both of them were carrying spears, as they continued running to the scene. “Weber!” Koch shouted. 

The closed the gap, Koch sliding to a stop in front of the young girl and embracing her, as Lange also slid to a stop, though his attention was on the blood stained ground and the corpse of the large bear near Hunter. 

“What the...” He muttered, his brain struggling to process what he was seeing. 

“Weber. Weber, what happened here!” Koch shouted as she lifted the little girl up, the girl sobbing into her shoulder. 

“I’m sorry!” She cried, her arms wrapping around Koch’s neck. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hurt him. I’m sorry!” She choked through her sobs. 

“Weber, what happened.” Lange asked, examining the bear’s corpse with his spear. 

He looked to Hunter, confusion evident in his face. “Did you do this?” He asked, gesturing to the corpse and the spine on the ground. 

He received no response from the man, who was still trying to breathe. 

“I was trying to find an herb to help him.” Weber choked through sobs, muffled by Koch’s shoulder. “Mom always got it when my throat hurt so I thought it might help him talk.” Koch began patting the girl on the back, as her sobs quietly died down and increased in length between them. “A-and I went too far into a cave’n the bear began chasing me. I thought...” Once more, the girl began sobbing heavily at the thought of what would have happened if it hadn’t been for the intervention of the man she knew as Schwarz. 

Lange raised an eyebrow, looking at Koch, then to Hunter. “She’s not saying Schwarz,” He gestured to Hunter with his spear. “Did this,” He gestured to the bear’s corpse. “Is she?” 

Koch nodded. “That’s what it sounds like.” 

“The bloody bear is torn in half! A man can’t do this! Much less a man as emaciated as Schwarz is! Look at him! You’ve been feeding him for nearly a cycle and you can still see his ribs!” 

“He did do it.” The little girl’s cries had down once more, being mere chokes and a few sobs here and there, her voice still muffled by Koch. 

“It was about to hurt me, and then he appeared out of nowhere and ran into it. And then he lifted it up and killed it.”

Lange shook his head. “Gods above...” 

Koch merely embraced the child even tighter. “Oh, you stupid, stupid girl.” She whispered, as images of the child being mauled ran through her mind. 

The group heard shouts nearby, the group of men the two had left behind to catch to up to Hunter finally making their way. The gap was closing, though they slowed down at the sight of the mutilated bear, the head of it deflated from the lack of a skull to support it.   

“What the...” One of them asked. Lange merely shook his head. 

“Don’t ask… strip the bear. That’s a lot of food there and I don’t want it going to waste.” He approached the collapsed and bloody man, kneeling down and wrapping his arm around the upper arm of the biped, he helped the man to his feet, blood still dripping from his mouth.  

“Ugh, geeze, Schwarz. Whose blood i-” He noticed the loose flap of skin on Hunter’s head, as well as the exposed muscle and strips of skin stained red by the blood on his back. Chunks of muscles and flesh missing from one of his legs. 

“Oh… ah, fuck! Koch!” He turned to the young woman, gesturing to Hunter. “Koch, I don’t think your boyfriend’s going to make it.” 

“Don’t say that!”
“Which part? That he’s your boyfriend, or that he’s going to die?” Lange questioned, Koch fixing him with a very angry stare. 

“Both. He’s not my boyfriend and he’s not going to die.”  

“Look at him, Koch! He’s tossing up blood,” He pointed at the pile of blood and partially digested food. “I can see his damn skull, he’s got curtains on his back and there’s a chunk missing from his left leg! How’s he even going to get back to the village!” 

Koch began walking away with the little girl. “Help him. And if he doesn’t make it back there, I’ll beat you Lange.” 

Lange groaned, protesting as she passed him. “But look at him! He’s covered in blood, Koch! In the shape he’s in, I’ll have to actually carry him ba- and you’re not paying attention to me…” Lange huffed as he turned to the silent man, Hunter’s eyes refusing to meet his. 

“Well, Schwarz, can you walk?” Though the man stayed silent, Lange removed his arm from the man and stepped back. 

“Well, come on, Schwarz.” Once more, Lange noted how he seemed to intentionally avoid meeting other people’s eyes.

Hunter took a single step, weight going on his relatively good leg, then took another, which immediately gave out, sending him tumbling violently to the ground. 

“Oh, godsda-” Lange sighed as he once more picked the young man up, this time allowing him to lean on him, acting as a support for his bad leg and began taking small steps. 

“Oh… this is going to be a long trip.” He looked to Hunter, still trying to find the man’s eyes. “You owe me for this.”
> A Door Opens... And Then You Get Pushed Through It
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 18

Dante looked back to the two pictures he had in his hand. “So I’m going into this legally blind, huh? Well… can’t say this is the first time I’ve ever done it. Probably won’t be the last.”

Dante sat up on the couch, Bulwark following the repositioning. He released the stallion, allowing him to find his hooves on the floor and steady himself. 

Dante brought both hands to his face and rubbed. “Ah, fuck, so I have two allies with any political clout in this fucking place. Only one of them is actually interested in helping and the other is fucking terrified of me…” 

Dante nodded his head, Fortnite opening her mouth to say something, though was cut off by a knock at the door. 

Bulwark and Fortnite turned to look at the door, as Dante seemingly produced a pistol from nowhere in particular, his right hand moving impossibly fast to retrieve it from where ever he had stored it while sleeping. 

The handgun leveled at the door, Bulwark merely rolled his eyes, Fortnite reassuming her pony disguise in a flash of fire. 

“Dante, stop pointing guns at ponies.” She whispered, the Human turning to look at her. 

“That’s a regular sized pony out there.” He whispered back. “Besides you and Bull, who the fuck would else be knocking on this door who is also a regular sized pony? 

“Put the gun down, Dante.” She whispered a bit more urgently this time at Bulwark, having also grabbed his helmet and replacing it on his head, finally reached the door, opening it. 

“Good evening!” A white unicorn stallion, wearing an impeccable black tuxedo paired with black bowler hat greeted, as he glanced to Bulwark’s armor. “Sergeant,” The unicorn used his hoof to tip his hat, Bulwark returning a salute. 

“MP Fancy Pants.” He stated with a nod, moving to allow Fancy Pants to enter the room. 

To which the fancy unicorn was greeted with the barrel of a firearm pointed at him and the sight of a wrecked room reaching him. 

He quickly sidestepped away from the handgun pointed at him, Dante choosing not to follow, and glanced around the room. “Oh, dear! I certainly hope I am not interfering with anything, am I? I can certainly leave and return at a later time if I am.” 

Dante glanced around the room, looking for anything suspicious. He lowered the handgun. “No, you’re not interrupting anything. In fact, we were just discussing you.”

“Ah, well, certainly nothing bad, I would hope.” He approached the two, holding a hoof out to Fortnite. 

“Fancy Pants, a pleasure to meet you, Miss…” Fortnite met Fancy’s hoof in a bump.

“Four-tw-… er, Fortnite.” The changeling shook her head lightly, something Fancy missed. 

The stallion turned to the sergeant who had allowed him into the room. 

“Sergeant, I’m afraid I missed your name when I first entered.” 

“Sergeant Bulwark, sir.” The guardstallion responded. 

Fancy raised a hoof to his chest. “Purely out of curiosity, might I inquire as to how you know General Jaeger?” 

The stallion nodded. “With the approval of Princess Celestia, General Jaeger appointed me as the Equestrian Liasion Officer to the Imperium of Phoenix.” 

Fancy’s eyes lit up at the explanation. “Ah! You were the officer who accompanied General Jaeger on that mission of his down to Ponyville which saw the release of many Diamond Dog captives, weren’t you?”

“I know I wasn’t exactly subtle about that, but how do you know about that? The last time I knew about it, those guys were still receiving medical aid before being processed.” Dante stated as he returned his pistol to its storage place. 

Fancy turned to the biped. “Oh, they most certainly are still being treated and debriefed by guard units. However, somepony saw fit to telegraph Canterlot and inform them of the situation. From there, one of the guardstallions leaked the story to the press and it was released yesterday. But the story is making waves around Canterlot, though it still does not seem to have made much of a dent in Parliament. I swear, the ponies there have some of the thickest skulls I have ever had the displeasure of having to meet.” 

Fancy Pants held out his hoof to Dante. “Although I believe we both know each other’s name, I do believe a formal introduction is in order. I am Fancy Pants, MP level one.” 

Dante glanced to the hoof, balled his fist up and met it in a bump. “Dante T. Jaeger, General of the Phoenix Legion Marine Corps.” 

“Pleasure to meet you, General!” Fancy stated, tipping his hat once more.

Dante held a hand up. “Please, Fancy Pants, just Dante is fine.” 

The stallion nodded. “And Fancy is just fine as well, Dante.” Fancy cleared his throat. “In any case, I came her for a few reasons. The first one was to introduce myself to the alien who’s been the talk of the elite. The second is far more pressing. The inquiry.” 

Dante sighed, laying back on the couch. “Oh, jesus, I just got vibes from my old shrink officer.” He nestled himself back further into the couch. “Well, go on Fancy, lay all the shit I need to expect onto me.” 

“Very well, Dante.” 





Twilight attempted to ignore the incessant knocking on the door to Golden Oaks. She had closed the library for a reason, why was somepony bothering her. 

She was reorganizing the library, did this pony not realize how important this was!

She, once more, attempted to force her way through the incessant pounding. And for five minutes, she managed to ignore it, and she would have ignored it for even longer, that is, until Spike came strolling out of the kitchen holding a sandwich. 

“Geez, Twi, will you answer the door, please? Somepony’s been knocking on it for a good ten minutes.” 

Twilight held out a hoof. “Spike, no! We’re closed, I put a sign on the door.” 

Spike waved a claw. “Why are we even closed?” 

“I’m reorganizing the library!” Spike gave his adopted big sister a look, his eyes calling her out. 

“No you’re not. You’ve reorganized the library before without closing it, so why are you doing it now.” Spike’s claw went top open the door, but stopped at Twilight shouted at him. 

“Spike, do not open that door! I do not have the time to deal with anypony today! There is the possibility of a major scientific break through coming soon.” 

“You’ve been awake for, like… a day, Twi, go get some sleep. I’ll deal with whoever this is.” He opened the door, revealing a bright eyed Rainbow Dash holding a suitcase in her mouth. 

She dropped it on the ground once the door was open. “Hey there Spike, how ya doing? Is Twilight here?” 

Spike thumbed behind him, pointing to the purple unicorn who had a book held in her magic. 

“Rainbow? Was that you knocking on the door for ten minutes?” 

The multi-color maned pegasus trotted into the building. “Yep, hey Twilight...” She spoke, stretching the unicorn’s name. The name rolling off her tongue with a sick sweetness that was not natural to her ‘cool’ demeanor. 

Honestly, it kind of freaked Twilight out. 

“So… we’re best friends and all and you know how best friends do nice things for each other? Well, best friend, I was really hoping that you could do something really super nice and co-” 

“What do you want?” Twilight bluntly cut the pegasus off. 

“Could you buy me a two way train ticket to Canterlot?” 

“… Why?” Twilight asked, the incredulity obvious in her voice. She shook her head as she looked Rainbow Dash in the eye. “Why don’t you just fly there? Also, why do you need me to buy you a ticket? While manager for the weather team may not be the highest paying job, I also certainly know it has a respectable wage.”

Rainbow uncharacteristically fidgeted on her hooves. “That’s sort of the problem, Twi. My wing and leg are still sore from when I broke them.” 

“Wait… broke? They don’t look broken to me.” Twilight questioned as she glanced to examine both Rainbow’s wings and legs. “You can’t have broken them recently, it’s been… what? A day, two since the last time I saw you?” 

“I broke them fighting a cyclops and then Dante killed it before it could do anything else and used some weird alien stuff on me to instantly fix my wing. But they’re still a bit sore so I won’t be able to fly on them for very long.” 

Twilight’s eyes twitched as she processed this new information. “He… did what?” 

Rainbow rolled her eyes, not a fan of repeating herself. “Crusaders were getting chased by cyclops, I tried to stop it. It broke my wing and leg and then Dante came and killed it and use some sort of alien stuff to fix me.”

Twilight smacked herself in the face with her hoof. “Okay… that still doesn’t answer why you just don’t buy the ticket yourself.” 

Rainbow gave a deadpan glance, as she wondered how one of the smartest ponies she knew could be this dense. “Twi… hello, I’m sixteen, remember? I can’t buy train tickets by myself. I’m a minor.” 

“… Ah, yes.” Twilight responded, her mouth staying slightly open. “Well, this also still doesn’t explain why you want to go to Canterlot. It’s not like you to do this. And I thought you said you hated Canterlot.”

“I do! It’s filled with nothing but a bunch of out of touch bigwigs trying to tell us what our local weather needs to be! ‘Oh, you need rain because you’re in a drought? Nope! You can’t make it rain and if you do, you’re going to have problems with us.’, I swear, the pegasi in the Ministry of Atmospheric Conditions are the most annoying flank-holes I have ever dealt with. Do you know how much paperwork I have to go through just to chase off an incoming line of thunderstorms that might flood the area? A lot, Twilight! A lot of paperwork! There’s more paper when I’m dealing with MAC then there is in this library and I hate it!” 

Twilight looked at her friend confused. She just used three relatively long words and one of them ever had four syllables! Four syllables! 

“So why do you want to go there?” Twilight pushed further. 

“Because! I just… feel like going there.”

Twilight rolled her eyes, as she pushed the matter further. “You and I both know that’s untrue. So why?” 

“Because, I just felt like going there. Seriously.”

“Rainbow Dash, I’m not going to buy you the train ticket unless you tell me right this instant why you want to go to Canterlot so suddenly.” Twilight insisted. 

Rainbow Dash groaned, throwing her head back in an exaggerated gesture, rolling her eyes at the same time. ‘Ugh… Fine! My brother sent me a telegram telling me there’s a parliament inquiry regarding Dante happening tomorrow and I need to get to Canterlot before this so I can see it.” 

“Wait… so… let me get this straight… Rainbow, you want to sit through a government function that’s going to take several hours and will be most likely boring… willingly.” 

Rainbow shook her head excitedly. “Yep! But I’ve learned that nothing is ever boring around Dante, so I’m sure something is going to happen at the inquiry and if it does I want to see those big wigs get it. I know some of the Brass who happen to have ties to the MAC happen to also be MPs, so if something does happen to them, I definitely want to be there to see it happen.” 

Twilight shook her head, shocked. “I’m just amazed you even know all of this, Rainbow.” 

“Hey!” Rainbow protested. “Sure, I might not be as smart as some other ponies, but I have to know a small bit of politics in order to manage weather teams. I’m dumb, not stupid. And yes, there is a difference.”

Twilight sighed. “Well… let me pack my bags and Spike’s. You can’t ride the train by yourself.” 

“Why not?” Rainbow Dash questioned, cocking her head to the side. 

“The Royal Train Commission doesn’t allow unaccompanied minors on the train without a lot of paperwork and interviews beforehoof, we don’t have time to do that, so I’ll just have to come with you. Spike!” 

The purple unicorn began trotting up the stairs as the purple dragon groaned, finishing off his sandwich. “Yeah, yeah, I heard you. I’m coming.” 

Twilight shook her head. “No Spike, go collect the rest of the girls.” 

Spike turned his head. “Why?”

“You know how Pinkie has those ‘doozies’? Yeah, I think I’m having one right now.” 





Spike returned to the house three mares following him. Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy, the three carrying bags. The small drake apparently having managed to convince Rarity to not pack a large amount of personal effects. As he made his way into the library, Rainbow was sitting on a couch looking bored as Twilight was finagling with a bag. 

“Spike, where’s Pinkie?” The unicorn asked without looking up from what she was doing. 

“Uh… I went to go get her and the Cakes told me that she had left just a few minutes before I got there… for Canterlot.” 

Applejack trotted forwards from her position in the group. “Enough about that crazy mare, Twi, just why are you dragging us all away the way back to Canterlot when we just came back to Ponyville a few days ago.” 

Twilight merely pointed a hoof to the bored looking Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow wants to go to Canterlot.” 

“… Okay? Apart from the fact that Rainbow willingly wants to go to Canterlot, which is a bit weird, why do we need to go as well?” Applejack responded. 

“She’s not old enough to travel by herself, the RTC doesn’t allow unaccompanied minors without a lengthy process and she can’t fly at the moment.” 

“Still doesn’t explain why me, Rares and Flutters are here. And why you wanted Pinkie here as well.” 

“We haven’t used the Elements in a while and the reason why Rainbow Dash wants to go up to Canterlot is to watch the Parliamentary Inquiry for Dante.” 

There was a silence in the room, as the mares took in the news. 

“Rainbow wants to sit in a room for hours on end and the only thing to do is listen to politicians speak?” Rarity questioned, turning her head to look at the pegasus mare. “Rainbow, dear, you how much I enjoy conversing with the elite of Canterlot, even I find the idea of sitting through an inquiry to be dreadfully boring.”

“But this is Dante we’re talking about, Rarity!” Rainbow Dash protested. “Anywhere he goes something interesting happens! And I know… I just know something is going to happen at this hearing!  I can feel it in my gut!” 

“So… Twi, you’re worried that we’re going to need to use the Elements? Uh… do the Princesses know we’re coming?” 

Twilight shook her head. “No they do not. Spike, cou-” 

“On it.” Spike stated as rolled up the scroll, pinching the end between two claws and then bathing it in his green flames. “Should get a message back pretty soon, Princess Celestia’s pretty on-point responding to these things.” 

“And there’s no time to waste. I’d like to get there before night so I can get some great sleep in.” Rainbow Dash stated as she hopped up from the couch she was sitting on, landing on her hooves and beginning to trot out the door. “Come on now, no time to waste. If I’m going to be sitting through a meeting where Dante’s going to be verbally attacking some of those stingy politicians that make my life a living pain, I want to be awake for all of it.” 

“What makes you think he’s going to do that?” Rarity asked as she pickewd up her single bag, following Rainbow Dash out of the door. 

“Have you met him… at all, Rarity? The dude’s got no filter on his mouth. You saw at the wedding, he was cussing right in front of the princesses and insulting them. He doesn’t care for… what’s that word you use all the time?” 

“Fabulous?”  Rarity questioned. 

Rainbow Dash shook her head. “No, no. The other one… uh… duh… dec… deck-rum?” 

Rarity raised an eyebrow, the rest of the group following behind the two, Twilight having locked up the library and explaining it would be closed for a little while with a sign on the door. 

“Decorum?” 

“Yeah, that. I don’t know… I just feel like he could be speaking to an actual… well, like an actual god and not be nice. I don’t think he cares what anypony thinks about him.” 

Fluttershy mumbled from the back of the group. 

“I’m sorry Dear, what was that? We couldn’t hear you.” 

Fluttershy gulped and then spoke a bit louder. “Or… maybe where he’s from it’s considered rude to not be… well… rude.”

“Like how gryphons consider a challenge to combat to be a sign of mutual respect? And refusing one is a serious insult?”  Twilight questioned, Fluttershy nodding. 

“Yes, or maybe its like how wolves play. They look like they’re actually fighting but they’re just having fun.” 

“You mean General Jaeger considers belittling every pony he meets to be fun?” Rarity questioned, Fluttershy shaking her head once more. 

“Yes, perhaps his kind just considers mocking each other an intrinsic facet of niceness. If you’ll notice, he didn’t continue to mock Chrysalis when she attacked him. In fact, he barely insulted her at all following her final attack. So, maybe he considers insulting us to be a show of… friendliness. Which would, of course, mean we’ve been being rude to him the entire time.” 

“But he’s been rude to us.” Applejack protested, Twilight shaking her head. 

“No, therein lies the problem with two different cultures interacting with each other, Applejack. What we consider rude may be friendly to him, and what he considers friendly may be rude to us. But with that being said, I’m not sure if I can support that idea. I don’t think he really means anything when he insults us, but I think that’s more of his personality then a facet of his culture.” Twilight responded, the train station coming into view. “In any case we’re here.” 





“So… basically, politicians are snakes and should an issue arise, look to you or Blueblood?” Dante summed up all that he had heard from the MP know as Fancy Pants. 

The stallion nodded. “Yes, though preferably me. As Blueblood is not guaranteed, though he is likely. Also, not all of the MPs are against, though they’re not your allies either. They’re currently resting on the fence. Though I believe most fence sitting MPs are leaning towards you. That article on you in the Canterlot Times certainly helped your popularity!” 

Dante glanced to the stallion, then to Bulwark and Fortnite. “Article?” 

Fortnite answered Bulwark’s and Fancy’s confusion. “He’s been locked in this room the past day. He hasn’t seen it.”

“Ah.” Fancy replied as he opened his briefcase and levitated a rolled up newspaper, passing it to Dante, who took it from the magical grasp, moving himself into a sitting position on his pilfered couch. He unrolled it, and was greeted by a blurry black and white photo of himself on the front page. 

His eyes scanned the article, flipping to the continued on page as he finished the front page. 

A minute passed as he finished reading the article. Then he closed the newspaper and spoke.

“Swamp gas.” 

“I’m sorry?” Fancy Pants questioned, unsure of what he meant. 

Dante rubbed his face with his hand. “Weather balloon. Secret military aircraft testing, unplanned air raid drill, blah blah blah. It’s a cover up. The story’s a lie. ‘The alien known as General Jaeger defended the life of two royal guards and a doctor by killing a group of Diamond Dog prisoners in transit. The group attempted to escape, injuring another guard in the process. General Jaeger happened to be nearby and responded to the commotion, utilizing deadly force in defense of the injured guard.’ No. That didn’t happen. First, there was only one guard. Two, no one was injured. Three, I murdered them. The only people I was defending were any possible future victims. What I’m saying is that one of the princesses, or both, pulled a shit ton of strings and made it look like I’m not a murderer.”

Dante waved his hand as he finished. “I mean, I didn’t see those fucking dogs as intelligent beings to begin with, so in my opinion killing them was about as bad as me shooting a rabid skunk, but… you know. Different governments have different feelings on what is and isn’t murder and what equals an intelligent being. In my opinion, those dogs were below even sentient animals, but I have a feeling Luna and Celestia take a different point of view from me.” 

Fancy made to say something, opening his mouth, though he paused. His lower jaw hanging open at the admittance of having committed murder, with no hesitation either! 

He raised a hoof to his chin, thinking. 

“Hmm… Well… I would advise you to not admit that during the Inquiry. While Blueblood can veto, the Parliament can override with a two-thirds majority. You need all the allies you can get, so if you can pull some of the fence sitters over to your side.”

Dante blinked, fixing the stallion with a stare. “You took the news that I’m a murderer extremely well.”

“What news?” The stallion asked, winking to the biped. 

Fortnite, having taken a spot on the couch next to Dante, spoke. 

“The news that he actually murde-” She received a light elbow in her ribs from Dante. 

“Fort. Stop. I don’t think he cares.” Dante stated as he wrapped an arm around her and then pulled her down with him as he shifted to a laying position. 

Ignoring the light yelp that came from the disguised changeling, he turned his head to look at the stallion who had come into the room. 

“Well, I have to thank you for taking the time out of your day, Fancy, for coming here to help me. I’ll keep what you told me in mind. And we’ll see you in the morning.”

Fancy got up to leave, though pulled a pocket watch from his tuxedo. “Absolutely, I am glad to help. Though, I must inquire. Are you nocturnal? It’s only one in the afternoon.” 

Dante pulled the changeling closer to his chest, pulling a blanket over both of them. “No, I’m naturally diurnal. But depression makes me enjoy sleeping. As such… you know… I’m going to sleep… until tomorrow… because I feel like shit and sleeping lets me forget the fact that I’m stranded on an alien planet, was in a coma for five thousand years and I have no way to get back home, never mind the fact that everyone I love is probably dead and my blood is the last in the universe...” 

Dante cleared his throat. “Long story short. No, I’m diurnal, just tired.” 

Dante paused as he stared at the ceiling. “Old men like their naps. I’m an old man, ergo, I like to sleep.” 

Bulwark took a step from the corner of the room, a hoof landing to rest on Fancy’s withers. “Sir, it’s probably best you go. General Jaeger is… going through… health issues.” The stallion stumbled on some of the words, trying to figure out the best way to make the situation less awkward, though Dante’s bluntness did not make his job easier. 

Fancy Pants nodded. “Of course. You’ve no argument from me.” He trotted to the door, opening it with his magic and then backing out. However, before leaving fully, he bowed his head. 

“General Jaeger, I wish you a peaceful sleep and I certainly do hope you’re feeling better in the morning.” 

Dante merely lifted his hand in the air, palm open. 

Fancy Pants raised his head and met Fortnite’s eyes. “Miss Fortnite,” He glanced over to Bulwark. “Sergeant, please take care of General Jaeger as Equestrian hosts.” 

The two nodded, well, Fortnite attempted to, though found her head held close to Dante’s chest. Thankful for the green fur preventing her blush from showing. 

Fancy Pants fully exited the room, closing the door behind him. 

Dante snapped his fingers and the room was bathed in darkness. 

There was near silence, with breathing being the only thing cutting through the blackness. 

Finally, Bulwark spoke. 

“Uh… sir...” 

“Yes, Bulwark.” Dante responded. 

“Is there anything else I need to do?”

The stallion heard a patting. “You could always join the snuggle pile.” 

He heard a growl, and then a light tap and yelp. “Fortnite, stop that. Share the snuggles.” 

“I… think I’ll just go back… to the barracks...” 





“Geez, the nerve of someponies.” Twilight muttered to herself as she entered the train, her face betraying the irritation she felt. 

“‘Oh, is she your daughter?’ She asks, while looking back and forth at our IDs. No, Rainbow is not my daughter, I’m nineteen for goodness’ sakes! She should know who I am, it’s not like Ponyville’s the size of Manehattan or Phillydelphia! Gah… at least she didn’t ask if Spike was my son...” Twilight shook her head as she stowed her bag, Rainbow following closely behind her. 

The other mares and Spike and also followed her on board the train car and stowed their bags, taking their seats. 

Most of them settled in for the relatively long ride from Ponyville to Canterlot,  though Rainbow took a seat next to Twilight.

“So… what can we expect, Twi?” Rainbow asked as she glanced around the car cabin, Twilight pulling a book out of her bag. 

“What do you mean?” 

“You know? At the inquiry? You know, can we expect a fight? Maybe some,” Rainbow punched the air with her hooves. “Ehn, ehn. You know, a few hits thrown around?” 

Twilight glanced over to the mare, a bemused expression on her face. “Uh… while it is true the Parliament used to fight fairly regularly, that mostly ended when they were divided into tiers. So, there shouldn’t be any fighting.”

Rainbow lowered her hoofs. “Okay, well… maybe no fighting. But Dante’s definitely going to verbally attack them, right?” 

By this time, Twilight had already opened the book she brought and began reading. She looked up from the text. 

“I mean… maybe, it’s hard to guess what he’s going to do next… Generally, though, the Inquiry is just a long Q and A session. So, I mean, for all we know, that’s what Dante’s going to do.” She went back to reading her book.

Rainbow Dash groaned, leaning her head back on the rest behind her. “I really hope Dante does something during this thing and I don’t waste hours of my life.” 

Twilight snorted, not looking up from her book. “Oh, don’t worry, Dash. From the precedence he’s set, I wouldn’t be surprised if he starts a brawl.” 

The purple unicorn glanced up from her book, taking a look at her group of friends, unable to shake the uneasiness from her stomach. 





The hybrid known to the ponies as Dante stood in front of a mirror. He had just finished his morning preparations, mainly showering, shaving and just getting the general stink from him. Though, knowing ponies, they undoubtedly had a more sensitive nose then most of the alien populations he had ever interacted with, and his body odor could very well still smell horrible to them. 

Still, he had scanned himself and the readings seemed to be low enough for it to be tolerable for the ponies. They thought they were hiding it well, but he easily spotted the occasional cringe when some of the ponies got close enough to him. He imagined it was about as bad for the ponies as it is when a Human stands near another obese Human suffering from intertrigo. 

He ran his hands down the front chest plate of his armor, the helmet that went with the armor resting on  his hip at the four-thirty position. 

His service pistol rested in its holster on his right thigh, the Imperial general issued service pistol resting on his left thigh. 

His eyes were bloodshot, he internally groaned as he thought about what he was going to do today. It wasn’t the first time he did anything, but at least the last time he was still running on anger over the war. And there was still that familiar feeling in his head, the voice he couldn’t get rid of. Something was going to happen. 

He turned to waiting Fortnite. “I don’t smell like a drunk, do I?” He noted the small twitch in her facial features, coupled with light ear flicks and small swish of her raggy black tail.  All of these things she most likely didn’t even realize she was doing. 

“No, you don’t.”

Dante chuckled, as he began walking to the door of the room. “Bullshit.” He replied as he opened the door, Fortnite shifting into her pony form once more. 

“I’m serious, Dante. You smell fine.” 

She exited the door, Dante following behind her and closing it. He slid his hand over the door, activating something with a click. 

“Fort,” He stated, as the two began their walk down the hallway. “I’ve been in the game for far longer then you. I was reading people fifteen thousand years before you were even a twinkle in your daddy’s eye. So, seriously, tell me the truth.” 

Fortnite sighed, her ears drooping. “Okay… so you do smell… a tiny bit. But honestly, it’s the tobacco that smells more then the alcohol.” 

“Ha!” Dante snorted, as he removed the pack of cigarettes he had looted from a dead man removed one, placing it in his mouth. 

He held his trigger finger up to the end, muttering something in an utterly alien language that Fortnite had no hope of understanding. A small flame flickered to life on the end of his finger, lighting the cigarette.

“You can do magic?” Fortnite inquired, her curiosity piqued. She knew of the existence of alchemists and the zebra shamans, but she had never seen a creature lacking a horn use magic. 

The biped nodded in confirmation, killing the flame on his finger and taking a drag from the cigarette. 

“But how? You have no horn. And you didn’t use a potion to make that flame either.” 

Dante blew smoke from his mouth as he removed the cigarette from his mouth. “You remember the other night, Fort? When you saw me half naked?” 

She was taken aback by the question, but nodded her head, looking away to hide the blush at the memory, Dante merely rolling his eyes. 

“And you remember those tattoos covering my arms and going all the all way into my sleeves, as well as the ones on my legs? The blue and black ink?” 

“Uh… yes.” 

Dante twirled a finger in the air, taking another drag from the burning cigarette and then releasing the smoke. “Magic but home is… or rather, was thought to be a fairy tale. The Imperium is fully well aware of it, but Humans lacked, for the most part, the connection needed to use it. The Humans who do know how to use it, need to treat it sort of like math. You need formulas to activate it, and some way to activate it. The most common and effective form is speaking. A user will choose a language they know and that will activate the formula. For example.” Dante raised his left fist, the fingers curled inwards as though he was grasping a ball in his hand. 

He spoke once more in the alien language, Fortnite watching with curiosity as a swirling ball of water formed in his hand. “That was the word for ‘water’ in my mother tongue. A tongue lost to the ravages of time. I’m the last one to speak it. I was trained in how to focus magic by a Celtic witch, she was also responsible for the blue tattoos I have. I was still able to do magic before I met her, but it was so unfocused and random, it wasn’t much use to me.” Dante took another drag from his cigarette, blowing the smoke out. 

“Of course, speech isn’t the only way to activate it. I’ve met mute, deaf and mute and deaf witches and warlocks before. It’s pretty fun watching them use sign language to activate their’s. And then there’s also a few issues with magic.” 

Dante brought the ball of water to his mouth, sucking it in like one would drink water, and then following it up with another drag of his cigarette. 

“First issue is that its stupidly energy intensive. You’re forcing natural processes to occur in the span of microseconds and you’re using your body as a conduit to force it to occur. And the second issue is limitations. I can’t make things from thin air. Fire and water are easy. The ingredients needed for those are everywhere. Levitation gets trickier, requiring both mental strength and physical strength. Magic designed to block attacks are better replaced with actual shields. And teleportation? You have to keep your thoughts clear, otherwise you could end ripping yourself to shreds. And the farther you go, the harder it is to keep yourself in one piece. Magic is great, but it’s far better augmented with tech and, in many cases, outright replaced with tech. The Imperium can set up long range void gates that connect two areas with each other, acting as a sort of teleportation that doesn’t run the risk of… well, losing body parts.” 

Dante raised an open hand snubbed the burnt out cigarette on it, then tossed the butt into his mouth and chewed. 

He heard Fortnite gag, as he looked down to her. He swallowed the butt, suppressing his own gag and raised his eyebrow. 

“What?” He asked, raising hands slightly to his sides. “I may be an asshole, but I’m not a litterbug, and I don’t really see any posts around here to safely dispose of a butt.” 

“Dante, that was gross, please don’t do that again.” 

The biped ‘hmphed’ as the two walked into the castle courtyard. He lit up another cigarette as two guards watched him. He merely smiled and raised his thumb up. 

“Dante, you’re committing a crime in front of them.” 

“Article two-forty-seven of the fifteeen-twenty-seven millionth galactic convention legalized the possession of drugs for species where they’re in common use so long as the drugs are for personal use and not trafficking.” Dante took another drag. “So they can suck my dick.” 

“We’re not in Imperial jurisdiction, Dante, Equestrians run the place.” 

With the cigarette in his hand, Dante made an up and down motion to his groin. “Suck. My. Dick.” He raised his middle finger to the guards as he passed by them, the finger tracking them until his shoulder was unable to move any further back.

Dante called back behind his shoulder. “Just kidding, love you adorable faggots.”

The two guards watched as the odd duo left the courtyard through the gate. One of the guards turn to his companion. 

“Sir...” 

The other stallion shook his head. “No, we have standing orders not to interact with him unless it’s to keep ponies safe.” 

“So we should just...” 

“Just keep watching the courtyard.” 

While the two guardstallions had been having their discussion, the duo had covered their first block on the surprisingly long walk to the parliament building. On the other side of the city. 

The sun was just beginning to rise in the sky, and the city was mostly dead. A few workers here and there getting their shops ready to open. 

“So, can I ask why you seem to be so insistent on smoking even though we’re going to the place that… well, made the law banning that.” 

Before Dante could give his explanation, a shout sounded from behind them, the two turning their heads to be greeted by the sight of an unarmored Bulwark trotting up to them. 

As he got closer to the two, the couple having slowed down their pace, his brow furrowed and his snout scrunched up. 

“Sir.” He spoke. Dante nodded his head towards the stallion. 

“Yo.” 

“You are aware that tobacco is regulated in Equestria, right?”

Dante nodded his head, the stallion falling in line to his right. “Yep, and I don’t care. You also interrupted me explaining to Fort why I’m so insistent on smoking.” 

At the mention of the changeling’s name, Bulwark glanced past Dante’s legs, meeting Fortnite’s pony eyes. 

“Good morning, Miss Fortnite.” He nodded, the mar returning the nod. 

“Good morning, Bulwark.” 

“Anyway...” Dante spoke, as he finished the cigarette, snuffing the embers out and swallowing the butt once more. 

“Dante!” Fortnite protested. 

“Tell the Equestrians to put in some damn poles and I’ll stop swallowing the butts! Until then, I will not be one of those assholes who just drops their butts everywhere because they’re too much of a lazy asshole to hold onto them until the find the proper receptacle!” 

“So your solution is to eat it?” 

“I have to agree with Miss Fortnite, Sir.” Bulwark chimed in. “I’ve aided in the destruction of several tobacco farms and… may or not have occasionally consumed a few leaves. The leaves themselves are gross, I can’t imagine a cigarette tasting any better.” 

“Oh, no,” Dante began, lighting up another cigarette. “It absolutely tastes like complete shit, but I don’t drop my butts every time I’m done with them.” 

This argument continued on for a while, as they approached the parliament building far sooner then any of them had realized. 

“Listen, Fort, all I’m saying is that dropping your butts is way more gro- Oh, hey, look we’re here.” 

Dante led the way, the two ponies falling in behind him as they entered the main lobby of the building. 

As they entered, they were greeted by a group of six ponies and one dragon. 

Rainbow Dash was the first one to see the tall biped. She flittered over to the biped, raising a hoof. 

Dante bumped it with a closed fist, the two greeting each other. 

“RD, what in the hell are you doing up here?” 

“Well, my brother sent me a telegram telling me about the upcoming inquiry and… well, to be honest I just wanted to watch you verbally tear into these ponies. Mainly because they’re really annoying when I’m trying to do my job.” The pegasus’ eyes seemed to zone out, becoming unfocused. “So… much… paperwork.” 

Dante glanced around, slightly confused. He waved a hand in front of the hovering pony, getting no response. He then snapped his fingers and clapped his hands right in front of her face. 

“Well… shit, I’ve seen people get PTSD over a lot of things, this is the first time I’ve seen someone get PTSD over paperwork. Hey there, Twi.” Dante raised a hand as he saw purple unicorn. “Hey guys.” He nodded to the rest of the group, eyeing Spike. “Hello there weird looking reptile person.” 

“Weird? Reptile? I’m a dragon and my name is Spike!” Spike’s brow furrowed, Dante paying no mind. 

“So… would anyone like to explain why there’s six ponies and a… reptilian Humanoid here? Listen, I love you guys, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t understand why you all made the trip up from Ponyville to here. That’s a pretty long trip.”

“Rainbow wanted to come up here to see the inquiry but her wing was still too sore to be flying long distances after her fight with the cyclops and she’s too young to take the train unattended.” Twilight explained as she absentmindedly organized the bag she brought along. 

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash protested, waving her front legs in the air. “I’m not too young! I’m the manager of the weather team! It’s just that they have some stupid set in stone age for what’s considered an adult!” 

The biped glanced to the whining pegasus, an eyebrow raised. “Just how old are you, RD?” 

“I’m sixteen.” 

“Jesus fuckin’ christ.” Dante responded, not a moment of hesitation. “Sixteen? And you’re a national hero… well… I’d rip Celestia a new one for employing child soldiers, but the Imperium did the same thing with the partisans, so… that being said I do need to rip her a new one for employing children in her national defense pl-… wait, no… I can’t do that either… well, fuck...” Dante threw his hands into the air. “For once, Equestria does something similar to the Imperium.” 

“The Imperium uses yearling soldiers?” With the exception of Dante and Fortnite, the being in the room scrambled to bow to the entering Celestia and Luna, Luna having been the one to speak. 

Fortnite, quickly followed the example set by the other ponies, respectfully bowing to the two diarachs, though Dante chose this time to produce yet another cigarette and light it, flipping the two alicorns off in the process. 

“Sort of.” He responded once he had gotten the stick lit. “In the regular armed forces? Hell no. You need to be eighteen to join. But minors were used extensively during the Occupation War, the younger ones were used to run messages back and forth. They were less suspicious then adults running about. The older kids picked up rifles and fought alongside the adults.” 

