> Lost Magic And Betrayal
>  by Politicalunrest2400
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> Prologue: A Different Decision
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	Twilight felt the power course through her. It was exhilarating, it was like fire coursing through her veins! She was alive, truly alive for the first time! She suppressed the feeling of adulation, and the feelings of fear that sprung up in her in response. She had a hard time not showing the second, as the other three princesses now exhausted, looked at her with an equal mixture of awe, concern, and fear...
Why shouldn't they fear her?! After all she was now more than the God that she had been, more than the now diminished Goddesses that now stood before her had ever been! She was power, she was magic incarnate! She suppressed the thought almost as quickly as it came, knowing how dangerous the thirst for power and magic could be.
Magic leaked from her eyes, but what once she would have seen as a dangerous leak of her magic uncontrolled into the world, she saw as nothing more than a drop in the sea.
The princesses spoke to her, they warned her, and they gave her instructions not to face the new threat, this Tirek under any circumstances as he would steal her magic and use it to destroy Equestria. 
She remembered their warning as much as if they were screaming in a thunderstorm that drowned out almost everything… that is to say almost not at all. Then Celestia seemed to cut through the magical static that surrounded her mind with one last word of warning. “If you face him, you will undoubtedly lose. IF you lose, we lose Equestria, you me, my sister, and all of your friends and family…” motioning to Cadence and Shining Armor who stood off to the side of the throne. “Will die, magic-less, and none of us will have the power necessary to do anything about it. Now go twilight sparkle, and learn to control this new magic of yours that we have gifted you least He find you, and destroy us all.” 
Obviously dismissed, humbled and with only a little static fogging her mind, Twilight opened a portal to home, and stepped through. The portal smashed shut like a thunder cloud, crackling with purple lightning casting the throne room in odd shadows.
Once the princesses were alone, Luna looked to Celestia and said, voice pouring exhaustion “She has proven worthy of every other task. But never have we given her such temptation, such raw power. Can she handle it without becoming corrupted?”
The question was legitimate as even Alicorns could turn dark, Luna herself was a prime example when her greed and lust for power and admiration had changed her slowly. The effect had only been enhanced by an evil spirit that had been attracted to her darkness, but she had been dark long before that.
Celestia felt a pang of guilt at the memory, as she had never given her sister her due when they had been younger, and she truly was to blame for the nightmare moon incident; even if Luna refused to admit it. “That is a good question sister” she paused thinking. “But I do not know a way other than this test that would allow us to find out.” Her sister’s expression turned to pure fear and outrage.
“You let a half trained Alicorn loose on the world with the cumulative power of four of us without anyway to know for sure?! Sister, you may have just doomed not just all of Equestria, but the whole world!” Luna now faced Celestia down, nose to nose for her foolishness.
Celestia kept her voice calm glancing at Cadence who seemed just as shocked as Luna was, but not nearly as angry; before locking eyes with Luna again. “Calm yourself Luna, There is one thing I can do yet that none, even you, know of.” Luna's expression evened as she gained control of her anger. The mares temper use to be legendary, and she had not shown it openly to Celestia sense freedom from the creature that had transformed her into nightmare moon. 
Luna was exhausted, that was the only explanation. Not only had she just given over all of her magic, she had also just had perhaps the longest night sense her return. Dispelling nightmare after nightmare as filly’s and foals, and mares and colts alike dreamed of shadowy dooms that would grip them at night and suck their life away, their instincts knowing of the danger that He posed long before they knew of it. “I am sorry Luna, I know this must be hard on you.” Celestia’s voice was calm and filled with love for her sister. She put a wing over Luna and touched noses with her sister in a gesture of affection that was as old as time. It was something their mother had done to them when they were scared, tired or angry.
Luna let slip a single tear, then whispered “I love you too Tia, but you must admit it was wrong of us to do this without some kind of backup plan or knowledge that she would do as told once she had all of our magic, no mater what tricks you are hiding under your wing.” Celestia only touched the pendent that hung around her neck, a nervous tick, responding with a slight smile of apology; as if to say what other choice did I have? Luna pulled away and hurried from the throne room, no doubt to catch some rest before His inevitable arrival.
Celestia looked at Cadence who was pointedly looking at the stained glass window depicting the elements of harmony’s victory over discord. “They will be useless this time around. They were almost useless against discord when he returned, the girls only won by shear grit and determination. Look at the destruction that discord caused, and all he wanted deep down was attention and fun. Tirek however” she paused, thinking of all of the pony’s that had lost their lives at Tirek's last visit to Equestria and shivered slightly. “He will stop at nothing. All he wants is power, and he does not care how much blood he must wade through to get it. In fact, it was Luna’s observation last time we faced him that he began to enjoy the carnage almost more than the power he was able to steal.” 
Cadince’s face flashed first fear, then anger, then resolute determination. She truly was a fully grown Alicorn now, something that felt so odd to Celestia who had practically raised the girl after she had been sent by Luna’s and her brother from the far frozen north. It had been the last anyone had heard of him.
“Do not worry, we will figure something out Cadince.” She took her seat again in between the other thrones. As the eldest of the surviving Alicorn's in Equestria it was her responsibility to ensure that all her subjects saw of her was dignity and power… even if she felt like throwing up from pure terror.
“You and Luna beat him last time didn't you?” Cadince's voice was soft, almost a whisper of hope.
“Yes dear, we did. But only at great cost and only with the help of the great Star-swirl the bearded who is now lost to time, and Tirek's brother Scorpan who was almost his equal in power, and who is now nowhere to be found. We once thought to find him, and sent our best tracker to his homeland, but he never returned from the far frozen north.” Cadince’s eyes went wide. “It was me and Luna’s younger brother that we sent. Your father Cadince.”
The young Alicorn’s eyes started to water slightly, but seemed to perk up as she thought about it. “So you finally found the time to tell me what happened to him. Thank you Aunt Tia.” Her smile was genuine as were her words, and Celestia put a wing around the younger princess’s throne in a gentle embrace.
“I should have told you sooner dear, but I just couldn't bring myself to break your heart again. It seems however, that fate has forced my hand. We never found him or any of his expedition of skilled flyers, so it’s possible he is out there somewhere. Though highly unlikely, more likely he was lost in those passes.”
The two princesses sat there on their thrones for a long time, chatting about who he was, what he was like and for Celestia remembering fond memories of his life. They didn't know, but Luna who also had never heard the story of her little brothers demise, having been imprisoned in the moon at the time, was listening and softly weeping for all the time, and people, and now magic that she had lost.

----

Twilight crackled with energy. It wasn't her fault, really. It was all she could do to keep it contained, she dared not use her magic even the smallest bit for fear that she would destroy something important, or some pony. She had already embarrassed herself in front of her friends, and nearly hurt a few people. 
But she was so use to using her magic for everything that now that she tried to deprive herself of it she found it almost impossible. Bottling it up was not working, so as any good scientist would do she had decided to do small things and learn the limits of her power, to experiment. But only when away from other pony’s, even her closest friends.
All of her friends knew something strange was going on, and she knew that they knew. Twilight hoped however that they would attribute it to her new status as an Alicorn and not pry any more than they already had. She didn't want to hurt them by accident, or worse on purpose.
That was another side effect of bottling up all of the energy, she found. She became irritable and aggressive towards others, though she couldn't tell if it was coming from the magic its self or the simple strain of containing it.
Twilight heard a familiar popping sound behind her, and frowned. “So, twilight, all of the princesses in Equestria have gifted you their powers in order to keep them from Tirek have they? I bet they told you to stay away from him didn't they. That you couldn't simply obliterate him with the power you have, enough power to destroy the whole world if you really wanted, though who would do that? I mean this world is so much fun.”
“Discord” twilight said, voice warning and hard. “You need to leave, you know nothing of what is going on.” Discord huffed and flew in front of her.
“Oh twilight your so silly! Didn't you know that I come from the same land as this ‘lord Tirek’? In fact, I am a legend there among the magical beasts. I use to be known for my cruelty, whimsy, and all of the fun that I had, all the Chaos I created… I really miss those days…” twilight glared at him, suspicion plane on her face. “Oh I wouldn't go back even if I could though. I like Equestria much more than I do that dismal place. Besides, here I have friends! There is you, and Fluttershy, and Applejack... Oh Applejack. She will never really trust me will she? Sad…” his face drooped all the way to the ground pooling there, his Chaos magic evidently in use.
“I get it discord, your reformed” Twilight snarled through gritted teeth, forcing herself not to swat the pesky trickster from the sky and crush him with the Godly magic she wielded. Didn't he know that she could destroy him with but a wave of her hand!? Didn't he know that she saw him as nothing more than an annoyance, a fly to be swatted from the sky?! She shook her head, trying to clear it, desperately trying to regain control.
She heard a chocking sound coming from above her head. She turned and saw Discord grasping his throat, purple magic gripping and squeezing, preventing him from getting oxygen while his feet kicked uselessly and his eyes bulged in terror. Twilight sat there, shocked. Had she done that? Had she done that by accident?! Shaking her head to clear it again, she released the magic. “I am So so so so so so so so so sorry discord! Are you ok? Are you hurt?!” he fell to the ground coughing and gasping as his lungs filled with the precious air.
He waved her off of him as she tried to get a look at his neck to insure that he was alright. She knew some healing spells that might work on a crushed larynx after all… but his breathing started to normalize after a few seconds and he smiled at her knowingly, understandingly, caringly . “Oh twilight I know that wasn't you, that was the magic! You see, I know what it’s like to carry that kind of power around. Celestia? Lunna? Cadince? They don’t. They think they know what power is, what it’s like to carry that kind of responsibility, that kind of power. But in truth? They really don’t.” He shook his head as he continued talking in a soothing tone "twilight" he whispered "Do you remember when all of Equestria was turned upside down, Topsy tervy? after I had won and you were all defeated and I was siting on top of everything?" she nodded slowly, the feeling of powerlessness that she had felt at that point returning in her current predicament.
"There is something that you don't know about that time. As the chaos grew, as I used my magic to change more and more things, I became more powerful. When the Equestria was almost completely unrecognizable, I was nearly as powerful as you are now. Thankfully the elements of harmony worked on me and turned me back to stone! but the only reason they did twilight was because i had some good in me, some willingness to change." he turned away from her slightly, voice breaking as he spoke. " its the power sweet twilight? sweet and terrifying. i gave into it twilight because i was selfish. Slowly the power changed the good parts of me bad, and the bad things about me even worse. That's what you are fighting now isn't it?"
Twilight looked at him shocked, concerned and afraid for what she had done and tears started to roll down her face. “Exactly, it’s like the magic is taking over! I didn't even consciously attack you, I was fighting the urge to, but I didn't do it the magic did!” Twilight laid down on the ground and started to cry at Discords feet. The pain, fear and frustration of the past few days pouring out. 
Discords face contorted as he patted her head, barely holding back the magic that leaked from her as she wept. It would have destroyed all of Poneyville and most of the surrounding country side if he had not. 
"Twilight, I think you are different though. I think that you can use this power to help everyone, to save them from what is coming, both this Lord Tirek fellow, and other dangers that might have escaped from Tarterus; and even others that I know are coming from elsewhere in the world. You have proven yourself time and time again Twilight, no one can take those accomplishments from you." He said all of this whispering softly, “Not even Celestia…”
She sat and cried, as he tried his best to keep the strain of simply holding back the magic that leaked from her from his voice, as he whispered suggestions and flattering words of how things could be, twilight started to listen. Discord spoke of how strong he believed she was, and how If only she used the magic she now had for just a little while, she could make things safe, and make things the way she knew they needed to be. And of course, he would be there to help her, to support her, and to guide her all along the way.
As her crying slowed and his influence over her grew, Discord smiled... It was all according to his plan.


> Chapter 1: Nights-shade and the Exam
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	Nights-shade stood at the entrance, waiting in line to enter the building that acted as Luna’s army’s armory. Nights-shade knew what was in there, he had made most of it himself at the forges working extra hours in daylight when the rest of Luna’s children slept, their nocturnal nature getting the best of them. Nights-shade was not one of Luna’s children though, sure he was allowed to live in the caves, and sure he loved the night just as much as they did, but he was a simple earth pony no bat-pony, or night-pegasus or whatever it was they called themselves.
No one in Equestria had known of their existence until Luna rebelled against her sister nearly a thousand years ago. Then they had descended like clouds of ash upon the rest of the land. After Luna’s imprisonment they were only seen occasionally; with Luna’s return some years ago and the dispelling of nightmare moon, they had returned in small numbers to trade, and to see to the protection and needs of their princess.
Now however, most ponies ran from what was now known as old Equestria to the caves under the mountains, that some had playfully deemed the ‘new lunar republic’. Luna herself was said to openly chastise any who said such as foolish, punishing them with extra work that day.
Nights-shade never really liked the name anyway, so he never got in trouble. But some of his friends like Day-strider and Hails-wind who were pegausi had a hard time not using it and were constantly being forced to work day-shift with him.
Nights-shade worked night shift right alongside everyone else, but he was one of the few ponies in the caverns who could stay awake and alert during the day. So he constantly volunteered to work in the morning, it was usually the only time he got to see his friends serving out their punishment. He slept in the afternoon for a few hours until the sun set, and then returned to the forges, producing weapons, armor, and any of the other new technological marvels that had been discovered by any of the many research teams under the careful guide of Celestia.
Nights-shade was growing board with working at the forges. He had grown stronger than he had ever been, which was saying something for an earth pony of his size. Oh, he was grateful for Luna’s protection, the food she offered and he was more than willing to work. But deep down? Nights-shade wanted to fight!
He had seen the other earth pony’s in the new armor, taller stronger and faster than any earth pony before them, and wanted to join their ranks. That’s why he was here today, the ‘knights’ as they were officially named were recruiting out of the armory, and Nights-shade had every intention of joining.
“Step forward young colt. What is your name?...” Nights-shade heard the mare, wearing a long white trench coat marking her as the medical doctor who screened out the unhealthy before the Knights would see them.
“Far too young, only 12 years old? Why young fellow you barely have your cutie mark!” she said dismissively to a massive earth pony almost twice Nights-shade’s size, pointing away from the line. “I don’t care how strong, or tall you are young colt, you will not be joining one of the Knightly orders today! Now, you can either get out of line willingly and try again in a few years, or I can have you removed.” Her eyes were steal, scrutinizing the young colts every movement. “Good choice.” She said as the colt moved to the side, head down and obviously somewhat depressed. “Next!” the mare screeched at the top of her lungs.
The process of screening was intensive, and only one pony made it through before Nights-shade was at the front of the line; and that pony had bolted out of the cave that made up the armory building a few minutes after saying something about needles.
“Next!” the mare screamed again, and suddenly it was his turn. Nights-shade walked up to the table and put down his request form wordlessly. “Well then, aren't we a strapping young colt, black coat and deep purple mane... mmmm” the mare said, voice playfully seductive. 
Nights-shade fought back the urge to grimace. Others had always told him he was handsome, but he never really believed it until about half way through his agricultural degree when he realized some pony had started a ‘nights-shade’ fan club, with the motto ‘tall, dark and shady’. 
The older mare chuckled at his obvious discomfort saying “don’t flatter yourself mister, I already have a husband waiting for me.” Her sly smile turned solemn with memory “he died saving me and the kids when the southern diamond dog clans attacked. Bought us enough time to escape into the mountains where Luna and her bat-pony’s found us. He fought off seven of them on his own, and I am sure there were more coming when we left. This was before the Betrayer enslaved them of course.” She shook her head, dispelling the memories.
“That doesn't matter now, does it? Right, you are here for an evaluation. Well, I don’t see any physical damage or scars. Have you had any surgeries? Any medication or magical medical treatments within the last six months?” he shook his head, and she harrumphed continuing her questions. “Have you been exposed to any magical weapons or other battle field conditions without protective equipment or spells?” again he shook his head, and again she harrumphed at him looking even more squarely into his eyes for any sign of deceit.
“Ok then…” she said, breaking the thick silence, her words as sharp as a knife. “Step behind the curtain to finish the examination.” Nights-shade blinked. No other pony had been asked to do that, but then again no other pony had gotten this far and awnered the questions as he had. Obeying he stepped behind the curtain.
Behind the curtain was a small patient table like the kind he saw at the doctor’s office that one time he had to have an ingrown hoof removed, a trey with very large looking needles, and a crystal that hummed slightly glowing a slight red color which cast the room in a light reddish tinge.
“Where do you want me doc?” Nights-shade asked as another mare, this one much younger entered the room, pushing past him and into the make shift doctor’s office. She picked up the smallest of the needles and motioned for him to lay on the table while saying “my name is Nurse Joy, and I will be collecting the samples.” Samples? He thought, no one said anything about samples. 
Complying with her unspoken order, he laid on the table, belly down and legs under his chest as if he were about to sleep. “Legs out please, lay completely flat I need samples from you when your circulation is not restricted.” He did as she ordered him to again, but he felt odd laying with his legs spread out.
“This will only sting for a second” she said as she stabbed him with the shortest of the needles deep into the muscle tissue. Nights-shade hated needles, moreover he hated when people lied to him; when someone combined those two things like now, it took everything in him not to trample her into dust. Grimacing he tried to relax, allowing her to wiggle the needle deeper into his musculature.
“There we go, it will take just another second cutie” winking at him, she started to pull the end of the needle, taking a blood sample. “See?” she said as if nothing was wrong “that wasn't so bad was it?” Nights-shade almost screamed at her, but remained silent preferring to scowl instead.
“Now, I need a bone marrow sample” she said, as she grabbed the largest of the three needles. “This one, will hurt” her face was all sympathy “A lot actually.” Nights-shade considered bolting from the room, but before he could take any action she had bent one of his front knees and jabbed the needle deep into the joint, striking bone.
Nights-shade did scream this time, but he was thankful that it was only a little before he closed his mouth with a snarl. He couldn't control it, but to his shame tears rolled down from his eyes freely, he tried to wipe them away but the motion only caused even more pain. 
“There, there hot stuff, the hard part is done. It might take you a few minutes but you will recover.” Her voice was singsong, as if she had expected his reaction to be much worse. “It would have been even worse had I done the large one first so don’t get any ideas about complaining.” He snapped at her, jaws straining to bite, but she was on the other side of the make shift room now and safely outside his reach. 
Taking a deep breath, Nights-shade allowed his anger to subside. I did ask for this after all he thought to himself. It’s not her fault that this is what the process is like. 
“Calm yet?” she asked. “I have one more sample to get. This one is a bit more fun for you I would think.” She winked at him again and he started to blush. “I need a semin sample big guy.” He gulped visibly.
“Now, there are three ways we can do this. Either you can do it yourself…” she picked up a small cup, and placed it on the table in front of him. “Or you can have me do it with this…” she picked up the remaining needle for him to see, then put it back. His eyes went wide, and had he not been unable to run he knew he would have. “Or, you can have me do it the old fashioned way. We are not supposed to, but I think for you I can make an exception…” her smile was more inviting then Nights-shade had seen from any mare before. 
Nights-shade shook his head and said cheeks growing an even brighter shade of red and voice shaking slightly “I think I will just do it myself thank you very much ma’am.”
She harrumphed irritated at his lack of interest. She picked up the red crystal from the tray as it glowed slightly and leaving the cup on the tray just out of his reach she left the room allowing the curtain flap to billow behind her.


