Equestria: The Afterlife

by Timzocker201

First published 11th of December, 2019

What would you do, if you found yourself in an unknown location and couldn't move? That's the situation Markus finds himself in, after suffering a horrible fate.

Markus Becker is a Hauptmann, or Captain, of the German "Bundeswehr", mechanized Infantry. At least he was, until his armoured car hit an IED and he was sent to Equestria. There he found, that he couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried.
Luckily for him though, there is four-hooved help nearby...

'Sex'-warning added for a few sexual implications here and there... and because of chapter 32.

Added 'Gore' because I noticed that I went a little overboard with the descriptions of the action. Especially given that it is rated 'teen'.

Ch1: RE;appearance

Darkness. An almost dreadful, yet calming darkness. As I finally opened my eyes, they looked into what seemed like a sky. Only it was so awfully strong in color, that it hurt looking into it. A blue that I’ve never seen before. So strong in contrast, that I could’ve looked into a picture just as well. Only… I knew that it was real.

As my Tinnitus slowly faded and my eyes managed to adapt to the newfound colors, I tried to move around. I tried, but my body didn’t budge. I couldn’t even move my head, just my eyes and eyelids were responding to my movements. My mouth and lungs seemed to work too, or else I probably would be suffocating by now. I thought about what I could do, when I heard muffled steps through the ground. I tried looking in the direction they came from, but I quickly remembered what my problem was in the first place.

I closed my eyes to allow for my brain to focus on hearing instead. There they were again. Steps, many steps, like a herd of animals. No, I could hear three specific rhythms out of it.

“The hunting lessons paid off at last.“

I thought to myself, as I tried to determine, what kind of animal it was. Suddenly though, I heard voices. I couldn’t really hear what they said. Probably because my ears were covered in grass, but from their pitch, I thought of a group of girls, maybe around seven to nine years old. So I did, what anyone in a desperate situation would have done and shouted:

“HELLO?!”

automatically using English, likely because of my work experience. After all, I spent most of my worktime in foreign countries.
The talking stopped almost immediately and one of the girls asked something, which from the melody to it I could identify as a “What was that?” or something close to it. I heard steps again, this time coming closer to my position. I didn’t say anything anymore, as I felt, that the steps felt wrong. I couldn’t tell at the time. Probably from the short rush of euphoria I got from the possibility of salvation.

The steps suddenly stopped and I could hear a voice close to me ask:

“What is that? Ah’ma sure we didn’t plant somethin’ like this ‘round the Orchard.”

A southern accent? But how in the world should I have gotten to Texas from where I was?
I opened my eyes and looked at what seemed like an equine head with two comically large eyes, a yellow coat and red mane with a ridiculously large red bow tied into it.

“A… pony?”

I thought to myself. The filly, as I quickly determined, stumbled back and I heard a thud from outside of my vision.

“Applebloom? What happened? Did you see a ghost or something?”

I heard another voice ask.
“Wait, Applebloom?” I recognized that name, though I couldn’t immediately tell why.

“A ghost? Please tell me you didn’t because I don’t like ghosts.”
A third voice mumbled from the other side of my head.

“No, ‘course ah didn’t, Sweety Belle. It’s just… that thing… moved.” I heard Applebloom answer.

“Sweety Belle? That name’s familiar too! Wait, I remember, where I know them from… but that’s impossible, unless…” My thoughts were interrupted, as all of a sudden I had three equines staring into my half-opened eyes. My eyes flicked between their faces, as they mustered me with very disturbed looks. I decided to say something.

“Hello there.”

was all that I could come up with, though. The three fillies, unsurprisingly, made several steps back as soon as those words left my lips. Well, I’ve never claimed to be fit as an envoy, or anything of that sort, for that matter.
The first one to come back into view was Applebloom.

“H-Hello. W-What are you?” She asked with a slight shiver in her voice.

“What? Wouldn’t >>Who?<< be more appropriate? Nevertheless: I am Markus. Markus Becker. And I’m a human.” I answered. The filly tilted her head slightly.

“Human? Ah never heard ‘bout humans before. Where do you come from?”

“Yeah, where in Celestia do you come from all of a sudden?!” The third filly came back into view. She had an orange coat, a purple mane and small wings to her side. I had no doubts left, this was definitely Scootaloo. This could only mean that my theory was true, that I was somehow transported to Equestria, after what happened back home. Still, I had to be absolutely certain.

“Oh, that doesn’t matter, really.” I answered flatly. “What’s more important: Where am I now? Tell me: might this be Sweet Apple Acres?” I asked. Applebloom was still looking at me, now with a slightly worried look in her eyes.

“Y-Yes, it is. How do ya know?” The answer now proved what I had thought – and what I hoped for, to be honest.

“Oh, just a lucky guess, nothing more.”
With my location now confirmed, I still had my slightly more pressing Problem on me. Why couldn’t I move? Did something get damaged during my transit? Do I even still have a body?

“Say, Applebloom, could you describe what I look like?” I asked Applebloom, who by now calmed down a little. Yet, I managed to make her eyes widen yet again, and again she took a step back.

“How do ya know mah name?!” Her voice started to shiver again.

“Damn it, I got careless. I have to be careful of what I say. The first impression is the one that matters most, after all.” I thought to myself.

“Ah, you see, uhm… I-I heard about your sister and you crusaders aren’t exactly unknown either, so when you confirmed, that this was indeed Sweet Apple Acres, I presumed you were her sister…” While I’m pretty sure that she didn’t buy that, at least it managed to calm her down. Applebloom now looked down at my Body and without any further questions started describing.

“Ah see. Well, ya have yer head but ya should already know that ba now. Then there’s ya neck and then there comes the rest of ya body. Yer front legs are where I think they should be. I don’t see no broken bones at least. But your front hooves, they don’t look like hooves. They have long, wormy things growing out from them.”

“Yes, those are called Fingers and those aren’t hooves, those are Hands. I think Minotaurs have them too.” I quickly interjected.

With a short pause, Applebloom then continued describing. From what she described, I am still in my Uniform and my right hand is placed atop my belly with a >>black something<<, as Applebloom called it, sandwiched between them. My legs are also still where they should be and I am still wearing my steel-capped boots. Still, I need to see for myself, in case something else is wrong. I asked Sweety Belle to try and levitate a mirror before my eyes, so I could see for myself. Indeed, I could see my trusty, arid camo uniform still on me, together with my protective vest. The >>black something<< that Applebloom mentioned proved to be my trusty old G36k assault rifle. The only thing amiss was my helmet, but that was neglectable. So far, everything seemed to be in order, except that I still couldn’t move.

“So what now? We don’t know where you came from and you won’t tell us. You can’t move and we can’t do anything about it.” Scootaloo seemed to grow more and more impatient with every second that passed without me saying something.

“Could you please try to turn me to either side, so you could describe my back?” I finally asked. They mumbled something to one another before they did as I asked.

They rested me on my right shoulder and Applebloom looked at my Back. “Well,” she started, “Yer Back looks like most of yer front actually. Yer coat has the same weird color pattern as in the front, except…” She paused. I felt a slight chill run down my spine, even though I couldn’t even FEEL my spine. “There is a spot that looks like wood over ‘ere.”

“Wood?” I asked. “That certainly shouldn’t be there. Could you please arrange two mirrors, so that I can see for myself?” Sweety Belle produced another mirror from her Saddlebag and levitated both mirrors, so they reflected my Back to my eyes. Sure enough, there was a big splinter lodged into my spine. Judging by the formations around it, I would say it was neatly placed between two of my vertebrae. This left me with two possibilities: either it lodged itself into there when I arrived and I’m crippled now, or It was placed there by whichever deity brought me here in the first place and it’s now acting as some sort of a contact blocker, in case I’d run off as soon as I woke up.

Even though the first option seemed more likely, I absolutely wanted it to be the second one, naturally. “Ok, you can put me on my Back again.” I said and they turned me back around.
“So, what do we do now?” Sweety Belle asked. Meanwhile my own Gears were rattling about, furiously thinking of a solution.
“Could you please get Applejack? I might need her help on this one.” Applebloom nodded. It could be that the others nodded too, but I couldn’t see. They ran off to where I presume the farmhouse was located. It was then that I remembered Applejack’s personality. While she normally would be open to whatever I had to say, it was Applebloom whom I made contact with first and I remember Applejack to be very protective around her sister... I immediately started to pray to whatever God could receive me, that she wouldn’t instantly stomp my head as she arrived. That would be way too much of a pathetic ending for my taste.

After a short while of waiting and praying, I heard stomps through the ground, again. The fillies came back and they brought both Applejack and Big Mac. Well, I did originally only ask for Applejack, but having both of them here could also be an asset. Luckily my prayers were heard and Applejack was, of course, surprised to see something like me in her orchard, but was still calm enough to hear me out.

“Well I gotta say, this ‘here situation is just as unbelievable as an apple with wings.” She said, after I told her about my situation.

“Well, yes it certainly is and that’s why I need your help.” I told her calmly “I would like to ask you fillies, if you could get nurse Redheart over here, to help me with that splinter in my back. Applejack, could you please get the other elements? If my Hypothesis is true, I will need your assistance later on. Big Mac, could you please get that carriage you use for transporting the apples? We will use that one as an operating table.” I told them as if giving orders to my subordinates, which in hindsight probably wasn’t the best Idea. The fillies complied and started to run off, but Applejack stopped them in their tracks.
“Hold on a second!” she demanded, “How do you know about the Elements, if you’re from another world? And why should we do as you say? For all we know you could just eat us all, after we’ve helped you!”

She did have a point. To them I had an impossible amount of knowledge about them and their world. I had to come up with an answer… “Well, while that might be true, I’m sure Twilight will get very angry with you, if you neglected her chance to research a foreign species. From another world at that. As for the eating part: with all the elements AND Big Mac here, don’t you think, you could easily overpower me?” I was surprised at myself, how reasonable that one sounded, given my current situation. Applejack had to admit that I was right.

“Ah shoot, ok. But don’t ya dare tryin’ anythin’ funny!” She threatened, as she, the fillies and big mac ran off.

After yet another while of waiting, I heard the Elements approaching. Albeit that was not because I recognized the hoofsteps, but because I saw a familiar rainbow colored mane crash into the tree behind, or rather above me. Just as I expected, Twilight instantly started to ask things about where I came from, and how our society works. I was thankful to hear nurse Redheart arrive. Not that I wouldn’t want to answer Twilight’s questions, it’s quite the opposite, really. It’s just, that I wanted to concentrate on the problem at hand, first. I asked Rarity and Twilight to levitate me face-down onto the cart, so nurse Redheart could work on my back.

“Oh my,” she exclaimed, “That IS a big splinter you have here, but wouldn’t a Unicorn be more appropriate for the task? I can grab it with my teeth, but it won’t be as easy as using magic.”

I considered that, for a moment, but I answered “While that might be true, this splinter is lodged into my spine and as much as I have reasons to trust the skills of the element of magic, one move done wrong could cripple me forever, if that didn’t happen already.”

While I said that, Redheart already went to work at my spine. All I could notice from the actual >>Operation<< were some occasional shoves changing my angle of view. That is until the splinter became free from my body. I let out a slight groan of agony, as my whole body crackled back to life. It felt like a thousand needles piercing my skin from all angles possible and in all places possible.
Still, I immediately rose to my feet. It may have been just a few hours, but it still felt like an eternity.

“Well, now that this Problem is resolved,” Twilight started, as I walked over to where I was laying just a few moments ago. I crouched down to examine the spot. “I think, we can work on a way to send you back to your world.” She proposed, already floating a bunch of Spellbooks around her.

”There is no need.” I shortly answered, still looking around my place of arrival. I actually found my helmet lying in the grass. Judging by the dent in the Ground it fell from the tree, when Rainbow Dash crashed into it.

“What? But why, Darling?” Rarity exclaimed, audibly shocked from my answer.

“Because I already know, how I got here in the first place.” I put on my Helmet as I said that, awaiting Twilight to react in some way. But instead, it was Fluttershy, who asked first:

“Really? So, um, you know how to get back, right?”
Upon that, I only shook my head. Even though I couldn’t see them, I could tell, that they were confused.

“Wait, how DID you get here?” Rainbow Dash finally asked the question, I had waited for. I rose from my crouched position, putting on a wry smile. I turned my body halfway towards them, looked at them and tilted my Head slightly.

“I died.” I finally said.

The Ponies of course were shocked; if not by the fact itself then by the way I said it. Twilight was the first one to snap out of it.

“How are you taking this so calmly? You just said it yourself, you died! Wasn’t that just a horrible experience?”

I shifted my stance to face them completely. “Well, It’s not like it came unexpected. After all, I was a Soldier. An Officer at the Rank of Captain at that.”
I pointed at the three stars adorning the shoulderpiece of my Uniform. “Here, those stars on my Uniform state my Rank in the Army. At least where I come from.”

I immediately saw Rarity’s expression change. “Wait, those are CLOTHES?!, But Darling, this design is just awful!” she jumped around me, looking at every inch of my uniform. “This colorscheme is so uninspiring, and those Patches there!” She pointed at the Rectangles with a black bar on top, a red bar in the middle and a yellow bar at the bottom, adorning both of my shoulders. “They just look plainly awful!”

I answered quickly, hoping to stop her from rambling on. “Well, those >>patches<< are actually the National Flag of my home country and this colorscheme is not meant to be >>inspiring<<, it’s meant to conceal me in arid environments!”

Suddenly, it dawned on me. I looked at my surroundings, noticing: “Though it seems that this area is not really what I would call >>arid<<.”

Noticing the state I am in, equipment-wise, I started to check my Pockets. I had 5 Magazines for my G36 in my vest, a P8 pistol holstered to my side, with 4 Magazines for it and a combat knife. I looked around the tree, which I was inspecting earlier and walked around it.

“At least it seems like my being here does have a purpose.” I exclaimed after finding a Fieldpack with a woodland camo Uniform, a Parade Uniform, a few military rations, as well as a tent and some medical equipment inside on the other side of the tree.

Twilight, meanwhile has walked closer to me, still bearing a shocked look on her Face. “Well, what do you think you should do next?” She asked, expectingly.

I had thought about that already, but I didn’t know either, so I put on the Fieldpack and said: “How about I first Introduce myself properly. I am Markus Becker, Captain of the German Army, Mechanized Infantry. Don’t worry, there’s no way for you to know what that is and it’s not important. You don’t need to introduce yourselves as I already know your names.”

I looked at them, their expressions showing their confusion, as my left elbow hit something on my vest, I hadn’t noticed. It was a Hand grenade. I was surprised, that I missed it, considering I just checked. I looked on the other side expecting to find another one right there, as I always arranged them that way. Unfortunately I was wrong.

“Hey, look, I found a ball lying around!” I heard Scootaloo say behind me.

At first, I paid it no heed, until I heard the familiar sound of a safety pin unlatching itself from a live grenade. I turned around and saw Scootaloo toss the missing grenade towards Applebloom, the safety pin nowhere to be seen. I reacted quickly, kicking the grenade as far away, as I could manage, then darting to the ground, pressing the three fillies to the ground as well and screaming “GET DOWN!”
The grenade exploded only moments after.

I rose back to my feet dusting off my Uniform and checking if everyone was unhurt. Afterwards I turned to the crusaders, who, like it was routine to them, already sat in a line, their heads hanging low. “Crusaders, please try to connect the dots the next time. After all, around an unknown being like me, anything could be dangerous, no matter how harmless it looks.” I quickly lectured them.

Their ears dropped low and they answered in unison: “Yes, we are sorry.”

I checked my Equipment and the surrounding area one more time, in case there were any live grenades or worse still lying around. After I was sure, that Sweet Apple Acres wouldn’t suddenly explode, I suggested: “Now as a start, why don’t we see Celestia? After all, even though I’m certain, she already knows about my presence, it is rude to come to someone’s home and not introduce yourself properly.” I suggested to them and Twilight quickly agreed.
Applejack immediately told the Crusaders, that they could not come, even though they didn’t ask. So, with all said and done, we headed off to the station.

Author's Notes:

Yay, first chapter up, many more to come. I hope you are thrilled to see about the further developments. I myself am too. ^^

Ch2: Background Studies

POV: Twilight

“And now we’re here.” Markus said, as he finished his story. Celestia sat on her throne, with an amused look on her face.

“It seems you had quite an adventure already, Markus.” Celestia chuckled slightly, as she said that. Markus meanwhile looked at Applejack.

“Indeed, I’m only sorry for Applejack, as a good portion of the next apple harvest will now taste like Metal and Gunpowder.” Celestia chuckled slightly, even though I can’t imagine she knew more about that Gunpowder-something than I did.

“Now, Twilight, is there anything you might want to add to his story?” Celestia asked me in the usual teacher-voice I knew from back when I was her student.

“Well, apart from Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie on the train, babbling about a >>surprise welcome party, which wasn’t a surprise anymore since she told him<<, I just asked him a few questions about his home on the way here.” I humbly answered.

Markus shot me a quick look “A few questions? You nearly had me run down our whole history, biology and society, if it wasn’t for the train to arrive at Canterlot first.” He looked back at Celestia, who again chuckled in amusement. “Speaking of questions though, I think I’m right to assume that you do have some too, so I may offer you to ask away, my princess.” He made an overdramatic bow at the end of that sentence, smiling slightly at Celestia.

“Very well, I will take you up on that offer and ask you about your life up until you were transported to our world. Also, I would like to know how much you know about us and how you came to know.” I quickly levitated a quill and some parchment over to me, as I definitely wanted to take notes when he started telling his story. I was so excited I nearly started jumping around like Pinkie Pie.

“Well, as you wish, my princess.” Markus started his story and I readied my quill. “I was born in a country known as Germany to a family with certainly good living standards, the exact location is unimportant. In Germany, all children are required to enter school at the age of six, with some rare cases entering at five or seven, depending on their birthdates and parent’s wishes. In school, I learned about mathematics to a degree, which even scholars would be proud of, as well as our world’s history, chemistry, physics, geography and English, which is my world’s equivalent to Equestrian. Somewhere during my 7^th year in school, my grades started to drop drastically. The psychologist we went to said, that this wasn’t because I was simply bad at school, but quite the opposite actually. Apparently I was so exceptionally good at learning and memorizing that education couldn’t keep up with my brain, which caused me to get bored and no longer pay attention. I passed school after thirteen years with fairly average grades and then enlisted in the Air Force as an officer. This granted me the right to study, while still being paid my regular salary and thus I studied Aeronautical Engineering. At that time, I was nineteen years old and I finished my studies after four years at the age of twenty-three. After that, I began my military service.”

“Air Force? Is that a group specialized in wind magic?” I inquired, after Markus made a short pause in his story.

“No, It’s a force, that fights in the air. The closest equestrian equivalent would be the Wonderbolts, I think.” Markus answered quickly.

Rainbow Dash jerked up at this. “Oh, you’re a flier too? Awesome! But wait, didn’t you say you were with melancholised Infantry or something? I don’t know about the first thing, but isn’t Infantry supposed to be on the ground?”

Markus looked at Rainbow Dash in a somewhat annoyed manner. “Firstly, its >>Mechanized<<. Secondly: I was about to get to that part. Until Twilight interrupted me, that is.” He shot me another glance, then turned back to Celestia and continued his story.

“Well, as I was saying, I started actually serving in the military at the age of twenty-three. I was quick to earn myself a name as an exceptional Pilot, which actually gained me quite a few medals and a promotion to Oberleutnant, which is equivalent to 1^st Lieutenant. But as with all great personalities, I was just as quick to gain the envy of not only my equals, but also my superiors. The only thing that kept me in the Air Force at that time was my absolute value in combat. However, after three years of service they found their chance, as in a regular medical exam it was found, that I had a slight red/green-weakness. Normally this would have been slid under the rug, due to my performance, however those who envied me pulled their strings and off I went. Now, they couldn’t just kick me out of the army without risking me going to the public, so they transferred me to the ground troops, giving me another promotion to Hauptmann, or Captain, and sending me to officer school for six months, where I learned the Tactics and Strategies of Ground Combat. I then spent one and a half years with the mechanized Infantry, commanding a small company in outward deployment. Well, that is until a few hours ago, when my armored car hit a landmine and I died, at the age of twenty-eight.”

After this story, a lot of questions arose inside of me and I couldn’t wait to hear the answers, however, hearing of his fate somehow made me feel sad, although he clearly didn’t feel the same way. “I-I’m sorry to hear that.” I started to say, “But if I may ask: what exactly is a Landmine?”

Markus looked at me now, his expression didn’t change though. He was as neutral as one would imagine a perfect judge in court. “A Landmine can basically be explained as a box with explosion magic cast inside and with a trigger on top, which activates the explosion magic if someone, something or somepony were to step on it. The results are mostly fatal, however even if you are lucky enough to survive, you would lose a leg at least.”

This answer intrigued me. “Explosion Magic? So you do have mages?” I asked in anticipation of learning new ways of magical application. However the answer I got was rather disappointing in that respect.

“No, we don’t. Actually magic doesn’t even exist in our world. I just used magic as a means of explanation. What actually causes the explosion is a highly reactive chemical compound, which rapidly expands in volume if ignited.”

“What do you mean you have no magic, Darling?” Rarity exclaimed suddenly, “Oh, I couldn’t imagine doing everything by hoof, that must be exhausting, if not utterly frustrating!”

“Oh yeah? Then why don’t y’all try ‘n be an earthpony? I bet yo will get a good idea how it feels like, havin’ to actually press doors open ‘n such.” Applejack commented to this. Before anyone else could say something, Markus interjected:

“Well, it’s not like we do everything by Hand anymore either. You see, our species is actually pretty ingenious, so we’ve built machines that can help us do farmwork, cleaning, building and even take us to the skies, even though we don’t have wings.”

Celestia watched silently, as my friends started to argue with each other if magic makes life too easy to be enjoyed, while Markus stood by watching with a mixture of amusement and interest clearly showing on his face. After a few minutes of bickering, Celestia took the word:

“Markus, after what you said about these landmines, they seem to be pretty awful. Do you feel ok?” she asked, looking at Markus in concern.

Markus on the other hoof inspected himself thoroughly, before answering: “Well, as far as I can tell none of my bodyparts is missing, however I have this strange burning sensation in my chest. It doesn’t feel wrong, really, even though I know, that it normally shouldn’t be there.”

I immediately remembered something and quickly interjected:

“That’s just like what I read just recently: apparently when non-magic creatures are magically infused with, well, magic, they feel the magical energy surge inside their body, until they activate it for the first time.”

Markus looked intrigued at that and turned his gaze to me again. “Oh really? Tell me Twilight, what do you do, when you cast magic? Do you just imagine what you want to happen or is there some ritual that needs to be followed?” He asked with audible interest.

“In order to cast magic, you’ve got to first imagine what you want to happen or what you want to do. Next, you’ve got to gather the magic energy needed for that into one point in your body, from which you can safely cast the spell. For Unicorns and Alicorns this would normally be the Horn. However you don’t have one…” I explained and Markus nodded.

He then proceeded to close his eyes and raise his right hand. He started to concentrate and suddenly his hand began to glow with magic! A small, black cloud emitted from his fingers and formed first into a small flame, then into a splash of water, then a rock. It started to circle around his hand for a while, before disappearing into his hand again.

Both Celestia and I, as well as my friends stood there in awe, as Markus reopened his eyes and looked around him. “What’s with the surprised looks?” He asked, as we slowly regained our composure.

“What’s whi--?! Darling, do you even realize, what you’ve just done? You’ve mastered Elemental Magic within just a few seconds of learning how to use magic at all!” Rarity almost completely lost her composure, before she managed to regain herself.

“Oh, I hardly mastered anything, Rarity.”, said Markus, “All I did was manifest my magic outside of my hand and let it take different shapes. It was what you could call an Illusion.”

Celestia in the meantime regained her composure and quickly went on to change the subject, before any more interruptions could take place.

“Well, it’s nice to see, that you’ve learned how to control magic, however you still haven’t explained how you got to know about our world and how far your knowledge goes.”

Markus’s expression changed from a slight smile to neutral again, as he lifted his Hand up to his face and grabbed the lower part of his jaw, which he later explained was called a >>chin<<. After thinking for a short while he finally answered Celestia:

“Well, in my world, there is an animated series about you. And before you ask: an animated series is basically a comic in the form of a movie, like those you see in the Las Pegasus cinema, just divided up into many smaller episodes of about twenty minutes. As for the extent of my knowledge:” Markus lifted his head, looking straight at Celestia, before he uttered a single word. “Daybreaker.”

Celestia’s face showed utter shock, but I didn’t know what this meant. I didn’t even dare to ask either. Seeing my mentor in such shock was enough of a hint to warn me not to.

“Well, in any case”, Celestia finally said, “I am sure, you will need an occupation, now that you are a permanent resident of Equestria. If you want to stay in your profession, I will gladly take you into the Ranks of my Royal Canterlot Guard. After all, we are in desperate need for experienced officers, considering we haven’t had a war in over a thousand years.”

Markus thought about the offer for a while, before he answered. “I will gladly accept your offer your highness, however may I ask that I may be given three months’ time to settle myself into my new environment? After all, while I know a lot about it, Equestria remains a foreign country to me.”

Celestia nodded and Markus thanked her with a deep bow. Afterwards, we headed back to Ponyville, where I offered him a guest bed in the Library. He accepted and will now be my roommate for the next three months. I’m really looking forward to all the questions I can ask him!

Author's Notes:

woooo, Second Chapter within just a few hours. Well for you at least XD took me about two days to write this chapter, 'cause brain lag. Hope you still enjoy it though ^^
Chapter 3 will be published, as soon as chapter 4 is done, so stay tuned.

Ch3: RE;organization

Author's Notes:

Warning, slightly NSFW-Content in there. though, don't worry: this is still NOT a clop-fic ^^

Hope you enjoy the chapter and as always, stay tuned for the next

POV: Markus

So, my first night in an equestrian bed went by without any notable events. Not that I was awaiting a changeling attack in my sleep or something, but waking up and seeing neither Pinkie Pie pulling me to a party, nor Twilight throwing another wave of questions my way actually surprised me more, than a Surprise-Party could have. Nevertheless I was quick to get out of bed, as I wanted to get as much of my time possible to be actively spent on something. The guest bed twilight gave me was placed just like in that sleepover-episode, in Twilight’s bedroom, just across the room from her own bed.

I went down the stairs into the main room of the library, where I could hear that Twilight was already rambling about, trying to make breakfast with Spike. I would say, that this reminded me of my wife at home, if I would have ever had one that is. I never actually bothered looking for one, as I was busy enjoying myself in the military. Also I couldn’t bear the thought of my potential family mourning over my death, if I was to die. Thinking about this now, maybe I should ask Pinkie Pie to throw me a “told ya!” – Party?

As I casually strolled through the room towards what I would call the kitchen, I gazed over the bookshelves in the walls. While not as impressive as the ones she will have at her castle later on, this is still quite an extensive collection. I guess I will acquaint myself with most of them later on, especially the ones about magic and magic usage. For the moment though, I went to Twilight, as my stomach already started lamenting and I preferred to save my rations for when I really needed them.

As I walked into the kitchen, I saw Twilight swinging a pan with her magic, while Spike was balancing a large Pile of pancakes towards the table. I slowly entered the room and Twilight greeted me with a grin.

“Good morning, Markus. I hope you had a good night?”

I quickly nodded and took in the smell of fresh pancakes. Twilight turned herself toward me, placing the pan back on the stove. She started pacing towards me in an awkward manner. That’s when I noticed, she was wearing an apron. Did she even need an apron? I mean, levitating the pan around with magic would hardly put you in danger of burning your coat, especially for someone as skilled as Twilight. I also noticed one far more crucial detail: she was missing her wings. She stopped only inches in front of me and started extending a hoof towards my belly.

“You know, I was bored last night. Maybe you can ease my boredom a little tonight?”

I immediately grabbed her throat and started pressing with my left hand, while with my right hand, I took my knife from my leg holster and cut off her horn. “Who are you, where are we, what happened to Twilight and Spike? Quick answers, no questions, no side trails or elongated Background Stories, understood?” I started demanding with the best interrogative voice I could imitate. Suddenly though, the wannabe Twilight started fading, as did Spike and the rest of my surroundings. It was dark. Again.

I looked around me, as a single bright speck emerged in the void, slowly growing larger, revealing a dark blue alicorn mare with a flowing mane depicting a night sky, Luna. I chuckled slightly and put my knife back into its holster.

“So that would make this a dream, huh?” I quickly determined.

“So my sister was right, you are quite dangerous, grabbing our dear Twilight like that.” She said in a serious voice, as she moved towards me.
“I created this dream for you as a test, how you would react. If you would’ve taken the offer, I could’ve been sure that you were harmless, however you attacked poor Twilight the instant she was close enough.”

“So I was right, Celestia didn’t offer me a position in the military because she needs officers, but because she wants to have an eye on me. After all she is the only one who could’ve told Luna about me and her opinion is clearly biased. I should try and gain their trust as soon as possible, or else my life here will get very difficult. Though, I might just leave Celestia at least a bit wary around me. After all, some minor show-offs and power comparisons should make for some good fun.”

“I will keep an eye on you, so don’t you dare even dreaming about harming our little ponies.” Saying that, she disappeared through another speck in the void and my dream ended.

I awoke in the early morning hours in the guest bed Twilight gave me. Immediately after waking up, I pinched my arm. Sure enough, I was awake this time. I slowly rose from my bed and put on my woodland camo uniform.

“Using my Uniform all the time is not exactly practical.” I thought to myself. “Maybe I can ask Rarity later on to make me some civilian clothes?”

Out of habit, I put on my vest too and grabbed my Rifle, hanging it around my shoulder. I walked over to Twilight, who was still sleeping, and slightly moved her blanket.
Sure enough: Wings. I left a note on the bed and went out for a morning stroll. As I felt the cool air run through my hair, I noticed that every time until now when I was in Uniform and outside, I was either wearing a Fieldcap or my Helmet. Since my Fieldcap didn’t get transported here and my Helmet was still inside the golden oaks library, I was currently wearing neither, making me feel slightly awkward.

After standing in front of the door for a while, I decided that I would head into the Everfree and meet Zecora first. After all, if I want to learn more about the alchemy and natural magic of this world, I would have had to acquaint myself with her sooner or later. My only problem was that I didn’t know the exact location of her hut, so I had to guess and march blindly, following trails, which I presumed were from Ponies visiting Zecora themselves.

I strolled blindly for a while, until I noticed a silhouette between the trees next to me. I swung around, raising my rifle as I was expecting a Timberwolf lunging towards me. Instead I found a pretty surprised Zebra looking into the muzzle.

“I apologize for the surprise, I do. But may I ask: who are you?”

I lowered my rifle and took a relaxed stance, as I identified the silhouette as Zecora.

“I am Markus Becker, the newest addition to the Ponyville townsfolk, Zecora. I thought I would come by and properly introduce myself to you before I would one day need your help and you didn’t know about me.”

She mustered me for a short while, visibly not sure what to say – or what to rhyme. She was about to say something as I heard the bushes behind me start to rustle. Zecora quickly averted her gaze and put her hoof over her face.

“As dreadful as it may sound, you should not turn around.” She said with her hoof still covering her eyes.

“Is it one of those pesky half-dragon-half-chicken-things, that’s currently standing behind me?” Zecora gave me a slight nod, while turning away.

I in the meantime closed my eyes myself, concentrating on hearing. I heard the thing slightly pace around behind me, probably unsure of what I am. I turned around, sweeping low with my leg. The beast, just as I expected, managed to evade. I grabbed my Rifle and rammed its Stock in the direction of the flapping noise.

It connected with an audible snap, followed by a thud a few meters away. I waited for a few seconds, listening for movement. Then I rose back to my feet, still keeping my eyes closed and pushing my feet over the ground into the direction where I heard the thud. After a few steps, my left foot hit something soft. I examined it with my hand and found it to be a chicken body. I felt for the chickens Head, stomping it when I found it. I reopened my eyes, slowly gazing down to my foot. Sure enough, it was that dragon-chicken.

“You can open your eyes now, Zecora.” I called over my shoulder. “That dragon-chicken thing is dead.”

She lifted her hoof off her face, taking the fact that I just killed a living being rather calmly, to the outside at least.

“While a chicken indeed it is, we call it: a Cockatrice. But even though its intentions were ill, did you really need to kill?”

I turned around to her again, which made her take a step back. In the future, I should really think twice or at least announce it before I step in for a lethal takedown.

Thinking back, I actually am glad, that Fluttershy wasn’t there to see this whole ordeal go down, or else she might have done to me, what I did to that Cockatrice. Nevertheless, Zecora and I went to her Hut after that, because she wanted me to deliver something to Applejack, if I was to come by her Orchard somehow. Bonus for me: I finally know how to get to the Hut. I actually managed to walk past it by several hundred meters.

I took my leave soon after Zecora gave me the small bottle for Applejack. I decided that, since I was tasked to anyways, I would head to her next. Where I definitely want to head then is Rainbow Dash’s. Even though I most likely won’t reach her house, at least gazing upon it should be doable.
It was sunrise by now and I actually happened upon a few very surprised Ponies on the way to the Orchard. Funnily enough I actually couldn’t name any of them, apart from Scootaloo, who nearly crashed into me on her way to the CMC Clubhouse. Since the Clubhouse was located at Sweet Apple Acres, I figured we could walk alongside each other for the time being.

“So, I guess you’re now officially staying here, huh?” Scootaloo suddenly asked, plucking me out of my thoughts.
“Huh?” I mumbled, “Oh, yes, I am now an official Ponyville-Resident. At least I don’t plan on moving anywhere else. Though, I have enlisted myself in the Royal Guard as an officer, so it’s basically up to where Celestia sends me.”
We walked for a bit more, when Scootaloo suddenly stopped and let her ears hang low. “I-I wanted to say that I’m sorry again for what happened at the Orchard yesterday. I mean, if you didn’t react as quickly as you did, we might be dead.”

I have to say, as you probably have guessed by now, I am not really one to get very emotional around any situation for that matter. However I felt that, standing there like this, the poor Scootaloo was actually just adorable. I knelt down beside her and started stroking her mane. Her ears perked up on this and she started staring into my eyes.

“It’s okay Scoots, I’m just glad that none of you got hurt in the blast. Although I must say, it’s a shame for the Grenade. I just have one more left and although I of course hope I won’t have to use it, my soldier-sense tells me otherwise…”

Soon we were at Sweet Apple Acres and Scootaloo went off to the clubhouse. I on my part walked straight to the Farmhouse, where I saw Big Mac working on a broken fence, which comedically tilted every time he was about to strike a nail into it. I went over to him and helped him stabilize the fence, while he worked on it. After that was taken care of, I asked him where Applejack was and he pointed out into the Orchard.

In hindsight, I must say that I don’t know what else I was expecting her to be doing. So I wandered out into the Orchard, gazing upon the rows and rows of Appletrees and soon noticing… that I forgot to eat breakfast.

I paced further, soon hearing the sound of wood being hit with a blunt object, presumably hooves. A few meters further yet, I finally met Applejack, who was kicking away at the trees, raining apples into the wooden tubs she placed around them. I closed the distance between us, but Applejack was too busy to notice me at first. Either that, or the stomps from my heavy military boots were just imagination.

I was standing right beside her, when Applejack went for another buck. It was then that she noticed me and, through her surprise, missed the tree by a good bit. I immediately stepped in and catched her with one arm, before lifting her to her hooves again. That is when I saw her blush and I remembered the anatomy of ponies. I quickly examined my glove in the hopes that I would not find, what I was looking for. Sure enough, there was quite a lot of sweat on it now, but the substance I thought I would be seeing luckily was not. I breathed a short sigh of relief, as being charged for sexual Harassment on the second day of being here wouldn’t really make for a good impression.

Having that minor horror out of the way, I looked back at Applejack. “Why are you blushing? Did I do something that I might regret?” I gave her a slight smile and she smiled back, shaking her head.

“Nah don’t ya worry. It’s just that it’s mostly common sense for ponies to not touch a mare’s belly, unless you’re very close. So you may wanna watch out, if you are going to help any other mares ‘round town.”

“Note to self: be a dick, even if it means letting a Pony fall flat on its face. Ok, that’s going to get interesting.”