Dante took a drag from the cigarette, ignoring the glances he received from the two diarchs. “It’s a philosophy that’s been in place since the Imperium was first founded by the escaped slave army. The government’s job is to protect the people to the best of its ability. But when the government fails, anyone who can pick up a rifle, must. Failing to practice the civil duty doesn’t result in criminal punishment, but it’s made pretty clear to children from the day they’re born. It’s better to die on your feet a free man then to live on your knees, chained as a slave.” 

Dante clapped his hands together, the cigarette resting in between his lips. “In any case, where the hell is everyone and why the fuck is this lobby as empty as my motivation to continue living?” 

“General, you do realize tobacco is highly regulated in Equestria, right?” Celestia questioned, glancing over to her sister, unsure of how the biped was going to react. 

He merely rolled his eyes, waving his hand. “Yeah, yeah. We’ve been over this already. It’s banned, I don’t care. It’s a power play.” 

“A… power play?” Luna questioned. 

The biped nodded. “Yep. You’ll see.” 





“Overlord, repeat, how copy?” 

“Poet 1-5 Actual, Overlord is confirming Liwaa Harb is refusing to pull the First Division from Mosul until his daughter is retrieved. How copy?” 

The Legionnaire grabbed the crumbling foregrip of an AK clone wielded by an ISIS militant, using it to throw the man off balance by pulling it towards him, he grabbed the man by his shoulder, crushing it, causing the militant to scream in pain, though it was quickly silenced as the Legionnaire slammed the left side of the man’s body into a nearby wall, splattering gore over the room and himself, as the body was crushed. 

He released it as he looked around the room, and the multitudes of bodies in it. 

“That’s a good copy, Overlord. Contact him again and tell him that the First needs to move. Over.” The Legionnaire proceeded out of the building he was in, not wearing his traditional armor. He had wanted to, but this was supposed to be deep undercover, he was supposed to blend in with the locals. Resulting in him wearing jeans and a t shirt, a plate carrier resting on his chest. 

The AR thumped against his chance as he forced a burned door open, shots ringing out as dust billowed up in front of him. Fat lot of good blending in was doing good.

Faster then any Human had a right to move, his left arm raised, a shield like shape forming in front of him, radiating with energy, letting off light that shone through the darkness of the night. 

Shots slammed into it, the shield easily stopping the 7.62x39 rounds commonly used by these militants. 

He raised the AR, his scanners marking out four targets in the building across from him. 

Four shots of 5.56x45 rang out, as four corpses collapsed to the ground in reply. 

“Stupid fucks.” He muttered. 

“Poet 1-5 Actual, Overlord, Harb is still refusing to withdraw until his daughter is found. He reports heavy incoming, but he is obstinate in his refusal to move. Over.”

“Son of a..” Poet began, but stopped, keying up his comms. “Overlord, get me the girl’s last known position.”

The scanners in his eye gave a sweep over the destroyed land scape, gun shots and explosions formed the background noise, though the immediate area came up clean. So he continued onto where he had parked his transportation. 

His picked his way through his rubble, to a black a sports bike sitting silently, hidden behind some debris. 

“Poet 1-5 Actual, this is Overlord Actual, VIP was staying with relatives near Arbil, harb was hoping the Kurdish presence so close would prevent Daesh strikes. Reports coming in, however, seems to indicate the village she was staying in is currently being besieged. If you want to reach her in time, you need to gun it. Over.” 

A satellite feed popped up on Poet’s integrated HUD, a map taking up another corner, as he mounted the motorcycle. 

“Venus, ETA to VIP?” 

“ETA, max speed on the bike, half an hour.” 

Poet gunned the throttle, setting off to his target. 

“The First won’t survive without that little girl, we need to get her.” He said, not expecting a reply from anyone. 

The darkness was held back by the fighting taking place behind the, the scream of rockets and the shrieks of bullets. The quenching of the ground with blood, and the payment of freedom with bodies. 





The armored biped walked up to the cube shaped podium, examining the crowd. He was struggling to keep the voice in the back of his mind down. It wasn’t screaming, but it wasn’t being quiet either. 

A hush fell over the crowd as he took to the podium, both Bulwark and Fortnite by his side. 

He scanned the crowd, looking for his two ‘allies’. Blueblood was easy enough to find, standing right in front of him. Fancy Pants was a tad more difficult, but was quickly found by the experienced Marine. 

The podium contained a glowing stone being held in the air by a pole in the ground. 

“Greetings, Everypony, to the official Equestrian Parliamentary Inquiry of General Dante T. Jaeger.” Blueblood spoke, his voice magically raised via another glowing stone suspended in the air by a pole. 

The crowd remained silent, their stares focused intently on Dante, and by extension. 

He could feel Fortnite tensing up at the attention, leaning into his right leg. 

He rested his hand on her head, the tensing dying down a bit at the move. 

While Blueblood spoke, going on with formalities, Dante glanced to the changeling. 
“Keep calm, Fort. They’re looking at me, not you.” He whispered. 

Bulwark leaned in, glancing to the nervous changeling and then looking up to Dante. 

“Is she okay, sir?” 

Dante looked to the stallion. “I can’t say for sure, but I think changelings have a primal fear of attention. Or, at least, being the center of attention. She should be fine.” 

‘I hope.’ Dante thought to himself, the voice in the back of his head getting louder. 

“And now, for the record, would General Jaeger identify himself?” Blueblood spoke, glancing to the biped. 

The biped in question merely moved his head slightly forward, to bring himself closer to the glowing stone. “Just speak into this?” He questioned, the Prince shaking his head in confirmation. 

“General Dante Thomas Jaeger. D-A-N-T-E T-H-O-M-A-S J-A-E-G-ER, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps.” 

“Thank you, General. And, for the record once more, could the ponies accompanying you identify themselves?” 

Dante gestured to the magical stone, Bulwark taking the initiative. 

He stepped forward, bringing himself close to it. 

“Sergeant Bulwark, Equestrian Royal Guard, Canterlot Division. Currently serving as the Equestrian Liaison Officer to the Imperium of Phoenix.”

He stepped back, allowing Fortnite to take the stage. 

Or at least that was the intention, instead she had merely pressed herself harder into the armored leg of the biped, frozen in fright. 

Dante quickly acted. 

“The unicorn by my side is Fortnite. Uncommon spelling, F-O-R-T-N-I-T-E. She suffers terribly from the stage fright, but she wanted to come along today.” 

Blueblood nodded. “Very well. General, if you would like to open this inquiry.” 

“Ah, geez, a speech...” Dante patted his chest as though he was looking for something. “There’s a reason the Legion banned me from making formal speeches. I suck at them… uh, listen. I’m not even going to try to BS you all by claiming I’m honored to be here… I’m not. I’m just here so I don’t get bothered by you all during suicide attempts.” 

The crowd cringed at the callous mention of the topic. Blueblood was the first to recover, clearing his throat. 

“I will assume that was a translation erro-” 

“It wasn’t.” 

Blueblood gritted his teeth. “Translation. Error.” He cleared his throat once more. 

“As has been noted, we have a series of questions, regarding you and your intentions. As was suggested by several MPs, given the… sensitivity of this situation and our want to know more about you, we want to get the basics out of the way. General Jaeger, we know your name, but may we also have your age.”

Dante grinned, fangs flashing. “Just Dante is fine, Prince Blueblood. As for my age… I was born quite a ways before we had any thing even resembling an accurate time table, so I can only give you a ball park figure… ten-thou-, er… no, actually, sorry, probably around fifteen-thousand and some change.” 

Dante grinned as the Parliament spoke in hushed whispers amongst themselves. 

He lifted his left hand, whirling his trigger finger. “But those last five thousand years were spent in a coma, so they don’t really count.” 

An MP raised his hoof, Blueblood raising his own hoof to gesture to the MP. “Yes, Affluent Shirts” 

Dante struggled to hold in a laugh at the ridiculous name. And it only got worse when the pony stood up, the laugh becoming a snort and a deep sigh as the biped waged an internal war. 

And indeed, the pony was wearing an especially fancy shirt… or at least as close as ponies could wear. Along with a ridiculously tall top-hat. 

“Hmm… yes, General Jaeger, I am Affluent Shirts, representative for Phillydelphia. My question was regarding your age.” 

Dante nodded, encouraging the unicorn stallion to continue on. 

“You noted that you have been alive for around fifteen-thousand years. With the exception of our beloved princesses,” Shirts nodded to the two watching princesses, both of whom politely nodded back, though internally rolled their eyes at him. “This is an unnaturally long time to be alive. Do all of your species...” 

“Humans… or Phoenixes. I’m a hybrid.” 

“Er… yes,  is this normal for either of your species?” 

Dante leaned in closer to the magical rock, a pony stand in for the microphones he was used to. “… For Humans, no… at least not when I was initially stranded. The average life span for all of Humanity was around ninety-five years. On Earth, I was extremely old and had witnessed the rise and fall of thousands of empires. But for Phoenixes… well, I barely scratched the surface of age. I was still considered young by many of my fellows and, in standing in as General of the PLMC, I became the youngest to ever achieve the rank of a four star general. My father is… several billion years old.”

A murmur cut across the crowd once more. 

“And still showed no signs of slowing down. The Imperium itself is… also old. Around eight billion years old.” 

Another unicorn stood up. 

“Dusty Hunt, General Jaeger, I am not an MP, but an observer for the University of Vanhoover. I am an archaeologist and would like to clarify something.” 

A small row began forming at the idea of an observer interfering in Parliamentary proceedings, though Blueblood quickly silenced the crowd. “I will allow the question.”

Dusty nodded to the prince. “Thank you.” She turned to Dante.

“General Jaeger, you stated you were fifteen thousand years old, correct?” 

Dante leveled his right arm horizontally so it formed a line over his chest, his fingers pointing to the left and shook it a bit. “Give or take a few hundred years.” 

She nodded. “And you stated your father is ‘several’ billion years old, correct?” 

“Correct.” 

“And you then went on to give an exact number for the Imperium. Eight billion years old.”

“Aye.” 

“General Jaeger,” She fixed him with a stare. “What is the oldest known civilization for the Phoenix species?”
Dante narrowed his eyes. She was trying at something. What it was, he wasn’t certain. But he knew she was trying to drag something out of him. “From archaeological records, the oldest we were able to trace existed somewhere around twelve billion years ago.”  

Dante scanned the area. This mare was sharper then most, she was trying at something. 

“And am I correct in assuming that two species with such radical age differences did not evolve on the same planet.” 

Dante raised an eyebrow. “I do not believe that’s a fair assumption. Earth also contained several long lived species. Some were even functionally immortal.” 

The mare protested, smartly shooting back. “You’re using weasel words, General. What was the age range for these long lived animals? And the ‘functionally’ immortal animals? Were they sapient? Or were they merely animals who sat on the sea floor or floated through the sea doing nothing more then existing?” 

Dante had to give it to this mare. She wasn’t even properly involved in the parliament and she was questioning him harder then anyone else on the planet had. 

“The animals had a life span of around one hundred and two hundred years.” Dante answered, a triumphant grin growing on the mare’s face. 

“So, in the grand scheme of things, those animals are not that far from Humanity’s life span, correct?” 

“Well, I believe that depends on your view of things.” 

“General, you’re avoiding the question.” Dusty fixed him with another glare, Dante returning it. 

He could feel Fortnite pushing up against his leg. 

“The issue I’m having with what you’re saying is not only are you obscuring your father’s age, but you’re doing in such a way so that we can not establish a timeline. We know that you’re around fifteen-thousand years old. Your country is eight billion years old. The oldest known civilization for your species is twelve billion. But you’re trying to tell me that a several billion year old stallion fathered a child who is now a mere fifteen-thousand years? That is a significant age difference, especially should Humans and Phoenixes be of two different species who did not evolved on the same planet.” 

This mare was far too sharp for her own good. 

Dante took a deep breath, sighing. “Dusty, was it?” The mare nodded. 

“If you knew my father, you would understand why I do not like associating myself with him or his name. He was a shithead who abandoned both my mother and me, and as a result was directly responsible for her death. I spent nearly ten thousand years looking for him, and when I found him, he kept our blood a secret, until I discovered it in a file left behind by my deceased friend. In that file, I also found evidence linking him to death of one of my wives. Why am I obscuring his age?” 

Dante sighed. “Simply put, I despise the man and I believe he receives more attention than he deserves. As such, I will not be making any indication of his identity. You are correct in saying Phoenixes and Humans evolved on separate planets, however. The meeting of my mother and father was a fluke and freak accident. And my birth even more so.” 

The tan mare nodded her head. “I must apologize for interrupting, but thank you for answering.” 

Dante filed her appearance and name away into his memory, he would have to keep an eye on that mare. 

Before Blueblood could regain control of the proceedings, another pony stood up. This one a red coated earth stallion. 

“General Jaeger, Red Hoof, MP for the Smokey Mountains region. My ponies have indicated concern for what your purpose is here. Various theories ranging from experiments to a hostile invasion. Can you answer any of these questions.” 

Dante raised a hand, palm flat and towards the stallion. “I did not come here of my own volition. I was stranded here by chance following an incident that involved an enemy of the Imperium and my home planet of Terra.”

Red Hoof nodded. “Though, surely, if you have the ability to land here from… wherever it is your planet, Terra, is then you should also have the ability to contact your country for rescue, correct?” 

The princesses cringed. 

Dante sighed, once more. “Under normal circumstances, yes. The Imperium does have the technology to communicate across extremely long distances within a reasonable time frame.” 

“So you are planning for an invasion force?” Red Hoof question, a nervous look on his face. 

Dante gave a light smile, shaking his head to the side. “No, even if I was able to contact the Imperium, the main thing they would do is retrieve me and retrieve any Imperial tech left behind on the planet. However, that’s a moot point. I don’t have the long range communications device to even allow me to find my people.” 

Red Hoof, though still nervous, raised an eyebrow. “Did you not have it when you crashed, or did it go missing?” 

Dante sighed. “As I’m sure everyone in here saw the news, you should know the first day I woke from my coma, I engaged in a firefight with a unicorn. What many of you all don’t know, is the reason I engaged in that unicorn is because she stole my larcom, the only way I could get home… a few days, I was able to scan the planet and found the most likely place my larcom is...” 

Blue Blood looked nervous, though. 

Dante continued after a deep breath. “It was decided that I would not attempt to retrieve the larcom due to it’s inaccessible location.” 

Fortnite glanced up the biped, her eyes catching the dullness in the once bright eyes. Neither of the differently colored eyes seemed to hold life in them anymore.





“It was decided that I would not attempt to retrieve the larcom due to it’s inaccessible location.” 

A being watched the proceedings. It’s form impossible to accurately describe, the closest description of it would be a swirling mass of black.

In front of it lay a table, resting on black nothingness. The being looked upon the scene, the eyes of the General lifeless, the shine once in them gone. 

“Well…” Its voice boomed, as it spoke to itself, echoes from seemingly nowhere. “This simply will not do. You’re still needed, my dear Dante.” 

The scene went from the Parliament, to an overlay of the general area, Canterlot. 

“No.” It spoke, a spindly black finger reached out from the black mass, as it spied a certain figure. “We certainly still need you, Dante. And you...” It tapped the figure with unnaturally long and thin finger. “You will be perfect in insuring the plan works.” 





“Well… that could have gone worse.” Dante spoke, cricking his neck. It had been a tumultuous few hours. “RD, did you regret coming?” 

The hovering pegasus looked like she had just went through the underworld and back, her stare fixed to a far away point. 

Twilight answered for her. “That probably means yes.” 

Dante looked to the ground, ignoring the voice in the back of his head that was screaming at him. His gut was wrenching in anticipation as he looked back up, scanning the horizon and sky lines for any threats. 

The voice only appeared when danger was around, and it had been screaming at him all day. 

He looked to Bulwark, the unicorn stallion having forgone his armor. 

“Hey, Bul.” 

“Yes sir?” 

Dante looked around, struggling to keep the nervousness from showing. The last time it had been this loud was before the initial bombing of Earth by the NPR. 

And here it was, once more. 

“Have there been any reports of anything suspicious around Canterlot recently? Any rumors in the guard, official reports?”

Bulwark shook his head. “No sir. Everything has been quiet in Canterlot. Something wrong?” 

Dante glanced over the group. Six mares, Fortnite, Bulwark and the juvenile dragon named Spike were in it. 

Pinkie had been surprisingly quiet, but she was also floating through the air, so there was that. 

But the voice was screaming even louder. 

Celestia and Luna had went ahead to the castle to get the staff on the move to make dinner for the group. The Parliament meeting having taken nearly the entire day. Celestia’s sun lowering in the sky, soon to be pulled down by the Solar Princess. 

Dante once more scanned the buildings rising above the street they were on, and once more, he saw nothing. His scanners showed nothing as well. 

But the voice was having none of it. 

As the sun slowly moved lower, it was suddenly accelerated, disappearing from view, the moon appearing in its place. 

“No, it’s nothing.” Dante answered Bulwark. “Just something I was worrying about.” 

The voice was still screaming. 

The mares were conversing amongst themselves, with the exception of Rainbow, still looking forward. Spike was walking near Rarity. Dante was flanked by Bulwark, Fortnite still keeping herslf close to his leg. 

“In any case, I suppose, let’s get back to the castle. I’ve not eaten and my nanites are getti-” Dante was cut off as the moon accelerated, pulling the sun into the noon position. 

Dante stopped, the group stopping as well. He glanced around at the various surprised looks on the ponies near him. Even the Canterlot crowd that seemed to be slowly less and less shocked by the tall biped stopped and stared. 

“The fu-” Once more, the biped was cut off by the sun the accelerating, the moon replacing it.  

This happened several more times, before it finally stopped, the moon and sun sharing the sky. 

“What the fuck is goi-” 

Dante lost his balance as the ground began violent shaking. The rest of the equines with him stumbling, Rainbow being the only one unaffected, due to her flying. 

As the earth still trembled, a booming voice spoke.

“Greetings, Elements!” The voice sounded oddly familiar to Dante, the biped swearing he had heard a similar one in a tv show a long time ago. 

“And General Jaeger, how nice it is to finally meet you!” 

Dante cleared leather with the side arm issued to him by the Imperium. Using his right hand ot stabilize himself, he raised the pistol with his right hand. 

He looked to Twilight, the ground still violently shaking. The mare’s eyes were pinpricks and she seemed to be frozen. 

“Twilight, who the fuck is that!” He question shouted over the panicking of the crowds in the street. 

“I would love to stay and have a nice conversation with the mares who locked me away for a second time, unfortunately,” Dante once more scanned the area, trying to find the speaker. All he saw was a crowd of stampeding ponies, and the group he was with. 

The voice was even louder now. 

“My plans involve you all being out of the picture.” Out of the corner of his eye, Dante caught movement. Quickly turning his head, he saw a large ball of energy. Flying at a high rate of speed directly towards them. 

Before the sphere contacted them, the group disappeared. 





Dante landed ungracefully on the stone floor of the throne room, on his back. The Elements, Fortnite, Bulwark and Spike appearing near him. 

He rolled over onto his stomach, using his forearms and elbows to push himself up. As soon as his chest left the floor, he began vomiting blood. 

Twilight snapped out of her paralysis, though noticed something, her eyes widening, and then narrowing once more. 

Fortnite rushed over to the biped. “Are you okay?” 

He groaned, as he coughed up more blood a large puddle of it having already formed under him. 

He rasped. 

“Oh, fuck… ugh, I sacrificed a couple of organs doing that. That jump was way too far.” 

He looked up, pointing to Rainbow Dash. 

“RD, go get Celestia and Luna. We need help.” He coughed up more blood. 

“D-Dante.” Twilight, fear obviously etched on her face. She shakily raised a hoof pointing to the thrones. 

Dante glanced to where she was pointing, only to be greeted by the sight of two stone statues of Celestia and Luna, shock and confusion evident on their faces. 
Though, Dante quickly realized they weren’t statues… they were the actual princesses. 

“Ah, fuck.” 

“That was an impressive teleport.” The voice boomed once more, and once more it remained unseen.

“Discord!” Twilight shouted, though her breathing was becoming rapid. 

“RD, get help!” The rainbow maned pegasus apparently having been shocked out of her trauma by the teleportation attempted to rush out of the doors leading to the rest of the castle, though before she reached them, they slammed shut. 

She was barely able to stop herself before running into them.

Another ball of energy was sent towards the bunched up group, the injured Dante shooting up, the shield on his forearm activating, taking the brunt of the attack. 

“Fuck!” 

The smoke died down as the dust kicked up by the explosion settled. Still the creature known as Discord was no where to be seen. 

“Show yourself!” Dante roared, the voice screaming even louder in the back of his head.

Without warning, the biped was yanked away from the rest of the group and slammed into a marble pillar, taking a section out of it as a wall finally stopped his body, leaving a dent in it. 

He fell to the ground, whatever organs he had left now being crushed from the force of the toss. 

Discord obeyed, materializing in the room. 

A burst of light and there the manifestation of chaos stood. His body a random collection of different animal parts. 

“Now, my dear General Jaeger, unlike normal villains, I learn from my mistakes!” The biped was struggling to catch his breath from the toss, the fact that was currently only in possession of one complete lung not helping him. 

“And I also happen to know about you, and I happen to know most of my powers won’t work on you! As such!” 

The chimera snapped his fingers, a circle of light forming on the floor beneath Dante. The hybrid realizing what it was, he struggled to pull himself out of the circle and to the safety of the stone ground. 

“I certainly do hope you enjoy this universe! One with a Celestia who isn’t terrified of her own power!” He pointed to the petrified Celestia. “Unlike this one! As such.” 

The portal opened up, Dante finding himself falling as though there was no solid ground below him. The light grew brighter, then dimmer. And then finally, nothing. The ground was back to normal. 

The draconequus turned to the group he had separated the hybrid from, his arms raised into the air. “Au Revoir, General!” 

Lightning struck behind him and thunder roared behind, silhouetting his form. The group could do nothing but look on.
> I Don't Like This Room... Could You Reopen The Door You Pushed Me Through?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 19

The first thing Dante realized as his brain finally rebooted, was the incredible amount of pain he was in. Not just from his missing organs, or rather the regrowing organs, but also the wound in his back. The shrapnel he had never gotten taken care of. 

The second thing he realized was that he had just gotten beat by a reality warper fancying himself as the ‘god of chaos’. 

The Human made a mental note to blame that on his missing organs, it is, after all, very hard to fight when you’re missing a heart to pump blood around your body. Contrary to what some people may claim otherwise. 

His armor was forcing his body to rest in odd positions, some of the gear on it extending out further than other pieces, thus creating uneven lumps. His back was in contact with the ground, though being arched up due to some of the aforementioned uneven gear. 

With a groan, he opened his eyes. 

Quickly closing them once more with a hiss as his eyes were harshly greeted by the sun, despite the augmentations in his eyes dimming the light, they were designed to bring it down to safe levels, not comfortable. He could, of course, adjust the filter manually, though he saw no need to. 

He rolled over from his back and onto his chest, now that he was no longer staring at the sky, he opened his eyes, to be greeted by green grass. He ran his hand through it as he finally paid attention to the information running across his vision. 

‘Attempting to reconnect to satellites’ A line of text flashed in amber color to the upper right of his vision. 

“Venus.” Dante spoke as he pushed himself from the ground, the pain ignored as the nanites began kicking in and doing their job. 

The flashing text turned red. 

“Unable to reconnect to satellites. I can not triangulate our current position.” Venus replied.

Dante examined his surroundings, an open field about two-hundred feet in diameter terminating at a tree line. 

Seeing no help at eye level, he instead turned his eye to the sky, soon spotting a familiar sight… Canterlot. Suspended off the side of the Celeste. 

But something was off. 

“‘I certainly do hope you enjoy this universe, one with a Celestia who isn’t terrified of her own power…’” Dante mumbled, his mind processing all the information it was receiving and recalling. 

Once more he looked around the empty field, devoid of all life except for the trees and grass. He sighed as he began taking count of the gear he had. 

“I think I know why we can’t reconnect to the sats, V.” He sighed, making for the Imperial issued sidearm on his left thigh, only to find the holster empty, most likely having dropped it when he was thrown by the warper known as ‘Discord’. “But I’ll have to wait to confirm my theory.” 

He grabbed the Glock 17 he had on his right thigh, dropping the mag he pulled the slide back far enough to confirm that there was a round chambered. He counted four seventeen round magazines and one thirty-three round mag. That gave him one hundred and one spare rounds of nine millimeter, in addition to the chambered round. 

“The one fucking day not to carry a rifle and full kit, fuck. Fucking shit!” Dante returned the pistol to its rightful place following his lament. 

He examined the view he had of Canterlot, working out its orientation. A few seconds later, with the help of Venus, the determination was made. Based on the orientation of Canterlot, Ponyville should be due North of him. 

And as such, he began walking through the forest, due North. His eyes scanning the area for any threats as he walked, frequently checking behind his back to make sure he gave the entire area coverage. 

He had a bad habit of being attacked in forests. Yet, despite the bad habit, all seemed to be quiet in this forest. The scanners in his suit picking up nothing out of the ordinary.

But it certainly didn’t help that he had no idea just how far he was from Ponyville. 

So he continued walking. Unwelcome nostalgia back to his younger days flooded through his mind, as he attempted to keep his mind off it. His suit still scanning. 

As he walked for hours, his suit’s scanners still continued to turn up nothing. Until, finally, Venus ticked two living creatures. The right size for ponies. 

Less then two hundred feet from him, he pushed his way through bush, making no attempt to be quiet or stealthy. 

He reappeared through the brush to two Equestrians. A brown coated, black maned earth stallion and a green coated, yellow maned unicorn mare. 

Dante began speaking to the two, his Equestrian coming out perfectly. Though the two were frozen in fright, their eyes wide. Their previous activity, a picnic Dante deduced from the basket and the stereotypical checkered blanket laying on the ground. 

Although he was not shocked at all by their paralysis, after all, it is not common for a tall bipedal alien whose making news all over your country to randomly walk up on you and ask you for directions to Ponyville, he was, however, surprised by how they responded. 

“Human!” The mare shouted… in perfect English. The two bolted from the ground and galloped away as fast as they could as Dante stood there, not reacting. 

A minute passed as he stood still, silent. The silence was broken as he shrugged his shoulders, sighing. “Fuck. That’s what I was worried about.” No longer was he speaking in Equestrian, now having switched back to English. He brought his hands to his face, rubbing his eyes. 

“Jesus Fuckin’ H. Christ, of all the reality warpers I have to fight, and I get the one who can travel between dimensions at will.” 

He continued his walk. “Well... I can’t change anything right now. We’ll have to find a way back home. It seems like the ponies here know what a Human is… and are terrified of them.” 

He continued his trek, following the tracks left behind by the fleeing ponies. Surely, since they were a prey species, they’d be running for the safety of the herd instead of trying to turn around and fight.





Scuttle continued his walk around the hive, passing through the large and elaborate main chamber, thousands of changelings stopping and saluting him, a gesture he shook off with a mere wave.

Fools. 

Two folders hovered in the air in his green magic. 

He shook his head, he had somewhere he needed to be. He ducked into an off-shoot cavern., being greeted by an unarmored female changeling. The room was small, about eight feet by eight feet. 

The changeling immediately snapped a salute, Scuttle returning it. “S-8567.” He greeted. 

“Commander!” 

“At ease.” The changeling dropped the salute, though still held the position. 

Scuttle passed the first folder to the changeling, the insectoid taking the folder and pulling the papers out, reading them. 

“In there, you’ll find your mission briefing and the last known locations of the infiltrators you need to contact.” 

There was a pause, as 8567’s eyes continued to scan the papers. She looked up, hesitation in her voice. 

“S-sir...” 

Scuttle raised an eyebrow. “Yes, 8567?” 

The changeling bit her lower lip and then held the papers out. “I can’t read, sir.” 

Scuttle sucked in a breath… and then breathed out. He could see the terror in the soldier’s eyes, though honestly it was uncalled for. 

“My apologies 8567,” He took the folder in his magic. “I’m used to dealing with infiltrators.” 

The soldier’s ears folded down, Scuttle quickly following up. “It’s nothing to worry about, you can’t help it, I’ve been a proponent of teaching every changeling how to read, however Her Majesty believes it to be a waste. Can you read any Equestrian?”

The soldier, despite her stiff position, shuffled a bit on her hooves. “I know one, maybe two, but for the most part, no. But I can match letters!” She smiled widely at the last bit, and indeed, Scuttle knew, it was a rare ability for any group other then infiltrators or the scholars to even be able to match letters with letters. 

The soldier’s smile was infectious, Scuttle grinning himself. “That’s very good to hear, 8567. But due to the importance of this mission, would you be willing to do a quick test?” 

The changeling nodded, as Scuttle took a piece of paper from the folder, pulling a pen from a strap on his armor, he scratched down some Equestrian letters. 

A few inches below that line, he scratched the same Equestrian letters, but not in the same order. 

He passed the paper back to 8567 and the pen. “Just match the letters with a line, 8567.” 

The changeling mare nodded, examining the paper. Though she wasn’t fast, she wasn’t slow either. In two minutes, she matched the twelve Equestrian letters with their mates and then handed the paper back to Scuttle. 

The changeling commander took the paper and examined it. Indeed, she had indeed matched all the letters correctly. 

“Very good, now remember these addresses.” 

He continued with the verbal briefing in replacement of the written one he had expected to give her, the mare nodding the entire time. 

“These are the addresses of the infiltrators you need to deliver these orders to, understand? They’re listed on this paper.” He handed the folder to her, the addresses indeed listed on there. She would have to match the letters, however. 

The changeling soldier saluted once more. “Yes sir!” 

“And once you’ve delivered these, I need you to return immediately back to the hive, understood?” 

The changeling nodded. “Yes sir!” 

Scuttle nodded. “Dismissed.” 

8567 broke the salute, quickly trotting out of the room to continue on with the mission she had been tasked with. 

Scuttle could merely shake his head at the departing soldier. He would have used an infiltrator, but the risk of them being discovered and lost was far too great. It would not hurt the hive to lose a single soldier, though Scuttle prayed to whatever deity he professed faith to that 8567 would come back safe and sound. He would have normally sent an infiltrator, but he couldn’t risk the ones they had left being burned by paranoid Equestrians. As much as he hated to admit it, 8567 was absolutely expendable compared to a trained infiltrator. 

Ever since he had come into the position of commander, he had been pushing to raise the education standards. Without being de-chitined by Chrysalis. 

He was of the position it would benefit everyone if it wasn’t just infiltrators who could read, drones and soldiers could be far more useful if they could read as well. 

Chrysalis believed it to be a waste of time when drones could be mining and soldiers could be training to fight for the hive. 

And, though he could see her point, the likelihood of a soldier ever needing to read being far lower then an infiltrator, a drone even less then a soldier, he disagreed on principle. 

Everyone should be able to read, language and text is what separated changelings from mere insects, after all. 

But there wasn’t much he could do. Sure, he could pull a few strings, but the Queen had final say and if she found out about the strings he was pulling behind her back… 

He’d rather not think about it. 

Instead, he trotted out of the cave, muttering a number as he thought. “4292… Be safe out there.” 





Fortnite was the first to react, lunging for the pistol dropped by Dante, though the device was torn away from her at the last second by Discord. Slamming into a wall, the disguised changeling herself falling to the floor with no alien weaponry to show for it. 

However, she soon found her self treated just like the pistol was, being tossed into a wall. 

She cried out in pain, as she felt her chitin cracking underneath her fleshy disguise.

She fell to the floor. She managed to shout through the pain. “Bulwark, the gun!” 

Without a word, the unarmored guard shot forward, his magic lighting up in an attempt to get the device the two hoped might be able to slow the warper down so help could arrive, if not kill him with him. 

However, his attempt to retrieve the gun was cut short, as he felt a slimy texture grip around his rear hoof, pulling him to the ground. He was able to see a sickly green, goeey tentacle grip his horn, ripping his head back. He was dragged back, feeling goo envelop his rear leg and slowly eep its way up his body. 

“Fuck!” He shouted, borrowing a word from his alien commanding officer as his lower body was enveloped by the green goo, his head still being pulled back. 

“I got a tad tired of fighting directly.” Fortnite looked up to the chimeric villain, his body doing odd undulations as he spoke. 

He looked to the group of mares. “Now, I’ve stopped the two princesses, that angsty alien. That’s three threats to me stopped. The only ones left…” Discord’s eyes popped out, rolling into his claw as he blew on them, then rubbed them on his shoulder. He reinserted them and then counted the mares still standing. “Ah, yes, six. You six.” 

Pinkie reared up. “Keith! Initiate Plan Delta Bravo Bravo Bravo Vector Zulu X-ray India Whiskey Hotel!” 

She leapt into the air, being halted mid-air, and then somehow being levitated at high speed to the windows. Unknown to the mare, Discord had accounted for this, and erected a shield around the entire room. 

However, unknown to Discord, neither Pinkie or Keith quite cared for this shield. 

Twilight cringed as one of the stained glass windows depicting a momentous moment of Equestrian history, that also easily cost hundreds of thousands of bits, shattered, Pinkie falling out of the window. 

Discord placed a claw over the general area of his heart, closing his eyes. An unnaturally large tear formed in the corner of his eye, the chimera utilizing a talon to wipe it off. 

“A mare after my own heart… I’ll have to marry her once my conquest of Equestria is over… I’ll have to deal with that Keith, though.” He turned to the six… no, five mares, the slime enveloped guard struggling to get out and the injured changeling. 

“In any case, I still need to deal with you lot… oh, don’t look at me like that! I’m not Dante, I’m not planning on killing any of you...” 





For most people being greeted by the sight of one of the most powerful unicorns Equestria has ever seen with her horn lit up, pointed at you and wearing an angry frown would be enough to make them turn around and high tail it out of the immediate area. 

In fact, any normal or sane person would do that. 

Dante was neither sane or normal. Instead he passed by the angry unicorn, giving her horn a small flick with his finger as he passed. “Calm your fucking tits, dork. The fuck are you on, your period?” 

The crowd of ponies who had gathered to watch the unicorn take care of the encroaching Human quickly fled once they realized the Human had bypassed one of their most effective forms of defense with not so much as even a hesitation in his step. 

“Human!” Twilight roared once more as Dante approached an abandoned market, variously sized carrots present on it. 
“The name’s Dante, nerd.” He replied, paying no mind as he grabbed a carrot and began munching on it. He leaned back on the wooden stall, using his right hand to support him. “You should be nice to me, I just jumped dimensions, do you know how taxing that is? In any case, I nee-” Dante was cut off as Twilight released the magic in her horn, sending a ball of energy to him. 

Dante responded by raising his left arm, the shield generator present in his suit being activated by the near lightspeed reactions of Venus. 

A billow of smoke erupted as the energy met energy. Dante coughed, using his hand to wave away as much smoke as he could. 

“Jesus Tap-dancin’ Christ, egghead.” He coughed out, the smoke having gotten in his lungs. “I realize I like to smoke but not that kind of smoke.” 

Twilight charged her horn once more. “Why are you here? How are you here?” She beared her teeth, the biped merely glaring at her. 

“I was getting to that, dumbass, before you tried to kill me.” He rolled his eyes, muttering. “Jesus fuckin’ christ, I don’t touch a single one of you all and then you go and try to blast me away.” 

“Answer. The. Question.” Twilight growled through gritted teeth. 

“Discord.” Twilight’s horn died at the mention of the being’s name. 

“What?” She cocked her head. 

“Discord. He’s the reason I’m here. He tossed me through dimensions, I landed here. I’m not here of my own volition and I would like to get home as soon as possible.” He finished the carrot, tossing the end away and grabbing another one. “Though I would like to know just how you all know about Humanity, and why the fuck you guys speak English. The Equestria back home speaks… well… Equestrian and has never met Humanity… before me, of course.” 

“We are speaking Equestrian.” Twilight corrected him, Dante raising an eyebrow. 

“Are you fucking retarded, nerd?” Dante stated, using his arms to gesture around. “You’re speaking goddamned English!”

“This is Equestrian.” 

Dante waved his hands. “No, fuck off alt-universe Twilight. Listen, I’ve been speaking English since it was first created. Nearly a thousand years ago… er, rather, I suppose in this case it’s closer to six thousand years.” 

Twilight glared at the biped, who was still munching on a carrot. “Humans don’t live that long.” 

Dante tossed the rest of the carrot away. “Yes, and we also don’t survive magical blasts like that. Unfortunately, I’ve never been a normal Human… in any case, we’re speaking English.” 

Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “Equestrian.”

“English.” 

“Equestrian.” 

“English.” 

“Equestrian!” 

“English.” 

“Equestrian!” 

“English.” 

“Equest-” Twilight shook her head, Dante still looking at her bored. “Stop! I know what you’re trying to do!” 

Dante shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not trying to do anything. I’m just sayin’… we’re not speaking Equestrian, this is English.” 

“It’s Equestri-” Twilight shook her head once more, pointing her hoof at the biped. “See, there you go again!” 

By now, a crowd has slowly started to reform, to look at the odd sight of a Human and Twilight arguing. 

Dante grabbed another carrot, taking a bit out of the end. “Eh… nope, doc.” He said, intentionally spitting out pieces of carrot as he spoke. “This is English. This is Equestrian.” He proceeded his last sentence by speaking in an odd alien tongue that resembled a mixture of Human languages, clicks and horse neighs and whinnies.

Twilight stared at him as though he had gone insane. “That’s not Equestrian.” She answered, incredulous.

“Yes it is.” 

“No it is-” Twilight gritted her teeth, growling and then raising her head into the air and screaming. 

“Stop doing that!” She shouted at the biped, the frustration evident on her face. 

“Doing what?” He asked, scratching the top of his unarmored head. “I’m not doing anything.”

“Yes, you are!” 

“No, Twilight, I’m not.” 

“You a-” Twilight caught herself, stomping the ground with her hooves. “Everytime I speak to you, it’s like speaking to a petulant child!”

“I’m not the one starting roundabout arguments.” He argued. 

“Yes you are.”

“All you have to do is agree or just not say anything and then there’s no argument.” 

Twilight charged her horn. “Enough!” She released the built up energy, the biped merely responding once more by raising his arm, the shield energizing to deflect and nullify the blast. ‘What are you doing here!” 

“I told you,” Dante began a frown forming on his face. “I’m here because the Discord in my Equestria tossed me across dimensions. I want to get home, but I need help to do so. All three alicorns would be preferable, but either Celestia or Luna should do.” 

Twilight, though still seething, seemed to think deeply when he mentioned the three alicorns, a frown coming to her face. 

There was silence amongst the crowd, the ponies waiting for Twilight to make her move. 

Finally, she took Dante’s arm in her purple hued magic, tugging him towards her, he didn’t resist. “Follow me.” She stated, letting go of the Human’s arm. A piece of parchment and a pen popped up out of thin air as she began scratching out a letter. 

