> Sins of the Mother
>  by Duffman18
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> Chapter 1
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Author's Note:  This is my first fic and I would appreciate constructive criticism.  If you have any questions just comment or message me and I'll do what I can to answer you.  Enjoy.





Chapter 1

The fire of friendship lives in our hearts
As long as it burns we cannot drift apart
Though quarrels arise their numbers are few
Laughter and singing will see us through 
We are a circle of pony friends, a circle of friends
We'll be to the very end
Twilight smiled as the song once again raced through her mind.  It had been around two weeks since she had played the role of Clover the Clever in the Hearths Warming Eve pageant in Canterlot.  The pageants had been a mainstay of her life ever since she was a filly, but there was something about this one that filled her with a passion she could barely contain.  For the past two weeks she had been embroiled in her latest research project:  an in-depth look at the historical events of the founding.  Obviously, she already knew the story but she wanted to read the reports of the groups who found what had become Equestria, to see history through the eyes of those who had lived it and marvel at the grandeur of it all.  Twilight sighed in wonder at the grand vistas and images that her vast imagination conjured up, allowing herself to be lost in it all.  What came next should be obvious.  
“TWILIGHT!” The purple mare shrieked and jumped almost a foot in the air as the sudden noise broke her rapturous silence.  Her horn lit up with magic as she spun wildly around, trying to identify the source of the noise.  What she discovered was a small purple dragon wearing an exasperated expression standing not 2 feet away from her.  
“Spike,” Twilight groaned as she released her magic, “What have I told you about sneaking up on ponies?”  
Spike just shook his head.  “Twilight, I’ve been calling you for the past five minutes.  It’s almost time for your train to leave.”  
Twilight’s eyes shot open as she glanced over at her clock.  “It’s NOON already?!  Oh no, I’m late!”  She had requested to visit the royal archives in order to further her research and  Princess Celestia had happily approved her request, inviting Twilight to stay with her in the castle so they could discuss her findings at length.  Gathering her saddlebags and some extra ink and parchment, Twilight raced out the door desperate to reach the station on time.  
“Bye Spike, see you in a few days,” she shouted over her shoulder as she bolted out the door and towards the train station.
Hours later, Twilight stood before the great doors of Canterlot's Royal Archives.  Flanking these doors were two of the royal guards, immaculate in their golden armor as they stood rigidly at attention, alert for even the slightest sign of trouble.  At Twilight’s approach, the guards moved to open the doors for her.  As she stepped through the doorway into the archives proper, Twilight could not help but marvel at the grandeur of the archives.  Spotless shelves of polished wood reached up to the ceiling far above, filled with thousands upon thousands of books, scrolls, and papers dating back thousands of years.  Along the side walls were finely crafted windows through which shone shafts of golden sunlight. A large smile spread across Twilight’s face as she strode through the maze of shelves to one of the oldest sections of the archives, her hoof steps guided by the experience of countless past trips to the archives.  Upon reaching the section which contained the oldest historical records in the archives, Twilight lifted a dozen books and scrolls into the air and trotted over to a nearby reading table.  As she carefully lowered her research onto the table, she noticed a pristine white scroll bearing the royal seal.  Curious, Twilight levitated the scroll into the air and undid the seal with her seal with her magic.  
The note read “My faithful student Twilight Sparkle, dinner will be held in my quarters at 6:00 tonight.  I can’t wait to see you there and discuss your findings about this exciting period in our nation’s history.  See you tonight.  P.S.   Please try not to get too lost in your studies.  
Twilight quickly rolled up the scroll, giggling happily even as a slight blush came to her face.  Shaking her head to clear it, she turned to the stack of books and scrolls in front of her with a determined look on her face, ready to delve into the exciting history of Equestria.  She grabbed the book on top of the pile, entitled The Founders of Equestria:  An In-Depth Study of The Founding and Its Leaders, and opened it to the first page quill and ink at the ready to record anything of value. “And so in this time did the founders of Equestria begin their exodus from the lands that had been the homes of the three pony tribes for countless generations. . .” 
“And so did these great figures reach the mid-point of their journey in which they reached an unusual rock formation of surprising size and age. . .”  At reading this, Twilight nudged the book aside and let her head fall against the wooden table.  “Ugh,” she groaned.  “When I started this project I thought it would be exciting and shed a more academic light on that part of history.  I didn’t expect. . . THIS!”  Admittedly, she thought after a moment that was a bit harsh.  There was quite a bit of relevant information put forward in this book, but it was buried in a sea of minutiae and pointless details that only made finding the pertinent facts a time-consuming and almost painful endeavor.  Steeling herself, Twilight prepared to dive back into the old book, catching a glimpse of a nearby clock as she did so.  “Hmm,” she thought to herself.  “5:59. I didn’t think that I’d been reading for that long. . . OH NO!”  Leaping out of her chair, Twilight ran towards the exit, desperate to make it to the princess’s room before she was late.  
As she dashed from the archives, she bumped into one of her precariously balanced piles of books in her haste.  The stack leaned to and fore, the books and papers scattering themselves all over the table.  Near the top of the newly made pile was a scroll yellowed with age that had slid out of the one of the older books in the stack.  Written in large letters across the top of the unfurled scroll was written a strange title:  Of the Scouting and Reclamation of Old Equestria.
Princess Celestia, Regent of the Sun and one of the two rulers of Equestria, waited patiently in her room sipping from a cup of freshly-brewed tea.  One of her ears perked up as she heard the sound of galloping hooves in the distance.  With a smile forming on her face she called out “Guards.”  The two royal guards moved swiftly into the room and stood at attention, “Yes princess?” they asked in unison.  
“Please open up the doors, and then you can consider yourselves off for the night.  “Yes, princess,” they replied, moving to comply with her request.  Just as they left their posts, Twilight barreled into the room at top speed almost running straight into a now standing Princess Celestia.  
“Oh Princess, I’m so sorry I was reading this book and it was kind of boring and I lost track of time and I had to run over here and. . .”  
“Twilight,” Celestia said a smile on her face, “Breathe.”  Blushing, Twilight took a deep breath and sat down at the table in front of her.  “Now, why don’t you tell me about your day while we enjoy this lovely meal?”  So Twilight began to explain to the Princess about the book she had been reading.  
“And there were some really interesting facts; like that Commander Hurricane was a stallion not a mare.”  Twilight rubbed her head sheepishly with her hoof.  “It made me feel a bit silly about having Rainbow play him during the pageant.”  
Celestia let out a small chuckle, “Oh I thought Rainbow played the part well enough.  At least she got the personality right.  That reminds me, which book were you reading this entire time?” 
“The Founders of Equestria:  An In-Depth Study of The Founding and Its Leaders,” replied Twilight.  Celestia let out a slight groan at that.  “That book is, dense, to say the least.  I myself had a hard time getting through it.  That author had a peculiar fascination with. . .” 
“Rocks,” Twilight cut in a smile forming on her face.  
“Among other things, yes,” chuckled Celestia. The rest of evening passed in a blur of good food and better company as their conversations lasted long into the night with the only break being when Celestia had to lower the sun.  Eventually both noticed the time, and bid each other good night.  
As Twilight walked happily through the ancient stone corridors of the palace, a thought jolted through her mind and caused her to come to a sudden stop.  “Oh no,” she thought, “I left those books out and all my stuff is still in the archives.”  She started walking back towards the archives before realizing just how late it really was.  “Are the archives still even open?” she thought worriedly to herself.  “What if I get in trouble for going in there this late?  No, I’ll just pop in real quick, clean up, grab my stuff, and leave.”  With this issue resolved in her mind, she resumed her journey towards the darkened archives.  When she reached the archives, Twilight let out a small burst of magic and quietly opened up the doors. Where in the day the archives were an open and inviting space they were a completely different world at night.  Thick shadows lay across the thin paths between the monolithic shelves that in the darkness seemed to stretch up to infinity.  Through the great windows lying on either side of the archives, weak beams of moonlight gave off the only true illumination.  Twilight felt a slight shudder run through her body as she began to quickly retrace her steps from that morning. Soon she found herself back at the reading nook she had so recently been ensconced in.  Walking over to the table, she let out a breath she did not even realize that she had been holding.  “Calm down Twilight,” she told herself sternly.  “It’s not like you’re breaking in. . . again.”
After casting a small light spell, Twilight quickly got to work clearing the spilled pile of books that had consumed much of the table.  She was just about to finish placing the books back into an orderly stack when she saw the aged scroll lying on the table.  “That’s strange,” she thought to herself.  Curious, Twilight levitated the scroll and unfurled it.  “Of the Scouting and Reclamation of Old Equestria,” she read confusedly.  Twilight's eyebrows furrowed as she leaned in to better make out the scroll's title. "Old Equestria...." she muttered, unsuccessfully picking her brain for any mention of the name before. Curiosity overcoming her, she carefully unrolled the brittle parchment and delved into the scroll's mysteries....
“And so it was that 200 years following the founding of Equestria a scouting party was formed with at least two ponies from each tribe to ascertain the condition of the land our race once inhabited and determine the feasibility of resettling our ancestral home.  
Shafts of daylight shone into the archives banishing the shadows in the wake of the new dawn.  Though even the rising sun went unnoticed by Twilight as she continued to voraciously read through the ancient scroll.  Her normally straight mane was in disarray with rough curls and stray hairs everywhere.  Twilight’s eyes were bloodshot and her pupils had shrunk to pinpricks over the course of her intense study.  However the daylight illuminated a feature that had remained unnoticeable in the dark of night.  Her mouth was constantly moving, forming the word “no” over and over again.  The cause of this was but a single name that stood out even on the faded ink of the ancient scroll.  A name that shouldn’t have even existed yet in the annals of Equestrian history:  Celestia.
  


> Chapter 2
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Chapter 2

Standing on her stone balcony, Celestia took a moment to look out over the sun-drenched lands of Equestria that her little ponies called home.  They had lived in peace for well over a thousand years with the Discordian incursion registering as little more than a slight hiccup in the prosperity of Equestria.  Even now ponies across Equestria were rising from their slumber and preparing for what the new day would bring.  They knew nothing of the true horrors of the world.  Her ponies knew only peace, tolerance, love, and harmony.  It was everything she and Luna had ever wanted for them.  So why did she feel a sense of unease and . . . guilt, when she looked out over these lands?  Maybe it had something to do with. . .
“No,” she said, shaking her head to drive away the memories.  “That time is long gone.”  With that, Celestia turned around and stepped back into her quarters, calling for an attendant as she did so.  The doors to her quarters quickly opened and a grey earth pony impeccably dressed in a black suit, with a silver tray as his cutie mark, bowed deeply to the princess.
“Good morning milady, how may I help you?” he said, rising from his bow to look expectantly at Celestia.
“Good morning to you as well Silver Platter,” Celestia said smiling warmly at the old pony.  “Could you go and wake my student, Twilight Sparkle?  I fear she may still be quite exhausted from last night.”
“Of course princess,” he said with another respectful bow as he turned to leave.  As he left a maid entered, wheeling in a pot of Celestia’s favorite tea.  Accepting the tea gratefully, Celestia took a seat to await Twilight’s arrival.  Two cups of tea later, Silver Platter returned with a worried look on his face.
“Princess,” he began slowly.  “Miss Sparkle was not in her room.  I asked some of the guards and they say she never returned to her room last night.”  Celestia sat up quickly, suppressing an involuntary shudder at the news.
“Very well,” she said.  “I may know where she is, but have some of the guards search the rest of the castle just to be safe.”
“Of course princess,” the pony said, turning to leave once again.  “I’ll see to it immediately.”  With that Celestia hurriedly donned her regalia and strode out into the large stone hallway, her guards snapping crisply to attention as she passed by.  Celestia trotted down the cavernous hallways, hurrying towards the only other place she could think Twilight would have spent the night:  the archives.  As she approached the gilded doors of the archives, Celestia practically threw them open with a burst of golden magic from her horn.
The dull boom of the doors echoed throughout the silent stacks of the archives as Celestia raced into the archives.
“Twilight was researching the Founding,” she thought aloud to herself as she navigated through the maze of shelves.  “If I remember correctly it should only be a bit farther away.  Left here . . . then a right, oh never mind another left.  Finally!”  With that last outburst Celestia arrived at the small research nook that Twilight had occupied the previous day.  What she saw there terrified her.  Twilight was curled up on the chair, almost in the fetal position, and there were great bags under her bloodshot eyes.  Her normally immaculate mane was in shambles as hair stuck out in every direction and she rocked slowly back worth, murmuring quietly to herself as she did.  “Twilight!” Celestia cried moving to help her obviously disturbed student.
At the sound of her mentor’s voice, Twilight’s head shot up quickly.  As Celestia approached her Twilight recoiled swiftly, almost falling from her chair as she did so.  Celestia stopped moving as her look of concern intensified.
“Twilight,” she pleaded.  “Please, tell me what’s wrong.  The guards said you didn’t return to your room last night.  What happened?”  Twilight’s mouth opened and closed several times before she finally pointed to the still open scroll lying on the table with a trembling hoof.  Celestia turned her head to see what Twilight was pointing at and felt a cold shiver run down her spine as she saw the yellowed, unfurled scroll lying on the table amidst a mess of research materials
“I don’t understand princess,” Twilight said.  “This scroll mentions events that never happened, names I’ve never heard of, and. . .and . . . you long before you and Luna overthrew Discord.  What is going on?!”  Twilight had become frantic and looked to Celestia with confused and pleading eyes.  Celestia could barely look at them as feelings of guilt overcame her.
“Twilight,” she said slowly, striving to choose her next words as carefully as she could.  “That scroll is a record of a time in Equestrian history that all but a few have forgotten.  It details events and encounters Luna and I purposefully hid from ponykind to spare them the horrors of the past.  Twilight could not believe what she was hearing
“So you just made up a fake history?!” Twilight shouted.  “You’ve lying to eveyrpony, you’ve been lying to me.”  Celestia could hear the pain and betrayal in Twilght’s voice and it tore her up inside.
”Twilight,” she began.
“What else have you lied to me about?” demanded Twilight.  “Was Discord actually evil?  Was Nightmare Moon not the evil you made her out to be?  Better yet, do you actually care about me, or was me becoming your student just a . . . a . . .  whim that meant nothing?”  By this last question tears had formed in her eyes and her voice had become little more than a whisper.  Celestia could feel the beginnings of tears in her eyes as well.  All she had been trying to do was protect her little ponies, but it was obvious that in the end the result was that she had caused even more pain to a pony she cared deeply about.  Bending down she wrapped her wing around Twilight comfortingly.  Twilight buried her face against Celestia’s chest sobs wracking her whole body.
“Twilight,” began Celestia.  “I’m sorry:  far more than I can ever explain.  All this time I thought by burying this I could protect my little ponies from the horrors of our past.  But, you’ve shown me that even the best intentions can end in disaster.  While I cannot promise that I can tell you absolutely everything, nor even that you will feel better following this tale, I will strive to impart to you this history as best I can.”  Twilight looked up at her mentor with big eyes.
“Really princess?”  Celestia smiled down at her.
“Yes Twilight.  It is about time this tale was told.”
“Yes!” shouted Twilight practically jumping for joy before catching herself.  Looking up once again at her mentor and friend, Twilight smiled.
“Thank you princess,” Twilight said before giving Celestia another hug.  
“Well,” said Celestia.  “I think you should get some food in you before we begin.  Also,” she said looking over Twilight.  	“Maybe a bath wouldn’t be amiss either.  Twilight nodded as she raced out of the room.
Hours later, the two sat together on the plush crimson rug in Celestia’s private quarters.  
“Twilight, this tale stretches back for many thousands of years so you will have to forgive me in advance if I cannot recall some parts of this tale.”  Twilight just nodded excitedly, stretching out a fresh piece of parchment and readying a newly inked quill pen.  With a slight smile at the familiar scene, Celestia began her tale.
“It began over two thousand years ago.  Contrary to the popular belief we have encouraged we came to power soon after Equestria was founded, before Discord came to this land.  The tribes, while united, lacked clear leadership and their early years were marred with decision making stalemates and never ending arguments over the future of Equestria.  Shortly after we came to Equestria, the tribes saw in us a way to end the stalemates.  As alicorns are essentially a combination of the three tribes in one form, we represented the very unity that the Equestrians were striving for and were soon asked to lead Equestria.  We accepted and took our places as the rulers of Equestria.  And our first order of businesss was simple:  the reclamation of our old lands.  To accomplish this we sent out a small, but elite scouting team to explore the frozen regions.  However, theirs was a journey fraught with peril and hardship from the outset. . .”  

Freezing winds swept over the snow covered landscape, biting into the group of explorers like steel knives.  They stumbled across the hard packed ice and snow as they struggled to keep themselves upright in the ever shifting environment.  The small expedition consisted of only six ponies, two from each race:  the pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies.  The two ponies in front were both unicorns, their horns glowing brightly as they attempted to keep the scouring winds away from the group as best they could.  The unicorn on the left had a coat and mane as white as the snow around them.  It was a mare that boasted a cutie mark of a roaring fire, a skill at manipulating heat and flame making her a key addition to the beleaguered party as they roamed the snowy wastes.  Walking alongside her was a unicorn with a chestnut brown coat and dark black mane.  He stood at the same height as her and boasted a cutie mark of an open eye.  Snow Flame turned to her fellow mage with a look of concern.  
“Are you alright Far Sight?” she asked.  “We’ve been going for a few hours now and you’re not used to maintaining magic for so long.  Maybe we should find a place to rest.”
“No, Snowy,” he said, his voice strained and tired.  “There aren’t any caves we can stay in around here.  If we stop here we will freeze to death.  We have to keep going and hope to Celestia we can find some sort of shelter close by.”
“But if you burn yourself out I won’t be able to maintain the shield,” Snow Flame replied heatedly.  “And if that happens than we will still freeze to death.  We need to stop soon so that we can all get some rest.”
Far Sight shook his head ruefully.  “I. . .I know Snowy.  Neither option is looking too good right now.  But whatever we do we have to make a choice now.  And seeing as we can’t reach an agreement ourselves, let’s see what our companions think we should do.”
Even with his ability to magically pierce the white wall of snow being blown about by the wind, Far Sight could barely see the outlines of his other four companions.
“Should we stop for the night or keep going?!” he shouted, straining to be heard over the howling of the winds.  He could just barely hear some quick deliberations before he got their response.
“Should. . . stop. . .NOW!”
Far Sight turned back to Snow Flame.  His face furrowed in a tired look of resignation.
“I suppose I’m outvoted than.  I’m sure I saw an outcropping of rock not too far ahead.  We can stop there.”  And with that the party trudged forward with renewed determination, the idea of rest spurring them on.
Upon reaching the outcropping, the six shivering ponies shrugged off their respective packs and began unpacking warm blankets and coverings.  Quickly they threw up some of the blankets over the outcropping in an attempt to trap some measure of heat in with them.  Once this was done, Snow Flame lit a small fire and the six ponies sat down to rest.  One of the earth ponies immediately started looking over his companions.  He was a medium sized pony with a light yellow coat.  His mane was as red as his cutie mark:  a red cross embossed with an open book.  His name was Cross Reference, though his friends mainly knew him as “Doc.”  While lacking the manipulation abilities of the unicorns, Doc was a walking medical encyclopedia.  He was on top of the medical field and with the aid of a unicorn assistant could perform quick, but expert operations on his patients.
“Well,” he said with a sigh.  “At the very least it doesn’t look like any of us have developed too serious frostbite yet.   Though if we don’t find a better shelter soon I can’t promise anything.”
“I suppose we’ll just have to manage then won’t we,” said the second earth pony calmly.  This pony was gunmetal grey and was larger than any of the others, with muscles rippling beneath his coat.  His cutie mark was that of a cart filled with boulders.  This, a testament to his phenomenal strength, had given him the dubious honor of carrying the majority of the team’s possessions.
“The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can go home to fame and fortune!”  This last statement was made by the one of the twin pegasi that made up the last of the expedition’s team.  The two pegasi were Nimbus and Cumulous.  With cutie marks of their namesake clouds and matching coats and manes of sky blue, the twins for chosen for this assignment because of their affinity for weather manipulation.
“Please,” Doc scoffed.  “We discovered a land we already knew about and trudged through the snow.  Riches and fame are just ours for the taking.”  The pegasi frowned as the other burst into laughter. 
“All right, I think we should all get some sleep,” announced Far Sight.  “We should be reaching the borders of Old Equestria by tomorrow at this pace and then our job begins in earnest.”  The others nodded and settled down for the night, the fire still smoldering in their makeshift pit.  Far Sight alone stayed up for a few moments more.  He closed his eyes and let his magic flow into his horn.  Once there he released the spell and he could see beyond their makeshift shelter.  It was as if he was soaring over the frozen wastes, the equal of any pegasi.  Eventually he reached the limits of his sight.  But that limit revealed their first destination.  Beyond a massive hill of hard packed snow stood dark mounds that he could just make out.  He could feel excitement rising within him.  For these ruins to still be intact meant that they might hold relics and remains of pre-Equestrian civilization.  And even if that were not the case, they looked like they could provide a far better shelter from the cold than the rocky outcropping he was in now.  He released the spell and lay himself down on the frozen ground as a smile crept along his face.  Maybe this expedition wouldn’t be so uneventful after all. . .”
“Princess,” asked Twilight, instinctively raising a hoof into the air.
“Yes Twilight?” replied Celestia.
“I thought that after the events of Hearths Warming Eve the Windigoes were banished.  I could understand some longer winters or something . . . maybe.  But how could the conditions in those lands still be so horrible?”
“The Windigoes were indeed banished Twilight, by the power of the newly forged harmony and friendship between the three pony tribes,” answered Celestia.  “However, that power had yet to blossom in the old lands.  Without that power to counteract the magic of the windigoes, the terrible blizzards that the windigoes wrought continued to wrack that land.  That was one of the reasons we sent a scouting team in the first place.  We had to ascertain the condition that the old lands were in, to best decide how to reclaim them.  But in that land of ice and snow Equestria found far more than we had could have ever imagined. . .”
Celestia’s sun shone brightly overhead, the light reflecting off the snow fields making them shine like a freshly polished diamond.  The explorers had been traveling for two days, each hour bringing them closer to the hill from Far Sight’s vision.  Nimbus and Cumulous flew overhead, glorying in the lack of the biting winds from the previous night.  Nimbus flew down, hovering near Far Sight.
“So how far until we reach those ruins you saw anyway?”  Far Sight sighed, eyeing the pegasus with an annoyed glare.  
“Please stop asking me.  If you have to know now, than why don’t you just fly ahead of us?”
Nimbus looked thoughtfully at him for a moment.  
“I could I suppose.  But. . .” he said, dragging out the word as he did so;  It is just so much more fun to bug you about it,” the pegasus said, a wide grin stretching across his face.
Far Sight shook his head.  “Honestly, why do I ask anymore?  Look, it shouldn’t be too much longer.  There’s a large hill that you can see from here.  The ruins I saw should be on the other side of it.”
Seeming satisfied, Nimbus took back to the air, drawing level with his brother.  Continuing onward, they reached the base of the mountainous hill.  After taking a brief rest the party began to scale the hill, though they quickly noticed something strange.  In the background there was a strange noise that was growing steadily louder the farther up the hill they went.  Far Sight quickly held out a hoof, calling for the party to stop.
“Do you hear that?” he asked, a worried look crossing his face as he did so.  The others nodded as they began to look for the source of the rising noise.  It was like a gentle roaring, and seemed to come from beyond the hill.
“Is it an animal or something?” asked Nimbus worriedly.
“If it was than it would have to be pretty big to be that loud from the other side of this hill,” Doc cut in.
“Whatever that noise is,” said Far Sight.  “We shouldn’t just walk into this situation blind.”  He turned to face Snowy.  	“Snowy, can you go to the crest of the hill and scout it out?  With your coat and mane, you’ll fit in best with the snow.”
“Got it,” she said snapping off a quick salute.  With that she took off towards her vantage point, making sure to keep as low to the ground as possible as she did so.  About 10 minutes passed before the others saw her coming back down the slope.  As she did, they could see a whole host of emotions skittering across her face:  excitement, trepidation, awe, and shock being the most prevalent.
“Guys,” she said, her voice shaking slightly.  “You’re gonna want to take a look at this.”  Doc stared at her concernedly.  
“Snowy are you alright?”  She shook her head.
“Yeah, but seriously you’re gonna have to see this for yourselves.”  And with that she turned around and began to make her way back up the hill.  With one last apprehensive look at each other the five ponies moved to follow their shaken companion.  When they all reached the crest of the hill, they gazed out over the landscape . . . and their jaws dropped in shock.
There before them were the buildings that Far Sight had glimpsed with his magic, but they were not the ruins he had been led to believe.  They were huts and structures of wood and stone that formed what appeared to be a large village.  But it was not this village that interested the six ponies, but rather their inhabitants.
Swarming throughout the thoroughfares and streets between the houses were the strangest creatures any of the ponies had ever seen.  They were all bipeds and even from atop their vantage point, the ponies could easily tell that any of these bipeds would tower over them.  On their heads was a sparse covering of hair, the coloring of which lacked the variety of ponies’ coats and manes.  Their bodies were adorned in rough clothing some which appeared to be supplemented with various animal furs.  The skin not covered by hair or clothes was a pale white in color that matched their cold and frozen surroundings.  Their eyes were smaller and closer together than the ponies’ and their nose little more than a slight bump to pony eyes.   But for the six ponies, one of the strangest features of these creatures was their upper appendages.  At the end of their fore hooves were five snakelike appendages.  These were seen gripping items at the market, holding weapons, and used to emphasize these creatures’ communication.  After a few more moments of stunned staring, the six retreated back down the hill.  
“So?” asked Snowy expectantly.  “What do we do now?  There was nothing about dealing with a new bucking species in the briefing.”
“Simple,” said Far Sight, “We contact the Princess.”  He turned back to face the hill they had just descended.  “And tell her we found something big. . .”
“A new species?!” asked Twilight excitedly.  “What were they called?  Could they speak our language?  Did they have magic?  And what did. . .”
“Twilight you’re rambling,” said Celestia gently.
“Oh,” said Twilight as a blush came to her face.  “Sorry princess.”
“It’s quite alright Twilight,” said Celestia.  “What they were called was “humans.”  Humanity was a race that lacked any true knowledge of magic.  What they did have was numbers, creativity, and an unmatched tenacity.  Remember that while the windigoes were banished by this point, their influence had greatly damaged the land to the point where the terrible winter was a near constant.  Yet, despite this, humanity had somehow eked out a living in these frozen wastes and thrived.
“But how could they, when none of the tribes had been able to best the cold, princess?” asked Twilight.  “It doesn’t seem possible that these “humans” could have fared any better lacking the advantages of magic and weather control that ponies have.”
“Yes,” said Celestia nodding.  “Many prominent mages and scholars felt the same way.  The only answer that seemed to make sense was that humanity was a product of their environment and history.  While ponies have fought battles in the past, the war with Nightmare Moon being the most recent, ponies are generally a peaceful race.  Humans are far different.  Where the pegasi could control and shepherd the weather, humanity had to endure the wrath of the elements.  Where the earth ponies were blessed with an innate strength and knowledge of the land, humanity had to acquire that knowledge through trial and error and create various tools to equal that strength.  Where unicorns could move the very sun and moon and use magic to reduce the difficulty of their lives, humanity had to endure every hardship the world could throw at them unaided by any force but their own ingenuity and tenacity.
Humanity has had to fight for their survival at every turn and it is that fight which gave them the ability to withstand and even thrive in the terrible blizzards.”
Twilight could not formulate a response to Celestia’s speech.  The very idea of a race who had fighting not only readily present in their society, but who had fighting at the very core of their race was something that she could just not wrap her mind around.  However that was a topic that could be addressed later.
“So,” said Twilight, ready to get back to the story proper, “After the scouts encountered them what happened?  I mean you know so much about them princess, so ponies must have interacted with them in some way.”
“Indeed they did Twilight,” answered Celestia.  “Soon after the initial reports, Luna and I dispatched a diplomatic team to make contact with the human leadership.  Their efforts were eventually rewarded when they were invited to meet with the most powerful of humanity’s leaders in a “clansmeet.”  At the time we thought it a triumph, but it was the start of a terrible time in our history. . .”

The newly arrived diplomatic team strode through the great doors of the building.  Silver Tongue was a unicorn with a jet black coat and mane with an image of his namesake as his cutie mark.  Beside him strode Highwind a crimson coated pegasi with a silver mane and a cutie mark of a sweeping gust of wind.  Finally there was an earth pony representative by the name of Grapevine.  His coat was a deep purple color with a dark blue mane and a cutie mark of a fresh bunch of grapes on an emerald vine.  Despite the uninterested air they attempted to put on, even they were awed by the structure’s interior.  The great hall in which the clansmeet would occur was massive.  Great columns of finely carved oak stretched from the floor to the ceiling above.  Carved into each column were spiraling lines of script and images of great human heroes and mythical animals.  
Along the polished stone walls were engraved images detailing the history of humanity.  Starting at the entranceway, the images showed humans plowing the land, clearing the snow, fighting off wild beasts, constructing the first towns and villages.  The further one walked into the room, the more of humanity’s history was revealed to them.  The images then stretched together at the opposite end of the room to form a great stylized sunburst that framed the chieftain’s seats.  
There were twelve seats upon a raised dais in the shape of a U.  The seats were occupied by the chieftains of the twelve most powerful tribes of humanity.  At the center of the table was the chieftain elected as the leader of the Clansmeet.  He was an older human whose hair was the color of steel, stretching down to his shoulders.  Gazing out over the hall, he saw that hundreds had gathered for the historic meeting and hundreds more seemed to be watching through the windows.  As Silver Tongue and his associates walked through the doors, the chief rose from his seat and brought a gnarled wooden walking stick on the dais.  Silence fell over the hall as the great doors were closed and barred to prevent any unwanted interruptions during the Clansmeet.
“Greetings honored guests,” said the chief.  “I am Chief Thorvaldsen of the Thunder Tribe and I have been chosen as the arbiter of this clansmeet.  We have all heard much of your land and its harmony.  It is most admirable.  As you know, this clansmeet was called in order to determine the future of our two races.  You may present any proposals you have before this august council now should you wish.”
Silver Tongue bowed to the chieftain.  “Thank you very much Arbiter.  I am Silver Tongue, and these two are my associates Grapevine and Highwind.  We are honored to be before such a gathering of powerful individuals such as you and we hope that this meeting will be the beginning of a beautiful friendship between our two races.  As to the topic of proposals, I would first like to answer some questions that I do not believe have been adequately answered as of yet:  The purpose of a unicorn’s horn and the abilities of the pegasi.”
There were some nods and murmurs of assent from the assembled chieftains and some even leaned closer, varying levels of interest apparent on their faces.  Admittedly, there had been much speculation on the purpose of the horns and what exactly made the pegasi “stewards of the weather.”  Any questions asked about it had been deflected quickly and it had led to no little suspicion towards the ponies.
Silver Tongue could barely suppress a smile as he saw the naked interest on full display in each human in the hall.  	“Time to work my magic,” he thought.  “It shouldn’t take much.”
“There exists in this world a great power,” he began.  “It exists all around us and permeates the land and all the creatures on it.  The horn of a unicorn is used to channel that power and use it to aid us in our everyday lives.  What is this power you may ask?” he asked.  He was playing to the crowd now, driving up their expectations and the reaction they would have to even the simplest of his abilities.
“This,” he pronounced dramatically.  “This is the power of magic!”  And with that he focused power into his horn.  A silver aura appeared around his horn and with a flash of light and bang of sound; the table in front of him had been transformed into a great wooden bench upon which he sat.  Silver Tongue did not even bother to hide his smile of satisfaction as he heard furious whispers echo around the hall as many looked on in awe at this display of his power.  Highwind also smiled at the obvious reaction this had caused amongst the human crowd.  Grapevine however saw something else.  He listened to the whispers and heard fear and suspicion present in them.  He gazed at the faces of the crowd and saw some of them contorted in disgust rather than the awe his associates took it for.  Though it was the faces of the Chieftains that showed the seriousness of what had just happened.  While many of them looked on passively, some looked on only in anger.
Grapevine turned to his two companions and leaned in so as not to be heard by the Chieftains or the crowd.
“I think that the magic show was enough of a demonstration.  We should move straight onto the proposals at hoof.”  Highwind looked at him with elation.
“Please,” he said.  “These humans love it.  The proposals can only be helped if they are awed by what we can do.”
“Still,” argued Grapevine.  “I think that some of them may not approve of magic.  The looks on some of their faces say that well enough.  We shouldn’t try to awe them with something that might antagonize them.”
Highwind considered it for a moment.  
“I see your point, but now we have come too far.  We promised answers and if we don’t give them we will only look worse.  If you’re right than it may not be the best idea to continue with this, but if you’re wrong than we need all the leverage we can get.”
While they had been having their private discussion, Silver Tongue was busy answering questions from the Chieftains about the various applications of magic.
“Indeed, magic can be used for various situation limited only by the power and imagination of the user.
One of the Chieftains rose from his seat.  “Are the unicorns are the only Equestrians who can use this ability?”
Silver Tongue considered that for a moment.
“At the very least, unicorns are the only ponies who can use magic like this.  Both pegasi and earth ponies have their own innate magic though the applications are slightly more . . . limited than that of a unicorn’s ability. Actually that brings us to our next point.  Highwind, could you explain the abilities of the pegasi?”  Highwind puffed out his chest slightly as he took center stage, Silver Tongue slipping back to stand with Grapevine.
“The pegasi are stewards of the weather.  We have the innate abilities to soar through the skies, walk on the clouds, and work to monitor and maintain the weather.”
The Chieftains shared looks of confusion at the pegasi’s answer.  Thorvaldsen held up one hand and addressed Highwind himself.
“While flight is something we can understand, what exactly did you mean about the weather.  What does to monitor and “maintain” mean?”
“It’s simple really,” Highwind responded.  “Our abilities allow us to disperse clouds with a single kick, grab and move clouds, summon tornadoes and ensure that sunlight shines and when storms come.  We literally have control over the weather.”
Silence reigned over the hall in the wake of this announcement.  Expressions of surprise, shock, and anger appearing on the faces of the Chieftains in turn as the ponies began to feel less and less at ease.   Eventually Thorvaldsen stood up and stared directly at the ponies.
“This is . . . troubling to say the least.  For you to control the weather is unnatural to us.  Nature is meant to run its own course, not be bound to the passing whims of rulers.  While you may not find this strange in your land, it is not something we can tolerate here.  On behalf of all the chieftains I would ask that you refrain from manipulating our weather or using your magic whilst within our borders.  Is that acceptable to you?”
The three ponies were stunned.  What they had revealed was commonplace to them, and these humans were calling their abilities unnatural and asking them to refrain from their use.  It was an uncomfortable situation, but they knew that they had to comply if they wanted to retain any chance of salvaging these talks.
“I believe that we can comply with your request, Arbiter,” Silver Tongue said slowly.  Thorvaldsen nodded in thanks and sat back down.
“Excellent.  Then we can continue with these talks.”  Days passed and still the Clansmeet dragged on.  The ponies and humans discussed matters of trade, possible alliances, and various treaties.  But soon the final day of the Clansmeet arrived and the ponies were ready to reveal their most controversial and most important proposal.
They arrived back at the hall where the Chieftains were already seated and waiting for them.  When the now familiar ritual of closing and barring the main doors was concluded, the ponies walked up to their table.
“Arbiter,” said Silver Tongue.  “Members of this esteemed council.  On this, the last day of our talks, the three of us have a petition to put before you in the name of our rulers and our ancestors.”
Excited whispers echoed throughout the room.  To humanity their ancestors were heroes.  Men and women whose blood, sweat, tears, and sacrifice had given rise to their civilization.  For the ponies to invoke their ancestors now was something that would not go unnoticed by the chieftains.  Silver Tongue gave a slight smile at this and continued his speech.
“Long ago, in the years before your ancestors came to this land, our ancestors ruled here.  While their civilization thrived for a time, they were forced to leave their land due prolonged blizzards that transformed the land into the frozen expanse that it is today.  Now our civilization has begun to be restored due to the efforts of the three tribes of ponykind and our rulers Celestia and Luna.  However as we recover from the wounds of the past there are tasks that must be accomplished to ensure our survival and future.  This land was once ours and we wish for it to be ours again.  We would like for you to allow Equestrians to begin relocating and re-inhabiting this land as soon as possible.”
The Chieftains rose up in anger, hurling shouts and threats at the shocked ponies.  Thorvaldsen raised his hand and in a moment the angry clamor died down though looks of hatred and rage stayed fixed to the faces of the Chieftains.
“What you ask is something that would infringe on our rights,” Thorvaldsen said.  “I understand your ancestors lived here, but to have more and more ponies living here would bring what we don’t want here as well.  We expressed our dislike for your magic long ago, but if more of your kind come here than I doubt we will be able to keep them from using their powers as they please.  While I am sorry, we cannot and will not fulfill that request.”
“This was our land and we would see it returned to us,” Highwind said fiercely.  “While you live here now, this land belongs to the princesses and Equestria, not you and not your ancestors. We will not take no for an answer.”
Now even Thorvaldsen bore a look of rage on his face as the hall erupted once more into shouts and jeers of rage and hate.  Again Thorvaldsen quieted the hall with a loud rap of his staff upon the floor.  This done, he turned towards the ponies angrily.
“We allowed you into our home, took the time to hear you out, and even suffered the use of your unnatural magic.  And how do you repay us?  By insulting and spitting on us and our ancestors.  Our ancestors were brave and resilient souls.  They toiled for years to make this land livable for us, consecrating it in their blood, sweat, and tears.  Your ancestors were mere cowards who fled this land at the first sign of trouble.  Where your kind ran in fear, we survived and thrived in the wastes.  Then and there you gave up all claims to the land when you abandoned it rather than fight for your home.  Get out of our land and never return!”
Twilight was shocked.  “So, princess?” she asked hesitantly.  “What happened after that?”  Celestia sighed heavily.
“It was a blow to relations between our lands that never healed Twilight.  For a time humanity and Equestria merely ignored each other, and we busied ourselves with our own affairs. However this was not to last.  Even now we are not sure who struck first, but a small skirmish on the border between our lands boiled over into armed standoffs on both sides.  There was sporadic fighting in many areas.  For lack of a better term:  it was war.”	
Twilight sat there, jaw dropping in shock.  While she and many others were aware of war from an academic standpoint, over one thousand years of peace and prosperity had made war exactly that:  an academic point.  Nopony had firsthand knowledge or experience of war and so Twilight found it a near impossibility to imagine an Equestria where war was a part of life in any way.
“Princess, what happened then?  How did the . . . the war end?”  Even saying the word was difficult for her
“Eventually humanity retreated, leaving their land behind.  Unwilling to allow more of their own to die, they took ships and sailed north across the sea.  In time we moved back into the now abandoned lands.  The entire time period was a dark one in our history eclipsed only by Discord’s rule in later years.”
“Princess,” said Twilight.  “I can’t even begin to imagine what that time must have been like; for you, Luna, and for all of Equestria.  Thank you for sharing this with me.”
“It was something I should have told you long ago Twilight,” said Celestia warmly.  “These memories leave a bad taste in my mouth, but it is never wise to keep all that pain to oneself.  I should be thanking you for listening.”
“Oh princess, it was nothing really,” said Twilight.
“It was Twilight,” Celestia said.  “More than you know.  But now you should probably get to bed.  We’ve been talking for some time and I must lower the sun.”
“Of course princess,” said Twilight, rising quickly.  “I’ll see you tomorrow morning then?” 
“Yes Twilight, laughed Celestia.  “Just try not to pull another all-nighter this time alright?”
“I won’t!” exclaimed Twilight, already rushing out the door.  Passing through the stone hallways, she encountered nopony.  The only sound was the gentle clopping of her hooves against the flagstones as she made her way back to her room.  Alone with her own thoughts, Twilight ran the princess’s tale through her mind over and over again.  On the one hoof, her trip had been a great success.  She had been able to learn firsthand of the hidden history of Equestria, but something kept nagging at her, something she could not quite put her hoof on.  But what was it?  It was only as she reached her quarters that it hit her:  It was too neat.  Humanity, a race that Celestia herself said had fighting in their very blood, just up and leaving after a few deaths?  It just didn’t add up. 
Twilight walked slowly to the bed as she considered what this could mean. 
“So does that mean the princess . . . ?  No, no that would be silly,” Twilight said, shaking her head to clear the ridiculous thought from her mind.  But as she curled up under the plush covers of her bed, only one thought was running through her head.
“I have to find them.”