After a moment of slightly awkward silence, I remembered why I was here at all and handed her the small bottle. Apparently it’s a strong insecticide she needs every now and then. As a thanks for bringing it to her, she gave me an apple from one of the tubs. I thanked her and bit into it. Truly, those Apples are quite sweet and juicy indeed. In fact, that particular Apple was so awfully sweet, that it almost killed my taste buds. I almost immediately started choking and coughing, sending a mush of chewed applepieces flying to the ground.

“Are you okay? There wasn’t anythin’ funny inside, wasn’t there?”

She looked at me with a hint of concern on her face. Suddenly though, she made a step back, dropping her ears behind her head. “You- You ain’t a carnivore, are ya?” She took a slightly lower stance, obviously ready to either buck me in the head or turn tail and run, should I decide to try and attack her.

“Well, actually yes and no. I am an Omnivore, meaning that I eat both, fruit and vegetables, as well as meat. However do not worry; I won’t eat any of you Ponies, unless I absolutely have to.”

“And which case would be >>absolutely have to<<?”

Slightly taken aback by the fact, that my words would backfire so much, I answered with this time more thought behind my words.

“For example, if for some reason we were to get trapped and in order to save the others, I had to eat part of your flank, I would probably do it.”

“Note to self nr. 2: saying >eat< and >flank< in one sentence after the situation we just had should also be avoided as good as possible.”

Applejack was now finally convinced enough, that she would lower her guard. After that slight situation we had, I felt like I shouldn’t just leave it at that, so I offered helping with the bucking a bit.

Applejack was at first surprised and thanked me for the offer, but she wasn’t sure if I could bring about enough force with just two legs. I decided that acting shows better than just saying and so I Karate-kicked the tree behind me with so much force that I almost made the branches fall off too. And thus, before long I found myself kicking away at trees for the next hour or so.

When we reached the end of the row, Applejack thanked me thoroughly and after I helped her store the Apples, she asked if she should have me for lunch as thanks, but I refused. After all, I still had a good bit of exploring to do and I wanted to be back at Twilight’s by afternoon. With that I bid my farewell and left.

The sun had risen a fair bit by now and I decided, that I would first go to Fluttershy’s, before then making a short stroll over to Rainbow Dash’s. Admittedly though: the decision to head to Fluttershy’s next wasn’t based on curiosity or any errand that needed to be done. Rather it was something that hit me, when Applejack asked about my diet: I wouldn’t get any meat around here unless I would hunt it for myself, which I would gladly do. The problem with that however was, that if she were to spot me during a hunt, Fluttershy would probably lynch me. Thus I decided that, in order to get some meat, I would have to get Hunting-permission from Fluttershy first and – I kid you not – I was actually a bit scared.

Fluttershy’s hut was a lot less difficult to find than I had thought it would be. In the series it was always depicted as if Fluttershy would be living in the outskirts of the Everfree, but I actually found her hut a good few hundred meters away in a small patch of forestry. It figures though, with all those evil creatures living in there, I think she would go mad from fear, even though, or maybe even because she can speak with animals.

I knocked on her door and waited for her to greet me in before entering. The inside of the cottage was just as one would imagine it to be. It was clean, orderly and full to the brim with animals of different kinds. Seeing this variety of animals before me actually made me question my intent of asking her about hunting rights, after all those animals would probably not react kindly to someone asking for the right to kill them.

Instead I started playing around the question for a while, before changing the subject to my own species. I specifically trailed the conversation towards the thematic of diet. When I felt, we had reached the spot, I came to my point and told her about my intentions to go hunting. To my surprise, she wasn’t even mad at me. She just accepted and gave me the permission right away, saying that she can’t deny me a necessity such as food, when there are already predators out there killing to eat.

As I stepped outside the hut, I noticed the sun being actually further up its path than it should be. Could it be that Celestia overslept and quickly made it become noon? In any case, there was no time for me to visit Rainbow Dash anymore, as I quickly needed to head back to town or else Twilight might get worried. Back in Ponyville, instead of going straight to Twilight’s though, I made a turn for Carousel Boutique and visited Rarity. A little time could still be spared, after all.

As I entered the Boutique, Rarity was currently working on a new dress and didn’t notice me at first. – I swear, either my boots got enchanted when I got here, or those Ponies need hearing aids. What’s it with them not noticing me today? – Having learned from my Mistake at Applejack’s, I stood at the entrance and announced myself properly this time around. Rarity stopped working on her dress and turned around to greet me.

“Good morning, Markus, Darling! I take it, you’ve decided on ditching that positively dreadful attire of yours and take a more fashionable approach?”

I stood calmly at the entrance, giving her a friendly smile. To the inside however I was actually considering giving her a fresh taste of my boot for yet again insulting my uniform and thus, indirectly, my home country. Though I couldn’t deny that what she said was actually partway true, as I wanted her to make me some civilian clothes to use, when I’m not on duty.

“Well, while I certainly won’t ditch my Uniform, I actually do need some civilian clothes to be made. I thought that maybe the most talented fashion designer in Ponyville could help me out on this one? Though by all means, please try to not make it perfect for looks but instead focus on quality and sturdiness. After all, not being in Uniform does not mean being free from trouble, as you might know and especially with you six around.”

It seemed like Rarity wanted to say something about that, but she was cut off by a well-known, winged, lavender-colored Rhino bursting through the front door, with a pretty angry face and a hastily written note magically floating beside her.

“Ah shit, that won’t end well…”

Ch4: A short Crashcourse

Author's Notes:

♫I bring you an epic fan-fic, I bring you an epic fan-fic, I bring you an epic fan-fic and a happy new read!♫

Happy 3rd Advent everyone, enjoy this new Chapter as a small gift from me

POV: Rainbow Dash

You know, I’ve seen stuff, that should be surprising to anypony else, but has by now almost become my daily standard, since I became the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. But I must say, finding an almost hairless ape in AJ’s orchard even had me just a little surprised. He has been here for a day by now and I was on my way to Twilight’s to ask her if she’s already got that new Daring Doo Book in the library. That’s when I saw Markus, the hairless ape I just told about, walking into Carousel Boutique. I didn’t think much of it actually, until I also saw Twilight storm in there with a speed that almost came close to rivaling mine. So I flew down to see what was going on.

When I landed at Rarity’s, I immediately saw Twilight standing in the entrance. Markus was standing in the middle of the Boutique and Rarity stood beside him. I started to walk closer, when Twilight suddenly started screaming.

“MARKUUUUUUUUUUUS!”

I ditched the slow pace and flew to her. “What’s going on? Did Markus just make one of Rarity’s dresses explode?” I joked, but Twilight was not very amused by this.

“No. He thought it would be a good idea to leave in the morning without telling me or Spike, only leaving a note that read >>Dear Twilight; went on a morning stroll; if not back by lunch probably either lost or dead; yours: Markus<<. And as if that wasn’t enough, when I went searching for him, Fluttershy came to me, crying. From what I could understand over her tears, she said that he wanted to eat innocent animals!”

I felt my head get hotter, as I suddenly only saw red. He made Fluttershy cry?! I started flying again and, without a warning, dove, hooves-first, towards Markus. To my surprise, all he had to do was a side-step and I hit the wall behind him, knocking over some of Rarity’s Mannequins. I turned around and charged at him again, but was stopped by an aura of turquoise magic.

“Rainbow, calm down, we can work this out! There just seems to be a major misunderstanding of some sort.”

Markus waved his Hand at me, trying to calm me down. Being the awesome Rainbow Dash, I was, of course, immediately calm again and heard him out.

“CALM DOWN?! I’M GONNA MAKE YOU CALM DOWN WITH A HOOFPRINT ON YOUR FACE!”

Ok, maybe not immediately, but I eventually managed to get my calm and he started to explain.

“You see, I am an Omnivore, meaning, that I eat meat as well as fruits and such. However you ponies are, as you know, Herbivores. This makes it quite difficult for me to get proper nutrition without going hunting myself. That’s why I went to Fluttershy and asked her permission to add myself to the roster of predators in the Everfree. However, contrary to the story you just told us, she actually was pretty ok with it.”

I looked over to Twilight, unsure of what to say to this.

“That can’t be true! Fluttershy is actually standing just outside, look!”
Twilight went back to the door and looked outside. Of course she didn’t see Fluttershy standing there. Would have been pretty dumb of me to have missed her, right? Twilight wondered where she might be, but I told her that I didn’t see her when I got in.
Markus then suggested, that we could go see her at her cottage and just ask her. Twilight didn’t even bother to agree and just took off. Markus and I both shrugged and followed her.

“Well, um, I mean, Markus did come here a few minutes ago and asked if… well, if he could, um, you know.. go hunt animals to… eat some meat? He said that he needs the meat to properly sustain himself and I thought that, um, when there are already animals eating animals anyways, one more wouldn’t be bad, right? It’s of course sad, but I can’t just forbid Markus to eat properly, right?”

Twilight and I looked at each other for a moment. We both knew Fluttershy long enough, that we knew something wasn’t right with that answer. I looked over to Markus, who now knelt down to Fluttershy. He obviously was thinking the same, as we were, now that he listened more closely.

“Say Fluttershy, are you afraid, that I might eat you instead, if you were to oppose me? If that’s the case, then I’m deeply sorry to make such an impression, I certainly didn’t mean to. It’s just that there are certain vitamins that I can’t get without eating meat.”

Fluttershy suddenly scrambled back, as Markus knelt down, which actually surprised me a good bit. I mean, I know she is very shy and anxious, but seeing her back down so hard made me want to hit Markus again. Her eyes began to water and she looked at us. She then turned to Markus.

“I-I, I went into the Everfree this morning to see Zecora, but she wasn’t there, so I went a bit further to search for her. After a while I heard Markus and her speaking, so I walked to them. Suddenly though I heard a smack and a thud and when I came to look, I saw Markus stomping at something on the ground. I ran back to my cottage and tried to calm down, but a few minutes later, you knocked on my door. I panicked, but I couldn’t leave my poor animals behind, so I let him in and tried to get him out as fast as possible. When I heard that he wanted to kill more animals, I got even more afraid! I didn’t want to let those poor critters die, but I had to save those who are here first.”

Fluttershy started to cry again, but kept on talking.

“Then, when I agreed to let him kill animals, he left and I ran out through the back door and tried to find you, Twilight.” She sobbed and I felt my anger rise again.

Markus extended a Hand towards Fluttershy, but Twilight and I placed us between them, looking at Markus.

“So, you did upset Fluttershy, huh?” I said to him. I started floating before him and swung a hoof. He catched it in midair and held on to it. I tried to wiggle myself free, but He had a pretty firm grip.

He looked at me, with an almost unnerving calm and I stared back in anger. He then started talking.

“That actually makes it clear how things came to this, however, I can assure you that Zecora is unharmed. What actually happened was, that a Cockatrice attacked us, when we were talking and I – sadly – had to take it down. That stomp you saw was most likely me, making sure that Cockatrice was really down and not just waiting for me to open my eyes.
As for killing animals: I never said, I would do this for fun and I thought I actually told you. Anyways, as I already told the others here, I am an Omnivore, meaning that I need meat AND Fruits or Vegetables to sustain myself. I am sorry, but that means that I will have to kill animals for my own health, however not all too often and, while I can’t promise you to keep away from meat, I can promise you that I will never kill the young or pregnant and that those who become my pray won’t suffer. After all, living and dying is the way of nature and I am no exception to this cycle.”

Markus let go of my hoof and I landed next to Twilight. Fluttershy meanwhile had regained herself and stood before Markus, staring him dead in the eyes. Twilight and I looked at this scene in anticipation. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Fluttershy spoke up.

“Fine. I can’t say that I’m okay with it, but I can’t tell you to just starve yourself. But don’t kill the animals close to my cottage and NEVER kill anything that isn’t grown up yet. I will have an eye on you.”

Markus nodded and Fluttershy came to us. We embraced her in a hug, while Markus stood beside us.

When we finally loosened the hug, Fluttershy looked at the clock and noticed, that it was time for lunch already. She asked all of us, if we wanted to eat with her. Even Markus. We all agreed and had Sandwiches together. Markus seemed quite nice now and talking with him really was fun. He was almost as intellectual as Twilight, however he always had that certain way of saying things, that made me feel like he could even make death sound like a funny thing.

After we’d all finished and wrapped up, I looked at the clock. “Oh my god, it’s almost time for flight training! Come on Fluttershy, we’ve got no time to waste!”

Markus looked at me as if he wanted to fly with me. “Oh, flight training? Mind if I joined the audience?” He asked me.

Twilight meanwhile jerked her head around. “What?! No! I’ve still got so many questions! You have to answer them or I might forget them!”

“But that’s not a problem at all. I think I can manage watching Rainbow Dash fly AND answer your questions meanwhile. At least I don’t think I will need my mouth to watch her.” Markus answered with a slight smile forming on his face.

“Ok, fine. But you have to answer all of them in detail. I want to learn as much as possible so I can send Celestia a full report an-“

“Yeah, we get it, let’s go!” I quickly interjected before Twilight would start one of her speeches again.

I flew out of the cottage and the others followed. I decided that the Pink Tree Plains would be a perfect training spot, so we headed there. On the way I got curious though:

“Hey Markus, You said you were pretty popular in the military. Did you earn any cool Nicknames?” I asked him, while hovering directly in front of him.

Markus looked up at me and chuckled slightly.

“Well actually I earned two, one with our allies and one within my squadron of the Luftwaffe, the German Airforce.” He paused shortly and looked over to Twilight, who, of course, was already writing down everything he said.

He sighed and continued: “Well, as I said I earned two. >>Battlefield Baker<< with the Luftwaffe and >>Devil of Tehran<< with our American Allies. Before you ask: America, or rather the United States of America are yet another country from my world.”

“Cool, how did you get them?” I asked.

“Well, you see: >>Battlefield Baker<<, or >>Schlachtfeld Bäcker<< as I was actually called in German, was a pun on my last name and the way I used to provide ground support. My name, as you might have guessed translates to >>baker<<. As for the ground support: whenever I had dropped my payload, I would turn around and do another run with my Cannons, pulling up in the very last minute which caused the exhaust flame of my Jet Engines to >>bake<< the ground and everything and everyone that was standing on it.”

“Wait a sec, payload? Jet Engines? Twilight?!” I looked to Twilight in confusion, but she seemed to know just as much as I did.

“Eh, I will probably tell you about them later on.” Markus told us. “For now, please let me continue.”

I sat on the ground before him and listened closely.

“So, about my other Nickname: That story is actually kinda funny, you see: I was shot down once, while giving Air Support over a City called Tehran. Luckily for me, I took the >>Einzelkämpferlehrgang 2<<, which literally translates to Lone Fighter course and actually is like an advanced training for survival behind enemy lines.
I proceeded to survive in the outskirts of the city for about two weeks, until the next operation into Tehran started. When the battle started, I took shelter between the buildings and tried to get through to my own lines. However the enemy defense network inside the city proved to be tightly woven towards both the enemy and the friendly lines. I had to wait.
Four days later, I finally had my chance: a small American force was attacking an entrenched position, causing the ones holding it to use all their forces in the defense. So I snuck in from behind, killed the camp leader and proceeded to empty the entrenchments with a few well-placed grenades, which were lying around in the camp, and a few shots from my P8, which was part of my equipment as a Pilot. After the position was clear, I signaled the Americans with my flashlight and told them, that there were friendlies inside and they should cease fire. You should have seen the looks on their faces when they saw a single German Pilot, armed only with a pistol, singlehandedly take down the outpost they had been hammering on for the last four days straight.
This minor showcase of my capabilities brought me a medal, my promotion to 1^st Lieutenant and the Nickname >>Devil of Tehran<<.”

I was amazed by that story. Actually just as much by the story, as by the way he described all that violence like it was everyday business. It actually made me feel a little uneasy and I could tell Twilight felt the same. Then I saw Markus looking at me. I got a little nervous, so I just stammered:

“Ah, nice story Markus! Oh damn look at the time, we need to get going!”

I took off to the Pink Tree Plains and decided to wait there for the others to arrive. When everyone was there, I started to fly maneuvers around the clouds, popping them, forming them into sculptures, or tying them up in my rainbow trail. I looked down to the others several times, to see if they were still watching and I actually saw Markus and Fluttershy talk about something. Twilight of course asked thousands of questions and Markus seemed to answer most of them to her liking.

It was then that I noticed I concentrated so much on looking at them, that I actually circled the same cloud for five minutes straight! The others already gave me confused looks, so I quickly resumed my training program.

When I was done, I landed in front of them and asked how I did.
Fluttershy was of course complimenting me again, saying how awesome I was. Markus however actually pointed out quite a few things that I could do differently, some things about how I should angle my dives and how I should hold my wings when going to speed and such. I told him, of course, that I couldn’t take advice from someone without wings, but when they were gone, I actually tried a few things he told me and they worked!

Maybe I should ask him to watch me fly a bit more often?

Ch5: Field Studies

Author's Notes:

Chapter five is a go!
This time around we have the first battle, albeit not really a fair one. what I mean by this? read for yourselves!

And of course, just as always, Chapter 6 will be out as soon as 7 is done, so stay tuned ^^

POV: Twilight

After we watched Rainbow Dash’s training, Markus and I walked back to the Library. During the training, I asked Markus almost every question I could come up with and he answered them as good as he could, so I was looking forward to writing Princess Celestia about my newfound knowledge. There was one question left to be asked though:

“Markus, how did you know how to improve Rainbow’s flight performance? I mean, no offence, but: you don’t have wings.”

Markus looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

“Didn’t I tell you my lifestory already? I was in the Luftwaffe as a Pilot, so I know how to fly and I studied Aeronautical Engineering, so I know a thing or two about aerodynamics.”

I cocked my head slightly to one side, as I heard an unknown word come from his mouth.

“What’s aerodynamics?” I asked in anticipation.

Markus shot me a shocked look and stared at me for what seemed like ages.

“If Rainbow would have asked this, I wouldn’t be surprised, but this question coming from you Twilight… Aerodynamics is basically the way air behaves under certain circumstances.”

“I’m sorry… We didn’t need to research things like this, since we’ve got magic.”

Markus turned his head forward again. “Magic is not a viable excuse to omit the search for kno---“ Markus suddenly stopped, his gaze turning upon me once again.

“I take it you don’t know about Chemistry and Physics either?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

I looked at the ground, my ears hanging low in shame, as I had to answer “No…”

Markus held his chin for a while, before he spoke up again. “Well, I might have an interesting idea: how about you teach me about the ways of magic and I teach you about Chemistry and Physics in return?” He smiled at me, as he uttered those words.

My ears immediately perked up again and I looked him straight into the eyes, with a wide smile on my face. “YES! YESYESYESYESYESYES!” I was so happy, I started hopping in excitement. Knowledge from another world AND the opportunity to teach magic? I could never have said no to this.

When we arrived back at the library, Markus hesitated to go in. He said there was someone inside and it wasn’t Spike. He slowly opened the door and was greeted by a cloud of confetti served fresh from the cannon.

“SURPRIIIISE!” Pinkie Pie stood in the middle of the library, with about half of Ponyville gathered around her. Markus made his way into the library and looked around. If he was surprised at all, he was very good at hiding it.

“I’ve got to say Pinkie, you really are a natural. Rallying half of Ponyville in just under 6 hours is truly amazing.” Markus smiled towards Pinkie Pie and chuckled slightly.

“Well, duh! I am the Element of Laughter!” Pinkie Pie hopped around Markus for a while, before she announced the party to begin.

During the Party, Markus mostly leaned against a wall, occasionally talking to a few Ponies who were of course very surprised that he knew their name. After a while I went over to him.

“Why are you just standing at the sidelines? It’s your party after all!” I smiled at him, hoping to cheer him up.

Markus smiled back at me, but then returned to watching the crowd.

“I’m not really a Party person. Never was, actually. I think it’s partially due to my work experience. In crowds like these, friend and foe become one and the same; you can’t tell who is who until they are too close to react. It’s a nightmare for any soldier who’s been in counter insurgency operations in my world.” He gazed off into a non-existent distance, visibly in deep thought. I wanted to ask him, what he meant by counter insurgency operations, but seeing his reaction to his own words, I decided against it.

Pinkie Pie meanwhile hopped over to us. “Hey, don’t just stand there! Have some fun! Here, we are going to play >>pin the tail<< and you are first!”

Before Markus could even react, Pinkie pulled him in the middle of the crowd and blindfolded him. She turned him a few times and let him go. Markus seemed like he wanted to say something, but shrugged it off and just went with it. He closed in on the poster; walking straight as if Pinkie’s spinning did nothing to him, and placed the tail on-point into the target area. A loud collective gasp became audible, followed by cheers throughout the room.

“How did you do that?” Rainbow Dash, who joined the party after a while, emerged from the crowd. “Not even a Wonderbolt could do that, especially not after Pinkie spun him like this!”

Markus looked at Rainbow Dash with a cynical smile on his face. “I thought you didn’t take advice from someone without wings?” Rainbow blushed on this, turning her gaze away. Markus chuckled, tapped her cheek and, as she looked back at him, booped her muzzle. Markus smiled and began to laugh slightly, Rainbow and us other guests soon joined in.

Over the next month, He taught me about the >>laws of nature<< as he called them, while I taught him magic in return. He also spent a lot of time with Rainbow Dash, watching her fly and giving her advice on her performance. Rarity made Markus some clothes, supervised by himself, which turned out to be much to his liking. So much so, that he wore those instead of his uniform!

Whenever he wasn’t with Rainbow or me, he spent his time visiting Zecora or helping Applejack with her Applebucking. I can’t deny that I admire both his persistence in learning, as well as the speed at which he learns. He mastered levitation in just a few hours! Some spells that took me a month or more only take him a few days to learn. It’s almost scary.

He started looking deeper into magic and I taught him as much as I could. I have to admit, I’ve come to like him very much. He always keeps a level head and still manages to show kindness and affection whenever needed. I think Rainbow and the others have also grown attached to him. He is by now as dear to us, as a friend could be.

After a month of calm and peace however, a letter from Princess Celestia arrived, summoning Markus to the Royal Palace in Canterlot.

“I wonder, what the princess might want from me. I still have two months left to settle in, so it’s probably not a call to duty.” Markus put on his Woodland Uniform and started rummaging through his bag. “I think, I will leave my G36 here at the library. I don’t think I will need it, so just my Pistol for safety should suffice.”

He turned to me, spreading his arms slightly. “How do I look?” He asked me, smiling slightly. I mustered him from top to bottom. Apart from the missing vest and his rifle, he looked the same as on the day we found him.

“Like a swamp monster from the Everfree.” I chuckled and smiled, then began to laugh slightly. He looked at me with a forced angry face, before he started to laugh himself.

We headed off to the station and soon arrived in Canterlot, where two Guards were already waiting for us and took us to the Palace.

We were brought to the throne room and the guards announced our arrival. The doors swung open and my eyes widened in joy. “Shining!” I ran towards my brother, who greeted me with a warm hug.

“Hello Twilight, long time no see.” Shining grinned at me, then looked behind me.

I loosened the hug and introduced him and Markus. “Shining, this is Captain Markus Becker of the German Bundeswehr.”

Markus made a slight bow. “It’s an honor to meet an equal, Captain Shining Armor.” Markus then turned to Celestia and made another deep bow. “I have answered your call, your highness. What is it that you wish of me?”

Celestia rose from her throne and gestured us to follow her. We went into a room with a large round table in the middle and stood around it.

“Yesterday our northern border patrols spotted a large gathering of armed Minotaurs closing in on our border. Shining Armor sent out a few guards to intercept them, however he underestimated the enemy and now his guards are engaged in combat. We both came to the agreement that we need someone with actual combat experience to help us…” Celestia looked at Markus expectantly.

“So you decided to call upon me, as I’m the only one currently in Equestria that has seen actual combat.” Markus finished. Celestia nodded to him and cast magic upon the table. The table flickered and a holographic map emerged from it, showing the northern parts of Equestria.

Markus looked at it shortly, but then quickly averted his gaze and closed his eyes, before taking a deep breath and overdramatically turning his head towards Shining Armor.

“Shining Armor, what is this?” He said in a calm, demanding voice and without opening his eyes.

“A magical Holomap.” My brother answered. “It is used t-“

“Yes, I see that. I mean what. Is. THAT!” He reopened his eyes and pointed at a small valley, where a horde of red dots pushed against a handful of blue dots. “The formation is a mess, the gaps between your units are large enough to squeeze an entire army through AND you are about to be encircled…”

Shining Armor took a step back and looked at Markus with anger visible on his face. Markus meanwhile was yet again stroking his chin in thought.

“Is there anything you can do to help us?” Celestia asked with a hint of concern in her voice.

Markus looked up at her and then back at the map. “What troops do we have in there?” He asked Shining Armor, who reluctantly answered.

“We have a hundred Swordsponies, a hundred Spearponies and fifty Mages.”

“What does the enemy have? Does he have Mages?”

“No, they only have spears and swords and some bows.”

“What about their leader? What do we know about him?”

“To our knowledge they don’t have one, it’s just a loosely assembled raiding party.”

“Do our Swordsponies have shields?”

“Yes, they carry large shields with them, but they rarely use them in combat as using both sword and shield at the same time is too difficult for most to master.”

Markus now looked back at the map and started telling his plan. “All right, I want you to disengage and regroup here. Afterwards you pull back here.” He pointed at a bottleneck where the valley was only a few hundred hooves in width. “There, I want you to offset yourself from the middle of that bottleneck slightly to our side and let the Swordsponies form a shield wall along the width of that valley. The Spearponies are to form up behind them and hold their spears between the gaps. Meanwhile the Mages are to form up into two groups: one will provide Defensive magic against arrows from above, as well as strengthen our Swordsponies. The other group will blast the enemy with offensive magic. Meanwhile I want the Wonderbolts to fly past them and recover the wounded from the previous battle. If done correctly, the Minotaurs should soon suffer too many losses and retreat.”

Celestia nodded at Shining. He had to agree. “Ok, we will do this. I would have liked it better, if we’d just battle them down and send them crying to their chieftain, though.”

Markus gaze shot up at Shining. “I thought you said they don’t have a leader?!”

My brother jerked back a bit, his mouth forming words but not voicing them. He instead started stammering “W-Well, yes, not in this battle, but they do have a chieftain. I thought this wouldn’t be important since he wasn’t participating.”

Markus was again in his thinking pose, staring at the map. “You are too short-sighted Shining Armor. The existence of a chieftain would make this not just a raiding party, but most likely some sort of a probing attack. They want to test our defenses before they send in the main army and if a >>small<< raiding party without a commander can already do this much, I don’t want to know what an entire Army, commanded by their chieftain would do.”

Celestia, Shining Armor and I gasped at this revelation.

“Isn’t there some special tactic or maybe even a weapon from your world that could help us?” Celestia’s voice had a slight shiver in it as she uttered this question.

Markus however was completely calm. “Quite a few actually, some of them being so powerful that they would completely vaporize both friend and foe alike and render the whole area uninhabitable for the next few centuries. However I am reluctant to use them. Firstly because they are so powerful, secondly because a trumpcard is only of use as long as the enemy doesn’t know about it. If we were to use it now to fend them off, they could prepare themselves for the next time.” He stared a while onto the map, saying nothing, thinking deeply. Suddenly his eyes jerked up. “Discord.”

A certain Draconequus suddenly popped into existence behind us. “Ah, what an honor to see that even a being from another universe knows me.” He formed a tophat on his head and pulled it, while bowing before Markus.

“Discord, could you use your magic to summon an object I think of, with all of its functionalities?” Markus approached Discord, looking the former chaos-god straight into the eyes.

“Well, of course I could.” Discord laughed and leaned down to Markus. “But what could you give me in return?”

Celestia, Shining Armor and I just stood there the whole time, tensioning up as we waited for Markus to formulate his answer.

Finally, a maniacal grin slid across Markus’s face, as he answered “Chaos, Death and Destruction.”

Discord started to laugh loudly after this answer, while we others stood there in shock about what we just witnessed. “I like that answer. Very well, we have a deal.”

Markus turned back to us “Could you show me, where exactly the battle is taking place?”

Celestia nodded. Her horn started to glow and the table was now showing a map of all of Equestria, with a small banner sticking out from where we just saw the battle take place.

Markus nodded. “Good. I will need a Co-Pilot. Twilight, come with me please. As for you Shining Armor, would you please inform our troops of the plan? Also tell them, that as soon as they see a metal bird fly overhead, they are to slowly fall back and all the mages shall cast protective spells. I will personally tell the Wonderbolts about their role.”

“Wait, I thought you didn’t want the enemy to know about our >>trumpcard<<?” Shining Armor shouted across the table.

Markus looked at him with a slight smile. “Oh, they won’t know.” Markus started. “As long as I make sure, there is no one left to tell the story.”

Both Celestia’s and Shining’s eyes narrowed down as he said this. I heard my Heart pounding, but I managed to control myself. After all, this was for the good of all of Equestria and if it had to be done this way, then there was nothing I could do about i

Markus and I then joined Discord, who was already spawning all kinds of chaotic things in anticipation. “So, what should I summon? Will it be a giant monster, or some kind of magical weapon?”

Markus held up a Hand at him. “Easy, Discord. First we need a Runway and to my knowledge, the Wonderbolts have one. Could you snap-teleport us to the Wonderbolts HQ?”

Discord snapped his talons and suddenly we were at the Wonderbolts-HQ. He then held out his paw, gesturing Markus to lay his hand on it. He did just that and Discord charged his magic.

With a flash a giant machine appeared on the Runway before us. Markus was about to tell me what to do, when suddenly we heard a familiar voice shout to us.

“What is that?!”

“Hey Rainbow, I’m taking to the skies and this is the machine I will use for it.” Markus explained.

“Oh you’re going to fly? Cool! Can I come too?”

“Sorry, but you’re most likely too slow to keep up and the spare seat is already taken by Twilight.”

“Oh come on! Please let me come! Pleeeeeeeaaaaase! I want to see you fly!” Rainbow Dash begged more and more and as Markus denied once again, she clamped to his body and grabbed tight.

While all of this went down, I examined the machine, Markus has summoned. It had a pointy nose and a long body. At the back, it had a large fin protruding upwards, as well as two small triangular planes that extended to the sides. On the top at the front, there was a cupola made of glass with two seats and some weird machinery underneath. In the middle, to the sides of the body, there were two large, rectangular tubes which stretched down to two circular openings at the back. It also had two large wings attached to the sides of the main body, with large, spindle-shaped objects hanging from them. These objects had sings on them, which depicted a black flame on orange background, as well as an inscription, which read “Napalm”.

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was still clinging to Markus, refusing to let go until he agreed. Finally, Markus sighed:

“Ok, fine, you can come. Discord, I need to make some changes to the plane.”

With that, Discord extended his paw once more and Markus put his hand on it once more. This time, the rear seat of the machine was replaced by two smaller ones arranged side-by-side and some of the machinery inside was missing. Additionally, Markus, Rainbow and I were now wearing some strange suits, which tightly pressed against me and Rainbow Dash, making us feel slightly uncomfortable.

Markus meanwhile walked up to the machine, climbed up to the cupola and opened it.

“To answer your question from earlier, Rainbow: This thing is called a Jet Aircraft. This particular model is called >>Tornado<<, produced by a company called >>Panavia<<.”

Rainbow Dash flew around the >>Tornado<< for a while, before she stuck her head into one of the rectangular openings.

Markus meanwhile looked down at her. “I wouldn’t do that, if I were you. Right now it’s turned off, so nothing will happen. If it was turned on it would suck you into there. Now while Pinkie would probably just be spurted out the back with a spot of flame in her hair and be fine afterwards, you would definitely be turned to shreds and die.”

Rainbow let out a slight squeal, which echoed through the tube, before taking a good distance from the opening.

“Oh, before I forget: Rainbow, could you please tell the Wonderbolts something?”

Markus then proceeded to tell Rainbow the plan, before she went and told the other Wonderbolts what they had to do.

We watched the Wonderbolts take off, while Markus prepared our >>Tornado<<. He then sat into the front seat, telling us to sit down onto the two rear seats. He attached some strange nets to our bellies, which he called >>safety belts<<.

A loud screeching sound became audible, as the machine came to life. Before he closed the cupola he gave us instructions on how to use something called the >>intercom<< through which we could talk to him even if the >>engines<< were too loud. We heard him mumble something about a checklist, before we saw some kind of flaps fidgeting on the edges of the wings. After Markus was done with his checklist, we heard the screeching sound become louder and slowly started to move.

After we rolled over about 3/4^th of the Runway, we took off, climbing higher and higher and steadily increasing in speed. We broke through the upper cloud layers and Markus told us to put on the masks that were dangling from our suits or else we might have difficulties breathing. Rainbow meanwhile was squelching with happiness and looked out through the window. We were slowly approaching the maximum altitude for Pegasi and Alicorns, yet we climbed further and further, until we could see the blue of the sky fade and morph into a more violet shade.

We stopped climbing and Markus said that we were at about ten kilometers, which would be around 66 thousand hooves high. Rainbow Dash and I were in awe. Nopony has ever reached this height before and yet here we were. I looked through the glass panes to my side and saw the world below. I could see Ponyville and Canterlot. I could even see all the way to Appleloosa! Everything looked so small from up there, it was just so beautiful.

Markus then told us to brace ourselves, as the wings angled themselves backwards and we began to rapidly gain speed. I was pressed into the seat and felt my blood try to leave my head, but the tight suit luckily prevented it. The masks provided us with enough air to keep us awake even though the pressure on our lungs was so extreme. I looked outside and saw a cone of vapor form around the wings behind us.

I heard Rainbow gasp for air through the intercom, before she asked for the speed. We both looked at each other, thinking we misheard, as Markus answered, that we’ve just passed the speed of sound and were still speeding up. By the time we stopped accelerating we had more than doubled the speed of sound! Nopony ever went this fast either! This was truly an historic event for us and for all Ponykind! Of course, Rainbow Dash didn’t care about that as she was still busy squealing in joy. It seems that Markus now became the new Daring Do to Rainbow and I’ve got to admit; I can’t even blame her.

We soon approached the Battlefield and Markus went into a dive, passing low over both Armies. He then turned around, which excerted so much force upon me that I already saw my vision fade and I felt myself lose consciousness. He aligned us with the width of the enemy formation and flew towards them. Just before we passed over them again, I heard a clicking sound coming from the wings, followed by a whistling sound behind us.

Markus Maneuvered the Tornado to circle around the battlefield. I looked down onto the enemy formation and what I saw haunts my mind to this day. Six explosions went off just over the enemy lines and then everypony was burning! A few managed to stay unharmed and ran off, but Markus saw them and began to dive towards them. I just heard some rattling coming from the nose and explosions on the ground and as he pulled up again, I didn’t dare to look down. I knew what Markus just did. He told Rainbow Dash a month ago, after all.

I felt sick. I couldn’t think straight for the whole flight back. How could someone go through with such atrocities and stay unaffected by it? We touched down on the Runway of the Wonderbolts HQ and Markus reopened the cupola. Rainbow instantly jumped out. It seemed like she didn’t even see what happened. I envied her a bit. She was completely oblivious to what I saw.

I climbed out of the machine and felt my legs trembling. I had to tell Celestia. It seemed like we were literally playing with fire.

Ch6: RE;habilitation

POV: Markus

“Wonderful!” Discord appeared on one of the Tornado’s wings with a bag of popcorn in his claw. “Truly, you did uphold your part. All that death, all that agony, all that CHAOS! If only the ponies would uphold such goods as much as you do, my life here would be absolutely blissful.”

Discord stashed away his bag of popcorn, before he floated down to me. “So, tell me, what are you going to do now?” He asked me, obviously wanting me to wreak more havoc, however my intentions were different.

“At first, I will try and ease Twilight’s pain a bit.” I looked over to Twilight, who was barely standing, her legs trembling and her left wing wrapped around Rainbow Dash, who had to help her stand.

She collapsed as soon as she left the cockpit and from the horrified looks she gave me and the aircraft, I immediately knew why. Those Ponies are pacifists to the core and apart from the Royal Canterlot Guard, which is the only official armed force in Equestria, wouldn’t even think about killing somepony. While this certainly does not apply to everypony, as even Equestria has crimes such as murder and armed robbery, the figures are actually so low that they wouldn’t even make for side-notes.

“Poor Twilight is reacting just like most of my wingmen did, when they scored their first kills, except that her reaction is actually far more intense. I think I will give her one or two days to calm herself and then try to talk to her. I hope I can help her get over it or else Luna will most likely haunt my dreams again.” I chuckled slightly at Discord, before resuming in my usual matter-of-fact way. “However, this battle wasn’t actually the only thing why I called for you, Discord.”

