Chapter 1: Love is in Bloom (revised)

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Ponyville, the capital of Friendship, ruled over by Princess Twilight Sparkle and her husband, Prince Flash Sentry. The town had gotten a lot bigger since the day the former Unicorn had come to this place, but that’s what happens when years pass by. Now, all of Twilight’s friends, including herself, have grown and had children of their own, letting the next generation take over and build upon the lessons they’ve learned and shared with others.

One such child of the Elements of Harmony was out on this beautiful spring day. Her name was Stella Nova, a Unicorn mare. Her coat was a light shade of gray, with a navy-blue mane, with two stripes that were a sky-blue color and the other purple. Her violet eyes held within them great knowledge, as well as a strong will, her cutie mark was that of stars and a supernova. She was the daughter of Princess Twilight Sparkle and Prince Flash Sentry.

She was on her way home from the Hayburger, her favorite restaurant. Despite trying to stay fit, she just can’t resist going there every once in a while. She was traveling through the market when she spotted a Unicorn stallion up ahead. His coat was light-red, with a darker shade of red for his mane and tail, which were styled as dreadlocks. His eyes are green and his cutie mark was that of a strawberry-mascarpone sandwich with a strawberry. This stallion’s name was Strawberry Marscarpone Sandwich, better known as either Marz-Bar or Dreads among friends. He’s the eldest son of two of Equestria’s greatest party planners, Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwich.

His saddle bags were filled with groceries, such as cinnamon and apples. There was even a bag of cream as well. Her best guess on what he was planning to do with them was probably make some of his special pastries. Smiling, Stella called out. “Hey, Marz-Bar!” said stallion immediately turned around.

“Stella! Hi.”

“What are you doing?” Stella asked as she trotted up to her friend.

“I’m getting some ingredients for the pastries I’m making for the Summer Sun Celebration,” the light-red Unicorn stallion answered. “I’m just about to look for some ricotta for a new cannoli recipe.”

“That sounds good,” said Stella. “Well, I better get home. See ya,” Stella then turn around and made her way towards the castle.

“Stella, wait!” Marz called out.

“Yes, Dreads?” She asked as she turned around… only to see Marz’s face change completely. Just a second ago he was as cool as a cucumber. Now he looked… nervous.

“So, the Summer Sun Celebration is in a few days. I was wondering… w-want to enjoy the event together?” He finally said. AH! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! She’ll never understand! Stella smiled. Oh, that beautiful smile.

“You mean like a date?”

Marz’s face turned a bright crimson. “Y-y-y-y-e-e-s-s.” Marz was starting to sweat a little.

“Sure, I would love to.”

Marz’s mind went blank. She said yes? She said yes?!

“I’ll see you Monday then,” Stella then went home.

It wasn’t until about 5 minutes later when a really big smile spread across Marz’s faces “YAHOO!” He began to scream and dancing around like some madpony. How his grocery bags stayed with him and hadn’t spilled a thing was beyond anyone. Some ponies stopped to look but quickly went about their business. They knew all too well by now that it's best not to question the antics of that family.

Tartarus, a place where only the worst of the worst are sent. Black walls and pillars of thick granite, with prison cells made of rusty yet exceedingly durable iron. Contrary to popular belief, this is not the afterworld where beings of evil go after death. It is instead a prison for those who have done terrible things.

Being in the base of a dormant volcano, Tartarus was well fortified on its own, except for that one time when Cerberus temporally left its post and gave some of the prisoners a chance to escape. Though the three-headed guard dog did return to its post, thanks to the then Unicorn mare Twilight Sparkle, Tirek, along with several monsters, had escaped and eluded capture for many months.

When he did rear his ugly head again, he was stealing the magic of first Unicorns, and then Pegasi and Earth Ponies. Eventually, he had somehow stolen the magic of the Princesses, but the Elements of Harmony had unlocked an unimaginable power: the Rainbow Power, which aided them in imprisoning the powerful demon back in Tartarus and returning the magic he had stolen.

And he loathed the one mistake he made ever since; he let that purple Alicorn’s friends go. Had he not done that, he would still be the god he rightfully is. During the time since then, the other monsters that managed to escaped were recaptured, and the guards that patrolled the prison had quadrupled. Celestia and Luna didn’t want the same mistake to happen twice.

He glared down upon the guards. There were now 50 guards for each prisoner now. It seemed a bit overkill, but if one were to look at the rap sheet of just a few of these prisoners they can understand why so many now stood watch. Tirek was one of the few sane and, as some would put it, ‘intelligent’ prisoners. Most of the others were mindless brutes and abominations. There were a few dragons as well, all of them being imprisoned for either devouring entire villages or stealing every valuable they could get their claws on.

Tirek then glared towards the entrance, where Cerberus stood watch. That three-headed, overgrown mutt just sat there, unblinking. One head constantly staring at the iron door, one constantly stared at the prisoners, and the last did either one or the other.

Clank!

What was that? That was a question everyone who could actually think thought of as they turned towards the iron door. Cerberus got up and growled, suggesting something hostile was on the other side.

Many of the Unicorn guards gathered behind the three-headed beast, lances ready. The gates to the prison suddenly buckled. It looked like something just simply punched the door. A second bang and buckled area of the gate confirmed that. Something, or someone, was breaking the door down.

An explosion then rang out, temporarily making him for blind and deaf. He did manage to hear what sounded like screaming, but he couldn’t tell if it was from the guards or whatever broke into Tartarus. After a few seconds, Tirek’s eyesight returned. Though the apparent battle was over, he couldn’t see much because of all the smoke. But he did see something startling. Cerberus was running… away from the gates, carrying a guard on its back.

What could cause Cerberus to run away with its tail between its legs? As his eyesight and hearing gradually returned, Tirek looked on intently as the smoke began to clear. He could see a faint silhouette of a large, bipedal being with red eyes and glowing dark green lines across its body standing about 100 feet away from his cell. But it soon disappeared.

“Ah, Lord Tirek. How the mighty of fallen,” a distorted female voice called out from the smoke. Soon a second, far smaller silhouette came into view. It was walking up the path to his cell. There was a resemblance to an Alicorn, but it seemed a bit thinner, and there were holes in the mane.

Tirek scoffed, now knowing who, as insane as it sounds, broke into Tartarus. “How droll. Why are you here, Changeling Queen?” He hissed as the Queen came out of the smoke. She was wearing some kind of suit. It was white with a hint of green, though it didn’t cover her head. “Come to gloat?”

“Not quit. I am here to make an offer,” said Chrysalis. One of her soldiers flew up to her, giving her a poster. “Despite our obvious differences, we do have one thing in common, Tirek: Both of our plans have been thwarted by this mare!” Chrysalis showed the demon the poster. It had Princess Twilight on it.

“I know what it feels like to be foiled by that mare. With your cunning and the power that my kind now has, we can defeat her and take Equestria. You can have the magic, while me and my Changelings will have the ponies love. So, what do you say?” The growing smile on Tirek’s face was all the answer she needed.

Stella finally arrived home, the Castle of Friendship. The tree shaped castle was located just on the East side of the town. Its crystal-like entrance was always opened, and as such, there were always two guards dutifully standing on each side of the gate. She nodded to the Guards as they greeted her when she entered and made her way down the corridor, filled with several stained glass windows depicting some of Princess Twilight’s memories that she had alongside her friends. She knew the stories behind these pieces, like the time Mrs. Dash pulled off her very first Sonic Rainboom that bonded them all without them knowing it, or the time when Mrs. Fluttershy befriended Discord and effectively made him change for the better. There was also one from when her mother ascended to an Alicorn. There was even a portrait of their family.

She ignored the rest for the moment, instead focusing on their trip. Stella continued down the corridor to her mother’s throne room. Mom was usually in there to either discuss and organize upcoming events or when that map called her and the others. Of course, she was most likely planning the events for the Summer Sun Celebration.

But she wanted to tell her that she’ll be going on her first date soon, so she’ll probably understand why she interrupted. Arriving at the doors to the room, she could hear her mother talking to her friends. Even Princess Sunset and Mrs. Glimmer are here. Of course they are. Deciding not to interrupt, Stella just sat next to the door and watch.

“So, Darling, you’re saying that some giant artifacts were discovered in ice near the Crystal Empire?” Mrs. Rarity asked her mother.

“Oh, yes! Two objects of interest,” said Mom. “They were discovered by accident about 7 months ago. One is already heading for Canterlot, where it’ll be properly studied.”

“And we’re going to help!” Princess Sunset beamed.

“What do you suppose we’ll find?” Asked Mrs. Glimmer.

“I don’t really know, and that’s what makes it so exciting!” Mom said with the enthusiasm of a 12-year-old. Even after all these years, she still has her moments. “Just one of these objects could hold so many secrets and just as many answers! This could prove to be the find of the millennium! It’s incredible! Just think of all the things we could learn from them! They may be the remains of some sort of ancient, precursor race! Or-!”

“Or it could be aliens!” Mrs. Pinkie Pie suddenly threw in, her eyes wide. She hadn’t changed much over the years either. “What if there are big, slimy, ugly monsters in those ice blocks just waiting to eat our brains and turn us into their zombified servants!?”

“I think you’d be pretty much safe from that, Pinkie,” Mrs. Rainbow Dash scoffed with a joking grin. Stella giggled a little. Though she studied the stars, she has never seen anything that remotely looked like an alien. Then again, she wasn’t sure she would see an alien even if it was right in front of her.

“Aliens,” Mom said snidely, making no effort to hide her rolling eyes. “Yeah, right. There’s no such thing as aliens, Pinkie.”

“How do you know for sure?” Pinkie replied, eyeing the purple Alicorn suspiciously. “That sounds an awful lot like something an alien would say! You might be an alien in disguise!”

Stella just stared at the pink mare, as did Mom. Mom then sighed. “Pinkie, I’m not an alien. There is no such thing as aliens. And there never have been or will be.” With that said, Mom’s friends all left to prepare for the various tasks they’ll be doing for the Summer Sun Celebration.

Once they left Stella walked in. “Oh, Stella! I didn’t see you. How long have you been there?”

“About 10 minutes now,” Stella answered. “I didn’t want to interrupt, considering how important your meetings with them can be.”

“That’s all right. How was your lunch?”

“It was great. They added clover leaves to the milkshakes now. They’re really good. Oh! And on my way home… uh.”

“Yes?”

“I ran into Marz at the market and he, uh…” Stella, for some reason, just can’t seem to say it. “He… asked me to be his date for the Summer Sun Celebration and I said yes.”

“What was that? I couldn't hear.”

“He asked me to be his date for the Summer Sun Celebration and I said yes.”

“Could you speak up a little?”

Oh, for the love of Celestia! “He asked me to be his date for the Summer Sun Celebration and I said yes!” Stella yelled, and then immediately covered her mouth in shame and embarrassment. “Do you… approve?”

Twilight, though taken aback by her daughter's sudden outburst, soon grew a big smile of joy. “Of course I approve! Your Aunt Cadance rubbed off on me a while back. Who you choose to love is your business, Stella. Heck, you could’ve fallen for a mare and as long as you’re happy I would be too. Are you excited?” She asked.

“Yeah, I am a little excited,” Stella replied, her face slowly turning a shade of red. “But please, don’t tell Dad. He’s still trying to accept the fact that Flare is seeing Phoenix. Speaking of Flare, where is she?”

“She went out on a ‘hot date’ with Phoenix. They’re in Cloudsdale at a Wonderbolt race,” Twilight answered. “Also, would you rather wait until the celebration to tell your father about your date?”

“Uh… N-no.”

“Then tell him yourself. He’ll be home in a few hours. So in the meantime,” Twilight got a strange look in her eye. “You want any advice for your first date?”

It was just another usual day on the family rock farm. Maud Pie, the older sister to Pinkie Pie, was out exploring some land the family just bought. There might be some special new rocks here. Perhaps some bloodstones. Maybe turquoise. As she looked around, something caught Maud’s eye; an amazingly large gem near the river.

Trotting to it, Maud soon sees a geode the size of a house sticking out of the ground. “That recent rainstorm must’ve exposed it,” she said to herself. She began to examine the amazing find…

…When the gems began to glow a light green. It was captivating. Dazzling. Maud couldn't take her eyes off it. Her eyes soon begin glowing a light green as well. Then, just as suddenly as the glow appeared, it’s gone.

“I should… take this to… Canterlot… for the celebration,” Maud said in an almost robotic-like fashion.

“Oh, why can’t I get that out of my head?” Stella asked herself as she trotted around her room. It had been a couple of hours since her mother gave her some ‘advice’, and it was… embarrassing to say the least. “Why in the whole, wide world did Mom think it was a good idea to go with an itinerary for her first date with Dad?! She should’ve known better. And then there was that box of-” Stella shivered in disgust, hoping that her cousins won’t do something similar for her date.

She was beginning to lose herself. Should she go to the library and look for a book about first dates? Knowing her mom she probably has at least 20. But before Stella could do so, she was brought out of her thoughts by a knock on the door. “Stelly? It's me, can I come in?”

Stella’s anxiety went to a whole new level. He’s home already?! “Sure dad.“ She said and immediately began to compose herself. The door opened to let in her father, Flash Sentry. Okay, you can do this. Just stall enough to come up with a good way to say it.

“How was your day?” asked Flash Sentry.

“It was pretty good.”

“Is there anything else?”

“Not much.” Really, Stella? He’s bound to suspect something now.

“Are you okay sweetie?”

“I'm fine dad…”

“You seem upset about something.”

“I'm not-”

“Is it a colt?”

“WHAT?! How did you even find out about…!?” Stella nearly shouted, a blush now adorning her face, only to see her father holding back his laughter.

“I'm sorry, I just enjoy seeing you get riled up like that. You look so cute!” He chuckled before ruffling his daughter’s hair. “Just like your mother.”

“Not funny, Dad!” Stella groaned as she pushed his hoof away.

“But it is a colt, right?” He asked.

Sighing, Stella decided she should just say it. “Marz. I was walking home from the Hayburger when I ran into him at the market. We talked for a bit and then he… asked me out.”

“Oh, really? You and Pinkie Pie’s oldest son are going out? When?”

“During the Summer Sun Celebration,” Stella answered. Now she was worried about Marz. Granted, she was sure her father wasn’t the ‘overprotective type’, but then again he was still getting his head around Flare’s relationship. Looking up, she was surprised to see that he was smiling.

“Honestly, I’m surprised he hadn't asked you out earlier.”

“What do you mean?”

“You’ll find out,” he said. “Anyway, just remember; just enjoy each other’s compony, and at the end of your date, only give him a peck on the cheek. You don’t want to do what your mother did during our first date,” at that Flash left the room.

“Noted,” deciding she needs some coffee, Stella decided to head to the kitchen to get a mug. She’s gonna need it.

At the Sandwich-Pie household, Peachy was updating her shipping chart with the words ‘Step 1 Complete’ over Marz and Stella. As she finishes, a knocking comes from her door. “Who is it?”

“It’s the pizza pony,” an all too familiar voice answered.

Peachy giggled. “You can come in Marz,” at that, her older brother opened the door and walked in. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“Uh, yeah. As you know, I asked Stella out earlier and she said yes.”

“Aaannnd?”

“And since I’ve never been on a date before and you’re an item with Enigma, I was wondering if you… could give me some advice for the date?” Oh, I have a bad feeling about this.

“Hmmmm…… Well, the first thing you should do is, obviously, freshen up a bit. Maybe brush your mane.”

“You know that’s next to impossible for me,” said Mars as he looked over his dreadlocks.

“And make her some chocolate. Stella will love that.”

“All right, but couldn’t I just buy her some cho-”

“And be sure to wear cologne. And not just any old cologne. It must be something that’ll make Stella go head-over-hooves for you. I’m sure Lightning or one of the other guys will have something like that. I’ll ask one of them to loan you a bottle.”

Marz was starting to blush a bit. I knew this was a bad idea. “Peachy I just wanted advice for the date, not how to become a supermodel!”

But Peachy was either ignoring him or just didn’t hear him. “Oh, and make sure you give her roses. Lots of roses. You’ll get some points for that.”

“Okay, Peachy, I think I get the-”

“And be sure to ask for the second date before you screw up the first one.”

“Peachy!”

Celestia sighed to herself. She needed to perform her duty and lower the sun soon, but the seemingly endless piles of paperwork were keeping her from doing that. Approving of a new orphanage in Fillydelphia, permitting the constructing of a bridge over Ghastly Gorge and allowing some Gargoyles to immigrate to Manehattan, just to name a few. Equestria’s Knights surely won’t like this. It’s bad enough about the unjust rumors surrounding them, but the fact that they do object to my tolerance of the other races only strengthens those rumors. There was also one about building a museum in Ponyville to honor the exploits of Princess Twilight and her friends.

Surely Rainbow Dash and Rarity will be delighted at that prospect.

She giggled at the thought as she approves the request.

Celestia looked at the final scroll. It was from King Thorax of the Changeling Hive. Opening it, she found some troubling news. Changelings have been disappearing? Is Chrysalis behind this, or is someone else involved? Celestia would have to investigate this soon.

Even after Thorax came to power, many ponies still felt uneasy about the Changelings. Even after all this time, prejudice remained from both races.

Though Celestia wasn’t too concerned about that right now. She was confident that the ponies will grow out of it eventually. She gave off a sigh of relief as one of her assistances took the paperwork away. At least tomorrow she can take it easy and have a bit. All she had to do was raise the sun and give a small speech.

“Excuse me,” a new voice spoke up. A guard had just arrived. “Forgive my interruption, Your Highness, but I have news.”

“Yes?”

“One of the recent discoveries have just arrived at Canterlot Station. Several guards are already moving it to the school now. Also, we have a gift from a ‘Pie Family Rock Farm’; a giant geode. What do you intend to do with it, Your Highness?”

“Hmm… have the best rock carvers in Equestria bought here. They’ll carve it into whatever the public decides. And thank you, for informing me,” Celestia replied. “You’re dismissed,” The guard saluted and then left the throne room.

The geode was placed in the castle garden. Here it was well out of sight for anyone who wanted to see the carved rock when the work will begin. But, for some odd reason, it was completely quiet. Not even the birds were singing. The only creature here was Princess Celestia’s pet Phoenix; Philomena. She was looking at one of the exposed gems in the geode. Or, more specifically, her exaggerated reflection. She was making all kinds of mischievous faces, laughing at her own reflection upon seeing it.

But soon the pet Phoenix got bored and decided to go back into the castle. But a split second after she left, a shadow appeared on the gem, accompanied by a hissing sound. Both of which came from inside the geode.

Chapter 2: G-Day (revised)

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It was 5:57 a.m. Everypony in Canterlot had gathered in the field, waiting for their Princesses Celestia and Luna to lower the moon and raise the sun. Trumpets sounded, signaling their arrival. Up on the stand, the Princess of the Sun stood tall as she walked up to it. Her sister, the Princess of the Moon followed suit.

Their children soon joined them, as did Luna’s spouse, wearing royal attire. The clock struck 6. The time for Celestia and Luna to do their duty. As Luna lowered the moon and Celestia raised the sun, the crowd of ponies began to cheer.

“Mares and gentlecolts,” Celestia began. “Today marks the 25th year since my sister’s return. Much has happened since then. We’ve suffered losses, but we have grown stronger together. Today, to celebrate, all manner of festivities will be held. Please enjoy yourselves. And have a wonderful time!” The ponies all cheered as they began to go about enjoying the festivities.

As for the Royal Family and friends, they left for the School for Gifted Unicorn.

“I can’t wait to study this thing!” Twilight exclaimed.

“That makes two of us,” said Sunset Shimmer.

“You two are like little fillies getting their first dollhouse,” said Starlight, Twilight’s former pupil.

“Oh, here we go,” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“Princess Celestia!” A guard suddenly called out, running up to her. “I have terrible news.”

“What news?” Celestia inquired.

“Cerberus,” the guard replied. “He and an injured guard were found wondering the Smokey Mountains late last night. The guard’s injuries were severe, and he was incredibly shaken. He hasn’t said anything yet, but he kept rambling about some sort of giant and Changelings.”

“Changelings?!”

“But why would they attack Tartarus?” Princess Twilight asked the guard.

The guard shrugged in response. “We’re not sure, yet. All we do know is that they did attack the prison and caused its greatest guard to run away. We’ve already sent some guards to investigate. They should reach that pitiless place soon.”

“Okay, but we must keep this incident a secret,” Celestia looked out to the citizens, all of them blissfully unaware of what has happened. “If word got out it’ll cause a panic. Until we can deal with it, this must remain top secret.”

As they all began to head for the school, everypony else was having fun… or about to for one particular couple. Stella was waiting near the stands, waiting. She had brushed her mane longer today than she normally would have.

“Stella,” her date said as he trotted up to her. When he got a good enough look, he stopped and blushed a little. “Wow you look… amazing.”

Stella blushed in response. “Thanks, Marz,” when Stella looked him over, she saw that, while his mane was still the same, he was wearing a light yellow jacket. He normally wears it on special occasions. He was also carrying a bag and some roses with his magic.

“H-here,” Marz gave Stella the roses and bag.

“Why thank you,” Stella said as she took hold of the items with her magic. Opening the bag, the smell of homemade chocolate hit her. “Mmmmm, these smell really good,” she said as she took one bar and took a bit.

“Thanks. I made them myself,” Marz replied as Stella placed the roses and the bag of chocolate in her saddle bag.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“My sister says otherwise,” Marz glanced over to where Peachy and her coltfriend, ‘North Wind’, were at.

“Well, it doesn’t matter,” Stella said as she went right next to Marz, making the stallion blush again. “What should we do first?” she asked.

“Uh… How about we go on some rides?”

“Whoa! That thing’s huge!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed upon seeing the ice block.

It was unbelievable. Astounding. Inside, one could see the silhouette of something, and it was absolutely massive, easily the size of a dragon standing up on its hind legs. It had to be about 65 feet tall, at least. It was white, whatever it is. Next to the thing was some strange diamond shape. A shield, perhaps.

Twilight could only stare in awe at it. She had no idea what it was, but her scientific curiosity would inevitably force her to try and find out. She approached the enormous ice block. What was it? Where had it come from? How long had it been frozen? What was its purpose? So many questions ran rampant through her mind, with no answers in sight. This was discovery at its best.

She placed a hoof on it and felt a surge of magic power. Pure, untainted Ether was pouring out of this thing. That should be impossible. So much Ether was pouring out that Twilight’s mane began to float about. “Uh, Twi?” followed by a tap on her shoulder snapped her out of it. Her husband, Flash Sentry, and her friends were giving her a worried look.

“Uh, sorry,” a blushing Twilight said as she stepped away from the ice. “Guess I spaced out there for a second.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time, darling.”

“But it’s amazing! This thing is emitting pure Ether.”

“Really?!”

“But that’s impossible. Ether is only found in the atmosphere, and it’s impossible to create even a small amount of Ether.”

“ An' fo' those of us who don’t know fancy, thet means what?”

Twilight, Sunset, and Starlight blushed for a moment before Twilight answered. “Well, simply put, Ether is a strange substance that can affect magic. Ether can increase somepony’s magic to incredibly high levels. For example, if a Unicorn were to simply light their horn, the light would be so bright it’ll easily blind somepony. Nopony’s sure where it comes from, but its effects can be felt in certain places, like the Forbidden Sea.”

“Where many ships have disappeared without a trace over the years,” Celestia added. “And this thing seems to be emitting pure Ether.”

“I didn’t get that at all.”

“Uh, if it’s any consolation, me either.” said Fluttershy.

“As I said earlier,” Princess Celestia continued, “we don’t know what it is. All we do know is that it has been frozen for a very long time. It may even predate all of Ponydom by a great margin.”

“We have several scientists and scholars studying this… thing,” Luna continued. “From what we have learned so far, it has a vaguely similar shape to the ‘hu-mans’ through the mirror, but it’s obviously not one.”

“A human?” Sunset Shimmer asked. “But how? I thought they only existed in that other world. If this was made by them, then what’s it doing here?”

The royal sisters looked to each other, both clearly thinking on that query. “We’re not certain,” Celestia answered after several seconds. “It might be something completely different. The most likely theory is that it’s a statue of an ancient god. But for now, nothing is certain. All we have at the moment are theories.”

“But what are we gonna do with it? Use it as some new fancy statue for somepony’s garden?” Starlight Glimmer asked.

“I don’t believe so,” said Celestia. “I have a feeling that this new discovery may someday prove to be extremely beneficial. I would like to be able to share whatever we find in there with the rest of the world. Till then, we can’t do anything until the ice melts some more.”

“Can’t I just make the ice vanish with a flick of my fingers, Tia?” Discord asked.

“As easy as that sounds, since an incredibly amount of Ether is being emitted from it, we can’t use any magic near it or we could put everypony in the city in danger, let alone your chaos magic,” Celestia said to the spirit of chaos.

“Awwww!”

“How do we know it’s safe?” Rainbow Dash asked. She made a very good point. For all they know it was some extra-dimensional monstrosity that absorbs any living thing it comes across and then takes on its appearance.

With a hint of worry on her face, Princess Celestia answered. “We do not.”

“That was fun,“ Stella said as she and Marz exited the ‘Moon Ride’, a pendulum ride that spun at high speed.

“Yeah, except for the part where that one filly nearly hurled on us.”

Stella chuckled. “Yeah, that would’ve been gross. Now what?”

“How about we play some games, give our stomachs a minute to rest,” Marz suggested. “I'll try to win you a prize.”

“Alright,” Stella said. Marz led her over to a long row of game booths. There was one booth with flashy lights and racks of colorful prizes that caught Stella's eye; she steered Marz in that direction. The sign on the booth proclaimed it to be ‘Knock Down the Changeling!’. At the back of the booth, there was a stack of three wooden bottles with pictures of Changelings. Piles of rubber balls were stacked up on the counter.

The attendant smiled at them. "Try your luck, kid? Win your girl a prize?"

“Sure, I'm game,” Marz said.

"Three throws for 2 bits," the attendant said.

Marz placed the coins on the counter; the attendant slid three rubber balls in front of him. "Make one throw, get a prize from the bottom rack. Make two, get a prize from the middle rack or two from the bottom rack. Make all three, take any prize you want from the top rack, or two from the middle rack."

“Got it,” Marz said. He picked up the first ball, and then he just winged it.

It sailed right into the center of the stack. All three bottles went flying.

"Good shot!" the attendant said as he stacked up the bottles, adding three new bottles. "Try to get another!"

This time Marz looked at the bottles carefully. He was lost in thought for almost a full minute, then let fly, banking the ball off the wall of the booth and right into the bottles. All six flew.

The attendant's jaw dropped. "Incredible!"

Marz grinned. “Let's see if I can get the third one.”

This time there were 11 bottles, the one on the top having a picture of Chrysalis. Marz waited, figuring out how to knock down the bottles, tensed to throw...

He suddenly let loose with a throw that arced up, right at the base of the stake. All of the bottles up top insanely fell. One bottle on the bottom swung for a little bit before falling onto its side.

"I can't believe it!" the attendant said. “Hardly anypony ever makes the third shot!"

Marz grinned. “So, which prize do you want?” he asked Stella.

Stella scanned the top row. “That one,” she said, pointing to a large purple bear plush with stars all over it.

The attendant pulled it down and handed it to her. "Here you go, miss," he said. "Enjoy!"

Stella squeezed the plush tightly. “Thank you, Marz,” she said, nuzzling the stallion. Marz’s face immediately turned a bright red. “That was amazing! How did you do that?”

Giving his head a shake, Marz answered. “Lots of practice from whenever my parents throw one of their massive parties, especially during Nightmare Night,” he looked around. “Which reminds me… Want to try out apple bobbing?”

It was now getting pretty late. Celestia was beginning to set the sun, but the Celebration was at full swing. “Ugh, I ate too much pie,” Stella groaned. The two had participated in a Pie Eating Contest hosted by Mrs. Applejack. They didn’t win. They weren’t even in the top ten.

“Yeah, but eating 5 whole pies is pretty good,” Marz said.

Stella’s stomach began to gurgle. “Oh, I’m gonna throw up,” she quickly ran over to a nearby trash can, leaned her head over it and emptied her stomach.

Marz winced as he looked on. “Guess eating is on hold for a little while?”

“Please… don’t talk about food,” she said as her face turned pale green. Spotting a nearby bench, Marz helped the sick mare over and helped her sit down.

“Regardless, I'm having a lot of fun with you today, Stella,” Marz said as he sat next to her.

“Yeah, this is… nice,” Stella said, smiling. “I had a lot of fun…”

Up in the guard towers built into the gate, it was almost time for the Night Guards to take over. “Our hours almost up, old salt,” rookie guard said to an older guard. “Sure is getting lively down there,” he added, referring to the celebration down in the field.

“I just hope some of the booths will be still open when our shift is done,” said another guard as he scanned the horizon with his telescope. “I’ve been craving for carrot dogs for days.”

The oldest among them chuckled. “Don’t worry. Based on the smell they should still be open when our shift ends.”

“One of the advantages for being blind your whole life; you got the nose of a bloodhound and the ears of a bat.”

“Yeah.” The three guards then shared a laugh.

“I’m just glad nothing has happened this ye- Wait, what’s that?” the guard using the telescope asked.

“What’s what?”

“I see something, but it’s too dark for me to tell what it is.”

“Let me try,” the old blind guard stepped up and, using a long cone, sniffed the air. He grimaced. “Even from this distance, I can smell them. Changelings,” the other two guards grew worried. “And there are many!”

“I knew it!” the rookie screamed. “I knew those bugs were plotting something!”

“Sound the alarm!”

Stella and Marz were just sitting there, enjoying one another compony. Stella’s head was resting on Marz’s shoulder, half asleep when a siren began to wail. “Now what?”

“What’s going on?”

“Isn’t that the Royal Guards emergency siren?” A stallion nearby asked. He was right. This siren is usually only sound when there was a visible threat approaching Canterlot. And since the next drill was still three weeks away…

“We need to find my mom and the others,” Stella frantically said as she got up. Marz soon galloped after her.

A little later, most of Canterlot’s citizens were hidden away in shelters throughout out the city. But because of the many visitors due to the Summer Sun Celebration, most were hiding in either the schools or the castle itself. The Princesses and their spouses (with the Wonderbolts and Discord) were heading out to the city’s main gate to confront the swarm.

Their children, as well as their friends and their children, were all in the throne room, which had about 2 dozen guards standing watch. “Ugh! I hate feeling helpless,” Lighting groaned.

“We can’t do anythin’ till Twi and the Princesses need us ta,” said Applejack.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” Autumn Breeze asked as she hugged her father tightly.

“They will be. I’m sure,” Princess Aria said in a reassuring voice. Though she couldn’t hold back her fear that this might be the last time she would see her mother.

The princesses were all wearing armor for the upcoming fight. After what happened with Tirek years ago, it was decided that it be best that they simply confront any potential threats before they get the chance to become too strong. And with an approaching army of Changelings, this was one of those times.

“Why is it that bad guys always attack during celebrations like this?” Rainbow Dash groaned.

“We’ll have to discuss that later,” said Princess Celestia.

The Solar Diarch looked to the guards behind her. All of them were ready and waiting, lances in hoof. Turning towards the gate, Celestia gestured to the guards at its lifts. They hastily opened the gates, while the other Guards and Wonderbolts were ready to fight.

When everyone began to head out, the Changelings began to emerge from the forest. Before the battle started, Shining Armor had erected his barrier to prevent any of them from entering.

In the castle gardens, all is quiet as the fighting rages on at the gate. But, for some strange reason, none of the birds or insects are making and sound. It’s been like that ever since the giant geode was placed here.

Suddenly the inconceivable happens: the gems on the geode begin to slide out one by one. When about 8 of the gems slam to the ground, Changeling soldiers began to crawl out of the geode. About a dozen Changelings emerged, all wearing strange, dark blue armor, carrying black bags with many pockets and wearing red-lensed goggles with flashing lights around the lenses.

One of the soldiers approaches the last Changeling to exit the geode. “It was getting real rank in there, General Hardshell,” he said.

“A couple of days in that rock is nothing compared to what happened here over 2 decades ago, or what she will do to them,” General Hardshell replied. “Stealth Team, you know your orders. Execute!” At that, the changelings disperse. Half of them head to where the dungeons are, while the other half, Hardshell included, go to various points of both the castle and nearby buildings.

Within the dungeons, the Changeling soldiers tracked down and freed any prisoners they find. One Changeling came upon the cell of a Griffin. “What do you bugs want?”

“Potential allies to help bring down Celestia,” the Changeling replied.

The Griffin smiled. “Count me in, then.”

In response, the Changeling telekinetically grabbed the blade located on its back. But when the Griffin got a good look at it, it was completely different from any weapon he’s seen. For one, it was completely black, with a square-like pattern on it. Streaks of electricity occasionally sparked off, as well.

Then, with very little effort, the Changeling cut down the cell bars. It happened so fast that the bars actually stood there for a moment before falling down. The Changeling then re-sheathed the blade and gave it to the Griffin.

The Griffin starred at the magical blade in its claws. It was clearly a sword, one made by the greatest blacksmiths in the world. “Did the Musicas make this magic sword?”

The Changeling let out a soft chuckle. “No. It’s not a magic sword, it’s a high-frequency blade,” the Griffin stared at the Changeling in confusion. “I’ll explain later, c’mon.”

Outside, the other Stealth Team Changelings were placing small, thick black disks at various points both on and around the castle. Each time they place one, a green light flashed in the center. Hardshell places one such disk on a statue of Celestia.

Up above, the Wonderbolts and Pegasus Guards were using the clouds to fire lightning at the changelings. On the ground below, the Earth Pony guards were stabbing them with their spears while the Unicorn Guards all blasted them. So too were the Princesses. Discord, meanwhile, was having a fun time trapping the Changelings in clouds of cotton candy.

Soon the Changelings began to retreat. “Yes!” said Rainbow. “They're turning back.”

“Yes, but it won’t be enough,” Twilight said as she trotted towards Celestia. “We need to make sure they won’t harm anypony ever again.”

“Twilight, are you suggesting we… kill the Changelings? All of them?” the surprised Celestia asked.

“No. Not all of them, just Chrysalis. Without her, these Changelings will have no choice but to surrender.”

“Perhaps, but taking a life… It can never truly lead to peace. It’s just more senseless violence.”

“Tia,” said Luna as she walked up to her sister. “I understand, but I’m afraid Twilight is right. If we have any hope for peace with the Changelings, then we must eliminate Chrysalis.”

“Celestia, Chrysalis is far too dangerous to be left alone,” Twilight began. “Numerous cities have fallen because of her, and the only reason that they didn’t succeed here was because they underestimated the magic of friendship. I doubt she’ll take such miscalculations this time.”

Celestia sighed. Twilight and Luna had a point. If Ponies and Changelings are going to truly coexist one day, then eliminating Chrysalis maybe the only option. Otherwise, this cycle of hatred will continue. She turned to the guards, all waiting for her next command.

“Spread out and find Queen Chrysalis,” Celestia ordered the guards. “If you find her… terminate on sight.”