About half an hour later, when he could walk again, Nights-shade stood outside of the small makeshift room, obviously limping and exhausted; both from being stabbed, and... other... activity's that the exam required. He saw that nurse Joy was no where in sight, to his relief, and left the cup now covered with a lid... and full... on the small table he found that was marked 'Nights-shade samples' that contained the other two containers that had been extracted from him.
He walked out to where the original nurse had conducted the verbal examination. She was sitting at the table, the line was gone, and nurse Joy and about five other nurses sat together listening to the nurse who had conducted the verbal examination. A few other colts, and one mare, mulled about outside of exam rooms similar to his.
"Nights-shade, we had not expected to see thou here." Startled Nights-shade turned around, and fell to the ground having put to much weight on his injured leg. The crash could have easily been heard by all of those near by, but no one reacted. Nights-shade opened his eyes to see who had caused his fall, and who he could unleash his anger on. A deep blue coated mare, star sparkled hair billowing behind her loomed over him, eyes wide with concern. "Art thou injured my good colt?"
Shaking his head, Nights-shade struggled to his feet, and bowed slightly. "My Princess Luna, It is an honor to see you again." righting himself he asked "But what are you doing here? have you come to speak with one of the nurses?" Nights-shade purposefully moved so that the contents that he had just placed on the table were not visible to the princess of the night. 
"We... I, have come to inspect the new batch of applicants to the Knight program." she slowly walked past him, smiling slyly as she saw the contents on the table. "I trust the experience was... not entirely traumatic?" Nights-shade blushed furiously, inclining his head in anther slight bow in an attempt to hide his mortification. "We... I" she grimaced to her self as she caught her speech falling back to the old way from a thousand years ago. "I" she said deliberately "did not expect that you would leave your forges and join such a worthy cause as this. Not that you are not brave or strong, but i did not believe you had the warrior spirit necessary." Her voice was sincere and not unkind.
Nights-shade stood tall, all embarrassment gone. "I have always wanted to protect those around me, but i never felt skilled enough to do so princess." he cast his eyes low "i always thought that my skills as a smith, or as a farmer would be far more useful to you. But when the Knight program was introduced last year I started to think that i might be able to do more..." He shook his head dispelling the feeling of doubt that he felt welling up inside. "I know i can do more princess, if only i am given the chance."
Luna, princess of the night smiled genuinely this time. "You are truly a great steed, both for the sacrifices you have made here in these caverns and for the sacrifices you are willing, even now after working so hard, to make to protect others. If you are compatible with the technology i assure you good Nights-shade, you will become a knight." Bowing to him slightly, she walked over to the nurses table. The under nurses such as nurse Joy, scattered one to each of those who were milling about outside their exam rooms.
For a moment pure panic nearly griped him as nurse Joy started his way. But after seeing him she rolled her eyes and whispered lightly into the ear of another of the nurses, who smiled at him. Obviously having switched candidates, the new nurse a white, maybe slightly purple, earth pony filly with a cutie mark of a flower on a background with a red cross indicating that her special talent was in healing, started his way.
When she got closer the new mare asked "hello, how are you feeling after all of that?" she smiled at him not unkindly. 
"Fine" Nights-shade said eyes drooping slightly. "Just tired ma'am". he shook his head slightly trying to clear away the tired feeling, but all he succeeded in doing was making himself dizzy.
"That's normal i suppose. My name is nurse Rosy Hope, you can call me Hope if you like." she walked passed him and to the table, where she took out a red gem exactly like the one that nurse Joy had taken when he had left him alone; she started to wave the gem over the samples and the glowing increased. "Do you know what these are Mr. Nights-shade?" he shook his head no. "We get them from the Crystal Empire and Princess Cadence. She has teams of scientists up there working hard on things like this. Do you know what it does?" again he shook his head no, getting slightly irritated. Nurse Hope nodded "not many pony's do, so i guess that's OK. What this does is it separates your magic from the rest of the sample so that we can examine your DNA without any interference."
Nights-shade gave her a questioning look before asking "But i am an earth pony, we don't have any real magic like the unicorns or pegusi do." She smiled at him again, no doubt at his ignorance. The thought irritated Nights-shade but he let it go.
"No?" nurse Hope said "How do you think you and us other Earth pony's grow so big and strong? or how about your unnatural ability to grow plants? Or how about your natural resistance to negative magical energy's such as Lord Tirek's?" she asked. Her eyes went wide as she realized what she had done, them bowed her head, putting a hoof over it in the sign of contrition. It was something that only a few pony's did at first during the time of the Betrayal. It was a sign that supposedly warded off evil, but as things got worse it eventually became more and more common. Now days it was almost  reflex to do it when someone spoke one of the Chaos Lords names out loud for fear they would hear it. 
As she righted her self again, Nights-shade couldn't help but feel another pang of annoyance at the silly superstition of some pony's. But then he nodded his understanding of what she had been saying. In the early days of Lord Tirek's attack on Equestria, before the Betrayal, he had been unable to use his magic siphoning ability's on earth pony's because of some natural resistance that they had. It wasn't until much later that he was powerful enough to overcome that resistance.
She smiled at him looking somewhat embarrassed by her behavior before she started to use the crystal again. "Anyway..." she said "What i was trying to get at is we wont know if you are compatible unless we can get your magic out of the way. Then we can know for sure. These crystals..." she moved the red rock from the first sample of his blood, apparently fully drained of his magic, to the bone marrow sample. "wow... you have a lot of magic in those bones of yours. What have you been eating for breakfast, unicorn horn?" she asked playfully teasing.
He smiled at her and shook his head "No ma'am, just the oatmeal grog that we all eat." He was very grateful that she was not hitting on him, he was so uncomfortable in those situations and found it a turn off when mares were to forward.
"Well, this might take a minute. So tell me where are you from? before all of" she motioned to the cave by moving her gaze all around "this mess?"
"Me? well..." he had to think. it had been so long sense he had thought of home. "I originally lived in the desert where the buffalo use to roam." his voice grew somewhat somber "before the Betrayer had them all enslaved or killed." he shook his head remembering some of the friends he had had as a young colt. "My father taught me how to blacksmith and farm. I was always better at the smithing then the farming, but i liked farming so much more. Anyway, one day the diamond dogs attacked our little village and we had to flee up into the hills. Luckily for us a few loyalist royal guards found us and chased off the diamond dogs. A few of the Stallion's like my father had stayed behind and fought to buy us some time. From what i heard after the guards returned from the town there were no survivors on either side. that's one reason i am here you know? i have a little sister and my mother still, and they both work here in the kitchens cooking and cleaning but i want for them to be able to live under Celestia's sun again one day, safe." 
The red crystal was glowing absurdly bright now and she moved it over the third sample. Nights-shade blushed slightly, and Hope simply smiled at his embarrassment. "Don't worry, i wont make fun of you. Though I cant say anything about the others." she said motioning toward the small congregation of other nurses who were already done with the other samples and were checking their patients out on a roll call sheet on the desk. The crystal cracked in her hand and she cursed, this time it was her turn to blush though it only lasted a second, to short for Nights-shade to truly enjoy.
"I will be right back, stay here." she through the broken crystal into a basket that contained a small pile of them. As she was walking over to the table of nurses he heard her say "That was a brand new one... how in Celestia's sun did that happen?" When she arrived at the table, she spoke to the head nurse. After a few seconds of speaking in whispered tones, the head nurse leaned over nurse Hope's shoulder and looked straight at him, eyes burning in anger as if he had broken the crystal on purpose, before returning to the younger mare. 
After a few more seconds of conversation the head nurse reached into a small bag marked with a cross, and retrieved a new, much larger crystal. She handed it to Hope who then promptly trotted back to him and the sample table looking as if she had been severely chastised.
"Are you OK?" Nights-shade asked concerned. She turned to him, as she put the new crystal over the third sample and smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes and said "I'm fine, I just needed a new one. Must have forgotten that i had used it on a few pony's before you." Nights-shade furrowed his brow having caught the obvious lie.
"I was the first person you all asked back into the exam rooms today that stayed, so I know that's not true. Whats wrong nurse Hope?" his voice was serious but not overly severe.
Hope grimaced before saying "I must have used the crystals wrong. Normally a crystal that size could be used a few times before breaking, and we normally try not to break them as they can be put to good use elsewhere." For a brief moment Nights-shade's imagination went wild, as he thought of all of the things that those crystals could be used for once filled with magical energy. Shaking himself slightly, Nights-shade said "and it broke when you used it on my sample... which means that either i have so much magic that it could fill that crystal by its self, or that you some how broke it. Good job" he teased, jabbing her lightly in the shoulder.
Hope smiled slightly, and returned to her work with the crystal. "Don't worry about me, i will be just fine. How about you? are you fit to go home on your own after all of this?" He put his injured hoof down on the ground and attempted to stand up as tall as he could just to show her how well he was coming along. Instead he winced as sharp pain spread from his knee out. "Well i will see about having some-pony walk you home then, just to insure you get there safely and don't die by falling down one of these cliffs." she pointed toward the massive internal cavern that housed every pony under Luna's protection. The cavern was a hollowed out mountain that had been dug by the bat pony's a long time ago. All along the walls where pathways that led from one cave to another; the caves honeycombed the walls of the hollow mountain. The caves were hoof built and acted as buildings and homes for every pony, and most were quite comfortable.
"Just, please not nurse Joy? That mare has something loose up here" Nights-shade emphasized his words by pointing to his head, or he tried to. half way through the motion the pain returned in his knee and he winced. Hope struggled to suppress a laugh, which ended up sounding like a snort. Her cheeks blushed light red and it was his turn to laugh.
She scowled in mock indignation "Its not very polite to laugh at a mare you know. Didn't your mother teach you any manners you over stuffed buffoon?" her voice was filled with sarcasm and false arrogance. She smiled as he wiped tears of laughter away from his eyes and into his black coat.
"Besides, i wouldn't worry about all of that. I am your nurse now, if you are willing to wait a few more minutes for me to finish with this..." she said raising the crystal slightly as it continued draining his magic from his... last sample. Nights-shade nodded, and she motioned for him to go sit down with the others who were finished being examined and who were waiting for their escorts home.
"Thank you by the way" he said as he started to limp toward the seats. she gave him a questioning look and he said "You know, for taking over from Joy... that mare is nuts!" laughing they broke off the conversation as he walked away, and she concentrated on her work.
> Chapter 2: A Shady Walk Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Nice. That's how Nights-shade would describe the walk home, that's how the breeze that came from the honeycombed tunnels to the outside world would have been described had he had pen and paper. That's how he would have described the nondescript and kind nurse who walked home with him to ensure his safety as they both traversed the steep rough-hewn walkways carved out of the insides of the massive hollow mountain.
Her coat was white, or in the right light a soft shade of purple and her eyes were enchantingly yellow. She walked in front of him, her tail swooshing back and forth and Nights-shade had a hard time not being detracted. She kept looking back at him to check on his progress, he was limping severely, much more then he would have thought form a simple needle, and found himself more and more grateful for her presence both for her company, and for his own safety.
"So..." she asked as they both continued to walk, in his case to limp, at a slow pace; hoofs clacking on the hard stone and echoing through out the cavern. "You mentioned you had family?"
"Yes ma'am. I have a little sister, and my mother. We live together in a small under cave near the forges I work at." He said sweating and panting with the effort of navigating the broken pathway. "My mother..." he paused as he side stepped a small whole in the path. "... was a caregiver to the developmentally disabled pony's in Canterlot. She retired about a year before the Betrayal to live with the rest of us on the farm me and my dad worked." He stopped to catch his breath, head bowed and knee throbbing. She looked back at him, then turned to face him, concern clear in her eyes.
"Should I go get help? You going to make it there big guy?" she tried to cover her concern for him with a teasing tone, but he could tell she was really worried. Her voice growing more serious she said "Perhaps it might be best if I went and got an air coach, I will be right back." She started to walk past him and back up the path, but he put a hoof out to stop her. 
"No need ma'am, I just needed a quick breather is all." With that, he started down he path towards her looking much more confident then he felt. No need to raise such a fuss for just a sore knee he thought to himself.
Nodding, and obviously not yet fully placated though not willing to hurt his pride, she turned and continued leading him down the small pathway to the caverns floor where access to the under-caves was located. "Are members of your family all as stubborn as you?" she teased.
"No ma'am, just me. Though my father use to put me to shame. My mother is the only pony I've know that could match him for stubbornness when she truly wants to, but for the most part she is a kind of 'go with the flow' type of pony." His voice echoed off of the walls, though far less then it had about half an hour before when they had been near the top of the mountain. He could see some of the bat pony's who primarily lived in the higher caves peak their heads out to see where the sound came from. As the pair of them descended the faces grew more familiar with pegasi , Earth Pony's, and even a few Unicorn poking their heads out of their homes, all looking  particularly annoyed at being disturbed at such a early hour.
It was roughly dawn, and when most of the inhabitants of the cavern went to bed succumbing to their nocturnal nature. For the more traditional Equestrians it was still to early for them to yet be awake. They passed a few Earth Pony's and pegasi who were coming from the forges or coal mines returning home after a long nights shift.
"Here we are. Thank you ma'am I can easily make it from here." Nights-shade said as they reached the great cavern floor. He nodded thanks to her and started down one of the pathways that lead further down into the under-caves.
"Oh no you don't. I promised I would see you home, and that is exactly what I intend to do mister." Hopes voice was stern and Nights-shade knew he would not win, so he tried a different tact.
"Well I only live a little ways down from here. Besides the under-caves is no place for a pretty little filly like you, it can be dangerous. There are bandits down there who will take the opportunity to rob you if they don't think your too big for them to handle." he nodded thanks to her and again started down the pathway without her. Less then a second later, he heard another set of hoof beats echoing off the under-cave walls. Nights-shade sighed before saying "Well, I suppose I can have my friend Dawn-strider escort you back up here if he doesn't have extra work detail again." chuckling at his friends constant misfortune.
He listened for her no doubt snarky retort, but none came. Nights-shade listened closely, and realized that her hoof beats against the hard stone and stopped. Whirling around he saw Hope being dragged down one of the side walkways that lead further into the labyrinth of uncharted under-caves, and away from the main pathways.
"Oh no you don't!" Nights shade yelled as he galloped back, all the pain he had felt earlier in his knee suddenly gone, replaced with adrenaline and anger. He turned the corner and saw that Hope was fighting two pony's, one earth pony and one unicorn. The unicorn's horn was broken at the tip, replaced with an gnarly looking blade that he suddenly held to Hope's throat threateningly. A small trickle of red appeared on her neck mixing with her tears of fear that were falling in a steady stream down her neck.
"Back off, or she dies hear and now" the Unicorn said, as the Earth pony's eyes went wide. He was a young colt barely a stallion, and Nights-shade realized that he knew who he was. 
"Tinner? What are you doing here?! Who is this Unicorn and why are you helping him!?" Nights-shade's voice was loud, and echoed down the hallways. They were barely off the beaten path and he hoped that the guards would hear what he was saying and then find them before anything drastic or tragic happened. 
Tinner, the young Earth pony, started shaking fear and Nights-shade hoped his conscience, getting the better of him." You said no pony would get hurt Half-horn..." 
The Unicorn snarled "You fool, you just used my name, now we are going to have to kill them both! AND I TOLD YOU NEVER TO CALL ME THAT! MY NAME IS..." He shouted, lifting his head and glaring at Tinner; removing the knife from Hopes throat. Nights-shade saw his chance. No pony ever said I was burdened at birth with an over abundance of caution he thought remembering what his father had always said about him. Then there was no more time for thoughts or memory's. Nights-shade barreled over Hope, and into the Unicorn, and snapping at the bastard's neck. Nights-shade tasted copper and he realized that he had drawn blood.
The two pony's wrestled , while Hope and Tinner looked on in pure shock at the savagery of the struggle. Nights-shade, biting and lashing out, trying to score a knockout blow on the Unicorn with his powerful front legs; Half-horn, or what ever his real name had been, Nights-shade had lost it when he had slammed into the would be murderer, using the blade attached to his broken horn to deadly effect. 
In the end, the battle was never in any real doubt. Nights-shade was at least twice the unicorns size, and had the element of surprise despite his lack of forged steel; while the diminished magic, and small if sharp knife that Half-horn had wielded simply couldn't match up to the beast that was Nights-shade.
Nights-shade stood over the motionless Unicorn and spit the flesh and hair he had torn from the attempted murderers neck on the floor beside him. Panting and exhausted, Nights-shade had one more thing to do before he was truly finished with the bastard. Lifting one massive steel shod hoof, he brought it down with the full force that every ounce of muscle and his shear bulk could offer, shattering the blade and the stump of what was left of the now unconscious Unicorns horn.
Hope and Tinner both stared in shock at the savagery they had just witnessed, as Nights-shade then walked to a corner and collapsed, completely spent. He fought to keep his eyes open as some pony shouted his name, but as if each eye lid had a thousand pound weight attached to them, they closed and he was swiftly embraced by sleep.
> Chapter 3: The Shade of Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Nights-shade was in a dream, or was it a nightmare? He knew it of course but that didn't make it any less frightening. He saw his sister being forced to don armor like a Knight, changed from her happy go lucky and care free self, she was now as hard as stone; no she was harder and that scared him.
Next he saw his mother, weeping over two graves as monsters gathered around her ready to devour her. He couldn't make out the names on the headstones, but they had to be his sisters and fathers graves. He yelled, screamed, he even tried to throw something at his mother to get her to run away from the monstrosity’s that descended on her in what seemed like slow motion; but he could not change the outcome. He watched as the shadowy creature’s ripped her apart even as she cried tears of grief for her lost family.
Nights-shade woke, tears staining his main and face while his heart pounded like a forge hammer. Looking around, he saw only shadowy figures, it was dark and someone had turned down the single lamp that his family had in their small under cave for light down to where it gave off almost none. 
He heard whispered voices in the front room that served as the family’s living room, dining room, and kitchen. He listened closely “He is in good health, he is just overly exhausted. He might sleep for several more hours yet.” The voice was soft, and filled with sincere concern for him. “He is also severely dehydrated, so you might want to try and wake him in the next hour or so if he doesn't wake on his own, to get him to drink something.” Her tone started to sound more clinical, a nurse to the caretakers of her patient. “If he won’t take any, force him. If he doesn't wake up, send some pony for me and I will come down with an I.V.” 
Another voice snickered, it was his little sister, Holly. “He hates needles, just the thought of one will get the faker to wake up” she giggled again, her voice was teasing but he could tell that her heart wasn't in it. 
“He will be ok. He has to be, he is all we have left.” Came a third voice, his mother Daisy. She sounded resolute, but as if she was forcing it, trying to stay strong when every pony knew all she wanted to do was fall apart.
The three kept talking but he stopped paying attention. He stood, his front legs were shaky, but gritting his teeth he forced them steady. Come on, he thought, if you can buck an entire apple field by mid-day, or finish a suit of armor in less time, only to have to walk all the way home, you can do this. 
He pushed harder, and only by leaning against the wall, he made it. His vision swayed slightly whoever said I was dehydrated was right… I need some water, he thought as he started to make his way toward the front room.
His hooves clacked hard, as he moved off the area carpet and onto the stone floor of the front room. The voices stopped, and Nights-shade realized that three mares were standing in his way, and staring at him as if he were nightmare moon come again. Throat parched, dry and cracking he said “water…” and walked between them toward the sink. He reached into the small wooden cub-bored that was one of the only things his mother had been able to save from the farm house after it had burned, and retrieved a cup, filled it, and downed its contents in one gulp. 
He drained the cup three more times before his thirst abated enough that he came to some kind of sense. He looked down at the sink, and realized that something red was pooling with the water that dripped from his mussel. His eyes went wide as he looked down at his chest and front hooves, they were caked in dried blood! “What in Celestia’s sun…?”
“It’s not yours, well most of it isn't anyway. You weren't hurt too badly, just a couple of cuts and scrapes.” The voice was Hope’s. Hope, the mare Nurse who had helped him home from the examination. Hope, who he had saved from…
His voice was cold as he said “Where is that lilly livered son of a changeling?” he started to growl, anger granting his limbs strength again “Attacking a mare like that out of nowhere then hiding behind her! I will kill him this time!” 
“Wow there big fella” said Holly as she stepped between him and the door putting a diminutive hoof on his chest. “From what ol’nurse Hope here has been tellin us, you gave that roughien a good what fore!” Anger quickly fled from his eyes, though he felt ready to fight again, like he wanted to fight the son of a chimera again.
“The blood is his Nights-shade.” Said Hope her voice giving away her concern that he would do something foolish… again.
“Son, you did well. You saved Nurse Hope here from who knows what? But you need rest my little shade tree.” Daisy walked up to him and nuzzled her head against his shoulder. Every pretense of leaving to find the scoundrel dissipated, and Nights-shade felt like sleeping again… for a while.
“What time is it?” was all he asked. 
“It’s half way through the afternoon, sunset will be happening soon. Why?” Hope asked before she realized her mistake from the look the other two mares gave her.
“Well, I am going to go lay down for a bit and get something to eat before my shift starts.” Nights-shade turned around, opened the magic powered fridge and started to rummage for something he could eat quickly.
“Nights-shade Tree Down, I don’t think you are going anywhere young man.” His mother said in as forceful a voice as she could muster. “You need a shower, to get something to eat, and then it’s strait to bed with you until tomorrow, understood mister?” she tried to muster her own stubbornness, but she knew just as well as he did that if he didn't work, there would be a day sometime next week that they all wouldn't eat because their ration cards would run out.
“Ma, I need to work. You know that. Besides I will only work my shift, I won’t work the extra today.” He said as he finished making himself a sandwich with extra carrots and tomatoes and bit into it, nearly melting to the ground at the wonderful taste.
“Nonsense! This is doctors, or rather nurse’s orders. You are staying home tonight and sleeping.” She stretched her neck out and sniffed him. “After you take a shower…” Nurse Hope scrunched her nose at his smell.
Nights-shade shook his head, pushing lightly past her and back toward the shared bedroom munching down on his sandwich. “Oh for the sake of Celestia” Joy said under her breath. “If you are worried about ration cards, I can order you a whole new set tomorrow, as long as you sleep tonight. But if this is a manly pride thing, trying to be the ‘big stallion’ so help me I will go straight to your supervisor and…” her words were lost on him as he teetered from side to side. 
She and the other two mares, where at his side immediately, supporting him and guiding him back to the bed he had dragged himself out of. 
After he was settled and snoring quite loudly, Nurse Hope walked back into the kitchen area trailed by his family. She turned and said “Ok, so that was odd.” And smiled at them. They both smiled back as if they knew something she didn’t. “What? Am I missing something?”
“Nothing at all darling” Daisy said, a small smirk still shining bright on her face. “It’s just I have never seen him so worked up over something as normal as a robbery after the fact. Oh he has a temper that’s sure, but it almost never goes further than right then. The only time I have seen him so angry after the hullabaloo was over and done with was when a bully kept picking on Holly when we first moved here.”
“How about when that one Colt stole your saddle bag? He ripped that guy a new…” she was interrupted by her mother’s angry glare. “What? … He did.” She said sulking.
“We do not use bad language in this house hold little filly. Do you understand me?” The sternness in her voice made Hope realize what Nights-shade had been talking about. When she wanted to, she had a will of iron.
“But Nights-shade said …” holly started argue before being cut off.
“I don’t care what Nights-shade said, he is sick and needs love and sleep. You are just trying to get away with behaving poorly young filly, and so help me I will paddle your bottom if you do it again. Do you understand me?” Daisy’s face was iron and Holly’s eyes started to water. 
“Yes ma.” Was all she squeaked out before small tear started to form and fall from her eyes. 
“Oh little one” Daisy said, pulling Holly close “Don’t be so sensitive. It’s just the rules, you know them so why the tears huh?” her voice was tender, all sense of Iron was gone. But Hope could tell it would be right back if the little filly tried anything.
“It’s not that ma” holly said as she buried her face in her mother’s coat. “Its Nights-shade…” and then the sobbing started in earnest.  
Shushing the young filly, Daisy nuzzled her head as she softly said “It’s alright little one, he is just fine, he is just really tired is all, but thanks to Nurse Hope here he will get the rest he needs.” Daisy pulled Holly away from her slightly looking her in the eyes and said “why don’t you run along and watch over Nights-shade? Make sure he stays asleep will you?” Hope suddenly felt very uncomfortable, as if she was watching something privet and intimate. Suddenly she realized, she was and turned to pointedly look at the hard cave stone walls as if inspecting them for cracks.
Holly whipped her eyes with a hoof, then said voice cracking slightly “Yes Ma.” The little filly then stood, swaying slightly as if tired herself, and walked into the other room. Hooves clacking as she moved from the hard stone floor of the front room, to the area carpet in the other where her hoof steps were muffled. 
Daisy waited for Holly to be fully in the next room before she rounded on Hope taking the mare slightly by surprise. “Can you do what you just promised?” The iron was back in her voice and stare, though it seemed tempered by hope that Hopes words were true. Hope nodded her head.
As she spoke her voice was filled with unease under that iron stare “It would be easy. I have requisition forms” Hope grew more confident as she continued. “All doctors and nurses do when dealing with a sick patient by decree of Luna herself.” Hope mimicked Daisy’s for everything she was worth, but she knew it was nowhere near as intimidating as the older mares. “It should be common practice particularly with how dangerous the work at the forges can be down here. Who is the doctor for this warren of under caves?” 
Daisy laughed bitterly “Dr. Rag-pin but that old goat will only see patients if they have Bits. Says he ‘deserves to be paid like everyone else’, and most of the workers down here can barely keep food on their tables let alone afford a doctor’s visit, particularly at the prices he ‘offers’. Almost no one has bits down here anymore, we all live off of the ration system, but that’s all he will take.” Daisy’s face grew tired and bitter, as if she had seen one to many horrible things in life. Hope then realized she probably had and was holding on only for her daughter and son.
“He gets a stipend from Luna’s treasury like every other medical worker! He should be able to live off of that, and the ration system more comfortably then he deserves, the rat!” Hope’s voice started to raise as she spoke, getting more and more worked up as she went. 
Daisy grimaced and motioned for her to lower her voice, nodding to the other room where her two children were asleep. Holly’s snoring was much worse the nights-shades, and that was loud. Hope mouthed an apology but continued, this time in a near whisper. “Why would he do something like that?”
Daisy looked at her as if she had grown another head before answering “You are almost as naive as my Nights-shade, child, he also was shocked when he learned the hard lessons, but learn them he did. And so I am sad to say, will you.” She chuckled slightly to herself. She walked over to a small rocking chair and sat down before continuing. “The answer to your question is Greed child. Plain and simple greed, as old as the world and as powerful as any magic in all the lands.” Daisy’s black and yellow spotted coat bristled before continuing. “It’s an ailment as old as time, and there ain’t no cure for it.”
Daisy was right about her being shocked, Hope shook her head trying to wrap her head around it all. How could a pony sworn to uphold a stricked medical code of ethics turn it on its head because of simple greed? Particularly when he was already living a nearly lavish life style by comparison to those he was supposed to be serving.
“Well it’s not going to continue, that’s for sure. I am going right to Luna with this mess, she will do something to change it, I promise.” Hope emphasized her words by stomping a hoof, creating a loud *Clack* that echoed through the house. She grimaced slightly thinking of the sleeping ponies in the other room. She realized that the image she was trying to convey of confidence, had broken slightly. 
Daisy smiled “I think you will at that, though I don’t know if it will help. Luna might not have any one to replace him which means she’d need to keep him right where he is.” She looked tired to Hope, tired and worried as any good mother would be for her children. Daisy rocked slightly back and forth, the tension in her muscles eased visibly at the all too familiar motion. “A greedy doctor is better than no doctor at all I suppose.”
Hope shook her head, having trouble comprehending the troubling issues that had just been laid before her that were daily life for the ponies in the under-caves. “Do you want to know the reason why my boy works as many Dayshifts as he can nurse hope?” Hope shook her head worried about what the reason might be.
“A few months ago I started getting tired. I couldn’t work a full shift at the factory anymore, I would get so tired. I was fired you see, for being lazy. Luckily a doctor was down that day for safety inspections and he ordered tests.” Daisy’s voice turned heavy, and somehow she seemed even more exhausted then she had been. “I have stage three cancer.” Daisy’s eyes started glisten with unshed tears “he has been working the extra shift, so that he could sell the extra rations to pay for my treatments.  I was told though, that the treatments will help slow its progress but without surgery I will be dead by the end of the year.”
Hope felt an anger well up inside her. This women, this sweet, carrying mother of two who had raised them on her own, and who was now staring death square in the face was being extorted, and denied treatment because of the greed of one doctor. She wanted to scream! She wanted to find this pony and beret him, or at the very least beat him with an iron rod.
“The second this ‘doctor’ of yours knew about the need for surgery you should have been admitted to the central hospital. This is ridiculous!” Daisy nodded, satisfied.
Smiling sternly Daisy said “Now, I believe something will actually be done. Oh I never doubted you would try and do something about it. But now I know you’re angry enough to actually get other ponies on board.” Daisy stood, walked over to Hope and whispered in her ear “thank you” and picked the mare up in an embrace, iron tight.
Hope gasped as Daisy released her. They both stood there and blushed. “Well ugh… I should go then. Is there someone who could guide me out of these tunnels?” Hope asked, the red in her cheeks fleeing at the change of topic, and influx of oxygen.
“Oh, of course!” Daisy said as if remembering something she had forgotten. “Wait here a minute and I will go get Dawn-strider. I don’t think he got in trouble today, so he should be able to take you at least up to the main cavern.” With that she was out her door before Hope could respond.
Hope waited for a few minutes, listening to the two ponies in the other room snore. She decided to take a seat, and moved toward the rocking chair. The motion, back and forth, was familiar to her only as it would be to a mother. Hope shook her head, casting the memories aside; now was not the time, now was not the place to be remembering such painful things.
As time ticked by though the memories, the pleasant ones, returned. These she did not fight, she would not dare fight. She remembered the feeling of a small filly cooing in her arms. Of a young colt who had become her husband. She remembered a time long before tragedy had struck, and striped her of everything. The memories were good, and they eventually turned into dreams as she rocked back and forth.

> Interlude: The Betrayal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The bells sounded their mournful call, as the procession approached the palace. Six stallions carried the casket past where a team of artisan’s held their hats over their hearts, having stopped work on the half-finished statue commissioned to honor the sacrifice of the pony who had saved them all.
Shining Armor and Mr. Sparkle stood at the front, guiding the casket and setting the solemn pace of the others. Big-mac and Mr. Cake, followed by Flash Sentry and another guard in full ceremonial armor rounded out the pallbearers, lifting the light and empty casket with little difficulty. Though the burden on their hearts was almost too much for them, as the rain cascaded off the casket, and off of them as if the sky its self were weeping at their loss.
The crowed was silent, except for the occasional pony who wept softly for their youngest, and beloved princess, they believed now lost to the ages and history.
The procession made its way silently to the palace gates. There they waited patiently as two more guards swung the doors wide, revealing the princess’s throne room and a long, once red now black carpet, that they would walk over all the way to the four thrones, one now sitting empty and silent never to be claimed again.
Or so they think. Thought a pony from the shadows, hood covering their face concealing it from the crowed. She chuckled softly to herself. A large stallion patted her on the back consolingly, no doubt believing she was weeping as well.  The great double doors swung shut behind the casket and its bearers, and the cries of sadness and weeping from what had once been her subjects, intensified. 
***
The service was eloquent, with the patriarch of the holy unity church presiding; the only one in the room who was not mourning by wearing black, his natural coat of bright white shone through the blackness like a beacon of hope to those whose souls were consumed with grief. 
The patriarch’s words were inspiring, uplifting and comforting to the many pony’s gathered who silently wept, or who were still fighting the shock of the news that their beloved princess twilight sparkle had died saving them from the horrors of Lord Tierk, despite being victorious in the end.
Mr. and Miss Sparkle stood after. Mr. Sparkle could barely speak through the sobbing tears, and his wife was almost unable to stand due to her grief, knees wobbling and unsteady. Mr. Sparkle spoke of how no parent should have to bury a child, but how proud they both were of Twilight. How proud she would be proud of how every pony came together in these some of the darkest times to remember the good that she had brought into the world. His words were brief, yet perhaps the most potent that had or would be spoken in love that day. As his speech dissolved into uncontrollable weeping, the patriarch gently ushered them to their seats on the side of the dais.
Luna then stood, she spoke of how she regretted never truly knowing twilight as a close friend, but how twilight had helped her during her dark days of transition back into the modern world. How twilight had saved nightmare night from her foolishness, and how Twilight had saved her personally from the creature that had turned her bitterness and jealousy into the now infamous nightmare moon.
Next, it was Cadence’s turn at the podium. She spoke of having known twilight the most, having foal-sitted for the Sparkle family, and how she had grown to love not only her Shining Armor, but Twilight more than anything in the world. They had grown close, and Twilight had saved her from a fate probably worse than death at the hands of Queen Cristalis. Then, how her beloved friend had gifted her a kingdom and helped her save an entire pony race from under the diabolical and tyrannical rule of the evil King Sombra with no thought for herself. Cadence admitted that everything she had, everything she was as the Princess of Love and the Queen of the Crystal Empire, could not have happened without Twilight Sparkle. Crying she then returned to her throne and sat down, trying to control her sobbing as Luna consoled her.
Last of the Princesses to speak was the one who by all rights should be known as Queen of all of Equestria. Princess Celestia stood, tears streaming down her face at the loss of her pupil, knowing full well the events that had to have transpired just days before. Perhaps knowing more than any other pony in Equestra… all but one. 
Before she could bring herself to speak, an eruption occurred. Not of violence, or of any natural occurrence, or even magical in nature, but of voices. The crowds outside, the once tearful mourners, now screamed and hollered in exaltation. The words were lost, but their mirth was undeniable. Celestia grimaced, knowing what was coming, even though no other pony did, except maybe the princesses on the thrones behind her.
Before Celestia could speak, the great double doors that lead to the hall were magically forced open, the guards barely leaping out of the way as they slammed against the wall. In the place where the doors had stood moments before, was now a mare covered by a cloak that was wet, no doubt from the rain that had punished Canterlot sense the loss of its beloved Twilight. A purple light lit the face under the cloak revealing to some of the mourners who it was that had interrupted the service.
“Twilight!” Came a voice from near the back, as a mare in a fashionable and elegant black dress, face streaked with running mascara from tears, jumped from the crowed behind the cloaked mare. “Twi?” said another, stepping from the crowed. Others followed, her closest friends who were the elements of harmony incarnate. They circled her even as the crowd erupted in jubilant celebration, cheers and screams of delight overcoming every attempt to understand what any pony was saying. 
“By Celestia your alive!”, “Where have you been Twi?”, “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh!”, “Twilight? Is it really you?”, “TWILIGHT! Now we can have a REAL party! Funerals are so boring no one ever wants to dance.” 
“I AM ALIVE… MY FRIENDS. NOW, BE SILENT.” Her voice echoed throughout the hall and quickly suppressed the noise from the attendants, who all bowed low to the ground, some whispering her name in reverence and near worship. Her friends backed away, withdrawing from her as waves of magic tried to force them to their knees.
Twilight, once Princess of Equestria moved toward her throne and the other princesses who stood there. She ascended the stairs leading to the dais, but Celestia and the other two princesses barred her way.
“Return the magic that you have so horribly misused, or leave this place, lost one.” Celestia chocked on the last word, emotion getting the best of her.
“Return our magic Twilight Sparkle, so that you can regain your rightful place among us.” Luna’s voice was sturn, but had a hint of pleading that no pony could miss.
“Twilight please, return our magic so things can go back to how they were. We can be family again.” Cadince fought back tears as she watched the once precious little filly she had fole-sat for hours on end, pull back her hood, laughing as she did.
The three princesses gasped. “Twilight! What has happened to you?!” Cadences voice was a near shriek, filled with fear and horror. 
“Oh… Oh my precious twilight, what have you done?” Celestia said leaving any pretense of fighting the tears far behind; they fell unceasingly from her eyes.
“Twilight, thy horn… it has…changed.” Luna nearly whispered, horror evident in her expression.
Twilight's laugh pierced them all to their core, filling their hearts with horror, fear, and revulsion. “You were once considered gods among our kind” Twilight's voice was a whisper compared to what it had just been, but could clearly be heard by all in the throne room. “But what you have been is nothing compared to the power I have tasted. You have all spoken to me of the heavy burden that your power has brought you, but I say you know NOTHING OF GODHOOD! NOTHING OF BURDEN, OR POWER!” Twilight’s horn grew purple underneath the dark magic crystal that encased it.
“I WILL TEACH YOU OF POWER! I WILL TEACH YOU OF RESPONSIBILITY AND FEAR! Those who you have cast aside however, have tasted some of what I have felt. The DESPERATION OF HUNGER! The FEAR OF LOSS! The POWER OF PURE MAGIC! The…the BLOOD OF THE DEAD!” A portal appeared next to the princesses, crafted out of black and purple magic intermixing and crackling with lightning dangerously bleeding off excess energy. “YOU WILL LEARN!” 
“No!” Celestia screamed, as she reached toward the medallion she wore around her neck. A small amount of pure white energy leaped from it and struck twilight’s tainted horn. “It is YOU who shall learn! One...” Celestia stalked closer to Twilight, fighting through the waves of every that the younger Allicorn emanated. “Final…” the beam of white light grew thicker, and some who witnessed it say that Celestia’s visage was nearly angelic. “Lessen!”
Celestia’s and Twilights horns touched just briefly, but it was all the elder Alicorn needed. Three streams of energy escaped from the now cracked crystal that encased twilight’s horn. The streams of light smashed into the three magic-less princesses forcing them through the powerful gateway which snapped shut with a hiss and crackle behind them.
“NO!” Twilight screamed in anger, but in truth the emotion never really touched her. She had foreseen this, she had known of Celestia’s Betrayal long before she had arrived. One lesson that she had learned from all of her history books that were filled with war and destruction, tyrants and heroic leaders was this, ‘one pony could not rule through their will alone, no matter how powerful.’ Not for long anyway.
The inevitable Betrayal was exactly why Twilight had gone to the four most powerful magical creatures that she knew of, and had taken from them some of their magic. She knew however, that even without the newly christened ‘chaos lords’ as they called themselves and the magic they had given her, that she was far more powerful now then Celestia, or Luna, or even Cadence had or would ever be on their own. Simply holding the magic of the other three Alicorns had enhanced her capacity to wield it tenfold. 
But she also knew another lesson from history ’never let a perfectly good excuse for grabbing political power, go unused.’ She realized very early on that if she was going to establish an empire of order out of the Chaos that was Equestria; she would need her people to be subject to her in more ways than simply through fear. She would have to form laws, courts, and a civic structure to truly establish an eternal order.
Though having them fear her was the first thing she needed done on her check list. So that was why she pretended to be enraged at what she knew was inevitable. That was why she turned on the crowed of would be mourners, and started to kill them. It was easy for her, perhaps the easiest thing she had ever done.
One by one, empty black cloths started to litter the chamber as she disintegrated a few of them, those she deemed unimportant; while she let the rest run in abject terror, to spread the word of their new God.