Dante, meanwhile, began taking in his surroundings. It certainly did look like the Ponyville he had seen. The crowd seemed mostly right, though they were a few ponies he didn’t recognize from the last time he had been here, in the other universe. And the ones he didn’t recognize seemed wrong. 

Every pony he had seen had large so far had large, vibrantly colored eyes. Even the changelings, though theirs were solid blue orbs. They still seemed to almost naturally glow. And while these unknown ponies also had colorful and large eyes, the color seemed dull and flat. 

Dante examined them as he passed them quickly, noting that even their coats and manes seemed dull. And many of them were lacking the flank marks he had grown accustomed to seeing. 

‘Twilight’s acting very odd.’ The thought came to him, from Venus. 

‘Yeah… I wonder what this universe’s shtick is… by the sound of things, it sounds like there may be some racial tensions between Humans and ponies. That being said...’ 

He glanced around, keeping an eye out for any other Humans who may be present, Venus herself giving out a short pulse from the suit, looking for any returns that would indicate Human life. 

There was nothing but ponies, ponies and more ponies. 

‘There’s a not a single Human in sight… They know what Humans are, but there’s no Humans for any racial tensions to evolve. Even in the Jim Crow South, blacks were a common sight… so I’m a bit weirded out by the lack of Humans.’

They approached the building Dante had found out in his other dimension was named Golden Oaks Library from a detailed map of Ponyville. 

Twilight finished the letter just just as she opened the door. “Spike!” 

She gestured with her hoof to a small couch. “Please… uh… make yourself at home.” 

She looked around for the little drake, though Dante hadn’t held any personal conversations with Spike, he had assumed he was either an adopted brother or a secretary for the unicorn. He wasn’t sure which one it was, but he did know the two were close. 

However, the little dragon was no where to be seen. “Spike, please come down here. I need your help.” 

There was a silence as Dante plopped down on the couch and scanning the room. He took a sniff of the room, smelling for anything off and then listened. 

His eyebrow raised as he heard slow hoof steps. He glanced over to the purple unicorn, the mare unmoving. 

“He’ll be here in just a moment and then we’ll get this figured out.” She stated, Dante scanning the room once more. 

He heard hooves clopping down the stairs as a pony appeared. 

The pony, appearing to be a juvenile male, unicorn, a light purple coat and a green mane. Though oddly enough, unlike every other pony he had seen, the tail was purple, not the same color as his mane. Dante struggled to recall any pony he had seen with a different colored mane and tail, but his mind brought up none. 

The mane was spiky, and the mark present on the rear of most ponies was also on this pony. This one a tied scroll engulfed in green flame. 

The eyes were an emerald green, though the pupils were far more like a snake’s then a pony’s.

“Hey there, Twi.” The pony spoke, the voice sounding bored. “How’d the Human go?” 

Dante narrowed his eyes, focusing on the eyes. They were emerald green, but just like some of the ponies he had seen in the town, the eyes were… dull. 

Twilight gestured with her head to the relaxing Human on the couch, Dante raising his trigger finger and middle finger in a ‘V’ gesture. “Yo.” 

Spike stared, and then slowly blinked. “Oh. That’s good, I suppose. Did you need something Twilight?” 

The mare nodded her head, passing the sealed scroll over to Spike, the young colt unicorn catching it in his magic. “Could you please send this to Princess Celestia?” 

Spike numbly nodded, the scroll being engulfed in green flames, so disappearing in a pile of ash.

Twilight allowed her self to rest on her rump. 

“And now we wait.” And so they did. Silence reigned for a few minutes, as the biped and unicorn sat in silence. 

Spike continued to stand there, staring into the distance. 

After a minute or two, Twilight coughed into her hoof. “Uh… Spike, you can go back to bed.” 

“Oh.” He responded, stiffly turning around and heading back up the stairs. 





Poet was hurtling down the Iraqi highway. His eyes scanning for threats. He was nearing the town he needed to be at to get the girl. 

And he needed to do it fast. The First was getting pounded at Mosul and the stubborn Liwaa Harb was refusing to remove the Division from Mosul until he got his little girl back. 

And that was how the Legionairre found himself here, throttling into a town just a little ways from Erbil. Evidently Harb had believed Daesh would not be so bold so as to risk a two front attack on Iraqi federal forces and Kurdish militias. 

He was wrong. 

Poet hit the throttle once more, the motorcycle opening up on the roads. Despite the bloodshed going not far behind him in Mosul, and whatever awaited him in the town he was heading for, the night was peaceful, quiet. 

He supposed all the death was too concentrated at the moment. 

It didn’t take him long, twenty more minutes, for him to see the first signs. Technicals and up-armored Toyotas. 

And men with guns who knew the man driving a motorcycle at full speed at them wasn’t supposed to be there. 

Well… they didn’t think he was supposed to be there, Poet couldn’t care any less about what they thought, he was going to be here even if God himself came down and told him personally not to be here. 

And as such, he was in the town. Currently being burned by fanatical religious extremists. 

Poet raised the AR-15 he had, the rifle having been manufactured by Colt, bought by the Imperium and then modified to fire automatically in order to allow Imperial agents to blend in better with Human forces.

In total, there were seven men bunched up around the technical, one of them already on the Browning M2 mounted in the bed of the truck. The Imperial agent focused his attention on that man, bringing the rifle to his shoulder, the bike seemingly steering itself as he placed one shot on the machine gunner, the round flying true, and severing the spinal cord. 

The machine gunner limply fell over his M2, dead, as Poet focused on the remaining militia men. 

Dozens of 7.62 rounds were fired at him, the ones that hit, were met by a shield of pure energy, as Poet focused on the remaining men. 

Although hundreds of 7.62 rounds were shot in the short encounter, only seven 5.56 rounds were used. 

Dante brought the bike to a halt as he neared the technical. He dismounted, bring the bike to some burned out rubble and ensured it was hidden.

He went back to the technical, quickly collecting the bodies of the men he had killed and piling them into the back of the technical, along with any rifles or equipment they may have dropped. 

He pulled a small cylinder hanging from a holster on his webbing. Disengaging the safety, he removed the pin and set it in the bed of the truck. 

“Venus, define the parameters.” 

It was a pyrotechnical grenade, though not anti-personnel, rather anti-materiel. Designed to destroy useful equipment or intelligence to insurgents, it had also found use in firefighting on less well off planets. Due to the fire-retardant nanites it utilized to control the flames. An operator could set the parameters for the nanites, which would kill the flames at a certain distance, making it useful in small scale and large scale destruction, as well as back burning to stop wildfires. 

Of course, Poet wasn’t using it to fight fires, he just didn’t want this technical to be turned on him. And the flames produced by the grenade were far more then enough to turn the corpses in the truck to mere ash and the more durable items, such as the M2, AKs, ammunition and the truck itself to nothing more then smoldering piles of twisted metal. 

Quickly moving away from the burning technical, Poet utilized the scanners. He would have much preferred his armor, the lack of it instead requiring a comparatively bulky and far less versatile scanner suite to be carried with the rest of his gear on his plate carrier. 

That being said, the scanner wasn’t that large. About the size of an MRE and a similar thickness. 

But still, it took up precious space. Though, its strengths far outweighed its weaknesses, as Poet was quickly able to find out how many people were in the town. 

About twenty adults, all with salvaged rifles and pistols of varying make… and one child sized return. 

He pulled the charging handle on the rifle back, ensuring there was a round in the chamber, then released it. 

He began his walk to the child’s location. The twenty men had already began to make their way to his position.

Poet grinned. Firefights could always get interesting. 





There was a flash of light in the main room of the Golden Oaks Library, the purple unicorn covering her eyes. As the light died down, a regal Celestia, clad in her gold regalia, flanked by two armored guards. The armor far more significant then the armor Dante had seen on them before. 

The elder alicorn saw the young unicorn mare and smiled warmly at her. “Twilight.” 

The young unicorn quickly bowed. “Your Majesty.” She replied somberly, causing Celestia to smile and laugh. 

“Come now, Twilight,” She rested a foreleg on the unicorn’s withers. “There is no need for such formalities with me, my dear student.” 

Twilight nodded her head. “Of course, Qu-, er, Celestia.” 

Celestia brought a hoof to her mouth, giggling. “Very good, in any case. You called me about a…” She lowered her voice, bringing her head closer to the now standing Twilight. “Human?” She whispered, Twilight nodding, gesturing to the couch behind her with her head. 

“Yes, he’s right th-” She turned her head, and stopped talking, the couch empty.

“Uh...” Her mouth hung open, when had he moved! She hadn’t heard anything and Humans weren’t exactly the stealthiest of creatures. “He was right there!” 

A crunch sounded from the other side of the room, Twilight and Celestia swiveling their heads. There, standing in the doorway was the Human that Twilight had contacted Celestia about, munching on a carrot.

“Eh… what’s up, Doc?” He asked, his voice sounding far more nasally then Twilight remembered it, as he spat small bits of carrot out of his mouth.  

In his hand sat a plate, piled with bread and various other food, stolen from Twilight’s kitchen. 

“This place sucks, y’all don’t even have any bacon. How am I supposed to have a BLT when I only have the L and the T?” 

Celestia once more lowered her head to Twilight’s, whispering. “He’s quite rude, isn’t he?” 

Before Twilight could respond, the Human responded. “Indeed I am, Celly.” He made to walk towards her and give her his hand, though realized he currently had both hands indisposed of at the moment. He glanced to the plate in his left hand, containing the pile of food, then to the carrot. He shrugged his shoulders, tossing the plate behind him, the food and plate hitting a wall and clattering to the floor in a mess. 

“No one eats a BLT without the B.” He stuck his hand out, Celestia giving it a wary glance. “General Dante T. Jaeger.” 

Celestia warily stuck her hoof out, the biped gripping it and giving it a shake. “I am Queen Celestia, Sovereign of the Heavens and Earth.” 

“Queen?” Dante asked, an eyebrow raised, whistling at the same time. “That’s a step up from ‘princess’… is Luna also a queen?” 

To anyone else observing, the alicorn’s face was entirely neutral, her voice containing no trace of hesitation. 

However, Dante had been through far too much to miss the quick eye glance and the very short hesitation before she began her sentence. 

“Yes… she is. But more importantly, may I ask you a question.” 

Dante nodded.

“How are you here?” 

“Discord.” He answered, raising his trigger finger to point in the air. “Specifically, it would appear as though he managed to escape from his last imprisonment, petrified my Lulu and Celly and then came after us in the streets. I managed to teleport us back to the throne room, but the jump spell was simply far too much of a distance and there were simply far too many people in my party, I ended up sacrificing a couple of my organs to keep everyone together and… well, you know, not giant, mushy piles of flesh, blood, cells and destroyed DNA. Discord hit me and tossed me through a portal while my innards were still regenerating and, well… here I am!” 

Celestia nodded. “Indeed, here you are. ‘Your Lulu and Celly’? And sacrificing your organs?” 

Dante nodded. “Yep, did the dork not explain? Alternate universe? I’m not… actually supposed to be here. And I’m immortal, losing organs isn’t that big of a deal, just a bitch to regenerate.”

“And a teleportation spell? Humans can perform magic from your universe?” 

Dante raised his trigger finger in the air once more, a dead language rolling from his tongue, a small flame burst to life on the tip of his finger. “Some Humans can perform magic. But even for those extremely proficient in it, it takes an absurd amount of energy and stamina. That being said, though, it’s not as difficult to perform here or back in my Equestria. I assume it’s because magic operates differently on these planets then it does on Earth.” 

He shook his head. “Speaking of Earth, it seems as though you all know about my people already, which seems to be another difference between my world and your world. Such as the ponies in this world speaking Engl-” 

“We’re speaking Equestrian!” Twilight protested. 

“Fuck off you absolute cunt, we’re speaking English right now, retard. Anyways,” Dante waved a hand in front of his face, a frown forming on Celestia’s face at his insults. “Before I was rudely interrupted by Miss ‘I was bullied in fucking pre-k because I was that actually un-fucking-likeable that retarded three to four year olds could tell how much of a little bitch I was’,” Twilight snout scrunched up at the long winded insult, though she held her tongue. “Why is it that you all seem to know what I am but… I see absolutely no Humans in the area.” 

Celestia nodded sagely, her eyes closed. “Yes, and there’s a good reason for that. You see, General Jaeger, you were entirely correct in your statement of magic operating differently. As it is, in this universe at least, magic is extremely… toxic to Humans.”

“Toxic.” Dante repeated, the incredulity obvious in his voice. She nodded. 

“Yes, unfortunately, as a result, Equus is separated from Earth by a portal. And Humans are incapable of crossing over, otherwise… well, the air in Equus is quite toxic to them.” 

Dante thought about it for a second, before he began speaking. “If Humanity is there… they might have the tech… necessary… maybe.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Twilight questioned, confused by the muttering, Celestia nodding in agreement. 

“If they’re at the same tech level my Humanity was at, I may be able to jury rig a quantum teleporter… not ideal, but going home with it, the Imperium should be able to trace the atom and photon transmissions back to the planet I’m stranded on so long as I put a pattern in them. It’ll take longer then a larcom, but it exponentially increases my chances of getting picked up… “

Dante looked to the two mares. “By any chance, are we near the portal?” 

Celestia nodded. “It’s right inside the Everfree.” 

Dante gestured out the door with his hands. “Queen, if you would be so kind so as to lead me back to my people.”

Celesia raised a hoof to cover Twilight’s mouth before she could protest. 

“Absolutely, please, follow me.”

As she turned around, she used her wing to cover Twilight, passing her a purple vial, concealed from Dante’s view. 

The mare silently took it and hid it on herself. 





Fornite dodged another attack, her horn lit up once more. Though it was quickly cut off by a goeey tentacle smashing another wall.

Discord was merely floating in the air as his creation made a mess of Castle Canterlot. 

Bulwark was currently doing his best to keep himself tethered outside of the goo monster, his horn latched onto something solid with his magic and pulling it towards him, thus pulling himself away from the goo monster, though it still had a solid hold on him. 

The five elements, sans Pinkie Pie, were not having much more luck, all of them being forced to dodge and unable to do anything. 

Really, all they could do was hope Pinkie had gone and gotten help. 

Fortnite made for the gun once more, but once more, Discord ripped it from her at the last second, tossing it to the other side of the room. 

She rolled as she hit the ground, growling. She couldn’t move fast enough in this form. If she had her wings. she’d be able to move far faster. 

She gritted her teeth, it was either reveal herself to royalty and the national heroes, the ponies that her Queen had tried to overthrow just a little over a week ago, or continue on this route and risk Discord winning. 

It would be even worse if Princess Cadance were to show up. Still, she had no choice. 

“Bulwark! I’m dropping it!” 

Bulwark protested while struggling against the goo. “No, do not drop it!” 

Her horn glowed. 





“So… this is the portal?” Dante asked, gesturing to the swirling portal. 

Celestia nodded. “Yes.” 

He used his index finger to point the ponies with him. “Will y’all be okay going over there?”

Once more, Celestia nodded. “Yes. We are fine over there, it is just Humanity who has the issue over here.” 

“Great!” Dante responded, pulling his Glock from the thigh holster, dropping the mag and pulling the slide back to ensure there was a round chambered. He double checked the mag in his hand to ensure it was loaded and replaced it in the handgun. 

He replaced the sidearm in its holster and removed his helmet from his head, slipping it on. 

“Concerned?” Celestia questioned, looking at the now fully covered biped. 

“Oh, well, you know. I’m in an alternate universe so I have no idea how that world’s like.” The voice filtered through his helmet, sounding a tad distorted. “For all I know, they could be ‘50’s era racist but with the roles shifted. Blacks in control and whites are the ones getting fucked. If that’s the case, I’d rather not catch a round to the head by an overzealous black cop who saw a cracker with a gun.” 

Before anyone could react, Dante slipped through the portal.





*Reconnecting to satellites...*

*Reconnecting…*

*Reconnecting*

*Connected*

*Incoming audio transmission*

“To anyone listening to this, I am broadcasting this to NASA’s satellites. They won’t stay up there forever, but maybe we can get help. We already know aliens exist, the ponies were the only proof we needed. But please, if you’re watching this, listening to this, if you can understand this. My name is James Donovan, I’m a specialist in the United States Army and, as far as I’m aware, one of the last Humans alive. Listen, do not trust the ponies. They… fucking fucked us! The sphere, it can’t reach space, but the ISS won’t last forever up there without the logistical support from NASA and the other space agencies, which is fucking gone! The sphere… magic kills us. And the sphere just fucking seems to disintegrate everything it touches. Celestia claims her ponification potions will save Humanity, but… I’ve seen them! I’ve seen those goddamned new-foals! They’re abominations. They’re walking corpses of Humans who have been mind raped! By Celestia! She claims she has no control over the sphere, and by the time anyone realized that was a load of goddamned fucking horseshit, it was too late! We lost contact with Luna, the only pony who seemed to support us who was in any sort of position of power, and at the time of her disappearance, Celestia changed her title to ‘Queen’ and we started getting attacked by terrorist ponies trying to forcefully ponify Humans with chemical attacks! Listen, I’m rambling and I’ve not got much time left. Do not trust a single thing that comes out of her fucking cunt mouth. If you are receiving this transmission, that means one of two things. You are an alien with the ability to travel the stars and you somehow stumbled across this rock while our sats were still in orbit. In which case, I beg of you, destroy Celestia, find Luna. Luna’s sane, she wants to help people, Celestia doesn’t. She can not be allowed to live. Or you’re a Human who somehow, in some way, was able to survive the sphere with technology that could also decrypt this transmission. In which case… god help you… There’s one other thing I need to tell. Four days ago, the remaining government of the US initiated Operation N… wait, shit! No, it’s not supposed to be moving that fast. Operation Noah! I don’t know if it succeeded or not. But look to the moon! I need to finish what I’m doing. The sphere’s going to be right on top of me in less then five minutes. This is Specialist Donovan signing off, to whoever’s listening to this… god speed… avenge Humanity. Please.” 





“Celestia.” Dante breathed deeply, slipping off his helmet. His eyes scanning the field he found himself in, surrounded by trees and grass. A few ponies were grazing lazily on the grass. He replaced his helmet to its position on his belt

Celestia finished slipping through the portal, assisting Twilight through. Her guards came through unassisted. 

“Yes, General?” She smiled sweetly, her voice cutting through the air as sweet as honey. 

Dante turned to face her. “Where are we?” He asked, his voice the polar opposite, voice as cold as space, eyes piercing into Celestia’s soul and frown on his face. 

Though the mare seemed unaffected by it. “General, we are on Ear-” Though she couldn’t finish her sentence. The biped taking a large step towards her, his right hand resting on his sidearm. 

“Fuck off with that shit! Celestia! I’ve got a goddamned GPS reading say I’m right in the fucking goddamn middle of fucking LA! This!” He gestured around him, doing a small spin, turning three-hundred-sixty degrees to face back to Celestia. “This is not LA! And then not only that! I’ve got a Specialist named James Donovan telling me you’re not to be trusted. So what is it, Celestia? Because everything I’m seeing is making Specialist Donovan sound more and more trustworthy. So enough with the bullshit.” His eyes narrowed, the different colors striking. “Where. Are. We?” 

Celestia sighed. “General Jaeger, please. Allow me to explain.” 

Dante raised his arms out from his side. “I’m giving you the goddamned chance to explain. So explain!”

“Our contact with Humanity was unplanned.” She stated, sighing. “Within hours of first contact, the sphere formed and began slowly encompassing the planet. We found quickly enough that Humans were unable to survive in it. I put all of my scientists into finding some way to… prevent the reaction Humans had to magic.” 

Dante glanced around the field, eyeing the ponies lazily gnawing on the grass, despite the shouting. “And the result was some sort of transmogrification potion?” 

Celestia nodded. Dante shook his head. “Why didn’t you just stop the sphere?” 

“We had no idea, I had no control over it.” 

“Bullshit.” Celestia took a small step back, not expecting the response, the bipeds eyes locking with her’s. 

“Maybe what you say is true, maybe initially you didn’t have control of it. But at some point before it encompassed the entire planet, you gained control of it.” 

Dante removed his sidearm from his holster. “But you didn’t stop it.” His eyes narrowed. “How many Humans are dead by your hand?” 

“None! I helped them!” Celestia protested, though Dante merely waved his sidearm at her. 

“Helped them? Look around you Celestia, I may not be entirely aware of the full history of where I am, but these ponies! In this fucking field!” Dante gestured to various ponies lazily walking around the field, not paying attention to the shouting. 

Celestia’s guards were visibly shocked, though hesitated in making any moves to restrain the biped, unsure of the plan their sovereign had. 

“Look at them! They’re acting like… goddamn horses! No, worse then that! Horses can fucking think for themselves! These fucking things are barely function corpses! And what about Spike, back home he’s a baby dragon! Here he’s a barely functioning pony! He stood there like a retard for a good minute before Twilight told him he could go back to bed. Like a fucking zombie!” 

Celestia stepped closer to the biped, puffing out her chest and spreading her wings. “I had no choice, by the time I gained control of the field, most of the planet had been covered already. If I had revealed that fact, then the Humans who had not accepted the potion would have been left on a half-dead, half revitalized Earth. Look around you, Dante! Can you deny that this is better! Look, the planet is no longer polluted, and the air is no longer choked with smog! You should see Beijing! It’s absolutely beaut-”

Dante paid no mind to the rambling mare, something else catching his eye. A mare, a pony that would have been described as an Earth pony back home. He turned on his feet.

She had ended grazing the closest to the tense group. Her coat a dark brown, mane and tail a jet black. She was missing the mark present on most of the pony’s rears.

“No.” He stated, surely, he was just mistaken. 
Celestia had stopped talking, walking slowly behind the man, who was headed towards one of the ponies in the group, Twilight following behind the royal and tailed by the two, nervous guards. 

The unmarked pony, surprised by the sound of the group moving towards her, slowly lifted her head. 

Two of the most beautiful blue eyes Dante had ever seen locked with his. 

“No.” Though her eyes were dull with the curse of whatever potion had been used on her, Dante could deny it no longer. He stopped walking, mere inches from the pony, who did not seemed to be spooked by the towering biped.

“Hello.” The pony spoke, though dull and uninterested, the voice only cut through his heart, as the his brain finally cut through its denial. 

The voice was back, screaming in the back of his head. 

He collapsed to his knees, his arms falling limply to his side and his hand loosing its grip on the Glock. His mouth hung open, his eyes locked in place as his brain tried to process what he was seeing. Slowly, his hands reached out, wrapping around the pony’s neck. Contrary to what should be the natural instincts of any animal or creature to react when something is around or near its neck, this pony gave no resistance as she was pulled close to Dante. Tears forming in the biped’s face. 

“No, no. Lak… Lak… Lak...”
The pony didn’t respond, her blue eyes still dull.  

Dante spoke, though what he said was once more lost to the winds, the tongue dead and forgotten to all but one person. 

A pulse traveled through his right hand. 

He rested his hand on the pony’s head, the mare’s face gently resting against his shoulder. 

Her body went limp… then, violent convulsions began. 

Her body was held securely, as her legs began involuntarily kicking, scuffing, though otherwise not damaging the armor on the biped. 

“Twilight.” Celestia leaned closer to her student, whispering to her. “When he turns around… do it.” 

Twilight nodded, standing close to her teacher, she levitated the vial of potion. 

The convulsions stopped, as Dante continued holding the mare. 

“… You killed her.” He gently laid the mare down, though it was obvious she was still breathing.

He stood up, arms held limply at his sides. “You killed her.” 

They could hear a deep breath, Twilight fully prepared to throw the vial. 

Dante pivoted on his feet, screaming. “You killed her!” 

Twilight put force behind her telekinetic throw, hurtling the vial at Dante at several hundred miles an hour. 

It soared through the air, true. It was going to hit where Twilight was aiming. But, suddenly, it stopped. In mid-air. 

It gently fell at significantly less then the previous several hundred miles an hour it had been traveling at into Dante’s gloved palm.

He gripped it. 

“You think you can kill me!” He lifted the vial above his head, tilting his head back. “You can’t kill me, you fucks!” 

He crushed the vial, purple liquid quickly making its way through the cracks in his palms, as he began laughing maniacally. 

“You can kill everyone else!” She couldn’t see his face, the body part being covered in the potion used, but the cackling cut through the soul of every pony present, even the ponies who otherwise hadn’t been bothered before. A primal switch being thrown in their brains.  

He slowly lowered his head, the liquid dripping from his exposed face. 

Twilight gagged, watching sheets of skin slough off from his face. 

“The potion you made is trying to change me into one of those abominations.” He spoke, blood and potion spittling from his mouth, his eyes dulling then brightening and dulling and brightening. “The bones in my body are breaking as this parasitic alchemy attempts to take over, but you didn’t account for one thing.” 

His eyes stopped, dulling, though his face was mostly just muscle and sinew, small splotches of skin beginning to regenerate from where the potion and his body had fought for dominance. 

Celestia had no time to react, the biped disappearing from his spot, a large weight slammed into her side, tossing her a few hundred feet from where she had previously stood. She slid along the ground, gouging out a hole in the earth, dirt being thrown indiscriminately. 

She flipped, rolling over onto her back. Once more, before she could struggle onto her side to stand up, a hand wrapped around her throat, her eyes darting open despite the pain. 

Staring back into hers, were two eyes. The right eye, blue. The left eye, green. But in both, roared the rage of death itself, glowing with ferocity. They seemed almost lit up.

“It didn’t take into account the Me!” 

His arm was cocked back, preparing to deliver a blow that would have surely killed the alicorn. 

Though it would not be so simple, her horn charged, then discharging, releasing a monstrous amount of energy, throwing his arm back. 

Another blast discharged, meeting his chest and throwing him from the mare. 

Celestia teleported back to the group that she had been thrown from, her two guards brandishing their spear as they flanked her side. 

Dante picked himself up. “Do you know how much I wanted that potion to work!” He shouted. 

He began slowly walking towards them. “But once more, I’m still alive, still breathing. Celestia, you would be doing me a great favor. By snuffing my breath out of existence.” 

Celestia was preparing a spell, one to open a portal back to the castle. Those three spells had taken a lot out of her, and teleporting the distance from Earth back to Equestria was far too dangerous, she reckoned. A portal far safer. 

Dante patted his chest, his face covered in dirt from the throw. “But there in lies the problem. As much as I would like for you to be able to kill me, and indeed if you did kill me you’d be free of any consequences I may bring down on you, but that’s the problem. I can’t let you kill me, Celly, because I have to kill you! As revenge for her!” He gestured to the resting pony, the one who had been convulsing just a minute before. 

The power glowed bright on the tip of Celestia’s horn, fully prepared to cast it, but she needed just a little longer before the portal was strong enough. 

“Jaeger, I can not stop you here at this moment, but I will be back to do so.” Celestia stated resolutely, as she let go of the spell, the portal forming, giving off a warm orange glow. 

She kept her eyes trained on the slowly advancing biped, herself slowly backing into the portal with Twilight in tow. 

Her crown flew from her head, propelled by an unseen force, forwards, landing between her and Dante, Twilight still in front of her. 

“Your crown!” She shouted, galloping forward without waiting for an answer. 

“Twilight, no!” Though it was too late, purple unicorn having charged forward and covered several dozen meters already. 

Unconcerned for her crown, Celestia ripped her student up in her grasp and quickly began backpedalling to the portal, hoping to get away from the now charging biped. 

Though she continued to backpedal when her view changed from the grassy field she had been in to the stone throne room, she allowed a breath she had been holding to escape as she gazed at her student now facing her and still in her grasp. The portal slowly closing behind them. 

She was not expecting, however, a hand to burst through the small portal, being able to reach far enough to grasp Twilight’s tail and pull her back, her rear entering the portal. 

Celestia quickly stopped the portal closing as she was pulled closer thanks to Twilight, the hand and her fighting for control of the mare. 

The hand pulled even harder, pulling Twilight further back, Celestia grunting as she poured more power into her telekinetic grip. She pulled herself closer to Twilight, wrapping her forelegs around her neck and trying to pull the mare back without killing her, as Dante’s arm and she fought for control. 

She began to successfully pull Twilight back to the castle, intending to cut the portal off as soon as the mare was clear of it, regardless of whether or not Dante was still in it. 

However, her success was short lived, another arm pushing into the portal from the other side, up to its shoulder, as a black object was shoved into the left side of Celestia’s face. 

The alicorn had no time to react as Dante mag-dumped all eighteen rounds of the Glock into the left side of her face. 

Her grip on her student failed, as she fell back in pain, screaming from the eighteen nine millimeter rounds in her head. 

Twilight found herself being pulled back to the violent biped.
> Homecoming
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 20

The capitol building loomed before the two Legionnaires, both unarmored, though not unarmed.

The bustling streets of the Citadel passed them by, the people in them paying no care to the non-descript men. Millions of people walked into the capitol building each day and millions walked out.

The woman peddling various firearms, bladed weapons and high explosives to several law enforcement officers near the entrance. The man at his stall claiming his food is the best in the Imperium. None of them showed any interest in the two Legionnaires beyond potential customers.

The two silently strode up the stairs, the Senatorium a mere two blocks away and the Supreme Court four blocks.

Elevators clung to the outside of the capitol building, a left over remnant of the days when the Imperium wasn’t as advanced as it is now. The newer buildings all had short range teleporters, but they had refused to update the capitol building on the basis that it’s exterior was far too well known. It’s exterior colored in an imposing black.

The two Legionnaires entered through the main doors, both flashing IDs in unison, the armed security waving them through the checkpoint line.

“This is skeeving me out, Tommy.” The leaner, shorter one, leaning over, whispered to his partner. “Getting suddenly called to the capitol from base. Admiral doesn’t override Duren’s authority very often like that. Know the last time it happened?”

Tommy scanned the room, crowds of people going about their own business in the building, but he couldn’t deny something seemed off.

“He hasn’t done it once since I jumped on.” Tommy pushed the voice screaming at the back of his mind down, though another jumping up to replace it.

“The credentials and authorizations checked on the order, but I have to agree. I have never personally seen Krelnash override Duren.” Venus spoke up, though only heard by ‘Tommy’, the man who was known normally as Dante.

“Venus is saying she agrees with you, Leknen. And I also have to agree.”

“The voice?” The tan Legionnaire questioned, as he sidestepped a secretary with her face buried in a datapad. Dante nodded. “Jesus christ, some of these people just came off active duty and their situational awareness is worth as much as a fucking boot’s.” Leknen added, looking to Dante.

“Shit man, if that voice is yelling at you, something is about to go down. It ain’t ever been wrong yet.” It was Dante’s turn to avoid another distracted worker, the two Legionnaire's taking note of a passing group of uniformed service members carrying their service rifles. Undoubtedly on security patrol, and probably fresh out of basic.

“Wonder what it’s going to be this time, LG.” Leknen pushed open a door, using his free hand to wipe his nose. “Last time I went out with you, it was a massive fucking helo crash. We’re in the capitol building now, though.” He looked to Dante, meeting his eyes. “A politico asking what a mutt’s doing in the building and then making a scene requiring us to run away? Racist fucks.”

“Oi,” Dante protested with a chuckle, jabbing his thumb into his chest. “This mutt’s particularly proud of his Human heritage, and he says any politician throwing a fucking fit about him being here can remove the stick from their asshole and fuck off to another place.”

Leknen shrugged. “Well, shit… I mean, there ain’t no one in this building who’s going to argue with the second most powerful man in the galaxy. Lieutenant General of the PLMC, career suicide to fuck with that rank.”

The two came to a stop in front of one one of the iconic elevators, Dante pressing the call button.

Leknen leaned closer to his friend. “So what do you think this is about?”

Dante shrugged. “Honestly? Can’t be anything good if Admiral’s overriding Duren’s authority over the Legion. They only wanted me by myself, technically, you’re not even supposed to be here.”

Leknen squinted his eyes as the elevator arrived, the two stepped on.

“Really?”

Dante nodded his head. “Yep.”

“So, am I going to get court martialled for being here, or...”

Dante waved his hand. “Nah, fuck’em. I’m the Lieutenant General of the Legion and you’re my subordinate. If any shit goes down, I was the one who ordered you to accompany me, so the shit falls on my head.”

Leknen merely nodded.

The elevator stopped at the floor they were supposed to be on, as the two men stepped off.

The elevator ride was the end of an era… and the beginning of a new one.





Twilight was hoisted into the air, upside down, by her tail. The tall biped holding her supporting her weight easily.

Before she could charge a spell in her horn, his free hand wrapped around it, lifting her up so she could meet his eyes.

“Use any magic, and you lose your horn.” He growled. “Got it?”

The unicorn gazed into his eyes, looking for any hint of a bluff.

She found none, her eyes widening at the threat.

Twilight opened her mouth to speak, but Dante quickly moved his hand from her horn to her mouth, gripping it shut. “Don’t talk, listen. Nod if you understand I’ll rip your horn off if you even try to use magic.”

She nodded.

“Good.” Without another word he let go of her mouth, and began walking back to the mare, his feet thudding on the grass and holding Twilight out by her tail.

Twilight began to speak in an attempt to figure out what was going on beyond the fact that she had just been kidnapped by a Human who seemed to be breaking every known natural law.

She was quickly silenced by said Human. “I said no talking.”

The mare was still collapsed on her side and breathing heavily, her belly facing the two.

Dante roughly set Twilight down, kneeling beside her and towards the mare.

“Shut up and listen.” Dante said, as he gently pushed his hands under the mare, carefully lifting her up.

The mare’s eyes were shut, as she seemed to be in pain with every breath she took. Twilight could see the sweat forming on her body and being absorbed by her coat. He brought her closer to his body, in a loose hug, lifting her so her head rested on his shoulder.

The purple mare’s jaw dropped, just seconds ago, this Human had shot her teacher, kidnapped her and then threatened to rip her off if she tried to get away. And yet here he was, holding this newfoal with… something she wasn’t certain how to describe.

He used his right arm to stroke the mare’s head and back as his left arm supported her.

He was whispering. Twilight’s ears flickered, as she struggled to pick up what he was saying, though the whispers further muffled by the fact that he was speaking into the mare’s ear.

“Twilight,” He spoke, lifting his head from where it had previously rested on the mare’s head. “Do… How…” He took a deep breath, apparently trying to collect his thoughts. “How do you see Celestia?”

Twilight showed no hesitation in her answer. “She’s a great teacher and a benevolent leader. She even extended her hoof to help Humanity.”

Dante continued to rub the mare’s back, the newfoal’s breathing having become less heavy and shallow. “Did you ever know any Humans personally… before they were transformed.”

Twilight tilted her head, wondering where this line of questioning was going. “Of course I did. I worked with several scientists trying to help Humanity before we fell back to ponification.” Twilight stood a bit taller, her shoulders squaring up as she reminisced on the time she spent helping the greatest minds Humanity had to offer.

“What are they doing now?” Dante’s question hung in the air, as Twilight struggled to process it. Her shoulder’s slumping.

She couldn’t answer, Dante taking the lead. “Their eyes are lifeless and they have less brain power then a newborn. They’re probably in some field somewhere munching on grass. They don’t think. They just move. Aren’t they?”

Twilight looked down, unable to answer.

“Your silence is telling, Twilight. I’m right, aren’t I? Some of the most intelligent Humans you’ve ever met, some of them even smarter then you I’m willing to bet, turning into nothing but mindless living corpses. Zombies. Spike.”

Twilight’s breath hitched. “What about him?” Her voiced cracked as she questioned the name.

“I haven’t met him back home except for a short while. But from what I saw, he was a smart kid. Acted on his own if he thought it was necessary without pushing from others. This Spike? He’s a zombie. What does he do all day?”

The realization was slowly creeping upon Twilight.

“No, it’s just temporary. That’s what my colleagues told me. That’s what… Celestia told me.”

“You don’t know how I figured out what happened, do you? I knew, a rough idea, before I even asked Celestia to explain it to me. But she,” Dante gestured to the mare he cradled. “She only confirmed it for me.”

Dante paused his rubbing, looking up to meet Twilight’s eyes. “Do you know who she is? Who this mare is?”

Twilight shook her heard, Dante smiled.

“She’s my wife.”





The green flames flared up, as Fortnite’s pony disguise was dropped, revealing a changeling, standing tall, though chitin cracked and slowly leaking green. Still, Fortnite stood, she knew what she needed to do.

She launched herself from the ground, her wings buzzing furiously as she propelled herself towards the gun that Discord had been playing keep away from them.

Already, the floor was littered with rubble, as Bulwark was still fighting the slime monster that Discord had magicked into existence.

Fortnite neared the gun, her wings buzzing harder, pusher her faster. As she neared it, less then two body lengths away, it was pulled away from her.

She was expecting this, banking her body up and towards the chaos god. The hybrid focused on moving the gun and not the changeling coming towards him at full speed.

Fortnite was forced to sudden stop, vibrations traveling through her horn and into her head as she slammed into something solid.

She felt a warm liquid drip onto her head, as the once loud room, shouting from the struggling Bulwark and the gurgling of the weird monster restraining him. The shouts of the Elements as they too were nearly grabbed by an errant tentacle. All of that stopped, the only sound in the room the buzzing of her wings.

She saw a red liquid slowly trickle down her snout, her eyes looking up to meet the shocked blood red eyes of the mad god.

Her horn firmly and deeply embedded into his abdomen.

“I got you, bastard.” She growled, an anger welling up in stomach as the realization of what he had done finally hit her. She could feel the magic growing in her horn.

“For Dante.”





The mare’s eyes were now looking around, neither lazily nor quickly. At their own pace. They were no longer dulled, bright, vibrant. But still the mare was quiet.

“Her name is Lakia.” Dante informed Twilight, the mare’s eyes dart up to try and look at the biped yet she still remained silent.

“How did you know it’s her? Back in your home… this didn’t happen, did it?” Dante nodded his head.

“At the moment, I am the only Human and Imperial contact the Equestrians have made. I could tell from her eyes. They’re not something you easily forget. Her voice only made me even more certain.”

At this point, Dante had shifted from his kneeling stance to sitting, his legs criss-crossing over each other, the mare laying in his lap as she recovered.

The mare, Lakia, took this time to speak, as well as she could.

“Thank you.” The voice was hoarse, almost as though it hadn’t been used in a long while. Dante calmly looked down at her.

“No need for thanks. I need to be apologizing, I failed you, again.”

“… I don’t even know who you are.” The mare bluntly answered. Dante smiled, chuckling as he looked to the sky.

“Can’t be helped, I suppose. This is a different universe, after all. Even the time line is different. Back home, it’s five thousand years into future, unless… what year was it when you were...”

“Ponified?” Lakia lazily questioned, shifting herself in the Human’s lap. “It was 2036.”

“That’s not good.” Dante replied.