  
	

  

> Chapter 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight stood on the docks gazing up in awe at the ship at anchor before her.  The ship was quite large, easily able to hold 40 ponies comfortably in addition to the crew and captain.  Above the main deck, tethered by thick wires, was a massive balloon to hold the ship aloft.  Along the side was emblazoned The Prometheus and it was the first fully-operational airship in Equestria.  Rarity herself had christened the airship in Canterlot, after which it had flown to Manehatten as its maiden voyage.  It now took on passengers on aerial tours of Manehatten and longer flights to smaller islands outside of Equestrian borders.
As Twilight stood there, taking in the sight of the impressive ship, a loud bell rang and a small crowd of passengers began to board the ship.
“Finally,” Twilight said excitedly.  She had been waiting for this moment for some time.  Following her sudden realization in Canterlot, she had made it her mission to seek out the remnants of human society that had fled across the seas.  It had been a lot more difficult than she had first thought getting a ticket seeing as the number of ponies who wanted a ride on the new airship was massive.  Admittedly if she had said she was Celestia’s personal student on royal business things might have gone more smoothly, but there were two problems with that plan.  One, she wasn’t on royal business and being caught lying would have been disastrously bad.  The second reason being that she wanted Celestia to know as little about this trip as possible.  Ever since that night in Canterlot, Twilight had grown more and more skeptical of Celestia’s version of events.  Something just didn’t add up, and what was worse was that it seemed obvious that Celestia didn’t want her to continue down this path.
There was something about the past that she didn’t want Twilight to know, but Twilight knew she wouldn’t be able to rest without seeing these humans firsthand.  
“All aboard!  We’re leaving in 5 minutes,” exclaimed one of the ship’s crewponies, breaking in on Twilight’s solemn reflection.
“Aah!” exclaimed Twilight as she ran towards the airship.  She had been so consumed in her own thoughts that she had stopped moving.  Finally boarding the airship while chiding herself for her daydreaming, Twilight settled in.  The deck had a number of seats set up for those who wanted to get the full experience, but since the ship would take some time to reach the furthest islands there were rooms for the passengers down below.  Sitting down in her seat, Twilight felt the shudder of the ship lifting off the ground.  Looking back she saw it rising higher and higher until she could the whole of Manehatten.
“Beautiful,” she breathed, awestruck by the view now spread out before her.  Looking down she thought of her friends, who she knew would worry about her.  She had said goodbye to them all the day before, leaving under the pretense of a research trip. 
“Goodbye girls,” she said a smile on her face.  “I’ll be back soon with stories like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Well here we are Miss Sparkle,” the captain said.  “This here is the last stop of the tour.  Are you sure you want to stay?  There isn’t much here in the way of civilization.”
Twilight smiled up at him.  “Oh don’t worry about it, I’ll be fine.  Besides I have plenty of supplies.  But just to be safe, how often do you come out here again?”
The captain brought his hoof up to his chin thoughtfully.  “Well, usually we don’t come here very often.  It’s a bit farther than most of our usual passengers really want to go.    I’d say we probably come here about once or twice a week, not including when passengers actually request to come here which is rare.  However, for you, I’ll make sure to check back every Friday as well.  Did you have a pickup time in mind?”
“Umm, not really,” admitted Twilight sheepishly.  “I’m not sure how long I’ll need, but I should be ready to leave a month from now.”
“Right then,” the Captain nodded smartly.  “I’ll make sure to make a stop here one month from today.  Now we’d best get going if we want to stay on schedule.  Big group coming through soon.  Tourists,” he said with a shudder.
“Thanks again for everything captain,” said Twilight, waving goodbye as the airship took off and began heading back to Equestria.  “Now, where to go from here?”
With a quick burst of magic, Twilight brought a small tube out from here saddlebags and from that pulled out a scroll.  The scroll was yellowed with age and seemed to be as old as the report she had found back in Canterlot that had started her on this adventure.  Unfurling it revealed to be a map of the seas north of Equestria.  Admittedly it held no information on humanity, but it did show the basic geography of a great swathe of the sea.  Currently she was on one of the larger landmasses.  All around her was nothing but ocean for quite a ways, but she did notice something on the map she could actually make use of.
Extending northward in a haphazard fashion was a chain of small islands.  One of the larger ones was a mile across at most.  She could teleport from island to island, traveling ever northward.  Eventually, she reasoned, she would have to run into some clue of where the humans went.  So, with a sense of adventure, hope, excitement, and the merest bit of trepidation of losing control and teleporting into the icy waters of the northern sea, Twilight began her island hopping scheme.  How long could it possibly take right?
----
Oh Celestia why?!  4 hours.  4 bucking hours had gone by and what did Twilight have to show for it.  Nothing.  The island hopping was going pretty well, but all she could ever see on the horizon was another miniscule spit of land to teleport too.  Twilight was bone tired.  She had stopped for breaks along the way to keep her strength up, but she knew she would have to sleep soon.  The night was making it hard to see the next island in her path and one slip up could be fatal in her state. 
“Alright,” she muttered to herself.  “One more island, just one!  Then I’m getting some sleep.”  And with that she summoned the last of her reserves and with a flash she was gone, only to reappear on the other side of the island she was already on.
“Wahh?”  she said confusedly.  “But, but the spell, and the island and. . . and. . . .  AHHHHHHHHH!”   And with that Twilight slumped to the ground and threw a blanket from her bag over herself, too tired and irritated to do anything else.
The next morning Twilight rose, refreshed and slightly less irritated than she was last night.  With a deep breath she began what,  for the next few days, would be her daily routine:  wake up, eat, teleport, break, teleport, break, teleport, eat, sleep, repeat.  But on the morning of her seventh day of travel, Twilight awoke with a renewed determination, ready to continue her journey.
“Alright,” she said to herself.  “Today is the day.  I am going to make history!”  After another moment of psyching herself up, Twilight began the arduous process of teleporting from island to island.  However the islands were being spaced further and further apart so she was able to cover less distance than the day before.  An hour passed, but as she reappeared on the latest island in a burst of purple light she saw something she had not expected.  Not very far away was a large coastline that obviously didn’t belong to the islands she had been using as stepping stones.  If she strained her eyes she could even see what looked like
“Docks!” she exclaimed happily.  “And where there are docks, there are dock workers, and where there are dock workers there is civilization.  And this far north, where there is civilization there is HUMANITY!  Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes . . .” she punctuated this last bit by jumping happily in a circle.
After she had finished expressing her joy, Twilight calmed down and began to run through her bags.  As she did, she took out the tools she had specifically created for this journey.  There was a small pendant inset with a small blue gem that she could hook around her neck, quills, ink, and parchment, and spare gems for the pendant.  The pendant was enchanted with an invisibility spell.  She had spent days creating and charging the pendant so it would have its own power source.  As such, she would not have to drain her own magic to keep the invisibility up.  The spare gems were just for when this gem ran out of power.  The quill, ink, and parchment were self-explanatory.
“Alright,” she said.  “Just throw on the pendent, teleport to shore, and start studying.  This is going to be so much fun.!”
As she threw the pendent on, there was a small flash of light as her body faded from sight until nothing remained visible.  Another flash of light accompanied Twilight’s teleport to the shore of the human lands.  When she had reappeared on the opposite shore, Twilight looked up in awe at her first sight of human architecture.  What struck her first was the size of the buildings.  This was just a small port town, from what she could see anyway, yet there were so many buildings that were at least four stories or more tall.  They were made of stone, wood, and brick with some of the more ornate buildings bearing gilded edges and gold-plated designs.  Twilight was amazed and began recording everything she could as she carefully made her way up the road to the town proper. 
As she did, she was struck by the sheer number of humans in this town.  Being a port city, Twilight had expected a small town similar to Ponyville in size and population.  What she got however was far different.  Dozens upon dozens of humans walked the streets, going about their daily business.  Some went to the ships in the dock, others went into and out of the shops that dotted the curving, paved streets and some merely stopped to talk with acquaintances and friends in whatever shade they could find.  And behind it all was a steady hum of continuous talking, shouting, whispering, and conversation from every corner of the town.  It was almost too much for Twilight, so she ducked into an alley off the street where she could get away from the crowds.
“This is amazing,” she gushed happily to herself.  “There are so many humans here!  And they’re architecture is amazing.  Everything is just so . . . so . . . new. So, different.   Well I better keep going.”  With a smile still present on her face, Twilight turned back towards the streets and walked back towards the throngs of humanity.
----
Twilight pulled a sleeping bag from out of her saddlebags and began to settle down for a good night’s sleep in a wooded glen outside the city.  She had spent hours wandering through the streets of the human city which, if she read that last sign correctly, was known as “Vona.”  Every turn had yielded something new to gaze at in wonder and compare to Equestrian styles of art and architecture.  She had also done some cursory observations of human interaction.  One of the biggest traits that all humans seemed to share in their interactions with others was the expressive use of their hands.  They would be used to emphasize and embellish whatever they happened to be saying and humans even seemed to have their own gestures which could take the place of words and even whole sentences!  
“But I guess it makes sense,” she spoke to herself as she recorded what she had seen on leaves of parchment.  “I mean, in Equestria wings and tails can be used in similar ways so it would make sense that humanity had similar habits with their own appendages.”
With one last flourish, Twilight finished her writing and carefully stowed away the writing tools.  Settling down on the sleeping bag, Twilight could only smile as she imagined what insights and new findings the next day would bring.
----
Another week had passed and Twilight had traveled away from Vona only occasionally.  Despite the success of her invisibility pendants, this land was foreign and she had no idea how long it would take to reach some of the larger cities she had seen on an old map she had located.  So, she had stuck to the coastline.  There were smaller towns to the west and east of Vona that she had briefly visited.  While the architecture and culture were different, Twilight couldn’t help but see the similarities between humanity and Equestrians.  Both had similar emotional ranges, though humans seemed to more quickly succumb to anger, there were similar mannerisms, and the divides between city and rural areas were clear.  With all of these similarities, Twilight could not believe that the two races had been unable to reconcile what had been essentially just a misunderstanding.
Suddenly she was shaken from her reverie by the tolling of massive bells.  She hurried into the street and saw huge crowds flocking towards a massive structure situated in the center of town.  Twilight had seen it before, but had never worked up the nerve to make her way inside since it would require her to use magic to open the doors.  So now she was presented with a problem.  Since there were so many humans heading towards the building it was obvious this was an important event.  Should she risk discovery to investigate it, or should she simply play it safe and walk away now?
“Well,” she said carefully to herself.  “I’ve been doing great so far, and nothing ventured nothing gained right?”  With that she took a deep breath and made her way towards the large building behind the teeming crowd.  As she drew closer to the building she could make out some of the finer details of its construction.  The building itself looked to be three or four stories tall, easily dominating the landscape of Vona.  It was constructed of smooth, white stone and the building was topped with a belfry from which the tolling of four large, bronze bells could be heard.  The doors of the building were bronze as well and various images of human history were set into them.
Following the crowds inside, Twilight stopped and gasped at the sight laid out before her.  Stretching far out before her was row after row of hand carved wooden pews which were currently being filled by the large crowd.  Straight up the center of what Twilight could now tell was some sort of church, was an open aisle leading to a marble alter.  The alter was otherwise unadorned but behind it was a great mural.  It depicted a human that stood at least six feet tall and was wearing golden armor.  In his right hand he held a mighty sword and he was standing with one foot on top of the severed head of a crimson dragon.  Twilight cringed at the sight of the mural.  She felt uncomfortable about the aggressive imagery on display, but at the same time her natural curiosity overrode her finer sensibilities.  This was obviously a human religious ritual, something Twilight had yet to observe and which would give her a much better look into the mindset of humanity.
As she looked around the filled church, the noise of the crowd quickly died down.  Stepping up to the marble alter was a wizened old man dressed in white and red robes, hefting with him a large leather-bound tome.   He placed the book reverently upon the alter and opened it to a specific page.  With this done, the man gazed out at the assembled congregation with a smile on his face.
“Greetings my brothers and sisters.  It is good to see so many come to pay their respects to Magnus on this, the anniversary of a historic event.”
Twilight absorbed this information with glee.  Was Magnus their ruler?  Or maybe Magnus was their deity?  So many questions raised from such a simple sentence.  She was shaken from her reverie as the priest continued his sermon.
“Over two thousand years ago to the day was the arrival of our ancestors to these lands from distant southern shores.  Fleeing the terrible cataclysms of their homeland, their exodus led them to these blessed shores.  Though all was not well in those early years.  The cataclysm had decimated more than half of their population, and the journey to these lands and the lack of supplies and shelter led to even more deaths.  As the desperate are wont to do, our ancestors fragmented into the remnants of their old tribes and engaged in brutal warfare over the ever dwindling supplies.  That is they did, until the arrival of the blessed Magnus.”
At this the entire congregation touched their middle and index fingers to their bowed foreheads saying as one “Praise be to Magnus.”  Now Twilight was intrigued.  The priest had mentioned “cataclysms” that had forced a severely decimated humanity to flee their old lands.  If this was true, than what exactly had Celestia and Luna done to them?  Whatever it was, it had obviously not been the quick and clean version that Celestia had given her.
“Magnus emerged from amongst the tribes with a message of unity for all.  Through his glorious leadership and divine power he defeated all who opposed him and forged humanity into a single, unified whole.  But Magnus’ vision for humanity did not end there.  Under him, humanity entered into a golden age as never before seen.  We spread across the continent and pushed aside the creatures that would see our progress halted.  In his travels Magnus encountered for the first time the evil and unnatural forces of magic that had so plagued our ancestors. “
Twilight perked up at this.  Celestia had said that humanity had possessed an extreme aversion to magic.  And the passing of time certainly hadn’t changed their views on the subject.  If anything, humanity’s hatred of magic seemed only to have deepened and become ingrained in even their religion.
“So powerful was Magnus that even the daemon queens would fear his mighty tread,” roared the priest, gesturing forcefully toward a spot above Twilight’s head as the crowds gasped and glanced behind them. Intrigued, Twilight too raised her head and looked behind her.
Glancing up towards where the preacher had been pointing Twilight saw a second mural above the doorway.   It depicted two beings who were unmistakably Celestia and Luna.  But there was something different about them.  They were slightly larger than she knew them to be.  Their horns were sharpened to fine points and their wings were ragged and torn.  Their mouths were twisted into cruel smiles, showing sharp fangs.  Their eyes burned with power and from their horns blazed forth huge gouts of magical flames.  Celestia and Luna’s hooves were stained red with blood and Twilight’s gaze was dragged downward towards where the fire was being directed.  What she saw there horrified Twilight to no end.  The fire was shown to be splashing against the forms of screaming humans.  Many of them were shown to be not men, but women and children.  
Twilight could not properly express her horror.  What she was seeing was the image of her mentor and Luna magically laying waste to crowds of human women and children.  It was like something out of a nightmare, but Twilight could not wake up.  
“Yes,” the preacher continued.  “Even those who did drive our ancestors away, who brought despair and pain upon the innocent, who. . . who. . .” the preacher trailed off as he glanced in Twilight’s direction, a look of pure shock and confusion adorning his wizened face.
Twilight tore her gaze away from the horrific image portrayed by the mural as the sound of both the preacher and the crowd fell away.  She looked over the crowd who were now gazing in her direction in the same shock and horror that the preacher was.  What was wrong with them?  Were they that scared by the mural?  No that couldn’t be it, the mural looked old and the people would have seen it before.  So what was it?  Why were they so shocked and what the hay was that sudden cold she was feeling?  Shaking the strange cold aside for a moment she shifted her weight to the right and froze as she noticed the crowd tracking her movement with their eyes.  
“They can see me?!” She thought hurriedly to herself.  “But how, the pendent should still be working.  What could have, NO Twilight,” she thought firmly to herself.  “Figure that out later, deal with this first.”
Looking out over the stunned crowd Twilight stood fixed to her spot, her parchment and quill still hovering before her face.  Not knowing what else to do besides running, Twilight took a deep breath and spoke.
“Hello,” she said uncertainly.  “Um, my name is Twilight Sparkle and I’m the personal student of Princess Celestia, and I . . .” She got no further than that before the shocked silence of the crowd turned into something far worse. 
“A demon!”
“A monster!”
“She’s come for the children!”
“KILL HER.”
  


> Chapter 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Heart pounding, pulse racing, Twilight ran through the twisting streets of Vona as fast as her hooves could carry her.  The cries of the mob still echoed behind her, their bloodthirsty cries chilling her to the core.  As she rounded the corner ahead of her, Twilight could see the light of the newly risen moon glimmering off the dark sea.  
“The port!” Twilight cried her voice tinged with relief.  If she was near the port, than she just might be able to get back to her base camp before the humans caught her.  The hope of escape giving her a second wind, Twilight put on an extra burst of speed.  As she got closer to the port, she recognized the port authority building and turned right, dashing toward the forest where she hoped she would finally be safe.  Even as she turned she could hear the cries of the mob behind her.
“There she is!”  
“Kill the beast!”
Twilight could see the green of the tree line growing closer, their promise of safety just out of reach.  Yes, she thought triumphantly.  I’m almost there.  And then the pain came.  Twilight had no warning besides a slight whistling noise just before a sharp pain ripped through her right ear.  Crying out, Twilight stumbled and fell to the ground.  Looking ahead of her, she could a small knife glistening red with the blood drawn from her ear.  No, no, no! She thought frantically to herself. The mob was drawing closer, calling out for her blood.  As Twilight lay there, trembling from the fear and adrenaline she thought nonsensically Death feels a lot warmer than I’d imagined.  Wait, warm!?
Twilight started with the sudden realization.  Back in the cathedral she had felt a chill unlike anything she had felt before.  But now she felt warm again.  Twilight rose to her hooves as quickly as she could before trying to channel magic through her horn again.  A sense of relief came over her as her horn lit up with purple light, illuminating the darkness around her.  But with this relief came a sense of confusion.  Behind her, the thundering footsteps of the mob had stopped as suddenly as her magic had returned.  After a steadying breath, Twilight turned to face her would-be murderers.
They were so close!  The angry humans had stopped suddenly at the very edge of the circle of light given off by Twilight’s horn.  Their eyes seemed to track every movement of Twilight’s, but in their eyes a second emotion seemed to war with their blind rage.  It took a moment for Twilight to place it, but then it struck her:  Fear.  These humans were afraid of her.  Or, more specifically, they were afraid of her magic.  They had been content to chase her through the darkened streets and roads, but now, with the return of her magic, they had pulled up short. Slowly, Twilight began to back away.  She kept her eyes on the wall of people while focusing both on keeping the light coming from her horn lit and struggling to reactivate the darkened pendant hanging from her neck.
It happened as she finally began to cross into the forest.  The humans, perhaps seeing that their quarry was escaping stirred themselves from their fear-kindled stupor and began hurling whatever they had brought with them at the mare.  Knives, pitchforks, stones, clubs, and more filled the air around Twilight as she finally gave up on the pendant and teleported herself deeper into the dark woods.  
The humans stared at the spot where Twilight had been standing with a mix of confusion, fear, and disgust.  They began to retrieve their fallen implements, taking extra care to step around the spot Twilight had teleported from.   One of the men near the head of the mob turned back to the others.
“The demon is gone . . . for now.  Someone fetch the arbiters!  The Emperor must know of this sacrilege!”  Before he was even finished speaking men and women were dashing back towards the town, intent on bringing their warnings to those well placed to deal with it.
Panting hard, Twilight stumbled into the small clearing that she had called home for the past few weeks.  In the distance she could hear one of the humans calling out to the others, but she was too far away to make out the exact words.  With a speed that belied her haggard appearance, Twilight began to gather up her belongings.  She took extra care to preserve the various observations that she made during her time here.  While her departure might be under the worst type of circumstances, her observations were still valid.  With the last of her things packed, she tried activating the pendent once again yet it still resisted her best efforts.  It almost seemed . . . dead.  Shaking her head to clear the slightly disturbing thought from her already shaken mind, Twilight began her trek to the coast.  She would rest again when she was safely offshore.
“I don’t know what happened to you,” she said as she took one last look at the towering buildings of Vona.  “But I’m sorry.  I wish things could’ve turned out differently.”  And with that last, sad statement, Twilight teleported to the first island on her path back to Equestria.
----
Knight-Captain Jonah strode through the echoing, stone halls of the Emperor’s palace in Megbízás.  The palace was in an uproar after news had reached them from Vona that one of the southern demons had actually appeared, in a Church of Magnus no less!  The Council, whose members consisted of the major nobles and leaders of the various settlements and cities of the Empire, had been called into an emergency session.  Many had yet to arrive and only those within a few days travel had been able to make it before the session was called to order by the Emperor.  Jonah shook his head in annoyance.  While he had no problems with the Council itself, the nobles were always a handful and the extra security they invariably brought almost always made extra work for him.
Behind Jonah walked a contingent of the elites of the palace guard.  It was they who marched into battle beside the Emperor during what was known as the Second Civil War; a war that had only ended a few years previously.  Such was the damage and extent of the war that many of the Empire’s armies were still scattered across the continent.  Passing by one of the massive windows, Jonah stared out at the cityscape spread out before him.  The Emperor’s palace stood higher than any other building in the city which afforded him an excellent view not only of the city he had grown up in, but also of the extensive repair work that was only now being completed.  Great systems of scaffolding extended over the walls of the city and stone masons toiled daily to restore the damage done to city and the palace during one of the last battles of the war.
Sighing at the sight, Jonah motioned his men to follow him and they continued their march to the throne room.  Upon reaching the great golden doorways, two guards stationed there crossed their spears, barring them entrance.  At this Jonah curled his right hand into a fist and struck it against his breastplate.  
“Knight-Captain Jonah and the palace guard.  Let us through.”  The guards looked him over briefly before raising their spears again and opening the doors for him.  Nodding his thanks, Jonah and his knights strode through the doors and were greeted by what seemed like a literal wall of sound.  The cyclopean room within seemed to stretch up to touch the sky itself.  The ceiling far above was decorated with a massive golden mosaic of Magnus standing with one foot placed upon the decapitated corpse of a massive dragon, the creature’s head held aloft in his hand.  
The walls and floor were made out of white marble.  Great windows dotted the walls, the panes positioned so that a shaft of sunlight would always fall on the Emperor’s throne.  Against the walls were massive raised platforms of the finest mahogany in the Empire.  Currently filling these seats were scores of bickering nobles, each demanding a different course of action be taken in response to this recent incursion.
“We should muster our armies and hunt that demon and its kind down!  We shall finish what they started and avenge our ancestors.  Magnus wills it!” said Oleg Triune, lord of the Western Highlands. He had a pitch black beard and a scar across his face where he was wounded during the war. 
“Yes and like all those years ago, their unholy magic will decimate us!” roared out Aelfric Haroldsson, the Lord-Mayor of Vona; an ancient and wizened figure.  “Our ancestors could not stand against it.  Or did you think that we came here by choice?  We should build up our forces and focus on defense of the Empire.  Let them come, if they are coming.  They will never be able to defeat us on our own land with the numbers, technology, and the blessings of Magnus.  But in the blasted hellscape these creatures inhabit, we would be vulnerable.”
Lord Triune stared at him, livid.  
“So you would have us do nothing?!”
“No, but . . .”
“Yes.”  Both lords turned incredulously to the newcomer throwing his weight into the argument.  What they saw was Lord Walden Frieze.  Coming from an older noble line, Lord Frieze held some power and influence in the capitol itself and tended not to venture too far from Megbízás if he could help it.
“We currently live in the Golden Age that the blessed Magnus built for us.  Our armies, while scattered, have overcome the greatest of foes.  Our people are united and our cities massive.  Our coffers are overflowing with gold and treasure and none could hope to challenge us.  Why should we do away with our prosperity to raise our forces?  Why should we scare our people so soon after the Second Civil War has ended?  Even if the demons were to come, we could destroy them with nary a second thought.  Let them come. Let them rot.  Either way, humanity prospers.”
There was a moment, one brief, blessed moment, of silence that reigned over the crowded throne room as the other members of the Council processed this suggestion.  A moment that was followed by the enraged screams of Triune, Haroldsson, and every other lord drowned the room in mindless noise once again.  
Through this Jonah and his knights waded before coming to the raised throne of the Emperor himself.  As one they kneeled and a single voice cut through all the others.
“Rise.”  Jonah and the others rose to their feet as the nobles quickly quieted down and turned towards their heretofore silent ruler.  The throne itself was large and constructed of pitch black obsidian, hewn from the heart of a dormant volcano and polished and smoothed to perfection.  Upon it sat the lord of the Empire, the ruler of the continent, champion of the people, and the heir of Magnus.  Emperor Aurelian was a man in his late thirties.  His black hair was cut short and his blue eyes seemed to blaze with conviction.  Scars dotted his body from the Second Civil War and he wore the heavy robes of state.  The robes were ornate and heavy, colored red, gold, and white.  On his brow he bore the royal crown:  the crown was made of gold and dotted with flawless rubies.  The crown was meant to symbolize the divine might of Magnus and the rubies symbolized the shed blood of humanity’s ancestors which must never be forgotten.
Emperor Aurelian stood up, the thick robes pooling around his feet.  He swept his gaze across the assembled lords and knights.  He shook his head slightly at the fierce arguments that had raged until just a moment ago.  
“Look at all of you.  Before today you had your differences, but never did they spill over into your interactions like this.  This creature has done far worse than attack our people or torch our land:  It has shaken our unity:  The very unity that has borne humanity through all hardship.  Did Magnus not tell us “Strength through unity, unity through strength?”  If nothing else this appearance has shown me the way forward.”
Aurelian stepped off the throne and the knights parted to allow him to pass. Before long, he reached the center of the room and looked out at the assembled lords and leaders.
“Lord Frieze we cannot just do nothing.  The people are in an uproar and rightly so.  A creature of myth and evil has appeared from nothing and escaped.  We cannot let them believe that we cannot protect them from these monsters.”
He then turned towards his left.
“Lord Haroldsson we cannot simply strengthen our defenses, regardless of the perceived security it would bring.  We would soon live in a state of constant fear should we follow your plan.  Imagine for a moment if the monsters do not come for us for a year.  Two years?  Four?  But somehow I doubt we could just lower our defenses as long as the fear that those creatures can come back weighs on the minds of our people.  But neither can we blindly attempt to exterminate them.   Lord Triune rose from his seat.
“Then what can we do my Emperor?”  Aurelian looked toward Triune and a grim look overtook his features.
“We will do what we have always done Oleg.  We will fight and we will conquer.  But we must be sure that when we march, we march to victory and not our deaths.”
With this Aurelian returned to the obsidian throne, gazing out at the assembled nobles.  
“Bring me the High Priest.  I must speak with him now.”  One of the pages dashed out, returning later with the High Priest of Magnus, Sigmar.  Old, but not yet decrepit, Sigmar was dressed in robes of gold and red.  From his neck hung a finely wrought amulet of the mark of Magnus:  A sword within a circle, with the pommel and tip touching the upper and lower portions of the circle respectively.  The High Priest inclined his head respectfully to the Emperor.
“What do you wish of me lord?” The Emperor’s expression hardened immediately.
“Sigmar.  As you are not doubt aware, a demon of legend appeared in the city of Vona days ago.  From all sides I have been bombarded with countless schemes and plans for how to deal with this problem once and for all.  However I believe I have devised the perfect solution.  I would ask you to declare a holy crusade for Magnus against these creatures.”
Gasps erupted around the room at the unexpected news.  A holy crusade had not been declared in over 500 years, the last having been successful in driving the last of the frost trolls from the northern mountains.  A full-scale crusade would involve all but a small part of the Empire’s might and would not end until the enemy had been crushed or fully subjugated.  Even the prisons would be stripped bare to form the penal legions: desperate hordes of criminals who desire forgiveness and pardons in exchange for military service in Magnus’s name.
All eyes turned towards the High Priest as Sigmar strove to determine if this war fit the criteria for a crusade.  Minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness and the tension in the air was palpable as Sigmar prayed for guidance.  Finally, he broke from his prayers and stared up at the impassive face of Aurelian.  
“I have reached a decision my lord,” declared Sigmar.  “Truly Magnus smiles upon our endeavors this day.  I bless this war as a holy crusade in His name!”  Applause and cheers broke out across the room as the nobles offered up praise and thanks to Magnus for his blessing.  Aurelian too gave thanks and rose from the throne to address the room.
“Listen well to my decree and deliver it to every corner of the continent.  I, Emperor Titus Aurelian, Lord of the Empire, heir of Magnus, Champion of the People, and ruler of this continent do declare on this day a holy crusade against the southern demons.  All able-bodied men must participate, the penal legions must be formed, and our scattered armies brought back together.  The navy must be expanded and prepared to transport our troops across the sea.  Finally, our forges and manufactories must be brought to full war readiness.  Am I understood?”
Everyone in the room rose as one and replied in unison “By your word!”  With this, the nobles left quickly to prepare their forces for war and ensure their estates would be well taken care of in their absence.  Jonah made to leave, but the Emperor called him back.
“Yes my lord?” asked Jonah.
“Jonah, summon my war council.  We have much to prepare if we seek to unseat the daemon queens themselves.”  Jonah nodded and struck his chest with his closed right fist.
“At once lord.”
----
Twilight lay on the sand, panting in exertion.  She had just reached the island from which she had begun this ill-fated journey.  It had been about a month.  She had double-timed it back to this point, hoping to reach the island before either the month was up or the humans decided to chase her.  Twilight had stopped only to rest and eat, and was physically and mentally exhausted.  
Looking up at the sun, Twilight tried to determine how long she had before the Prometheus arrived.
“I should have an hour at least right?” Twilight thought to herself sleepily.  “I think I’ll just take a little . . . nap.”  With this Twilight’s head slumped forward as she fell into blissful unconsciousness.
“. . . ight. Twilight.  Miss Twilight!”
“Ahh!” shouted Twilight as she bolted upright on the beach.  Standing directly above her was the captain of the Prometheus staring down at her, concern evident on his face.  
“Are you alright,” he asked.  Twilight shook her head, still trying to rid herself of the last vestiges of weariness.
“Yeah. . . I think I am.  The trip was a lot more . . . physical, than I would have liked, but I made it through just fine.  How long have you been here anyway?”  The captain looked at her, still not quite fully convinced that she was as well off as she claimed.
“Not long.  Really, we just got here about five minutes or so ago.  I found you passed out on the beach and started trying to wake you up.”  Twilight smiled sheepishly up at him. 
“I wasn’t passed out, not exactly.  I just haven’t gotten much sleep in the past few days and couldn’t resist taking even a few minutes of shuteye.  However I will admit that I may not have picked the best place to lie down.”
The Captain looked down and her for another moment before shaking his head and giving out a snort of amusement.  “Aye.  After a long trip, you’ll take what you can get as long as you can sleep.  I’ve been there myself a few times.”  He sobered up quickly enough, before lending Twilight a hoof to help her up.
“At any rate, your old room onboard the Prometheus is free, so you can get some shuteye in a real bed.”  Twilight almost groaned in pleasure at the thought of a real bed to sleep on after these past few weeks of roughing in the wild.  
“The trip back shouldn’t take too long.  A few days at most, though I warn you on the way back we will be picking up. . .”  He shuddered with barely restrained disgust evident on his face.  “Tourists.”  Twilight giggled at his demeanor. 
“You really don’t like tourists do you Captain”?  He smiled at her as the two of them began to make their way to the Prometheus.
“When you work in this business, everypony hates tourists.  For me it started when I was just starting out as a sailor.  I was swabbing the deck clean, when this massive earth pony in a Hawaiian shirt, carrying a camera, staggered on board.  He walked right up next to me where he proceeded to. . .”  The pair reached the ship as the Captain finished his tale, and as soon as they boarded the crew scattered to their posts with efficient haste and made ready to fly.  A moment later they were in the air, sailing closer and closer back . . . to Equestria.
----
Ponyville bustled with activity as the sun hung high in the noonday sky.  Ponies bustled to and fro and everypony seemed, if not happy, than at least content.  Five ponies and a dragon sat together at a local café, enjoying a light lunch as they discussed an issue prominent on their minds:  Where was Twilight?
Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie had been given a letter left for Spike by Twilight.  It had not revealed much.  The letter merely said that Twilight would be leaving on a private research trip and would be gone for about a month.  She told them not to worry and that she would miss all of them.  The vagueness of the letter had troubled her, but when they considered how Twilight usually reacted to learning new things they supposed that it made sense.  However now it had been a little over a month and during this time they had not received a single letter from Twilight.  Not even Spike knew what was going on.  
“Ah just don’t get it,” said Applejack, a frown covering her face.  “Ah mean, ah know how Twilight can get about a new project, but something has to be wrong when she doesn’t tell any of us a single gosh durned thing for more than a month.”  Rarity nodded, the alabaster unicorn’s face mirroring the earth pony’s own.
“I agree dear.  This is just dreadful.  I can’t even imagine what could be going on that could keep Twilight from communicating with us.”
“Yeah!” blurted out Pinkie.  “Well I can, like maybe was kidnapped by pirates because they thought she knew the secrets to an ancient buried treasure.  Oh!  Or maybe she was abducted by aliens to represent our world in some sort of intergalactic gladiatorial arena!  Huggh, no!  I bet she met with an ancient civilization that were really grumpy and cranky and she was studying them and they got mad and chased her, and . . . . and . . . . hhmmph!”  Whatever fresh batch of insanity that Pinkie was about to bring about was cut off by the most expedient measure available to her friends:  a hoof to the mouth.
“Somehow I don’t think that’s happened Pinkie,” laughed Rainbow Dash, even as Pinkie continued to talk around the blue hoof in her mouth.  The others got a brief laugh out of the familiar scene, but soon sank back into their gloom.  
Spike sighed.
“Every day I wish she would just walk back into the library, so I can stop worrying about her every night.”  The others nodded in agreement before noticing a commotion further down the street.  Gasps of surprise and shock could be audibly heard.  The six friends got up and hurried down the street, striving to catch a glimpse of whatever was going on.  As they got closer, they saw the one pony they had been so worried about staggering down the street.  Twilight walked unsteadily down the street, drawing concerned stares and shocked gasps from other ponies on the streets.  
Her mane was unkempt and messy, sticking out in every direction.  On her right ear, there was a noticeable notch where the skin had been torn away.  Her posture was slumped and her gait noticeably unsteady.  But later the friends would all agree that this was not the worst part.  They could forget the rest in time, but the worst of it all was the eyes.  Twilight’s eyes were bloodshot, strained, and sunken back into her face.  Under the eyes were massive purple bags so dark they were almost black.  
Spike and the others were stunned.  They had all seen Twilight at stressful and intense moments, but never had they seen the lavender mare reduced to such a horrific state:  physically or emotionally.  With only the briefest second of hesitation Twilight’s friends rushed over to her, intent on finding out exactly what had befallen their wayward friend.
Twilight plodded along the familiar dirt road of Ponyville towards the library she had called home for so long.  She was briefly aware of the shocked gasps that were coming from all sides, but she honestly couldn’t care less right now.  After what she had seen and escaped from, this wouldn’t exactly faze her.  The ground began to shake slightly beneath her hooves and Twilight became aware of a growing rumbling noise coming from ahead of her.  With a concerted effort, she raised her head to meet whatever this was, just as her five friends and her number 1 assistant tackled her to the ground in massive group hug.
“What . . .?”  was all Twilight had time to choke out, before her friends began rapid firing questions at her. 
“Oh, oh, what’s wrong Twilight?  Did you see the aliens?  Were they gray, green, red, huggh . . . PURPLE?!”
“Uggh, you look just horrible darling!  We must do something about that mane immediately.”
“Twilight, are you ok?!”
“Where have you been egghead?”
“It’s so good to have you back Twilight.”
“What happened sugar cube?”
Twilight endured the manic round of questioning for another minute or so before she was able to get them to pay attention and get off of her.  When the others had gotten up, all of them looking at her sheepishly, she got to her hooves and gave them all a slight smile.
“Hi girls.  Hey Spike.  I. . . I. . . I’m so happy to be home.”  As she said this, Twilight’s eye began to tear up.  Seeing this, he friends came in for another hug as Twilight began to cry slightly.  
“C’mon yall,” said Applejack.  “Let’s get Twilight back to the library.”  The others nodded and they quietly escorted the crying Twilight through the streets back to her library.  When they entered through the wooden door, Twilight visibly shuddered with relief, the joy of being home visibly lifting her flagging spirits.  The mare walked over to the couch and laid down, her exhaustion only more evident.  Her friends looked uneasily at each other, all wondering just what had happened to make their friends like this.
“Twi,” Applejack started uncertainly.  “We’re all glad you’re back, but what happened to you?”  Twilight started as she looked up at the circle of her worried friends.  She opened her mouth to speak, only to close it a few seconds later.  It was as if she herself didn’t know what happened, or could not find the words to describe it.
“To be honest,” Twilight said slowly.  “I’m not quite sure myself.”  Applejack and the others looked at her confused.
“What?” asked Rainbow Dash.  “Like, you don’t remember?”  
“Kind of,” affirmed Twilight, nodding slightly.  “I know what I was doing and why, but after that everything seemed to just run together.  I was going north from Manehattan on a research trip about Hearth’s Warming Eve.  I boarded the Prometheus airship in port and left.  After that, I can’t really remember anything else.”
The others looked at her closely, not quite sure of what they were hearing.  They had known Twilight long enough to know that something was bothering her, and they also had known her long enough to know that Twilight of all ponies would not just “forget” almost of month of research.  Something was wrong here, but none of them knew how to go about discerning what it was.
“Are you sure darling?” asked Rarity, stepping forward slightly.  “I mean, it just seems strange that you can’t remember anything significant for an entire month.  Is there anything we can do?  Twilight vigorously shook her head at her words. 
“No Rarity.  I know it seems weird, but it’s nothing bad.  I’m just really tired and stressed out right now and it’s probably messing with my recollection a bit, that’s all.  Really, all I need is a few good days’ rest and I’ll be back on my hooves, good as new.”  Again, her friends exchanged concerned glances at each other.  None of them were convinced that this was just Twilight being too tired, but at the same time they could see that their friend was in desperate need of sleep.  
“Well then sugar cube,” said Applejack after a moment.  “Ah’ reckon you’re right.  C’mon yawl, let’s give Twilight some time to rest up.  Celestia knows she probably needs it.”  With words and assent, the other began to file out of the library.  As she was leaving, Fluttershy gave Twilight one last concerned look over her shoulder.  
“We’ll be around if you need anything Twilight,” she said in a low voice.  Twilight gave her friends a weak smile.
“I know Fluttershy, thanks.  Hopefully, I’ll be able to hang out with you girls again in no time at all.”  And with that Twilight and Spike were left alone in the library they called home.
Spike looked at his friend concernedly.
“Are you sure you’re alright Twilight?” Twilight sighed as she got up off the couch and began to climb the wooden staircase towards her room.  
“Don’t worry Spike, I’m fine.  I just need to rest.  Good night.”
“Good night Twilight.  I’ll be up in a bit.”
As Twilight entered her room she cast her gaze on the familiar surroundings, reveling in the realization that she was finally home.  But was it really her home?  Twilight flinched as the stray thought wormed its way into her mind.  Admittedly it was a question she had been pondering for quite some time after her encounters with humanity.  With a sigh Twilight went over to her writing desk and opened her saddlebags and the desk’s drawer.  With a little effort Twilight levitated the massive stacks of notes she had taken while on her trip and placed them within the desk.  After she was sure that they were secure, she closed the desk and locked it.  Twilight hated lying to her friends, but she didn’t want them knowing anything about the humans.  
Ponykind had already pushed out humanity somehow and taken their homes.  She had seen the hatred and bitterness they harbored over this act and realized just how different Celestia and Luna were back then, than they were now.  Hay, she wasn’t even sure if she would be able to really look at Celestia again without the seeing the horrible image of her that the mosaic had shown.  At any rate, she thought, humanity has suffered enough.  The last thing she wanted now to reawaken the old conflicts by telling everyone essentially:  
“Hey look everypony!  Across the sea is a much more powerful nation that hates us.  Isn’t that interesting?”  The mare tucked herself tighter into her warm, welcoming blankets and drifted off to sleep, enjoying the brief respite from the waking world before she was plunged into nightmares haunted by burning, fanged Celestias, humans screaming, and mobs chasing her.
----
“How long till the armies can reach their muster points on the coast?”  The Emperor looked over towards the man sitting at a stout mahogany table to his right.  The man wore an intricate green dress uniform from which hung an assortment of medals.  His face was slightly wrinkled, showing the first signs of encroaching old age and his hair was silver.
“A few months milord,” answered Lord General Orin.  “As you know, our forces are still deployed across the continent and their regiments are in various states of disrepair.  Not counting the need to reform the regiments and rally the reserves to fill them back out, their equipment needs to be repaired and they must actually travel to the coastal points.  Even with our rail network, it will take some time to muster the numbers you are calling upon.  Not to mention the volunteers cropping up in droves after the announcement of the crusade.”  The Emperor nodded, turning towards the next adviser in line.
“What is the state of the Imperial Navy Arianna?”  Lord Admiral Arianna shuffled some papers before answering.  She was a tall woman, clad in a blue dress uniform just as ostentatious as Lord General Orin’s.  Her black hair fell down to her shoulders and she stared at the Emperor with sapphire blue eyes.  
‘The navy is doing quite well Emperor,” she responded confidently.  “The rebels were never able to seize any significant port cities and because of their inland strongholds, the navy was rather underutilized overall.  I would estimate that we currently have over 96% of the navy at operational readiness, and the rest is currently being restored via our port facilities.  We have more than enough room to transport our crusader forces across the sea.”
“Excellent,” said the Emperor, as he turned towards the next adviser in line.  “This brings us to you Milos.  How is our weapon situation looking?”
Milos was Lord Fabricator and responsible for the industrial and engineering needs of the war effort.  
“As you can imagine we have thousands of cannons deployed already with more on the way.  However we have two overarching models of cannons with various variations and mortars.  The first model is the lighter and more mobile of our cannons.  They can be moved with relative ease across the battlefield and are excellent for the destruction of field armies as are our mortars.  While we have many such artillery pieces in place already, their extensive use during the war has put well over 50% of these units into a dangerous state of wear.  On the other hand our siege cannons are numerous and relatively unused, so not much work is needed there.“  Casting his glance over at the Lord General, Milos seemed to remember something important.
“Ah yes!  Also, from reports given to me by the Lord General, many of our soldiers appear to still be using outdated muskets.  We do have newly made machined rifles to distribute as well as better ammunition.  If these reports of their marching orders are correct,” At this point he showed his copy to the Lord General, who nodded.  “Then we should be able to supply the whole of our army with the new rifles by the time they reach their muster points.  Of course the actual act of distributing the weapons will delay their departure, but not by much.”  
Aurelian nodded in satisfaction.  
“Good.  Decommission any and all field pieces in dangerous states of wear and melt them down for scrap while building fresh units to take their place.  I will not send my troops into that blasted hell-scape with them wondering if their cannons will as soon destroy them as the enemy.”  The Emperor turned towards the last member of his war council.  The man was tall and clad in fine, black armor.  He stared back the Emperor, no emotion showing on his face.
“Empiricus, I believe we both know what I will be asking of you.”  He nodded.
“I do.  And I will be honored to assist you in your crusade.  However, how many of us you want and how many we can provide may differ vastly.”  Aurelian nodded gravely.
“I understand.  The Blessed are our only hope to root out this taint once and for all.  I would like thousands, but I am no fool.  Could you spare a few hundred of your warriors to fight by my side?”  Empiricus’s face looked thoughtful for a moment as he contemplated the numbers requested. 
“I will give you two thousand.  One thousand immediately and one thousand held in reserve.  Magnus has indeed blessed us in the past few years, as our numbers have swelled considerably.”  The rest of the table, barring the Emperor, let out shocked gasps.  This was not normal. Even in the Second Civil War, the Blessed had only offered the Emperor a few hundred warriors to aid him.  For their Grandmaster to give away two thousand was unheard of, and it was clear that Aurelian knew this as well.
“Thank you Empiricus.  I only hope that they will be enough to stop what we will soon face.  In any event, I adjourn this meeting of the council.  Praise be to Magnus.”
----
The months had just flown by for Twilight and her friends.  The first few weeks had been tough, with Twilight dealing with terrible nightmares, the contents of which she would not reveal to her friends.  However after some time, life began to settle down and return to normal.  Or at least what qualified for normal in Ponyville.  Gradually Twilight’s friends began to forget the reason for their worries as the Twilight they knew and loved resurfaced. 
It was around now, while the friends were all having a picnic that Twilight began to grow sad again.  A letter arrived for her that, after reading it thoroughly, revealed that they had all been invited to the wedding of “MY BROTHER!”  After some talks with her friends, the seven of them loaded into a train and sped off towards Shining Armor’s wedding in Canterlot.
----
The Basilica of Megbízás was filled to the brim with people.  Excited masses filled the streets outside, striving to catch a glimpse of the momentous events taking place within the hallowed halls.  Under the cavernous frescoed ceiling, amidst the countless polished pillars, and bathing in the colored light of thousands of the finest stained glass windows, knelt thousands of soldiers.  All bore their uniforms and newly crafted weapons proudly.  Scattered amidst the hordes of fresh-faced recruits were the faces of grizzled veterans of both the Second Civil War and before.  Across the Empire similar rituals were being held from the smallest church to the grandest of Basilica.  Against the far wall stood a truly massive marble alter flanked by great incense burning braziers, before which stood the High Priest of Magnus.  Next to him stood Emperor Aurelian himself, clad in golden armor which shone like the sun, bearing the mark of Magnus proudly on his chest plate.  
The High Priest began the ceremony.  He gave thanks to Magnus and offered up prayers that he would watch over his servants while they waged war in His holy name.  Near the end of the ceremony, the High Priest brought out that which would culminate the ceremony.
“Men and women of the Empire.  Sons and Daughters of Magnus, behold!  Before you now is the mark that you will bear proudly on this crusade.”  Behind the High Priest were great mounds of cloth, upon which were stitched the Mark of Magnus: A blue sword within a similarly colored circle.  The tip and pommel of the sword touched the upper and lower edges of the circle and the whole motif was placed on a pitch black background.
“These marks will be given unto you to wear over or stitched onto your uniform.  It will show your devotion to Magnus and mark you as a holy crusader.  Take up the Mark and show our enemies the might of Magnus!”  A great cheer erupted from the kneeling soldiers as the marks were given out.  When all the marks were borne by a soldier, Emperor Aurelian stepped forward.
“My Brothers and Sisters in Magnus.  My fellow human beings.  Today we take the first step on the road to victory.  We will sail across the sea and return to the land of our ancestors.  We will journey into the blasted hellscape of the southern daemons and we will crush them all!  Their unholy corruption will be cleansed in the holy fire of our cannons and mortars.  Their soldiers will be crushed with steel and shot.  The chains which they have placed on the sun and the moon will be broken and no longer will the heavens obey the blasphemous whims of these monsters.  The daemon queens will be brought down, their heads fixed on pikes, and their corpses paraded before their broken populace!  My comrades we shall know no fear for Magnus is with us! The Blessed are with us!  By the holy blade of Magnus himself we shall triumph!”
With this Aurelian hefted a massive blade in front of him.  The blade was made of the finest steel.  The hilt made of mahogany cut from the forests of the north, and set in the pommel was a fist-sized ruby cut in the shape of a teardrop.  This was the very blade of Magnus himself.  It was a sign of power and divinity.  The blade could be wielded with the consent of the High Priest and the Grandmaster of the Blessed and even then only by the Emperor.  The blade had not been wielded since the last crusade over 500 years ago.  The soldiers and the people stared in awe at the relic held before them and gave praise in loud voices.
“With this power we cannot fail.  Forward my comrades!  Forward my brothers and sisters!   In the name of the blessed Magnus, WE SHALL TRIUMPH!”
	