Discord meanwhile was munching away at his popcorn again, but stopped doing so when I uttered those words. He now stood beside me, bearing a serious face. “Is it about Fluttershy? I know that you’ve been secretly monitoring her over the last month.”

I nodded, then gestured over to Twilight and Rainbow. Luckily Twilight was busy crying and Rainbow tried to soothe her, so neither of them overheard our conversation.

Discord nodded and snapped his paw, which produced an almost completely transparent bubble around us. “There. They won’t be able to hear us now.”

I nodded and started to tell Discord: “At our meeting about a month ago I felt that something about Fluttershy wasn’t right. It almost seemed like she had to find her role again, after the others confronted her with her seemingly out-of-character decision. From that moment on, I occasionally tried to obtain information on her, by either talking to her and reading her reactions or by watching her. However, it wasn’t until I stumbled upon her on one of my hunting sessions, that I noticed, that the Fluttershy I saw almost daily, wasn’t the real one. I saw her go into a cave and followed her. Upon entering the cave however, she strapped over a white frock. Furthermore, I saw a magic glow form around her and she transformed into a Unicorn.”

I looked at Discord, who by now was looking at me with a slight hint of concern. At least I can be sure of his cooperation on this part. Seeing his dear Fluttershy in danger does indeed seem to affect him plenty, even if he doesn’t show it.

“Now what I want to ask you, Discord, is that you keep an eye out for our dear impostor. But please, try to act like you would with Fluttershy, as they most likely are still keeping the real one hostage and alerting them might just make them reconsider that.”

“They? You mean, there are more behind this?”

“Absolutely. That frock seemed to me like it was part of some kind of religious cult and besides that, if she was alone, she wouldn’t need to go to a cave unless she wanted to contact someone without being seen. Sadly I didn’t go into the cave myself, as I was greatly underequipped, carrying only my crudely made hunting bow, which hardly even suffices to kill Rabbits, not to mention Ponies.”

Discord shot me a quick look, but I kept my calm.

“Don’t worry, I will examine this cave more thoroughly the next time I see our wannabe-Fluttershy enter it. In the meantime, I want you to take your task seriously, as I doubt that their intentions are limited to finding new friends.”

Discord nodded in approval, spawning a uniform onto himself and saluting, before he vanished and the bubble broke down.

I went over to Rainbow, who by now managed to calm Twilight down, at least a bit. I knelt beside Twilight, stroking her mane slightly. She twitched, as my fingers started gliding through her hair and she started sobbing again. I tried to calm her, by talking a bit. The success of that however was… debatable.

Back at Ponyville, I figured that two days for Twilight to be for herself would be enough. Luckily she didn’t kick me out, but I decided that limiting our time together would be the best course of action, at least for now. Since neither Twilight, nor our dear impostor made a move, I used those two days to train myself in the use of my personal magic.

You see: During my training with Twilight, I realized that my magic works vastly different from Unicorn- or Alicorn-magic. While they form a connection to this world’s flow of magic with their horns, through which they can then draw magic energy, it seems like my body IS said connection. This means that casting magic is not only easier to learn, but also vastly less straining to me than to a Uni- or Alicorn. However there are drawbacks: Since my body is directly connected to my magic and vice-versa, depriving me of my magic would likely limit my physical abilities, if not outright kill me. Also, spells that would require me to activate the magic in two different locations, like teleportation are out of the question, since I can only use the magic coming from my body and my direct surroundings.

Also, my magic seems to take a sort-of-solid state instead of the usual energetical state of Pony-magic, giving it the appearance of a black mist instead of an aura. This enables me to compress my magic into form, giving it actual physical properties. That’s actually how I got back from the Wonderbolts HQ: I formed a force-field in the shape of a ramp down to Ponyville and just walked.

Two days went by until I found it to be the right time to talk to Twilight and check on her condition. Thus, on the morning of the third day, I waited for Twilight in her kitchen. To pass the time, I decided that making some breakfast for her could already get her at ease when talking to me, which would be essential in my effort to clear things up and show her, that I’m trustworthy.

Soon after I placed the first few Pancakes on the table, a sleepy purple Alicorn walked into the kitchen. I greeted her with the friendliest of smiles I could muster, while she stood at the entrance to the kitchen, with a somewhat startled look on her face.

“Good morning, Twilight.” I said, while swinging he pan around over the stove. Now that I think about it: this situation actually sounds oddly familiar.

Twilight slowly walked towards the table and sat down on one of the chairs. “Good morning.” sounding from her lips, carrying as much enthusiasm, as I did at school on a Monday morning.

I finished the last batch of Pancakes and sat down before her. She didn’t even dare to look at me, instead pretending that the pancakes somehow took her full attention.

“Do you feel better now? I know you were pretty shocked when you climbed out of the plane.” I asked her in the smoothest tone I could muster.

“Y-Yes, I feel better now. Thanks for asking.” Her voice sounded almost like Fluttershy’s, quiet, almost whispered, as if she wanted to avoid me noticing her.

I shifted slightly in my seat, mustering her intently, registering her every move. An awkward silence hung over us, until I spoke again. “You think I’m a monster now, do you?”

Twilight twitched slightly upon hearing this, slowly lowering her ears toward her neck. “N-No, w-why should I? You’ve saved Equestria and—“

I cut her off “You don’t need to lie to me. I doubt that those pancakes are interesting enough for you to keep looking holes into them.” I said this in as much of a calm tone as possible. I wanted to make her feel better, not worse after all.

Twilight tried to look up to me, staring into my eyes. I gave her a slight, friendly smile, but she turned her gaze toward the ground again.

“You know..”, I started, “My squadmates actually had similar reactions to when they got their first kills. Some of them were happy for a job well done, however most of my squad were not prepared for this. They flew in, dropped their bombs and then, upon checking for casualties, they couldn’t comprehend the damage they’ve just caused. Some of them came home, left their aircraft, went to the nearest bush and emptied their stomach into it. Some wouldn’t talk for days, but they all came back to their senses eventually. I want you to know, that I don’t consider killing >>fun<< in any way. It’s a duty, that comes with my profession as a soldier and there’s nothing I can do against it.”

The awkward silence returned and Twilight managed to slowly lift her head, albeit still not looking at me, but instead at the table in front of me.

“How did you react?” Twilight suddenly asked. I have to admit, I was surprised at her question.

“What do you mean?” I inquired.

“Your first… k-kill… How did you react?” Twilight managed a short glimpse at me as she said that, then lowered her head back to look at the table.

“Well…” I hesitated. Not wanting to upset Twilight with my answer, I chose my words very carefully. “I can’t say that I had a reaction such as your own, however I also wasn’t one of those who celebrated their firsts. I would say I was somewhere in between. I was prepared for what I had to do. Long before I first went to the skies, I knew that I one day had to kill. Knowing this all along actually helped me keep myself together when the day came, so I flew in, dropped my bombs, checked for casualties and then flew home. After that, I tried not to think about it as much as possible, taking it as a necessity in my chosen line of duty. I also won’t deny that I felt a good bit of pride toward myself, as I returned from a successful mission.”

The awkward silence returned, only to be ended by a series of quiet sobs. Twilight finally looked at me, her eyes watering. Yet she had a smile on her face. “You are mean…” she uttered. “I know I should hate you, yet… I can’t. I’ve tried to figure it out, but I just couldn’t. I came to like you over the past month, only to see you mercilessly burn those Minotaurs. I’ve tried to bring myself to hate you, but I just can’t.”

I rose from my chair and knelt down beside hers. She slid down her chair and embraced me in a hug. I was slightly taken aback by the sudden gesture, but slowly accepted it. Thinking back, that was actually the first time I got a hug since I got here.

I felt my shoulder slowly drench in Twilight’s tears, as she began to speak again. “I know killing is evil, but I was there during the meeting. I know that it was necessary to protect us.” She chuckled slightly before pulling back a bit and looking me in the eyes. ”The true reason why you burned them is because… You wanted to fend off the larger Minotaur Army without needing to fight them, right? So, that makes it a good deed, right?”

Twilight started sobbing again and I gave her a smile, before pulling her back into a hug. I was glad, that she understood my intentions. Yet…

“Oh Twilight…” I slowly shook my head “You have to stop seeing everything just black and white. >>Good<< and >>Evil<< are just subjective terms, nothing more. In reality, the world just consists of individuals, their goals and the steps they are willing to take in order to reach them. There is no natural >>Good<< or >>Evil<< to separate them. And I can tell you…”, I rose my head, until I spoke directly into her ear, “I am here, my goal is to protect you, the elements and all of Equestria and I’m willing to take any steps necessary to do so.”

Twilight’s sobbing subsided as soon as I spoke those words. After a while of just kneeling there, hugging her, I felt her head move, before she gave me a peck on the cheek.

I immediately recoiled as I felt my face turn bright red and my usual calm vanish.

“Did she just kiss me? I mean, yes she did, but... oh what to do?! I mean, I have just about as much romantic experience as the carrots in Carrottop's garden the rocks in the Rockfields.”

Twilight looked at me and started to giggle. She looked at the clock and started to pace out of the kitchen. Before she left, she turned to me one last time.

“Oh, and thanks for the breakfast. It really helped me to get things sorted out.”

And with that, Twilight was gone, leaving me and my 28 year-old virgin mind in shambles, trying to figure out, what the f----------art just happened…

Author's Notes:

Yes, I know, That Romance-part is a bit rushed. I don't really know why actually. Maybe it's because I myself don't really have any romantic experience? well, who knows.

Ch7: Crashing the Mask

POV: Rainbow Dash

It’s been three days since Markus beat the crap out of those Minotaurs. I wanted to go see Twilight since she didn’t take it all too well, when I saw Markus exit the library with a bow in his hands. I flew down to him and asked him what he was doing.

“Oh, I’m going hunting. It has been a while since I went into the Everfree and I desperately need some meat after what happened during the last few days.”

“Cool, can I come too?” I blurted without thinking about it. Markus raised an eyebrow at me, probably being as surprised as I was. Still, just coming along didn’t sound like a bad idea. I mean I knew that he was going to kill animals, but I’m not Fluttershy. I can handle a little blood!

“Sure, I guess? But promise me to stay low, okay? I don’t want you to scare my prey.”

We walked into the everfree - and yes, WALKED, Markus said I couldn’t fly, ‘cause it would catch too much attention. Speaking of attention; one thing that struck me as odd on Markus was that every time I’ve seen him so far, he had at least his knife hanging around his belt, yet today it wasn’t there. I asked him about it and he said that he never took it to a hunt because it was making noise when he was sneaking.

We roamed around for a while until I got bored, so I started asking questions.

“Say, how’s Twilight? Is she alright again?”

“Yes, I talked to her this morning and we managed to set things straight again.” He smiled and stroked his cheek. I don’t know why, but it struck me as odd.

We didn’t find any animals for quite a while. Markus said that this was actually quite normal and that we would find something eventually.

What we did find though, was Fluttershy. Markus and I saw her walking through the Forest on her own and he opted to follow her. We did so for a while, until Markus suddenly pulled me into a bush and clenched my muzzle shut. He then let me look over the bush beside him, hovering a finger before his mouth. I looked over to Fluttershy and saw her enter a cave.

We sat there for a few more seconds until Markus and I followed her. Markus didn’t say a single word during all this and I decided to do likewise. We followed her deep into the cave to a large area in which a good dozen of Ponies in white robes were roaming about and many more were inside some rooms which were dug into the walls. Fluttershy now put on a white robe too and headed straight for somepony that looked like a leader of some sorts.

We too went into there and hid behind some pointy rocks that came from the ground. I think Twilight once told me what they were called, but it doesn’t matter, right?

We watched Fluttershy talking to that other Pony for a while, when suddenly she was engulfed in some kind of magic. I couldn’t believe my eyes, as I saw my childhood friend become a Unicorn! We snuck closer, to hear what they were saying.

“Thanks for your report, Miss Sugarcoat. Your information on the Elements will surely come in handy.” The other Pony, a Stallion with a brown coat, turned around and walked away from the Unicorn mare we were following.

“I thank you, my master. Should I keep monitoring them?” The Unicorn answered. She had a bright yellow coat and an almost white mane which was dangling into her face.

“Yes, please do. We cannot allow them to notice the absence of their friend just yet.” The brown Stallion told her.

“Of course, master. Is she still keeping silent? If you would allow me to torture her a bit…”

I saw red when she said that. I dashed from our hiding spot directly towards her, my front hooves aimed for her face. I heard Markus call out behind me, but I couldn’t hear what he said, because something hit me and I fell unconscious.

“Rainbow? Rainbow! Are you ok?” I heard Fluttershy whisper next to me, as I slowly regained consciousness. I looked around me. I was in a room with two rows of metal bars going from the only door all the way to the back wall. From each of those two main rows there were two more rows of bars going to one of the side walls. I looked further around and saw Fluttershy in the cell next to mine. I wanted to walk over, but my legs were Hogtied and my wings bound against my back.

“Fluttershy!” I exclaimed. “Wait, are you the real one this time?”

“The real one? B-But Rainbow, it’s me, Flu—“ Fluttershy said, but I interrupted her.

“How did you get your Cutie Mark?!” I yelled at her. I had to know if she was the real one before I would talk to her.

“R-Rainbow, p-please don’t yell…” Fluttershy dug her head into her hooves, which were not hogtied, contrary to mine…

“ANSWER!” I yelled again.

“F-Fine. So, um, you had this race against those colts who bullied me and you accidentally kicked me off the cloud when you started and I fell down. I was caught by some Butterflies which were flying down there so I wasn’t h-hurt. But then you made that Sonic Rainboom and scared the animals. I felt sorry for them, so I calmed them down and got my Cutie Mark…” Fluttershy whispered through the bars.

I sighed in relief. That was the real Fluttershy.

“So, um, Rainbow, what’s that creature that was brought here with you?”

My eyes narrowed. I had completely forgotten about Markus. I looked to the wall where Fluttershy pointed at and was relieved to see him leaning against it.

“Markus! Thank Celestia, you are okay.” I shouted to him. He turned his head to me, then looked up to his Hands which were clamped to the wall.

“Well, >>ok<< certainly is one way to put it. I must say though, I’d rather have my hands not clutched to a wall. Feeling the blood run down out of my arms is actually not all too comfortable.” He said, as if he was rating a hotel room.

These clamps on the wall were usually used to keep a Pony standing and in control at the same time. However Markus stood two Ponies tall. Because of that the contraption that would have a Pony stand on its hind legs was actually mounted barely high enough for Markus to sit under it with his Hands held upwards.

“Rainbow? Do you know him?” Fluttershy asked me as if she’d never seen him before.

“What are you talking about? He’s been here for a month now, you were there when we found him!”

“No, she wasn’t.” Markus said, “By that time she was already replaced by that Unicorn we saw outside. I have to admit I’m glad about this, as it means that, if my being here is related to them in any way, it’s not that they’re here because I got transported here, but rather the other way around.”

I looked at Fluttershy in disbelief. “Wait, does this mean you’ve been here for one whole month already?!” Fluttershy nodded slowly and I felt rage fill my head again, but this time at myself because I didn’t notice that my friend Fluttershy was replaced by someone else and kidnapped.

Suddenly the door swung open and that Unicorn that was posing as Fluttershy entered the room. She went straight for Markus and didn’t even bother to look at me.

“Say, what are you? I’ve never seen something like you before.” She said while she stood before Markus’s cell.

Markus looked at her for a while, before he answered.

“It doesn’t surprise that you’ve never happened upon my race before, seeing how you live under the earth like this. I’m a human. If I remember correctly, your name was Sugarcoat, wasn’t it? Say, what’s the name of this cult you have here? And more importantly: what do you worship?”

>>Sugarcoat<< chuckled and rose her head. “We are the Bloodmoon cult. Never heard of us? Thought so. Nopony knows us. We keep in the shadows, recruit those who are worthy and never show ourselves to anyone who is not part of our plans.”

“So that means I’m part of your plan now, am I?” Markus smirked and looked at Sugarcoat. An evil grin slid over her face, as she opened the cell door and slowly paced closer to him.

“No… We’ve just decided that keeping you for now is better than setting you free again. But don’t worry: we won’t harm you… all too bad.” She turned around and bucked Markus straight to the face. I wanted to fly up to her and give her a taste of my hooves, but those ties were too tight for me to move at all.

She started to laugh and left his cell, closing it behind her.

“I’ll have to go now. But don’t worry: we will meet again.” With that, she left the room and I heard Markus mutter:

“Indeed we will. And it might be sooner than you’d wish for…”

He folded his legs together and slanted his upper body against the wall. He then propelled himself upward and hooked his left foot against the clutches. He rose his right foot up to his hands and pulled on his pants, revealing his knife attached around his heels. He unsheathed it and started fiddling with the clamps.

I tried to wiggle myself out of my ties, but it was no use. I kept trying anyways, until I heard a metallic pinging from the ground in Markus’s cell, followed by metallic screeching. I looked at him and saw that he had managed to free one of his arms and was now trying to break the lock that was holding his other arm.

After what seemed like an hour of work the lock finally gave in and broke open with a crack. Markus pulled his other hand out of the clutches and approached the door. He opened his uniform jacket and took two pieces of metal from it, which he stuck into the lock of the cell door.

After a short series of clicks and scratches, his cell door opened and he began to work on our cells. He cut open my ties and I couldn’t help but hug him the instant I was free again. I was just too relieved that he was okay and didn’t hate me, even after the situation I brought us into. Hey, even I can be soft sometimes!

Markus placed himself toward the door, pressing his ear onto it and listening outside. He then opened one of the pockets in his jacket and produced two hand-shaped objects from it, which he pulled over his own hands.

“All right, this is how we will do this: I will open a path for you two. Rainbow, you keep Fluttershy safe. Stay behind me and watch our backs. If I miss anyone try to handle it if you can. If you can’t then yell for help, I will protect you as good as possible.” He readied himself, gripping his knife tighter, but hesitated for a moment. He looked back at Fluttershy, who was cowering behind me. “Though, I think I should opt for non-lethal takedowns given the personality of our dear Fluttershy here.”

He sheathed his knife and looked down to me. I nodded at him and he rammed the door open. I followed close as he started running through the caverns. We actually managed to run for a good bit without getting noticed, but then a guard saw us and sounded the alarm. Markus rounded a corner and we followed shortly after. That’s when I saw him going up against a thousand guards! Well, ok, maybe not a thousand, but ten at least!

It seemed like he was dancing, as he brought down one after another with well-aimed punches and kicks. It. Was. AWESOME! Soon we were back in that large room again, but something was odd. There was a large red circle on the ground with something that looked like a star, made from the same red stuff, inside. Beside the circle were Ponies just lying on the ground and not moving. In the middle of the circle stood that brown stallion and this Sugarcoat bitch. The stallion was mumbling something and the unicorn lit her horn. Suddenly EVERYTHING was so bright that I couldn’t see anymore. Markus grabbed me and Fluttershy and placed himself before us.

When the light was gone, I looked to where those two were standing and just barely caught a glimpse of them moving through something that looked like a portal, before said portal closed behind them. Markus stood up again and we continued to the exit. At least we wanted to, but suddenly we found ourselves cornered against a wall by A LOT of those robe-wearing mother-buckers.

Markus looked around at the mass of Ponies, then looked down to Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy…” He grabbed the hilt of his knife, “It seems, non-lethal has become impossible without risking getting ourselves hurt.”

Fluttershy whimped, but then looked up at Markus and nodded at him. Markus fully unsheathed his knife and stood ready to fight. I made myself ready too and waited for Markus to give me a sign or something.

He darted into the crowd, taking down two Ponies –or maybe I should call them cultists? Anyways; he took down one cultist after another, evading their attacks, while stabbing and slicing them and never letting anyone come even close to us. I only had to help one or two times when Pegasi-cultists tried to take him from above. I darted towards them and brought them down with a single blast of my hooves.

We kept slowly making our way to the exit, until Markus managed to break through their lines and we started running as fast as we could. We exited the cave and ran for a good bit into the Everfree, until we were sure that cultists had lost track of us.

We rested for a bit and drew our breaths. Markus then stood beside me and started stroking my mane.

“You did well in there, Rainbow. Especially considering that you lack combat experience.” He smiled at me. I started to blush and turned my head away from him. I suddenly felt this tickling sensation in my belly… I mean, I like him really much, but… I mean he’s a really good friend, yeah, a very good friend, nothing more… right?

A-Anyways, when we calmed ourselves, we went back to the Library and told Twilight everything from the false Fluttershy to this Cult.

“I’m sorry, but I’ve never heard of a cult called >>Bloodmoon<<.” She sat there a while in silence and looked at us. “However, I don’t claim to know everything. Maybe the Princesses know something? I guess I should write them a letter.”

Suddenly Spike entered the room, with a letter from Princess Celestia…

Author's Notes:

If anyone's wondering, how Markus freed himself: He used the knife to take the pin out of the hinge of one of the braces (the metallic pinging on the ground). Then he bent the metal in order to get his hand out.

The next chapter will be a Christmas-special, to be released on the evening of the 24th (CET)
It won't be a main-story chapter, but rather a collection of smaller stories and ideas that didn't quite make it. Stay tuned

Christmas Special: Markus's Ponyville Shenanigans

Merry Christmas to all of you! Here is my gift to you: a collection of short stories around Markus and his interactions with Ponyville and its residents. Enjoy! :3

Party Aftermath - Markus

It was the morning after my welcome-party. I woke up, got out of bed, slipped into my boots, turned around and almost froze in place. I looked over to Twilight's bed. It was empty.

I looked back to mine: A certain purple Alicorn slept neatly curled into my bedsheets. Before you all accuse me of fornication or something, let me tell you that she wasn't there when I went to sleep last night! And yes, I know for certain, since I brought her to bed myself after she got herself drunk. I meanwhile was the only one at the Party who didn't even touch alcohol. I don't like that stuff, never had any and I don't plan on ever changing that.

Anyways, back to the topic: She must have climbed out of bed during the night and then crawled into mine. I could make speculations about why she did this, but I'll leave this to those, who want something along that line to happen. I for my part think that, while Luna almost coupled me with Twilight for a night just to see my reaction, Celestia wouldn't be very amused to hear that her most faithful student and I spent a night in the same bed, after we've just met eachother.

I carefully picked her from my bed and concentrated hard on not waking her up. Though... did I mention that military boots aren't really what one would call >>silent<<?

She ruffled herself in my arms and slowly opened her eyes. "Good morning Markus..." she said, her sleepiness clearly audible in her voice. "I tried to do some research on your anatomy, but fell asleep in the process..."

I've got to say: if it wasn't for the fact that what she said was pretty alarming... the way she said it with all the sleepiness in her voice actually made her sound absolutely adorable.

"... may I continue my research?" she reached a hoof toward my belly and, as she reached it, worked her way upward, feeling different parts of my abdomen and my ribcache. I meanwhile was getting very uncomfortable. Not only was it that I was being touched by a female in a - admittedly - pretty seductive way... but did I mention that I'm also pretty ticklish?

I paced towards Twilight's bed, while trying to hold my laughter as good as possible. I could have dropped her right then and there, but I knew that the shock from the impact and thus her full awakening would only make things more awkward...

I finally reached her bed and set her down. She was still in her half asleep state as I put her into her covers. However, as I pulled away from her, she actually tried to crawl after me.

"No... not done yet.. need to do reseawuwuwuwu..." The last few syllables were muffled as she mangled herself in her bedsheet. I lifted her into the right position once again and started to stroke her mane.

"It's ok Twilight, sleep now." I said in an almost hushed, calm voice.

"But the research is waiting for me..." Twilight answered as her eyes slowly began to close again.

"Yes, but won't it be mad if you aren't fully awake when you do it? It's better you sleep first." I calmly told her and smiled.

"Ok..." with that, she fell asleep. I slowly lifted myself from her bed and stood beside it. I smiled at myself as I watched her ruffle in her sleep, mumbling something. She was just so adorable.

I turned around and walked towards the stairs, then stopped and spoke to no one in particular:
"Luna, is that your doing again? This is getting old pretty quickly, you know?"
Nothing happened. No fading, no void, no speck, no Luna. I pinched myself in the arm and found that I was indeed awake.
That was when it dawned on me: Twilight was working her way UPwards... and she stated that she was already >>conducting research<< earlier that night. Did that mean, that I had a pony fondle my balls while I was asleep?
I promptly decided that I would NOT pursue this thought any further and turned back to get my stuff, which was on the other side of my bed. I rounded the bed and nearly got a heart attack. There, beside my bed were the rest of the main 6, curled into a ball and sleeping. At this point, I was actually closer to panicking than during my whole military career...

---

School Projects - Markus

Somedays, after we had our cultural exchange-sessions, Twilight and I strolled through the streets of Ponyville to get some fresh air after all those hours of sharing knowledge. It was on one of those strolls that we suddenly found ourselves surrounded by three certain fillies.

"Yo, crusaders, what's up?"

The crusaders lined up in front of me and started speaking one after another.

"Well, ya see, miss Cheerilee wants us to present a special thang to the class and explain what's special 'bout it." Applebloom started

"And you are the most special thing we know, so we instantly thought about you!" Scootaloo continued

"So, would you please come to school with us?" Sweetie Belle continued, before they all sounded in unison. "Pleeeeease?"

Twilight and I looked at eachother and then looked back at the fillies. Keep in mind: I was standing there in full mount, with Helmet, Gun, 'nade and vest.

Twilight approached the fillies. "Wait a moment crusaders. Do you really think this is a good idea? I mean, you can't just pull him th--"

"Sure, why not?" I said, earning me a surprised look by Twilight and a tinnitus from three happy fillie's screams. Thus, we went to the shool building. Inside, the crusaders told me to wait in the hallway, while they entered the classroom together with Twilight.

I listened while the others presented their objects. There were a few who presented their heirlooms, one actually presented a piece of coltan, a rare earth, which contains the metals tantalum and niobium (formerly called Columbium, COLumbium + TANtalum => Coltan). She actually got most of what she said about it right. The only things that bothered me were that she didn't mention the composition of the rock. Well, and that she didn't name it correctly. She called it a green gem, which was far from the truth. Though now that I think about it: no one, not even Twilight corrected her. Maybe their knowledge about natural resources and chemical elements is even less developed than i'd thought? Either that or they simply didn't need tantalum up until now, which would be the more likely reason.

Anyways, soon the Crusaders were up and they called for me. I entered the room and immediately caused a loud collective gasp from the class.

I stood before them with a smile and looked at the crusaders, who were sitting there and looking at me. We stared at eachother for a while, before I spoke up:
"What? do you want me to hold your presentation? Ohohohoho, no. That's your presentation, fillies. I'm just here as your object of choice."

The three fillies looked at eachother for a moment. "Yeah, but , ah mean, we thought you could tell us all a bit about yourself so we can build some mutual understanding or somethang like that..." Applebloom then finally said.

"This is not how this works fillies. You have to do your projects on your own. Tell you what: you say everything you know about me and for everything you got right, i will give you one bit, for everything wrong you lose one. I know Twilight has been secretly telling you about me during your little meetings in the library." Side-note: I shouldn't have made that bet. Twilight actually told them more than I'd anticipated. In fact, the only thing they got wrong was that they described my rifle as a blunt melee weapon.

The fillies looked at eachother for a moment before they began rattling down everything they knew about me. I must say, even though it cost me all my pocket money for the day, it was fun seeing those three display all their knowledge about something no one else (apart from me and Twilight) knew about. That is, until they ended their presentation, Diamond Tiara apparently caught interest in my stuff and started being annoying.
Here is a short transcription of the ensuing conversation:

Tiara: *points at the holster to my side* "Hey, what's in that bag?"

Me: "Oh that's my pistol." *pulls pistol from holster and holds it up* "It's a secondary weapon, in case i can't use my rifle for whatever reason."

Tiara: "Can I have it?"

Me: "No."

Tiara: "Can I hold it?"

Me: "No."

Tiara: "Would you sell it?"

Me: "No."

Tiara: "Really? You know, my father --"

Me: "Can't afford it. Next question."

Tiara: *jaw hits desk*

Random colt: "What's this ball-thingy on your vest?"

Scootaloo: "It's called a hand grenade. It--"

Tiara: "Oooh, can we play with it?"

Me: "Do you want to explode?"

Tiara: "Pff, as if that would happen."

Me: *looks at Scootaloo*

Scootaloo: *looks at me, then at Tiara* "Believe me, it would. We got a first-hoof demonstration..."

Tiara: *Opens mouth again*

Me: "Listen up, kiddo: I am a soldier. This means, that everything I've got here is meant for one of two things: A: protect me. B: Kill somepony else. None of those objects is in any way meant to be handled by foals like you, so keep your hooves off them."

With that, she finally shut her mouth for good. Scootaloo looked at me.

"Hey, can you tell us some stories? I'm sure you can tell us some pretty awesome things about your time in your world."

"I'm sorry, but no. Most of my life has been pretty boring and the stories that would be interesting are war stories. I don't think I should tell you about how we fought our wars over there. It's really not something that little fillies like you should hear about..."

A collective "awwww" sounded through the classroom, before Scootaloo spoke up at me again.

"Aw, really? It's always the same with you grown ups! >>I'm sorry, but you are too young. I'm sorry, but you have to grow up first.<<! Why is it that you have to be adult for all the awesome stuff?!"

I looked at her, then at the class, then at her again. "Hey, being a foal doesn't mean not being awesome. You can be awesome, even if you're not grown up just yet." I looked around again. "Tell you what: I think I actually HAVE a story for you."

Suddenly the whole class, including Cheerilee and Twilight, formed up before me, their ears perked and their eyes wide-open.

"Oh lord... ok: Once I was stationed in a small village in a more ore less calm region. Since we rarely had trouble there, we went out to play with the children whenever we didn't have something else to do. Then, one day I was on patrol, when suddenly I was pulled into an alleyway and found myself at gunpoint by one of our enemies. I already saw myself digging trenches in forced labour, when suddenly a ball hit that b----- eh that guy straight to his face. I quickly jumped up and knocked him out. When I looked around, I saw one of the boys - the human equivalent of colts -, we were always playing with, standing behind me and smiling. That boy might just have saved my life that day. So you see: even the very youngest can do great deeds."

A loud "Ooooooh" sounded through the class before me and I smiled at them in satisfaction. Of course, in reality the situation was a bit more complex, but telling them that the boy was immediately gunned down by another terrorist would have defeated my point, wouldn't it?

---

Beginner's Guide to Dungeoncrawling - Markus

I asked Rarity if she could make me some civillian clothes for my every-day use and she agreed. Luckily for me, when it came to the payment, she actually stayed true to her element and simply asked that I would help her once she needed me.

That situation came, when Spike once caught a cold and Rarity needed to get some gems from the gem cave. Me, being the only one other than Spike that can hold a basket in his claws / hands plus being stronger and bigger than Spike made me ideal for the job.

Thus, we went to the caves. For safety reasons, I wore both my helmet and my vest, while Rarity only wore her helmet with flashlight. We went deep into the cave until Rarity started digging away at the sides. She found quite a load of gems hidden in the walls and levitated them over to my basket. This repeated for a good while, until she began digging away at a certain point in the ground. I could barely get a glimpse at what she was doing, when the ground gave in and we went with it.

I stood back up again and dusted myself off, then turned to look after Rarity, who luckily was unhurt. "Rarity, please don't just dig at the ground like that. You might get yourself killed by doing this." I looked around. We fell about one cave deep, which would be three meters in this case. Sadly the rubble didn't stack high enough for us to climb back up again.

Rarity meanwhile got back to her feet, too and apologized to me.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Darling. Just... how did this happen? I'm sure I was digging into rock and not into sand..."

"It's called mica. While one could call it a rock, it's actually just a loose assembly of a few thin layers of minerals. One of it's most apparent attributes is that it's very brittle."

Rarity looked up at the hole in the ceiling and tried to climb up the wall, but I pulled her back down.

"Excuse me?! what are you doing?" she exclaimed, but I just answered:

"Dear Rarity, if simple digging made this happen, what do you think will happen if you try to climb back up again?"

She looked back at the ceiling, then at me again. "Well, what do you suppose we should do? We can't just walk blindly through the caves! we will just get lost!"

I smiled at her. "Oh, we won't. Now watch closely:" I closed my eyes in order to sharpen my senses. I felt the stream of fresh air and looked in the direction it came from. "That way." I said and we started moving. Not for long however, as I saw small pieces of rock fall from the ceiling and I was barely able to stop Rarity, before another cave-in happened right in front of us.

"You know: Sometimes the world likes to fuck me so hard, I wonder how I'm still a virgin."

An thus, we had to go the other way. Needless to say: by that time, I was pretty mad.

We walked for a good while, before we heard voices in the distance. We picked up our pace and started running towards the source of the sound. We found ourselves in what looked like a mineshaft and before us there was a dog-like entity scratching away at the walls - a diamond dog. He turned around at us and spoke.

"Ah, you not supposed to be here. You trespassers, now prisoners hehehe."

"Nope, we are not."

"Oh yes, you are. *slurps nose* Me bring you to king and get reward, hehehehehe"

"Oh no, you won't."

"Oh yes, I--"

"Listen up, fuckward: Your king can go fuck himself if you ask me. I just want to get out of this terrestial intestine and you are going to show us the way. Understood?!"

"My, Darling, such profanities!"

"Yes, such profanities indeed. The only thing more profane than my mouth is my fist and this shit-eater is about to end up on the other side of it."

The dog whimped and quickly agreed to show us the way to the exit. I breathed in the nice, fresh air and indulged in the nice warmth of the sun's rays. Needless to say, I won't be heading into a cave again all too soon.

---

Musical Markus - Twilight

On mutliple occasions during the time we spent together, I came to notice Markus's affinity for music. The first time was when I wanted to go buy a new bookshelf for the library. We went into the store and started looking around, when I heard Markus exclaim:

"Oh, a Piano!"

I paid it no heed, until I heard a truly wonderful melody coming from his direction. I looked around and there he was, tapping away at the keys, producing a simple, yet elegant and charming tune. At that moment I decided, that I should prepare him some musical opportunities, in order to study his world's musical culture. I went closer to him and as he was done asked him , where he learned to play.

"Oh, you know, during my childhood I actually learned to play a whole bunch of instruments. From Fanfare to the Lyra, I've actually played almost everything. You could say, I'm a Jack of all Trades, although my specialty is the Piano."

I looked around in the store and saw a Guitar hangin on the wall. I asked him if he would like to have a Guitar and play me a song on it. He smiled upon this and said that he'd like to. So, I bought him that Guitar and looked forward to the next opprtunity to hear him play.

This opportunity arose, when Rainbow, the Crusaders, Rarity, Markus and I went on a camping trip together. We sat around the campfire and told stories to eachother, when Markus pulled his guitar from his tent and started playing a melancholic tune. It sounded soothing and truly fitting for sitting around a campfire. I asked him if the song had Lyrics.

"Well yes, it does, but they're in my country's language. Also they're not exactly what one would sing around a campfire." Markus said.

"Oh, don't worry about that. We don't need a campfire song, we just want to hear you sing." I said and the others quickly agreed. Markus sighed and agreed too, so I cast a translation spell and he began:

"Einsam im Walde blüht wohl ein Blümlein rot, (Alone out in the forest there blooms a little red flower)
Bald, allzubald bin ich tot, (Soon, all too soon I'll be dead)
Bald, allzubalde (Soon, all too soon)

Fleugt wo ein Stückchen Blei, nimmt mir mein Sorgen (Somewhere there flies a piece of lead, takes all my sorrows)
Mir ist halt einerlei: heut' oder morgen (I don't care if today or tomorrow)

Weit, wo das Tal hinab graben drei Spaten, (Far down the valley, three spades are digging)
Graben ein Kühles Grab für ein Soldaten (digging a cool grave for a soldier)

Drüben im Dämmerschein, allwo im Städtchen (Off beneath the twilight, somewhere in a town)
Weint wo im Kämmerlein irgendein Mädchen (a girl cries in a room)

Blüht wohl ein Blümlein rot einsam im Walde, (a little red flower blooms out in the forest)
Balde, gar bald bin ich tot, (soon, all too soon I'm dead)
Bald, allzubalde" (soon, all too soon)

I felt my eyes water from this song and saw that the others did too. I didn't anticipate a song this calming to be about something this sad. Markus however saw that we were close to crying and quickly opened up with another, very cheerful melody:

"Blumen im Garten, so zwanzig Arten (flowers in the garden; around twenty kinds...)
Von Rosen, Tulpen und Narzissen (of Roses, Tulips and daffodils)
Leisten sich heute die kleinsten Leute (the smallest people buy these days)
Das will ich alles gar nicht wissen (I don't want to know about any of this)

Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus (My little, green cactus)
Steht draußen am Balkon (stands outside on the balcony)
Hollari, hollari, hollaro
Was brauch' ich rote Rosen? (Why should I need red roses?)
Was brauch' ich roten Mohn? (Why should I need red poppy?)
Hollari, hollari, hollaro

Und wenn ein Bösewicht (and when a villain)
Was Ungezogenes spricht (says something naughty)
Dann hol' ich meinen Kaktus (Then I'll get my catus)
Und der sticht, sticht, sticht (and it stings, stings, stings)
Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus (My little green cactus)
Steht draußen am Balkon (stands outside on the balcony)
Hollari, hollari, hollaro

...