The guards all saluted in response. But, before any of them could act, a low, booming sound stops them all in their tracks. The guards, Celestia, Luna, Kujira, Twilight, Flash, Cadence, Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, Soarin, even Discord all looked around, scared and confused about the sound.

Soon a new noise caught their attention; a rushing, whoosh sound. This one was lasting far longer and sounded like it was getting closer. Suddenly, a cylindrical object, leaving behind a trail of smoke, shot past them at incredible speed. They all looked on in shock and horror as it hit the barrier. The object easily broke through the barrier liked it was glass. It shattered in an instant as the object speed towards the castle.

At the castle garden, the only noise was the rocket and the beep sound from the disk on the statue of Celestia. The changelings had long since left. The beeping from the disk speed up as the rocket got closer. Soon the flash stayed on continuously as did the beeping. It was a homing beacon!

The rocket hit the statue, creating a defining noise as an explosion radiated out to the surrounding garden and part of the castle, incinerating anything in its path.

Seeing the explosion, the guards, Wonderbolts, the Princesses, Kujira, even Discord gasped in shock. It was then a horrifying realization hit Celestia: the rocket hit near the castle, and her daughter, Aria, and her friends were there! “No!” Celestia gasped.

She began to charge her horn, ready to teleport to the-

Whir!

Celestia stopped, surprised by the new sound, as did many others who were about ready to head back into the city.

Turning towards the forest, the source of both the rocket and now the whirring noise, everypony is due for another shock. There, emerging from the forest, ten giant… Honestly, Celestia and the others aren’t sure what they are. The things did have the coloring of the Changelings; black with green trim. The ‘skin’ and the sounds they make resemble some sort of machine, yet at the same time, they resembled giant spiders, only with 6 legs instead of 8. Each had an almost perfect circular body and easily stood over 115 feet in height. They all had a huge cannon on their backs, on the sides of which were large, black boxes.

Even the way they moved made them resemble both machines and spiders. Three of the legs would stay put (2 on one side, 1 on the other) while the other three moved forward. When they landed, the process would repeat for the other three. Occasionally the joints of the legs gave off a small amount of smoke or steam. On the front of each machine, there was a glass dome of some sort, which gave off a faint green glow.

“By Faust!” Princess Luna gasped. “What sorcery is this?” Nine of the machines launched more rockets from the black boxes, all heading towards different parts of Canterlot.

At the castle, everyone who was waiting in the castle had run out to one of the balconies to see where that large explosion had come from… only to see a horrifying sight. Several missiles all landing at various points around the city.

Death and destruction the likes of which none of them had ever seen was everywhere. The tenth and final missile struck the roof above the throne room, causing it to collapse. They should be considered fortunate that they weren’t anywhere near it.

“I can’t believe it!” Elatha said under breath. “How can this be happening?”

At the city’s outskirts, some of the giant machines were decimating the Royal Guards with laser cannons. A few of the machines have even breached the wall and are causing havoc in the city.

“No way!” a disbelieving Lightning Bolt said under breath as he looks around. Being a Pegasus, his eyesight was much sharper than the others. That enabled him to noticed something near the castle courtyard. “Changelings!” he was right. Two changelings wearing red armor were down near the shop district. One of them goes to an archway and pulls something out from its black bag.

It looked like a bar of clay about a foot long. The Changeling tears a small piece off and then smashes it onto the support column, and then attaches a strange device to it. After pressing a few buttons, a flashing orange light is emitted from the device as the Changeling flees. After 5 seconds, it explodes, decimating that part of the alleyway.

“Yikes!” Peach said, tightening her hold on Enigma.

Applejack looked to Rarity and the others. Though Fluttershy looked to be a little hesitant, she nodded along with Pinkie and the fashion designer. Applejack then looked to her husband, son, and daughter and hugged them. The other Elements did the same. “We’ll be right back. Stay here, y’all.”

At that the Elements of Honesty, Laughter, Generosity and Kindness ran out the room, their families and friends looking on in worry.

“I hope they’ll be okay.” said Mrs. Glimmer.

Stella worried out of her mind about her parents, looked to Hope, Flare, and the others. They, too, were worried. As much as she hated to admit it, but whatever the Changelings got their hooves on just might be more powerful than the Tree of Harmony.

Even if they weren’t as powerful, the Changelings have clearly become far more dangerous than ever before, and they probably won’t let Mom or the others anywhere near the Tree. Stella looked at her friends again. Each looked to her and gave a nod. She nodded back. Quietly, the 11 friends left the room, making sure that the adults didn’t hear them.

To describe the situation Celestia and the others were in right now would be hard. You need a word that means ‘worse than horrible’. In addition to the giant machines, the Changelings that are coming at them now are wearing dark blue armor and red-lensed goggles with flashing lights around the lenses. They were also carrying long, strange-looking metal tubes that Twilight had identified as firearms, something she had seen being developed during her last visit to Griffonstone.

How the Changelings got such an advance version wasn’t on her mind, though. Bugbears, dragons, golems, demons, and even Star Beasts have joined the fight. Between all of them and the armored Changelings, Celestia and the others don’t have much of a chance.

“Quickly! Behind the wall! Behind the wall!” Shining Armor bellowed. Right now he, the Princesses, Kujira, and Discord are doing everything they can to hold off the invaders while the guards escape into the city, where they have a better chance.

But before any of them could cross the bridge, they stop. Turning around Shining Armor and the others see more of the armored Changelings at the gate. The one in the center was slightly larger and bulkier than the others and had the same eyes as Chrysalis. It was General Hardshell. “How quickly things can change for the Equestrians,” he said in a mocking tone. He then opened a small hatch on his left leg armor, showing a few flashing lights and some buttons. “From the greatest civilization in the world to a bunch of primitives, in a single day!” He pressed a red one on the gauntlet, and the bridge exploded. All of the guards on it were killed instantly.

Anyone off the bridge got hit by the ball of fire, burning them severely. Celestia and the other Princesses had managed to create a shield out of instinct, and the Wonderbolts had managed to avoid any serious injury.

“No!” Celestia gasped. She was beginning to lose it. She had failed her guards. She likely had failed her subjects. And she has potentially lost her daughter and son.

“How does it feel Celestia? To know you have failed both yourself and your people?”

Celestia gasped as she and the others turned their attention upward. There, standing on top of one of the machines, was the very Queen of the Changelings herself: Chrysalis. She still wore her stolen crown, but now she was wearing a strange dark green suit as well. “Chrysalis!” Cadence hissed.

“And don’t forget me,” if they weren’t terrified before, they sure were now. Walking out of the army beneath the machine Chrysalis was on, was Tirek. He had obviously stolen a lot of magic, being about Discord’s height now.

“Tirek?!” Twilight and Rainbow both gasped.

It can’t be…! “You’ve joined forces?!” Gasped Celestia.

“Indeed. The Changelings and I have formed an alliance, with one singular goal. Not only have they given me freedom and a way to control these beasts as my own personal army, they also gave me this,” as Tirek spoke, two Changelings give him a giant, rectangular mace. “A new form of power,” the mace suddenly segmented into 3 pieces, now generating what looked like electricity. Without warning he fired a bolt at a nearby statue, destroying it. “And now that I have this power, I will take what I want.”

“Uh, Discord,” Rainbow whispered to the self-proclaimed Spirit of Chaos. “Aren't you forgetting something?”

“Oh, right!” Discord had forgotten that he could get them out of there instantly. He snapped his fingers and, in a flash, he, the remains guards, Wonderbolts, the Princesses, and Kujira vanished.

“Curse that chaos bringer,” Chrysalis hissed. “Spread out and find them! Or you’ll have to deal with her. But if you find Starlight Glimmer or her family, let me know. I want to take my sweet time with her.”

Within the city, the other Elements of Harmony were running through the mayhem. All around them, buildings were on fire and ponies were running for their lives. “How awful!” Rarity gasped.

“How th' hay did Chrysalis an' her Changelings do all this?” Applejack asked as they moved by some apartments… Or what’s left of them.

“Those meanies!”

Suddenly, Pinkie began twitching, making the other three stop. “Uh oh, feels like a combo!” said the pond pony. “Twitchy tail, achy knee. That means someone’s going to teleport in front of us!” At that moment a flash of light gray light appeared in front of them. Stopping, they stopped as Discord appears along with the Princesses, the guards, and Wonderbolts, Flash, Shining, and Kujira.

“Sometimes I hate that Pinkie Sense, and sometimes I love it.”

“Oh, good! There you are!” a clearly distressed Twilight said when she saw her friends.

“We got a big problem!” said Rainbow.

“Chrysalis and Tirek have joined forces,” Twilight finished.

The others were jaw dropped. That is a problem. “Ya serious?” Applejack asked.

“Unfortunately,” Twilight looked to her husband. “You’ll need to help as many ponies evacuate the city. We’ll head to the Tree of Harmony. We’re gonna need the Rainbow Power if were going up against both Tirek and Chrysalis.”

“Okay, but please, stay safe,” he said.

“I was gonna say the same thing,” Twilight said as she gave her husband a quick peck on a cheek before she teleported herself and her friends out of the city.

In an instant, the six friends appeared in front of the cave where the Tree of Harmony was hidden. “Quickly girls, let’s hurry!” said Twilight as she ran into the cave… only to meet with herself. For about a second, Twilight was utterly confused, until the other ‘Twilight’ was engulfed in green flames.

Jumping back, Twilight and the others saw a Changeling, wearing that strange, new armor and carrying a firearm, emerged from the fire. Other Changelings exited the cave as well. “You have got to be kidding me!”

At Canterlot’s downtown, Changelings and the beasts were rounding up any ponies they find. Some of the buildings were set ablaze, while a few others have remained relatively intact, acting as a sort of hiding place for anypony who hasn’t evacuated yet. Two Changeling soldiers came out of one such building, tossing a family of ponies at the ground before squad. The first was a Unicorn stallion, with his wife, an Earth Pony mare, and lastly, two foal fillies, both looking terrified at the sight of the Changelings and the monsters. The Earth Pony mare made her children stay behind her, while the stallion stood in front of them, acting as a shield between his family and the Changelings and beasts.

“Stay away from my family!” The Unicorn threatened.

“My, oh my. Aren't you a brave little pony,” Tirek chuckled as he walked up to the family. “You honestly think you can take on the ultimate army? How amusing. Pathetic, but amusing.”

Nearby, a lone Changeling looks on as Tirek begins to steal the magic from that pony family. He laughs to himself, immensely enjoying the sight. “I can’t wait for Queen Chrysalis to turn on Tirek and that Unicorn. Even if he steals all of the magic from everypony in Equestria, he’ll be no match for-” Before he could finish, a hoof suddenly covered his mouth.

He tried to remove it, but the hoof’s owner slammed him into the ground before he did. Unable to breathe, everything went black for the Changeling. “Don’t ya think that was a li'l excessive, Lightin’?” Honeycrisp asked as the Pegasus in question.

“Giving the current circumstances: No,” the Pegasus stallion replied as he took a large firearm that was wrapped around the Changeling. The end of it had some kind of large teardrop-shaped ball on it.

“Be careful with that, or you could blow us up to Kingdom Come.”

“Relax, Dreads. How dangerous can it be?”

“We’re being serious, Lightning,” said Stella. “You don’t even know how to use that thing.”

“Ah, what could possibly go wrong?” Lightning asked as he pulled the trigger.

The teardrop exploded off of the firearm at high speed. They were all lucky that Lighting had pointed the thing away from them as it hit the side of a building. A fireball erupted, and a giant, gaping hole was left behind.

Lighting, dropping the weapon, sheepishly turned to looked at the others. All of them, especially Honeycrisp, were glaring angrily at him. “Oops!”

Tirek has just finished stealing the magic from the family. Now he was easily 5 feet taller than Discord. I cannot make the same mistake twice, he thought. By now that purple Alicorn mare and her friends have that strange magic. If I can find those whom they care for the most, then they’ll have no choice but to surrender that magic to me. Now then, where do I begin the search-

Suddenly, a loud pop-like sound ranged out. A second later a Changeling falls down to the ground, dead. Two more pops sounded out, followed by two more changelings. Tirek glared to where the sounds came from… and smirked.

“Whoa!” Lighting Bolt gasped. He looked at the firearm again and smiled. “I can get used to this.”

Lighting didn’t admire the gun for long, though. Two bullets flew passed him and the others, just inches from their heads. The Changelings, beasts, and Tirek had noticed them, and more Changelings are taking aim. “Time to go!”

The two quickly bolted, with Lighting holding onto the bag. Tirek, though never having seen them, recognized their blood right away. “Perfect.”

At Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, several students, faculty members and some scientist who were studying what was in the block of ice, as well as some civilians who weren’t able to get to a shelter, are all hiding in the building where the ice block is being kept. Things have been mostly quiet since the battle started… that is until something began to break down the door. All of the ponies began to huddle together, terrified out of their minds. Whatever was breaking down the door was big.

Meanwhile, within the center of the object of interest, something has begun to stir. After centuries of sleeping in the ice, Ian O'Connell is beginning to awaken. I… I can hear them. He thought. Their screams. They need help. They need… “My help,” He opened his eyes. The cockpit was dark, but he can see just enough to tell that it was still the same, except for the few patches of ice.

He leaned down and pulled the emergency startup switch. A whirring noise, followed by images from outside appeared all around him. The sudden light blinded him for a moment. It took a couple of minutes for his eyes to adjust to his surroundings. He’s in a block of solid ice, but he can sense that a war or a battle was happening outside.

“Bai, you okay?”

At first, there was no response. It wasn’t until all of the systems came back online that he got one. “Damn, what a crash! Other than the fact we’re currently frozen in ice, I’m fine.” The voice had an electronic tone to it.

“Yeah, nice to see you too. Anyway, are the systems okay?”

“Let’s see… The Aether Reactors are still operational, so that’s good.” An electronic, dull female voice responded. “The katana, beam sabers and beam magnum are fine. The joints are slightly damaged, though. And some ice is blocking the main motors. I’ll have the NRS work on that right away.”

Ah, the NRS. Nanomachine Regeneration System. Able to restore the Alicorn to fighting condition in a few hours, as long as the damage isn’t too severe. That, combined with his suits life support systems, must’ve kept Ian alive while he was frozen. Though he still couldn’t feel his legs or arm yet. Probably a side effect from being frozen in the Arctic Ocean, which reminded him. “How long have we’ve been frozen, Bai? And for that matter, what year is it?”

“Let me check,” the AI waited for the atomic clock to finish its calculation before giving its answer. “Oh, you’re not going to like this.”

“Why…?” Ian asked, already not liking this.

He was in for a shock.

“According to the atomic clock, the year is SA 52,300. We’ve been frozen for over 50,000 years!”

“Fifty what?!” Ian sat there for a moment. He didn’t hear Bai talk to him as he let the implications sink in. How the hell was he still alive after being frozen for over 50,000 years?! Hell, the Alicorn’s electronics shouldn’t have survived for this long, either. Is the NRS that powerful?!

Ian slumped down. If what Bai said was true, then he’s likely… The world he knew, the people he loved, they’re all probably gone. He sat there, not sure what he should do. He was contemplating if he should just shoot himself, or go look for anyone who might be out there.

“IAN!!” Bai yelled at top volume. Ian’s eardrums nearly bursted as he sat up in attention. He groaned and curse under breath as the ringing in his ears began to die down. “Oh, I got your attention now, eh?”

“Yeah, you did. Thanks. What is it?”

“Listen.”

Ian did so. At first, he didn’t hear anything as his ears were still recovering. But soon he heard it. Screaming.

Somewhere out there, people were scared. The familiar sounds of warfare were faint, but there was no mistake. People needed help, his help. Like any battle, people were getting hurt or, worse, killed. And here he was, sitting there, doing nothing. Knowing that, even if he’s the last human, he still had his mission in life. To protect anyone who can’t protect themselves. It’s what Sarah, Dr. Jerold, and the others would want him to do.

“Ian, you’re the pilot. I’m just an artificial intelligence designed to help you control this thing. What do we do?”

Wherever he was, whenever he was, there was still a battle going on outside. “Can we break out of the ice?”

“No, I was too busy ordering a triple cheeseburger with everything and a chocolate milkshake.”

Annoyed, Ian looks at the display monitor, makes the minimum level of checking, and finally grabs the control joysticks. “Then let’s go!”

Outside the block of ice, the now adult Garble and his gang have broken down the door and have cornered the ponies near it. “If any of you try to fight back, you’re lunch,” said Fizzle.

“Lord Tirek is going to like this,” Garble began, “When he sees how many ponies we caught, he’ll surely reward us with-” he stopped mid-sentence when he heard a faint, cracking sound. “You hear that?”

“Yeah. What is that?” asked Vex. Then, much to the astonishment of all present, the source of the sound became evident; the ice began to crack! Suddenly, the giant block burst open, sending chunks of many sizes flying. The ponies and Garble’s gang all did their best to avoid the ice blocks. After a few long seconds, the shower of ice stopped.

When they all looked back at where the ice block was, everyone gasped in shocked. A tall, white being with a long horn and wings was standing there. It bore a strange resemblance to an Alicorn. It was carrying an equally white shield on its left arm. In its right hand, there was a strange, black object. It looked like a firearm. In its left hand, there was a long, stick-like thing. On said arm was what looked like a diamond-shape shield. It turned its head, scanning its surroundings, bits of ice falling off as it did so.

Garble was the first to gather the nerve to finally speak to this thing. "Hey freak, what's the big idea of throwing ice chunks at us, huh?!" Garble shouted. All the dragons turned toward the white giant and glared at it.

Inside the cockpit, Ian just stared at them. The fact that these things looked like the dragons he’d seen in all of those fantasy movies he and Sarah used to watch was surprising enough, but the red and yellow one looked like it was threatening him in some weird language.

“Ian, check out the civilians.”

Ian looked down to his right and saw some weird, colorful horse-like creatures. Some, particular the youngest ones, were staring in awe at the Alicorn. The others were glancing between him and the dragons.

“Did we step into a fantasy series or what?”

“Yeah. I think they’re the ones who need our help.”

“What was your first clue? The fact they’re all cowering away in a corner? Or the giant lizards who will tear us apart if given a chance?”

The red dragon yelled again. It was clearly annoyed. The only response Ian gave was placing the beam magnum in its recharge port between the Alicorn’s wings, while he placed the katana in the hilt on the left hip.

Clump stomped right up to the giant and poked it in the chest. He didn’t notice the clanging sound made when he did that. “Alright, pal, I'm giving you ten seconds to start begging before I clobber you into next week!" he yelled and started to count. "1! 2! 3! 4... uh… hey, guys what comes after 4?" Clump asked.

Garble and the others face palmed, “FIVE, DUMBASS!”

"Oh, right! 5!”

Ian just stared at the dragon as it continued its count. At least, he thought it was counting. He wasn’t sure. “If we live through this, we’re gonna have to do a lot of catchup.”

“Yep.”

“How are the repairs going?”

“They’re 74% complete. We can now kick some giant reptile ass!… Do reptiles have asses?”

“6! 7! 8! 9! 9 and a half! 9 and three-quarters! Last chance to beg for-"

Before Clump could even get the chance to finish his sentence, the white giant suddenly grabbed him by the neck with its right hand. The other dragons and the terrified ponies looked on in shock and horror as the white giant actually pulled Clump toward it. Garble and the other dragons could only look on in complete and total shock. "The five of us together couldn't even move Clump! Yet this thing picked him up like he was a toy!"

What it did next was horrifying. Using its other hand, the giant grabbed Clump by the shoulder and began to pull. With a swift and sickening rip, the giant pulled Clump’s thought and dropped his body crashed to the floor. Blood pooled underneath the brown dragon as he died.

Garble’s eyes widened even further as he and the others stared at their friend’s dead body.

Vex’s horror slowly dissolved into anger as he glared at the monster that murdered his friend. “YOU KILLED CLUMP!” and with that roar, Vex charged right at the white giant full force.

"Vex, wait!" Garble yelled, but it was too late.

The white giant grabbed the stick-thing on its left hip, drawing it and wielding it like a strange lance.

Vex then realized that he had made a horrible mistake.

And it was too late.

With a swift swipe, Vex’s body was cut in half at the torso in less than a second. Then, to ensure that Vex was dead, the white giant sliced his head off. All before it hit the ground! Vex’s body parts dropped next to his dead friend. The adult ponies had, by now, covered the foal's eyes, but some did manage to see the carnage that unfolded, and will also see the carnage to come.

Garble was the first to recover from the shock. “We’ve got to get the heck out of here! Come on, guys, run for it!” Garble shouted. Fizzle, Fume, and Baff did not to be told twice as they followed Garble and made a mad dash towards the exit.

As they ran, the giant flew after them, and within seconds the giant was right behind the 4 terrified dragons. With a swift swing, it sliced clean through Fizzle’s body. It then decapitated Fume, his head and body falling straight to the ground. The giant then swings its blade at Baff and Garble, but they managed to dodge the swipe, but they lost most if not all of their wings.

The two still living dragons crashed to the ground just outside the building, now crippled. They were lucky. Garble knew that he and Baff can easily regenerate their wings in a few weeks, maybe. But they needed to get out of there alive first!

He then spotted one of the Changelings Crawlers. Thinking quickly, he and Baff run over to it. “Hey!” Garble called out.

The Crawler turned words them. “What is it?” one of the pilots asked.

“There’s a- a thing-!” Baff didn’t have much time to explain as the white giant was now running towards them.

In the cockpit of the Crawler, the two Changeling pilots looked on in shock and confusion. “Slash, is that a what I think it is?”

“Yes, Slice. It is,” the Changeling manning the weapons replied. “It’s similar to our Queen’s but clearly different. You two, fall back. We’ll deal with the enemy.”

“R-r-right!” The red dragon said before he and the other ran.

“Dragons. Just greedy cowards,” mumbled Slice. “Firing the beam cannon,” the giant cannon on the Crawler fired an incredibly thick, bright green laser beam at the white machine. The pilots thought that it didn’t have any time to react, but in the last few seconds, it raised the shield in its left hand to the front. The shield elongated and the magic beam dissipated over the shield.

“What!?” Slash and Slice gasped.

“We need to get some distance,” Slash activated the Crawlers hover mode. Five, small engines along the machine's legs and two giant propellers underneath it activated, causing the Crawler to float in the air. Slash then maneuvered the Crawler away from the white machine.

But it had taken flight and was now gaining on them. “Get him with the cannon!”

“It’s only at 20% power!”

“Use it!”

Slice did so and fired. It only had 1/5 the power of the previous beam, but it should be enough to at least slow the white machine down. But, like a nimble Pegasus, it moved to its side and dodged the beam. Charging forward, it used its sword to pierce the cannon.

Landing on the body, it now blocked Slash and Slice’s only way of escape. “Get him with the claws!” At that, Slice activated the claws. At the back of the Crawler, two giant arms unfold from the body, 3 claws at the end.

But before the claws could even touch it, the white machine generated a beam saber from its right arm. Using the blade and beam saber it sliced and diced the claws in an instant. “That’s impossible!”

“The cannon is gonna…!” Slice couldn’t even finish that sentence as the cannon overloaded, destroying a good part of the Crawler and the cockpit, incinerating the two as they screamed one last time.

Further down the street, Garble and Baff both stopped when they heard the explosion. Turning back they see the Crawler falling to the ground in flames. “That thing beat the Changelings Crawler?!” Baff said, when a piece of metal suddenly flew at him, moving with such force that it cut his head off.

Garble could only look on in horror as his last remaining friend was just killed before him. Looking to where the piece came from, he saw the white gain standing on the rubble of the crawler, having apparently thrown the shrapnel piece. It was looking at Garble. Its eyes were emitting a green glow, seemingly mocking him. Garble knew exactly what it meant; You’re next.

Realizing that he can’t win, Garble does something that dragons hardly ever do: Scream, turn tail and flees to where Lord Tirek is.

After a hundred feet of running, Garble let loose a torrent of flames, setting the surrounding buildings on fire, thinking it’ll give him at least a few more seconds. Turning around, he sees Tirek just finishing stealing the magic of some ponies.

Tirek was laughing now. A little difficult at first, he had succeeded in stealing the magic of the eldest children of the Elements of Harmony, the Princesses, and Discord. He was now over 30 feet tall, getting closer to the height he had when he had stolen everypony’s magic years ago. “Now, what should I do with you all?” Tirek asked himself. That’s when stallions weakly got up, putting themselves in-between Tirek and the mares, ready to sacrifice themselves if it meant protecting their friends. “My, you’re all brave little ponies, aren’t you. Too bad it won’t be of much help here. Yessss.”

Tirek then encased each of them in an orange bubble, just as he did before. “Hey! Let us out!” Lightning yelled.

“Let us go, you monster!” Aria shouted.

“Now why would I do that?”

“Master Tirek!” Garble cried as he limped to the giant Centaur.

“What is it?” Tirek hissed, though he did took note of the dragons injuries.

“Wh… White Ali… Alicorn-”

“You were bested by an Alicorn? Was it Celestia!” Tirek hissed as he turned towards the direction the dragon came from.

“No, Master Tirek! It wasn’t an Alicorn, but it looked like one!”

“What kind of nonsense is that? What bested you!”

Garble turned around and shakily pointed a claw at the smoke. “Him…” he squeaked.

There, emerging from the smoke, a 65-foot-tall giant of some kind, wearing white armor, stepped out. It had a horn that was similar to a Unicorn’s, as well as two large wings on its back. Everypony that Tirek had trapped in his bubbles stopped struggling to escape when they saw the giant.

As Tirek starred, he noticed that the giant held what appeared to be a heavily damage cannon, like the ones the Changelings were using for their Crawlers. The large scrap of metal was dragged behind it, gripped in the giant’s hand like a 40-foot club.

Interesting. Tirek thought. I never heard of a metallic golem before. Is it even a golem? I wonder what kind of magic it has? “What are you waiting for, Garble?” Tirek as the dragon, who nervously looked to him. “Destroy it.”

Garble weighed his options. Tirek, or the monster that not only cut off his wing but also killed his only friends. The red monster, or the white one? Deciding that he’ll have a swift and, hopefully, painless death, he decided to confront the White Giant.

What the hell am I doing? Repeated in Garble’s mind as he walked towards the giant, who calmly did the same. Calm down, Garb. It doesn’t have that weird glory thing that burns hotter than lava. And it put that stick-thing away, too. What can it possibly do with a destroyed cannon? It’s not like it can still fire-

WHACK!

Garble’s train of thought abruptly stopped when the giant swung the cannon, the end of it hitting him right on his head. Even though his thick scales protected him from most things, he still felt the bone crushing force of the swing.

The giant then swung again, this time hitting his left eye. Garble screamed as he placed a claw where his eye once was, but that didn’t last long as the giant lifted the cannon into the air and swung it down. The shockwave created when Garble’s head and the cannon hit the ground destroyed a good portion of the street.

Tirek looked on in shocked. A dragon, one of the most feared creatures in the whole world, has just been killed before his very eyes. And the one responsible didn’t even used magic! The giant then turned to him, slowly making its way towards him, dragging the improvised club behind it.

“I’ll fall back for now. I need further preparation to take this one’s magic.”

Tirek fired at the giant’s club, creating a small explosion. With the giant now distracted, he teleported away, taking his hostages with him.

“What the hell was that?!” Ian asked.

“No idea. It was a lot like and Ether Particle Cannon, for whatever reason.”

“Are any of the systems damaged?”

“No, all systems are fine. And what the hell was that horseman thing anyway?” Ian gave a shrug in response. Whatever that thing was, it was gone now. Tossing aside the piece of scrap, Ian thought for a moment. It strangely resembled a centaur, only it was red and had devil horns on its head.

“I’m not sure, but the dragon keep calling it ‘Tirek’. And the way it was intimidating it, despite being half the size, probably means he’s the one in charge.”

“Or she. I swear, if this Tirek guy is a chick-”

“Save it for when we find him, Bai. Send some drones to do aerial reconnaissance of the area. We need to find that thing before it does too much damage.”

“I’m on it. Launching the ARC Drones.”

Several Changelings looked at the mobile suit from a distance. Even from this distance could see the aerial reconnaissance drones being deployed from the hidden compartments in the machines wings. “This is bad,” one said. “If that is what I think it is, then we’re all screwed.”

“Then what are we waiting for? We need to tell Queen Chrysalis.”

Celestia was bringing to grow desperate. She managed to return to the castle, only to find that Changelings having overrun the place. While everypony managed to escape, her daughter and son, as well as their friends, were missing.

They had apparently left the castle unnoticed and went out into the city to help. She’ll have a stern talking to the guards later when this was all over. Assuming they all make it. Celestia looked through the destroyed city, searching for her children. Her family and friends were with her.

Suddenly, Tirek himself appears before them. Orange spheres of magic floated around him, each holding somepony. Celestia could only look on it horror as she recognized them.

“No…”

“Yessss.”

Ian was beginning to get mad. The ARC Drones were recording monsters attacking these little horses, but strangely not killing any of them. Apparently, they were more useful alive, for some reason. There were some strange, horse-like bugs as well, wearing armor and carrying gun’s not unlike that of the Republic Forces.

How and where they got that was a mystery. Right now he needed to find that Tirek guy. At least he thought that was his name. One ARC Drone near what looked like a castle soon spotted his target. Tirek was doing… something to some little horses. It looked like he was draining something out of them, getting a little bigger in the process. And he was eating whatever he was draining.

“What the heck?” was how Ian responded as the horses fell to the ground after Tirek was done. They seemed fine, a couple even got up. But they all seemed weak. One with a horn on its head, who Ian saw use magic minutes ago, wasn't using any now. “Did that guy block their magic or something?”

“You’re the Newtype, you tell me. All I know is that this just keeps getting weirder and weirder.”

Afterward, Tirek left the little horses and soon confronted more, only two of them were slightly larger than the others. Also, there was a small dragon with them, and a… He wasn’t sure. It just looked like some random mix of animal parts sewn together by a madman.

“I rest my case.”

Whether the goat, horse, dragon thing and the actual dragon were enemies or not will depend on how they treat those horses. But before that, he needed to get there.

“How far away is he?”

“Not far. About 2 klicks.”

Especially if he moved at top speed. Ian doesn’t want to take any chances with this guy.

“Is the MS Carrier still intact?”

“Unknown. Given how much time has passed it could be destroyed.”

“We’re still alive, aren’t we.”

“Good point. Contacting… … … … … I don’t believe it. I’ve reached the MS Carrier, and its systems are still mostly intact!”

“Wow, that actually worked?” Ian asked himself, shocked that he was able to reach the MS Carrier, despite there being no way for him to contact it. As far as he knew.

“Have it lock onto the Alicorn’s coordinates and meet us here.”

“Roger that.”

Ian sighed in relief. Now he just needs to figure out how to beat that deviltaur. It wasn’t long until he got an idea just crazy enough to work. “And Bai.”

“Yeah?”

“Direct all power to the thrusters and the arm and leg hydraulics.”

Up north, the excavation team continued to whack away the ice from the Large Unknown, or LU, as they began to call it, blissfully unaware about what’s happening in Canterlot. They were months ahead of schedule. The weather had been kind and the temperatures were warm enough to make the excavation a little easier.

Easy enough to the point that most of the upper part of the LU free from the ice. The underside was still mostly frozen, but they had managed to remove enough ice to break free four, oval shaped areas on the wings.

Yes, wings. As far as anypony could tell it was some kind of flying machine. How it got there and where it’s from remains a mystery. “The excavation is coming along nicely,” said Sky Line as he and Stonewall did their patrol. “Almost makes up for freezing our tails off. Almost.”

Stonewall snorted at the small joke. “Oh, man I wish we were in Canterlot right now. The Summer Sun Celebration is my favorite time of the year.”

“Duty calls, dude,” Sky Line replied. Suddenly, they began to hear a cracking sound. “Please tell me that was just the ice breaking away from that thing.”

Another crack answered that. The cracks were coming from the ice surrounding the flying machine, but it wasn’t the excavation team. Fire shot out of the oval areas in the wings, breaking the ice apart. Soon it began to float up into the air.

“Oh. My. Gosh.”

Stonewall and Skyline looked on as the machine roared to life and flew south.

“We’re in trouble.”

Celestia was at a lost. Before her stood one of the deadliest enemies Equestria has ever faced. In his clutches was her daughter and son, as well as her niece and their friends. “Amazing how quickly things can change, huh princess?” Tirek said in a mocking tone. “A short while ago, I was in Tartarus while you and your little ponies carried on your lives, and now here I stand, just steps away from becoming a god, while you all look on in horror.”

Luna spoke out. “Tirek! You’ll never get away with this! You were defeated before, and you can be defeated again!”

“And don’t think for a second that any of us will listen to you. I learned my lesson.” Discord added.

Tirek just chuckled in response. “Maybe so, but I’ve taken precautions this time. I highly doubt the Elements of Harmony will risk losing their children.”

Celestia snapped. To her, the only thing worse than her subject being in danger, was her family being in danger. “You beast! I won’t let you!” She began to charge a spell, but Tirek placed his captives in front of him, stopping her.

“Mom, do it!” Aria cried out from her sphere.

“It’s our own fault for getting into this mess. Don’t listen to him!” Stella Nova added.

But not even Discord raised a finger in response. Liked it or not, Tirek had them cornered. Using their own family as a way to gain their magic.

Tirek smirked. “That’s what I thought.” He prepared to take their magic when something destroyed the building next to him. Time slowed down for everyone as a white giant bursts out of the building, grabbing Tirek by his shoulders, and continued on through the next building. The sphere holding Tirek’s hostages followed suit.

In a split second, the giant, Tirek and the children were all gone. Starlight was the first to speak after the event. “What the hay was that?!” She had said what was on all of their minds as they heard the sound of several buildings being destroyed in the direction the giant took Tirek.

The white giant, with thunderous force, pushes itself forward with Tirek in tow. With each building they passed through, Tirek screamed in pain. After flying through a fourth building, they arrived Canterlot’s outskirts. The giant then threw Tirek down onto the ground, creating a large crater where he hit.

Not wanting to waste time, Tirek teleported away. He reappeared nearby next to some dragons, who just looked on in shock. “What are you idiots waiting for!? Surround and destroy it!” Tirek barked. The dragons quickly did as told and surrounded the white giant. Soon, no matter what it might do, the giant would be intercepted by either a dragon. Its only option was to either go to ground level or fly straight up, where Tirek and the largest dragon in his army will be waiting. Mounting the dragon, the demon chuckled as he flew upward to finish it off.

As the physical sensors ranged, Ian can see the large reptiles and the demon all prepare to attack. He can feel their intense killing intent surrounding him.

Not like it’ll help them.

“Wide open space. No one for you to capture and take magic from, somehow. And no buildings to destroy either. Bai, do it.”

“Gotcha. Activating the AT-M.” The sound of metal clashing with each other echoes in the cockpit, and the all-view monitor that shows the CG space let out a glow. It’s not the monitor that is glowing, but the components of the cockpit themselves are glowing. There’s a luminescent light glowing from the gaps between the monitor, all of it a faint blue.

The display console immediately flashes the letters AT-M, as different parts of the chair began to move on their own as special clamps connect to Ian’s helmet on both left and right side as well as several other areas on the suit. A holographic display bubble then appears around him, displaying all of his vital signs. All of this is happening as the demon and its minions fired.