	
	
> Chapter 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Port Authority awoke to a grey Manehatten morning.  The sea-blue pony let out a great yawn as he ventured out onto the Manehatten docks.  Dock workers scurried about, looking as busy as ever.  Looking of course being the operative word.  There weren’t any major shipments to be sent out or any being brought in for hours yet and with the rebasing of the Prometheus to Fillydelphia, there only remained four ships in harbor.  Port Authority walked down the docks, nodding at his employees and checking on the status of what few ships were actually docked.  Everything seemed to be in order so he decided to just take a walk down the docks to kill some time.  
Port Authority looked at the sea covered in thick tendrils of mist and fog.  He had always loved the sea.  He loved the scent of salt in the air, the noise of ships being loaded and unloaded, and the subtle creaking of the ropes holding the boats in place.  This was his life and to be honest he couldn’t be happier.  Though every once and a while, in times like these, he just wished that something would hap. . . what was that?
Turning slightly and squinting his eyes in an attempt to see through the fog, Port Authority could swear that he saw a ship.  Running back towards the docks proper he began bellowing orders.  The dock workers looked shocked that something was coming, but some of them looked excited that something was happening to ease the tedium.  Leaping up from what they were doing, the dock ponies began freeing up space on the docks, readying lengths of rope to secure the boats, and inspection officials readied their clipboards and quills to examine and record the cargo.  
As the first ship breached the thick fog barrier, the ponies gasped in awe.  The ship was massive.  The wood was a dark brown and was fitted with massive black sails emblazoned with what appeared to be a blue sword fitted within a blue circle.  At the top of the middle of the ship’s three masts was a beautifully stitched flag whose colors consisted of three horizontal lines of red, white, and gold.  Following on the heels of the lead ship, nine more ships appeared to the left and right of the first ship.  After another minute, the line of ships grew bigger until it stretched across the entirety of the harbor.  But it did not stop there.  The first line of ships was followed by another, and another, and another.  The fleet seemed, from the pony’s perspective, to have no end.  
When they were almost to the dock, the first line of ships began to turn until they were all perfectly horizontal the city.  The ships following behind this first line had already slowed down and were stopping so as not to run into the front most ships.  
“What kind of ships are these?” one pony asked, mouth hanging open in awe at the numbers and sizes on display.  Another pony shook his head.
“I’ve never seen anything like these before.  Where do you think they come from?”  Port Authority looked with both confusion and awe on his face.
“I’ve worked as dock manager for more than thirty years and in all that time I have never seen ships like these or a flag like that.  All I know is that they haven’t docked yet and my only real question to that is this:  What do they want?”  He was to get his answer less than moment later, though he would later wish that he hadn’t.
Over the creaking of the ships, they could just hear the faint sound of voices shouting from the ships in the harbor. Port Authority looked at the lead ship through a spyglass he had picked up on the way here.  While he couldn’t make out the exact species from here, he could see figures dashing from place to place with not a single figure idling about.  Whatever they were doing it seemed to be a very involved process.  Finally, he got his answer as to their intentions, just as the ponies on the dock were considering sending out a boat to speak with the captains of this mystery fleet.
From beneath the main decks of each ship came dozens of glints of light just before Port Authority’s world devolved into chaos.  Dozens of explosions, louder than thunder, erupted from the sides of each ship in the line.  And just as Port Authority regained enough of his senses to question what the hay he had just heard the Manehatten docks were obliterated.  The administrative buildings were demolished and the ships at port had massive holes rent into them before they began to sink into the bay.  Port Authority saw the life he had known for three decades erupt into a firestorm within seconds.  
Scrambling to escape the conflagration that had once been the decks he galloped harder than he had every galloped.  He escaped the docks just before another violent round of thunder ripped through the air.  But this time, the explosions had begun to target the city proper.  As he ran, Port Authority saw buildings falling around him, the holes punched into them too great to maintain their structural integrity.  Stray explosions hit the ground, ripping massive craters into the cobblestone streets.  Ponies were panicking and fleeing in terror wherever he looked.  Debris from the ruined buildings rained down on many of these ponies, crushing them to death under their weight.  The unlucky ones were trapped within still-standing buildings as the fires caused by the mysterious explosions consumed them.  Port Authority could hear them screaming as they burned alive.  
Tears poured from his eyes as he ran blindly through the city he had grown up in.  Fiery explosions shook the earth and fire and smoke filled his vision.  But despite all of this he did not stop running, he couldn’t stop.  Port Authority wanted to live and he knew that if he stopped for even a second, than he could kiss his life goodbye.
----
The bombardment lasted for another two hours as spotters and gunnery crews constantly adjusted their angle of fire to deliver devastation to more and more of the city proper.  However, it was under the covering fire of the bombardment that the March of the Crusaders began.  Countless ships and skiffs deployed from the massive transport ships, each packed tight with soldiers and mortars, made for the ruins of the docks under cover of the bombardment of their fleet.  As they reached the land, ropes were quickly thrown to secure their boats before wooden ramps were thrown up to allow easy disembarkation.  Hundreds of soldiers turned into thousands until the Crusader forces numbered over 6,000 troops.  
“Armored forces watch our flanks!” shouted out a commander near the front of the army.   “Riflemen, form up.  Forward March!  Mortar crews find a raised position and begin to fortify.  I want artillery support ready and waiting yesterday, got it?!”  A flurry of assents was given as the Crusader army began to move out.  
“Sir,” shouted out one of his aids over the explosive cannonade.  “When can we expect reinforcements?  This force is not nearly enough to hold a city of this size.”
The commander nodded.  
“Don’t worry, lieutenant.  Our reinforcements are on the way, but for now we are the vanguard.  Until the reinforcements arrive we are to wipe out any and all armed resistance to our landing.”
With this, the army charged into the burning city.  They searched buildings that had not collapsed or were not burning.  They sent armored soldiers armed with swords, shields, and pikes into darkened alleyways to hunt down ponies in hiding.  With a constant momentum, the army swarmed forward through what was once one of the largest and most prosperous cities in Equestria.  After some time, they reached a large open space where hundreds of ponies had converged and local police forces were striving to keep some semblance of order.
“All forces halt!” roared out the commander.  “Riflemen, to the front!”  At his words dozens of rifle squads formed a vast line that stretched across the entirety of this space.  Mortar squads formed up not far behind, their spotters already giving them a firing angle to decimate the crowd.  The pony mob, because for all intents and purposes it was little more than that, finally took notice of the strange new creatures that they were sharing the space with.  Many gawked, unable to understand what they were seeing.  The police officers turned their attention from the now stunned ponies to the armed and armored figures behind them.  
“Who are you?”  One officer asked, his voice wavering as fear overcame him at the towering individuals standing before him.  The commander did not deign to answer him.
“Take aim!”  The rifle squads pointed their rifles at the disgusting creatures before them, knuckles white as they gripped their weapons in a death grip fueled by hate and disgust.  The police pony began to sweat heavily.  He could just make out what they were saying.  It certainly sounded Equestrian, but these creatures’ speech was heavily accented and their voices were far harsher than the mellow tones of most speakers of Equestrian. 
“I’ll only ask one more time, just who are . . .?”
“FIRE!”  A wall of white smoke appeared as hundreds of rifles fired simultaneously.  The police officer fool enough to talk to the humans stood transfixed, his body perforated with massive rents and holes where the bullets had struck him.  Screams filled the square as those ponies that had only been injured or had avoided the hail of bullets tried to run away from the invaders.  The humans however, would have none of it. 
As soon as the first rank in the formation had fired, they had fallen to their knees and begun to reload their weapons.  The second rank raised their guns and fired as soon as their comrades had stooped down.  More smoke appeared as hundreds more rifles fired.  The square had turned into a slaughterhouse as ponies trying to get away were caught in the back by the riflemen’s’ crack shots.  The second rank repeated the process of the first and fell to their knees to reload while the third rank opened fire.  While each rank fired, the mortar teams had not been idle. 
Gunnery crews finished lining up their firing angles and dropped their bombs into the mortar’s main tube.  A second passed before the bombs were shot from the tube and speeding over the heads of the human forces and straight into and ahead of the fleeing ponies.  Explosions rocked the square as ponies were ripped apart.  Limbs and blood were flung across the square as the explosions caught some ponies at the edge of the blast radius.  Others were turned into a fine, red mist as they were struck squarely by the dozens of bombs being lobbed at them.  Another moment or two was all it took before the square had been completely purged of ponies.  Blood and gore coated the streets and clung to the still standing structures around them.  A line of craters dotted the end of the square where the mortars had struck the panicked mass of ponies.  The commander of the vanguard looked at all this with an air of satisfaction.  
“Fine work lads!  An excellent start to the Crusade.  Now, mortars displace!  All troops, forward march!”  The infantry marched forward, their guns fully loaded and ready once more.  The mortar crews took longer to begin marching.  Their weapons were portable, but still far too heavy and cumbersome for only two men to move.  As the crews readied the guns to move, heavily armored troops stood watch over them.  While the behavior of these cowardly creatures just now seemed to prove an organized counterattack unlikely, the mortars were important artillery pieces and had to be protected.
The inexorable march of the Crusader forces sounded like thunder as they marched in perfect unison down the ruined streets.  The bombardment had ended some time ago and more forces were most likely already landing at the ruined docks they had claimed as a beachhead.  In fact they could hear the distinctive cracks of rifles and the booming explosions of mortar fire echoing from other areas of the city.  The commander smiled at this.  This was good.  It meant that their reinforcements had not only landed, but were quickly and brutally securing the left and right most section of the city.  With three armies thrusting forward into the city, it would be child’s play for the bulk of their forces to begin the occupation.
----
The Oranges were terrified.  All had seemed fine when they had awoken that morning.  The fog may have been hanging over the harbor, but the weather was cool and the sun was shining . . . and ponies weren’t dying all around you.  All that changed when the black ships came.  Moro Orange and his wife, Valencia had been enjoying the most delightful breakfast on their balcony when they had heard the thunderous explosions that had signaled the end of their old lives.
Until this point, the Oranges had enjoyed a life of sophistication, luxury, and privilege.  Theirs was an existence of high-class parties, expensive clothes, and a sense of superiority over others that had less than they.  But now they had been dashing through the streets alongside all the others.  Their bodies caked in soot from the fires spreading across the city, and their fine clothes ripped and torn into shreds.  After what felt like an eternity they had reached someplace they felt slightly safe.  Years before, Moro had needed couriers whom he could trust to carry payments, messages, and contracts to his various business partners and contacts in Manehatten and beyond.  
In an attempt to find them he had personally interviewed scores of pegasi before finding a select few that he considered absolutely trustworthy.  One of these was a grey pegasi mare named Summer Storm, who had proven herself remarkably competent, remarkably quickly.  It was at her house that the Oranges now found themselves in their disheveled and panic-stricken states.
When they had told Summer what was happening she was stunned.  She had heard the booming sounds earlier, but had assumed only an unscheduled storm.  
“Summer,” Moro said quickly.  “I have one last job for you.  And unlike all the other ones, this one could mean life and death.”  Summer nodded as she stared at her shaken employer.
“Valencia and I have a cousin named Applejack living in Ponyville.  You know how to get there right?”
“Yeah,” replied Summer.  I’ve stopped over there a few times.”  Moro smiled slightly.
“Good, here.”  He gave her a rolled up scroll with a hastily written message.  “I’ve shown you pictures before of her right?  Well I need you to go to Ponyville, now, and deliver this to her.  She and her friends know the princess so they’ll be able to get it to her.”
“But why not just go straight to Canterlot?”  Moro shook his head.
“No, no that wouldn’t work.  Not only is Ponyville closer, but Applejack knows me and you’ll be able to give her the letter quickly.  Now go, I can hear those sounds getting closer which can’t be good.”  Summer nodded and made to leave before an errant thought struck her.
“But Mr. Orange, what about you?”  Moro looked over at Valencia and then smiled sadly at Summer Storm.
“What about me Summer?  In our state we couldn’t hope to make it out of the city, much less the next block and the princess needs to know what’s going on before it’s too late.  Just go Summer and don’t look back.  We’ll manage . . . somehow.”  And with that Moro turned away from Summer and went to stand with his wife, staring out the window as the fires and explosions drew ever closer.  With one final look at her employer, Summer dashed out the door and took to the air.  Wheeling to the left she soared higher and higher, putting the burning buildings and smoke of Manehatten far behind her as she flew at breakneck speed towards Ponyville.
Applejack was bucking apples in the southern fields of her farm when it happened.  She heard a faint whining noise.  Confused she looked around, but there were no bugs around.  Applejack was about to return to her bucking, when she realized that the noise was getting louder, fast.  
“Now what in tarnation is that?”  She thought, just as a pegasus mare fell from the sky and crashed into her with the force of a freight train.
“Aggh,” moaned Summer as she pulled herself off the orange mare she had slammed into.  “Never flying nonstop from Manehatten to Ponyville again.  Ever.”  Applejack scraped herself off the ground and turned to stare at who had run into her.  
“Now just who are ya?” Applejack asked as she stared at Summer.  Summer looked at her and quickly remembered her job.
“My name is Summer Storm.  I’m a courier who works for the Oranges.  Mr. Orange instructed me to give this to you and you alone Applejack, as quickly as I possibly could.”  Applejack’s eyes widened in confusion at the seriousness in the mare’s tone, but took the letter anyway.  
“Now if you’ll excuse me,” said Summer.  “I’m going to find a nice, safe place to hide for a while.”  And with that she took off into the sky, leaving behind bewildered Applejack.  Shrugging, she opened the letter.  When she was finished reading it there were tears in her eyes.  
“Oh no,” she whispered to herself.  Shaking herself from her sorrow, Applejack galloped off to find Twilight.  The citizens of Ponyville looked at the farm pony strangely as she barreled through the streets at top speed, but she didn’t care.  All that mattered was reaching Twilight and giving her this warning.  Applejack blasted through the library door, almost slamming it off its hinges.  Twilight was reading a book at the table and looked up in alarm at Applejack.
“Applejack, what . . .?”  
“There’s no time Twi,” Applejack said, a look of desperation crossing her face.  “Just read this.”  Twilight took the letter from Applejack and quickly read through its contents.  What she saw there made her heart constrict with fear and her face pale.  
Is it the humans?  Not that couldn’t be, they wouldn’t just kill all these ponies.  Would they?  Clearing the thoughts from her mind, she called Spike down from his bed upstairs even as she marked the letter in front of her as “Urgent.”  Spike wearily trudged down the wooden steps, wiping the sleep from his eyes.
“What is it now Twilight?”  
“Spike I need you to send this letter to Princess Celestia right now.”  Nodding, Spike took the worn scroll in his claws and breathed emerald flames over it, seemingly destroying it as the magic took hold and delivered it to the princess.  Twilight looked back at the quivering Applejack.
“Applejack, get the girls and bring them here.  All we can do now is wait.”
----
The Emperor stepped off his flagship to cheers and adulations from the assembled armies.  The city had completely fallen only hours before.  He had been absent for a very specific reason.  This was the first battle.  Aurelian needed to know that his generals and soldiers would be able to make their own decisions and hold their own in battle without him giving the orders.  And he was happy to say that they had passed his little test with flying colors.  Entire blocks of the city nearest to the docks had been decimated by cannon fire from the fleet while yet more buildings had been destroyed by mortar fire or the actual fires that had spread through the primitive constructions.
As he walked along the ruined streets, Aurelian smiled.  The destruction was only a taste of the terror and suffering he would inflict upon these monsters.  All he needed was time and even the daemon queens would feel the razor edge of the blade of Magnus.  His advisers approached him as he reviewed the assembled troops.
“How fares the occupation?” he asked.
“Quite well my lord,” answered Orin with a smile.  “The daemons have grown soft since their war of aggression and could not stand against our holy might.  We estimate that around 20-30 percent of the inhabitants escaped however.  Of those remaining, more than 50 percent were killed during the initial invasion, most of those kills coming from our center vanguard army.”
“Interesting,” mused Aurelian.  “Give them a commendation for their zealous service.”  One of the scribes nearby bowed low.  
“At once my lord.”  With that done Orin continued his reports.
“The few thousand that survived have been placed into makeshift prison camps spread throughout the city.  Milos and his engineers outdid themselves this time.  The camps were established fairly quickly and their defenses are truly impressive.  None of those monsters will be escaping anytime soon.”  The Emperor nodded, pleased at the quick thinking of his troops. 
“Excellent.  Now, were any maps recovered from the city?”  Orrin nodded again.
“Yes lord.  From what we can tell this city is referred to as “Manehatten.”  There are a few coastal towns that would be excellent ports of call for our ships and so I took the liberty of ordering strike teams sent to seize some of the easternmost towns.  Now that we know the layout, not a single witness will escape.  We have also identified a number of cities stretching both down the coast and inland.  Their capital seems to be an elevated city identified as “Canterlot” from which the daemon queens rule.”
“Than that is our main objective,” the Emperor replied.  “Without their daemon queens, these creatures will be broken and unable to muster any real resistance to our armies. However, the Blessed have yet to arrive and I fear for our chances without them.  Bring all the maps and reports to my command tent and begin sending our scouts further out.  Nothing can catch us by surprise here.  One slip up, one mistake, and we are doomed.”  Orrin nodded, bowing slightly as he struck his fist against his breast.
“By your word.”  Looking over his proud troops, the Emperor nodded once more and strode off towards his command tent, his advisers following behind.  The tent was large and guarded by two knights under Jonah’s command.  It was gold in color, but the inside was Spartan containing only a single, large conference table upon which the advisers placed a massive assortment of maps, charts, and reports.  Figurines of their armies were then placed over the maps to give the Emperor a view of the overall tactical situation.  
About 30% of the city had been demolished during the cannonade and the mortar strikes that followed during the invasion.  The remaining 70% had been divided into four main quarters.  Two of these quarters had been given over to the army to house their forces.  The third quarter functioned as a manufacturing center where the engineering core repaired weapons, stockpiled surplus ammunition, and directed their construction efforts.  Debris from the ruined sections of the city was gathered and brought to the manufacturing quarter where the engineers would melt it down and re-use it in constructing bunkers, fortifications, and walls to encircle the human sections of the city.
The final quarter had, as Orrin said, been turned into a massive prison camp where the surviving ponies of Manehatten were gathered.  Thousands of ponies stared out at the city, where many of them had grown up, being burned and transformed into a massive armed camp for strange, murderous creatures from across the sea.  Armed soldiers stood atop towers of stone and metal, some staring in and others staring out, armed with their swords and rifles, ready to put down any and all rebellion or resistance should it arise.
Aurelian glanced at the map his cartographers had made, drawing on maps and geographic information retrieved from the ruined city.  To the northwest was the center of this country, labeled “Canterlot,” which was atop a large mountain.   To the east was a string of villages and minor coastal towns that even now Lord Admiral Arianna would be directing the amphibious landings of.  With the east secured, their forces could advance wholesale across the rest of the nation.  There were other coastal cities, the relative closest being one called “Fillydelphia,” that would be excellent assets later on but for now were not the focus of their attacks.  Further west and north there were other cities that would have to be seized as well. 
However what worried Aurelian was not the territories to be gained but what the maps indicated existed beyond this nation.  There were reports of other kingdoms belonging to a race known as the Griffons, a race called the Buffalo, and there existed some reports on creatures called Changelings.  While humanity loathed magic, they had no explicit quarrel with these other nations.  Aurelian worried that the daemon queens might try to call these other nations in to defend her.  Normally in this situation he would either send diplomats to assess their strengths or armies to eliminate them preemptively but with the daemon queens as opponents he could not afford to dally with other lands besides this one.
“My lord,” said Orrin.  “With respect I would recommend moving out within a week at most.  If we move swiftly we can strike their other cities before whatever forces they have can organize to face us.”
Milos nodded in agreement. 
“Yes my lord.  Our weapons and armor are in excellent condition with more troops and weapons being offloaded by the hour.  If we move swiftly we can crush our enemies with ease.”  Aurelian considered this.  Yes, in most wars, momentum was key to victory of any kind.  To lose momentum was to suffer a defeat that could easily turn into a rout.  However, this was not most wars.  It was not just a crusade, but a war of vengeance against creatures of myth and legend; creatures that had great and terrible magicks that could enslave even the stars themselves. The old tactics could not be relied upon to win this war.  He would have to get . . . creative.
“No.”  Both Orrin and Milos looked shocked, their mouths agape.
“But, but . . . why?” sputtered Orrin.  “We have the element of surprise and the numbers and momentum to bring this war to the daemon queens now.  Why pass an opportunity like that up?”
“Because,” replied the Emperor smoothly.  “If something appears too good to be true, it usually is.  Granted, we could take this war to the daemon queens’ doorstep now should we wish to.  But we would most assuredly lose.  Now I can see the looks on your faces, let me explain.”
Orrin and Milos bit back the retorts they had been readying and sat back, quietly staring at their Emperor; both secretly wondering if he had lost his senses.  The Emperor stared at the two, a slight smile of amusement gracing his lips.  
“Were this a standard war against opponents we understood than I would agree with you wholeheartedly.  Unfortunately we stand on ground our kind have not tread in over 2,000 years and face not rebels or lowly creatures, but fully empowered daemons.  At the very least we must await the full thousand troops promised us by Empiricus before any move can be made against the daemon queens.  Without the Blessed at our side, their magic will fell us as surely as it did our ancestors.  What I do know, from what these field reports state, is that the creatures have an amusingly simple herd mentality.  According to Vanguard troops, as soon as their officers were slain the rest broke into a rout.  They cannot stand without a leader, and that is how we shall defeat them.  Much as the body cannot survive without a head, nor can it survive without a heart.”
Orrin and Milos were confused.  
“How do you mean lord?” asked Orrin.  “What is their heart if not the daemon queens?”  The Emperor shook his head.
“You do not understand the bigger picture.  While, yes, the queens are powerful figureheads and have great power, there is another symbol that can be toppled to produce the same effect with much less effort on the part of our troops.”  It took them a moment before Orrin realized what he meant.
“Their capital,” he breathed, in awe at the ambition of their Emperor.  “You seek to seize the capital from right under their noses.”  The Emperor smiled. 
“Indeed.  We must lure the daemon queens away from their capital so our forces can converge on it unmolested.  With their capital under our control, then the morale of our enemy will be crushed, the image of invincibility the daemon queens possess shattered beyond repair.”
“But lord,” interjected Milos.  “Forgive me my ignorance, but how could we possibly lure the daemon queens from their city.  While we have yet to see them, I highly doubt they are without an armed force of some kind.  They will simply send those in their stead.  We have nothing they would want enough to lure them out of hiding.”  
“Oh?” the Emperor asked, a cold smile growing on his face.  “Nothing, Milos?  I beg to differ.  I see a few thousand of their subjects still breathing not far from where we sit.”

----
Strong Wing was feeling anything but strong.  He had been near the southern end of Manehatten and had been captured by the invader’s patrols which had swept up any ponies still in the city, and living he though with a shudder, and placed them into a guarded camp.  There were thousands here.  Here and there he thought he recognized friends, but whenever he tried to call out to them, they were swept up in the restless sea of distraught faces.  
Where had it all gone so wrong he thought?  Earlier today he had been hanging out with friends, enjoying a flight around town and the cool weather.  Now?  Now he was in a prison camp with thousands of others surrounded by creatures he had never seen nor heard of.  All of whom had strange weapons and absolutely no compunctions about using them on anypony who showed even the slightest hint of resistance.  But maybe, just maybe, with a little luck he could get out.  He kept thinking that as he prayed to Celestia for help.  This act alone would be a death sentence if they caught him.  
Strong Wing had seen what the invaders had done to the statues and banners honoring the princesses.  They had torn the banners done and burned them to ash.  They had toppled statues and crushed them to powder while a red and gold robed figure chanted and sang  praises to something they called “Magnus.”  Whatever this Magnus was, he obviously hated the princesses, though how this was so Strong Wing could not comprehend.  How could anypony dislike the princesses, much less hate them?  Celestia was the kindest and most caring pony he knew, and while her sister Luna may seem scarier to some he knew that she was the same.  So what could these things possibly have against them?
At any rate it didn’t matter.  He knew that he wouldn’t survive here much longer.  Food supplies were already scarce and the invaders seemed content to let many of the ponies suffer rather than work to provide enough food for them all.  Strong Wing needed a plan.  He needed to escape.  And just like that an opportunity presented itself.  On one of the guard towers, the invaders were leaving their post early.  No warriors had come to replace them.  This was his chance!  With praises to Celestia and Luna on his lips, Storm Wing leapt into the air and flew with all his might over the guard tower.  
Cracking sounds went off all around him as the invaders loosed their strange weapons at him.  Yet, not a single shot hit.  He heard the boom of one of their cannons and he saw a hole being carved out of the building on his right.  Yet no matter what they shot at him, noting could touch him.  After another tense moment he cleared the outskirts of the city, putting the horror and pain of that day behind him as he flew towards the one place he knew he had to go. 
“The princesses have to know,” he said, steeling himself as he sped off towards the mountain city of Canterlot.
----
Orrin rushed over to the Emperor who was finishing up his part at the purification rituals that would help cleanse this city of the southern daemon’s taint.  He stood alongside High Priest Sigmar, watching the last of the daemon queens’ propaganda and monuments being crushed underfoot and burned in cleansing fire.
“My lord Emperor; one of the creatures has escaped from the prison camp.  We failed to shoot it down and it fled the city.  Our scouts believe it is heading towards their capital.  If we rally our troops now, then we may be able to reach their city before they can organize a counter-offensive.”  
‘No.”  
“If we simply shift the forces directly from their quadrants . . . what do you mean no?”  The Emperor smiled.  
“Exactly that:  No.  There is no need to march on Canterlot yet.  There is different work that must be attended to first.”  Orrin could not believe what he was hearing.  Did the Emperor not understand what was at stake?
“But my Emperor, the creature will be heading to Canterlot now to warn its queens of our attack.  It will tell of her of our forces, of the prison camp, of everything we currently have in the city!”
The Emperor turned, gazing in the distance where he knew Canterlot was situated as a cold, satisfied smile grew on his face.
“Just as planned, Lord General.  Just as planned.”
	
> Chapter 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot Castle was in total chaos.  Everywhere one looked, there were aids, scribes, royal guards, and nobles running to and fro, all intent on fulfilling whatever desperate task they had been given.  When the Changelings had been thrown back by the love between Guard Captain Shining Armor and Princess Cadence the week before, there had been a great celebration and all had been happy for the night.  And the day after they were miserable, as they realized just how much damage the Changelings had caused to their beloved city.
Many citizens had been injured during the fighting or weak during the Changelings’ vicious feeding frenzy.  Hospitals were packed and the doctors were having problems dealing with the sudden influx of patients.  Hundreds of homes, businesses, and monuments had been damaged during the fighting as well and now all of those had to be repaired or, in some cases, completely rebuilt from the ground up.  Even the palace had not been spared its battle scars.  Much of the throne room was covered in scratches, holes, and scorch marks from the countless magic bolts being hurled about by both sides.  And while this was the most obvious damage the palace cleaners would quickly tell you that the worst of the damage was the liberal amounts of green slime coating the walls, floor, and ceiling.  It just got everywhere.
But there was one wound that all ponies, in Canterlot and beyond, felt more deeply than any injury or scar.  They had all stood there at the wedding when Chrysalis had been revealed.  Their beloved princess Celestia had rushed in to defeat the vile creature, but had been defeated herself.  Her crown blasted from her head, her horn burned, and her royal person cast to the floor before being lifted up and encased in one of the foul queen’s slimy pods.  For over a thousand years, since the banishment of Nightmare Moon, the ponies of Equestria had seen Celestia as a symbol of power and invincibility.  A being that stood watch over them and would banish any evil that dared to come against her little ponies.  But now that faith was being sorely tested.  	During the first real battle that any living Equestrian had seen the princess fight, and she was defeated in a less than a minute, without even dealing any wounds to her foe.   While nopony would ever dream of removing princess Celestia from her throne, for many the days of blind faith and obedience were over.  From now on, there would be far more questions that they would put before their fair princess:  Far more. 
However, despite this undercurrent of doubt and dissatisfaction the restoration of Canterlot was continuing apace.  The scaffolding was being put up, ponies were all working side-by-side, and all seemed right with the world.  Two royal guards, resplendent in their gold armor, stood watch on one of the castle’s guards towers alert for any disturbances.  
“What’s that?”
“What’s what?”
“That speck there.  Get me a telescope would you?”  After a moment of rummaging around the second guard complied, levitating a worn telescope to the other.
“By Celestia, that’s a pegasus!  Look at how fast he’s coming in.  Get a medical team together, at the speed he’s going he’s not going to be able to stop himself.”  Rushing down the tower stairs, the second guard came out at the base of the tower calling at the top of his voice for a medic.  Within moments, a team of two medics had rushed in and followed the guard back up to the top of the tower, where his companion was still watching the rapidly nearing pegasus.  Another moment passed before they could get a clear look at him without the telescope.  
He was a cherry red pegasus with a black mane.  The guard couldn’t make out his cutie mark from here, but he could tell that this pegasus had been through the ringer.  His wings were beating fast and hard as the pegasus took gasping, shuddering breaths from sheer exertion.  
“Here he comes!” yelled the first guard.  “Get ready to catch him.”  The other guard nodded, magic flowing into his horn.  When the pegasus was finally close enough both he and his partner reached and grabbed him with their magic, trying to slow him down so he wouldn’t break a bone when he slammed into the tower.  The effort was intense, but succeeded.  Strong Wing crashed into the two unicorns on the tower and sent them all flying back to collide against the opposite rampart.  Dazed from the impact, Strong Wing struggled to extricate himself from the two guards even as the medical ponies rushed over to help them. 
The medical ponies took their time in examining the three, but there were no major injuries sustained thanks to the efforts of the guards in slowing Strong Wing down.  After they had pronounced them fine the guards turned to Strong Wing expectantly.
“Whatever reason you had for coming here must be pretty important for you to be flying like that.  So what is it?”  Strong Wing took a deep breath as he tried to think of the best way to phrase what he was about to say.
“Manehatten has been taken by strange creatures.  The city is burning and its citizens have fled, died, or been put into prison camps.  I have to warn the princess before they come for them as well.”  The guard’s jaws dropped open, stunned at the horrifying revelation.  The first guard quickly shook himself from his stupor.
“Right.  Come on, we need to see the princesses now.”  They marched quickly through the fine stone hallways of the palace, the guards reflecting on what this pegasus had told them.  It was horrifying.  The first major battle fought in Equestria in over 1,000 years had been the Changeling Invasion which had been ended with no deaths and in one day.  Now, not even a week after, more creatures had invaded.  And now Equestria was on the brink of another, fiercer fight for its survival.  When they arrived at the throne room, they were surprised to find both the Element Bearers and Princess Luna already in attendance.  
They and Princess Celestia were discussing, in grave tones, the contents of a letter held in the princess’s magic.  At the approach of the guards and Strong Wing, conversation ceased.  
“Guards,” Celestia said sternly.  “What do you need?”   The guards stepped forward.
“Your highness, this pegasus claims to have flown here from Manehatten and has given us disturbing news about some sort of invasion.”  Both princesses started at that.  
“Yes,” said Celestia with a sigh.  “That is what this letter says as well.  Step forward my little pony.  What is your name?”
“Strong Wing your highness.” 
“What news do you bring Strong Wing?” asked Princess Luna quickly, concern evident on her face.  Strong Wing told the princesses what he had told the guards and they both paled.
“Can you give us a physical description of the invaders?” asked Celestia.  Strong Wing nodded.
“Yes princess.  They stood tall on two legs.   They had no coat and their skin was a pale white.  They had a patch of hair on their heads and instead of hooves; they had five gripping appendages for each limb.  They wore armor and carried weapons unlike anything I’ve even heard of.  They also talked a lot about somepony named “Magnus.”
The princesses were now more scared than ever as they quickly glanced at each other, their worst fears confirmed:  Humanity had returned to Equestria, and they had returned in fire, blood, and rage.  The sins of their past had finally caught up with them.  Speaking mentally with Celestia, Luna asked the question they had both been asking themselves for years.
“Do you think there is any way that we can salvage any form of relations with them Tia?”  Celestia sighed.  
“I don’t think so Luna.  I wish we could.  I wish we could make amends more than anypony could ever imagine, but after what we did to them. . .”  Luna nodded sadly.
“We lost any hope of their forgiveness long ago.  All we can do now is fight for our little ponies.”  Celestia nodded once more and turned back towards Twilight and her friends.
“Guards could you take Strong Wing someplace where he can rest.  He has had quite the journey and has done a great service for Equestria this day.”  Nodding, the two guards gently led an exhausted Strong Wing out of the throne room, the great golden doors closing behind them.  Once they were gone the princesses turned back towards Twilight and her friends.
“My friends,” she began.  “Luna and I both know what it is we are facing.  And we also know that all that has happened is solely our fault.”  Spike and the mares instantly began to deny this, with the obvious exception of Twilight.  Celestia quickly silenced their protests with a hoof.
“No, it is our fault.  Twilight knows this tale, in part, but we must now share it with all of you and ask that you forgive our past actions.”  The two princesses launched into the tale of humanity’s discovery and exodus from Equestria with one notable change: how Humanity was forced to leave.
----
Over two thousand years ago. . .
Silver Tongue, Grapevine, and Highwind stood in shame before the twin thrones of the princesses.  Not only had they failed to negotiate the return of the northern lands to Equestria, but they had somehow managed to get their entire race banned from ever even entering the northern lands under threat of war.  A greater failure could not have been imagined and now they knew they would pay the price for it.  
Celestia and Luna looked down on them with disdain showing on their faces.  
“You have failed us.  Worse, you have failed Equestria.  Those lands are ours by right and you have let them escape your grasp with nary a fight!” roared Celestia.
“Agreed,” said Luna.  “We cannot allow such failure to go unpunished sister.  Guards!  Take these three to the dungeons until we can devise a punishment suiting their crime.”  With a sharp salute, the royal guards quickly took the three terrified ponies and swept them from the throne room down to the dungeons.
“At any rate,” said Luna turning towards Celestia.  “How should we continue dear sister?  These “humans” have made clear their intentions and diplomacy has failed.”  Celestia looked pensive for a moment. 
“They insulted us Luna,” she said slowly.  “They mocked our powers, insulted our abilities, and now they dare to deny us what is rightfully ours.  What else can we do?  We go to war.”  Luna nodded quickly, before summoning their guard captains.
“Captains,” began Luna.  “An enemy has revealed itself to us.  It has seized our rightful lands and threatened our ponies and ourselves.  We cannot let such evil stand unpunished.  We go to war to deal with these creatures now.”  The guard captains nodded before rushing off to ready their forces to march north.  Days passed before their forces were fully ready, but when they marched they marched with the might of Equestria behind and both princesses leading them.
Celestia was glad in white armor the same color as her coat that shone brightly in the sunlight.  On its chest plate was a stylized image of her cutie mark and from her eyes blazed forth incredible magical power.  Luna was no less battle-ready in her dark blue armor, the stylized image of her cutie mark emblazoned on the chest plate.  The trek north was an arduous one, but with the power of the Princesses giving them respite from the chilling winds, the soldiers were able to continue on.  When they reached the first border province of humanity, many of the guards were shocked at the appearance of the humans, having never seen anything like them before.
“Forward warriors of Equestria,” bellowed Celestia from the sky above.  “Destroy their outpost and drive these monsters from our shores!”  The warriors were happy to comply and ran rampant through the village.  The humans tried to mount a counterattack, but the shock and sheer numbers of Equestrians were too much for the small village to bear.  It was quickly claimed for Equestria, but that wasn’t enough for them.  After seizing any and all supplies from the village the army marched forward and left the burning husk of a village behind, where the only sound that could be heard for the next hour or so were the screams of the dying.
So it continued, village after village was seized, sacked, and burned with no compunction about keeping prisoners.  It was at their first city however where humanity began its counterattack.  Expecting another easy victory like those that had come before this, the Equestrian forces charged headfirst at the city’s walls, and died in droves as a hailstorm of arrows flew down at them.  Over one thousand human soldiers stood on the walls, bearing bows with which they held off the encroaching army.  From further behind the wall massive boulders flew out, launched by catapults stationed in the city.  It seemed that humanity had finally caught its breath from the Equestrian’s vicious attacks.  And while humanity finally hurt the Equestrians back, it was also here that Celestia and Luna would discover the key to their victory.
Flying down towards the walls, the two princesses launched magical fire down at the defenders, striking large groups of them down.  However it was what happened after that stunned even them.  The humans on either side of the downed groups began to scream in agony.  Their faces burned as steam rose from them, their skin sloughing off in great heaps as their bodies collapsed under the strain.  Celestia and Luna now learned just why humanity despised magic:  It was anathema to them.  Even exposure to strong enough magic was enough to kill them.  With this secret the tide of battle was swiftly turned.  Unicorns became the main attack force of the army as they delivered death to men, women, and children through sustained magical bombardments of towns.
Months passed as the Equestrians drove before them any and all human forces that stood to fight.  With the discovery that magic could kill humans with relative ease, the war had become an unwinnable one for humanity.  Villages, towns, cities, none were spared the torch and soon the north was aflame from one end to the other.  The last city to fall to Equestria was the capital of the late Thunder Tribe.  Celestia and Luna led their forces all the way to their chieftain’s citadel and there, fighting beside his warriors, was Chief Thorvaldsen himself.  Celestia fought her way towards him, hoping to personally end the human who had dared to deny her what was hers by right.  
When Thorvaldsen saw her, his face contorted in bitter rage and he rushed her with his battleaxe held high; old, but not yet beaten.  The battle however was painfully short.  Celestia easily dodged his blows and bucked him in the chest so hard she could hear his ribs crack.  With her magic she held him up before her, seeing the pain that that brief magical contact caused him.
“You were a fool to oppose us human,” said Celestia triumphantly.  “We are as gods and none can stand before us!”  Thorvaldsen spat at her.
“Even now you continue your blasphemy.  You are no goddess.  If anything you are a daemon!  You have burned our lands, slain our people, and for what?!  Your own vanity and pride?  I weep for this land; for you can only taint it with every step you take upon it.  But though you have driven us away daemon know this: Just as sons must bear the sins of their father, so will your spawn bear the sins of their mother!  Whether it takes a hundred, a thousand, or ten thousand years, we will return to visit upon you and your spawn all the pain that you have visited upon us.  Humanity shall return in a wave of blood and fire and neither you, your sister, nor your subjects will be able to stop it!”  With this, Thorvaldsen finally succumbed to the pain the magic surrounding him had caused and gave his last breath.
Celestia stared at the lifeless corpse for a moment longer, pondering the man’s last words.  Surely they were just the ravings of a mad man; one last desperate attempt to scare her.  She heard the flapping of wings to her left as Luna landed beside her.
“The city is ours sister.  Not one human remains in the city, but I saw a small fleet of ships fleeing north across the sea.  Shall we give chase?”  Celestia considered it for a moment before shaking her head.  
“No Luna, we have won.  We have no need to chase down the dying remnants of a broken race.  Besides, I feel we should attend to those reports we received a week ago.”
“The strange pink clouds you mean?  I’m sure it can’t be anything too serious, but if you insist sister.”  With that the two alicorns leapt up from the ground and took off into the sky, soaring away from the burning north and back towards Equestria proper.
----
“And I think you know how history played out from there.” finished Celestia.  Her audience was staring at her, slack-jawed and varying expressions of fear playing over their faces.  Luna and Celestia could both understand this.  The girls had just realized that their homes were bought with the lives of thousands and that the ones who had perpetrated that murder were their princesses.  It was liable to scare anypony.  However there was one pony that didn’t look afraid.  Instead she looked angry, of all things.  
Twilight could feel the rage building up inside her.  Celestia, her princess, mentor, and friend had lied to her.  Worse, the humans were right about her.  She and Luna had decimated their race, burned their homes, and destroyed any mention of their race from history.  Twilight had convinced herself that the humans had exaggerated, or that Celestia had done what was necessary to defend Equestria.  But no, instead she and Luna had done what they had done out of their own vanity and ego.  Out of greed and cruelty!  It was too much for her to bear.  
“You lied to me,” said Twilight slowly, rage evident in every syllable.  “You lied to all of us.  You slaughtered the innocent!  Stole what wasn’t yours!  Worse, you covered everything up!”  Her friends looked at her, their faces looking at her in sympathy for her arguments and fear of her rage.  
“You’re not a goddess, you’re not a princess:  YOU’RE A MONSTER!”  Her friends gasped and Celestia flinched at the ferocity of Twilight’s verbal onslaught.  
“Twilight Sparkle, we. . .” Luna began before Twilight cut her off.  
“No Luna.  I don’t want to hear it right now.  I’m leaving.”  And with that Twilight turned to leave.  Celestia looked down as tears began to form in her eyes as her most faithful student, a pony she had practically raised, turned her back on her.  Twilight’s friends looked between the princess and Twilight, torn between their desire to help their friend and their desire to comfort the princess who was so obviously hurting.  Eventually a sort of compromise was reached.  Spike, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie would stay with the princess while Applejack chased after Twilight.
“Twilight, Twilight!”  Called out Applejack as she chased after her retreating friend.  “Consarn it Twilight, where are you going?!”  Twilight turned back to her friend, her eyes sad and weary.
“I go to pray Applejack.” Applejack looked at her confused.
“To pray?  To pray for what?”
“For the strength to weather what is to come.”
“And just what is coming Twi?”
“The reckoning Applejack.  The reckoning is to come for what was done over a thousand years ago. The humans will never forget... nor should they.”  And with that Twilight walked off, leaving a scared and confused Applejack standing alone in the empty hallway of the castle.
----
“Princess you can’t be serious!” Called out Captain Shining Armor.  Celestia and Luna had contacted him to apprise him of the current situation.  He and Cadence were already on their way back to Canterlot to help coordinate the response. 
“I am captain,” said Celestia firmly.  While her heart was still aching from Twilight’s earlier words, she knew that she had to be firm.  “My sister and I will lead our royal guard forces to relieve Manehatten.  When you arrive at Canterlot with Cadence, you two will help to coordinate the defense of Canterlot.  I have already had my scribes draw up a plan for a general draft.  If all goes well, than we will have 10,000 more stallions and mares to aid us in the coming battles within a week, and another 10,000 within the month.  If anymore are needed than we will widen the draft.  It will be your job to train them.”
“But Princess, Canterlot will not hold them all, where will we train them?  And why can’t you just wait for me to return?  I could lead our forces against these “humans” myself; there is no need for the two of you to lead this attack.”
“To answer your first question, you are the only one I can trust to train them properly.  In addition all of these troops will be drawn mainly from Stalliongrad, Maresville, Ponyville, and Tramplevania.  They will muster at Fillydelphia and Detrot for training and arming.  And as to why we must lead our forces now captain:  an escaped pegasus told us that the humans have a few thousand ponies locked within a system of prison camps within the city.  And from what he has told us that their living conditions are terrible.  We have to protect our ponies and any further delay could cause the loss of hundreds of lives.  Luna and I will lead our forces to save these ponies and we shall do so now!”  Cowed by the emotion in her voice, Shining Armor simply nodded.
“Very well Princess.  Cadence and I should be back in Canterlot tomorrow.  I’ll begin organizing a proper defense and then make my way to Fillydelphia to oversee the training of our new recruits.”  Celestia gave him a small smile.
“Thank you captain.  I wish you luck.”  
“Same to you princess, same to you.” 
Celestia and Luna stood together on the balcony of Canterlot Castle.  Gathered below them was the full force of the royal guard:  2,000 gold and blue armored soldiers standing proudly before their princesses.
“You are the greatest of our warriors,” said Luna stepping forward.  “On this day, you are tasked with the liberation of your fellow Equestrians and the retaking of occupied Manehatten.  We will not lie to you.  This mission will be dangerous and many of you may not return from it, but know that your sacrifice will free thousands of innocent citizens from imprisonment.”
Celestia stepped forward to stand beside her sister.  
“Now, follow us guardsmen:  For Harmony!  For Freedom!  For Equestria!
	