Heute um viere (today at four [o' clock])
Klopft's an die Türe (it knocks at the door)
Nanu, Besuch so früh am Tage? (Huh, visitation this early in the day?)
Es war Herr Krause (It was mr. Krause)
Vom Nachbarhause (from the neighbor's house)
Er sagt: „Verzeihen Sie, wenn ich frage: (He said "Excuse me when I ask:)
Sie haben doch einen Kaktus (Do you have a cactus)
Auf ihrem kleinen Balkon? (out there on the balcony?)
Hollari, hollari, hollaro
Der fiel soeben runter (it fell down just now)
Was halten Sie davon? (What do you think of that?)
Hollari, hollari, hollaro
Er fiel mir aufs Gesicht (It fell into my face)
Ob S's glauben oder nicht (believe it or not)
Dann weiß ich, dass ihr kleiner grüner Kaktus sticht (Now I know that your cactus stings)
Bewahren Sie Ihren Kaktus (keep your cactus)
Gefälligst anderswo (somewhere else!)
Hollari, hollari, hollaro“

Our tears from the first song soon subsided from the comedical nature of the second one and as Markus finished, we all had a good laugh together.

---

Nightmare Moon?! - Rainbow Dash

It was a pretty chill day. I finished all my weatherpatrol duties very early, so I had enough time for a looong nap. I took a comfy cloud and went to sleep on it. At least I wanted to, but I suddenly heard a loud scream.

I quickly flew down to see what was going on and saw a scared mare run from the everfree forest. I dashed to her and asked what was going on.

"I-I saw N-Nightmare Moon! I wanted to go to Zecora get some medicine, when I heard rustling in the bushes. I turned to see what it was, when I saw nightmare moon look at me. She demanded I shall submit myself to her or she will bring darkness over my dreams! I ran back to ponyville in fear after that."

Nightmare Moon was back? but that couldn't be! Luna visited me in a dream just the other day and she looked pretty normal. I decided that I had to see for myself, so I went into the everfree.

For a while nothing happened, but then I heard a rustle next to me. I turned to face it and there she was. Nightmare Moon, looking out from a bush.

"Aaah, Rainbow Dash, one of those who transformed me back into my weak old self."

I felt my legs shiver, but I held my ground, as she continued.

"I have a very special use for you, my dear Rainbow Dash. You and your friends shall become my personal servants! Now bow before me!"

I took all my courage and dashed for her, knocking her down. I looked at her and noticed, that her body wasn't that of a pony at all. Instead I saw a very familiar colour pattern.

"Wait, Markus? What are you doing here?"

Markus swiped his arm over his head, which transformed it back to normal.

"Ah, geez, you got me, Rainbow." He smiled at me. "You know, I found out that I can compress my Magic into form around my body. I tried around a bit and actually managed to mimic different heads. When I found out I could do that I couldn't help but have a little fun."

I looked at him, then looked back at the road. After a moment of silence I burst into laughter. This was exactly my kind of fun.

"Hey, can you do other faces than just Nightmare Moon?" I asked him.

He nodded and swiped his hand over his face again. His head now looked like Rarity's.
"Oh, Rainbow, Darling. Your Mane just looks plainly awful! You should really try to clean it more often."

I looked at my mane and found a few sticks and leaves hanging from it. I giggled and looked back at Markus. He swiped his face again, now showing Pinkie's head.

"Cupcakescupcakescupcakescupcakescupcakescupcakescupcakes, I looooooooove CUPCAKES!"

I started laughing and before I could regain myself, he transformed into Spitfire.

"Listen here caded Crash: There's only three ways of getting better: training, hard work and MUFFINS!"

I laughed even harder, almost choking from it. Markus then joined me.
After we both calmed down, we looked at eachother with a smirk on our faces. We both knew, we would have a LOT of fun with this...

Author's Notes:

christmas special done. yay. Now for something less pleasing: I won't be able to upload any new chapters for a few days now, 'cuz my cousins will be visiting over the holidays. Don't worry, next chapter will be up as soon as I have time again.

As for the songs Markus played:
I imagined him playing Bach's Praeludium I on the piano at first
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdYqFeKW5Mg)

The first song with Lyrics is called "Bald, allzubalde" and was written by Ernst Brockmann on the 20th of May 1916 in the trenches near Verdun. The Author died only about 18 days after the piece was finished, on the 7th of June.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVkCYw5CK-c)

The second song is called "Mein kleiner grüner Kaktus" by the Comedian Harmonists written in 1990.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyqzJTNcygE)

Also fun fact: this special is the longest chapter up until now.

Ch8: Security Studies

Author's Notes:

He's back *dun dun* The maaan behiiind the mask!
well, not quite yet, but I will try and get back to the old schedule as soon as possible.

------------------------------Severe Spoiler Warning!------------------------------

Also: It's better to get a helmet before reading this chapter. Why? Because This chapter contains a literal kick to the face for all Shining Armor fans.

POV: Twilight

Markus darted upstairs and I followed, while Rainbow stayed downstairs to soothe Fluttershy. He rummaged through his things again and put on his Vest, Helmet and those things he called >>Gloves<<.

“Markus, do you really need all this? We are just going to the Royal Palace, not to the Changeling Lands.” I smiled at him, but he didn’t even turn around.

“I may have been called to Canterlot, but seeing how that went last time, I would say this is equal to a call to arms.” He dug deeper into his bag and produced a red pouch with a white cross from it. He attached said pouch to his belt and did to the same with his knife, which was strangely attached to his heel. He also took another pouch from the bag, which he said contains his >>pistol<< and hefted it to his side. Then he finally took his Rifle, which leaned against the wall beside his bed.

“Are you two ready yet? The train’s going in twenty minutes! We need to hurry and get to the station. NOW!” We heard a voice call from downstairs.

“While we indeed need to get moving, I’m sad to tell you that you aren’t coming with us, Rainbow.” Markus said, as we both went downstairs, where Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were already waiting at the door.

“What?! WHY?!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

Markus looked outside through a window. “Because My soldier-sense is going off right this moment and I certainly won’t put Fluttershy in danger after we’ve just saved her.”

He went upstairs again. When he came back down, he had his spare Bow and a few arrows in his hands.

“At the same time though, I don’t think that they will take her successful escape all too well and might come after her again, so I need someone – or somepony – to guard her.” He looked down at Rainbow Dash and smiled. He then held his Bow and arrows towards her.

Rainbow Dash looked at the Bow, then at Markus and a wide grin slid over her face. She eagerly took both Bow and arrows and slid them over her shoulders. She then raised a hoof to her head and saluted.

“I won’t disappoint you, Markus.”

“I know you won’t. Now dismissed, Soldier!” Rainbow and Fluttershy both went out the door and towards Fluttershy’s cabin, while Markus and I headed for the station.

During the time we were waiting for the train to arrive, I found myself curious yet again.

“Say, Markus, what’s this soldier-sense you were talking about?”

Markus looked down at me with a friendly smile. “It’s some sort of a sixth sense, which I obtained through my experience in the military. Basically it’s my ability to quickly judge a situation without needing to think about it.”

The train arrived and we took off to Canterlot. Markus slept during the whole train ride. Righteously so, as he probably needed some rest after the little adventure they had.

In Canterlot we were greeted by a whole guard company, which was to escort us to the Royal Palace. Markus and I shared a surprised look, but shrugged it off as intense safety measures, indicating that Markus was right again. Little did we know…

We arrived at the Throne room and saw Celestia sitting on her Throne, as well as Shining Armor standing beside her. We both kneeled down before her.

“We have heeded your call, your Highness. What is it that you wish of us?” Markus said, while bowing deep.

“Indeed, you have…” Celestia said. Suddenly I was pulled aside by Celestia’s magic and a horde of Guards streamed into the room. They formed up around Markus and pointed their spears directly at him.

Markus stood up and looked around at the guards, before calmly looking at Celestia.

“May I ask, what’s the meaning of this, your Highness?”

Celestia looked down at Markus with anger visible in her face. She rose to her feet, before she spoke up.

“Captain Markus Becker!” Her Royal Canterlot Voice echoed through the halls of the Palace. ”My Student Twilight Sparkle informed me of your extreme measures during the operation a few days ago.”

Markus looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I looked to the ground in shame. I may have overdone it just a little with that letter to Celestia…

“However, we’ve decided to let it slide since it was a necessary evil for the good of all of Equestria.”

I rose my head up and smiled at Markus. I thought that this whole situation would turn out to be just some overdramatic act by Celestia and Luna to thank him for his deeds.

“At that time, we couldn’t have imagined that your wrath and bloodlust would soon turn on our own citizens!”

My head darted up to look at Celestia. I was shocked at the accusations thrown at Markus.

“Say what?” Markus calmly stated, as he raised an eyebrow at Celestia.

“Thou knoweth exactly what we mean, human!” Another voice echoed from the door. It was Luna, who was approaching Markus from behind.

“We know what thou hast done to our citizens! This witness has stated us what happened!”

A Unicorn Mare with a yellow coat and white mane, wearing a white frock, entered the room.

“Your Highnesses, this… THING… came to our village demanding subordinance from us.”

“NO!” I screamed. “He couldn’t have! He was with us the whole… time…” I stopped as Markus raised his hand at me and smiled. How could he smile in a situation like this?!

“As we didn’t obey him he started plundering our huts and slapping and raping the mares and foals! A few of our Stallions tried to oppose him, but he smacked them down. He then proceeded to kill all of the Stallions, young or old, with that weapon of his, before he did the same to the mares. I luckily was out on the fields when all that began. When I came back, I had to see in horror, how he swung that weapon of his towards my own mother’s head, crushing it with a single blow.” The mare began to sob and Luna wrapped a wing around her.

“What hast thou to say for thy defense?”

Markus smirked at Celestia. “She’s lying…” he muttered. “First of all: >>smacking<< is not how this weapon is us-- LUNA PASS’ AUF!” (Luna watch out!) He screamed as he turned around to face Luna and the mare. But it was too late…

The Unicorn slid a Ring on Luna’s horn and levitated a dagger from her frock towards Luna’s throat. She then put a hoof around Luna’s shoulder and pulled her toward the exit. Two Earthpony stallions who wore the same frock as her jumped into the room and overwhelmed the two guards at the door, before joining the mare, one on each side.

The Guards that surrounded Markus earlier now stood in line with him, facing the mare, but they couldn’t do anything. None of them were unicorns except Shining Armor and if they were to close in on her she would’ve probably just stabbed her right away.

Shining tried to cast a spell, but the mare saw it and cut Luna’s muzzle as a warning. Upon seeing this, my brother immediately stopped casting.

Markus put a hand on his rifle. “Let her go.” He demanded, still with his normal calm.

The mare started to snicker, then laughed out. “No.” She then said.

Markus put his left foot forward. “Let’s try this again. Let her go!” He demanded this time with a bit more force behind his voice.

The mare still proceeded towards the door and chuckled. “Or what? Are you going to throw that thing at me?”

Markus chuckled. “No… Else I’m going to show you how this thing is properly used…” He wrapped his left hand around the front part of the weapon. “Last chance: Let. Her. Go! I will give you three seconds.” His right hand gripped at something on top of the middle part of the rifle and made a jerking motion, which opened and closed a small chamber on the side.

“One.” He raised the rifle to his shoulders and rested his head on its rear part.

“Two.” He placed one of his right hand’s fingers in an opening on the lower middle part of the weapon, which contained something that looked like a lever.

“Three.” He pressed the lever four times in quick succession. Each time he did so, a loud crack could be heard, followed by a metallic pinging on the ground.

It all went down so fast that neither the Mare nor the stallions or the guards, not even Celestia, Luna or me had time to react in any way.

Suddenly I heard screaming and I turned my head to where Luna was standing. What I saw was a truly horrible sight. The two stallions were lying on the ground in some unnatural poses, with a blood-dripping hole in both their foreheads. The Mare had lost her horn and her left hoof was mangled and bloody. She slumped to the ground and screamed in pain and agony.

Markus sprinted towards and past Luna to the Mare. “Shut up.” He said, as he planted the rear of his rifle firmly into the mare’s face, knocking her unconscious. He then pulled some bandages out of his red porch and bandaged her leg.

He did all this without even flinching, his face only showing pure proficiency and an almost scary indifference towards the situation. The only thing that kept me from cowering in fear from this undoubtedly powerful being was that… I knew that he was trained to do this. That this was not what really defined him as a person… Still, I couldn’t keep my shock hidden, as seeing death from above was one thing, but witnessing it up-close was a whole different story.

Celestia was in shock too, but not in fear. Her face held some mixture of relief and self-hatred. She was probably blaming herself for causing this in the first place...

Some of the Guards before the Throne turned around and vomited on the floor. None of us could blame them. Even though all of them were trained in combat, none of them had ever killed, not even seen anypony DIE from this close. Even during the Changeling attack on Canterlot neither the Changlings nor our Guards used lethal force.

Markus turned around and faced Luna now. She instinctively made a small step back, but Markus ignored it. “Are you okay, your Highness?” He asked as he reached out for her muzzle. He grabbed it and turned her head to look at each side once. He then let go and began treating the cut.

Luna meanwhile regained herself and started to stutter “W-Why didst thou save us? We accused thou of such horrible things…”

Markus finished the treatment and looked her in the eyes. “I am a soldier, Luna. My job is to protect those who are in need of protection. In this case that was you. Also I don’t harbor any negative emotions towards you. You were tricked into believing I did those things and besides that, even I would probably panic if there was a being from another universe which suddenly solved a major military problem without breaking a sweat.”

Markus gave her a wink and a smile. He then grabbed the Ring off her horn and threw it towards me.

“Twilight, can you please give me a quick analysis of this Ring?”

I caught the ring with my magic and thoroughly analyzed it.

“Well, it is some kind of an Anti-Magic Ring, though it isn’t the materials that have the effect, but rather there is some kind of magic cast upon this. Also I think I can sense some kind of cu—“

I heard a thud and I immediately looked up from the ring. Luna had collapsed to the ground and Markus knelt down beside her and pressed his hands onto her belly.

“Damn that was my fault. I got careless!” He muttered to himself.

I darted to his side to help, but when I reached him I immediately looked away from Luna in order not to vomit. There was a large gash in her belly reaching from her forelegs all the way to her hind ones. Some organs started to squeeze their way through the opening and she was bleeding rapidly. I looked at her face. She was in terror, but still conscious. She was visibly in pain, but too shocked to scream.

She wanted to look towards her belly, but Markus pressed her head down to the ground.

“No, don’t look at it.” He looked at me. “Twilight, can you cast healing magic on her?”

I shook my head and my eyes started to water. “No, wounds from curses can’t be healed by magic. Can’t you do something for her? Please!”

He nodded and pointed towards two guards. “You there, get a doctor and two Nurses with a stretcher ASAP!”

The two guards nodded and darted off. Markus meanwhile opened his red porch again and took a small package from it. He ripped it open and revealed a prepared sewing needle with some surgical thread already attached. He wasted no time and immediately started sewing the wound as fast as he could.

Celestia meanwhile came down from her throne and paced towards Luna, but Markus signaled her to stop.

“Believe me, Celestia, you don’t want to see this.”

He looked over his shoulder and then back at Celestia. “Say, is your infirmary located at the other side of the castle or why aren’t those two back yet?”

Celestia and Shining shared a short look, before she answered. “We don’t have an infirmary at the Palace anymore.”

Markus’s look shot up toward Celestia and for the first time he looked like his face alone was enough to kill somepony. “You WHAT?! Why don’t you have an infirmary?!”

Celestia stumbled backwards and started to stammer. “U-Um, you see, when the Changelings attacked some of them were hidden amongst our servants. So, after we defeated them, Shining Armor decided that it would be best to get rid of the less important facilities in the castle to lower the amount of servants and with that the risk of infiltration.”

Markus’s head turned to Shining Armor, who was now standing beside Celestia. “We’re going to talk later.” He said in a threatening tone.

With that he went back to his work and finished up. Still, though the wound was now closed, she was bleeding rapidly through it. Markus now unsheathed his knife and took a red cuboid object with a metallic top from one of his pockets. He pointed towards two other guards.

“You two, go get some ice-cold water!”

Luna meanwhile was groaning in pain, as her shock wore off. Her breathing was steady and she was looking directly at me now. I smiled and tried to calm her as much as I could.

Markus meanwhile used that cuboid object to cast a flame and he held his knife over it.

The two guardsponies came back with a bucket of cold water just as the blade of the knife began to shimmer in a dark reddish tone. He put that object back to the ground and now took a handkerchief out of his porch, which he rolled into a ball.

He held that ball over Luna’s muzzle and said “Open up.”

Luna reluctantly opened her mouth and Markus stuffed the ball inside.

“What are you doing to my sister?!” asked Celestia with a disturbed look on her face.

“I’m going to singe the wound to stop the bleeding.”

He looked back at Luna.

“I won’t lie to you, Luna, this is going to hurt and I don’t have anything with me that could ease the pain. When it starts to hurt bite down and scream, it will ease the pain at least a little. Twilight, you are to make sure that Luna stays conscious. If she seems like she loses her consciousness then empty that bucket over her, if that doesn’t help, kick her in the face.”

I wanted to object, but Markus already started bringing the hot knife down towards the wound.

“Brace yourself, Luna.”

The knife hit with a lout hiss and I could hear Luna’s muffled screams through the handkerchief in her mouth. Yet, she stayed conscious.

“One done, three left. Brace!”

The knife hit again and Luna started to spasm in pain. Two guards came to hold her down, albeit their faces were showing that they rather wouldn’t. I admired their bravery and loyalty to do something they didn’t want to, just in order to save their princess.

“Two done, two left!”

Markus reheated the knife, while Luna breathed heavily through her nose. The blade began to glow again and the process repeated. Luna almost fell unconscious during the third time, but a few taps to her face were luckily enough to keep her awake. I wanted to ease her pain. I really wished that I could, but I was unable to. I couldn’t help in any way, other than keep her from getting relieved from that pain. It really hurt, but I knew it had to be done in order for her to survive.

“Three done, last one! Brace!”

The knife went down again and Luna screamed like it was the last thing she could do. She started closing her eyes and taps didn’t cut it anymore. I panicked and instead of going for the bucket first, I smacked down hard with my front hooves. Luna awoke with a gasp and was too stunned to notice the pain for a moment, but that didn’t last long.

Markus finally lifted his knife off the now blackened wound and held it into the water. A short hiss could be heard, as the blade was rapidly cooled down. He crouched over to Luna’s head. Her screams had subsided and she was only panting and groaning by now. He removed the handkerchief from her muzzle and stuck it back into the pocket.

“Congratulations, you’ve made it. You’ll get through. Now try to rest a little, but stay awake, please.” Markus said in a soothing tone and with a smile on his face. He sat down beside her head and stroked her mane. I must admit, I got a little jealous at her, but I didn’t say anything.

The guards soon arrived with a doctor and a stretcher and Luna was taken to the Canterlot Central Hospital. Markus talked a bit to the doctor in the hallway, before the doctor, too, left the Palace. Markus then stood in the hallway and looked through the windows into the City. Celestia approached him from behind, but before she could say something, Markus spoke up.

“Celestia, I want our contract to be cancelled.”

Celestia’s ears dropped and her eyes started to water for the second time ever since I’ve known her. She wanted to say something, something that would make him change his mind, but soon decided that it would be no use. She turned around and simply said.

“I—I understand. Of course, seeing the state our security forces are in would deter any proficient sol—“

“You’re seeing it the wrong way, Celestia.”

Celestia’s ears perked up again and she turned around to look at Markus again.

“Our contract stated that I would get three months to settle myself into my new environment. Seeing the state your forces are in, however, made me realize that this might have been a little optimistic.” He turned his head slightly to speak over his shoulder. “I want to ditch the remaining two months and be integrated into your military as soon as possible. I would like to take command of a company of ponies, 60 souls in strength.”

Celestia was slightly taken aback by that last statement.

“60 Ponies?! I’m sorry, but we currently don’t have that many guards available.”

Markus sighed and dropped his head.

“We may not have that many currently available, but there’s a batch of new recruits coming up, numbering exactly 60! They will finish their basic training in a week and will then enter Guard-deployment.” Shining stated, his face living up to his name.

“Very well, I shall take command of that unit then. I will personally take care of their further training after they’re out of basic.” Markus seemed pleased and both Celestia and Shining Armor let out a sigh.

However, Celestia’s ears dropped again, as she asked Markus one last question: “How did you to stay calm during all of this?”

Markus gave a slight chuckle, before he answered: “My world isn’t as peaceful as yours, you know? During my service in the Bundeswehr, I’ve seen situations far worse than this. I’ve seen my comrades be dismembered, scorched, evaporated. Some of them lost a limb, but were so shocked that they simply just picked it up and tried to reattach it. Of course, seeing things like this is horrible for the first few times. *sigh* But I’ve seen things like this every day for almost five years. I’ve grown used to it.”

Silence fell upon us and I saw Celestia gaze upon Markus with a mixture of pure horror and admiration.

“Speaking of calm however:” Markus spoke up again. “Shining Armor, could you please come over here?”

Shining trotted over to where Markus stood and stopped a few hooves behind him.

“Yes? What do you want fro-- “

Markus suddenly swung around and kicked my brother straight into the muzzle. The kick connected with a loud snap and sent him literally flying for a good distance, before touching down again. He started screaming in pain, as his muzzle was now hanging at an odd angle, but none of us dared moving.

Markus knelt down beside the crying Shining Armor and clenched his muzzle shut.

“OH MY, YOU’RE HURT! IT SEEMS YOU NEED A DOCTOR, WE SHOULD TAKE YOU TO THE INFIRMARY! OH WAIT, THERE IS NONE!” Markus screamed in a way that even made Celestia tremble in fear. “Listen up, idiot: If you’re going to fry your own sorry ass, help yourself, but actively endangering every single servant in this Palace, not to mention the very princesses you are to PROTECT, is a big sign for me, that a certain blue-maned muffin-brain isn’t fit for his role. I advise you: correct this mess and don’t you even dare doing something this stupid ever again.”

Markus let go of my brother’s muzzle and looked at me.

“Patch him up.” He ordered me. I immediately darted to my brother and used healing magic on him. Markus meanwhile turned around and walked to the exit. He stopped, however, just before he reached the door. He turned his head to speak over his shoulder:

“You are to meet me at the Golden Oaks Library tomorrow at noon. If you dare to be late, your spine will be next.” He turned to Celestia, who by now was shuddering from head to tail. “Oh and Celestia, would you please take care of that Unicorn? I might come by and interrogate her myself.”

With those few last words, he left the Palace, having made himself a name with the guardsponies who were there that day.

Charactersheet: Markus

Author's Notes:

Once upon a morning, I got up and thought: "How about I make a character sheet about Markus and publish it?" And thus, I made a character sheet about Markus and published it. Enjoy :3

PS: I'm not quite sure about the Alignment... please tell me what you think down below

Level: Unknown
Name: Becker
Prename: Markus
Middle Name: None
Race: Human
Nationality: German (by birth), Equestrian (by law)
Occupation: Officer
Profession(s): Soldier, Officer, Ace Pilot
Alignment: Chaotic Good
Aliases: Schlachtfeld Bäcker (Battlefield Baker), Devil of Tehran, Excalibur
Date of Birth: 02/02/2001 (D-M-Y)
Date of Death: 26/07/2029 (D-M-Y)

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Attributes: (capped at 10 without bonuses)
INT: 10 (+3)
MAG: 3
STR: 7 (+3)
AGI 7 (+3)
CHA: 5 (+3)
Luck: 4

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Abilities: (capped at 100 without bonuses, [(Attribute A + Attribute B) * 5])
Phys. Attack [STR;AGI]: 70 (100)
Phys. Defense [1,5 STR; 0,5 AGI]: 70 (100)
Mag. Attack [MAG;INT]: 65 (80)
Mag. Defense [1,5 MAG; 0,5 INT]: 47,5 (55)
Evasion [1,75 AGI; 0,25 Luck]: 66,25 (92,5)
Strategy [1,75 INT ; 0,25 Luck]: 92,5 (118,75+5)
Tactics [1,5 INT ; 0,5 Luck]: 85 (107,5+5)
Leadership [1,25 CHA; 0,75 INT]: 68,75 (80+20)
Perception [INT;Luck]: 70 (85+30)

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Weaponry: (capped at 100)
Swordsmanship: 100
Gunmanship: 100
Bowmanship: 75
Battlemace: 75
Shield usage: 100
Spearmanship: 75
Knife: 80
Crossbowmanship: 75
Battleaxe: 75

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Skills:
Lucid Dreaming - (active) You can control what you dream of and thus actively use the time you would else sleep through. Reduces the time you need to learn Techniques/Spells by 50%

Memory Palace - (active) You have learned to effectively memorize things that you deem important. Reduces time to memorize things by 75%, memorized things do not fade unless actively forgotten

Combo: Lucid Palace - (passive) Your exceptional Intelligence made it possible for you to combine your lucid dreaming with your mind's castle! Time needed to learn and memorize permanently reduced by 90% (overrides mind's castle and lucid dreaming)

Soldier-Sense - (passive) Your experience in your profession has earned you a good deal of foresight in any kind of situation. Perception +50

Jack of all Trades - (passive) You can wield any weapon to a sufficent degree. All Weapon stats are set to 50.

King of all trades - (passive) You have learned your ways with any weapon and can expertly wield them. Adds +25 to Jack of all trades.

Absolute Proficiency - (passive) You have mastered the ways of proficiency. You can now effectively block out any emotions, including pain, as long as you are currently working within one of your Professions. (INT+2)

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Perks:
excessive knowledge - You were that kind of child that would ease its boredom through extending its own horizon. As such, you have amassed knowledge about close to anything one can think of.

Creative solutions - You have found yourself in dire situations more than once and, over the years, learned to solve your problems in some very... >>creative<< ways.

Combo: German Ingenuity - Your German blood, combined with your creativity and knowledge allow you to design, build and maintain anything you can come up with, from a basic longsword to even some more advanced machines. INT+1

Interests in Chivalry - Your idols always were the knights of medieval times and you always wanted to learn to fight just like them. Over time, you took particular interest in the ways of the sword and quickly learned to wield one. Adds +25 to Swordsmanship and Shield usage (ignores Jack of all Trades)

Military training - The military has forged you and your ability to judge and fight. STR and AGI +3 and Perception +10 when in combat. adds +25 to Gunmanship, +5 to Knife. (ignores Jack of all Trades)

Officer's Academy - You have learned the arts of leadership, tactics and strategies. CHA +3, Leadership +20, Tactics +5, Strategy +5

Red/green weakness - Nature has played a bad joke on you. You have difficulties when trying to keep green from red and vice versa. Perception -30

Virgin - You didn't have much experience in a romantic sense just yet. As such you are easily distracted by anything closely romance related. (Suppressed by: Absolute Proficiency)

Ch9: RE;thinking

Author's Notes:

Happy New Year, everyone! Here's something good to start it with

POV: Markus

Twilight and I both sat on opposite ends of the Royal Cabin. At the moment, we hadn’t departed just yet, as still more passengers were trying to board. Twilight sat there, looking out the window, or at least pretending to. I could see in her reflection, that she was observing me with fear-filled eyes. I don’t blame her. I DID pull quite the stunt in the palace after all. However: it was necessary, even if I would’ve liked to keep my composure.

The train started to move and Twilight turned around to face the middle of the room, though she actively tried to avoid looking at me, instead finding interest in a particular spot on the ground. Neither of us said a word. It was silence. Pure, unnerving silence. Though: I’m sure it was the worst for Twilight. She was sitting in the same cabin with the one who broke her brother’s jaw seemingly without any regrets, after all. I had to do something about it.

We closed in on the tunnel and I decided that this would be the perfect chance for a move. Thus, as we entered the tunnel, I quickly changed sides, without a single step and without any noise, by turning on my heel. I placed myself directly beside Twilight, seemingly without her notice.

The train exited the tunnel, bathing the cabin in the sun’s rays yet again. Twilight was still looking at the ground before her, concentrating on that particular spot. After only a few seconds however, her eyes made their way upward, looking at my previous spot and noticing that I was no longer there. Her mouth opened slightly and her eyes narrowed, a slight shiver spreading across her body. She moved her gaze slightly to my side, her shiver growing into a full grown tremble as she spied me with the corner of her eyes. I meanwhile had my arm placed on her backrest and my head turned to face the middle of the room, while I looked down at her only with my eyes.

Her ears drooped back, her head still pointing to the ground. Her eyes however were now meeting mine, showing pure terror. I had to suppress my sadism quite a bit to not indulge in this sight for all too long.

I extended my arm towards her head. She seemed like she wanted to skid away, bring some distance between us, however she decided against it. I started stroking her mane, turning my head to her and giving her a gentle smile. She returned a strained smile, however was still looking at the ground. I saw that I would have to try harder. Thus I picked her up like one would one’s cat. She gave a slight squeal as I did so and started struggling against my grip, as if fighting for her life, but I clearly was the stronger one and she gave up after just a few seconds. I placed her on my lap, pressing her head slightly against my chest and holding her in a tight embrace. I could feel her racing heart and increased ventilation through my arms and saw her face paling slightly.

I continued stroking her mane, trying to calm her through pure contact. It didn’t show the desired effect, though. Thus, finally, I faced down to her ears.

“You are afraid of me yet again, are you? Please be assured: I have never meant any harm to any of you and I never will.”

She shifted slightly as I said that, however her heartrate and ventilation still stayed the same.

“You don’t believe me, do you? You think that I lied to you, this morning. That it all was just a ruse to gain your trust. I can’t blame you. I did something truly horrible to your brother and all you can see right now is that I don’t have any regrets towards it.” I leaned yet closer to her head, now whispering directly into her ears. “I can tell you though: I am sorry. I just can’t afford to show it just yet.”

Her heartrate dropped a little and her breathing slowed, but not enough. She was still afraid of me and beyond reasoning.

“But I can also see from your perspective. You are a princess. You have to think about the consequences of what I might do, even if I tell you that I won’t. As such…” I placed the underside of my jaw on her horn. Her eyes shot up, to look what I was doing. They narrowed down, as she slowly caught up on what I was going to say. “…you have to decide if I’m trustworthy, or too dangerous to be kept alive. I can see both sides having a good point. It is up to you to decide. Whatever decision you make: I won’t resist. I won’t complain.”

She closed her eyes and, with a slight whimper, ignited her horn. I closed my eyes myself, being completely calm, knowing that she will make the right decision. Her horn glowed for a while without anything else happening. Suddenly, Twilight’s magic died down and she started to sob. Her heartrate and breathing finally slowed down to normal levels and a slight grin slid over my face.

“Thanks for putting your trust into me. I promise, you won’t regret it.” I said, as I removed my head from her horn.

“Now, that I can be sure that you will listen, I will tell you about my plan.” Her ears perked up to listen. I smiled at the gesture, even though it most likely was subconscious. “You see: I don’t hold any grudge against Shining Armor. Quite the opposite actually: I want to make him an ally.”

Twilight’s head snapped upwards as she began screaming through her sobs. “Well then you’ve truly done a fine job! I’m sure he’s more than willing to side with you after you’ve nearly killed him!”

“I know. Sadly, it was necessary, for you see: I want everyone to think that we despise one another.” Twilight’s expression changed from anger to confusion. I smiled at her, letting out a slight chuckle. Sometimes, she could be just so adorable.

“Twilight, please, can’t you see? I want to control what information our opponent gets. If we can control their information, we can control them.”

I proceeded with telling her the full extent of my current plan. Twilight meanwhile slowly calmed, getting comfortable in my grip, while I was still petting her like a house cat. Seriously, I wouldn’t have been surprised if she would’ve begun purring like one.

“But before all that can happen, I want to ask you to help me redeem myself before Shining Armor. He trusts you, since he’s your brother. He will listen to you when you tell him that he can trust me. I just hope everything else goes as planned…” I said, slowly drifting into the realm of thought.

Twilight meanwhile ruffled herself in my grip, presumably trying to get more comfortable.

“Don’t worry, I will help you.” She said, smiling at me. Her smile however then formed into a slight frown.” But please, promise me that you won’t hurt anyone innocent anymore. It’s just not who you are! It’s not who I want you to be at least...” She said, leaning her head into my chest again.

“Oh, Twilight…” I said, shaking my head. “I can’t promise you something like this. However, I can promise you that I won’t hurt anyone, unless absolutely necessary.” I smiled at her, leaning my head to her ears again and starting to whisper. “And even if I were to ever lose my temper and go on a rampage, be assured that I could never hurt you.” I strengthened my point by giving her payback for what she did earlier in the day and kissing her on her cheek.

Her face immediately went bright-red. With a squeal she dug herself deeper into my chest in order to hide her blush. We remained like that for a while, before Twilight got up from my lap. She sat down next to me and smiled at me.

“We should try to rest a little. We will arrive late at night and I don’t want to miss our stop.”

Twilight giggled and got up from her seat. She then moved to the other side, where I was sitting earlier, and pulled at the lower parts of it, transforming the cushioned bench into a comfy bed. I did the same on my side. I got myself ready to sleep, thoroughly thinking about the past events and what is yet to come. The train ride to Ponyville takes around six hours and it was 8 p.m. already, so we would definitely not arrive today anymore. As such I would definitely check on Rainbow and Fluttershy as soon as we’d arrived.

The train safely arrived in Ponyville at 2:05 a.m. Those extra five minutes probably were due to the surprising amount of passengers that evening. Anyways, while Twilight went back to the Library immediately, to get back to sleep, I went to Fluttershy’s hut, to see how Rainbow was doing.

Actually I was expecting to see them both asleep in the cottage and while I did see ONE Pegasus asleep, the other was amiss.

“Where is Rainb--“ I started to think, before a stream of Rainbow hit me in the face, making me stumble a few steps back. I held my hand over my face, quickly pushing the pain aside. I straightened myself and looked at what had hit me. What I saw was a cyan Pegasus, with a very surprised look on her face.

“Oh my god, Markus, I’m sorry! I thought you would be one of them and I saw you come to the hut, so I—“ She started, but I cut her off by holding my hand over her muzzle.

“Rainbow, it’s okay. All you did was doing exactly what I told you to do. You’ve done a great job, Rainbow Dash.” I smiled at her and gave her a hug as a reward.

“Ah, geez, no problem, I… I wanted her to be safe too, you know…” Rainbow said, a slight blush spreading over her face.

“Still, you’ve done a great job. How about I make up for it by doing something together with you later this day? Let’s say we meet up at Twilight’s around 3 p.m. and I’ll do with you whatever you want?”

“So… even a… date?” She whispered the last word and before I could even think about it, my head answered.

“Sure, if you want to call it that…”

She immediately broke the hug, now brightly and visibly blushing. She desperately looked around for something to suddenly find interest on, while uncomfortably hopping from hoof to hoof. As she found nothing, she just started to stammer. “Ok, 3pm, Library, understood, BYE!” And off she went.

I looked after her a bit and smiled at it. Then, realization hit me.

“Wait… did I just agree on a date with Rainbow Dash? Oh Lord… There I was telling myself that even if I would find someone here, any kind of romanticism would have to wait until I’ve established myself, and now here I am, agreeing on a date with Rainbow Dash…. Now THIS is going to get interesting very soon.”

I turned around and went into Fluttershy’s cottage. She was fast asleep, a bunch of animals curling around her.