> Chapter 4: A Walk With Dawn
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hope woke with a start. The room was light by a single lantern that provided just enough light to see by comfortably. She glanced back toward the room where Nights-shade and his sister Holly had disappeared into, and saw it was not pitch black. 
Hope glanced about the front room and found Daisy, softly humming to herself, washing dishes in the small sink. Another large stallion sat at the table, drowsily pruning a large wing that somehow he kept from being in Daisy’s way despite the small accommodations. Gold, orange and red feathers intermixed on the Pegues’s wing, reminding Hope of the colors of dawn.
“Dawn-strid…” she coughed, throat dry and parched. She cleared it with a groggily cough that was far less then ladylike. Blushing slightly, she said “Dawn-strider I suppose?” The lazy looking Pegusis looked at her, his eye lids drooping down to cover strikingly green eyes. 
“Yesum. I take it you’re the good nurse Hope that Nights-shade so hung up on then?” Daisy turned around and thumped the large stallion on the head, soapy scrubber leaving behind suds as some bubbles were flung into the air. 
The wack had not been a soft tap, rather Hope thought she might have to bandage another injury before the night was done, but the massive pegisus merely grinned at her in perhaps the toothiest smile she had ever seen.
“And who is ‘lady-sue’? she seems like some pony that’s…” he was again interrupted as Daisy brought down another blunt instrument, this time a rolling pin on his head. 
“It’s not polite to be asking such questions of a lady after she just woke up, you stubbornly stupid pegusus.” Daisy’s face was calm, as if this was an exchange they had both had nearly every day of both of their lives.
Dawn-strider looked down, yellow and red coat bristling with shame. “Yesum Ms. Shade. My apologies Ms. Nurse. I mean Nurse Hope, or is it Ms. Hope?” Daisy simply rolled her eyes at the stallion’s foolishness.
“Hope is fine thank you Dawn-strider.” Hope was smiling, immensely amused at the pairs antics. As she spoke Dawn-stider perked up and even smiled slightly, bowing his head to her in thanks.
“It’s not that he means any harm you see Ms. Hope, it’s that he is too stupid to know when to shut his mouth with those darn questions of his. Any way, you were saying something about a ‘lady-sue’ and I was going to ask you later… when we were alone.” As Daisy said the last, she glared down at the sitting stallion whose head was now bowed even deeper in evident shame.
Hope frowned, sad memory’s coming back to her. “Lady-sue was the name of my little filly. Before the betrayal when I had a family…” her voice trailed off and her eyes dropped from the pair of ponies to the floor as she remembered her grief.
“Oh… oh my dear I didn’t mean to bring back such hurt.” Daisy walked beside hope, and nuzzled her softly, it reminded hope of pleasant memories of her own mother, and how she had comforted her after the news had come.
Dawn-strider’s head came up, ears back signaling his discomfort at the topic and his own sympathy for Hope. “Much sympathy ma’am.” Was all he said, voice barely a whisper, as he again tipped his head in a small salute.
“Oh come now, it was a long time ago. I am fine now.” Hope protested trying to pull away from Daisy’s nuzzling, but the stubborn mare merely wrapped an arm around the younger mares shoulder and pressed closer. “Really, this was all a very long time ago.” She tried again, but Daisy didn’t let up her embrace.
Hope was feeling very uncomfortable with Nights-shade’s mother clenching on in an embrace so tight she could barely breath, and the large, rather handsome stallion Dawn-strider looking on with a pained expression of his own.
“Thank you for your support…” Hope said as she finally wiggled out of the older mares grasp. “… but really I am doing just fine. I actually have not thought about it for quite some time.” The lie was evident on her face, though Daisy let it go this time. 
“Girl, I had four still born stallions and two mares before I got lucky enough to have Nights-shade. Holly was a complete and pleasant surprise, if a draining one…” Daisy said as she glanced lovingly toward the pair who slept in the now dark room they all shared.
“My point is, there is not a day that goes by that I don’t think about every single one of their precious little hearts, and I never even got to hold them.” Daisy’s eyes started to water slightly but her voice never wavered; and neither did her gaze. “It is a mothers burden to carry the pains  of those she loves and to worry constantly about them where ever she goes, no matter if they are with our ancestors or here still in the flesh.”
Daisy got close and whispered so that only she and hope could hear clearly. “And you my dear, are most certainly a mother. It is the one wound that time can never heal, and it is the one wound that you would never want it to…” her voice trailed off as she stood completely strait and started to walk toward the sink and her dirty dishes again, as if the whole thing had never happened.
“Well then, dawn strider you will need to take Hope back up to the main cavern so she can get back and get some sleep herself.” Daisy’s hooves were already in the dishwater and scrubbing for all she was worth on one particularly stubborn pan.
“Yesum” Dawn-strider said as he lazily stood and exited the door. 
Standing hope walked toward the door. Resting a hoof on it, she turned her head and whispered back into the room voice barely audible over the scrubbing of dishes “Thank you.” Before hurriedly exiting, closing the door behind her.
As soon as the door shut behind the young mare, Daisy stopped scrubbing. She let the tears fall from her eyes at the memory of her precious children that had never seen the light of Celestia’s glorious day, or the bright twinkling stars of Luna’s holy night. After a few moments, as she had learned to do every moment of her life, she picked up the scrubber. Her own grief be dammed, she had work to do.
***
Dawn-strider nearly filled the small corridor. Small for him at least, as most pony’s cold pass each other with no problem, while when he came by they had to squeeze against the wall. There was once while the pair was traveling that they had to go through a side corridor to wait, as three mothers with their little filly’s and foals passed them by, followed by two mean looking stallions from the loyal nights guard. As soon as the group passed however, they were off again.
Despite his lazy nature, and even lazier steps, hope had trouble keeping up with the Pegasus as each one of his strides equaled about two of her own. Neither said anything as they walked, though it was not an uncomfortable silence. With Dawn-strider it seemed everything should happen in its own time, and he oozed a persona of confidence and calm.
They both entered the great chamber, Hope slightly behind Dawn-strider. If she had been a dog, he would have thought her nipping at his heels. He bit down on the comment though, as he remembered the nasty bump on his head that Ms. Shade had given him for opening his big mouth.
“Thank you Dawn-stider…” hope said her voice somewhat shaky from both the exertion and from the fear that had welled up in her as she had passed the place where she had been attacked, and where Nights-Shade had saved her.
“You’re welcome Ms. Hope” he said voice echoing in a slow cadence across the cavern floor. “Twas a pleasure ma’am.” He said as he bowed his head in his typical salute.
“Dawn-strider? Uh…Can you tell me a little about Nights-shade? What is he like?” she asked slightly uncertain.
Dawn-strider chuckled slightly “So, you fancy him to do ya?” he laughed a slow and deep before continuing on despite her face going a deep shade of red. “Well now I can’t say that neither of you don’t deserve it.” His face took on a quizzical look before he continued, putting a hoof to his chin. “Well now let’s see here. He is a big fellow, but I am sure you already know that, just look at him he is almost as big as me.” He laughed again before continuing. “He is a good fighter, though our friend Tempest ((Look this up… name you used at the beginning)) is much better than either of us. He is good at making armor you know? He can make a whole suit in about a day, less than that if there is a rush on it which is a hard thing let me tell you.” 
Dawn-strider rubbed his chin again thinking of more he could tell hope before he spoke. “He is also really good to his ma, she is sick you know and he does all the extra work he does so that she can get help.” He chuckled again shaking his head. 
“That’s actually how we met. Ya see, we were both working in the same forge, and I kept seeing him work the extra shift with me and tempest. I knew he had never gotten in trouble like me or tempest always seem to do, so I thought he was just trying to show us up. You know, make us look bad in front of the boss man.” Hope nodded that she understood and he continued.
“And ya have to understand back then he never spoke to no one, I mean no one. Not even the boss unless he absolutely needed to. He was so focused on working, and so none of us in the forge knew any different. Anyway, I picked a fight with him one day and the rest is history.” He smiled at her as if what had happened after that was as clear as the day is bright.
“so… how did you two become friends?” Hope asked confused.
“Oh… well we fought. I beat him up pretty good, this was before I trained him up to fight ya see, but he took a bite out of my hide too. See here?” he opened his right wing, revealing a massive scar that ran along under the wing joint, until it came to what could have only been a bite mark. “Took a chunk out of me, the bastard.” The massive Pegasus grinned laughing low and deep to himself. “And… well… that’s how we became friends. We were in the same room together recovering in the hospital down in the under caves when it still was functioning, and we got to talking.”
Hope shook her head, confused. How could two ponies, so big and strong, fight like that and then when it was all over, end up best friends? That was NOT how she was taught friendship worked. “Must be a Stallion thing…” she said still confused.
“Yesum, I think it is. Come to think of it that’s how I got most of my friends. We fought, and then we talked… odd.” Dawn-strider then started to walk away back toward the under cave entrance. As if he had realized something he turned and said “thanks for talkin with me ma’am. I was beginning to think you to scared while we was down there.” He pointed toward the under cave entrance. 
“I thought the same of you Dawn-strider.” She said as she smiled. “Too afraid of little old me to talk, that is.” Dawn-strider’s expression turned contemplative again, but she continued “But don’t worry, I don’t bite… at least not as hard as Nights-shade.” She laughed to herself as she saw the great stallion walk slowly down the under cave path, apparently deep in thought; hooves clacking heavily on the stone floor.
Well Hope, time to get to bed, she thought and headed up toward her own living quarters near the top of the cavern walls. She stopped, remembering how far she would have to go. Her legs ached, her eyes burned, and she was emotionally exhausted. Thinking better of it, she whistled, calling down a sky coach.
> Chapter 5: Test Results
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Nights-shade’s hammer came down again, another perfect strike on the spear head. Today was different than most days, he was assigned to work on the weapons rather than armor. It was much slower work, but the precision and skill involved kept him focused and engaged. 
The hammer came down again, another perfect strike. Only a few more and it will be in the right shape, thought Nights-shade, almost ready for sharpening. Nights-shade brought down the hammer again, and again straightening the spear-head until it was perfect. He lifted it off the anvil and thrust it into a bucket of waiting water, steam rolled up into his face but he held still letting the heat dissipate.
He pulled the spear tip out of the water, extinguishing the steam, and examined his handy work. It was nearly perfect, just a slight variation near the tip that could eventually lead to breakage if it went any deeper than the surface level. Nights-shade sighed, hoping that it didn't, and walked over to the small sharpening wheel.
Pressing the peddle a few times to get the grind stone moving at an even speed, using his leather hoof protectors he held the tip down against the fast moving stone. Sparks appeared, and he watched as the variation swiftly disappeared from the weapons edge as he went about the work of sharpening it. 
After a short time going about the work, the black steel tip turned almost chrome, as the once dull edge came to a dangerous sharpness. He lifted the spear tip off of the grind stone and inspected it, the quality was good, though not his best work. Sighing, again disappointed, he shuffled to the side, toward the mounting station. He put the spear tip down, and picked up the tongs he had used to grip it before. This time he reached down into a small bucket by the stations foot, and grabbed a roughly four inch metal rod and shoved it amongst the coals of his forges fire.
Leaving the rod to heat up amongst the burning coals, he turned again and grabbed the spear length. It had not yet been sanded to a fine grain, but that was a good thing at this point in the process. Pushing the staff hard against the small work bench, he drilled a whole through it near one end with a small hand drill he retrieved from the work benches top drawer. 
The whole in the length complete, Nights-shade put down the drill and picked up the spear head, placing it in the small slot that had previously been carved at the spears top. The small whole at the bottom of the spear head lined up perfectly with the whole he had drilled into the shafts length. Leaving the spearhead inside the small crevice of the spear length, he turned. Picking up the tongs, he retrieved the rod from underneath the coals, now burning bright red though it maintained its shape.
Carefully Nights-shade lined the rod up with the whole in the spear, and placed it against it. The rod was just slightly too large to fit neatly in the whole, but that was a good thing he was told. Nights-shade picked up a hammer, maintaining the grip on the tongs with his other, and brought the weighty mallet down on the rod. 
He had to work quickly before the rod cooled, so using all of his strength he hammered the rod into the whole again and again. Every muscle in his body straining with each hammer blow. After it was finished, Nights-shade used a small set of iron wrought and magically protected cutters to remove the excess of the rod from the nearly finished spear.
Nights-shade left the spear sitting on the work bench, as he turned and grabbed the stone mold that would allow him to make another spear head. Another pony would soon arrive to retrieve the spear, and take it for sanding, and polishing.
Third spear today. I wonder how every pony else is doing, he thought briefly as the metal he had poured into the mold took its time to cool. Doesn’t matter I suppose, but still it would be nice to know how well I am doing. Particularly when I am so new to this design.
“Nights-shade!” came a booming voice from down the length of the cavern which was filled with row after row of work areas and forges like his own. “Nights-shade!” the voice boomed again, this time closer. 
“Hear boss!” Nights-shade yelled down his alley of forges, his voice echoing down the long line toward the source of the interruption. Nights-shade heard hoof beats against the hard stone floor, as if his boss was galloping toward him. The boss would never do that, he thought snickering at the image in his mind of the fat pencil pusher of a stallion galloping for all he was worth. But the sound of hoof beats kept getting louder, and the sounds of working forges and hammer falls started to die away as stallions at the other forges around him came into the alley way to see what was happening. 
Nights-shade walked into the alley way, just in case his boss was waving to him to come to his office. He glanced down the long line of forges and work benches and saw a diminutive figure running for all it was worth. It can’t be the boss… this is just weird, he thought as another stallion, a Pegasus nearly twice Nights-shade’s size stepped out of his own forge, his fur and feathers coated in soot that only barely dulled the bright, dawn like colors of his coat.
Dawn-strider said “Well… that’s the boss alright. I recognize that yellin voice anywhere.” The great Pegasus looked down and over at Nights-shade “well buddy, looks like it’s your turn for once” the Pegasus grinned from ear to ear.
Nights-shade put his ears back, showing his discomfort. “But… I didn't do anything Dawn… I don’t get it. The boss man must have some kind of news or somthin…” he said, obviously trying to convince himself.
“That’s what I always use to say, remember?” The giant pegusus said, his grin growing even wider. “I wonder what kind of punishment he can give you. I mean ya already work the day shift with the rest of us anyway…” Dawn-striders smile disappeared, replaced by his thinking face. “Maybe he just wants ta yell at ya. Yea… That’s probably it. He wants to yell at ya for making the rest of us lazy louts look bad!” Dawn’s smile was back, it in an odd way it comforted Nights-shade a little to see one of his best friends in the world grinning like a fool.
“Oh stop making fun of him Dawn strider.” Said another pegusus as he stepped out of the forge opposite them both along the alley way. His blue and white coat and main almost unknowable under the soot that covered it. “So help me, if you get him all worked up and it ends up being something serious, I will beat you back into yesterday so you can fix it you big lout.” His voice was a mid-ranged tenor, in contrast to his two best friends and their deep baritone and base. 
“Oh come on Hails… I was just havin some fun. He never gets into trouble ya know? Why we always do.” The large dawn colored Pegasus stomped a foot lazily, kicking a rock into the alleyway. Hails-wind caught the stone as it was going to pass him, and kicked it to Nights-shade starting a small game the three used to amuse themselves while they waited for their boss to arrive.
Nights-shade glanced back down the alleyway and saw the figure which had been galloping just a few minutes before, walking their way, head down in evident exhaustion. “He really needs to get topside more often, do some laps around the mountain or somthin.” Nights-shade whispered as their boss got closer. 
The Stallion was large, as tall as Nights-shade and built as a forge master. Under the layers of fat that coated the stallion’s body, there was a hard layer of muscle that rivaled even Dawn-strider. Something they all knew about. Their boss, Crafter, had bodily thrown stallions out of the forges for fighting more than once, but that didn’t mean he was a very good runner.
Crafter slowly walked up to the group of three, parting the crowed that filled the alley way with snaps of his teeth and gasping threats about breaking skulls. “You alright sir?” Nights-shade asked timidly.
“Just…Let me… Catch… My …Breath” Crafter wheezed breathing deeply between each word. After a minute or two the stallion regained some f his composure and stood straight, towering over the smaller Hails-wind, and meeting Nights-shade square in the eye with is gaze.
“Your fired Nights-shade. Pack your things and head home.” His voice was hard, resolute and a filled with more than a little confusion at the order he just gave. 
“Hell no!” yelled Dawn-strider, “Sir, with all due respect you can’t do that!” argued Hails-wind. A flurry of other protests came from the others in the alley way who knew Nights-shade, knew his character, and most importantly… knew that he needed the job, as they all did. Shouts of “How dare you!” and “He will starve!” echoed off the roof of the giant chamber.
Nights-shade was silent…shocked at the news and how calmly his boss now looked. “QUITE!” his boss yelled, as the forge workers complaints went from a Roar… to a dull roar. “The order came from way above my head. There is nothing I can do Nights-shade…” Crafter looked at him, his eyes pleading for understanding.
“Like hell there is nothing you can’t do to help him!” Dawn-strider yelled, putting a hoof down hard and cracking the ground under it slightly, his face contorted in pure rage. “You will pay for this you selfish bastard!” yelled Hails-wind, as two other pony’s held him back from attacking the much larger and much stronger Crafter; the Pegasus's famous temper getting the better of him. 
“SHUT IT EVERYPONY!” Nights-shade yelled above the ruckus. Every pony did just that, and abruptly the echoes from off the cavern walls were all that was audible, until they too dissipated and silence held the room. “From who Crafter? Who gave the order?” he asked his voice a whisper. 
Crafter looked pained, obviously he was told not to disclose who had lodged the complaint. “I can’t…”
“Come on Crafter… you owe me this at least. Tell me who.” Crafter bowed his head then nodded.
“You know that mugger you fought a few weeks ago?” Nights-shade nodded. “He died.” Nights-shade wasn’t too surprised, he had really worked the would be murderer over. “Well, he also had a brother. Officially he was kicked out of his family and had no claim to title, but his brother is a duke who has Cadences favor right now. I had a message delivered to my office with the royal seal of the crystal empire. While technically she has no official power here, to go against her wishes I would need to go to Luna herself. I actually tried that, but apparently the guy has some friends here to. They stopped me from even getting an audience.”
Nights-shade nodded his understanding. When it came to the royalty, to the nobility, it was all any normal pony could do to go unnoticed. If Crafter was seen as being to uppity, he might just simply disappear in some under cave byway, taken out by assassins. It wasn’t unheard of.
Nights-shade cleared his throat and spoke loudly enough for every pony to hear. “If Crafter didn’t do this, he would be fired for sure.” Nights shade went up to Dawn-strider, putting a hoof into the massive Stallions chest “Do you remember when he went to bat for you with the judge that time you got into a fight with that prince and nearly killed him?” 
Dawns-strider’s expression went from pure rage, to pain as the two conflicting loyalties fought for control of the big Pegasus’s actions. “He saved you from the executioners axe because he threatened to resign if they took you. Do you remember?” Dawn-strider nodded, obviously fighting back tears of frustration.
“And you!” Nights-shade whirled on Hails-wind “He paid out of his own pocket for that new tooth when you foolishly used the hammer with your mouth rather than as you were taught. Do you remember how much pain you were in? It cost him three weeks’ pay!” Hails-wind calmed at that, and looked away, conflicting emotions crossing his face as well.
“Crafter has helped all of us when we needed it. He looked the other way when I needed extra hours to pay for my mother’s treatments despite going against almost every safety guide telling him to do otherwise. Look, I will be ok, I know I will. But you all? You need this forge, and Crafter needs you.” Nights-shade turned to Crafter before saying “I will have my things out and I will be gone as soon as I am done with this spear.” 
Without another word to any of them Nights-shade turned back to his forge, back to his work, fighting the creeping panic that threatened to overwhelm him.
After a few minutes of silence punctuated only by Nights-shades hammer strokes against the small spear head, he heard Crafter yell “All right you mares! Shows over! Get back to work before I start busting skulls!” Crafter was loud, he was always loud. They could all tell his heart was not really in the threats though, as he slowly walked back toward his office. They all returned slowly to their forges, and one by one, Nights-shade’s hammer falls were again echoed across the floor as more and more returned to the work.

---

Merigold, the head nurse of the Bat-pony’s hive, looked down at the handful of samples. Thousands of pony’s tested this year, and only twenty two are compatible, by Celestia if this doesn't improve we will end up losing this war, she thought bitterly.
But then again the Knights, despite their small numbers up till this point had not only held off the darkness, but in some places managed to push back. Graves-field, the breaking of Holdfast’s siege, the battle of Clouds-dale, all had resulted in victory. But even there the Knights despite being ridiculously outnumbered, had only been facing a fraction of the forces that the Betrayer had at her command; and they had all been extremely costly victories. 
A sound from outside the small room in which she worked distracted her, pulling her attention toward the door. Outside through the small window on the far wall, she could see three ponys, one night guard and two day guards walking past. The Loyalist guard were brave, true and determined, but they were savagely, ridiculously outnumbered; more than that they were also hopelessly outmatched in both magic and technology. Celestia soon after the fall, had said that the two things that the pony’s had was the courage of the loyal guard which she had called ‘Luna’s shield’, and the power of the Knights which she had claimed as her ‘lance’. 
What this translated to in reality was the guard were used in defensive operations, while the Knights were primarily used for offensive measures, while elements of the Guard supported them. The guard elements were usually butchered, while the Knights took all the glory, and eventual victory.
Merigold pried her gaze away from the three guard-pony’s and back to her work. She had three samples left to test, and none of them seemed hopeful. She picked up the first, and poured a small sample onto a vision trey, then put the trey under the microscope.
Clean and healthy cells, high amount of red and white blood cells, traditional DNA structure, and no serious abnormalities. This one might be a positive! She thought as she took what was left of the sample and put it in the analyzer. 
Pressing a button on the box like devise, she grabbed the second sample with the same name. Clean healthy bone marrow, no signs of illness, no cancer that I can see… ah what is this? Oh, it’s just a chip of bone… I really need to talk to nurse Joy about being gentler… looks good to me, maybe this guy would actually work. She thought to herself, her hopes starting to rise. The analyzer pinged, a good sign! The first sample was a positive.
Grabbing the first sample out of the devise she replaced it with the second and turned it on. The low hum in the back ground, Merigold threw the first sample in the trash. No need for it now, and grabbed the third sample. 
Putting a small part of it on a third examination trey, she put it under the microscope for examination. Extremely high sperm count… might just drop him for that, we need all of the healthy stallions we can after all… but no Luna said that if he is compatible I should accept him into the program. Alright… Healthy cell structure with no major abnormalities. Slightly higher than average acidity which could lead to eventual infertility… not really a concern for someone who would be entering the program. Though if he has brothers we might want to let them know… Ok, it looks like this one might pass to! Her thoughts kept racing around the possibility that the massive black stallion would have if he were to become a Knight. 
The analyzer beeped again, another good sign. She removed the second and replaced it with the third sample. Turing on the machine she tossed the second sample out, marking some notes on her paper pad to notify the family of the potential to infertility in their stallions later in life.
After a few minutes of marking her notes, the devise beeped again. Merigold ignored it for now, needing to finish her notes. She was almost finished, when she sniffed the air and became aware of the strong smell of smoke. Turning she saw the devise’s flashing green light indicating a positive result, and smoke rising from it.
Oh crap oh crap oh crap! She thought as she ran to the other side of the room to the emergency fire extinguisher she kept there. She turned around lifting the nozzle and opened the valve, smothering the small flickering flames that had started to appear from the devise. That was close, she thought as she retrieved her notes, and the remaining samples that needed testing and walked outside.
She could already hear the fire coach coming, the bat-pony’s and Pegasus wings flapping in the air as the fire alarm sounded behind her. The coach must have been warned by the magical wards Luna had placed all around the cavern in case of fire or other dangers.
She sighed, rubbing her face now lined with the stress wrinkles that spoke of her age, as the fire fighters dumped water barrel after water barrel into her little room; flooding it and destroying the other functioning equipment she kept in it. OH well, it’s all easily replaced anyway, might as well go give that stallion the good news… what was his name again? Oh right… Nights-shade.
> Interlude: Letters from the front line
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

My beloved princess,

I write to you now so that ye may know I am yet alive. However princess, I write not of our victory or growing strength, but of things that are grievous to us, indeed most grievous to the heart and mind of any caring pony.

For behold, I was witness unto a sore battle between the forces of one of the great Chaos Lords and the great Betrayers forces for dominance of the citizens of this region. The slaughter was great my princess, and many on both sides died in great droves. So fierce was the battle however that the citizens who had been cowering in their homes had started to become targets, as soon as Queen Crystalis’s forces knew they would be defeated, in a petty attempt to deprive the Betrayer of their labor began a slaughter among them.

It is here that we few defenders of old equestra being still loyal to the thrones in Canterlot and having as per your instructions kept ourselves hidden among the populous, set out to defend these who were helpless, compelled by our conscience. We entered into sore battle against the forces of the fallen queen of the changelings, in which we did not conquer. Behold my princess, our captains Pontificus, Resolute-stone, and Gladius have fallen to the teeth and claws of the enemy during the crazed melee, having spent their lives at great cost to the enemy.
It was only the timely, and oddly convenient timeing of a counter attack by the Betrayers forces that lead to our eventual salvation from the seemingly infinite numbers of the enemy.

After the battles end, the ponies of this region were left to their own care as the forces of the Betrayer, satisfied at having denied the Queen of Excess and her minions the pleasures of butchering and tourchering the inhabitants of the town, left.