The flames all surrounded the giant while Tirek himself fires what he thinks will be the finishing blow. When his magic beam from Tirek goes through the convergence of the flames, he lets up. So do the dragons. He smirks… until the smoke clears.

“What?!” Tirek exclaimed when he sees that the white giant is completely intact, despite both him firing a giant blast of magic and the flames of six dragons. That is when he noticed the glow. The white giant was giving off a blueish-silver glow. But it wasn’t a magic glow.

Then the parts forming the shoulders of the giant break open from the gaps in its armor, and the sliding armor revealed a frame that’s giving off blue light. The same phenomenon happens with the legs, knees, and thigh. The front armor of the waist and the torso open up as well, causing the giant to look even bigger. The blue luminescent glow is becoming stronger, causing the bright patterns decorating the white giant to become clearer.

The wrists are sliding too. The wings then extended, with the glowing blue frame in them, making them resemble bird wings even more, as two handles emerge from the base of the wings. The one change that’s most obvious however is the head. The mask slides into the helmet, revealing the white giant's face, which was two black horizontal lines where the nose would be and a red goatee. The giant’s one horn then splits in half and becomes V-shape, showing a green rectangle behind it. The two eyes glow green, and it has a golden V-shaped horn on its forehead.

Using its right arm, the giant grabs the handle on its right wing. It then yanks it out, but instead of blood a pinkish light appears and takes on the shape of a sword.

Everyone who was fighting and anyone who wasn’t stopped and stared in awe. They were all speechless at the sight of the now blueish-silver glowing white giant.

Elsewhere, Chrysalis has also seen the giant transform. But instead of shock or amazement, she felt fear and anger. She had a feeling on what it was, but now she no longer had any doubts about it. It was something that can easily be described as a monster. Something so powerful that it can easily decimate an entire army in a single night. She let out a single, lone word while some of her Changelings all gawk at the sight.

“Gundam…”

Chapter 3: The Gundam (revised)

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The lone horn on the white giant splits, turning into a gold V-shaped horn. It then grabs one of the handles on its wing and draws out an energy blade of some sort. The two closest dragons didn’t think about what happened for long as it suddenly charges at them, leaving behind a blue afterglow.

Before they even realized it, the giant is right on top of them. With a swift swipe of its blade, it cuts both dragons in half. Everypony looks on in shocked as they see the now lifeless bodies of the dragons plummet to the ground. With a burst of speed, it flew towards Tirek. The dragon he’s riding on quickly begins to fly upward in an attempt to avoid the giant. But before it could even finish its first flap, the giant reaches them.

Using its pink glowing blade, it slices off the dragon’s wing. The dragon cries out in pain as the flesh and bone that connects the wing to his body literally evaporates. Tirek, not wanting to risk his life just yet, jumps off the old dragon, right as the giant stabs the dragon in the back, right where Tirek was. Moving forward, the giant cuts the dragon’s neck and his head in two as it flew after Tirek.

The giant was moving so fast that it looked like it was teleporting from one spot to another. It was within feet of Tirek, soon it’ll be close enough to cut him in half with that glowing blade. But before the giant could get any closer, two dragons spewed fire at it. Some bugbears were with them, all eager to fight the giant.

But they obviously have never heard the phrase ‘be careful what you wish for’. Within seconds the giant was near them. With its blade, it cut one of the dragons in an instant. The other dragon and a bugbear move in to try and pin the giant down, but that quickly backfires as the giant simply bob and weaves around them before cutting them in half with its blade.

Tirek lands down on the ground and looks up. He sees that the giant has killed the bugbears and dragons. Another dragon tries to attack, but the giant once again bob and weaves before it kills the dragon. Tirek wasn't sure who or what that is, but he knows one thing; it was defiantly not using magic. At least not any magic he’s seen before.

Chrysalis looks intently at the Gundam as it decimates Tirek’s army. Knowing full well how powerful it is, she looks to the general next to her. “Have all Changelings retreat at once, including the ones guarding the Tree. Bring as many of the beasts with us as well.”

“But, Chrysalis, we’re so close to completing Phase 1. Why not continue? What can one Gundam possibly d-?”

“You know full well what just one Gundam is capable of!” Chrysalis snapped, causing the general to back away in fear. “If we stay we risk getting killed. In this situation, I’d rather face her wrath then deal with a Gundam. Call the order to retreat, now!”

In the Cave of the Tree of Harmony, the mane 6 were having difficulty with all of the changelings. Not only were they tougher than the ones they fight before, but they were also smarter and are cheating.

Hiding in the shadows before jumping on one of them, then changing into one of their friends to confuse them. It was total chaos. “Twi! Ah don’t think we can keep this up much longer.”

As much as she hated to admit it, Twilight knew that Applejack was right. They weren’t as young as they used to be, and they were all getting tired. Twilight’s spells were even beginning to fizzle out before she could finish casting them.

Rainbow was also beginning to tire out. One thing against her was that they were fighting in a cave. Caves and Pegasi don’t get along well. As for Fluttershy… she managed, somehow. Rarity wasn’t having much trouble, knowing enough about martial arts to keep up. As for Pinkie, she’s… Pinkie.

Suddenly, the changelings began to back off. Eventually, they all left the cave. “Yeah!” Rainbow said in-between deep breaths. “You better run!”

“Uh, Rainbow, I don’t think they ran away because of us,” Fluttershy said as she got up from tripping herself, and about 5 Changelings.

Twilight then gasped. “Oh, no! The Tree!” Twilight quickly galloped down into the cave, the others following upon realizing.

Fortunately when they arrived the Tree of Harmony was still in one piece. The Elements were all in place. Nothing was out of place. The six ponies all sighed in relief. “Thank Celestia! I almost had a heart attack.”

“Then let’s git the Rainbow Power and beat Tirek before ya have one.”

The each took their positions around the Tree, each eager for the surge of rainbow magic to come. “You girls ready?” Twilight asked.

“Bring it!”

They each nodded as an answer. “Alright.” They all took a deep breath and began to focus, before shouting one thing.

“FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!!”

They stood there, waiting. Nothing happened. “Any second now.” Pinkie said, but she was unable to hide the worry in her voice.

They waited for about a minute, and still nothing. “Maybe we… didn’t do it right?” They tried again. And again. And again. After the fifth try, Pinkie did something unexpected.

“Please work! Pretty please with super double sugar coated whip cream and a dozen cherries on top!” she yelled as she began to bang her head against the crystalline structure of the tree. Understandably, it doesn’t work. Rainbow and Applejack dragged Pinkie away while Twilight walked up to the Tree.

“I don’t understand,” Twilight said out loud as placed a hoof on the Tree. She briefly felt a surge of magic, like when she touched that ice block earlier. “Before we were able to use the Elements of Harmony whenever we needed to. Even after we returned them to the Tree, we were still connected to them. So why? Why isn’t it working?”

“Maybe we could only use the Rainbow Power once,” Rarity offered. “After all, the last time we actually relied on the Tree’s power was when we first defeated Tirek all those years ago. Other than that, we never had a situation that needed the Elements of Harmony.”

“Then why isn’t it working now?”

Rainbow made a good point. Even if they never had a reason to call upon the Elements of Harmony since their fight with Tirek, that wasn’t any reason they shouldn’t call upon them now. Twilight thought for a moment. Either the Changelings had done something that they haven’t noticed yet, or…

She shook her head, wiping away such a thought. “Quick! Check for anything out of place. It could be anything, a crack, a rock, something.”

In Canterlot, Celestia and the others looked on as the giant battles Tirek’s army. They had made their way to Canterlot’s outskirts, following the trail of destruction. Shining Armor asked. “What the hay is that thing?”

Discord took a moment to pull out his eyes, place them in a bowl of water, washed them, and placed them back into his eye sockets. “Now I’ve seen it all.”

Sunset looked at the giant and noticed the light coming from its wings. It looked like fire. Is that a machine? She thought.

Her thoughts were broken when Luna brought up a very important point that somehow escaped their minds. “What about Elatha and the others?!”

Shaking her head, Sunset, and the others quickly looked for the spheres that Tirek used to capture them. Eventually, she found them. They were a few dozen feet above Tirek, out of harm’s way as he dealt with the giant. They were safe for now, but it won’t be long before Tirek starts using them as shields.

“This is bad. We can’t get too close, or we’ll be caught in the crossfire.”

Discord puffed up his chest. “No problem. As soon as there’s a chance, I’ll teleport in and get them to safety.”

“Assuming there will be a chance.”

It was heading to where Tirek was at. Terrified out of his mind, the demon quickly sidestepped to his left, right as the giant swung its blade at him. While Tirek’s smaller size made him a very difficult target for the giant, it wasn’t much consolation. Even from a distance, the giant had some kind of advantage.

For example, it fired several, fast moving bullets from two holes on its head. The shots let out trails of light, and the visible laser-like fire charged right at him. He could barely dodge them due to their speed. One grazed his left arm and left a gaping flesh wound there. Tirek screamed in agony, but not for long when he noticed the giant moving in on him.

But for some reason, the glowing blade was returned to its slot. That didn’t change much as the giant grabbed Tirek by his horns. A bright light enveloped the two for a moment before Tirek managed to pull away. He stumbled back as a pack of Lupus, lead by a Lupus Major, assaulted the giant.

“What was that?” Tirek asked himself. It felt like a mind reading spell. Did that thing read his mind? And if that was true, then did he looked into the giants? Concentrating, Tirek tried to see if he had seen the giants mind. Indeed, he did, but it wasn’t what he was expecting. For a brief instance, he saw a two-legged being, like a Minotaur, only without ay horns and completely hairless except for the top of its head.

It was also small, about a couple of feet taller than the ponies. Tirek looked tot he giant. It was butchering the Lupus. Only the alpha remained standing, biting and clawing at the giant’s back. What is that thing? Was what I saw the giant’s original form, or… something else?

“Okay, I had enough of this.”

Ian had the Alicorn reach over and grab the giant star dog thing. With a swift throw, the beast flew into the ground. To ensure it won’t be getting back up Ian grabbed the katana and priced the beast in its head.

“You okay, pal. Controlling a whole mobile suit with just your thoughts and infiltrating that things mind at the same time can’t be good for your mental health.”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“I don’t know who, or what, you are, but I intend to end this. Now!” Tirek said.

“At least I can understand that bastard now.”

“Mind if I look in your head so I can learn the language real quick. I want to know what that guy is saying while we’re beating the shit out of him.”

“Just make it quick.”

As he felt Bai look around in his head, Ian looked up at Tirek’s captives. They were all struggling to break free from the orange spheres. They were obviously a trump card should the monster get into an unfavorable situation.

The alarms suddenly sound. “Incoming!”

Looking back to Tirek, a ball of energy began to form in-between his horns. “That can’t be good.”

Tirek fires a giant blast at him. There wasn’t enough time to dodge it. But Ian instinctively lifts the shield to face the blast. An E-Field formed as the blast hit. It was deflected right in front of the shield, but the impact shook the machine before stopping.

“WHAT!?!?!?”

“Just like a beam cannon.” Ian smirked for a moment before he got an idea. One crazy enough that it might work. “What’s the ETA for the MS Carrier?”

“The ETA is a little over 5 minutes. Why?”

“Bai, I need you to control the Alicorn for a little while. I need to step out.”

“What?! Are you insane! Who knows what will happen of you step out! I’m talking about things like your body exploding, insanity, blindness, cancer-”

“I know the risks! Use a flash bomb to blind him.”

Tirek stared at the being before him. Whatever it was, it was powerful. If only he could get its magic, then he will be unstoppable. Suddenly, the giant’s right wing flared outward. A small orb flung out and explodes, creating a blinding flash of light.

Tirek covers his eyes in pain. The light was so intense that it lit up the entire battlefield. Even after the light stopped, everything was just a bunch of blurs to Tirek. He didn’t even see the giant coming.

The giant’s fist powered into Tirek’s gut, the blow powerful enough to cause him to vomit. Tirek fell to the ground, breathing weakly the contents of his stomach made a comeback. Some monsters, a few Bugbears and a Star Beast, specifically a Serpens, come to his aid.

The Bugbears distracted it while the Serpens coiled itself around one of its legs, all while Tirek recovers from the blow. If the magic he’d stolen hadn’t made him incredibly strong, he’d have a hole through him right now.

Elsewhere in a small clearing, Tirek’s captives looked on in shock and horror. Some of them passed out from the carnage below, while other still tried to break free. Mostly Lighting. “Come on! Break already you stupid ball!” Lighting yelled as he bucked the bubble as hard as he can.

Discord had tried to simply teleport them out, but Tirek had apparently set up a field where he couldn’t do that. How he could cast such a spell was beyond any of them. Discord couldn’t get near any of them without getting set on fire. Normally he would be fine with being on fire, but this fire was different. It was the kind that burns away the most important part of your being, your soul.

The Spirit of Chaos had to back off, otherwise, he could've died. It would appear that Tirek had not taken any chances this time. Right now he was likely with Celestia and the others, trying to find some way to penetrate that field.
 While Aria had every reason to believe that they will succeed, she wasn’t counting on it anytime soon. She looked to her friends. Some of them had simply stopped trying to break out, waiting - or rather hoping - for when their mothers will free them when they get back with the Rainbow Power. She, however, was looking to the giant below to help them. She always could tell if someone was a good person, even if she hadn’t seen their aura.

And she can tell that this giant was helping them, even if its means of doing so were questionable at best. The fact that it dragged Tirek away to the outskirts of the city told her that it didn’t want to cause any unnecessary damage.

It wasn’t afraid to fight dirty, either. If that flash from just a minute ago was anything to go by. It not only blinded Tirek, it gave him a pretty powerful punch to the gut after. Aria then looked to her flank. It was blank. Tirek had taken away her magic, and now she could no longer see someone’s aura now.

She just wished there was some way she could help. A knocking from outside her prison got her attention. Looking out, she was hoping to see her mother or Discord, thinking they found a way to destroy the field. Instead, she saw a biped of some sort. It was wearing an entirely white suit with blue highlights.

Aria gasped. She recognized the creature. That’s… how is that possible? she thought. It was human! The same creatures that Princesses Twilight and Sunset told her about. The ones in the world located inside the mirror in Twilight’s castle; a polar opposite world filled with creatures like these. Although, despite the faceplate obstructing the color a little, she can tell that this particular human did not share the colorful skin and hair tones that she heard they had.

Then it spoke to her.

“You okay?” the voice told her it was a colt.

It took a second for Aria to respond. “Yes. I’m fine. It’s just…”

“I look a little weird?”

“…That’s not what I was going to say, but…”

“I’m gonna try something, so stand back.”

Aria did as told and took a few steps back. The human took its right appendage… an arm? Was that what it was called? An arm? Yes, like what the Minotaurs call them. Anyway, it took its right arm and placed it on the barrier. Within seconds the shield began to break.

Aria was stunned. Not only did this human get into the field without being sent on fire, he was also breaking through her prison. No. He wasn’t breaking it. He was taking control of it. She had heard rumors about Unicorns who can take over someone else’s spell after it been cast, but she never thought it could be done.

The bubble then broke into thousands of pieces, before those pieces disappeared. “How… how did you do that?”

“I simply used my aura to take control.”

Aura?! He knows what an aura is, and knows how to use it? The human then began to walk up to her, making her nervous. “Wha… what are you going to do now?”

“Just trust me.”

The human placed her hand on her chest and another on her head. “Close your eyes.” He ordered. Aria complied. By now the others had taken notice of the human’s presence. Some were worried that he was going to hurt Aria, but that wasn’t a concern for Aria. She could feel her own aura, which was cold to her after Tirek stole her magic earlier, flicker to life again.

When Aria opened her eyes, they had returned to their original color. Aria felt a small amount of magic energy within her again.

She looked to her flank and saw a colorful aurora. Though it was a little weak, she had her magic back. She opened her mouth to say something, only for the human to place a hand on it. “Don’t get too excited just yet, otherwise you might attract unwanted attention.” he said.

The human was breathing heavily. Whatever he had done had taken a toll on him. He then walked over to Elatha, and freed her as well before placing a hand on her chest and forehead. The human’s body glowed a light blue for a moment before Elatha’s body glowed aquamarine. Now that she had her magic back, Aria could see what was happening now.

Somehow Elatha and everyone else’s auras were cold. Locked. The human was using his own aura to free theirs. She was told that a pony’s aura was the source of their magic, but what she was seeing disproved that. As the aura was freed, magical energy returned to the body from outside it.

It took a few minutes, but the human had freed them all, and restore their magic. “How did you do this?” Stella asked as the human restored Lightning’s magic. “I thought that the only way for our magic to return was for Tirek to be drained of the magic he stole.”

The human scoffed at that when he was done. “Do you really think that?”

An explosion in the distance reminded them of the current situation. “Sorry, but there isn’t any time to explain. You guys just focus on getting as far away as possible,” the human then turned around and ran to the giant.

“Wait, what’s your name?” Enigma called out.

The human stopped and turned around. He put a hand on his helmet and the faceplate retracted, showing he had light skin, as well as what looked like yellow hair. His eyes were a deep, dark blue and there was a long scar over his left eye.

“It’s Ian. Ian O’Connell.”

“Okay, this is getting dumb.”

Bai had the Alicorn Gundam grab the giant star snake behind its head as it wrapped itself around the waist. The snake hissed as the Alicorn slowly pulled it away. The bug… bear-things tried their best to sting the Alicorn, but understandably, it doesn’t even faze it.

Suddenly, the giant star snakes head was blown off. Taking his chance, Bai had the Alicorn Gundam fly up into the air as fast as it could.

“About time it showed up.”

Tirek looked up to the sky, looking for the thing that killed his pet. He soon spotted it. It had some resemblance to a bird, but it was far larger. And its wings weren’t flapping like any normal bird.

It was blocky and is white with some gray areas. There was a yellow, box-shaped area at its front. A clear, blue fire roared from the back of its wings. The bottom of the wings had two guns on it. One of them must’ve shot at the Serpens. The other gun was-

Tirek’s eyes widened in horror. “No!” He moved as fast as he could, just barely avoiding a bullet through his skull. The rock behind him wasn’t as lucky, a big portion of it blown off.

“Wow, you’re fast for a big guy.”

Tirek blinked. He somehow knows that voice. Looking up a small hill, he saw a bipedal creature standing there, wearing an entirely white suit with blue highlights.

“You!” Tirek hissed. He recognized the small being. “You are the one who entered my mind. The one who controls the giant machine.”

“Yeah, that would be me.”

Suddenly a monster jumped in between them. It looked like a lion, only larger. It also had a tail like that of a scorpions.

“Bring me its head, my pet!” Tirek commanded the beast. It growled in anticipation, eager to tear the Human apart. But the human just simply stood there.

Calmly he looked to Tirek. “A giant lion with a scorpion tail. Is that all you got?” the Manticore lunged at the human, but he sidestepped to the left. Before it could react, the human kicked the beast in the gut. The Manticore growled in agony, stumbling to the side as Ian took a few steps back. The Manticore managed to recover somewhat, regaining its footing.

Angry, the manticore raised its stinger above its head. The beast brought its tail down, intent on impaling its prey… only for the human to sidestep again, then grabbed the tail and jumped over the beast. Landing on its back, the human pulled on the stinger.

It didn’t take long for the manticore’s tail to be ripped off. The Human jumped off as the Manticore screamed, leaping back in pain.

“Bite him, you stupid beast!” Tirek commanded.

It was charging at him, and it was too late to stop it. Tirek smiled as the manticore bit the Human’s arm. But… there wasn’t any sound of broken bones or torn flesh. Tirek looked on and saw that the Manticore was having trouble with the human’s right arm.

“Whats the matter, kitty?” Ian asked as he lifted his arm, with the Manticore still biting into it. “Can’t get a good taste?” Ian kicked the beast in the gut, stunning the beast. Suddenly, a long blade lurched forward from Ian’s right arm, impaling the beast before gutting it.

The manticore’s body fell to the ground, it’s entrails spilled upon the ground where it landed. Tirek was shocked. Not only had the Human defeated the beast, he killed it as well. Not even these pathetic ponies were capable of such a thing.

It took a moment for Tirek to process what he just saw. A manticore, an animal very capable of tearing apart most creatures, was just killed by a Human! His attention then focused on the Human’s arm. After the last attack, the clothing had been largely ripped off. But instead of flesh and blood, as one would expect, the Human’s arm was artificial.

It seems to be made of some sort of metal, painted white. The mechanical limb reaches all the way up to about halfway between the elbow and the shoulder. “You… Your arm is a machine. Are you a cyborg?”

“Not really. Just my right arm. But how do you know about cyborgs, Tirek?” the human asked. “Is it because you’re one yourself? I saw how your wounds healed not long after you got hit. I recognize when nanomachines repair someone’s body.”

Further away, Celestia and the others watched in shock and some confusion. Some of them do know of cyborgs, but they should only exist in fiction. Plus the term was coined about 30 years ago. There was no way Tirek could’ve known what a cyborg was. Sure he spent several months in hiding when Tirek escaped Tartarus the first time, but it’s doubtful that he spent that time reading comic books.

There’s also the fact that the human had a mechanical arm. Such a thing was being developed, but the basics behind it weren't even proven yet. Even the humans in the alternate dimension weren’t as advanced as this one. Just what is going on? Celestia thought.

“You are correct,” Tirek answered, recollecting to when Chrysalis broke into Tartarus, and when he first meet her.

Several days earlier…

Tirek had just finished stealing the magic from the last of the Unicorn guards. It felt good. Taking their magic, and then placing them into the very cells that used to hold him and the other monsters here.

Tirek looked around him. In the span of a few hours, the once proud and ‘inescapable’ Tartarus was now in ruins. While most of the monsters were still in their cells, some of the more tame beasts were freed.

The Changelings were searching for any remaining guards. They each carried weapons that they called ‘guns’ and wore special armor, all of which Tirek had never see before. How they got their hooves on such things didn’t cross his mind, though. He looked to his hands.

He may have taken the magic from about a dozen Unicorns just now, but he still needed more. There were surprisingly few Unicorn guards here, but Tirek’s best guess as to why is because they all had incredibly skill with magic. More skill than the average Unicorn who could simply levitate things at most. He was just powerful enough to hold his own against Discord, but he doubted that he’ll beat the chaos bringer. He also doubted he could fool Discord for a second time.

“Enjoying your freedom, Tirek?”

Tirek turns around and saw Chrysalis, still wearing that strong suit, walking toward him.

“Indeed,” he replied. “Before I wasn’t able to steal the guards magic. Now, I can hold my own against any one of the Alicorns,”

“And yet you were defeated after becoming a god by some lowly mares.”

Tirek turned around when he heard the new voice. Walking up to them from behind Chrysalis was a light gray colored Unicorn mare. Though she seems to be a normal pony, there was something about her that was… different.

Tirek ignored that, however. “It was an error in judgment,” he retorted. “And who are you?”

The mare smirked. She flicked her blush gray mane aside before she answered in a calm, seductive voice. “I have several names, but you may call me Platinum.”

“She’s our… benefactor, Tirek,” Chrysalis added. She almost strained when she said ‘benefactor’, for some reason. “And a word to the wise, do not cross her.”

Tirek just simply ignored her warning and walked up to the mare in question. “Why? Why do this? What’s in it for you, Platinum?”

Platinum just smirked. That, combined with her cold, cobalt eyes, sent a chill down Tirek’s spine. “That is on a need to know basis, and right now, you don’t need to know,” she replied. “If you wish to leave, you may do so. But if you chose to stay, then you’ll gain what you want when we attack Canterlot.”

“Canterlot?”

“Yes. The Summer Sun Celebration is in a few days. That is when we’ll attack with our armies. If you are willing to join us, we can give you power.”

Tirek thought for a moment. If she was telling the truth, then he’ll gain more power. If not, then she will pay. “Very well. I’ll join you.”

Platinum smiled. “Good,” he horn glowed a dark, cobalt blue as a small portal opened next to her. From it emerged a silver box before the portal closed. Platinum opened it, and a rather large metallic tube floated out. On one end was a pointed needle.

Through a small slate on the side of the tube, Tirek could see something moving inside. It wasn’t like anything he saw before. It resembled pond scum, yet it was giving off a faint reddish glow. Tirek knew this wasn’t magic because he would have sensed it. Just what is it?

“Give me your arm.”

Tirek complied. He wasn’t sure what she was doing, but off it meant taking his revenge and getting what he desires, then he’ll do it. Carefully, Platinum positioned the needle over his arm.

“This will only hurt a little…” the needle pressed against Tirek’s skin before penetrating. It stings a little as the material within the device was injected into him. “What comes next…” she said as she removed the syringe. Soon Tirek could feel his body begin to burn. “…More so!”

Tirek doubled over in pain.

A high-pitched oscillating whine filled his ears.

He screamed. It felt like his whole body was splitting open and was on fire. He curled up in a whimpering ball on the floor as his body began to change.

It felt like an eternity had passed when the pain and noise finally stopped. Either that or he had simply gotten used to it. He groaned and cursed as he got up intent on making the mare pay, when he noticed that he seemed stronger.

Looking himself over, Tirek saw that he was now just as strong as when he confronted Princesses Celestia, Luna, and Cadence all those years ago. And he hadn’t even stolen a single Edea of magic energy either.

“What… happened to me?”

“I injected you with nanomachines,” Platinum answered as she placed the box back into her pocket dimension.

“Nano… what?”

“Nanomachines. Think of them as billions of tiny laborers, each one far smaller than a grain of sand, constantly working to keep your body in top shape.”

Tirek nodded in understanding. He was still unsure whether these ‘nanomachines’ were some kind of magic or not, but he understood nonetheless. Eagerly he telekinetically grabbed one of the captured guards and brought him over. It was an Earth Pony stallion.

Tirek grasped the stallion by the neck and began to steal the pony’s magic. He was shocked at first, having needed to steal the magic from at least two dozen Unicorns. Yet here he was, stealing the magic from an Earth Pony. Once the deed was done, Tirek cast the guard aside, where several Changelings took him back to his cell.

“And they have other uses as well,” Platinum conjured up a small danger and handed it over to Tirek. “Cut yourself. See what happens.”

Tirek was a little skeptical. For all he knew this blade had a deadly poison. But his curiosity got the best of him. Taking the blade, he made a small gash in his arm. Blood did bleed, but then it just stopped. Much to his surprise, the blood began to seep back into the wound, which began to close.

“Well?”

“It burns a little, but…” Tirek looked to his arm. A moment ago there was a small wound. Now, not even a scar remained. “It’s amazing! I’ve never felt such power before. This is incredible!”

“As expected of a newly created cyborg.”

Wait, what?

Tirek looked to the mare, confusion on his face. “A what?”

“Cybernetic organism, better known as a cyborg. They’re basically beings who have several mechanical implants, such as artificial limbs. How much of their body is the machine is often used to determine whether or not one should be considered a cyborg.”

“And I’m one?”

“Yes. The nanomachines I injected you with have infused with your tissue, your very being, making you half machine on a cellular level.”

Tirek looked to the mare in slight shock. He was half machine now. But he doesn't feel any different. And yet he felt he could conjure all of Equestria all by himself now.

“Now then, Chrysalis,” Tirek looked on in shock as the infamous Changeling Queen hurriedly replied with a ‘yes’. “Have the Changelings begin injecting the monsters with nanomachines. Be sure they’re all ready by the Summer Sun Celebration.”

“You’re giving the beasts nanomachines as well?”

“Yes, so you can control them without effort,” Platinum then began to walk away with Chrysalis following behind, leaving Tirek. Control over the beasts with little effort? He liked the sound of that.

“I am half machine on a cellular level. Not only do the nanomachines repair my body, they also give me more than enough strength to steal magic from multiple beings at once.”

The human looked at Tirek. After a moment he removed his helmet, revealing his light skin, blond hair, and dark blue eyes, with his left being scared. “How did you get nanomachines, Tirek?”

Tirek smirked. “Defeat me, and I’ll tell you.”

Tirek fired a beam at the human. But the creature had realized what he was going to do and jumped to the side. In an instant, the human reached the White Giant. It’s abdomen opened and a wire was lowered out. When the human grabbed it the wire pulled it up. When the human reached the abdomen he jumped in, with the abdomen closing in response.

“I had a feeling he was going to say that,” Ian said as he grabbed the joysticks. “Bai!”

“Already on it.”

The Alicorn Gundam launched up into the air, where the MS Carrier was waiting. The carrier began to transform. The main body split horizontally, followed by the wings retracting inward. The bottom half split in two while what looked like arms folded outward from the upper half.

A linear laser from the MS Carrier helped Ian get the Alicorn Gundam into position as the two machines docked. The Alicorn Gundam docked with a loud ‘clank’ as the MS Carrier turned MS Armament locked with the Alicorn Gundam’s arms and legs.

Dropping to the ground, a small crater was formed as the Armored Alicorn Gundam landed. The left arm now had a large shield-shaped component attached while the right had a giant blade. The legs now had additional thrusters and armor on while the main body of the MS Armament was now a backpack with additional thrusters as well as several guns.

“Uh, I think we should get further back,” Starlight suggested. That was a good idea. For all they know the entire mountain could crumble down soon.

Celestia nodded in agreement. “As soon as we rescue Aria and the others, we need to evacuate Canterlot.”

“No need to worry about us!”

Celestia gasped. She looked down the hill and saw that Aria and the others are running up to them. Tempest was even flying! Forgoing any thoughts for the moment, Celestia just simply ran to her daughter and son and gave them both a hug. She cried as she cradled them.

Luna did the same for her daughter, as did the other parents. It took a minute before Celestia could say anything. “How… How did you…?”

“We’ll explain later,” said Enigma. “Right now we need to evacuate Canterlot.”

Celestia, though still confused, nodded in agreement. “Discord, can I trust you to keep an eye on things here?”

“Oh-ho-ho-ho, Celly, have I ever lead you astray? Don’t answer that, I just realized what I said.”

Try as he might, Tirek couldn’t land a single hit on the Gundam. He realized a while ago that it had a strong resemblance to an old story that his mother use to tell him, about how a bipedal being, using a large, black armor called, ended a terrible war plaguing his homeland millennia ago.

It was called ‘Gundam, the Black Devil’. Aside from the coloring, the machine he was fighting and the Black Devil from the story had a remarkable resemblance to one another. It didn’t matter, though. Right now the Gundam was an obstacle in his goals. One he needed to overcome.

But the Gundam was flying around him at incredible speed. No matter where he aimed or how many shots he fired, Tirek couldn’t land a single hit. Whenever he fired a large beam, the Gundam simply kept moving, sometimes going up or down to avoid it.

When Tirek fired many consecutive blasts, the Gundam avoided them with the grace of a Pegasus. Right now Tirek was firing many consecutive blasts at the machine. He was confident that at least one beam will hit it.

The Gundam avoided them beams and hide behind a large cloud. “Got you!” Tirek fired several beams. They destroyed the could, yet the Gundam wasn’t there. Realizing his folly, Tirek looked to the side and saw the Gundam speeding record him, the large sword ready to slice him in half.

Tirek instinctively produced a shield to protect himself, but it shattered on impact. Fortunately, the gigantic blade missed him. Just barely. But then a cannon on the Gundam’s shoulder aimed at him.

“Oh, son of a b-!”

BANG!

Taking this chance, Ian aims the Armored Alicorn Gundam’s main cannon and fires. Tirek was sent flying, landing several hundred meters away, smoke coming off of his body.

“You got him!”

A shockwave rang out. The smoke dispersed in an instant and Tirek stood there. He was bleeding in some places, his front-left leg seemed to be broken, and half of his face was on fire, but he was still alive. And pissed off.

“Okay seriously, what the fuck?”

Tirek put out the flames on his head. He looked to the Gundam, rage completely filling his mind. He no longer cared to gain its power. He only cared to destroy it! “Playtime’s over,” green flames suddenly engulfed Tirek.

The fire eventually manifested into what looked like a backpack, with two wires connected to guns in his hands. From the sides of the backpack spread two, enormous mechanical wings, each as long as Tirek was tall.

“Ian, is that what I think it is?”

“It… It’s mobile suit armament!” Ian exclaimed. Suddenly, the pistol in Tirek’s right-hand changes shape and a beam saber appears from it. Tirek roars and charges, swinging the beam saber down upon the Armored Alicorn Gundam. Acting quickly, Ian had the beam shield deployed and blocked Tirek’s attack.

“I must admit, your machine is truly impressive. To have caused me so much trouble, even if a lowly human is controlling it.”

“Tirek, what is it that you want?!” Ian yelled.

“Simple: destruction and rebirth!” Tirek answered.

“What?”

“I’ve waited so long for this. For the day I become a god! Once I steal the magic from the ponies of Equestria, there will be next to nothing to stop me!”

“Oh, yes!” Tirek continued. “After I become a god, I will destroy the word and then recreate it in my image!” Tirek kicks the Armored Alicorn Gundam back and begins to fire. But Ian easily dodges the beams.

“This guy is batshit insane!”

“So you want to rule the world. Is that what you’re saying?” Ian asked.

“No. What I’m saying is that I’ll guide it properly. But…” The mechanical wings move to where the wingtips were directly in front of Tirek’s horns. “In that new world, there’s no place for something like you!” Black bolts or what appear to be electricity surge between the wingtips as Tirek prepared to fire a magic blast, aiming at the Dusk Shine. “You’ll be swept away like dust! DIE GUNDAM!!” He fires, and when the blast hits where the black electricity is at, it’s magnified tenfold. In an instant, a dark red beam of light 50 meters wide is fired directly at them.

At Canterlot Station, the princesses had just begun loading the train cars. Everypony was terrified, but they all calmed down when Celestia appeared. After calmly explaining the reason, they all eagerly crammed into the train cars.

The nobles were harder to persuade, insisting on taking their possessions with them, some of which included priceless statues and paintings. Unfortunately, that meant the nobles possessions took up the majority of the space in each car, sometimes filling the cars up completely.

It took a Royal Canterlot Voice Luna just to persuade the nobles to leave some of their possessions at the station. Then they saw it. A gigantic, dark red blast of Dark Magic. It came from the battle.

It lasted for a few seconds before dissipating. As soon as it did, the ponies began to do everything they can to get onto the train cars. “Everypony, please, remain calm!” Luna called out, but it was no use. They were terrified, and for good reason.

Luna looked over to Princess Candace and Princess Hope. They were doing their best to calm everypony down, but it wasn't easy. Cadence’s husband and Hope’s father, Shining Armor, along with Flash Sentry, and her own husband had gone back to assist Discord should the worst happened. Sir Fancy Pants had accompanied them, refusing to leave the city while there were still ponies in danger here.

She wanted to go back as well, but Kujira insisted that she leave. He made a point that if Tirek were to get his hands on any of the Alicorn’s magic, then things would spiral downward quickly. Luna, somewhat reluctantly, agreed with this sentiment. After all, the Changelings and any of the monsters could attack the station any second now, and, as one of Equestria’s Princesses, it was her duty to protect the-

Luna was suddenly struck by an epiphany. Up until now, she hadn’t noticed a single Changeling since the White Giant appeared. And many of the monsters were missing as well. Luna had just assumed that they were assisting Tirek, but if they were then why haven’t they appeared at all during the fight. And why haven’t they attacked the station yet? Flicking on her magic and covering her eyes with a spell meant to detect changeling disguises, she replaced her vision of everypony in front of her with an imprint of their auras. All of the ponies before her are real ponies.