“How so?” The purple unicorn questioned.

“Simple, Twilight. It means the Imperium doesn’t exist. They wouldn’t have allowed this to happen. And it also means I don’t exist in this universe. But that’s pretty obvious...” He looked around the field they trio was in. “I wouldn’t have let this happen either if I had been here to stop it.”

“You can’t stop Celestia.” Twilight answered. Looking up. “She destroyed Discord and stopped Luna. There is nothing you can do to stop her. She’ll be making her way back here to save me.”

Dante snorted. “Save you?” He rolled his eyes. “From what, Twilight? The tyrant’s going to save you from reality? That she’s a genocidal maniac who can’t live with the fact that species other then ponies exists? Let me ask you this, Twi. What happens once there are only ponies left?”

Twilight didn’t answer, merely raising an eyebrow at the question. “When she has no one left to direct her hatred onto. You think she’s suddenly going to stop once every living being is a pony? I’ve known plenty of people like her, and they always need a scapegoat, someone to turn the blame on.”

Dante looked to the ground, recalling memories, none of them good.

“First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out. Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me, and there was no one left to speak for me. That was a poem written by Martin Niemöller, in 1946. He was criticizing those who did not speak up against the systematic extermination of group after group by the Nazi regime. He, himself, was not innocent. He had been an ardent anti-communist and supported Hitler’s rise to power, until Hitler started claiming the state reigned supreme over religion. He recanted his support for Hitler. But this poem… have you ever heard of the saying: ‘History repeats itself.’?”

Twilight nodded, Dante continuing, as the two ponies present continued to listen.

“As someone who has seen the rise and fall of thousands of empires, and has seen hundreds of millions of massacres, thousands of ethnic cleansings, I’ve seen trillions dead… I have the unfortunate privilege of being able to confirm that history repeats itself. Hitler wasn’t the first Hitler. There had been thousands of Hitlers before his rise to power. And even after he blew his own brains out, Hitler was still alive. Maybe not as Hitler himself, but his ideas, his methods. Someone new would come along with similar ideas and place themselves in the annals of history. For a good while, Hitler’s name was the epitome of evil, but it was simply waiting. Hitler wasn’t the last Hitler, and his name would be replaced eventually.”

Twilight scoffed. “You’re not seriously trying to compare Adolf Hitler to Celestia.”

“Nope.” Dante responded, Twilight sighing.

“Oh, good, because that would have been a really du-”

“That would be insulting to Hitler. He’s a far better lad then Celestia. Don’t get me wrong, I fucking despise the man, but put me in a room with Hitler and Celestia, give me a single bullet in my gun and tell me I can only shoot one person dead, I’d put Celestia down without a second thought and shake Hitler’s hand… and then I’d probably beat him to death,” Dante waved his hand in face as Twilight stared at him in shock. “Anyway, point being is, Hitler’s the lesser evil when compared to Celestia and if I really had to choose, at least Humanity would still be alive under Hitler.”

“… That reasoning was really blunt and with no apology in it.” Lakia commented lazily

“That’s why you… er, the other you, married me.” Dante shrugged.

“So… what happens now?” The mare asked, the tiredness in her voice evident to anyone listening.

Dante paused, opening his mouth to speak, though no words would come out. He closed his mouth, before breathing in deep through his nose and sighing.

“Lakia… this is the point in which you need to make a decision. What I… did, it’s… it’s not permanent. I’ve seen… magic like this before. It was on a smaller scale, but the guy who was doing it was experimenting on… well, what he was doing wasn’t important. What is important is that I killed him when I found out about it. But he left his research behind and I found the… aftermath. Any transformation magic, but especially magic that target the brain, is extremely dangerous. The magic that don’t target the brain still has to have something else built into them otherwise they kill their victim by way of shock. Having your body transformed into a significantly different shape is extremely painful. And the ones that target the brain… well,” Dante rubbed his eyes. “Fuck, the ones that target the brain permanently alter and damage the memories and personality of their victim. What I did was something I managed to coax out of the guy, pretending to be interested in his research. I tried making it better to permanently revert his victims back to their previous state, but...”

Lakia stared at the ground, the grass swaying in the light wind.

She looked up. “So… I have a choice. I can go back to being a prisoner in my own mind, or...”

Dante sighed, Twilight could have sworn his posture drooped, as he removed his sidearm from his holster and tossed it in front of him.

Lakia nodded. “I see...”

“Lak, I don’t want to see you suffer but…” Dante trailed off, his eyes focusing on something out in the distance.

“You don’t know if you can pull the trigger...” Lakia nodded, laying her head down. “Please understand, I would rather die then go back to that hellish existence. I saw and felt everything.”

Twilight moved a bit closer to the mare, her eyes wide in shock.

“You mean you’d rather… die then be a pony?”

Lakia lazily flicked her eyes over to the unicorn. “It’s not that. If I was able to stay in control, maybe I wouldn’t mind. But I experienced everything and couldn’t do anything. Right now the rest death offers is a far more alluring offer.”

Dante nodded. “For now, let’s just rest.”





Celestia screamed in pain as the guardstallion applied pressure with several tablecloths to the left side of her face as he attempted to stop the bleeding caused by the Human’s weapon.

The Solar Queen was writing on the ground, as a pool of blood soaked the floor, the other guard that had been present during the very short fight having run off to find help after ripping dozens of tablecloths off the tables in a nearby dining room.

“Get off me!” She roared, the guard though terrified, protested.

“Your Majesty, please, I need to stop the ble-” He was pushed away as Celestia finally found her footing, her hooves gripping floor as she rose up, her wings flaring open.

“Get. Away!” She shouted as she began walking to the throne at the far end of her room, strips of flesh and muscle dangling from the left side of her face.

The guard stallion trotted a little ways behind, cautious so as to not too close to her and to leave enough room for him to escape should he make her mad.

“Your Majesty, please. You need help, there are doctors on their wa-”

“Quiet.” She spoke, cutting the guard off. “I am fine, I do not need help. Mobilize every guardstallion available. We are ending this.”

“Your Majesty, of course, but your ey-”

“Enough! Guns have never stopped me before and they will not stop me now! Now, go!” She pointed at the door with her hoof, as she sat on her throne, blood pouring from the left side of her face.





“It’s coming.” Lakia spoke.

The three had been sitting there for hours, the sun slowly lowering. Dante sighed. His fingers drumming the gun on his thigh.

“Please don’t make me go through it again.” Lakia almost pleaded, a hint of terror in her voice, Twilight remained silent.

“I’m not… I’m not going to Lakia.” Dante sighed once more, looking to the sky. The red horizon providing more then enough light to see. “It’s just… I never thought I’d be the one doing this. You might not be… my Lak, but you’re still Lakia.”

He had explained everything to her, everything that had happened on earth between him and the Lakia he knew. Why he was on Equestria and how he got to this point.

Lakia had taken the explanation well, and seemed to be welcoming her impending death.

“I’m sorry I have to put you through this, Dante.” She spoke, closing her eyes, and resting her head.

“I’m afraid in a few more seconds, I’ll no longer have any control over my limbs. After that, it’s when the true paralysis sets in, when I can barely think. Please, do it before then.”

Dante readjusted the mare, her body resting on his chest with her head on his shoulders. He opened his mouth, words unknown escaping it.

Twilight looked at him in confusion. This was different, even in the times when he hadn’t been outright hostile to her, his voice still carried with it anger and seemingly a lack of care for lives. 

But now, his mouth was moving, words Twilight had never heard or come across before escaping it, though the tone and tune were unmistakable.

It was a lullaby. The dying sun glinted off something, catching Twilight’s attention, the area beneath his eyes were… wet.

As Dante gently cradled the head of the former Human with his left hand, the head easily fitting into his palm, the Human slowly removed the gun from its holster.

He moved it to the ear, lightly resting it right in front of the canal, his finger still off the trigger as he continued to sing his lullaby.

The song trailed off slowly, the biped singing the final verses, though his voice now cracking.

The world exploded.

The gun fell from his hand, as he finally broke. Any tears he had been holding came full force as he bellowed, doubling over from his sitting position as he cradled the corpse of the mare, no more words escaped him.

Hands trembling, he gently ran them through the mane of the mare.

Slowly, the sobbing died, and what was left was gasping and deep breathing.

The biped gently slid the mare away from his body revealing a blood stained left shoulder. Before Twilight could get a look at his face, Dante slipped his helmet on. He gently laid the corpse on the grass, allowing Twilight to get a good look at the grisly scene, the wounds on the mare’s head obvious.

Dante removed a reflective piece of cloth from a pouch on his armor and laid it over the mare, being sure to cover her entire body.

Once that was done, he silently moved away.

A sound to his left caught his attention, as a distortion in the air, caught his attention. Another portal was opening.

He calmly reclaimed his pistol from the ground and reholstered it just as a hoof passed through the portal, landing on the solid ground.

The blue coat of the pony was obvious, then followed by a rainbow colored mane and wings then a rainbow tail.

As the pegasus rushed out of the portal, she was followed quickly by several armed gryphons, fanning out to cover the area with their rifles.

Dante, though unbeknownst to all in the area due to his helmet obscuring his face, raised a single eyebrow.

“RD?”

“Twilight!” Rainbow Dash shouted, as the fanned out gryphons pointed their rifles at her.

“Rainbow Dash?” Twilight questioned, incredulous.

“Just ignore the giant alien, no, that’s fine.” Dante muttered. 

“What are you doing here?” The rainbow maned pegasus questioned, Twilight shooting back.

“I think the better question is what are you doing here?”

“You first.”

“I’m stopping this.” Dante stated as he stepped between the two mares, hands up. “Twilight’s here because she and Celestia tried to ambush me. And then when that failed, she tried to retreat with Twilight, until I yanked her back here. Now you know what she’s doing here. What are you doing here?”

Rainbow pointed a hoof to the biped. “We came to rescue you!”

Dante pointed to himself. “Me?”

Rainbow Dash nodded. “A Human who can survive magic? You might be what we need. We might be able to find a way to turn all the new-foals back.”

Dante shook his head. “No. It would take an omnipotent god who actually cares to do that. The potion targeted their brains, damaging them in the process. The only cure for them now is…” Dante glanced over his shoulder to the reflective blanket, sighing. “Death.”

“But what about you?” Rainbow Dash asked, her hoof gesturing. “You’re fine. Why is that?”

“I’m not from here.” He answered. “I’m an immortal from another dimension. As far as I’m aware, there’s not a single thing in existence that can kill me.”

“But we can’t just leave them.”

“You all can’t. As much as I hate to see them suffer, I have things I need to do.”

“Then come with us.” Rainbow spoke, waving her hoof to get the gryphons to lower their rifles. “We’re trying to stop Celestia, gryphons aren’t affected by magic like Humans are and we’ve made strides i-”

“Our goals are aligned then.” Dante spoke, cutting the mare off. He knelt on the ground and pulled up a small patch of grass to get access to the dirt below it. He began drawing various runes into it. “I’m going to kill Celestia and go home. Anything that happens after is no longer my responsibility.”

Once more, unknown words escaped his mouth, as a terrible shriek filled the air, the earth shuddering.

A glow emanated from his hand, as he buried it in the ground, the wind building around him.

And finally, the violence died, as he removed his hand from the ground. He calmly walked over to the corpse and gently picked it up, using both his hands to support it.

He walked back over to the newly formed portal.

“Follow me, or don’t. Twilight, I think it would be in your best interest to come with me.” With that he walked through the swirling distortion, disappearing.

Twilight quickly followed behind him, wanting to see her teacher once more and not wanting to take her chances alone with the armed gryphons.

Rainbow Dash cursed and quickly gestured to the portal. “Follow him.” She commanded to the gryphons behind her.

She slipped through it, the gryphons following behind her until only one was left.

The gryphon paused before entering the portal, examining the scene behind him. He blinked his eyes, his green and blue irises betraying his fatigue.

He slipped through the portal.





Dante reacted first, kicking the guard nearest to him off the side of the bridge, a dying yell the only remnant left behind by the stallion, his left hand grasping the spear thrust at him by the other guard.

He ripped it out of the guard’s grip, swinging the unedged end at the stallion’s head and connecting.

The stallion collapsed and whether or not he had died was of no concern to Jaeger.

He had landed where he had wanted. The bridge connecting to the drawbridge of the castle.

The drawbridge which was up.

“Celestia!” He called, his helmet not filtering his voice, the rage apparent in it. “You murderer! You killer! You tyrant! Monster! Sub-Human!” He roared, the others appearing from the portal behind him. “You are life unworthy of breath! A collection of cells imitating intelligence in a vain attempt to continue what you call your pathetic attempt at living! Lower this bridge and fight me, or I’ll lower it for you, and kill every last living thing in this castle.”

Silence reigned, though not for long, as Dante began his approach to the castle. “Celestia!”

The group behind the angered biped kept their distance, unsure of what exactly was going to happen.

A loud bang sounded from the castle, a chain that held the drawbridge up snapping from an unseen force.

“Nothing can save you from me, Celestia! There is nothing in reality that can prevent what I am going to do. Come out, show yourself!”

Another snap sounded from the bridge, as the other great chain anchoring the bridge in place snapped. Rebounding against the stone walls, it carved a large dent in it as the bridge finally collapsed to its place on the ground, bridging the gap between castle grounds and the ground Dante was on.

Revealing within the mouth of the castle a large group of guards, numbering somewhere in the low hundreds, all armed with spears.

“Oh, we’re screwed.” One of the armed gryphons muttered as he took a step back and began raising his rifle, preparing to fight.

Dante, for his part, paid no attention to the fact that he was currently outnumbered, perhaps because he knew he wasn’t outgunned.

He began walking forward, as the armed stallions raised their spears, forming a wall in preparation for the alien biped.

He had crossed the bridge halfway, the mass of guards unmoving, when he finally spoke up.

“Back off or die.”

They did not speak as he continued forward.

“My fight isn’t with you, it’s with Celestia. But if you stand in my way, I will not hesitate to kill you, so back off.”

Still they stood, as Dante approached the last dozen feet of the bridge.

“This is your final warning, you can lay down your weapons and go home. Or die. It’s your choice.”

They stood resolute, Dante was undeterred as he continued forward.

“You made your choice, now die.”

A roar sounded, as dust billowed.





The man clothed in a simple black suit, coat unbuttoned and black fedora, topped off with a tan trench coat, entered the large wooden doors, the rain pouring behind him. Candles gently flickered to his side.

Various printed pamphlets were pinned to a board. The man scanned his surroundings, the small vestibule being separated from the rest of the church by another set of doors. To keep the warm air in.

In the center of the simple vestibule sat a bowl of water, to be used by patrons for blessing themselves upon entrance to the church.

This was not something the man was concerned about, as he forcefully opened the wooden doors separating the main body of the church from the entrance.

His unbuttoned coats were swept back by the wind of the doors, flashing a M1911 safely stored in a leather shoulder holster, set up to be drawn with his strong hand. Opposite to that was a Browning Hi-Power. For both the firearms, spare mags were stored under the other gun.

The shoulder holster had been very expensive, though effective for his job.

As the man entered the church proper, he laid his fedora on a table to the left of the door, typically reserved for storing the sacraments. 

He paused, the doors closing behind him as he took in the empty church. Of course, as it was nearly midnight.

He glanced down to the floor, before once more looking up. The alter, on the far end of the church, beckoning him. The main floor was dark, but there, it was lit up. As though God himself were calling to him.

“Maria Jaeger, death date, sometime around July, 1945. Hard to tell when the only fucking thing left is a pile of bones and ashes. Months before I came home.” The man spoke to himself, quietly, as he glared at the altar, a snark etched upon his face.

“Is this a joke… a punishment?” He asked. His feet slowly picking themselves up, moving him closer to the altar.

“What the fuck have I done! I murdered Smith! But you’ve been doing this to me even before I did that.” His voice began to grow in volume. “Mom is dead because of you! I don’t know who the fuck dad is! Every wife I have ever loved, I’ve lost, their lives cut short. Every daughter and son I’ve helped bring into this world? Dead! At your hands!”

His foot steps grew heavier. “So what the fuck is this? Do you find this funny! My suffering! Everyone I love is dead and I can’t even join them! Why! What do I need to do for you to let go of me! Do I need to speak to you in fucking Latin! Quid est hoc, te, deus! Nisi hoc feci absterget mala tellus Condemnabitur est anima mea, et ego cum maledixi pulchritudini aeternum manu tua! Ego fratrem meum, et in ira fit, sed hoc a malo, et adhuc extergimus terra! Ego interficiam quaerentium serunt iniuriam.”

The man raised his hands out in anger. “Or is that still not good enough, you scum. Do I need to fall upon my knees and beg you in Greek! Δεν θα πάρω ποτέ γόνατο. Όλη τη ζωή μου δεν έχετε κάνει τίποτα για μένα! Έχω ζήσει τη ζωή μου στην υπηρεσία της ανθρωπότητας. Έχω να αντιμετωπίσω λάθη που κανείς δεν πρέπει να αντιμετωπίσει, αλλά εξακολουθείτε να θεωρείτε κατάλληλα να με τιμωρήσετε!.”

He reached the altar, his feet soundly landing upon the steps leading up to the tabernacle. He slammed his hands down, the marble on top of it cracking from the pressure.

“Οπότε, τι είναι! Εκουσιάζουν για σας, σας επαινέσω σαν αγαπητό, παντοδύναμο! Καλοκάγαθος! Ισχυρίζονται ότι παρακολουθείτε πάνω τους, αλλά δεν το κάνετε! Καθίζετε εκεί, καθώς αθώοι άνθρωποι πεθαίνουν σε συγκρούσεις που θα μπορούσατε να σταματήσετε με μια απλή κίνηση του pinkie σας! Αν είσαι παντοδύναμος, πού είσαι η fuck όταν είσαι δολοφονημένος από αυτά ... τα δαιμονικά σπέρματα! Πού ήταν η fuck όταν είσαι καμένος!”

He pushed himself from the tabernacle. “Your chosen people, the Jews! Where the fuck were you when your “beloved” children were being, imprisoned, starved, beaten, experimented, mutilated, raped, dismembered, tortured, burned! Taken from the hellholes they were imprisoned in, their bodies experimented upon and turned into unwilling supersoldiers of the Reich. Beasts who could only follow orders! Where were you! Where were you when the Chinese were being slaughtered en masse! Where were you when the Japanese were tossing babies into the air and catching them with bayonets. Where were you? When sailors were trapped in their ships, being burned alive in oil or drowning! You weren’t there! You were never there! How can you claim to be all-powerful when you use that power for nothing!”

The man spun around, his hands raised in the air as though he were challenging the entire world. “Or do you only use that power when you need to get people to worship you! When people challenge you! Well here I am! Daring to question God! Show me! If you’re there, if you have the decency to intervene in something you can stop, then show me something! Anything!”

The church fell silent, as the man paused, his hands falling to his side.

He silently stepped down from the altar and began walking back to the door he had entered from.

He stopped to retrieve the fedora he had taken off. As he put it back on, he looked back to the altar, his heterochromatic eyes brimming to the edge with disgust.

“All you gods are the same. Self-serving hypocrites. The blood that will be spilled is on your hands. Not mine.”

With those final words, Dante T. Jaeger went back into the rain, his mind on a mission.





The roof over the courtyard had crumbled. It had been designed with kill-holes in it, as a plan to hold the castle. However, the defenders had never bothered to funnel Dante into the room in an attempt to kill him with arrows or heavy rocks or hot tar.

As a result, the roof had been pulled down.

The dust billowed as the biped walked into the cloud, the deceased pony still held safely in his hands. The group behind him followed cautiously, though Rainbow Dash was the first to continue moving, Twilight moving close behind her and the gryphons moving to catch up.

Twilight pushed past Rainbow, catching up to the Human and holding at his leg. “Wait a minute, Jaeger. You haven’t told us what your plan is.”

“I’ve told you,” Dante used a foot to force a pair of wooden doors open. “I’m going to find Celestia and kill her. Then I’m going home and I’m taking Lakia with me.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Yes, I can.”

Rainbow Dash suddenly pushed herself into the conversation. “As much as I hate to side with… her.” Rainbow gestured to Twilight. “She’s right. Not even we planned to do that. If Celestia dies, then there’s no way to raise or lower the sun… resulting i-”

“Is Luna still alive?” Dante questioned, cutting the mare off.

“... Yes. She is, but she was turned to stone by Cel-”

“Then I’ll get her out once I’m done returning Celestia to the dirt she was birthed from.”

Before Twilight could protest at the idea of killing her beloved teacher, a guardstallion came racing around the corner. He skidded to a stop on his hooves upon seeing the giant man.

He raised his spear, though Dante appeared to be uninterested.

“Make your choice, boy, live or die.”

The seconds were tense as the biped continued his walking, unphased by the spear pointing at him, the guard turned his body to the side, back-stepping until his rump was against his wall, though spear still pointed at the group of intruders.

“Smart.” Dante responded passing the stallion, the guard having to look up to see anything other than the biped’s legs.

The gryphons continued cautiously as Dante rounded a corner, being sure to keep their eyes and rifles trained on the guardstallions.

“There was still some guys alive in the courtyard, get them help soon and they should live.” Dante called to the guard before he rounded the corner.

“Why?” Twilight asked.

“Why what?” Dante asked back.

“Why would you do that? Tell him about still living guards. Not kill him. You even gave the stallions in the courtyard a chance.”

“Same reason I haven’t ripped your head off Twilight. My fight is with Celestia. I’ll kill you if necessary, but you’re just following herd dynamics. Follow the strongest person in the room. You’re doing it right now.”

“I am not.”

“You’ve not fought with me beyond arguing.”

Silence reigned, as the gryphons lagged behind the group, Twilight and Rainbow Dash using the Human to separate them.

Dante, though he was able to tell there was an obvious tension in the air, could not care any less for whatever problems were going on between the two mares, who had seemed to be friends back home in his proper universe.

The odd group of ponies, gryphons, a corpse and a Human continued their walk for minutes, bothered by no one else.

“We’re here.” Dante stated, as they turned a corner, the large doors to the throne room emblazoned in the wood. “If she was smart, she moved most of her troops to the room.”

“You’re not going to get in there.” Twilight spoke, sticking her nose in the air, smugly. Dante slowly approaching the closed entrance of the throne room. “The doors are protected by an impenetrable enchantment created by Princess Celestia with me as a co-creator. Not even a dragon could kno-”

She was cut off as Dante planted a foot in one of the doors, blasting it off its hinges, dozens of screams of shock coming from behind.

“Did you enchant the hinges?” Dante called out behind him.

“Yes!” Twilight called back, as Dante shrugged, stepping onto the collapsed door.

As he entered the room, he saw exactly what he expected…

A couple of hundred guards, a door sized empty patch in the crowd of guards.

And at the far end of the room, the mare he had come for.

“Your face is looking lovely today, Celestia, did you do something with your hair?” He asked, as the optics in his helmet zoomed in, giving him a very clear view of the alicorn’s mangled head, the left side bandaged, the face locked in a grimace, and anger very apparent in her right eye. “I’d say eighteen rounds of nine millimeter applied directly to the face makes you prettier and easier to look at.”

Celestia breathed, closing the one eye that wasn’t bandaged. She opened it, meeting his eyes in a stare.

“General Jaeger, I offered you a chance. And you turned it away, with violence.” Her eye locked onto the corpse in his hands, though it was covered, it was obvious what it was. “And you killed my ponies. This ends. Here.”

Dante nodded. “So this is the way we’re going? I’m going to have to kill everyone in here to get to you?”

No one responded as the mass of guards charged the tall biped. The first was met by a foot kicking him away from the target, a pegasus was caught mid air around the throat as Dante launched himself away from the ground, landing horizontally on a wall, and sticking there.

Lakia’s corpse had been readjusted in his free hand to account for the change in the direction of gravity, and the biped violently threw the pegasus against the wall.

“Stop.” Dante stated, holding a hand out. “Not yet. Give me a second. Gryphons.” The guards stopped and stared, unsure of what the enigmatic biped was doing.

Dante walked down the wall, defying gravity as he stayed upright, and walked onto the remaining door he hadn’t kicked down.

He gestured to the gryphons. “Two of you, over here.” Standing at about mid-chest for a gryphon using its hind legs to stand.

“Stand up.” He said, the two responding gryphons doing as commanded. “Hands out.”

He gently transferred the covered corpse to the two.

“Take her to the back. Make sure she’s safe.” The two gryphons nodded, as the waddled away from the door and back into the hallway with the pony corpse.

Dante walked back to the spot he had landed on initially. He grasped his right hand in his left and pushed down on his fingers, cracking them, then repeating it with the other hand. He pulled his neck side from side, cracking that as well.

“Okay, we’re good now.”

Without warning, Dante launched himself from the wall, his fist landing directly on the head of stallion, helmet or no, the guard’s skull cracked as Dante rolled.

Seamlessly, the marine transitioned to his sidearm. With impossible accuracy, he landed seventeen shots into the eyes of stallions in the crowd.

He struck a guard near him who had recovered the quickest with an arm, tossing him into the crowd as Dante dropped the mag on the Glock, the mag hitting the ground, as he slammed a fresh one in and sent the slide home.

He flipped himself over a thrust spear, putting a shot in the attacking guard’s head as he was inverted in the air.

Landing, he dropped five more stallions, kicking a sixth away from him and into a wall.

He grabbed a spear thrust at him, pulling it closer, tripping the owner. A shot was fired at point blank range on the guard’s, the nine millimeter severing the spine of the guard and killing him instantly.

Ten more shots rang out as ten more guards fell. Dante repeating the reloading process as he launched a kick on a nearby guard’s head, severing it from the body.

Seventeen more stallions fell.

He repeated the process, though in his haste to cut through the guards and get to the mare he actually wanted dead, he had lost focus on that very mare.

The very mare charging a spell on her horn. She had thought it quite ingenious. A simple spell of tangible energy traveling in a straight and at a defined width.

It would almost be like hitting a clothes line at high speed.

She let go, a grin growing.

The room grew silent as Dante’s arms fell to his side, his helmeted head falling to the ground.

His body remained upright, as the stump that used to be his neck spurted blood.

An unknown female voice cut through the air. “You know… that was pretty impressive.”

Celestia’s grin grew smaller, as Dante’s body refused to collapse, and not knowing where the female voice came from.

“Using a blade formed from magic to decapitate me was a good idea, and it obviously had a lot of power in it. Slicing through my armor like it was nothing.”

Celestia’s eyes widened as Dante’s corpse shifted its footing, tossing a stallion it had gripped around the throat violently into the wall, splattering the guard.

“But the first mistake you made was pissing me off.”

Twilight’s face was one of disgust. “H-how?”

Dante’s corpse raised it arms in a shrug. “How? When I was recruited into the PLMC, I underwent various extensive augmentations to make me even deadlier then I was to begin with. One of them was nanites, being controlled by Venus. The other was multiple… electronic back-up brains. The brain in my head is the primary brain. But should it be… suddenly disconnected, Venus immediately reroutes control of my body to one of the sub-brains, which is capable of running the body at the same capability of my primary brain. That being said.” Dante bent down and retrieved his fallen head.

“This fight is over, Celestia.” The female voice spoke, as Dante’s body turned to face her. He held his head above his body and placed it on the stump of his neck. “No more fighting with these,” Dante’s voice returned as tendrils of flesh and muscle reclaimed his head. “guards. This is our fight.”

The guard standing in front of Dante parted as he stepped forward, picking up the pistol he had dropped. He holstered it and began walking towards the throne with a shocked Celestia sitting on it., the crowd of guardstallions parting, none of them willing to confront the man who just survived having his head removed.

“It’s simple, Celestia.” He spoke, reaching up and placing his hands on his helmet, he removed it, the seal breaking on the armor.

“Ten thousand years I’ve lived. And only one person has ever survived me.” He allowed his helmet to fall to the floor. “In ten thousand years, the only man who has ever survived my wrath, making an enemy of me.”

He reached the foot of the throne, looking up to Celestia, his eyes locking with her.

He placed a foot on the first step.

“Celestia, it’s simple. You’re going to die. Do you know why?

She didn’t respond, frozen, seemingly unable to move.

He stepped up to the throne proper, the sitting Celestia only reaching to his chest with her horn.

He knelt down, to eye level with the alicorn.

He grabbed her, dragging her into a tight hug.

“The man who survived me?” He whispered into her ear. “He killed my mother. He survived only because if I were to kill him, I would have been less then he was. He had daughters, Celestia. Human daughters, a Human wife… before she passed. He killed my mother working for a woman who wanted the extinction of Humanity. I hunted him… for ten thousand years, I hunted him down. Every waking moment my mission in life was to destroy him. But I couldn’t. If I had killed him, I would have deprived his daughters of the very thing he deprived me of. A loving parent. But you? You have none of his qualties.”

Before Dante could react, he was throne back and across through a wall, being thrown clear into the sky. His body soared and then began arcing down, into the streets of Canterlot. He slammed into the wall of a building, taking out several support beams as he rolled to a stop, ground bulging up around him.

He slowly pushed himself up. “Ah, fuck. Should have stuck a knife in her throat instead of doing a monologue.” Dante coughed out dirt and colored tile from his mouth.

“That would have been preferable, yes.” Venus answered back, causing Dante to roll his eyes. “Shut up, Venus.”

As Dante finally found his footing, he noticed a small group of ponies staring at him. He gave them a lazy salute. “Evenin’… how’re y’all doin’?”

The group simultaneously panicked, screaming.

“Human!” Was the general sentiment all of them shared. The rushed through the single door in the shop, a candy shop, it appeared to be to Dante.

Well, they tried to rush through the door. They all ended up getting stuck.

The biped rolled his eye, then glanced around. Another direct hit would take the building down, and on top of the trapped ponies.., and judging by their squirming, they weren’t going to be getting out soon.

Jaeger shook his head. “Motherfucker.”

And another hit was likely, considering he now had one of the most powerful ponies in the world fighting him.

Unable to leave the ponies to die a horrible death of having a building dropped on them, something he had certainly experienced before, he calmly walked up to the small door.

There five ponies were stuck, so Dante grabbed the stallion at the top of the pile, and tucked the panicking stallion into his left side.

With room at the top to maneuver now, Dante gave a sharp shove to the rumps of the two ponies now forming the top of the pile, the two tumbling out of the door way and to freedom. He grabbed the left bottom pony by the scruff of the neck and dislodged him from the door frame, allowing the last pony to get out.

Dante stepped past the door, gently setting the two in his arms down, the two ponies promptly scrambling to their hooves and running away.

“You’re welcome!” Dante shouted after them. “… Dicks.” The biped looked to his right and then left, scanning for any threats, instead, he was met by the bewildered looks of various citizens of Canterlot.

“What?” He shrugged, raising his arms. “Never seen a Human before? Jesus Christ, take a fucking picture, it’ll last longer.”

Dante ducked, as a fireball launched over his head.

“Fuck! Celestia, are you insane?” Dante shouted as his eyes locked on the flying mare in the sky. “We’re in the middle of goddamn Canterlot! That’s like having a gun battle in the middle of Times Fucking Square!”

Dante rolled once more, drawing his sidearm as he squeezed off five rounds in the general direction of the tyrant queen, as she once more launched another fireball, landing at Dante’s side.

“Fucker!” He shouted as he flipped a table, sending five more rounds at the Queen, the mare in question sending up a shield of energy, blocking the rounds. Ponies all around him scrambling for cover.

Another fire ball was launched, hitting the building behind him, sending the front of it up in flames.

Dante recoiled from the sudden heat, not expecting it, though his armor kept most of heat back, his exposed face easily felt the convection.

Apparently Celestia can launch extremely flammable fireballs that are also extremely hot.

Who would have guessed?

Dante moved away from the flames, his scanners reading no ponies in the building. He avoided another fireball as he dove into an alley, rolling to a stop, kneeling near the corner of the wall.

“Hey, Venus!” He called.

“Yes?”

“You getting any flashbacks to our time in Vietnam?”

“You mean besides the city fighting and the random fire? Not at all.”

“Yeah.” Dante grunted. “I figured.” He peeked around the corner, a fireball flying inches from his face.

Dante shot from the corner, sending off five more shots to the hovering Queen.

“Celestia, stop this!” Dante shouted as he slid the edge of a corner of a building. “You’re going to kill someone!”

Another fireball impacted another building near him, launching it into flames.

“Fucking christ! Venus, we’ve got to stop this, she is going to kill people.”

“Dante,” Venus began. “She’s flying at a hundred-seventy meters in the air.”

“Jumping distance? Or thrusters?

“Should be able to reach her with a jump.”

“As good a plan as any other.” Dante launched himself from the corner, his feet slamming in rapid succession on the ground, his bulky frame leaving a sizable dent in the cobblestone.

As he neared his jump point, Celestia, a look of craze etched onto her face and blazing in her one eye, launched another fireball.

It shot high, but the sensor’s in the back of the suit designed to prevent from the back ambushes, alerted Jaeger to something he didn’t want.

His blood ran cold as he turned his head behind, his eyes landing on a frozen unicorn foal in the middle of the street.

Venus had overlaid the trajectory for the fireball launched by the raging Celestia… the impact landing directly on the child.

Dante skidded to a stop, twisting on his heels. His focus was no longer on the raging alicorn, her aim made inaccurate by her missing eye, loss of depth perception.

Another fireball landed next to him, kicking up debris and stone as the fireball heading for the foal inched ever closer.

A fireball landed in front of Jaeger, obscuring his vision and kicking debris into his eyes., he stumbled recovering quickly.

He blinked the blurriness away as he continued to run, his eyes focusing an armored soldier armed with an Imperial standard issue Gauss rifle.

Dante slammed into the soldier as he was attempting to raise his rifle, Jaeger using his bigger frame to redirect the rifle away from him, as he reciprocated the attempt to kill him with a rifle by burying his own rifle into the soldier’s head, firing one round, obliterating the cranium and collapsing the man.

Dante allowed the dead soldier to fall from his hands. A rifle round impacted the building next to him as he slipped into the alley to his right, a volley of rifle fire landing where he had been standing previously.

“Leknen!” Dante called, the comms built into his helmet connecting him to his comrade.

“Aye!” The name in the right corner of his HUD identifying the voice as Leknen, this was a direct line to him

“Have you received any word from India team?” More rifle rounds slammed into the building, some of them impacting the ground in front of him, the rifle team was trying to get a shot on him.

“That’s a negative, LG. Duren’s line has been dead as fuck. Last contact I have from them is when you decided to push forward. How’s the resistance?”

Dante peeked around the corner with his rifle, bracing his right arm against the wall. He fired off five shots, hitting three NPR soldiers attempting to move to flank him from a street corner.

“Light. How’s it going down there?”

“Oh… you know. We’re standing at fifty Legionnaires now and the NPR keeps throwing these GODFORSAKEN clones at us… but otherwise quite peachy. Like a nice little stroll at the beach, except we’re getting shot at.”

“I’m pushing further into the Citadel, Leknen. I got a faint echo from India’s last position. I’m going to try and RV with’em.”

“If you can’t?”

Dante took a deep breath, the possibility of Duren having fallen in his attempt to reach the objective having crossed his mind before.

“I’ll take the generators down myself.”

“That a promise, LT?”

“Promise.”

There was a pause in the lines, before Leknen responded.

“Careful out there, Tommy. We can’t afford to fail here, the Imperium’s depending on us.”

“Aye, you too.”

“You still owe me a round of drinks.” Leknen responded, before he cut the line.

Dante smiled. “Dick.”

Dante rounded the corner, sending more rounds downrange as more NPR soldiers attempting to converge on his position fell.

The squad attempting to kill him opened fire, as the rounds impacted near him.

A shield formed from his left forearm, as Gauss rounds slammed into it, the shield sparkling in response to the sudden shock.

Jaeger dropped more rounds downrange, as the rest of the squad quickly fell.

He paused, taking in the carnage caused by him. Chests were burst apart and heads destroyed, some of the clones who had attempted to assault him still groaned as they sucked in their final breaths.

Their armor wasn’t made to keep them alive, it was made exactly like they were. Produced en masse and with only care for the bare minimum.

“Poor bastards.” Dante muttered as he allowed his rifle to rest with the barrel pointing at the ground.

He truly harbored no ill-will to the clone. This was their entire life, this was all they ever knew. Their parents were the natural born NPR members who trained the first batch, and then that training was passed onto the second batch by the first batch, and the second batch passed it onto the third batch and so on. They didn’t have parents, the womb they grew in was a glass tube. And their childhood was spent as a twenty-five year old with only pertinent memories that allowed them to start raining immediately.

Their only purpose in life was to fight and die. And their armor reflected so.

But Dante had a more pressing matter to attend to then to feel bad for clone troopers.

He rounded the corner, after scanning the road in front of him to make sure there were no other NPR troops down the road. The road was entirely clear and dead.

As he rounded the corner, he had to pause. Though his helmet would block out deafening sounds, it amplified other sounds that didn’t break the decibel limit.

A whistling…

Dante’s eyes widened as he realized what it was.

“Fuck!” He took off running as a mortar landed behind him and to the side.

“Venus, incoming! Find out where the fuck it’s coming from!”

More whistling was heard as another mortar impacting the ground, this time closer.

The road itself was a mile long with no turn offs. Only small dead-end allies.

At the one hundred meter mark, Dante’s optics in his helmets picked up something he didn’t want to see.

Two-hundred-forty-seven meters in front of him, a little girl stumbled out of a small alley, confused a dazed. Her small frame a features made it certain. She couldn’t have been more six years old, born right before the war began. Her once yellow dress torn and destroyed from years of war, her parents undoubtedly killed in the fighting.

Dante screamed at her, the words he said lost to his memory even as he said them, but they fell on deaf ears, as he glanced to the sky. Venus picked a mortar out of the gray sky, trajectory reading… putting the girl directly in the kill zone of the mortar.

His heart pounded, as his blood ran cold, his eyes focused.

He could see the mortar inching its way to the little girl who was frozen in confusion.

He hit the hundred meter mark, the mortar itself a hundred meters in the air.

Dante pushed himself harder, in just a few seconds, he had reached with ten meters of the little girl… but so had the mortar.

He leapt, diving through the air in an attempt to reach the girl.

His world exploded.

Dante rolled with the foal safely in his hands, as the fireball exploded directly behind him, right where the foal had been not even a second before.

Tucked into Dante’s chest, the child was protected by most of the heat and debris by the armor. Dante felt the searing heat on the back of his head.

He heard the child cry in fear. Both from the shock of being ripped up from the ground and from the heat that wasn’t blocked by the large frame of the biped who had saved his life.

Dante paused, hyperventilating, his arms shaking.

That hadn’t happened in a long time.

Another explosion to his left reminded him just of the danger the foal was in, as he quickly ducked the two into an alley.

He set the foal behind a metal dumpster that made up the various detritus of the alley. The child still crying.