Behold my princess I have been laboring with these towns people for many days, attempting to rip from their minds the cloud of doubt and anger that the Betrayer has laid over them. I have had to speak to them with much sharpness, which has only brought their wrath upon myself and those I labor with; for when I use no such sharpness in my toung they harden their hearts against my words.

For so exceedingly do they anger, that I think they have lost all fear of death, and all love of life. Behold my princess, they have lost their love one unto another, and it seemeth to me that they thirst for blood and revenge continually. Notwithstanding their hardness in their hearts we defenders of old equestra will continue our diligent work, seeking out those who will fight against the evils of the Betrayer and her pet Chaos Lords.

Now my beloved princess of the night, I write to you concerning some of the sufferings of the ponies in this region. Behold I have learned that far to the north a great battle took place between the traitor royal guard, and the forces of Princess Cadence in the Crystal Empire.  While the Crystal Empire yet stands resolute against the evils that surround it on all sides, many mares, fillys and colts were taken captive from the watch keep known as the Gem-Tower along the southern border of the Empire. 

Behold my princess my scouts have reported many disturbing things from the incident. The warriors of the betrayer having slain these captives’ fathers and brothers, even now feed them upon their fallen loved ones cooked flesh, offering no other food for sustenance. And no water do they offer them for life, save a little.

Notwithstanding these horrors and abominations, it does not exceed that of the Chaos lords. For behold in the western plains the terrible Chrisalis, under the pretense of replenishing her hives numbers, though she need no pretense for her power in that region is absolute and unchallenged, have taken many of the mares of that region. After depriving these fair mares of that which is most precious, their chastity and virtue, her minions did murder them in a most cruel manor. Torturing their bodies even until death, they feasted upon their flesh, which at times was carved off of their forms as these mares yet screamed having been cooked alive upon a spiket above the enemy’s many cook-fires…”


Luna looked away from the parchment, tears streaming down her face, teeth set in anger and determination. Collecting herself, having recovered from the revoltion of what she had read, and she knew that what her faithful servant wrote to her was but a fraction of the crimes that now befell her once peaceful Equestra; she forced herself to continue to read.


“…Oh my beloved princess, how can a nation so lost, and which delights in such abomination (as many of the towns people have started worshiping these chaos lords as gods), ever find redemption? How can it be that we one day return to the peaceful life that now seems like a lost dream, wisps of smoke and vapor melting before the noon sun? How is it that we can expect to live past this, that the sword of justice which is yet poised above our heads wielded by the hand of judgment might be stayed? I do not know princess, but we have not given up, and neither shall we.

Behold my princess I would stop such abominations, but the army which is with me is weak, made of the elderly and young with few skilled warriors. Besides this, betwixt us and the Crystal Empire there is yet the remnants of the Changeling army which did battle here, and behold princess it is nearly three times our size despite their extensive losses.

It is my belief that the best course of action that we can take, is to once again dissipate into the populous, and hide among them. Gather power and strength for the time of your and princess Celestia’s return, that we might be of some use.

My only hope dear Luna, is that the charts, maps, troop displacement and disposition information, and intelligence we have gathered, and which you will find attached to this letter, will find you well. That you will be able to use this knowledge in some way to counter this evil which spreads through our land as a wave from the ocean upon the sands of the shore.

Your dearest and most faithful servant
Captain Tigers-blood.


Luna turned the parchment over, and found another personal note.

PS: My Dearest Luna, the shade of my heart during the burning day. I miss you with every fiber of my being. While we are apart, until the end of this conflict, let my love for you light your way in the darkness that now pervades your precious night. Know this… no darkness will take away this Knight from you, as I will one day return the victorious hunter, and again we can continue our courtship as though these horrible events never took place.

Luna put the parchment down gently on the pile she had finished reading. Sighing she picked up some of the charts and maps. Most of it she already knew, but a few details, some perhaps key pieces of information, could be useful in identifying places that pinpoint strikes would do the most good. She put them in another pile of trusted intelligence information that her commanders would have to sort through with her later when the sun went down and they woke from their slumber.
Luna picked up the letter once more, flipping it over to the personal message on the back. “My precious hunter… tread lightly, for you are not the only predator in the forest.” She whispered to herself, before putting it down once more, picking up another letter, this one from the commander of the resistance in the lands of the Chaos Lord Terick, opened it, and began to read. 

> Chapter 6: Turning the Shadows into Shade, with Laughter.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Hope heard whispered voiced on the other side of the door to the small home on the other side. She could make out two distinct voices, though not what their words were. Hope raised a hoof to the door, the two small items in the satchel pressing against her back lightly.
She nocked, three short raps on the door. The voices on the other side fell silent, and nothing happened for what felt like an eternity. Hope raised a hoof to nock again, but before she could bring her hoof down the door swung wide open. 
Nights-shade stood in the door way, eyes red and anger written on his face. “What do you want now you yellow bellied…” he stopped short, realizing it was Hope in front of him. “Oh… Oh hello hope, uh…” confusion at her presence was written on his face. 
“Hope?!” came a voice from behind “Is that that nice nurse mare? Oh let her in Nights-shade let her in!” Daisy, Nights-shade’s mother and the matriarch of the small family pushed the large stallion out of the door way. “Oh dear, it’s so nice to see you! Come in, come in!” Daisy said, grabbing Hopes front hoof and pulling her inside. The door shut behind her with a hard *thunk*.
“Sorry for all of the fuss darling” Daisy said, moving to close the curtains. “It’s just, well… we have had a bit of a problem.” She finished sitting down in one of the sturdy chairs that surrounded the small table.
“Oh… can… can I help somehow?” Hope hesitated. “I am sure whatever it is…” her voice trailed off as she saw Nights-shade move toward the curtains that Daisy had just closed and peered out.
“Oh no…” Nights-shade said, abaonding the curtains and moving toward the door. 
“I know you’re in there!” some pony yelled on the other side as they pounded on the door which Nights-shade braced. “You can’t live here anymore! No job, no rental agreement!” The pony pounded even harder, before seemingly giving up. A few seconds of silence passed before the stranger spoke again “So help me, if you’re not out by tonight, I will have the guards remove you!”
Hope stood up and moved toward the door. “No, Hope don’t!” Daisy whispered harshly, but she couldn’t stop her. Hope shoved Nights-shade aside and through the door open revealing a rather small earth pony, holding a nail and hammer in his mouth, and holding what Hope noticed was an eviction notice one hand. Stunned, the diminutive earth pony let the hammer and nail drop out of his mouth, hitting the hard stone floor with a loud *clang*. 
“And who is this!?” the earth pony shouted having recovered from his earlier shock. “A Sublette?! Well then, that breaks the contract right there! You’re out as soon as I see a judge for sure!” the small, pudgy and red coated earth pony stomped a hoof down as hard as he could as if to prove his point. Hope had to surpass a laugh.
Hope stepped close, putting her nose to nose with the diminutive pony. “You listen to me you pig headed bully. Nights-shade has a job, he has a family, and he has honor unlike you.” She took another step, forcing the smaller stallion back. “Do you know who I am?” she asked, the red earth pony shook his head. “I am nurse second class Hope. I am one of the highest ranking nursing staff in this entire hive, and I regularly meet with Luna herself! So help me, if you try and evict this nice family without cause, I will have you strung up by your hooves until you apologize!” 
“But…” the small stallion began, as a smile grew on his face. “That’s just it. I do have cause.” He pointed behind Hope in the direction of the door. Hope turned her head and saw Nights-shade standing there, expression pained. “He doesn’t have a job by Royal decree he was banished from the forges for being untrustworthy.”
It was hope’s turn to take a step back this time. The confusion that was plain on her face emboldened the tiny tyrant, who walked up to Nights-shade and handed him the eviction notice. “You have until tonight, or the Night Guards will force you out!” The red earth pony turned to face Hope again “You obviously don’t know who I am.” He began, smugness dripping from every word. “I am Luna’s personal estate’s manager of the under caves in this sector. I to meet with her regularly. My name is Iratus, and I will make sure I mention you, Nurse Hope, next time I meet with Luna. Which…” he pulled out a small pocket book out of the brown satchel he was wearing around his neck. “Should be in about an hour.”
Hope watched as the diminutive, angry looking red stallion march away hooves clacking hard against the carved stone of the hallway floor. Hope noticed that his cutie mark was a hammer and nail laid upon a piece of parchment. Fitting, thought Hope as she watched him leave.
“This… this is not good.” Nights-shade said as he handed his mother the parchment. Daisy nodded then turned leaving the doorway and heading further into the small home they shared.
“No… no it’s not. But we have suffered worse. Let’s get packin. Take only food, and what cloths you need for winter.” Hope heard Daisy, as she entered the apartment, the mare’s voice coming from the back room.
Hope looked toward Nights-shade asking “How did you lose your job?” 
“You know that mugger? The one that threatened to kill you?” Hope nodded remembering the fear she had felt as the unicorns knife had been placed at her throat. “Well, he up and died. And apparently the bastard had some brother who is a duke or something in the Crystal Empire. That guy is friends with Princess Cadence who sent a letter to my boss saying I was ‘not trustworthy with such an important job as producing the empires weapons” Nights-shade’s voice took on a fake loftiness. “…or some such nonsense. My boss tried to get an audience with Luna to explain things so she could counter act the order, but he was blocked by some of the Duke’s friends here.” Nights-shade explained as he put the cans of food they had in a small box.
“Now I don’t have a job, which means my rental contract for this apartment is up, and I got to find a new place to live, or find a job in the next…” he looked at the wall clock that slowly ticked away precious seconds. “… Four hours. Before a judge can sign the eviction notice, and Iratus can get the guards down here.” Nights-shade finished packing their meager supply of canned foods and opened the refrigerator. “So no. Unfortunately I don’t think there is much you can do to help.” Nights-shade looked back at her “but thanks anyway.” 
Smiling Hope put a hoof on Nights-shade’s shoulder. “I think I CAN help with that.” As Nights-shade turned around Hope pulled out the parchment she had been sent to deliver, Luna’s Royal seal plainly emboldened in the wax. “You see” she said as she broke the seal and unrolled the parchment. “There is a reason I came by today.” 
Nights-shade took the parchment gingerly cradling it in his hooves as he stared in shock. As he read, a giant smile grew on his face. His eyes misted over with unshed tears of gratitude. “MA!” he yelled, voice breaking slightly with emotion. “Stop packing and let’s make some cookies! We need to celebrate!”
Daisy ran into the room, hooves clacking hard against the stone floor, and was swiftly followed by a much smaller filly, Holly. “What’s wrong?” Daisy asked voice near panic. 
“Here, read this” Nights-shade said grinning. Grabbing the parchment Daisy read out loud, voice near a whisper “Dear Nights Shade, Stallion of the forges of the first hive of our lady of the night of the highest… bla bla bla… We are proud to announce that you have been accepted into the Knights Training Initiative!” Daisy looked at Nights-shade a mix of emotions too complicated for Hope to understand crossed her features. “You were accepted… well…” Daisy’s voice trailed off as she sat down on one of the two remaining chairs that surrounded the small table.
“YAY!” Holly squealed, ran and hugged Nights-shade for all she was worth, nearly pulling the Stallion and the chair he was sitting on down on top of her. “You made it, you made it, you made it! Now you get to be a Knight!” a pensive look took over her features as she hung from Nights-shade’s neck from behind him. “That means… That means we don’t have to leave!” Holly squealed even louder and this time succeeded in pulling Nights-shade down on top of her with a loud *Crash*, the two laughing despite pieces from the broken chair scattering across the kitchen floor.
Hope looked at Daisy trying to get a better understanding of what she was thinking. “Very good… very good…” was all she could get out, her face turning slightly ashen despite what the other two pony’s believed was plainly good news.
“Ma! Help!” Nights-shade said, fake panic intermixed with laughing as Holly started jumping on his back giggling maniacally while sing-songly chanting “your gona be a Kniiiight, your gona be a Kniiiiight”.  
Hope couldn’t help but smile at the sight. Apparently Daisy agreed, sighing in what Hope thought was both relief and acceptance of something the older mare thought unpalatable, she too started laughing slightly.
“WAIT!” Holly yelled, as she darted away from Nights-shade and ran for the back room the homes three inhabitance shared as their bedroom. “Wait, wait wait wait wait!” came the young filly’s voice, muffled slightly through the curtain hung to separate the two rooms. After a few seconds the filly burst from behind the curtain carrying a box that she rattled, smiling and looking pony to pony. “Wana play?”
“What is the game called?” Hope asked smiling, the filly’s enthusiasm was contagious. 
“Cards against Pony Kind!” Nights-shade groans, Daisy’s shoulders shook with silent laughter as she shook her head slightly hiding a smile. “Oh be nice Nights-shade.” She snapped at her older brother who was now standing and grinning while shaking his head. “Anyway” she continued looking back to Hope. “It’s a game about placing cards down that would best fit the situation, and the judge chooses which one wins based on these…” she explained opening the box which contained two sets of cards. One black, which was roughly half the size of the second pile of white cards. “The one the judge chooses then wins that round and gets to keep the black hard. Whichever pony is first to five black cards wins!” 
“And who is the judge?” was all Hope could think to ask, she was truly interested in the game, it sounded fun. 
“Well that changes. Each of us takes a turn being the judge, so every pony gets a chance. So…” she looked up into Hopes face, her eyes large, and lower lip quivering “will you play? Will ya?” she begged.
“Well… there is only one thing I can say to that.” She looked to each of the three other ponies in the room beaming. Arriving back on Holly last she said “Of course!” the little filly squealed with delight again and began dishing out cards to each pony in the room. Nights-shade simply sat on the ground, his size making up for his lack of a chair which was splinters behind him on the ground.
The rest of the night the four spent playing the game, laughing at the absurd situations and horrible implications that some of the card combinations created. Hope blushed furiously more than once as they played, but she discovered something about this small tight nit little family. They laughed more often than not, because if they didn’t they would cry.
More than once the large Stallion sitting next to her, handsome and tall and strong, explained through fits of rib cracking laughter about how someone they knew once had been there or done that. The fact that even one of the situations the card game created could be real struck Hope as tragic in the extreme, but even as he explained it, and the other two ponies laughed abroariasly, she found herself doing the same. She learned a valuable lesson then, that the way you take away evils power to destroy your peace of mind was to joke about it, to laugh away the Demons, the Devils, the Beasties and the Ghostys. With laughter, the shadows would turn to shade.
A nock on the door interrupted their fun and celebration. “You hear that?” came a familiar and angry voice from outside “They have all gone mad! Break the door down and drag them out if you have to!” They all could hear a couple of other voices muffled through the door. “Fine, if you won’t I will!” A few seconds later there was a particularly loud *Thud* against the door which held easily.
Nights-shade walked over and moved the heavy dead bolt lock away from the door. Putting a hoof on the door knob, he opened it revealing a small, and fiercely red bundle of crumpled and dazed stallion. “Oh… it’s only you Iratus.” He said unconcerned. Nights-shade’s attention turned toward the two large, though not as tall, Guards standing just behind the small mass of pony, both were trying to cover their laughter with a hoof. “Hello, how can I help you? I would have come earlier but we were all playing ‘cards against pony kind’ and I was laughing too hard to move very fast.”
The two guards stiffened, giving their very best attempt of being intimidating despite Nights-shades size. “Sir” the Night guard began “We are here to ensure that the courts justice is executed.” The day guard was still fighting back laughter at Iratus’s dazed state, nodded in agreement.
Nights-shade nodded looking down at Iratus “I see… And what did the judge rule?” 
The day guard’s expression turned grim before saying “I’m sorry sir, but it was to uphold Iratus’s eviction notice.” Nights-shade nodded again still unfazed. Hope was impressed at his calm, if it was her who faced eviction from the only home she had she would be shaking in fear.
“Alright then, that’s fine. Can I read the notice?” Nights-shade asked holding out his hoof to Iratus. “It’s my right isn’t it?” he asked. Both Guards nodded, and the only slightly recovered Iratus reached into a small pouch at his side and retrieved a letter with the seal of the royal court. Iratus sneered as Nights-shade took the letter from him.
Nights-shade broke the seal, and began reading the letter out loud. “By Royal Decree of the Court of Luna the high princess of Night, the inhabitance of the abode designated 34543 of the primary hive under the Protection and Ownership of the crown; must hereby vacate. This is due to the irresponsibility of the abode’s inhabitance in not gaining, or being able to maintain steady and lawful employment upon the account of Iratus, hive abode manager of section 34...”
“Yes sir.” Interrupted the day guard. “As you see, we have no choice. Now please let us in to assist you with moving your belongings out.” Nights-shade ignored the slightly irritated guard and continued reading the letter. 
“…IF for any reason this is found to not be true by investigators in the employ of the crown, then this judgment is null and void.” Nights-shade emphasized the last statement, a slight smirk on his face. “Now you gentlemen are amazing, and I thank you, Court Appointed Investigators for coming along to ensure my rights are protected.” Nights-shade turned back into the room followed by the two guards and a very perplexed looking Iratus.
“Here you go gentlemen.” Nights-shade said as he lifted the letter Hope had brought with her earlier that night off the table, and handed it to the Night guard.
“What is that” Iratus said tartly, having fully recovered from his earlier foolishness. 
“Nights shade… bla, bla, bla… you have been accepted into the Knights Training Initiative Program…” the Night guards voice slowly changed, irritation replaced by awe. “You… You are going to be a Knight?” the day guard asked. “Do you know how many times I tried applying?! I mean come on! That one nurse, what was her name…” 
“Nurse Joy…” the Night guard provided smirking. 
“Right that jerk, Nurse Joy. She kept trying to stab me with this vEEeery long needle!” The day guard said incredulous.
The night guard leaned closer and loudly whispered “Don’t mind him, he just hates needles.” 
Nights-shade pointed a hoof at the day guard “you’re that Stallion who ran out of there like a bat out of hell!” amusement plain in his voice. Blushing the Day guard harrumphed and stalked outside, dragging the stuttering, and now bright red, iratus with him.
The Night guard smiled and laughed at his friend’s foolishness. Shaking his head he said “You all have a good Night, I won’t let Iratus bother you again Sir. Knight. Also, I will let Judge Hammer-fall know about all of this.”
Nights-shade nodded his thanks, as he closed the door behind the retreating trio. “That” Daisy said “was very, very satisfying.” Hope saw a smirk appear, then just as quickly vanish from her face.
“Nights-shade, sit down!” holly moaned annoyed at the distraction. “It’s my turn and you still need to pick.” The filly huffed, a fake pout on her lips. Chuckling Nights-shade sat, looked at his cards, and placed one down. “Alright then!” Holly said with delight, shuffling the cards randomly before flipping the first over. “I went to Clouds-dale with…” she said as she read the first card. Smiling and giggling maniacally she said “a zombie horde depowering flesh’! Wow that’s a really good one!”
Holly pulled the second card from the pile and read. “…My special some pony…blah! Come on, it’s like you’re not even trying.” Holly glanced at Hope “you really need to learn how to play this game better. I can tell this one’s your pick.” Daisy leaned over and bit down lightly on her daughter’s ear and whispered something that the other two couldn’t hear. “OUCH! What was that for?!” Holly said rubbing her ear with a hoof. “Oh… ok.” Holly turned to Hope, “sorry bout that, I didn’t mean to be rude, just tryin to encourage ya to play better is all.” Daisy rolled her eyes, but Hope nodded smiling. Hope knew all too well the scolding that the filly must have quietly received having gotten probably the exact same from her mother.
Setting the second card aside she pulled the third. “… A knife, and reveled in the thrill of the kill.’ Wow, this one is dark.” Holly said wearing an expression of mock shock. 
“Well, I really like these two” the filly held up the two death based cards. “…The other one is just too…”
“Sweet?” Hope finished for her.
“Yea. I was going to say sappy, but sweet is good too. Sweet is no fun…”
The two adult mares in the room shared a knowing glance, both smiling; as if to say ‘Sweet could be a LOT of fun’. With the right pony of course, Hope thought to herself, glancing slightly toward the large black stallion sitting next to her on the floor.
“Alright Hope, its your turn.” Daisy said. Hope couldn’t miss the knowing tone that she seemed to use every time she spoke to her. “Take a black card, and remember you don’t add one to the pile.” 
Hope took a black card and read aloud “I had… Oh my um… are we sure this is ok to read with…” Hope nodded toward Holly “… in the room?” and handed the black card over to Daisy. 
Daisy read the card, then glared at the young mare. “Little filly, I told you to get rid of this card. It’s not a topic for someone so young.” Holly dropped her head having been caught.
“yessum…” was all she could squeak out. Daisy ripped up the card and through it in the trash pile, then grabbed another handing it to Hope to read.
Hope took the card feeling slightly embarrassed, then began to read the new card aloud. “Step1, blank, Step 2, bank, Step 3, Profit.” The other pony’s furiously looked at their cards, trying to decide which ones to put down. Daisy was first, followed by Nights-shade, then finally Holly placed hers.
Hope moved the three piles around and purposefully looked the other direction as Nights-shade handed her the first pile. “Alright let’s see… Step One: steal Arnold Swartza-pony’s Knife. Step Two: Play Kill All Pony’s. Step 3: Profit….Not bad, but I don’t see how you would profit.” She said putting down the first set and retrieving the second.
Hopes ears burned as she struggled to read the set. “Step 1: Find a cute cutie mark. Step 2: … eh…” she hesitated. The other three pony’s all looked at her expectantly. “Ok ... uh ...ha ha. Fine. Step 2: Mount it.” Her face burned bright red at the innuendo. “Then I guess step three would be profit!” she started laughing and the other two adults joined. 
“That’s horrible!” Daisy said voice high pitched, laughing hard. Nights-shade laughed uneasily at first, but it slowly turned into a deep belly laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Holly asked. The confusion on her face made Hope laugh even harder, and she fell out of her seat holding her ribs. “Seriously! What’s so funny!” the filly asked, standing atop the table. “It’s my card set, I don’t see how some pony cutting the cutie mark off of some other pony and mounting it is funny!”
The adults paused until she was done, holding their breath. When she finished, stomping her foot hard on the table, they all erupted in even heartier laughter, Nights-shade putting his head down on the table almost in tears, while Daisy gasped for breaths between fits of laughter. Hope was on the floor, rear hooves in the air holding her ribs as the laughter hurt.
The rest of the night Holly never found out why they had all laughed so hard at her morbid joke. When she asked as her mother tucked her into bed later that night Daisy simply smiled again and kissed her on the fore head, promising to tell her when she was old enough.
Hope said her good byes to Daisy soon after Holly went to bed, and Nights-shade walked her home. The two talked the whole way, laughing at the jokes they had shared that night. It didn’t seem that long of a walk to Nights-shade, but by the time they got to the nursing quarters near the top of the Hive he see daylight coming from a few of the caves heading out into the rest of Equestria. 
“Thank you for walking me home. Oh and for letting me play that card game with you and your family, I had so much fun!” she said laughing slightly at the memories. 
“Yea me too.” Nights-shade scratched the nape of his neck with a hoof. “Uh… Would… would you like to do it again sometime? Like… Officially this time?”
“You mean like a date?” she asked, the sound of their voices echoing slightly over the rough huen stone pathways. 
“Yea… I mean if you want to.” He said hurriedly, cheeks growing slightly red.
Hope thought about it, then lifted her head up before saying “Yes. I think that would be fun!”
Nights-shade beamed “Maybe tomorrow? I mean…like, actually tomorrow sense now is tomorrow of last night…”
“You mean Friday?” Nights-shade nodded grinning. Hope nodded before saying “sure, Friday would be lovely.”
“Great! I will… I will uh see you then huh?” She nodded, and then leaned in close, leaving a small kiss on his cheek. “wow…” he said uneasily.
Hope eyes him questioningly, as if saying ‘is that it?’ “I mean… uh… thanks!” he said enthusiastically then opened the door to her small apartment for her. Smiling to herself, and shaking her head Hope thanked him and walked inside.
“Oh I almost forgot” she said pocking her head out again. Nights-shade had to pull hard to stop the heavy oak door from hitting her. “I got your mother a full time care bed at the Hives Central Hospital. So your family will probably be moving anyway. Just… to the hospital rather than to nowhere… if that makes sense.” Nights-shade swooped her up in the strongest embrace that Hope had ever felt. 
“Thank you, thank you thank you.”  He whispered. “You are the most generous pony I have ever met!” 
“Cant…breath…” she squeaked and he released her, as they both started laughing. “It’s my job to help ponies like your mom, I didn't do anything special” she said rubbing her ribs still sore from the night’s festivities.
“Just because it’s your job, doesn't change what you did.” Nights-shade leaned closer and whispered “thank you.” He stood straight, smiled and said “see you tomorrow!” then turned and started down the path home.
As she watched him leave, all Hope could think about was how silly a stallion he was, but also, how he was handsome, funny and awkwardly charming; all good traits for a stallion to have. The other nurses all asked where she had been, what she had been doing all night, and who she had been doing it with. Peppering her with question after question, she was finally able to give her excuses and went to bed.
Nights-shade thought about her, about her kiss as he rubbed his cheek, and about how she had more than likely just saved his mother from cancer, and his baby sister from an orphanage. He arrived home to a dark front room, and a slight glow from the shared bedroom, where his mother had left the small lamp on low so he wouldn't trip in the dark.

> Chapter 7: The Pain, and Hope of Growth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

 	“If you beg for mercy, and let go of your stubbornness” The stallion said, voice dripping disdain “I might be able to make it quick. No? Your pride will only cause you more pain.” His voice turned sing-song without losing a single ounce of disgust. 
Lightning wracked Nights-shade’s body again. Screaming, Nights-shade heard screaming. It was odd, it seemed to be coming from him, but he didn’t remember making that decision, but it was him. The pain consumed almost all of his mind, but in a very small corner, yet untouched by the massive Unicorn Stallions ministrations Nights-shade knew he needed to do something, lash out, stop the damage that was no doubt being done to not only his body, but his mind.
Slowly the pain began to encroach on his one safe haven, overwhelming his defenses one by one. Panic started to rise in his chest, fear that he would lose, that he would die here without accomplishing anything. It was his greatest fear. Ever sense he was little, he always wanted to be some pony. He never told any pony because it was selfish, but he always wanted to be famous, to have everyone in every kingdom across the world know his name for some great deed. 
“Ah, here it is. We come to it at last, the one place left in your mind we must yet scrub of impurity. The indoctrination is nearly complete.” Came the stallion’s voice, breaking through the static and agony that filled his mind. “Ambition young stallion is good, that is not your sin. Your sin young Stallion… is fear.” Nights-shade’s eyes burst open, black spots covering his vision he could barely make out the unicorn who stood above him, protected from Nights-shade’s wrath, snapping teeth and straining muscles, by the four leg restraints that held him to the table.
“Yes, that’s right Nights-shade.” The Unicorns eyes shot open, and green magic leaked from them. “Fear… Fear as primal and as old as time, and brought about by shame, the shame of poverty, the shame of powerlessness, even as your family starves. And shame… oh yes great shame, at what your mother had to do to feed you and your sister…” The Unicorns voice was filled with pity and disgust. “Not to mention the years of hard work, and for what? For a two room whole in the ground living off of ration cards?” The Unicorn shook his head. “And to top it all off, to rub salt in the wound, she now has cancer… Pathetic existence really. No wonder you are ashamed.”
Nights-shade gritted his teeth and growled “I…Will… KILL…YOU!” 
“I have no doubt you would my brave stallion…” the Unicorn continued unfazed by the threats as lightning and energy crackled forth from his horn in a steady stream, wracking Nights-shade’s body with wave after wave of pain. Meanwhile the Unicorn assaulted his mental defenses, slowly, methodically overwhelming them one by one. 
“Impressive on many levels young Stallion. There was far less to scrub from your psycki then others, as you are naturally protective and noble in spirit.” The green Unicorn, golden mane standing on end due to the static energy in the room, moved to Nights-shade’s other side. “But I have had to spend much more time with you then the others. Your defenses are strong, and your pride even stronger. This can be a benefit when you encounter the enemy, but it can also be a weakness if born from falsehoods, insecurity’s and fears. Such pride can get you and the pony’s you might one day lead into battle to their deaths my young Stallion.”
The unicorn moved toward his head, putting both hooves on the operation table, he brought his eyes to meet Nights-shade’s. “That is, unless you’re pathetically weak and shameful upbringing and blood doesn’t hold you back. If it doesn’t make you weak…”
“I…AM…NOT…WEAK!” Nights-shade growled through gritted teeth.
“LIER!” the gigantic green Unicorn screamed both in his mind, and so Nights-shade’s ears could hear. “If your family is pathetic, if they are shameful and weak for living as they do, for doing what they did to survive, are you not weak as well? After all… you come from their blood…” The words were screamed in Nights-shades mind even as they were whispered in his ear; wielded as a battering ram against his last remaining defenses. 
“NO!” Nights-shade screamed again, pushing back the Unicorn’s pshycic attack through sheer force of will.
The Unicorn sighed. “Very impressive…” he said disgust clear in his voice. “This will take a while yet.” Jumping down from the table, the Unicorn released the spell, pulling Nights-shades body back from the brink of cardiac arrest.
“Let’s start from the beginning shall we?” The Unicorn asked, moving back his original position.