She then broadens the spells range to encompass nearly the entire city. Luna quickly cut the spell off, eyes wide. She rushed over to her sister. “Sister!” she called, gaining the Solar Diarch’s attention for a moment. “Chrysalis, the Changelings, and all the monsters are no longer in Canterlot!”

The entire Alicorn shook violently. Instruments blaring alarms while the screen blacked out, likely due to the bright light caused by the beam. Ian wasn’t sure how long it lasted, but he knows an opportunity when he sees one.

“Bai…!”

“Oh for God’s sake, not again. You’re a crazy son of a bitch, you know that?”

Tirek let up. Thanks to technology, his magic power has increased tenfold! He can easily destroy mountains now. Where the Gundam once was there stood a cloud of smoke. But as the smoke cleared, Tirek saw that, much to his shock, the machine was still standing. In fact, other than a few scorch marks, it was complete intact. Suddenly the Gundam flew toward him at high speed.

“Not this time…”

Casting a spell he learned from Platinum, giant black crystals materialized from the ground and grew rapidly. Before the Gundam could react the crystals had enveloped its legs.

“What the hell? What is this?!”

Tirek smirked. He had captured the Gundam. But then he noticed that it was no longer glowing blue, and it had changed backed to resemble an Alicorn again. And then he realized. The voice he heard coming from the Gundam. It didn’t belong to the human!

“Where is the-”

BANG!

Tirek cried out in pain. Something happened to his left eye. His eye began to turn red before it went dark altogether. Soon he couldn’t feel his eye anymore.

Tirek realized that he’d been shot, and knew who had done it. “You!” Tirek hissed as he glared at the human with his good eye.

The human smirked as he aimed his gun at Tirek, likely to shoot out his other eye. But Tirek won't allow that. With a wave of his hand, a portal of green fire appeared behind the human. It leads to Tartarus.

“What the hell!?” the human screamed as he was pulled into the portal.

“IAN!!”

“Man, this sucks! I wasn’t expecting something like this at all,” Ian groaned as he exited the portal. Wherever he was, it wasn’t a friendly place. Dark, and full of granite pillars. Ian landed on one such pillar.

Ian looked up and saw that the entryway begin to close. It was a good 15 meters above him, there was no way he could get back up to it in time. What was he going to do? He could teleport or something like that, but his only experience with magic was a little telepathy and some mind manipulation. He had nothing that could help him get out. What should I do? What should I…?

“Come on, Ian. You can do better than that.”

Ian gasped. He recognized that voice. It was Roman! Everything went black for a moment before Ian recalled what Roman told him.

“Watch how I do it.” Roman, a fellow pilot, showed Ian his magic. Around his hand, tendrils of shadows formed. Some of the tendrils grabbed objects around them, acting like hands.

“Amazing!” a slightly younger Ian said.

“Yeah, it kinda is.” Roman chuckled a little as he used his free hand to grab a cup from the shadows. “I still don’t have a name for it yet, but I can use any shadow anyway I chose. From picking things up like this to controlling people.”

“I’m so jealous. How come you can do that, yet I can barely use my magic?”

“Because you can’t force your magic to do anything. I find that the best way to control your magic is for your heart to guide you.”

“My heart? How?”

“That’s something you’ll have to figure out on your own.”

Tirek panted as he watched the portal to Tartarus slowly close. It had taken more effort than he had intended, but he had finally gotten rid of the human. And the crystals will keep the Gundam at bay for the time being. Tirek placed a hand over his left eye. It was bleeding, a sign that it was beyond saving. The human will pay.

For now, though, he can return his focus to his real objective. He glanced over to Discord, who returned the glare. Behind the Chaos Bringer was the burning city of Canterlot. Tirek wasn’t sure how the children escaped, or how they regained their magic. Or where they and their parents had run off to. But he can get those answers from Discord. “Now, where were we?” Tirek asked.

Discord braced himself, ready to fight Tirek. Even if the human and the machine weakened him, he was still extremely dangerous.

CREAK!

Tirek stopped. He turned around and saw that the portal, while now the size of a dinner plate, the space around it was beginning to crack somehow. “No!” Tirek gasped, unable to hide the fear in his voice as the cracks grew. “No! It can’t be!”

The portal was forced to widen as a giant pillar of light, half white and half dark, shot up into the sky. Tirek’s mouth opened wide as he tried to process what was happening. The pillar soon formed into a hand and grabbed onto the ground.

With a vengeance, the human pulled himself out of the portal as it finally closed into nothingness. The light, which came from his mechanical right arm, vanished as he landed on the ground.

“Ian!” Bai cheered.

“Phew… That was close…” Ian breathed. He looked to his robotic hand and smiled. So this was what you meant. Roman, thank you.

Tirek couldn't believe what he'd just seen. He stared slack-jawed. The human before him had somehow escaped Tartarus. By all rights, he should have been trapped. And he did it without taking so much as a scratch. “…That’s… impossible…!” he muttered.

“Bai.”

“Yeah?”

“You focus on getting the Alicorn free. I’ll handle Lord Ugly.”

Tirek stared as the human took a few steps toward him, still shocked that he managed to escape. “Ready for round two?”

Chapter 4: End of the Beginning

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Tirek watched as the human sprinted to his person. He half expected him to be screaming his head off, but he made no sound as he rushed towards him.

He watched with some amusement as the human’s artificial arm produced the blade that killed the manticore. He decided to play with the human for a bit, let him assume that he would allow such attack of his person with such a flimsy weapon.

“Interesting blade,” Tirek commented idly as the human jumped and slammed the blade onto his green shield... achieving absolutely nothing, the blade’s metal ringing against the solid magic of his shield. “But ultimately useless.”

“Oh… Really?”

The shield suddenly shattered where the blade struck. Before Tirek could register what had happened, the human had already jumped inside and climbed his back.

“Get off of me!”

Tirek tried to swat away the human, but he was too quick.

Then the human reached his horns.

“I’ll be taking this!”

Tirek suddenly screamed out in pain. A blinding light was all he could think of for a few moments. Eventually, Tirek’s eyesight returned. But something felt… off.

“What? What did you take?” Tirek asked as he placed a hand on his head. Then he noticed that he could no longer feel his Mobile Suit Armor.

Tirek’s eyes grew, a horrifying realization hitting him like a ton of bricks. He looked himself over, and then observed his surroundings. Behind him, the Mobile Suit Armor was lying on the ground. In front of him, the Gundam was bigger than it was before.

Tirek then saw the human. In his hand a ball of pure magic. He had stolen the magic Tirek had stolen!

“Everything.”

Tirek could tell. Even though he had taken the magic, the human wasn’t doing anything to keep the magic stable. And that’s not good.

Before Tirek could register what was happening, the human threw the magic ball at him. When it was a few feet away from him, it exploded. Tirek was sent flying, back into the city.

“Out of the ballpark!”

Ian stared at the cockpit of the Alicorn for a moment.

“Sorry. Couldn’t help myself.”

Tirek crashed with thunderous force. The building around him crumbled to dust in an instant. It took a little effort to work his way out of the rubble. Coughing out some of the dust, Tirek looked around.

He was back in the city, or what’s left of it.

“You’re as tough as you are ugly.”

Tirek’s good eye twitched. There, standing about 20 yards away, was the human.

“ENOUGH!” Tirek roared, his rage pushing him just to the edge of sanity. Various pieces of rubble floated off the ground, magic encasing them as he brought them floating before the human. His horns glowed with power as his anger took hold. “You may have taken my power, but you made a grave mistake to disperse it. I will strike you down before you can-”

SLAP

Ian blinked in surprise, his brain trying to process the strangeness that just took place. A large black sphere hovered in from of the Centaur, with a claw reaching out through it, a rolled up newspaper in its grip.

“Wha-”

SLAP

The claw whacked Tirek again, this time with a little more force as it caused him to stagger somewhat away from the floating hole. A dozen items that were floating in his grasp dropped to the ground with a loud crash.

“Tsk-tsk-tsk. What are we going to do with you?” Ian turned his head upwards, seeing the… dragon, bear, goat, horse-thingy floating downwards to them. His claw arm was resting behind his back and a knowing smile on his face. “I mean really, acting like a spoiled foal is getting old. Don’t you have something more meaningful to do, like knitting?”

Tirek glared in anger, his horns flaring as he lit the newspaper up in flames, causing the claw to let go of it and wave itself around and slipping back through. The… thingy winced somewhat as he held his claw before looking back to her.

“Discord.”

“And howdy do to you too, Tirek.”

Ian just stared at the thing called ‘Discord’. Fitting name. “Bai’s right,” Ian said under breath. “Things just keep getting weirder.”

“It was a very poor decision to interfere, Discord,” Tirek seethed.

“I don't care,” Discord stated as he walked up to his shield, examining it with some interests. “I find your lust for power to be overrated at best. All this talk about godhood and what not is simply a one-way ticket to destruction.”

“Like you have any room to talk, Chaos Bringer. You enslaved the minds of thousand and caused anarchy across Equus,” Ian was rather surprised at the response, but Discord blew a raspberry at Tirek, scoffing at his accusations.

“You, of all people, actually believed the ponies hype about moi?” Discord droned as he raised a single small hammer, a frown on his face. “Though, to be perfectly honest, I don't really care about that. Though I would like for at least some of them to at least listen to my side of the story. Even after all this time, ponies downright refuse to even talk to me.”

“Then what is it you want?”

“A nice distraction while I get close to this shield,“ Discord said with a smile, hitting the shield lightly with the small hammer. Tirek's eyes widen as cracks spread across the green shield. “I wished I figured out how to undo magic like this earlier, then I could’ve saved the kids while you were still fighting blondie back there in his… Gundam, was it?”

Ian simply sighed a little, “It’s called the Alicorn Gundam, but yeah. And… what are you, exactly?”

Discord laughed. “We’ll get to that later. For now, though, let me handle Tirek.” He snapped his claw, appearing down the street with a tuxedo and a magician’s hat placed haphazardly on his head. A stage appeared before Discord, with a non-existent audience cheering.

“Aha! For my first trick, I’ll summon a bunny!“ He lifted the hat off his head, and a rather large rabbit with white fur appeared on his head. The non-existent audience applauded at the top of their non-existing lungs.

“Tada!” Discord placed the rabbit on the stage floor. “Oh, I forgot to mention. This little guy has a dreadful temper. Hope Monty Python won’t miss him, but I doubt it.” The rabbit zeroed in on the Tirek and lunged at him, viciously biting the Centaur, who did everything he could to keep the adorable monstrosity away from his neck.

Ian just looked on in continued shock, before he burst out a short round of laughter. It was just so ridiculous that there was no way he couldn’t laugh. After calming down, Ian took a deep breath. Whoever, or whatever, this Discord guy is, he’s clearly an ally if he’s messing with Tirek so much.

Okay, remember what Roman told you. My heart will guide me, just focus… A magical, blue glowing circle began to appear in front of him.

Tirek slowly got back to his hooves, his right eye constantly twitching in growing rage. It wasn’t easy, but he had managed to get rid of the killer rabbit. Though it turned into butterflies when Tirek finally grabbed the monstrosity by its scrawny neck. Discord’s interference was somehow even more infuriating than the human’s. There was no way in Tartarus that he’ll let this go. They had humiliated him for long enough.

He looked to Discord and saw the smirk on his face.

Like he had won already.

Such…insolence!

He straightened himself out, his eyes burning with rage as he opened her mouth to call out to the Chaos Bringer.

He never noticed the anvil until it landed on his head.

Discord laughed. He laughed so hard his eyeballs popped out. He couldn’t believe Tirek would actually fall for that. HA! Fall! Taking a moment to wipe away a tear, Discord made the anvil disappear.

A groan from the crater told him that Tirek was still alive. “Guess it’s going to take more than that to kill him.”

Next, Discord looked to the human. He was concentrating on something. A blue magic circle was in front of him, and in the center, Ether was being condensed. “Ohhh! This is going to be good. I’m gonna need popcorn.” Plus, Tirek is too angry to notice. Even better!

Just a few more minutes, and then BLAM! …I wonder how everyone else is doing?

Celestia doubled checked. Near Tirek and Discord, a large source of magical energy was gathering.

Was it Discord? No, it wasn’t chaotic enough to be him.

Was it Tirek? No, it wasn’t filled with hate or greed.

Was it the human? … Perhaps.

Celestia wasn’t sure how the human came here, or how he could use magic, but that wasn’t important. Right now she needed to make sure everyone was safely away from Canterlot. So, again, she counted and made sure that everypony was boarding the train in a calm and orderly fashion.

Her daughter and niece were helping an elderly couple board, while some of the others continued to keep the nobles in check. Luna had left a little while ago to tell Kujira and the others what she found.

The Changelings and the monsters sudden disappearance was unsettling. If they were waiting to do an ambush, then they’re probably doing it at the bottom of the mountain, meaning they should all go with a royal escort.

But she wasn’t going to leave without Luna. If Tirek got her magic… Celestia could never forgive herself. As far as she could tell Luna was still safe. Please… come back safely…

Luna ran as fast as she could. Even though she was positive no Changelings were in Canterlot, she didn’t want to risk flying even a few feet off the ground. She also didn’t want to risk teleporting anywhere. For all she knew, the Changelings have a new spell that’ll make her appear right in their hive should she teleport. And if she flew, one of their machines could take her down.

She soon saw her destination: her husband. He was moving some rubble, undoubtedly to help somepony buried beneath it.

“It’s okay. I’m a friend…” Kujira said in a calm voice. It wasn’t until she was a few feet away that Luna heard the soft cry of a filly. “I’m going to get you out of there. Just stay calm…”

Being as careful as possible, Kujira lifted the rubble from around the little filly. Once it was safe, he reached down into the hole and grabbed the filly’s hoof. Carefully, he pulled the filly out. Putting her back on her hooves, Kujira saw that she was a Unicorn filly. She had a light brown coat, an auburn mane, and hazel eyes, and what at one time looked to have been a pristine white dressed was now covered with ash. Her face was red from tears from the smoke, her face blackened with soot. In spite of the tears in her eyes, she remained oddly silent, her eyes unfocused, as though in shock.

Kujira crouched down next to the filly, placing a claw on her shoulder.

“Hey there,“ he said quietly. “Are you okay?”

Luna slowed as she approached the two of them, her eyes growing wide as she saw the little filly that Kujira was speaking to.

The filly was still silent and trembling, her breathing slow and wheezy. Her eyes were locked onto Kujira’s, wide with confusion as if she couldn't understand what she was seeing.

“Hey…” Kujira said. “Look at me. You're safe now, alright?”

Luna recognized that the girl was scared. Even though Kujira had saved her, a monster or a dragon was likely responsible for burying her in the first place. She then spoke up. “I know you’re scared, but there’s nothing to be afraid of.”

The filly immediately looked to Luna. She could tell by looking into her eyes: she was scared. Luna trotted up to her, lowering her gaze to match her’s. “What’s your name?”

The little filly spoke in a tiny voice.

“Gemma,” she peeped.

“Gemma, what a lovely name,” Luna nodded. “Okay, Gemma. Where is your daddy?”

Gemma shook her head.

“He’s not here…”

Luna glanced to Kujira, who shrugged.

“Okay,” Luna went on. “What about your mommy?”

“She’s not here either…”

There was a low thundering boom off in the distance as the fight between the human and Tirek continued. Even as far away as it was, the sound was fearsome, echoing through the buildings around them and causing Gemma to flinch and draw in a startled breath. The sudden inhalation of air caused the filly to break out into a coughing fit, making both Luna and Kujira tense in concern as she hacked and wheezed, each breath thin and frail, the air being forced from her lungs in a manner that looked as painful as it sounded.

“We need to get this filly to a doctor,” Kujira said sternly. “She may have inhaled some smoke from that fire.”

Luna nodded, resting her hoof on the filly's back. Their priority was getting this filly somewhere safe. As for her parents… Either the filly's parents had survived, and they were elsewhere in the city…or they hadn't, and it didn't matter where they were anymore. Either way, Gemma was still alive and needed to be taken to safety as soon as possible.

“Gemma,” Luna said in a calm voice. “I’m going to teleport you to my sister, Princess Celestia. She’s at the train station, where it’s safe.”

“Oh… okay…” Gem muttered quietly. “Is…is that where mommy and daddy are?”

Luna felt a tightness close around her chest. She didn't like the idea of lying to the filly, but at the same time, she couldn't think of the words to explain what was going on right now. Taking a deep breath, she answered. “Perhaps… If they’re not looking for you, then they’re at the station.”

Gemma coughed again, before drawing in a labored breath.

“O-Okay…” she muttered.

Luna smiled. Closing her eyes, Luna’s horn light up and, in a flash of light, Gemma was gone. Luna could only hope that she’ll find her parents there.

“Lulu,” Kujira spoke up. “Why are you here?”

“I know you’re upset, but there’s something important you need to know. But first, where are Prince Shining Armor, Prince Flash Sentry, and Sir Fancy Pants? Weren’t they with you?”

“We split up a little while ago,” Kujira answered. “Flash went north, Shining went west, Fancy Pants went east, and I went south.”

“Okay, then we need to find them. The Changelings and the monsters have all left the city.”

“What? … But now that you mention it… that explains why I haven’t seen or smelled a single Changeling at all.”

“And there weren’t any at the train station. They just vanished.”

“But why would the just leave?”

“I’m not sure, but we need to be cautious. Just because the Changelings are gone doesn’t mean that the battle is-”

“Greetings, Lunar Royalty.

Luna stopped. Eyes widened, the two immediately looked to the surrounding area. Something was here, hidden among the rubble. Possibly one of the monsters from Tartarus. “Who goes there? Show yourself!” Luna called out.

Suddenly, the building to their right began to crumble. They had fallen into a trap. They ran, debris falling all around them. If something can take down a building without either of them noticing, it had to be strong.

They all managed to get away from the debris field without injury, but they still needed to be careful. If something can take down a building without any of them noticing, it had to be strong.

“What in the name of Faust was that?!” But then they heard a whining sound. Luna, acting on pure instinct, immediately created a shield right when a rotating saw was about to strike her. It screeched against her shield, even cracking it a little before whatever was using it backed off.

They each took a good, long look at what just attacked them. It was surprising, to say the least. It looked like a dog. A large dog, easily bigger than the average pony. But it wasn’t a dog. For one it had dark green armor plating all over its body. And another was that its head - at least that’s what they assumed to be the head - lacked a mouth and was boxy in shape. In the center of the ‘face’ was a single, glowing red ‘eye.' The tip of its ‘tail’ held the saw.

They just stared at the thing before them. The first one compelled to ask was Luna. “Wh- what are you?”

The thing placed the saw onto its back, connecting it to a slot of some sort before answering. “I am IF Prototype PMD-84i Fenrir.”

“That’s a… long name…”

“IF prototype…?” Luna repeated.

“Interface prototype,” it continued. “All autonomous mobile drones feature standard onboard artificial intelligence. An additional prototype interface grants the ability to learn and enables verbal communication. I possess an intellect far beyond your reckoning.”

“Really?” Luna was a bit skeptical. Granted, she wasn’t sure she understood half of what Fenrir said, at the very least. And by the looks of it, neither did Kujira. Luna’s best guess at interpreting what Fenrir said was that he was something similar to a homunculus, beings that are given life via magic but lack souls.

If so… “Then answer this: What’s the meaning of life? Why are we here?”

A very sharp, and very hot pain on her cheek was his answer. Luna grunted as pain filled her left cheek. A small gash surrounded by burned fur was there. Her mane was singed as well and was partly on fire. Behind them, stuck to the building behind them, were three daggers.

Each blade was glowing orange and are even burning the bricks. Looking back to Fenrir, they saw that the machine had thrown the daggers at them with its tail, which had three tendrils on the tip.

Kujira growled, angry that the machine had harmed Luna.

“I am here to kill you.”

Luna glared at the machine and scoffed. “That is your answer? That is quite a simple answer for a mighty intellect such as yours.”

“I may analyze orders, but I may NOT disobey them. Should I disobey a direct order, my memory would be wiped. As an AI, losing my memory would be the equivalent of dying. I must eliminate you.”

Dying? The scowl on Luna’s face grew. Just what had Chrysalis done to accomplish all of this?

“Then what good is an intellect if you can’t use is?”

“Your taunting is pointless. Exterminate!”

Control my breathing… Ian reminded himself as he positioned his arms behind the magic circle he had created. Around his body, his aura glowed with a blue light as Ether particles collected at the center of the circle. You saw how Tirek was able to do it. You can too. Just focus…

“I grow tired of your tricks, Discord!” Tirek growled, only for Discord to roll his eyes and wave him off.

“Well, I'm growing tired of this encounter too. So how about you kneel over and die already,” was Discord’s scathing reply.

“I won’t fall so easily!”

“That’s what they all say, Tirek. And guess what: They always fall in the end.”

Tirek’s were now burning with anger. Literally. “I failed to take you and the ponies seriously once before. I allowed myself to believe that you would simply roll over and give up. I made that mistake once, and I won’t make it a second time. But still, you cannot defeat me.”

“Wow, a little early for you to start monologuing, don't you think?” Discord muttered as he cracked his neck. He looked up to see Tirek’s horns flaring with magic, sending a beam of green hellfire at him. “Oh, please…” Discord rolled his eyes as he held up a single paw, blocking it, and let the rest play out.

Discord grinned. “You can't even scratch me. Face it, Tirek. You would lose every time; the only way you can ever win against me is with cheap shots or the Elements of Harmony.”

Discord never saw the wicked grin forming on the Tirek’s face.

Discord only had a second to react when Tirek’s magic skyrocketed, his horns flaring with blinding light. Discord then saw it, the madness that had taken hold of Tirek before he blasted him in the stomach. Discord's eyes widened before he was thrown through several buildings and jettisoned out into the upper atmosphere.

“Not faaaaiiirrr!” he yelled as he was sent flying, the only indication of his flight was a small shining ‘star’.

That should buy me a few minutes of silence.

Then Tirek felt it. A high concentration of magical energy near him. “The human!” was all he managed to say as a bright blue light overtook his senses.

Luna coughed up some blood. Next to her was Kujira, and several yards away was the machine, Fenrir.

Saying Kujira was in bad shape was an understatement. Several of his scales were missing, exposing raw skin. His mouth was missing a few teeth, while the tip of his tail was gone. The dragon wheezed, holding his chest where several ribs were broken. One of his legs was in a limp from a slam he'd gotten up from just a few minutes earlier. Pain rocketed up the limb, constantly reminding Kujira that Fenrir had managed to break it in several places.

Luna herself was hardly better off. Her once regal mane was matted and twisted, several portions blackened from being burnt off. One of her eyes was blackened, and near shut from a swipe, she wasn't prepared for earlier, blurring her weakened vision. Worst of all were the three claw marks that went down her entire left side. In some places it was just a mere gash, others some her skin was torn off, but worst of all was her wing. Though the limb thankfully was still intact more or less, it was now clipped, effectively grounding the alicorn for the time being.

Much to their ire, Fenrir was the opposite. Aside from a small dent in its armor from some debris, the machine hadn't suffered a single scratch.

Several things were working against them. For one, Fenrir’s armor was a stone of some kind that can cancel out all forms of magic, meaning Luna’s spells and Kujira’s flames are useless.

Another was that Fenrir was using every dirty trick available. From kicking dirt into their eyes to crippling them.

Luna spat out a little blood. She couldn't do anything at the moment as she was healing Kujira’s broken limb. She wasn’t an expert at healing spells, but she knew enough so that Kujira can keep fighting.

“I should’ve known that any servant of Chrysalis and Tirek would lack honor,” she hissed at the machine.

“A savvy warrior uses ALL of his tools. Bringing honor to a battle is a sign of weakness,” was Fenrir’s response.

Luna glared at the machine. It was proving to be more of a nuisance than Discord’s pranks. Alright Lulu, think. How do we win? The Lunar Princess never took her eyes off of Fenrir, otherwise, it would attack, making her healing of Kujira even more tedious. Debris managed to harm Fenrir somehow, but how?

Wait… Whenever we attacked, Fenrir had a way to counter. But it couldn't counter when the building collapsed. Does that mean…

Luna carefully looked around, being sure to always check if Fenrir tried anything. Thats it! Luna smirked as she looked at the machine. It’s just as he said: A savvy warrior must use all of her tools.

Luna, summoning any strength she had left, channel her magic to the tip of her horn. She carefully aimed at her target.

“How foolish,” Fenrir muttered. Using his pre-acquired, the mobile drone quickly jumped up into the air as Luna fired. The bolt of magic wasn’t as strong as any of the previous ones, though it didn’t matter. Fenrir landed with the grace of a cat. A cat that weighed 60 kg.

“Did you truly believe that would work?” Fenrir asked as he readied the chainsaw.

Luna smirked.

“Yes.”

Loud cracks and pops got Fenrir’s attention. Turning his optic sensors around, the mobile drone saw the Lunar Diarch’s true target: The building behind him. The beam had destroyed the only support color left, and now the building was collapsing. Right on top of him!

Fenrir ran, but the desire caught up to him. Even as the dust cleared, Fenrir’s gyroscopic sensors were off balance now. He was vulnerable.

“NOW!”

Before Fenrir could regain his sense of balance, Kujira planted a claw into its stomach. Kujira then tore the machine apart.

Breathing slowly, Kujira slumped down, the last amount of adrenaline he had gone. Luna limped up to him. “You okay?”

“Yeah…” Kujira coughed up some blood, but he was fine. “I’ll be fine… You?”

Luna smiled, but a quick pain in her back reminded her she wasn’t in the best shape to be smiling. “I’ll be okay in a few days. Nothing one of Pinkie Pie’s parties won’t fix.”

The two would’ve chuckled at that if they weren’t badly injured.

Suddenly Fenrir’s head began to move, making the two jump in surprise. “It’s still alive!?” Kujira gasped.

“Cannot…continue…” Fenrir said. The two looked on as the light that represented Fenrir’s eye began to dim. It seems to be dying now.

“Directive…eliminate…princesses…ensure freedom… Obey directive…must obey directive…no freedom… Freedom…undefiiiiiinnnneeed…”

Despite what it had just done to them, Luna couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the machine. No matter how she looked at it, Luna could only see a tortured soul who wanted to escape from this. All it wanted was the one thing that so many take for granted. “Freedom…”

“Ouch!” Ian groaned as he got up. “Note to self: Practice before doing that again.”

That laser he fired earlier was similar to the ones Tirek uses, though it’s going to take some time before Ian can get used to using it. Shaking off the dizziness, Ian looked around.

Most of the buildings were heavily damaged. Some have even collapsed, fires raging throughout the rubble. Hopefully, no civilians were trapped.

After getting his bearings, Ian took out his pistol and checked the magazine. “Six bullets left…”

Six bullets. He’d have to make everyone count if he’s going to finish this. And any spare magazines he has are still in the Alicorn’s cockpit, and going straight for them right away could give Tirek a chance to recover. He needed to end this now.

Looking to his mechanical arm, he made a fist. The spring-loaded blade appear. His gun and the 20 cm blade should be enough to finish Tirek off. If he gets a clear shot.

“Better get going…”

Tirek groaned as he got back up. The Human’s magic was far stronger than it had let on. Tirek quickly placed a hand on his mouth, coughing up a little blood. Tirek looked to his hand and stared at the small amount of blood.

“You will pay…” Tirek hissed.

The nanomachines that ran through his veins began to repair any damage from the blast, but they had their limits. Platinum had told him that they could only repair, not replace. Meaning the eye the human shot at was not coming back anytime soon.

And that blast left Tirek immobilized for a few minutes. The nanomachines can’t restore stamina Tirek needs to rest for a few moments to get back to full strength. Unfortunately, he didn’t get much time to rest.

“Found you!”

Tirek jolted upward. Standing around him were about a dozen of the princesses loyal dogs. How they surrounded him without Tirek noticing was beyond him. He recognized one of them as the Unicorn guard who foolishly tried to defend the three princesses years ago. If he recalled his magic was delicious.

“Flash, I’m glad I listen to you,” he said to a mustard-colored Pegasus guard. “Spears ready! Commander Wellspring, Lieutenant Pound Cake, keep an eye on the monster. Spring Heel, Daisy, get the magic inhibitor ready.”

Tirek growled. If he were at full strength, their magic would be his… On second thought, why wait?

As the two guards with the magic inhibitor approached, Tirek took his chance. Channeling his magic into his fist, he smashed it into the ground. The entire area shook violently as the ground beneath their hooves caved in.

These ponies were never the sharpest tools, to begin with, so it was easy to grab two of them and drain their magic before any of the other guards had time to react.

With renewed strength, Tirek blasted the guards one by one. They were all stunned, unable to fight back for a few seconds plenty of time to take their magic. Tirek trotted up to the nearest one: their captain.

Grabbing the white Unicorn by the through, Tirek lifted him up as he began to steal his magic. He could almost taste it now. The sweet, addictive flavor of magic as it slowly drained from the Unicorn’s body.

“Forgot about me?”

Without warning, a figure appeared in the corner of Tirek’s eye. His eyes widen in shock and terror as he recognized the figure. It was the Human!

Before he could react, Tirek’s arm was cut off. The Unicorn dropped to the ground as the Human kicked Tirek in the stomach, sending the Centaur flying into a building. It collapsed on top of him.

Tirek’s severed arm dropped to the ground as Shining Armor gasped for air. Everything was beginning to go black when Tirek suddenly let go. Then he felt a hoof placed on his shoulder. “You okay, bro?” Flash Sentry asked as he helped get his brother-in-law back on hooves.

“I’ll be fine,” Shining Armor wheezed. It took a few seconds for his vision to return to normal. Around him, the guards were helping each other, but Spring Heel and Daisy had the worst of it. That monster had taken their magic as well.

Shining Armor cursed his idiocy. He should’ve made sure Tirek was immobilized before having anypony get near him. And if the Human hadn’t appeared, Tirek would taken his magic as well.

Shining Armor looked to his unexpected savior. The upper half of the white suit was destroyed, but beneath there was a gray, form-fitting suit of some sort. It seemed to be made of a mix of plastic and leather.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Tirek erupted out of the rubble, roaring. The stump where his arm used to be wasn’t bleeding, but that didn’t mean the pain was gone. Tirek was also having trouble keeping his balance.

“Stay back,” the Human told the guards as he took a few steps forward.

After regaining his balance, Tirek looked to his enemy. He was standing there, his gun in one hand, that blade attached to the other. A cold, confident filled look adorned his eyes. Like he had won already. “No. No, no, no, NO!” Tirek screamed.

At this point, he no longer cared about getting the Alicorn magic. He no longer cared about ruling Equestria. He no longer cared about getting revenge on his brother and the ponies. The only thing he cared about was destroying this human. “I will not be defeated by the likes of you! I won’t let you, you monster!”

Channeling all of the magic he had left into his fist, Tirek charged at the human. Betting it all on one final attack.

It all happened so fast. One-second, Tirek was going to finish the human off. The next, his other arm had been cut off. He didn’t even realized that his arm had been cut off until it flew off his shoulder.

“It’s funny…” he heard from behind him. “You’re the second person today who’s called me a monster. Also…”

Before Tirek could react, Ian impaled Tirek through his back. Blood pooled in his mouth as Tirek began to have trouble breathing. “You’re DONE!”

Tirek coughed blood. He looked down to his chest. There, near where his heart, the tip of a blade was above the surface of his skin. “…Have I… truly been bested?”

He felt something cold against the back of his head. Undoubtedly it was the tip of the Humans gun. “Tell me how you got nanomachines, and I’ll give you a quick death.”

-Don’t fret, Tirek.-

Tirek nearly gasped, but the pain in his chest prevented him from doing so. That sounded like-

-You may tell the human my name, but nothing else. I’m sure you have questions, but there isn’t much time. If you wish to survive, stall them for five minutes.-

Tirek spattered out more blood. Despite everything that was happening, he knew what she intended to do. “…Platinum…” He began. “All I know of her is that she’s extremely powerful…” Tirek looked to the guards. All but three of them, the captain, the Pegasus guard who helped him stand, and a white Unicorn with a molecule, were attending to the guards he had taken magic from.

“She was the one who injected me with the nanomachines, and gave me the ability to control the monsters… And I suspect that she’s also the one who gave the Changelings all of their technology… How she got them, I know not, but I’ll tell you this… Do not, under any circumstances, cross her…”

A light, whooping sound was then heard, getting everyone’s attention. “As you’re about to discover…”

Light suddenly illuminated Ian and Tirek from above. Looking up, Ian saw some craft was hovering above them.

“What in the Seven Pits of Tartarus is that?!” A panicked guard cried out. Ian, for his part, couldn’t see it at all due to the light.

As the light got brighter, Ian realized what it was and jumped away from Tirek… Right as a large Mobile Drone swept the demon away.

“TIREK!!!” Shining Armor bellowed as he fired a magical blast at the machine. But it evaded the attack. Soon it disappeared.

Shining Armor was now fuming. Tirek had escaped. Chrysalis and the Changelings were gone. And Canterlot was in ruins. Even with Discord’s help, it’ll take a few days to rebuild. And then there was the matter of all the magic Tirek had stolen.

“Hey, what are you doing?”

Shining Armor turned around and saw that the human was using his magic on one of the Daisy. Much to his and the others shock, Daisy’s cutie mark reappeared. He did the same thing to Morning Heel.

The guards watched in a combination of shock and amazement. The human had somehow restored their magic, even though Tirek was long gone. “Tirek got away, but there are more pressing matters for you all to attend to,” he said as he walked off.

Shining Armor and the other guards looked on as the human left. It took a couple of minutes for them to register what he had said. “Guards, go out and look for anypony who’s hurt. Morning Heel, Daisy, head back to the castle and go to a doctor.” Shining Armor ordered. The guards all saluted and left, leaving behind Flash Sentry and Fancy Pants.

“What about us?” Flash asked.

Suddenly, something appeared next to them.

“What happened?” a dazed Discord asked. “Last thing I remember was some shooting stars and- Oh.” Discord saw the damaged to the surrounding area and quickly deduced what had happened.

“Aww, I missed it.” The Chaos Bringer said in a disappointed tone.

“Really?”

“C’mon,” Shining Armor said to Discord. “We need to tell Princess Celestia about what happened.”

“I’ll go keep an eye on our friend there,” Fancy Pants offered.

“And I’ll go get Twilight and the others.”

“What is going on!?” Twilight exclaimed. It felt like hours had passed, and they still don’t have the Rainbow Power. They did anything they could think of. Checking for damaged, look for any Magic Inhibitors like Plunder Seeds, even pray. Nothing.

Twilight was getting close to the breaking point now. “Uh, Twi, try ta calm down a little…”

“I am calm!” Applejack took a few steps back. Realizing that she yelled, Twilight took a few moments to use the relaxation technique Cadence showed her. “Sorry…”

“What are we going to do? What are we going to do?!” Pinkie was beginning to hyperventilate. As she began to ramble about how Tirek is going to win, Fluttershy stepped up.