Dante knelt down, holding a single finger up.

“Listen to me.” He spoke, softly and low. “Buddy, listen to me.” Though the foal’s crying didn’t stop, his screaming did, and instead he was left sobbing.

“Listen, I need you to stay here. Don’t come out until the explosions stop, but not until ten minutes have passed. Okay, do you know how long a minute is?”

The foal wiped his eyes with his foreleg, as another explosion sounded on the main street. He nodded.

Dante nodded as well. “Okay, listen. This is what I want you to do. Everytime you hear an explosion, I want you to begin counting. One, two, three, four. And if you hear another explosion, I want you to start over. One, two, three, four, explosion, one, two, three, four. Do you understand?”

The sobbing foal nodded once more.

Dante continued. “Okay, and then when you reach six-hundred, you can come out. Can you count to six-hundred?”

The foal once more nodded.

Dante nodded back, glancing to the entry way. “Okay. Now I’m going to leave you here. Remember, don’t leave until you can count to six-hundred without starting over. I’m going to make sure no one gets hurt.”

With waiting for an answer, Dante stood up and exited they alley.

A fireball flew inches from his face.

Under normal circumstances, he would have cringed from the sudden heat.

But this was no normal circumstance.

She nearly killed a child.

That would prove to be the final mistake Celestia would ever make.

Dante approached the hovering mare, all launched fireballs soundly ignored, and any that would have hit him were blocked by a shining shield emanating from his forearm.

Dante slowly approached the hovering mare.

“Celestia. I can’t allow you to live. You’re destroying Canterlot. Look at this!”

Dante gestured to the street around him, certainly resembling something out of a post-apocalyptic movie, no ponies present on the street due to all of them having the good sense to run away and find cover. Many buildings were roaring in flames, the fires threatening to the spread to the rest of Canterlot.

“You’ve nearly killed multiple people and you nearly killed a kid!”

“Acceptable casualties to ensure you’re no longer a threat!”

Dante paused. “… Oh, jesus fucking christ.” Dante buried his face in his hands. Then quickly shot up.

“Listen to yourself, Celestia! ‘Acceptable casualties’? I suppose next you’re going to say their lives are a sacrifice you’re willing to make!”

Rage was growing in Jaeger’s chest as he took more steps to the mare. “And listen to yourself! A thousand years ago, when you banished Luna to the moon to ensure Nightmare Moon wouldn’t destroy Equestria? What happened to that mare? Yeah, both you and Luna sacrificed something, but you refused to the throw the lives of your citizens away, at least in my universe and I’m certain it’s the same here! So what happened to that mare. The mare who loves her subjects? The mare who hesitated in sending her sister to the moon? You fought her in the old castle and you tried to break through Nightmare Moon to her!”

Celestia recoiled at the memory. “How do you kn-”

“How do I know that? Memory sharing is a two-lane street, Celestia. Luna invaded my memories and saw some of them, as a result I also saw some of her memories. Specifically, I saw her time as Nightmare Moon. I saw the battle between you two. I saw how valiantly you attempted to bring her back. So where is that Celestia now? This isn’t the real Celestia.”

A ball of energy grew on the tip of Celestia’s horn. “Be quiet! Your sins will be your end.”

“Sins!” Dante shouted, raising his arms in anger. “Sins! Sins? You want to talk about sins? Ten billion Humans turned into zombies! They see everything that’s happening, but their personality is dead! Your newfoals are nothing more then living corpses. Not even a fraction of the Human they were before. And your sister! Why is she turned stone?”

Celestia screeched at the memory.

Dante continued. “Oh! What? Were you trying to block out the memory that you betrayed your sister!” Dante pointed in the general direction of the Canterlot Gardens. “That she’s nothing more then a fucking statue in your garden right now? She’s still conscious, still breathing, still living. She experiences everything around her, hears everything. She knows! She wants to scream, but you took away her mouth! So now she’s nothing more then a sapient rock with no free-will of her own! You want to talk about sins? Remove the log from your eye before you try to remove the speck of dirt from mine!”

The ball of energy balancing on the end Celestia’s horn grew even larger, as her wings flapped in anger and her body shook. “Shutupshutupshutupshutupshutupshutup!”

“And to top it off, is this what you’re teaching Twilight? The mare you consider an adopted daughter, the mare who views you as a mother? You taught her that genocide is okay? That betraying your friends for disagreeing with you is okay? She looks up to you more then she does her own mother!”

Celestia’s eye widened, as she snapped.

The massive ball of energy was released, shooting towards Dante. With enough energy to level the mountain they were on. This should have been the end… for every living creature with in a few miles.

Dante launched himself from the ground, his arm cocked back in a punch. He impacted the sphere of magical energy.

The blast dispersed, clouds for miles were wiped from existence, the blast was dispersed enough the only casualties were a few small birds caught in its blast.

But the impact was not enough to stop Dante, as he continued forward to Celestia.

The hit landed, as his right arm punched through her left lung, and destroyed her heart as it went through the other side.

Her wings lurched as she lost a few feet in altitude due to the added weight. Dante braced himself against the hovering mare by holding onto her left wither and pushing against her lower abdomen with his boots.

She looked down to his arm, as she began coughing, blood spewing with every cough.

Her wings still beating. She gasped. “I’m sorry… tell Luna… I’m sorry.” She choked out, her purple eye rolling back onto her head as her wings finally stopped beating.

Her corpse began to fall as Dante quickly removed his arm, and kicked himself away from her, landing on the ground on his feet with a thud, as Celestia too landed, though far less gracefully. Just a few feet from him.

Looking around the destruction, Dante sighed.

“Fuck.” He walked over to Celestia’s corpse. The mare’s corpse lay, wings splayed out at impossible angles and two legs also at angles indicating they were broken.

Dante gently slipped his hands under the mare and lifted her up, looking to the castle.

The thrusters on the back of his suit activated, lifting him into the air, as he began making his way to the castle.

It wasn’t long before he came to the spot in the roof where Celestia had shot him out of the castle. 

Thrusters concealed in the boots of the suit allowed him to come to a gentle landing, before the opening in the roof. 

As he peered down into the hole to ensure there was a clear landing, he saw a pony he hadn’t yet seen in this world. 

There stood Princess Luna, pieces of stone still stuck in her mane. 

Dante stepped over the threshold, gravity taking hold before his thrusters canceled it out, Dante coming to a gentle landing with the broken body of Celestia. 

Though he didn’t hear it over the sound of his thrusters, he could see the shocked look on everyone’s faces as his feet hit the ground. He was certain they gasped as the shock of the bloodied mare, the wound on her chest and the exit wound on her back having stained her white coat even redder finally met their eyes. 

He gently laid the mare down, before kneeling next to her head. Gently lifting the head up, he used his hand to close the eyelid of the remaining eye he hadn’t destroyed, concealing the white of the eye.

Moving to the horn, he slid his right hand to sit at the base of it, his palm enveloping the top of Celestia’s skull, the horn resting in the web between his thumb and trigger finger. 

Gripping it in the middle, he gave a mighty pull, the sound of tearing muscle and cracking skull resounding through out the throne room. 

“Stop!” Luna cried, though far too late, as Dante removed the horn from the corpse. 

Dante stood, the grisly ivory held in his hands. Luna moved to intercept him, but he shoved her out of the way. 

Wings flaring, Luna challenged. “Who do you think you are?” 

Dante paused, turning around he walked up to Luna. “I am the worst fucking nightmare of anyone who crosses me. I am also the one who killed Celestia and I am the one who’s going home. Which I need her horn to do so.” He turned back around to head off. 

“Why did you kill her?” Luna questioned, her voice softening. 

Dante stopped, mid-turn. “... She couldn’t be helped Luna.” 

“We could have helped he-” 

Dante spoke over the alicorn. “If we did help her, if we could have helped her, she would have been racked with guilt at the realization of wha-”

“That does not excu-” 

“She may have been fine for a few months, but she would have eventually taken her own life. You can’t come ba-”

“More vile villains have been refor-”

“Entire species and damning them to live their lives as living corpses!” The room grew silent as the last line escaped. Dante’s already large frame seemingly having grown, even the Princess of the Moon having grown silent. “I don’t doubt there was still good left in her Luna, but to leave her alive, even if she were no longer a genocidal maniac would have been unkind, as she would have still been mentally unstable and would have had to live with the fact that she was solely responsible for the deaths of ten billion sapient beings!” Dante’s voice lowered and softened, though his presence in the room seemed to grow even larger. 

“... You can’t come back once you’ve tasted the blood of another person, Luna. There’s no coming back. And there’s no reconciling your actions when you’re solely responsible for the mass slaughter of innocent people except through your own death.” Dante gestured to the silent corpse with the horn in his hand. “That was her penance, Luna. Her death. It’s unfortunate… but I believe if she had been capable of making sound decisions, she would have requested it.” 

The silence in the room still held, allowing Dante to continue. “Sometimes the silence of death is more comforting then the screams and anguish of your victims.”

Dante finally turned, walking the doors he had come in through, not a single pony making a move to stop him. He collected his abandoned helmet and mags, replacing them to their proper spots. 

As he was about to exit the door, he stopped, pausing and turning around to Luna. 

“Before she died,” Dante began, making a light gesture to Celestia and then Luna. “She asked that I tell you something… ‘I’m sorry.’”

With Celestia’s final words having been delivered to her sister, Dante paid no attention to the tears threatening to brim over the edge of her eyes. 

He walked out into the hallway in front of the throne room. 

With his affairs in the throne room sorted, he lightly gestured to Rainbow Dash. “I don’t really give a fuck what the hell’s going on between you and Twilight and the rest of the goddamn elements. I’ve got more important things to worry about and I got what I needed, Celestia’s dead, Luna’s free. You all have to rebuild from here.”

He held up the horn he had taken from Celestia, the foot long horn ending in a very pronounced point.

And still dripping with blood and nerves dangling from the end. He tucked into the webbing on his armor, not caring about the gore from his armor slathering onto the white of the horn.

He walked to the body of the woman he once knew, though in a different universe, this one was still…

Dante took note of the gryphon standing near the corpse guarding it.

One eye blue, the other green.

A small smile found its way to his face, as he gently picked up the corpse.

Shifting the weight to hold her with one hand, he pulled a golden bit out of a pouch, tossing it to the ground a fair ways away from any living creature.

He removed Celestia’s horn from his webbing, grasping it at the base, he pointed the tip at the bit, and began speaking in a tongue dead to the ages, scattered to the winds. Unknown to all living but one.

A blast of darkened energy was released from the tip of the severed horn, a swirling sphere of multiple colors suspending itself into the air.

Dante replaced the horn to where it was originally, turning back to the group.

“I needed it to focus magic.” He explained. Glancing to Rainbow Dash, he continued speaking. “Good luck to you whatever it is you all are going to do here. Don’t kill Twi, she was misguided.”

Rainbow Dash nodded as Twilight glanced between the two in confusion.

He nodded to the rest of the gryphons, then turned his attention to the one who caught his attention.

“You knew her?”

The gryphon’s beak opened so as to speak but closed. There was a pause. “… Yes, but… not personally.”

Dante nodded. “No, but you loved from afar.”

The gryphon nodded.

Dante glanced to the left before meeting the gryphon’s eyes once more. “Listen, kid, none of this was your fault. There was nothing you could have done... Don’t wish for my curse. You have something far better then what I have.”

The gryphon inhaled. “What’s that?”

“You’ll get to see her again.”

With no further words, Dante turned back to the sphere and walked into it, disappearing from this dimension and timeline.





“What is happening!” Shining Armor questioned as he and his fiancée, Cadance, rushed to the castle. Ponies were filtering around the two, running in any direction, as the two, relatively, large ponies had to avoid ramming the smaller ones.

After seeing the spectacle of the sun and the moon freaking out and hearing an explosion in the market district, the two rushed to the castle. Certainly no good could be occurring, Celestia and Luna would never do that weird dance.

“Can’t we just catch a break!”

“Stop whining, Shining, we need to make sure everything is okay!” Cadance called back.

“And where’s Jaeger? I thought you said Canterlot was safe so long as he was here.”

“I don’t know, but that changes nothing, we nee-”

Cadance was cut off as a large explosion originated from the castle, a large cloud of dust rising.

The two skidded to a stop, having difficulty coming to a stop even on the cobblestone.

They stared in shock at the castle, as ponies continued to filter around.

Cadance shook her hea. “Come o-”

Two more explosions rang out. A short pause then another one, coupled with a beam of bright energy in the sky, sounded.

“Come on!” Cadance shouted, giving Shining a light tug with her magic.





Discord had not taken kindly to being injured by a mere changeling, a soldier at that.

Which is how Fortnite found herself once more being thrown into a wall.

Discord wasn’t one to kill his prey. Killing was about as orderly as you could get, after all, it’s the fate of every living being. But this changeling had bothered him enough.

As he prepared to finish her off with a piece of debris he had plucked from the wall, a beam of magical energy struck him in his side, causing the god of chaos to yelp, dropping the large debris.

He looked down to the slime monster, the beast partially burnt as the guard stallion unicorn pulled away from it. While it was still holding strong to the guard’s bottom half, he had managed to free his upper body, struggling to pull away from it.

“I’m not going to let you hurt her.”

Discord sighed, as he contorted his body to avoid another beam of magical energy.

That is, until two more beams slammed into his back.

He roared, as he swiveled, only to met by the sight of Twilight and Rarity standing with their horns brandished high.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but we will stop you, just like last time.” Twilight stated, as she took a step forward.

Rarity flipped her hair, as she too took a step forward. “And I will not allow you to hurt lady Fortnite.”

Discord folded his arms, laughing. “You stop me? How do you plan to do that? Celly locked the Elements away so only she or Luna could get to the them and they’re kind of, uh… well, stoned right now!”

A brown aura wrapped around the dragon’s leg, tearing him to the ground. As Twilight and Rarity let off blasts of magic, both hitting their mark.

Discord slammed into the ground, destroying the marble flooring where he landed. Though the reality warper wasn’t slowed down, as he quickly floated up, showing no signs of previous damage.

“Stop!” He yelled, as Rarity and Twilight found themselves pinned to wall.

Fortnite was gasping from breath, trying to recover from the throw from when she had impaled the chimera.

Her chitin was cracked in multiple places, green blood oozing from the fissures.

Discord, floated over to the unicorn known as Bulwark, the unicorn struggling to pull away from the slime monster. Discord, upon closing the distance, dropped to the ground and walked to Bulwark.

Discord waved off the slime as he picked the unicorn by the horn, who yelped in pain from the shock of having his horn pulled, grimaced and then growled at the hybrid.

“You are really annoying. I think I’ll deal with you first and then take over Equestria… no, I have a better idea…” Discord raised a claw and slowly drifted it to Bulwark’s head. “I’ll make you kill them. It’s as chaotic as I can make death b-”

A blast of green magic caught the pre-occupied hybrid causing him to grimace in pain.

He turned to the changeling, who was struggling to get up. Her chitin cracked in multiple areas.

“I am not.” She gasped, as her left hoof collapsed under her. She struggled once more to find her footing. “I am not going to let you hurt him.”

Discord sighed. “You know what, you’re making me really mad. I’ll kill you first then deal with everyone else.”

A sphere of energy slowly collected in his eagle’s talon, as Fortnite herself began charging her own magic at the tip of her horn.

“A friend told me something recently.” She gasped, green blood dripping from the corners of her mouth. “That even when the entire universe stands against him, his duty is to continue his stand. I have a similar duty. Even when faced with a god, I will not back down. If you want to hurt Bulwark… anypony here, you’ll need to kill me first.”

“This is getting really annoying.” Discord growled as he launched the sphere of energy as the resolute, though bleeding and badly injured changeling stood her ground.

She let off her own magic blast. The sphere contacted the ground in front exploding in a brilliant blast of energy, collapsing the wall and destroying the roof behind Fortnite. The ponies in the room still breathing pinning their ears to their skulls in an attempt to lower the noise they were being exposed to.

Dust, debris and stones were kicked up as the view in the direction of the once living changeling was obscured.

“No, fuck!” Bulwark shouted as he began flailing his suspended hooves in a vain attempt to hit the god of chaos.

Discord observed the destruction he had caused. Not his usual modus, after all, destruction and death was so orderly. But that changeling was really beginning to annoy him.

Satisfied that she was no longer going to be a bother to him, Discord returned his attention to the flailing unicorn he had by the horn. “Now… where were we?”

The hybrid moved his paw to encompass Bulwark’s head, the stallion settling as he did so, his mouth flopping open as his shouts died.

Just as suddenly as Bulwark’s protestations died, the lion’s arm of Discord’s was separated from his body at the shoulder, a fountain of blood flowing from the wound.

At an impossible rate, his gryphonic arm shortly followed.

As Discord’s eyes finally managed to focus on just what had taken his two arms, a hit to his torso sounded an explosion, sending him flying out of a portion of still intact roof.

Dante stood, his armor soaked in fresh blood and caked in the blood of stallions, tyrants and gods.

The once tanned flesh on his head, the only part of his body exposed, was now caked brown and red. His black hair stained a dark brown.

Bulwark shrugged the dead limb off his head, as he scrambled to his hooves. “Sir, Fortn-”

“She’s fine.” Dante stated, gesturing with his hand over to the clearing dust. Indeed, the silhouette of a collapsed changeling, a blanket covering something relatively large next to her. Dante brought a hand up to his bloodied chin. “Well… ‘fine’ is a subjective word. She’s not dead at least.”

An explosion sounded from outside of the building, Dante glancing up to the hole in the roof. “Fuck, Twilight.”

The purple unicorn who had been called over quickly trotted to meet with the tall biped. “Yes?”

“All the elements here?”

“Except for Pinkie.”

“Shit, where the fuck did sh-, no, don’t want to know. Any way to get her here soon?”

“Could break a Pinkie Promise.” Applejack cut into the conversation.

Dante raised an eyebrow and then held up his left hand pinkie finger. “A pinkie promise?”

“Yeah, you know? ‘Cross my heart’” Applejack crossed her heart. “Hope to fly” The farm pony flapped her wings like a chicken. “Stick a cupcake in my eye.”

There was a moment of silence as Dante took in the ritual to complete the promise. “Applejack… that is the most retarded shit I have ever seen. What the fuck makes you think she’ll appear just because you did that? That’s something a five year old would do.”

“Because she’s done it before.”

“Really? Alright... well, since I’ve got nothing to lose… except my dignity...” Dante looked at a stained glass window near him and pointed. “I promise not to break this window, Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye god I feel retarded.” Dante muttered the last bit as he drove a fist through the window, shattering it, before Twilight could protest on the basis of how expensive it is… was.

Pinkie popped her head out of a nearby flower pot, her head picking up the pile of dirt that allowed the plant to live.

“Hey!”

“I hate this world.” Dante deadpanned as he grabbed the pink pony by her neck and hauled her out of the pot. “Fucking reality warpers. This pot isn’t fucking big enough!”

The Human roughly set the pink pony down… by dropping her.

Like a rubber ball, she bounced back up to her hooves. “Twilight! I went to go get help but then Dante made a Pinkie Promise and then broke it, so I ha-”

“Stop.” Dante wrapped his hand around the pony’s muzzle, silencing her… sort of.

“Coo’ ‘oo p’eas s’op, your h’n’s aw’ b’uddy.” She mumbled as well as she could through the hand.

“Pinkie, go with Twilight and the others. Get the Elements, wherever they are. I assume you all know where they are. I’ll buy you all time with Discord.” Dante let go of the pink mare, who stuck her tongue out at the blood transferred from Dante to her coat.

“We can’t.” Twilight answered, Dante cocking his head to the side. “Celestia has them locked so only she or Luna can access them.”

Dante slapped his face with a bloody gloved hand, groaning. “Jesus Christ, that’s like issuing me a gun but forcing me to keep it in the armory. Fuck’s sake.” Dante removed a long brown horn with string at the end he had tucked into the meshing on his armor, as well a small wire with a mesh pad on it, to the purple unicorn, who caught them in her magic.

“Take that. It should get you into the room. Head to that observatory thingermerjigger , you know, the one at the top of the castle and wait for me. When the time comes, hit that asshole with everything you’ve got.”

Twilight turned the horn around, though quickly gagged upon realizing what those “strings” really were. And to her horror, she began seeing splotches of white cutting through the brown. The horn had been dismembered and… it was a white horn a foot long.

Her eyes widened as she came to the realization of what it was, holding it quite a ways from her, having no desire to physically interact with it.

Dante rolled his eyes at her antics, tossing another item at Twilight. “Yes, that’s Celestia’s horn. She was a piece of shit in the other dimension, I want it back. Give that other thing to RD. she’ll know how to use it.”

Twilight’s ears flicked as she slowly backed up. “What about the signal?”

“RD will tell you when. Now, go.” Dante gave her side a light swat as she followed the order, heading out the door, the other five mares following her lead.

Dante turned to Bulwark, gesturing with his hand to the collapsed Fortnite. “Bulwark, take care of Fortnite and Lakia. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“Wait, but what about the pri-” Bulwark’s question was ignored by the biped, as flames shot from his back, carrying him up and out of the roof.

“… Princesses… oh, no, that’s fine. Just leave me here to take care of the changeling I have not a single idea how to care for and the petrified princesses of Bloody Equestria, General! … Wait… Lakia?”





Another explosion sounded as Dante shot out of the roof of the severely damaged throne room, thrusters on his back lifting him into the air and thrusters concealed in the boots controlled his…

Well, honestly, he had never really bothered into looking up how this stuff worked, just that it did.

His job was to kill, and that’s what he was about to do.

The Legionnaire Mark V powered armor was a vast improvement over his old LMII armor. It could be removed by the user instead of requiring special, stationary equipment. The LMII could only have the helmet removed by the user. It also incorporated unlimited thrusters due to upgraded suit cooling technology, whereas the LMII was only able to utilize limited boosting.

Dante had missed the Mark III and IV due to the civil war that had raged on Lux.

The Mark V armor was capable of a sustained Mach 1.5 at sea level with a minimum acceleration time of ten seconds.

It just so happened Discord happened to be ten seconds away from the throne room.

In a cloud of vapor, Dante lost control of his thrusters, something that tends to happen when a nearly four hundred pound man slams into a reality warper weighing in at two-hundred-seventeen pounds. 

Slamming into an empty valley a little ways outside of Canterlot, Dante’s body dug a crater due the speed he was being propelled at, burying him in dirt and earth as once more a cloud billowed.

The valley was silent, as earth attempted to settle back into its proper place due to being displaced.

Suddenly, the armored hand of Dante forced its way out of the pile of dirt it was buried in, the rest of his body being propelled clear of the earth thanks to his thrusters.

“Fuck!” He shouted, Venus scanning. That hit didn’t kill Discord. He knew it didn’t.

He dove and rolled to the right as a blast of energy contacted the ground we he had been before.

“Sonuva!”

As he shot back to his feet, he blocked a swipe from an eagle talon with left arm, Discord materializing in front of him. He caught a swinging lion’s paw with his right hand, grabbing further up near the shoulder with his left hand, the biped slid on his heel, slamming the hybrid over his shoulder and into the ground.

Dante stepped back drawing his sidearm as Discord disappeared from the ground.

“That hurt you know.” A disembodied voice called.

“Jesus Christ, Venus, where is that asshole?”

As the readouts for the HUD augmented into his eyes gave no information on any living being in the area, Discord spoke once more.

“Oh, my dear Dante. What did I ever do to you to cause you to have this reaction.”

Dante continued scanning the area, walking backwards in order to not be caught still. “Well, let’s see… you attacked me, tossed me to another dimension… Uh… you nearly killed Fort as well.”

“Not even going to mention me trying to brainwash that unicorn, I see.”

Dante scoffed. “Bulwark’s a big boy, he’ll survive a little bit of brainwashing.”

“So, essentially, we’re stuck like this. If I come out of hiding, you’ll kill me. And you’re not going to leave until you have killed me.”

Dante nodded. “Uh… yeah, you pretty much summed up the entire situation.”

“Well… fudge… okay. Now, I’m going to appear. Do not try to kill me, I want to talk.”

Dante laughed. “Oh, right, fucking now you want to talk, maybe you should have fucking thought about that before, you know, all that shit you did a little while ago.”

“Just let me talk.”

“… Fuck, fine. But if you appear behind me, all bets are off.”

Before Dante’s voice disappeared from the air, Discord appeared behind him… a blast of energy directed upwards launching Dante into the air.

“Ay! You fucking dick!” He screamed as the thrusters in his suit straightened him out in the flight.

However, before he could react, another hit sent him launching to the ground, impacting in the streets of Canterlot, ponies still panicking around him as he slid down the cobblestone road, throwing up bricks and rubble as he rolled the last few feet before coming to a stop.

He shot up, only to drag a mare nearby him to the ground by her neck as another beam of energy shot right above his head and the mare’s head, destroying the building behind, miraculously none of the ponies around being injured… well, he had probably traumatized the mare by violently dragging her down, but still. Better then being dead.

An explosion sounded behind from the building that had just been leveled.

“Detecting elevated natural gas levels in the air, Dante. I assume Discord disconnected some pipes in that last hit.” Venus informed him, as he looked back to see a now growing fire.

“Fuck! We need to get out of the city or end this. People are going to die… Fuck I’m getting some serious Déjà vu here.”

Dante let go of the mare, standing up. He noticed a frozen stallion out of the corner of his eye staring at him.

The biped nodded to the pony, then launched himself from the ground with a mighty jump. He landed on a roof, launching from it once more and towards the maniacally laughing Discord, collapsing the roof. Hopefully any ponies in it had already evacuated, the tile clinking as it tumbled to the ground.

His fist drawn back, he landed a hit on Discord, sending the hybrid into a row of buildings down in the streets of Canterlot.

He cringed, he had not intended to cause as much damage as he had already done.

Discord launched himself from the row of buildings he had destroyed with the help of Jaeger, the biped bracing for the hit.

The hit came, and proved too much for his thrusters to compensate for, hitting the side of the Celeste and denting the metal plating.

Dante groaned. “Fuck, ow. Fuck. This is getting painful. Venus, do you have eyes on the Elements in the tower yet?”

“Negative. Sensors indicate they have retrieved the Elements and are on their way. ETA: three minutes.”

Dante groaned as he pulled himself from the metal.

“We’re going to have to end this soon, I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. I used up a lot of energy jumping dimensions and preventing Celestia from nuking Canterlot. How’s everything looking?”

“Nanites are prioritizing unnecessary organs. Appendix, bladder, intestines, both kidneys, gallbladder, stomach, liver and spleen.”

“Oh, jesus, I’m running low on organs to give up, aren’t I?”

“Your lungs are next. I would advise ending this fight soon, otherwise you are going to be forced to regenerate.”

Dante gripped onto the smooth side of the Celeste. “Discord’s being oddly nice letting us have this conversati- and... I jinxed myself. Here he is.”

Dante waved to the floating hybrid. “Ahoy there mate, I just got hit by a car and the bastard ran off. By any chance did you catch that jackwagon’s license plate.”

“You are really annoying, you know that right?” Discord questioned, glaring at the biped who was sticking to the side of the Celeste as though he were a spider. “And this is coming from me! The god of chaos!”

Dante merely nodded. “Yeah, my duty is to be as annoying as possible to dickheads. If you hadn’t attacked me and just tried to talk to me, we probably wouldn’t be having this problem right now. But no, you just had to toss me into an alternate dimension… though I suppose I should thank you, Discord.”

Dante brought a hand to his heart. “Seriously, this is a heartfelt thanks.”

Discord’s head turned in a circle, turning his eyes upside down, finishing with cocking his head to the side. “How so? What did I do that you’re thankful for?”

“You kickstarted this old war horse’s heart. You let me see Lakia, though she had been mutilated, and reminded me of why I still have a reason to live.”

Dante pointed to Discord. “Which is also the reason why I can’t let you win. I need these pony’s help to get back home. I’m not going to be able to get through the Sea of Clouds without their help.”

Discord paused at the name, silence reigned, then the hybrid began laughing furiously, cause Dante to take his turn of cocking his head to the side in confusion. 

“The fuck do you find funny?”

Discord slapped his knee as he wiped a comically large tear from his eye. “You don’t know what’s actually in the Sea of Clouds, do you?”

“I know my ticket home is there.”

Discord grinned. “If you ever meet a gryphon, ask them to tell you about the Sword of Boreal. But I have something I need to ask you.”

Dante looked around, shrugging. “I mean, we’re supposed to be fighting, but shoot, I guess.”

“Why are you holding back?” Discord asked, gesturing with his arm. “And don’t act confused. Don’t try to tell me that the being who killed the Wendigos plaguing this world couldn’t kill me like a bug. You killed the Wendigos and then jumped dimensions and killed another Celestia. Those are not achievements just anyone can do. I doubt even Celestia could do so. I can only do so because, well, as you know, I’m a reality warper.”

Dante paused as he thought, rubbing his chin, seemingly trying to figure out something. Suddenly, he snapped his fingers, pointing into the air with his trigger finger. “John Motherfuckin’ de Lancie!”

Discord took his head off his shoulders, breathing into his eyes and rubbing the fog off with his forearm, then cleaned his ears before replacing his head back onto his body.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“John de Lancie! Son of a bitch! This entire time, there’s been this niggling in the back of my head because your voice sounded so goddamn familiar! That’s who your voice reminded me of! You know, the guy who played Q on Star Trek?”

Discord’s face was blank as he attempted to process what he had just heard. After a few seconds, though, he shook his head and launched a ball of energy towards Dante.

Jaeger shot from the Celeste, his thrusters kicking up his speed, as he dodged the ball of energy.

His hands wrapped around the throat of the hybrid, as he quickly brought his leg up, kicking the beast higher into the air, past a cover of clouds. 

His thrusters gave chase as Discord’s impossibly undersized wings caught him, stopping the chimera in the air. Beating the air, Discord launched himself towards Dante, snapping his talons

Neither Venus or Dante could react fast enough as a bolt of lightning seemed to materialize from nowhere, striking the thruster on the left side of Dante’s back. He recoiled from the sudden heat on his face, as the nanitic augmentations in his ears compensated for the clap of thunder next to him. 

Quickly dropping altitude, Dante avoided ramming the chaos god as his remaining thrusters struggled to compensate for the sudden loss in power. 

“Fuck, he can control lightning?” Dante questioned as he slowed down to hover to physically examine the suit, glancing over his left shoulder to see smoke wafting off the damaged thruster. 

“Left thruster down, systems reporting approximately five minutes for repair.” Venus informed him.

“Don’t have five minutes. We’ll have to make do. Venus, route more power to the left boot to compensate for the shoulder, level it out with my right shoulder.”

“Already on it.” 

“And keep an eye out for any signs of more lightning. I can not afford to lose another thruster.”

Without an affirmation from Venus, Dante shot off once more, the optics in his eyes locking onto his target. 

“Venus, Elements?” 

“Sensors are showing them in the observatory, I would assume they’re go.” 

The remaining thrusters on Dante’s suit kicked high into gear, as he moved to put his final plan into motion. 

Coming in a straight line at Discord, his suits sensors picked up the conditions for another lightning strike, as Dante saw the hybrid god snap his talons. 

Jaeger dove sharply, disappearing below the clouds. 

As Discord looked around, trying to figure out where the alien was going to be coming from. 

But he didn’t need to look for long, as Dante slammed in from below him, wrapping his left around the serpent like torso of Discord, Dante dug the barrel of the Glock into Discord’s chin, firing off round after round, the two climbing in altitude thanks to Dante’s thrusters.  

Discord, to his credit, was only slightly phased by the nine millimeter rounds passing through his lower skull and into his head. He retained enough faculties to slam his talon into the left side of Dante’s head, a crack of thunder sounded as lightning struck Jaeger in the head, the nanites in his body struggling to compensate for the massive and unexpected electrical shock coursing through his brain, heart and whatever organs still remained. 

Dante grunted in pain, and cringed. The left side of his face was dead, third degree burns had killed the nerves living there. 

But he could feel heat spreading to the right of his head. 

Dropping the Glock, Jaeger reached with his right hand and violently wrenched Discord’s talon from his head, raking flesh and meat from his skull, exposing bone in multiple places. 

The sidearm fell away and down towards the ground as the two hybrids battled. 

The two continued to climb, Jaeger grabbing Discord’s lower jaw and pulling upon it. Bone cracked and muscle snapped, as Jaeger’s head was once more soaked in blood. 

The pair reached three miles in the air, the thruster’s in Dante’s boots, changed angle, arcing the two down to the ground, accelerated by the remaining thrusters on his armor. 

Discord’s lion paw gripped the last shoulder thruster, ripping it to the left. Dante’s HUD began flashing warnings of the now damaged beyond operation thruster. 

Dante’s HUD read his velocity as ninety-five meters a second, and fast approaching the one and a half mile mark to kick his plan into the final turn. They cleared the cloud cover before the view of the Celeste appeared. 

A talon gripped Dante’s head, attempting to peel him from the draconequus. Allowing him to see the reformed jaw of Discord, back in place as though he hadn’t just torn it off. 

“What is your plan?” Discord shouted over the sound of the wind hitting them. “Slam me into the ground? That’s not going to work.” 

“Next time!” Dante shouted. “Pay attention to where you are.” 

Dante slammed his right hand into the chest of the chaos beast, an object piercing Discord’s hide. At the same time, Dante’s left hand gripped the deer antler on Discord’s head, ripping it off by kicking himself off and away from the villain and back towards Canterlot. 

“Rainbow, now!” Was the last words Discord heard from Dante, as his eyes glanced down to see a spike protruding from his chest, with a blinking red light on it. Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the royal observatory, a light of rainbow growing from it, his eyes narrowing. 

“Oh… no.” Was Discord’s final words as his world went dark, the rainbow making impact. 

Dante, for his part, was still in the path of the rainbow beam.

A pressure ripped through his body, feeling as though it was crushing him as all air was sucked from his lungs. Not too dissimilar from having a two miles of water above him. 

Venus activated the explosive Dante had left pierced in the chest of Discord, the blast wave hitting him in less then a second, but not before the nanites in his body had compensated for the massive pressure differential, in order to prevent them from being crushed. 

The thrusters remaining in his boots kicked in, in an attempt to slow him down, but he was a three-hundred-seventy-five pound mass of flesh and metal traveling at three and a half miles a minute. It was possible with a single shoulder thruster, but only two boot thrusters? No. 

The cobblestone streets of Canterlot were incoming and fast. 

All Dante could do is brace for impact. 

He impacted, digging his way into the ground.

He laid on his back, his lungs violently sucked for air. The broken high impact polymer visor of his helmet allowed the smell of the sea and the crash of waves to reach his nose and ears, as he desperately sucked in air. 

He groaned loudly as he tried to sit up, electing finally after several failed attempts to sit up, to roll over onto his stomach, laying there to catch his breath. 

The smell of ozone reached his nose, as he slowly pushed himself onto his knees, pushing his upper body up. 

He grabbed his helmet, ripping it off his head and tossing it to the side as he calmed his breathing. 

He looked around, trying to find something he fell with. 

Finally, his eyes landed on a white helmet, scorched with burn marks. 

He stood up, but his legs quickly gave up, bring him back to the ground. Pushing himself up with his arms, he crawled over to the helmet with great difficulty. 

After crawling for a good few minutes, he reached the helmet, a neck slowly rebuilding itself from the decapitated head present in the helmet. He grabbed it, using his arms to push himself back onto his knees. 

There, through the broken visor of the helmet, stared the still in shock brown eyes of Queen Olephus, the brains behind the NPR and the reason for the war. Her tan skin having been damaged in some places by the heat and impact. 

Dante took a deep breath, then hocked a thick loogie of blood and mucus into her face. 

“Cunt!” He screamed, as he removed his sidearm from the holster, shoving it into the helmet, he fired one round into Olephus’ head, arresting her regeneration, and killing her… permanently. 

He attempted to empty the magazine of the pistol into her head, but found the trigger was dead and unresponsive. He pulled the pistol back out of the helmet to examine it, finding that it had melted during the fall through the atmosphere. The slide having fused with the receiver. 

Jaeger grunted as he threw the now useless gun away. 

He gripped the helmet, head and partial neck by the ridge of where the visor used to be. He planted his left foot on the ground and, with great difficulty, then stood up, planting his right foot down. 

He glanced over to where he has initially landed, a crater about a foot or two deep. 

He slowly walked over to it, limping, preferring his left leg. 

He scooped his damaged helmet up, most of his communications equipment being built into it. 

There was a village visible in the distance. A ten minute walk, at most. 

And so that’s what Jaeger did. His grisly trophy and proof of Olephus’ demise in one hand and his helmet in the other, Dante walked to the village. 

As he approached the outskirts of the village, a crowd of people had gathered, undoubtedly drawn by the sound of the impact of his body and the single gunshot.

They parted way for the limping Legionnaire, all of their eyes glued to the remains in his hand. 

Dante stopped at a building wall, throwing Olephus’ corpse down, he slowly slid himself down, until he was seated on his rear, one knee brought up close to his chest and arm resting on it. 

One of the villagers slipped in, grabbing the abandoned remains of the Queen and holding the grisly item up, as high as his arms could reach. 

“The tyrant Olephus! Is dead!” He shouted, the quiet village suddenly erupting, as family members hugged each other and other cheered and jeered at the remains of Olephus.

Dante cared for none of this, he slipped his broken helmet on. 

“Venus, record: ... Identifying Lieutenant-General Dante T. Jaeger, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps, second in command to General Durendal, completing this log at… nineteen-sixteen, Gregorian calendar date nineteen eleven, nineteen-eighty-four, confirming the death of General Durendal, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps, KIA, date: nineteen eleven, nineteen-eighty-four time: eighteen-thirty-seven. Cause of death: Detonation of Durendal’s Mark II’s self destruct. Confirming the death of Queen Olephus, New Phoenician Republic, KIA, date: nineteen eleven, nineteen-eighty-four, time: eighteen-fifty-seven. Cause of death: Arresting of regeneration by… bullet to the head. This is my, Lieutenant-General Dante T. Jaeger, Phoenix Legion Marine Corps, official statement. Venus, end recording.”

Dante took a deep breath, before breathing out and speaking once more. 

“Leknen.” There was a pause, though the HUD in Dante’s eyes failed to show a connecting to Leknen’s communication’s suite. 

“Venus, open a public channel with Legionnaire frequencies and encryption... Gryphon 4-1 Actual, this is Poet 1-5 Actual…” The channel was still dead. “Gryphon 4-1 Actual, this is Poet 1-5 Actual, sound off.” 

Dante took another breath. “Baseplate 7-4 Actual, this is Poet 1-5 Actual ordering a sound-off.”

The channel remained dead. 

“Baseplate 7-4, Kit 3-8, Glass 8-7, Canner 9-6, Ghost 1-2, will someone fucking pick up the goddamn radio!” 