“Well, it seems I will stay here for the night. Her animal friends should keep her safe during the day. At least I don’t know anypony beside me, who would voluntarily fight a full-grown brown bear without a proper ranged weapon…” I thought, while making myself comfortable and slowly dozing off into slumber.

Fluttershy was pretty surprised as she found me in her cottage instead of Rainbow Dash, but as she still saw me as her savior, she didn’t freak out. I left for the Library as soon as her animal companions were awake, which was around 7am. At the Library, I first had to calm down Twilight and tell her where I have been. As I told her that I went to check on FLuttershy and decided to stay overnight, she face-hoofed and said to herself, that she could have thought of that.

We spent the rest of the morning to prepare everything for Shining Armor’s arrival and I pre-planned every possible outcome that I could think of.

“Markus, relax… you don’t need to plan so far ahead…” Twilight commented.

“You’re one to talk, Twilight!” Spike called out from the kitchen.

I ignored both of them for the most part, as I was memorizing my planned speech. I had studied Shining Armor closely, both during my time with him and going from my memories about the series. I studied every possible thing he could say and the according answer. Then, the clock hit twelve and somepony knocked at the door.

We quickly placed a chair in the middle of the room. Spike ran upstairs, while I turned myself to face the wall and Twilight opened the door.

Showtime

Shining Armor entered the room. His steps were slow, he didn’t say anything as he entered.

“Good day, Captain Shining Armor, please, have a seat.” I said, without facing him. I heard him slowly coming closer before a loud creak told me that he actually sat down.

“I’m sure you are currently wondering, what atrocities might be waiting for you, now that you’ve voluntarily placed yourself into our grasp.” I said in order to gain time. I turned around and mustered him closely.

“Path A: Nervous/Afraid, Path B: Angry.”

I watched him, taking in everything he did and was. His left front hoof was twitching slightly, he was looking not at me, but at something else on the wall, small drips of sweat were forming on his forehead. He still didn’t say anything.

“Path A, perfect, no correction needed.”

“Well, you see: we’ve decided that the old has passed its due date and is to be replaced by new. We are going to dethrone the solar sisters and you are going to help us.” I said as I started pacing back and forth before Shining Armor.

“Now, Path A: says directly/implies that he won’t partake, Path B: asks about Twilight first”

“Wait, >>we<<? Twilight, you are in this too? What are you thinking?! She’s your Mentor! Your idol!!!”

“Path B taken. Not optimal, but within expectations. Twilight’s turn.”

“I’m sorry, brother, but seeing that she could no longer guarantee the safety of Equestria made me realize, that I have to act, for the good of everypony. For the good of my Friends and all of Equestria.” Twilight played her role perfectly, just like I’ve told her. She maintained an almost monotone voice and didn’t look at her brother.

“What’s wrong with you Twilight?! This isn’t like you at all!” He shouted, but Twilight didn’t flinch (luckily). He turned back to me. “What have you done to her?!”

I feigned an evil smile. “Oh nothing, really. She’s doing all of this on her own accord. More importantly: are you going to take part, or not?”

Shining Armor stood up before me. “Like Tartarus I would!” He snarled into my face.

I pushed him back into the seat. “Well, that certainly is unfortunate…” hearing his command from me, Spike came down with a stack of dishes and >>accidentally<< dropped a knife to the floor, so that Shining Armor would see it.

“Twilight, dear, would you please give me the book with the mind control spell?” I asked, while turning around myself and pretending to look through the bookshelf behind me.

“Yes, master.” Twilight answered, as she trotted over to another bookshelf. That >>master<< was another thing that I’ve told her to do. It was meant to subconsciously imply to Shining Armor, that I was somehow controlling her.

As Twilight reached the shelf, I heard the knife slowly clatter over the floor.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, we got him!”

I heard him jump from his chair and charge at me. “For Equestria!” He screamed, but he was stopped by Twilights magic, mere centimeters before he reached me.

“Twilight, snap out of it! That’s not who you are!” He screamed. Twilight started to giggle and answered him.

“Relax, Shining! You didn’t really think I was going to betray Celestia, did you?”

“Wait, you aren’t saying…” He started, but I cut him off.

“Congratulations, Shining Armor. You’ve passed my loyalty test.” I said, as I turned around to face him once again. I grabbed the knife out of the air and Twilight let go of her brother. I gestured him to take a seat once again, but he decided to just stand there. This actually was a good sign, as it meant that he was overwhelmed by the sudden change of situation, which made him easier to work with.

“However, I sadly can’t say this about the Royal Guard.” I continued.

With that, Shining Armor snapped out if his stupor and growled at me. “Impossible! My Guards are all loyal to Celestia!”

“Oh, I’m sure that they are. However: what’s with those that are only pretending to be your guards?” I asked him, with a clear hint in my tone.

“Are you implying that we have moles within our guard? That’s impossible! No one could ever—“

I cut him off again. “I am certain that there are moles in the guard. How else should that mare have smuggled that dagger into the palace, if I complimented Twilight myself for the tight security measures. In fact, the only reason why I could keep my weapons on me the third time was that Twilight told the guard to let me through. Thus: the only possible way for that Unicorn to pass your security is by having someone to smuggle her in.”

“What if she had used some kind of cloaking magic to cover the dagger?” Shining asked in a desperate attempt to cover for his guards.

“Oh, so now you are doubting the abilities of your own guards huh?” I answered, tilting my head and raising an eyebrow. “Furthermore: even though she spent a thousand years on the moon, Luna is by far not a novice at magic. She would’ve at least sensed that something was wrong.”

Shining Armor wanted to counter something, but he apparently was at a loss of words. He slumped back into the chair, defeated. He looked back up at me. “What are you going to do now?”

I finally had him where I wanted him. Now I could finally let him in on the plan.

“Not I, Shining Armor, WE. I want to work together with you.” I said, looking directly at him. I reached out a hand and after a short moment of hesitation, he shook it with his hoof.

“Splendid.” I continued. “Now, I see two ways how to handle this: we could either try to find the intruders and try to get rid of them, or we could use them to our advantage. I personally favor the latter.”

“Then, how are we going to do this?” He asked.

“Simple: we are going to feed them false information. We will pretend to completely and utterly despise each other. This will likely cause them to contact one of us. Since I bumped heads with this organization once already, this is likely going to be you. They will try to use you to exert power in some way, with the promise of later being able to blame me. Which way this will be, however, I don’t know just yet.”

Shining Armor looked over to Twilight, who gave him a reassuring smile. He looked back to me and nodded. “Ok, I’m in. The only problem I see there is that we can’t have anypony know about this or else they might find out.” He said.

“I know. I’ve already taken preparations on my end. That kick yesterday was actually the first one. Sorry for that by the way. With that the guards will now think that I clearly do not like you very much. Also I’ve asked Rainbow Dash to come over at 3pm, since she was with me when I rescued Fluttershy from this Bloodmoon cult and thus to them is likely to be associated with me.”

Shining Armor looked at Twilight again with a raised eyebrow. “We’ll explain later…” She said with a sheepish smile.

“Aaaaanyways: all we have to do when she arrives is make a little scene. Twilight will then send a letter to Celestia which basically says that she could barely keep us from killing each other. As for Cadence: We I could paint you a black eye with my magic and Twilight would add some swelling. All you would have to do is let Cadence tend to your >>wounds<<. Add some wincing and some muttering about me being an asshole or something like that and it should be enough.”

Shining Armor and Twilight both nodded in agreement.

“But what about Luna?” Twilight then asked.

I put a hand to my chin, thinking deeply about it. “I’m actually considering getting her into the boat. Seeing as I saved her life yesterday, she hopefully holds a good deal of trust towards me and her ability to wander the realm of dreams could actually be quite useful.”

Shining Armor stood up from his chair. He nodded in agreement. “Ok I’m in. just... how are you going to contact Luna without Celestia noticing it?”

“Oh, don’t worry, I have a way of communicating with her. You see: I’m a lucid dreamer. If I want to, I can actively control my dream. I just need to somehow get her attention when she’s on dream-patrol. Maybe I’ll produce a dream where I destroy half of Equestria or something. That should definitely get her attention. Once she’s in my dream, I will explain everything to her. However that will have to wait, since I doubt that she’s currently in a condition to do anything.”

Shining Armor nodded once again. “Ok, let’s do this.”

“Before we proceed any further: Shining Armor, would you please come over here for a moment?”

Shining Armor winced as I said that. Noticing my mistake, I quickly added: “Don’t worry, you won’t be met with a kick this time.” And gave him a reassuring smile.

He slowly made his way towards me, until he was in my reach. I touched his horn (no homo) and a bright light engulfed us.

“Test, Test, does this work?” I thought.

“Woah, what is this?!” Shining’s thoughts echoed through my mind.

“It’s called a thought bridge. I read about it in one of Twilight’s books. With it we now have a very effective means of short- to mid-range communication. However, while we can use it for long distances, it seems like it’s very straining to do so. As such we should go for short messages if communicating between here and the Crystal Empire.”

It must have looked pretty weird from Twilights perspective as we did this. I mean, a human and a grown Stallion which are having a staring contest for no reason probably looked pretty hilarious.

“Also one other thing, Shining Armor:” I turned myself to look out of a window. “I am going to teach you in the art of war.”

I could literally hear Shining Armor’s jaw hit the ground.

“I will teach you tactics and strategies, as well as usage of weapons, resource management and –distribution. I want an ally, after all. Not a pawn. Once we’ve taken care of our first few steps, I will tell you where to meet me and we shall begin our first lesson.”

With that out of the way, we began our last few preparations. I posted Spike upstairs to look out the window and alert us when Rainbow was coming, while we painted Shining Armor a nice, black eye. We were just about done, when the signal came.

“Rainbow is coming!” Spike shouted from upstairs.

“Ok, let’s get this over with.” I said.

We waited for Rainbow to reach the door. Then, it was Showtime…

Ch10: Gang Crash

POV: Rainbow Dash

I was so excited, a full afternoon with Markus! I made sure everything was perfect. Heck, I even kempt my mane for once! I looked at the clock. It was 2:55pm already. I dashed through the front door and headed for Ponyville. In flight I was thinking about what we could do.

“We could go fly—no wait, he doesn’t have wings… but we could watch the wonder… no, again, no wings… euh… ah well, Markus sure has a plan! He always does.”

I drew close to the Library and landed before the front door. I wanted to knock when I suddenly heard shouting and screaming coming from inside. Suddenly, the door burst open and I saw Shining Armor make a run for the station. I looked inside and saw Twilight arguing with Markus before she steamed off upstairs. Markus was now alone in the room. He walked around and scratched the back of his head.

I just stood there and waited. Well, actually I didn’t even know what I should have done. Markus was still moving around, when he noticed me.

“Oh, hi Rainbow.” He looked at the clock on the wall. “Is it 3pm already? Time sure does fly, doesn’t it?” He smiled at me. Oh that smile…

A-Anyways, I looked at him in confusion over what just happened. “Ehm, well, it does seem like you are busy, so maybe we should—“ He cut me off.

“Oh no, it’s okay. I promised you to spend the afternoon with you and that’s what I’m going to do. The distraction it may provide is actually quite welcome.”

He grabbed a bag of bits from a table and left the library. He smiled down at me as we went outside. “So, what do you have in mind for our date?”

I looked down at the ground, feeling slightly embarrassed. I shifted uncomfortably in my stance, searching for something to say. “I… I-I didn’t say date... I said… PLATE, yeah, let’s grab something to eat!”

Markus closed his eyes and chuckled slightly, he then looked down at me with a knowing smile. “Of course you did… Rainbow Blush.”

My head jerked up and my eyes shot open. I flew up to one of the windows and saw that my face was glowing in a bright red. Suddenly though, I heard a growl next to me.

“Though, it does seem like a good idea, considering I spent my lunchtime with that Blockhead Shining Armor.” Markus said, while looking down at his still growling stomach.

“Ok, let’s go to Sugarcube Corner! Come on!” I dashed ahead and Markus followed close behind. I stormed through the front door and stopped in front of the counter.

“Hey Dashie!” Pinkie said, as I hovered before her. Markus came in behind me and closed in on the counter as well. “Oh, you brought Markus! Hi Markus!”

“Hey Pinkie. I’d like two chocolate cupcakes please.” Markus said.

“Sure thing! What do you want Dashie?” Pinkie asked me, as I was still looking at the countertop.

“Euh… I think I’ll take two vanilla cupcakes with chocolate chips.”

“Okiedokie, take a seat, I’ll be right there!” Pinkie hopped off into the kitchen area and we sat down on one of the nearby tables. Markus rested his arms on the table and looked around absentmindedly.

“So, what was that with Shining Armor earlier? I saw him run out of the library when I got there.” As I asked that, Markus suddenly looked at me with hint of worry.

“Oh, I’m sorry you had to see this. It’s just… Shining Armor and I had a little debate and as I showed him his own incompetence, things kinda got out of hand. Can’t really say that I’m sorry for his black eye, though.”

“You don’t really like Shining Armor, huh?” I said with a chuckle.

“No, but I suppose we should talk about more pleasant things. After all I’ve promised you a fun afternoon and I’m willing to fulfill this promise to the best of my ability.” Markus said, giving me a warm smile. I felt my face warm up and quickly looked out the window.

I just wanted to start a conversation again, when Pinkie came with our cupcakes. She placed them on the table and gave me a weird smile. As she passed me, I heard her say: “Go get him, Dashie!”, before she returned to the counter.

Markus was already munching away on his Cupcakes, either not noticing or ignoring what Pinkie just had said. We started talking about some stuff, like what his old world was like, or what he likes to do most. Ok, mostly I was just asking him questions and he was answering them, seeing as he knew most things about me already. Now that I think about it it’s actually kinda creepy sometimes.

Just as I was about to ask another question, I noticed that Markus was looking out of the window with a serious face. I followed his gaze and saw Derpy, our Mailmare, being cornered by four Stallions, one Unicorn, one Pegasus and two Earthponies. The Pegasus was hovering above her, while the Earthponies were placed to her sides. The Unicorn was standing right in front of her and seemed like he was saying something.

I stood up and wanted to help her, but Markus held me back.

“What the buck?!” I screamed at Markus. “Why are you stopping me?! We need to help her!”

Markus just sat there, his eyes still on the scene. “Agreed, but if you were to bash in there right now, you would only make things worse.” He nodded towards them. “Look closely at what they are doing. If they were >>just<< some random thugs, they would probably all be standing right in front of her and babbling each at the same time. Those guys are more organized. They have three blocking her escape and only one who is talking. Simply driving them away would probably only mean that they would give Derpy hell later on. No matter if you like it or not, but we will have to wait out the storm first, before we can act.”

I slumped back into my chair and waited impatiently. Then, as soon as the Stallions started to back off of her, I dashed out and flew to her. Markus hesitated a bit, but eventually followed right behind.

As I reached her, Derpy was still sitting against the wall, her eyes narrowed down in shock. I landed next to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She jerked up from this and looked at me with one of her eyes.

“Oh, hi Rainbow Dash.” She said, a weak smile forming on her lips.

“Hey, Derpy. What did these Stallions want from you?! Did they hurt you?”

Derpy shook her head and looked to the ground.

“Then, what did they want from you? Did they steal something?”

She shook her head again. Meanwhile, Markus finally reached us and knelt down beside her.

“Hey there Derpy. Are you okay?” He said in a soothing voice. Derpy shook her head again.

“Will you tell me, what those Stallions wanted from you?” He asked. Derpy shook her head again. “Are they threatening you?”

Derpy nodded.

“What?! Why are they threatening you, what do they have against y—“ Markus shut my muzzle with his hand and glared at me. It was now that I noticed that Derpy was cowering from my outburst.

“S-Sorry, Derpy…” I said in a hushed voice.

“Listen Derpy, We want to help you, but we can’t if you don’t tell us what’s wrong.” Markus said.

Derpy meanwhile was hanging her head. She started sobbing slightly as she answered. “They told me not to tell the Guards.”

Markus and I looked at each other for a moment, before he spoke up again. “Well, we’re not Guards, so you’re holding true on that end. Also I promise you that if you tell us, you won’t have to worry about that anymore.”

Derpy looked at her hooves with one eye, as she made circles with them.

“They’ve kidnapped Dinky.” She finally said and began to sob.

Markus and I shared a short, determined glance.

“You know… being a Mailmare doesn’t pay very much, but Dinky needed so many things for her new schoolyear and the rent was raised and… and… I couldn’t afford all that, so I… I wanted to take a loan, but the Bank turned me down. Then I heard of some Group that handed out loans, no matter of your standing. I met up with them and we agreed on a sum. But when I wanted to pay them back, they… they…” Derpy started crying and Markus carefully pulled her in to a soothing hug.

“They’ve raised the interest, haven’t they? And when you came to pay them you didn’t have enough, so they took Dinky as a pledge. I can’t say that this scheme is unfamiliar to me. This also happened in my world. I promise you, you will get Dinky back, but you have to go to the guard. They will help you.” Markus said.

Derpy shook her head yet again. “I’ve tried that already, but they immediately found out and threatened to hurt Dinky if I do that again.”

Markus broke the hug. He looked around us, eyeing every Mare and Stallion that passed by. Suddenly, his eyes locked on an alley on the other side of the street. I tried to see what was there, but couldn’t immediately tell. Markus shot up and ran into that alley. Derpy and I looked after him for a while, before we followed.

As we came into that alley, the first thing we heard was some sort of struggling noise. We rounded a corner and saw Markus pinning down a Unicorn Stallion that looked like he was part of the same group as we saw earlier.

“So, you were spying her, huh? Then I guess you are part of those Loan sharks that are threatening Derpy?” Markus interrogated, but the Stallion didn’t say anything. Instead He lit up his horn and tried to use magic, but Markus was faster. In an instant, the Stallion had Markus holding his knife under his chin.

“Hah, you think you can get anythin’ outta me that way? You need to try better.” The Stallion said, a smug adorning his face.

“You are quite right.” Markus simply said, as he moved his knife over to the Stallion’s horn.

The Stallion’s eyes narrowed down, as Markus knife touched down on his horn.

“No! You can’t! You WON’T!” the Stallion screamed at Markus, in a desperate attempt to wiggle himself free. But Markus knows his grips. He firmly held the Stallion with one hand and the rest of his body, while the other hand was holding the knife.

“Oh, can’t I?” Markus said, a somewhat sadistical smile forming on his face. He actually managed to creep me out with this. He then slowly began to cut into the stallion’s horn.

He didn’t cut far though, as almost instantly the Stallion began screaming: “OKAY, OKAY, I’ll tell you! But please, leave my Horn, pleeeease!” He whined, and Markus stopped his cutting.

He then told us that apparently they were holding Dinky in an abandoned Warehouse on the edge of Town. As he finished telling us what he knew, he demanded to be set free, but Markus simply brought the hilt of his knife down on the Stallion’s temple, knocking him out. We brought him to the local guard, who instantly took him in. However, as we told them what we knew, they simply said that they had to wait for reinforcements first in order to do something. Markus tried to argue with them, but they were stubborn.

Long story short: a few minutes later we were hiding in a bush, close to the aforementioned Warehouse. Markus watched their guards patrol around it and made a plan.

“So, there are two guards on patrol outside. We will need to take both of them out first, before we can go any further. When we’ve dealt with that, you will fly to the roof and try to look inside. Try to tell me exactly where their guards are positioned, how many there are and, most importantly, if you can see Dinky. Got it?”

I nodded in response.

“All right, wait for my signal.”

We waited for both guards to come back around to our side of the warehouse, before we lunged from our hiding spot and knocked both of them out. I then made a Dash to the roof and spied through the top windows. There were six guards, two on both, the front and the rear door and two beside a small cage. Inside there was a blonde filly which seemed to be crying. Dinky!

I flew back down to Markus and told him what I saw.

“Okay, we will go in from both sides at once. Go to the front door, count to ten and then smash it open as hard as you can. If what you’ve told me is correct, the door alone should be enough to knock one of them out. Take the other one by surprise before those two at the cage can react. As for them: we will have to take them down in melee, but I suppose that shouldn’t be a problem.”

I nodded quickly and flew to the front door. I counted to ten… and then:

I burst through the door, hearing it smash into the guard, as I take down the other. I see Markus doing the same on the other side. The Guards at the cage split up, taking each of us into one-on-one combat. I flew up to the ceiling, hovering in the air for a moment, before I dashed down upon the gangster, knocking him out.

As I looked up from the Stallion under me, I saw Markus already fiddling with the lock to the cage. Dinky had stopped crying as she saw this and was now alight with hope. The cagedoor opened and she immediately jumped up to Markus, giving him a hug.

Just in that moment, a guard stormed into the warehouse.

“In the name of Celestia, drop your weapons!” He shouted.

Markus stood up and sheathed his knife. The guard wanted to approach him, but was pulled back by a purple wing.

“Let me take a look!”

Twilight suddenly stood in the doorframe with a baffled look on her face, as she eyed the gangsters that were lying on the ground.

“Sweet Celestia, it looks like a storm came through he—MARKUS! Rainbow!” She exclaimed, as she saw us standing in the middle of the room. She ran towards us, stopping only inches away from Markus.

“WHAT WERE YOU TWO THINKING?!” Twilight started to scream. “You went on a rescue mission?! ALONE?!”

“Relax Twilight, it’s not the first time that we’ve done something like this.” I said, trying to calm her down. But apparently, I only made things worse…

“Not the first time?! You two could have been hurt! You could have been KILLED!” She screamed again, with a slight sniffle as she said the last word.

“But we didn’t. And the mission was a resounding success, I might say.” Markus smiled at her. “But how did you find out about this anyways?”

Twilight wanted to say something, but a voice from outside beat her to it.

“Twilight? Is it safe? Can I come in?” Derpy said, as she held her head through the door.

“MOMMY!” Dinky instantly exclaimed. She jumped off of Markus and ran towards the entrance into the arms of her mother, giving her a loving embrace.

Meanwhile, Markus, Twilight and I stood there and watched the scene. The smile on Markus’s face soon disappeared however.

“Well, not a full success, sadly. We couldn’t get the Ringleader.”

Upon that, Twilight grinned wide at him, his face showing a good bunch of surprise.

“You know, we encountered a Stallion on our way here that appeared to be running away from something. Derpy identified him as the Stallion she spoke to and we took him in.”

Breathing a sigh of relief, Markus looked back at the reunified pair. After a few short moments he said: “Well, I think we’re done here. Let’s go home.”

They both brought me home before they went back to the Library. On the way there, Markus suddenly spoke up. “Sorry that the afternoon might have not been as fun as you wanted to Rainbow Dash.” He smiled apologetically at me.

I however looked at him in confusion. “Are you kidding?! This. Was. AWESOME! We should do things like these more often!”

As I said that, Twilight gave me a short glare. “Ehehe, ok, maybe not…”

We reached my home and I gave Markus a quick hug, before flying up to my house. This day was one of the BEST in my life!

Author's Notes:

thanks for reading everyone! I've got to say, this chapter gave me some trouble during writing, as for the first half or so, I couldn't get a good flow of writing. Well, again it could be because of my lacking romantic experience.
As for the chapter itself: it's intended as some sort of a filler, as I felt like I was rushing the story a bit. That essentially means that those loan sharks won't have any significance in any later developments.

Also some trivia:
The combat knife KM2000 (the one Markus is using, because former Bundeswehr) has a part on its hilt that's called the "doorknocker". Basically it's a part of the bladesection that's sticking out the underside of the hilt. it is used to - well, knock on doors. also it can be used for blunt melee attacks, or as a hammer.

Ch11: RE;search

POV: Markus

I fucked up… Seriously: I made a major mistake. What was that mistake? Well, let me explain: You all remember, how I told Fluttershy about me being an omnivore and therefore needing meat, right? Wrong! You remember, how I told the FALSE Fluttershy, but I forgot to tell the real one. Sadly I didn`t notice this mistake until it was too late. So, here's what happened:

After what had transpired the day prior, I decided that I would take to the woods today and get some calm in hunting. What I didn’t know, however, was that Fluttershy also was currently inside the Everfree, for reasons unknown to me.

We ran into each other. Well, actually she ran into me. However, her timing couldn’t have been worse. She found me in the exact moment when I sent an arrow towards a rabbit that was hopping along the path. The only reason I noticed her, was that I heard her squeal behind me. At first I didn’t even realize what just happened, but as I turned around and saw her, I suddenly remembered.

Needless to say, it took a good bit of effort just to calm her down. When she was finally calm, however, she didn’t even let me explain. Instead she came at me and screamed at me, how I was an animal murderer and a heartless killer and stuff like that.

Seeing as I needed to explain to her for the third time, what my diet was and why I was hunting in the Everfree, this situation wasn’t really a good basis for a conversation.

With a good bit of effort and patience, I eventually got the whole situation back under control. I explained to her, how I was an omnivore (again), how I needed meat to survive (again), how we originally had this conversation already, only to find out that the Fluttershy I was talking to wasn’t the real one and how I forgot to inform her afterwards.

Now that she knew my situation, she actually was okay with me going hunting. Well, as okay as a timid, pacifist herbivore could be, that is. Still, I decided that I should give her some time and space to come to terms with it. Luckily, I remembered that there was still a certain mare sitting in the Canterlot Dungeon and waiting for her interrogation.

I quickly sent Celestia a letter through Spike, saying that I would be coming to interrogate her in about six hours and that I would be pleased to have her with me during the interrogation. Originally I had planned to just head out without waiting for a response, however Celestia seems to be an awfully fast writer, as our sentient fax machine burped the answer into my face only seconds later.

I told Twilight where I would go, however as she asked if she could join me, I decided against it. I was pretty certain that the mare would put up a bit of resistance against our interrogation and I certainly didn’t want to risk Twilight having a third mental breakdown after she saw my… more effective methods.

The following train ride was calm, for the most part. The only real problem was that I by myself couldn’t afford first class and the Royal Cabin was, well, only for royalty and their companions. This meant that I had to go with second class and sit amongst the regular townsfolk. That in itself wasn’t a problem, but most ponies have never seen a human in their life. As such I had to put up with quite a few nervous looks from everyone who wasn’t from Ponyville.

I reached Canterlot at 2pm and was greeted by two royal guards which were to escort me to the palace. Celestia was already waiting for me before the entrance to the dungeons. She greeted me politely, though I could literally feel her weariness after the little incident with Shining Armor. I couldn’t help but smile a little internally, seeing as my deception actually seemed to be working.

Celestia unlocked the Dungeon and we made our way into the cool and moist gangway which contained the doors to the cells. The cells, however, were not where we were headed. Instead, we passed the cells and went into a short corridor with two doors on each side. One of them was the interrogation chamber and one was the observer’s room. Sugarcoat got transferred into one of them shortly prior to my arrival and was already waiting for us.

Celestia entered the room first, immediately getting a comment from Sugarcoat.

“Oh, there is our holy Sungoddess. I’ve been waiting so long; I thought you forgot me down here. Now, what nonsensical questions will I have to put up with this ti—“

She inhaled sharply as she spied me standing behind Celestia. Her eyes widened and her pupils narrowed down. Her face went pale and she began to shiver.

Celestia gave me a questioning look. I however, just walked towards the small table, Sugarcoat was placed at. As I closed in, I could watch her shivers increase, her once yellow coat morphing more and more into white. I reached the table and leaned myself on it, slowly creeping closer towards Sugarcoat, increasing her unease. She shrunk slowly into her chair as she tried to make herself as small as possible. Finally, I had my face directly above hers. Her shivers had grown into a full-on tremble by now and her coat had lost all its color.

“P-please, don’t hurt me.” She whispered, as she looked at me with fear-filled eyes.

“Oh, I won’t. As long as you answer all of our questions in a satisfactory manner, that is.” I answered, giving her my best impression of a rape-face.

I slowly increased the distance between us again, settling down onto a chair on the other side of the table. Celestia sat down beside me. She eyed me with mild curiosity, probably trying to figure out how I could have made her talkative that easily. Seeing as those ponies probably aren’t the best at interrogations, given their almost too friendly nature, I wouldn’t be surprised if their interrogations consisted of politely asking their prisoners about their information.

“Now, my little pony, I think it is time for you to give some answers.” Celestia said, as she turned her look to Sugarcoat.

The former Unicorn mare started to say something, however her tremble was so bad that everything she said was unintelligible.

“Oh, my poor little pony, do you not feel well?”, Celestia said, with a genuine tone of worry in her voice.

Sugarcoat nodded.

“Would it help if Markus here would leave the room?” She said in a motherly caring voice.

Sugarcoat nodded again and Celestia gestured me towards the door. I left the room and chuckled slightly to myself. You see: even though it might not be quite evident, but this actually was an accidental case of good cop – bad cop. The funny thing about this is that Celestia most likely didn’t even know what that means.

I went over into the observer’s room and remained there for the rest of the interrogation. Apparently, while she was the one tasked with taking Fluttershy’s place, as well as leading Luna’s kidnapping, she was not in an actual leading position. The only one with a leading position was that brown stallion, whom she only knew as her >>master<<. At least she didn’t have another name for him. The only really useful information we got out of her was that apparently there are multiple groups beside the bloodmoon cult, which all unify under one entity. While being a possibility, I find it unlikely that this brown stallion would be that certain entity. He probably belongs to some sort of a council or something.

Anyways, after the interrogation we went into the palace, where a quick glance at the clock told me two things:

One: The whole interrogation only took about half an hour, of which probably twenty minutes were filled with Sugarcoat spouting random nonsense. And this isn’t a stereotypical underestimation of useful information, I mean actual nonsense. She was spouting phrases and sentences which in themselves didn’t make any sense. Thinking about it, it might have been that my presence spooked her more than I intended. Luckily, towards the last five minutes she actually managed to calm down.

Two: It was 2:50pm, which meant that, considering the 15 minutes it took me from the station to the dungeon, I would definitely miss the afternoon-train to ponyville, which left at 3pm. The next train would be the evening-train, at 6pm.

Seeing as any try to get to the train in time would probably be in vain, I decided to ask Princess Celestia’s permission to visit the Royal Library. Ever since the Minotaur incident I wanted to have a look at their military Doctrine and this seemed like the perfect chance.

Thus, as I entered the Library, I immediately asked the Librarian about military books. He led me into a somewhat run-down part of the Library, with two shelves, each about four meters in height and full of dusted military books – figures.

I quickly skimmed over the titles, taking a few books that sounded interesting. One that was written by General Firefly and was called >>the importance of formations<<, one by Starswirl, called >>military applications of magic<< and one by an unknown author, called >>the difference between tactics and strategies<<.

Now, don’t get me wrong there: I am impressed by how much they knew about military stuff, especially given their pacifist nature. However that didn’t change that, even for their world’s standards, their military doctrine seemed quite dated, given that the newest book in the shelf was written by Celestia herself about 500 years ago and was called >>The duties and privileges of the Royal Guard<<.

From what I could get from the books, their military consisted of three parts, the Royal Guard, the Solar Guard and the Lunar Guard. The Royal Guard serves both sisters the same, being responsible for guarding the Royal Palace in Canterlot, as well as serving as something like a mix of an actual Army and the Police. The Solar and Lunar Guard meanwhile are more specialized units. They serve solely their respective patron and are hand – or rather hoofpicked by the princesses themselves. Their range of duties mostly includes covert ops and the use as a personal guard by their patron; however they are also trained to be used as an actual elite force in case of a large-scale war.

That alone could be considered surprisingly advanced, if it wasn’t for their military doctrine, which, bluntly formulated, mostly dictates head-butting the enemy until one side gives up. Seeing this, I almost felt sorry for shouting at Shining Armor during the Minotaur incident, as he was just doing what he was taught to do.

That being said, it shouldn’t be surprising that the book about formations was solely meant for Pegasi, as advanced formations for ground troops were deemed unnecessary. The same book also strongly discourages Air-to-Ground combat for reasons not elaborated. Going by this I assumed that the Pegasi would only fly when there was an actual airborne threat, else they would stick to the ground.

The book about tactics and strategies, while technically being correct, also had some fatal flaws in it. While the main question, the difference between tactics and strategies, was correctly answered, the explanations and examples were… pretty optimistic. For one, in almost every example used by the author, the balance of forces is either equal or in favor of the reader, also it is claimed that it is impossible to win when outnumbered. While the latter is, admittedly, less of an error and more of an exaggeration, I myself would highly discourage teaching your students about losses in the very first lesson.

The only book which I couldn’t argue about was the book by Starswirl, albeit that might be because of my yet lacking knowledge about magic. Also, Starswirl has done something that the other authors didn’t: he kept to his own field of expertise. While the other authors wrote about all aspects of the military like they knew them, Starswirl kept his tome solely about the magic itself, not about its use in combat. For example, he wrote about how one can cast a magic shield and magnify it by redirecting some of the energy caught by the shield, however he kept himself from speculating its use in formations or even in one-on-one combat. Sadly the difference in the nature of my magic to that of the ponies makes most of the applications mentioned in this book unavailable to me.

Something that also struck me as odd was that none of the books in both shelves mentioned anything about a navy. I asked the Librarian about it and his answer was… well… let’s say I nearly got myself kicked out of the Library. Apparently there is currently no real naval doctrine in place, as the Equestrian Navy currently only consists of three Galleys, which are anchored down in Fillydelphia, most of the time. Any naval threats are usually dealt with by either the Pegasi or the Princesses themselves, therefore making the writing of an actual naval doctrine a fruitless effort.

After I’ve read everything that didn’t seem like a copy of a book I’ve read already, I looked at the clock again. It was 5pm, meaning that I had another hour to pass before the train arrived. Seeing as I had worked myself through seemingly everything I wanted to know, already, I opted to leave the Library for now and head into town.

In town, I looked around for a shop that looked interesting, while at the same time ignoring the curious looks from the ponies on the streets. Finally my eyes fell, not on a shop, but on the Canterlot Central Hospital. As I still had a good half an hour to spare until I had to get moving towards the station, I decided to visit Princess Luna.

At the hospital I – of course – went to the reception first, to ask for Luna’s room.

“Oh, I’m sorry, but to visit the princess you need a special permission, not to mention that visiting hours are nearly over.” The receptionist said, fighting back her surprise at seeing me.

“But that’s no problem at all, I know the princess personally and Doctor Patch can vow for me, if you want.” I answered. Doctor Patch was the doctor that came to the palace when Luna was injured. Before he went off I specifically asked him about visitation, in case I needed something.

The receptionist gave me a skeptical look and called out doctor patch over the intercom. After only about five minutes of waiting, the doctor arrived, greeting me with a smile.

“Ah, Mister Becker, it’s a pleasure meeting you again.” He said. The receptionist gave him a questioning look.

“Likewise, doctor.” I said. “Might it be possible for me to visit the princess right now?”

“My, of course! Follow me, she’s right down this hallway.”

The doctor went ahead and I fell in step behind him. We went down a long hallway, at the end of which we rounded a corner. The room of the princess was pretty easy to identify, seeing as it was the only guarded room in the hospital.

The room had double-doors, which largely is due to the princess’s size, I presume. The inside of the room was actually quite pragmatic, for a princess at least. It was pretty much just a normal hospital room with the exception that the floor was laminated and there was a small bowl with different fruits on the nightstand. Luna was currently reading as we entered the room. She looked up from her book and smiled wide, as she saw us enter.

“It is quite a welcome surprise for us to see thou again.” She said, as I placed myself beside her bed.

“Likewise, princess. I hope your recovery goes well?” I gave her a smile, as she nodded.

Suddenly, though, her expression changed into a more serious one and she started chewing on her lip.

“What’s wrong, princess?” I asked.

Luna jumped a bit from that, apparently I had ripped her out of a deep thought.

“We are sorry, for the inconvenience. We just had to think about what could have happened if it wasn’t for thy help. We shall see that thou get properly rewarded.”

I gestured her to stop. “I don’t want a reward for this, Luna. Like I said, it is my duty as a soldier to protect those in need of protection. In that case, that was you. That being said, I do have something to ask of you.”

“Very well, thou shall ask us anything thou need.” She answered.

“I want you to visit me in a dream as soon as you can, as I need to have a private talk with you.”

Luna looked at the doctor, who shrugged and shook his head. She then looked back at me.

“We are certain that none of those here will –“

“I’m sorry Luna,” I interrupted, ”but I’m not one to take unnecessary risks.”

Luna thought about it for a while and then finally agreed. With that out of the way, I bid my farewell and made my way to the station.