--- 
“Is he in pain?” Daisy asked Hope, Holly nuzzling between her mother’s front legs for comfort. They could both feel that something was wrong, that Nights-shade was in danger. It was an odd ability that Earth pony family’s seemed to have some times. Hope had observed it only a handful of times, so she knew it was a relatively rare ability. The other nurses and doctors who she had described it to had laughed at her, but here was another, clear cut example of just how powerful that bond could be.
“Um…” Hope said, as she sat in front of the two in the small waiting room in the Hives main hospital, the only place that housed the right equipment to conduct the mental conditioning necessary to insure that Nights-shade would be immune to control or corruption by evil magic’s. “…Yes… he is.” Hope said, wincing, hoping that the truth would be better than a lie.
“Um… Why are you smiling?” Hope asked.
Daisy chuckled, and Holly giggled lightly to herself. “You see darling.” Daisy said “Not knowing what is happening to him, while we feel something is wrong… well… it’s worse than not knowing for sure. Does that make sense?”
That explained why Daisy looked relived, feeling that her son was going through hell, and not knowing for sure must have been torture all on its own. But then… why was Holly giggling?
“Oh… right. Holly was telling me that this whole time, and I said if she said it again I would ground her.” Daisy said, giving Holly a sidelong glare.
Holly only grinned and said “He is tough, if any pony can get through it he can.” Before skipping off into the corner to play with some of the toys that she was beginning to outgrow, but in the absence of anything else to entertain her, would have to suffice.
“What exactly is he going through Hope?” Daisy asked, Hope couldn’t detect any hint of emotion in the mare’s expression.
“Um…” Hope said putting a hoof to her chin trying to find the words to describe it. “They call it indoctrination, but that’s not really how it works. It’s more like…extremely intense, magically enhanced therapy…” She was going to add a bit more description, talk about how it was to grant him immunity to evil magic that might hijack his will and why it was so necessary. But before she could Holly let out a squeal of delight as she pulled out two zebra dolls from a drawr in the play area.
“That little filly is going to be the death of me.” Daisy said looking longingly after her daughter as she played. Daisy’s gaze snapped back to Hopes a second later before she said, all relief gone from her expression replaced with what Hope could only interpret as barely concealed fear “Will you take her?”
“Excuse me?” Hope asked confused at the mares meaning.
“You got me into the hospital for full time treatment, and I thank you for that… But the doctor said that it’s a fifty-fifty chance I’ll live… If I don’t…” Daisy’s expression grew hard, as her eyes still shouted fear “Will you take Holly?” Floored, Hope took a step back. The implications of the request was almost too much to think about. “Surely there is somepony who you could give her to that you have known longer than a month…”
Daisy shook her head “everyone else I know who I would trust is either dead, or in no position to feed another hungry belly… Please Hope? I know you and Nights-shade are friends and all, and I’ve seen how you and Holly get along. You put up with her… excentricness…” Daisy winced, referring to Holly’s morbid fascination with things dark. Others tended to find it off putting, but Hope saw through it, saw the little filly who was just trying to cope with so much evil in her world. “… When most other good ponies wouldn’t understand.” 
Daisy looked back to her little filly, who had taken the head off of a small zebra doll and was rooting around in what would be the creature’s brain cavity for only Luna knew what. “It’s not a done deal anyhow, it’s just… just in case ya know? I’m just makin plans in case I… well in case I don’t make it.” Daisy shook her head again laughing slightly at the awkward situation. “Back before he was accepted into this… this… Knight training or whatever ya call it, I always thought that if worse came to worse Nights-shade would simply take care of her… But now that he… well. Now that he is unavailable, I need some pony else.” 
“I … I see.” Hope said looking down thinking about what her friend had said. “In that case…” she looked up and right into Daisy’s fearful, and hopeful eyes before saying “Of course. I would be happy to take in the little scoundrel!” They both laughed, a great weight lifted off of both of their shoulders, tension shattered. It felt good, laughing was such a rare thing these days. Some pony’s that passed them in the waiting area smiled, the mirth contagious, while the hospital staff scowled at them for making too much noise.
The two mares continued to laugh, even after they had both long forgotten what they were laughing about. They laughed desperately, it was all they could do not to cry. 
After a while, and more than one scolding by the staff, they finally sighed in relief. Ribs aching, lungs burning and throats parched, the two stood, hugged and said good bye. Daisy and Holly went back to their room, while Hope made her excuses and left them, making her way to the observation room.
---

The scene was extremely difficult to watch, but Hope made herself. She forced her eyes open, and her ears forward in order to catch every word and every possible meaning. Through the one way glass, she could see the Knight’s Chief Librarian and Mage-Interrogator standing at the starting position, ready to begin the process over again.
Inside the small observation room there was another Unicorn, this one was average size and Hope knew her. Her name was Gavel, and she used to be a judge in Manehattan before the Betrayal. Her namesake displayed proudly as her cutie-mark. Her and Hope had been friends for a long time, and they had actually made plans to go out on the town later that night… if the procedure was done of course.
A total of three medical staff, a full-fledged doctor Hope had only met in passing, and Nurse Joy who was also one of Hopes good friends, stood in the small room observing the procedure. The doctor scribbled notes on his pad of paper, a weak purple aura around all of their heads spoke to the reason why Gavel was there. Her job in this procedure was to send the Mage-Interrogator, Swamp-gator was his name, information telepathically from the three observers.
From the doctor she sent medical information, informing the interrogator when he was pushing too hard, or when he could increase the physical strain on the subject’s body. From Joy and Hope, Gavel sent perspective from outside observers to help him understand all of the possible meanings and interpretations of the subject’s actions, feelings, and words.
She had asked to be exempt from this part of the process, but Marigold, the head nurse of the program, had denied her request. “If you two are so close then you are exactly the pony we need!” Hope remembered the words her boss had said. She was right of course, the more you were familiar with the pony in question the easier it was to understand where they were coming from.
That didn’t make it any less painful for her though. Nights-shade and her had been on several dates sense the first, walking outside in the sun, or down to the forges to meet all of his friends. His friends had all been ecstatic for him when they found out about the Knight program. Dawn-strider had even said he might get tested, though he hated needles. Hope didn’t have much faith that he would be able to complete the first examination, but then again… you could never really know.
Hope braced herself as she watched lightning arch from the giant Unicorns horn striking Nights-shade and causing his body to go into mild convulsions. The pain she saw Nights-shade endure felt like it bleed through to her. She endured it, small tears welling up in her eyes as she gritted her teeth.
--- 
“They are weak! That means you are weak!” Swamp-gator screamed psychically at the black Stallion, battering, scraping, and chipping away at his one last defense, his Pride. “You can’t defend them, you can’t even defend yourself! Look at you! You are as pathetic as they are!”
Out loud the Interrogator said, looking straight into the black Stallions eyes, front hooves on the table for the eighth time “Again, I must say, very impressive. I don’t think any pony has withstood this long once I have gotten this deep into their psykie. This one weakness speaks to your core doesn’t it? You and your family have endured a lot… No … I can’t tell you, you must figure it out yourself.” Shaking himself the interrogator sent sweat flying off his coat in all directions. 
“Look at what your family has endured! Look at what they have done!” he screamed through the psychic connection while speaking plainly and calmly the same words out loud. “The Pain, the Humiliation, the Poverty and death!” he said giving these words the same treatment through the connection, while speaking calmly out loud. “Look at them!” he screeched as he pulled up every painful memory he could find that was connected to Nights-shade’s family, forcing the purple-black coated stallion to relive them over and over. “Are these the actions of a weak family?! Are they?!”
Swamp-gator felt something snap through the connection. Something monumental, with the feeling of the weight of an entire mountain shifting, and he broke the connection before he was overwhelmed. Nights-shade’s eyes went wide, and then shut as he was swiftly consumed by sleep.
Panting, Swamp-gator trudged over to the only door which some kind pony opened for him, and then shut behind him as he left, leaving Nights-shade’s sub-conscious mind to sort through what he had learned, in his dreams.
The second the door closed and locked with a loud CLACK, as the dead bolt fell in place he collapsed to the floor. He waived off the concerned expressions that came from the Doctor and two nurses. “It’s nothing, I will survive. That… that stallion…” he said as he shook his head trying to clear it “is perhaps the most concrete thinker I have ever met.” Swamp-gator put his head down, and joined the Stallion in the exam room beyond, in swift sleep.
Hope looked at the clock that hung over the entrance to the exam room. It had taken another four hours for Nights-shade to understand what the lesson was they were trying to teach him. To understand that his family, that his loved ones were strong because of their actions and the horrors they had endured. Because they had done what they had too to survive, and made the best out of terrible situation after terrible situation, not weak because of it.
“Well...” said Joy laughing slightly before she continued “I think dancing is out right girls?” she asked looking toward Gavel and Hope, who both smiled back and nodded. 
“I think bed is best.” Hope said, and they all nodded. “Who wants to take first watch?” she asked, but no pony raised their hoofs. “Oh fine… I will.” She huffed and motioned to the five waiting cotts that had been brought in by members of the nights guard. “To bed with you.” She ordered the other three, who trudged over and collapsed on the temporary sleeping arrangements. Joy began to snore almost immediately. Well… I know who will be taking second watch… she thought, not wanting to compete for sleep with such a loud racket.
She gently nudged Swamp-gator to wake up. After a few seconds, and one particularly hefty kick to the ribs, she was successful and helped the giant Unicorn to the largest of the cotts, specially made to fit his heavily augmented frame. Once under the blankets he closed his eyes and was immediately dreaming.
Hope turned, and started her watch. She took vital sign information and recorded it in the log in the observation room. She notified Luna via an official letter that the procedure had met with success, though to what extent or outcome was unknown. Luna would then be watchful for any unnatural or dangerous nightmares that might target Nights-shade while he was in such an extremely vulnerable and suggestible state. 
Once the work was done, she sat and watched him. Wondering what was going through his mind now that the connection they had shared through Swamp-gator was gone. She imagined him dreaming happy dreams, about family, friends… and about her.

> Interlude: War Pt 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sargent Tarnished Badge felt pain in his left front leg. He looked down, yup, it’s definitely broken, he thought to himself. Magic bolts of energy, gunfire and the screams of the dying soared over the battlefield, as he watched the manticore which had broken his leg, mutated with boils and bleeding lacerations almost beyond recognition, stalk towards him. Its hackles up, scorpion tail flicking back and forth sending deadly venom splashing against the walls of the trench. The beast, silhouetted by bright flashes of light in the darkness of the unnatural storm over head, black clouds mixing with purple magic auroras, came so close he could smell its rancid breath.

“Come at me!” he growled in protest, knowing his death even as he saw it. “Come and burn with me in hell Mutant!” he yelled in defiance over the cacophony of the battlefield. The beast roared a challenge and charged forward, crocodile like jaws snapping, lion talons extended to rend his flesh.

Sargent Tarnished Badge brought his gun to bear, biting down on the trigger, lances of laser fire met the charging beast, burning away its fur and scales, disintegrating its skin, exposing its raw muscles to the sulfur infused air. The beast, ignoring the pain, continued onward as if unscathed.

Tarnished Badge screamed, both in pain and revulsion at the creature whose teeth cut through his muscle and bone as a knife would through butter, lifting him skyward throwing him into the air. Badge had one final act of defiance left to him. Pulling the pin on his last light bomb, he turned and through it straight into the waiting jaws of the hungry mutant beast.

“DIE!” he screamed as he started his descent. Then all of the chaos, the pain of three broken legs, shredded back and torso, and ripped muzzle, disappeared as blackness met him through blinding light.

---
“General Bolter! General Bolter! General!” the young Stallion yelled as he ran into the small command center from the chaos outside. The young private was bleeding from his left foreleg, an injury that in most situations would have earned him a swift trip to the medical tent. His presence there testified to those in the center of the severity of their situation.

“What is it Private ?” the large, elder stallion turned, cape scraping along the floor leaving behind mud that had caked itself to the bottom of all of the generals cloths. The general scowled waiting for the report.

“Yes sir!” the private said saluting. “Brigadier General Valley sent me, the left flank is in desperate need of reinforcement!”

“And why did he send you and not log the request through his communications officer?” the general moved close, towering over the much smaller and younger pony.

“The communications unicorn sir, he…he…he went mad sir! The storm it’s… it’s been doing things to the unicorn officers. My own officer put a bolt round right through his own skull the second he saw the purple lights in the sky… sir.” The privates words were almost a whisper, and his face had gone sickly green in stark contrast to his normally white coat. “General Valleys communications officer jumped from the watch tower they were observing the battle from… he didn't live long…”

“I see.  That's not the first report of insanity among our unicorn staff that I've received sense that blasted storm arrived. Well, we have prepared for this contingency have we not!?” he raised his voice, turning to address the whole command center staff who had stopped their work at the privates interruption. “You, go!” he pointed to a fast looking Pegasus who wore light travel armor. “Let the Royals know that the Betrayer has taken direct action in this battle!” pointing to another even as the first bolted from the room he said “Summon the arch-mages, bring them here! Tell them of the clouds, of the insanity that they have caused in some of our Unicorn personnel!” the second Pegasus ran out the door the private had just come from.

“As for the rest of us, we have work to do! Let’s get to it ladies and gentlemen! Remember we are not in this fight alone! Our allies will come, but we must be alive when they arrive!” the small crowd of general staff didn't move, as if frozen in place. “Well, what are you waiting for!? Get back to work!” The center exploded with activity.

General Bolter turned and looked down at the injured private . “As for you, go get yourself patched up soldier or you won’t be of any use later on.” Bolter brushed passed the smaller stallion, who had started to limp over to the small medical table on the far wall, and moved to where a weapons rack held some of the new much more formidable energy-magic based weapons that had been delivered earlier in the week. Using both of his front hooves, Bolter attached the blue glowing weapon the techies had called a ‘plasma gun’ to his helmet mount, and put the firing bit in his mouth, then turned to leave.

A small uniformed earth pony mare stood in his way. “Sir? What are you doing?” she said voice severe. Bolter shook his head at his secretary in charge of logistics and base organizational management. “You can’t go out there, you will die, or worse get in another ponys way and get them killed.” She reached for his helmet trying to remove it.

He stepped back and out of her reach, shaking his head. “You heard what that messenger said. General Valley needs reinforcements or his whole side of the field will fall. Well, I don’t have any additional reserves and there is nothing I can do from here, so I am going out there” he pointed one hoof toward the door that lead outside the command center and into the chaos “with my Soldiers.” He picked up a second set and handed it to her “Care to join? I can always use another good shot.”

She took a determined step back, then said in a clipped professional tone “Lt. Golden Heart, Lt. Rolling Stone, the General wants to go into the battle field.” Two large earth pony stallions stepped up, flanking her on each side.

“Yes Lt. Winds-Call?” said the purple coated Gold Heart.

“The General is about to commit himself to battle. It is now your duty to protect him.” She bowed slightly toward the general in apology. “I would go, but I barely qualified for field duty on my last weapons test sir. “ Turning her attention back to the large stallions who flanked her she said “It will be your honor to escort him to reinforce General Valley on the eastern flank. Arm yourselves with the new weapons, and accompany the General, ensure his safe return. Do I make myself clear Guards-pony’s?!”

Saluting crisply the two Stallions said in unison “Yes ma’am!” before moving toward the new weapons rack and attaching the blue glowing guns to their helmets. Each also armed themselves with the saddle mounted Lances that the guard-ponies were traditionally trained with for close combat. They were old weapons, but the Guard had found that even in this modern age of high powered weapons, the enemy usually got into close proximity. Despite withering fire from heavy Bolters, multi-lasers and other heavy weapons criss crossing the battlefield, on average roughly 1/3rd of the enemy would arrive at the trenches of the Guards lines. Their overwhelming numbers meant that the enemy could absorb those losses without blinking an eye.

“Right, on me lieutenants! As for you Winds-call, I need you to coordinate with our allies when they arrive. Provide protection and treatment for the wounded when the supplies and reinforcements come from Fort Omega. When the Arch-mages get here, have them pour everything they have into breaking this storms grip, or failing that at least shielding our unicorns. Understood?” She saluted. Returning the salute, General Bolter turned and rushed out of the command center and into the waiting embrace of war.

---
The cacophony of battle chased him as he ran flat out toward General valleys position. Jumping trenches, rallying squad after squad as he went, flanked by his two guards. Too his guard’s he looked every bit the master of war, confident, powerful, an Iron will that the enemy would uselessly break themselves upon. In his heart however, he felt a slight tremor of trepidation at the looks he got from his pony’s, they looked to him for deliverance… something he fully intended to provide, but was unsure if he could.

General Bolter finally leaped into the trench that would lead him directly toward General Valleys command position, followed swiftly by his two guards and the roughly three dozen other guards-pony’s that had rallied behind him. He stopped, hooves up to his ankles in mud and dirty water, and sniffed the air. He could make out sulfur from las-fire, spent gunpowder from heavy bolter rounds and…. Something else he could not quite place. The purple lights seemed to struggle against the blackened clouds over head; far in the distance he could hear las-fire, and heavy bolters spitting death into the enemy’s horde of abominations.

“Sir…” whispered Golden Heart. “It seems odd. Where is the enemy? Where is General Valley?” his voice carried only slightly farther then General Bolter, but their implications chilled the hardened veteran general to the bone.

General Bolter lifted a hoof for silence, then motioned forward, teeth playing with the firing bit in his mouth anxiously. The General started forward slowly, the other pony’s following closely behind, spears at the ready for anything.

The small force moved from trench to trench clearing and securing them as they went. General Bolter found a heavy bolter emplacement in completely perfect condition. “It’s almost as if they simply got up and left.” Lt. Rolling Stone said kicking over a full container of heavy bolter ammo.

“They didn't just leave.” General Bolter pointed toward the ground, where the mud was particularly slick and even. “See that?” Rolling Stone nodded. “Pick it up.” The stallion was confused at first, but then put his hoof down on the oddly even mud, and lifted it. “Skin” General Bolter said, as he turned and walked out of the parapet.

“What?!”Rolling Stone said shocked, as he looked under what he was lifting. A pile of bones and muscle lay under it in no recognizable order “They … they have been flayed alive!” he nearly screamed before Golden Heart put a hoof over his mouth and motioned for silence. The mud and darkness of the storm above obscured the blood as it ran out from under the hid that Rolling Stone dropped back down to the ground in disgust.

Golden Heart looked over the emplacement, and he realized that there were quite a few piles just like this one. “What could have done this ?” he asked no pony in particular as he followed Lt. Rolling Stone, the last one out of the heavy bolter emplacement.
General Bolter continued onward, ignoring the hundreds of piles of half obscured bones laid under the hides that use to contain them; once various vibrant colors, now so heavily caked in mud they were easy to miss. Rain ran off his helmet and down each side onto his shoulders. It wasn't natural, rain this time of year, particularly in the badlands. If there was rain it was supposed to be from warm summer clouds coming off of the eastern ocean to the south, not the ice cold rain that now chilled him to the bone, and caused his old joints to ache as he traversed the rough trench terrain.

General Bolter realized that they were very close to where General Valleys sub-command center would be , he could see the small heavily armored watch tower that the messenger at central command had mentioned. Atop it there seemed to be a small group of pony’s with binoculars and long range weapons of various designs scanning the battle field. General Bolter saw one of these fire an over charged las-round at something in the distance, followed by a few of his fellows in the tower.

“Sir” Lt. Golden Heart whispered. “Sir… I can’t hear that las-fire. At this range it should be easy to make it out, but there is nothing.” General Bolter nodded confidently in acknowledgment. I’m just an old ancient warfare professor from appaloosa, what am I so confident about? He thought to himself.

“Don’t worry Lt. Heart. It’s just a spell. The enemy is using it to keep us from communicating or responding quickly to attacks. Its common enough, I’ve used it a few times on offensive operations myself. Relatively standard.” The General looked back briefly to check on the soldiers behind him. Their courage would not fail them he could see, at least not while he was with them. But there was fear there, real fear. Good, he thought, it will keep them aware.

General Bolter motioned for the platoon sized contingent of rag-tag soldiers to stop. Then he motioned to Lt. Rolling Stone to bring the map forward. The map had been laminated, and given to him by a Sargent who he had sent back to the medical tents for a major injury to the chest, after rallying the Stallions soldiers and killing the manticore that had scattered them. The largest portion of the Stallions with him now, General Bolter realized came from that short engagement.

Looking at the map, trying to keep rain and mud off of it the General planned his next move. Well… just around this next corner, we could take that trench all the way to the base of the tower. If we do, then we would be right in the thick of the fighting right next to General Valley and whatever Guards-pony’s he has left. If instead we continue along this path, it curves and takes us further north away from the station and up past who or whatever General Valley and his guards are shooting at. We could outflank them. On the other hoof, if they are a sizable force, or if they have heavy artillery or armor of some kind… well I would be leading these guards right into a death trap.

“Lt Golden Heart, Lt Rolling Stone. Look here…” he pointed out the possible options and their dangers to the two junior officers as quickly as he could. “So... which would you take and why?” He asked them looking from one to the other as the other soldiers maintained defensive positions around them.

Lt. Golden Heart was the first to break the awkward silence. “Sir… If General Valley and his guard-ponies are trapped, and we join them, we will be just as trapped as they are. I would keep on this path and try and outflank, whatever they are fighting, sir.”

Lt. Rolling Stone nodded before saying “it is the best course of action sir. But I would suggest leaving three or four guards behind to secure this trench, and have one go to the tower and relay our plan of action in order to coordinate with General Valley, sir.”

General Bolter had not thought of the last part, but it seemed like a sound idea. “Pfc Cherry Coal, Tart Apple, Hover Glow, stay here and secure this trench. You are protecting our way home Soldiers, if you fail we all die.” The three privates whose name’s he had called stepped forward, expressions sever and saluted before taking up defensive positions behind whatever cover they could find. “Lt. Dawns-gust,” the second Lt Pegasus saluted. “I need you to relay a message to that tower. Tell them we are going to try and flank the enemy, understood?” The Pegasus saluted, gave a quick acknowledgment of his orders and then took off down the trench.

“Alright, the rest of you sorry lot get moving!” General Bolter spoke up so every pony could hear. “Golden Heart, Rolling Stone, you have point with me.” Pushing passed the two stallions, General Bolter followed the trench.

The suction from the mud pulled on his hooves more and more as he moved. The water was slowly rising as they walked down and along the small hill that the command center was built on. The further north they went the harder it was for General Bolter to move, knees creaking, joints cracking as he moved stiffly through the mud and the rain; followed closely by his two body guards who were also struggling, though not as much as General Bolter felt he was. I just hope it’s not showing. Wouldn't do for these colts to think I’m too old for this. He thought to himself.

Ahead of him General Bolter saw more of the too smooth mud patches, in the middle of a small dugout that also served as a crossroads for three trenches; the one he was traveling down, and two new ones springing off into opposite directions to the right and left. General Bolter motioned his two body guards forward to secure the dugout. A few guards-ponies silently followed them, providing support. The only sound that the General could hear besides the heavy bolter gun fire from further west that infused the background, was the suction noises that each of his soldiers made as they moved to secure the dugout.

How could the enemy have gotten passed the primary defense line, killed all of the guards-ponies here in the secondary line and moved on without any of us knowing? Why did it take a runner to warn us? The General thought angrily to himself. Even a standard sound muffling spell would have given us some kind of indication that a fight was going on.

“Be careful, watch and be weary always for the enemy seeks to have you. They seeks to sift you as wheat at harvest” The General thought, quoting an ancient warfare and tactics manual from a long forgotten civilization which disappeared before Equestria was founded, he had had his students study it, memorize it, treat it as sacred. “They will use tricks to trap you, lies to beguile you, and a sharpened knife to finally end you should you fail to be watchful.” He finished the quote in his mind as he scanned the dugout and surroundings carefully, watching as his two guards and the soldiers that followed them disappeared around the corners to the new trenches; scouting them briefly before returning.

“No enemy’s in sight sir, both trenches are clear.” Golden Heart said as he made his way back to the General. “To the left then sir?” he asked motioning toward the trench that lead north-east. General Bolter nodded, keeping his eyes fixed on the lip of the trench. He could feel something there, though he couldn't tell exactly what.

“Lt. Golden Heart, I feel someone, something watching us. Tell the rear-guard to be on high alert.” General Bolter put the firing bit back in his mouth and toyed with the trigger nervously. Something was off, he just didn’t know what. Golden Heart saluted and ran off to fulfill his orders. General Bolter motioned to Lt. Rolling Stone to press onward, and again the only sound filling his their ears besides the background noise of far off battle, was the suction noises made as each guards-pony moved up the new trench.

General Bolter felt a chill run over his spine, the hairs on his coat all stood on end. Another step forward, the world seemed to fill with noise, slapping him in the face with the cacophony of battle ahead of him. Lt Rolling Stone looked back at General Bolter, having taken point. “Sir! I think we are inside the spell now!” General bolter rolled his eyes. The Stallion was a great officer, brave and true to a fault, but he had an obnoxious knack for pointing out the obvious.

Nodding General Bolter motioned for the rest of the guards-pony’s to enter the spells effective area. As the last of the rear-guard passed him he put a hoof out and stopped another fast looking Pegasus who had a head mounted, bit operated las-gun as her only weapon. “Pfc Yellow Dart, I need you to return to Central Command and tell them about what is happening here. Explain about the silencing spell, and tell General Gate’s that he is to send reinforcements as soon as he finishes securing his lines at western sub-command. Understood?”

“Yes sir!” she said saluting crisply and flaring her wings.

“Wait…!” he yelled, but before General Bolter could stop her she took off into the air, wings beating furiously. He watched helplessly as she darted away, as low to the ground as she could to avoid the storm. It didn’t help her much, as lighting struck out from the magically infused storm over head striking her midflight and turning her once bright yellow coat black as charcoal, as she fell to the earth, now too far away for them to offer any kind of help. “Dam it!” he said to himself, fighting down a wave of frustration.

Las-fire cracked from behind General Bolter, impacting the mud walls in front of him. The General turned to face its source. “Contact!” yelled Lt. Golden Heart from the front of the group, even as Lt. Rolling Stone fired back a steady stream of plasma rounds from the new fierce weapons.

“Enemies of the Chaos Lords Beware!” came a shrill voice from behind cover. “For we are Chaos! And Chaos is strong!” A Chaos worshiper of unknown origin stood out from cover behind a crate. General Bolter could now see the deranged worshiper of dark magic, he made out the tattered and ripped cloths that served as armor, the crazed smile, and the insane and exotic piercings through lips, tong, ears, nose, and even one through the deranged pony’s knee. Strange and shifting symbols were tattooed on the earth pony’s skin which was laid bare to the world, all of its fur shaven off. The General’s eyes seemed to flow off of the markings, and he had to focus hard to be able to concentrate long enough to know what to do.