> Chapter 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The forced march took its toll on the earth pony and unicorn regiments of the guard.  Even the pegasi were not immune as the princesses urged them to greater and greater speeds in an attempt to reach Manehatten before the enemy could establish itself too strongly.  Eventually the army was finally allowed to rest about 20 miles from the city.  They would spend the night in a makeshift camp so they would be fully rested for the relief effort the next day.  The camp was established on a flat plain and the ponies had to make do without camp fires so as to maintain the element of surprise.
While all of the guards were ready to fight and die if necessary for the princesses and Equestria, the Changeling Invasion was the first example of real combat any of them had ever experienced.  One thousand years of peace and prosperity had softened the Equestrians.  Before the attack on Canterlot it had not been such a problem, but now. . .  Now some of the guards had to wonder:  Was the peace they had enjoyed really been worth them losing their ability to defend themselves.  Their princess had lost to bugs!  But at any rate, now was the time for action.  The time for contemplation and revision of their military policies could come later, when they were safe again.
The night passed and the sun began to peek over the horizon.  And with the sun, rose the Royal Guards.  Earth pony and unicorn formations organized themselves into a solid line as pegasi units took to the skies.  Their armor gleamed in the sun.  Hovering before their forces were Celestia and Luna, looking over the ruined city of Manehatten.  The flames had long since died out, but many of the buildings had been destroyed and many of those still standing had large pieces of them crumbling away or massive rents torn in them.  The scene of devastation brought back old, painful memories to the princesses of the war against these same beings all those years ago.  But while the ruined cityscape was terrible enough, there was something else that drew the princesses’ attention.
Extending out from the city was a mile long series of trenches dug into the earth.  Within these trenches were hundreds of human soldiers, all either standing ready or rising from their beds.  They were armed with strange weapons that neither Celestia nor Luna had ever seen or heard or before.  The weapons were about 4 feet in length or longer and seemed to wood fused with metal.  Further back, beyond the system of trenches, laid large walls.  They stood high and seemed to be constructed out of materials salvaged from the wreckage of the city.  The humans were dug in and had fortified their position well given how little time had passed between their arrival and the princesses’ response.  At any rate, their army easily matched the number of royal guards and those were only the ones they could see from their vantage point.
“Warriors of Equestria!” Bellowed Celestia, her booming voice carrying over the whole of their forces.  “Not 20 miles away lies a city laid low and your fellow Equestrians bound in chains.  This battle will be fierce, but both I and my sister have faith that you will win the day!  Forward royal guardsponies, for Equestria!”  With a roar of assent, the assembled guards lifted aloft crossbows and swords and began their charge at the trenches.
On the front lines of the trenches stood Captain Vladimir, a tired man whom chafed under the burden of command.  He had been appointed as a captain not long ago and had been put in charge of the trench network guarding the city.  But what was the point, he wondered?  For days he had stood here, overseeing the construction and defense of the trenches and not a single one of the southern daemons had appeared.  Not even a scout had been spotted and he had to wonder if they had taken an important city after all.  The size would make it seem like it was, but you would think that if it was so important than the daemon queens would be sending their best troops after them.  Oh well, he thought to himself, boredom is preferable to death.  And at that very moment that thought crossed his mind a great cry was heard over the ridge and a thundering of hooves was heard.  
Over the ridge poured hundreds of the foul creatures they had come to kill.  The creatures were clad in golden armor and wielded swords and crossbows.  Some flew, some charged forward, and the rest. . .  The rest were the worst of them all:  Creatures sporting a horn from their forehead, glowing with their unholy magic.  But the worst was yet to come.  Flying along with the aerial forces were not one, but both of the daemon queens!  Fear gripped him as he struggled to get his breathing under control.  
“Troops!” he roared.  “The enemy comes!  Riflemen to firing positions!  Mortar crews set up and cannons aim for the sky!  Load shrapnel shells!”  Soldiers began moving to carry out his orders as they moved their artillery pieces into position to fill the sky with fire.  The enemy drew ever closer, but the riflemen were able to get into position in time.  
“All guns, fire!”  The rifles mounted on the walls rang out with over a hundred simultaneous cracks and white smoke filled the air.  The first ranks of the royal guard were scythed down with ease, bullet holes perforating their golden armor.  While the majority of the guards behind them continued to charge, many looked on in horror at the fate of their comrades or tried to avoid galloping over their fallen friends.  These reactions rippled through their ranks causing a slight loss of cohesion throughout.  As the riflemen manning the trenches began to desperately reload while their comrades in arms launched another fusillade of bullets flying towards the oncoming forces.  Another rank of soldiers fell before their assault, but they were drawing ever closer to the first trench line with frightening speed.
In the sky the situation was similar, though perhaps slightly more desperate.  Mortars and cannons fired salvos of shrapnel shells into the encroaching pegasi.  The explosions tore through the weak, golden armor they bore and scores of pegasi fell from the sky, many dead before they hit the ground.  However they only got another salvo in before the Princesses joined the battle.  Joining their powers, a shield appeared around the pegasi units, unicorns on the ground striving to do the same with their earth pony companions.
Vladimir saw the glowing field in the sky and the one forming over the advancing forces and knew what he had to do.
“Fall back!  All forces displace and fall back to the third line of defense.  Mortars!  Bombard the abandoned trenches.  Switch to quick lime!  Make them bleed for every inch!”  The bedraggled human forces quickly began to move, climbing the ladders to go over or running through the trenches themselves to reach the third line of defense.  The third line was the final series of trenches before the Equestrians could breach the walls.  Vladimir knew that with magic being used against them, the only way they would win was overwhelming their enemy.  The cannons would continue to rake the skies, but the mortars would bombard the enemy as they traversed the empty trenches.  The bulk of the human forces had reached the second line of defense when the Equestrians finally reached the trenches.  
Some tried to leap over the gap separating the trenches in order to keep up their momentum while the bulk of their forces plunged into the trenches, bunching up their units and slowing their advance to a crawl as they tried to negotiate the narrow trench lines.  And the mortars began to fire.  Their shells exploded within the mass of royal guards, releasing choking white mists of quicklime.  The guards coughing and choking on the burning chemicals as their eyes watered, their armor began to hiss, and their flesh began to burn.  This stymied the advance even more than the trenches already had.  It took time, but the royal guard was finally able to reach the third line of defense. . .
. . . Where they were immediately met with the resounding cracks of human rifle fire.  The royal guard had no countermeasure to the human weapons.  Rifle shots continued to pierce their armor and massive holes were rent into the oncoming guards.  The quicklime bombardment was soon forced to stop lest they hit their own men.  But finally, the guard had reached the human defensive lines.  The pegasi were flying directly into the city where more mortars and cannon fire met them.  Princess Celestia however had decided what had to be done in order to secure an Equestrian victory.  
Horn blazing with immense power, the princess began targeting the human gun emplacements.  Mortar crews were consumed in the white-hot blazes and the gunnery crews manning the cannons were either killed by the magical bombardment or their own ammunition being lit aflame and exploding.  But even as the human forces began to take casualties they continued to fight.
Vladimir knew the winged creatures had breached the city, but that was not his jurisdiction.  His demesne was the trenches and already the trenches were choked with Equestrian dead.  Scores of guardsponies trampled by their own in the advance or felled by rifle and mortar fire lay in the dirt, their blood slowly turning the trench floors into a muddy mess.  Vladimir smiled at the signs of his success, but noticed something else as well:  Where before the advance was stymied it was now picking up momentum.
What was causing it, he wondered?  The trenches shouldn’t allow for movement likes this, they’re too . . . by Magnus.  The bodies.  The many bodies that now littered the trenches were providing a macabre bridge over which the advancing forces could cross.  The narrow, choked layout of the trenches could no longer slow them down.  And they were coming ever closer.  
“Fix bayonets!” he roared.  “Meet the enemy with shot and steel.  Let no one say we died as cowards.  For we will die drenched in the blood of our enemies!  FOR MAGNUS!”  
“FOR MAGNUS!”  The defenders roared, affixing bayonets or drawing swords.  They steadied themselves, their weapons grasped tightly in white-knuckled hands as the daemons charged them.  And just as the Equestrians were upon them, they cut loose.  Bayonets, gleaming grey in the smoke-chocked sunlight, lashed out and swords and sabers soon followed.  Once again guards died in scores as the frenzied human defenders made their last stand.  Arrows flew over the heads of the guard and impaled the lightly armored defenders as earth ponies charged them with swords and unicorns flung spells at them with a reckless abandon.  
The pain of the magic was unbearable as the defenders died in droves as the magical bombardment took its toll on their bodies.  Swords pierced through them and their guns were crushed, burned, or dropped into the mud swirling about their feet.  The battle was fierce and Vladimir drove them to keep fighting, even when all seemed lost.  But eventually, numbers and the advantage of magic won out over the zealous human defenders.  Vladimir died when four earth ponies attacked him at once.  He killed two and wounded a third before the fourth killed him, the banner of his regiment clutched fiercely in his left hand.  Following this the remainder of the human defenders was wiped out.  The trench network was taken, the gun and mortar emplacements destroyed by Celestia and Luna, and the last defenders fell before the now victorious Equestrians.  No quarter was given as the humans fought too fiercely to allow the Equestrians to even offer it. 
----
Celestia and Luna presided over the victory parade in Manehatten.  The battle had been fierce and the Royal Guard had lost over one thousand ponies, more than half of their original force.  This was a figure that was unimaginable to many ponies and Celestia and Luna felt the agony of having caused this massacre through their past mistakes.  However they were both immensely relieved when they found the thousands of ponies in the prison camps relatively unharmed.  The admittedly harsh living conditions had taken their toll on them and a few dozen had succumbed to disease or had been killed for disruptive behavior.  However, thousands of lives were saved that day and the noble sacrifice of the Royal Guards would not be forgotten.
However, there was one thing that continued to bother Celestia.  Namely, that it had been too easy.  While their magic had given them the edge in the war two thousand years ago, the human technology was incredibly advanced.  Their cannons could spit death upon even the pegasi and the strange tubes she had seen them using had launched burning mist at her ponies.  Not to mention the strange weapons that the humans in the trenches had been using.  But even with the forces stationed in the city, she and her sister had overwhelmed them with only two thousand royal guards.  In the past the army that had conquered the human lands had numbered almost five times that!  
So how could this few humans, their advanced technology notwithstanding, not only raze Manehatten but occupy a city where a few thousand ponies still lived.  Something just didn’t add up and when she voiced her concerns to Luna, she agreed.
“I had been pondering this myself.  It just doesn’t make any sense Tia.  What are we missing?”  Celestia shook her head.  
“I don’t know, I really don’t know.”  
“Your majesties!”  Turning towards the source of the shout, Luna and Celestia saw a group of Royal Guards bearing aloft a large standard.
“We found this clutched in the hands of what we believe was their commander in the trenches.  It’s the standard of their forces.  Since victory is ours, we thought it best if we present you the defeated’s standard.  Celestia and Luna both nodded and the guard levitated the banner to them.  The two princesses were impressed with the obvious work put into the banner.  It was beautiful in image and meaning.  
The standard showed a great eagle soaring above a pile of broken chains on a crimson background.  The eagle was gold and the stitching made it seem as though it was glowing with inner light.  Below the glowing eagle, the chains were pitch black as night and seemed to have barbs of some kind on them.  In the space between the eagle and the chains was a flowing line of script that designated the name and number of the regiment that bore it.  The script read:  “152nd Penal Regiment, “The Liberated.”
“The Liberated,” mused Luna.  “Interesting.  That would indicate that they were freed from something.  Perhaps through their military service?”  Celestia nodded absentmindedly as she read the name of the regiment over again.
“Perhaps Luna, perhaps.  Hmm, the 152nd penal regiment.”  Suddenly a bolt of realization struck Celestia as terror filled her heart.
“A penal regiment Luna!  Not the standard army!”  Luna looked at her with the same look of horrified realization on her face that Celestia had worn not a moment ago.
“A trap,” she murmured.  “It was all a trap.”  Celestia shook her head emphatically.
“No Luna,” she said as she gazed into the distance.  “Not a trap:  A distraction.”
----
Days earlier. . .
The ponies of Ponyville milled about nervously.  Just yesterday, they had seen the largest concentration of Royal Guards in recent history being led by both princesses towards the general direction of Manehatten.  Even with the return of Nightmare Moon, Discord, and the Changeling Invasion the princesses had not led the royal guard into battle, especially not in such large numbers.  Being who they were, the good citizens of Ponyville immediately began to gossip and spread rumors about just what was happening.  These rumors ran the gambit from the return of Nightmare Moon, Discord breaking free, the Changelings coming back for a second try of conquest, and even war with the griffons.  
Nopony knew for sure what was going on, but they knew one thing:  Whatever it was it was serious.  How did they know this?  The Elements of Harmony were missing and many said they had seen them leave for Canterlot quite some time ago.  If it required the attention of the Elements of Harmony than the situation must be some sort of major threat to Equestria.  The whole day ponies thought they could feel the ground vibrating, but they either chalked it up to nerves or thought the vibrations were coming from Celestia’s Royal Guards marching to the east.
It was about midday and many of the ponies were enjoying lunch when a strange whistling sound filled the air.  It got louder and louder and louder until Sugercube Corner exploded into a mess of debris and choking dust.  Ponies began screaming in fear as more and more explosions occurred throughout Ponyville.  A dozen buildings were destroyed before the source of the devastation was revealed. Marching in tight ranks, their armor shining in the sunlight and their uniforms freshly pressed and cleaned.  Dozens upon dozens of cannons and mortars followed behind what looked like an endless mass of flesh and steel.  Thousands of humans marched into the shaken Ponyville and began repeating the process they had begun in Manehatten.  Any who resisted were slaughtered and the rest were rounded up and placed into a makeshift prison camp.  The camp was centered on the schoolhouse, with great walls topped with barbed wire raised around it.
Within an hour, humanity had seized full control of the town.  Leading these forces was none other than the Emperor himself.  Resplendent in his gleaming golden armor, he walked side by side with Grandmaster Empiricus of the Blessed who had brought a thousand of his brothers and sisters with him, clad in the same pitch black armor.  They took the town hall as a base of operations.  Room was made to accommodate the Emperor and his war council as maps of the surrounding areas were snapped up and added to their preexisting knowledge of the area.  Before joining his war council in the Town Hall, the Emperor looked at the mountain city of Canterlot in the distance and a cold smile grew on his face as he saw the solid wall of cannons being stationed just outside of Ponyville facing Canterlot.
“Soon,” he whispered.  “Tomorrow will see the beginning of the end for the daemon queens.  Tomorrow will see the Siege of Canterlot.”
	
	
	
	
> Chapter 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	They were doing it again.  Scootaloo, Applebloom, and Sweetiebell could hear them as clear as day.  The voices of the black armored creatures echoed across the town, a single chant coming from a thousand throats.   All three of the cutiemark crusaders remembered the events of just a few hours previous as some of the most frightening of their lives.  Riding through the streets of Ponyville, pulled along by Scootaloo and her scooter, they had seen the destruction of Sugercube Corner firsthoof.
The walls had exploded outward in a storm of wood, smoke, fire, and frosting strangely enough.  They thought the Cakes weren’t in there, but they weren’t sure.  After the first explosion almost a dozen other buildings had quickly followed suit.  Their forces had flowed around the town like water and soon, there was no way out.  The town had been rounded up and placed inside a large, ringed complex.  Not long after that the black armored variant of the creatures had begun to chant:  
We are the chosen of Magnus.
We carry his name on our shoulders as our fathers did before us.
Through the mists of time he speaks to us,
Tells us of the evil of the usurpers,
Of the reasons for exodus,
And the rights of the traveler.
This land is our destiny and our right! Enlightenment is our gift.
Magnus foretold us of this Eden with a promise of deliverance.
We shall defend her till our deaths.
Standing near the schoolhouse proper, the girls could just see the remains of Sweet Apple Acres over the massive stone walls surrounding them.  While the trees were still there, the humans had picked them bare.  Why wouldn’t they considering that it was a massive and ready-made supply of food?  Applebloom felt a tear come to her eye as she remembered how Big Mac had tried to stop them from taking their prized crop.  He had knocked two of them onto their backs before he had charged one of the black armored ones.  Big Mac tried bucking the human as he had bucked the others, but the human just laughed as he caught one of Mac’s legs one-handed.  He had then proceeded to knock Big Mac out before having one of his men throw him into the camp.  Now the tears were flowing freely as she wondered:  How could everything have gone so wrong?
----
“What have the scouts reported on their defenses? “  asked the Emperor.  He and his war council had been in session for the past few hours, ironing out every last detail of the siege they were soon to undergo.  
“They report that the city itself is very inaccessible with the only major entryway being through a single train track.  The only other ways to enter the city would be through the skies or by scaling the mountainside itself.  Their defenses are also lacking in that they have no walls or major fortifications from what we can tell and they sent the majority, if not all of their standing forces, against the Liberated.”
“Hmm,” mused Orrin.  “While it would seem that we have victory in our grasp, the problem still remains of transporting our troops there.  If the only way in is through the rail line then they are sure to have it well guarded.”  Empiricus leaned forward and steepled his fingers. 
“My Emperor, I would recommend that we send an elite strike force to secure a foothold in the city.  I will personally lead it.  We will take the train and seize the Canterlot station.”  Orrin nodded in agreement.
“With the station under our control we can shuttle our main forces into the city at our leisure.”  
Milos frowned at this.
“A good enough plan, but it will mean nothing without support to divert their forces away from the station.”  Orrin nodded to this.
“Indeed Milos.  And that is where your siege cannons come in.  The mountain city is within their range, correct?”  Milos closed his eyes in though.
“Yes,” he said slowly.  “They should work.  It might be a stretch for some of the older models, but the new cannons should be perfectly capable of reaching the city.” 
“Good,” said the Emperor, finally adding his voice to the discussion.  “Then reinforce the cannon line with as many as needed.  I want a rain of steel to cover our advance.  Nothing less will grant us victory Milos.”  Milos bowed his head to the Emperor.
“Of course my lord.  A rain of steel will fall over the city on your command.”
“Excellent,” said the Emperor.  “Then there are only two more details to attend to before we adjourn this session of the council.  Firstly:  Have we received an update from Lord Admiral Ariana yet?”
“Yes lord,” replied Orrin.  “Ariana reports that of the four towns east of Manehatten we have complete control of three.  The fourth is slightly further from the coast than the others so it took longer to reach.  She estimates that it should be fully ours within another day.”
“Good.  Then we shall move on to the last point.  Outside of this settlement lies a forest known to the locals as the “Everfree” according to our reports.  The locals fear it because the “clouds move on their own and the animals care for themselves.”  There was a slight snort of amusement from the assembled advisers.  
“I want a detachment of soldiers to investigate this forest and determine what exactly resides within it.  In addition I want an imperial surveyman to begin studying and recording their findings on the area.  I will not have us threatened from an unknown source during our siege.  Am I understood?”
“Yes my lord.”
“Excellent.  Then I declare this meeting of the council adjourned.  Our attack will commence tomorrow at dawn.”
----
Princess Cadence stood on the balcony of Canterlot Castle, enjoying the last few moments of the sunset.  As the sun slipped past the horizon, a feeling of peace and contentment settled over her unlike anything she had felt since returning to the city.  With the announcement of foreign invaders attacking Manehatten, her aunts had departed with the Royal Guard and Cadence had been left to oversee the administration of Canterlot in their absence.  Shining Armor had already left to train the new recruits in Fillydelphia.  She sighed as she saw a squad of pegasi guards patrolling the skies.  How had everything gone so wrong?
She and her husband had just fought off an invasion and were supposed to be enjoying their honeymoon right now.  But now, the two of them were right back in the thick of another invasion.  And she had to wonder:  Were her aunts really up to the task?  During the invasion, her aunt had not been able to realize Cadence had been replaced and when the time had come to fight the Changeling Queen, Celestia had failed.  And now they were facing an attack that she felt was threat enough to warrant both her and Luna leading their forces.  Shaking the disturbing thoughts from her head Cadence began the long trek back to her bedroom, hoping to get some sleep before resuming her new duties.
----
Preparations began a few hours before dawn.  Gunnery crews awoke and started preparing their massive siege cannons, army crews gathering ammunition and stockpiling it near the cannon line.  A priest led morning services for the soldiers soon to fight:
“Blessed Magnus, we beseech thee to grant your protection unto your chosen warriors as they storm the walls of the Daemon Queens’ stronghold.  Mighty are their arms and fierce their devotion to your holy word.  In your name they march, in your name they fight, and in your name they will conquer.  Blessed be your chosen sons and daughters for they are the shield of Humanity and the embodiment of your Justice. Blessed be the Emperor that guides us forward unto victory and the High Priest who shows us how to walk in your light.  Strength through Unity, Unity through Strength.”
“Strength through Unity, Unity through Strength,” returned the kneeling soldiers.  Grandmaster Empiricus strode through the town and towards the prison camp.  While he may not have liked the vile creatures, that did not mean he could not see how they could be used.  Approaching the guards at the main gates, Empiricus watched passively as the two guards immediately knelt before him. 
“How can we serve, Grandmaster?”
“Bring two dozen of the prisoners to the train station.”  The guards looked confused for only a moment before snapping off quick salutes and entering the camp to fulfill the Grandmaster’s order.  Confident that they would obey, Empiricus walked to the station to find 500 of his Blessed waiting for him with the Emperor and two squads of riflemen standing on the platform.
“Empiricus, I will be joining you in the attack.”  Empiricus could not keep the surprise from his face as he took in the Emperor’s words.  
“My Emperor I must object.  We know not what kind of resistance we will actually face when we arrive and I can barely begin to imagine the negative effect your death could have on the people’s morale.”  The Emperor simply smiled at him, completely unfazed by the Grandmaster’s doubts.
“Empiricus, old friend, you wound me.  You make it sound as if I cannot hold my own in a fight.  I can assure you that I have not grown soft since the last war.”  Empiricus repressed the urge to face palm.  Sometimes the Emperor, as effective a leader as he was, could infuriate him like no other.  
“Aurelian,” he said, dropping the honorific in his frustration, “I do not mean that you have grown weak, nor do I wish to keep you from the battlefield, but I would prefer that we not throw you into battle without at least proper knowledge of the composition of our enemy’s forces.”  
“Don’t worry Empiricus, I understand your concerns.  However I will be joining this attack.”  Empiricus sighed, knowing that he had lost.
“Of course my Emperor.”  
“Excellent.  Are our “guests” on their way?”  Empiricus nodded. 
“I have assigned a contingent of guards to escort them here.  It should not be much longer.”  As he said this, a large group of guards approached the station, escorting a group of two dozen ponies; all of whom were terrified as they tried to figure out just what these beings wanted from them.  Empiricus walked over to the group and paced in front of the gathered ponies, never looking away from their faces.
“Listen and listen well “ponies.”  You will sit near the windows, you will not talk, you will not move, and you will not use magic of any kind.  You will also obey any and all commands we give you.  If you do all of these things, then I give you my word that you will not be harmed.  However, disobey any of these conditions and your punishment will be swift and brutal.  Am I understood?” 
The ponies all nodded shakily.
“Good.   Then board the train.  Now.”  The assembled ponies hurried to obey, not wanting to give the massive, armored man any reason to hurt them.  Once the equines had boarded the train the 500 Blessed boarded the train with riflemen backing them up.  With all of the troops on-board, the train began its journey toward Canterlot.  
----
The guards of Canterlot were on high alert.  Moments ago, their lookouts had reported that a train was coming from Ponyville and a large contingent of guards had responded to screen the train’s occupants. Standing on the train platform, the mainly earth pony and unicorn contingent watched as the train pulled into the station.  In the train’s windows were ponies that looked tense and scared, but of what the guards had no idea.  
Moving forward to secure the train one of the guards thought he saw a strange, metallic glint behind one of the ponies.
“What the hay?” he said.  Moving closer to investigate that window, he heard a powerful voice cry out:
“Down!”  Every pony at the windows threw themselves down just in time for the voice to roar out “Fire!”  The last thing the guards saw were strange creatures bearing stranger arms before, with one thunderous volley, their lives were snuffed out.  With the death of the guards, the human forces stormed out of the train and fanned out to seize the station.  Ponies at ticket counters and others cowered as the strange creatures stormed the station, seizing the offices and wresting control of the rail lines from Canterlot.  Empiricus looked over at the Emperor.  
“We have the station, Aurelian.”  The Emperor nodded in affirmation before turning toward the single mortar crew brought with the vanguard.
“Launch the starburst rounds.  It is time.”  Nodding, the mortar crew got clear of the station and launched the round straight up into the air above the city.  The shell exploded into a ball of bright, actinic light that could be seen for miles.  And with that, the Siege of Canterlot truly began.
Back in Ponyville the signal was received and the gunnery crews began to work their deadly art upon the distant city.  With a single thundering volley, the cannons unleashed a hail of shells that arced up and over the land, casting a shadow upon the ground; the shrieking of the falling shells sounding like the winds of a hurricane.  And when they came down, they struck the city like the fist of Magnus Himself.  Explosions rained across the city, entire blocks obliterated in an instant.  Empiricus and Aurelian stood shoulder to shoulder watching as a rain of steel fell over the capital.  
“Blood and fire, brother,” said Aurelian.  Empiricus gave a small smile at his words.
“Blood and fire.”
----
It was the screams that woke her.  Cadence had been asleep, but had bolted awake as she heard frightened screams and thundering explosions echoing across the city.  With a single, concerted effort she threw herself from the bed and flung open the windows leading to the balcony.  What greeted her was a scene from her nightmares.  Blazes of fire burned over ruined blocks that had once been houses and businesses.  Choking, black smoke hung overhead diluting the light of the sun and causing the scene to take on a sickly, yellow pall.  Guards were flocking everywhere, trying desperately to restore even a modicum of order to the panicking citizens choking up the streets.  
Another thunderous cacophony echoed over the land, ponies clapping their hooves to their ears in an attempt to block out the noise.  Just the like the first wave, the shrieking maelstrom of shells descended on the city, a line of craters etching themselves across the once pristine cityscape.  Cadence took flight and flew towards one of the larger masses of frightened citizens.  She knew, knew that her aunts had not been able to stop the invaders.  Somehow, they had found Canterlot and were launching their attack.  While she couldn’t see any armed force marching up the streets, she knew that it could not be much longer before they tired of attacking from a distance.  She had to do something to protect the ponies of Canterlot.
Alighting in the center of the huddled mass, she called out to the ponies to calm down but they didn’t react.  She tried again to calm them down with the same effect.  Finally she knew there was only one other way to get their attention, not that she liked using it:
“SILENCE!”  Instantly, the citizens were silenced, shock and slight fear present in their eyes.  Cadence hated using the voice, but it was obviously the only way to cut through the haze of fear that had overtaken the citizens.  
“I know that you are all frightened, but now is not the time to panic.”  Turning to the nearest guard she contemplated how best to deal with this situation.
“Captain,” she said.  He saluted her sharply in response.  “Regardless of how this battle ends, the civilians are not safe in the city.  I am tasking you with evacuating as many as you can through the caverns.  Celestia has informed me of a route that will bring you out to the base of the mountain.  Take a small guard contingent and begin the evacuation.”  
“Yes princess!”  he replied saluting her again.  “You five with me!  All civilians follow us.”  As the guards took the crowd with them, Cadence flew into the air and took in a deep breath.
“CITIZENS OF CANTERLOT! WE ARE EVACUATING THE CITY!  THE ROYAL GUARDS WILL DIRECT TO THE EVACUATION POINT! MAKE YOUR WAY THERE WITH ALL HASTE AND OBEY THEIR INSTRUCTIONS!”  
Flying back down to the ground, Cadence saw a group of guards rushing towards her. 
“Princess!  We heard your announcement.  What are your orders?”  Cadence sighed as she looked towards where the thundering concussions were coming from.  
“I have no doubt that our enemies will soon arrive.  We must ensure that the citizens have as much time as possible to escape.  Gather all remaining guards in the center of Canterlot, we will hold them there.”  The guards ran off after giving her a quick salute, and Cadence took to the air winging towards the city center.
----
Aurelian and Empiricus watched the monumental destruction that their cannonade was wreaking on the city.  While some would have liked to continue the bombardment until all was dust, Aurelian wanted to conquer the city.  The effect on their morale would only succeed if he could occupy the city and exert total power over its inhabitants.  If he simply took a ruin, his plan would fall apart.  After another moment he decided that enough was enough.
“Gunners!  Fire the second starburst round.  The time has come for a more personal approach.”  The mortar crew readied their weapon and dropped a second shell into the tube.  With a thump of displaced air, the shell shot into the air and a second sun seemed to shine over Canterlot.  They waited another minute to ensure that the last of the shells had fallen and then Aurelian strode to the front of the vanguard.
“Brothers and Sisters!  Today we break the spirit of these creatures and carve our names into history!  Forward crusaders:  Blood and Fire!”
“BLOOD AND FIRE!”
	
> Chapter 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rifleman Maxilos strode along the ruined streets, chewed up pieces of debris crunching beneath his boots. Many of the buildings still standing were all so small and so . . . colorful.  The style of architecture was focused more on pleasing the eye than any form of practicality.  While the nobles built homes in this way, and the churches and palace were built to be as grand as possible, the majority of humanity’s cities were built not to look pretty, but to last.  The city was at once familiar and alien.  It generated a slight unease in him as his eyes scanned the buildings around him, searching for any of the . . . ponies lurking in the shadows as he tightened his grip on his rifle.  Ahead and behind him strode rank after rank of the Blessed with the Emperor and the Grandmaster taking the lead.  
Aurelian swept his eyes from side to side, letting not even a single shadow or piece of debris escape his gaze.  Yet despite their progress into Canterlot, no ponies had been seen.  Screams and a booming voice had been heard, but they had yet to see any ponies intercept their route or even fly over them.
“So where will you spring your trap?” he mused aloud.  He was soon to be answered.  As the vanguard forces made their way through the bombed out city they finally reached what appeared to be the city center.  While much of the buildings were reduced to little more than rubble, this site delineated the border between the worst of the shelling and the sections of the city relatively untouched by the bombardment.  Dominating this space was a large fountain.  The water had long since stopped flowing under the force of the bombardment and the centerpiece had a massive crack running down its center.  Arrayed around this fountain stood what appeared to be a thousand or so ponies, all armored in gold plate.   The majority of these forces were unicorns or pegasi, but earth ponies were present throughout the ranks.  While all of these ponies were armed it was their leader that interested and disgusted the Emperor.  Standing tall, with a slight shiver running through her body, and wearing a determined scowl was. . .
“Daemon-queen.”  Spat out the Emperor.  The word alone was insulting enough, but the vitriol and hate with which the Emperor said it caused many guards among the front ranks of the ponies flinch.  In fear or shock, nopony was quite sure.  As the Emperor spoke, the entirety of the human forces readied their weapons.  The Blessed all drew their blades as one, the harsh, metallic rasping of 500 swords filling the air.  As the Emperor placed his hand on the hilt of his sword, something struck him suddenly.  The daemon-queen standing opposite him was an offensive shade of pink.  Besides that, she looked . . . younger, unsure if such terms could be applied to such an infernal being.
“What is the meaning of this madness?”  The Emperor asked, incredulous.  “A third daemon-queen?  Empiricus what is the meaning of this?”
Empiricus shook his head.  “I know not my Emperor.  The stories and legends spoke only of the daemon-queens Celestia and Luna.  Never have I heard tell of a third.”  The Emperor frowned as he examined the daemon before him. 
“Either this one was too young to participate in their war of aggression or they somehow created another like themselves.  Whichever theory is true, we can’t afford to be delayed here or ignore this new threat.  But at the same time, a fight with a daemon-queen could reduce this city to rubble and our plans won’t work without it.  Magnus forgive me for what I’m about to do, but I will offer her a chance to surrender.”  The Emperor said this last word with a pained expression crossing his face at the thought of offering a daemon-queen, albeit a new and relatively innocent one, mercy of any kind.  Empiricus shared his pain.
“I will . . . support this plan lord.  However we must be ready to fight should she refuse.”  The Emperor nodded at the Grandmaster.
“Of course.”  Stepping forward, the Emperor took a deep breath and took hold of the hilt of the Blade of Magnus.  He looked down at the young daemon-queen and spoke.  His voice thundering across the distance
“Creature!” He roared.  “I am Emperor Titus Aurelian and this city has been claimed in the name of the Blessed Magnus and of all humanity.  We will offer you this one chance to surrender and flee the city with the rest of your . . . subjects.  This will be your one and only chance.”
----
Cadence could not believe what she had just heard.  The massive, gold-armored biped before her had spoken in Equestrian, albeit heavily accented Equestrian, and told them that he and his kind had claimed Canterlot as theirs.  The royal guards arrayed around her had been brought out of their shocked state at his words and anger was plain on their faces as many of them tightened their grip on their weapons.  The guard to her left looked up at her.
“Princess, we can’t let this monster insult you or Equestria like this!  We should defend Canterlot till they or we are dead.” 
“If what they did to the city is any indication, than we would be the ones dying here today and what good would our deaths be to anypony?”  The guard looked ready to continue arguing the point, but decided against it and began grumbling to himself inaudibly.  Cadence could see the obvious distrust and hatred in the human’s eyes as they stood tall, ready to respond immediately to whatever answer she gave their ruler.  She sighed as she tried to decide what would be the best course of action for the ponies she was tasked with safeguarding.  Surely their lives were more valuable than a city?  Even their capital?  After casting a final glance over the assembled guards, Cadence turned towards the Emperor.
“We . . . will leave the city.  However we must ask that you give us time to gather the rest of our ponies together.”
“No.”  Cadence’s eyes widened in shock as she stared into the cold, impassive face of the Emperor.
“But. . .,”
“Any of your subjects outside the city are free to go, but any and all who remain in the city at this time will not be allowed to leave.  You may go now.”  That was the final straw.  Even as Cadence continued to stare in shock at the harsh judgment of the Emperor her guards sprang into action.  Two pegasi grabbed her and pulled her backwards even as a veritable wall of unicorns formed between Cadence and the Emperor, their horns glowing brightly as they prepared their spells.
The Emperor scowled at her and the unicorns, but stood his ground defiantly.
“Very well.  If this is your decision daemon, than I will show no mercy!”  With that, the Emperor drew the Blade of Magnus from its sheathe.  With a flourish, he held it above his head for a moment and threw back his head, eyes closed in prayer.
Empiricus had ordered his forces forward, but as he himself moved forward to protect the Emperor he saw an amazing sight.  As the Emperor held the holy blade aloft, a golden light seemed to shine around him, as if a beam of pure, untainted sunlight was shining down on him and him alone.  His eyes glowed golden as well and an expression of awe and joy was apparent on his face.  The image lasted only a second before returning to the familiar image of the Emperor he knew, but even as Empiricus ordered his Blessed forward and drew his own sword a single word kept coming back to him in response to what he had seen:  Magnus.
Captain Firebrand stood at the head of the unicorns staring down the human forces.  The crimson unicorn could feel a rage unlike anything else he had ever felt when he looked at them.  They had insulted his princess, invaded Equestria, and now they had the gall to demand so much from a princess.  But there was something more there as well.  It was the way the humans looked at them.  He could see in their eyes a cold hatred unlike anything he had ever seen before.  It was as if the humans begrudged the ponies every single breath they took.  That was all that he could stand.  With one last glance back to see if the princess had been safely moved away from the square, he stared straight at the humans and began filling his horn with as much magic as he could.  
“All unicorns, fire on my signal!”  The unicorns nodded and Firebrand was pleased to see that many of them had already been charging up their own spells to hurl at the invaders.  
“Three . . .” The humans had begun drawing their weapons, their so called “Emperor” drawing an especially exquisite weapon.  
“Two . . .” They were moving forward now, the look in their eyes screaming of their violent intentions for the unicorns standing before them.
“One . . .” Some of the unicorns had begun to tremble from the strain of holding in the power they had been gathering.
“FIRE!”  A kaleidoscope of colors and spells exploded from over one hundred horns simultaneously.  Fierce winds whipped the square, explosions of multicolored beams and spheres of light created blinding afterimages, and the air chilled and superheated from the passage of ice, fire, and lightning.  The howling maelstrom of magical discharge flew towards the human forces as they advanced unafraid on the ponies.  Firebrand eagerly watched the ever advancing wave of magical power, but something about it seemed different.  Even though it seemed fine something was off.  Cocking his head to one side, Firebrand considered it.  Is it dimming?  But even as he though this, the wave finally made contact with the humans in a crescendo of light and sound that blinded Firebrand and the rest of the guards temporarily.
The guards picked themselves up from the ground as they rubbed their hooves against their eyes in an attempt to clear the spots of light they could not stop seeing.  As Firebrand shakily came to his hooves, he could just make a noise cutting through the ringing in his ears.  As the smoke and mist from the spells cleared and his senses started to restore them to working order, he looked at where the human forces had been standing . . . and his jaw fell open in shock and horror.
Standing there, unharmed by the mass of spells stood the human forces.  The face of Empiricus and the Emperor were stoic as they faced down the stunned and frightened unicorns.  The advance began.  As the Blessed advanced on the drained guards, they began to chant:
We are the Blessed.
We are the True Sons and Daughters of Magnus.
In us lies His Divine Spark.
No blade shall cut us.
No arrow shall pierce us.
No foe shall best us.
No magic shall fell us.
We are the Blessed.
Firebrand could not believe his eyes and could feel his mind being consumed with fear. These . . . these . . . creatures had walked through a wall of magic generated by over one hundred unicorns.  What were they?  Were they monsters from the depths of Tarturus?  The byproduct of one of Discord’s mad “games?”  Or a race of monsters from the Everfree?  What were they?  What were they?  Whatweretheywhatwertheywhatweretheywhatwereth.  . .?!  As these thoughts ran rampant through his mind, Firebrand was unable to prevent the blow which made him the first confirmed guard casualty of the Siege.  There were to be many more before the siege had ended.
----
Cadence had finally gotten the two pegasi guards to release her just as the rest of the Guard forces had unleashed their magical volley.  While the resulting explosion was intense, her distance from it gave her a much better position from which to see just what kind of effect it had on the human forces.  What she saw was stunning.  As the magical attacks roared towards the human forces, they began to shrink and their light dimmed faster and faster the closer they got to the black armored soldiers.  When they finally struck the humans, the magical force violently dispersed in every direction but towards the humans.  It was as if the magic was actively recoiling from them in fear.  Cadence had never seen anything like it.  Every pony in Equestria and others beyond its borders all felt, used, or interacted with magic in some way, shape, or form every day of their lives. 
But these humans. . .  They seemed to actively repel magic rather than interact with act.  It was something she would have to investigate later because even as she watched this she saw her ponies being thrown backward by the forces of their own spells rebounded upon them.  And as they fell the humans advanced, swords raised and murder in their eyes.  She made to go to her fallen guards, but the two pegasi on either side of her quickly made to stop her.
“What are you doing?” she demanded.  “They need our help.  We have to help them!”  The two pegasi just shook their heads and the leftmost one stepped forward.
“Princess.  Our first duty is to safeguard your life and every one of those guards would gladly die to protect you.  Those “humans” are obviously more powerful than we gave them credit for and if all of them can do that with magic than you need to tell Captain Shining Armor.  And if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna . . . failed.”  Cadence could tell that just voicing that idea was hurting him.  “Then you are the last princess of Equestria and we can’t let you die here.”
Cadence didn’t want to give in.  She was a princess of Equestria!  Perhaps more importantly she was the Princess of Love and compassion.  It just wasn’t in her to leave those guards to die for her.  But at the same time she could see the truth in this guard’s words.  If her aunts had failed, than she had to live for Equestria and Shining Armor:  Even if that meant leaving these guards and the city behind.  With a final resigned sigh, Cadence accepted the bitter truth.
“Very . . . very well.  Gather any guards left in the city and make for the tunnels.  I will meet you there.”  Snapping off a quick salute, both guards took off to find the last of the royal guards in the city coordinating the evacuation efforts.  For her part, Cadence could only take one last look at the embattled royal guards still in the square before flying off to join with the crowds of fleeing civilians and guards.
----
The Emperor continued forward, his blade swinging fluidly through the air, never failing to strike a target.  The ponies had tried to use their magic against the Blessed and it had obviously failed.  This brought a smile to his face.  The Blessed were, quite literally, blessed by Magnus Himself.  In them was a fragment of His Divine Soul and allowed them to repel and nullify the unholy magicks of their enemies.  Adding to their innate power, the Blessed were identified young and taken to monasteries to be trained as the elite soldiers of man.  No mere pony could dare to stand against such fearsome warriors.
“Empiricus!”  Empiricus turned towards the Emperor, seeing the splashes of crimson covering his golden plate.
“We must move quickly!  Tell your troops to finish off these fools so we can move on.  The daemon queen has pulled back and we must move to secure a better defensive point on our approach to the castle.”  Nodding, Empiricus redoubled his efforts to finish off the shell-shocked ponies.  It would have been much easier to obey the Emperor’s orders if all of the ponies had been as affected by the magic as the unicorns had.  However the earth ponies in the group had been farther back from the front and were even now charging forward to assist their comrades.
----
Stone Wall could not believe that just hours earlier he was asleep in his bed and all seemed right with the world.  Now?  Now he was fighting a race that seemed to have been spawned from the depths of Tartarus itself.  The city he knew so well was falling into ruin and the blood of his fellow ponies was everywhere as the enemy carved into the fallen unicorns with no remorse or mercy.  The princess had been moved before the unicorns had launched their disastrous attack so at the very least she was safe.  Now all he could hope to do was buy her time.  So he did his duty and ordered his troops to charge headlong at the enemy.  Those with crossbows fired them, but the bolts seemed to bounce off the humans’ armor and there was too much confusion in the melee to get off a clear shot at their unarmored areas.
As he approached the humans, he could feel the stone ground beneath his hooves grow slick and the air was filled with a bitter, metallic tang. He felt bile rise in his throat as he began to gallop through the still-wet blood of his fallen comrades and saw the lifeless corpses that had, only moments ago, been living ponies.  Steeling himself he continued to lead the counter charge against the humans, but almost stopped short as he felt the most unusual . . . chill.  A wave of cold seemed to wash over him as he got closer to the human lines, but unlike most cold this burned.  The feeling of burning cold swept through him in seconds and he could feel his strength fading the closer he got to the humans.  He could feel a strain on his body of a kind he had not felt since before he had joined the guard.  Looking behind him, he could see that the rest of the earth ponies could feel the same chill sapping their strength and endurance from them.  Some had broken down and completely stopped advancing; instead sitting on the ground panting as if they had just run a marathon.
Stone Wall continued his charge and finally he and his troops crashed into the humans with as much strength as they could muster.  Swords, spears, and other weapons were brought to bear.  Many of the swords scraped against the thick, black armor of the Blessed and the spears fared no better in the initial clash of the two sides.  Stone Wall found himself facing off against one of the Blessed who held a massive, two-handed greatsword.  Stone Wall lunged forward in an attempt to catch him off-balance and thrust his blade up towards the man’s unprotected face.  The Blessed brought his ponderous blade to bear with surprising speed and managed to just parry Stone Wall’s blow before it could do any serious damage.  Snarling in anger and indignation, the Blessed turned his full attention to the earth pony guard and lashed out at him with the greatsword.  Stone Wall, true to his name, brought up the blade attached to his armor and moved to block the blow.  As the blow fell, Stone Wall could hear the apparatus holding his sword to his front leg whine in protest and felt immense pain shoot up said leg at the same time.  
Before his shock could fully register, the Blessed lashed out again and this time Stone Wall ducked out of the way, the sword crashing upon the cobblestone street raising a small cloud of sparks in the process.  Stone Wall thought quickly about the throbbing pain his leg.  Yes the humans looked strong but he was an earth pony!  He was naturally strong and he had been stronger than most.  Yet suddenly, he could barely manage to block a single blow.  What was going on?  Did it have something to do with that strange cold he was feeling?  But what was it and how could he . . . The greatsword punched through his armor and out his back, cutting his thoughts short as pain exploded throughout his body.  Looking up at the cold smile on the human’s face, Stone Wall could only curse his own weakness and distraction and in an attempt to get one last shot in punched the human as hard as he could in the face.
He felt the satisfying feeling of contact as he hoof struck the human’s unarmored face hard.  A smile came to his face, but that vanished only a second later as his hoof burned.  There were no flames and no apparent damage, but the hoof that had touched the human surely felt like it.  This last, sudden trauma was too much and Stone Wall felt his last breath leaving him even as the human’s face, contorted in rage, once again appeared in his vision.
----
The battle was over.  The forces in the square proved to be the only guards remaining in the city and with their defeat the city fell completely.  Humanity was soon reinforced with hundreds upon hundreds of soldiers arriving via the train station to occupy what was once the shining capital of Equestria.  The Emperor and Empiricus lead the vanguard throughout the city and up to and through the castle gates.  Through the magically carved corridors of stone and marble, through massive rooms of opulence and luxury, and through the darkest sections of the dungeons they marched, not willing to let any section of the castle be unaccounted for.
Eventually their march culminated at the golden doors of the castle’s throne room.  When the doors opened they were greeted with a massive room.  The walls were lined with stained glass windows detailing what appeared to be scenes from their history.  Large, gracefully-carved columns dotted the room, flanking a large red carpet that stretched from the doors to a large, golden throne on the opposite side.  The Emperor walked through the room towards the throne, ignoring all else.  When he finally reached it, he took a moment to examine it before turning back to the rest of his forces. 
“Take this blasphemous throne and burn it till naught but ash remains.  Destroy these windows glorifying the daemons and begin purging all traces of them from this castle.  I want nothing of them to remain intact when you are done.  Am I understood?”
The sound of over 500 armored fists striking metal answered him.
“By your word!”  With that they dispersed, eager to begin the mission given them by their emperor.  Empiricus stepped forward to speak with the Emperor.
“Aurelian, I must admit that this went far better than I had hoped.  Their capital seized, one of their daemon-queens brought low by retreat, and more of their forces broken beyond any hope of repair.  Truly we are blessed in this endeavor.”  Aurelian smiled at his old friend’s enthusiasm.
“Was there ever any doubt old friend?  This is the will of Magnus Himself.  Much has been done already, but do not revel in it just yet.  For there is so much left to do before we are done with this crusade.  At any rate, we must get back to business for now.  When the troops have an accurate tally please give me a report on how many of these ponies remain in the city.”  Empiricus bowed to him.
“Of course lord.  It will be done.  But in the meantime, what will you be doing?”  The Emperor had already begun walking away.
“Praying, Empiricus:  Praying for the continued blessings of Magnus in this, our greatest test of faith.”
----
The sun was just beginning to set when the final numbers came in.  Apparently, many of the ponies of this city had been unable or unwilling to evacuate.  Many appeared to be some form of nobility trying to preserve their wealth and estates.  Others were merely civilians who were cut off by the human forces before they could reach the evacuation sites in time.  Finally, there were those who simply could not bear to abandon the city where they had been born, raised, and in which they had raised families of their own.  Thousands upon thousands remained in the city.  If the reports were anything to go by, than of the original population barely 20 percent had been able to escape with their princess.  The rest were trapped in Canterlot, occupied by a hostile force, and had no hope outside of Celestia and Luna themselves coming to save them.  In addition, a good 30 percent of the city had been leveled or nearly been leveled in the bombardment.  Additional damage had been avoided due to the bombardment being mainly focused on areas closest to the train station and had not gone much farther apart from the stray shell or two.
The Emperor stood on a stone balcony on the castle overlooking the assembled crusader forces as they stood in gleaming ranks, heads held high and smiles evident on their faces.  They had pleased their Emperor.  They had fought the usurping daemons.  They had earned honor and glory in Magnus’ name and their names would go down in history.  Wearing a smile himself, the Emperor walked to the edge of the balcony to address his men.
“Brothers and sisters!  Soldiers of humanity and loyal servants of Magnus!  Today we have won a great victory!  The stronghold of the daemon-queens has been captured and their subjects subjugated!  Their armies have been routed, their leaders forced to run before our might, and this land has been freed!  Revel in your victory my friends!  For tonight we celebrate and give thanks to Magnus.  Tomorrow we march!”
	