I reached Ponyville by midnight and went to bed as soon as I was back at the Library. The next morning I was awoken by Twilight, for once. Normally this didn’t happen as not even Twilight gets up at 5:30am. However, that morning I slept in a little, due to me coming home so late the night before. As I looked over to the purple blur next to me, I noticed something was floating beside her head. My eyes slowly adjusted and I saw that Twilight was smiling wide and next to her head, there was a letter.

A letter from Princess Celestia…

Author's Notes:

Heya, sorry it took me so long with this one. School started again this week and even though I finally got to write today, I'm still releasing this one a liitle early, at least according to my publishing policy (normally I'm one chapter ahead with writing. Ch12 is currently only about halfway done though... meh, will do for now. ^^)

I hope you like this chapter and as allways, stay tuned for the next!

Ch 12: social Studies

POV: Twilight

I awoke to an unusual sight. Normally, Markus was out and about by the time I got up, but this time, he was still fast asleep. I silently moved up next to his bed. He looked so peaceful… His normally neutral expression now held a slight smile and every time he breathed out, a slight hum could be heard. I don’t know why, but it felt… oddly satisfying to see him that way.

I don’t know how long I stood there, just staring, but I eventually got taken out of my stupor by a strange sensation in my stomach. It felt slightly uncomfortable, but at the same time like something wonderful and it got stronger, the longer I looked at him.

I shook my head to clear my mind and then sneaked towards the stairs.

“No, Twilight, you can’t think like that! You’ve already gone too far, you can’t go any further! He is a human, not a pony and he isn’t even a noble! You’re a princess, if the nobles came to know this, it would definitely spell nothing good for you!”

I sighed and hung my head. Depressing thoughts like these really aren’t a good opener for a day.

“Come to think of it: Since I’ve become a princess, the nobles have become more of a problem than I’d ever imagined them to be. Not to mention that most nobles I know are so far up their own flanks that they don’t even bother asking for things anymore! They just expect them to be done as soon as they think of them…”

I made my way down the stairs, towards the kitchen and started preparing breakfast for all three of us.

“Oh, stop those thoughts, Twilight! You’re in Ponyville right now! The only pony that could be seen as a noble here is Filthy Rich, and he can be quite nice, as long as his daughter and wife aren’t around.”

I rid myself of my bad thoughts, a small smile creeping over my lips. The pancakes were drizzling in the pan, slowly filling the kitchen with their aroma. I prepared two extra large portions for both Markus and Spike, seeing as they both seem to be exceptional eaters. Just as I was about to place mine on the table, Spike came down, holding onto his belly.

“Twilight, I think something’s com—“

Just as he said that, he burped and a scroll emerged from the flames. I looked at the scroll and smiled as I saw the royal seal upon it. I quickly unrolled it and started reading:

Dear Twilight,
I hereby invite you and the Elements of Harmony to the initiation ceremony of Markus Becker. It is to take place in two days from now in the great hall of the Royal Palace in Canterlot. The Ceremony will start at 6pm with the pledge of loyalty by Markus, followed by a ball. After the Ceremony, Markus will enter service at the Rank of Captain of the Royal Guard and given command over a unit of 60 ponies in total. I would greatly appreciate, if you could inform Markus about the occasion and prepare him accordingly.

Your proud mentor,
Celestia.

I smiled wide as I read this.

“Markus was going to become an Officer in the Royal Guard! I nearly forgot about that.”

I hopped upstairs, the letter still levitating beside me.

“Normally only nobles serve as officers, so when he becomes an officer, that essentially also makes him a noble! Ha, take that you snobs!”

I cheered internally, a wide grin slowly spreading across my face. I stopped beside Markus’s bed and used my magic to wake him. He turned his face to me, his eyes slowly opening. He blinked a few times, before he came to his senses.

“Twilight? What’s the matter?”

I giggled and pulled the bedsheet away from him.

“Out of bed, Markus, we have a lot to do.”

He looked at me with a look of confusion and a severe case of bedhead. I levitated the scroll over to him and watched, as a slight smile appeared on his sleepy face. Though, as soon as it came, the smile disappeared.

He nervously glanced over to me. “Euh, Twilight? I might have a problem… you see, I don’t know how such a Ceremony is held, as my initiation as an officer went slightly… different than here.”

I tilted my head slightly to the side and shortly looked at him in confusion. When I realized what he meant, I just gave him a short smile. “Oh, don’t worry! All you have to do is wait outside the door until Celestia calls you in. Then you kneel down before her and swear a pledge of allegiance, which she will even dictate! There is nothing to fear about.”

He sighed in relief as he heard that.

Over the next few days, we all helped Rarity make us some dresses for the event. Well, all except Markus. He said that he already had something to wear. When I asked him to show me though, he simply said “That would ruin the surprise, wouldn’t it?”

Anyways, by the evening of the second day, our dresses were finished.

Applejack went for a pretty simple design. She wore a light green dress which was sprinkled with red apples and held onto her Back by a brown saddle. She still wore her signature hat, but left her mane open and let it hang from the left side. As for hoofwear, she went for dark brown cowboy boots to contrast the brighter colors.

Fluttershy’s dress seemingly was made from hundreds of leaves, arranged like the tiles on a roof, at the end of which a row of flowers of varying colors formed the edge. On her hoofs, she wore what looked like strands of grass that were arranged like sandals. Her Mane was neatly kempt down on her side and a ring of flowers adorned her head.

Rainbow Dash got a pink dress with a rainbow running across it. Her mane was bound to a Ponytail and dangled off of one side. She also wore a Necklace which seemed like it was made of clouds and had her Cutie Mark bound into it in the front.

Pinkie’s Outfit consisted of a Pink dress made up out of multiple layers. At the top end it was surrounded by multiple petals in a slightly darker shade of pink. She also wore a light green scarf with a pink bow, as well as a large hat, under which her mane was kempt to hang down on both sides in slightly curled strands.

Rarity made herself a purple dress, which was covered in gems and had two rows of extra stitching going along the length of it, making it bulge slightly outward in between. Her Mane was organized into a ponytail which was bound on multiple parts and she wore a golden tiara with three gems, as well as two golden earrings on each side.

Finally, my own dress was, like Pinkie’s, made up of multiple layers of Fabric, however mine were different shades of purple, growing darker towards the ground. The layers were held together by four pink stars. Around my neck, I wore a dark blue scarf with a large purple star in front. My mane was bound into a knot and I wore my crown, as well as a pink earring shaped like a star.

With our dresses settled, the day of the ceremony could come!

We took the noon train, which departed around 11am. I was actually quite surprised to see Markus in his normal Uniform… Well, surprised isn’t quite the right word, seeing as I nearly yelled at him for not being properly dressed for the occasion. However, he noticed this and before I could get started, he pointed at the Fieldpack at his back and said that his formal clothes were in there and he wanted to change into them when we were in Canterlot, though he had no spare boots, so he polished them at least.

The train ride was actually rather uneventful. Rainbow, Pinkie and Applejack were playing cards on one of the benches, Rarity was giving herself a final touch and Fluttershy and I were talking a bit. Markus meanwhile sat beside me, looking outside as the scenery flashed by.

We arrived at Canterlot around 5pm. Four Guardsponies were already waiting for our arrival. They escorted ourselves to the Palace, where we arrived around fifteen minutes later. We were led to the great hall, before which we parted ways with Markus, who went to get dressed. Not that he could have come in just yet anyways, as the ceremony requires him to wait outside.

We entered the hall, where a long carpet was placed from the door right to the other end of the room, where Celestia and Luna both had taken their places upon their thrones. A third throne stood empty beside them, waiting for me to arrive. We trotted over to the princesses, bowing before them.

“We have arrived, princess.” I said.

Princess Celestia nodded and chuckled slightly at me. “You don’t have to bow before me, Twilight. You are a princess yourself now, you know?” She said, smiling at me, before motioning over to the empty throne.

I chuckled awkwardly and averted my eyes. “Right... ehehe… I forgot…” I sat down on the throne and eyed the clock, which was hanging over the entrance door. It was still half an hour until the ceremony should begin, yet the hall was filled to the brim with nobles. Some were grouped together, chattering about what I could only assume as their recent Bank balances and the best ways to crawl up our flanks. I decided not to think too hard about it and quickly went back to looking over the room. I saw Rainbow and Pinkie, who were already munching away at the buffet. Fluttershy was with them, though didn’t eat anything. Applejack and Rarity were among the nobles, chatting and laughing with each other.

I chanced a look over to Luna, eyeing her side. Her wound had mostly healed by now, due to her Alicorn magic. All that was left was a long scar, running from her front legs to her hind ones. I winced slightly as I recalled the day of the incident. Luna seemed to notice this and looked over to me.

“What is it, dear Twilight? Do you feel alright?” she asked, tilting her head slightly to the side and giving me a concerned look.

“N-No.. I mean, yes! It`s just… uh, I was wondering if you really are better by now, given what you went through?”

Luna looked down at her scar and sighed. She looked back at me and answered. “While it is true that we are not yet fit to resume our royal duties, we wanted to use the occasion, to officially and personally voice our gratitude to our savior.” She looked to the door and smiled.

“While a showcase of gratitude indeed is in order, I think you should drop that topic for now and instead focus on happier things than the recent events.” Celestia said, smiling over to me and Luna.

“Y-Yes, I suppose you are right, Pri— uhm, Celestia…” I said, turning my gaze back to the crowd of Ponies before us.

Around five minutes to 6pm, a Guardspony came into the hall and informed Celestia that Markus was ready and waiting outside. Celestia told the Guard to tell Markus to wait, until she called him in. With that, the Guard went back outside and Celestia stood up, instantly gaining the attention of everypony in the room.

“Nobles, Officers, my little Ponies,” She began, “Today we have gathered here, to celebrate the newest addition to our officer’s ranks. He may not be a Pony, He may not be a Noble-“ A serious of low gasps became audible throughout the room, as she said that. “ – however, he has shown his expertise and skills in combat, by not only driving off an invading Minotaur Army, but also saving Princess Luna from an attempted kidnapping.”

She paused for a moment, looking around at the sea of Ponies in front of her.

“Now without further ado, I shall introduce to you: Markus Becker!”

As she said that, the large double doors of the hall opened, revealing Markus behind them. My eyes grew wide and I could feel my wings twitch as I lay eyes upon him.

He wore a light gray Uniform Jacket with two pockets on his chest and two on his waists, dark gray Uniform Pants and a green Beret. His boots were polished and reflected the light as he walked down the hall, his face looking straight at me, his blue eyes glinting. Beneath his Jacked seemed to be a light blue shirt and he wore a black tie. He had two pairs of gray stripes on green background stitched to his collar, a gray version of his shoulder badges on his shoulders and the flag of his home country on his upper arms.

The left side of his chest was decorated with five medals, three of them in the form of a golden cross with an eagle with half-spread wings in the middle, of which again, two had a red brim. The one without it had a pair of golden oak leaves on its ribbon instead. The fourth medal was a bronze one which showed the aforementioned eagle with a cross similar to the other medals in the background. Both the eagles on the crosses and the eagle on the medal were surrounded by a circle of oak leaves. The fifth medal was golden and yet again bore said eagle, only this time in black. It also had a small golden badge on its ribbon, which had the word >>GEFECHT<< written onto it. All of the medals hung by a ribbon which bore the colors of his home country’s flag.

Also, his left Pocket bore a golden insignia with the aforementioned eagle and a small “5” etched into it. A silver cord hung from his right collar to his right shoulder, where it was attached by a golden button, which yet again bore said eagle as a symbol.

“I guess, Markus’s country really likes eagles, huh?” I thought while mustering him further.

His Beret bore a silver insignia, which consisted of an oak-leaf-ring surrounding what seemed like a small box, with a large pipe on it, on top of a larger box which seemed to have some kind of rolls on its side, as well as two weird, crossed sticks directly below it. The lower part of the insignia had a small rectangle stamped into it, which bore Markus’s country’s flag. His brown hair was cut short on the sides and his slightly longer hair on the top was kempt to the right under his Beret. His two-part mustache was kempt to either side in order to keep the hairs from getting into his mouth.

Markus kept walking down the hall in a slow, determined way, his chin slightly lifted and a one-sided smile on his face. His eyes were still on me, ignoring the ponies gasping and whispering around him, as he made his way to us.

Even though I was living with him for the past month, I only then noticed the vast difference in size between our races, as Markus stood easily double as high as most of the ponies in the room, which placed him at around twelve hooves. This actually made him even slightly taller than Celestia (11hooves, 5 inches)!

The medals clattered about as Markus came to a stop directly in front of us. He clapped his heels together, before setting his left foot a bit back and kneeling down, resting himself onto his right leg and lowering his head. His shoulder piece now pointed directly at me and I noticed that the three black diamond shapes on his normal uniform were now replaced by silver ones. I gazed over it for a little longer, before I looked over to Celestia.

Celestia made a small step towards Markus, whose smile faded into a neutral expression and whose eyes now pointed up at her.

“Markus Becker!” she began, “You have proven your worth to us twice by now and as such we are giving you the chance today, to become an officer of our Royal Guard. If you are willing to take the offer, you must first answer a few questions: Are you willing to serve under our command?”

“Yes, your Highness!” Markus answered in a determined voice.

“Are you willing to protect Equestria and its citizens from any danger that may arise?”

“Yes, your Highness!”

“Are you willing to lay down your body, your soul and your very life to fulfill your duty?”

“Yes, your Highness!”

“Very well,” Celestia said, “You will now vow an oath of loyalty towards us princesses and all of Equestria. Repeat after me: I vow to serve…”

“I vow to serve…” Markus repeated.

“the princesses,…”

“the princesses,…”

“Equestria…”

“Equestria…”

“And all of its Citizens…”

“And all of its Citizens…”

“And protect them…”

“And protect them…”

“With my body,…”

“With my body,…”

“My soul…”

“My soul…”

“And my very life!”

“And my very Life!”

Celestia made a step back and a series of stomps echoed through the room. I tensed up a little, because most of the officers I’ve seen going through this ceremony tended to stand up at this point already, however… Markus kept his position. I breathed a short sigh of relief as Celestia spoke up again.

“I shall accept your oath. You may call yourself a >>Captain<< of the Royal Guard now, Markus Becker! With this, you inherit all the duties and privileges of this rank, as well as the noble title of >>Count<<.”

Celestia’s horn started to glow and from behind her back, there came a sword levitating towards Markus. The sword had a red grip with a golden Pommel at its end, as well as a golden cross guard. The sheath was a strong violet color, decorated with a few vine-like golden ornaments and a golden tip.

“This sword shall be the symbol of your rank and allegiance. Wield it with pride!”

Markus opened his hands and Celestia lowered the sword into them. He closed his grasp around it, before he, yet again, ceased all movement.

“You may rise, CAPTAIN Markus Becker!”

As Markus rose to his feet, the room was yet again filled with the stomping of hooves. Celestia made a few steps forward and stood beside Markus now. Markus still didn’t move, now looking into the emptiness in front of him, his face showing neither nervousness, nor strain.

“Be at ease, captain.” Celestia said. Markus made a few quick movements, placing his sword to his side and turned around, before he loosened up.

“With that…” Celestia continued. “Markus Becker has now officially become a captain of our guard. He shall be treated with the respect entitled to his new position! Now, without further ado, the festivities shall begin!”

Another wave of stomping emanated from the crowd, together with a series of cheers. After a few seconds, the Ponies in front of us found themselves together in their groups again and the room was yet again filled with chattering and laughter as the Band started playing a few classical pieces.

Markus attached the sword to his belt and turned back around. He knelt down before me and extended his hand towards me.

“May I ask you to join me, my princess?” He asked as he smiled at me.

I felt a blush creeping over my face and I heard Luna snicker beside me, as I extended my hoof to meet his hand. We both got up, still keeping my hoof in his hand, and walked to where the others were already assembled. I felt my chest flutter, as we slowly descended the stairs from the throne. Somehow, Markus made me feel like an actual princess for the first time, through this simple action. I felt my blush deepen, as I noticed the envious looks of the nobles around us, but Markus just ignored them.

He let go of my hoof as we reached our friends.

“My congratulations, Darling!” Rarity said, as she eyed Markus’s new Uniform. “I’ve got to say… Even though there is a severe lack of color in this design, I can’t deny its charm. Especially the beret goes well with your mustache and haircut.”

Markus chuckled and smiled down at us.

“Thank you very much Rarity.” He mustered our dresses once, before continuing. “I’ve got to admit, Rarity, you’ve accomplished the impossible. You’ve managed to even further the beauty of you and the others.”

I had to avert my gaze as I felt my face heat up once again. Luckily, this time it seemed that I wasn’t the only one, as the others were also looking somewhere else now. Applejack even hid behind her hat.

“Ah shoot, sugarcube, don’t just say somethin’ cheesy like that!” She said, as she slowly pushed her face from behind her head.

“Y-Yeah, so totally not awesome!” Rainbow Dash agreed.

“Oh really?” Markus said with a slight chuckle. “Because your body seems to think otherwise.”

I jerked around to look at Rainbow and, sure enough, her face was deep red and her wings were spread wide. She looked around and, as she noticed her wings, her blush seemed to deepen even further.

“That’s, uh, no, wait... uh… I just… I wanted to… fly up and see your medals. Yeah, that’s it! You have a lot of medals there and I wanted to take a look.” She said, as she flew up to Markus’s chest.

“Sure ya did Rainbow…” Applejack commented. “But ah have ta agree, that sure is a lotta medals ya got there.”

Markus looked down on his Uniform.

“I suppose so… But I can assure you that every single one of them was earned. In fact, three of you already know the story behind one of them.” Markus said, as he lifted the cross without red brim with his thumb. “This one is the one I got with the Nickname >>devil of Tehran<<. For those of you who don’t know: I was once shot down over a city called Tehran. I survived the initial crash and proceeded to not only survive for two weeks behind enemy lines, but also singlehandedly took down an enemy outpost in the process.”

“Well, ‘tseems like it’s deserved then.” Applejack said, after she managed to pick up her jaw.

“Quite so. But speaking of deserved…” Markus said as he unsheathed his sword. He inspected it closely, running his fingers along the blade, testing its stiffness and the balance.

“Is it to your liking?” A voice behind us asked. I turned around and saw Celestia and Luna slowly approaching.

“Very much so.” Markus answered. “At first I was a little worried that this might be just a decorative sword, but thankfully it isn’t. Also, I don’t know if you just knew or if it was a lucky guess, but shortswords are actually the kind I’m used to.”

As he said that, I noticed a few of the nobles around us tsking and giving him glares. Markus however just let a short, one-sided smile escape his lips. Celestia smiled as well, while Luna had to put a hoof over her muzzle to stop herself from giggling.

I gave Celestia a questioning look. Markus noticed this and leaned down to me.

“Later, Twilight.” He whispered to me.

“What would’ve been so bad about it if it was a decorative sword?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Markus turned to her and began explaining.

“Basically, it’s the purpose. An actual sword is meant to be used in combat and is therefore made very sturdy. A decorative sword meanwhile is meant to be showcased on display or maybe wielded at ceremonies. Therefore, while mostly well garnished, deco-swords aren’t made with quite the quality actual swords are, which makes them bend and break very easily.”

Markus sheathed his sword again and turned back to Celestia.

“But seeing as this one is very real, that shouldn’t b—“

Suddenly, a golden Hoofguard hit Markus straight to the face, making him recoil slightly.

I looked to where the hoofguard came from and saw a white Unicorn stallion with a blonde mane standing there, his right front hoof still stretched towards Markus.

“What the Buck?! What are you doing?!” Rainbow Dash screamed.

“Indeed Nephew, what do you think you are –“ Celestia said, but was cut off by Markus lifting his hand.

“Are you certain?” Markus said, in a slow, deliberate voice. His face showing cold determination, he now looked straight at the stallion.

“Indeed I am. I cannot allow a filthy creature such as you to smut the name of our Royal Guard.” Blueblood answered.

“Very well. I shall accept.”

Celestia and Luna both gasped at him.

“Thou cannot possibly be meaning this!” Luna said in exasperation.

“Indeed, Markus, do you even know what you are getting into?!” Celestia added, but Markus just stood there calmly, still eyeing his opponent.

“Yeah, could you please explain what’s happening?! I don’t understand what’s going on!” Rainbow shouted.

Markus turned his head to face her. “He has challenged me to a duel.”

Rainbow looked at him, her jaw dropping. She flew up, throwing a few punches into the air. “Heck yeah, show him what you’ve got! Go Markus! Go Markus!”

Celestia glared at her.

“Ehehe, I mean, you totally cannot do that, it’s irresponsible!”

Markus gave her a short chuckle, before returning to a serious expression.

“As the one challenged, I believe that I am entitled to decide the place, time and rules of our duel. As such, I shall choose the royal garden in ten minutes as the location and time. The rules shall be >>melee only<<, meaning that, apart from levitating a weapon, no magic or ranged weapon shall be used.”

Blueblood accepted the rules. Celestia jerked over to Markus and looked him straight into the eyes. From what I could see, she was… afraid? I couldn’t really see, as I was partially standing behind Markus.

After a while, Celestia sighed and looked down to the ground.

“Very well.” She said, as she lifted her head again. “I shall personally oversee the duel, in order to ensure that both participants stay true to the rules.” She announced.

Celestia then slowly trotted toward the door, whispering into Markus’s ear as she passed him.

“Please, don’t kill him…”

---

Ten minutes later, everypony had gathered outside in the gardens. Blueblood and Markus stood about sixty hooves apart from one another, with everyone else forming a large rectangular arena around them. Celestia and I stood at the side about halfway between both of them.

“Now, before the Duel shall begin, you shall rid yourself of any weapon apart the one you wish to use!” Celestia demanded.

Two Guardsponies flew to both of them and retrieved their weapons. Blueblood opted to use a saber, while Markus went for… his knife.

“Hah, what an amateur you must be to favor a knife over a sword!” Blueblood laughed, but Markus kept calm.

“Amateur? Well if you say so… I just find it a little overkill to use a sword against a straw puppet. Also: wouldn’t it be a shame to smear a blade as divine as this one with your filthy blood?” Markus countered.

Blueblood snarled at him and I saw Rainbow give silent cheers from the other side.

“Now, the Duel shall begin!” Celestia announced.

Blueblood immediately raced towards Markus. Upon this, Markus made a quick step to the side and planted the underside of his knife firmly against Blueblood’s temple, sending him tumbling to the side.

“Meine Güte, sowas nenn’ ich ‘nen Dickkopf!” (Good lord, that’s what I call a thickhead!) Markus exclaimed, as Blueblood rose back to his feet and turned back to Markus, a big bruise now forming where he was hit.

Once again, Blueblood charged at Markus, who this time, instead of evading, slashed against Blueblood’s sword. A loud, metallic clink could be heard, as the two blades hit, sending sparks flying… as well as the top half of Blueblood’s saber.

Celestia rose to her feet. “The duel is decided! The winner is Markus Becker!” She announced loudly.

Markus turned about and smiled at us, as he sheathed his knife. However, Blueblood should not give up that easily.

“I cannot accept this!” He screamed, as he charged his horn.

I could not see this and averted my eyes. A loud thunder could be heard and I winced, as I heard a thud not far from me, followed by a collective gasp from the audience.

I slowly reopened my eyes and felt relief and happiness stream through my body, as I saw not Blueblood, but Markus stand there, his knife in his hand and looking into the grass. I followed his gaze and spotted a steaming corpse lying in the grass.

A gasp escaped my lips as I realized, whom this corpse belonged to. I looked up at Celestia, who was looking at it in shock, tears slowly gathering in her eyes. She closed her eyes and lowered her head, a series of short sniffles becoming audible from her.

I looked back at Markus, who by now was approaching the corpse. He crouched down and examined it thoroughly.

Celestia’s expression lit up as she heard the result of the examination.

“He is still alive!”

Four Guardsponies and a stretcher came from the audience and brought him to the newly re-established infirmary. Markus meanwhile walked back to where he stood and picked something from the ground. It looked like… a Unicorn’s horn.

He walked towards me and Celestia, a satisfied smile on his face.

“How did you do that?!” I asked him, as soon as he reached us.

Markus cocked his head to the side. “What? That with the horn or with the saber?” He asked.

“Both! How is this even possible?!”

Markus smiled and unsheathed his knife. “Well, there are two things you’ve got to know for this.” He said, as he held his knife out to me, gripping it at the blade.

I took it with my magic and examined it. I noticed that this blade was not made out of the steel I knew.

“What is this blade made out of?! It’s not steel, that’s what I can tell!”

Markus took the knife from my magic and sheathed it again.

“Indeed. This Material is called Tungsten Carbide and it’s almost as hard as diamond. You see: I tended to break my knives during combat… like, a LOT. So, one time I thought that enough was enough and – with the approval of my superiors – got myself a knife made of Tungsten Carbide – which I paid for myself. However, this change doesn’t only make it more durable, but also decisively more heavy, which on one side heightens the force of impact, but on the other side makes it harder to control.”

Markus was about to turn around, when Celestia asked: “So, what’s the other thing?”

Markus let out a sigh and looked up at Celestia.

“I really hoped you didn’t notice… well, you remember what I told you about decorative swords, Twilight?” He said.

Celestia face-hoofed. “You mean to tell me, that my nephew brought a décor-sword to a duel?”

Markus didn’t say anything and just nodded.

---

The evening returned to fair normality shortly after. We stood there and talked, laughed and listened to the music. At one point, Markus even walked over to the lead cellist and talked with her.

Then, later that evening, the Band began to play dance music. I saw my chance and gathered all my courage.

“D-Do you want to dance with me?” I asked, my face heating up yet again.

“But of course.” Came his answer. I was overjoyed and we were about to go to the dancefloor, when suddenly Rainbow came from behind me.

“Hey, would you… you know… dance with me too?” She said. I could feel my wings twitch, as I felt jealousy arise in me.

Markus let out a sigh, but, to my surprise, didn’t pick one of us, but instead led both of us to the dancefloor. The music suddenly stopped and those that were dancing previously were forming a large circle for us.

Markus then let go of our hooves and picked me up, standing me on my hind legs and placing my left foreleg around his neck. He then placed his right hand at my barrel and held my right foreleg with his left hand.

He signaled the Band to start playing and, as they did so, began dancing me around the edge of the circle. Now, I can’t claim that I was very good at dancing, especially on two hooves, but for every move I did wrong, he somehow managed to correct with one of his.

As we reached the spot where we started, he suddenly made me spin and, in a swift motion, changed over to Rainbow Dash, doing the same with her. This continued throughout the whole song, with alternating patterns. Sometimes he led us through the middle of the circle, sometimes we made some patterns before changing, but all in all, he somehow managed to find an almost perfect balance between us two.

Then, as the music ended, he stood before us and made a bow. We both looked at each other, before smiling and doing the same.

The rest of the evening was filled with multiple dances. Sometimes he took Rainbow, sometimes he went with me. Even Luna had him dance with her once or twice. The evening soon went into night and, as the clock chimed midnight, we decided it would be time for us to go home. We bid our farewell to Celestia and Luna and made our way out into the hallway and towards the station.

During our ride in the train, almost everyone fell asleep. Everyone except me and Markus.

“So, now… about that thing with the sword…” I started.

“You wanted to know, what the reaction of those nobles meant, don’t you?” Markus inquired.

I nodded.

“Well, you see…” He started. “Normally an officer carries either a Rapier or a saber, because those are recognized as >>noble swords<< or something like that. However, they gave me a short sword. This sword is normally only given to those in lower ranks, as it is very versatile and easy to use. I suppose the nobles pressed Celestia and Luna to give me this instead of a Rapier or Saber in order to insult me. What they don’t seem to realize however, is that no matter the kind, a sword stays a sword. On top of this, they actually did me a favor, as I always liked Short Swords better than Rapiers.”

With this, the royal cabin fell silent again and I found myself soon drift off into sleep…

Author's Notes:

Woo, longest chapter so far!

Some necessary trivia on the medals mentioned, as well as Markus's knife:
Markus's medals are (from highest to lowest) as follows:
Ehrenkreuz für Tapferkeit (literally: Honorcross for bravery), highest medal in the Bundeswehr, given for EXCEPTIONAL bravery

Ehrenkreuz der Bundeswehr in gold, Sonderausführung x2 (literally: honorcross of the Bundeswehr in gold, special edition), given for high bravery in the line of duty with danger to one's own life and without service requirement

Ehrenmedaille der Bundeswehr (literally: honormedal of the Bundeswehr), given for loyalty and noteworthy deeds in the line of duty with a minimum of 7 months of service.

Einsatzmedaille Gefecht (Combat Medal), given for participation in at least one instance of ground combat.

Leistungsabzeichen in gold (5) (service badge in gold (5)), given for earning the golden service badge five times. in order to earn one, you've got to attend a special test and give exceptional results.

Schützenschnur (no real translation for this... sorry), a silvry cord given for exceptional marksman skills. the button on the top end of the cord can be bronze, silver or gold, depending of the extent of ones skills. Normally only given to sergeants or lower, however Markus got his during his studies, when he wasn't an officer yet.

Markus's Knife:
after breaking SEVERAL of his knives in combat (or otherwise), he bought himself a knife, which was formed like the standard KM2000, but made out of Tungsten Carbide. To be exact: the edge is made from pure WC, making it very hard and durable, while the spine is made from WC-9CO, in order to make it more break-resistant.

Whoo, a lot of writing done. I'm dead. See ya when someone decides to pull me out of my grave

Just joking, next chapter will (hopefully) be done somewhere around wednesday

Ch13: Memories

Author's Notes:

Sooooo... wednesday didn't really work out, huh? Well, I can tell anyone of you, who wants to take up writing too: fuck Deadlines, they are more of a hindrance than they are worth!

Also: you may have noticed that I changed the rating to teen and added three warnings. that's because we've reached the point, where we're slowly going to descend into the chapters that earned this story its "dark" tag.

The Night before the Ceremony

---

The Realm of Dreams looked peaceful that night. We walked amongst the thousands of dreams we art to protect every night. Though, that night shan’t be a routine one. That night, we were to meet somepony in the realm. One who had specifically asked us to meet them.

We wandered further, searching for a sign of his dreams. It wasn’t long that we found it. It sent out an aura, which made it seem like it didn’t belong there, yet wouldn’t have been more fitting anywhere else. We stepped into the speck and it sent us into a long hallway, which on both sides was covered in doors, mere inches from one another. Each door had an individual color and color pattern and over each one hung a brass sign with words etched into them. As we tried to read them, though, we found that they were written in a language we did not know.

We turned back to the door we were standing before and looked at the sign above. It read:

“Erinnerungen”

We tried to push it open, however we could not seem to move it open for even an inch. We put our whole body into it, but to no avail. That was, when we noticed a sign hanging from the door, reading

“please knock before entering”

Knowing the almost absurd rules of the Realm of Dreams, We did as the sign asked and, as we did so, the door slowly pushed open. Behind it lay an enormous Library, filled with shelves so high that they faded from view. The shelves were organized into sections, stretching out to both, our left and our right, as well as further back into the room. All three sections stretched further into their respective directions, than our eye could perceive and it seemed impossible for a room this large to be placed here, given the tight arrangement of the doors outside. Yet, again, this was the realm of dreams. This was a realm dominated by the thoughts and fantasies of ponies and not their rationality.

Directly behind the door, there was a small reading area, to which each of the shelves seemed to point. It was this reading area that held the most interesting thing of this night. It was a bipedal creature with no hair on most of his body, clad in clothes with a seemingly random pattern of colors printed onto them. He was currently bowed over a book as we entered.

“Ah, Luna, please come in!” Markus said, as we made our first step into the Library. It startled us a little and we found ourselves unable to move for a moment.

Markus chuckled slightly. “Is it really such an impressive sight?”

We regained our composure and paced towards the reading area. “Neigh, we were just a little startled that thou could sense us. Normally we aren’t noticed until we reveal ourselves.”

Markus smiled and shook his head. “Oh dear Luna, this may be your realm, but it’s my plane within it. Most Ponies don’t seem to realize it’s possible, but I’ve taken control over it and can now actively manipulate what happens. On that note, may I ask you to drop that accent of yours? There is no need for this when we’re in private.”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot do that, you know? This is the roy–“ We held a hoof before our mouth as we noticed what we were saying.

“What did you do? And how did you do that?” We asked, as we regained ourselves.

Markus chuckled yet again. “Oh please, Luna. You should know that the Realm of Dreams doesn’t depict the actual, but rather just intentions. Thus, as the one in control I can, while unable to change the meaning behind them, manipulate how your words are perceived.”

We sighed in defeat and gave a smile. “Well, I have to admit that I am impressed. Though, that likely is not why you’ve asked me here, so what did you want to talk about?”

Markus gave a smile and gestured us to a chair he just spawned. We sat down on it and he began to talk.

“As you know, I have been here for slightly more than a month, by now.”

We nodded.

“You also know, that during that time, I have shown my capabilities in combat multiple times.”

“Well, twice as far as I know.” We responded.

“Indeed. You see: that is incorrect.”

Our eyes widened shortly, but we managed to regain our calm rather quickly.

“I have actually been in combat four times by now, ignoring my hunting and the occasional Everfree-monstrosity. Two of which, you don’t know of, because they happened outside of your sphere of influence.”

“You have left Equestria during your time here? I didn’t know of that.” We stated, while taking a sip from a cup of tea, which Markus had spawned.

Markus chuckled and shook his head. “No, I haven’t been out of country yet… Well, technically I have, but that was during the Minotaur Incident when I aligned my run, so it doesn’t really count. No, I have been here in Equestria all – ALMOST all of the time.”

We looked at him and raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.

He proceeded to tell us about how he and Rainbow Dash both were involved not only in the rescue of Fluttershy, but also in a successful raid against a Gang of loan sharks. We sat quietly and listened closely as he told us what we didn’t know yet, amazed by his very apparent urge to serve and protect.

“As you can see, my princess, there is quite a bit going on without your knowledge and even though you have the royal guard, as well as your two special forces, that doesn’t seem to be enough.”

We tilted our head to the side and looked in wonder.

“You see: I have the strong suspicion that the royal guard, while mostly loyal, has some corrupt members, or even spies among them.”

We choked on the sip of tea we were just taking and started to cough frantically as he uttered those words. “That’s impossible!” We protested, “Our guards are loyal to the bone! They are thoroughly tested before even getting to the assessment!”

Markus shook his head and smiled to the ground. “Oh dear Luna, just because you don’t know about something doesn’t mean it’s impossible, but just that you don’t know. Unfortunately, going from my experience, most things that one does not know about tend to be Malevolent to one’s cause.”

We stroked our Muzzle with a hoof, aiding ourselves in thinking harder. We were certain that we could trust Markus, as he was the one who saved our life. However, the unpredictability he showcased during his time here had us worried about what he was playing at.

“But don’t worry, Luna: I have a plan to fix this.” He started pacing around the reading area, as he began talking. “Shining Armor and I are going to make everyone believe that we absolutely despise each other. With such an obvious weakness in the guard, one of us should soon be contacted by one of the cults beside the Bloodmoon and be given opportunities to sabotage the other in exchange for cooperation. By utilizing this, we may be able to find their Hideout and get rid of them very soon.”

We nodded in agreement. His plan sounded reasonable to us, yet there was something that bothered us.

“Are you sure, you are willing to sacrifice not only part of your social status, but also the trust of Celestia, Cadence and Twilight to accomplish this? And most importantly: It seems that your plan works better the less know of it, so why did you choose to let me in on this?”

“Well, we will need someone to supply us with information and since I can be sure of your trust, you are the first choice. Twilight also knows about this, as she helped me in convincing Shining Armor and she will be aiding us in any way she can, however since she doesn’t have as much of a political presence as you do, we still need you. Your ability to walk the Realm of Dreams is also a welcome asset.” He said, as he came to a stop beside his chair again and placed a hand on its backrest. “As for my social status: I think the safety of Equestria easily outweighs this sacrifice and as long as I am able to protect, I don’t really care either.”

We stood up from our chair and paced towards Markus, until we stood directly in front of him.

“Why is it that you go to such lengths to protect a country, which you only live in for a month?” We asked.

“I think I’ve told you already. I am a soldier and it is my dut-“ He wanted to repeat what he told me during the kidnapping, but I cut him off.

“I don’t think that your only reason is your purpose as a soldier. I have seen many soldier’s dreams by now and none had such a strong desire to serve and protect as you have, so what lies beyond this mask, Markus?” We said.

Markus turned around and sighed. He paced a little back and forth, before looking at us again.