The channel was still silent. 

“Fucking goddamnit! This is Lieutenant-General Dante T. Jaeger ordering a Legion wide sound off! Any Legionnaire still in commission is hereby ordered to sound-off immediately or face a fucking goddamn court martial...” 

The line remained silent, before a garbled radio transmission cut through, though it was completely unintelligible, the HUD identified it as Yerter 5-7.

When the transmission stopped, Dante immediately replied. 

“Yerter 5-7 Actual, your last was broken and unreadable. Repeat your last.” 

The line sparked back up. “… Dante.” 

It was a woman’s voice, most definitely not one his Legionnaires. And it sounded hesitant, but it also seemed familiar, something about it sparking memories in Dante, but he couldn’t place it. 

“Unknown personnel, you are operating classified Legion equipment. Identify yourself immediately.” 

There was a pause, before the line went live once more. “Dante, this is Rat.” 

For some reason, the name seemed familiar, but he couldn’t place it. He felt as though he should know it immediately. “Rat...”

“Rattal.” 

“Rat… Rat, what are you doing with Yerter 5-7’s helmet? Where is Leknen, why is no one sounding off?”

“… Dante, my infantry didn’t reach the beachhead in time. The Legion is… it’s… Dante, as far as I’m aware… I’m sorry Dante, but you’re the only one.” 

Dante’s heart seemed to stop, his hands reaching up to his helmet and gently removing it. He allowed it to fall from his hands, rolling to a stop near his foot. 

“Dante, stay where you are. We have a lock on your position and I’m deploying a bird to get you… Dante… Dante...” 

Rat’s final words were lost on Dante as he processed what he had just found out. 

A man knelt down to Dante, putting his hand on his shoulder. 

The last Legionnaire looked up to meet the eyes golden eyes of the man. “Sir, sir. Please, you need to calm down. Just remain seated.” The voice seemed distant and muffled, as Dante’s mind was suddenly muddled, the celebrating villagers slowly losing focus, along with the golden-eyed man’s voice, another voice was breaking through. 

“Don’t let her get away.” Durendal’s voice cut through, followed by the memory of a very strong impact, sucking Dante’s air from his lungs even through his armor, his vision going white. 

Another voice was cutting through the ringing of Jaeger’s ears, something that shouldn’t have been happening, the explosion had been in space. He should have just felt the impact. 

The whiteness in his eyes slowly subsided, as he looked to the villager who had put his hand on him, the bipedal, clothed form shifting into a quadrupedal form. And as Dante’s eyes began refocusing, he started making out feathers. 

A gryphon stood near him, using one talon to try and get a crowd of ponies surrounding him to back off, his other talon resting on Dante's shoulder. 

“Give him space.” He shouted. “He’s having a panic attack. All of you need to back off right now.” 

Dante’s vision blacked out, then came back into focus, two large winged ponies landing, as the crowd of ponies reverently gave them space while bowing.

There was a murmur of words, very few he could make out. 

“…. panic attack… common in gry… troops… serving in the Nor… flashback…” 

Dante’s mind finally gave out, not wanting to bother with trying to sort out what was the past and the present. 

Had Dante been conscious, he would have beat his mind for being so inconvenient.
> Dust in the Wind
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 21

The helicopter was there minutes after Rat had made contact with Jaeger, its rotors kicking up dust and dirt. The villagers clearing a way for the helo, as Dante picked himself up from the ground, collecting his helmet, he found the villager who had taken the corpse of Olephus.

Still standing in a crowd, the man continued to hold up the partial corpse, cheering as the helicopter touched down.

The armored Legionnaire, standing at seven feet, four inches and four-hundred pounds, easily pushed his way past the people in the crowd.

He grasped the helmet in the man’s hands, gently pulling the corpse away. There was slight resistance for a minute before the man realized what was happening and allowed the corpse to be taken from him.

Lugging both his helmet and the corpse, Dante lazily approached the helicopter. The villagers who had previously given him room to instead celebrate the death of the most hated person in the Imperium, now decided to crowd around him, arms and fists pumping into the air.

“Legion, Legion, Legion, Legion!” The crowd cheered, the Legionnaire gently pushing his way past the crowd.

The rotors died down as the back hatch of the helicopter fell. Mechanized infantry storming out the back of the grey helicopter, their powered exoskeletons absorbing every footfall, a pack containing various pieces of equipment and tools also supported by the frame.

Their bodies were covered by plates, designed to protect from a variety of dangerous hazards, and their heads covered by fully enclosed helmets, capable of filtering out many atmospheric hazards.

They came out, their rifles raised and scanning for any possible threats. After three of them had come out, they were followed by a familiar face.

A white skinned woman with blonde hair filed out of the helicopter with her soldiers, her rifle scanning the area and the helmet present on the other troops missing on hers.

“Rat.” Dante called out, as he pushed his way past the threshold of the crowd, the blonde woman lowering her rifle as she caught sight of the man, the dirt now slowly settling.

“Dante!” She called, as she quickly jogged up to the man, reaching her hand out for a handshake, which Dante took after dropping the corpse, then quickly pulled her into a hug, the Legionnaire towering over her by a good few inches despite her exoskeleton.

The hug continued for a few seconds, before it was let go.

“Dante, I’m sorry. We were minutes away when Lekn-” Dante raised a hand, stopping her.

“Everyone knew what we were getting into… and every single one of those men understood the likelihood of coming back alive was... Nil.”

Dante made to enter the helicopter. “Come on, Rat. We’ve still got the NPR’s fleet on the run. I need to hook up with the Doc and get refitted, get back out there and assist with the intercepts.”

“Wait, what no.” Rat moved to the back of Dante quickly. “Dante, your helmet’s fucked, your armor’s compromised, you just got through three years of continuous fighting. You’re not going back in.”

Dante, having to crouch in order to enter the door to the helicopter, straightened up in the main body, he tossed the bloody corpse to the floor, as he took a hold of a loop of cloth on the roof, barely tall enough for the Legionnaire to not have to crouch.

“Doc will refit my armor and the three years isn’t an issue. I don’t have time to wait, Rat. Get your men back in here and get us to the nearest RV point.”

“Dante!” Rat waved her arms, her rifle resting on her chest. “The fleets have the NPR, they don’t need your help. They’re called replacements for a reason.”

Dante pointed away from her with his hand.

“I’m not letting the NPR get away. They made an enemy of the Legion and I fully intend to see that out. My men didn’t die on that beach for nothing. Durendal’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain. The NPR exists as a threat to the Imperium… to every decent thing. And I. Will. Not. Rest. Until every single one of the bastards personally responsible for the shit that happened here are dead.”

Rat shook her head. “Dante, you need to rest and that is an order.”

The large man rolled his eyes, raising an eyebrow. “Really, Rat?”

She nodded, resolute. “Yes. It is.”

Dante raised two fingers in the air. “First, the Legion has never had any policy in place requiring Legionnaires to recognize outside rank. So while you may technically outrank me, I’m not listening to you. Second, all Legionnaires are authorized to commandeer military vehicles if they determine the use of said vehicle is necessary for the completion of their mission… and I’m getting really fucking close to doing that, Rat.” Dante lowered his hand. “So this is my last demand. Get me to an RV point, right now. Before I take control of the bird myself.”

As Rat moved closer to the Legionnaire to continue arguing, she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. One of her troops had stopped her, nodding to the towering super soldier. “General, I think you’re right, I think he needs rest. Ain’t a person in the world who can fight straight for three years with no relief, but I also think he’s right. The fleet could use the morale boost that would come from a Legionnaire being present. Besides… Ash will stop him if she determines he can’t do it.” The voice filtered out of the helmet.

“An immovable object meets an unstoppable force… that will be interesting to see…” Rat muttered, as she sighed.

She hit the side of the helicopter on the outside, catching the attention of the troops who had formed a guard around the entrance hatch.

“Hey! We’re movin’ out! Get the fuck back in here!”

As the troops loaded back into the helicopter, the bird began spinning back up, Rat taking a seat. Sighing, she rubbed her face.

“This is why I hate being your friend, you fuckface.”

Dante didn’t respond, as the helicopter began gaining air.





Luna quietly walked through the halls of the hospital they were in. It had been a bit of a chore getting through the streets of the battle damaged Canterlot from the hospital to the castle and back to the hospital. The hospital had been opened by Royal decree quite a long time ago, and as a result, one of the choices made during its construction was a tunnel that could carry royalty from the castle to the hospital in secret.

That tunnel had been utilized by Luna for her current mission.

The steel cart in front of her, being pushed by her magic. And she was nearing her destination. Stopping in front of the door, she paused in confusion. The room was empty. There was dried blood on the bed, but otherwise it was just another room in the hospital… with the exception of the door no longer connected to its hinges.

A doctor passing down the hallway nodded to the Lunar alicorn. “Good evening, Your Highness.” The sight of even the alicorn sisters were not an uncommon thing in this hospital, so the staff had come to the point of acknowledging them formally. To bow down would be to waste too much time in assisting sick ponies.

“Excuse Us, Doctor?”

The stallion stopped in his tracks, turning to meet his princess. “Yes ma’am?”

Luna pointed to the empty room. “Where is General Jaeger?”

“… Ah, the biped. Yes, he gave the nurses quite a spook when he woke up, amazingly gentle for a pony his size, though. I believe I was informed he had made his way to the… changeling’s room.”

To say that Luna didn’t panic would be a lie, but she had enough practice to keep it hidden.

She thanked the doctor and quickly made her way to the level and room she knew the changeling to be at, her pace quickening as she got closer to it.

She released a breath she had been holding when she reached the room, no angry biped throwing things around, just a nurse examining a chart in the room.

… And a door not connected to its hinges and the rough shape of one of General Jaeger’s boots in it, the locking mechanism still active on the inside of the door.

Luna knocked on the wall, catching the attention of the unicorn mare in the room, who looked up from the chart and nodded at the Lunar Diarch. “Your Highness.”

“How is Lady Fortnite coming along?”

The brown mare, paused, as she chose her words carefully. “She’s… doing as well as somepony in her position can. We have no idea how to care for her, so we’re just making sure she stays alive. It would appear as though, from initial scans, her internal organs are remarkably similar to a ponies, which is unfortunate. Both lungs are collapsed. We believe the only reason she’s even alive is because we found remnants of spriacles, typical of insects, present on her chitin. Under normal circumstances, we would have assumed they were merely vestigial and became useless upon them developing lungs, but given the… less then favorable state of the lungs, we can only assume they’re functional enough to the keep the changeling alive… barely.”

Luna nodded. “So… she’s alive, but if we wish to help her, it will require more research.”

The nurse nodded.

“Hm… wonderful. Keep tending to Lady Fortnite and insure she’s comfortable as she can be. We have one last question.”

“Yes, Your Majesty?”

“Have you seen General Jaeger at all?”

The blank stare on the nurse’s face told her she either hadn’t, or had no clue who she was talking about.

“I’m… sorry? I don’t know anypony with that name.”

Luna shook her head. “No, a tall biped wearing black armor and undoubtedly covered in dried blood. Doesn’t really seem to care for social conventions and does whatever he fancies when he so fancies…”

Luna glanced at the damaged door on the floor. “… Doesn’t seem to understand what a door is… or how it works.”

The nurse’s face lit up in realization. “Oh, yes! I did see him. He asked me where the morgue the royal guard uses would be.”

Luna nodded, realizing exactly what it was… or rather or who it had been the biped was going after.

She turned around, abandoning the cart, as she blinked out of existence from the hospital.





Bulwark sat in the room, watching the clock. It had been a few hours since the battle with Discord had concluded. The sterileness of the building was making him uncomfortable. The white lights on the ceiling making the whole place seem unwelcoming.

From what he could deduce from the short reports of the guards who had responded to the scene of the biped crashing onto the streets of Canterlot, he stumbled around for a minute before collapsing, unresponsive. Leading to the Two Sisters to take him to the nearby Royal Hospital. A place Bulwark had absolutely no chance of getting into, given their clientele.

As such, he had run with his intuition. He remembered who Lakia was from a previous conversation with him, and if she was as important as she seemed to him at the time, he could only assume he would soon find his way down here for her.

He heard a crash, as he rolled his eyes, nodding his head.

He was right.

The door in the storage room crashed open, as Dante’s boot appeared through it, landing back on the ground. A magical aura wrapped around his other foot, though it seemingly had no effect on him as stalked over to a desk containing a book, something Bulwark had identified as the log book and had already laid out to prevent Jaeger from physically overturning desks.

He should have left the doors open.

A unicorn mare followed… or rather was pulled closely behind, her rump seated on the ground as she was pulled along, attempting to trip the biped up with her magic.

“Sir, you can not be in here! This is a closed facility and you need to leave right now before we get the Royal Guards.”

The biped was still covered in blood, though this time it was all dry, flaking off in places.

The mare let go of the biped, as she rushed back into the main lobby, calling for her coworker to find some royal guards.

Bulwark wasn’t in his uniform, and the few guards who had helped deliver Lakia’s corpse to the morgue had identified her as being in his custody, in the name of the Diarchy. Which is why he had been allowed to stay.

Dante picked up the log book, paying no attention to the stallion, who was sitting quietly in a corner. He opened to the last page, finding the entry he wanted.

Bulwark already knew what he was looking for… locker one-fifteen.

Jaeger tossed the book over his shoulder as he quickly walked over to the large wall of lockers to Bulwark’s left.

Corpse storage, the lockers enchanted to cold temperatures, just slightly above freezing. They opened with a small handle.

Which Dante gripped, ignoring the fine motor functions required to manipulate it, which was to turn it up and then pull, Dante pulled straight back, ripping the door off its hinges and revealing the inside. He tossed the door behind him.

The lockers themselves large enough to store the corpse of even an alicorn. The door of course sealed the lockers and concealed the corpse until viewing it was necessary. And the corpse was stored on a table that rolled out and in.

Though, in a seemingly sudden change of attitude, instead of ripping the table out as Bulwark would have expected if he had taken the three doors Dante destroyed on his way in as precedence, the biped instead gently grasped the end of the table and slowly pulled it out, almost as though he were afraid of causing bumps and general movement of the corpse stored.

The table stopped as Jaeger stepped to the left side, where the door would have been resting… had he not torn it off.

He stared at the mare, the corpse uncovered, before bring his right hand up and gently running it down her side, her head at the top of the table closest to the wall of lockers.

Bulwark sighed, levitating a folded white sheet from a nearby cart in his magic and getting up from his seated position.

He slowly walked over to the biped, passing the sheet to him. Jaeger took it into his hand, unfolding it and gently draping it over her.

Without looking up, he removed his helmet from his waist and put it on, obscuring his face. Once it was seated, he looked up. Though Bulwark couldn’t see them, he was certain Jaeger had just locked eyes with him.

“Sir.” Bulwark nodded, receiving a nod back from Dante.

“Bulwark,” Dante spoke, his voice being oddly filtered through the helmet, having an almost mechanical tone to it, something Bulwark had never heard. “You’re here.”

“Yes sir,” Bulwark nodded to the table pulled out. “I’ve figured you out, at least a small bit. And I figured you’d be coming here soon… at least after you woke up.”

Dante nodded. “Yeah… and I suppose you were able to guess what my plan is now.”

“I have a general idea… you want to lay her to rest… but I’m not able to guess the specifics.”

Dante gently slid his hands under the still mare, tucking the sheet under to cover the rest of her body.

“I have the site set up.” He said, as he carefully picked the mare up, using his left hand to support her head.

Without another word, Dante began to make his way to the door, Bulwark following closely behind.

“Sir, you can not take that corpse.” The unicorn mare who had tried to restrain Dante upon entrance blocked the door, Bulwark cringing at her foolhardiness.

“Even if you hadn’t broken in here, I would need approval from one of the Diarchs to release her, she was interred under Royal Custody.”

“I don’t answer to the Crown.” Dante responded as he stepped past the mare, paying no heed to her protestations. “Lakia falls under my custody and not a single damn thing anyone here says otherwise can change that fact.

“Sir,” The mare charged in front of the biped into the street, latching onto his leg. “It is my duty to ensure the honor and dignity of all deceased in Canterlot is maintained and I can not and will not allow you to take that mare’s body.”

Dante continued to pay no mind to the mare, dragging her along with no difficulty, lifting his leg up and putting it back down. Bulwark merely cringed and dropped his head at the crowds stopping to stare the bloodstained biped dragging the mare.

“There’s a dozen other corpses in there needing your tending. Go help them.”

“They’re not being stolen by you!” She protested

Dante stopped in his tracks, as Bulwark began to worry just what he was planing to do with the mare.

He quietly shifted Lakia’s corpse to be held in his right arm, reaching down with his left hand and grasping the mare’s blonde tail, pulled her off his leg, bringing her face to his, the mare suspended upside down.

“You are a massive pain in my ass, you know that, right?”

“Sir, this is assault and I demand you put me down right now and return that mare to the mortuary right no- what! Wait.”

Dante had stopped paying attention half way through, lowering the mare. High enough her head easily cleared the ground, but low enough she was now left staring at the thighs of Jaeger. And began to continue his walk to wherever he was going.

“Sir!” She yelled. “This is now not only theft of a corpse, assault but also foalnapping. Let go of me right now, you will regret this! You’re not exactly subtle, the guard will have no trouble finding you!”

As the mare ranted on, Dante merely continued walking, caring not a single modicum for the punishments she promised would follow once the guard found him.

Bulwark merely shook his head.





The mare had mostly quieted down when Dante had repositioned her, with the help of Bulwark’s telekinesis, to a more comfortable position… tucked into his side.

“You’re being oddly helpful in this kidnapping.” Dante called back to Bulwark.

The stallion sighed. “I figured if we’ve already gotten to the point of foalnapping, I don’t want my last memories as a free stallion to be the whining of this mare, sir.”

“Excuse me for not being a fan of being kidnapped… you jack-arse.”

“You had a choice in this, Lady. If you hadn’t tried to keep stopping me, I wouldn’t have picked you up. You wanted to guard Lakia’s dignity and honor, now you get to see to that. You get to ensure her husband lays her body to rest with dignity and honor.”

“Her husband?” The mare’s snout scrunched up, as she pointed with her right hoof behind her to Bulwark.

“Him?”

“No.” Dante responded. “Me.”

“You?” She pointed to him.

“Yes, him.” Bulwark affirmed, the mare looking back to him.

“H-”

“I swear to god, if you say ‘him’ I am going to throw you against that wall and ensure someone guards your ‘honor and dignity’.”

The mare decided it was best not to continue with her questioning, instead looking up and seeing… the bridge to Castle Canterlot.

She smiled smugly.

“You’re not a very smart criminal, are you?” She questioned.

“I’m sorry?” Dante questioned, an eyebrow raised.

“There’s guards at the castle. I’ll yell and they’ll stop you.”

“Uh-huh.” Dante nodded.

They soon crossed the bridge and into the courtyard.

And there, guarding the main doors to the castle were two solar guards. And just as the mare had promised, she began screaming… and flailing.

Beating her hooves on the hard armor of the biped, she yelled. “Help! Help me, this thing’s foalnapping! He assaulted me and he stole a corpse under royal custody! Help!”

The tall biped continued walking, the two guards remaining stoic despite the flailing and creaming pony.

Dante gave them a lazy wave as he passed by them. “Frank, Bob, evenin’.”

“Evening.” The two guards responded, despite neither of their names being Frank or Bob, as the biped passed the mare slowly quieting down and her protestations dying.

As the tall biped entered the castle and turned a corner, one of the guards turned to the other.

“I’m sure he’s got a good reason.” He spoke, trying to reassure himself.

“Oh, undoubtedly.”

“He probably received the okay from one of the princesses.”

“Yep.”

“And besides, even if he didn’t, what are we supposed to do about it?”

“Nothing we could do about it.”

“I mean, for Celestia’s sake! He fought the changelings head on, went hoof-to-hoof with Discord and then survived being blasted by the Elements of Harmony! You heard the briefing, just like I did!”

“I did.”

“So the only thing we could do is just let him do what he wants. And besides… I mean, he hasn’t actually hurt anypony yet, so why would he start with her?”

“I agree.”

There was a silence between the two guards, before the talkative turned to his comrade.

“This one doesn’t go in the logs.”

“Oh, no, absolutely not. Didn’t happen.”

The two nodded simultaneously. “Not in the log, it didn’t happen.”

Dante rounded the corner, the mare hanging limply in his arms.

“… Why?”

Dante did not answer the mare this time, instead it was Bulwark. “Because the castle guards have learned telling General Jaeger not to do something will result in him doing it out of spite… unless it goes against his as of yet unknown code of ethics.”

“And his code of ethics is okay with foalnapping mares?”

“Only when they’re a pain in my ass and I’m trying to do something… like cremate my wife.”

“She is under the custody of the Diarchy and you have no legal authority to do anything with her.” The mare shot back.

“And as I said, I answer to no one. Not here, not in the Imperium.”

The group continued to walk, Dante leading them up multiple flights of stairs and then through multiple hallways, until stopping in a nondescript hallway, standing in front of a wall. A smooth, grey wall, as it was in many other places of the castle.

“Venus.”

Suddenly, the wall split apart, revealing a hallway, though this one was entirely different. Darkened with just enough light to see down it, various carts were abandoned, along with a large amount of…

“Are those… skeletons?”

“Bulwark, my hands are full, could you do me a favor and do a flourishing wave over the ship for me?” Dante, asked.

Bulwark complied, waving his foreleg across the ship, left to right.

“Welcome, pony of whom I do not know the name of nor do I particularly care to find out what it is, to the Celeste! A former capitol ship of the Imperium, before Republican troops captured it.”

The mare twister her neck to look at the biped. “My name i-”

“Pony of whom I do not know the name of nor do I particularly care to find out what it is.” Dante reiterated, as he entered the ship.

Lights audibly flicked on, almost as though a large switch had been thrown.

The lights flooded the hall, seemingly coming from every and almost extinguishing any shadows.

The mare cringed, screwing her eyes shut at the sudden assault of light.

“The lift’s right at the end of this hallway. Come on. I want to get this out of the way as soon as possible. I need to get back to Fortnite.”

The mare opened a single eye, squinting. “And what are you planning on doing with me?”

“Oh, that? You can leave when we get down there. I just wanted to make you walk all the way back up to Canterlot for being a pain in my ass.”

“Wait, up… walk back up?” The mare asked as Dante stepped over a very small gap and onto a platform.

The mare could feel the biped’s grip loosening on her, as he positioned himself so Bulwark was standing between his legs.

“Sir, what are you do-” Bulwark was cut off as Dante spoke.

“Venus, activate the anti-boarders lift program, please.”

As the words left Dante’s mouth, being filtered through his helmet, the platform suddenly shot down, Dante still attached to it, though the mare having been repositioned so she would fly out of his arms. Bulwark’s hooves left the platform, though he was stopped by the V formed by Dante’s legs.

The mare screamed, though Bulwark just looked bored, almost as though he expected this. Dante’s reaction was impossible to make out due to his helmet obscuring his face.

The mare was floating ten feet from the platform itself, about three feet from Dante, as she flailed about in a failed attempt to grab the biped, forgetting she possessed magic and could have used that pull herself down.

The platform came to a slow, though relatively sudden stop, Bulwark catching himself on his hooves, Dante’s outstretched left arm gently caught the now properly falling mare with ease.

Bulwark stepped out from between Dante’s leg, raising an eyebrow as she looked to the supersoldier.

“What was that?”

Dante pulled the shivering mare close to his body, similar to how he was holding her before.

“Well...” Dante began. “It was supposed to be a precaution against boarders by tossing them into the air. But ships got boring pretty often so we’d activate that mode and see just how high we could get before reaching the bottom. Made for some pretty fun nights. It was even better when you’re drunk, watching the Squids clean the puke up, though, was even better.”

“Squids?” Bulwark questioned, turning his head.

“You know.” Dante stated as he stepped off the platform and into the vehicle bay of the ship, various alien vehicles sitting in silence, along with the skeletons of many dead NPR soldiers. A familiar sight for Bulwark due to him having been down here before. “Squids. Sailors. Seamen. Swabbies… Faggots. Homosexuals. Fudge-Packers. Sodomites. Anal Astronauts. Back Door Bandits. Bone Smugglers. Butt Pirates. Cockpipe Cosmonauts. Donut punchers. Turd burglars.”

Bulwark looked at him blankly, Dante sighing.

“Naval troops, Bulwark. Jesus Christ, does Equestria not have a navy?”

Bulwark nodded. “Of course we do… er, rather, we have some guards stationed on airships.”

Dante paused, midstep. “I mean… an aquatic navy.”

Bulwark snorted. “Nopony’s stupid enough to travel on the surface of the oceans.”

“I’d criticize you.” Dante began as he once began his walk. “But I’m sure you would tell me something really dumb… like there’s a shit ton of krakens in the oceans on this planet.”

It was Bulwark’s turn to pause, Dante instead choosing to push past the stallion. Bulwark cocked his head to the side. “There are… there are krakens in the oceans… Do you all… do you all not have krakens back home?”

“No we do not and in order to be considered a serious player in the world, you need to have a navy. Force projection.”

The mare who had been kidnapped by the alien creature remained quiet, having been traumatized by nearly being flattened from the lift, saved only by the arm of her kidnapper.

Quickly moving through the garage and through the vehicles, the group made their way to a corner, as a large door loudly pulled it self up, to allow the group access to the outside. A ramp helpfully appearing from the side of the ship. Dante and Bulwark stepped out into the valley below Canterlot.

The sun was slowly setting, giving way to twilight, and soon dusk.

Dante gently set the trembling mare down, shifting Lakia’s weight, he transferred her to two arms. He knelt down, gently sliding her onto the grass moving with a slight breeze.

“I got most of this set up. I just need to get a get a few things moved out here from the bay.” Dante said as he turned around to head back into the bay.

“Do you need help?” Bulwark questioned.

Dante waved the concern away, turning around to walk backwards and up the ramp. “No. But pony who I don’t know. You’re free to go. You just can’t come back into my ship. You have to go the long way around.”

Dante shrugged as he began turning a corner into the bay. “Or stay here and ensure the honor and dignity of Lakia is kept. I don’t care. But be warned, burning bodies in open air is a lot worse then in an enclosed crematory.”

With that, he finally disappeared, as Bulwark took the time to examine the site, supposing a cremation made sense.

But the issue was he seemed to be wanting to do a funeral pyre. Most cremations were done in an enclosed oven powered by magic. Bulwark knew some of the more rural areas opted to honor their dead with a funeral pyre, but those were large structures, built up so as to remain burning long enough for the deceased to burn to ashes.

Yet, this valley was, with the exception of the grass growing in it, bare.

He had said he already had the site set up, but...

Bulwark rolled his eyes. Certain this had a fairly straight-forward explanation involving nanites.

“I swear, if his explanation is ‘nanites’…” Bulwark muttered to himself.

He turned back to the ship, just in time to see Dante coming back out with a quite large sheet of what appeared to be a dull colored metal in his hand with a square container in his other.

The sheet of metal was held lengthwise. Approximately eight feet by eight feet, and surprisingly did not look odd being carried by the large biped.

The mare had decided to sit on her haunches, unsure of what she wanted to do. Dante paid her no heed, walking past her with the metal sheet, and approaching Bulwark. He walked past the stallion a little further out. Now about a hundred feet from the ship.

He tossed the metal sheet down on the grass, walking back to Bulwark as it thudded on the ground.

He dropped the container with no concern for how it fell.

His hands now free, he walked back to where he laid Lakia down, once more picking her up gently.

The sun was even further down, now no longer twilight, but rather dusk.

He walked back past Bulwark.

“The metal’s an extremely thermally resistive metal. It’s used as heat shielding and in blast doors. It’s so resistive, the Imperium has to use nuclear fusion to get to a heat it can be worked with. This is going to be the base.”

Dante walked on the sheet metal, the metal flexing under his feet as he gently set the corpse down, sheet still covering the mare underneath it.

Dante knelt down, his hand grasping the sheet, though he paused, seemingly hesitating.

He took a deep breath, removing the sheet and exposing the corpse.

He remained there, sheet in hand, for a few seconds, as he looked at the mare he had revealed.

Jaeger let go of the breath he had been holding.

He removed a cylinder from the webbing connected to his armor. Tucking it into the crook formed Lakia’s shoulder and foreleg.

The device nestled safely, Dante stepped back and off the metal sheet. The cloth sheet still in in his hand. The mare was dwarfed by the large sheet of metal.

“Venus,” There was a pause, more hesitation. “Venus, define the parameters. Control the burn so it stays on the metal. Maintain eighteen-hundred degrees until…”

A flame quickly burst to life, slowly catching the mare’s leg, and soon spreading to the rest of her body.

Growing quickly, the flames burned higher and hotter as it fully engulfed the deceased woman. Dante merely standing there, staring at the flames.

The sun gave way to the moon, allowing the celestial body to claim its place in the sky, Dante paid no attention, the burning corpse his sole attention.

The two ponies, Bulwark stood behind the biped in silence, his head bowed in respect. The mare from the mortuary slowly and quietly made her way to Jaeger’s side, viewing the burning.

The smell of meat burning, the sulfur of the keratin hitting her nose.

She sat on her haunches.

“I’m sorry.” She spoke. Looking up to the biped’s head, who still seemed to gazing at the funeral pyre, the high heat consuming the mare’s body.

“Losing a loved one is… is always a difficult time.” She followed up.

“It’s become the norm for me...” Dante answered back, his voice once more mechanically filtered. “I stopped feeling it after the fourth time.”

A large blue wing encompassed Jaeger’s back, the soft voice of Princess Luna cutting through her night air. “I believe we both know that’s not true, General Jaeger.”

Dante glanced down, meeting the alicorn’s eyes who stood to his right. “No amount of time or experiences can stop the cutting from the death of a beloved. We may not have the years you have, but We understand what it is like to see others suffer from the ravages of mortality while you stand there. A lone dam struggling to hold back the inevitable. You and you alone. We had our sister to stand with Us for most of that time, We can not imagine you took it better by yourself.”

Dante remained silent, having moved his head back to continue watching the pyre.

“We do not mean to intrude, but from Our understanding, you spent most of your life alone. To you, everyone you encountered was like dust being blown by the wind. You meet them and the next day, they are no longer by your side. Taken by the sands of time and the ravages of life.”

The only sound filling the air in response to Luna was the crackling of the fire. 

“We shall not be so conceited so as to dredge up past memories you wish to be forgotten, in pursuit of satisfying Our own curiosity. We shall trust that you had good reasons, more so for Our own sanity. But Our visit has two purposes behind it.” 

Dante gave a light grunt in response, the vocalization giving Luna the go ahead to continue. 

“We left some food at Lady Fortnite’s room. Please help yourself to it.” 

“What makes you think I’m heading back there?” Dante asked, not bothering to turn his head. 

Luna merely smirked. 

“We believe the fact that you checked on her first before heading out to retrieve this mare is telling of how important she is to you.”

“... Pragmatic reasons.” Dante replied. “She happened to be in the same area I was so it only made sense for me to check on her before leaving the hospital.” 

“You and We both know that’s not how you think, but if that’s what you want to believe, then We will not try to argue.” 

“In any case…” Dante breathed, reaching up to take off his helmet. Replacing it back to its spot on his armor. “You said there were two reasons. You gave me one.” 

Luna nodded. “Indeed. We had hoped to catch you at the hospital. But that didn’t work. The other reason We came was because of this.” Luna’s magic grasped something held between her wing and body. Pulling out a long and narrow object wrapped in white cloth, she passed it to Dante. 

“Our sister wished to have it destroyed. We managed to stop her on the basis that you should have a chance to explain why you wanted such a grim trophy saved.” 

Dante unwrapped the cloth, revealing the horn he had taken from the other Celestia, no longer bloodied and the nerve bundles at the end having been removed. 

He nodded. “Yeah. I took it because I needed to get home. Humans can’t focus magic. We require focusers… wands. Some of the socialite witches I’ve met in my time used crystals. But they were horribly impractical. The more combat oriented witches and warlocks utilized wands. This.” Dante held up the horn. “Was an improvised wand… Luna… that wasn’t my first time jumping dimensions.” 

Dante tucked the horn into a pouch on his armor. “I’ll admit, it’s the first time I was dumped in an alternate dimension intentionally, but doing what I do, you’re exposed to massive energy dumps fairly often. Enough energy and you can tear a hole in reality. Of course, the issue is, dumping energy can tear a hole, but you have no control over where it goes. So if I had just torn a hole in reality by dumping a shit ton of energy, then I could have landed in a place that… well, god knows what it could have been. I needed something to anchor me to this dimension and I needed something to focus that energy dump onto the anchor. I used some money I had from here as the anchor and then used Celestia’s horn to focus the energy.”

“... What was going on there that you could justify killing her?” Luna questioned. 

“I don’t know the events leading up to the present, but over there, apparently magic is extremely toxic to Humans. Somehow, a portal between Terra and UX3234,” Dante caught the curious look on Bulwark’s face, clarifying. “The Imperial designation of this planet is UX3234.”

“The name of the planet is actu-” The mare who had been kidnapped began, though was quickly cut off by Dante.”

“Don’t care. Anyway, portal between here and there opened up. From there, a planet consuming wall of magic began transforming Terra and destroying Human structures. Celestia had control of it, but used it to wipe out Humanity by turning them into mindless ponies by tricking them into using a polymorphic potion. Twilight and Celestia tried to do the same to me after by extreme coincidence we landed next to Lakia. Celestia retreated back to Equestria and I opened a portal back there and killed her, taking her horn and getting back here.”

“... Wait, you said you needed an anchor to get back here and used a bit to do so… Couldn’t you have just used something from your planet and opened the portal there to get home? Why come back here?” Bulwark questioned. 

Dante shook his head. “I knew this UX3234 and that UX3234 occupied the same space because Discord was able to drop me there from here. But I had no idea if that Terra and this Terra shared the same space. If I tried to do so, I could have ended up in the middle of absolutely nowhere and I would just be floating through space.”

“What makes you think Discord didn’t just adjust the positioning so as to ensure you were put on the Earth.” Luna questioned. 

Dante snorted. “Earth? Is that what you all call this rock?” Dante sighed. “This fucking place. I guess all cultures are pretty fucking similar no matter what.”

“Sorry?” Luna turned her head to the side. 

“Earth translates to a similar word back home. Ground. Which we took that word from an old language and turned it into the colloquial name for Terra.” Dante pronounced a word that none of the ponies present could even begin trying to duplicate. 

“And in any case,” Dante shook his head. “That’s not how interdimensional travel works.”

The group sat in continued silence for just a few more minutes, the flames burning strong and concealing any sight of a corpse. 

“I know Bulwark and… this pony,” Dante gestured to the mare next to him. “Know who she is. But I feel like you should also know just who you’re viewing the cremation of. That’s Lakia.” 

“The name sounds familiar.” Luna answered. 

“Twi probably dropped her name once or twice, I’m certain she debriefs with Celestia and I told her about Lakia. But she’s...” Dante sighed. “She’s my wife.” 

Luna nodded, not entirely sure how to respond to the fact that she was watching a husband bury his wife, after killing her no less.

“We’re certain the… mercy killing was not easy for you to do...” 

“How’d yo-” 

“The wound, General. It’s become quite obvious how you fight. You kill quickly. Might not be the cleanest wounds, but the pony passes quickly.”

Dante snorted. “Ballistic wounds are always a bitch to deal with, yeah...” 

The group descended into silence for a few seconds, before Dante broke it. 

“You know… it’s funny.” He chuckled. “Lakia always told me that if… when she passed, she wanted to be cremated during a full moon. She wanted me to spread her ashes right on the edge of the troposphere, right before you hit the stratosphere. That way her final resting place could be the entire planet. And just my fucking luck.” Dante gestured to the moon resting in the sky above him. “Just fucking… what, a few days from a full moon?” 

Luna’s horn lit up, the blue aura enveloping it. “Unfortunately, while We can not help with the spreading of her ashes, We can help with one thing.”

In front of his eyes, Dante watched as the moon went from a waxing gibbous to a full moon. 

“Is that better?” Luna questioned, smiling.

“That still makes no fucking sense.” Dante shook his head, Luna’s smile faltering. Before Dante looked down to her. “But thanks, nonetheless.” Her smile returned. 

“We are glad to be of help, General.” 

Silence reigned once more for several minutes, as none of the group could think of a single appropriate thing in order to continue the conversation. 

Dante, once more, was the one who broke it. “Venus, kill the flames.” 

And faster then a pony could clap their hooves together, the flames were snuffed from existence. 

The disappearance of the flames revealed no trace of the body, except for a pile of ashes about as long as the mare had been. 

Without speaking any further, Dante approached the funeral pyre. 

The three ponies present bowed their heads respect, as Dante gently brushed the ashes to a corner, having stood up the container he had brought with him in the grass. 

Having moved the ashed into a pile on one corner, he easily lifted the sheet metal and carefully poured them into the container. 

He knelt down, flipping the lid back into its proper position, the container now closed. 

Picking it up, he began walking back to the group. 

“Bulwark, get some rest. Morgue pony, you’re free to go. Luna… well, do whatever, I don’t care. Just don’t go picking up any guns in my ship. I don’t feel like dealing with ponies shooting themselves negligently.” 

Dante strode past Luna disappearing from her sight, as slight breeze blew through. The alicorn of the moon turned around to say something to him, though as she turned, she caught no sight of the biped. Only the glow of the light from the garage of the ship. 

Bulwark merely turned around and started walking. “He can teleport, Your Highness. He probably teleported to the lift. 





Dante turned the corner of the hospital. It had been a bit far of a jump. But thankfully, he didn’t have an entire group of people he needed to keep together this time. He only lost his spleen this time. 

He ignored the pain that came from having an entire organ ripped from him thanks to physics and magic that no one really truly understood. 

Besides, it would grow back quickly enough. 

He had more important things to attend to. 

As he turned the corner his eyes landed on the door he was looking for. The door leading to the changeling’s room. Fortnite. 

And it would appear as though that in the few hours he had been gone, the staff had repaired the door he had ripped from the hinges. 

He quickly scanned the hallway. Seeing no staff or even patients. It would make sense. Middle of the night, skeleton crew. The nurse on duty was probably in another wing helping someone else. 

He made his way to the door, opening it quietly and slipping into the room, closing the door behind him. The only light coming from a small light on the wall. Just enough for a normal pony to see. Dante, of course, would not have been bothered even if there hadn’t been a light. 

For comfort’s sake, though, he flipped the light switch on, turning on the main light hanging on the ceiling of the room, and being greeted by the sight of a battered changeling laying on her side. The sound of the air being pulled in by the device breathing for her wheezing through the room. Intubation running through her nasal and tracheal cavities. 

Dante slid to side, laying the ashes of Lakia on an empty table left on wheel, picking up the clipboard hanging on the wall. 