> Chapter 9 Interlude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Excerpt From an Imperial Surveyman’s Report Part 1:  On the Ecology and Denizens of the “Everfree Forest”
Date:  November 8, 2012 A.M. (After Magnus).
Greetings to any and all who are reading this report.  I am Imperial Surveyman Augustus Dramell and I have been tasked by our glorious emperor to survey the Everfree Forest outside the settlement known as Ponyville and report on my findings therein.  On the 1st of November I began my studies into the wilds of the forest with naught but my wits, my faith, and the large group of heavily armored soldiers beside me to protect me from imminent death or gruesome injury.
Our first major landmark was what appeared to be a small domicile of sorts carved into a dead tree set not too far into the forest.  The inhabitants had long been vacated or had fled and not much was left behind in the home except for a large cauldron and some broken glass.  It was quickly decided that we use it as a base camp for further expeditions.
Following this we set off into the forest.  The trees were quite large in comparison to other trees thus far seen in this strange land, but many of the various trees back home on the continent are far bigger with the tallest being well over a hundred feet tall in the most wild regions. Ah! Yes, on the way to the hut we encountered a patch of land liberally carpeted with a peculiar type of blue flower.  We have yet to identify it fully, but I when I bent down to smell it, it was divine.
On the weather:  it is indeed much like the weather on the continent.  The clouds move naturally, prodded along by the winds and the local animals were wary of us.  We could hear them scampering away into the underbrush during our advance.  It is clear that if anything, “Everfree” is quite the fitting name for this place for it has remained ever free of the daemons’ taint.
After about an hour of traveling we encountered the first of many strange creatures residing within the bounds of the forest.  The creature was preceded by a terrible sound.  It sounded like a mix between a dragon’s roar and . . . a clucking chicken strangely enough.  The creature had a long, serpentine body.  Its head was that of a chicken with glowing, crimson eyes and on its back was a small pair of bat-like wings.  The soldiers responded immediately showing the fruits of years of intense training . . . by laughing to the point where they could not be bothered to attack the creature.
We paid for this when the creature stared directly into the eyes of one of the younger soldiers.  He screamed in pain and gouts of steam rose from his body as it rejected the foul magic being worked upon it.  The soldier soon fell to the ground dead and this motivated the others into action.  This creature was fast, but our soldiers soon fell upon it with a vengeance and hacked its body to pieces.  In the time since this expedition we have learned the locals call it a “cockatrice” However the more common name among the troops is “that chicken-headed son of a bitch.”
After burying the dead solider we continued further into the forest.  Along the way we saw many strange plants and herbs.  (For a detailed description of said plants and herbs, complete with diagrams, sketches, names, and properties, please turn to page 450, section 4:  subsection j: paragraph 20: beginning at line 4).
We encountered three more types of creatures of special note.  The first we encountered not long after the aforementioned cockatrice.  It was in a large clearing when they struck.  Coming out of the surrounding woods were 6 wolves made out of what appeared to be wood of all things.  They operated on standard predator pack mentality and quickly moved to encircle our intrepid little group.  Luckily, their claws and teeth could not pierce the armor of the brave soldiers protecting me on this: my most glorious assignment.  Within a few moments the wolves had been dispatched and the bodies sent back to the town for study.  (Full analysis and autopsy report of this and other creatures beginning on page 600:  section 10:  subsection: m: paragraph 24: beginning at line 6).
Following the encounter with the wolves we continued on into the forest and encountered the second of the creatures of note.  Bursting from the underbrush with a fearsome roar was the strangest amalgamation of creatures I had seen since that chicken-headed son of a bitch.  It had the body and head of a lion, crimson, draconic wings, and a large red stinger not unlike that of a scorpion.  This creature proved to be far more deadly than either of the two foes we brave few had yet to face.  Two of our soldiers were severely wounded in the ensuing battle before the creature could be brought down.
The final creature of note was a familiar one to any in the Empire:  a dragon.  It inhabited a cave set deep in the Everfree.  Piled around the behemoth were massive piles of some of the finest jewels this surveyman had ever seen.  After retreating from the cave mouth I reflected on some interesting facts I had noticed about the beast.  It appeared to be an adult by the standards of the area, but it was easily 5 times smaller than an average adult dragon that lived in the Empire.  The creature may also be weaker and less able than the ones we know.  For instance:  it lives here in a cave, not far at all from this settlement, and has yet in all this time to subjugate these ponies or even attack us during our initial occupation.  This species seems far lesser than those we know.

Conclusions and Suggestions:

Timber Wolves:  An interesting case that requires further study.  While seemingly unnatural it appears to have little natural magic and may make excellent animals to domesticate and use against our enemies.
Manticores:  Similarly to the timber wolves a strange case that seems beneficial to us.  While definitely possessing innate magic, humans can come in contact with it for extended periods without harm so it may also be useful in our crusade at some point.  Perhaps as a counter to their pegasi . . .
Dragons: They are far weaker than the dragons we know.  This breed could probably be wiped out relatively easily in comparison, but their weakness might also give us a better chance of taming them, though with their innate magic it could be a dangerous proposition to let them live.
Cockatrices:  Kill them.  Kill them all.  With fire preferably.
The Everfree Forest:  A place untouched by the taint of the daemon-queens and perhaps even blessed by Magnus himself in that respect.  Could be an excellent area to make use of for a variety of things in the future.
Finally, I must reiterate.  Cockatrices:  Kill them all with fire.
	
 

> Chapter 10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Eight thousand stallions and mares ran through drill after drill in the city of Fillydelphia supervised by Shining Armor.  Many of them had only arrived recently.  The next batch of 2,000 recruits was arriving in pieces with many of them relegated to the medical corps rather than the main fighting force that these 8,000 represented.  Shining wore a stoic expression as he watched over their training, but inside he was a mess of emotions.
Many of these ponies had never seen any form of military combat or received any form of training.  While there were some limited reserves, which had been called upon immediately, they were the best-trained of these reinforcements and had been put in charge of organizing the massive influx of troops into smaller training groups.  These groups had been training their flanks off for over a week, but Shining Armor could only feel a sense of dread and grief.  
These ponies were civilians.  They were untrained and without the desire to be guards that at least had motivated the reserves.  In addition to this, the enemy had proven themselves to be powerful enough to seize a city and warrant enough of a response that princesses had run off with the whole of the regular guard to deal with them and had still called for a draft of over 20,000 ponies from the general populace to reinforce them.  It was madness on a national scale.  Nightmare Moon.  The Changelings.  Discord for Celestia’s sake!  A vengeful and corrupted princess, an army of shape shifting parasites, and what amounted to a god of chaos warranted exactly six mares . . . and himself and his bride on one occasion.  Yet now was when they summoned the full might of their military into action.
He sighed as he thought this to himself.  The full might of the Equestrian military . . .  It was such a charged and provocative phrase.  It conjured up images of armies spanning miles, encased in glittering armor as they did battle with the foul forces of chaos and darkness.  But the reality was far more depressing.  The “full might of the Equestrian military” amounted to about 3,000 guards who hadn’t seen action in over a thousand years, a host of reserves who were more armchair generals and lazy glory hounds than patriotic citizen, the princesses he supposed, though they hadn’t fought in over a thousand years either and when they did it was admittedly disappointing, and six mares with magic gems and the power of friendship.
It made for a grim outlook when it looked like this threat wasn’t something they could just “friendship” or “love” into submission.  No, this conflict was one to be determined by strength of armies and the tactics of generals.  And it looked like they were sorely lacking in that department.   Quickly excusing himself Shining left the drill square, the quickly and crudely modified town square if he was being brutally honest with himself, and took off on a walk.  He had been doing this more and more lately, taking longer and longer patrols around the city.  It helped him see how well things were coming along, but it also served a more important personal purpose:  to distract his mind from the depressing thoughts of their defeat which he had been thinking of more and more as each day passed.
His thoughts drifted to, as they often did these days, his sister and his dear wife.  Twilight and her friends had left Canterlot and come here to help with the preparations in any way they could.  Fluttershy was working with the medics, Twilight was helping keep everything organized, Pinkie worked to keep stock of their supplies and keep them coming in, Rainbow was assisting the Wonderbolts in training new pegasi recruits, and Rarity and Spike were working with the tailors to create uniforms for the new recruits coming into the city, and Applejack was aiding in the construction of barricades, temporary barracks, and other needed facilities.
Cadence was still in Canterlot to his knowledge, helping to organize its defense and run the city in the absence of her, their, aunts.  He missed her.  Their honeymoon lasted all of, oh, four days or so before they got the call to return to Canterlot to face yet another threat to all they knew and loved.  This seemed to be a far more regular occurrence than he would have thought possible, but those were thoughts best considered after defeating the latest villain of the day.  He walked through the city eventually reaching the city border facing east towards Canterlot.   As he approached he could see ponies putting the finishing touches on barricades of sandbags and wooden walls, which would hopefully slow down the enemy’s advance should they be able to come this far, along with digging a crude series of trenches.  It was then that every guard at the “wall” burst into a frenzy of activity.
Shining galloped towards the commotion and when he finally reached the border guards he saw exactly what had them in such a state.  Walking slowly towards the city was a large column of dirtied, bedraggled ponies.  Tatters of what once may have been fashionable clothing hung from their frames or had been turned into makeshift bandages.  The column stretched back quite a ways and Shining guessed that it probably comprised about 2,000 ponies or so.  And at the head of the column, walking along with the rest of the refugees was . . .
“Cadence!”  Shining ran out past the barricades and his wife looked up, her face lighting up at the sight of him.  When they reached each other the couple embraced tightly.  
“Cadence,” said Shining softly.  “What happened?  Why are you and all these other ponies here and not in Canterlot?”  At this Cadence looked away from him in what could have been regret or . . . shame?
“I think that it would be best that I tell you and the others all together.  This is something that I don’t want to say more than once.”  Confused, Shining just nodded and ordered the guards at the barricade to start gathering some doctors and food for the tired column of ponies.  With that he sent guards out to gather his lieutenants and commanders along with the elements.  Whatever had happened, it was obvious that something truly terrible had happened.
----
Shining Armor sat alongside Cadence in the conference room of the mayor’s office.  The entire building had been taken over and repurposed to serve as his command office for the duration of the war effort.  Seated around the table were the elements of harmony, Captain Storm Rider of the Solar Guard, Captain Nightshade of the Lunar Guard, and their respective lieutenants.  When all were seated, Cadence stood up to give the sad news.
“Thank you everypony for arriving here so quickly.  The news I have is truly grave.  The 2,000 ponies that arrived with me are all refugees from Canterlot.  The city has been overrun by the enemy.”  There was a collection of gasps at this news.  Nopony thought Celestia and Luna would fail and even if they did the fall of their capital was a truly horrifying development.
Captain Nightshade quickly rose up.
“How could this have happened princess?  And what has happened to the rest of Canterlot’s population?”
“The enemy caught us unawares.  From what we can tell, they placed a large force within the train from Ponyville and were able to take the station.  We believe that Ponyville has also been seized by the enemy.  It would explain how they were able to gain access to the train.”
With this announcement the elements burst into a frenzy of activity, each one screaming out a series of frantic, panic-fuelled questions.
“Is my family okay?!”
“What about my dear sister, princess?!”
This went on for a moment before Shining finally put a stop to it. 
“Girls.  I understand how hard this must be for all of you, but before we can do anything we should let Cadence finish her story.”  The girls nodded, calming down a degree, and turned back to Cadence.
“I’m so sorry girls, but we don’t know anything about the situation in Ponyville.  We’re only guessing what happened based on hindsight.  At any rate:  After the enemy had seized the train station a large series of explosions reduced entire blocks of buildings into dust and rubble.  We have no idea how they managed this, but when it was finished they advanced.  I led one thousand guards to hold them off while the others evacuated the city.”  She took a deep, steadying breath before continuing onward.
“In the main square I came face to face with their leader.”  A series of gasps accompanied this announcements and Shining openly wore a look of concern for her.
“He called himself “Emperor Titus Aurelian” and claimed the city for what I assume is either his superior or his god, “Magnus” I believe it was, and his race:  “Humanity.”  He offered us a chance to surrender the city and allow me and the guards to leave.  I honestly considered it.   Their power was overwhelming and I couldn’t bear to put the citizens in any more danger.  I tried to convince him to let us and the citizens go, but he said that any citizens not already being evacuated were now under his authority and would not be allowed to leave.  At that the guards sprang into action and attacked the humans.”  Cadence looked seriously at each and every other pony around the table.
“At that point I saw something that truly terrified me.  A wall of about 100 unicorns launched a simultaneous attack on the “human” forces.  A wall of pure magic rushed at them . . . and failed to even scratch one of them.”  The looks she garnered from this announcement were ones of terror, shock, and disbelief.
“It was as if they actively . . . repelled magic.  The backlash incapacitated the unicorns and the humans began . . . began . . . massacring them in droves.  When the earth ponies in the force rushed forward they failed as well.  At this point I fled to try and guide the evacuees out of the city and bring this news to you.  I have sent a message to my aunts and hopefully they will have received it by now.”
The room was as silent as a tomb.  Not a single pony could think of anything to say.  Their capital had fallen.  Another princess had been defeated at the hands of a foreign force.  And another thousand of their regular military had been wiped out.  But perhaps the worst news was the tales of the human’s prowess.  A species that repelled magic was something that didn’t seem possible.  Every single species known to Equestria relied on magic of some kind to function properly every day.  Truly this was a race of monsters if they repelled a force needed for all life in the world to exist.
It was Shining Armor that finally broke the silence.
“I think we all know that what we’ve just heard bodes ill for us all.  However there is not much we can honestly do about it besides continue training our troops.  In light of these circumstances however I would like all of you to step up the training of our recruits.  If the enemy has Canterlot than I doubt that it will be long before they begin advancing on the rest of our land.  We need to be prepared to fight.  Applejack and Twilight:  I would like for both of you to tell the engineers to put priority on digging more trenches and crafting bigger barricades.  And everypony else:  I’m invoking my authority as Guard-Captain and military leader of the war effort.  Send messages out to every major city in Equestria with a single message:  We need more troops.  I expect at least another 10,000 troops within three months.  Am I understood?”
“Yes sir!”
“Good.  Dismissed.”
----
Celestia and Luna sat in one of the more intact buildings in Manehatten where they had established their command center.  They were mulling over the implications of the message their niece had just sent them.  It raised so many questions.  How could humanity repel magic when before they were horribly injured by it?  Even in this battle, the two princesses had seen the same effect replayed across the human’s lines during their magical attacks.  
It was Luna that eventually broke the silence between the two. 
“Sister, what are we going to do now?”  Celestia sighed, raising her head to look at Luna.
“I honestly don’t know Luna.  We have seen the sins of our past come back for vengeance and we have seen a city taken and abandoned, only or them to take our capital of all places.  And this message from Cadence only worsens things.  If there are humans immune to magic, than our powers will mean relatively little in a pitched battle against them.”  With a resigned expression, Celestia knew that she had to make some sort of choice and what she came up with was not one that sat well with her.
“Luna . . .  I believe that there is little we can do if these magic-repelling humans are in Canterlot.  We should go around the mountain and down the coast and try to regroup with our forces in Fillydelphia.  Shining Armor, Cadence, Twilight, and the other elements are all there and we should not be separated from each other in this time of conflict.”  Luna looked like she was about to be indignant at the suggestion that they essentially abandon Canterlot, but she stopped herself.
“You’re right Tia.  But I don’t like it.”
“I don’t either Luna.  But for now:  we honestly have not better option available to us.  May the Creators have mercy on us all.”
----
Aurelian sat upon a black throne similar to the one he sat upon on the mainland, reviewing progress made into rebuilding and repurposing sections of the city.  Following the victory celebrations, that had lasted all night and into the next day, he had begun organizing the occupation government.  By now a few thousand soldiers had arrived in the city and had brought with them engineers that had begun taking the debris from the areas around the train station and turning into raw material for new constructions.  Smoke had already begun to fill the air as newly born manufactories were put to work.
Already, the destroyed sections of the city were being filled with scaffolding and the beginnings of new outposts, barracks, and holding areas for any ponies that got . . . uppity.  Aurelian knew that the only way to shatter the morale of the ponies still free in Equestria was to show more than just an occupation.  He needed them to turn on each other.  Calling forth his war council, minus Arianna, Aurelian slipped into his familiar role as emperor.  Once they were all gathered together, he started the meeting.
“I will begin by addressing the concerns over the latest reports from our surveymen.  From what the High Priest has determined after examining the forest, it is free of the taint of the daemon-queens and is blessed by Magnus.  As such, many of the creatures mentioned in the reports are similarly blessed.  I will allow the attempted training of the so-called “timber wolves” and “manticores.”   However I will take our surveyman’s advice and order the extermination of the cockatrice.”
“What of the dragons my lord?” asked Orrin.  “From what we can tell, there may be a larger concentration of them living to the far west of Ponyville.”  The Emperor considered the issue.  Dragons had long been extinct in the Empire, their race finished off when Magnus personally beheaded their king.  To discover a new, admittedly lesser, strain of the beasts was both a disturbing and intriguing concept.  However they were beings of magic and as such could not be allowed to live so close to their borders.
“They are beings filled with innate magic.  As such their domestication could prove to be a time consuming and ultimately futile endeavor.  Destroy any you come across, but do not actively seek them out . . . yet.”
“Yes my lord.”  With that the Emperor turned toward Empiricus.  
“Empiricus, have you chosen which of your Blessed will administrate this city?”  The Grandmaster produced a few sheets of paper that he had been mulling over.
“Yes my Emperor.  I believe that the best one of my troops for this task would be Helmholtz.  He has shown great leadership potential and I believe this would be an excellent opportunity to prove himself and gain some additional experience.” 
The Emperor nodded at Empiricus and gestured to a scribe standing near the throne.
“Take this down.  I, Emperor Titus Aurelian, first of my name, Lord of the Empire, Ruler of the continent, Heir of Magnus, and Protector of Humanity do hereby declare Hermann van Helmholtz of the Blessed the Governor of the mountain city of Canterlot and the settlement of Ponyville.  He is to rule over these lands and be given full authority to do as he sees fit to properly administrate the city in accordance with our laws and traditions.  So let it be done.”
With this, the Emperor signed and affixed his personal seal and the mark of Magnus to the document to fully empower the order before turning back to his council.
“If there is nothing else than this meeting is adjourned.  We will reconvene tomorrow at the same time.”
----
Silent Storm walked through the streets of Fillydelphia.  Storm was an average looking pegasus with a grey coat, black mane, and the image of a drifting storm cloud for a cutie mark.  He had only arrived the day before, but already he was being forced into guard training.  Silent was one of the final 2,000 members of the first major draft group of 10,000 ponies.  The training had been hard and he was currently living within one of many temporary shelters that had been built for the 10,000 new recruits.  It was cramped, dirty, and there was little personal space if any.  Not that Silent Storm really minded.  He was used to such conditions.  In some cases these quarters were actually an improvement to where he was not too long ago.  At least here he could have a full stomach rather than barely scraping by day-to-day.
Eventually he reached a darkened alley somewhere in the bowels of the city.  After a final glance left, right, and up, because Silent Storm would be damned if he fell into the same trap as every other pony who never looked up, he walked calmly into the alley.  As the shadows pooled and twisted around him, he stopped moving and waited.  Five minutes passed.  Ten minutes passed.  Finally, light appeared just ahead of him and he heard a voice coming from it.
“Have you succeeded?
“Of course.  I am within the city now and the guard has taken me in without incident.”
The voice chuckled, the voice dark and thrumming with an undercurrent of power.  
“Excellent.  With the recent confusion this endeavor has been far easier than even I dared to hope.  Your orders are to remain where you are and continue your reports.  We will need to know more about what is going on before we make our next move.”  With that the light faded and soon Silent Storm was alone in the alley once more.  
He began to chuckle darkly as he stared into the space the light had once occupied.  His eyes flashed a sickly green as two small fangs jutted over his lip.
“Your wish is my command . . . my Queen.”
	
> Chapter 11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The Emperor sat with his council in the newly redesigned throne room of Canterlot Castle.  Stained glass windows of the daemon-queens had been replaced with the great glass windows that graced the palace in Megbízás and the red carpet burned along with the numerous banners honoring the daemons.  In addition a large mahogany table had been placed in the throne room for the benefit of the war council.  
The occupation was going well.  Helmholtz had taken well to governance and had already begun to organize guard patrols throughout the city day and night.  A curfew had been enacted until such time as he was convinced that the ponies would keep their heads down and obey his orders and already districts containing key facilities such as the barracks and manufactories had been heavily militarized. Massive guard walls ringed these districts and the number of entrances into these districts had been constricted to a maximum of four with a mandatory guard presence of at least ten guards per entrance at all times.
As a decent portion of the pony’s nobility had remained in the city, Helmholtz had begun following the Emperor’s master plan by first meeting with them.  Armed with promises of privilege and the continued ownership of their wealth and estates, he had found it almost contemptuously easy to secure their support for human rule of the city.  Already they were denouncing their daemon-queens with such vigor that it almost put some of the crusaders to shame.  Oh, much of it was little more than bluster to save their own worthless lives, but if it kept them in line it kept them in line.  Helmholtz had even begun to establish a pony council which would rule over their own so as to free up time for him to handle more important matters.  His swift actions in taking control of the city had already earned him commendations from both the Emperor and Empiricus.
Arianna had still not returned from her conquests to the east, but she had sent a letter via raven that explained her current situation.  Her forces had conquered the towns with ease, but it appeared that there were scattered communities of ponies hiding in the foothills and valleys of the region and she was working to root them out to secure the east fully before returning to the council.   She also reported that Manehatten no longer hosted the forces of the daemon-queens . . .
“The east aside, we should be worrying about the west,” said Orrin.  “There is only one major rail line running through this land and we possess what are, for some unfathomable reason, the only two trains in the country.  If we delay our advance much longer, than the ponies might begin ripping up the tracks to hobble our forces.”
The Emperor considered this before turning towards Milos.  
“Do we possess the facilities to repair the tracks should they be damaged?’
Milos considered the question, stroking the rough stubble that had started growing on his chin.
“We . . . do my lord, but it would require us to divert manpower and manufacturing space over to that task and it would cause unacceptable losses to our production facilities.  I would recommend we strive to prevent that from happening.”
“Orrin, what lies between along the rail lines?”  Orrin consulted the maps they had recovered from the enemy so far.  Finally deciding on which one would answer the question best, he pulled a large, detailed map from near the top of the stack.
“There are some spaces where the train would pass through empty areas, but it ends at the settlement of Appleoosa.  It appears to be some sort of frontier settlement which demarcates the end of Equestrian territory to the west.  Between here and there are the cities of Fillydelphia, Detrot, Maresville, and Tramplevania.  The train stops on the outskirts of Fillydelphia and Detrot, with the rail line ending within the Appleoosian settlement.”
“Interesting,” mused the Emperor.  “I believe that the settlement of Appleoosa would be an ideal next step.  If the tracks are damaged soon then so be it, but I would rather we take the opportunity to encircle our enemies while we still have unlimited access to their rail lines.”
Orrin nodded. 
“We can have the train loaded up within two hours should you order it Emperor.  However I must warn you that the train will only host, at most, a little over one thousand troops.  And that’s factoring in the soldiers going on the train with little to no artillery support.”
“And is that a problem Lord General?”  All eyes turned toward the door as Lord Triune walked through the great doors leading into the throne room.  Immediately upon entering he bowed low to the Emperor before turning back to Orrin.  
“A single human solider is worth more than a hundred of these pathetic creatures.  My lord Emperor, I would request that I lead the attack on this settlement.  It has been too long since I fought against the enemies of man.”  The Emperor chuckled a bit at this. 
“Very well Oleg.  Take a thousand troops of your choice and board the train.  It will take you to the Equestrian settlement of Appleoosa which you must take.  Once it is seized I want you to turn it into an impregnable fortress.  Nothing will get through do you understand?  When you have the settlement secured then we will begin sending you some reinforcements and heavy support.  Until then may Magnus be with you.”  Triune bowed once again the Emperor and thumped his fist against his chest.
“And you as well Emperor.  I will not fail.”  With that he marched away to begin gathering his forces for the attack.
----
Their arrival was heralded with much fanfare.  Celestia and Luna walked through the streets of Fillydelphia with the liberated citizens of Manehatten walking around them.  The ponies in the city cheered and clapped their hooves together, desperate for any good news in this bleak time.  What many of them failed to notice, were how forced the smiles on the two princesses’ faces were.  Or how 2,000 guards had left for Manehatten:  and now only 1,000 returned.  However Shining Armor noticed.  It didn’t help matters.  It meant that they only had one-third of their regular forces left.  On the plus side, he supposed, at least now they had the princesses back.  And the first 10,000 troops were now fully arrived and in training.  Jerking his attention back to the princesses, Shining Armor saw Celestia motion him to her.
When he arrived Celestia looked at him with sadness evident in her eyes.
“Shining Armor, we are glad that you and Cadence are alright.  When we heard of the fall of Canterlot we were afraid that the humans would march for Fillydelphia before we could arrive."
“Thank you princess.  We feared the worst as well, but we haven’t seen any major movements on their part recently.  In some ways that’s more disturbing than if they were coming.  At least then we would know what they were after.”  Celestia looked over him carefully as she asked her next question.
“Has Twilight told you about our . . . past experience with the humans?”  Shining sighed heavily in response.
“Yes.  Yes she has.  I didn’t want to believe it but I suppose it makes sense in some way.”
“And you are alright with what happened?” 
“Never.  But I can tell that neither you nor Luna are the same as when you drove off the humans.  So now all I can hope is that you can help us do it again.”  Celestia looked back towards the mountain upon which Canterlot was situated.
“Much has changed.  For them and for us.  I fear that we will not have such an easy time of it again.”  Shining nodded at her, before turning his face back towards the cheering crowds.
“You’re probably right, judging on how quickly they’ve overtaken us so far.  At any rate we should prob . . .”
Shining was interrupted by the shrill noise of a train whistle blaring in the distance.  He and Celestia looked at each other and ran off towards the sound leaving Luna to attend to the parade.  Their breakneck pace allowed them to arrive just in time to witness the train from Canterlot thundering past the station without stopping.  They had not been able to see through the windows, but they had their suspicions as to who now controlled the train lines.  Celestia looked down at Shining.
“How far has the news of the invasion spread?”  Shining seemed to consider it.
“Everywhere most likely.  Nations outside Equestria probably don’t know what’s going on yet, but with the draft and everything almost every city and town in Equestria knows that something has happened.”
“Alright.  Send out our fastest pegasi to every city you can and warn them that the enemy has seized control of the train.  I don’t want another city to be caught unawares like Canterlot.”  With a quick salute to her, Shining ran back towards a mass of troops crisply yelling out orders.  Within moments a score of pegasi had taken flight, speeding off in the same direction as the train.  Celestia could only hope that they were fast enough for the task.  Humanity had proven to be far more ingenious in their tactics than she remembered and they were making bigger gains faster than she could have imagined.  
“Not one more city,” Celestia though to herself.  “Not one more.  Regardless of the past we shall defend our subjects to the death if need be.”
----
Triune sat near the head of the train, fingers drumming relentlessly against the armrests of his seat.  He could feel his blood boiling as the train ate up the miles.  Ever since the creatures had made their appearance in Vona he had wanted to take the fight to them.  His family could trace their roots all the way back to the first tribes of humanity.  As such his family had a thousand stories of the monster’s devastation of their race.  In fact many of the stories the priests told he had first heard as a child sitting at his father’s feet.
----
“Remember son,” his father had told him.  “Always keep faith with Magnus.  I’m not just saying this as your father but as a man in general.  There are things in the world that would like nothing more to destroy you and take everything you have.  How much have your teachers told you of the Exodus?”  He had scrunched up face in thought before answering.
“They said that we were attacked and left to find a better life here.”  His father shook his head disappointed.
“Then they haven’t told you everything.  Probably think you’re too young or some such nonsense.  In our family, if you can walk, talk, and hold a weapon, than you’re old enough to do almost anything.  It was the daemons Oleg.  They came from the south and swept up in a tide of blood and unholy magic.  Our family was the first hit.  Your ancestor had a family in a frontier village.  He was away when the daemons came.  No one escaped.  They butchered everyone Oleg.  Men, women, children it didn’t matter.  When they were done the village had been obliterated.  When he heard what happened your ancestor, Alexi Triune, was said to have fallen to his knees in grief and wept tears of blood for his family and his people.”  Young Oleg was getting scared and his father noticed.
“I know how you feel Oleg.  When my father told me the story I reacted the same way.  But don’t ever show fear.  Fear is what made us weak when the daemons came.  Fear almost destroyed us in this new, unknown land.  It is the antithesis of being a Triune.” He leaned back, eyes staring into a roaring fireplace.
“But we got our revenge my son.  When the daemons came for the city of Rozanthur humanity struck back.  And it was the banners of the Triunes which flew highest and at the front of the army.  The first arrows that felled them, the first boulders that crushed them, and the first blades that pierced them were all wielded by Triunes.  It was and is our duty to protect and avenge humanity my son.  This task was my father’s and his father’s before him and so on back to the time of Exodus.  And so it will be your task when I pass on and join with Magnus.”
He then stared deep into Oleg’s eyes as he imparted the final words of his message.
“But above all remember this Oleg.  An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, life for life, and blood for blood.  It is our right, nay our sacred duty to crush our enemies for their crimes!  One day our enemies will show themselves again and on that day Oleg:  You will show them no fear.”
----
“My lord.”  Shaken from his reverie, Triune turned to face one of his guards.  
“What is it soldier?”  
“We are swiftly approaching the town my lord.  What are your orders?”  Triune leapt up from his seat, a new light shining in his eyes at the prospect of battle with this filth.
“Order a stop.  We will not alert these creatures any more than is necessary.  Gather the men outside, I will address them shortly.”  With a quick salute, the solider left.  Triune reached under his armor for a small emblem of his family crest:  A roaring flame with a teardrop of blood imposed on it.  Grasping it firmly, he turned to gaze out the train’s windows at the arid, desert scenery before him.
“You were right father.  The day has come when our enemies have reappeared.  And I swear to you and to Magnus that I will show them no fear.”  With that he tucked the emblem back under his armor and marched outside to confer with his men before heading into battle.
Gathering his commanders together, Triune made his strategy. 
“We will move out with a force of 500 men fully armed.  There are very few mortars in our possession at this time and I would rather not risk them.  We will bring 4 tubes and bring only simple explosive rounds.  The rest of the men will remain here with the train and the remainder of the supplies.  Regardless of the threat level I will not have us leave our supply line unguarded.  We move out now.”  With quick words of acknowledgment his commanders ran off to rally the troops and quickly the ordered ranks of his soldiers devolved into the ordered chaos of reorganizing troops.
----
It had taken time, but finally his troops had been organized and had set off towards the settlement.  Twenty minutes or so passed, but in time they could see the buildings of the town coming into greater and greater detail.  It was a relatively large settlement, but seemed to lack any major defenses.  Carts and stagecoaches had been overturned and sandbags stacked up in an attempt to block off the entrances into the town.  The largest building seemed to be only three stories at most and Triune could see vast swathes of apple trees dotting the landscape.  As they got closer to the town they could smell a peculiar scent on the air.  It smelled eerily like . . . apple pie?  
As soon as he thought this he heard the whistling of a projectile followed by a loud splat.  Turning back he saw that one of his soldiers had been struck full in the face with an apple pie.  Triune could feel hatred and anger bubbling up from within at this childish treatment.  
“They dare to humiliate us like this!? He roared.  “Brothers and sisters!  Show these monsters the might of mankind!”  	At his words, his troops raised up their guns and fired, the cracking of rifles filling the air.  A group of the ponies huddling behind the nearest barricade screamed in fear and pain as the rifle shots began to thin their ranks swiftly.  The ponies standing behind the wounded and the dead stared at their comrades in shock,crippled with paralyzing fear.  The second round of rifle shots flew wide, many of the ponies still standing fled in fear, dropping their delicious ammunition as they did so.  Triune smiled at this showing of fear from the enemy.  This was the time of their vengeance!  Humanity had returned and there were none who could stop their untiring advance.
The thunderous pounding of their feet as they marched and the terrified screams of his ancestral foes were music to Triune’s ears.  They were just reaching the ponies’ makeshift barricade when Triune felt and heard something strange.  The thundering reverberations of their march were growing louder with every second and he could hear a strange sound growing louder.  He didn’t understand what was going on until it happened.
In an instant he heard the screams not of the ponies but of his own troops.  Whirling around and brining his sword and pistol to bear he saw a huge pack of massive four-legged creatures.  They had small horns of some kind on their heads and their bodies were heavily muscled.  Triune screamed out in rage as he saw them charging into his men and hurling them into the air or crushing them under-hoof.  Rushing one of the closest ones, he fired off a shot with his pistol that struck its side.  Angered but undeterred, the creature turned towards him and charged.  
Triune tried to dodge but only managed in minimizing the blow.  The beast slammed into his chest and Triune could feel his bones creaking as pain exploded through him, the momentum spinning him around.  However the beast had not anticipated the hard, steel armor that Triune bore and was shaking his head trying to shake off the pain that had paralyzed him.  Spotting an opportunity Triune lunged forward.
“For Magnus!” he roared before jamming his sword through the creature’s skull.  Eyes rolling back into the ruined skull, the creature fell heavily to the ground.  Drawing out his sword, slick with the blood of the creature, Triune could see his troops dying in droves at the hooves of these beasts.  Triune could feel his eyes water as he surveyed the scene, his anger causing him to grip his pistol and sword hard enough to turn his knuckles white as red streaks ran down his face.  He hated himself for what he was about to do, but he knew that he wasn’t afraid.  He was just being practical.
“Gunners!”  One of the mortar crews turned towards him.  “We need to retreat now!  Throw out a grenade!”  Nodding, the gunners each pulled a small sphere from their belts.  Lighting the fuses, they hurled them with as much strength as they could muster.  The grenades arced over the heads of their forces and landed in the midst of the strange creatures.  Four explosions quickly rang out, at least a dozen of the beasts dying instantly.  The sudden noise and concussive explosions shocked the enemy and caused their advance to falter.  Taking advantage of the window of opportunity, the human forces quickly began an orderly withdrawal.  The creatures, thankfully, did not pursue.
----
Triune arrived back at the train in failure, but filled with rage and determination to redress this indignity at the earliest opportunity.  He had embarked with 500 men at his back and he returned 100 fewer.  Not a massive loss relatively speaking, but it burned him to think that even a single additional life had been taken by these monsters.  Turning to one of his commanders he gave his orders.  
“Take a contingent of men on the train and return to Canterlot.  Inform the Emperor of our need for reinforcements and that we will be extending our timeline for conquest.  It appears that the daemons have summoned their allies to the fight and we will need time to deal with them appropriately.”
“Understood sir.”  He watched as the train left bearing another 100 troops, but Triune knew that he would have to move quickly if he wanted to be ready for another onslaught.  
“There is a hill relatively close to the settlement.  We will take and fortify that position and hold there until reinforcements can arrive.  It appears that there are far more than Equestrians here to face.”
----
The Emperor gritted his teeth in anger as he received the news of this latest development.  He knew that Triune was not to blame for their losses.  Triune was an exceptional general and had proven himself many times, but it galled him to think that another race they knew little nothing about was supporting the daemons.  These “buffalo” had taken human life.  And know they had to be shown their proper place.  Turning towards Milos he posed only a single question.
“Have you received the schematics for the modifications I need done?
“Yes lord, but I warn you that it will impact its ability to . . .
“Can it be done, Milos?”
“Yes lord, it can.  
“Excellent.  Then get to work.  I want it done as swiftly as possible.  This council is adjourned.”  Bowing the others left the Emperor alone to consider his next move.  Standing up from his throne, Aurelian walked out to the balcony that overlooked the city and the surrounding landscape.   The sun was setting, painting the sky a myriad of colors.  Looking towards the west Aurelian spoke:
“Enjoy your victory daemons and enjoy it well.  For while you have won the day, we will win the war.”