“FIRE! FIRE AT WILL! For Celestia! For Luna! For our homes, kill the heretic scum!” The General’s voice seemed to carry over the ever increasing noise of the battle with ease. Providing the stunned Guard-pony’s under his command with purpose and resolve despite the crazed lunatic spewing blasphemy’s, allowing them to return fire. The General bit down on his trigger, taking careful aim square at the chest of the deranged pony, allowing his H.U.D to make adjustments to his aim. The sociopath who was encouraging his fellow cultists forward, as they took cover behind crates, ammo boxes, or simply laid on the ground for lack of cover among in the trench.

The plasma bolt burst from the jaw mounted barrel nearly blinding General Bolter in the process; the energy bolt hit home, and half of the cultist’s body was now melted into slag as the rest of him collapsed on the trench floor in a pool of water mixed with blood from the dying.

The rest of the Generals guard-ponies were picking off the remaining cultists, when suddenly the few survivors stood and charged the disciplined firing line that the defenders had created, all screaming as if in complete unison “Crush, Kill, Destroy!” They all died under plasma bolts, las-fire, and the occasional bolt round from the officers among the loyalists.

A few seconds later, when all of the enemy wounded had been dealt with and his own seen too, General Bolter took stock. No casualty’s, though we have two wounded. Pfc. Vaulted Ceiling only has a minor injury to his wing so he could help Tapioca back to the medical tents. She wouldn't make it on her own, not with a wound like that to her knee, and she won’t be of any use here. Besides they could carry my message back to Central Command and General Gates. General Bolter barked out the orders, and soon after the two injured, wounds bandaged as best as first aid would allow, started hoofing it back towards central command.

“Lt. Rolling Stone, Golden Heart, take point please. We have a ways to go yet before we reach where we need to be.” General Bolter said as he moved to the center of the formation of guard-pony’s moving north east along the trench. Ahead General Bolter could see another of the small dugouts designed to act as heavy bolter nests, he motioned for the group to stop, and walked up to his two body guards.

“Dugout ahead. This one seems like some kind of platform. Have either of you two seen any movement?” General Bolter whispered. Rolling Stone and Golden Heart both shook their heads. General Bolter trusted them, if there was something to see they would have seen it. “Alright then, let’s move forward. If we can take this dugout we should be able to set up a good firing position to create a crossfire between us and General Valleys forces, over whoever is assaulting them.” The two nodded in agreement. “Let’s get moving.” The General said as he started down the pathway flanked by the two large Stallions.

Putting his back to the mud wall to the side of the small set of stares that led up into the dugout, General Bolter motioned for his two body guards to enter. The two stormed up the steps followed by a steady stream of guard-ponies. General Bolter swiftly followed the last of them up the stairs, and found his soldiers holding defensive positions all around the dugout.

Four ponies were trying to take down, and reset up a pair of heavy bolters that were originally facing north. The two pairs were setting them up to face east. General Bolter’s gaze moved outward and eastward. What he saw was horrifying.

The sub-command center was under full scale assault, hundreds of earth pony cultists charged the front lines. Each one carried a nasty looking hand to hand weapon, spikes and blades rusted almost beyond recognition. Intermixed with the cultists were some who where tattooed in the same way as the leader of the previous group of cultists had been, tattoos flowing unnaturally forcing General Bolter to concentrate hard in order to view them clearly.

“Alright every-pony let’s get those heavy bolters into position! The second they come on line we all open fire on their flanks, we need to give those boy’s some relief!” General Bolter said loud enough for the whole group of guard-ponies to hear. “Lt Golden Heart, Rolling Stone, choose two soldiers and watch those side trenches and our rear. I don’t want any more surprises. Understood?” The two stallions saluted and ran off to choose who they would take with them.

General Bolter returned his attention to the fighting. The defenders were holding, but just barely. A trench that wound its way around the small hill that the sub-command center was built on acted as their front-line; supported by a small dugout a few feet behind it on a raise platform similar to the one the General now stood on, that housed two heavy bolters, spitting death into the melee below. If they don’t receive some kind of relief soon those boys will break, and the whole thing will turn into a rout. Those heavy bolters in the dugout above them look like they have seen better days. It won’t be long before those barrols melt and will have to be changed, if that happens while this assault is still going on they'll all die.

General Bolter looked to his left, the first pair of guard-poneys a stallion and mare,  had finished setting up their heavy bolter and were stringing the ammo through the belt loop. “Don’t open fire until we're all in position” The General ordered the two who nodded their understanding, the gunner taking her position and the spotter getting ready with a fresh chain of ammo.

General bolter looked to his right and saw that the other pair had just finished dragging the heavy weapon into position and were now putting it together. “Faster guard-pony’s, our brothers need our help.” He said, voice stoic as steel, though not unkindly. The pair worked furiously putting the weapon together, and it didn't take them long to finish the feat.

“Guard-Pony’s, take up firing positions to support the heavy bolters! Hear… and Hear!” The general pointed with a hoof to the left and right of the powerful weapons. The handful of soldiers who had taken up defensive positions around the dugout joined their counterparts who had already taken up firing positions along the side that faced the assault.

“Ready! Loose Hell!” the two gunners squeezed the triggers almost simultaneously, and shell after shell of the .75 caliber, self-propelled, mass and magic reactive rounds, each painted with runes of warding against dark magic, bit into the enemy. Dozens of cultists exploded into mist before the powerful weapons, but the fanatical followers of the chaos lords continued on as if ignoring their imminent death. Soon after the thud of bolt rounds, was joined by the snap and hiss of las-guns, and the powerfully devastating staccato of the Generals Plasma Gun.
The added effect of the infantry’s fire power finally broke the fanatical charge, which disintegrated as some cultist’s resolve broke retreating, while others in their fanatical frenzy threw themselves uselessly at the wall of death that the command centers defenders threw up in front of them. What had once been a steady stream of crazed cultists bent on gleeful murder now turned quickly into full retreat, as the survivors of the assault rushed back to what had once been the loyalist’s primary defensive line, now held by the traitors.

General Bolter could hear cheering and stomping hooves coming from the command center, as its beleaguered defenders celebrated their salvation from imminent destruction. “Good job soldiers! Now, keep your wits about you, no celebrating yet. The enemy has been humbled but never underestimate their resolve, or their fear of their masters.” General Bolter said, not quite yelling.

The Generals gaze washed over his soldiers, ensuring their calm, and discipline despite their victory. He could see smiles, and clasped hoofs, but nothing overly distracting, nothing that would endanger them all by allowing some pony to miss a crucial piece information on the battle field. Nodding in satisfaction he returned to watching the enemy lines.

The rain was still coming down hard, and to General Bolter’s unease, creating even muddier conditions. More mud, is that even possible? He thought to himself as he watched the enemy bring in reinforcements, presumably preparing for another assault. This doesn't make any sense. If this storm is being caused by the Betrayer to help her ground forces by neutralizing our communications and air superiority, why would she create muddy conditions that would only make it more difficult for them? The thought bothered General Bolter immensely, but unable to come to some conclusion he forced himself to put it out of his mind and focus on the issues at hand.

The rain was coming down harder now, harder than it had any time before. General Bolter couldn't see the purple lights in the sky that mixed with the clouds except when flashes of purple and blue lightning crashed into the ground and light up the whole battlefield. That was also the only time he could now see the enemy lines, for those brief moments when lighting lit the sky. The enemy’s numbers had nearly doubled in the short time it had taken for the storm to intensify. What is going on? They have more than enough numbers by now to attempt another attack. They would be able to do it even easier if they simply followed the trenches to us and took our position out first. I don’t know what they are doing, but by Celestia’s Light I am not going to wait around to find out.

“Lt. Rolling Stone!” The great stallion appeared next to the General it seemed almost out of thin air. “Oh. There you are. Take half of the guard-ponies down the eastern trench that leads off here” he said pointing to the small offshoot trench that was only half constructed that the enemy had had to cross over in order to attack the defenders front line. “Fortify that line. Take one of the heavy bolters with you as well, I want to make sure you don’t have to engage in hand to hand combat unless absolutely necessary. Put your soldiers in optimum firing positions” he took out the small laminated map and pointed out a few possibility's.

“Here, here… and here. Do it as quickly as you can.” The General pointed toward a small crate off to his left side. “Also, take those mines and put them out in front of you to provide you with extra protection just in case. Lay them as far out as you can without endangering your soldiers needlessly.”

Rolling Stone saluted crisply “yes sir. Do you wish to make assignments, or should I pick the stallions to go sir?” The General pointed at him with one hoof and started folding the small laminated map, stuffing it back into the small saddle bag behind his shoulder. Lt. Rolling Stone saluted again and ran off, calling out the names of some of the best hand to hand fighters and demolition experts he knew in the group, before speaking to the heavy weapons crew to the Generals right and requisitioning them for the assignment.

As Rolling Stone and nearly half of the guard-ponies started to head out, the General picked up a slight sound on the wind. “Sir…” said Golden Heart who had snuck up behind him without the Generals Notice. “Can you hear that? They are…I can’t make out what they’re saying sir.”

General Bolter swore, as a thick cloud of darkness swiftly covered the enemy lines, obscuring them more completely then even the most intense storm could. He couldn't see them, but he knew. He couldn't hear what they were chanting, but he knew deep down, what was coming. The chanting was rhythmic, pulse pounding, and punctuated by the screams of cultists as they mutilated their own flesh in honor of their hedonistic lord. He knew, because he had seen it before, had heard this before, had seen its aftermath. “Brace for impact!” he screamed over the roar of thunder, crack of lighting, and the chanting, the horrible chanting.

Officers down the line mirrored his orders to their soldiers, who all ducked, pressing themselves hard against the mud caked trench which was slowly turning into a stream as rain washed down from the hill the command center was perched on.

The chanting grew in intensity, reaching a fever pitch that chilled the Generals blood. The rhythmic chanting and pounding of drums that the General knew were made from the skinned hides of dead ponies ceased sharply, leaving the battlefield feeling empty.

“DOWN!” General Bolter yelled again, as some of the soldiers who had stayed with him were poking their heads up above the dugout trying to see what was happening. Before they could react to his orders their heads were gone, replaced by thick red mists that fell to the bottom of the trench mixing with the mud and dirty water; their bodies fell soundlessly and were quickly washed over by the running water, mud accumulated, and quickly swallowed the fallen corpses.

“NO! Dam you!” General Bolter screamed in defiance. “You heretics will pay for this!” his voice carried over the battlefield unopposed. “You will feel Celestia’s burning light before this is over, I swear it!” he screamed at the unseen enemy, safety hidden from their soundless, and dangerous weapon.

A few seconds later the General heard the chanting, crack of lighting, and rumble of the unnatural thunder overhead again. Standing quickly he aimed his plasma gun in the direction of the enemy line, and unleashed bolt after bolt of angry blue energy which disappeared into the unnatural darkness that surrounded them. Soon after he was joined by las-fire and bolt rounds from the guard-ponies around him. A few seconds later, he could see flashes of light, and mussel fire from the second heavy bolter as Lt. Rolling Stone and his ponies took their positions further down trench.

“Feel the wrath of the righteous you cultist bastards!” General Bolter screamed, as the stallions and mares around him joined in. Battle cries of “die heretic die!” and “For Winie-pego!”, “For the fallen!” and “May the nobles have mercy on you! For we will not!” which was yelled in unison by one particularly rough looking group of four stallions and mare. General Bolter remembered rescuing the group of five from cultists who had knocked them out and were about to sacrifice them on a make shift alter of their fellow ponies. They are determined to redeem themselves of their loss I see, they have more honor then some officers I know. He thought to himself bitterly, before shaking his head to clear it, and returning to the work at hand. The renewed chanting wavered several times, but slowly it began to increase in its intensity, and General Bolter did his best to direct the fire from his troops to places in the darkness he thought he remembered, where the cultists had massed.

General Bolter felt a hoof on his flank and spun, trigger-bit half pressed and ready to fire. In front of him stood four figures, three of whom wore white robes with golden fringes, the last a black with purple coated fringe. The three with white robe’s had their hoods drawn, but the black robed pony pulled back its hood to reveal an elderly looking mare with a long horn, glowing with dark pink magic.

“Calm yourself General Bolter, we are here to assist you.” She said, voice sing song and tinged with magic that sent shivers down General Bolter’s spine. Additional guard-pony's poured in from behind them, nearly tripping the size of his force.

“Aspin!” General Bolter yelled joyfully, as he swooped the regal looking Unicorn up in a tight embrace. His joints ached in defiance, but his heart ignored them. “Oh sister you don’t know how good it is to see you!” he said releasing her as she chuckled softly.

Her voice carried clearly through the cacophony of battle as she said “It is good to see you too little brother. Mother would be proud to see you here, though I must say it wouldn't surprise her in the least!” chuckling softly again. He nodded as they both smiled despite their surroundings.

“If you two are done with your family reunion, we could use a little help sir!” Golden Heart said while firing into the blackness that cover the enemy lines. “Getting rid of this… this… blackness stuff would be first on my list if I were you!” he yelled as he stopped to release the steam out of his plasma guns pack.

Frowning at his subordinate General Bolter said “He’s right, the extra guard-ponies will be helpful, but can you do anything about that wall of shadow out there?” he asked Aspin, as she rubbed her chin.

“I have been observing the weave of the spell that She is using to maintain the darkness. It is powerful but rather simple. With the help of the other mages we should be able to sever her tie to the spell and then un-weave it rather quickly. However…” she hesitated looking at General Bolter uneasily.

“The second you break that spell, whatever’s on the other side of it will come right at us. You’re afraid we might not be able to handle it right? Well, whatever they have we can…”

“No brother, not they.” Aspin interrupted “She. It’s the sound-witch herself that leads these forces. She is the only one capable of using that darkness spell so powerfully, while still weaving the other.” General Bolter shook his head.

“Celestia’s intelligence officers said that she might have taught it to others. That’s why they didn't find her corpse at the victory at Cloudsdale. It could be another unicorn she has taught that trick to, or perhaps a group of them.” He said, briefly putting a hoof up to stop the conversation, while he listened to the progress of the chanting. It hadn't built in strength to where a unicorn could use it to power the spell from earlier, at least not yet.

“Mere conjecture” said one of the white robed mages, as he pulled down his hood revealing a horn wrapped in silvery magic. “She, like all followers of the Chaos Lords is paranoid. She trusts no one, not even her supposed Queen, and would not give up the secret to her magic for any reason. Probably not even if ordered to by Chrysalis herself! Or at least, not all of it.” He said putting his hoof back on the ground.

“What Silver Aura said is correct brother. Who knows maybe she taught some of her tricks to other unicorns, but she would not teach everything she knew no matter what. Also, I have been observing the weaves of the spells and they all have a certain feel to them. Like how paintings that were painted by the same artist do.”

“That is why we have all come.” Interrupted Silver Aura “We knew from the accounts of the strength and variety of the spell effects, along with the direct intervention of the Betrayer herself, that it must be the sound witch.” Silver Aura moved back in line with the other two robed unicorns giving General Bolter a bit more room.

“Huh… Alright, well no time like the present. Take down that spell Aspin and we will deal with whatever is on the other side.” General Bolter said. He turned to face the blackness covering the enemy lines, and out of the corner of his eye saw Aspin, Silver Aura and the other two unicorns touch horns, uniting their magic’s.

General Bolter Looked at Lt. Golden Heart and said “Send a messenger around, tell everypony to cease fire until my command.” Lt. Golden Heart stood, saluted briefly before leaving to find a messenger. A few minutes later the fire from his section of the field ceased, a few seconds after that so did the fire from Lt. Rolling Stone’s soldiers, strung along the half built trench between the enemy and the sub-command center.

“We are ready brother” Aspin said, voice straining as she struggled to wield the combined magic of all four powerful unicorns. “Let me know when, and I will bring down the wall of shadow.”

“Alright Guard-pony’s!” General Bolter yelled over the battlefield. “For Celestia! For Luna! For home! This is why we fight! It is why we can endure all evil and come off conquerors of all evil! Let not your hearts be troubled by the horrors we shall see today! Let that revulsion compel you onward to fight harder against the enemy! Remember, Disgust is our shield!” he turned and looked at the four unicorns and nodded, then turned again toward the wall of shadow and watched it dissipate. The storm was still in full swing, and the natural darkness it produced still overshadowed them all, but if he strained hard, he could make out the enemy lines.

What he saw as the shadow withered like a grab on the vine ,caused him to groan. Thousands of enemy cultists arrayed before them. Thankfully they were still unorganized; though that is what he had known would be there. What shocked the veteran General to his core, was a large chariot that he caught glimpses of as purple lighting from the storm, lit the sky and the ground below.

To every Celestia fearing pony there, it seemed a brutal, barbed creation that only the most wicked of minds could have created. General Bolter saw a mixture of eye-wateringly sickening spokes and iron claws. On the lower parts of the horror incarnate were thrashing slaves enduring unrelenting torment whose dark masters used hooked whips to tare away precious flesh. Unbeknownst to the General, their final screams as their souls left their lifeless bodies acted the catalyst for the horrible spell that the guard-ponies had endured.

Atop the chariot was a massive thrown made from the bodies of living pony’s writhing in agony, and crucified corpses, pinned together with iron spikes; a turntable laid out before it that a dark and hooded figure stood behind. The turntable rested upon four gigantic, spike and rune adorned speakers. The chariot was decorated with grotesque symbols that made General Bolters stomach want to turn over, and he heard more than a few of his soldiers lose the contents of their stomachs. The edifice to the cultist’s dark lords was pulled by eight, two legged beasts, whose bodies were lithe and slick, otherworldly and alien in every way.

“Unleash Hell!” General Bolter screamed, his disgust and anger infusing his words. Heavy bolter rounds ripped into the enemy ranks, as las-fire and plasma bolts soon followed suit. Dozens of cultists died without cover or protection upon the open mud fields behind and in front of their trench.

Realizing their exposure to the now expertly aimed weapons, the cultists fractured. Some running for the cover of the now overflowing trench, some charging blindly toward the loyalists lines, while still others tried to retreat form the battlefield all together, only to be met by death at the hands of their shaved and rune adorned leaders charged with maintaining discipline at any cost.

Dozens upon dozens of enemy cultists died at the hands of the loyalists before order was restored in the enemy ranks. Their brutal leaders maintaining discipline at the end of a barrel, whip, or other terrible instrument of pain and torment at their disposal.

Flashes of bright light lit the fields, now covered in bodies, briefly. General Bolter turned his attention to the sub-command center where they had originated, and saw the siloets of ponies rearming what looked like mortars. Two tiny explosions lit up the sky just above the traitor’s trench.  “Steal rain! That’s got to put a hamper on whatever they got goin right sir!?” asked Lt. Golden Heart enthusiastically.

It was too dark to make out what was happening exactly, but General Bolter could imagine the devastation that the mortars had caused as the canister’s exploded, peppering the enemy with thousands of pieces of hot shrapnel. “Send a messenger! Tell General Valley, or whoever is in charge up there to stop using those mortars, all they’re doing is making themselves targets!” The General ordered, Lt. Golden Heart turned and repeated those same orders, almost verbatim, to one of his runners.

General Bolter sighed as he watched hundreds of cultists charge out of the section of line that the canisters had hit and into the ready fire of his soldiers. What is General Valley thinking?! He thought to himself furiously. Why didn't he save those until they charged en mas when they would have been most effective?!

Two more muzzle flashes came from the direction of the two stationary mortar platforms, followed a few seconds later by two more explosions directly above another section of the enemy trench line. The results were similar, hundreds of cultists charged out of the trench and were swiftly mowed down as they tried to traverse the long distance between their line and the loyalists. He probably thinks he is going to be able to flush them out one section at a time like that until they are all dead. General Bolter thought to himself bitterly. Doesn't that colt remember anything that I taught him!?

General Bolter cringed in pain as a high pitched screeching smothered any other sound for miles. He looked up and saw a single, compressed beam of sound shoot from one of the chariots four speakers, and strike one of the mortar positions. Splinters and mud flew high into the air as the stations minor defensive earthworks were decimated immediately. General Bolter cursed as the mortar emplacement itself was ripped apart, and its ammo flung into the air. As the volatile mortar rounds landed, they detonated causing a storm of explosions peppering the sub command center. General Bolter pounded his fist into the mud wall in front of him in anger.

A horrible cry rose from the assembled cultists along the enemy line, a few seconds later in unnatural unison they poured over the mud wall of the trench. Thousands running in a mad dash toward the loyalist lines screaming in a gleeful craze. Their leaders, shaved coats exposing runes cut into their skin by their own hooves, firing las-guns in an effort to suppress the loyalist’s fire.

“That’s what they were waiting for” General Bolter said. “That.. That witch! She wanted General Valley to reveal the mortars location so she could destroy them! This whole thing was a ploy!” He said to no one in particular, angry at being manipulated.  “FIRE AT WILL!” he yelled over the crazed screams and mad giggling of the cultists who were charging. “Come then, and reap Celestia’s wrath!”, biting down on the trigger bit one of the cultists leaders, shaved with mad runic tattoos cut into its flesh was swiftly turned to slag.

The cultists ran south along the mud fields, enduring withering fire from the loyalist forces. Hundreds died, as thousands more swarmed over the dead corpses of their fallen comrades. They came in wave after wave, each getting farther then the last.

Bodies littering the field, trampled under the hooves of their counterparts, the cultists had advanced nearly two thirds of the way to Lt. Rolling Stone’s extended front line. “Fix Bayonet’s! Prepare for close quarters fighting!” General Bolter yelled across the battlefield, his voice ringing clearly over the mud and blood soaked ground over the cacophony of war.

Lt. Golden Heart pressed a small button on his helmet, and a tiny knife extended giving him the look of a unicorn whose horn had been replaced by cold steel. General Bolter refocused his attention on the enemy, picking off cultist after cultist, trying desperately to take down their numbers and hold back the tide of mutilated, chaotic ponies. General bolter saw that the same thing had been done by every pony who still had their helmets, presenting to the enemy a sharp line of cold steel they would have to throw themselves upon to break the loyalist’s lines.

General Bolter looked down at his own hooves, and found that his hoof spikes and duel hoof blades were still attached to his front legs. Good, Lt. Winds Call would kill me if I had to requisition another set.

“Aspin, you should head to the command center. No doubt General Valley will need your help should these bastards break through our lines.” General Bolter said as he looked back at his sister and her assembled Unicorn mages.

“Don’t worry about us brother, we will be fine. Focus on your work.” Aspin said dismissively almost as if she didn’t know that they were about to be buried under a tidal wave of cultists. Shaking his head, he looked back toward the enemy assault, they were almost on them and their numbers were still extremely overwhelming despite their heavy losses.

“HOLD THE LINE!” he ordered his soldiers, as he fired his Plasma gun nearly point blank into the face of another cultist. He could see the creatures jagged teeth, filed to sharp points, and he thought he could smell the rancid death that caked the dammed earth pony’s coat.

A split second later, another cultist took its place. This time, when General bolter bit down on the trigger, the Plasma Gun vented. Heat pouring from his weapons vents, General Bolter blinked clearing his vision as the cultist leaped at him, screaming maniacally.

General Bolter’s world went completely blurry and he struggled against the pony who’s snapping jaws reached for his neck. General Bolter lifted his front hooves and kicked up with all his strength, driving the spikes that were held there deep into the cultist’s chest. Blood flowed freely from the open wounds he had inflicted while holding the lunatic’s crazed snapping, jagged teeth at bay. A moment later a bright flash of light lit his vision and he felt the weight that had threatened to crush him, suddenly lifted.

General Bolter rolled on to his feet, as he blinked furiously trying desperately to clear his vision. Another flash of light, followed briefly by a squeal of pain and the smell of seared flesh engulfed his senses. Slowly his vision returned, but the flashes continued almost as if they came from the barrel of a gun.

Finally able to see clearly, General Bolter glanced back and saw his sister and her companions furiously casting spell after spell. Heat bolts, then ice crystals, followed by rocks and mud flung at deadly speeds with levitation spells peppered the enemy almost as effectively as heavy bolters, chewing into the mass of cultists.

“Fear not brother!” Aspin yelled as she stood near him felling three cultists at once as they were engulfed in one of her heat spells. “Guard-ponys are not the only ones who can hold the line!” she said just loud enough to be heard over the sounds of close quarters battle. General Bolter grinned, and bit down his trigger, turning the cultist he aimed at and the two behind him, into molten slag.
> Introduction
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once upon a time in the magical land of equestria… There was only war.


My name is Political-unrest, and I have been asked by the royals to compile a history of the Great War, also known as the Tyrant War.
Over the past four years I have traveled across equestria conducting research. Reading casualty reports, compiling statistics, surveying battlegrounds, reading and cataloging the propaganda of the once powerful and feared Chaos Lords, reading countless journals of and speaking with generals and other leaders who conducted the war on both sides. I peered into the minds of heroes and heretics to find the facts and viewpoints of these great poneys.

Out of all of the powerful poneys, the sensitive documents and war secrets that I was granted unfettered access to, I found that it was the personal interviews that were by far the most powerful. The everyday poneys struggling under tyrannical rule, the front line soldiers who faced madness incarnate, and in particular the children that were born during this time, lived, and only now at the end of their lives have found that friendship, despite all of the evil and depredations of war, is in fact, magic.

After I believed my work was finished I presented it to the Royals. It was when Luna, Goddess of the night, patron of the intelligence services, and my boss, called me into her private chambers that I knew something was wrong. 

It wasn't until I had the copy of my report thrown at my head as I walked in the door to her private study that I realized just how right I was. Thankfully Luna, gracious as ever, caught the leather bound fifteen pound print out just before it hit me. She swiftly dismissed her protege who must have been upset over me including the interview I did with her in the report. Looking back, it was perhaps not the most tactful of thing to include in a public report, seeing as she told me about her first kiss in that interview.... and when I was dating the interviewee… but then again no one could ever really say I was the best when it came to relationships.

When I was finally alone with the princess, and she gave me a proper scolding for my foolishness, she explained that while I was very ‘thorough” in my report, she was going to edit the the interviews out.  As she explained, she needed cold hard data, facts and figures, that she could work with in determining the best course of action when it came to rebuilding our now decimated country.

With me never being one to be cowed in front of an authority figure, we spent the next half an hour in very heated… discussion about her decision. In retrospect accusing the goddess of the night of ‘censorship’ and attempting to become the next chaos lord… might not have been the most appropriate way to go about preserving my precious report in its original form. 

After the last accusation, Luna explained that she did not intend to destroy the interviews (with the exception of her proteges which she promptly... uselessly threw into the fire. After all what self respecting researcher dosnt have copy's of literally everything?), but instead wanted me to write a ‘bucking book’.

She explained that she fully understood both my desire to protect the narrative, and voices of the war, that would soon be lost to the ages, and her proteges desire to send my ridiculously thick report through my head… looking back, I can too.

So I quickly began work on what I believed would be my magnum opus! The “chronicles of the great war”. It was a collection of what I believed to be the most interesting and informative interviews that I had conducted during my four years of research. Unfortunately despite swiftly finding a publisher, it didn't sell very well. More than the poor sales, the fact that those that did read it could barely understand or relate with what was being said, was a blow to my ego.

It was then that I decided to do something that had, at least to my knowledge never been done before. I took those interviews, along with my research, and I wrote this book. This book is written in narrative format so as to be accessible to the readers of this and other generations who have never, and hopefully never will experience the horrors and depredations of the Tyrant War. Though these events and situations may at times seem completely outside the scope of reality and even sanity, rest assured that everything I put into this narrative actually occurred.

With that explanation, and a warning for content, I present to you “The Great Tyrant War”.

> Interlude: War Pt2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pt 2

Red-Coat Skull-Crusher, leader of the bulk of the cultist forces, and loyal follower of Lord Tyric, watched as wave after wave of chaff threw themselves upon the enemy. Their blood mixing with the so called ‘loyalists’. The Great Lord would be truly happy with the scene before him, The Great Lord didn't care whose blood it was, as long as the blood flowed.