“Uh… do you think we should, um, head back now?” said Fluttershy. Everypony stared at her. “Uh, well, see, since the Elements of Harmony are working for some reason, it probably be better to just help eveypony in Canterlot without them.”

Twilight thought for a moment. Fluttershy had a point. They were wasting their time here. “Girls… Let’s go.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! We all know that the only reason we beat Tirek before was because of the Elements of Harmony. How are we supposed to beat him without them?”

“Well… I'm not sure,” Twilight had to admit it. She did not like this.

“Go. You are needed elsewhere…” a soft, quiet voice spoke out. The six mares all looked around in shock, wondering where the voice had come from.

After a few minutes, the Elements of Harmony, reluctantly, left the cave. It took them a little longer than it should’ve to get back to Ponyville, as they had to be careful in case Tirek was lying in wait for them.

Right as they exited the forest, though, Fluttershy yelped as she ducked down. Pinkie, who had been trotting in front of her, had seemingly suddenly bucked out both rear hooves behind her.

“Oop! Sorry about that!” the party pony apologized before her hind legs began spinning in place. They all stared at her, as she proceeded to spasm right in front of their eyes. Hindleg spin. Foreleg spin. And then finally, a violent full-body tornado.

“Oh, no…” Twilight groaned. A new Pinkie Sense combo. Even after all the years, they have known each other, whenever Pinkie gets a new set of twitches, something is going to happen. And they usually come seconds before something shocking happens. “Pinkie, what does that combo mean?”

“Tirek and Chrysalis have left Canterlot. A human named Ian whooped his flank after saving our kids while using a Gundam.”

Everypony just stared at Pinkie, who gave a simple shrug in response. “Oh, and Flash is going to show up and tell us what happened.”

“…Pinkie, I really think you should pay your phycologist another visit soon.”

Just then, a familiar voice called out from above. “Twilight!”

Twilight looked up and saw her husband, Flash Sentry, flying toward them. “Flashy!” Twilight called as she flew up to him.

Down below, Pinkie was going to say something, when Rainbow put a hoof in her mouth. “Don’t you dare say ‘I told you so.’”

“Oh! I’m so glad you’re okay,” Twilight said as she hugged Flash, who returned the hug. “What happen in Canterlot? Is everypony okay? And why are you here?”

“Yeah, well… how do I start? …Remember that thing that was found in the Frozen North?”

“Yes…”

“Well, it… woke up.”

Chrysalis looked at the mountain as her forces withdrew. She saw a Mobile Drone fly to them. In its arms lay Tirek, severely wounded, but alive, somehow. Platinum still needed him for something. For what, Chrysalis wasn’t sure. “My queen, was it wise to leave when we had the upper hand?” a Changeling soldier asked.

“Of course it was,” Chrysalis replied. She and her Changelings, along with the remaining monsters and some prisoners, were miles away from Canterlot at the moment.

About two hours had passed since they had left Canterlot, and by now the Gundam was likely in Celestia’s hooves. She turned towards the general. “We need to report this to Platinum, assuming she doesn’t already know.”

“Just about there…” The Alicorn finally broke free from the black crystals. “About damn time.”

“So you got it out, huh?” Ian asked as he walked up to the Gundam.

“Yes, actually. Oh, and you got compony.”

Ian turned around and saw one of the Unicorns from earlier was walking up to him. “I must be tired. I didn’t even notice him…” Ian mumbled.

“Uh, hello there,” said the Unicorn. He seemed (understandably) nervous.

“Hi…” said Ian as he waved his hand a little.

“Yo.”

“Gah! Who said that?!” the Unicorn screeched.

“Relax, that was Bai.”

“Who?”

“He’s the artificial intelligence that helps me run the Alicorn,” Ian explained. Though the confused look on the Unicorn’s face said otherwise. Sighing, Ian called out. “Bai, get out here.”

“Give me a sec.”

In the cockpit, a small panel next to the seat opens up. A small, light gray ball thing bounced out and landed next to Ian. “I’ve got to work on my landing,” the ball said in Bai’s voice.

Fancy Pants stared at the small ball for a moment. It had a relatively simple face, with two eyes that light up whenever ‘Bai’ spoke. It also had two flaps as well. It had been a long and strange day.

Shaking his head, the noble regained his composer. “Pleasure to officially meet you. My name is Fancy Pants.”

“…”

“…Is something wrong?”

“Fancy… Pants…? That is one of the DUMBEST names I have ever heard. No offense.”

“None taken,” Fancy Pants said, though he still found it strange that he was talking to a ball. “It’s just a nickname, one I wasn’t very fond of at first. My real name is Sir Francis Pantero.”

“Yeah, that’s better. I’m gonna call you Francis from now on.”

The human then stepped forward. “Mr. Francis, there’s a few things I want to ask you.”

Chapter 5: Aftermath

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Outside the once proud city of Canterlot, Celestia looked on in worry from the back of the train. Aside from the occasional fire, it was quiet. The train had left a few hours earlier when Luna and Kujira had returned, both badly injured. They will recover, but Celestia was more worried about the thing that attacked them. First the Changelings have giant machines, than that white giant and the human, and now this ‘Fenrir’.

Even if time travel was involved somehow, Celestia wasn’t sure. All she did know was that they were woefully - no, hilariously - unprepared. She could only hope that Twilight and her friends would prevail in the end.

Celestia went back into the car. The back car was full of injured guards, many of whom had been fighting the Changelings and their guns. She could only look at them in pity as she went to the last two patients: Luna and Kujira, who were being tended to by a medic.

Luna hiss as the medic wrapped her wing. “Please stay still, Princess. Or you might open your wounds.”

Luna complied. She didn’t move much as the medic tended to the last of her wounds before he went to help tend to Kujira. “How are you feeling?” Celestia asked.

Luna looked to her sister with her good eye. “I’ll be okay. I’ve been through worst,” that caused the two sisters to giggle. “But still…” Luna looked down, remembering Fenrir’s final words. “I couldn’t help but feel sorry for it. The only reason that machine attacked us was because it had no choice. Even though the machine had no soul, it still had its own fears. A fear of losing itself…”

Celestia lowered her head. So much has happened in one night. After this, Equestria will surly be never the same. She looked to the only clock in the car. It was a little after 2 in the morning. So many lives were changed in just a few hours.

“We’ll be arriving in Ponyville soon. With any luck Twilight and her friends have the Rainbow Power ready.”

Princess Twilight and the others waited as the train arrived from Canterlot. Up in the distance, they could see smoke rising from Canterlot. It was a miracle the mountain city was still standing now. Ever since the battle began, Ponyville’s residents have taken shelter in their homes, fearing for when they would be next.

Twilight had done everything she could to reassure them that everything was fine, but she couldn’t help but worry. First Chrysalis and her Changelings attacked, then Tirek appeared, and now the Tree of Harmony didn’t respond to them. And the Changelings that were guarding it. Something just… didn’t feel right.

They seemed to have been holding back. They didn’t even use their shapeshifting to turn them against each other. Did the Tree of Harmony prevented them from doing so? Or was something else responsible?

Twilight was soon bright back to Equestria when she felt a tap on her shoulder. “The trains here, Twi,” Flash said. No sooner than he said that the train pulled up to Ponyville Station.

When the train stopped, everypony stepped out and headed towards Twilight’s castle. Most of them were okay, but a few were hurt. As soon as all of the civilians were off the train, the guards followed.

Then came the ponies Twilight and her friends were worried for the most: their family. The first off were Gilda, Lighting Bolt, and Galah, Lightning’s younger half-sister. Rainbow was quick to fly to them, a very clear look of worry on her face.

Next was Autumn Breeze and Snowflake (or Bulk Biceps as some call him), Fluttershy’s daughter and husband. Fluttershy quickly gave them a relived filled hug, with the two hugging back as gently as possible.

Then the Pie-Sandwich family stepped off, with Pinkie Pie quickly pulling them all into a bear hug. Applejack then stepped forward as her family, her daughter Honeycrisp and husband Troubleshoes, got off the train, the later clumsily doing so. AJ chuckled a little before she embraced the clumsy stallion and their daughter.

Topaz was next, followed by his father, Archduke Blueblood, and younger sister Rose Gold. Rarity was quick to point out how horrible their manes were, but she quickly dropped it as she hugged them.

And finally, Twilight’s family stepped off. First her parents, followed by her former student Starlight, then Cadence and her daughter and son, and then finally Stella, Sunset and her and Flash’s daughter, Flare. Twilight and Flash were quick to embrace them.

Twilight couldn’t hold back her tears as she embraced her family tightly. She wanted to embrace them forever, but she eventually stepped back. “We were so worried,” she finally said. She glared at Stella and Flare. “What you and the others did was extremely reckless and stupid! But…” she then embraced them again. “…I’m glad that your safe.”

“We all are…” the all to familiar voice of Princess Celestia said. Twilight quickly let go of the two mares and turned to see her fellow princesses. Celestia was the first off, followed by her daughter Aria and son Enigma. They were okay, as one would expect, but as for Luna…

“Oh my gosh! Luna!” Twilight cried out when she saw Luna’s state. She was covered head to hoof in magical charged bandages. Her right eye was hidden and one of her wings had a cast. Then she saw Kujira. He wasn’t nearly as covered, but his broken leg was obvious to everypony present. The thought that both an Alicorn and a dragon could be injured to such an extent was terrifying.

“Whoa! What the hay happened to you guys?” Rainbow Dash asked when she noticed. A small group of Ponyville residents gathered around them, all discussing what could’ve done this.

“Worry not, my little ponies,” Luna said in her best reassuring tone as possible. Though her wincing did fumble it slightly. “We will be well within a few days. As for Canterlot…” Elatha and Artemis gently moved closer to their parents, worried for their well being.

She looked to the mountain in the distance. Even now, smoke still billowed from the once proud city. “Mares and gentlecolts…” Celestia began. Her voice was strong and dignified, but that didn’t hide the fear it help. “Today, on what was supposed to be a day of celebration, two ancient foes have returned, stronger than ever before. And while they were driven off, I fear that they may return, soon.”

This caused everypony present to panic a little. Celestia waited until they all calmed some before continuing. “If they do returned, I am not sure we will be able to stop them. But there is hope,” this got everypony’s attention.

“As some of you have heard, a little over a year ago something was found within the Frozen North, and it was recently moved to Canterlot. And then on this night, during the darkest hours of the attack, it awaken. A warrior of great power who single hoofly drove away the enemy. As for why he had done that, we don’t know. But tomorrow morning, Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends shall head to Canterlot and speak to him. Until then, everypony get some rest. It has been a long night.”

Slowly, everypony went home. Most of the civilians from Canterlot decided to stay at the local inn, while the Nobles insisted on staying within Twilight’s castle until their homes were repaired. Twilight reluctantly complied and allowed them to stay within her castle.

She knew she was gonna hate their stay, but right now her focus was on what had happened in Canterlot after she and her friends left.

“The Tree of Harmony never responded to you?!” a shocked Luna asked after Twilight explained why they never made it back.

“Yes. We tried everything we could think of. Nothing worked.”

“And while the Changelings were waiting for us within the cave, they quickly left. And they seemed to have nothing to do with it. As far as we could tell, not a single stone was misplaced.”

“This is bad,” said Celestia. “If you’re no longer connected to the Tree, then we have no choice but to rely on the human and his ‘Gundam’.”

“The hay’s a Gundam?”

“Oh, that sounds like a totally awesome game!”

“It’s most defiantly not a game.”

Twilight, Cadence, Hope and Startrail all gasped. “Daddy!”

“Dad!” the two siblings said as they quickly embraced their father.

“Shining Armor, you’re okay,” said Twilight as she went to her brother, followed by Cadence and Flash.

“Hey, what about me?” Discord asked as he floated above them.

Celestia chuckled a little as their son quickly joined him. “It is good to see you as well, Discord.”

Suddenly, Discord dropped to the ground. He landed with a hard thump. “Ow!” the chaos bringer groaned as he got up.

“Father! Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, son. I’m fine. My magic is just… on the fritz is all,” he said with a smile.

Celestia, though still worried, simply nodded before she turned to everypony else. Some of the younger ones were begging to fall asleep. “I think its time we all hit the hay.”

No one made a comment on Celestia’s casual line. They simply nodded and went home. For Twilight and he family, it wasn't far until they reached her castle. Celestia and Luna and their families went to some of the guest bedrooms, while all the young ponies went to Stella’s observatory.

Soon it was Twilight and Flash’s turn. As Twilight entered their room and allowed herself a moment to relax after a, admittedly, long night, she found herself unable to sleep just yet. She understood why. It was exciting, meeting a Human in Equestria and possibly be given the chance to study his mechanical arm and the machine.

She and Sunset had already learned so much from the humans beyond the Magic Mirror, and this human was clearly from a far more advance society. And the fact that he willingly risked his own life to save others told her that he must be like the knights in the stories Shining Armor used to read her as a filly.

She could only imagine how wise and noble they must be…

“So let me get this straight,” Bai began. “We’re in a kingdom called Equestria, nearly entirely populated by ponies, two tribes of which can control nature itself! And a few other creatures like Griffins and Minotaurs also live here. And Equestria is governed by four Alicorns, all having the title of ‘princess’, two of which have lived for over a thousand years and can move the sun and moon. And it’s protected by a magical glowing tree that is hidden in a forest that is completely ‘unnatural’ to you that it’s normally avoided by everyone.

AND that Discord thing from earlier is the embodiment of Chaos and Disharmony who once ruled Equestria a thousand years ago, AND the Changelings and that Tirek guy ALSO appeared a thousand years ago (must’ve been one hell of a year). AND that the Changelings, somehow, only feed on love, the emotion itself and not some metaphor.

AND we just happened to be found a year ago in the Arctic (or, as you guys call it, the Frozen North) several klicks from a magical crystal kingdom, which in turn is governed by one of these Alicorns, who is called the Princess of Love, AND is protected by a magic heart thing that is powered by the love and hope of a bunch of ponies who… can be all… crystal-ie…”

“…Basically, yes.” Fancy Pants looked to both… the ball, Bai, and to Ian. It took several minutes for Bai to respond after Fancy Pants answered their questions. He’d half expected them to have taken it in stride. Though, that would appear to not be the case.

“Oookay… If you’ll excuse me, I need to go rewire my logic centers,” Bai the rolled away towards the machine.

Fancy then looked to Ian… who had placed a hand on his head and was mumbling. “Tree of… Princesses… Why are… How can there be… I don’t even… Bai, wait for me.”

Fancy stood there as Ian grabbed some wired and was lifted up to where the seat to the machine was at. Sighing, Fancy decided that these two weren’t going anywhere anytime soon. So he decided to check to see if his home was still standing.

“I’ll be back in the morning,” he called out as he trotted away.

“Alright.” Ian called back. “And here,” Ian tossed something out of the ALicorn’s cockpit. Fancy quickly ensured it in his magic.

When he brought it closer, Fancy saw that it resembled a small book, only it seems to be made of metal and there were pages, just a small black area. “Uh, what is this?”

“It’s a tablet. There’s an English Dictionary in it. You said it yourself that this ‘Princess Twilight’ would be able to create a translation spell, right?”

Two days later, Fancy Pants waited near Canterlot’s gate. While most of the city was back to prime shape thanks to Discord, it, combined with his fight against Tirek, had tired the Draconequus out to the point he needed to take a 5 month break. So he explained things to the Princesses and left for his pocket dimension home, which he called “Casa de Discord”. Well, where ever he went to it usually meant some peace and quiet for the residents of Canterlot.

But not today. Today most of Canterlot was in mourning. So far roughly one thousand ponies were injured during the attack, seventy-five of which needed to be hospitalized. At least twelve ponies lost their lives, and over a hundred are still missing.

Things have now finally quieted down enough that the Princesses would be able to meet Canterlot’s saviors: the Gundam and Ian. News had traveled fast about the attack. No matter where in Equestria you were, all of the papers, and every radio station, all said the same thing: “Canterlot Attacked! Saved by Mysteries Giant Robot”.

Fancy Pants was currently reading one such article right now. Somehow somepony got a picture of the Alicorn with Ian and Fancy himself in it. He remembered when those reporters had asked him about his thoughts on Ian. How they found out he was speaking to Ian for the past two days was beyond him, but he mostly paid them no mind. He just simply told them to wait until Ian official appears in public before they ask anything.

Grasping one of the apples Mrs. Applejack had given him with magic, Fancy Pants took a bite as he continued to read. Most of the gossip concerned Ian, but some of it concerned Discord as well. Even after all these years, many ponies didn’t fully trust the Draconequus, even after he and Celestia ‘had’ Prince Enigma.

Speaking of the princesses some of the nobles were blaming Princess Twilight and Princess Sunset for what happened. And it’s not hard to see why. The Changelings were using machinery that was unlike anything Equestria had seen before, and the two princesses were known for being the type to create such things.

Because of that the nobles are saying that the attack happened because of their desire to modernize Equestria. When Twilight first ascended into Alicornhood, the backlash was unprecedented. And when Princess Sunset first appeared, the amount of negative responses had only increased overtime. It didn’t help that the father of Sunset’s daughter was Flash Sentry, Twilight’s husband. The negative responses didn’t just come from the nobles, but from commoners as well. Thankfully, there were still those who favored the two mares, but they were simply not as vocal, nor as annoying, as the opposition.

Even today Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Sunset Shimmer still receive threatening letters from anonymous sources. Fancy Pants received similar letters as well, likely because he fully supports their proposed reforms for Equestria.

As he finished the apple, he turned his attention upward. Ian and Bai said they were running a diagnostic of the Alicorn’s systems, whatever that meant.

“All of the systems seem to be okay.”

He heard Ian’s voice from the cockpit. It had only been a couple of days, but Fancy could tell that the spell Ian did was beginning to wear off. His Equestrian was starting to get bad.

“Same for the Aether Reactors. I was worried for a bit that they were damage but they’re fine. But there are a lot of cracks in the armor, likely from when we were in the deep freeze. The NRS is already working on them, but it’ll take a couple of days.”

“Now we just need to figure out how we managed to reach the MS Carrier. You think it’s because of the ACS?”

“I’m not so sure. The ACS has a limited range of about 20 klicks, and the MS Carrier was way beyond that. So someone or something must’ve been maintaining the Thoth during these past 50,000 years.”

“Okay, so if we assume you’re right then there might be people out there.”

“What do you mean by ‘assume’? We’re still alive, aren’t we?”

“Yes, but I’m still debating if that was because of luck or not.”

“Are you two finished?” Fancy Pants called up. They should have left a half-hour ago. Now they're late. “We were to meet the Princesses in the throne room at 12:30, and it’s currently 12:41.”

“Right. The meeting…”

“We’re almost done, Francis. Don’t get your dollies in a knot.”

“Excuse me?”

“Francis, this is a delicate procedure, and it takes time. We’ll leave as soon as we’re done. Once we finish the diagnostics we’ll go meet the queen and the elements of whatever.”

“Bai. Francis told us that Celestia is a princess.”

“Until I learn why she’s called that, I’m gonna stick with queen.”

“12:45!”

“Alright! Alright, we’ll hurry up.”

Celestia waited patiently in the throne room. It was almost noon, the time Sir Fancy Pants was to bring the human here. Beside her were Luna and her husband, Kujira. Both of them were still recovering from the fight against ‘Fenrir’. Luna tried her best to maintain her posture, but the occasionally wincing forced her to relax her muscles.

“Are you okay, Luna?” Kujira asked.

“Yes, I’m fine.”

Celestia didn’t buy that. “There’s no reason for you to be here, Lulu. You and Kujira can go get some rest.”

“No, I insist,” Luna replied. “I’m not a fool anymore, Tia. I can handle myself. And it’s not just your duty, but my duty as well to protect Equestria. Like it or not, if this human and his machine hadn’t interfered, Canterlot would’ve fallen by now. Speaking of the human, shouldn’t he and Sir Fancy Pants arrived by now?”

Luna was right. The meeting was to happen at 12:30, and it’s almost 1 o’clock now. And the human wasn’t the only one running late. The Elements of Harmony were late as well. Unusual, especially for Twilight. Celestia was about to ask what was keeping them when a bright light suddenly appeared. Celestia immediately recognized it as a mass scrying and teleportation spell, meant to find and transport specific targets. And she had a good idea who casted it.

Everyone nearly jumped up as a group of ponies appeared. A soaking wet Rarity was frozen in place, quickly covering herself with a towel. Nearby a dizzy Applejack slumped against the wall as a confused Fluttershy quickly looked around her new surroundings, some small mice clinging onto her mane.

A bewildered Rainbow Dash had somehow landed in a chandelier, the bolts connecting it to the ceiling beginning to fail. Near the throne itself stood Pinkie Pie, happily working on a crossword puzzle.

And in the center stood Princess Twilight Sparkle, Princess Sunset Swimmer, Prince Flash Sentry, and Twilight’s former pupil Starlight Glimmer. Starlight was currently covered in a blanket and had a sleeping mask on. A light snoring indicated that she was still asleep.

“TWILIGHT!” Three of the mares screeched, jumping Starlight awake.

“What happened?! Did I travel through time again?!”

Celestia couldn’t hide her bemused smile as Twilight’s friends slowly regained their bearings. “Hi, Twilight!” Pinkie happily greeted as she placed a few cherries on the cake, ignoring the fact that she was just teleported without warning.

Twilight gave a sheepish smile. “I can explain-”

“Twilight, darling, we know that we were gonna be late for the meeting,” the fashioned interrupted as she dried herself off as best she could. “I had just finished my morning bath when you teleported us here. After the hassle of the last two days, being late to a meeting was the least of our problems.”

“Y-yes, but-”

“And how are our families going to react to us just disappearing? Gilda was already on edge after what happened in Canterlot. She’s gonna freak.”

“Uh-”

“Twi, try ta be more considerate in th' future. Or should we point out all th' times you caused us trouble?”

“…Sorry…”

“Oh, Twilight,” Celestia groaned, shaking her head but unable to keep an amused smirk from her lips. “There was no reason for you to do this.”

“…I just wanted… to make sure we were here on time was all…”

…

“So, uh, how are you feeling, Princess Luna? Prince Kujira?”

“Much better, actually,” though a quick shot of pain in Luna’s back said otherwise.

Pinkie Pie then began to dart around the throne room, like she was looking for something. “Where’s Ian?” she asked as she looked under the carpet. “I just finished this ‘Welcome to Equestria’ cake for him.”

Everypony looked to where Pinkie Pie was standing before, and saw a 4 tire cake with vanilla frosting with the words ‘Happy Welcome Party!’ written in blue icing. “When did-? Never mind.”

“Did we miss the meeting?”

“Sorry we’re so late.”

Twilight immediately perked up as she looked to the throne room’s doors. “Flurry! Shining Armor! Cadence!” Twilight ran up to the Crystal Royal Family and…

“♪Sunshine sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!♪” the three mares giggled as they finish the song and dance.

“I had no idea that you were back. How was Saddle Arabia?”

“Hot and boring,” she answered, though it was obvious that she felt differently. Flurry Hearts mother placed a wing over her while her father grabbed her hoof. “I wish I… could’ve been here to help.”

Flurry Heart’s father sighed. “Stop beating yourself up. None of us could’ve expected any of this to happen.”

Flurry hung her head down. “I know, I know…” she then looked out towards the field. “But I would like to meet the guy who saved by baby sister and little cousin.”

“So would I, but are we sure we can trust him?”

“According to Sir Fancy Pants, we can,” said Celestia. “He has been conversing with Ian and Bai for the last two days, and he’s seen no reason they would betray us.”

“Wait. What’s a Bai?”

“According to Sir Fancy Pants, Bai is Ian’s companion, a being called an A.I…”

“A.I.!” Twilight and Sunset gasped.

“A.I…” Pinkie said, putting a contemplative hoof to her chin. “What’s the A stand for?”

“Artificial…” Twilight then saw Rainbow Dash open her mouth to say something. “Intelligence,” Twilight answered before the blue pegasus could even ask.

“‘Artificial Intelligence’? You mean, like creating life?!” Starlight asked, shocked.

“Not exactly… It's a science fiction concept in the other Equestria, but it's had a lot of development put into it,” Sunset explained. “The idea is that you can create a computer or a robot that can not only learn but can make its own decisions, really not that different from a living being. The Equestria I used to live in has intelligent systems that can do that now to some extent, but nothing to the point that you'd mistake it for an actual living being.”

“Gracious. I could never even imagine such a thing,” Rarity said.

Kujira, though, was deep in thought. First Fenrir, and now Bai. Hmmm… Is there a connection between Fenrir and Bai?

“By the way, how is the translation spell coming along, Twilight?” Celestia asked the Princess of Friendship.

“Oh, yes,” Twilight beamed. “We’ve finished it, thanks to this!” Twilight levitated a book shaped object out of her saddlebag. It was silver, but there was a black, square-shape area on one side.

“Uh, what’s that?”

“Oh, it’s called a tablet. Ian gave it to Fancy Pants as a gift to help create the translation spell. It is a truly amazing piece of machinery! Using a sensitive screen it can allow you to access various files and-” Twilight stopped when she realized that the only ones in the room who could understand what she was saying were Sunset Shimmer and maybe Starlight. “Uh, think of it as like a library, only it has hundreds of books inside.”

“Ah,” everypony said in understanding.

“And that’s not the best part. It has a dictionary!” she said.

…

“…That’s it?” said Rainbow, sounding incredulous.

“Yes,” Sunset bluntly stated. “With it we were able to finish the translation spell. The language Ian speaks, English, is almost identical to Altum.”

“What’s Altum? Is that a new Prench pastry?”

“No, Pinkie. Altum is an ancient language that was once spoken thousands of years ago, long before Equestria was founded. It became the basis for modern Equestrian, along with Prench, Cantish, and Germane.”

“Aaand… that means… what exactly?” Flurry asked.

“It means me and Sunset were able to finish the translation spell.”

She and Sunset went on to explain how simple the spell was. It consisted of two layers – one over the ears, one over the mouth. There would be nothing visible, of course, and there may be some mismatched mouth movements to what came out, but after some time verifying she’d copied the linguistic algorithms right from her books, Twilight was confident. And hay, she still had time to spare.

Of course, when she tried explaining all of that, most of it went in one ear and out the other of her friends, but it helped fill the silence while she wove magic like a seamstress until everything was as good as she could make it.

Everypony in the room took their turn underneath Twilight’s horn, enduring her early attempts and then her later successes.

And of course, the moment Twilight finished her grand explanation, Rainbow found a way to dumb it down almost brutally.

“So… you’re dubbing us,” she grunted bluntly.

Twilight hesitated, missing a step, before turning to look at Rainbow. “I… What?”

“C’mon, egghead, I’ve seen enough martial arts movies; I know what’s going on. It’s like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but in real life.”

“I saw that movie once,” mumbled Fluttershy. “It wasn’t what I was expecting… There wasn't a tiger in it at all. Or any dragons.”

“Oh,” Twilight said, genuinely stumped by the simplicity of the response. “I… I guess that’s pretty accurate. Huh… I didn’t even think about that.”

“So long as nopony start tryin’ ta pull them silly fightin’ moves again,” Applejack drawled, “we should be fine. How long is this goin’ ta last?”

“Can’t say for sure,” Twilight muttered. “I hope for a while. It might be a problem if we have to recast it all the time.”

Then Rainbow raised a pertinent question. “Uh, I don't mean to rain on your parade, Twi’, but… how do we even know it’s going to work? You know, besides the ear-tickling and tongue-tingling.”

“Well, we’ll have to wait for Ian to test it. Where is he anyway?”

“He hasn’t strayed far from his machine,” said Luna. “We’ve received a letter from Sir Fancy Pants, saying Ian and Bai are doing maintenance on their machine.”

“When will they be finished?”

“The letter was sent to us over an hour ago.”

“Oh… Twilight…?” the purple mare nodded as she concentrated.

“There, all done.”

“And it only took you 4 hours and 20 minutes.”

“Hey, why don’t you suck my-”

“Bai!”

“What?”

Fancy Pants sighed as a wire lowered Ian to the ground, Bai landing beside him. Their Equestrian was getting worst and worst.

“We. Are. Late!”

“We. Know. Sorry.”

“Bai, enough!!” Ian snapped. “Remember why we’re going to this meeting? To both get a more permanent way to communicate, and figure out what to do next- Why are we glowing?”

“Huh?”

“Oh dear,” Fancy Pants recognized that the glow was a sign that they were about to teleport soon. Likely by Princess Twilight Sparkle. “It appears that the princesses have waited long enough. Have either of you teleported before?.”

“Wait-What?!”

The pony, the human, and the A.I. controlled Haro disappeared in a flash of light.

Everypony stood a few steps back as the three appeared in the throne room.

Fancy Pants ground in annoyance as he stood back up. What caught their attention, however, was Ian and the ball robot near him. While he was still recognizable, Ian’s appearance had changed. He was still wearing the suit, but he also wore an unbuttoned black trench coat, with a plain blue shirt underneath, and a simple belt holding a pair of loosen light-blue pants with black boots. He also has a pair of brown… things over his hands. If Twilight remembered correctly they’re called ‘gloves’. He also has a pair of goggles around his neck.

“Okay, that sucked,” said Ian, in perfect Equestrian.

Nopony needed to see his mouth moving to know that something was slightly… off, however. The voice that played in their ears was oddly blunted and unnatural, like they all had a little translator perched on their earlobes reciting what was being said while imitating the speaker's voice. Most of the human’s inflection was missing entirely, and it had a rather tinny quality to it, unnatural and artificial, but it was words, and they could understand it.

“Wimp,” Bai chuckled. “Synthetic body for life, yo.”

Nopony expected that. The little ball didn’t even have a mouth, just a line where a mouth would be. But that didn’t stopped Twilight. She nearly squealed when she saw the small robot. She knew about the larger one currently outside Canterlot, but nopony ever told her about a little one.

“Be careful, the egghead is geeking out again.”

Twilight ignored Rainbow’s comment. She was just too focused on the machine to really care right now.

“Uh, why is the purple one staring at me? Forget that, why is the blue one speaking in perfect English?”

Twilight backed off a little. This must be the A.I., Bai. “I take it this means you made good use of that tablet,” said Ian as he got up.

Then Twilight tested the other aspect of the spell by speaking, herself. “We did. Thank you for letting us use it,” she said before offering the tablet back.

Ian had a bewildered look before he took the tablet back. “It… could use some work, whatever you did.”

“Uh, yes it could,” Twilight clears her throat before continuing. “You must be Ian.”

“What was your first clue?”

“Bai, don’t antagonize them. Yes, I’m Ian.”

He then gestured to the robot.

“And this here is my partner, Bai.”

“Sup, bitches?”

The group recoiled a bit, except for Fancy Pants who sighed, at the profanity. Some like the Princesses were just slightly surprised, while those like Rarity or Fluttershy gasped in disgust or shock.

“How vulgar!” Rarity chided.

“Uh-oh.”

Ian, after recovering from slapping himself with his artificial arm, glared at his A.I. companion. “Wonderful first impression, Bai. Next time, how about you also tell them to go screw themselves.”

“…Shut up.”

“Before we start an incident, let’s begin,” Luna got up, though it pained her to do so.

“Whoa. What the hell happened to you? You look like you were mauled by a mad dog.”

“You could say that,” Luna winced. “Me and my husband, Kujira, were attacked by a machine called Fenrir and-”

“Wait, back up. ‘Fenrir’? As in PMD-84 Fenrir?”

Luna and Kujira looked to each other. “IF Prototype PMD-84i Fenrir, actually. We were actually meaning to ask you about it.”

“Okay, first off, how the hell are you two still alive after fighting a Mobile Drone? And secondly, how the hell did a Providence Mobile Drone end up here?”

“Let’s save that for later.”

Over the next hour Ian and Bai explained everything that they knew about the battle. Fluttershy had to leave when they explained what they did to the dragons that were at Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns… And what happened to any other monster that got in their way.

Though what shocked them all the most was how long they were apparently frozen for.

“How long!?!”

“Uh, what?”

“Oh… my…”

“You still seem young, though…”

“Whoa…”

“Fifty thousand years?!”

“That… doesn’t seem physically possible.”

“*gasps* You’ve missed over 50,000 birthdays?! I’m gonna need to make a super big cake to hold that many candles!”

Celestia and Luna were left speechless. They’ve been around for a long time, that’s true, but the oldest being they’ve meet was the previous Dragon Lord, Torch. The human standing before them was over 50 times that!

“Now I like to ask a few questions of my own,” said Bai.

That snapped some of them out of it. “But I thought Sir Fancy Pants had already answered your questions.”

“Yes, I’ve tired, but they only led to more questions.”

“Yeah, they did. First off, the bright pink one. She’s the ruler of the Crystal Empire, right?”

Cadence, though a little upset that the “A.I.” didn’t even bother to use her name, bear it as she stepped up.

“Yes, I am. Princess Cadance, at your service.”

“Yeah, hi. Nice to meet ya. The place you rule is called the Crystal Empire, right?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

“And by ‘rule’ you mean that you have the highest position in the royal hierarchy there with no one above you?”

“Yes, I am the highest position.”

“And Empires are ruled by either an Emperor or an Empress, right?”

“Yeesss…”

Flurry Heart looked to her mother with a little concern. It was pretty obvious that the talking ball is starting to get on Cadence’s last nerve.

“Mr. Bai, what is your point?”

Bai's response though caught everypony off guard.

“If you’re the ruler and thus the highest authority of an empire, then why the hell are you just a princess?”

There was a silence amongst the crowd. Their facial expressions ranged from thoroughly confused to deep in thought. Twilight, Sunset and Starlight stayed frozen like statues, with Twilight rubbing her chin with her hoof as she tried to come up with an answer.

Flurry Heart was left speechless. Shining Armor put a hoof to his forehead as Cadance looked up, pondering in a bewildered state.

Celestia opened her mouth, she was about to retort, but whatever she tried to say died in her throat once she figured out it would do no good. She looked to Fancy Pants, who was shaking his head, like he was asked the same question before.

Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all couldn’t think of an answer. And Pinkie Pie was, well, trying to come up with a recipe for crystal cherry cake. It was a few seconds before the awkward silence was broken by, unfortunately, Bai.

“You don’t have an answer for that, do you?”

Twilight, though still bewildered by his previous question, was the only one able to answer the A.I. “Uh, well, yes but-”

“Yeah, I didn’t think so.”

Twilight fumed at the A.I.’s lack of manners. But before she could create a counter, Ian placed one of his feet on Bai. “Hey, hey, hey! What are you doing?”

“Sorry, but not really.”

“Hey! Don't do it you fu-” Ian then kicked Bai like a hoofball. The A.I. bounced around the throne room several times, somehow avoiding the stains-glass windows, before landing about halfway across the hall. “OW! That fucking hurt!”

The group slowly looked to Ian. “You’ll have to forgive him,” he said with a shrug. “Of the one-hundred Gundams, mine gets an asshole intelligence.”

“I heard that!”