He quickly read through the notes the last doctor who had worked on Fortnite left, grimacing as he finished. 

“Fuck.” He sighed, tossing the clipboard next to the ashes, approaching the bed. 

“Stabilized my fucking ass. Barely fucking alive is more like it. Hanging on by a literal fucking goddamn string. Incompetent fucking assholes.” He cursed to himself. 

“Fuck.” 

Dante pulled a chair from the wall and gently lowered himself into it, with some difficulty. The chair having been made more with equines less then half his size in mind. 

He watched the severely injured and comatose changeling in silence. 

“You know…” Dante began talking. To no one in particular. “This...” He gestured to Fortnite. “This is all my fault. I should have… could have moved faster. And stopped Discord before he did it. Hell, I should have ended the fight before he had a chance to toss me into another dimension. But, now… because of my hesitation, someone else is severely injured. None of this would have happened if I had just stopped fucking around and doing what I needed to do. But no, my dumbass let a missing heart stop me from fighting.”

Dante leaned back a tad more. “But now look at you. Barely hanging on, I tossed one country into political turmoil, undoubtedly, by murdering their leader and essentially installing her little sister as the new head of state. Then I get back here and I kill the “god of chaos”… well… not quite.” 

Dante slipped the snapped in half deer antler of Discord from a pouch on his armor. 

“You’ve been oddly quiet this entire time, Discord. Not something I came to expect from the intel I grabbed from the last two incidents involving you and Equestria.” 

The disembodied voice of Discord rang through out the room. “Yes, well, very astute observation, General Jaeger.” 

A miniature floating version of Discord appeared in front of Dante, the Human’s eyes focusing on him.

“But you see, my dear abomination of the natural order. I am not so dumb or conceited so as to think I have the power at the moment to take you on. Much less you and Luna. Besides, you saved my life from the Elements and that… bomb of yours. I kept my mouth shut because trying to take on Luna and Celestia, or even just Luna, as I am now would surely result in my death.” Discord floated his way to the top of Dante’s head, nestling himself into the rather short hair on top of the biped. 

“I must say, er, rather I should say ask. Were you aware that taking my horn would keep me alive.” 

Dante grunted, his eyes focusing back on the changeling in the bed. “I had a hunch.” 

“You don’t seem to be the kind of person to keep someone who hurts a loved one alive, so what makes moi special?” Discord questioned.

“I thought you would be useful in the future.” 

Discord made himself comfortable on top of Dante’s head, snapping a pillow and blanket into existence. “Ah, I see. A pragmatist. I must say, I knew you didn’t save me out of the goodness of your heart, but somehow hearing it directly from you cut me deeper then I expected.” 

“If you hadn’t been a dick and tried to take over Equestria, I wouldn't have had to do what I did.” 

Discord gasped, insulted. “I was not trying to take over Equestria, you undying old man… I was trying to take over the world. Please, get my reasoning correct.” 

Dante lightly shook his head. “Point being is, play nice and maybe I won’t have to hit you with the gay pride crown again.” 

“I’d like to see you try to explain your subterfuge in keeping me alive to the princesses.” 

Dante scoffed. “You think I’m worried about those two?”

Discord huffed, repositioning himself on the top of Dante’s head to make himself more comfortable. “No matter. I don’t care. I’m going to sleep.” 

Dante grunted, not giving the chimera any more notice. 

As Discord drifted into sleep and into the horrifying realms of his insane mind, Dante continued his watchful guard of the injured changeling. 

“It won’t happen again.” Were the last words before the hospital room slipped into silence for the rest of the night.
> The Guns of L.A. Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Interlude  

The Guns of L.A.  

The armored beast stood tall, as the ruined city lay in flames. The skyscrapers that once showed the marvel of Humanity reduced to mere rubble. Tens of thousands of innocent people dead.  

This would be his final gambit to save Humanity. If he failed, then this would be the final sunset of his people.  

But… the man knelt down, his rifle pointing in the air as he laid a hand on the shoulder of a uniformed officer leaning against the wall, his ballistic vest torn apart, blood running down his mouth and chin. His head was slumped back, his eyes wide open.  

Blood mixed with dust and concrete, powdered by the strikes of high powered rifles.  

The patch on front his mangled vest identified him as ‘Harb, Muhammad. Sgt. O+’

The helmeted giant took a deep breath, as he gently closed the deceased officer’s eyes.  

The face plate of his helmet slid up, revealing the blue and green eyes of the Legion general, Jaeger. The general sighed, as he moved his hand back to the shoulder of Harb, patting it gently.  

“I’ll see you on the other side, brother. Your watch is over.”  

The faceplate slid back down, once more turning the man in the faceless black beast that had been the last thing so many people had seen before they took their final breaths. The reflective visor betrayed no hint of the Human underneath it, the helmet gave no homage to the Humanoid skull as so many did.  

Jaeger pushed himself from the ground, turning around to look at the only other Human around. A young officer, attempting to resuscitate another officer.  

He brought his rifle to a low ready, as he began walking of the destroyed building they had taken cover in.  

“Come on, we need to go.”  

The officer continued his chest pumps, desperately attempting to get the other one back up.  

“Come on… come on… come on...” The repeated, desperation evident in his voice as he continued compress the fallen officer’s chest.  

Jaeger had stopped in the doorway, waiting for his police comrade to join him, but he refused.  

“Smith.” He said once more, his voice quiet, gentle.  

The officer, named Smith temporarily stopped his compressions to look up at Jaeger, anger evident on his face.  

“We can’t fucking leave them here to die!”  

Jaeger responded calmly. “They’re dead, Smith. And you compressing his chest isn’t going to change that. He has no brain activity at all. We need to move, now.”  

Smith continued his compression, but a loud explosion sounded, causing him to flinch, though Jaeger merely looked behind him to see a US jet being blown out of the sky by a surface to air projectile. Anti-air. NPR anti-air. 

Jaeger looked back to the young officer, nodding over his shoulder to the gun on the horizon. “We need to get those guns into our hands and get the US back into air supremacy. If we can do that, the US can run CAS in LA and we’ll have a better chance of holding until the Imperium arrives.”

Smith paused, his hands resting on the deceased officer’s chest. He let out a deep breath.  

“We can’t leave them here.”

“Smith,’ Jaeger spoke, taking a step further into the room and closer to the officer, transferring his rifle to his left hand, the sling taking most of the weight. He lifted his right hand straight up, bent at the elbow, palm out. “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of the State of California; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties upon which I am about to enter.”

Jaeger lowered his hand. “That was the oath every man in this room took. They’ve discharged their duties, fully. Their mission has ended, their duties are complete.” Dante took another step towards the officer. “You still have yours to fulfill. But if we don’t move, their deaths will have been for nothing. They gave all so that we can bring an end to this.”

Despite the war going on around them in the city, the air stood still, silent. 

A few seconds passed before the officer finally pushed himself up from the deceased, his head hung low as he took a deep breath. 

Finally, he raised his head to meet the faceless giant. His eyes red from the tears forming on them. 

Jaeger nodded behind him to the door. “Come on. We’ll mourn them after we stop this.” The giant moved, his pace the equivalent of a light jog as the his steps seemed to shake the very round which he moved upon. 

The officer caught up to him, barely reaching the lower half of his shoulder. 

“We’re only about two miles from the guns, but we’re going to have to fight our way through an absolutely NPR infested city.  You know how it goes, Stay low, move fast. I need you alive for those guns.” 

The officer nodded as he continued to move with the giant, the two making good time due to the speed they were moving at. They hadn’t been that far from downtown proper and soon found themselves surrounded on all sides by ruined buildings and weaving their way in between abandoned cars. 

“Multiple tangos rounding the corner in twenty seconds. Get ready.” Jaeger stated, as he slid to a stop, quickly taking a knee behind cover, as Smith followed his lead, finding a collapsed concrete column. 

The general raised his rifle at the intersection up the street, Smith following suit. 

“Don’t shoot until I do.” Jaeger stated, as the sensors in his suit continued tracking the squad moving down the street. 

“Copy.” Was all Smith responded, his patrol rifle raised and ready. 

Jaeger himself was equipped with a gauss rifle firing ten millimeter slugs, which were shot out at approximately mach five. 

“Ten seconds.” Jaeger stated over to his companion, who nodded, his rifle on target. 

“Get ready.” 

Smith watched as the squad of NPR soldiers rounded the corner. Horrible formation, all of them were clustered together. They were lightly armored, but they were carrying the same rifle Jaeger had. 

Due to their positions, the squad couldn’t see either one of them, both of them had taken cover on opposite sides of the street. 

As the squad cleared the intersection, they began walking towards the couple. There ten of them in total. Smith was just waiting for Jaeger to begin the attack. 

As the last man crossed the mark which Jaeger had determined as a hundred feet into the block, the general stood up. 

The average city block in Los Angeles is about five-hundred feet long. 

This meant they were now engaging at four hundred feet. 

As he stood, Jaeger squeezed off three rounds, the ten millimeter rounds traveling nearly instantaneously, two hit in the soldier in the chest, as the third tore his arm off. 

The shots caused the squad to scramble for any cover they could, Jaeger picking off another two as they attempted to find safety.  

Smith took an aimed shot, catching one of the NPR soldiers in the neck, the man falling to the ground instantly. The chemicals in the round preventing his cells from regenerating.  

Jaeger hopped onto the hood of a car, climbing onto the roof and putting a single well aimed shot into the head of a soldier who had attempted to hide behind it, destroying it. The chemicals in the gauss round arresting regeneration.

Five soldiers left.  

Jaeger refocused his effort farther down the street, sending a shot that decapitated one soldier.  

Four.  

Smith saw soldier aiming at Jaeger, taking quick action, he popped him in the chest with three rounds, the troop falling down.  

But a shot hit him in the shoulder knocking the rifle out of his hands from the shock.  

With practiced ease, Jaeger drew the Glock that rested on his thigh dropped four rounds into the man who had shot, two to the head, two to the chest, at two hundred feet.  

Two.  

Jaeger holstered the Glock, picking his rifle up quickly.  

He crossed behind a car, quickly dropping another soldier with a single gauss round to the chest.  

One left.  

Smith moved up to meet with Jaeger, who ushered him over.  

He motioned in a general direction close to the intersection the squad had passed through. “Blue Volkswagen.”  

Hiding behind the blue Volkswagen was indeed a terrified NPR trooper.  

The Horseman! The False-God. The Demon. The Wretch. He wasn’t supposed to be here.

Well, it at least explained why the NPR was having issues with taking ground. This was only supposed to last a few hours. It had been nearly half a day now. 

Forcing his trembling to stop, he peered around the corner of the car he had hidden behind, bring his rifle barrel to bear and scanning for threats.  

He saw nothing, a fact which only chilled him ever more.  

The Horseman doesn’t miscount. That was something drilled into the head of every NPR recruit during training.  

He shook his head.  

He was a soldier of Olephus, for her sake! To act this cowardly in the face of her enemy was an insult to her.  

He wasn’t afraid of death, he had no reason to. Not with the loving embrace of Olephus promised to him.  

He cleared the side of the car as he attempted to figure out where the great beast had gone. He swung his rifle around the side of another car, as he attempted to find him.  

Metal hitting metal caused him to swivel around to be faced with… nothing.  

Something large and fast slammed into his back, throwing him to the ground as he shouted in shock he could feel a weight on his back as a large fist grabbed his hair, slamming his head forcefully into the concrete, breaking his nose.  

He cried out in pain, it would regenerate, but it still hurt.  

The hand lifted his head back up, a knee keeping his right arm down, and by extension, his rifle.  

“It’s pretty unbecoming of an LT to hide while his men are being slaughtered.”  

His face met the faceless Horseman.  

“Drop the gun.” It demanded.  

“Go fu-” His face was slammed into the concrete even harder then last time.  

“Listen, there are three things that can happen right now. Work with me, drop the rifle and live. Don’t work with me and I cut your hand off and pull out your eyes, then kill you. Piss me off, and I kill you in the most painful, slow way I can think of.”

The faceless beast brought his head closer to the soldier’s head being forced into the concrete.  

“The choice is yours.”  

The grip tightened on his rifle, as he attempted a pathetic attempt at a spit.  

“Okay, that answers that question. Smith.” Jaeger nodded behind him. “Get in my pack. I have a saw in there.”  

Keeping his right hand on the soldier’s head, he used his left hand to grab the soldier’s left arm and forced it behind his back roughly, holding it up so Smith could get access to his wrist. He dug his knee into the left shoulder of the soldier.  

Jaeger slid his hand up the soldier’s arm, stopping at his hand and grabbing it, controlling his wrist so he wouldn’t be able to slide it around.  

Smith brought the saw to the wrist, resting it just below Jaeger’s hand.  

“Take it off.” Jaeger said, Smith following without hesitation as he began to bring the saw back and forth to take the hand off.

The screams of pain that followed would haunt Smith in his dreams for years to come, but in the moment, all he saw was red. This man was responsible for the bloodshed that had come to this world. All Smith felt at the moment was an excitement he never thought he would feel. He had seen action in the Sandbox, but nothing had ever come close to this.  

The saw finally cut through the last pieces of flesh after an agonizing, for the soldier at least, three minutes.  

Smith noticed as the arm hand was pulled away an almost cauterized wound.  

“Toss that saw back in my pack.” Jaeger told him, as the armored marine refocused his attention on the sobbing soldier.  

“Are you going to cooperate with me now, or do I need to do your eyes as well?”  

The soldier merely nodded, as Jaeger noted the rifle had been dropped.  

“Awesome.” Jaeger stated as he pulled a pair of restraints from a holster on the webbing covering the torso of his black armor.  

Jaeger used his right leg to push the rifle away, standing up from the soldier, he picked him up, standing the soldier up.  

He closed the shackle around the soldier’s right hand, tightening it to make sure it wouldn’t slip loose. Jaeger pulled the right hand to the front left of the soldier, as far left as his shoulder could reasonably pivot, the man in too much shock to do anything. Having your hand sawed off tends to do that to most people, even phoenixes.  

Jaeger looped the woven cable around the soldier’s left leg twice, then around his waist twice more, the cable extending out of the body of the restraint. He finally locked it by closing it around the cable.  

The left arm was unrestrained, but given he had no hand to manipulate anything with, it wasn’t too much concern to Jaeger, and the chemical on the saw would arrest regeneration.  

Jaeger picked the gauss rifle previously wielded by the now injured prisoner.  

“Smith.” He caught the officer’s attention, tossing the rifle the few feet to him, the officer smoothly catching it. “Ditch that AR and take this. These guys were just scouts, that’s why there were so few and they were so lightly armored. As we push in further to the city, we’re going to be encountering heavier guys with better armor and more guns. He’s got extra mags, but keep your AR mags in case we run into friendlies.”  

Smith cleared his AR, reloading the previously chambered round into the less then full mag and putting it in a pocket. He slid the sling of the gauss rifle around him, he went to the front of the prisoner soldier, pulling the rifle mags from the front of the vest the soldier had been wearing.  

Jaeger wrenched the NPR soldier by his unrestrained shoulder.  

“Let’s go. We need to get those guns down.”  

Smith jogged to his side, though gestured to the prisoner also walking by Jaeger’s side, the phoenix’ face bloodied from the rough treatment Jaeger had shown him.  

“Why are we keeping him?” Smith asked, anger evident in his voice, as Jaeger merely continued to pull the NPR troop along.  

“Those guns use an old operating system, I encountered it during the civil war. Takes a natural born officer to approve changes to the IFF system, take a look at his sleeve.”  

Smith glanced at the troop’s sleeve, seeing an unknown symbol.  

“I… don’t know what that is.” Smith admitted.  

“It’s the NPR’s equivalent of a first lieutenant. The system will recognize him and Venus won’t have to spend a stupid amount of time trying to get through the firewall and manually change the IFF.”

The soldier began trying to pull away as he heard the plans, but the supersoldier was having none of that, as he merely lifted the struggling man off the ground by his shoulder and continued walking.  

Jaeger shook his head. “Have to give you props for still trying to get away, but you NPR bastards can never quite figure out how to do that. You are trying to physically break away from someone your dogma calls an unstoppable abomination. Word for word, that’s what your holy book calls me. Are you dumb or just putting up a token amount of resistance so that when you do finally meet Olephus in Hell you can at least claim you didn’t help me willingly?”  

“Fuck you!” He shouted, and proceeding to come up with even more inventive curses, both in English and in, what Smith could only guess, was his native tongue.  

Jaeger shook his head, as the trio continued walking… well, rather two of them walked, the third was carried, dangling by his mangled arm.  

The Human police officer silent took in the utterly destroyed city. Just hours ago, it had been a bustling city. Sure, it may not have been New York City, or Taipei or Beijing, but it was a respectably sized city, but now… now it reminded him of the photos he had seen of the aftermath of bombing raids during the Second World War. Few buildings still stood, and the one or two skyscrapers that still stood were severely damaged and quite likely close to collapse.  

The city seemed devoid of all life, Human or otherwise. But still, there had to be more ground troops out there.  

Cars sat where they were, dust and debris covering the windows of all of them. Smith quite glad, as he was certain he would find some… graphic scenes in many of them.  

Approximately three hundred meters in front of them stood one of the few standing skyscrapers still in the city.  

The world around the three were silent, save for the protestations of the NPR soldier and the crunching and destruction of debris by the metal boot of the tall beast that strode through this Hell as though he were Satan himself.  

As they closed the distance between them and the skyscraper to about one hundred and fifty meters, a large metal beast hovered around the corner approximately another three hundred meters down the road.  

Jaeger stopped, as did the Human officer.  

And there on that lonely Los Angeles road, surrounded by the corpses of buildings, cars and likely their owners, the two beasts stared each other down.  

“Armor!” Jaeger shouted, as Smith found himself suddenly being picked up and tucked into the supersoldier’s right side.  

Perhaps he had shouted it out of a habit, or he shouted it expecting a squad capable of taking down a tank, only to remember that his comrade was a squishy, easy to kill Human.  

All that mattered is that as Jaeger ran with the Human officer and his prisoner, attempting to put more distance between the tank and his easier to kill companions, the main gun on the NPR tank slowly repositioned itself so the turret was aiming to its left and up. At the standing skyscraper.  

A round was fired, striking the thirty-fifth floor, the round continued traveling, until a timer detonated it at the sixty-third floor. Anyone who still happened to be alive on that floor and the one above and below it, were instantly killed by the explosion and blast pressure.  

The sudden explosion was enough, as the building’s damage finally overcame its failsafes.  

Smith heard the screeching of steel as he glanced back form his position in Jaeger’s arm. To be greeted from a sight he had only ever seen in the videos of the September Eleventh attacks.  

The collapse seemed to be in slow motion, as debris and large clouds of dust fell to the ground, billowing out like large waves.  

The brownish wave was soon upon them, overtaking them as Smith found it difficult to breath. Every breath he took, his lungs screamed at him not to.  

Smith lost consciousness. It may have been from shock, maybe exhaustion. The possibility is there that a piece of debris may have struck him in the head.

The last thought that ran through the officer’s mind before he lost the ability to do so temporarily was a simple one.  

‘They dropped a fucking building on us.’
> Ten Thousand Years
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Phoenix

Chapter 22





The air in the royal hospital had been abound with rumors of the new “couple”. That is to say, the two oddest and out place guests. The alien and the changeling.

Indeed, the morning nurses had been shocked to come into the room the morning following and find the alien resident of Canterlot sitting in there. His eyes had shifted to identify who had walked into the room, undoubtedly to classify them as a threat or harmless, but he otherwise remained unmoving. He made no moves as the nurse cautiously went through her morning check ups on the severely injured, nearly dead changeling. But he otherwise made no moves.

She had carefully removed the tray containing food she knew Princess Luna to have dropped off, not wanting it to spoil to the point of stench.

When they had rolled the patient to the patio to receive some of the healing rays of Princess Celestia’s sun, the biped had quietly followed them. Not uttering a word, though some of the older and more experienced doctors did report noting the biped moving in a cautious manner, in front of them, almost as though he wanted to clear the way.

So now here the hospital was, some of the more bored nurses, mostly the night shift, had started rumors that the black sheep were in a relation, and as it turns out, most of the nurses were totally in support of the new couple.

Except for the biped’s horrific hygiene practices.

“Mr. Jaeger, please.” One of the nurses in the room pleaded with him. “There’s a shower right there. You don’t even need to leave the room, you just need to wash your face off. It’s been… what? Three or so days? Leaving blood caked on your body is not healthy.”

“She’s right, you know.” Discord stated, unseen and unheard to anyone but Dante as he lazily laid in Dante’s hair, the strands now slightly longer then it had been before. He picked at a tuft of hair, examining the caked and dried blood that clung to it. “This is pretty gross. I mean… it’s no concern to me. I can’t get sick. And I suppose its no concern to you, as you can’t get sick either. But, still… you know… your body’s a church or something along those lines.”

Discord pulled himself over the edge of Dante’s head, so he was peering over it and at Dante’s ear. “Also, I prefer my beds not to be caked in blood.”

Dante paid no attention. “I’ll be fine, help her.” Dante gestured to the changeling on the bed.

The nurse merely sighed. “We’ve helped her as much as we can. What you are doing at the moment is self-destructive. I mean, when was the last time you slept? Ate? Drank?”

“The suit pumps me full of nanites to keep me awake and free of hallucinations and keeps my memory intact.”

The nurse didn’t seem very impressed, as she lifted a single eyebrow.

“Mr. Jaeger, I understand and appreciate your dedication to ensuring Miss Fortnite is safe, however, poor hygiene is a health hazard to all the patients at this hospital and you are currently a walking health hazard.”

Discord flipped up from Dante’s head, buzzing in front of his eyes. “Yeah, dried blood can carry a bunch of diseases like, hepat- whoa!” Discord avoided a half-hearted swat from Jaeger, earning a groan from the nurse.

“Look, you even have flies swarming around you.” She stated, gesturing with her hoof.

“That wasn’t a fl-” Dante shook his head. “Look, it doesn’t matter. I’m not leaving her unsupervised.”

“Perfect timing, then.” A feminine, though deep voice stated, startling the nurse in the room. The pony turned around to look at the door leading into the room, to be greeted by the sight of Princess Luna, as well as a bat pony accompanying her side.

“Your Highness.” The nurse bowed her head as Luna came further into the room.

“Miss.” Luna replied back, nodding curtly at the nurse, but quickly turning her head to look to Dante. “… General Jaeger… you’ve looked better.”

“Feeling the love there, MoonMoon.” Dante responded with a wave of his hand, that quickly turned into a pointed finger, directly at the bat pony. “I know who you are obviously, but who is that adorable little thing?”

The bat pony stepped forward, chest puffed out, indignant from the biped’s statement. “I am Warrant Officer Veri, Lunar Guard.” She stated, the displeasure of having been called ‘adorable’, palpable in her voice.

Dante locked eyes with her, the pony’s red irises bringing back some rather unpleasant memories.

The biped slowly stood up, the bat pony taking an involuntary step back as his full height was revealed.

When he had been sitting, he had been relatively close to eye level with Luna, tall, but nothing too outrageous.

Standing, fully erect, the biped towered over even the minotaurs Veri had met in her life. And they had been quite tall. With four steps, the biped covered the distance of the room and now stood in front of her.

Any normal pony would have backed up when faced with just the knees of a the biped in their face, but Veri was no normal pony, she knew she had to hold her ground.

Dante bent at the knees, so he was now closer to the mare. Though not at eye level, having to look down to meet her eyes. Her nose twitched as his blood soaked face came closer to hers.

The two stared, her red irises locked with his hybrid irises.

This continued.

After a minute, Luna moved to break the staring contest up, but before she could do anything, Dante’s hand shot under Veri’s forelegs, he stood up, lifting her by the shoulders, her hind legs dangling in the air as she yelped at the sudden movement, though neither ever broke eye contact. The anger in her stare became harder, as Dante kept his otherwise neutral stare.

However, just as quickly as he picked her up, he set her down. As the mare found her balance once more, Dante returned to his seat.

Luna brought her head close to Veri’s ear.

“Don’t let his size or vocabulary get to you. So long as you aren’t evil or a threat, he’s a big teddy bear.”

“Where the fuck did you all even get the name for that?” Dante asked, hearing her whisper. “Teddy Roosevelt wasn’t a thing here.”

“In any case,” Dante didn’t wait for a response from any of the ponies in the room, continuing. “What are you here for MoonMoon, V?”

Luna stepped forward. “Your presence has been requested by the Royal College.”

Dante paused, apparently considering his options. Then snorted. “I hate colleges. Declined.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Allow Us to rephrase that. By Order of the Diarchy of the Sun and the Moon, your presence is required at the Royal College.”

“No.”

Veri’s nose wrinkled, as she moved forward to confront the biped over his rude dejection of the Crown’s authority, but was stopped by a hoof from Luna.

“And why is that?”

Dante lifted his left leg rested on his right leg. “Because I am not leaving Fortnite without protection.”

“But you aren’t,” Luna argued. “That’s why We brought Warrant Officer Veri here. We have assigned her to guard detail for Fortnite. So that we may get this out of the way. And there is also the issue of the visiting dignitaries.”

“And what makes you think I’ll accept the offer?” Dante questioned, turning his head. “If I had trusted you and Celestia to watch over her the other day, she would have been stoned under your guard.”

“And she nearly died under yours.” Veri shot back, Dante raising his trigger finger to reply, but seemed to be at a loss for words.

After a few seconds, he lowered his hand. “Fair point… however!” He raised his finger once more. “While that may very well be true! The simple fact of the matter is that I was also the only one who wasn’t taken out by Discord in a single hit. So if I can’t trust MoonMoon and Sunny to stop Discord, how can I trust you,” He pointed at Veri. “To keep her,” He then pointed at the bed containing the unconscious Fortnite. “Safe?”

Veri stepped forward, closer to the biped. “First, it’s Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, you will show them the proper respect.” She growled, Jaeger merely rolling his eyes in response.

“Second, I-” Once more, Veri was cut off by Luna pushing a hoof in front of her.

“It’s fine, Veri.” Luna answered, pushing her back just a bit. Luna met Dante’s eye, her gaze hardening.

“General Jaeger, We are asking you to trust Veri as We trust her. Her family has served Us for a very long time and they have done so faithfully.”

Dante raised an eyebrow. “Her ‘family’?” He laughed. “Luna, that’s the biggest fucking lie I have ever heard and you know it.”

It was Luna’s turn to cock her head. “What do you mean?”

Dante paused, sighing, as he repositioned himself in the chair. He reached into a pouch, and as his hand cleared it, an object was pointed at Veri, a loud explosion occurred as the ponies in the room pinned their ears down from the sudden loud sound.

Veri stepped back even more, as she felt a burning pain in her chest, her breath being ripped from her.

She looked down, watching blood pour out of a hole in her chest. Four more bangs rang out, as four more distinct holes were added to her chest.

She looked up to Jaeger, as he dropped the brass from the revolver in his hands.

The nurse was the first to react. Shouting.  

“Oh, gods!” She turned to rush out the door, to get help for the wounded warrant officer, but was stopped as the door slammed shut in a blue aura of magic from Luna.

She found her mouth closed shut by magic, the ringing in the ears of everyone slowly dying.

The nurse’s eyes caught a very shocking sight.

The holes in Veri’s chest were slowly, but very comparatively quickly to normal ponies, were closing up, as the blood stopped flowing.

The ringing in the nurse’s ears seemed to die at the same time Luna’s did. The Lunar Diarch fixing an angered stare at the biped in the room.

“General, would you care to explain to Us just why you tried to kill one of Our officers.”

Dante raised a finger in the air once more.

“First, I didn’t try to kill her, as I knew she wouldn’t die. Please, Luna, I have more experience then you do and the fact that you think I’ve never seen one of them before is just silly.”

“You knew?” Luna questioned, surprised.

Dante raised an eyebrow. “Fucking wh- MoonMoon! Don’t tell me you seriously think I just go around shooting random people for the hell of it! … I’m fucking insulted at the insinuation! I only randomly shoot people and things that won’t die! And occasionally I’ll do it to prove a point!” Dante waved a hand at the princess. “Like now!”

“How did that prove anything!”

“It proved that I knew the shit spewing out of your mouth was shit. Her “family” hasn’t served you for a long time. She has. I’d wager she’s… what? Couple of hundred years old? Old enough to not know when to back down when she should.”

Veri made to respond, but was cut off by Jaeger. “Don’t take that as an insult, by the way. It’s a common issue with old people. We forget what it means to back down.”

“I’m not old.” Veri sneered. Dante merely shrugged.

“I mean, compared to Luna or Celestia, or especially me, sure. But compared to everyone else? Nah, you’re fucking ancient… probably. I don’t know how old you are, but you’re probably older then most people you meet… with the exception of us.” Dante pointed to himself and then Luna. “And Celly, of course, but point being is…” Dante paused, gathering his thoughts. “… You know, honestly I didn’t have much of a point in shooting her beyond just proving I know she’s immortal, I’m sure there’s a lesson about being truthful to each other in here, but insisting that you tell me everything would make me a hypocrite as there’s a shit ton of things I haven’t told you and I’ll probably do things in the future I won’t ever admit to doing.”

Veri’s eyes narrowed. “Should I take that as a threat.”

“Take it as a reality check. Black operations exist.”

“Have you ever taken part in one?” Luna questioned, Dante responding instantly.

“The Imperium has not and never will commit a black operation. And any admittance to the existence of black operations within the Imperium would be recognition of the black operations that occurred, as a result, I am required to inform that you that, no, the Imperium does not carry out black operations and anything I have said in the past few sentences regarding the existence of black operations carried out by the Imperium are to be considered purely hypothetical and are not an admittance to any black operations being carried out by any Imperial forces, agents of the Imperium or contractors hired by the Imperium.”

“Politician.” The batpony huffed.

Dante pointed to Veri, looking at Luna.

“Your pony is extremely insulting. I want her demoted.”

“We are not demoting her just for calling you what you are.” Before Dante could rebuke Luna for essentially also calling him a politician, she held a hoof to him. “And We know what you’re doing, General. You’re trying to derail the conversation. But not now, you will hold your tongue until we are done speaking.” Dante stuck his tongue out of his mouth, grabbing it with two fingers while giving Luna a thumbs up, all the while a smug smile on his face. Veri growled while Luna merely rolled her eyes at the spectacle. “You will accompany us to the College. We will only be doing basic tests, so that should something occur, we will know your baselines. This is not solely for us. This is also for you. Veri is an accomplished mare, Fortnite will be safe in her hooves. So, please, General. Do not make Us have to drag you there.”

Dante remained silent for a few seconds, still literally holding his tongue, following Luna finishing her speech.

After a few seconds, he spoke. “M’uh’goo’tu’tak’nw”

Luna nodded. “Yes, General, you may stop holding your tongue.”

Dante let go of the muscle, clapping his hands together. “Sweet, first, that nurse back there looks like she’s about to have a heart attack.” Dante pointed to the nurse, who was indeed profusely sweating, her mouth still held shut by Luna’s magic. She whimpered when all the attention was put on her, Luna and Veri turning to look at her. The batpony’s chest wounds having completely healed.

Luna let the magic die, releasing the mare. “I apologize for that Miss.”

The mare, though still sweating in nervousness, merely nodded. “It’s perfectly fine, your highness.”

“But please do understand… everything you’ve heard and seen in here never happened.”

Dante knocked a vase containing flowers and water off a table next to him. “Except that.” He pointed to the mess on the ground. “That happened.”

“General.” Luna growled, the Lunar diarch not even giving him the satisfaction of her looking back at him. Jaeger putting his hands in the air.

Luna’s eyes locked with the nurses. “Miss, please, understand. Veri’s… status is a state secret. I had no intention of telling General Jaeger either.”

“Still feelin’ the love, MoonMoon.”

The nurse nodded. “Understood, Your Highness, I saw nothing.”

“Except this vase falling on the floor! You saw that!” Dante shouted from the back of the room.

Luna rolled her eyes, whispering to the nurse. “We’ll throw him into a wall the next chance We get.”

“I heard that!”

Luna rolled her eyes once more, turning her head to look at Dante. “So what is your answer? Are you going to walk or are We going to have to drag you there?”

Dante also found a reason to roll his eyes, groaning. “Luna, your fat-ass couldn’t drag me there even if I was doing most of the work. I guess I’ll walk.” Veri growled at the insult directed to her sovereign, though the Human paid no mind.

Jaeger stood up. He walked to the door, opening it without breaking it this time.

He held it open for Luna, ushering her through, there mare wanting to get this over with.

As he was closing the door, he stopped, only the top half of his body visible. His mixed eyes met Veri’s red eyes.

“Blood, if I come back and there is a single scratch on Fortnite, I promise you, I wi-”

Veri waved a hoof, cutting Jaeger off. “You’ll burn me at the stake, yes, yes. I know. I’ve heard it a thousand times before.”

Dante raised an eyebrow before responding. “No, I’ll find enough silver to make a coffin, kidnap you, put you in the coffin, weld it shut and then dump you in the deepest part of the ocean.”

Without another word, Dante shut the door.

Veri began to do what any good guard does, and take her position to guard the principal, before the door slammed open.

“And I swear to god, Blood, if you fuck with that urn of ashes over there, I will make you beg to be killed.”

The door slammed shut.





“Was that necessary?” Luna questioned as she magicked open the door to the college, Dante striding in.

“This entire area seems awfully interconnected. Why was the college a three minute walk from the hospital?” Dante asked, ignoring her question.

“General, if you are going to ignore Our question then We will elect to ignore yours.”

Dante shrugged his shoulders. “That’s fine, I’ll guess.”

The two entered into a rotunda, Luna pointing them down a hallway. “The examination will begin in the theater.”

“Jesus Christ, a theater? How many fucks are goin-” Dante stopped mid sentence as he pushed open a set of large double doors. Revealing a theater packed with ponies of all different colors, sizes and species, he also spied a few gryphons. All of them clad in stereotypical white lab coats.

All of the seats were occupied, the spillover standing in the aisles, all the way to the stage. That itself being the only clear area, with the exception of the ceiling, in the theater. The stage was occupied by a certain purple unicorn and white alicorn.

The entire crowd in the theater turned to look at the two, as Dante slowly pulled the doors back closed.

As they finally shut, blocking the view of the crowd, he took a deep breath.

Turning on his heels, he ripped Luna from the ground, his arms holding her at the crook of her forelegs, shaking her.

“Luna, what in the actual goddamn fuck!”

“What!” She responded, shocked. “We told you! The Royal College wanted to examine you!”

“I was under the fucking impression it was only going to be a couple of fucking nerds in white lab coats. Not a theater on opening fucking night of the Lion-Fucking-King!”

Luna stuck a hoof on the armored chest of the biped. “General, please, calm down. These are not the examining scientists, they just wanted a brief overview. Equestria is no stranger to new species, but considering the fact that you’re… well, a literal alien from… outer space, everyone wanted to try to ask you a question. It’s a fifteen minute session, then it’s onto the actual examination with a significantly smaller group of hoof-picked and vetted doctors and scientists.”

Dante groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Fine, but I have control of the session and reserve the right to kick people out if I don’t like them.”

“Refrain from literally kicking them out, and we have a deal.”

Dante rolled his eyes. “Fuck, fine, I won’t kick them out, but I will physically remove them.”

“Deal.” Luna nodded, as Dante shoved the door open.

The crowd began to part to allow him through, but stopped as Dante planted a foot on the wall to the right of the door frame.

“Not necessary, boys.” He spoke, as he picked his other foot up and planted it on the wall, now standing horizontally, he began walking like it was the most normal thing in the world to be walking horizontally on a wall. Luna quickly hovered to meet with her sister and her pupil.

“Evenin’, fucks.” Dante spoke, as he transitioned from wall to ceiling, now standing vertically, though inverted.

“Now let me lay down a few ground rules… or I suppose ceiling rules in this case.” He continued, as he carried on with his spider trek to the stage.

“First, ask to see my dick, and I will literally kick you out of this theater.”

Luna groaned.

“So if the only reason you’re here is to see my dick, leave.” There was coughing in the crowd, as they watched in amazement.

“Seriously, you won’t be judged… well, I mean I won’t judge. The rest of these assholes might, but really my opinion is the only one that matters.”

It was Celestia’s and Twilight’s turn to roll their eyes.

“Second. I will not teach you how to build Human or Imperial weapons, high explosives, nukes, thermobaric nukes, anti-matter bombs, anti-matter nuke bombs, thermobaric anti-matter nuke dirty bombs, blah blah blah etc. etc. basically high tech shit.”

“Prime Directive?” A pony quipped from the crowd, catching Jaeger’s attention as he dropped down on the stage, righting himself mid-fall, before landing on his feet, bending his knees.

“What kind of geeky-ass shit is that?” He questioned. “Fuck no, it’s because I’m not about to tell a bunch of ponies how to make technology that only about a third of the population could feasibly use. Most of my tools require fine manipulation, of which only unicorns with their magic-voodoo shit can do… not counting the gryphons out there, of course. Their talons look close enough to hands. But if I give the unicorns more of an advantage then they already have, then pretty soon a race war will start and unicorns will be out on the streets, mowing down Earth ponies and pegasi for not being unicorns. And I am not going to be responsible for the pony holocaust and the rise of unicorn Hitler.”

There was a long pause, as the ponies gathered took in just what he had said.

That was until another one spoke up. “Might we ask about your planet?”

“Shoot.”

The crowd was surprisingly orderly, a gryphon standing up in order to question.

“Culture, biology, other creatures from your planet.”

“Humans were, for a time, the only official residents of Earth.”

“No other sapient species?” Another called out.

“The other intelligent species either died out, were beaten in the evolutionary arms race or were hunted to extinction. So for a very long time, Humanity were the only residents of Earth, with the exception of a few survivors here and there.”

“These… ‘Humans’, are the others as… large as you are?”

“No, most are not. And those who do get to my size usually suffer from severe medical conditions. Usually medical conditions such a-”

As the biped continued to answer various questions regarding himself and his people, Luna noticed Celestia waving her over. Behind the curtain that separated the very back of the stage from the front of the stage.

Luna quickly met her sister behind the curtain, the crowd too enrapture with the speaking biped to notice the two princesses had disappeared to find privacy.

As the two made it behind the curtain, Celestia turned to meet her sister’s eyes.

“What did they say?”

“They informed Us that Lady Fortnite is in relatively stable condition, and is in fact actually looking marginally better then she did a few days ago. They did complain about General Jaeger not cleaning himself.”

Celestia cringed. “Yes, I did notice he was still covered in… blood. Still, hopefully we can convince himself to was himself off during these tests. But what of her outlook?”

Luna shook her head. “They could not give Us a solid time. They just said so long as she keeps healing like this, she should awake soon.”

Celestia sighed. “I must admit, that is a bit of a relief. And Veri?”