“Your cultists are failing Red.” The voice sounded part mechanical, magically enhanced, and completely unnatural. The magic infused words sent shivers down Red-Coat’s spine. How he hated working with the other factions. Magic was meant for the Great Lord, not for lesser beings. The creature that sat atop the throne-chariot beside him would under any other circumstances, be his arch enemy. How he had dreamed of bathing in her blood, and reveling in the praise of the Great Lord as he sucked the magic from the creature, as she died. It was only the Great Uniter, the Master of all Chaos Lords, and the Avatar of Chaos Incarnate that could ever hope to bring such different forces together.

Red-Coat had been extremely upset that he and his forces had been sent as the Tithe that the Great Lord had had to pay to the Uniter. It was something every Chaos Lord had to do, pay a percentage of their forces to Her, and he had been Lord Tyric’s. After a while though he had grown to see how She was very much like his beloved Lord Tyric, every bit as blood thirsty and destructive, just more… eloquent about it.

“They have no hope of victory, not against these odds. Besides, as the blood flows, my cultists grow stronger thanks to the gifts of the Great Lord Tyric.” Red-Coat said confidently in a thick rusckin accent, a smirk appearing on his face, revealing jagged blood stained teeth.

The hooded figure atop the chariot chuckled softly to herself. “What's so amusing base one? Why do you laugh when victory is at hand?” Red-Coat angrily asked.

“You. You are so very, very amusing. For all of the blood, and bodies that you have spent on this field not one ounce of power, magic or glory has gone to your precious Great Lord.” He stared at her, shock evident on his face. “Then again, none of the magic has gone to my queen either. Its all gone to the Great Uniter” the figure sneared the name in disdain. “Or, to power my spells.” Her voice had turned almost gleeful, reveling in the power that seemed to shine around her. “So, long story short Red, your precious cultists haven't enjoyed the protection of your Lord, other than what they had going in. My Queen knew this, and gifted the cultists she sent me with with a full array of protections, did your Great Lord?” 

Red-Coat started to growl in frustration, when the hooded figure started to click her tongue. “no need to be so upset Red, just showing you, though your Lord is great and all, how much better my Queen is” the hooded figure chuckled as she saw Red-Coat stomp away, joining a group of large, heavily armed and armored cultists that made up his personal retinue.

“Get the mounts, we’re going with the next wave” Red-Coat watched as smiles swept over the group. His stallions were nearly gleeful to begin the slaughter in the name of the Great Lord. A smile that revealed sharpened teeth, capped with polished brass creeped onto his face as the others turned to obey his orders. The hooded figure behind him would soon realize that the gifts of the Great Lord, even without the added strength that the flowing blood could provide, were more than formidable.

---

The loyalist lines nearly broke several times, bulging and bending, weakening and stretching against the seemingly endless tide of cultists and their self-mutilated and sadistic leaders. It was only through grit, determination, skill, and at times sheer dumb luck that they were able to continue the fight.

Many guard-ponies distinguished themselves with honor and gallantry above and beyond any call of duty, facing not only death, but madness incarnate matching it pound for pound with honor and loyalty. There were times when some of these brave defenders would have broken if not for the spitting fire from the Heavy Bolter under the command of Lt. Rolling Stone.

Quilted Loyalty, and Patched Courage, the operators of the heavy weapon fought on despite Quilted Loyalty’s front foreleg being blown off by a grenade, or Patched Courage being blinded by acid that was thrown in her face by a crazed cultist. The two refused to be brought low and switched positions. Patched Courage taking over as the loader, feeding the ammo by touch alone, while Quilted Loyalty leaned on the Heavy Bolter for balance, while biting down the trigger; a tourniquet syncing off the blood flow to what remained of his leg.

When a breach occurred in the over extended, thinning line of guard-pony’s strung across the battlefield, Lt. Rolling Stone charged the section alone. For five minutes, he held off what was estimated by war scholars and historians years later, as nearly a hundred cultists, killing what is believed to be dozens, with nothing more than his bayonet, borne and bravery.  When finally relief came in the form of Lt. Golden Heart, a group of close combat experts, and one of the white and gold robed unicorns, they found Rolling Stone standing among the dead, swaying, covered from head to toe in blood. It is believed that most was his own, pouring from the thousands of tiny scrapes and cuts he sustained in the fighting. It was shortly thereafter that he died from blood loss, while trying to fight his would be healers, too delirious from his wounds and exhaustion to comprehend what was happening.

Pfc. Yellow Streak, by sheer cosmic coincidence assisted in killing the diabolical cultist leader Red-Coat Skull-Crusher. As the young Pfc. ran passed Lt. Golden Heart and the cult leader as they were grappling, a grenade fell to the ground from Yellow Streak’s saddle bag.  Its pin having been pulled as it snagged on Red-Coats armor spikes, the Grenade fell to the ground beside the the two struggling poneys, granting Golden Heart the opportunity he needed. 

Golden Heart pushed Red-Coat down to the ground on top of the grenade as it went off, allowing one of the cult leaders armor spikes to pierce his shoulder in the process. 

Red-Coat had ridden into the battle upon a great armored and heavily augmented bison. It was him and his retinue of ten other cultists atop the colloquially named juggernauts, that had created the original breach in the guard line. They had charged up the hill toward the command center, commencing a great slaughter of what remained of the few guard-poneys there, while a mass of cultists charged through the breach.

It was only when a contingent of flamethrower wielding poneys lead by the powerful unicorn arch-mage Aspen Grove arrived at the center, that the cultist leaders unchecked murder was rebuffed. Had he been able to continue his murderous charges, breaking the loyalists lines, and not been stopped by Golden Heart who had pulled the great stallion from off the mutated and mutilated bison, there is no telling what damage the cultist leader would have caused. Thanks to both luck and Golden Hearts quick thinking and bravery one of Equestria’s greatest foes was defeated, and the soldiers under his command were saved in the process.	


---


The hooded unicorn figure atop the chariot, sitting on her throne of still writhing poney bodies, chuckled softly to herself. Just as the Queen said, she thought as she watched the brute-ish Red-Coat get pulled from his juggernauts saddle and forced to the ground by the Golden coated, purple mained stallion; whose soul shone brighter and more pure than most in her sight. All the more precious when his soul is mine, she thought with delight. Her magic allowed her sight to penetrate the darkness produced by the unnatural storm above.

The hooded figure saw the grenade fall to the ground. How fortuitous, even the fates conspire against you Red. When the sound of the grenades explosion reached her ears she suppressed the desire to giggle. Smiling she pulled on the magical strings that connected the cultists leaders soul to his Chaos Lord with all her strength. It was not enough to shatter the connection, eventually Reds soul would go to Tyric, but for today he would be hers. I know just what to do with him, she thought unable to stop the mad giggling that rose from her.

Once she safely had him, she turned her attention to the slowly dying hero. His soul’s golden thread was linked to the Matriarch, the real Betrayar, the walking corpse that was once Celestia God of the Sun. Sneering she pulled on that thread, only to find anothers magic already touching it. She pulled again, this time weary, and was burned for her trouble. The hooded figure recoiled as fast as she could from the threatening magic, as she watched the golden thread disappear, rushing fast away south. What? she thought, curious. I didn't think they had anyone with any real talent left. Today has proven much more interesting than I thought. 

The call of full retreat started from the cultists around the hooded figure, when they heard her start to laugh in earnest. Knowing what that meant, they ran in abject panic.

---

“General Bolter, Where is the General?” General Bolter’s ears perked up as he heard a some what familiar voice.

“Here, i am here.” he said as Second Lt. Dawn’s-gust stepped out of the mass of busy guard-ponies who were frantically rearming, tending to the wounded, and hurriedly going about other mundane yet time sensitive duties.

“General Bolter! There you are” said Winds-gust as she pushed through the crowd toward him waving a hoof in the air. The storm flattened her feathers, and in every way the pony looked like a miserable bird caught out in the rain. “I've a message from General Valley sir!” 
General Bolter waited patiently as the pegasus pushed through into the small open space around him and Aspin. “What is it Lieutenant?” he asked curtly, eager to be back to planning the loyalists defense against the next inevitable attack.

“Sir General Valley sends his regards.” second Lt. Dawns-gust said as she held out a rolled up scroll, with General Valleys personal sigil impressed into the wax seal. “He said i should take it to you immediately sir.” Lt. Dawns-gust said as she struggled to catch her breath in the freezing rain, dark clouds overhead cracked with purple, pink and blue lightning.

General Bolter broke the seal, huddling over the letter as best he could to keep it dry. A light pink aura appeared surrounding the letter, protecting it from the rain.”Thanks Aspin.” General Bolter said as he began reading. “The fool. He probably spent more time writing this letter then thinking about the strategy he used. He says that the loss of that mortor position was an ‘unexpected development’! Ha! My first year students would have been able to tell him that.” He finished reading the letter as Aspin, and the messenger silently watched. 

“The… the unmitigated gall!” General Bolter slammed his hoof, and the letter, into the mud splashing dirty water up onto his cloak, already caked in mud and soaked with rain. “The coward said he left a rear guard, and retreated!”

“Yes sir” said Dawns-gust. “The lieutenant he left in command was completely overwhelmed, sir. I saw him nearly break down in tears when I told him you were here with reinforcements. He told me that General Valley left for the reserve camps after he dispatched a messenger requesting reinforcements from you.” Dawns-gust bit of the last word, as if tasting something foul. “Coward.”

General Bolter growled in frustration “Don't disparage a senior officer lieutenant” he said, halfheartedly scolding the younger pegasus. Dawns-gust ruffled her feathers slightly in annoyance, but nodded. “But I think you're right. Damn coward.” General bolter shook his head. “No. His failures are mine, he was my student and my subordinate. I should never have put him in command, i knew he wasn't brave enough, but i thought he might be smart enough to do the job.”

Aspin put her hoof on General Bolters shoulder, “Brother, there will be time to mourn loss of honor another time. Today we must focus on the work at hand.” Her tone was slightly scolding but not unkind. “I will go meet Silver Aura along the extended trench to provide assistance.” General Bolter nodded, he had been about to ask her to do just that. With the loss of both Rolling Stone and Golden Heart, if the cultists decided to charge again the beligered and much weaker line would be leaderless, and swiftly overrun.

“Thank you Aspin that’s where we need you right now.” General Bolter said as he shook his head slightly, still unable to fully accept that one of his greatest students was that big of a coward.

Pulling the map out of his saddle bag, and putting the now muddy and soaked letter in, he laid the map out on the ground. “General Gates is holding the west, and we have stabilized the line here in the east.” he said as he pointed out the eastern command center. “but there could have easily been a sizable force that moved around the trenches here” he pointed toward the far eastern flank of the sub-command center. “We haven’t had word from any of the elements that were stationed there. I have to assume that they are dead like the rest of the central line guard-poneys we passed on our way here.” 

The General looked around at the gathered poneys. Winds-gust, Aspin, Royal, and Curas. With the exception of Aspin, they're all lower ranked officers with little to no experience in the field  General Bolter thought to himself. “Curas” he said as the heavily muscled and short stallion saluted crisply. “I’m going to have you take Aspin’s flamethrower specialists, and a handful of other poneys here…:” he pointed at a location just east of the eastern sub-command. “ I need you to tell me what happened to the guards posted there, and if you see any signs of large movements of troops going by. We don't want Anthima City, and Fort Omega to be caught unaware if the enemy slipped passed us. If you do find anything, send a runner first to Omega, then to me understood?” Curas again soluted.

Nodding general bolter pointed back at the elongated line “Aspin, take the two other mages that you have with you to the line. Help them hold until I can send reinforcements.” General Bolter pointed toward Winds-gust. “I need you to go to the sub-command and send that Lieutenant to me so I can speak with him. Assume command from him until i send him back” General bolter thought about it and said “If. If i send him back, i’ll give him written orders with my signature. Otherwise if he returns he is your subordinate until the end of this conflict.”
Winds-gust saluted, unease evident in her expression. 

“Uh.. Yes sir, but sir how can i have a subordinate of a higher rank?”

General Bolter pulled out a piece of blank parchment and started scribbling as Aspin again provided protection from the rain. “Thought of that. You are now hereby issued a field promotion. Understood First Lt. Winds-gust?” He asked as he held the now finished orders out for her to take.

Her shock quickly turned to excitement. “Yes sir!” she said enthusiastically as she grabbed the orders and stuffed it into her saddle bag. 
“Lieutenant I need the second mortar position repaired and ready to fire the second I give the order. Can you pull that off?” The newly minted Lt. Winds-call nodded. “Good. Because you'll be our ace in the whole. Once its operational don't fire until you see a white signal flair.” Again the beaming pegasus nodded her assent.

General Bolter pointed a hoof at the tall pony Royal, who would look as regal as his name suggested if it wasnt for the copious amounts of mud, and thick heavy cavalier armor he wore. “Sergeant Royal, I need you to stay here. Hold this ground at all costs, keep up the crossfire with Aspin’s forces.” Royal saluted. “Good stallion, now if i were you i would fill the trench leading north with as much explosives as you can scrounge up, and collapse it. It might also make a nice trap, but thats up to you. Either way, these cultists are going to smarten up eventually and just walk down that trench to stop the crossfire.”

“Yes sir General Bolter.” Royal said as he finished his salute. The tall stallions cutie mark, two swords crossing over a spear laid atop a shield, shone true through the mud and grime that coated the rest of the Stallions bodie. “Trap it is. Might as well take as many of the bastards with us as we can.” he said as a grin crossed his face.

“This is not a suicide mission ladies and gentlemen” General Bolter said sternly, looking from Royal and across the rest. “I think we've already proven that. We only have to survive until more reinforcements get here from Fort Omega, and we are relived. So, do your jobs, and we should all get out of here alive. Understood?” General Bolter looked each of the members in the small circle in the face, as they each nodded their accent. “Good. Dismissed.” 

As the band of leaders turned to leave to their respective tasks, the ground started to rumble slightly. General Bolter looked down at his feet, the water was rippling, as if someone had dropped a large boulder in a pond. “What is that horrible sound?” shouted Aspin in his ear. Before General Bolter could respond however, two large metal vehicles, larger then any that General Bolter had seen before, peaked over the western ramparts, cannon barrels aimed at the enemy lines. A heavy bolter peaked out the front armored plate swiveling menacingly over the hundreds of dead bodies on the field before them.

A soot coated black and white spotted pony appeared out of the top hatch of the forward tank a split second later, smoke followed soon after. “What the hell is that? another electrical fire?! Get it under control private before we all die from the fumes!” a weak affirmative was drowned out by the crack of lightning and thunder overhead.

“Report soldier!” General Bolter yelled as he motioned for the others to continue their work, and they quickly dispersed to their duties. “Where are you coming from?”

The soot covered earth poney stallion shook his head, shocked at being yelled at. Noticing General Bolter he quickly saluted. “Iron Sights at your service sir! This hear is my tank Celestia’s Grace, and her crew from the first armored division. Were here to deliver these fifteen tone, one hundred and twenty millimeter smooth bore cannon to General Bolter, complements of General Gates sir!” The tank commander said as he finished his salute. “Where can I find him?”

“Well you wont have to look far, consider me found. I didn't think your tanks would be ready for another week. What happened?” 
“Sir! Look!” shouted one of the guard-poneys who General Bolter had set to watch the enemy lines. General bolter turned around as he heard screaming and crying coming from the direction of the enemy trenches. General Bolter trotted to the edge of the trench to get a better look. “Sweet celestia…” whispered the same guard-poney.

“Celestia’s not here soldier, now buck up and get ready to counter another assault!” he yelled loud enough so all of the guard’s near him could hear. With that the watch poney ran over to a stack of ammo crates and started fishing for a new power pack for his head mounted las-gun. General Bolter looked back at the enemy lines, the cultists fled in fear, or at least tried to, as a spell slowly grew to engulf them. 
As the spell, a small bubble of dark transparent blue, caught them their hides sloughed off, muscle's fell apart, intestines and bones fell in heaps under the now deconstructed frames, and still the cultists screamed. Evidently the spell doesn't kill outright, thought General Bolter as he witnessed the horror unfold, It takes a minute for them to die.

“WITNESS THE PRICE OF FAILURE” Came a voice from the epicenter of the massacre, the ungodly chariot. “WITNESS THE POWER OF MY QUEEN!” the spell expanded even further, reaching behind the enemy lines and catching, at least as far as General Bolter could tell, every cultist that had fled. “THEIR FAILURE WILL FEED THE CHAOS I SUMMON!” 

A rift in reality, thats all that Gelera Bolter could think of to describe the blue and black distortions in space time, that brought forth lithe, bipedal and quadrupedal creatures. Crab Claws and spikes framed the demons perfectly beautiful and enticing frames. 
“Demons” General Bolter said under his breath, before running back to the heavily armored tanks. “What’s your armament look like!” He yelled at the tank commander who was busy attaching a heavy stubber, the smaller variant of the Heavy Bolter that shot smaller caliber chamber fired rounds. 

“20 rounds of High Ex, 5 standard rounds, and 2 anti infantry canisters sir.” the tank commander said as he slid a pin through two holes in the bottom of the Heavy Stubber connecting it to the manual swivel on the turret. 

“How reliable is that damn thing?!” General Bolter yelled his question. 

“Would you like me to give you a blow by blow of the specs on this thing sir?! or would you rather I open fire?!” The tank commander pointed toward the oncoming wave of nearly fifteen of the creatures. Small numbers, but they seemed to shift in reality, and it was hard for General Bolter to keep track of them. They ran swiftly, and were nearly halfway to the loyalists lines, even as dozens more poured out of the breach in reality and began forming around the chariot.

No one is shooting, why is no one shooting?! General Bolter thought angrily. “OPEN FIRE!” He screamed as loud as he could. A split second later it seemed as if the world erupted, as the tanks main cannon let loose its first standard round, followed swiftly by its three heavy bolters, and the tank commanders heavy stubber. A second or so later and the rest of the loyalists opened up, accompanied by the second tank’s main cannon and secondary armaments.

General Bolter watched as the tanks standard rounds exploded against the sustained spell bubble, now acting as a shield against the loyalists fire power. Two more salvos had little more impact causing ripples in the spell shield, to no effect.

“Focus on the demons!” General Bolter yelled at the Tank Commander who quickly turned around and yelled something unintelligible down to his crew. The main cannon on the large tank lowered a few degrees, and the next salvo ripped through the ranks of the now charging second wave of lithe demons, the first wave having been cut down by the combined firepower of the heavy bolters along the loyalists line.
To General Bolters surprise the second tank followed suit, their next high explosive round briefly lit a section of mud aflame, turning handfuls of demons into ash.

General Bolter ran to the front of the trench and joined his soldiers in taking down the highly seductive demons. She can't hold that spell forever, he thought, I just hope we have enough ammo to last that long.

The rains continued to fall, 

pony's continued to die, 

demons laughed,

and the moon suddenly appeared over head.
> Interlude: Deer Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“Matriarch, Do you truly intend to intercede here? These… these ponies, they seem beneath the Herds attention, let alone worth risking its exposure.” 
“Yes daughter, yes I do. Their protectors, these princesses, have raised the sun and moon for well over a thousand years, keeping the cycle of day and night consistent for all living beings, even the Herd. While they are crude, rough, and perhaps the bluntest of instruments, they are still our friends. As you know my daughter, Friendship is the most powerful of magics.”
“Yes, Matriarch.”
“You are displeased with my decision?”
“No, Matriarch. Its just that the Farseers in the Herd have not foretold what our intervention will bring about.”
“Does that frighten you daughter?”
“Yes, yes it does Matriarch.”
“Good. Now you know what it is like to be one of those ponies down there, fighting and dieing without any knowledge of the future. Now, dear one, you can understand their plight. They live every day filled with uncertainty, facing the unknown of tomorrow with bravery and courage not knowing if their hard work and effort will amount to nothing in the end, or if what they contribute, a single bullet, an accidentally dropped grenade, or even a split second decision made exactly when it is needed most, can change the course of history. That is their fate, to face the unknown and uncertainty of tomorrow and fight on against the hatred of the enemy.”
“Thank you Matriarch, the lesson will not go unheeded.”
“As well it shouldn't. For it is us that must bear the burden of knowing their fates before they do. We must look into the fabric of reality, see what is inevitable and what is not, and choose the best course of action. When that sight that we rely so heavily upon is blinded or unclear, does that mean we should not act?”
“No, Matriarch! The wisdoms are clear that blindness should not lead to inaction.”
“Yes daughter, you are right. But our sight is so rarely blinded that It is times like this that we must look to our friends, blunt and brutish as they are, and learn from them.”
“Yes Matriarch. Should I gather the aspects of the Herd?”
“What i wish to do here I must do alone. What you must do, is up to you daughter. If you think you can help these poneys find victory, then you are free to intercede. If not, watch and learn from them how to be brave when your path forward is blinded.”
“Yes Matriarch.”
“Daughter?
“Yes Matriarch?”
Before you leave, I have one more lesson to teach you. It is a spell that has not been needed for close to four thousand years. Sense the time of myths that have now faded into abstract legend. Watch closely the weaving. Do you see that Yellow Coated poney there? the rather large one?”
“Yes Matriarch I see him. His heart is purer than most, though not unblemished.”
“Yes. And the enemy seeks to have his soul to fuel their designs. I will deny them their prize.”
“The spell is quite simple Matriarch, but the threads are very weak. Do you need assistance?”
“No daughter. just watch the weaving of the spell, and you will see what you need to see… Notice daughter how the enemy reaches out and attempts to grasp his fate in her claws?”
“Yes.”
“Now watch what happens as she grasps the thread of the poneys simple and pure soul.”
“She was burned! How in all the wide world?”
“Did you see? Did you see the weaving and the fates?”
“I… I don't understand Matriarch.”
“I was hoping you would catch what happened daughter. Remember back to how the fabric of reality appeared as you looked upon the Stallions fate? Now, compare that to the weaving of the spell I cast.”
“hum… Ah! There! The spell altered his fate just ever so slightly. It didn't burn her, it changed his soul's fate!”
“Effectively, yes, but how daughter?”
“By… by filling in the gaps, Matriarch. Providing additional details.”
“Yes daughter you now understand. You can not change fate with this spell. Instead what you are doing is helping fate choose a path when it is uncertain which path it will choose by feeding it information and providing support for one option over the others.”
“Thank you Matriarch. I am truly humbled by your knowledge and willingness to teach one such as I. The Herd is truly blessed to be lead by you.”
“Flattery will get you everywhere my young Deer, now be off, and make your decision about what to do next, blinded as you are from viewing the fates.”
“Yes Matriarch.”

***

The Chariot began to move, its wheels screeching, seeming to the minds of the loyalist defenders as if a thousand souls cried out in pain and agony continually. The creatures that pulled the unnatural contraption hooted and trilled as the pain of the whip pushed them forward, sending shivers up the spins of the stalwart defenders.
As the Chariot moved forward, three squads of unnaturally large stallions in massive armor carrying dangerous and alien looking weapons jumped down from the second story dias and followed along on foot. “Do you hear that brother!?” screamed one of them, “They beg for sound! IT will get loud now!” the weapons spat forth beams of sound from the smaller versions of the deadly weapons that the chariot carried that the Chaos Knights held in the survo arms attached to their backs. The weapons was destructive casting earth and mud into the air. Though at the extreme range were more effective at keeping the defenders heads down then causing any real damage.
If either the defenders, or the chaos forces had been paying attention, they would have notices a group of shimmers among them. They would have also noticed as the chaos Knights had disappeared, one by one. Everyone noticed when the last sound cannon went quite.
It was not confirmed until years later, but the Herd had intervened. It is speculated that they would have continued, but the storm vanished, the moon shone through, six objects fell from the sky,landing in the center of the battlefield spending mud and water high into the air. 
Out of these craters, six blue armored massive Knights emerged, the Gods of War had finally arrived.
	
> Chapter 9: Knight Fall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Wildfire was a unicorn pony, smart, skilled, and magical. That's why it shocked all of those at fort Omega when she opened her wings and took off, leaving the ground, and them behind.

        As she beat her new wings, servos clinked and clanked, metal rebelling against the cold rain of the unnatural storm.

        She quickly cast a heat spell to ward them against the chilling rain, similar to the spell she used on herself.

        What had that pegasus said? There might be enemies coming here? she asked herself trying to remember the details of the conversation she had just had. Right, well better check it out. Her wings took her higher than the clouds, purple and blue lightning striking harmlessly, recharging her wings power cell. Well, someone doesn't like me she thought smirking at the storms frustration, buffeting her with strong winds that could only slow her down.

        She broke through the clouds, and was greeted by pure, precious moonlight, and calm winds. The night up here was beautiful, a shocking contrast to the terrible storm below.

        Oh, this wont do she thought sarcastically. Those cultists down there can't see Lunas work! Well, im going to have to fix that aren't I? With that thought she began to weave a spell, not unlike the previous two. Those below if they could have seen her through the storm, would have seen her begin to glow.

         Fire began to wreath her body, as her spell took shape. To an outsider it would have seemed a few seconds had passed, but to Wildfire the intricate spell seemed to take hours to weave.

        Finally, the spell was ready. Wildfire stared at her work pleased. It was not a perfect weaving, but it was the best she could do on such short notice.

        A sphere of fire expanded out from her, engulfing the magically conjured clouds, even as purple and blue lightning struck out at her furiously. Her power cell was almost dangerously overcharged, when she began to dump its energy into the spell. 

        When all was said and done, her energy cell at less than half capacity, and her breathing coming in heavy and short breaths; she saw her spells effectiveness quadrupled.

        She had hoped to clear a square mile or so, to give fort omegas defenders a chance to see the oncoming attack. Instead, she had cleared nearly six miles, exposing the eastern flank of the front line to Luna's precious light.

        Exhausted, she began her descent back to the fort.

        Six objects shot passed her, a blur to her visions. She was pulled off course in their wake, and struggled to regain control. When she finally did, she saw hundreds of cultists, war machines of various insidious designs moving among them headed for the fort.
        Six craters suddenly appeared among the cultists as mud and ash spewed into the air below. Tiny blue and gold figures emerged from the wreckage and began to slaughter the cultists indiscriminately.

        It took Wildfire a minute to realize.

        The Knights had arrived.

---

Nights-shade activated his HUD just before impact.  The drop pod would protect him of the worst, but he knew he would be disoriented for a short time afterwards. Even Knights would get dizzy when shot out of a cannon from high orbit.

The display shot to life, and so did the bolter rifle attached to his right shoulder mount. On his left, he held extra ammo clips, and a large scabared that held his chainsword. The sword was a weapon he hoped he didn't have to use, but knew he would before the day was done.

Impact in 3...2… the powerful entry thrusters kicked in slowing his descent at the last minute to survivable speeds...1. The Drop Pod rocked heavily as it hit the ground at speeds that would have shattered his spine had it not been for the heavy Knight armor, and the extensive augmentations that he had been gifted with over the past year. The Drop Pod opened with a loud hiss, just as his metal restraints lifted, allowing him to move on his own.

“Brothers, this is Captain Tidal Wave, evacuate your drop pods and engage the enemy with extreme prejudice!” came the voice in his ears. “Yes, Captain.” Nights-Shade said as he pressed forward, pushing through the smoke and dust, his voice joining in with the four others who swiftly acknowledged the order.

His HUD couldn't pick up more then heat signatures yet, but it wouldn't take long for one of his Battle Brothers to get clear of the dust and for his or her HUD to share that information with the rest of the squads. According to the readouts on his display, the wind had started blowing hard north, pushing the storm further away and with it the dust and smoke from their landing. 

Bolter fire came from his left, and he saw five target acquired signatures flash into existence, and then quickly disappear as the bolter fire died along with the Deamons that they belonged to. “This is Heavy Weapons specialist Sea’s Wind. I have engaged the enemy! Deamons confirmed, repeat Deamon presence is confirmed.”

“I read you loud and clear Sea’s Wind, Deamon presence is confirmed. Requesting additional support. Assault Squad Theta inbound from Anthima city. Engage all hostile forces and exterminate with extreme prejudice.” Captain Tidal Wave’s voice echoed in his ear.  A string of acknowledgments, including from Nights-Shade rang in his ear.