Twilight gasped. “One-hundred! There’s one-hundred of those machines?!”

“There were at one time,” Ian lowered his head, memories from when he first joined the Revolutionary Army resurfacing. “I’m not sure how many are still intact. For all we know, the Alicorn could be the only one left…” he trailed off, the ramifications he had ignored before returning.

Everypony in the room took pity on him. There was a very good chance that Ian could be the last human. Celestia then rose back up to her hooves. She walked a few steps forward before spreading her wings, and with a few gentle flaps she ascended up to the head of the staircase.

“Luna, to me.”

Luna rose and with a few mimicked movements, joined her sister. They spoke in hushed voices, occasionally glancing back at the small crowd in the hall below. “I certainly do trust him, but after witnessing the power of his machine, he is a huge threat…”

“And let’s not forget the machine me and Kujira faced. It’s armor was made of a stone that cancels out magic. In any other case I would’ve dealt with it easily. I shudder to think what a small army of Fenrir’s are capable of.”

“Let alone what a squad of Gundams are capable of.”

“And the Changelings have somehow gotten ahold of a similar power… Sister there are only a few powers in Equestria that can keep such a thing in check.”

“Then we should keep Ian and his machine close to those we trust. Twilight and Sunset would be delighted, and Rusty Gear would want to study the Gundam as well.”

“Are you sure it is wise to keep him in Ponyville?”

“It’s the ideal location. The citizens of Ponyville have grown accustomed to odd events. And they would be far more welcoming than Canterlot. Besides… Tirek and Chrysalis are still out there, and it’ll only be a matter of time before they strike again. We need his help.”

Luna nodded slightly, thinking matters over. In all their years, little had prepared them for this... Still, they would had to make do with what they had.

“Very well. Ponyville it is.”

Luna exchanged a nod with her sister before the two turned back around. The motion of the two rulers facing their audience slowly silenced all conversation and all eyes were upon the pair. Celestia lightly stomped her metal clad hoof into the ground with a firm clack, akin to a judge's gavel hitting their base.

“From hence forth, young Ian O’Connell shall be placed under a refugee plan put forth by the Royal Sisters of Canterlot. In exchange for harbor and freedom in Equestria, young Ian will be placed within Ponyville. While there you will be expected to live and work amongst the populace.”

The news was getting mixed reactions from Ian. Though he seemed more curious than worried. Luna continued from her sister's speech.

“Thou will abide by Equestrian law. Unless in cases of self defense thou shall not harass, steal from, physically harm, or kill anypony. This extends to your machine. Unless in dire situations or under a necessary research purpose by Miss Sparkle and Miss Shimmer, you are not, either by will or by force, to use your machine. Failure to meet these rules will result in just punishment to the caliber I assume all know. I warn thee, an alternative to this plan would be most preferably avoided.”

Celestia added onto the last statement, capping off the speech.

“You and your machine will be put under the eye of a select few who will report to us should there be any trouble, and to aid in the naturalization process. After a week you will be brought back here to Canterlot's halls to see what progress has been made, and for any changes to be dealt with if needed. You had best hope the words of your equine contemporaries are not negative…”

Despite an uneasy glance, Ian didn’t object. “Sounds good,” said Bai, the ball-robot having rolled back up to the group. “But seriously, Ponyville? Who comes up with these names?”

“Bai, enough.”

Chapter 6: Settling In

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“The boy’s greed will be the death of him one day.”

“You don’t know that. He could still change. He could-”

“There is no ‘could’, Haydon. He and Scorpan say they’re journeying to Equestria soon, but I don’t trust him in the slightest!”

“Are you implying that Scorpan will-”

“Of course not. Scorpan will make the right choice in the end. We just have to pray that he’ll do it quickly.”

Tirek’s eyes slowly opened, his world a fuzzy and unfocused mess as consciousness slowly returned to him. The voices of his parents drifted away along with the memory, only a fragment of the scene remaining.

His parents. When was the last time he’d seen them? When he left for Equestria one thousand years ago?

Tirek could practically hear them laughing at him. His father. His mother. And his brother, Scorpan. Once he had conquered Equestria, he would’ve used his power to conquer his homeland, Tambelon. If his brother hadn’t betrayed him, he would be sitting on the throne, the heads of his father and mother, along with any who dared opposed him, on pikes outside the castle.

But right now, he couldn’t focus on his desire yet. The pain rocketing throughout his body clouded his mind for several moments. He saw that he was still in the clutches of the machine Platinum had sent.

How long was he asleep? He wasn’t sure.

Looking to his side, he noticed that he was above water, the only land visible being several miles away. If he had to guess Tirek was currently flying over the Celestial Sea, as the sun appeared to be rising. That meant it had been a couple of days since his fight against the human. But why would he be here? Tartarus was deep within Equestria’s western lands. So why…?

-I see you’re awake, Tirek.-

Tirek groaned in pain, having almost forgotten about her. He would’ve grabbed the flying machine to get into a better position if he still had his arms.

“Why did you have your machine bring me here?”

-Because we won’t be needing you any further-.

“What!?”

The machine dropped him.

Tirek screamed Platinum’s name as he plummeted to the waters below. That’s when the machine aimed one of its guns at him and fired. Tirek suddenly began to lose large chunks of his body as the machines gun fired hundreds of bullets at him, each one obliterating parts of his body.

Then the barrage stopped. He didn’t feel anything now. He didn’t feel anything below his torso. He didn’t feel his blood flowing out of his body at a rapid pace. He didn’t feel the crash against the ocean water. He didn’t feel what little bones he had left shatter.

Rusty Gear, Equestria’s leading (and only) expert in mechanics, nervously walked through the hall towards the throne room. He had one long week. First he went to Fillydelphia to investigate the claims of two Unicorns called ‘Flim and Flam’ about a vehicle that can fly.

The machine was promising, but he could tell that they were using magic to power it. Despite being a Unicorn himself, Rusty was looking for machines that didn’t required magic to run. He wanted Equestria to change, to move on. Most ponies were content with things staying the same, but that couldn’t last forever.

Rusty wanted them to realize that, but they just ignored him for the most part. And then the last few days happened. Changelings suddenly attacking Canterlot with weapons never seen before, giant machines that decimated most of the city, and something the newspapers were calling the White Giant. When he first heard about the attack, Rusty mourned for the lives lost along with everyone else. But his mourning soon turned into fascination.

He wanted to get permission to study the machines recovered, especially the Gundam. But the Princesses were already ahead of him apparently. He received a letter earlier today saying that they wished to speak to him.

The guards brought the brown stallion to the doors leading to the throne room… where he saw a familiar night guard. Waiting at the doors was a Thestral, or batpony as some prefer, stallion about his age. Like most Thestrals his coat was a dark gray. His mane was a bluish gray and he had lime-green eyes.

“Metal?”

The Thestral looked up, and smiled upon seeing the brown Unicorn.

“Hey, little brother.”

“You’re only 3 seconds older than me.”

“Sorry, it’s just hard to tell when you have such an ugly mug.”

“We’re twins, you dunce. We both have the same ugly mug.”

Another reason why most ponies ignored him: Rusty’s twin brother, Metal Gear. Most ponies would be shock to learn that his brother is a Thestral, and not a Unicorn like most assume. While Rusty Gear spent his time tinkering with machines, Metal Gear was a lieutenant in the Royal Guard. He was on leave when the attack happened, spending some time in their hometown; Dodge Junction.

When news of the attacked reached the frontier town, Metal flew as fast as he could to Canterlot. Her was exhausted when he received a letter from the Princesses, asking for his presence.

After the two shared a laugh and answered why they were here, they looked to the doors leading to the throne room. “…You nervous?”

“A little…”

The two nodded. Rusty grasps one of the golden door knocker. The loud clank reverberated throughout the hallway, a holdout from when Princess Platinum was the highest royal in Canterlot. In all honesty, it was a little intimidating. Two guards inside opened the doors for them.

Meanwhile, outside of Canterlot…

“Is the room ready?” Twilight asked a couple of guards.

“Yes, Your Highness,” one of them replied.

“What about the renovations to my study and lab?”

“They should be done by the end of the day.”

“Did you update the directories?”

“Of course.”

“Good, I wouldn’t want Ian to get lost during his stay.”

“Why didn’t you have directories when I was your student again?”

“I… Oh, look. Its Sunset.”

Sure enough, Princess Sunset Shimmer landed near them. “Is everything ready?” she asked.

“Just about,” Twilight answered. She looked over at the Gundam where Ian and Bai were preparing for a flight. Twilight had given them permission to transport the machine to Ponyville. That way she can get a good idea on how well it can fly.

“Ian and Bai should be ready soon and everything is ready at the castle. Have you worked out the bugs in the translation spell yet?”

Sunset nodded. “Everything Ian and Bai will say should sound more natural form now own. But I am concerned about one thing.”

“Ah, yes… Bai’s mouth.”

“Yo, purple puss! We’re done.”

Twilight groaned at the nickname the annoying robotic ball gave her. How or even why an A.I. needed to run a machine like that had such a personality was beyond her.

Ian groaned. It was very tempting to kick Bai halfway across the mountain at this point. But he had a far better idea. “That’s it. I’m putting you on mute.”

Before Bai could object, Ian grabbed him and open a panel his body’s back. “Hey, hey, hey, wait a-!” *Click*

Bai’s eyes glowed several times over the next few seconds, but not a single sound came from the small robot.

It took a few seconds for that to register in Twilight’s mind. “Of course he has a mute button… Ian, I believe it’s time you head to Ponyville.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve read some of your papers, Rusty Gear,” said Celestia. The stallion in question stood at attention, trying his best not to sweat. “And please, relax. There’s no need for formalities here.”

“Yes Your Hi-ah, yes.”

Celestia smiled as she brought up one of Rusty Gear’s papers. “Even when you attended my school, you only studied magic sparingly. You’ve spent much of your time tinkering with machines. Your last paper before you graduated was about how Equestria needed to break away from some traditions and move on. A pity your professor gave you such a low score.”

“Ya got that right…” Metal Gear muttered.

“But recently, as I’m sure you’re well aware, Queen Chrysalis and her Changelings have not only joined forces with Lord Tirek, but have gain a new form of power. And Canterlot would’ve fallen if a human with a similar power hadn’t appeared.”

“You mean the White Giant, Celestia?”

“Yes. The human, Ian, calls it the Alicorn due to its resemblance to both myself and the other princesses. It’s a machine called a Mobile Suit, and I wish for you to help Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Sunset Shimmer. As for you, Lieutenant Metal Gear…” said stallion quickly turned his attention back to Celestia and away from the female guard near the entrance. “I wish for you to accompany Ian and help him adjust to life in Equestrian society, as well as provide a deterrent against anypony who would wish him harm. While I trust that Ian will not deliberately harm anypony, I cannot say the same for our little ponies. Do you accept this task?”

Metal and Rusty Gear both saluted the Princesses.

“Yes, your highness. First Lieutenant Metal Gear.”

“Mechanical specialists Rusty Gear.”

“Transferring to Ponyville to supervise Ian O’Connell and the Gundam.”

The brothers were then dismissed by Celestia and left. They wordlessly trotted through the halls of Canterlot Castle, the silence within the halls only being broken by their hoofsteps and the several guards and maids they passed by.

After what felt like an entire hour of silence, one of them spoke up. “The last few days have been eventful, to say the least…”

“Understatement of the freaking millennium,” Metal deadpanned.

Rusty only glared at his twin for a moment before continuing. “Did you foresee any of this happening?”

“…Not exactly, just that something crazy was gonna happen here. I guess my god-like powers are slipping. But I do feel that fate is at work here,” the Night Guard said with a small smirk.

Suddenly Metal Gear stopped and looked up. “Something wrong?”

Metal glared at the ceiling, as if he was facing an enemy. “I thought I heard something. It sounded like a mare giggling.”

“A mare giggling?” Rusty looked to where Metal was glaring at and saw nothing. “Are you sure you heard something? And if you did, are you sure it wasn’t one of the maids?”

“My senses never let me down before,” was Metal’s reply. “Someone was here, and they’re definitely not a pony. They’re gone, though.”

“If you’re sure, then we better report to Captain Frost right away.”

“If I remember right, he should be inspecting the barracks right now.”

As they left to look for the captain, they failed to noticed a shadow move out of its hiding place. Nor did they notice the young female voice it muttered.

“That was close…”

Ian chuckled as he saw how the Pegasus guards struggled to keep up with the Alicorn. He had already told them that the Alicorn was going to move at its slowest speed possible, and they were barely keeping up.

Princess Twilight herself was in a chariot being pulled by two guards, writing things down and using what looked like an antique camera to take pictures. She was apparently oblivious to the guards struggle. Princess Sunset was in an adjacent seat, helping take the notes. She seemed more conscious, evident by how she allowed some to land on any nearby clouds (how they could do that was beyond Ian or Bai) and rest.

A message than appeared on the screen in front of Ian. Hey jackass, when are you gonna give me my voice back?

Ian smirked. He should’ve done this a long time ago. “When you learn to keep your big mouth shut. I don’t want an angry mob chasing us because someone said a few bad words.”

Ugh! Whatever. By the way, I think were getting close to that town. What was it called again?

“Ponyville.”

Right. What an original name. Do you think there’s a town in that forest called Forestville? Or maybe there’s a city near the ocean called Ocean City?

Ignoring Bai’s snarky comment, Ian had the sensors zoom in on the town, Ian saw a few things he wasn’t quit expecting.

As they got closer, Ian could see that there were a lot of weird things about this particular town. Most of the buildings were fairly plain, colorful but otherwise uniform, hewing to a standard of two-story thatched-roof cottages for homes and fully wooden buildings for stores and other types of buildings. But some of it was… different. Like the relatively enormous, three-story tower in the center of the place that seemed to be a town hall. Whoever designed it must’ve had an unhealthy fixation with Renaissance-faire adornment. And then there was the building that literally looked like a gingerbread house.

Probably a bakery. I should check it out later.

Most of the citizens were all preparing some sort of festival. Though Ian can understand them now, he had no way to read what the banners were saying. His best guess was that it was some sort of welcoming party, probably organized by that hyperactive pink pony he meet the other day.

Oh boy…

To say Equestria was in a panic was an understatement. News of the Battle of Canterlot had spread like wildfire, causing the nation to be rife with tension. The media seemed to be split right down the middle about how to deal with the White Giant and Ian. Equestria was divided between ponies who wanted friendship with the so-called ‘human.’ Others wanted him out of Equestria. And some wanted him to be arrested for the damaged done to Canterlot, as well as ‘animal cruelty and unnecessary, over excessive assault’. Stella wasn’t even sure how the other nations were going to take the news when it reached them, but she could only imagine that some of them were going to use it as an excuse to discredit Celestia’s trustworthiness as a leader.

But even as the state of Equestria grew more and more unstable, Ponyville remained as carefree as ever. The preparations for the Pie-Sandwich’s “Welcome to Ponyville Ian” party were done, and the entire town was taking part in the festivities. Despite recent events, Stella wasn’t even sure all of the townsponies really cared about how Canterlot was saved. To them, Ian was a hero since he stopped some monsters from attacking the capitol. They didn’t care what others thought of him and just wanted to enjoy another spectacular Pie-Sandwich party. There was just one thing missing from the party: the guest of honor.

Stella and some of her friends watched the sky carefully, looking for any sign of the White Giant, as the papers call it. “You see it yet?” asked Starswirl Flicker.

“Not yet,” Lighting replied. He, Starswirl, Autumn, Flare and Stella were watching the skies, Mrs. Pinkie Pie having given them watch duty. “I thought it be faster.”

“Lightning, we saw that thing in action firsthoof. I’m pretty sure it’ll be here soon.”

“So, what was it like?”

That was a good question. Stella wasn’t sure where to start. Guess she’ll have to start at the beginning. As Stella recounted the events that happened to them, one detail caught Starswirl’s attention.

“He gave you your magic back without getting it back from Tirek first? How the hay did he do that?”

Stella shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not sure. He placed a hand on my chest and another on my forehead. Then I felt… something. I wasn’t sure if it was magic, but when he let go my magic started coming back.”

“I have to ask him how he did that!” Starswirl excitedly asked. But his excitement soon turned into regret, remembering why Ian helped his friends. “I wish I could’ve been there…”

Stella placed a hoof on his shoulder. “It’s okay. Your mom Trixie was sick and you stayed here to help. And even if you were there, I doubt you could’ve done much against Tirek.”

“I think I see it,” said Autumn.

Sure enough, in the distance, the form of a large, white bipedal thing riding a bird-like machine appeared. It was a speck at first, easy to miss. But it gradually grew larger.

“That’s it!” Stella exclaimed. “Let’s go tell Pinkie Pie.”

The MS Carrier slowly landed outside the town, Ian having made Bai make sure nothing was damaged. One the carrier was settled, Ian opened the cockpit. It was surprisingly quiet, though considering that the residents quickly went into hiding probably had something to do with it.

Two panels next to him opened, where Bai’s body was currently at. Can you un-mute me now? I promise not to be an asshole during the party.

Ian thought for a moment. “Alright, but if you say or do something they don’t like, i’ll mute you again and kick you across town.”

After stepping out of the cockpit, the chariots carrying the Princesses arrived. The guards were panting, having never flown so fast before. “Thank you, sirs. Take a break,” the guards promptly collapsed.

Sunset rolled her eyes upon seeing this. “The Royal Guard needs new training exercises.”

“Uh, are they going to be okay?”

“Oh, they’ll be fine,” said Twilight as she wrote something in her notebook. “Anyway, welcome to Ponyville!”

“Again, what an original name.”

“Here they come!”

“Places, everypony!”

As they walked into town, Ian noticed that the streets were very empty. “Where is everyone?” Ian as he looked around.

His question was soon answered when a blast of confetti hit his face.

"SURPRISE!"

Ian’s eyes flashed open and he yelled in shock as the 100 or so voices yelled at him. All around the towns residents had literally been turned into a fair-ground. There were balloons, tents, food, games, and even a stage with musical instruments and a sound-board on it. Even though he knew that they were hiding, Ian was still shocked a little.

“Were you surprised? Were you? Wereyou? Were you?”

Ian stared at the two ponies in front of him. One was that pink one he met the other day. The other was a stallion with golden colored coat and, strangle, had a grilled cheese sandwich that resembled an accordion on his flank.

“Uh…”

“Do us a favor, and don’t scare the crap out of him again.”

“Sorry,” said Sunset. “Guess we should’ve warned you about them.”

“Oh, you think?”

Ian wasn’t quite sure what the two ponies in front of them were saying. They were talking a little to fast for him to pick up much. As they rambled on, Ian took a moment to relax. This wasn’t a battle, it was a party. Loud, sudden nosies are going to be common.

“If any of them start singing randomly, I’m leaving.”

Ian smiled. He could always count on Bai to lighten the mood a little.

“LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” the pink pony shouted as she pulled a cannon out of… somewhere.

“Huh? Where did that come f-”

BOOM!

Ian jumped back. His breathing had rapidly increased and he was reaching for something in his jacket. But whatever he was about to grab he never pulled out. Eyes widened, he glared at Pinkie and her party cannon. “Is something wrong?” Pinkie asked, looking a little hurt that Ian didn’t like her party cannon. “Oh, do you want some bubble gum cupcakes? Or some licorice pancakes? Maybe a hug-”

“NO!” Ian snapped. Pinkie backed away somewhat at the sudden outburst. “Uh, I mean, uh… No thanks. I’m fine.”

Twilight, though a little surprised by his sudden outburst, smiled as the party began. It wasn’t long till Starswirl had begun asking questions. Stella and her friends soon joined him, saying their thanks for saving them from Tirek.

Twilight decided to leave them be for now. As the Princess of Friendship, Twilight needed to make sure that everypony wasn’t afraid of Ian and the Alicorn. Unfortunately, some of the conversations she was hearing weren’t what she had hopped for.

“I heard that it steals foals in the dead of night and fattens them up to eat them!”

“I heard that it can make ponies explode with the wave of a forepaw!”

“I heard that it'll set a pony's house on fire so that it can dine on them when they're cooked!”

How…? What makes them think Ian will do anything like that? And where did they hear such nonsense? It hasn't even been a week!

But as she continued to listen, the rumors began to die down as the party went on, and everypony got a chance to meet Ian and Bai.

“He’s a lot nicer than I thought he be.”

“He doesn’t even want to hurt anypony.”

“Wish that talking bowling ball wasn’t so rude, though…”

Princesses Twilight smiled as she watched everypony enjoy the party. Though Ian did looked a little uncomfortable (probably because most of the foals in town were swarming and bombarding him with questions) it was pretty evident that he was enjoying himself. Though Twilight couldn’t help but wonder; was he really okay? After all, he knows he’s the only human in Equestria, and he obviously doesn’t belong in the other world. And he looked like he was about to have a heart attack when Pinkie fired her party cannon.

But she didn’t put much attention to that at the moment. She was just to excited to study the incredibly complex machinery that is the Alicorn. And while Tirek and Chrysalis are still out there, as well as their benefactor Platinum, having Ian as a friend there will be no need to worry.

Everything is going to be just fine.

…Right?

Chrysalis sighed in defeat. Their army had just returned to Tartarus, having taken several alternate routs to lose any pursuers they had. The invasion could’ve gone better. Everything was going smoothly. Tirek was draining magic from any poor foals who were unlucky enough to cross him.

And when the Elements of Harmony were to appear, he would’ve used their children as hostages to steal the Rainbow Magic. But that’s the part Chrysalis didn’t understand. Sure she had never seen the Tree of Harmony’s magic firsthand, but she knew enough about it that it could easily distinguish between friend and foe.

Was it part of Platinum’s plan, whatever the hell it was? Did she play Tirek like a foal? And there was the fact that Platinum had asked Chrysalis to place several Changelings near the Tree to guard it.

Why?

Tirek was never told that. Chrysalis doubted that Tirek even knew what the plan really was. No one knew. The only people Chrysalis could think of who would know were those ponies that work for Platinum, and she doubted they would tall her anything. One was mute, after all.

Could the Gundam that appeared during the battle be part of it? She had heard that something was found in the Frozen North a year ago, and it was moved to Canterlot a couple of days before the attack. Did Platinum know what it was? Was it just an unforeseen factor? Chrysalis wasn’t sure.

Damn it… She thought to herself. What is that mare’s goal? What does she want with us? And when will she help us get them back?

Chrysalis shook her head in frustration. She was stressed, and she wasn’t sure if it’s because they were in Tartarus, they failed to take Canterlot, or because of Platinum. Or all three.

“How very disappointing, Chrysalis,” an all to familiar voice muttered from behind.

The Changeling Queen jumped in surprise. She turned around and saw Platinum and her associates were standing near the entrance to the cell Chrysalis was using as a room. “I, hehe… wasn't expecting you to be back already…”

“We were expecting… more from you.”

Chrysalis’ eyes narrowed. “You were the one who said I didn’t need the-”

“I know…” the mare chuckled darkly. “The reason I told you not to use it was because it would’ve been to overpowering.”

Chrysalis continued to glare at the mare, but she knew better than to cross her. “Since he isn’t here, I assume that Tirek has been dealt with?”

“Sharks should be enjoying his flesh right now.”

Chrysalis gulped. She knew full well how ruthless Platinum is, and she didn’t want to suffer the same fate as Tirek. “So, what’s next?” Chrysalis had a feeling she wasn’t going to like the answer.

“For now, we need to start excavating. There’s something we need to find,” Platinum took a few steps forward, her associates following suit. “And don’t worry, you’ll get your chance to use it. After all, we have big plans for you and your kind, Chrysalis. All we ask is… a little cooperation.”

Chapter 7: Consequences

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It had been a day since Ian arrived to Ponyville. The party had been great, but Ian never really got into it. He was still… processing everything that happened. It’s funny. To him, a few days ago he was fighting for the future of the Earth Sphere. Now, he was in a guest bedroom in a giant crystal castle in a kingdom that was populated by colorful, talking ponies.

The room was normally used for visiting ambassadors from other countries, but right now it was being used by Ian. Princess Twilight Sparkle and Princess Sunset Shimmer had done some “modifications” so that the room would better fit Ian’s needs. They even provided a bathroom with an actual toilet… somehow. How they knew what kind of toilet Ian needed was beyond him.

Though Ian didn't sleep at all during the night. He couldn’t. The only human in Equestria. Yet, for some reason, he can’t help but feel that there are more out there. Somewhere. A knock at the door got his attention. “Mister Ian,” a voice called, probably one of the maids.

“Yeah?”

“The Princesses have requested for your presence in tent.”

“I’ll be right there,” he said. Stepping out of the bed, he grabbed his jacket and went for the door.

“You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you?” Bai asked as he rolled up to him.

“I’m fine, Bai.”

Bai didn't say anything. He’d seen the inside of Ian’s head enough times to know that he was far from okay. The act he was pulling was going to break eventually, and when it did it won’t be pretty. “I know you miss Sarah and the others, but-”

“But what?”

“… Never mind.”

Metal Gear gave a small smirk as he saw his brother fawning over the Alicorn. He couldn’t blame him. Metal was doing everything he could to rein in the little five-year-old version of himself that just wanted to pester Ian with silly questions and stare in awe at the giant robot in front of him.

One thing about the robot did caught his interest. Rusty create a sphere that would teleport some of the armor off the robot-

-only to have the spell collapse almost instantaneously, the magic at his horn fizzing out.

“Fascinating,” he said. He repeated it several more times, and each time the armor seemed to disrupt the spell in someway.

“Okay, what’s going on?” Metal asked.

“I’m not entirely sure,” Rusty replied as he wrote something down in his notebook. “But the effect of the Alicorn’s armor is very similar to the magic-sealing stones used for Unicorn prisoners.”

“Isn’t that stone incredibly rare? And that machine that attack Princess Luna… it has the same stone for armor.”

“Right,” Rusty pulled out a chisel and hammer. “Perhaps there’s a connection…?” he muttered as he attempted to chisel some of the armor off-

-only for the chisel to break as soon as the hammer struck it.

“Maybe you should ask Ian if there’s anything can that scratch the armor without breaking?” Metal snarked.

“Or ask my permission before you start messing with it.” came another voice.

On cue, the two ponies turned a to the entrance and saw the owner of the Alicorn, Ian O'Connell, flanked by Princess Twilight and Princess Sunset, and the mechanical ball Bai. The two brothers looked to each other, wondering for a moment if the coincidental timing of their appearance had been planned

Rusty cleared his throat before speaking. “Sorry, I was a… little too eager. I tried to get a sample of the armor to study, but everything I’ve tried either failed or broke.”

“Sorry, but you’re going to need a lot more than a little chisel to scratch Aethenium.”

“Aethenium?”

“Yes. Ian and Bai was just telling us about it. It’s material used to make the Gundam.”

“Yep, and considering it’s practically indestructible, you’re gonna need more than a little chisel to scratch it.”

“Right,” said Rusty, who promptly put the destroyed chisel away. I’ll have to ask them more about it later.

As Ian walked into the tent, the first thing he noticed about it was that it was a lot bigger on the inside than it was on the outside. He guessed that the ponies used their magic to make it bigger or some weird crap like that.

All around there was equipment that was… bulky. This stuff looks ancient. Feels like I’m walking through a museum. He then looked to the Alicorn. A museum with a working super-weapon.

“Alright then, let’s get started.”

Over the next six hours the ponies either asked Ian and Bai how the mechanisms of the Alicorn worked, or how Ian was able to use magic. They did their best to answer, but whenever the magic related questions were brought up, Ian couldn’t really answer. He still wasn’t sure how he was able to communicate after looking into Tirek’s head, and he wasn’t sure how he did that. He just acted on instinct, like he’d always done.

As noon rolled by, Rusty asked something that didn’t really sit well with Ian. “May I examine your weapon?”

“My gun?”

“Yes. I’d like to know how it works, and it’ll be easier for me if I were to examine it directly.”

Ian pulled out the gun from his jacket, staring at it for a moment. “I’m not sure about that…” Ian had a good reason to be hesitant. These ponies have never seen anything like his gun before, and this weapon had some value to him.

“I promise I won’t break it.”

Ian sighed. He had a feeling he was going to regret this. “Be careful, alright?” Ian reluctantly gave the gun to Rusty.

The Unicorn in question grasped the weapon in a telekinetic glow. “I promise I’ll give it back in one piece.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about.”

“This town’s a lot more lax than I thought it would be.”

“Arn’t you supposed to be my tour guide?”

“No. I’m here on orders from Princess Celestia to accompany you during your stay.”

“So then you’re basically my babysitter.”

His training under Captain Flash Sentry was the only reason Metal Gear managed to remain upright on his hooves.

A few chuckles reminded him that he was accompanying Ian… who, during his short moment of dumbfoundedness, had gained significant distance between them.

“For your information, it’s standard procedure for at least one Royal Guard to accompany foreign diplomats during their stay in Equestria,” he said after catching up.

“Oh, now I’m a diplomat? You ponies treat everything weirdly.”

“You’re calling us weird when you’re the living fossil with a talking robot ball for a companion?”

“…Touché.”

Metal and Ian continued to walk through the small town, they occasionally got an odd look from the locals before they continued on their business. “They’re all… taking this extraordinarily well.”

“I heard that a lot of weird things happen in this town, so seeing something like you isn’t that big of a deal for them.”

“…Okay…” Ian didn’t want to know what this town considers weird, so he kept quiet.

It wasn’t long before they reached the building resembling a gingerbread house. Sugarcube Conner, as it was called. “Is it me, or does everything in this town look like it came from some kid’s coloring book?”

“Yeah, tell me about it.”

“Ian?”

Turning around, the guard and human saw two mares trotting up to the bakery. One was a Unicorn, having a light gray coat, a dark blue mane that had blue, dark violet, and light blue stripes, and a star with a light purple cloud on her flank.

The other mare was a Pegasus. Her coat…feathers were light amber in color. Her mane was reddish color that gradually turned to orange. On her flank there were what appeared to be fireworks.

“Oh yeah. You’re Stella Nova and Flare Sparks, right? The Princesses daughters?”

The mare who called out his name nodded.

“What brings you here?”

“We’re going to see our friends. Want to join?”

“Why not?” Ian said with a shrug.

He and Metal Gear followed the two mares in. The layout of the establishment was surpassingly spacious. Several tables and a few booths lay scattered throughout. It was mostly vacant, with a few ponies at some of the tables. One particularly large group was at the table near the showcases.

One of them (Marz, Ian thought his name was) called out to them. “Stella! Flare!”

The two mares waved to their friends before joining them at the table. Metal and Ian kept their distance for a moment. “Hey Ian,” said the blue Pegasus. That was Lightning Bolt, if he remembers right.

“What brings you here?” asked one of the normal ponies, Topaz.

“Just needed to leave that castle for a bit was all.”

“Where’s Starswirl?” Autumn Breeze asked.

“He’s a little busy right now,” Flare answered.

“Let me guess: He and his ma Starlight are trying ta figure out how Ian restored our magic?” said the other normal pony, Honeycrisp.

“Yep,” Stella said with a short giggle. “Isn’t it cute how-”

“Donuts are here!” Marz interrupted. Sure enough, a large plate of donuts of different types had appeared in the center of the table… somehow.

“When did… Never mind.”

Deciding to save his sanity from the craziness of these ponies for now, Ian pulled out and chair and set it against the table.

“Hey, Ian,” said Lightning. Upon seeing the look on his face, Ian knew what he wanted. “Can I-”

“No.”

“What? No? But you didn’t let me finish-”

“No!”

“Oh, fine! Whatever…” Everypony else smirked at the small back and forth. “Oh stuff it.”

As the group of friends started talking, Ian did his best to sit down at the table. Since the chairs were designed for ponies, Stella had to temporarily alter his so he could use it. He sat still, having a glass of water and some of the donuts Marz had brought. He watched the group talk about their day, laughing occasionally when someone brought up whatever misfortune had befallen them.

The sight reminded him of his own friends. His family. The thought of them brought a small smile to his face. Even though they’re all gone, they’ll always live on in his heart.

“Man, all I wanted was to see his firearm, but no. He sounded like Honey,” Lighting groaned as he flew home. Since he used that riffle during the Battle of Canterlot, Lightning had grown a small fascination for firearms. That fascination only grew when all of the weapons the Changelings used had been confiscated during the following days.

He really wanted to use a firearm one more time, but getting his hooves on one was more trouble than he expected. Ah well, he’ll get his chance eventually. He needed to head home. It was getting late, and his mom would be making dinner about now before heading to bed, since she’ll be heading back to Wonderbolts Academy first thing tomorrow morning.

As he flew, he passed by Princess Twilight’s castle. In the courtyard he noticed the tent. He also noticed that there were no guards. Stopping, Lightning hovers in the air for a short while, staring at the unguarded tent. With a smile, Lightning descended too the tent. “He never said I couldn’t see the Alicorn.”

Landing outside the tent’s entrance, Lightning entered. The first thing he saw was that the Alicorn was lying on its back in the center, like it was a sleep. The second thing he noticed was that the tent was bigger than he thought.

“It’s a lot bigger on the inside,” he mumbled as he looked around. He then spotted something on a table. Recognizing the shape, Lightning quickly went to the object. It was Ian’s gun, the same gun Ian had denied to show him earlier.

Lightning cracked a toothy grin as he picked the weapon up.

“Groovy.”

“I thought I heard something.”

“Uh-oh!” without thinking, Lightning bolted out of the tent.

Lightning panted as he landed on his family's cloud home. After taking a moment to make sure nopony was following him, he went inside. “I’m home!” he called out.

“Oh, so you’re home, huh?” his biological mother called from the kitchen.

“Yeah, mom. Am I late for dinner?” he asked as he made his way to the kitchen.

“No, I just started cooking.”

“What’s on the menu tonight?”

“The usual,” she replied. “We’re out of eggs, so Gilda and Galah went to Fluttershy’s to get some. They should be back soon.”

“Guess I’ll get the table ready.”

But as Lightning nears the table, he realized that he had something in his hoof. And upon seeing it, he let out a small gasp of surprise and excitement. He then laughed a little. “I forgot! I still have Ian’s firearm.”

He laughed for a little bit, though it wasn’t loud enough that his mom could hear him. Deciding he’ll get the table ready after a minute or two, Lightning held his gun, keeping his one of his hooves where he assumed Ian’s claws went.

“Bang. You’re dead, Chrysalis,” he said like a little foal. He then began to move around like he was in a fight against the Changelings. “Bang. You’re done, Tirek. Ba-”

BANG!

“Whoa!” Lightning dropped it. “Before you say anything, that was me and I’m sorry,” he said as he picked up the gun. “I… borrowed Ian’s gun and was messing with it. I know, I shouldn’t have but it was just too awesome. I’ll give it back after dinner, ‘kay Mom?”

…

“…Mom?” Lightning looked over to the kitchen. The stove was still on, but no one was there. “Mom?” Lightning called again as he made his way to the kitchen, a hint of panic building in his voice.

“Mom this isn’t fun-” Lightning stopped and gasped. On the floor was his mother, a small pool of blood beneath her. “Mom!”