> Chapter 12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“And furthermore I believe that despite the more than generous rations given to the common rabble we of the upper class need a finer level of cuisine to properly function in our given duties . . .”
Helmholtz of the Blessed sat back on the black throne of Canterlot overseeing his duties as governor with a stoic expression.  It had been almost a week since he had been appointed to this exalted position and he couldn’t be more proud to rule over such a key city in the name of his Emperor.  However the increasingly common contact with both the bureaucrats of the Empire and the ponies he had appointed to look after their own had begun to wear on him.  This pony in particular drove him to near violence on an almost constant basis.
“Interim Council Leader Blueblood,” he interrupted.  “While I understand you’re . . . discomfort, the amount of rations is finite and will not be changed to accommodate your status.  Now if that is all, I have far more to do today.”  A look of indignation flashed briefly across his face, before he turned away in a huff.  After he had left one of the guards beside the throne turned towards Helmholtz with a look of distaste on his face.
“I understand the idea of having the ponies govern themselves lord, but did you really have to choose him as the council’s leader?”  Helmholtz turned towards him with a firm, but pained look in his eyes.
“Admittedly, yes.  He is stuck-up, arrogant, incompetent in so many different respects, and makes me feel physically ill.  In other words:  He’s perfect.”  Both guards shared a look of confusion before turning back to Helmholtz.
“Perfect, lord?  For what?”  Helmholtz just smiled at them.
“Worry not my friends.  All is going according to the Emperor’s plan.  And for now, that is all that need be said on this matter.  Now summon Milos, I want an update on the Emperor’s new project.”


----
Fires raged as the last of the tent settlement burned to the ground.  Human soldiers swarmed over the area, clapping ponies in chains and taking extra care to either kill or doubly bind any unicorns they found.  Arianna watched over what had now become a repetitive affair with both pride and exhaustion.  While the coastal towns had been taken easily, the East had become a hotbed of makeshift pony settlements that had to be found and pacified quickly.  While not a very difficult prospect once these settlements were found, searching for them and then transporting prisoners and/or wounded back to the conquered towns took far too much time for her liking.
A soldier ran up to her and snapped off a quick salute.
“Lord Admiral.  This settlement has been completely neutralized. All prisoners accounted for and nothing left behind.”
“Any casualties?”
“None of ours sir.  Four of the unicorns were killed during the initial push however.”
“Very well.  Pick some out and begin the interrogation process.  I want to know how many more of these blasted settlements are out there.”  With another salute, the soldier ran off leaving Arianna to look over the dying flames on her own.  She hated this mission.  Not the actual fighting of these creatures, that part was just fine.  However, she hated having to hunt these settlements down.  It was too time consuming, kept her away from her fleet where she belonged, and worst of all she always felt like she was being watched.   Turning away from the ruined settlement, she rejoined her men and began the long trek back to town with over two dozen prisoners in tow.


----
High above, pressing themselves close to the cloud they lay upon, two figures watched the retreating forms of the human forces. 
“That’s another settlement wiped out,” said the first one.  
“And another two dozen taken prisoner,” said the second.  “I think it’s time for us to report back to command.  The king will want to know about how far these things have gone.”
“Right, but what about the ponies?”  The second one looked at the first one with a slight amount of contempt in his eyes.
“What about them?”  And with that the two griffons leapt up and flew towards the eastern mountains and Griffonia.


----
The Emperor sat in his command tent overseeing the progress of the reoccupation.  After deciding that Helmholtz had everything well in hand in Canterlot he had begun to lead forces to the south.  The Crusade could not end until all the land belonged to man and Magnus.  After consulting the maps they had located the cities of Trottingham and Stalliongrad, which lay to the South-east.  First, however, was the reoccupation of Manehatten.  With the daemon-queens gone, the city was open once more and it was quickly reclaimed.  It was to be the primary manufacturing center and dockyards for the Crusade.
Smoke filled the air and the sounds of industry filled the air with a discordant harmony of hammers striking metal, factory machines whirring to life, and the hiss of metal cooling as the human war machine truly came to life in Equestria.  Ships in the harbor came and went almost constantly as men and supplies were ferried between Manehatten and the Eastern Front.  The walls dividing the different quarters of the city were reinforced and made greater than before even as ruined buildings were repaired to serve as barracks and administrative offices.  A local church of Magnus was also built which was filled to bursting almost every hour of the day.  
“My lord!”  The Emperor turned towards the entrance to his command tent as a messenger ran through it.
“Take a breath lad, what is it?”  The messenger took a deep breath and stood to attention.  
“Lord Admiral Arianna has just returned from the Eastern Front Emperor.”  The Emperor smiled broadly.
“Excellent.  Send her to me immediately.”  
“Lord,” he said swiftly before running from the tent.  Some time passed, but soon the sounds of cheering reached the Emperor followed by Arianna stepping though the tent’s entrance.
“My Emperor,” she said, striking her fist to her chest.  
“Welcome back Arianna.  How did the pacification go?”  Arianna grimaced slightly.
“It was very successful, but extremely tedious my lord.  The ponies had numerous hill settlements that we had to locate and pacify.  However, after interrogating the last few prisoners we have determined that we have finally completed our mission.  The East is ours.”
“Excellent.  I think you have earned yourself and your men some rest then.”  
“Thank you lord.”  And with that Arianna left the tent to the sound of soldiers cheering the new “Mistress of the East.”  The Emperor allowed a small smile to grace his lips before turning back to the influx of reports on his desk.  Reports of the ponies mobilizing in their western and southern cities were troubling.  The entrance of the buffalo into the war had also thrown their plans back for a time.  But it wouldn’t last forever.   Once their armies began to march again, the Equestrians and their misguided allies would be thrown back and beaten once and for all.


----
“Again!”  Silent Storm complied with the order, swinging his blade towards the practice dummy.  The blade collided with the target, but glanced off its armored shoulder throwing off his balance.
“No!” roared out the drill sergeant.  “You have to make sure your back legs are anchored on the ground so that you can keep your balance.  If this was a real fight, you would be dead by now.”  Storm just shook his head.
“Why am I even practicing ground fighting?  I’m a pegasus.  I should be running through aerial drills, not ground fighting.”  The sergeant scowled at him.
“Don’t complain.  It’s unbecoming of a solider in the guard.  Those humans have shown to be able to strike out at pegasi just as easily as earth ponies and unicorns.  So we’re running you through ground combat drills so that you can fight just as well if you’re forced out of the sky.  Now:  Again!”  After another hour or so of drills the recruits were dismissed and the sergeant left after him.  Only Storm remained behind, casting a surreptitious look of disgust at their retreating forms.
“I hate pretending to be as useless as the rest of these idiots,” he muttered before spearing the dummy through the heart, sliding the sword smoothly between the chinks in its armor.  Leaving the training ground, he wandered through the city casually observing the guard’s progress in fortifying the city.  All around him, alleys and streets were being blocked off with sandbags and barricades of stone and wood.  Carts, carriages, benches, and more were stripped down for lumber to construct new barricades while hordes of ponies swept the city and surrounding areas for stone and debris with which to further strengthen their barricades.
The princesses rarely left their new command posts, constantly going over report after report from all over Equestria.  The latest reports had come in from Appleoosa where the Buffalo had joined with the settlers and driven off a human attack force.  There had been partying in the streets after that particular piece of news had been released.  At any rate his mission hadn’t changed:  keep under cover and report on any new developments.  Other agents were doing the same thing all over the city in tandem with him and in other cities as well, though as a security measure he didn’t know the identity of any of them.
As he approached an empty alley, he performed his usual ritual of looking in every direction before entering. The shadows seemed to wrap themselves around him as he walked deeper into the alley until even the light of day seemed to fall away.  When he felt that nopony would be able to see or hear him, he let some of his true form shine through.  A flash of green light revealed his jagged, black horn.  After a moment, his horn lit up with green light and soon an orb of green light formed in the alley ahead of him.  
“What is your report drone 324?”  The voice was no longer that of the queen, but of another drone assigned to this task.
“The guard is rushing its recruits through training.  If they were to throw them into combat today, more than half would most likely be wiped out.  The cities are being heavily fortified and all three of the princesses remain in Fillydelphia along with Shining Armor and the elements of harmony.  Other than this, nothing has changed.”
“Excellent.  Our agents in the west have reported that the humans are holding against the buffalo so far, though they have taken casualties.  Also, you have new orders.  The Swarm is on the move and will be near Appleoosa within a few days.  We need you to delay the training and deployment of the Equestrian troops and keep them within the city for as long you can. Do you understand?”
“How far can I go to keep them here?
“. . . As far as it takes.”
“Understood.  I won’t fail.”


----
Triune lay back against the pillows and blankets that the medics had brought with them form the train before its departure, his ribs aching with every breath he took.  His mind drifted back to their first assault on Appleoosa.  After the train had left, he and his remaining troops had fortified a nearby hill overlooking the settlement.  During the transferring of gunpowder and ammunition to the hill, the buffalo had sent small, roving groups to harass them.  All in all, by the time they had been able to reach and fortify the hill another hundred men had fallen lifeless to the ground.  They had later sent groups under cover of darkness to recover both the fallen and their equipment.  It was only by the grace of Magnus that Triune had not been injured further.  His ribs were not completely broken, but there were definitely severe stress done to them that needed to be looked at by more than a field medic.
The remainder of his men sat huddled in the hastily dug rifle pits, ever watchful for another buffalo charge.  A week.  A week they had been stuck on this Magnus-forsaken hill, fending off near constant attacks from the buffalo.  They struck with almost no warning and could come from any direction.  The high ground may help to see where the enemy came from, but it also effectively isolated Triune’s forces.
The thundering of hooves against the dry, desert earth signaled another attack by the buffalo.  It was quickly followed by the crack of rifles and the dull thump of mortars.  Triune scowled as he assessed their tactical situation.  There had been more losses, though it had more to do with the lack of medical supplies than anything.  The sheer amount of injured made it difficult to treat everyone and men had died because of it.  The rapid depletion of their reserves of powder and ammunition for the rifles and their almost non-existent stock of mortar rounds only drove the hopelessness of their situation home.  Within a few more days both their firearms and their artillery would become little more than glorified clubs. And without the advantage of range . . . well . . . it didn’t look good.  Gazing up at the sky, Triune could only pray that the Emperor would send reinforcements soon.  If he didn’t . . . these would be the last days of life that he and his men had.


----
They met in secret, the shadows of the under-city hiding them from sight.  Admittedly they were small in number, though this was nothing new.  Even during the height of their power and popularity the odds had been against them.  Then they had lost to the superior tactics and forces of the Emperor, but now Magnus had given them another chance at freedom.  The homeland could be given unto them as a paradise, far from the meddling of the false lord.  The figure in the center of the group was the first to speak.
“Our influence has begun to spread once more.  Admittedly, this “crusade” has set our plans back further, but we can work around it.  In time the true homeland will belong to us once more, freed of the daemon-queens and of the false lord.”  Murmurs of agreement greeted this pronouncement as each of the other figures inclined their heads in a show of respect to their leader.
“But what of the Blessed?” One of them asked.  The lead figure just shook his head.
“I’m sure they can be convinced to see the light.  If not, then we will crush them as we will crush any other opposition.  The next Civil War shall be the last my brothers.  The Collective shall rise again.”


----
Milos and Helmholtz stood at the train station, observing the Milos’ latest creation.  It had taken a week of non-stop work to complete the project to the Emperor’s specifications, but now it was finally finished.  Helmholtz looked it over with a critical eye.
“It’s certainly impressive Milos, truly.  I would never have expected you to be able to complete something like this in just a week, but it could only hold so many men before this.  Now it will hold even less.” Milos nodded in agreement.
“You’re right, Governor.  In order to make the necessary changes, a lot of troop carrying capacity had to be removed.  However we still have another train after this we can use for that purpose. This one is no longer designed with that purpose in mind however.”  Helmholtz looked at the aging fabricator with confusion.
“Then what does the Emperor have planned for it?”
“It is to be used as part of a tactic the Emperor feels will be able to deal quite effectively with the buffalo threat in the west.  He refers to it as “shock and awe.”  A smile came over Helmholtz’s face at the name.
“Yes, I can see how this would work for that particular strategy.  It is a shame that the Emperor will not be able to see the culmination of his designs during its maiden voyage.”  Milos nodded, a grin overtaking his tired features.
“Indeed.  However it is done and needed now.  I don’t think that Lord Triune’s forces will last much longer with their limited resources.  And I do so want to see how well my modifications hold up in the field.”
“Then I don’t think we should delay any more.”  With that Helmholtz made a short, chopping gesture with his right hand.  The conductor at the other end of the train nodded and soon it began to move, the new additions causing it to take longer to work itself up to higher speeds.  After a few moments the train departed the station, its new name emblazoned on the side of the lead car:  THE FIST OF MAGNUS.

> Chapter 13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Their time had come.  Triune stood beside his men, flashes of pain shooting through his chest.  For a little over a week they had held their own against the buffalo hordes.  However, their stores of shot and powder had finally run out the previous day, and their food and water had run out days before that.  Scores of buffalo dead lay around the hill, forming a ring of corpses that had hampered their charges.  Well over a hundred of the beasts had died in this way since the pseudo siege had begun and Triune hazarded that in the past few days, he and his men had managed to fell another three dozen or so.
The buffalo’s numbers were still unknown.  Scouts had been sent out at a steady rate, but none had returned.  Triune swept his gaze out over his beleaguered troops.  Their forms were covered in grime, and their once resplendent armor and Marks were now covered in dried sweat and blood.  The dozens of empty barrels that had once held their powder stood on the lip of the hill, in front of his remaining troops.  In the time since their first encounter with the buffalo, the humans had lost a few dozen troops.  The majority of these deaths since the first hundred had been due to infection or the few lucky buffalo who had managed to get through the wall of bullets that they had strived to project since their arrival.  Unable and unwilling to keep the corpses within their encirclement, the human dead had been stripped of their gear and their bodies rolled down the hill where they joined the dead buffalo.
At any rate, the only bullets and powder left were loaded into the rifles his men held in their white-knuckled grips.  Triune considered giving a speech to try and heighten his men’s morale but knew that everything he could say had already been said.  As he finished going through these thoughts, it came.  The thundering, pounding vibrations that signaled the arrival of the latest buffalo attack.  Rushing towards one of his men, Triune grabbed a telescope from him and looked out over the arid, desert landscape and his breath hitched in his throat at what he saw. 
Just past the train tracks, was the largest horde of buffalo he had yet seen during this past week.  What looked to be a few hundred of the beasts were charging headlong toward the hill.  Triune’s men had noticed the enemy forces as well and many began to swear profusely while others offered up prayers to Magnus for protection.  Triune fingered the family crest beneath his armor and drew his sword for what appeared to be his last fight.
The first few ranks of the charge had just reached the base of the hill when the shooting began.  Hundreds of rifle cracks sounded as the men and women of Triune’s force strived to take as many of the buffalo down as they could before they reached their ranks.  Buffalo fell by the dozen as the bullets flew down the hill at them, adding fresh corpses to the ever-growing pile.  But that last volley was all they had left and the buffalo began leaping over the fallen bodies of their comrades.  
“Fix bayonets!” roared Triune.  “Make them bleed for every inch!”  The first of the horde soon reached the crest of the hill and with a sickening crack; they collided with the human forces.  Many of these first few dozen buffalo were impaled on bayonets before striking, but the sheer bulk and momentum of the creatures carried them forward and crushed those unlucky enough to be under them.  But eventually they were felled.  The first wave had broken against the wall of humanity.  The real fight, however, had only just begun as the humans saw the rest of the horde reaching the base of the hill and beginning the climb up.  The momentum of so many buffalo alone might be enough to sweep away the human forces.  Then they heard it.
Above the din of battle and the thundering of hooves against the packed earth, shrieked the steam whistle of a train.  Strident and piercing, they heard it over the rumbling of the train that quickly followed on the heels of the whistle.  And what Triune saw made his jaw drop down in shock and relief.  The train itself had been heavily changed.  The front of the train had been heavily reinforced with what looked to be half a foot of solid steel and the words THE FIST OF MAGNUS were emblazoned on it.  Many of the cars had had their sides taken off and the seats removed.  The few that didn’t, located near the rear of the train, were just as heavily reinforced as the front of the train and had their windows removed and replaced with steel coverings.  Filling the cars without seats were dozens upon dozens of cannons spanning the length of the train, poking out of the left and right sides.  Fresh and gleaming in the noonday sun, they were things of beauty.  There was only one gunner located in each car because the cannons’ short fuses were tied together in a long string with each gunner holding flint and steel.
As the train rapidly approached, even some of the buffalo turned to face this new opponent.  However it was already too late for them.  The train drew level with the horde and the gunners readied their tools.  At an unspoken command the gunners struck the flint and steel together and sparks lit the fuses of the cannons ablaze.  Just before they fired Triune noticed something unusual about the cannons themselves.  They weren’t the standard field cannons he was used to using during battles like these.  In fact they looked like . . . oh sweet Magnus they were siege cannons! And just as he realized the cannons’ true nature they fired a sustained volley down the length of the train.
Thunder unlike anything the buffalos’ stampedes could conjure up filled the air.  Within a few seconds, explosions rocked the entire hillside as cannons meant to be used on fortress walls were unleashed on infantry.  Massive craters were carved into the hill as a thick, red mist filled the space where previously there had been buffalo.  When the smoke and aerosolized blood cleared nothing had been spared.  The ring of corpses was gone and the horde of buffalo that had been on the verge of total victory against Triune’s forces was obliterated.  The thick, still-smoking craters in the hillside were the only reminders that the buffalo had even been there at all.
The stunned human forces were deafened from the discharge of the mighty cannons and could only stare dumbly ahead for a moment.  But as the ringing in their ears finally subsided, they cheered raucously and without abandon.  They were alive!  They had won.  Streaming down the ruined hillside, they ran towards the train which had since stopped moving.  When Triune approached, one of the gunners saluted.
“Lord Triune sir!  I’m glad to see you survived the battle.”  Triune snorted.  
“Just barely.   What have you done to this train solider?”  
“It’s the Emperor’s design milord.  He wanted a weapon that could showcase the might of humanity to the daemons.”
“Well it certainly did that.  Do you have orders for us from the Emperor?”  The gunner quickly rushed toward one of the rear, armored cars. 
“Yes sir.  The Emperor thought you might want some payback so he sent these with his compliments.”  The gunner pulled open the door to the car and within the dark interior Triune could make out some very distinctive shapes.  From within, the gunner pulled out a mortar and indicated dozens more in the hold.
“Your orders are as follows:  Pacify the town by any means necessary.”  Triune smiled darkly at this.
“With pleasure.”  Turning towards the men Triune quickly began snapping out orders.  
“All wounded are to be loaded onto the train for treatment.  All others are to march with me.  For over a week we have been caged like rats and harried by our enemies.  Now it is time to return the favor.  Come brothers and sisters!  We shall bring the purifying fire of Magnus down upon their heads!”
----
Drone 624 stood on an outcropping overlooking Appleoosa.   Smoke still rose from the ruined town.  Only hours before the humans had blasted the settlement apart with their explosive weapons.  Some of the ponies escaped, probably to what few buffalo settlements there were in the area.  The ones who could not escape were not taken prisoner.  The human forces had bombarded the town into rubble before marching into the charred remains and painstakingly executing any survivors.  It was an unbelievably brutal act . . . and she couldn’t be more excited about it.  The Queen had been concerned that the humans were not as fearsome as the ponies had made them out to be.  But this . . . this was more like it.  This was the power of a true warrior race, one that deserved to rule or destroy at a whim:  Much like the changelings had once been.  
Turning her back on the destruction, 624 knew she had to find a way to approach the humans without triggering the same rage within them that the ponies did.  But how?  Somehow she doubted that changing into a human would endear herself to them overmuch.  After another look at the destruction, she decided to just make the attempt.  The worst that could happen was that they killed her and she was only one of many.  And the best that could happen was that they accepted her offer.  If they did that . . . then 624 might just get a promotion.   She might even get her own name!  So, steeling herself, she took flight towards the site of the latest human victory.
----
Triune stood atop a hastily built watchtower, gazing out over the destroyed town and all the land surrounding it.  Some of his scouts had reported the ponies fleeing further into the wastes surrounding the settlement.  Troops would have to be sent out soon to find them as no doubt they would be hiding with what buffalo still remained.  At any rate, the razing of the settlement now cleared the way for total human dominance in the west.  Scaffolding was already being thrown up over the ruins of the town to construct a human military base.  With it they would be able to launch countless raids and protect themselves from any foreign race that butted its way into their new territory.  After the incident with the buffalo, none of the humans wanted to take chances with any new race.  The standing order was simple:  If a new race was encountered determine its threat level first and if that threat is severe enough eliminate them.
As he prayed to Magnus, thanking him for shielding his servants from death, the scouts on duty called out to him.
“Lord Triune, we have an unidentified contact to the south!”  Turning quickly, Triune turned the field telescope in his hands towards the south.  Sure enough there was something there, something that was rapidly flying towards their encampment.
“Bring it to me alive!” he roared.  “I wish to see just what dares to approach us so boldly.”  Snapping off salute, a group of soldiers rushed out to meet the approaching creature before it could reach them.  As they surrounded it, the creature landed on the ground and seemed more than content to follow the soldier’s’ orders.  Triune chose to wait for their return in his command tent, the mark of Magnus hanging behind him and armed guards flanking him on either side.
As the guards entered and the creature was revealed, Triune was both disgusted and intrigued simultaneously.  The creature had large, segmented blue eyes and two fangs jutted over its lip. A small, jagged horn was mounted on its head, and it seemed to have skin, no a carapace, that was pitch black.  Small holes dotted the creature in certain areas and insect-like wings buzzed on it back.  It walked slowly up to him and . . . bowed.  
“Greetings human lord,” it said in an unmistakably feminine voice.  “I am called Drone 624 and I serve as the envoy of my lady:  Queen Chrysalis of the Changelings.”  Triune gazed at the tiny changeling before answering in kind.
“Greetings to you as well Drone 624.  I am Lord Oleg Triune, Lord of the Western Highlands and the Defender of Humanity.  Why have you come here?”  624 rose from her bow before answering.
“My Queen has been observing your war against the ponies with great interest lord Triune.  We too have been driven out by the ponies despite our race needing what they can provide to survive.  It appears that our two factions have far more in common than previously thought and our Queen believes that this can only mean great things for our two peoples.  All I wish to do here is discuss how our two races can benefit if they take a more . . . cooperative approach their relations.”
Triune sat back in his chair, intrigued despite himself at the revelation.  This creature, this changeling was certainly a decent diplomat, and if she was proposing what he thought she was proposing than this war had suddenly become far more interesting.  He steepled his hands together before responding with only two words.  Two words that would begin a new chapter in the war, and in the relations between the races of the continent.
“Go on . . .”
----
Twilight sat, alone, in her room.  Since she and her friends had arrived in the city they had all been hard at work, doing everything in their power to help with the war effort.  But even as she worked to help out the best way she could, Twilight couldn’t help but question everything she did.  Should I have sought out the humans?  Does anything I’m doing now make up for what I’ve already done?  Is it making it worse?  Am I responsible for every death so far?
These questions weighed heavily on her mind every minute of every day and, slowly but surely, she was beginning to revert to the state she had been in when she had first returned to Equestria.  It was all the same:  the deep purple bags under sunken, bloodshot eyes, a bone-deep weariness, and a pervasive melancholy that was obvious to anypony who knew her.   Her friends probably noticed, but they were too busy to have the time to question her about it.  But now they knew, she realized.  Now they knew that she had been researching the humans.  They knew that she had been among them before they had attacked.  Did they blame her for everything that had happened?  Should they?  
“Stop!” she shouted at herself aloud.  “This isn’t helping anypony.  I’m tired and stressed out.  I’ll just get some sleep and try to work through this in the morning.”  With this decision made, she crawled into her bed and pulled up the covers.  Closing her eyes, Twilight slowly drifted off to sleep.
----
It was the smell that woke her.  It was horrific, a sweet yet nauseating odor that permeated the air so thickly she could almost taste it.  Bolting upright Twilight found herself in a vision out of the darkest nightmares.  She was in a village set ablaze.  A chorus of screams filled the air as all around her ran humans of all descriptions.  While there were some men, the majority were women and children.  Dozens had congregated in the space in front of her.  They were trying to escape the flames, but the sheer mass of the crowd kept them from moving at faster than a crawl.  Suddenly a horrible, chilling laughter sounded above even the screams.
It was accompanied by bolts of magical fire descending from the sky, immolating the terrified crowd.  Many of the humans were turned to ash instantly from the impact, but the rest were not so lucky.  They burned like torches even as they continued their futile attempts at escape.  The laughter continued as the humans fell to their knees, their charred forms unable to remain upright.
Tears were overflowing from Twilight’s eyes as she found that, try as she might, she could not look away.  Some force was keeping her gaze firmly focused on the horrific sight.  When the last of the humans had finally perished the force dragged her gaze upwards where she saw a vision of Celestia straight out of the mural from the Church in Vona.  Sharp hooves stained red with blood, serrated fangs set in her mouth, and horn glowing blood red, she was the very image of evil.  It came as little surprise to the already traumatized Twilight that this form of Celestia was the source of the laughter that had never stopped.
Suddenly, Twilight felt a wrenching in her gut as the focus of the dream shifted.  Now below her was a town of ponies and it was dying.  Explosion after explosion rocked the town as ponies were thrown to and fro and buildings collapsed into rubble.  Humans in blood-stained armor marched into the burning town and put any ponies they saw to the sword.  More tears and now open sobs were the only response that Twilight could give to the horror.  It was only then that she had a realization:  she was above the terrible scene.
Looking back at herself, she saw that she now had great, ragged wings on her back.  Her horn was longer and tapered to a sharp tip.  Looking down, she saw that her hooves were stained red with blood from the ponies below and as she saw another building explode she could feel the magical discharge coming from her horn.  She had switched places with the monstrous Celestia of the past and now she was doing to ponykind what Celestia had done to Humanity.  
Despite the near constant sounds of industry and drilling soldiers filling the city, all that anypony could hear that night were the loud, and utterly terrified, screams of a certain young mare echoing throughout the city.
	
	
> Chapter 14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The screaming had finally stopped, but nopony liked what had replaced it.  Following Twilight’s fit of night terrors, the Princesses had found her and rushed her to the Fillydelphia hospital.  She had continued screaming as tears ran down her face, matting her fur and causing her eyes to become bloodshot and swollen.  Her friends had quickly been informed of her condition and had rushed over as swiftly as they could.  When they arrived they found themselves greeted by the princesses and Shining Armor, all of whom looked as shaken as they did.  
“Is Twilight all right?” demanded Rainbow Dash, flying up to them ahead of the others.  The others nodded, turning questioning eyes on those already in the waiting room.  Celestia took her time to gaze at all of them before sighing.
“She is . . . physically at least.”  Applejack looked at the princess confusedly.
“Physically?  So what else is wrong with her?”  
“When we found her she was screaming like a banshee in her room, tears pouring down her face.  We brought her here and called Shining Armor before sending out runners to get each of you.  By the time we got her here she had stopped screaming, but she was murmuring something incomprehensibly in her sleep.  The doctor’s only recently declared her physically fine, but I fear that something has happened to her mentally or emotionally to reduce her to this.”
The others looked at each other fearfully.  This was something that had never happened to Twilight before.  The five mares had seen her stressed to her breaking point and immersed in pain and sadness on separate occasions, but never in all this time had Twilight reacted to anything like this.  This was an anomaly, something different that none of them quite knew how to deal with.  And it scared them more than any of them wanted to admit.
“Can . . . can we see her princess?” Asked Fluttershy.  
“I’m afraid not Fluttershy.  The doctors say that they want to run some more tests to ensure that she is fit for visitors.  I know how painful this must be for all of you, but I’m afraid that all we can do now is wait and pray.”  The others nodded as they took seats in the waiting and waited to be allowed to see their suffering friend.
----
Triune was pleased with how things were going.  Their new military base was still not finished, but the temporary barracks and command complex were up so at least they had working facilities.  In addition the diplomat, drone 624 if he recalled, had returned to her hive to report to her queen.  Reinforcements for their position had been sent in by train and the new garrison now totaled over 2,000 men, a few dozen mortars, eight siege cannons, and sixteen field pieces.  What had once been a frontier settlement was now a fortified garrison bustling with the sounds of human industry as they hammered, sawed, forged, and beat the land around them into a form more pleasing to them; civilization imposed on the desert wastes.  Interrupting his reverie, one of his guards appeared at his shoulder.
“My lord,” he reported.  “We’ve finished raiding another buffalo camp.  In total we encounter two dozen buffalo and one dozen ponies that escaped the purge.  More than half were killed in the fighting or when they attempted to flee.  The survivors include six ponies and two buffalo.  What should we do with them?”  
“Simple.  Interrogate the buffalo and see if there are any more camps.”
“And the ponies sir?”  Triune turned to face him, his expression stern.
“Keep them as prisoners for now.  While I might not know very much about 624’s race, I think that they would be amenable to a snack after such a long journey.”  
“Sir,” the soldier said, snapping Triune a quick salute before leaving to see to his commands.  He followed his soldier with eyes as he ran through the bustling town towards the armed group just entering the town.  They led, on chains of iron, the prisoners, all of them bloodied and downcast.  Not a single one had any trace of defiance except the buffalo and even they were quite close to being broken.  The buffalo were taken away to be interrogated while the ponies were roughly led to a hastily built prison near the center of the town.  
Just before the last of the group were forced in, one of the ponies looked up and their gaze met Triune’s.  They were the eyes of a broken being; no happiness, hope, or defiance.  Yet, they seemed to plead him for mercy.  The last thing the mare saw before being thrown into the prison was that of a human turning his back on her plight after tossing her a disgusted look.
----
“Princess!”  Celestia looked up at the entrance to the hospital waiting room to see two of her guards standing at attention.  
“At ease guards.  What do you have for me?”  The guards relaxed slightly, but both of them still looked tense.
“There are two griffons asking to see you Princess.  They claim that they are envoys from the King of Griffonia himself.”  That got everyone’s attention.  Equestria and Griffonia had never quite seen eye-to-eye in all their years of coexisting.  It made sense:  Both nations had extremely divergent views on how society should function and it had resulted in multiple wars in the distant past.  Luckily the wars had ended relatively quickly, but they had created great rifts between the nations that had never quite healed.  If they were approaching them now, it could only be because they were afraid or they thought that the Equestrians were weak. 
“Sister,” said Luna.  “What should we do?  Somehow I doubt that the griffons are here to inquire after our health.”  
“I know Luna,” Celestia said, slowly getting to her hooves.  “But in our current position we can ill-afford to ignore the King.”  Rainbow Dash raised her head up from where she had been napping at this.
“Do you need our help princess?”  Celestia smiled wearily at the blue pegasus.
“No Rainbow Dash.  It would be better if Luna and I handled this on our own.”  Rainbow Dash sighed as she slumped back into her seat.
“Alright princess.  I just . . . I don’t like just sitting here and doing nothing.”  Luna smiled knowingly at her.
“I understand your concern, but right now the best thing you can do is stay here with your friends.  Twilight will need you, of that I am quite sure.”  And with those parting words, Celestia and Luna took their leave of the hospital and followed their guards to where the diplomats stood waiting.
----
Triune could scarcely believe his eyes.  The gold-brown wastes of the desert had been covered in a virtual carpet of pitch black chitin and buzzing, insectile wings.  The Changeling Swarm had finally arrived and they had come in force.  He could see that the majority of the Swarm was the simple drones, but the sheer mass of them had all of the human forces on alert.  The Swarm had built up their camps on the edge of the settlement and soon their diplomats had flown into the town.  Shaking his head, Triune returned to his command tent.  While their new allies were here, the military base had yet to be completed.  Taking a deep breath, he turned toward one of the soldiers near the tent’s entrance.
“Guardsman, send for the Changeling envoys.  I will see them here, understand?”  The guard snapped Triune a quick salute and went to fetch the Changelings.  He didn’t have to wait very long.  He heard the heavy, thudding footsteps of his soldiers as well as the slight buzzing of a changeling’s wings approaching the tent.  When they entered, Triune saw a few of the drones surrounding a central figure.  The figure in the center was taller than the other drones, and instead of the thicker, hunched forms of the drones this figure had a more slender and graceful form.  Its wings were thin but powerful and the horn on its head curved up, ending in a sharpened point.  The eyes were a light green in color and hair fell from it head down past its shoulders.
“Greetings Lord Triune,” it spoke, the voice oddly familiar.  “It is good to see you again so soon after our last meeting.”  Triune frowned at it.
“Greetings to you as well, though I cannot recall ever meeting a changeling such as you before.”  The changeling mare looked confused for a moment before letting out a heartfelt laugh.
“Of course you wouldn’t.  I apologize, but I had forgotten how much I have changed since we last spoke.  You knew me as Drone 624.”  
“624?  You look . . . different.”  She laughed again at his confusion.
“Yes, well, my Queen saw fit to reward me for my service.  She raised me up above the rank and file drones and I can now have my own thoughts and ideas outside of the hive mind of our species.  It is both a form of evolution and mark of status.  It is similar to becoming a noble in your civilization I believe.”
“Interesting.  So what I should call you now that you are no longer a drone?”  She flashed him a toothy smile.
“You may call me Lilith, lord Triune. Now, shall we get on with the business at hand?”  Triune nodded.
“Yes, I believe it’s time we did.  My Emperor has been informed of your offer and only asks that you submit to a simple test before we can formally conclude our negotiations.”
“Oh?” She said, cocking her head to the side.  “And what test might that be?”  Triune stood up and walked around the desk.  When he stood in front of her, he removed the armor and cloth covering his right arm.
“I want you to send a small blast of your magic at my arm.  Depending on the results, we will decide how these negotiations will be concluded.”  Lilith stood there, confusion plain on her face.
“Just send a blast of magic at your arm?”  Triune just nodded at her, his arm tensing in anticipation of the blast.  With a mental shrug, Lilith charged a bit of magic to her horn, the green light illuminating the tent’s interior.  After a few seconds of gathering the energy and shaping the blast, she released a small beam of energy at Triune’s unprotected arm.  When the beam struck the smell of burning hair filled the tent, but other than that there were not untoward effects.
Triune could only stare in shock at his arm.  What should have been a massive injury had barely burned him.  It was definitely magic . . . of a sort, but it didn’t have the same, horrific effects of the daemon’s magic.  It seemed that Magnus Himself was smiling upon this alliance after all.  With another quick glance at his arm, Triune turned to smile at Lilith.
“So,” she said.  “Did I pass?”  In answer, Triune held out his right hand towards the changeling.  Lilith extended her right hoof and the two shook.
“Oh yes,” said Triune happily.  “With flying colors.”
----
“You guys ready?”  
“Of course we are.  These bastards took our home, why wouldn’t we be ready?”
“Alright then.  Then just remember the pl . . . oh hay here they come.  Get ready.”
Down the cobbled streets of Canterlot walked two human soldiers.  Neither was of the heavily armored variety, nor were they of the Blessed.  They were just ordinary soldiers on patrol just like their orders told them to do.  Unfortunately that put them in the wrong place at the wrong time.  
“For Equestria!”  With a shout, bolts of magic flew out from the darkened alleys and into the unsuspecting guards.  There was nothing that the two could do as the magic burned its way through their bodies.  Steam rose from their bodies as their flesh sloughed off.  The two guards screamed in agony.  The pain of magical exposure was unlike anything they had ever felt before.
A group of unicorns and earth ponies stepped out from the alley towards the fallen guards.
“All right,” said one of the unicorns.  “Let’s grab them before they make any more . . . what the hay?!”  The ponies could only look in horror at the corpses of the two human guards in front of them.  Enough of their skin had burned off that their skulls were partially visible and their bodies still twitched spasmodically even after their deaths.  
“That . . . that wasn’t supposed to happen,” one of the earth ponies said quietly, trembling as he did so.  The lead unicorn stepped forward, and examined the corpses.  Behind him he could hear one of his friends retching at the sight and smell of the bodies.  
“How did this happen?” He thought.  “I could have sworn they repelled magic.  So why are these two . . .” Suddenly he heard yells and heavy footfalls coming ever closer.  His face paled as he realized that they had just killed two humans and more were on their way.  
“Everypony, we have to get out of here now!”  There were panicked murmurs of assent as the group quickly scattered back into the alleys, running from the scene of the crime as fast as their hooves could carry them.
----
Helmholtz was furious.  His guards had just reported that two soldiers on patrol had been killed by magic and the perpetrators had gotten away scot free.  This was more than murder; this was an insult against him personally.  As governor he was responsible for everything that happened in Canterlot and if ponies were able to kill his troops than it was his own fault.  But it was time to correct that mistake.  
“Guards!”  
“Yes my lord?”  
“Bring me the Council.  It’s about time they made themselves useful.  I will bring an end to this insolence once and for all.”
----
Celestia and Luna walked into the room where the Griffon diplomats were waiting.  When they entered the room, the griffons rose from their seats and inclined their heads slightly to the princess.  It was typical of the griffons:  enough of a show of respect to avoid being thought of as rude, but not a deep enough bow to indicate actual respect for the being they were talking too.  The one on the right stepped forward.  He was wearing thick robes and had multiple rings on his talons.  
“Greetings Princess Celestia.  Princess Luna.  I am Ambassador Highfeather and this is my associate Ambassador Leda.”  The other griffon gave another slight bow at the mention of her name.
“Greetings to you as well ambassadors,” Celestia began.  “To what do we owe the pleasure of being host to personal ambassadors of the King?”  Highfeather puffed out his chest slightly before launching into his pre-prepared speech.
“We have come to discuss the recent attacks made against your nation, princess.  The King is stunned that a foreign race has so quickly taken much of Equestria out from under you and he wanted us to ascertain what kind of a position you were in now.”  Luna growled under her breath, furious at the ambassador’s pompous tone.  
“I can assure you,” Celestia said carefully.  “While we have been beaten back we can still fight.  And fight we shall.”  
“How very interesting,” mused the griffon.  “Well then, that makes things a bit easier doesn’t it?  We have an offer from the King that I believe you will be most interested in.”
Celestia frowned at this, unsure just what kind of offer the King would send them in their weakened state.
“Very well.  What is this offer?”  The ambassador unfurled a large scroll bearing the seal of Griffonia’s royal family and spoke in an imperious voice.
“Princesses Celestia and Luna of Equestria.  The King of all Griffonia formally extends an offer of alliance to you so that we may assist you in the war effort against these unknown creatures.”  Celestia and Luna stood there, barely keeping their jaws from dropping open in shock.  They weren’t sure what to make of this.  The griffons were offering them an alliance, but dealings with them in the past proved that they were never this generous with their help.
“That is a very generous offer,” said Celestia.
“Indeed,” Luna said, cutting in quickly.  “But we are not so foolish to suppose that this offer is coming simply from the goodness of your hearts.  So why are you offering this to us?”  For his part, Highfeather merely looked amused at the situation. 
“Well princess you make it sound as if we are giving this to you for free.  But you two should know better than any,” at this he flashed them a wicked grin.  “Nothing is ever free.”
	