Luna opened her mouth to speak, but closed it. She paused, as she pondered how she wanted to word it. A few seconds later, she sighed, titling her head a tad bit.

“We believe General Jaeger knew as soon as she stepped into the room. And it is apparently not the first time he has encountered them before.”

Celestia groaned. “He has encountered them before, but does he kn-”

“He threatened to seal her in a silver coffin… Yes, sister, he’s fully aware of how to kill them.”

Once more, Celestia sighed. “Okay. That’s fine. So long as he doesn’t actually do it, it’s fine.”

Luna nodded to the curtain behind, towards the alien general who was currently fielding questions from curious scientists at one of the most prestigious universities in the world.

“And what are the tests consisting of for him. We received a short brief, but We received no knowledge of substance, just that they were simple tests.”

Celestia nodded. “Yes, those. A small battery of tests. Take General Jaeger’s baseline vitals, temperature, resting heart beat, etc. After the physiological side is out of the way, we are going to move onto strength tests, speed tests. Things like that. Really, we just want to get a feel for his capabilities. And should we find something that does… manage to put him in a position where he needs actual medical care, we will have a baseline for what he should normally look like.”

“Very well.” Luna responded, as the two sisters seemed to be in agreement, she turned to head back to the stage.





The gray robed mare silently made her way down the tunnel, the various tapestries on the wall depicting scenes from Equestrian history.

These depictions varied, All of them depicting the Two Daughters and a black skinned biped.

She stopped at one, she had seen it many times, but the artistry still amazed her, just as it had when she was a little girl.

Her mother would tell her stories about the beginning of the Church and its history, but this one always amazed her.

In the tapestry, the black skinned biped stood at the top, looking over the entire scene. To the left, the Two Daughters hovered as their army stood their place in the snowy wastes. To the right in a crumbled city blanketed in snow stood an army of slaves, lead by the Black King, his dark magic raising in the back like the coward he was…

‘Or rather… is, if mom’s to be be believed.” 

Derpy shook her head. Her mother had heard it directly from Oakley, and he had no reason to lie. She moved away from the tapestry and continued her way down the hall, to the main room. 

She needed to get her report to Oakley. He’d be able to make the final determination… hopefully.

Wrapping up her thoughts, she continued her way down to the tunnel, until she reached a stone door. 

Upon the door was inscribed an intricate design. Unlike the rest of the stone surrounding the tunnel, the carving into the stone of the door was fully colored. 

The centerpiece of the carving was a phoenix, its body a brilliant, almost glowing red. Its head raised high, proudly. Its wings were stretched out, going all the way to both ends of the door.

Clutched in its right talon was the sun, its left the moon. Resting on top of its outstretched wings was the earth itself. 

The upper half of the door was painted to depict the sky during the day, and the lower half reflected the night. As the bottom and top halves met, their colors merged, as one got higher on the door, the colors became lighter, as one went lower, the colors became darker. 

Derpy quietly pushed open the door, it was coming close to twilight, and her brothers and sisters would surely be praying. 

And indeed, she was correct. Their heads bowed down at a table, several of her cloaked brother and sisters were indeed praying. She quickly found the one she was looking for and made her way over to the stallion. 

She leaned her head down to the unicorn, his whispering voice reaching her ears. 

“Brother.” She stated, his whispering stopped, as there was a pause, his ears flicking under his hood. 

“Barrett. Do you have anything to report to me?” 

“I do.” 

Oakley lifted his head, looking around the room. He stood from his seated position and nodded with his head. “Follow me.” 

Following the cloaked unicorn, the gray pegasus walked down another short hallway and entered a room, the unicorn closing door with his magic as she entered. 

He flipped his hood up, revealing his face, his bronze fur showing traces of graying, and skin folded in the creases of his eyes. 

“What information do you have, Sister?” 

The pegasus shook her head. “Unfortunately not much, I apologize for how late I am, the postal service went into overdrive following the invasion and Dinky got sick.”  

Oakley waved his hoof. “I have all the time in the world, my dear sister, do not worry. The life of a child is of the utmost importance, how is she doing?”  

“She’s doing much better, thank you. But back to the original question. I compiled the info I had. Which… isn’t much.”  

Derpy pulled a small folder from her cloak and hoofed it to Oakley.  

“Unfortunately, I can summarize the information. He is crass, but he reacted to Pinkie Pie before anypony should have been able to.”

“What is your opinion of the question of whether he is the True Dawn Bringer.”  

Derpy hesitated, frowning as she thought out here answer. “I… can’t answer that with certainty, sir. He apparently saved three foals by killing a cyclops and was responsible for Chrysalis’ defeat in Canterlot, but… I honestly don’t know.”  

“I do believe I can answer that question.” Derpy jumped, as she swiveled around to find the voice, only to be met face to face with Fancy Pants.  

Fancy bowed his head. “Sister Barrett, it has been a long time since the last time we spoke. How is young Dinky doing?”  

Derpy nodded to the white unicorn. “Sherman, Dinky’s doing just fine. I assume the situation in Canterlot has been hectic, if the postal service is anything to go off of.”  

Fancy Pants nodded. “You’ve no idea, first we had the invasion, then the incidents in Ponyville of General Jaeger killing a cyclops and executing prisoners, then there was a parliamentary inquiry, then just a little while after the inquiry, Discord showed back up.”  

“What!” Oakley shouted in shock. “How are the Daughters? Abr-”  

Oakley was cut off by Fancy Pants raising his hoof. “Please, Oakley. I will explain by answering the question you posed to Barrett. I, along with brother Abrams, Browning and Sister Enterprise were witness to two miracles by the being known as General Jaeger.” Fancy smiled. “I can confidently say that General Jaeger is the same entity as Dawn-Bringer.”

Oakley nodded. “And what were these two miracles you were witness to?”  

“We watched General Jaeger take Discord in battle and survive a direct hit from the Elements of Harmony.”  

Fancy paused, scrunching his eyebrows. “However, it does bring up a question.”

“And what would that be?” Oakley questioned.  

“Why did General Jaeger choose to utilize the Elements in his fight?”  

Oakley waved a hoof. “His decision matters not, if he is who he is, then we’ve no authority to question him. But… what matters is your statement.”  

Fancy turned his head in confusion.  

“I trust your decision. As you are one of the few who has made direct contact with him, I will take your word as true. So, what is your final decision?”  

Fancy took a deep breath, as he considered just where he stood. After a few seconds, he spoke.  

“I believe General Jaeger is indeed Dawn-Bringer. Abrams provided me access to the after action report, with statements taken form numerous witnesses, including the Elements themselves, as well as the Two Daughters. I am confident to say this.”  

Oakley nodded. “And you are willing to accept the consequences should you be wrong?” Fancy nodded.  

Oakley turned to Derpy. “And what of you?”  

Derpy shook her head. “I’m afraid I’m not as confident in calling it.”

Oakley merely nodded. “Then I believe I will have to investigate as well. Sherman?”  

“Yes, sir?”  

“Could you inform Abrams I will be making my way to Canterlot soon. You are close to General Jaeger, are you not?”  

Fancy gave a slight nod of his head. “Well, close is a tad strong. I introduced myself as a friend and ally and he seemed to believe me.”  

“Very well, see if you’ll be able to get me close. Perhaps in a meeting or something similar.”  

Fancy smiled. “Funny you should say that, sir...”  













The tall man spat out water, following the sudden and unannounced drenching courtesy of Luna. He was less then impressed.  

“Moonbutt...”  

“Yes, General?”  

Dante heavily snorted through his nose, as a small cabal of scientists and doctors were setting up the equipment they wanted him to use.

“Would you care to explain why you suddenly hit me with a deluge of ice-fucking-cold water?”  

Luna raised her nose into the air, blowing air out. “If you had taken a shower and cleaned that blood off yourself days ago, We wouldn’t have had this problem.”

The small Discord pulled himself to the top of Dante’s hair, an icepack on his head and wrapped in a green, woolen blanket. He sneezed and rubbed his red nose, green snot coming off onto his arm. He cringed at it, quickly rubbing it into the hair of his host.  

“Nuts, I’m sick. Dante, do me a favor and kick Luna’s flank for making me sick.”  

Discord was ignored, on Dante’s part because he didn’t care, on Luna’s part because she didn’t even know he was still alive.  

The heat quickly steamed off the armor Dante wore, as the exterior heated to two-hundred-twelve degrees, bringing the water to a boil. Just as quickly as it had heated, it came back down to room temperature.  

Dante brushed most of the remaining water out of his hair and off his face, Discord holding on for dear life as the human’s hand brushed past him.  

“Hey! Watch it! I’m up here, you know!”  

As he finished he walked up to the device, the thing resembling a crude treadmill, whereas the ones he was used to were smooth belts, this one contained raised steps on wooden slats. There were spaces between the slats, but they were small enough that his foot couldn’t get caught in it. Connected to the wall handrails, which made absolutely no sense to him, as he was the only person with hands in the immediate vicinity.  

Needless to say, Venus marked this as another inconsistency of this world.  

Dante tilted his head.  

One of the doctors turned around from the desk he and his colleagues were writing some relevant things out on.  

“It’s a treadmi-” He was cut off as Dante waved a hand at him.

“I know what it is. My main concern, however...” Dante gingerly put a single foot on the belt and slowly put more weight on it. The belt groaned from the weight, but the slats held firm.  

He stepped back off. “Okay… well, at least I know I won’t break it as soon as I stand on it.”

Another scientist stepped up. “One thing before you start, we have been informed about your armor and we would like you to do this without it on.”

Dante shrugged, the back of his armor opening to give the biped an area to slip out of. Which he promptly did. Revealing him to be shorter then his armor by a few inches. Still a very large being by any means. Somewhere around the seven foot mark. Most of his body was covered by a skin-tight black clothing, keeping everything modest.  

“Alright, so just, uh… run?”  

One of the doctor’s nodded. “Yes, and we’ll record your speed.”  

“You have a cut off?” Dante asked.  

“I’m… sorry?”  

“No time to waste!” And with that Dante hopped onto the treadmill. “I’m not responsible for this breaking!”  

And without another word, he began running.  

As it turns out, genetically modified super-soldiers are very proficient at not only running, but getting up to speed. As within two steps, the treadmill was already struggling to keep up with him, but he had to give it to the wood. It was certainly strong.  

That was, however, until his foot went straight through one of the slats. As it turns out, if you get someone running fast enough, eventually their weight will break through a material.  

Dante’s speed went from very fast to zero in less then a second. He caught himself on the handrails, however, those tore from the wall due to his weight and force.  

As the dust settled, Dante picked himself up from the ground, dusting his body suit off.  

He coughed as he looked at the confused crowd and horrified crowd. “I’m good.”  

“No you’re not.” Venus spoke, as a warm liquid soon found its way to his eyes. He looked upwards, seeing the gray metal handrail protruding from his forehead. He turned around to the destroyed treadmill, seeing that indeed, only one handrail, the left one, was still there.  

“Uh… sir.” He looked back to the crowd to see a small unicorn mare tentatively approaching him with a mirror held in magic.

He took it from her magic, the aura dissipating as he gripped it. The man held it up, examining the damage. The handrail had managed to impale the front of his forehead and was now protruding from the back of his skull, soaked in blood and gray matter, with bits of bone here and there, stuck due to the blood and brains that was stuck to the metal of the hand rail.  

“Oh...” He shrugged. “No shit?” He tossed the mirror behind him, Luna sighing as the glass shattered. He paid no mind to the exasperated princess and reached up to grab the rail, but paused. He glanced to the female unicorn and made a waving motion with his hand.

“You should… probably back up a tad bit.”  

The mare complied, Dante proceeding gripping the metal and giving it a violent yank, a large amount of blood flinging at the crowd, which would have been hit with the substance, were it not for Luna, who magicked a shield into existence before the body fluids reached them, though the crowd still flinched at the gore.  

Dante tossed the grotesque pole behind, the metal clattering on the ground. He clapped his hands together.  

“Right, well… that went as expected!  So what did I hit?”  

“You hit the wall, for one.” Luna muttered under her breath, causing Dante to lift his right hand and form a mouth with it, opening the hand mouth up and down to mock Luna.  

“Er… We have readings of...” The mare squinted at the paper, confused. “Uh…” She mumbled something out, then shook her head. “No, that can’t be right.”  

One of her white coated colleagues trotted over to her, taking the clipboard from her., he raised an eyebrow upon reading the speed. “Uh… one-hundred-ninety-five kilometers an hour...”  

Dante shrugged. “I clocked myself at one-hundred-ninety-three point twelve, but we’ll go with yours. Makes me look faster.”  

“Now wait a minute!” Luna interjected. “If you are capable of running at a hundred-ninety-five miles an hour, how did you fail to catch that unicorn who stole your device!”  

“You ever hit something at a hundred-twenty miles, Luna?” Dante asked, raising an eyebrow, and not waiting for her answer. “Well I have. Actually, I’ve run into things at a few thousand miles an hour, and trust me, that shit hurts. Also.” Dante motioned in a straight line. “It’s easier to get up to speed when I don’t have to worry about turning a pony into tomato soup with meat chunklets mixed in by accidentally clipping them at speed because they decided to step in front of me.”

One of the doctors coughed into a hoof. “Should we, er… perhaps, continue?”  





Dante stared at the disk in front of him. It was an old piece of hardware, legacy by the Imperium’s standards. But it wasn’t the disk that caught his eye, it was the text written on it in black ink. 

“In case of death of Durendal: Jaeger’s eyes only.”  

His armor was weighty on his shoulders, he looked up from the disk and glanced around the room. It was Duren’s room in the on-planet Legion base. With the exception of a few unpacked dresser drawers, looked exactly as it had when they had abandoned it a few years ago when the civil war began.

Dante had the unenviable job of collecting the Legionnaire’s belongings and returning them to the next of kin… assuming they had any left.  

What was once a bustling base as thousands of Legionnaires went about their day. Gearing up for the next operation, coming off of one or even just relaxing.  

Now. Now it was a ghost town. And Dante had well over five thousand rooms to go through. The Legion may have been the smallest branch in the Imperial armed forces, but they were still quite large for a single person to sort through.  

While knowing the collection and sorting of Legion belongings should take precedence over this, but… this had to be important.  

Dante took one more look around the room before he exited through the door, it sliding shut behind him. This had to be looked at, right now.  

Without asking, Venus indicated that the debriefing room had a legacy port for the disk and Dante made a beeline for that room.  

Reaching the room, Venus authenticated with the lock, the door sliding open by itself.  

He walked into a dimly lit room, which instantly lit up upon his foot passing the threshold.  

The room was large. Approximately eight feet by fifty feet. A table sat in the middle, two feet by thirty-five feet. And at the end of the room sat a differently colored portion of the wall.  

To the right wall, at approximately twenty-five feet from him and embedded into it sat a suite of playback devices that would accept anything the Imperium had ever used to record and playback.  

Dante went straight to that suite, locating the correct legacy port for the disk and inserting it.  

The grinding of fans sounded as that specific port probably hadn’t been used for a few hundred years. Dante had a brief moment of doubt of whether or not he should have disassembled and cleaned it.  

That doubt was quickly pushed away as he heard a voice that should have been dead.  

“Dante.”  

The man in question turned his head to the far end of the wall, where the different colored wall panel was, now displaying a video of the black man known as Durendal.  

The founder of the Legion and someone Dante had held dear.  

The recorded face of the former general of the Phoenix Legion now looked directly at the camera. He glanced down quickly, then looked back up.  

“I’m… I’m sorry this is how you had to find out about all of this. But to tell you while I was still alive would have put me in direct opposition to a promise I had made when I formed the Legion. What I am about to tell you will almost assuredly tear the Imperium apart, and you will become a fugitive.”  

Dante cocked his head to side, muttering to himself in confusion.  

“The Joint Chiefs have been lying to you. Michael has been lying to you… I lied to you. And now… I can tell you everything. I am no longer bound by that promise… I know you’re not going to believe a single thing I say, but there is evidence of everything I am about to tell you. It’s stored on a terminal in the Capitol Building. Floor U-763, room 723, terminal Juliette-Charlie-Sierra 4586...”  





Dante walked up the steps to the Capitol Building, back to the where the war had begun. The accusations Durendal had laid down could not wait. They had to be investigated right now.  

He wouldn’t be slowed down, he had slipped his helmet on and everyone knew who he was. His frame was not something easily missed.  

He pushed his way past the scanners as several of the armed guards backed up to make room for the behemoth. They were more then content to let the pissed-off giant go wherever he wanted in the building due to a mixture of fear and awe and respect. Walking before these recruits who had just graduated basic a few weeks before was the Hero of the Imperium. Not a hero. The hero. The man who brought Olephus’ tyrannical empire to its knees and personally struck the killing blow to the tyrant queen. A blow that had been playing almost non-stop on the news stations since it had occurred. Anyone who hadn’t seen it in the Imperium yet either lacked access to any form of media or simply lived under a rock.

Even if he hadn’t been the walking personification of anger, they still would have let him pass without saying anything.

He immediately headed for the elevator. He had never been below the building. He knew it existed, but he had never gone down there because he had never had a reason to do so.  

But now?  

Well… if what Duren claimed was true, the Imperium was likely to suffer another civil war.  

As he stepped onto the lift, Venus authenticated his credentials and the lift was sent the seven-hundred-sixty-third floor underground.  

The ride took a few minutes, during which time Dante reflected on a few things.  

The first was that he should have brought a rifle, which of course, he didn’t. His pistol would have to do.  

The second was that if what Duren said was true, this would throw the entire Imperium into a spiral and would likely result in the deaths of the Joint Chiefs. And it’s likely a good portion of the Senatorium wouldn’t survive either.  

Michael’s fate was still in the air.  

The lift stopped on the floor he needed.  

There was a reason Dante had never been down here. The entire underground was used solely for archival purposes, and as a result he just never went down there.  

He stepped off, and initial scans from Venus showed there was no one on the floor.  

Room 723 was quite close to the lift and Dante was there in no time. The light indicating authorization flashed red as he approached, just as he expected, the door stayed shut.  

He accessed the control panel to the right of the door, and manually overrode it with Duren’s credentials.  

He slid into the room, the ceiling light automatically activating. The room was small. About four feet by ten feet. Immediately in front of the door was a two foot wide two foot tall panel embedded in the wall. A label to the right of it read ‘Terminal JCS 4586’

A Dante walked up to it, the panel came to life. Blinking white several times, then beeping and blinking red as Venus’ authorization failed to authenticate.  

Once more, Dante slid his hand along the screen to access the manual override option, entering the valid credentials.  

The screen flashed green, indicating the terminal had accepted the credentials. The text popped up quickly, the first line greeted the now deceased Durendal.  

Dante quickly maneuvered his way to the correct file as indicated by Duren in the video left for him, his eyes skimming across the lines of text, supported by photographs, documents, debriefings. There was no denying anything Duren had told him, as his heart sunk.

A realization hit him.





Just a few blocks away, a heated meeting was occurring. Between the four joint chiefs and Admiral Krelnash.  

The building the meeting was taking in place was a former fort, originally built with in the already heavily fortified Citadel, the fort had been designed to house the first army of the Imperium, when it was still a young colony, not even a country. The land owned by the newly formed Imperium consisted solely of the Citadel and a few miles outside, where no one else dared walk.  

The Fort was polygonal in shape, the walls an imposing height of twenty meters. Its design respected its importance, as here was where the decisions that had decided whether the Imperium collapsed or expanded were decided.  

The walls of the fort had been severely damaged during the Legion’s reclamation of the Citadel just a short while ago. And at the moment, a swath of repair crews lingered around, attempting to restore the fort to its true glory.  

Within the courtyard sat a building, and unlike the fort, its design belied its importance. As in this building is where the Joint Chiefs met. It was here that missions and operations that pushed the Imperium to be the powerhouse that it was now were conceived, ironed out, optimized, examined, optimized even further, troops assigned and then carried out.  

In a conference room, five men sat at a table which only had five spots.  

Each of these five men acted as an independent check on each other.  

The table was a rectangle. Two well made chairs sat either side of the long side of the table, and one single chair sat at the end of the table.  

If one were to enter the room, they would be greeted first by the face of the Joint Chief of the Imperial Naval Forces, Kyurkner, his position sat at the end of the table. The man was an imposing frame, tall and fit. But the years of the stress of his position obvious him. The skin on his face suffered from severe wrinkling and the short cut hair showing obvious gray. His skin was a tanned white.  

To one’s right would be the Joint Chief of the Imperial Army, Luykgwer an average sized man. He had only recently taken over the position a few thousand years before, when his predecessor had retired, as such, his body did not show the signs of stress his compatriots did. Next to him was the Joint Chief of the Imperial Air Force, Mrypiyl. A small man, he never stood out in the crowd to anyone just casually observing, even someone intentionally looking for him would have trouble picking him out.  

To their left would be the Joint Chief of the Imperial Foreign Armed Forces, Iyutlir also an average framed man. And finally the Admiral of the Navy, formerly the Founding Father of the Imperium of Phoenix and the first president, Michael. To those who had seen Jaeger’s face, a common statement was how similar the two looked in regards to facial features. Not necessarily like brothers, but most people who met the two thought there was some sort of familial relationship, though slight. He was the same height as Kyurkner, but slimmer.  

The table was a standard conference table from the Imperium. A terminal that would provide each chair with their own personal terminal.

“Listen.” Kyurkner cut in as the Luykgwer attempted to get a point across. “The Legion’s track record is proven. You saw what Jaeger did by himself just a few short hours after the Reclamation.” 

Luyk rolled his eyes at the statement: “The army had as much to do with that victory as Jaeger did. You’re only saying this because he’s navy. And might I remind you the assault Rat’s armored division did on two ships, while Jaeger was working on one.”  

“Jaeger’s mission was different and you damn well know that!” Kyur responded.  

Luyk threw his hands up. “All I’m saying is we have more important things to spend what money we have on! You want to reclaim the territories we lost during the withdraw following the fall? Give me more troops and equipment. The Legion is obsolete, they couldn’t even stop Olephus’ troops.”

Before Luyk and Kyur could continue their infamous screaming matches, Mry spoke up. His voice was soft, fitting well with the space he took up.  

“Perhaps we should get Iyutlir and Michael’s opinion on the matter.”

Hearing his name, Iyu looked up from whatever he was doing on his terminal, his head resting on a hand. He straightened up a tad bit in his chair and cleared his throat.  

“I will admit my bias in this matter, as the Legion hails from the IFAF, but the Legion has proven absurdly important to Imperial military matters since its original founding. They have been willing to do things no one else is willing to do, as well as their black operations capabilities. I have to throw my vote in with giving the Legion the money to rebuild.”  

As Iyu finished his statement, Michael took this chance to give his own statement.  

“I would like to remind Luyk of the fact that the Reclamation was successful solely due to the sacrifices made by the Legion. Were it not for their efforts, then the beach would have never been successfully compromised. It was a Legionnaire who activated the kill switch compromising the NPR’s cloning tanks and their active clone troops, meaning Imperial forces only had to deal with their natural born troops. It was also a Legionnaire who had delivered the final blow to Olephus. My vote is with the Legion.”  

All eyes were on Mry, as without his agreement, it would leave Luyk by himself with no allies.  

The small man pushed his chair back, standing up.  

“My vote is with the Legion. To abandon Jaeger after all we’ve done to him. To abandon him now...”  

As Mry finished his very short explanation, an audible alert rang across all the terminals in the room, Luyk looked down, turning his head at the notice.  

“WARNING: TERMINAL JCS 4586 ACCESSED. USER CREDENTIALS: DURENDAL”

“Duren?” Luyk questioned, as the air in the room grew thick.  

Iyu spoke. “Mry… did… Duren’s credentials get redlisted when his status was changed?”  

“That was never my responsibility. That was Luykgwer’s responsibility.”  

“Oh, fuck.” Kyur mumbled as he quickly stood up. “Fuck!”  

Michael was the next, sprinting out of the room.  

“Hey! Where… what! Who the fuck has access to Duren’s cre-” The reality hit Luyk, his eyes realizing, as he realized just who would have access to them.  

“Initial protocol Othrys!” Kyur shouted, as the table flashed red, indicating the order had been received, text flashed across it.  

“WARNING: PROTOCOL OTHRYS INITIATED. TERMINAL LOCKED DOWN.”





He had been used!  

“Venus! Copy the databank.” A second passed, before Venus responded.

“Copied.”

As Venus confirmed the information had been copied, the terminal’s screen flashed red.  

“WARNING: ACCESS DENIED. TERMINAL LOCKED DOWN.”  

Jaeger responded by putting his fist through the screen and pulling the CPU out from the wall.  

“Fuck you!” He shouted as he turned on his heel to the door. Predictably, the light indicating whether the door was locked flashed red as he approached. He attempted to manually override it with Duren’s credentials, but it flashed red once more.  

“Fuck!” He shouted, as he examined the door.

“They’ve locked Duren’s credentials. We’re going have to fight our way out of this one.” Venus remarked.  

The door was designed to be airtight, so he wouldn’t be able to slip his hands underneath it and lift it up. Unless...

Dante said nothing as he cocked his foot back and swung forward, striking the door near the bottom, where door met floor. The metal bent outwards, destroying the airtight seal.  

Dante kneeled and slipped a hand underneath the door. He could feel resistance as the door’s locks attempted to do their job and keep it closed, but he soon heard metal snapping as he was able to freely pull the door up and slip under the gap between it and the ground.  

He made the short walk back to the elevator and entered. He confirmed the floor he wanted on the terminal and waited as the elevator began moving.  

After about twenty floors going back up, the elevator stopped. The terminal flashed red, text popping up.  

“WARNING: ELEVATOR LOCKED DOWN.”  

Dante cursed as he slipped his hand in between the doors of the elevators, easily prying the open, only to be met by solid cement.  

They had stopped the elevator in between floors.  

“Admiral Krelnash is attempting to reach you.” Venus informed him, Dante attempting to run through what he could do to get out.”  

“Patch him through.”

A second passed before Jaeger’s HUD informed him the patch had been successful and Michael could hear him. Before Michael could speak, Dante did.  

“Fuck off you piece of shit.” The Legionnaire quickly severed the connection before Michael could get a word out.  

Dante looked around as he worked out how this was going to go in his head.  





Michael stood behind one of the barricades hastily put up by the strike team. Ten armored men stood spaced out, thirty feet from the opening of the elevator.  

The armor was not power armor, such as the suits worn by Legionnaires, but were closer to the ones worn by mechanized infantry. Exoskeletons with armored plates covering the most vital areas. The helmet was self contained to protect the operator from air based weaponry such as gas or chemicals.  

The armor was a plain gray with rank identifiers on both shoulders. The strike team was officially under the control of the staff sergeant present, though they were now deferring to Admiral Krelnash, despite the strike team being army troops.  

Michael was the black sheep, with his dress suit in comparison to the team’s uniform armor. Despite that all of them were currently kneeling behind the ballistic shields. The ten armored soldiers were armed with the standard anti-armor rifles, while Michael was with just his pistol.  

Still, more bullets downrange never hurt the ones sending them down.  

Michael rested his hand on the commanding officer’s shoulder to get his attention. The soldier turned his head to look at him.  

“If things start getting hairy, get your boys out of here. Don’t hesitate.” Michael stated, watching the floor counter slowly tick up on the LED screen above the doors of the lift.  

“Sir.” The officer spoke. “With all due respect, I don’t think there’s much a single target can do against an entire strike team.”  

Michael’s eyebrow raised. “Were you not told who we’re facing?”  

“All we got was that it’s a heavily armed individual and we should be ready for a fight, sir.” Another soldier explained, as Michael turned his head slight to look at him. The admiral groaned.  

“What the fuck are they doing to you boys nowadays.” He glanced once more to the LED counter, noting the lift was nearly there.  

“It’s Jaeger. We’re fighting Jaeger.”

There was silence, as the team took it in.

“You’re shitting me.” One of the younger men finally broke the quiet, Michael merely shook his head.  

“The lift’s nearly here. Try to get him out peacefully first but don’t put yourself at risk in order to do so.  

The soldiers around him quickly did press checks of their rifles to ensure a round was loaded, then brought their rifles to bear, aiming at the doors of the elevators.  

All of them watched with tension as the elevator’s floor indicator ticked ever closer to them.  

The indicator switched to the floor they were on, as smoke began to leak through the doors.  

“Fuck!” The officer shouted. “He’s popped smoke.”  

The door opened as the leaked turned to a pour.  

“General Jaeger!” The officer shouted. “Come out slowly and with your hands up! We do not want to hurt you.”  

“He’s got chaff in the elevator, sensors can’t tell where he is in there.” Another soldier shouted.  

“General!” The officer began again. “We have the building locked down. We do not want to shoot you, but we will if we have to! Please, come out peacefully!”  

“Jaeger!” Michael followed suit. “Listen, I know you’re pissed. I would be too if I was in your shoes. But I need you to let me explain what happened. I can’t do this if you don’t let me. So just come out!”  

There was a pause as the only response was more smoke coming out of the elevator.  

“Fuck this.” The officer spoke. “General, you have five seconds to give some sort of indicator or we’re opening fire.”  

“What are you doing!” Michael spat. “He’s not going to come out like that!”

“Violence of action, sir. You think I’m about to let Jaeger get the first move off. I’ve seen what he can do. They’ll be dead before they even realized what happened.” The officer responded without turning his head, his eyes still locked onto the elevator.  

“Five!” He began, smoke still pouring out, but getting thinner.  

“No!” Michael shouted, waving his hand at the soldiers. “Belay that order!”

The smoke was getting thinner, but the interior of the elevator still was not visible. The soldiers looked to Michael and the Staff Sergeant, their helmets hiding their confusion, though it was obvious.  

“I have command of this strike team. If he’s not out by the time I reach one, light him up. Four!”  

“Do not do that! It will not solve anything.” Michael shouted. 

“Three!”  

The smoke thinned out substantially, as bits of metallic colored objects floating around the cabin.  

“Tw-… two?” The officer paused as the smoke had almost entirely cleared out of the cabin of the elevator revealing… nothing.  

The soldiers realized their target wasn’t in the elevator, and took a quick glance around the hallway they were in and then to each other.  

“Where the fuc-” The soldiers question was cut off as an explosion sounded behind them.  

Michael was propelled forward as a piece of debris hit him in the head and his world went dark.  





Thanks to his height, Dante was able to run his hands along the top of the elevator, stopping once he finally found what he was looking for. Throwing a punch up, he broke the lock on the elevator’s roof hatch, and launched the hatch itself off the top off the elevator.  

With a small hop, Dante caught the lip of the hatch and hauled himself out of the elevator and onto its roof.  

“Admiral Krelnash is attempting to reach you again.”

“Tell him to go fuck himself.” Dante responded, as the elevator began moving once more. He knew what Michael was trying to do.  

“He’s trying to force a confrontation.” He spoke, Venus was in agreement.  

“It would appear so. I believe he is going to try to talk you out of going after the Joint Chiefs.”

Dante gave a light chuckle. “That’s not happening. Venus, do you know what floor he’s bringing us to.”  

“Please standby.” While Venus attempted to find the answer, Dante examined his surroundings. Since there was no need for any light at the moment, the emergency lights in the shaft normally reserved for technicians were off. The only light present was the light filtering in from the cabin of the elevator. As a result, his helmet had compensated and now allowed him to see as though the sun was shining.  

The counterweight passed him, roaring as the elevator reach forty miles an hour.  

“One-seventy-three.” Venus answered his question finally. Dante nodded.  

He reached into a pouch resting on his belt line and pulled out a tan block wrapped in plastic. He tore the plastic off and dropped it. He grabbed the tan, clay like material and tore it in three.  

He looked at what he was working with. Three steel cables, three inches thick. He quickly molded the clay material around each of the three cables.  

He turned around. He’d also have to hit the four emergency brakes at the four corners of the elevator.

Pulling another block out of the pouch, he quickly set the clay up on the four brakes.  

“We’re nearly there.” Venus informed him.  

Dante turned around to the hatch leading to the cabin of the elevator and pulled a cylindrical object from his belt. He pulled the safety pin from it and dropped it down the hatch. Smoke slolwy began to spew from it, and a few seconds later, the entire elevator was filled. When a secondary pop sounded, spreading a wall of chaff infused with nanitic jammers to block sensor suites. The elevator came to a halt.

Dante didn’t wait, as he pulled himself onto the steel support beams and quickly climbed to the next floor.  

He reached the ledge where the elevator would normally rest. His boots connected him firmly to the thing ledge as he pushed his hands between the elevator doors and pried them open.  

The sensors in his helmet picked up the strike team below him. Eleven men. Ten armored, one unarmored. The unarmored individual was likely Michael.  

They were thirty feet from the elevator, so Dante moved forty feet, getting in behind him.  

He pulled from a string from another pouch and unraveled. He looped in a circle roughly six feet in diameter and bunched what was left of it on top of the end.  

He stood in the middle of the circle.  

“Ready, Venus?” He questioned.  

“Whenever you are, just say the word.”  

Dante nodded. “Alright then… hit it.”  

With that, the floor collapsed under him as the wire detonated, creating a nice chunk of circular floor for him to land on.  

He pushed off from the floor, covering the ten feet before any of the soldiers could properly react.  

He tore a rifle from the hands of one soldier who managed to get it pointed in his general direction and kicked him, sending him flying over the barricade. Dante swung the rifle around, catching a still stunned soldier in the head and shattering the rifle in two.  

He stepped to the side as a round impacted to his right. He swung his arm up, an orangeish shield formed, the rounds vaporizing on contact as he quickly closed the gap between him and the soldier firing. The soldier tried to back up, but soon found himself against a wall, as his bolt locked back on his rifle.  

In confusion, he looked down at his rifle then back up at the giant before him, as Jaeger swung his right arm, connecting the soldier’s head and destroying his helmet. The man collapsed.  

Two were out of the fight.  

Jaeger scooped the rifle up with his foot and tossed it into the air. Catching it deftly, he threw it at a soldier who was closest to the explosion and was stumbling in an attempt to gather his footing. It connected with his head, stunning him further. Dante closed the gap once more and grabbed the soldier’s head. His hand easily covered his face as he grabbed it with his other hand and twisted.  

That was three.  

A round impacted his shoulder as he stepped back from the impact. His helmeted face turned to look at the shooter, only to be greeted by the remaining seven soldiers having recovered from the explosion and regrouped.  

Another shot struck his head, causing him to stumble back further. 

He shook his head to clear it and looked back to the seven soldiers.  

They opened up on him.  





The debris had forced Michael to regenerate, which took a minute. As he came to, he was greeted by the sound of rifle fire.

He managed to look to his right, to be greeted by the sight of wheezing soldier with his chest armor and exoskeleton having collapsed and penetrate his torso. He blinked, as he had difficulty comprehending what was occurring in front of him.

He fully came to when an armored soldier landed in front of him, his arm missing. He wheezed and, with his remaining arm tried to drag himself away from whatever it was that had done that to him. His escape was cut short as a black armored boot came down upon his helmeted head, the helmet collapsing under the force and his head disappearing in a spectacular show of gore, some of it splattering on Michael.  

Finally realizing what was happening, he attempted to raise the pistol in his hand, but was thwarted in this by having the arm kicked by the same boot that had crushed the soldier’s head kick his arm, breaking the bone in it and causing him to drop the pistol. The boot kicked the gun away from him, close to the elevator.

It had been awhile since he had been this injured, but his scream was cut off by a harsh kick to the ribs, causing it turn into a gurgling, as a rib penetrated his lung.  

He could only watch as Dante bent down and grabbed him by the neck, his body desperately attempting to repair the broken arm, ribs and penetrated lung.  

“Ten thousand years!” Dante yelled as he slammed him against the wall, denting the drywall. Dante’s faceplate slid out of the way, so his odd eyes could meet Michael’s brown eyes.  

“Ten thousand years! You had ten thousand years to fix your mistakes and this is how I find out!” Dante threw him to the side, Michael landing on his side, and rolling over onto his stomach. He pulled himself forward with his good arm in a vain attempt to reach his pistol.  

“Tell me.” Dante stated, as his face plate slid back into place. “You had chance after chance after chance to tell me. So… why?” Dante followed behind the slow drag. He raised his arms out. Michael still did not say anything.

“Huh! You brought me here to explain yourself, right? So here’s your chance!” Michael reached the pistol, his good hand landing on it as he attempted to grip it. Dante’s boot once more came down, crushing his hand underneath it, Dante kicked the pistol away once more and delivered a swift kick to the side of the admiral’s chest. A gurgle came from his mouth as Dante used his foot to flip him over onto his back.

The Legionnaire rested his boot on the severely injured man’s chest, as he leveled his pistol at his head.  

“Here’s your chance.” Dante spoke quietly. “Give me one reason why I shouldn’t put a bullet in your head like I plan to do to the Chiefs...”  

Michael merely stared at the pistol’s barrel, wheezing as he attempted to breath. Jaeger’s kicks had broken most of his ribs, and had penetrated both lungs. But he remained silent.  

“This is your chance!” Dante shouted. “Give me a reason! Give me a reason! Give me a reason to not kill you!”  

Michael remained silent.

Dante stared at him intently, as his finger rested on the trigger. He broke the safety. The only thing it would require is two more pounds of force.  

There was silence, as the former president lay on his back at the mercy of someone who had been his most trusted agent.  

Dante brought his boot down on Michael’s shoulder, shattering his collar bone.   

Michael gasped in pain as he attempted to roll over to protect his broken clavicle. Dante holstered his pistol.  

He knelt down to the defeated admiral, his face plate sliding out of the way once more.  

He grabbed Michael by the hair and lifted his head up, so their eyes would meet.  

Once more, Dante’s glowing green and blue eyes met Michael’s brown eyes.  

“Venus.” Dante spoke. “Hit it.” An explosion sounded from behind him as the elevator disappeared in a cloud of smoke, metal screeching against metal.

“Do us both a favor.” Dante stated, the hatred in his eyes obvious. “Don’t crawl out of this shaft.” Dante reached to Michael’s belt line and tore a small black box from it.  

With that, he threw Michael’s head away from him and stood up, his face plate sliding back into place. He bent down and grabbed Michael’s leg, and began dragging him to the elevator.  

Michael was in too much pain to fight back, and Dante ungracefully tossed him into the now open shaft.  

The Legionnaire watched silently as Michael plummeted into the elevator shaft, his body hitting some support beams on the way down and then disappearing entirely a few seconds later.   

He turned away from the shaft and towards the bloody mess that was the hallway, the strike team that had been sent after him was out of commission. None of them were dead, but he had put them out of the fight.  

“Venus.” He spoke as he stopped over a mutilated corpse. “Get me a read on the Joint Chief’s locations.”  

He had a long road ahead of him, but nothing would stop him from taking what he was owed.  

Revenge.