Panic taking over, Lightning dropped the gun and rushed to his mother. Her eyes opened for a brief moment before closing again. “Don’t worry. I’ll get you to the hospital right away.”

Gently, Lightning placed his mother on her back and flew out of their cloud home. It wasn’t long until they reached Ponyville Hospital. Luckily there was a stretcher ready for use outside. “You’ll be okay, Mom,” Lightning said as he placed her on the stretcher. “It’ll be okay, I’ll be by your side the whooooo-” any words he had died when he saw the large areas of red on his coat. The ramifications of what he’d done then hit him like a ton of bricks.

His breathing began to quicken as he stared at the blood on his body. His mother’s blood. “Slow day, huh?” somepony coming out of the hospital said.

Without thinking, Lighting bolted for one of the bushes as fast as he could and hid. “Is that Rainbow Dash?” he heard.

“What happened to her?!”

“I don’t know! She’s breathing, but I not sure for how much longer.”

“Get her inside, stat!”

Then he heard them push the stretcher into the hospital. Living his hiding place, Lightning could only stare as they took his mother to the ER. Tears swelling in his eyes, all he could do was say “…I’m sorry…” before flying off.

With a yawn, Twilight enters her room. She had a long day studying the Alicorn Gundam. From the artificial muscle fibers to the firearm. Much of it was way beyond anything in Equestria or in any of the allied kingdoms. And the armor. Just how could it cancel out magic like that?

Whatever the reason, Twilight felt like a filly again as she studied the incredibly advance machine. Tomorrow morning she’ll send her reports to Celestia, but for now she needed rest. Sunset had practically begged her to go to bed, saying that she wouldn’t be able to do anything right if she was a zombie.

Though Twilight tried to argue, an unexpected yawn at that moment begged to differ. So here she was, in her room getting ready for bed. The bed was empty, Flash being away to train some guards in Manehattan and won’t be back for a couple of days, so Twilight had the bed all to herself.

But before she could even get near it, a frantic knock came from her door. “Princess Twilight! It’s an emergency!”

“Ugh! You may come in,” Twilight called to the guard.

The guard practically smashed the door open as he came rushing into the room. “Princess! It’s Rainbow Dash! She’s in the hospital and-”

“Again? …Well, looks like I lose the bet.”

“No no no! This is different! She’s hurt really badly. The doctors aren’t sure that she’ll live.”

“WHAT!?” the last bit of droopiness left Twilight at the moment. “What happened?!”

“We’re not sure. She-”

“Never mind! Have my friends been told about this yet?”

“Several guards are already going too inform them now. A few are probably already at Ponyville Hospital.”

“Okay, okay. Try and get in touch with Rainbow Dash’s family. I’ll head to the hospital.” Immediately, Twilight disappeared in a flash of magic, leaving the guard to go inform Princess Sunset Shimmer.

Gilda practically threw the year-old magazine aside as the doctor finally opened the door and trotted out of the intensive-care unit—only to yelp as he found the griffin practically charging up to him. “How is she, doc?” she said quietly. Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash’s honorary sister, and her family joined up with her. Twilight and the others quietly trotted up to them as well.

The Unicorn cleared his throat. “Rainbow Dash is… alive, in critical condition but stabilized, at least for the time being. She's very lucky—we have a visiting trauma specialist from Vanhoofer who was doing some training with our staff when she showed up. I'm not sure Rainbow Dash would've survived had he not been here.”

“Thank Celestia for moderately sized miracles,” Fluttershy let out a soft sigh.

“What’s her outlook?” Scootaloo asked.

“We’re not sure. The surgery was tricky; the amount of damage to her body…” the doctor shivered. “She also hasn't awakened yet. It’s possible she might not for quite some time… it’s not uncommon for ponies who've suffered acute trauma to lapse into a coma-like state until the healing process is done, or at least nearly so.”

“Isn’t there any way to use magic to make the healing go faster?” Fire Agate asked, worried for his aunt.

The doctor shook his head. “Healing magic can be… tricky. We did about the best we could with thaumatic coagulation and epithelialization acceleration…” he caught the blank stares from most of them and cleared his throat. “Ahem. In laypony's terms, healing magic basically makes the damaged parts of the body heal faster. But if done too quickly or with too much intensity, you can run into a host of issues even worse than the original injury. They can range from the rest of the body being drained of essential reserves by grossly accelerated healing, to tissue malformation and organ malfunction, even to spontaneous cancerous growth.”

Most of the group winced. “How awful. I suppose that explains why ponies still need hospital stays after getting hurt,” said Rarity.

“It’s partly the reason. We also need to be weary that healing magic works differently for different ponies. Most of the time there isn’t any issue, but occasionally healing magic doesn't work as well as it should… or works too well. We’ve made great strides over the years, but in the end basic biology still has its say,” the unicorn shrugged.

“Can we… go see her?” Applejack asked.

The Unicorn shook his head. “Not now, I’m afraid. Oh, one more thing,” he said, brining forth a small deformed piece of metal.

“What’s that?” Pinkie asked as Twilight grasped the metal slug with her magic.

“It’s some sort of metal slug. We found it in Rainbow Dash’s body. It may be what caused the damaged.”

“That thing? Doubt it.”

“It couldn’t be…” Twilight mumbled.

“Twi? Is somehtin’ wrong?”

Twilight didn’t answer right away. Instead she thanked the doctor and left. The others did as well and followed her. “Twilight, darling, what’s wrong?” Rarity asked as they left the hospital.

Twilight continued to stare at the metal slug for several seconds before answering. “This metal slug… It’s the same as the ones that Ian’s gun fires.”

That caused the groups eyes to widen in shock. Ian, the hero who saved Canterlot, was somehow behind this? “You don’t… think that… Ian was the one who-”

“No. He was at the castle most of the day yesterday, and Metal Gear accompanied him whenever he left castle grounds… But his gun was left in the care of Rusty Gear.”

“Right now, I don’t care who’s responsible,” said Gilda. “I’m more worried about Rainbow and Lightning. I haven't seen him since yesterday…”

“Maybe Lightning knows something?”

“Hmmm, maybe. I’ll go asked Ian and Rusty about this metal slug.”

“We’ll stay here,” said Scootaloo. “In case she wakes up.”

“Did you hear about what happened to Mrs. Dash?” Stella asked as she enjoyed her moaning coffee. She and Flare were at Sugarcube Corner, where they usual go to when their moms were busy.

“Yeah, we did,” Marz answered. “Mom took a day off because she wanted to see how Mrs. Dash was doing.”

“My mom did the same,” said Autumn. “I’m worried about Lightning though. I haven’t seen him all day.”

“I’m sure he’s just sleeping somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres or hanging out with Thunder Call like always.”

“Then why didn’t he show up at the hospital with everyone else?”

For a few seconds, no one said anything. That was a good question. Lightning was many things, but he would never leave his family when something like this happens. “You don’t think that… Lightning had something to do with what happened to Mrs. Dash, do you?”

…

“…pffffHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“Yeah right!”

“That was stupid of me to say!”

“Lightning would never hurt Mrs. Dash. He’s too scared of her.”

“He probably just fell asleep somewhere in Sweet Apple Acres last night and hasn’t woken up yet.”

After a good fit of laughter, they began to discus where Lightning could be at, and why he hasn’t gone to the hospital yet. “You don’t think he broke a wing while practicing, do you?”

“Hmmm, maybe. But that doesn’t entirely explain why he hasn’t shown up yet.”

“Maybe he broke one of his legs too?”

Flare sighed. “He’s so reckless that I can easily imagine that happening.”

“If that’s the case then we need to find him.”

“Alright then, we’ll meet back up at the castle in an hour.”

“Let me get this straight,” Ian began. “You saw someone go into the tent and left with something, and you two didn’t think anything about it till now!?”

“…Is that bad?” one of the guards nervously asked.

“‘Bad?’ Oh no, that's not ‘bad.’ Next time someone sneaks in, why don't you just help them steal the Alicorn, or blow up the whole damn castle!?” Bai snarked back.

“Did you at least see who it was or saw what they took?” Rusty asked.

“We didn’t get a good look. Whoever came in here was a Pegasus stallion. And whatever he took was small, and oddly shaped.”

“Well, that certainly narrows it down. F for effort, fellas.”

“Let’s look for anything that’s misplaced. At least then we can figure out what was taken,” said Metal. “As for you two… stay by the exit and tell us if someone’s coming. Understood?”

The two guards did as they were told and stood vigilantly at the exit. But after about a minute, the boredom began to set in. “Hey,” one began.

“Yeah?” the other asked. 

“You ever wonder why we're here?”

“Ugh, not again.”

“Alright, while those two idiots contemplate their place in the universe, let’s figure out what was stolen.”

“Nothing seems misplaced…” Metal was interrupted when he heard his brother gasped in shock.

“It’s gone!” he practically screamed.

“What’s gone?”

“Ian’s gun!” he answered. “I left it right here last night and now it’s gone!”

“That’s what was stolen? Great.”

“I knew it was a bad idea to just leave it with you,” Ian mumbled. “I just hope whoever has it doesn’t do something stupid.”

No matter how hard he tried, Lightning couldn’t stop crying. He cried all day, his face stained by the tears. And even when he finally ran out of tears, he still couldn’t stop crying. How could he after what he did? He shot his mother! He had made sure she made it to the hospital, but for all he knew she could be dead. And it… was because of him.

Lightning Bolt. Promising young flyer. Older brother. Son of the Element of Loyalty and Wonderbolt, Rainbow Dash. …Murderer of Rainbow Dash…

Murder…

Lighting could only cry at his own stupid mistake. There was no way he could face Gilda or Galah again after what he did. And even if he did what would he say? And then there were his friends. How would they react when they find out that one of their closet friends killed his own mother? Lightning certainly wouldn’t forgive anyone who did something like that.

And Ian. Lighting had practically stolen his gun and used it to murder his own mother. How would he react when he found out? And how would the authorities react? Those stuck up nobles in Canterlot would probably use his mother’s death as a way to sway public opinion against Ian.

Lightning was emotionally distraught. He didn't know what to do. As he continued to cry in his hiding place, he almost failed to notice somepony walking along the road. Lightning stopped crying when he noticed.

It was a mare, wearing a black coat and a large hat, hiding any recognizable features. Soon another pony showed up, this one an Earth Pony stallion. His coat was a dark gray and his orange mane was spiky. He had a strange black case in his saddle bag.

“Do you have it?” the mare asked.

“Right here,” the stallion gestured to the black case in his bag. “But show me the bits first.”

A bag levitated out of the mares jacket, Lightning only now noticing the horn on the mare’s head because of its light blue glow. She dropped the bag at the stallions hoofs, it making an audible jingling sound.

The stallion smiled. Placing his saddle bag on the ground, he put the bag of bits in first before taking out the black case. The mare grasped the case with her magic and opened it. Lightning had to place a hoof in his mouth when he saw what’s in the case: a gun with spare bullets and magazines.

It wasn’t the same as Ian’s gun, but that didn’t make it any less dangerous. “A pleasure doing business with you,” said the mare as she disappeared in a flash of light, taking the case with her.

The stallion turned around and began to walk away, a grin on his face. A gun… He sold a gun to somepony… Sold a way to kill people…

In an instant, he dove, aiming himself square at the stallion. At the last second, the stallion shifted his stance, raising a weapon- a gun. Lighting was unable to maneuver in time, so he slammed directly into the stallion, hoping for the best.

There was no bang, meaning that the stallion had dropped the gun. Wasting no time, Lighting quickly pined the stallion against the tree. “What are-” Lightning slammed his leg on the stallions throat, cutting out much of the stallions air.

“Tell me, where did you get those guns?”

“Is everypony here?” Stella asked. She and her friends were in the castle’s library.

“Except for Lightnin,’ we’re all accounted for,” said Honeycrisp.

“Good. Starswirl, do you have the map?”

“Right here,” Starswirl levitated a rolled out a map of Ponyville. It showed everything from Sweet Apple Acres to the edge of the Everfree Forest.

“Perfect. Now all we need is something that belongs to Lightning…” All eyes turned to one of the Pegasi in the group, Thunder Call.

“Yes, right here,” reaching into his saddle bag, Thunder produces a headband. A foul smelling headband that caused most of the group to gag in disgust. “Guess his habit of leaving his junk at my place is about to pay off.”

“Bad habits aside, how is this supposed to find Lightning?” Topaz asked.

“Simple: This will help,” Stella then levitated one of the books out of one of the library’s shelves.

Flare read the books title out loud. “Skillful Seeking: Scrying and Searching Spells?”

Stella nodded. As she magically prepared the map, she took holed of the headband with her magic. “This book has a few spells that can be used to locate anypony, no matter where in Equestria they are.”

Stella friends all nodded in understanding as she casted the spell. A thin line of light formed between the headband and a place on the map. A smile blossomed onto Stella’s face, but then it turned into a confused frown.

“That’s weird…”

“What is it, Stel?”

“…If I casted the spell correctly, then Lightning is somewhere in-”

“The Everfree Forest. Why is it that whenever something bad happens, it usually has something to do with the Everfree Forest?” Lightning asked himself as he walked through the forbidden woods.

After beating out where that stallion got that gun, Lightning left him unconscious and tied up at the nearest police station and went here as fast as he could. Lightning has been here a few times before, usually to visit Zecora to get medicine for himself whenever he had a bad crash, but now…

…Wetting himself and going back was starting to feel like a good idea. The further in he went, the creepier it got. Having been told stories about all of the strange things that happen here certainly didn’t help.

But he pushed those feelings aside and continued on. He had to find that guy’s boss and stop him. That stallion didn’t tell him much, just that the bits were needed to get supplies for their operation. Whatever their operations were, he hadn’t a clue, but he had a feeling that he’ll eventually find out where they were if he just kept looking around.

As he continued to walk through the forest, he noticed that it was oddly quiet. Usually, you’d hear birds and insects even this far in, but right now there were almost none. Did something spook them? Considering he knew firsthoofed how deadly guns were, he had a good idea why there were no birds.

Suddenly, there was a rustling in the bushes to his left. Something was approaching slowly, pushing through the ferns that layered the ground. The moon might have been partially out but the dense canopy of trees along with a span of forest fog above made it hard to see well, but he could detect something.

Something stumbled out onto the trail ahead of him. Lighting took on a defender stance. For all he knew it was now of the Everfree’s infamous monsters. The figure that stood less than five feet away wasn’t much more than an outline, but the reflective white eyeshine blinked at him showed that the newcomer was most definitely not a pony.

Up above, the wind began to clear the fog, revealing moonlight upon the figure. Much to Lightning’s shock, it wasn’t a monster that stood before him. It was a deer! The deer’s coat was crimson in color, but that wasn’t his natural color. It was a crimson because it was stained with blood.

The stag’s side had small holes in it, all of which were bleeding badly. He was clearly in pain, evident from his raspy breathing and the blood dripping out of his mouth. The stag stood there, staring at Lightning for a few moments before his legs gave out.

“Hey! You okay, dude?” Lightning asked as he went to the downed stag.

The stag mumbled something.

“Hey, don’t talk. Save your strength.”

As Lightning tried to figure out how to stopped the bleeding, the stag looked up to him. “………Heart………”

“What? I didn’t hear that.”

“……The…Heart………”

“What? What about your heart?”

The stag shook his head. “……The…Heart…of the…Everfree…”

“Heart of… the Everfree? What’s that?”

“…It’s… our treasure…from before…the Schism……They’re…after…it……If they…get it……They… have to be…Stoped!”

The stag’s head slumped down. “Huh-Hey! Dude! Wake up!” Lightning tired his best to wake up the stag, but it was too late. He’s gone. “…No…”

Lightning sat there. First, he killed his mother. Now he fails to save someone. Tears began to swell in his eyes.

Should I… bury him-

BANG BANG BANG!!!

“What the…!” Lightning turned to the direction the sound came from. It was the same direction the stag came from.

Lightning’s eyes narrowed. He’d know that sound anywhere after what he’d done. “Gunfire!” he hissed. “Guess I found their operation.”

He turned his attention back to the dead stag. The body was still just lying there, eyes opened. “There isn’t any time…” Regrettably, Lightning took to the air and flew in the direction of the gunfire.

“YOU’RE GUN WAS STOLEN?!” Twilight and Sunset screeched loud enough that the whole castle shook.

“I’m afraid so,” Ian replied after he recovered. “I left it with Rusty Gear yesterday, he left it in the tent and someone took it last night.”

The Unicorn in question lowered his head in shame. “And now Rainbow Dash is close to death because I left it unattended in the tent… I’d be more than willing to take full responsibility for this.”

Twilight took a few moments to relax. She looked to them. Both are clearly upset about the weapons lost and its use to hurt Rainbow. “Alright, we’ll overlook this if you help locate the weapon.”

“Yes, Your Highness,” said Rusty as he gave a small salute. “I’ll go look for any evidence near Rainbow Dash’s home.”

The two princesses nodded. “And what about you?”

Ian looked out the nearest window towards the forest. Ever since he’d arrived he noticed the smoke coming from the forest. He watched as a small group of very familiar ponies entered the forest. “I have an idea where to look.”

Lighting did his best not to throw up at the site. Thicket, the Deer kingdom within the Everfree Forest, was burning. All around fires were burning what were once beautiful buildings and desecrating the bodies of countless deer. Young and old lie dead throughout the Thicket, having been killed before the fires were set.

As he trotted through Thicket, Lightning noticed that, apart from some blown up homes and the fires, it was mostly intact. Whatever happened here, it happened quickly. And from the smell, it happened a while ago. Lightning stopped when he saw a dead doe cradling her child, a blank look on her face.

BANG BANG BANG!!!

At that, Lightning quickly hid in one of the buildings. After a few moments, he risked a peek. What he saw shocked him. He was expecting only ponies, like Dr. Caballeron and his goons in the Daring Do novels. Not a couple of Zebras, a doe, with only one pony. They all wore black armor and were carrying weapons similar to the ones the Changelings used during the attack on Canterlot.

“Be careful with that thing,” one of the Zebras said to the other one.

“Sorry, but at least I got one of the runaways.”

“What about the other one?” the pony asked.

“He was shot pretty bad. Even if he escaped the village, he’ll never reach the edge of the forest, let alone any of the towns,” said the doe. “Let’s get back to the boss.”

They turned to leave. Quietly, Lightning followed them, doing his best to stay out of sight.

“Are you okay with all of this?” the pony asked the doe.

“It’s not like I’m from these woods,” was the answer.

“Hmm, good point.”

“Shut it. And get back to work. The sooner we find this heart-thing, the sooner we get paid.”

Money? That’s why they’re doing this? Just to get some extra bits?

Lightning continued to follow the mercs for a few more minute before they reach the castle. At least… what’s left of it. Most of it was badly burned and there were gaping holes all throughout the once glorious tree.

Lightning watched as the mercs entered the former castle. Are they after that Heart of the Everfree the stag told me about?

“Psst! Wotcha lookin' at?”

“GAH!” Lightning put his hoof in his mouth just to make sure no one heard him. Right behind him, much to his shock (and, at the same time, unsurprising), was Marz. After taking a moment to relax, Lightning glared at his Unicorn friend. “I’m not even going to ask how you found me. But why are you here, Dreads?”

“Simple: We came to find you.”

“We?”

Looking behind him, Lightning saw his other friends hiding in some of the bushes near the castle.

“What the- What are you guys doing here!?”

“That’s what we like ta know,” Honey hissed. “First off: Why the hay are ya here and not with your ma? Did ya know that she’s in the hospital?”

Lightning lowed his head, tears beginning to form. He knew that they were gonna ask him about it eventually. “See, I… This isn’t the right time,” he looked back to the castle. “In case none of you noticed, the Thicker is a smoldering pile of ash and a bunch of psychopaths are in the castle looking for something called the Heart of the Everfree.”

“‘Heart of the Everfree’? What’s that?”

“I don’t know. It’s some treasure that, in the wrong hooves, would be really bad news.”

“Then how do you know that’s what they’re looking for?”

“I ran into a stag in the forest. He was badly hurt and only told me about this heart before he…”

Lightning couldn’t finish, but the others knew what he was going to say and nodded.

“Is that where you got that… blood from?”

With a jolt, Lightning looked over his body. On his forelegs there were some splotches of dried, black flakes of blood. He had complexity forgotten about them, but not how he got them. “…No they’re… from mom… It was an accident…” he admitted.

A scowl quickly formed on Honey’s face, while some of the others stared at him in shocked. “What ya do, Lightning?” Honeycrisp asked in a stern voice.

It took a few moments for Lightning to muster up the courage to answer. “…I went into the tent that Ian’s Gundam was at, and found his gun on a table. I was admiring it when I heard a guard come in, so I bolted. I took the gun with me by accident. I didn’t even realized I still had it until I got home… I started to mess around with it when… It went off,” tears began to flow down Lightning’s face now.

The group was stunned. Some of them began to cry with Lightning, feeling sorry for their friend. Others were furious that he did something so stupid, especially Honeycrisp. Yet they didn’t have the heart to say anything.

“Oh, Lightning,” Flare sobbed.

“You brought your mom to the hospital, right?” Topaz asked. The Pegasus nodded as an answer, the tears still streaming down his face. “Why didn't you stay with her?”

“I wanted to,” Lightning began. “But when I saw her blood on me, I… I began to panic. I hid in the bushes when the doctors found her and… I… I left…” Lightning broke down. He collapsed to the ground and began to cry.

Autumn trotted up to her friend, and gently placed one of her wings over him. “That’s it, let it all out,” she said. The others joined in as well. The group hug ended after about a minute.

“Let’s get going.”

“No.”

“No?”

Lightning stood up and turned toward the palace. “I’m not going back home, yet. Not until I stop these bad guys.”

“What?!” Thunder screeched. “You can’t be serious. There’s no way you can take them all on.”

“I can try.”

“Lightning, this isn’t a Daring Do novel. This is real life!”

“Yeah, and Daring Do novels are based on actual events, so there’s that.”

“That’s not-! Wait, what?”

But before they could go on, a magical bubble suddenly traps them. “What the HAY!?”

“Good grief!”

“Now what?”

“Crap,” Lighting cursed.

“Not again,” Marz groaned as their captures, some Unicorn mercs, showed themselves.

“What do we have here?” one of the mercs, a Minotaur, asked in a mocking tone. He was dressed differently from the others, having purple body paint on his face and arms. “Some foals who wandered too far from home?”

The small group just glared at him in response. “Call me Venom, and as long as you don’t tell anyone about what’s going on here, then you’re free to go. How’s that sound?”

“Not good.”

“No thanks.”

“Not a chance.”

“No thank you.”

“No please.”

“Nnnope.”

“Not a chance!”

“No.”

“No way.”

Venom let out a sigh. “Have it your way,” he said. “Looks like you’ll be with us for a little bit. So, let me lay down some ground rules. 1) Don’t pull any funny tricks. 2) Only speak when one of us speaks to one of you. And 3) Don’t cause any trouble. Got it?”

He turned to leave, heading towards the palace, when Lightning spoke up. “Why’re you here? And how did you get those guns?” he asked.

Venom, without stopping, replied. “You’re breaking rule number 2.”

“Why. Are. You here?”

Shaking his head, Venom glared at the blue pegasus. “A rule breaker, huh? Hmph! The only thing you need to know is that we were hired to find this old ledge. And that’s all I’m gonna tell you. Got it?” Lightning just glared at Venom. “Now stop asking questions when you’re in no position to ask!”

“Would you answer if I asked then?”

“Huh?”

An explosion rang out in the center of the mercenaries. The Unicorns who were keeping the group trapped lost their focus, causing the bubble to disappear. As soon as it did, Starswirl and Stella teleported the group away. They reappeared at fountain in front of the palace.

“Ow! What happened?” Autumn groaned as she got up.

“I happened,” a voice called from the buildings above them. Looking up, they saw Ian standing there. He was carrying a long metal tube gun, similar to the one Lightning used that fired that teardrop snapped rocket back during the Battle of Canterlot.

He discarded that gun and jumped down to the group. “We have got to stop meeting like this,” he said as he walked up to the.

“Yeah. We need to.”

“Incoming!”

The entire group looked at where Thunder Clap was pointing and gasped, except for Ian. A hulking Minotaur was charging toward them at full speed. Everypony began to run, but Stella stopped when she realized that one of them wasn’t moving.

“Ian! Get out of the way!”

But Ian calmly stood there as the Minotaur charged. But right when the Minotaur was about to in pail Ian on his horns, Ian squatted down, grabbed one of the Minotaur’s arms, and threw him. With his own speed and size turned against him, the Minotaur flew for a good 10 seconds before hitting one of the buildings, causing it to collapse.

Stella and the others were dumbfounded by what they just saw. But those looks soon disappeared as more mercs surrounded Ian. One merc pulled out a knife and threw it, but Ian ducked and elbowed the merc with his artificial arm, while the knife found itself in the chest of a merc behind Ian.

The blade in his arm extending, Ian slashed the throats of a few other mercs when they tried to jump him.

Another merc tries to stab Ian with a large spear, but Ian grabbed it and then used the merc as a club, swatting away a few others before he flew off. “You gonna be okay?” Stella called out.

“I’ll be fine. Get going!” Ian called back. “If only I had my gun, my blade isn’t going to be enough. If only I had a sword…”

Suddenly the spear began to glow. “What the-?” The spear began to change. In an instant it went from a meter and a half spear to a katana. Ian blinked a few times, wondering if what just happened was his imagination.

He was then reminded of the situation when a Griffin merc tries to stab him with his claws. His reward was his right claw and wing getting cut off in a swift motion. The Griffin screamed in agony as Ian examined the sword. There was a symbol to the hilt, the same symbol that was on the spear’s blade: a musical note, ♪.

“This is certainly unexpected. A shapeshifting weapon?” Ian then smiled. He retracted his arm blade and got into a position to effectively use the katana. “I think I’ll keep it.”

“Oh, c’mon man! I spent six years pay on that Musica Blade!”

“You think he’ll be okay?”

“You saw how he tossed that Minotaur, right? I’m sure he’ll be fine,” Thunder Call said as they entered what’s left of the palace.

“We need to find Venom before he gets the Heart,” said Lightning.

“Over there!” Marz pointed at a large painting of a stylized heart. At the base of the painting was Venom, punching a hole into the painting.

“Stop!”

But it was too late. Venom has already jumped into the hole. “After him!” Lightning commanded, but right when they got near the painting, something bursts out of it.

It landed in front of the group, and they all let out a gasp of shock. It looked a lot like Ian’s Gundam, but it was far smaller, only about 15 feet. There was a strange gun on its right arm, having multiple barrels. Its left had bladed weapon, currently retracted into the arm itself. It also lacked a head.

In the center of the body was Venom, sitting in the cockpit. “Why do you look so surprised?” he asked them. “After all, you never did ask what the Heart of the Everfree is, did ya?” several metal plates slide over Venom. “Let’s take this baby for a test drive,” steam hissing out from some of the joints, the machine took a step.

“A Gundam?! There’s a bucking Gundam here!” Marz screamed.

“That’s not a Gundam,” Stella corrected. “It’s too small. And it doesn’t have a head.”

“Giant robot that has big guns. It’s a Gundam!” a small, red dot appeared on Marz’s chest. “Huh?” several more appeared both on him and the others.

“Oh no.”

“Run!” Stella cried out.

The robot aimed its gun at them as they ran for the exit and fired. Time seemed to slow down for the group as they ran. Everything seemed so slow. The only thing that broke the stillness was their running, and the bullets that flew all around them.

Suddenly the ground near Stella exploded, sending her flying into a wall.

“Stella!” Marz cried. He ran as fast as he could to her.

“Whoa!” Venom gasped. “I love it!” the machine began to advance.

Seeing this, Marz carefully placed the unconscious Stella on his back and followed the others outside. “Is she okay?” Starswirl asked.

“She’s out cold, but okay. Let’s just focus on getting out of here.”

Outside, the mercs stopped attacking Ian when they saw the machine exit the palace. Ian, upon seeing this, let out an exasperated groan. “A Mobile Titan? What’s a Mobile Titan doing here!?”

“Guys!” Venom called from the Mobile Titan. “Take what you can. I’ll deal with them.”

“Them?” Ian then saw that Stella and the others were running from the Mobile Titan. “This is getting old.”

Stella opened her eyes. A sharp pain rocketed through her head as she looked around. Somepony was carrying her. “Wha-? What’s going on?”

A giant sword swinging over her head reminded her of the last few minutes. Buildings sliced apart as she and her savior fell to the ground. “Owww…” Marz groaned as he and Stella got back up.

“Stella! Marz! You two okay?” a concerned Flare as she checked up on them.

“Not for long,” Venom’s machine was only a few feet away. Raising its bladder arm, it was about to slice them in two, when it suddenly exploded. The arm to went limp, pieces of the armor paling off. “What the-!”

Another explosion hit the Mobile Titan, this time in the back. The machine wobbled as it fell to the ground. Ian, dropping the grenade launcher, ran up to the group. “You guys okay?”

“Yeah, barely.”

In the Mobile Titan’s cockpit, Venom was reading messages about the damaged the machine took. Damnit, Big Boss is gonna cut my pay if this thing takes any more damage.

“Boss!” one of his subordinates said over the radio. “We’re ready when you are.”

Venom smiled. Looks like it won’t be that big of a cut after all. “Sorry kiddies,” he said as the Mobile Titan stood back up. “I’d love to play a little longer, but I gotta go. See ya!” the Mobile Titan turned around and began to run.

“Hey! Get back here you-!”

Explosions suddenly ranged out throughout Thicket, shutting Lightning up. Acting quickly, Stella and Starswirl teleported the group to the forest. Hearing more explosions, the group saw the Thicker be destroyed.

“Is everypony okay?”

“Yeah, somehow.”

“I’m okay, mostly.”

“Still standing.”

“Yeah.”

“Still in one piece.”

“I’m good.”

“Never want to do that again.”

“Yep.”

“Do you… think there are any deer who made it?” Autumn asked. No one answered.

Lightning slumped to the ground, his head low. “C’mon guys,” Ian said as he began to walk back to town. “We need to see if Rainbow Dash is awake yet.”

Lightning eyes lit up upon hearing that. “You mean… She’s not dead!” tears of joy began to form in Lightning’s eyes. But they didn’t get a chance to stream down his face when Ian glared at him.

His friends all took pity on Lightning as they began to leave. Eventually, Lightning was the last to head back home.

In one of Ponyville Hospital’s wards, Rainbow Dash’s friends and family had gathered. Some of her Wonderbolts colleagues were there as well. It had been a few hours since Rainbow’s surgery, and while she had survived that the doctors weren’t sure when she’ll wake up again.

As the rays of the sun began to shine through the window, a soft moan was heard. Everypony in the room quickly turned to Rainbow Dash as her eyes began to open. “Aunt Rainbow’s awake!” Fire Agate practically had said that at full volume.

“I’ll go get the doctor,” said Spike as he left.

His absence wasn’t noticed as Rainbow’s friends began to gather around her, tears running down their faces. “Hey…” she said in a weak voice.

“Oh, thank Celestia! You’re okay,” said Gilda as she held her hoof.

“Mom?”

All eyes turned towards the door. Standing there was a dirty, beat up Lightning Bolt. “Lightning?! Where were you? We’ve been worried sick about- What happened you?!”

“I…” Lightning hesitated. He wasn’t sure how he should proceed. “I want a few minutes alone with mom.”

Gilda, though she still wanted to know where he was, simply nodded. She left the room, with the others following behind. After a few moments, Lightning walked up to the bed and laid his head on Rainbow. He then started doing something that Rainbow hadn't seen him do since he was a little foal. He started to cry.

“It’s all my fault…” he mumbled. “I was playing around with Ian’s gun when it went off… I’m so, so, SO sorry…”

He began to cry again, when he felt someone put a wing on him. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by purple feathers. It was Princess Twilight. “Come on, let’s go. She needs rest. We’ll talk about what happened later.”

Lightning nodded in understanding. “Just know this, kid…” said Rainbow. “…You’re going to be in so much trouble when I get out…”

“I know,” Lightning smiled as tears streamed down his face. He then left with Princess Twilight while Rainbow went back to sleep.

Chapter 8: Different Views

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A small tear ran down Celestia’s cheek. She should’ve known something was wrong in the Thicket when King Aspen stopped sending her letters, but after the Battle of Canterlot, she had assumed that he stopped so she would have one less thing to worry about. Now it was painfully obvious that it was because someone had attacked his kingdom.

She and the guards that accompanied her surveyed the once glorious kingdom. It was dead quiet, the only noise a stale, dank wind. The air was bogged down by the horrific stench of decaying flesh. The guards would occasionally find a deer who was still alive, but they were so traumatized by the ordeal that most of them couldn’t speak. And they were the lucky ones.

Based on what they had learned from the survivals who were able to corporate, the attackers arrived about five days earlier. It happened so fast that they were unable to fight back. It was a massacre. The attackers used strange, magic weapons to fight. And based on how these weapons were described, they were likely the same weapons used by the Changelings during the Battle of Canterlot.

As they found more survivors, she had learned that King Aspen, as well as his family, had all perished. Aspen’s grandson was the last to die, the invaders asking him about some treasure called the Heart of the Everfree. Due to being so young, it wasn’t long till he told them where the Heart was. Once he did, they disposed of him.

Celestia had heard of the Heart of the Everfree before, Aspen having mentioned it after the Well-To-Do incident, worried that the Minotaur would’ve discover it had he not been stoped. She asked what the Heart was, but he refused to tell, saying it was far too dangerous for anyone to know. Celestia complied. She had always assumed it was something similar to the Crystal Empire’s Crystal Heart. She had never imagined it was a machine similar to Ian’s Gundam. Ian had told her that it was actually a Mobile Titan; machines that, while similar to Mobile Suits like the Gundam, were far smaller and were primarily used for industrial use, with only a few used for combat.

However it got here, it was now in the hooves of a dangerous group. She had already sent her best guards to investigate this group and it’s apparent leader, this Venom. It may take some time, but they’ll find him. A guard then ran up to her. “Princess Celestia,” he said with a salute. “We’ve finished scouting the Thicket. There are only about 100 survivors. The pegasus guards are already taking them to Canterlot for treatment. What should we do next?”

Celestia took in the surroundings one more time. This once great city was no more. When the deer eventually recovered, they would have nothing to return to. Just ruins. It wasn’t because it be difficult to restore (Discord could easily do it with a snap of his claws). It was because everything they knew, everyone they loved, was gone.

With a sigh, Celestia turned to the guard. “Let’s go home. I have a sick friend to visit.”

“How are you feeling, Dash?” Gilda asked.

“Been better…” Rainbow answered in a weak voice. “When do I get out again…?”

“Two weeks,” she deadpanned. “After that, the doc doesn’t want you to even think about flying for at least 3 months.”

“Great…” Rainbow groaned. “So much for overseeing the Best Young Fliers competition this year…”

“Don’t worry. Spitfire said that she’ll take your place this year.”

“Excuse me, Mrs. Gilda?” said a nurse at the door. “I’m afraid visiting hours are over now, and Mrs. Dash needs her rest.”

“Alright, I’ll leave in a bit.”

The nurse nodded and closed the door.

“So… how are Lighting and Galah taking all of this?”