	
> Chapter 15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So why do you think we’ve been called to this meeting?”
Fancy Pants looked over his wife Fleur.  Both of them had been appointed to the Interim Council along with the four other major nobles that were left in Canterlot.
“I’m not quite sure my dear, but if the Governor himself is calling us it must be quite serious.”
“Indeed it is.”  The two turned to see Blueblood striding down the corridor, accompanied by Upper Crust and her husband Jet Set.  
“So do you know why they called us here Blueblood?” Fancypants asked.  Blueblood smiled at him arrogantly.
“Of course Fancypants.  As Interim Council leader I am privy to all of the secret knowledge that our illustrious new lords possess.  
“So then dear boy, what is the purpose of all this?”  Blueblood’s smile instantly wavered a bit as it was obvious that he was full of it.
“Of course I know, but I . . . I can’t share it with you as of yet.  I am sure that his Governorship will want to tell you in person.”  
“Yes I’m sure,” remarked Jet Set, his nose turned up in the air.
“Quite,” agreed Upper Crust.  Eventually they entered the room of the palace that served as the council chambers.  It had once been a side meeting room that Princess Celestia had used when she wanted to meet in private with foreign dignitaries.  When the humans had taken over and formed the council they had given it this room so they could hold meetings in relative privacy from the human government.  The room was even guarded by hoof-picked pony soldiers.  Though all of this didn’t matter much when one considered that human soldiers always stood watch at the ends of the hallways whenever the Council was in session; and they weren’t facing outwards.
When they entered, they saw that the privileges they had taken for granted were already being taken away.  Governor Helmholtz sat in the chair normally occupied by Blueblood and was flanked by two members of the Blessed armed with massive two-handed greatswords.  The unicorns could all feel the biting cold that the Blessed seemed to generate constantly.
“Councilors,” said Helmholtz evenly.  “Thank you for your prompt responses to the summons.  Please take a seat, we have much to discuss.”  The five unicorns all nodded and took seats around the oaken table placed in the center of the room.  Helmholtz sat back, his eyes sweeping over the assembled unicorns and his expression giving nothing away as to his thoughts.
“I’m not sure if any of you have heard, but two of my soldiers were killed last night . . . by magic.”  The unicorns started as they heard this and realized just how precarious their situations were.  Humans being killed by ponies would have been bad enough, but by unicorns?!  It was a miracle that they were still alive. Helmholtz continued after a few second of silence.
“We have shown inordinate mercy in allowing this city to remain as free as it is.  We have allowed you to govern yourselves and let many liberties stand that in any other occupied city would be unthinkable.  And we are repaid with assassinations in the streets.  I hope you realize the seriousness of this situation.”  The unicorns were sweating openly now.  
“Of course we do my lord,” started Fancypants.  “We will of course begin an investigation immediately to find those responsible and . . .”  
“That isn’t good enough.”  Helmholtz narrowed his eyes at Fancypants.  “An ordinary investigation will not do.  I want the culprits found and made of an example of.  You will find these unicorns and all of their conspirators and turn them over to us so that we can punish them under Imperial Law.  Do you understand?”  This wasn’t good.  The humans had given the Interim Council full power to govern the pony population of Canterlot in return for their allegiance.  If humans were going to begin punishing ponies in accordance with human law . . . the council was in serious trouble.  
“Of course,” Blueblood said quickly.  “As soon as the peasant brutes that did this are caught we will give them to you without delay.”  
“Good,” said Helmholtz evenly.  “Then you are dismissed.”
----
“Sister we can’t possibly give them that!”  Celestia winced as Luna began to shout.  She hadn’t quite reached the levels of the royal Canterlot voice, but at this rate it was only a matter of time.
“Luna we don’t have much choice in the matter.  The humans are hammering us hard, and we have heard nothing from Appleoosa in days.  We can’t afford to turn away help from any source.”  Luna continued to pace across the room angrily.  After the ambassador had given them the Griffon’s offer, the two sisters had left to find a room in which to speak privately about the possibility of the alliance.
“Accepting help is one things sister, but buying at the cost of our lands and subjects is another entirely!”  The griffon’s offer had been immediate and total military support, but in return they wanted the princesses to give them the lands east of Manehatten.  It would give the Griffons extensive new lands and reduce Equestria by a fair amount.   There were also fairly large gem and ore deposits in the East and losing them would seriously damage the Equestrian economy.  It would also cost the homes of all the ponies in those lands that would either have to live in Griffon territory or leave their homes.  The decision would be a costly one either way:  On the one hoof they could lose extensive and gem-rich lands as well as cause the displacement of thousands of citizens, but on the other hoof they would be denied the extensive military support of the Griffons who were far more militarized and in a better place to launch a counter attack than the Equestrians were.  Either way, Equestria would lose and Griffonia stood to break even or gain.
“Luna we don’t have a choice,” Celestia said firmly.  “The lands we would be selling are in the possession of the enemy already.  If we refuse the Griffon’s offer than it is doubtful that we could ever retake them and if we accept the offer than we would only lose that which we have already lost.  It is the bitterest of bargains, but it is one that must be made.  We can insure that our subjects will be moved into other Equestrian lands, but if we don’t make this sacrifice than we may very well lose everything.”  
Luna was still furious and it showed.  Her muscles were tensed and her pacing had almost worn groves into the floor.  Raw magic was radiating from her horn and her eyes were beginning to glow white.  However her sister’s words cut through the red haze in her mind.  Regardless of her feelings, she was a princess of Equestria and because of this she had responsibilities beyond the pale of normal citizens.  She had to decide what was best for the whole of Equestria regardless of her own personal feelings on the matter.  Shoulders slumped in defeat; she turned to face her sister.
“Very well sister.  We will accept your judgment in this matter, but we still believe that this bargain will come back to haunt us when all of this is said and done.”  Celestia sighed in relief, glad that they were in agreement, but her heart still ached that she had to give away the homes of thousands of ponies.
“I know sister, I know.  Now let us go:  we still have to inform the ambassador of our decision in this matter.”  The two sisters left the room and walked back towards the smiling ambassador with determined sets to their faces.
----
The gathered ponies milled about in the darkened tunnels.  There were a few dozen in total, with a relatively even mix of earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasi.  The muted conversations ranged the emotional gamut from worried, to excited, to fearful.  Despite the sheer number of ponies talking, any observer could quite easily tell what each and every conversation was about:  the murder of the two human guards.  Some were happy that they had begun to strike back against the invaders, but others were worried that the murders would only bring greater censure down upon them all.  Regardless of what side they were on however, all conversation ceased as a small group of cloaked ponies took their places at the head of the crowd.
These ponies all wore masks, and the only thing that could be discerned about them was what race of pony they were.  There were six in total with two earth ponies, three pegasi, and one unicorn.  It was one of the pegasi who stepped forward to address the crowd.
“Attention everypony,” they said.  “There is an important matter that needs to be addressed tonight.  Namely, who killed those humans and perhaps more importantly why?!”  There was some uncomfortable shuffling from the crowd before a small group of ponies were brought forth.  The masked pegasi looked down at them.
“Why did you kill those humans?  Your orders were clear:  capture them.  They would have been far more useful to us alive.”  The unicorns in the group looked uneasily at each other before responding.
“We were intending to capture them, but how were we supposed to know that magic practically melted them.  We thought they were resistant to magic, so we just bombarded them with it.”  The masked pony shook their head.
“Regardless, your actions have caused serious repercussions.  Our sources in the nobility tell us that the humans are demanding a full-scale ponyhunt for the killers and have convinced the Interim Council to allow punishment under human law.”  There were gasps of shock and horror at this pronouncement.  A city-wide ponyhunt was bad enough, but there not a single pony that fully understood the extent of the humans’ laws.  If they were undercutting the authority of the Council to punish the killers of their guards than whatever punishment they had in mind must be truly horrifying.
“You’re . . . you’re going to protect us right?” The killers in question and their friends were trembling like leaves in a strong wind.  The masked ponies looked to each other for a moment before turning back towards the terrified ponies. 
“Yes.  While you will answer for your failure to do what we asked of you, we will not give up any of our own to these bastards.”  The small group of ponies sighed in relief, the tension leaving their bodies like a flood.
“I believe that that is all for tonight,” the masked pony said.  “You should all return to your homes before the curfew starts.  Long live Equestria!”
“Long live Equestria!”  The crowd answered, before breaking up as ponies began to find their own ways home.
----
Trottingham was in chaos.  The news had been slow to arrive, but when it did it came in force.  Hordes of refugees from the east and north had flocked to the city, all of them bearing horrifying tales of creatures that had invaded Equestria.  According to them Manehatten, Canterlot, and the Eastern Territories had already fallen to these monsters.  After that, the city streets had become clogged with citizens going to stores and buying up as many supplies as they could before fleeing the city to escape from the monsters.  The city police had tried to bring some order back to the chaos, but it was a difficult prospect.
Eventually the tide of incoming refugees and fleeing citizens had been staunched, but now without serious cost.  Emergency supplies for those remaining within the city were in dangerously short supply, and many of the merchants had fled further south after their wares had been sold out.  Already there were ponies brining more and more complaints to the mayor.  If something was not done soon there might very well be riots in the streets.  Thankfully, some of the refugees had been policeponies in their communities and were willing to help out here.
The mayor sighed as she looked over the latest complaints from the citizens of Trottingham.  
“Another day, another pony with problems,” she muttered to herself.  It would be better if she could delegate some of these complaints, but much of her staff had left during the mass exodus and she had not yet replaced them.  She was just getting through the last few pages of the stack, when one of the few ponies left on her staff burst through the door.
“Mayor, we have a big problem.  You have to come quick!”  The mayor got out of her seat and followed the pony through the darkened halls of City Hall.  When she emerged into the sunshine, she could see smoke rising from a building a few blocks away.
“What’s going on here?” She yelled out.  The aide looked back at her as he led her towards the fire.
“A group of refugees and citizens got into an argument over how to split emergency supplies.  The citizens think they deserve a first crack at any supplies made available while the refugees feel that it should be first come first serve.  Tensions are boiling over all over the city and the two groups got into a fight.  The policeponies are trying to break it up, but fights like these are flaring up everywhere.  It’s like trying to put out a wildfire with a bucket of water.”  The mayor just shook her head as she struggled to keep up with the aide.
What had happened to the world?  Just days before, ponies had been the same as always and everypony had lived in harmony to some degree with their neighbors.  Now?  Now ponies were at each other’s throats over food and water and there were horror stories of monstrous invaders rampaging through the land.  It was like the end of the world had come at last.
When the two ponies finally arrived, they were stunned at how much the fight had escalated.  What had been only a few ponies had ballooned to dozens, all of them fighting over the crates of supplies situated in the center of the square.  Unicorns threw magic in every direction, causing bright flashes of light to add to the disorienting effect of the sound and smoke in the square.  Others had grabbed whatever makeshift weapons they could reach or just wading into their opponents with nothing but their bare hooves.  In isolated pockets throughout the fight, policeponies could be seen trying to restore order and failing miserably.  The mayor found a wooden box and leapt on top of it, getting ready for her attempt at curbing the shocking display of violence.  She took a deep breath, but just before she could let out a shout she heard something strange carrying into the square on the wind.  It was faint, but steadily getting louder and louder as time went on.
We are the chosen of Magnus.
We carry His name on our shoulders as our fathers did before us.
Through the mists of time He speaks to us,
Tells us of the evil of the usurpers,
Of the reasons for exodus,
And the rights of the traveler.
This land is our destiny and our right! Enlightenment is our gift.
Magnus foretold us of this Eden with a promise of deliverance.
We shall defend her till our deaths.
The fighting had died out as the haunting chant carried to every pony in the square.  The citizens of Trottingham and the Mayor were confused, but the refugees had all paled and their eyes had shrunken to pinpricks.
“The monsters!”
“They’ve come for us all!”
“Everypony for themselves!”
Within a second, the refugees were bolting in every direction their screams filling the air in a deafening crescendo of noise.
----
Today was turning out to be a good day after all.  The Emperor was at the head of the crusader forces and from all appearances the city in front of them was doing everything in its power to hand them a victory.  Smoke and fire could be seen coming from within the city and the faint sounds of screams could be heard emanating from within.  Holding up a hand, the Emperor brought his army to a halt.  He could hear his officers relaying the order to halt down the line as thousands of soldiers came to a halt just outside the city of Trottingham.
“Crusaders!  Today represents the next phase of our crusade!  When the South is ours we can finally begin our march against the daemon-queens themselves!  Gunnery crews begin full bombardment!”  
Hundreds of voices were raised in assent as the gunnery crews loaded and aimed their cannons towards the city.  The crews looked to their officers who nodded sharply and the bombardment began.  Hundreds of shells flew towards the city as mortar officers followed up the heavy bombardment with quicklime rounds.  Within moments, concussive explosions echoed throughout the city as choking clouds of quicklime seeped into every corner of the city’s streets and alleyways.  The faint screams now turned into a thundering chorus of the damned that almost equaled the sounds of the massive cannonade.  The bombardment continued for two hours before the cease fire order was relayed down the ranks.  Another hour or so passed as the humans waited impatiently for the quicklime to dissipate.  
When the hour passed, the human war machine began to move.  Infantry charged into the city with mortar crews not far behind.  Riflemen and heavily armored swordsmen searched through every street and alley, every house and cellar.  They found little to no military, but large numbers of civilians that had escaped the cannonades and quicklime.  The city of Trottingham now became very similar to the city of Canterlot in one key respect:  while humanity had transformed much of the city into a smoking wreck, the numbers left behind were relatively unharmed on one condition.  They were to renounce the daemon-queens and serve humanity.  If they did than an Interim Council would be established and they could govern their own under the beneficent hand of mankind.  If not . . . well, there were more than enough soldiers to force a decision should it come to that.
The mayor had quickly agreed to their demands in order to spare the city and its inhabitants any further harm.  Despite the occupation being relatively easy to affect, there were undoubtedly many ponies who had fled southward to Stalliongrad, or simply into the wilderness.  However this did not change the import of this victory:  With another city under their command, humanity was one step closer to bringing the war directly to the daemon-queens.  Victory parades and the ceremonial destruction of anything glorifying the daemon-queens were conducted and humanity began to rebuild the city into a city they would be proud to incorporate into their empire.  All the while, the Emperor plotted how best to move on and take the last free Equestrian city in the south:  Stalliongrad.
----
The defenders stood watch over the walls of the walls of New Vona, a port town near the Eastern Mountains.  Overall it was a relatively easy job.  The pony population had long since been pacified and the relatively large concentration of human troops occupying the town and the naval ships in the harbor kept any thoughts of resistance from their minds.  Nothing had changed in the past few weeks, but something was different today.  The banks of fog and clouds hanging over the mountains seemed to be thicker today than any other day and the air was thick with ozone, presaging a thunderstorm.
The guards had been on alert all day as they knew that the ponies controlled the weather and the sudden storm had aroused no shortage of suspicion.  Everything was fine until midday.  Not long after the sun had risen the highest in the sky, they came.  The clouds had been slowly drifting over from the mountains until they had come to rest just over the edge of town.  A moment passed and soon all hell broke loose.  From the thick clouds suddenly echoed massive claps of thunder and bolts of lightning blasted down and impacted randomly throughout the town.  Humans and ponies alike were killed by either the bolts impacting them or in the fires caused by the bolts’ impacts.  
Fire spread out from the impact points as the bolts continued to fly from the clouds.  Humans ran in every direction, desperately trying to regroup and mount some sort of defense.  Suddenly, a great screech rose up from above the cloud layer as suddenly hundreds of feathered forms dived down through the spent clouds towards the town.  Griffon warriors swooped down and crashed into the human forces with swords and axes held aloft in their talons.  They had already established a foothold in the town before the human soldiers were able to rally.
Riflemen rushed forward and took positions behind hastily thrown together barricades before taking shots at the incoming griffons.  Griffon warriors fell from the sky as the rifles blew holes in their unarmored bodies.  The looks of shock and awe on the faces of the griffons gave renewed heart to the human forces as they launched a counterattack against the hasty invaders.  The griffons were pushed back bit by bit as the riflemen continued to fire and mortar crews arrived to reinforce them.  Blood and bodies littered the streets as the humans repelled the griffons.  Two lines of riflemen gave chase to the griffons, but were cut down as more lightning bolts rained down from the skies.  The rest of the human forces moved back within the boundaries of the town.
----
General Steel Talon looked on in shock and anger at the broken remnants of his initial invasion force.  The humans had been scattered from the lightning bombardment and his forces had rushed in to finish off their isolated forces, but instead of the relatively easy battle he had been expecting his forces had been driven off by the human’s strange weapons.  
“I can’t believe this,” he said angrily.  “It appears that we have underestimated our new foe.   Aide!”  In a flash, his aide rushed into the tent.
“What is it general?”
“Take a letter to high command.  Tell them the first attack has failed and that we need more troops.”
“How many sir?”
“All of them.”
	
> Chapter 16
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	They sat across the river, watching the city from behind their armored helms.  Their unholy war machines stood ready to bring death upon the city and its inhabitants as they had done to so many others since their arrival.  Their numbers seemed endless and even the small groups that broke off of the main group and marched east made no dent in their enormity.
Swiftblade could hear the audible gulps of multiple defenders standing with him on the walls surrounding Stalliongrad.  The walls were the pride of its citizens, their beginning dating to long before the rebellion of Nightmare Moon and many said they dated back to the Age of Discord.  They stretched all around the massive city and over time the citizens, builders, and engineers had constructed more and more layers to the walls and raised them higher and higher.  
However they were now nowhere near what they had once been.  First Discord had seen fit to alter the size and consistency of the walls to the point of them being useless.  Then, what they could rebuild had been reduced to rubble during the rebellion of Nightmare Moon in the bloody clash between the Lunar and Solar Guard.  Only recently had they begun to restore them to pre-Nightmare Moon levels.  However, many amongst the city’s defenders were doubtful if they would be able to hold back the human forces as the refugees had been filling their minds with horror stories without end about the strength, size, and brutality of these implacable foes.  
Swiftblade could quite easily see that at least one of those rumors were true as he stared out of the sea of metal and flesh arrayed before him hovering into the air with cautious flaps of his wings to get a better view.   But his people were strong and Stalliongrad had long been a prime recruiting ground for the Royal Guard forces that safeguarded Equestria.  He was secure in the knowledge that in this fight, this war, every last pony of Stalliongrad would fight with a ferocity only those defending their homes and families from death could ever know.
“Come and face us,” he whispered.  “You will not find us wanting.”

----

“You’re sure of these numbers?”  Lord Orrin looked at the Emperor, his eyes serious as he rattled off the latest reports from the various battlegrounds.
“Yes, lord.  These griffons have launched quite the invasion of the Eastern front.  We were able to force them back twice, but their sheer numbers won out in the end.  My generals and analysts speculate that with so many of our available troops placed within our main force the East is disturbingly open.  Our local garrison forces will be able to secure our holdings for a while longer, but the enemy has mounted the full force of their armies into a single mass and may soon be able to sweep through the east given enough time.”
The Emperor’s eyes were hard as diamond as he considered the problem before him.  If he diverted his forces from this battle the Equestrians could rally and potentially take back cities he had fought to take.  However if he did nothing than the Griffons would take the East and become the hammer to the Equestrian’s anvil:  So many choices . . . and so many potential catastrophes just waiting to happen.  After a few more moments of contemplation he knew what he had to do.
“Orrin, divert 10 companies of troops to reinforce the Eastern holdings.  But bring up some more of the reserve penal legions to reinforce our main force.  Also, the map showed us the main homeland of the Griffons that lies beyond the Eastern Mountains correct?”
“Yes my lord.” 
“Excellent, than send a letter back to the homeland:  Mobilize the reserves.  Local defense forces will of course remain in place, but summon half of our Imperial army reserved units.  Load them onto the ships and send them beyond the mountains directly from the mainland.  Also dispatch a message about our reinforcements to the Eastern leaders and tell them to only secure our current holdings.  We must keep the enemy busy.  While I wish we could have avoided this we will have to take the fight to them before they do any more damage.”  Orrin nodded and moved to exit the command tent.
“Wait.”  Orrin turned back and saw the Emperor looking hard at Orrin.
“Yes my lord?”
“Tell the new invasion force this when they move against the Griffon homeland:  Raise the Dragon Banner.”  Orrin blanched at this.
“Are you sure my lord?  It has not been raised for centuries.”
“I am sure old friend.  While it is not a pleasant thing, it must be done.  The Griffons have shown us their intentions and I intend to give them the clearest possible message about ours.”

----

Time passed achingly slowly as the same pattern played itself out day after day.  More and more troops arrived and left from the human army creating a strange equilibrium.  Many of the Equestrian defenders wanted to attempt to sally out and hit the human forces who had set up camp across the river.  Swiftblade then managed to dissuade them from their course as they were, he pointed out, safe behind the walls.  In fact, he had workers striving to shore up some of the walls major weak points to keep the Humans from punching through them.
But as days passed he also grew less sure of what path to take.  The Humans were right there!  And they weren’t moving or attacking.  He had sworn they had been just biding their time and trying to lure them into doing something stupid, but with nothing seeming to happen even he was considering making a sally.  The decision was made for him however, at the first light of dawn the next day.

----

Teams of builders advanced to the banks of the surging river, all of them holding pegs and massive wooden planks bound together with thick rope.  When they reached the river, they hurled the weighted pegs into the river and used long-handled hammers to drive them into place.  When the pegs were securely placed into the bottom of the river, they then placed the heavy planks over them, advanced, and continued the process.  Little by little a bridge took shape over the river, an achievement mirrored by dozens of teams down the length of the river.  The river would soon be forded and the battle would begin in earnest.
The ponies on guard raised the alarm as they saw the humans’ attempts to ford the river.  Their cries were taken up by more and more ponies until the whole of the city was on alert.  Swiftblade flew up to the walls as fast as he could.
“What’s going on?” he shouted to the guards on watch.
“Sir! The humans are on the move.  They are making to ford the river.”   Swiftblade shot a quick glance and gaped at the numbers of teams being sent out.  
“Ready the crossbows:  Take out those builders!”  His troops responded with remarkable alacrity and raised their crossbows as one before firing a withering volley of bolts at the human builders.  The initial volley felled dozens and the progress of multiple teams was swiftly arrested.  But the humans simply sent more builders, these under protective shields of wood and metal to protect them from the rain of bolts being hurled at them.  More and more humans fell as the arrows slipped through cracks in their defenses, but the ponies could not stop the last planks from being placed and the bridges across the river from being laid.  The first engagement was over and humanity now had easy access to the base of the city walls.  

----

“They’ve forded the river!  If we don’t act soon, then we will not be able to stop them from breaching our walls!”  Swiftblade rubbed his forehead with his hoof, trying in vain to relive the growing headache.  The arguing had been going on for some time now and nigh had long since fallen over the land.  After crafting their bridges across the river, the humans had opted to wait through the night before launching their siege proper on the city.  Ever since then, he and other leaders of the city had been trying to decide what to do next.
“And what would you have us do, charge them?!  Have you not seen their numbers?  Their weapons?  Their obvious skill?  If we sally beyond the walls they will rip us apart and simply march into the city with no problems.  At least on the walls we stand a chance to mount a defense.”
“And when the walls fall to their weapons? We have seen and heard more than enough to tell us that they can tear our walls apart brick by brick with little effort.  What will our walls matter when they are rubble beneath our hooves?”  
“ENOUGH!”  The others jumped slightly at the unexpected interruption.  Swiftblade stood and began to pace the room, unable to keep himself quiet any longer.
“You both have points.  If we charge forth than the humans will annihilate us.  But if we try and mount a defense on the walls than we will be at the mercy of their war machines.  We are in a difficult position and the humans have all the advantages.  But there may be a way to at least delay them.”
“And how is that Commander?”  Swiftblade gave the assembled ponies a small smile.
“Simple.  We’ll give them a storm they’ll never forget.”

----

The cannons were being loaded when it happened.  It started as the air began to grow thicker with moisture.  The army could feel it and ripples of concern began to run through their forces as the sky began to darken with thick storm clouds.  However by the time they realized what was happening it was too late.  With a massive, booming thunderclap sheets of ice cold rain began to fall from the sky.  The gunners blanched as they realized what this meant.
“Hurry! Get the powder out of the rain!”  Thousands of gunners, aids, and soldiers hurried to do just that shifting thousands of barrels of gunpowder and shot out of the pouring deluge.  While they were able to save the majority of the gunpowder, they had lost quite a bit to the rain and with no sign of letting up the storm made it impossible to use the cannons.  The walls would have to be taken without them.

----

“Accursed daemon filth!”  The Emperor watched his advisors rage at the daemons’ latest tactic.  With the loss of their cannons as a viable option, the siege would be extended for quite some time.  
“The cannons were the only siege weapons we brought with us.  The siege will be immensely difficult without them my emperor.”  The Emperor gave out a sigh as he considered the problem before him.
“I know that Orrin.  Unfortunately we have run out of options at this point.  We cannot retreat here if we wish to maintain our momentum and crush the last bastion of resistance outside of the west.  We will simply have to return to an older style of siege warfare.”  Orrin nodded and turned towards an aide standing off to the side of the command tent.
“Carry these orders to every commander in the army:  Begin immediate harvesting of any and all wood in the area.  Also, begin searching for sources of stone to mine in the surrounding area and begin crafting catapult rounds.  Our cannons may be out of commission for the time being, but that will never stop our advance.” 
“Well said old friend.  Now let us hope that the enemy will be foolish enough to grant us time to construct our weapons.  If they do not . . . Well.  Then I fear for how many troops we might very well lose in the coming weeks.

----

Swiftblade was worried.  This wasn’t a new mindset.  He and the others had been worried ever since the humans had entered their lands and especially since they had set up camp outside their city.  However he, and many of the others, had hoped that with the advent of the storm the human war machines would not only be put out of commission, but that they would retreat to repair or replace them.  They had done no such thing.  Instead their camp had become a flurry of activity and industry and had remained so for the past week.
Overhead the storm continued to rage as sheets of rain and howling winds buffeted the human camp.  Once the areas around the city had been heavily forested, but now for a mile around the human encampment whole swathes of trees had been chopped down to satisfy whatever new demands the humans had placed upon their workers.  What had truly worried him however was what the humans had begun bringing in from more than a mile to the west.
It had been spotted only recently, but it was troubling.  One of his scouts had spotted a human work group dragging a massive stone hewn from a rock face a mile distant.  Not long after more and more work groups had been spotted dragging more and more massive stones.  Nothing had yet come of this, but Swiftblade knew that whatever it was it could not be good for the defenders.  Scout groups were being sent out, but so far none had been able to determine what the humans had been up to as the humans were constantly watching the skies for any sign of pegasi trying to use the storm as cover for reconnaissance.  Either way, all he could do was use this time to try and fortify the city as much as he possibly could for the inevitable retaliation of the humans.

----

They awoke long before dawn.  The human army had begun to rouse itself for the long day ahead of them, hoping to get their newest weapons into place before the Equestrians could detect them.  Teams of laborers took up the thick ropes and began to drag their heavy loads forwards through the packed ranks of the crusading army. It took hours to get everything into position and all they heard during this time was the creaking of unoiled wheels, the straining ropes, and the hushed conversations of the troops around them as they prepared for the coming fight.  And even with the hours of preparation only one facet of the siege could be put fully into place.  The Emperor and Orrin watched over the placement of the newly built catapults.
“Will it be enough to take down their walls my Emperor?”
“It won’t be Orrin.  However it will prove a more than adequate beginning to the siege until we can finish the rest of our siege equipment.”
The first light of dawn began to creep over the walls and buildings of Stalliongrad and with it, the human offensive proper.  The guards and sentries on the walls awoke to a massive volley of boulders smashing into the walls.  Roughly cut boulders of all shapes and sizes flew into and over the walls.  With each impact the walls shook and some of the guards fell screaming from the walls, unprepared for the sudden attacks.  The volley continued as the humans hurled dozens upon dozens of stones per volley at the vast walls before them.  However this could not last forever.
The storm continued to rage above and around them and soon the pegasi of Stalliongrad responded to the human offensive with one of their own.  Lightning bolts raged from the skies and tore apart the human ranks.  For every volley of stones the humans launched they lost dozens of their own.  However they could not retreat.  The ground had long since turned to sticky, sucking mud from the constant downpour and their catapults were stuck fast.  A withdrawal of their first wave of siege engines was not possible, but the humans had prepared for this.
As the lightning bolts crashed down into their siege engines, rank after rank of human soldiers marched forward across the bridges some bringing ladders while others walked under the shielded section of battering rams to assault the gates.  
“They’re trying to scale the walls!”  Immediately the ponies began redirecting their attacks.  As the ladder bearers marched closer they were met with a vicious storm of crossbow bolts.  More than a hundred ladders had been sent out and barely 50 reached the base of the walls.  Hastily throwing up the ladders against the walls, the soldiers began their ascent.  The defenders continued to fire their crossbow bolts, but with such a steep angle of fire the majority of them bounced off the humans’ armored forms.  
The battering rams had fared well as crossbow bolts ricocheted off of them or imbedded themselves in their thick wooden frames.  Almost a dozen rams reached the thick gates of the city to begin their work.  The teams hauling the rams retreated from the gates and then threw their might into the pushing the rams forward.  With a resounding –boom- the rams slammed into the thick, wooden gates.  With a chorus of frantic yells the Equestrians redirected their lightning strikes towards the rams, desperately trying to keep them from breaking through the main gates.  With muffled cracks of thunder and the screams of the human soldiers, the rams were reduced to kindling one by one until there were none left on the Equestrian side of the river.
The warriors on the ladders had finally reached the top and they descended on the ponies with a vengeance.  Their swords were as blurs as they cut down a pony with every swipe, but even as more and more of them tried to reach the walls, it was not enough.  The Equestrians had sheer numbers on their sides and soon were able to force the human forces back until they had lost any ground they had been able to gain.  With one final push, the Equestrians forced the humans off the walls and were able to knock the ladders from the walls.  Night began to fall as this victory was won and soon the human forces stopped their attack.  A great cheer went up from the city as they celebrated what may possibly be the first real Equestrian victory of the war.

----

Ponyville was quiet.  Where once the town would be bustling and filled with activity, the human occupation and forced curfews had drained much of the life from the small village.  Human troops patrolled the streets, always on watch for any hints of trouble or resistance. One such group stopped as their leader held his hand up quickly.
“Hold here.  What was that sound?”  The others began searching around, trying to identify the sound their leader had heard.  A moment passed . . . and there it was.  It was a scratching, burrowing sound that seemed to come from beneath them.  
“Spread out men:  standard search pattern.  Find me whatever is causing that noise.”  The guards nodded as they slowly spread out in a circle, their backs to each other as they swept every opening and alley with watchful eyes.  The noise repeated itself and seemed to be growing louder and closer with every passing moment.  
“I think it’s coming from . . . beneath us sir.”  With a nod, the leader directed the group to surround the spot where the noise was coming from.  A moment passed.  Two moments passed.  After a few more tense moments it finally happened.  The ground between them exploded upward as shadowy figures emerged from the newly revealed opening.  They moved quickly, but were stopped by blades being pressed up against their throats.
“Identify yourselves now intruders, or by Magnus I will slit your throats here and now.”  The figures took a minute to confer amongst themselves before answering.  The lead figure finally spoke up nervously.
“I greet you in the name of the Crimson Warlord human.  We are of the diamond dogs . . . and we need your help.”
	
	
	
	
	
> Chapter 17
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	He tracked the winged bastard with keen precision.  It was flying sedately over the land, obviously convinced that there was nothing to fear, and why should there be?  The forces of the Empire were waging war in the lands of Equestria and at last report the Griffons were winning in the East.  So why should it fear anything while soaring over its own homelands?  That was its last thought before the human sharpshooter took him out with a single, well-placed shot. With only a small smirk to show his satisfaction, he quickly displaced and lit the small signal fire he had made on the outcropping beside him.
The fire was answered from the ground with the lighting of a long line of signal fires which stretched back to the human army arrayed in full combat readiness.  Their ranks were ordered and disciplined, but were anyone to look closer they would be able to see the undercurrents of discomfort that permeated the army.  And in no part of the army was this discomfort more strongly felt than in the center where the source of these feelings was being stored:  The Dragon Banner.  It was glorious and honorable to fight and die for Magnus and Empire, but to fight under the Dragon Banner was something no solider ever truly wanted.  It had a long and bloody history and under its aegis one would not find glory or honor, only blood and death.
The forward scouts spotted the signal flame and sent a runner to inform the General. Like a ripple on a pond, the news of the advance was met with more and more men standing to attention and readying themselves for the fight ahead as the runner dashed through the ranks.  General Julius took a moment to ready himself after seeing the approach of the runner and when he came gave the only order he could:  
“Move out!” 	

----

The town was just getting into the rush of mid-day.  Griffons visited the market and examined various odds and ends in a variety of shops around town.  The laughter of happy chicks could be heard throughout the streets and there was the hum of conversation and background noise that pervaded all larger towns.  But all this was shattered within moments.  A great chorus of thundering booms rang out and seconds later the walls were ripped apart with the buildings following suit not long after.
The griffons reacted in shock and scattered in all directions not knowing what they were running from, but knowing that they needed to get away; to be anywhere but here. Some of the more foolhardy or courageous among them flew into the air and moved forward to see just what was assaulting them.  And what they saw sent them shrieking in the opposite direction.  Coming over the ridge of a nearby hill was a living army of flesh and steel.  They stood tall and strode alongside truly massive engines of war which belched thunder and death with every passing moment.  Soon enough the full bulk of the army passed over the ridge of the hill with the front ranks dangerously close to the ruined wall of the city, and it was there that they stopped with even the cannons silenced.  A second of silence passed before a single command was given:
“Raise the Banner!”  With that command, the army stirred itself back to life as a great banner was raised overhead.  The Banner itself was blood-red with no other design or heraldic markings on it.  It seemed to radiate an aura of power and ferocity which spread to the soldiers that fought beneath it.  With the Banner raised the cannons began to fire once more and the army no longer marched, but charged over the broken walls and into the town.  
Local garrisons, severely depleted and undermanned due to the military’s massive conscription for the war effort, struggled to meet the heaving mass of human soldiers but failed utterly.  As they wheeled toward the humans, swords and axes clasped tightly in their talons, the staccato cracking of rife shots echoed throughout the city.  Dozens of griffons fell to that volley with many more wounded, but it was too late to abort their ill-planned charge.  
When the humans and griffons clashed it was a fierce, but short-lived, struggle which followed.  The griffons brought their weapons to bear on the human invaders, but the humans made liberal use of their bayonets to block, parry, and impale the defenders.  Griffons were dropping like flies as the sheer ferocity and numbers of the human army were brought to bear.  A few more units arrived to reinforce their comrades, but when they saw the bloodshed they felt their resolve fade away like the morning mist.  
Many of them threw down their weapons right then and there and started shouting out their surrender while the rest took flight and shot off through the air in an attempt to get as far away from the humans as they could.  Some escaped, but the rest were not as lucky as human sharpshooters began to ply their craft. Fleeing griffon soldiers’ bodies crumpled to the ground under the weight of human rifle fire.  Eventually the melee fighters had been wiped out to a griffon as the human forces approached the cowering forms of the surrendering defenders.
“Please!  Don’t kill us, we surrender.  We’ll do whatever you want!”  There was not even a moment of hesitation as the humans cut down the defenseless griffons without compunction.  The others were horrified at this behavior as they scrambled to get away but, like the others, they didn’t get far.  And so it went for the next few hours as humanity swept the city clean of all inhabitants.  No prisoners were taken, no griffon was spared, and there were no civilians or soldiers:  There were only enemies to be purged.
When the city was deemed to be completely empty, with no living soul remaining within its walls other than the human armies the final step of the ritual was taken.  The human forces pulled out as cannons and mortars loaded with incendiary rounds began to bombard the city.  The buildings were leveled and the streets torn into pieces as the constant salvos took their toll on the city.  Finally the fire was able to take and within moments a great conflagration swept through the city, razing it to the ground and finishing the job the infantry had started.
This was what it meant to fight under the Dragon Banner.  It had been named after the dragons that had constantly besieged the human settlements of old.  The great beasts would swoop down from the skies above and tear the settlements apart.  All within the city became victims or food to feed their insatiable hunger.  And when all were slain or devoured, then the dragon would use its fire to torch the settlement and wipe out almost all evidence of its existence.  Under the Dragon Banner no quarter was to be given and none was to be expected.  You either fought or died.   The Banner was never raised except in the most desperate or extraordinary circumstances.  And, from the Emperor’s orders, the majority of their campaign would be fought underneath this fearsome and blood-stained banner.
General Julius was examining the maps of the area they had been provided with.  There were a number of settlements near them, but there were also many that sat atop the great mountains and hilltops that dotted the landscapes.  Those would be difficult if not impossible to take under normal circumstances, but with the Dragon Banner raised the goal of conquest had become the goal of extermination.  When they ran out of ground settlements, if the Emperor’s goal had not yet been achieved, then they would move on to full-scale bombardments of these mountain top cities until only rubble and dust remained. Marking the next site of their attack on the map with a large red X, Julius gave the order to move out.  The army roused itself from the brief respite it had received and made ready to make war on the next Griffon settlement . . . and the next . . . and the next . . . and the next. . .

----

“How did this happen?!”  The other assembled griffons could barely meet the eyes of their king, who sat in a large throne at the head of the oaken table.  He was an older monarch, streaks of grey running through his plumage clearly showing that he was long removed from the prime of his life.  But right now his age was the last thing on the minds of any of his advisors as they heard the strong voice echoing from his beak and the blazing fury shining clearly from his eyes.
“To be fair lord, we had no way of knowing the humans had more numbers than those deployed in Equestria.  Their armies are massive; there is now conceivable way we could have predicted this turn of events.”  The king’s fury quickly found its first target.
“It is your JOB to consider all possibilities! Why else do I keep you useless sacks of feathers around?”  Another griffon cleared his throat, drawing the king’s attention away from the quivering councilor before him.
“Regardless of how they got here my king, they are here.  We must now focus on what to do next.”  The king simply sighed as he struggled to reign in his temper.
“You are right.  Blame can be assigned later, after we have dealt with this latest issue.  What is the situation as of now?”  There was a shuffling of papers as the various advisors searched the sheaves of paper before them for the most up to date reports on the human’s movements.  When they were finally found, they made for grim reading.
“As of now my king,” one of the advisors began.  “The humans have followed the main roads out from the coasts.  They have swept through three cities already . . . none have survived.  The humans have slaughtered and torched every single city they’ve come across and they have shown no mercy event to those troops who surrendered to them.”  The king was speechless as he heard these reports.  The humans had conquered the Equestrian towns and cities, Celestia’s ponies put into prison camps or forced to live under human occupation.  But now they were unleashing hell upon the griffon lands.  Why?  What was so different here that it made them go to such extremes?
“How are our forces in the homeland?”  The aide shook his head.
“They are minimal at best my lord.  We drained almost all of the army to war against the humans and we are still being held off in the west.  The best we have are some local town garrisons and I don’t think I have to tell you that they are unreliable at the best of times against trained soldiers.”  The King looked over the reports from the war effort in the west.  
“How is the campaign in Equestria going?”  
“General Steel Talon has managed to seize a number of townships, but the coastal settlements and southernmost territories remain firmly under human control.  Their ships are supplying their coastal settlements and their weapons wreak havoc on any who try to take the towns.  The southernmost territories are a mess of trenches and makeshift fortifications which our armies have not yet been able to breach.”
“Current casualties number well over two thousand.  The human casualties are uncertain, but it’s likely that they have lost similar numbers.  However they appear no closer to defeat than they were before our assault.” The king all but buried his face in his claws.  When the offer to support Equestria had been formulated, the humans had been thought of as an enemy who could be overrun and then defended against with ease.  It was to be a simple war that could grant them a massive advantage in the future.  Now?  Now it seemed like this was had been a terrible idea that would only cost them warriors and subjects.
“Something has to be done soon or we will be wiped out.”

----

“Why didn’t you tell us about their weapons?!  Or their sheer numbers!”  Celestia and Luna looked uncertainly at the irate diplomat finally ended a rant that had been going on since this morning.  They looked at each other before Celestia turned back to the diplomat with a slight sigh.
“I apologize ambassador, but I’m not sure what you’re talking about.  What has happened?”  The ambassador remained furious, but the two sisters could see a mixture of grief and fear entering his eyes at their question.
“The humans have strange weapons that have been killing our warriors in droves.  We have had to throw the majority of our army at them just to make progress.  And even now we are being bogged down in the East.  Worse, the humans have invaded our homeland.  Why did you not tell us anything more about them or did you want something like this to happen to take pressure off of you?!”  Celestia and Luna were both taken aback by both the news and the ambassador’s outburst and accusation.
“Ambassador, I can assure you that we would never willingly withhold any information that could help you.  We know little enough of their weapons as well and we simply assumed you either knew or would have learned of their abilities before your first battle.”  The ambassador simply sighed.  
“At any rate, is there anything else you have to tell us about their forces that you have learned?”  Celestia shook her head.
“Fairly little.  Besides their weapons, some of them seem to repel magic and they have control of the coasts and rail lines.  Our forces are almost fully trained however and we should be able to launch a renewed offensive soon.  But tell us, what has been going on in your homeland?”  The ambassador simply stared at them for a time, clearly struggling to decide if he should tell them the full details.  However in the end he knew that it wouldn’t make much of a difference if they knew or didn’t know.
“The humans launched a naval assault on our lands and forced a landing. They now have an army numbering in the thousands rampaging through our lands.  But something is different.  They fly a red banner and the army has obliterated every settlement in their path without exception.”  Celestia and Luna were horrified at this.  Not only did humanity have the numbers to simultaneously fight Equestria and Griffonia, but this new tactic was extremely brutal.  It made them terrified of what could happen to Equestria should they lose this war.  
“I cannot begin to express my grief at the losses your people are suffering . . .” began Celestia.
“Save it,” interrupted the Ambassador.  “We do not need your pity nor your platitudes.  We shall rise or we shall fall.  There is nothing more to this war than that.”  With that the ambassador turned around and left the building, taking flight as soon as he had cleared the doorway.
“Sister,” said Luna.  “If the humans truly have such numbers and if they truly have resorted to such tactics to secure victory than we may have to unveil our newest weapon sooner than we had planned.”
“But it hasn’t been fully tested yet.  If we use it now we’ll simply be revealing an inferior model which could get our ponies killed.”
“And if we don’t than they may very get killed anyway.”  Celestia’s silence was all the confirmation that Luna needed.  She summoned an aide to them as quickly as she could.  When the pony arrived Luna fixed him with her most serious gaze.
“We are going to move up the launching schedule.  Tell the engineers to have the Mark 2 to be ready to launch within the week.”  The pony left to deliver the message after giving a quick bow to the princesses.

----

“So what exactly does this “Crimson Warlord” wish to say to us?”  Helmholtz stared down at the Diamond Dog delegates.  He was unsure how to think of them.  They didn’t appear to have any inherent magic, or at the very least nothing too flashy or powerful, but at the same time the dogs behind the diplomat all looked to be shifty and nervous.  This could unfold in a variety of ways and Helmholtz did not yet know which way this particular encounter was to turn out.
“The Crimson Warlord requests your assistance in a delicate matter which could soon escalate into a major problem.”  
“I’m afraid you’ll need to elaborate a bit more than that.”  The dogs conferred amongst themselves for a moment before turning back to Helmholtz.
“I apologize Governor.  I forget that you know little of our race.  As I have said we are the Diamond Dogs.  We have a fondness for rare minerals and gems and to meet these ends we have crafted a great network of mines and tunnels to dig deep into the earth.  However we are a race divided into tribes and inter-tribe fighting is more common than any of us would like.  The Crimson Warlord is one of a group of similar warlords who have attempted to stem the tide of the fighting by unifying various tribes under their banners.  However, now the various warlords are vying for ultimate control.  We are currently embroiled in a great civil war and we fear it will destroy our race if action is not soon taken.  We need your help to carry the fight and if you do we shall provide you with gems, minerals, and our finest warriors.”
Helmholtz was torn.  They had more than enough on their plates with the war with the Griffons heating up and the unexpected resistance of Stalliongrad in the south.  Yet . .yet. . . they were so like us.  The tribal warfare, the threat of extinction, and the constant warring looming over their heads all resonated with the governor.  This was a race humanity could trust, a race humanity would be proud to call friend.  But . . . at the same time was there honestly enough of their own forces to spread around without stretching them too thin?
Without warning a harried looking messenger rushed into the throne room.
“My Lord Governor!  I have an urgent message from the Emperor!”  Helmholtz immediately rose from the throne to receive the message.  As he opened the letter, he realized that it was a report on the status of the battle for Stalliongrad.  They were encountering problems, and their cannons were still out of commission.  Without a sure way of turning the tide, the battle was sure to last for at least another month as they besieged the city with antiquated weapons.  This news galvanized Helmholtz and gave him the final push he needed to make a decision regarding the Diamond Dogs’ proposal.  Walking up to the delegates he extended his hand and gave them his answer.
“We are with you brothers.  Your enemies shall be driven before us like leaves caught in the winds of a hurricane.”

----

Applejack walked through the city streets, returning from a long day of work organizing the production of ever greater numbers of rations for the near constant influx of conscripts entering the city.  As she returned to the rooms the princess had given her and the other elements of harmony she could only feel the bone-deep weariness that came from the long, tedious work she had been put through.  
After entering the rooms and dropping off her saddlebags, her ears finally picked a light susurrating sound coming from the room besides hers.  As she put her ear closer to the door, she could just barely make out what sounded like light sobbing.  When she knocked on the door there was no response.  After debating for another moment or so she slowly eased open the door and stepped inside.
The lights inside were all turned off and with the curtains almost fully drawn only a single beam of the setting sun was able to enter the room.  What Applejack saw inside struck her to the core.  The sobbing noise was coming from the corner of the room where Rainbow Dash was curled up into a ball, her back turned towards the door.
“Rainbow,” she said, rushing over to her friend.  Putting a hoof on her shoulder Applejack just sat there, simply letting her know that her friend was here beside her.  After another few moments Rainbow finally stopped crying and turned around to face Applejack, her eyes red and puffy from the tears.
“Applejack,” she began slowly, sounding as if she was trying very hard to keep herself from breaking back into tears.
“Yeah Rainbow, what is it?”  Taking a deep breath, Rainbow Dash stared at her friend with a strangely serious set to her face.
“AJ, after everything that’s happened . . . and everything we’ve learned about the past. . .  Do you think we’re honestly fighting for the right side?”