“Very well. I will show you some of my memories, but please promise me that whatever I am going to show you, it is something only you and I may ever know about, okay?”

We nodded and Markus proceeded with swiping his arm. In doing so, the Library, we were in, vanished and was replaced by what seemed like an ordinary road, but made out of some black material and with a single, white, dashed line in the middle and two full lines on the sides. Along the sides of the road stood a set of white, triangular posts, which were placed in regular intervals on both sides. Around us there were hills and fields filled with grass and one could spy the occasional patch of forestry in the distance. On said road, there were carriages, which had four wheels and nopony seemed to pull them. We could see humans sitting inside them, though.

Another of those carriages passed us and time slowed down. This time, we got a good look of the inside of the carriage. It had two seats in the front and five in the back. In front of the front-left seat there was a large circle hanging from the front part of the cabin. The two frontal seats each had a human sitting inside. The one on the left, we had quickly determined to be Markus, though much younger, with longer hair and a less-developed mustache. The one on the right, we didn’t know, but it seemed to be female.

“Did you know that I had a sister, Luna?” Markus asked. We were so concentrated in examining our surroundings that we nearly jumped when he said that.

“No, I didn’t know that… Is this your sister?” We gestured toward the female in the carriage and Markus nodded.

“A very intelligent girl, very eager and diligent.” He said, as time began moving again and the carriage pulled us along.

“You as a younger sibling might not fully understand this, but being the older sibling comes with some sort of an urge… an urge to protect your younger siblings, no matter the cost. The reason Celestia banished you to the moon wasn’t that she wanted to punish you, but that she wanted to protect you from yourself.”

Our thoughts wandered off to said day. The rebellion, the banishment, the ever-apparent hatred towards my sister. Yet, to this day, we don’t know why we hated her so much. Was it because of us becoming Nighmare Moon? Was it the black magic that transformed us?

We were pulled out of our thoughts by a giant, white carriage suddenly appearing around a corner to the left. It entered the road and made a large turning motion to the right, crossing the dashed line in the middle by a good bit. Markus’s carriage meanwhile was heading straight for that giant.

“We went to visit our grand-parents that day.” Markus started to speak again. “We were on our way home, when some fuckwit in a Truck…“ He motioned towards that giant carriage in the middle of the road, “ignored all rules of caution and entered the road without looking for traffic.”

Red lights began to glow on Markus’s carriage and it began to sway, causing it to now slide sideways towards the >>Truck<<, as Markus called it.

“I tried to evade, or at least make it so only I get hurt, but fate had other plans.”

The rear of the carriage hit the Truck, causing it to bend. Markus stayed unharmed, however, the bend caused the other side, his sister’s side, to slowly be squashed.

We had to turn around, as Markus’s memory clearly depicted the slow and suffering death of his sister. We could hear the metal bending and her bones and flesh be slowly torn, squashed and broken.

As the carriage stopped sliding, a door on Markus’s side opened and he fell out. He was mostly unharmed, safe for a few scratches and bruises.

We slowly dared ourselves to look to where his sister was, but in hindsight, we better had not. What once was a young human female, was now reduced to a red mush of rags, blood and gore. We had to fight the urge to vomit and quickly turned ourselves back to Markus.

Both, the real Markus and the one from the Memory were looking towards his sister. Both had tears in their eyes, but only the real one kept a straight face. The other one just sat there, eyes wide and unblinking, arms limb and mouth agape.

“I tried what I could to save her, but in the end only managed to kill her. Needless to say, it pushed me close to insanity.”

The countryside faded and we were now in a house. We were looking at the entrance door and had a small stairwell to our right.

“My father left us when I was only eight years old, so when my grand-parents died only four months after my sister, my mother and I were the only ones left.”

The door opened and Markus stepped inside.

“Though even that wouldn’t last long.”

“Mama, ich bin zu Hause!” (mom, I’m home!)

The Markus from the memory was clad in a thick coat now and held two large bags in his hands. He put the bags down and removed the coat, before he began to ascend the stairs.

“It was a week after my nineteenth birthday. My mother had an accident at work, which had her lose her ability to walk. Though, treatment worked and soon she was slowly learning to walk again.”

We followed the memory upstairs and were now standing in a very tight corridor with four doors. Markus explained, that directly in front of us was his mother’s room and to the right of it was his sister’s room. To our right, there was Markus’s room and directly to our left was the bathroom.

“Mama?” (mom?) Markus’s memory asked as it entered the bathroom and we followed after it.

We could hear water running and, as we entered, saw a chubby, naked female human bent over the edge of what looked like a bathtub. We went closer to it and recoiled, as we saw, that her neck was bent at an odd angle. Her mouth and eyes were wide open and her head from her nose upwards was dangling under water.

We heard a thud behind us and turned around. There, in the doorway, was Markus’s memory, down on all fours and tears streaming off his face. He wasn’t crying yet, but his fast and heavy breaths signaled that he was only barely holding on.

“Apparently my mother took a bath and got too eager due to her recent successes in her treatment. She tried to walk without her walking aid, slipped on the wet tiles, causing her to fall backwards, and hit the edge of the bathtub. Her neck broke upon impact.”

We watched on, as the memory slowly descended further and further into insanity. That was, when a beam of yellow light shone through the keyhole of Markus’s room’s door and directly into the memory’s eyes. He was startled for a moment and got up. He started walking towards the door. We entered Markus’s room together with the memory and, upon entry, saw a large, golden book with a human on a cross stamped into its cover, directly opposite of the door. The sunlight reflected of the metal cover directly toward the door.

The memory slowly walked towards it and began to read in it.

“That’s the bible.” Markus said beside us. “The holy tome of our religion. This may seem a little… stereotypical or even far-fetched, seen from a sane standpoint, but… I lost my whole family within just half a year, so it shouldn’t be hard to believe, when I say…” He turned his head towards us and looked us directly into the eyes, “at that point, I was beyond insanity.”

The memory closed the book and leaned himself against a wall. He sat down, crossed his legs and put his hands to his feet while keeping his back steady. He closed his eyes and stayed like this, completely unmoving.

“I started to meditate over what had happened. I tried to come to terms with myself and to see reason in what I assumed was god’s doing. You see: our religion says that god has a plan and it’s best to follow it. I thought harder and harder and finally reached a conclusion: If anyone knew, what loss truly meant, it was me. God had created one, who knew the hardships of true loss, yet was strong enough to stay reasonably sane. I concluded that god himself has chosen me, to become the one to prevent loss. I shall become one, to protect and save. Originally I wanted to become a doctor. I already had begun to fill my head with medical knowledge, but seeing as doctors only save, but can’t protect, I figured that that wasn’t enough anymore. Thus, the only option that came to mind was the Army.”

A series of short memories flashed by. One, where Markus sat before two other humans, apparently having an interview, one where a dozen or so of other humans in uniform were doing a parkour, one where he sat in a library, studying tomes, of which the titles we could not read and finally one, where Markus stood at a ceremony with a few other humans, in what seemed like a ceremonial uniform, and was officially taken into the Army.

“I got into the Luftwaffe and was proud to aid our allies, by supporting and protecting them from the skies. Then, the medical exam came and I was brought to the ground forces and became commander of a company of mechanized infantry. That was, when I finally learned, what war was actually like.”

A new memory materialized around us and we immediately had to close our eyes. Around us, there were bodies, some scorched, some dismembered, some completely blown apart. We could hear some whizzing sound around us and, as we slowly opened our eyes, we saw another memory-Markus, lying down behind a rock and shouting into a strange device that was attached to his shoulder via a chord.

“It wasn’t the bodies or the constant danger of being killed that made me wake, no, I was prepared for those two. What I wasn’t prepared for, however, were the other officers. Our mission was to keep the local population safe, to eradicate the terrorist militia that had nested down in this area and was now keeping a few hostages. I saw many opportunities to make a dash for it and save them, however, every time I got called back and ordered to stay in place. My superiors and most other officers weren’t really interested in our mission. They wanted attention, they wanted medals and they wanted their pay and pension. They did everything to stand out. They even held little competitions over who would kill more terrorists or who destroyed more of their hideouts and soon, our original goal of saving the hostages and keeping the people save became nothing more than a tertiary objective.

The only ones who ever really shared my perspective, were my second in command and my two lieutenants. We regularly sat down together and made plans to propose to high command, which would essentially end this whole affair in one fell swoop. However, none of them were ever approved. Then, finally, one day we went out on yet another mission to save hostages from a small town. This time, it was a joint operation between our forces and the British forces. The British commander was a lieutenant colonel and therefore my superior.

Yet, when I saw an opening, I rallied my men and asked for permission to go in. Unfortunately, I was ordered to >>stand down<<. I decided to ignore said order and led my troops deep into the town, directly to their headquarters.”

As he told this story, a memory came into view, which showed him boarding a beast of metal, which gave off a loud, roaring sound. As soon as we were inside, the sound was muffled and we could hear it begin to move. Markus’s Memory was giving orders through that apparatus on his shoulder and after a while, we stopped in front of a large building. As soon as the doors opened, the soldiers stormed out and took cover. Every soldier had the same uniform, Markus had when he saved us, only in another color pattern, as well as the same weapon in different variations. Combat began and the metal beasts we were riding in started to spout flames and thunder and every time they did so, one could hear an explosion somewhere in front of us.

We followed the memory, as he and the other soldiers stormed the building, whose inhabitants were visibly surprised, as they offered little resistance. We came to a room, where many humans were tied down and the soldiers took those with us. We then boarded the beasts again and went back.

“We got in, rescued them and got out, before anyone noticed. The mission was a resounding success and as a reward, I got a medal, the British soldiers started calling me >>Excalibur<<, and… I was court-martialed for insubordination. Luckily, with the help of the testimony of my second-in-command, I was able to convince the judge, that I simply just mistook the order to >>stand down<< for an >>into town<<.

Yet, while after another month or so, >>Excalibur<< became my official, permanent Callsign with the NATO-forces, something that only ONE other had been given – someone of the navy, called the Leviathan of the Baltic sea, Callsign Leviathan -, almost all the missions NATO gave me, were recon or support roles. I was very dissatisfied with the way the Army went about my exploits and as such, when I got here, I felt relief. A world, which is not dominated by egocentrism and corruption. A world, in which I could actually do what I wanted to do and protect, serve and save those I care about.”

He looked over to us, with dried tears now covering his cheeks. We felt our own eyes slowly begin to water and – without thinking – we… we got up to our hind legs and… embraced him in a deep hug. He hesitated at first, but soon returned it.

“I know now, how you feel, Markus.” We said, “I will help you with your plan and I… - Thank you, for saving me.”

Markus suddenly started to stroke our mane, which startled us slightly.

“To serve and protect, my princess.” He said, as he smiled at us.

“I hope you are prepared for tomorrow, Markus. I’m looking forward to the ceremony.” We said, as we broke the hug and made our way out of the dream.

“Not as much as I do.” Came the reply. We chuckled and left the dream.

We re-emerged into the realm of the living in the early morning hours. Celestia just entered the throne room as we came back and we let her take our place, as we went straight into bed.

Ch14: Life Studies

POV: Twilight

The day after the ceremony, I slept in just a little, for once. It was less the exhaustion, really, but rather the nice feeling of having Markus tightly pressed against my chest that had me unwanting to leave my bed.

At least I thought it was Markus. Sadly, when I fully came to my senses, I found that I was, in fact, hugging my bedsheets. I let out a soft growl as the sunlight slowly forced what was left of my dream out of me. I rolled to my back and got up into a sitting position. I looked over to Markus’s bed and – of course – found that he was already out and about.

I got out of bed and took a warm shower first, taking my time to enjoy the cozy feeling of the warm water washing through my coat and mane. The pure relaxation from it nearly brought me back to my dream...

*Knock Knock*

“Twilight? Can you please hurry up? I need to go for little Dragons…” Spike suddenly said from outside the bathroom, forcing me back out of my dream.

“Ugh, sure Spike, just a second!” I said, while quickly wrapping up and drying myself off.

I got out of the bathroom and Spike instantly zipped past me and closed the door. I went downstairs into the Library, where already the air was filled with a wonderful Aroma. I looked at the clock and saw with shock that >>sleeping in<< wasn’t even a term anymore, as it was half past 11 already! A much bigger shock was waiting when I entered the kitchen however. Luckily this time, it was the pleasant kind of shock, as I saw Markus, standing in the kitchen and cooking lunch.

“Good morning, Twilight!” He said, as he glanced over his shoulder and saw me standing in the doorframe.

“Good morning, Markus! What’s that smell? I’ve never smelled something like that before.”

I looked over at the stove, where currently three pots were sitting, each having boiling contents. The first one contained a rosy red liquid, the second a brown one and the third had water with chopped potatoes inside.

“Oh, it’s just a little something that I ate a lot back at home. It’s chopped potatoes with red cabbage and a sauce to top it off.” Markus said, as he began to stir in the brown liquid.

I seated myself at the table and Markus filled three plates with the prepared dish, still leaving enough for seconds. Spike came down in the meantime and, as he took in the smell, also took a seat.

“Boy, that smells good! Are there gems in there?” He said, as he began drooling over himself.

I couldn’t help but giggle slightly at the sight, before I took a kerchief and hoofed it to him. Markus went to take a seat himself, when we heard somepony knock at the door. Markus let out an annoyed moan, before he went to open it.

On the other side, he found a gray Pegasus mare with a blonde mane and crossed eyes.

“Good Morning, Markus.” Derpy said, as she reached into her Saddlebags.

“Morning, Derpy. You have a package for me?” Markus inquired, as he leaned into the doorframe.

Derpy rummaged about her Saddlebags a bit, before she pulled out a small bag and a scroll with the seal of the royal treasury on it.

“Here, this is for you, Markus.” She stopped for a moment and sniffed inside. “What is that smell? It smells delicious.”

Markus looked over his shoulder to me and made a step to the side. “Do you want to join us? We still have something left.” He said, as he gestured her to come inside.

Derpy quickly shook her thoughts from her head. “No thank you, I’ve got some more mail to deliver. Bye, Markus!”

Derpy flew off and Markus closed the door. He placed the scroll and the bag on the table, the latter of which making a peculiar metallic clanking sound as it was set down. He turned around and grabbed a pot of tea from the stove, of which he poured himself a cup.

“So, what’s in that bag?” I asked, as Markus started to unroll the message.

“I don’t know, but I have a pretty good guess.” He said.

He read through the letter and, as he finished, handed it over to me. Apparently, as he was now officially an officer, he was being paid for his services upfront. He would get a monthly payment of around four thousand bits. While that may sound like a lot, it’s actually a lot less than what my brother used to earn, even though they currently held the same rank.

“Only four thousand bits?! That’s ridiculous! I’ve got to speak to Celestia about this!” I wanted to get up and to my desk to write a letter, but Markus waved a hand at me, signaling me to stop.

“Don’t bother. It’s probably those nobles again, trying to sabotage me. It’s not like I currently have any bills to pay anyways… which actually reminds me:” He pushed the bag of bits over to my side of the table and smiled at me. “I still need to repay you for the hospitality you’ve shown me so far.”

I looked at the bag of bits in astonishment. I mean, it certainly isn’t much compared to the monthly allowance I get from the royal treasury for being a princess, but considering this was actually everything he had right now, besides his new sword and what he came here with, I didn’t actually know if I could accept this.

Markus meanwhile looked over at the small reading desk in the reading area, specifically the newspaper that was on it.

“Now that I think about it: Now that I have a steady income, I should really get out of your mane now, shouldn’t I? I think, I’ve exploited your hospitality long enough.” He said, as he used his magic to levitate the newspaper over to us.

I felt a stinging pain in my heart as he said this. I didn’t want him to leave, I wanted him to stay with me!

“You don’t need to leave, you know? I-I mean, I still have some things to research about you, so, I wouldn’t mind if you stayed here for a while longer…” My face slowly lit up with each word I uttered, to the point where I had to look away in order to hide my blush.

Markus looked over to me with a slightly stunned look, which slowly morphed into yet another smile. “That’s very nice of you, but are you sure of this? I certainly don’t want to become a nuisance.”

“Y-Yes, I’m sure, and don’t worry: I’m certain, you won’t become a nuisance.” I answered.

Markus closed his eyes and dropped his head slightly forward, while still smiling. He reopened his eyes and looked at me.

“Ok then, if you are certain, I will of course gladly take you up on that offer. Thank you Twilight.”

My blush deepened further and I hid my face behind my hooves. Spike gave me a curious look and Markus just smiled, now reading through the news pages while eating away at his dish. He raised his cup to his lips, but stopped suddenly and looked at Spike.

“I just remembered something:” He said, “Spike, could you please get some parchment ready and send a letter to Celestia for me?”

“Sure!” Spike answered, as he produced a scroll and a quill from behind his back.

“Splendid. Please tell her that, since I’m assuming command the day after tomorrow, I would like to have my company assembled at the guard’s barracks and ready for inspection by 6am on the day of the takeover. Also please ask her to reserve the grand auditorium in the royal academy for the afternoon of that day, as well as every morning, except on weekends, for one month to come. As a reason tell her that I will need to re-educate the soldiers for my purposes. Also, please ask her if I could stay at the palace for said month, as it wouldn’t be practical for me to commute between Ponyville and Canterlot.”

Spike scribbled away at the parchment and, as he was done, sent it away with his flames. I, meanwhile, gave Markus an accusing look, which he answered with a questioning look of his own.

“Barely an officer for a day and already exploiting your connections to royalty, I see? Also: wouldn’t the organization of your company be the duty of your second-in-command?”

Markus chuckled slightly and shook his head. “Well, it’s hard to not exploit my connections to royalty, when anyone I could talk to is part of royalty, don’t you think? Not to mention that a normal letter to the head of staff would probably take too long to reach its destination. As for the second question: normally it would be, yes. The problem is that I currently don’t HAVE a second-in-command.”

He finished his plate and took up his cup again. “Oh, by the way: I’ve also asked Shining Armor to come to Canterlot the day after tomorrow, so I can start his education as well.”

My eyes lit up and I couldn’t help but smile wide. “Oh, Oh, Shining will be there? Can I come as well?”

Markus chuckled yet again and smiled approvingly. “Of course you can.”

Just as he wanted to take a sip from his tea, somepony knocked at the door again. Markus’s eyes went to the door, then to his cup, before his lips tightened into an ‘o’ and his eyelids slid halfway closed, giving his obvious annoyance a humoristic connotation.

I couldn’t help but giggle at the sight. I got up from my chair and made my way to the door. “It’s okay Markus.” I said, “This time I’ll go, so you can enjoy your tea.”

Markus gave me a short, thankful smile, before he took a long sip from his cup, letting out a satisfied moan. I, meanwhile got to the door and, as I opened it, saw three certain fillies sitting on the doorstep.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked up at me with some wide grins and I could already tell that they were up to something.

“Hey Crusaders, what’s the matter?” I asked.

“Hey Twilight, is Markus here?” Scootaloo asked, as she looked past me into the kitchen. Markus was looking towards the door now. He took another sip of tea and waved to the crusaders, who returned the gesture.

“Yes, he is, come on in!” I said and let the fillies go past me into the library. They went over into the kitchen and sat down next to Markus.

“Yo crusaders, what’s up?” He said, as he took another sip of his tea.

“Well, ya know…” Apple Bloom started, “We were wondering if ya could tell us what it’s like tah… kill?”

I couldn’t believe what I just heard and was too shocked to say something. Markus however just raised his eyebrow, before he gestured them to sit down on some of the chairs. Spike luckily was already back in his room and reading comics, so he didn’t hear this.

The Crusaders sat down and Markus began to talk. “I hope you do realize that this isn’t a question any normal Pony would answer?”

“Y-Yes, that’s why we came to ask you.” Sweety Belle said.

Markus took another sip of his tea, before he sighed and continued. “Well, I suppose you are lucky that I’m not a pony.”

The Crusaders’s ears perked and they leaned in to listen closely.

“Killing… how to describe it?” Markus mumbled as he rubbed his chin in thought. “I guess, we could start off by saying that the effect of the act of killing depends on the distance to your target. The more you distance yourself from your target, both mentally and physically, the smaller the effect. If you are, what we would call >>sane<< right now, you generally feel absolutely awful from it, if you don’t prepare yourself properly. However, as your experience grows and you continue to kill, either in the line of duty or even because you are just broken like that, you will come to feel… Joy, almost. Like a job well done or you just got a gift. It becomes part of your daily routine, which you enjoy being done with, I guess. I can’t really explain it either, seriously. Why did you want to know anyways?”

The fillies suddenly jerked back and looked at each other nervously, before they came to answer.

“Well, ya know, we’ve been searching for a new thing to crusade and we wanted to try something… special, so…” Apple Bloom said as all three of them got down from their seats.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Assassins, Yay!” They shouted in unison.

Markus nearly choked on his last sip of tea and I nearly got a heart attack.

“You WHAT?!” I screamed, but Markus stopped me before I could say any more.

“How about you try to focus on something less extravagant? Have you, for example, ever considered that the CMC might BE your calling? That you may be destined to help Ponies find their Cutie Marks?” Markus told them.

The fillies looked at each other for a while, until all three of them smiled wide and nodded at Markus in agreement. They sped out of the library, laughing happily and I could hear them debate whom to help first, as they jumped past me.

I trotted over to Markus, who by now was pouring himself another cup of tea, and asked him: “You said once that you actually knew a lot about us… did you just tell them how to get their Cutie Marks?”

Markus shrugged and took another sip of his tea.

“Who knows?”

Author's Notes:

Yay, another chapter done. You surely have noticed that this one is considerably shorter than the last few. Does it mean that this story is slowly dying?
No.
Does it mean that I noticed I haven't really touched on that 'slice of life' part yet and wanted to change it?
Partly.
Does it mean that I am currently not really able to write much due to a cold?
Achoo.

Ch15: Crashpranking

POV: Rainbow Dash

It was a sunny day, perfect for flying around. The Weatherteam wrapped everything up pretty early, so I had much time to spare. What better way to spend time than have Markus watch me fly? So, I flew over to the Library, but stopped when I saw Pinkie hide in a bush nearby.

“Hey Pinkie!” I said, when I landed next to her.

Pinkie hushed me and motioned me over. I sat down beside her and tried to see what she was spying at. That was when Markus exited the Library.

He walked a few steps forward and then looked at the ground. He gave a short glance over to us, before he shook his head, smiling, and made a larger step forward.

I heard Pinkie curse under her breath beside me as Markus simply just walked away to wherever he was headed. Pinkie jumped up and wanted to go after him, but I stopped her.

“Pinkie? What’s going on here?!” I asked her, this time with a bit more force behind my voice.

“Can’t you see it? I’m trying to prank Markus, Silly!” She answered.

I looked over to where Markus made the large step and saw what looked like a pressure plate slightly protruding from the ground. I guess Pinkie had a Confetti Cannon hooked up to that, but I wasn’t really sure.

When I turned around again, Pinkie was gone already, but trying to prank Markus actually sounded like fun, so I figured I’d go search for her. Well, I actually went to search for Markus, as I figured he would be easier to find than Pinkie.

Sure enough, I saw him enter sugarcube corner and, after a bit of flying around, found Pinkie too.

“So, what exactly are you trying to prank him with?” I asked, as I set down next to her.

Pinkie was hiding behind a pile of crates, from which she could watch the entrance to the bakery. She quickly turned to me and hushed, signaling for me to hide too.

“I have asked Mrs. Cake to give Markus a special cupcake, when he comes to visit.”

I felt a slight twinge in my heart. She wanted to gift him a Cupcake? Was Pinkie, too, trying to hit on Markus? Did she really want to steal him from me? I know, in hindsight, it were pretty stupid thoughts, but I was very inexperienced back then. My training and my job at the weatherteam had mostly kept me from talking to any stallions. If I talked to a stallion, then it was mostly because I had something else to do with him, like work or sometimes even training.

“S-So, how’s a cupcake g-going to prank him?” I asked her. She looked back at me and clearly, the insecurity in my face told her everything she needed, as a big, knowing smirk instantly emerged on her face.

“Aaaaaw, don’t worry, Dashie! I’m not trying to steal your Stallion, silly! I’ve put hiccup-powder into the cupcake, so when he eats it, he gets reeeeeeeeaaaally hiccupy and won’t be able to stop hiccupping and then we can laugh over his hiccupping and…” And before I knew it, Pinkie went into one of her one-breath-tirades. Seriously, to this day I don’t know how she can say so much in just a single take. Well, at least I felt the pleasuring feeling of relief surge my body, as my worst fear in that moment was proven false.

“… and then we can finally have a ‘I-managed-to prank-Markus’-Party!” She finished, just in time for Markus to exit the Bakery, with a small paper bag in his left hand and a single cupcake in his right.

Pinkie instantly turned around and re-hid herself behind the crates. I saw her rubbing her hooves, as Markus rose the cupcake to his lips… his… lips…… AAH, ANYWAYS!

So, he rose the cupcake to his lips and took a bite out of it. He chewed and swallowed. Pinkie was now almost hopping in place, as Markus began walking again. He walked a bit… and nothing happened.

“WHAT?!” Pinkie exclaimed. “WHAT HAPPENED?!”

Pinkie was clearly frustrated. I don’t know, how many times she had tried to prank him, but clearly she didn’t have much success at that point.

Markus, meanwhile, was slowly walking away. A fact that had not gone unnoticed by Pinkie and so we two quickly followed behind. We entered the Everfree and figured that Markus most likely wanted to visit Zecora for some reason.

“Wait… He bought a bag full of cupcakes… and now he’s going to Zecora’s… are he and Zecora maybe..?”

My heart ached for the second time, but I quickly decided that it was an absurd thought. He clearly wasn’t dating Zecora… wasn’t he?

I took up some speed to get there before him. Pinkie, somehow, got there even faster than I did, but that’s pretty much just Pinkie being Pinkie anyways. We lay in wait beside Zecora’s hut in some bushes, until we saw Markus approach. Sure enough, I saw him enter the hut… with the bag of cupcakes… and a (for Markus) rather happy smile on his face.

I felt my heart ache even more and nearly started to sob, but Pinkie spoke up at just the right time.

“Now, I’ve got the perfect prank for him!”

Before I could say anything, Pinkie put me into a costume and started explaining.

“So, you are gonna sit in this Bush and wait for him to come out. As soon as he closes the door, you JUMP out and shout ‘RAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!’ And scare him really hard and then he will get scared and he will fall on his romp and then we come out and say ‘Gotcha!’ And he’s gonna be like ‘Whaa?’ and…”

A very ‘Pinkie’ explanation later, I was sitting in the bush, Pinkie had shown me. My mind was still cluttered with thoughts of Markus and Zecora being together… Luckily I was ripped out of them, by Markus leaving the hut. On Pinkie’s mark, I made myself ready and when Markus was right before me, I jumped out of the bush.

“RAAAAAAAH! RAAAAAH! RAAAaaaah… Rah?”

Judging by the blank look he gave me, he wasn’t very impressed. What luckily he also wasn’t, was ‘together with Zecora’, as I quickly spotted the bag still in his hands and the smell of cupcakes wafting from it. I felt waves of relief fill my stomach again, as another worry was proven unfounded. That didn’t change that the prank was an utter failure, though.

I gave Markus a sheepish smile and laughed a little, almost apologetically. Markus’s blank expression quickly morphed into a smile.

“Yeah, well, didn’t quite work, huh?” I asked.

He shook his head and chuckled.

“No, it really didn’t.” He stopped shaking his head and put a hand to his chin. He narrowed his gaze upon me, his smile still on his face, as if in mock-thought.

“That being said, you DO look very cute in this costume.”

A flash of heat hit my head and I felt a pleasurable wave of joy wash over me. I looked down to the ground to avoid blushing further. I wanted to say something, but all that came out was a hushed “Th-thank you…”

Suddenly, I felt something touch my mane. My head shot up and I saw Markus smiling down on me, his hand slowly forming circles on my head. That was more than I could manage at that point. I felt my head go bright red, and my legs suddenly felt slightly shaky. I didn’t know what to do and there was no one in sight that could have helped me, so in a split-second decision, I…

“Ah, um, gotta go, bye!”

…took air and made a dash for the bush I came from.

Pinkie was already waiting for me, excitedly jumping on one spot.

“So? Was he surprised? Was he scared? Was he? Was he? Was he?”

I shook my head and Pinkie instantly stopped bouncing and her mane lost a noticeable bit of its curliness. She let out a series of frustrated groans as she started rambling about how she will somehow get a successful prank done soon and something.

We went on, trying to prank Markus multiple times throughout the morning, but none of them were even nearly successful. Markus finally went back to the Library, still with his bag of cupcakes in his hand. Pinkie’s mane had lost all of its curliness by now and her coat had taken a slightly darker shade of pink.

Just as Markus wanted to open the door to the Library, she suddenly stood behind him and started yelling.

“WHY IS IT SO HARD TO PRANK YOU!!!!?!?!! HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO ALWAYS AVOID OUR TRAPS?!?!” She screamed on and on, slowly closing in on Markus. I suddenly remembered something important and tried to warn her, but it was too late.

Pinkie stepped on the pressure plate and two cannons emerged from the grass beside her. In an instant, she was covered in confetti and froze in place. Markus now had a victorious smile on his face. He leaned down to Pinkie and booped her muzzle.

“Gotcha.”

Pinkie gave him a short, confused look, before her mane poofed out again and she began to laugh.

“Ahahaha, that was a good one, Markie!” She said.

“Sure was! Now how about some Cupcakes?” He pulled a vanilla cupcake with chocolate chips from his bag and held it towards where I was hiding. “You can come out by the way, Rainbow. Come on, this Cupcake is for you!”

I jumped out of my hiding spot and trotted over to him. He held the cupcake down to me with a smile and I gladly took it.

“So.. this Cupcake was for me all this time?” I thought, waves of joy washing over me, as I savored the sweetness of it, only enhanced by the fact that Markus had given it to me.

Markus reached into his bag once again and pulled out a second Cupcake. It was brown with a pink glaze and a cherry on top. Pinkie took it and gulped it down in one go.

“Hmmmm, yummy! Thanks Mark- HIC!- Huh? Wha –HIC!- What’s hap- HIC!- ening?” Pinkie asked.

Markus let out a short laugh. “Gotcha twice!”

We ended up wholeheartedly laughing together for a good while, only interrupted by Pinkie’s Hiccups.

Author's Notes:

He's back *dun dun*, the maaaan behiiind the maaaask.

Now, for those who were wondering what happened: My PC broke and I had to wait for a new one and since my E:TA-files were saved on my computer, I started writing on another story for the time being. Said story is called 'Homo Draconis' can be found here by the way.

Anyways, I will finish Homo Draconis this Weekend (hopefully), which means that E:TA will finally get worked on again. Yay! Hope you are just as thrilled as I am!

And yes, this IS a rather short chapter. That's because this was actually started before my PC broke, but by now I had forgotten what I wanted to wrtite, so I prety much just slapped something onto what I had started, in order to at least publish something, for now at least.

Ch16: RE;education

POV: Markus

I. Really. Am. An Idiot. >>Why?<< I hear you ask? Well, let me tell you: you do remember me writing in one of the earlier entries that my Field Cap didn’t follow me into this new world, right? Well, turns out, I was just too blind to see it. Do you know where it was all this time? In the fucking front pouch of my Field Jacket! Lord above, sometimes I amaze myself with my own stupidity.

Anyways: today was the day that I took command over my new unit. Of course, changes have to be made, but all in all, I am very satisfied with how things turned out.

It all began the day prior, actually, as that was when we departed for Canterlot. Twilight wanted to accompany me. Though mainly to see her brother again, I presume. When it came to pack my things, I decided that I should just take it all with me. For one, I don’t really currently have so much that I would really have to think about what to pack, but I also wanted to prevent Twilight from shooting herself out of curiosity, if I left my G36 there. I know it sounds silly, since she’s a grown mare, but when it comes to discovering new things and such, she can actually become pretty childish…

Anyways: We got onto the train and, as we entered the royal cabin, Twilight straight up unfolded a bed and went to sleeping and so did I. We reached Canterlot around 5am. Luna and a few royal guards were already waiting for us to arrive. We exited the train cart and I handed my stuff over to one of the accompanying guards and donned my newly recovered Field cap. Luna and I quickly bowed before one another, before we began walking towards the guard barracks.

“Now, Markus: As you’ve requested to our sister, we have given order to assemble your company in an hour. Sadly, though, we couldn’t arrange for you to use the grand auditorium of the academy, but we have an alternative. We will allow you to use the royal auditorium at the palace instead and, speaking of the palace, you will of course be given a room for your stay.” Luna told me. I made a quick bow in response.

“Thank you Luna, but I do wonder, why Celestia granted my requests so easily. Frankly speaking, if I had requested these things on such a short notice in my old world, they wouldn’t even have reached her.”

Luna chuckled and shook her head.

“Under normal circumstances, our world wouldn’t be any different. But you aren’t normal, at least to us, and our sister seems to actually be very interested in what you might do with your company and, despite being wary since the kidnapping, is willing to grant you everything you need to accomplish it… Also, we might have given her a little push in the right direction.” She said with a wink.

“Well, not that I should have expected anything else.” I said with a chuckle. “Now, before we go to inspect my company, I would like to meet up with my subordinate officers.”

Luna stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me with surprise.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

Luna quickly shook her head. “No, it’s just that… there are no Officers in assigned to you. Normally, we don’t assign more than one officer to a unit.”

I grabbed my chin and pondered for a moment, but then waved her off. “Ah well, in that case we’ve just got to improvise. Do you currently have any officers without assignment?”

Luna thought for a while and then answered: “We currently have six officers waiting for assignment, yes.”

“Good, how many of them are 2^nd Lieutenants?”

Again, Luna took a moment to think. “To our knowledge, four of them carry that rank.”

“Very well. Not ideal, but I suppose I just have to rule one of them out. Now, shall we head for the officer’s quarters?”

Luna nodded and we made our way. The Guard’s Base in Canterlot was actually pretty similar to what I was used to back at home. It was a fenced off area just on the edge of Town. In it, there was a smaller building right next to the entrance, which I presumed was the administration, then there was a slightly larger Building, which already looked quite fancy from outside and probably housed the officer’s quarters, and lastly there was a large, functional chunk of a building, which most likely were the Guard’s Barracks.

At first, we headed into the administration, to have the four lieutenants in question assemble before their rooms and wait for our arrival. Seeing as my past experiences with the guard haven’t exactly shown much of their proficiency, I was rather pleasantly surprised, as I found that, not only was the officer in charge available at this early hour, but they actually had something closely similar to an intercom, through which the four Lieutenants were quickly called out and ordered to make haste. We decided that we better pick up our pace too, as I ordered my men to be assembled by 6:00 and it was 5:45 already by then.

We entered the officer’s quarters and made a right hand turn on the ground floor, into a corridor which was labeled >>Lieutenants<<. Judging by this and the very tight arrangement of the doors we went past, I assumed that, with growing rank, the officer’s accommodations grew proportionally, which in turn, together with my past experiences with these nobles’ ever-apparent urge to compensate something, made me wonder why I didn’t see a massive penthouse lodged onto this building when I entered Canterlot.

As we neared the end of the corridor, three doors opened before us almost simultaneously and three ponies stepped out. Two of them were Stallions and one was a Mare. All three of them wore no uniform, which I guess is pretty normal with ponies, and had something similar to an officer’s cap from the Napoleonic era sitting on their heads. What also immediately struck me was that they all were Unicorns.

All three of them snapped to attention as they noticed us and gave a quick salute. Luna signaled them to be at ease and I looked them over. The first Stallion had a dark blue coat with a green mane and tail and purple irises, while the second one was white with a light blue mane and red irises. The first Stallion’s mane was combed slightly forward, covering the base of his horn, before going off to the side, while the second’s mane was pretty short, barely sticking out from under his cap. The blue Stallion’s Cutie Mark was a downward facing sword which was surrounded by fire. That of the white Stallion showed a white shield with dark blue rim and a brick wall in the background.

“So an attacker and a defender, if my interpretation of their marks is correct…” I thought, as I turned my attention to the mare.

Her coat was dark grey and her mane and tail were black with a white stripe running along the middle. Judging from the way her mane was flattened by the hat, I presume it was styled to look a bit more voluminous without it. What really made her stand out from the other two was that her horn was of a different color than her coat, namely white. Also, she wore a Necklace, consisting of a pearl-like sphere attached to a black collar. Her Cutie Mark was that of a half-closed eye and her irises were light blue in color.