Refocusing Nights-Shade pressed forward. FIve heat signatures jumped forward out of the dust cloud that was beginning to dissipate a few feet in front of him. Four were almost pony’s, lithe and enticing in the worst possible ways, while the fifth stood on two legs, and held leashes to the others who cooed and petted their collars lovingly.

        You Pony’s are interesting… a new dimension, just like home played out in miniature! The bipedal Deamons voice did not reach Nights-Shade’s ears, but reverberated in his mind a thousand times over, while a sense of pleasure at the creature's words exuded from the beautifully terrifying pony versions it was connected too. 

        “Your foul deceptions will not work on ME Deamon!” Nights-Shade growled as he fired his bolter with only a thought. His suit had no firing bit, everything ran straight into his mind through wires connecting him to the suit of Knight armor. The Bolter rounds, each dipped in holy water that had been blessed by celestia herself, and each painstakingly covered in hoof carved runes that spoke of ancient goodness, and friendship, elements that would drive the Deamons back from whence they came.

        The bipedal creature exploded as the rounds entered her head, and detonated. Two more of the pony creatures died to the onslaught before they could react. “My Armor is disgust! My shield is contempt!” he said reciting the battle benedictions that helped him and his battle brothers to focus while facing insanity and Chaos incarnate.

        A third of the pony shaped Deamons died, evaporating into smoke having tried to dodge to the left. The fourth seemed to shimmer, and Nights-Shade had a hard time concentrating on exactly where she was. “The Deamon is worthy of nothing but hatred!” he shouted contemptuously, and another hail of bolter rounds filled the space the Deamon had just been, but to no effect.

        “Friendship is for only the worthy!” he shouted as he searched for the creature even as his HUD frantically scanned the dust landscape around him. Further away the display picked up on more Deamon’s, and marked their location, but they were too far away for him to worry about just now. Shaking his head to clear his vision, Nights-Shade turned around and found the Deamon trying to enter his Drop Pod. Smiling he watched as the Pod came to life, and its single Storm Bolter opened fire nearly point blank into its hideously seductive and shimmering face. Less than a second later it was dust.

        As Nights-Shade turned, the final remnants of the dust and ash blew away, clear silver moonlight lit the battlefield. Threat indicators, hundreds of them, sprouted all around him. “Just another day in the Order, right battle brothers?!” came Tidal Waves voice over the comms. The blue and gold indicators on Nights-Shade’s HUD showed him that the captain was to his left about three hundred feet, while to his right was Sea’s Wind, and two more battle brothers who had already regrouped, and had engaged a group of fifteen Deamon’s in close quarters combat. 

        “Nights-Shade, Iron Hoof, regroup on me. The guard-ponies are getting overrun.” Nights-Shade pulled up the satellite image of the battle field, that had updated with positions of threats and allies marked in green for guard-ponies, and blue or gold for his battle brothers. The Deamon’s charge had been disrupted by the Knights fall, but their unnatural strength allowed them to recover far more quickly than any other foe would have. Once recovered, the Deamon’s had a choice, either face the Knights directly, and be turned to ash by the hundreds, or find a new target. 

        Looking on his map Night's-Shade watched in horror as nearly a hundred ‘target’ markers appeared in rapid succession as the last vestiges of the dust and ash from the Knights landing cleared away. It was not the amount of enemies that astonished him, he could handle a hundred Deamon’s himself if he had to, with nothing but his combat knife. Rather, it was where they were sprinting towards. 

The Deamon’s it seemed to Night’s-Shade had, just seconds after the Knights landing, started beelining for a small dugout where a small, and beleaguered force of guard-ponies were stationed making for a convenient cross fire over the battlefield. Among the red and green markers, the later winking out of existence one by one at an alarming rate, there were two purple ‘VIP” markers. Around each, red enemy indicators vanished almost as swiftly as they swarmed. It was clear to Night’s shade though, that without some help, those VIP tags would soon disappear as so many of their green counterparts had.

“Sir, I see two VIP tags. Request permission to intercede before regrouping.” Static filled the other end of the crystal powered radio for a moment.

“Granted. Move it Nights-Shade, I think thats the general and one of Princess Luna’s Mage pupils. She won't be pleased if they get taken out.”

“Yes sir!” Nights-Shade replied as he ran back toward his drop pod. As he moved towards it, the lone and powerful storm bolter tracked him but did not fire, his FoF tag allowing the machine to recognize him as a friendly. Along the outside of the pod, he found what he was looking for. Hitting a large metal panel with a hoof, Night’s Shade turned around as automatic servo arms reached out and attached a large, and heavy jump pack to his armor. 

Punching the activation key, Nights-Shade felt the burden of the heavy addition to his armor lighten, the powerful thrusters kicking in and lowering the impact of the armor on his suits servo's. On his HUD, a new read out appeared, a long line heading off into the distance that showed possible jump trajectories.

Marking his desired landing zone, less than five feet from the two VIP tags whose situation was growing more desperate by the second, a line representing his potential trajectory appeared. “Activating Jump-Pack” Nights-Shade said into his communications suite built into his helmet letting his battle brothers know his plan, then he hit the small button on the control arm with his left hoof. A small countdown timer appeared ”Ignition in... 3...2...1...0.”

The powerful Jets ignited, and swiftly carried him away from the mud and grime below. Small white clouds, the remnants of the storm, swirled around him as he reached the pinnacle of the arch, far less intimidating than their much larger cousins. The Jet’s kicked into a lower gear, this time controlling his descent. 

Below him, close to the two VIP tags, were three green ‘friendly’ guard-pony indicators that showed the few remaining guards. The tags were huddled around the VIP’s and from the sight of las-fire and the distant wamp of grenades, Nights-Shade could tell they were fighting hard to keep their charges alive. The group had its back up against two massive tanks, as the yellow Armor indicators spat Heavy Bolter rounds almost point blank into constantly shifting demonic forms, turning them into ash by the dozens. The combined efforts of the Guard, VIP’s and the Tanks barely held back the tide.

Another timer appeared, this one with the tag ‘landing in:” 10...9...8… Nights-Shade overclocked his leg servo’s, providing them additional power for the landing. 7...6...5… Mentally he activated the chainsword sheathed along his left front leg. 4...3...2… He reached behind him, and in one smooth motion removed it from the scabbard using the magnets around his mouth bit, and his teeth. 1...0.

The impact was a mirror to the Drop Pods landing, but on a smaller scale. Daemon bodies flew through the air, even as those that directly surrounded Nights-Shade were ripped apart by the chainswords angry teeth. Their screams of agony and rage pierced the roar of his Jet-Pack and the angry revving of the mouth held chainsword, even as they faded away into ash and dust.

I am rage! I am the shield, the immovable wall against which you will break your will! he screamed in his mind. Just one verse, his favorite, out of the thousands of verses in the Litany of Arrogance, which in turn was one of a hundred Litanies that he had to memorize as part of the psychological conditioning or ‘indoctrination’ necessary to protect his mind against the horrors of Demons, devils, and chaos.

Electricity shot through the crowed of daemons, leaping from body to body until it lashed out, leaping toward him. Pain, pain he had known before, wracked his body. 

“Power Crystals at maximum. Danger, overload imminent.” Came a female metallic voice in his ear, the machine program, or ‘spirit’ of his armor. 

Alright then, he thought as the creatures around him, and between him and the VIP tags, melted into ash and blew away on the breeze.

The pain abruptly ceased, and control of Nights-Shade’s body and servo's returned to him. 

Nights-Shade darted forward and behind one of the large Tanks, where one of the VIP tags flashed, as life signs faded. “NO!, Aspin, stay awake! Look at me. Aspen, open your eyes!” A large, elderly stallion with three General stars along his collar screamed, “Damn it Aspen, that's an order!” the stallion cried.

The Mare’s eyes opened briefly, as she lay among the mud and bullet casings, a large piece of Deamon claw sticking out of her stomach which slowly started to turn to ashe. Nights-Shade didn’t have time to listen to the mares final words. “May my vengeance be witnessed by the victorious dead!” he whispered to himself as he turned his back on the tragic scene.

Heavy Bolters from the Tanks spat death at the enemy, a symphony that Nights-Shade added the rhythmic *thud*thud*thud* of his bolter.

Inch by inch the enemy tide drew closer. It seemed inevitable, as if the enemy had inexhaustible numbers spewing from what the arch magi had only been able to name ‘The Warp’. The place of origin for the Daemon, and many of the dark powers that now threatened Equestria, and the rest of the world of Equis. A hellish landscape of crazed and constantly changing realities, expanding and collapsing on themselves over eons, that would seem to the sane mind mere seconds.

Nights-Shade’s bolter’s action locked forward, the clip empty. He pressed the small release latch with the side of his head, grabbed a clip from the saddle bag on his left with his teeth, and reloaded pressing the fresh clip hard into the top of the bolter.

“Get these hunks of junk pointed in the right direction!” came a voice that boomed over the sounds of spitting death. “That way!” the elderly stallions exhausted and frustrated voice rang. A few seconds later Nights-Shade felt the ground shake slightly, as the tank next to him turned painfully slowly, bringing all of its hull mounted heavy weapons to bear on the enemy. 

Seconds later, two more Heavy Bolters which had been blocked by the original placement of the tanks, now joined in the staccato symphony of death, halting the advance of the wall of Deamons. Plumes of ash rose in the air, as Deamons died.

Nights-Shade felt a presence next to him. On his HUD the VIP tag appeared, pointing directly to his side. Nights-Shade smiled slightly at the determination of the elderly earth pony, joining the firing line. Seconds later blue flashes of Plasma leaped at the enemy, engulfing Deamon after Deamon in molten fire. 

“GUARD PONY’S! BROTHERS!” A great battle cry came from the west. Nights-Shade couldn't spare a second to glance that direction, all his concentration was focused on the enemy and keeping them back.

“SHALL WE ABANDON THE FIELD!?!” came the magically enhanced voice as it boomed over the eruptions of Heavy Bolter fire from the tanks. A crowd’s voice arose screaming “NO!”  from the west, and again Nights-Shade refocused his ministrations of death on the Deamon’s in front of him.

 “SHALL WE ABANDON OUR ALLIES AND COMRADES TO THE DEAMON OR THE HERETIC!?!” again a great “NO!” from the west. Nights-Shades heart raced; if these guard pony’s, wherever they are, if they were are real and not some trick of the Deamon’s to get me to lower my guard, are going to attack, then why not just do it already!

“SHALL WE ALLOW THE ASTARIES, THE KNIGHTS OF THE SKY, TO TAKE ALL THE GLORY?!?” again followed by a “NO!” that sent shivers down Night-Shade’s spine.

“SHALL WE ALLOW THE DEAMON OR THE FOUL SORCERIES OF THE ENEMY TO BURN OUR HOMES AND SLAUGHTER OUR FAMILIES?!?!” 

“NO!” from the unseen crowed.

“THEN BROTHERS AND SISTERS! LET US MEET OUT DEATH AND VENGEANCE UPON THESE FOUL CREATURES! CHARGE!” The unseen voice heroically declared. 

Screw this guessing game, thought Nights-Shade activating his communicator. “Commander Tidal Wave, do you hear this? Where is it coming from?”

“Nights-Shade, I read you brother. Yes, it hear it as well. According to Lunara Tactical Command there is a force of nearly three thousand guard pony’s heading our way supported by light armor and scout walker sentinels. Their ETA is roughly ten minutes. Can you and your charges hold out that long?” 

Nights-Shade took stock of his ammo counter which showed on his digital display as a number that hovered just on the right side of his vision, with a small arrow that pointed toward his bolter mount.  Less than two and a half clips left. “My ammo is almost gone Captain. I would have to engage in close quarters combat, which might further endanger the remaining VIP.” Nights-Shade winced at his failure even as he continued to poor bolter rounds into the Deamon horde before him. Never should pain endanger the mission. Whether it's pain to one's honor, or to one's body it matters not, he thought quoting another of the hundreds of litanys he and his battle brothers had memorized.

“All other battle brothers are engaged at the moment, and i’m doing battle with a greater Deamon. No one can assist you, you will have to hold brother Nights-Shade.” Nights-Shade acknowledged the command flipping on a small ‘assistance needed’ request tag on his location via his HUD. 

        The minutes raged on, and Nights-Shade attempted to conserve his ammo, to little avail. Slowly, slower than before, the horde inched forward until they were within spitting distance. 

        “Captain, ETA on those guards?” Nights-Shade asked quickly as he loaded his last clip.

        Static was his only response for a few painful seconds. A screatch from Nights-Shades west split the air, followed by purple light that covered the battleground in odd shades and colors.

        “Squad Delta, this is Captain Tidal Wave. Any available battle brothers converge on Nights-Shades location.”

        “Acknowledged Captain Tidal Wave. This is Commander Macintosh with squad alpha. We have broken the enemy advance upon Fort Omega. ETA to Battle Brother Nights-Shade’s position three minutes. Hold on brother, were on our way.”

        “Captain Tidal Wave to Commander Macintosh. Your assistance is appreciated, will you be arriving via Thunder Hawk?”

        “Yeeup.”

 Three minutes? Screw it, Nights-Shade thought as the action on his bolter locked open, clip empty. Reaching down, he unsheathed his chainsword, the weapon springing to life as soon as the magnets around his jaws touched the mouth-hold.

With a thought Nights-Shade soared into the sky, jet pack reactivated. Manipulating the maneuvering control hard to the right, he began spinning around. Half a second later Nights-Shade found himself facing down head pointed toward the ground.  The small landing indicator appeared on his HUD among the hundreds of Daemon’s. Nights-Shade almost laughed at the almost comical scene below. The enemy clamoring to meet their death on the wall of heavy bolter rounds continuously streaming from the two massive tanks.

Briefly glancing west Nights-Shade watched as hundreds of green ‘friendly’ tags sprang to life on his HUD. The guard ponys streaming steadily through the slowly drying trenches, accompanied by five or six of the light and maneuverable Chimera armored assault transports marked with the ‘light armor’ tag. To the north, he saw a squadron of three of the fast Sentinels attempting to flank the enemy chariots position, using the clouds of dust and ash that the meat grinder directly below him produced being blown north ward, as cover. 

The tactical layout of the battlefield was lost to Nights-Shade as he overclocked his servos for the second time that day. A split second later he felt his momentum shift, his HUD indicating he had reached the top of the arch that the jump jets had set him on, and he felt himself begin to fall. Nights-Shade’s HUD displayed the landing arch, and he carefully aimed for his target.

Chainsword, executing rapier mode came the machine spirits oddly feminine  voice, reverberating in his mind. The guard along the back of the blade began to fold in around the weapon‘s mouth hold,  exposing the full length of the blade’s deadly biting teeth. As the blade finished extending out in front of him and locked in place, he picked the largest deamon among the enemy. A tall, Bipedal creature with a bull’s head, and oddly grotesque features which stood out among its sickly beautiful sea of daemons. 

That’s almost large enough to be a greater daemon, Nights-Shade thought It must be directing the assault. With a thought, he approved the trajectory that his HUD displayed. As direct a path as he could hope for, then hit the maneuvering control, executing the hastily calculated ‘flight’ plan.

The wind rushed passed him as the jets ignited, and forced him toward the ground. Nights-Shade saw the waiting claws of the large Daemon he had aimed for, and revved his Chainsword in anticipation. The creature screamed in delight, as he impacted. Blood and gore spat into the air as his sword ate through its soft delicate flesh, and down to the impossibly dense bone of the Demon's ribcage.

The Daemon in retaliation grabbed at the plates of Nights-Shade’s armor ripping and pulling, trying to find purchase where its immense strength and size which provided it leverage, could be brought to bare. 

Nights-Shade pushed down on the now prone Daemon’s chest, pulling his sword from its fleshy sheth. One of the creatures claw’s got a grip on his left shoulder pauldron, and pulled. 

Nights-Shade went flying, the Deamon’s unholy strength throwing him into the mass of lesser Daemons. A warning sign appeared on his HUD for ‘damaged armor’ and the small representation of a pony outfitted in battle armor had its left foreleg blinking red, then yellow, then back to normal. Nights-Shade glanced over and saw his pauldron had been nearly ripped off, hanging only by a small set of wires that connected it to the rest of the armor.

The lesser Daemon’s had not yet recovered by the time he stood and began ripping them apart on the teeth of his weapon. Screams and ash joined with the rest, in an already oversaturated sky. 

As Nights-Shade finished clearing a small area around himself he heard a roar of challenge. Turning and saw the great Deamon emerge from the rest of its kin, bullhorn's leveled right for him, impaling one just barely too slow, lesser Deamon as it charged.

Nights-Shade braced as if he expected to meet the creature head on. Just before the beast reached him, Nights-Shade ignited his jets again, hopping him above the charging Daemon. Nights-Shade twisted as the beast rushed past him, allowing the chainsword to swipe along the top of the beasts head, igniting sparks as it gouged across the crest of the Daemon’s skull.

With a thought from Nights-Shade, spikes extended from his armored clad hooves. Night-Shade contorted his body, flipping himself around, and allowed the jets on his back to force him toward the creature. The spikes, assisted by the force from the jets, sank deep into the creature's back, providing Nights-Shade with the hold he needed.

The Beast roared in anger and pain, as it bled profusely from where the silver and rune carved spikes dug into its back. NIghts-Shade could smell the creatures seared flesh from the burning wards, even through his techno-magic air filters, as ash billowed from where the creature touched the spikes.

Revving the engine in his sword to its highest setting, Night's-Shade struck at the beasts exposed neck as it clawed at him helplessly. Gore and daemon ichor sprang into the air and swiftly turned to ash, as he pushed the blade deeper, as the beast trashed, reaching back trying to grab him. 

A few seconds, the beast screamed its final death rattle as the blade cut through the impossibly thick bone armor, chewing through its spinal cord. Its scream pierced the ash filled sky, drowning out the thudding of the heavy bolters still hard at work. 

Nights-Shade dropped the blade reaching for a small pouch that hung off of his Bolter. A split second later, the pouch shoved into the crevice that he had carved out of the creatures bone, he hit his thrusters once more, propelling him back into the mass of lesser daemons knocking them to the sides as he rushed on.

A short time later, the creature howling in pain and uselessly groping the still active chain sword as it dug deeper into its neck, was engulfed in the purple and blue flames of one, then four, then six melta bombs.

“Daemon is down. Repeat, the daemon leading the assault on the VIP’s is down.” Nights-Shade said into his communications suit. There was a reply, but he didnt hear it, as an alarm sounded in his head. ‘low fuel’.  His jets sputtered, and then swiftly died.

He found himself prone and pinned by a thousand filthy hands and hooves. Murderous intentions clear on the Deamon’s faces.  Pain exploded in his right fore-shoulder, where the daemon had ripped away his armored pauldron. He tried to fight back, tried to struggle, but the press of bodies was too much for his already over stressed survo’s to overcome. 

Pain shot through him in a few other places, as armor was pried back, exposing him to the Deamon’s dark ministrations. He would not die so easily, even if he could not fight back, it was his duty as a knight to frustrate the enemy wherever he could. If that meant dieing slower than they anticipated, then that would be how he spat into the eye of chaos one last time before his soul went t meet its final rest.

It seemed as if minutes went by, Nights-shade’s vision slowly began to shrink. the last thing he remembered hearing before the darkness took him, was the sound of powerful jets and bolter fire directly over head, and the hiss and crack of las fire in the distance..

> Part 2 "Lighting the Candle": Chapter 10: Triage
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	She worked desperately, pouring salt into the wound, trying to slow the flow of the blood. Salt was a poor coagulant by comparison to some of the medicines she had trained with, but this was triage, none of the miracles of modern science and magic were available to her now. Panic rose in her throat, she couldn't lose another one, not today, not after losing so many. “ Buck, put more pressure on it!” she yelled at the beast of an orderly who had been following her around all day, lending a helping hoof whenever she demanded. 

“What are you a lame mare?! I said more pressure!” she all but screamed. The orderly, a tall and powerful brown coated earth pony set his jaw and squeezed harder cradling the guard ponies front foreleg in the crook of his own slowing the blood flow dramatically as he redoubled his efforts. The wound was slowly changing color, from a bright blue, the colts natural color, to white as blood drained from the limb. 

“Good, good.” she whispered to herself. Clamps held tightly in her mouth, she fished in the wound for the severed artery. Come on come on, she thought furiously A few seconds later she found it It's a bleeder, she thought relief coursing through her, but it’s relatively intact. Thats good news for your my friend. She closed the clamp on the end, staunching the flow. As she finished her work,  she realized she had just saved his life and if she worked fast she might be able to save the leg.

 She pulled a set of needles from a satchel she had placed on the floor, and threaded a single long black thread she pinched in her mouth. A few seconds later she was pulling the wound closed one stitch at a time, the young stallion having passed out from pain minutes ago.

When it was done, and the wound cleaned and sanitized as best she could manage, she sat on the ground next to her orderly. “Good job Blaze. We just saved that colt's life… and hopefully his leg.”

“Yes'em.” was all the large stallion had strength to say as he sat with her breathing deeply, both enjoying the brief respite before the next wave of wounded that would eventually find their way to her triage tent arrived. There were seven doctors, thirty nine nurses including herself, and an almost uncountable number of orderlies. This last group had little to no training, most volunteers from the surrounding area, or less severely injured casualties who could still walk. 

Blaze, her faithful orderly was from this later group. The stallion sporting a nasty gash across his left flank, marring his cutiemark. It had been a laughing face made out of fire, but now it looked as if a black lightning bolt, one she had sewn into him, crisscrossed the blaze that so perfectly matched his name. She hoped that it would heal clean, and that the mark would not be forever changed, but who knew? it had been a hasty stitch job, and would most likely leave the stallion with the scar for the rest of his life.

“I’m sorry about that Blaze.” she said as they both drank greedily from the small cups that another orderly was passing around to the medical personel. 

“Ma’am? Why do ya say that?” he asked confused. “You saved ma life ya did. You got nothin to be sorry bout.”

“I… I could have done a better job.” she said feeling a pang of guilt cross over her. “As it is though, i think that stich job will leave a permanent scar.” Blaze smiled and laughed lightly to himself. “Why are you smiling? Its going to be a bad scar…”

“Ha! The mares like scar’s. Thats what my pa always said anyway. Fawn all over ya if ya got a good story to go with’em!” Blaze said excitedly as he looked back at his cutie mark. “Reckon i should be thankin ya ma’am, make it easier to find a special some pony I be thinkin. Besides” he said his voice growing somber. “Ya saved my life ya did. I should be dead back there with ma platoon. Probly be etn by them crazy’s like the rest of em. Ya saved me  Ms. Hope and I wont ever forget it.”

Hope smiled, but she was cut off from replying as the next wave of critically injured arrived, and artillery strikes shook the ground beneath their feet. “Thats enugh fawning I think blaze, back to work yes?” Blaze nodded and followed after.

“Whats the problem here?” She asked the field medic as he and another large earth pony set the injured stallion, laid out on a mobile gurny down on the pavement.

“Acid burn to the face, and left shoulder. He killed a screamer as it soared overhead, but its blood splattered on him. Wasn’t Demon ichor like we thought.” Said the medic, the large red cross atop his helmet bobbing up and down as he appraised the injured stallion. 

“Yes. Weve seen a lot of these in the last two hours. Blaze?”

“Yes’em?”

“scissors , we need to cut away this blasted flack jacket, its starting to melt into his shoulder.” Blaze obeyed and almost as soon as she was done asking he had the scissors in her hoof. “Good. You.” she said to the medic. “Hold him down. I’m probably going to have to cut away some skin if it's fused to the fibers.” The medic nodded, and he and the other large soldier that had carried the injured stallion held him down hooves pressed into his back and legs.

“Blaze, begin flushing the eye’s. Water only, the bakeing soda solution is used for the skin but will damage the eyes. If we have any left use a saline solution. Got it?”

“Yes’em.” 

“With all due respect ma’am I got to go, there are at least fifteen others that need brought in here, some of them worse off then him.” Said the medic his voice tight with worry. 
Hope nodded to him. In a normal medical situation what the medic  had asked would be considered malpractice. But this was not a typical medical situation, this was triage. “Understood. Just let me finish cutting this thing away.” the scissors in hoof, went to her mouth and she swiftly began cutting away the blood and acid soaked flack jacket and unifom.

A few seconds later, what felt like an eternity to everyone working on the stallion, and the jacket was freed and cast aside revealing the extent of the damage. Blaze had been furiusly cleaning out the man's eyes with water and a saline solution that would sting, but help remove any debris that might have gotten in, but Hope new it was useless.

 He's going to lose that eye, and probably this leg if i have to cut any deeper into this shoulder. That is if i can stop the acid. She thought bitterly as she cut away skin, muscle and bone that had been touched by the acidic daemon blood. She noticed then that the medic was dancing from one set of hooves to the other and glancing at the door. She realized as she cut, that infection was starting to set it. “Blaze, run out back, find the dumpster and bring me back some maggots.” The large stallion didn't hesitate, he stopped washing the soldiers eyes and bolted for the dumpster out back.

        A few seconds later, after she had cut and cut and cut trying to beat the acid as it swiftly ate through her charge, he returned. “Good, now pour them around the edges of the wound. They’ll eat away the dead necrotic tissue so he doesn't get gangrene while I work.” She didn't have antibiotics, none of them did. They had used  them, the pills, the water saline solution meds, the anti-bacterial spray and even the rubbing triple antibiotic goop they were supposed to use between surgeries to clean their hooves and faces, in the first wave of injured. This was the sixth, the seventh was on its way. This was triage.

 She looked down and realized that the soldier she was working on had stopped squirming seconds before, passed out from the pain. She nodded to the medic, one brief almost unnoticeable nod to let him know he was no longer needed, and he bolted out the door to find the others he had mentioned. 

“Ma’am?” came a voice that she had never heard before. It didn't startle her at all, she barely registered it. “Ma’am? Please…” came the voice again. 

“What?!” she snapped at whoever it was that had interrupted her concentration. Then she realized it was the soldier that had come in with the medic. She calmed herself, and said “What is it soldier? I’m working.”

“Yes, and i’m sorry ma’am, but i just wanted to.... Well the thing that he killed? It had me in its claws and was flyin away. If he hadn't hit it with his sniper rifle i’d be deamon bird chow by now. So… please..?” the stallions last words, his unsaid plea for her to save him, was lost as emotion choked them off. 

Hope nodded. “I’l try, now go find that medic soldier, that's the best way to help your friend now.” 

He nodded, gave her a weak smile, and dashed off in the direction the medic had gone.

        She kept working until the soldier was clearly out of sight, then put the scissors down on the tray next to her. “Blaze, take him to a bed over in nurse Marigolds ward and mark him with a red tag.”

        “Uh… are you sure nurse hope? Thats the hospice ward.” Blaze’s voice was sober, scared. He had worked just as hard as she had, in his own limited way, to save their patient. 

        “Yes, i know that. Make sure he gets a morphine drip. Or if their out of that give him some black leaf tea, something to help slow his heart rate and relieve the pain.”

        “Yes ma’am.” Blaze’s voice was hard, angry, though not at her she knew, but at not knowing exactly what had happened to make the stallion they had both worked so hard to save, turn from a yellow tag, meaning critical care and immediate treatment, to a red tag meaning hospice ward. She knew of course, it was her fault after all. She had cut deep, trying to cut faster than the acid could eat, trying to cut it out before it had reached his heart. The irony was she knew, that she had succeeded, she had beaten the acid to the heart.

A few tears fell from her eyes. Not many, there was no time for that, but a few, he deserved that at least. Sure I won, she thought angrily, and nicked the dam heart doing it! She knew what would happen next, the small cut she had made in the wall of the left chamber now bleeding only slightly, would grow as the heart pumped blood throughout the body. As the blood flow slowed to the rest of the body due to the bleeding, the heart would pump harder, increasing the size of the cut. The heart would literally rip itself apart trying to save him. Another irony, she thought sarcastically, angrily.

In a normal medical situation, a surgeon, hell even she could have saved him from that given a sterile environment and the right equipment. But this was not a normal medical situation, this was triage.