	
	
	

> Chapter 18
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	“What you ask for is absurd!”  Helmholtz was still fuming as he stared across the table at the so-called ‘Crimson Warlord’.  
“Why human?  You promised help and now we are asking for it.”  Helmholtz slammed his fist onto the table hard enough for a faint crack to be heard from the wood.  
“Help we did promise, but what you are asking is almost all of our forces in Canterlot and the eastern provinces.  We are still engaged in warfare on two fronts and we cannot afford to send you so many of our troops.  It would leave us near-defenseless!”  The warlord leaned back and sighed. He was a large example of a diamond dog easily towering over the human before him.  His fur was black as night and at his waist were large broadswords inset with massive rubies, matching some of the rings adorning his paws.  
Negotiations had been going on like this for the past few hours.  Humanity was more than willing to help in the ongoing civil war, but not if it would cost them their security on the surface.  The problem was the warlord needed these forces and needed them soon.  Other clans were encroaching on their territory more and more every day and if something was not done soon, he and his dogs would be wiped out within the month at best; and a week at worst.
“I understand your concerns human, but right now I cannot afford to make use of any less than my ally’s full strength.”  Helmholtz sighed and stared off into space for a moment, gathering his thoughts.
“Very well.  Then I have a question for you:  with your abilities you could clear collapsed tunnels relatively easily after your victory correct?”  The warlord looked confused for a moment before answering.
“Of course.  It would take time, but we are well suited for the task.”  Helmholtz smiled at this assertion, a plan forming in his mind.
“Very well then my friend.  While I cannot, unfortunately, allow you the use of the Blessed or the line soldiers, I can grant you the use of a few elite units not being put to much use at the moment:  the grenadiers.”

----

The air around Canterlot was thick with tension.  Human patrols had been increased and new watchtowers and guard stations were being constructed at major intersections.  As the search for those who had killed the human guards lengthened, the humans had begun to take more and more action in an attempt to expedite the search.  More and more the decisions and actions taken by the Interim Council were being undercut.
Random checks of civilians and mandatory searches of all ponies crossing through major checkpoints were now commonplace.  However this had the added complication of the occupation forces spreading themselves thin throughout the whole of Canterlot in an attempt to expand their drag net.  Fancy Pants strode through the marketplace, shaking his head sadly.  The normally bustling market place was now a veritable ghost town, ponies no longer really as safe as they had been to linger and meet up in the markets as they once had.  Even many of the shop owners seemed to have been affected, carts and stands lying empty, with shops lining the street now baring signs declaring them closed or even wooden planking nailed over the windows.
“Makes you think doesn’t it?”  Fancy Pants started before turning around and noticing that a nondescript pony had emerged from one of the side alleys  
“About what exactly? He replied, eyes narrowing as he tried to discern who exactly this pony was. 
“About how things have changed since the sun was cast down.”  
“Indeed,” replied Fancy Pants.  “But I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, old chap that no matter how dark things may seem the sun will always rise again.”  The other pony nodded at this and gestured towards another of the side alleys dotting the street.  As the two reached the mouth of the alley, they could see a trio of figures hidden in the shadows further down.  They walked down until they reached the midway point and the figure on the left then held up a hoof.  
“That’s far enough.  It would be best if we could keep our identities as secret as possible.” 
“Indeed,” said the central figure, his voice coming out in a sibilant hiss.  “One may never know when the eyes of the false ruler are watching.”  As Fancy Pants’ eyes were drawn to the central figure he noticed one particular feature that, when further away, he had not been quite able to notice:  the figure’s height.  He easily towered over the two obviously equine figures on either side of him and, while it took longer than Fancy Pants would ever admit to, he knew exactly what he was looking at:  a human.

----

They were still here.  Another week had passed and still the human forces clung desperately to what little land they had been able to secure outside of Stalliongrad.  The river had long since overflowed from the constant downpour, overtaking the makeshift bridges the human had been using during their sallys, forcing their front lines back further.  But even then they had stubbornly remained, though the sheer number of their attacks had lessened considerably without a reliable river crossing.  The downpour had affected their makeshift siege weapons as well, though even then the sheer number of siege engines they were constructing made it so that the dull thudding of heavy stones striking the walls echoed nigh constantly.
As Swiftblade flew over the city, he could see massive lines of ponies waiting to get into well-lit buildings as the rain battered down upon their shivering forms.  He sighed as he swooped over them, knowing that there was very little he could do for them now.  While the massive storm they had conjured had been extremely beneficial, indeed many would say that it was the only reason the humans had not already overrun their walls, it had caused flooding, food spoilage, and the spread of disease throughout much of the city.  In many of the older areas of the city, one could see the barricades made to quarantine the infected from the rest of the population.  Matters were not helped by their inability to even forage for food as the rain and human forces made it an extremely dangerous, and generally fruitless, task.
When he at last arrived at the meeting, everypony present was already discussing whatever issues, ideas, or proposals they had come up with since the last meeting had been held.  
“Apologies for my late arrival,” said Swiftblade as he took his seat at the head of the conference table.  “But the storm made flying faster than I was an exceedingly dangerous task.”  The rest of the ponies gathered around the table made noises of agreement before an earth pony that Swiftblade didn’t recognize stood from his seat.
“Agricultural Minister Golden Harvest sir.  I . . . I have some bad news for you.”  Swiftblade just sighed.
“That’s about all we seem to have nowadays.  So what do you have for me?”  Golden Harvest looked grim as he glanced over the documents arrayed before him.
“Our food supplies are dipping to dangerously low levels.  Within a week, we will not have enough food to support an estimated 30% of the population, and within two?  We will not be able to support an estimated 70% of the population.”  The ponies around the table fell silent at the delivery of the grim news.  A pegasus dressed in guard armor raised a hoof.
“But what are the estimates including the rationing system we put in place?”  Golden Harvest looked back at him and his expression looked even more serious than before.
“Those estimates included the rationing system.”  This announcement caused a flurry of whispers and worried conversation while Swiftblade just slumped back against his chair, shock evident on his face.  As soon as their food ran out, the battle would be lost.  It would only be a matter of time before the well supplied army outside their walls would overwhelm the starving and weakened forces within the walls.  With a supreme effort, Swiftblade was able to find his voice and focused his attention on Golden Harvest.
“Is there any way you can think of that would allow us to extend however much time we have before running out of food?”  Golden Harvest thought for a moment before responding, his golden brown coat glistening in the flickering light of the fireplace.
“The one thing that could be done immediately is break up the storm.  The rain is causing wide-scale food spoilage of food grown within the city and in the storehouses.  It needs to go if we are to have any chance of extending the lifespan of our food stocks. “
“But the storm is the only thing keeping the humans from deploying their heavy weapons,” replied Swiftblade.  “If we break up the storm clouds, then they will be able to bring out their cannons.”  Golden Harvest gave Swiftblade a pointed look.
“Then you have a decision to make don’t you sir?  We can either maintain the storm and hold out until starvation sets in, or we can break it up and fight against bad odds with fully fed soldiers.”  Swiftblade wanted to get angry at the flippant response, but knew that Golden Harvest was right.  The storm had served its purpose and now it had begun to outlive its usefulness.  
“Very well,” replied Swiftblade before he turned to the rest of the ponies gathered around the table.  “Then the storm has to go.  Get whatever pegasi we have that aren’t on guard duty to get to work on it.”  
“Yes Sir!”

----

Captain Night Flight could see the innumerable fires scattered about the ground below.  Thousands of humans all huddled together within the ruins of what was once Appleoosa and what was now the site of an impressive military installation.  If he looked closely enough he could see the watchtowers and the cannons which manned the walls of the fort.  It was troubling to say the least as the numbers present here were greater than even their worst estimates had been lead to believe.  And it was this very news which made this raid all the more important.
Looking behind him, Night Flight could see the hundreds of pegasi who flew with him; all clad in black flight suits to disguise them against the darkness of the night sky and the dark clouds beneath them.  
“All right,” he began, his voice just loud enough to be heard by the various squad leaders scattered throughout the attack force.   “You all know what our mission is:  once the lightning begins to scatter them we fly in and take out their powder stores.  Then we fly out.  No more, no less, understood?”  There were scattered responses of “yes sir,” throughout the host behind him.  
“Right then,” he murmured to himself.  “FIRE!”  Great bolts of actinic lightning arced out from the swollen storm clouds beneath them, striking into the main bodies of troops on the ground below.  Within seconds, a great chorus of screams echoed across the plains alongside the hurried orders of commanders trying desperately to rally their men.  With the distraction now in full effect, dozens upon dozens of pegasi flew through the depleted sections of cloud towards the scurrying madhouse below.  
As they all landed hard on the ground, the humans around them took notice and began to charge them.  These pegasi, however, were not like any the humans had yet faced.  They were well-trained and far more vicious than the royal guard forces the humans had been fighting until now.  Blades attached to their wings flicked out at the advancing humans, many lacking either armor or weapons, and blood sprayed out in great spurts.  Night Flight led the charge, carving through the unprepared humans with a relative ease as beside him his comrades did the same.  
It did not take long to identify where the main storehouse was as great lines of humans were rushing towards it, barrels of gunpowder being flung out and delivered to the cannons.  Night Flight and his pegasi took wing with torches clasped to their sides.  At the sight of the Equestrians, the guards stationed around the storehouse took aim and opened fire.  The pegasi’s numbers began to thin as rifle shots cut down the unarmored Equestrians with deadly alacrity.  Weaving left and right in unpredictable spurts of energy and activity Night Light made his way to the windows of the storehouse, lighting and hurling in the torch at his side.  Others followed his lead and the humans, seeing the burning brands being thrown into the storehouse, ran as fast as they could in an attempt to escape the fate they knew was coming.
Night Flight turned and, with a great burst of effort, launched himself away from the burning warehouse just as the fire reached the powder.  With a thunderous blast of sound and heat, the storehouse exploded outward in a great fireball.  The heat and force slammed against Night Flight’s back as he flew away, driving the breath from his body and driving him into the ground.  He laughed all the way down however, knowing that he had struck a blow against the humans.  
It was at that point that the hissing started.  Night Flight blinked in surprise and began to look around seeking to find the source of the hissing just as a burst of green light exploded beside him.  With the green light came the mangled, burning form of one of his squad mates.   He could see the same fate befalling dozens of his fellows as bolts of green light arced upwards into the storm clouds above, which were stilling disgorging lightning into the mass of the human forces.  Struggling to his hooves, Night Flight came face to face with the snarling faces of dozens of Changeling drones.
“Well, well, well,” came a distinctly female voice from behind the drones.  “What have we here?”

----

The storm was coming apart.  Emperor Aurelian watched the sky as the Equestrians pulled apart the very thing they had created.  It seemed that his advisors had been right.  While it had hurt his army, causing the spread of disease and even temporary hunger as good amounts of their food stores had spoiled, the storm had hurt the besieged city just as much if not more so than it had hurt the humans.  With the storm now being banished humanity could finally begin to make use of its most powerful weapons once again.
Indeed, he could already see the siege cannons, having been placed in storage for the duration of this siege, being pulled through the mud into position to assault the surprisingly powerful walls before them.  But it was clear that while the cannons would speed the siege up immensely that it would still be some time before they were able to break through.  He would need to set his engineers to work on more . . . indirect ways of breaching the enemy defenses.
“My lord!”  Turning away from the growing siege line, Aurelian saw Orin walking swiftly towards him accompanied by . . . what looked disconcertingly like bipedal dogs.
“Lord General,” Aurelian acknowledged, nodding at him.  “May I ask who your friends are?”  Orrin stopped in front of him and gave a slight bow of respect.  
“My lord may I present the envoys of the Crimson Warlord.”  The Emperor looked over the new arrivals, noting the well-developed, but almost primitive appearance of these “envoys.”  The one in the lead bowed low to the Emperor.
“Greetings, Warlord of Mankind.  I am Gembiter, envoy of the Crimson Warlord.  My lord has instructed us to assist his new allies in any way I can.”  Aurelian considered this for a moment.  
“Interesting.  From your appearance, I assume that you are adept at tunneling.”
“Indeed we are.”
“Then I do have something you can assist me with.”  Aurelian swept his arm towards the towering walls behind them.  
“We need those walls to fall and I do not believe the cannons will be able to do it fast enough. I would request that you send some of your troops to work with my engineers and work to tunnel to the foundations of the walls.  Then we will bring those walls crashing down upon our enemies.”

----

Applejack could barely believe what she was seeing or hearing.  
“The right side?” she asked, almost incredulously.  “Rainbow Dash they invaded OUR home, killed OUR friends and family and you think that they, rather than the princesses are the RIGHT SIDE?!”  Rainbow Dash cringed and Applejack tried to calm herself down.  She had barely noticed her voice rising to a shout, but she still was stunned that Rainbow Dash of all ponies would begin to support the humans.
Rainbow Dash just stared at her friend, slightly afraid of the angry look on her face, but knowing full well that Applejack didn’t understand the question as she did.  Pulling herself together, Rainbow Dash raised her eyes to meet Applejack’s own, her expression more serious than it had ever been before.  Even Applejack could see it and it was able to momentarily cut through the haze of her anger.
“I’ll address your concerns first AJ.  The humans are invading yes, but they are invading their own home that the princesses stole.  They are killing those that they believe killed their own people as well.  This isn’t a war of invasion as much as a war of vengeance, but that’s not the point of my question.”  
Applejack was stunned.  She had never seen Rainbow Dash like this.  She had always been driven, fun-loving, lazy, and one of her best friends.  But now it was like looking at a different mare altogether.  This mare was serious, determined, and implacable as iron.  And Applejack was no longer so sure of herself as she stared at the serious visage before her.
“Alright then Rainbow, I’ll bite.  If that’s not what your question was about, then what exactly did you mean by the asking if we were supporting the ‘right side.”  Rainbow took a deep breath and gathered her thoughts before answering her friend, knowing full well that what she was about to say could change everything between them.
“Applejack.  We’ve seen and heard of what humans have done.  We’ve seen and heard what the princesses have done.  Both of them have done things that could be considered good and things that could be considered evil.  But of these two sides there is another side who, while not perfect by any stretch, have not sunk to the depths that the humans and the princesses have.”
“And what side is that exactly?”  Rainbow walked over to the window to stare out over the city as the sun set, sending the last rays of daylight spilling over the cityscape.
“It’s the ponies of Equestria Applejack.  Maybe after all these years, it’s time for the ponies to step out from the aegis of the princesses.”  Applejack could barely believe what she was hearing.  
“Rainbow Dash.  Are you . . . are you saying what I think you’re . . .?”  
“Yes Applejack that is what I’m talking about.  It’s finally time for the ponies of Equestria to stand up and fend for themselves again.”  She then shot a small smirk back at Applejack.
“Long live the revolution.”   
	
> Chapter 19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fancy Pants looked quickly between his contact and the hood-covered face of the human standing before him in the alley.  
“What is this?” he demanded.
“An offer,” replied the human.  “Nothing more, nothing less.”  His contact nodded at him.
“He contacted us a few days ago.  Apparently he’s not too fond of their emperor and was willing to give us some help.”  Fancy Pants could barely believe what he was hearing.
“And you just believed him?! What kind of operation are we running here?”
“Excuse me.”  The two ponies froze at the interruption, both realizing that they had completely forgotten about the human in their midst during their argument.  The cloaked human inclined his head toward Fancy Pants.
“I understand your concern for I have felt the same way in the past.  However, while you have fought only against humanity in this battle, I have had to fight against my own people.  An experience that while I am loathe to repeat find that I must.”  The two ponies looked at each other and nodded, before turning back to the human.
“If what you’re saying is true,” Fancy ventured, “then I can at least hear you out.  What exactly has brought you here?”  While he couldn’t see his face beneath the robe’s cowl, Fancy could practically hear the man’s smile as he spoke.
“What has brought me here is nothing less than giving you the very thing you have all longed for since this occupation began:  The chance to fight back.”

----

The diamond dogs walked through the dark tunnels, navigating them with a practiced ease that their new companions quite clearly lacked.  The humans behind them were clearly unused to the underground world that the diamond dogs had quite literally carved out for themselves, sticking close to the walls and straining their eyes for any source of illumination they could find.  However, while they may have lacked the diamond dogs’ experience with the tunnels, it was clear that they possessed a military discipline that the diamond dogs lacked in turn.  
The grenadiers were a stoic, unyielding lot to a man.  Their uniforms eschewed the formal colors of other army divisions and were a simple, rough grey that matched the stone walls around them almost perfectly.  Each man wore at least two bandoliers lined with grenades and additional ammo for the sidearms they wore on their hips.  Their main weapons however, they either held upright in their arms or carried strapped across their backs.
The weapons were long, thin tubes with rounded barrels at the end.  While the dogs did not know exactly what these weapons would do, they were sure that they help spell the end for their enemies.  The group moved silently for another few moments before the tunnels began to widen.  The dogs held their arms out to stop the humans before beginning to speak in a low voice.
“Alright.  Currently we are under one of the grand gathering halls of the Emerald tribe.  If the information our scouts gathered is accurate there is to be a great mustering of their forces before launching another attack on our borders.  If we are going to hit them hard, it has to be now.  Your leaders said you would know what to do from here.  What is the plan?”
One of the grenadiers stepped forward from the ranks.  He offered a brief salute to the dogs’ leader before presenting the plan.
“Lieutenant Graesin, at your service. Before I tell you the plan I need to know how much time we have before they begin to leave the Hall.”
“Hmm.  The length of time varies depending on what type of gathering they are holding and even war preparations are different from tribe to tribe.  But from what we’ve gathered they have only just begun their gathering so we should have at least an hour before they have concluded.”  Graesin nodded, before turning back to his men.
“Alright you heard the dog, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd squads get to moving those barrels into place.  The rest of you follow the guides up to the overwatch points.  I want everything in place within half-an-hour am I understood?” A chorus of affirmatives filled the tunnel before the men started setting to their tasks at an almost frenetic pace.  The leader of the dogs with them looked on with a confused expression on his face.
“So what exactly are you going to do lieutenant?” Graesin smiled before moving over to one of the barrels his men were bringing in and laying his hand over the top of it.
“It’s actually quite simple my friend.  We’re going to bring the very earth crashing down around them.”

----

Luna and Celestia sat at court in the renovated mayoral building of Manehatten.  While they were at war, both knew how important appearances were to keeping up morale.  And considering the setbacks they had been receiving as of late, morale had become an increasingly important resource.  
The prototype was not yet ready for launch as there were still some issues with the design that if not fixed would reduce its effectiveness so much as to be useless in a fight.  Thankfully, the engineers assured the sisters that they should be able to iron out these problems within a relatively short span of time.
As they went through the familiar, tedious routine, the two saw Captain Armor moving to their sides as quickly as possible without disrupting Court.  When he finally reached them, Celestia bent her head down towards him while Luna continued to receive petitioners.
“Shining Armor, what is it?”  Shining looked almost nervous to tell her for a moment, and that truly alerted Celestia to how urgent this news must be.
“Captain, please, whatever it is its obviously important.  What is it?”  Shining hesitated again for another second before holding out his hoof to her and turning over to her some sort of handout.  The pamphlet contained a logo that she recognized from many years ago.   It was the symbols of the three tribes of Equestria as they once were:  The verdant fields bathed in the sun’s rays that represented the Earth Pony Republic, the Unicorn outline on a blue, star-spangled field that represented the old Unicorn Monarchy, and the Pegasus with wings outstretched of the Pegasi Junta.
The three symbols were connected by a triangle and were emblazoned on a crimson field.  Beneath the symbol were the words: “The Future of Equestria.”  Besides the cover image there was little else to be seen but some general statements about the current government of Equestria and reforms that should be made.  Turning back to Shining Armor, she levitated the pamphlet into his outstretched hoof.  
“Forgive me if I don’t see the urgency in this captain.  There are always ponies who do not quite agree with how things are run or what issues are given precedence over others.”  Shining Armor shot a quick glance over to the assembled crowds petitioning Luna, some of whom were now glancing over at him and the princess, before answering her.  
“Princess . . . we are in the middle of a war unlike anything we have faced in recent memory.  Our enemies are vast in number, skilled in warfare, and possessed of advanced technology.  We have already lost our capital and are borders are shrinking.  On top of this, we are now dealing with dissent from within.  Right now we have to stay united and things like this,” he said indicating the pamphlet, “Just fray an already tenuous morale.”
Celestia gazed at him frowning.  He certainly had some good points.  The humans were a truly powerful threat and at this point any internal division could potentially cost the Equestrians dearly.  And as she considered this she believed that she knew what he wanted from her.
“So,” she said slowly, looking directly into Shining’s eyes.  “What exactly are you proposing captain?”  Shining Armor gazed right back at her and he visibly steeled himself.
“Princess, this pamphlet has yet to spread too far.  If we were to take action now, we could curtail its distribution and potentially find and detain its creators.”  Celestia sighed heavily.  She had suspected that he would recommend that.  And the worst part was that where once she would have immediately dismissed the idea out of hoof . . . now she was seriously considering giving the order.  
Equestria had always prided itself on doing everything in their power to make its citizens’ lives better and to give them the freedom to live their lives in happiness.  But with this war it was clear that, at the very least for the duration of the conflict, some lesser evils would have to be tolerated.  With a heavy sigh, she faced Shining Armor.
“Very well Captain.  Curtail the distribution to the best of your abilities without jeopardizing our defenses.  As of now this pamphlet, and any other like it, are considered sedition and those responsible for its publication are to be brought to me or Luna.  But please, I wish nothing to be done to these ponies other than that they be brought before us.  While necessary, I wish to make this as painless as possible.”  Following a swift salute, Shining Armor took his leave already planning how many guards he could afford to put on this assignment.

----

Silent Storm strode through the streets of Fillydelphia, an arrogant swagger in his step as he now wore his full army uniform.  Ponies parted in waves before him, with many looking at him with a glimmer of hope shining in their eyes.  All this he looked on with contempt.  If all it took was a pony in uniform to impress these fools than they were already as good as dead.
While they saw the uniform as meaning he was a valiant defender of Equestria, he had been through the training of the new recruits.  And he knew that that was far from the truth.  Even when the recruits had been pronounced ready to take up arms, they still lacked the discipline and ability of fully trained and experienced military soldiers, and Silent doubted that they would be able to learn the lessons they needed to before they died in battle.
Shaking his head clear of these thoughts, Storm turned his thoughts back to his objective for today.  For weeks now, the Equestrians had been training troops and fortifying the city as best they could.  And if the reports from his fellow infiltrators were anything to go by than the situation was the same in the other cities still under Equestrian control.  But lately something had changed.  There weren’t any major indicators, but to an agent trained to notice what another would overlook there were definite signs of . . . something big underway.
The first clue had been the shift schedule of the various work groups operating across the city.  They had been working in fairly regular shifts for an estimated eight hours each day before being relieved by a fresh group.  Following the end of their shift the workers would go home, eat and rest, or otherwise relax.  However, the bars had been surprisingly clear of off-duty workers for some time and he found that he saw less and less of the workers in his section of the city returning home or working on some project.
While strange, he had first chalked it up to the majority of the work in this section being finished ahead of schedule.  Naturally the workers would have been reassigned to areas in greater need of their talents.  However it became clear that this was not the case about a week following this reduction in worker presence.  
There were also less projects going on than was normal.  Before, every bit of scaffolding was covered with workers and the streets were filled with the sounds of their work.  Now?  Scaffolding went up and no workers manned it, streets cracked from accidents or the strain of the various convoys that came through the city remained that way.  It was clear to Storm that some project was draining both workers and resources.  The only question now was what exactly it was.  Thankfully, he thought he had finally narrowed down the general location of where this project was taking place.
In one of the older districts of the city, there was a small string of old, outdated warehouses.  While originally scheduled to be torn down and replaced with more up to date versions the war had caused resources and attention to be focuses on other, more immediately important areas of the city.  Now, however, interest in these areas seemed to have been renewed as workers and materials were being moved in and out in large numbers almost every hour of every day.  The Equestrians may be blind to such things, but he wasn’t.  If there were any location in the city that would likely house this strange project of theirs than it would be here.
He stuck to the shadows, knowing full well from previous observations that there were rooftop sentries and Pegasi air groups patrolling the skies.  Creeping through the streets, he could see patrols of unicorns and earth ponies marching in lockstep throughout the area.  Knowing what they would do next, he quickly ducked into a side alley and waited for them to pass as unicorns cast illumination spells into the darkened alleyways.  When they had finally passed, Storm came out from the cramped side passage wincing slightly as he extricated himself from the tight space.
He repeated this process numerous times, dodging patrol after patrol until he reached the closest entrance to the heavily guarded warehouse.  Standing at attention outside were two burly earth ponies with grim expressions seemingly set in stone.  Grabbing at some rubble around him, Storm hurled a piece of a broken brick at the wall near where he was concealed.  As the slight crack of stone hitting stone resounded through the air, the two ponies instantly tensed up, their eyes moving in every direction as they attempted to identify the source of the noise.
After a moment, the two guards looked at each other and one moved towards the source of the noise, eyes still scanning every outcropping and darkened entryway.  As the guard passed near Storm, the disguised changeling lashed out with a fierce attack that caught the guard completely unawares.  Storm gripped the earth pony with his magic and dragged him into the hiding spot that he had just been occupying. 

----

Stone Heart stood frowning off towards where his fellow guard had wandered off to.  His partner should have reported something to him by now.  And even if he had found something after all, there should have been the sounds of a struggle or exertion on his part.  After taking another few seconds to debate, he decided that should his friend not come back within another minute he would sound the alarm.  Sure it may turn out to be nothing, but when at war it was best not to take chances.  Just as he was turning to sound the alarm, the telltale sound of clanking armor alerted him to his friend’s return.
“Shield!  Where the hell were you?  I was about to sound the alarm.”  Shield Bearer grinned sheepishly at him from beneath the helmet.
“Apologies, Stone.  I ended up going a little farther down those alleys than I meant to.  But you’re right, I should have alerted you to it first.”  So placated, Stone Heart moved on to the next order of business.
“So did you find anything out there?”  A weary sigh escaped Shield’s lips as he moved back into position beside the doors.
“Of course not.  It was probably just some loose brick or something that fell.”  
“Makes sense I suppose.  We are in the older parts of the city.  It stands to reason that the buildings around here wouldn’t be holding together too well.”  As he gave voice to that, Stone Heart felt a hoof connect with his head, sending him sprawling onto the ground and throwing his world into darkness.
Silent Storm, still in disguise, quickly moved the fallen guard into the same alley as his comrade.  His eyes narrowing in concentration, Storm took some of his magic and formed it into near-perfect replicas of the two unconscious guards.
“Right,” he said, moving towards the warehouse doors.  “The illusions will only last so long and I intend to be in and out long before then.”  Slipping through the doors, his ears were immediately assaulted by the noises of some great industry taking place further in.  Quietly traversing the darkened hallways, Storm made his way towards the entrance to what had been the main storage area for the warehouse.  A brief look through this entryway made his jaw drop open in astonishment.
A veritable horde of ponies were congregated in the area, each working away on some aspect of the great project before them.  A colossal airship took up almost all of the storage space that the warehouse provided.  The sides had crudely welded plates of sheet metal which protected the otherwise wooden hull.  Three great sails dominated the deck, reminding Storm of the ships that traveled the seas.  The one strange part of the ship was that it appeared to be one ship but expanded, as if the Equestrians had simply taken a pre-existing airship and built more around it.  But it was what it was armed with that took Storm’s breath away.  
All along the lower deck were cannons.  While clearly outclassed by the Human artillery pieces, these old models still looked extremely dangerous.  Complementing these were a small number of ballistae on the upper deck along with what appeared to be gemstones placed at intervals along the deck. 
Storm quickly backed out of the makeshift factory and began moving back towards the entrance, traversing the maze of hallways with a practiced ease.  If the Equestrians were beginning to build ships like these, then the war effort would be in serious trouble.  He had to escape and warn his queen and their human allies.
Storm stepped outside only to have a bolt of indigo magic smash into the stone next to his head.  Before him stood a full contingent of royal guards with the two earth ponies he had knocked out beside them.  A score of pegasi hovered above them, preventing him from escaping through the air.  The guard leading them was one he recognized well: Shining Armor.
“Imposter!”  roared out Shining.  “Reveal who you are and surrender yourself into our custody.  Do this and I promise that you will not be harmed.”  
Storm looked cautiously at each guard in turn while he considered his next course of action.  Looking up at Shining Armor, Storm bared his newly revealed fangs.
“Never.”  A scowl appeared on Shining’s face.  
“Very well then.  Then you leave me no . . .” He didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence as Storm slammed into him with magically augmented speed.  The rest of the guards’ eyes widened in shock as they saw their captain brought to the ground by the now revealed changeling.  
Storm glanced down at Armor briefly before giving him one last blow to the face, knocking him unconscious.  Rising to his hooves, Storm reviewed the makeshift plan forming in his head. 
“Step one:  Take down the leader, demoralize those left. Step two:  Cripple those immediately around you to prevent them stopping your flight.  Step three:  Sunburst spell on the pegasi to prevent them stopping you from taking to the skies.  Step four:  Lose them in the alleys and take a new form.”
Satisfied, Storm went to work.  The earth ponies on his right and left were recovering and so they were his first targets.  There was a small opening between the chest armor and the helmet that left the neck of the guardsponies exposed.  Aiming for that space, Storm used his wings to provide more lift as he impaled the earth pony through the neck with his jagged horn.  Removing his horn Storm wheeled around and launched himself at the guard on his right.  Tendrils of green magic, snaking their way around his muscles, gave him a brief burst of enhanced speed.
The other pony moved to defend himself, but Storm magically-enhanced speed sealed his fate.  He met the same fate as his opposite as Storm’s horn took him in the neck.  Arterial sprays  of blood were now coming from both fallen ponies as Storm took to the skies, knowing that the rest of the guards would be too much for him.  
Drawing once more on his magic he closed his eyes as a burst of green light exploded in the midst of the pegasi, blinding them as he buzzed past.  With the first three steps of the plan complete, Storm was sure he could lose them in the city.  And he needed to as well; he could feel the strain on his body from the speed boosts and knew he soon wouldn’t be able to move.
Angling down towards the twisting alleys, Storm raced away from the guards pursuing him.  Just as he was about to reach the ground, he felt a sharp pain explode on his back.  The sudden and unexpected pain threw off his balance and with the exhaustion already beginning to take hold of his body; he lost control and crashed hard into the streets.
Storm tried to rise to his hooves and failed, pain shooting through his whole body.  His carapace was cracked in a multitude of places and green blood was pooling on the streets beneath him.  He could just hear the flapping of wings and the trotting of hooves getting ever closer.  It was clear that he was going to be captured.  Storm had already exhausted much of his magic and in his condition he could barely move. Raising his head up towards the sky, he enacted his last resort.
Energy burst from his horn and eyes, as his vision became filled with an all-encompassing emerald light.  The discoveries he had made, the connections he had forged, and everything he had ever seen and heard poured forth from him in one great explosion of magical power.  Changeling infiltrators across the city received all this in fragments, the sounds and images flowing swiftly into their minds.  
Without anything more they knew what had happened.  Silent Storm had been captured and had made the ultimate sacrifice for their people.  These changelings quickly began to move, brief messages being exchanged via their isolated hive mind of various escape routes and rendezvous points.  The time had come to abandon the city.

----

Shining Armor arrived just behind the pegasi to find the broken body of changeling lying in the streets.  They were warily checking its vitals, careful around it after the last time they had been less than prepared around it.  After a moment, one of the pegasi rose up from the changeling’s side.
“Captain!” he called.  “It’s weak, but there’s still a pulse.  The changeling is still alive.”  Shining nodded sharply.  
“Get a medic over here.  I want this changeling stabilized and in custody as soon as possible, understood?”  The pegasus nodded sharply and shot off into the air to get a medic.
“As for the rest of you, I doubt this was the only changeling in the city.  Get a messenger to the princesses that we found changelings in the city.  The rest of you, start patrolling and alert the other guard contingents in the city.  Be careful and stick together”  
“Yes sir!”

----

Lieutenant Graesin surveyed the work of his men.  They had been working feverishly for the past 45 minutes to insure that everything was in place.  The diamond dogs with them had lent a paw when they were needed, proving to be especially helpful in pointing out weak points in the foundations around them and in the cavern above.  Spread out underneath the Gathering Hall there were large clusters of oaken barrels.  Long fuses connected each cluster to the central point currently occupied by the Lieutenant and their diamond dog guides.
“Time?”  One of the dogs consulted a list of observations their scouts above had been making on the progress of the mustering.
“Not long now.  I’d say we have no more than 10 minutes before they start to leave.”
“Right then.  Let’s get this show on the road then shall we?”  He nodded to a sergeant of the 1st squad who quickly signaled another trooper further down the tunnels.  So it went, a line of quiet signaling that ended at a hidden point just above the floor of the Hall.  Waiting squads of grenadiers readied their weapons with a practiced ease and took aim.  With a muffled thump the ranks of grenadiers opened fire, grenades falling down into the assembled diamond dog ranks.  Only seconds later, they detonated.  The fire and shrapnel tore through the packed ranks of the diamond dogs dozens falling under the deadly force of the human weapons.  
The others quickly began scanning the cavern, desperately trying to find the enemies who were striking out at them.  It did not take them long to see the grenadiers situated above the floor of the Hall, and large groups of diamond dogs began making a dash towards the wall, where ladders were thrown up by some and others attempted to scale the sheer rock with their claws.
The grenadiers fired again into the packed ranks, but knew that they needed to fall back. As they fell back from their firing points, they yelled down to their compatriots below.
“Now!  Do it now!”  And that was all the signal they needed.  Below the cavern, the assembled human and diamond dog forces ignited the long fuses simultaneously and afterwards quickly made to leave to the area.  The squads from above soon joined them further up the tunnels and the reunited groups dashed as far away as they could.  
Then they heard it.  A few dozen barrels of gunpowder went off at nearly the same time, generating a truly massive explosion that ripped the cavern apart.  The foundations beneath the Gathering Hall were obliterated, the floor falling out from the under the Emerald tribe’s warriors’ feet.  Dozens, then hundreds of dogs fell to their doom as the floor gave out and the entire cavern rang with the force of the explosion.  Great segments of stone were shaken loose from the walls, crushing further numbers of the Emerald Tribe.  
Graesin smiled broadly, flush with the overwhelming success of the plan.  Turning to the stunned diamond dogs beside him, he said “Well I believe that takes care of that problem.  For now anyway.”  The lead dog nodded. 
“There are still more of them, and I doubt all of them were killed in your attack, but it will certainly turn the tide of the war back into our favor.  And for that you have our thanks.”
“And you ours, for leading us through these accursed tunnels.  At any rate, it’s time we returned to Canterlot I think.  Governor Helmholtz will want to know of what occurred here today.”  
“Agreed.  And I will alert the Crimson Warlord of our success as well.  Until we meet again Lieutenant.”
	
> Chapter 19 Interlude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


An Examination of the Logistical, Military, and Domestic Situation of Mankind During the Equestrian Crusade


	Written by Betz the Elder

The Equestrian Crusade, as mankind referred to the war between the Empire and the nation-state of Equestria, was a conflict that shaped the very fabric of human and Equestrian politics for many decades to come.  While I could write vast tomes on the varying aspects of the war itself and the myriad consequences for both sides, and have incidentally, in this chapter I will confine myself to an examination of the human tactics and a general overview of their logistical situation.
When mankind launched its crusade under the personal leadership of Emperor Aurelian, it had just come out of a brutal civil war against the rebel group known as the Collective.  As such, much of the Empire’s military was already mobilized and many formerly green soldiers were now battle scarred and hardened.  Recovery was still required if the Emperor wanted his armies to fight at full combat effectiveness, it allowed the crusade forces to be mustered and armed for battle much faster than would have been allowed in peace time.
To prepare for the coming war, months were spent repairing and rearming the empire’s military with up-to-date siege cannons, more advanced rifles and grenades, and replenishing and reorganizing the various companies of the armed forces.  It was a blessing from Magnus then, that while the ground forces required much time and effort to be made ready, the navy was relatively unscathed.
During the civil war, the Collective operated mainly in inland provinces and cities.  The result being that the Empire was able to hold onto many of its ports during the opening engagements of the war and preserve a marked naval superiority for the duration of the conflict.  What this meant for the Equestrian Crusade was that ready transports and warships were available to transport their troops across the sea.
However, the sheer size of the crusade forces sent ensured that there would need to be a massive transport fleet raised to bring them to the battle.  A full half of the Imperial Navy was dedicated to the task at the beginning of the war, though not at the same time.  The ships dedicated to the crusade were split into two separate task forces under the command of two admirals with Lord Admiral Arianna commanding the overall forces.
Of this task force were an estimated 60 ships of the line along with at least 200 or more supply ships and smaller transports vessels specifically designed to carry any additional forces and the penal legions.  The penal legions numbered an estimated 1,000 men and women each with about 10 legions in total raised for the crusade.  Conditions on the transports for the penal legions were horribly cramped as these ships were converted cargo haulers and, while not directly intended, a small number of deaths were reported during troop counts following the taking of Manehatten.
All in all, there were an estimated 45,000 regular troops and 5,000 penal troops that made landing in Equestria during the first and second waves of the crusade.  The remaining penal troops were en route during the opening battles of the crusade and a number of fresh recruits were being put through some basic training within the Empire’s borders to form a potential wave of reinforcements.  Though even if needed it was unlikely that these recruits would be able to reach the Equestrian lands in time to prevent any major disasters due to transit time for both messages and transports.

----

So, while numbers and weapons were present in large numbers, there still remained the issue of supplies while in the field.  This is where the large supply fleet came in.  Large amounts of ammunition, gunpowder, and other necessary supplies were stored on these vessels and transported and offloaded into coastal regions where crusade forces had forced a landing.
However, even with large initial stores, these supplies were unlikely to last the army forever.  Army units were allowed and even encouraged in certain areas to hunt for food in the wild within perimeters blessed by the priests of Magnus.  Further, it was discovered that certain foodstuffs within Equestria’s boundaries were actually edible for human consumption after some cautious testing.
Some of these foodstuffs included: eggs, wheat, bread, certain fruits like apples (which were surprisingly abundant, especially within the settlement of Ponyville), and more.  As a result of this, foraging off of the land itself and the conquered regions provided for the remainder of the soldiery’s food needs.  However, this foraging was not always possible and in more isolated areas of Equestria food supplies were far more limited and rations were stretched dangerously thin.

----

However transport of the large stores of iron, food, ammunition, and more needed to be transferred to land conveyance as soon as the crusade moved beyond the coastal regions.  In order to accomplish this large baggage trains were formed in order to swiftly move the supplies and siege weapons that formed the backbone of the human military.
While many front-line soldiers carried their own equipment, including a rifle, ammo bandolier, gunpowder, canteen, field rations, etc., the bulk of the army’s supplies were carried on carts pulled by the wisunt.  For my more urbane readers, the wisunt were a fairly large pack animal similar in body structure to the Buffalo mankind warred with during the crusade.  Typical wisunts measured 7 to 10 ft. long and 5-7 ft. tall.  Female wisunts could weigh up to 1,900 pounds while the males could weigh up to a staggering 2,200 pounds.
The wisunts were one of the first types of animals that the nascent Confederacy encountered that could be tamed and domesticated.  For many years the wisunts were kept as a source of meat and furs but eventually were used as pack animals to transport the growing numbers of goods and supplies being traded between the growing lands of the four tribes.
A fair number of these animals were sent along with the crusade forces to assist in transporting their supplies and weapons across areas where more ready means of transportation, trains for example, were not available.  In this way the crusade forces were able to keep a steady pace over large areas and maintain tenuous supply lines across Equestria.  However it was clear to all involved that despite this method of ensuring mobility, their supply lines were thinly stretched and only the bottling up of the Equestrians in their remaining holdings had allowed them to function fully for as long as they did.
Finally we come to the source of the iron and raw materials needed for mankind’s war machine.  Situated on a continent as we are, iron is plentiful in many areas throughout the empire, and supplies were transported along with the initial invasion forces.  However, there were some examples of iron in Equestrian architecture, mainly in the city of Manehatten, that made it possible to use some of the ruined buildings to add to the stockpile.  However while the initial stockpile was large, certain events and setbacks drastically reduced said stockpile and hindered the war as a result.  But the reveal of the princesses’ airship, and the civil conflict within Equestria, changed everything . . . for both sides.

----


A Cursory Examination of Human Foreign Relations


Written by Betz the Elder

For reasons I believe are clear to any and all of my readers, our race has long been one prone to isolationism over trade and diplomacy abroad.  Dealings with races like the dragons and the vile Drak’shaal did nothing to mitigate this belief.  However, after the reunification of mankind and the apotheosis of Magnus, the nascent human empire realized the value in trading with species other than our own.  
It was with this mindset that mankind began its great program of exploration, sending ships and explorers in every direction except southwards.  Initially this great exploration yielded little result.  Numerous reports would return to the capital speaking of small, but fairly unimportant island chains and little else.  All of this changed with the journeys of Captain Albrecht.
Albrecht was a man of little importance before his journeys and took to the open sea in a desperate attempt to do something, anything, more with life.  He and his crew sailed through violent storms and endured hunger and disease over many miles of uncharted waters.  After one such bout, Albrecht and his men were stretched to the breaking point until they came across another ship.
They were elated until they realized that it was not a human vessel.  While initially fearful, Albrecht convinced them to not begin attacking and was able to hail the other vessel.  The being that returned those hails referred to himself as a Taloran and to all onlookers appeared to be little more than a humanoid lizard, with blue scales and red ridges around the head.
Eventually the stilted and awkward first meeting turned an amiable trip as the Taloran crew agreed to give the humans supplies and show them their lands.  What followed was an epic months long trek across foreign lands that made Albrecht and his crew famous.  He encountered the Talorans and myriad other races and peoples all of whom he recorded in great detail in his reports and journal.  In time he garnered a great friendship with the Talorans and is hailed as being near solely responsible for opening up Taloran ports to trade.
Foreign spices, herbs, fabrics, and more soon began to flow into the Empire.  This trade agreement allowed for humanity to begin to see what life was like outside of the empire and in fact many humans emigrated into these new lands establishing businesses, trade houses, and even minor shrines to Magnus.    New settlements and ports soon sprang up on those previously unimportant islands as rest stops and dockyards for the myriad ships sailing between the Taloran lands and the Empire.  Mankind has maintained an amiable relationship with the Talorans and others on their landmass, but has kept the bulk of their trade and diplomatic focus on the first civilized race they encountered as an empire.
As for the races living spread across the southern continent, like the Equestrians, Buffalo, and Griffins, humanity’s relationship is far different with them for myriad reasons.  The Crusade and the events that followed it played a large part in shaping the Empire’s relationship with them and is discussed in further in the text:  Our Southern Neighbors.