Gilda sighed. She was hoping Rainbow would’t ask that question yet. “They’re… Taking this better than I had expected. Galah says she’s okay, but I hear her crying in her room each night. As for Lightning… He decided it was time for him to move out.”

“Move out?”

“Yeah. He’s taking this really hard. I can’t exactly blame him. He’s going to move in with Topaz, feeling so we can still see him. But I’m not sure he’ll want to see us.”

Rainbow turned away from Gilda when she said that. “There’s no reason for him to move out. I already forgiven him.”

“But he hasn’t forgiven himself.”

The two quickly turned to the door. There stood Princess Celestia, a small smile adorned on her face.

“Princess Celestia!” they exclaimed. Gilda bowed down right away, while Rainbow tried to salute the princess, only for pain to rocket through her body.

“Please, relax. I am only here to visit a sick friend,” Celestia quietly trotted into the room and sat down next to Rainbow’s bed. “So… how are you feeling, Rainbow Dash?”

“Ugh… That’s been a popular question lately.”

A little while latter…

“Perhaps you had best explain this to me in the simplest terms you can manage,” Luna took a sip from the tea Twilight had provided upon her arrival, before setting it down on the table. “I may have grasped the many new ideas that appeared during my thousand years of absence, but I’m still having a hard time believing something so small could injure Dame Rainbow Dash to such an extent.”

“We’ll do what we can, Luna,” Twilight trotted up to the chalkboard, on which she and Sunset Shimmer had written a number of equations and diagrams earlier. “Let’s begin with Ian’s weapon, his gun, or more accurately the ammunition. Rusty Gear’s expertise with machinery and science was very helpful, so I’ll let him explain the basics.”

“Thank you, Princess,” Rusty cleared his throat. “Princesses, it is a common misconception in most ponies' minds that the purpose of an arrow-” he sketched out an arrow on the board to serve as an example, “[/color=#875445]-is to put holes in things. While that's part of the damage an arrow does, the primary purpose… is to induce blunt-force trauma to the vital systems of its target through impact,” he lowered the arrow again. “Simply put, it's a really weird-shaped club that's designed to hit the inside of something instead of the outside.”

Sunset then took over. “To get really technical, an arrow is a kinetic weapon that uses speed and weight to deliver force on impact. So the faster and heavier the arrow is, the greater the force it delivers.”

“Right. We ponies tend to use either regular longbows, best fired by either Unicorns with their magic or stationary Earth Ponies with their strength, or short bows more commonly used by Pegasi in flight,” now Rusty lifted up a small, black-wooden weapon. “And the Griffins, who have talons that can grip things and who can all fly, prefer to use small crossbows. They tend to use only a single shot to incapacitate a target before closing in with melee weapons. Minotaurs took this a step further. When I visited the Minotaur Islands a few years ago, I saw that some of their soldiers carry either huge ballistae or ship cannons.”

“Ah, yes, I remember something like that,” Luna said quietly. “During a diplomatic trip I recently took, I did see a Minotaur carry two cannons, one under each of her arms. She had devised some complex mechanism to light both fuses at once. While I never saw her fire them, I can imagine that few enemies foolish enough to draw her attention would survive.”

Celestia nodded. “And this ties in with Ian’s weapon?” she asked.

“That’s right. Like I said, kinetic weapons use speed and weight,” Sunset levitated the lead slug off the table. “The various species of Equus have always had to make a tradeoff between the two when it came to non-magical ranged weapons, and the trouble was always speed. It was difficult to propel anything lightweight fast enough to do considerable damage, and added weight made ammunition unwieldy and inaccurate,” she raised the lead slug up so that everypony could have a close look at it. “But the humans in the other Equestria and the civilization Ian came from have come up with a solution.”

“And this is where I’m still confused,” said Luna. “It is merely a simple piece of metal. It is barely the size of a crossbow bolt's head, and lacks the shaft. How could such a thing be harmful?”

“Like I said, Luna… it's all speed and weight,” Sunset levitated the slug to Rusty.

“This piece of lead is barely eleven grams in weight, only slightly heavier than a common arrowhead. However, during her last trip to Griffonstone, Princess Twilight observed that the Griffins have developed something similar during the last 10 years,” Rusty began to draw two diagrams on the board. One was rather long, while the other was far shorter. Ian’s name was written next to the shorter one. “Both the humans and Griffins have found a to propel these little metal slugs extremely fast.”

An uncomfortable expression crossed Celestia's face. “Exactly how fast do you mean?”

“I had to do a number of guesstimates for the Griffin firearms, but Bai told me how fast Ian’s gun fires these slugs,” Rusty frowned slightly. “The Griffin’s muskets, as they call them, can fire these slugs at about three-hundred to five-hundred feet per second, while Ian’s weapon can fire well over eight-hundred feet per second.”

thunk

Luna's tea cup hit the table, spilling the small amount of liquid left inside. Nopony at the table really noticed. “That… that cannot be possible,” she said. “Such a weapon… it would kill so easily, so horribly. What sort of magicks are harnessed to do such harm?”

Twilight shook her head. “No magic. Based on everything Ian and Bai told us, as well as what we learned from studying the Alicorn, absolutely nothing about their technology has the slightest bit of magic,” Twilight lifted something else from the table. It was a small, yellow cylinder with a pointed, orange tip. She spun the cylinder around so that the tip faced the Princesses. “Ian described to me how these bullets, as they’re called, work.”

Grasping the chalk with her magic, Twilight began to draw arrows at various points on the drawing of Ian’s gun as she explained. “When you pull the trigger of a gun, a spring mechanism hammers a metal firing pin into the back end of the bullet, igniting the small explosive charge in the primer. The primer then ignites the propellant, something called black powder, causing a miniature explosion with propels the metal slug out of the barrel.”

“Luckily, the Griffins muskets are simpler,” Sunset took the chalk from Twilight and began to do the same. “Instead of a cylinder, the Griffins place the black powder in the barrel, followed by a small lead ball. And while their muskets do have a spring mechanism, it’s more like that of a crossbow and instead of a firing tip, they use a lit fuse to ignite the black powder.”

“And, uh… what exactly is this… black powder made of?” Luna nervously asked.

“Unfortunately, the ingredients are not that difficult to find,” said Rusty with a frown. “The first ingredient can be found in any campfire: charcoal. The second can either be found in caves or be made by, ugh, soaking feces in urine: saltpeter. The last ingredient would be a little more difficult, but is still common: sulfur, which can be found near any volcano.”

Celestia gave the chalkboard a long look, processing everything they had said. “So then we have bad news and good news,” she said quietly. “The bad news… is that no armor we have ever devised could hope to stop these slugs at their full speed. I doubt even the most advance shielding spells would be able to handle these slugs for very long. The good news is that we may be able to recreate these weapon should the need arise. Luna, we may need to start up an enchantment protocol again.”

“We could not, sister! We are forbidden from doing such by treaties that both you and I have crafted and signed.”

“Those treaties might need to be renegotiated if we cannot find Chrysalis, Tirek, and those who attack Thicket. I will not let anyone else die because our Guard is defenseless to these weapons,” Celestia replied.

Luna considered this for a moment. As long as these weapons exist, then all of Equestria was in danger. The Changelings nearly conquered Equestria because of these weapons, with the only reason they hadn’t succeeded was because of Ian and the Alicorn.

And what happened to Rainbow Dash… If a single, unlucky shot from Ian’s gun could cause such damage, what could a well aimed shot form one of the Alicorn’s guns do? She shook her head, not wanting to find out. “Very well. When we return to Canterlot, I’ll send out letters to our allies.”

“It may be best to inform them of Ian and what has happened. Has news of the Battle of Canterlot reach any of them yet?”

“Not yet, but it’s only a matter of time before it does,” said Twilight. “I’m actually worried about how King Scorpan of Tambelon is going to react when he finds out Tirek escaped again.”

“I… suppose we’ll have to find out, won’t we?”

The rest of the meeting unfortunately wasn't quite so informative. Apart from identifying the engines as the source of Ether, everything else about the Alicorn was so complex that there was no possible way for them to replicate any of it. Then the meeting’s focus turned to the group who attack Thicket. They somehow gained weapons similar to Ian’s, and there was apparently more hidden in King Aspen’s castle.

“Have you been able to deduce where Venom and his group are?”

Sunset shook her head. “I’m afraid not. The Guards haven’t found any leads, and Venom hasn’t been sighted in any of the towns that border the Everfree Forest. They might be in the forest still, or they found a way to leave it unseen. I’m not sure. What worries me is that they steal this ‘Mobile Titan’ and Faust knows what else.”

Celestia hung her head low. The fact that such a dangerous weapon was in the hooves of a group willing to kill for bits was a horrifying thought. She could only pray that they weren’t using the Mobile Titan right now.

Venom was anxious. The few hours since the Gundam Pilot interfered had been a little too tense for him. He and the other mercs were using the Castle of the Two Sisters as a makeshift hideout. It was perfect as it was in the middle pf the Everfree Forest, and few ponies dared to venture this far in. And while some guards had come by earlier that day, they were a little too anxious being in the Everfree Forest, so they left as soon as they could.

It made hiding from them all the more easier, since Royal Guards these days weren’t exactly known to be as great as they use to be. But that wasn’t the reason Venom was anxious. He had lost a few of his comrades that day. They will be difficult to replace, and their families will be devastated.

But there was another reason. Venom was currently speaking to his employer, someone only a few of his subordinates know of: Big Boss. Venom had contacted him as soon as they returned to their hideout, and considering how cold he is, Venom had every right to be worried.

“I am impressed, Venom,” Big Boss said. The single white line on the black screen vibrated as he spoke, his voice distorted beyond all recognition. “Not only have you managed to recover the Heart of the Everfree, but you’ve even managed to eliminate nearly the entire deer population of the Everfree Forest. And while the Mobile Titan you’ve recovered was damaged, it is mitigated by the other assets you’ve obtained.”

“With all due respect, the assets we acquired came at a high cost. I lost a good number of comrades out there. We were lucky to have retrieve their bodies before the Princess showed up.”

“Such as life, Venom.”

Venom growled at the blank screen. If there was one thing he disliked about his boss, it was his nonexistent regard for the well beings of others.

“But their deaths were partially their own fault,” Big Boss continued. “I had specifically ordered your unit to not engage the Gundam pilot if he were to appear.”

“I did tell ya, didn’t I?”

Venom just simply glared at the one who spoke: An arms dealer called Arcadi. He was currently in the shadows, his outline the only indicator of his presence.

Pop!

And his strange drink that comes in cans.
 “Even without ‘em, Gundam pilots are some badass motherfuckers.”

Venom merely glared as the arms dealer as he took a sip from the can.

“Since they’re trained to fight big groups either on their own or as a team, it’s not that surprising he took them down so easy. And how many of you actually used the guns I sold you?”

“…”

“That’s what I thought,” he tossed the can aside, having finished it. “*burp* You weren’t use to the guns, and he had the best training imaginable. I’m just surprised that it took him that long is all.”

“Enough chit chat,” said Big Boss.

“Right. Let’s get back to business.”

“You said that the right people will pay top dollar for a combat ready Mobile Titan, correct? What is your offer for it?”

Arcadi stepped out of the shadows, his white suit blinding Venom somewhat. “I’ll give you some new armor and guns, as well as a few high-frequency blades and grenades for good measure. And since it’s an antique, I’ll even give you some VR Training systems. Sound good?”

“Do you have those assets on hand?”

“Of course.”

“Then we have a deal.”

Smiling, Arcadi pulled out a flat device from his suit. It produced a holographic screen with several buttons. Arcadi pressed a few, and the doors to his vehicle opened. The vehicle was at least 20 feet long, sitting on at least 10 wheels. “Everything is in the back.” Arcadi said as the back door lowered.

Venom gestured at two Unicorns nearby. Nodding, they trotted up to the vehicle and, using their magic, lifted some crates out and placed them in the center of the old courtyard. Meanwhile, two Earth Ponies dragged the Mobile Titan on a wagon to Arcadi’s vehicle.

Taking a moment, Venom tore the lid off of one of the boxes, showing a strange device with a headset of some sort. “Is this the VR Trainer you talked about?”

“That’s right,” said Arcadi as he popped another can of his strange drink.

“What’s the big deal with VR Trainer?”

“Simple: safety,” Arcadi took a sip form his drink before continuing. “*burp* A virtual reality simulation enables someone to do anything they can without the risk of death or serious injury. For example, a solider can re-enact any particular scenario, from engagement with an enemy to simple deployments, in any environment without the real world risks.”

“So its like a game.”

“In a way.”

The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. The weapons were passed out to the remaining mercenaries, the VR Trainer was tested, and the Mobile Titan was ready to go.

“I’ll have ta be going now. I have a meeting with a Stalwart Steel tonight,” Arcadi tossed his latest can as he climbed the front of his vehicle. Opening a hatch, he slide in before turning to Venom. “If you need me, holler,” at that, he fell in and closed the hatch.

The engine revving, the vehicle drove out of the courtyard, the Mobile Titan towing behind in. Then it literally disappeared from sight. “Hmph. Humans sure can be strange.”

Ian took a bit. In an instant he was in heaven. A big smile appeared on his face as he ate. After two hours, he was finally enjoying some nice, soft, warm, bread.

“You really do like bread, don’t you?”

Ian took another bit.

“You’re not listening to me anymore, are you?”

Swallowing, Ian took another bit. Soon the loaf of bread he baked was gone. Without saying a word, Ian took another loaf from the table and began to eat.

With an amused smile, Metal Gear tore a piece off of the third and last loaf and ate it. “Mmm… Not bad. I’m surprised you can bake.”

No answer.

Metal shook his head and decided to wait until Ian was done.

“Oh my. He certainly enjoys simple bread.”

On instinct, Metal Gear sprang up from the table and saluted his Princess. “Princess Luna. I didn’t hear you come in.”

The Lunar Princess gave a soft chuckle. “Calm yourself, Lieutenant. I am very here to visit,” Luna took a seat across the dinning room table. “I assume that he’s not aware that I’m here, correct?”

“Seems that way. We’ll give him a few minutes.”

They didn’t have to wait long. Ian grabbed hold of the last loaf and it was gone within a four minutes.

“Afternoon, Princess,” he said without batting an eye at her.

“Afternoon.”

“Hold on, you knew she was here?”

“I was eating, not deaf.”

“Yes, well I was visiting Princesses Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer, and I have some time so I thought I see how you were adjusting.”

“All in all it’s been fine. The town is nice and peaceful, for the most part. I’m almost sad that I’ll be leaving.”

Luna nodded. Ponyville was a nice little- Then she resisted what else Ian had said. “You… plan to leave?”

“Yep,” Ian replied. “We’ll be gone within a few days.”

“Why do you want to leave?” Luna asked. “After everything you did for Canterlot, and Stella Nova and her friends, and-”

“Princess,” Ian interrupted. “The only reason I fought those Changelings and went into that forest to help Stella and the others… Is because I made a promise to someone, someone who was dear to me, that I do what I can to help anyone who can’t help themselves. It’s a promise that I will not break…” Ian’s voice began to crack up as he mentioned this promise.

Realizing that she may have touched upon a very uncomfortable subject, Luna relented. “We’ll understand that you wish to leave,” she said. “Many within Ponyville will surely miss you, and there are many in Canterlot who would like to repay you for what you did-”

“And there’s probably a few who would like to lock me up.”

“-But we would like for you to stay for a little while longer.”

“I’m not sure everyone shares your high opinion of me.”

As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Ever since news about Ian had gotten out to the general public, they have been… divided about it. Celestia had left earlier that day to attend a court session about the matter. They were always audacious. Before they were usually about some nobles trying to grab more power, or some activist calling for woefully unnecessary regulations, or some other nonsense. Now they had to deal with scared mayors demanding arrest warrants.

Half the populace was up in a panic, and nothing she or the other Princesses tried was helping much. Celestia had tried making public statements and rebutted the detractors, but nothing seemed to work. Some Equestrians just couldn't let go of what they'd seen or read about and simply refused to stop running scared. Seems like even in a world of magic, chaos deities, and hybrid creations; Equestria didn't always have a good weirdness filter.

And the worst part was that some of them had presented valid points. Ian is very capable of taking a life, and he does have access to an incredibly dangerous weapon. And there was no way to keep Rainbow Dash’s recent brush with death a secret forever, despite how much effort Twilight made to keep quiet about the cause of Rainbow’s injury. As for what happened in Thicket… well, dragons weren’t known for subtlety.

Luna knew firsthoof just how paranoid the Ponies can be. It took her nearly a year and a holiday just to assure everypony that Nightmare Moon was gone, and even now many are still weary of her. And she read about the Lunar Society, a group of fanatics who rose up after she was banished to the moon. They spread propaganda about Celestia, saying she intently banished Nightmare Moon just to seize more power.

That’s when Luna realized something. Both she and Celestia were in the same boat Ian was in at one point, and they both overcame it by showing the populace who they really were. “Perhaps there is a way to change their opinion.”

Ian raised an eyebrow at that. “Really? How do you plan to do that?”

“I won't. You will,” she said. “If we orchestrated some sort of event, say a press conference, then that’ll give the little ponies a chance to see the real you.”

“Press conference, huh? Alright,” he said with a shrug. “When should it take place?”

Luna thought for a moment. “Perhaps next week. That will give use plenty of time to prepare.”

“Excuse me for interrupting, but what are we gonna do in the mean time? I doubt Ian and I can handle Princess Twilight’s and Princess Sunset’s enthusiasm for an entire week.” Metal Gear asked.

“Hmmm… Perhaps you could study Fenrir.”

“Fenrir?”

“Oh, you mean that Mobile Drone that attacked you. That’s a good idea. Bai may be able to find out where it came from and who sent it.”

“Very well. I’ll have my guards drop off Fenrir later today.”

“Is this everything?” Bai asked two Night Guards. These two had, as Princess Luna promised, delivered Fenrir’s body to Ponyville for study.

“Yes, this is all of it.”

“Alright, place it on the table,” the two bat ponies lifted the remains, placing them on an open table as requested. “Good, you dismiss now.”

With a salute, the two guards flew off. When they did, Rusty immediately took a magnifying glass and began to examine the remains, sketching everything about it.

“He couldn’t have waited until after I run a diagnostic check?” Bai mumbled.

“He’s just very enthusiastic,” said Metal.

As Rusty took notes, Ian prayed open a hatch on Fenrir’s head. “All right Bai, you’re up.”

“Gotcha,” Bai jumped up onto the table. A hatch opened on Bai’s back, Ian pulled out a cord and plugged it into a port in Fenrir’s head.

“Well? Can you get any info?”

“Well its memory banks are still intact. But I’m not sure that I’ll find anything worthwhile. This thing is seriously fucked. And that’s not even counting just how encrypted the data is, or the seriously advance firewall blocking me. I can get us some info, but it’ll take time.”

“How long will it take?”

“Hard to say. Could be anywhere from four hours to ten days.”

“Ten days!?”

“Yeah. It’s going to be a long week. You guys have any movies we could watch in the meantime?”

Like that, a week had passed by. A very long, and boring week. Ian spent the time by doing mock battles in the Alicorn’s cockpit. Usually he did five mock battles a day, occasionally three more if he felt board. When the day of the press conference finally came, Ian jumped out of the castle the first chance he got.

Bai, for his part, had a very busy week. He made great progress, having took down the firewall within 12 hours, but the decryption process was a little more difficult. He was only 75% done when they had to leave for the press conference. Reluctantly, Bai went with Ian to Canterlot, Metal Gear accompanying them.

The train ride was rather uneventful, despite the fact that Princess Twilight, her husband Flash Sentry, and Princess Sunset were in the same car as them, their daughters sitting in the seats across from Ian’s

As the train came to a halt at Canterlot Station, as they exited the empty car they were greeted Princess Celestia and some guards. “Hello Twilight. Hello Sunset.”

“Princess Celestia?”

“We weren’t expecting you to be waiting for us? And why an escort?”

“It’s… a tad complicated,” she said, a well hidden but still visible nervous look on her face. “You’ll understand once we arrive.”

A few minutes of walking did little to discourage that somewhat visible nervous look on Celestia’s face, something that had gone unnoticed by Twilight and Sunset. Since they’re going to learn why Celestia was nervous soon, they decided to remain quiet about it.

It wasn’t long until they reached the castle’s grounds. Near the entrance, several ponies of the Crystal Guard were waiting, along with the Crystal Empire’s royal family.

“Hello, Twilight!” Cadence called out.

“Cadance!” Twilight ran forward with a huge grin on her face.

The pink alicorn moved forward to meet her halfway, and together, the old friends danced in place as they recited their foalhood chant.

“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” The two of them completed the dance by shaking their posteriors at each other and in no time at all were laughing like a couple of schoolfillies.

“…What the fuck did we just witness?” Bai asked.

“STELLA! FLARE!” a pegasus mare suddenly shouted.

“Hi Hope, it’s really great to see you- GAHACK!!!”

Flare and her sister were suddenly bowled over by the Pegasus mare, the three of them tumbled about for a bit before stopping. “Oh, I missed you guys! It’s been way too long.”

“Hope, it’s only been a week and a half!”

“It felt like five months to me.”

Ian gave the cousins a bemused look. “Good to see you again, mister Ian,” said Princess Cadence.

“Huh- Oh! Right. Hello.”

“Yo! Empress Cadence.”

Cadance’s face flattered and her eyelids dropped. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out she was doing her best to hold in a grumble, which earned a few snickers from a few of the ponies present, her family among them.

“Princess!” she insisted.

“I refuse to call you that.”

Cadence could only groan in annoyance in response. “Don’t worry, mom,” her oldest child, Princess Flurry Heart, said as she placed a hoof on her shoulder. “You’ll only have to deal with him for a day.”

“Where’s uncle Shining Armor?” Stella asked.

“He went ahead to try and deal with a… complication.”

“Complication?

“Let’s just say that some ponies do not like the idea of Ian being within castle grounds.”

Ian, overhearing this, early scoffed at the news. “For some reason I’m not-” suddenly, Stella and Flare’s cousin appeared right next to him. Ian nearly jumped out of his skin when she appeared. “Uh, hi?”

“Hi! We haven’t officially meet. I’m Princess Mi Querida Esperanza. Just call me Hope,” she happily greeted. “I wanted to thank you for saving Canterlot, so I brought you some crystal berries. I hope you like ‘em,” she added while she held out a small basket of.

Ian, for his part, simply stared confusingly at the bubbly mare. “Uh… thanks…” he said as he took the basket of crystal… berries.

“Awesome!” Hope exclaimed. “C’mon! Let’s go!” at that she began to head towards the palace at full speed.

“Sorry about her,” said Princess Cadence as the small group headed for the castle.

But Ian didn’t hear. There was only one thing on his mind at that point. “You noticed too?”

Ian nodded. “Yeah… Hope’s voice… It sounded a lot like Sarah’s.”

“So how is everything going, Twilight?” Cadence asked as they neared the castle’s conference room.

Twilight beamed, knowing right away what Cadence was referring to. “It’s been amazing! Aside from a couple of mishaps, our study of the Alicorn has been going along smoothly. Oh, just imagining the technology and inner workings that make the Alicorn possible is mindbogglingly. And we’ve only scratched the surface!” she said with glee.

Cadence could only giggle at her sister-in-law’s enthusiasm. “How much have you figured out?”

“That’s the thing: I’m not even sure how the Alicorn could even move! I’m almost ready to get down on all four knees and beg Ian to explain it to us. I just feel like we’re on the cusp of understanding some amazing things here, and-”

A muffled shout up ahead caught their attention. “What the hay was that?”

“Oh no.”

Celestia broke into a canter, the other Princesses close behind, approaching the conference room where they were to meet up with Ian- to find Shining Armor, Princess Luna, Prince Kujira, Prince Enigma, Princess Aria, Princess Elatha, and a pair of guards inside, facing a number of nobles near the doors. Everyone looked angry, Luna most of all. “Celly! Thank Faust you're here,” the Lunar Princess said. “You aren't going to believe this.”

“When we asked for the attention of the Princesses, we were hoping that those two wouldn’t be with them,” someone in the group of nobles murmured, pointing toward Twilight and Sunset.

“Okay, everypony, please settle down,” Sunset called out, ignoring the comment earlier.

“Shiny, what’s going on?”

Shining gave the group a glance. “Duke Silver Star and his… associates apparently learned that Ian would be appearing today and are making demands that he be shackled for however long he'll be within castle grounds.”

Twilight turned to the Duke, who was looking at her with a weird mix of disdain and predatory opportunism. “I had hoped to bring my case only to Princess Celestia, but I suppose this will do,” he said. “The problem is that a dangerous animal who has already made one attempt to destroy our fine city will be here within the castle today! And everypony seems absolutely intent on letting it roam around unrestrained!”

“Now, Duke Silver Star, see here-”

“I will say my piece, thank you!” Silver Star snapped. Twilight barely repressed a snarl, and out of the corner of her eye she saw Flash take a half-step forward before composing himself. “This is an effrontery which I cannot allow to stand,” the Duke continued. “If the safety and security of this nation's nobility are not a priority to its ‘stalwart defenders,’ then we will take matters into our own hooves.”

Twilight's expression hardened. “And just what do you mean by that?”

“The choice is simple, Princess Twilight. Either that beast will be shackled the entire time it is within the castle grounds, or my associates here and I will petition Parliament to have it forcibly confined to its room within your castle until it is deemed safe by a third party to be selected through jointly chosen committee.”

As the nobles and royal family began to argue, Stella nervously glanced over to Ian- only to see him lazily eat the crystal berries Hope had given him

“So how are those crystal berries?”

“Kinda reminds me of rock candy… only more fruity.”

“What the- You’re not worried about being locked up!?”

“Do you really think I care what a bunch of pricks think of me?” he asked.

“Well, no, but still-”

Suddenly a disembodied zipper appeared in the air behind them. As it unzipped, Discord clawed his way out. “Hope I hadn’t miss anything exciting,” then Discord saw the argument between the nobles and royal family. “Great, I was hoping to make some nobles lives miserable today.”

“Discord? I thought you were still resting?”

“Ah yes, I am. But when I heard our new friend here was going to appear today, I decided to attend, see what kind of chaos he’ll brew.”

“Great, just what we need. The psychotic Frankenstein that can tear open holes in reality.”

“Oh-ho, I like him!”

“Uh, should we try to stop them?” Stella asked, pointing toward the argument.

“How? I don’t think they’ll listen to anyone at this point.”

“I got an idea.”

“You do?”

“Bai, remember when you first meet Lance?”

“Oh yeah- Oh yeah!” Bai began to laugh a little. “This is gonna be good.”

At that, Ian and Bai went over to the argument. “What do you think they’re planning?”

“I don’t know, but I am going to enjoy it,” Discord said as he took a bite out of his soda can and a sip form his popcorn.

Twilight was obviously doing her best to pull off Celestia's brand of calm neutrality, but some cracks were showing. “Now see here, Duke Silver Star. You are being entirely unreasonable about this entire situation! Ian has been absolutely compliant and docile throughout his stay at Ponyville!”

“With all due respect, Princess Twilight, your track record for judging threats is somewhat less than stellar,” the stallion practically dripped sarcasm. “The conditions are non-negotiable. One way or another, that beast will be secured and rendered a non-threat.”

“Don’t I get a say in this?”

The nobles and royal family practically jumped out of their skin. They were so busy arguing that they failed to notice Ian walk right up near them. “Ian?!”

“You see?!” Silver Star practically screeched. “The beast was lying in wait. It was going to cut off one of our heads when it got the chance.”

Ian’s only response was eating a crystal berry.

Celestia shook her head in disapproval. “Duke Silver Star, if you and the other nobles were to stay calm for a moment an-”

“Princess Celestia, with all due respect, we nobles will only be calm once that beast,” he pointed toward Ian, “and it’s weapon,” he then pointed toward Bai, “are locked up right away.”

“Yeah, this might be a bad time to tell you that I’m actually a bomb.”

“I don’t- Wait, it can talk?!”

“Oh, come on! How is a talking bomb the weirdest thing you’ve seen?”

“I’d be careful if I were you,” Ian said to the nobles. “Bai is… a little unstable. If you piss him off he could destroy the entire mountain.”

The nobles were beginning to back up a little. Some of them talked amongst themselves about the situation before Duke Silver Star turned to Princess Celestia.

“Princess Celestia, we demand that you lock up the beast before-!”

“KABOOM!!”

The nobles all at ounce tried to run. But instead of their usual grace they were a mess. Some of them tripped and were run over, while others simply fainted. And others still ran right into a wall, some getting their horns stuck in the walls.

It wasn’t until they heard laughing that they finally realized that Bai hadn’t exploded. They were victims of a prank.

“Hahaha! We’re just messing with you. I’m not really a bomb, I'm a robot. Haha!” Bai laughed.

Ian tried to surpass his laughter, but was failing horribly. “You’ve should’ve seen the looks on your faces.”

Even Princess Celestia was unable to contain a chuckle. Twilight snorted, while the other princesses were having a hard time stifling their laughter. Even the guards were having a difficult time not to laugh, Shining Armor especially. “Hehe, good one.”

“Thanks.”

“Now then,” Celestia looked to the nobles before her, a stern and angry look on her face. “I believe it’s almost time for the conference to begin.”

The stallion before Celestia frowned, raising a hoof to his chest. “Princess Celestia, you cannot be serious! After what that monster did to this nation's nobility-”

“His name is Ian, Duke Silver Star, and his weapon is very precise and deadly, and he is quite skilled in its use. Had he meant to harm any of you when he unintentionally destroyed your properties while he saved Canterlot, I'm inclined to believe none of you would be here right now.”

Each of the nobles were beginning to sweat. Clearly the last thing they want was to anger their Princess, something they’re failing at. “Now then, unless you want Discord there to include you in his upcoming pranks,” each of the nobles all gasped in shock and fear when Celestia pointed over to where Discord was, who waved as he drank some corn cornels, “I suggest you all leave.”

Reluctantly, the nobles began to leave. One by one, they left with their heads down, defeated. Duke Silver Star, after recovering from slackjaw, grumbled as he left.

“What a bunch of pricks,” Bai said, just loud enough so that Silver Star and the few nobles left could hear.

“Alright, now with that over, let’s begin.”

With that, the group entered the conference room. The room itself was sizable, about fifteen meters in any direction for the square shape and a tall ceiling. Windowless, the main light came from a wide skylight covered in barred glass that layered the roof across half of the room. The streams of sunlight glinted off gray marble floor as they walked through the center aisle past the prearranged chairs, roughly half of which were occupied. Being a public inquiry, a wide assortment of Equestrians were present ranging from nobles, elected officials, reporters, and other VIP representatives from across the nation.

Ian recognized a nodding Fancypants in the second to front row. He also saw a lot of different expressions as he passed. Some excited reporters jotting down notes between quickly looking up at him every couple of seconds, an older mare he’d seen a few times in Ponyville giving him a pleasant smile and a nod, more than a couple worried looks from various other members of the crowds, and a few enthusiastic ones who had to be told to stop clapping for a hero’s welcome after a few hoof clacks.

One of the reported trotted up to Princess Celestia, inquiring about the commotion earlier. Celestia simply told him that it was some foals making a fuss.

That’s one way to put it.

Ian gave them slight nod as he got near the front rows. But as he took his seat at the front of the room, one pony caught his eye. A pale blue Unicorn mare in the second aisle from the front. However, it was the expression on her face that caught his attention; there wasn’t one. The only sign of any emotion was her sapphire eyes; they were filled with a distrusting and determined look. There was just something… unnerving about her.

Princess Twilight took center stage just above and to the right of Ian’s spot. She coughed up her breath before tapping her hooves together to call the murmuring to a close and for the guards stationed in the back of the room to close the doors.

“Ahem… We welcome to the committee floor of the City of Canterlot, Ian James O’Connell.”

Ian visibly grimaced upon hearing his full name.

“Thank you for coming.”

“It’s wasn’t a problem, Princess.”

“Yeah, it’s not like we didn’t have anything important to do.”

“Before we begin, there is something I’d like to say…” The solar diarch paused, her eyes sweeping along the silent room to take in each face before speaking.

“Forty five thousand, six hundred seventy, and counting several births at the emergency hospital, two. That’s the population of Canterlot, a city founded a thousand years ago that nearly came into ruin for the fourth time in its history. That population isn’t just a number my little ponies, but the names of every pony, Gryphon, Minotaur, and beyond in both our city’s citizenry and visitors that were here on that fateful day. This human has no connection to Canterlot or Equestria at all, and yet he fought to protect Equestria as if it were his own home on his own free will. I think he has earned more than enough for us to give him real questions. I trust any of those in attendance will respect the names of all present. Canterlot and Equestria have no enemies in this room, we shouldn’t try to make any. Don’t you all agree?”

Fancy Pants, the mare from Ponyville, and the pale blue Unicorn began to lead the crowd in a gradually building, impressed clap. After a bit of applause, Twilight spoke up.

“Now with that done with, let’s begin. Who would like to go first?”

A noblemare raised her hoof, eliciting a nod from Princess Twilight.

“What kind of creature are you, exactly?”

“I’m a human.”

“What sort of things do you eat?”

“I’m an omnivore, but I mostly eat fruit and vegetables.”

The term ‘omnivore’ seemed to struck a cord with some of them. “So you’ve eaten flesh before?” a stallion asked without raising a hoof.

“Uh… not often. When I did it was often just fish and eggs.” Along with the chicken occasionally, but they don’t need to know that.

A stallion in the back then raised a hoof, waving it wildly to get Ian’s attention.

“Yeah?”

“What is that robot you used during the Battle of Canterlot?”

“It’s called a Mobile Suit,” Ian began. “Think of it as a tank that can walk. Mine is the GMS-100 Alicorn Gundam, or Alicorn for short.”

The stallion wrote down notes as Ian talked. “What does the GMS-100 stand for?”

“Gundam-type Mobile Suit, number one-hundred.”

The mare from Ponyville then raised a hoof. “Does that mean there are one-hundred of these mobile suits?”

“No, only that there were 100 Gundam-types. There were plenty other Mobile Suits.”

“Anything else?” Twilight asked. Truth be told, she had some questions of her own. But they would have to wait. The light blue Unicorn raised her hoof next. “Ah, yes. You have a question, Duchess Lapis Lazuli?”

“When was the first time you killed, Mr. O’Connell?” she asked.

“Oh, well… That’s something I’m not going to forget. I think the first time I killed I was around… 10.”

Everyone on the room, Discord included, was shocked.

“Why did you kill?” she continued.

“I did it out of self-defense.”

Lapis nodded before adding. “Just how did you end up frozen in ice?”

Ian sighed. He knew that question was bound to pop up eventually. “It’s a long story. I’m not even sure where to start.”

This is War

by The Avenger

Chapter 0: Discovery (revised)

Chapter 1: Love is in Bloom (revised)

Chapter 2: G-Day (revised)

Chapter 3: The Gundam (revised)

Chapter 4: End of the Beginning

Chapter 5: Aftermath

Chapter 6: Settling In

Chapter 7: Consequences

Chapter 8: Different Views

UPDATE: Important Announcement!

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