“So…” I started. “Since the fourth one didn’t show up, I suppose that leaves only you three, huh? Very well, that saves me the hazzle of ruling one of you out. Now…” I stepped up to the first Stallion. “What’s your name, Lieutenant?”

The Stallion snapped a salute and answered. “2^nd Lieutenant Overdrive, sir! Ready for duty, sir!”

I went over to the mare and she also immediately saluted. “2^nd Lieutenant Mystic Gem, sir! Awaiting orders, sir!”

And the second Stallion did the same. “2^nd Lieutenant Bulkhead, sir! Always ready, sir!”

“Very well, now you are probably wondering what you’ve been called for. Sadly, we don’t have time for questions, so you will be briefed on the way, now follow us.”

The three lieutenants answered with a short “Yes sir!” and fell into step behind us. Outside, we saw that the sun was slowly rising already which caused Luna to turn to me.

“We shall take our leave now. Our sister will soon be here to observe thy further progress. Farewell, Captain Becker.” She said in her usual, formal way.

I made a bow before her and she teleported away. I then quickly resumed walking, this time towards the guard’s quarters or, more specifically, the yard before it. On the way, I quickly briefed the three Lieutenants.

“You three probably have already heard of me, so I will skip introductions. Today, I’m taking command over a company of guards, which will follow my doctrine. Said doctrine, however, dictates that the company be split into platoons, each led by a Lieutenant. That’s where you come in.”

We rounded a corner and immediately spotted the sixty guards standing assembled in a square, with most of them being occupied with talking to their comrades or quickly slipping into their ranks.

“Now, one of you is going to become my second-in-command later on. However I won’t make that decision just yet. Instead, over the course of the next three months, I’m going to have you three alternate in said position, with each of you occupying the position one week at a time, starting today. Since I don’t want to favor anyone of you, we will just go with >>mares first<<. Miss Gem, it’s your turn.”

Mystic Gem nodded and cleared her throat. She then shouted aloud: “Everypony! AtteeeenTION!”

In response, the guards before us snapped to attention.

“Very good, Miss Gem.” We placed ourselves directly in front of the formation, my three officers placing themselves directly behind me and Twilight standing to my left.

I raised my voice and addressed my new unit. “At ease! Now, rumors probably already have made their way to you, but I will introduce myself anyways. I am Captain Markus Becker, newly commissioned officer in the royal guard and your new officer in charge. From this moment onward, I hold command over you and, in turn, am responsible for everything you do, so you better behave yourself or else I will give you a treatment that will make the dungeon seem like a five-star Wellness hotel! Over the following three months, I will shape you all from the measly guardsponies you are now into full-on soldiers! Before we start, however, we are awaiting a guest, so I hope for you that you’ve brushed your teeth this morning!”

Just as I finished this sentence, I heard the flapping of wings, followed by the sound of hooves setting down onto the ground. I turned around and saw that Celestia had arrived. The officers and Twilight bowed before her, while I gave a salute.

“Princess Celestia, I am honoured to have you attend my inspection.”

Celestia nodded and looked over to the assembled guards and then back to me. “I hope you find your new unit sufficient, Captain.” She said.

“I don’t know yet. I thought it better for you to be here, while I do the inspection. Now, shall we?”

She nodded again and I turned back to the ponies behind me. The Lieutenants took position off to the side and Twilight and Celestia walked to my left, while I had the formation to my right. We began walking along the lines and I mustered each of them from top to bottom. It didn’t take long that I came upon a Pegasus Stallion, whose shoes struck my attention.

“Ah, I see someone had a very hasty start into his day or didn’t your momma show you how to bind your shoes, Private? Maybe she did it for you up until now, am I right Private Namby-Pamby? But since you can walk just fine like that, go and show me some running! Five Laps around the formation!”

I made a step to walk on, but the stallion didn’t move.

“That wasn’t an invitation, Private, that was an order! Now get a move on!”

The Private quickly darted off and I continued my inspection, only to find something else only a few guards further down the Line. There, before me, stood an Earthpony Stallion with an awfully disheveled mane.

“And what do we have here? Did you see the kitchen floor and just had to clean it, Private Broom? Well, I’ve heard that cleaning personnel have some good muscle in their legs. Maybe you want to show us some of it? Five laps.”

This time, the guard immediately ran off. As I continued my work, I noticed a weird screeching sound coming from somewhere within the formation. I knew that I wasn’t imagining things, as I saw Celestia’s ears swivel about, trying to locate the noise. The answer to this mystery came shortly after, as I came upon a Unicorn Mare, whose Armor was improperly attached to her barrel, causing the plates to scratch over one another whenever she breathed.

“So it seems you like screeching sounds, huh? Private Squeak? Perhaps it makes you run better? Go ahead and show me! Five laps!”

The rest of the inspection went rather well and in the end, I stood in front of the formation again.

“Very well, you cowards, we will now relocate to the palace and I hope that you’ve fixed that shoe of yours, Private Nambs, because we are going to march there and if I see anyone break formation, then I will personally kick his ass to Tartarus and beyond! Now then: COMPANY! MARCH!”

We marched off, through the front gate and along the streets of Canterlot towards the royal Palace. Many of the Ponies in the streets gave us curious looks, of course, but this was to be expected.

When we were halfway there, Celestia suddenly spoke up. “Say, has Luna told you about your assignment?”

I shook my head and heard her mutter something along the lines of >>typical Luna, can’t deliver a simple message<<.

“In that case, I shall tell you now. Your company has been designated Company 4 of the 6^th Guard Regiment, led by General Pillbox. You will answer directly to him after you’ve finished your adaptations to your company.”

“General >>Pillbox<<? Oh great, this one sounds like he will just order me to dig in and wait. Well, let’s hope for the best.”

“Wait a second, why do I have a superior while Shining Armor doesn’t? I thought we were both Captains?”

Celestia shot me a quick, scolding look. “That’s because Shining Armor is not just >>a<< Captain of the Guard like you, but >>the<< Captain of the Guard, which is just a formal position for the one in charge of the guard. His actual rank is that of a five star General.”

I gave a lengthy nod of acknowledgement, before I understood why she actually gave me that scolding look… I beat up my superior… oops.

The rest of the way went without any notable events and we reached the royal auditorium very soon. It was a big room with three columns of benches in the back, separated by an alley between them. In front, there was a lectern standing in front of a big, white wall and a small blackboard to the side. I entered the room and the princesses and my Company filed in behind me.

“Perfect! Now, I want each of the officers to take one of the front-most benches for themselves. The rest of the guards is going to file in behind them, five guards per bench.”

They did as I said and Twilight and Celestia seated themselves further in the back.

“Good. The column to my left will henceforth be called >>Platoon Alpha<<, led by Lt. Overdrive! The one in the middle will be >>Bravo<<, led by Lt. Mystic Gem and lastly, the one to my right will be >>Charlie<<, led by Lt. Bulkhead. Furthermore, each bench will henceforth be a >>Squad<<, led by the rightmost comrade sitting on it. The officers will receive orders directly from me, the squad leaders receive theirs from their respective officer and the rest of you from your respective squad leader! Over the next month, you will always seat yourself in the same spot you are sitting in today and beyond that, those four ponies beside you are going to be the closest family you’ve got, understood?”

I waited for a moment and a few of my soon-to-be soldiers nodded slightly.

“Good. Now, over the course of the next month, I am going to teach you everything from basic tactics and first aid, to target identification and squad formations. The following two months, we will have ourselves a little camping trip, where I will give you the practical applications to what you have learned here, as well as some lessons in concealment and combat in different environments. Without further ado, let’s begin…”

And thus, I started the first lesson. I found it best to start with some basic acronyms and nomenclature, followed by some minor formations and their use. While I was talking and answering questions, I also watched their reactions, to give myself an idea of the general group mentality. What I definitely noticed was that Lt. Overdrive and Lt. Mystic Gem were very eagerly listening, while Lt. Bulkhead showed some kind of… displeasure? I don’t quite know how to interpret his reactions just yet, but I assume it is something about the changes to the doctrine.

Anyways: After four hours of lecturing, the clock chimed twelve, which marked the end of the first day. The coming days will include afternoon lessons as well, but today, there was a certain appointment I had to attend.

After the guards and officers had left the auditorium, Celestia showed me to my room and Twilight followed along. It was just what you would expect of a guestroom in the Palace. It had a nice bed with a nightstand, on which a plant pot stood and spread its charm across the room. The room also had a large window which led to a balcony directly opposite of the door, as well as a smaller one, beneath which there was a desk with an inkpot, a quill and some parchment ready to be written on.

As soon as Celestia left, I told Shining Armor over the mental connection, where to meet us, which he did soon after.

“Shining!” Twilight chirped, as her brother entered the room. She sped to him and gave him a hug, almost toppling him over.

“Whoa there, Twily. Good to see you too!” He looked over to me and gave a slight nod in greeting, which I returned. “So… You want to teach me, how to be a better officer, huh? How are you going to do this?”

“Well, first off, I’m going to alternate your lessons between theoretical and practical lessons. The theoretical lessons will be about tactics and strategies, while the practical lessons will be about combat, self-defense and the likes. Now, please have a seat.”

Thus, I started my first theoretical lesson with Shining Armor. Twilight was happily scribbling away as I taught her brother the basics of modern tactics. What I didn’t expect, however, was that Shining Armor would point out a mistake on my side…

“…and thus, ambushing your enemy is a very effective method whenever you are defending an area with an inferior force.”

Shining Armor raised a hoof up like a little schoolcolt and I played along.

“So, uhh, isn’t this tactic more effective when you’re using more ranged weapons? Because, we don’t really have that many bowponies in the guard and unicorns can get exhausted pretty quickly. Also, wouldn’t our shiny armor give us away?”

I opened my eyes wide in surprise. That was actually a major oversight on my part, but one that could be fixed rather easily, luckily. I do have the means to do so… the question is: do I want to start a large-scale distribution of modern weapons in Equestria? No, I can’t let that happen… but if it was a small, closed group… a company perhaps…

“Hush Shining! You are confusing Markus!” Twilight scolded, but I quickly interjected.

“No, Twilight, he’s right. That was a major oversight on my part, but it can be corrected. I will do this later on. Now, shall we commence?”

At 2:30 in the afternoon, both Twilight and Shining Armor took their leave, to catch the afternoon train out of Canterlot. Twilight gave me a quick hug as a farewell, as I couldn’t accompany them to the train station without being seen together with Shining Armor. As soon as they left, I seated myself at the desk as I had some designwork to do, but first I wrote a letter…

A letter to Rarity.

Author's Notes:

Captain Becker, ready for duty! Whoo, soon it's going to get intersting, yay!

Also: Mystic Gem is a featured character commissioned by... well, Mystic Gem. Thanks for the commission, I'm sure she'll make you proud!

Ch17: Illusions

We awoke, as usual, in the early evening. It was still an hour before we would switch with our sister, and that was on purpose. Leaving our room behind us, we turned not towards the throne room, but to the guestrooms.

Markus had arrived earlier in the day, when we were still awake. We greeted him at the station and brought him to the Guard Base here in Canterlot. Unfortunately, our duties commanded us to go to rest before we could see him inspect his company, but we have a feeling, we will soon get a chance to see them in action.

We wandered down the halls, taking a stairway downwards and turning towards the room Markus had been given. We knocked as we reached it and almost immediately heard Markus’s voice call out.

“Come in!”

We slowly opened the door and found Markus inside, seated before his desk and scribbling away at a piece of parchment.

“Oh, hello Luna.” He greeted with a glance over his shoulder, before turning to his scribblings again.

We paced closer to him, our curiosity peaking, as we tried to sneak a peek at the parchment. However, Markus noticed our efforts and quickly covered the sheet with his hands.

“Ah ah ah, Luna. You will have to wait until it’s done, before you may see it.” He said as we backed up and he gave his work some last, finishing touches before stowing it away into a drawer. “So, what brings you here, this evening?”

Markus gave us a warm smile, which we gladly returned. “I just wanted to see how you are doing, now that you are in Canterlot.” We replied.

Markus’s smile shifted over to one side and he playfully shook his head. “Well, as you can see, I’m doing just fine. Actually, this all went more smoothly than I had expected.”

“I am certainly glad to hear that.” We said with a smile, however it faded, as a sense of realization washed over us. “But that also means that you haven’t come any further in your… other endeavor, doesn’t it?”

Markus’s smile faded as well, as he now looked at me with a slightly more serious expression. “Well, I never said that it would be a fast process. Things like these need their time and with me being currently occupied with other projects…” He tapped the drawer, into which he had put his parchment, to emphasize his point. “… I don’t really get to actively search either. That’s why I got you into our boat, Luna. You can traverse the Palace freely without erecting any suspicion and thus will likely be more successful in finding what we are searching for. All I can do is try to get their attention and hope that they contact either of us.”

A short, uncomfortable silence ensued, our mood slightly soured by that last bit of uncertainty that Markus had mentioned. He himself, however, let a smirk play over his lips.

“But enough with these unpleasant thoughts. I suppose it is time for you to take over, is it not?”

We looked at the clock on the far wall to see that it was indeed time for us to start heading towards the throne room.

“Indeed it is.” We said, as we looked back at Markus. Thoughts of the night to come washed through our mind… not necessarily pleasant ones, we might add. For you see: contrary to what it may seem like, being a princess is actually less of a luxurious life, than it is one of constantly being on duty without any chance to relax most of the time, the recent activation of Markus and thus resulting uproar from the nobles only adding to our inappetence.

Our being still for quite a long time seemed to alert Markus a little, as he started waving his hand before our face.

“Hello, Luna? Are you still alive?”

Sliding back into reality, we noticed Markus’s concerned look, which dissipated as soon as we moved again.

“Yes. I’m sorry, I just thought about the rather unpleasant night that lay ahead.” We said with a forced smile, which we didn’t bother facading.

Markus chuckled before, with a clap, he spoke up: “Well then, since I am done working for today, how about I accompany you for a bit?”

Slightly taken aback by Markus’s suggestion, it took us a while to answer – with a yes, of course. He lifted himself off his chair, which was obviously too small for him, and gestured us outside. However, as we were about to exit the room, we noticed Markus’s gear, including his weapon, leaning openly against the wall.

“Say, Markus, considering your suspicions concerning the guards, do you really find it a good idea to leave your gear just lying around like that?”

Markus just shrugged at this.

“No, I don’t, actually. Albeit that is not because I trust your guards, but because Twilight had helped me train my magic abilities, with which I can make my room completely secure.”

We gave him a skeptical look, as we knew not even our magic could completely shield a room from any malicious acts. Seeing my look, he smirked and offered me to demonstrate. We both exited the room and he closed the door, followed by a short swipe up and down before it.

“Now, how about you try to open the door, princess?”

We nodded and charged our magic, expecting a strong resistance from the door. However, we found that there was no resistance at all, which almost resulted in us ripping the door from its hinges. Now it was our turn to smirk.

“It does seem like your spell didn’t work, Markus.”

The answer came in the form of a look that just so screamed ‘Are you sure about that?’.

“If that’s the case, then how about you take a look inside?” He said.

We did just that, sticking our head out from behind the open door and looking into his room. Well, if there would have been a room to look at, that is, as instead we found ourselves looking into a wall.

“You- Wha- How?!” We stammered as Markus let a victorious smile cross his lips.

“That, dear princess, shall stay my secret for now. And apropos now: we really should get going, don’t you think?”

Reminded of our duties, we quickly slammed the door shut and made haste to get to the throne room, Markus quickly trailing behind. However, as we reached it, Celestia seemed to still be inside, judging by the voices coming from within.

“… and not to mention that you have trained a whole company just to give it to him! With all due respect Princess, but that is too much!”

We immediately recognized the voice as that of Sharp Beak, the Gryphon Ambassador in Canterlot.

“I can understand that you have taken a foreign veteran into your ranks, considering the state your military is in. But giving him command over an actual fighting force, as well as having him train them to his standards and liking is clearly a violation of the treaty of New Hoofington!”

We heard him approach the doors with a strong pace, so we quickly put a cloaking spell over us, while Markus hastily hid himself around a corner, just in time for the doors to open.

“I warn you, Princess! If we ever came to know about one of your units fighting even just close to our border, we will see this as an act of aggression!” The ambassador hissed, as he exited the throne room, with Celestia trailing closely behind him. Celestia stopped directly in front of us, while the Gryphon quickly made his way out of the Palace.

“You can uncloak yourself now, sister. I can feel you presence.” She said after a long, heavy sigh of relief.

We did as she asked, showing ourselves before her, albeit seeing Markus slightly took her by surprise.

“Oh, good evening, Markus.” She quickly greeted.

“Good evening, princess.” Markus answered with a bow, before looking to where the Gryphon went and back at Celestia.

Seemingly understanding his question, our sister quickly came to answer. “That was ‘Sharp Beak’, the Ambassador of the Gryphon Empire, to the north-east.”

Markus made a long, exaggerated nod. “Ah, I see. So, what is this ‘treaty of New Hoofington’ all about?”

Celestia looked at us, but we could only shake our head, considering that this whole ordeal went down only after our banishment.

With another sigh, she prepared for the tale she was about to start. “Alright, I suppose it would be of use for you to know… You see, Equestria has not always been a country as peaceful as it is now. In all honesty, the centuries shortly after Nightmare Moon`s Banishment were, If you would excuse the language, a mess. With our country heavily militarized due to the recent civil war, or as it is called now: ‘The war of the eternal night’, and the rising tensions to our Gryphon neighbors, it wasn’t long until war broke out. Sadly, I can’t deny being at least partially at fault for that.”

Celestia took a brief pause, eyeing Markus’s reaction, before continuing.

“The war was long, stretching over more than two centuries, with neither me, nor the many Gryphon kings ruling over the years, willing to end it. That is, until a very young king was crowned. Untainted by the merciless Gryphon traditions, he was the first one to finally pursue peace and – as I have to admit – bring me to my senses again. Only a year into his rule, we met up at the border-town of New Hoofington, which lay in ruin from the heavy fighting there. We both signed a treaty, which was meant to avoid any future conflict and essentially make war a complete impossibility. In it, we agreed to completely strip ourselves of any major military forces, only leaving what was necessary to defend ourselves, as well as ensure that there shall never be something as horrible as this war anywhere ever again.”

Celestia shifted her view from Markus to where the entrance to the palace lay.

“He has been visiting me regularly since your appointment, almost always pointing at this old agreement and, considering the past, I am willing to uphold the treaty as much as possible – even if it means to dissolve your company again, Markus.”

This had us slightly taken aback. We wanted to argue about the obvious inadequacy of her decision, however Markus waved it off.

“Don’t bother.” He said to Celestia. “First off, it would be strategically unwise, considering the threats we have met, regarding Luna’s almost-kidnapping. Secondly, if he really has been hammering on this one treaty for a while now, you can be sure that his side of it has already been broken long ago.”

Celestia gasped in shock, as he said this. However, we weren’t really surprised, which might be due to part of our mindset still being that from a thousand years ago, where times were a lot darker than they are now. Our sister had actively lived through the last millennium, likely changing together with the general mindset.

Markus gestured her to calm down, which our sister slowly managed to do. She couldn’t help but yawn, as she calmed herself, which wasn’t all too odd, considering she probably had been bickering with that ambassador for quite some time now.

“Sister, I think it would be better if you head to your chambers now. It is time to lower the sun, anyways.”

Celestia looked outside, where her sun was sitting low over the horizon, waiting for her to give the final command. She turned her head towards us and gave a tired smile.

“You are right Luna.” She said, as her horn glowed in her golden hue and the sun sunk below the horizon, while I rose the moon with my magic.

Stifling yet another yawn, Celestia then gave a quick farewell and slowly paced towards her chambers.

Markus and us went into the Throne Room and we started our nightly duties of holding night court. Just as most of the times, however, nopony came and thus we spent the first two hours talking with Markus, gladly indulging in his company. Then, sadly, the time came when he too retreated himself to his room.

It ought to be a quiet night and a quiet night, it was.

Author's Notes:

And yet another chapter is done. Yay.
You may notice that this one is a bit shorter than most of the others and the ones after this are likely going to be too. That is because there are quite a few smaller events coming right now, that are somewhat important to the story but don't yield as much in the terms of chapter length. I hope you don't mind all too much and, as always, hope you are tuned for the next

Ch18: Basic Training

POV: Mystic Gem

After I went through officer’s academy, I thought that I would instantly receive command over a unit or at least be assigned as somepony’s second –in-command for training, but neither happened. What actually happened was that I ended up in a queue and a rather long one at that. Apparently, choosing Canterlot as my preference didn’t serve me all too well, as seemingly everypony wanted to be stationed in Canterlot and serve the princesses directly. At this point, I won’t go ahead and make assumptions, as to why they wanted to serve them so desperately, but with most of the officers being stallions, I have a pretty good idea.

Anyways, apart from me, there were three other Lieutenants on standby in Canterlot. Two were Stallions and the other one was a mare. There were also two Captains, who apparently shared the same fate as we did, but we rarely had any run-ins with them, as their quarters were on the other side of the building. That isn’t to say that we Lieutenants shared any more of our time. In fact, the only one I regularly came into contact with was the other mare. Her name was Nightshade and, true to her name, she always managed to stay up late, only to sleep in the other day. Actually, I can’t remember seeing her on any day before 9am, which is rather peculiar considering that we couldn’t leave the campgrounds during weekdays, except for holidays and vacation and there wasn’t really much nightlife on camp grounds.

We managed to – somehow – become friends, if you want to call it that. At least, I was a lot closer to her than to the two Stallions. We spent the following six months together, and yes, I was on standby for a whole six months. During that time, not much happened, really. Unlike the normal Guards, Officers don’t undergo regular training. Actually, they don’t undergo basic training normally either, something that actually pissed me off a bit. But, luckily, this ‘normally’ is there for a reason, as I ended up somewhere that isn’t normal at all.

After those six months, it finally happened. It was early in the morning, so I was barely awake, when suddenly, us Lieutenants were called out over the Intercom. This in itself was already something pretty unusual, as normally, we would just hang around somewhere in the base and have the senior officers shove some miniscule work at us. But the fact that, apparently, a foreign officer was put into service just a few days ago, of course sparked some speculations within me.

In the end I was right, as just when we stepped out of our rooms, Princess Luna, Princess Twilight Sparkle, as well as somepony, who I could only assume was said officer were moving down the hall. He stood at least one head taller than Princess Luna and stood only on his hind legs, while his forelegs ended in the same weird appendages that I’ve only seen on Minotaurs before and I think are called ‘Hands’.

We instantly snapped to attention as we saw them, but Princess Luna quickly told us to be at ease. Meanwhile, the officer gave us a thorough look-over, before commencing with a quick introductory speech, in which he just assumed that we know his name, which I didn’t at that time. Though he didn’t do it himself, he let us introduce ourselves, which, once it was my turn, I simply did with a quick “2^nd Lieutenant Mystic Gem, sir! Awaiting orders, sir!”

When our Introductions were through, he ordered us to follow, which we quickly did. We went outside and towards the barracks and on our way there, he quickly briefed us on the situation. Apparently, he was taking over a company of guards, which we were about to become a part of. On our way there Princess Luna left our group, as her shift apparently was over. She did say, though, that her sister will meet us shortly to watch the takeover. It was at that moment, that I felt that I wouldn’t particularly like this new officer. Not only was he so presumptuous as to think that just because he was a little better known than somepony else, everyone had to know his name, but he seemed to also already have pretty decent connections into royalty. I mean, Princess Luna seemed pretty formal with him, within the few sentences that she spoke in our presence. However it seemed a bit forced, as if she was trying to mask their true relationship. Princess Sparkle meanwhile didn’t speak at all and she didn’t need to. Just by seeing the way she looked at him and walked beside him, I could tell that, in her eyes, they were basically already married.

Anyways, as we reached the yard where the aforementioned company was assembled, he started talking about choosing a second in command. To be exact, he said that he would postpone this decision for a while, instead opting to having us each occupy the position for one week at a time. I was the first one to be chosen and he quickly had me fulfill my first duty, by calling the Guards to attention, after which he held a short speech. It was during this speech that I heard his name and rank for the first time. Apparently, he was a Captain by the name of Markus Becker.

Just as the Captain ended his speech, I heard the sound of flapping wings and, as I turned to see, instantly went down into a bow, as Princess Celestia set down before me. Lieutenant Overdrive and Bulkhead, the two other Lieutenants that came with me, as well as Princess Sparkle did the same. Only the Captain stood upright, instead giving a simple salute before our Princess. I gave a silent growl at this, as I found it to be highly disrespectful, however the Princess didn’t seem to mind. On the contrary, she actually asked him if he found us to be sufficient! If my opinion of him hadn’t reached ground zero already, it would have by then at least.

The Princess and the Captain proceeded to take on a short inspection, during which the captain openly scolded and humiliated three of our fellow guards and let them run five laps each around the formation. If this was the way he wanted to lead us, I could only hope that I could somehow file a request for transfer as soon as possible.

They ended their inspections and he brought us into marching formation, leading us towards the royal palace. I felt as if my worst fears were just confirmed, as we were led directly inside and through the halls. If he really was influential enough to arrange something within the palace, he had to be VERY close to the princesses.

We reached a large room, which looked like the lecture halls we had at the academy and he quickly gave us instructions on how to seat ourselves. Then, just like that, he used the arrangement of the benches to organize us into smaller ‘platoons’ like he called them and I became leader of platoon ‘bravo’. Admittedly, even though I could not have thought worse of him at this point, the swiftness of his decision-making had me slightly impressed. What truly changed my opinion about him, though, was the lesson he gave us afterwards. During those maybe 2-3 hours, he actually managed to teach us more than we had learned during officers academy!

My ears were on high alert and I eagerly sucked in everything he said about tactics, strategies and formations. He went on and on about things that I had never even heard about! Although, admittedly, that wasn’t really difficult, considering that the lessons in the academy basically only taught us how to behave during public events, only barely taking some time to tell us that we won’t really be needed anyways as our doctrine would have our guards just jackhammer straight into the enemy anyways.

I quickly noticed that Lt. Overdrive shared my compassion, almost tipping over the front of his desk as he leaned closer, subconsciously trying to get more. However, Lt. Bulkhead didn’t seem to be as enthusiastic, as I heard him repeatedly mumble something about ‘not part of the doctrine’ or something, but I tried to ignore him.

The hours went past quickly and he ended his lesson all too soon. I don’t think I need to emphasize how much I was overjoyed to hear that this was only a short introduction into the full extent of our later lessons.

---

The day after, we got started just as early as the day before, with another lesson in theory. However, it was in the afternoon that the truly interesting thing happened.

Lt. Overdrive, Lt. Bulkhead and I were standing on the sidelines of the parkour of the Canterlot base and were watching our respective soldiers do their training. I felt slightly let down, as my complaints about our original training didn’t seem to be solved after all. That was, when the Captain saw and addressed us.

“What do we have here? It seems someone thinks they are too good to get their share of the training! Well, I bet if you are this confident in yourselves, you can beat this track in a minute flat! Get a move on!” He said in a scolding, sarcastic tone.

However, instead of being humiliated or something, I smiled wide. Finally, after six months of officially already being an officer, I would be properly trained! Now don’t get me wrong, I definitely am no fitness junkie and to be fair, my overall performance in sports isn’t even that good. However, it always felt wrong to me that we were part of the military but didn’t get the training of proper guards.

Though, Lt. Bulkhead seemed to see it differently, as he actually and openly opposed the captain.

“Sir, with all due respect, this is completely against the doctrine! Everypony knows that officers don’t lower themselves to be equal with th-“

He wanted to rant on, but the Captain quickly interrupted him.

“Well sucks for you, because the old doctrine doesn’t apply to my company. I suggest you get your head cleared of that old crap and start moving or else I will kick your ass to Tartarus and beyond!”

Lt. Bulkhead scowled, but obliged, seeing as, even though he didn’t accept his decision, the captain was still his superior, which he still acknowledged. He trotted off and Lt. Overdrive and I quickly followed suit, doing the parkour as quickly as we could.

Another time when the Lieutenant openly opposed the Captain was actually just the day after. Apparently, we were to get a lesson in ‘first aid’ that day, which, according to the captain, would drastically lower our losses in case of an actual battle. I actually had heard of this ‘first aid’ before, however in the context of nurses and paramedics needing it. Though, if it would really be that significant later on, I was more than eager to learn about it. The problem was that he seemingly needed some sort of a dummy, which he couldn’t get in sufficient numbers, so instead he went for a more… creative solution. When he arrived that day, he was carrying a box and as he opened it, we saw that it was full with… ‘puppets for a stallion’s special needs’…

He quickly ordered us to pump them up so he could commence the training, but that was when Bulkhead kicked in.

“With all due respect, Captain, but what is this?!”

“With no due respect, Lieutenant, that is my way of bypassing resource shortages. Now get those things pumped up so we can start already!”

“But Captain! We can’t allow our royal guard to train with… these!”

The Captain looked at him with a very scolding look.

“Listen, Lieutenant: As long as I am the Captain and You are the Lieutenant, things are done the way I order them to. Now get a move on, before I consider using You as a dummy the next time around.”

---

The first week passed by and, Friday evening, we went into a bar. We sat ourselves at a large, round table and ordered some cider to get the evening going. And yes, we. I honestly thought that Overdrive had a crush on me or something, because he was always right behind me, no matter the time. Well, not always, he was decent enough to leave me my space during the night and during restroom breaks, but still, it wasn’t like he would raise his chances by constantly following me!

Anyways, it wasn’t long until Lt. Bulkhead also joined us and we started chatting a little. Well, actually mostly those two talked and I just sat there, waiting for my drink. That was when three ponies from my platoon entered the bar as well. I recognized them as those three that were scolded by the captain when he took over.

They started to talk with each other, mostly about how their training went and such. From what I could remember, the one that is called ‘Nambs’ by the Captain had become their squad leader, though, according to their talking, he didn’t feel quite comfortable with it just yet. I considered walking over and talking to him to give him some advice and such, but decided against it for now, as Bulkhead suddenly spoke up.

“You know, I don’t like our new captain. He just thinks he can overthrow the doctrine in any way he likes and the princesses don’t even do anything about it!”

Overdrive and I shared a short look, before I gave Bulkhead a half-lidded stare.

“Well, yeah, it was pretty obvious that you don’t like him, but don’t you think the princesses would have taken somepony else, if they didn’t want something to change?”

Bulkhead shot me a look.

“Even if the princesses want the doctrine to change, why don’t they do the change themselves instead of having somepony like… him? By all means, some of the things he teaches us are outright useless! I mean, what would we need special tactics and formations for, if we would likely battle on open field anyways?!”

I kept my half-lidded stare, but allowed a wide grin to spread over my face.

“Oh, you will see, Bulkhead. I bet you, you will have to use these ‘useless tactics’ to save your own flank at least once.”

And see, indeed he would…

Ch19: A Crash And A Crush

POV: Rainbow Dash

“What do you mean ‘he isn’t coming’?!”

It was Saturday afternoon and I was eagerly waiting for Markus to come back to Ponyville for the weekend. However, as the hours went by, I grew more and more impatient until finally, I couldn’t wait anymore. I opted to ask Twilight if she knew something. After all, she was with him when he went to Canterlot.

“It means that he won’t be here this weekend, Rainbow!”

Twilight was reorganizing her library again, when I barged in and…. Maybe I completely ruined her efforts… Needless to say, she wasn’t very amused at all when I just ignored it and asked for Markus.

“And now help me pick up the books! You were the one who knocked them down, after all!”

When I noticed the mayhem I had caused, I could only scratch the back of my head and smile sheepishly in embarrassment, before I quickly made a swoop down to help Twilight. At that moment, Rarity entered.

“Twilight dear, could—Oh my, what happened, Darling?”

Rarity looked around the Library, where dozens of books still lay scattered across the ground. Twilight looked at her with an annoyed expression, before she nodded towards me. Rarity looked over and her lips formed an ‘o’, as she spied me.

“On second thought, I think I can imagine what exactly caused this. Do you need help, Darling?”

I was still zipping around, picking up books at that moment, making visible progress.

“No, thanks, Rarity.” Twilight said, as she watched me work. “After she’s caused this mess, she should be the one to clear it at least.”

“What mess?” I chipped in, as I hovered in front of them with my chest puffed out in pride. I had managed to clear the Library floor of any books within just a few seconds.

Twilight looked over the non-existent mess for a moment, before she signaled me that I was in the clear again with an amused smile and a roll of her eyes.

“Anyways, you wanted to ask something?” She said, as she turned back to Rarity.

“Ah, yes, Darling. I actually wanted to ask, if you had seen Markus today?”

“No, I haven’t, Rarity. Like I told Rainbow earlier, Markus isn’t coming this weekend.” Twilight answered with another roll of her eyes.

“Oh, what a pity. You know, he wrote me a letter and—“

“Wait, he wrote you a letter? Why didn’t he write me? Aw dude, that isn’t fair!” I cried, as I felt as betrayed as I could. Did I have no chance with Markus? Did Rarity want to steal him? Or were they maybe even in a relationship already?

Those were the questions, I can recall having at that time. In hindsight, I know it sounds silly, but you’ve got to understand: I didn’t have much romantic experience. I mean sure, I had my teen-crushes, but I wasn’t actually ever in love before and when I finally met Markus, the worst fear I had was that somepony would claim him before I could.

“Ok, you know what?” I determined. “When the Dragon doesn’t come to Celestia, Celestia comes to the Dragon!”

Before anypony could say anything, I rushed out through an open window and towards Canterlot. An hour later, I flew into the castle halls, in search for a certain human. One of the benefits of being an Element Bearer is that I could fly through the palace freely, without any questions.

Suddenly, as I sped around a corner, I felt my cheek connect with something fleshy and before I could react in any way, I found myself on top of somepony else.

“Ah, sorry dude, I didn’t see—“ My words stuck in my throat, as I noticed, whom I actually hit.

There, under me, lay Markus, knocked on his back by the impact, with me laying on his chest, and his eyes wide in surprise. But more importantly, I saw that… our lips were so… very… close…

As I noticed this, my thoughts ran haywire and I felt a wave of heat hit my face. My breathing sped up, slowly becoming more shallow and irregular.

“What should I do? What should I say? Should I even say anything?” I didn’t know, what to do, instincts being the only thing still working with me, as my muzzle slowly closed the distance on its own.

My face went beet-red and I started to completely hyperventilate, as my lips were still inching closer to his. I didn’t know in or out and it became increasingly more difficult for me to grab a thought, so I… I just closed my eyes and… let my body move on its own.

Slowly, my muzzle made its way towards his mouth. I could feel his breath flow against my snout and I felt the first few bits of his mustache touch my lips. And then, finally…

All of a sudden, the hallways were filled with the sound of hooves closing in, ripping me out of… whatever you might call it. I quickly got off of Markus, allowing him to get back on his feet. The heat started to slowly dissipate, allowing me to think clearly again.

I looked up at Markus and quickly, the arousal from earlier gave way to utter embarrassment. As he looked back, I suddenly found the floor in front of me to be very interesting.

“Rainbow? What are you doing here?” He asked, the situation from just earlier apparently not having an effect on him at all.

I just kept my gaze to the ground, slowly drawing circles with my hoof, as I contemplated what I wanted to say. Then, drawing all of my courage, I spoke… or at least I tried to, but all that came out was a whisper that would put Fluttershy to shame.

“I- I wanted to hang out with you and when you didn’t come to Ponyville, I… you know…”

I trailed off, not knowing what to say any more, but still feeling the need to explain myself. Then, suddenly, I felt a pressure on my head. I looked up to see Markus had kneeled down beside me and had put his hand onto my head. He then slowly stroked through my mane and scratched me behind the ear, the pleasure of which quickly causing any earlier thoughts to melt away.

“Aww, sorry Rainbow.” He said. “I wanted to come this weekend, but work seems to have other plans. I promise, though, that I will come visit next weekend.”

I gave him a quick jab into the side, for treating me like a child. “Alright, but you’ve got to promise, okay?” I said, as I did so.

Markus crossed his fingers and held them over his chest. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. Now that this is resolved, I suppose there is someone else that wants to talk to me.” He said, as he looked down the hallway.

It was only then that I noticed that the steps from earlier had vanished. I followed his gaze and almost froze in place, as I saw Princess Luna stand there before us.

“Oh no, take your time, we have all night to talk, after all.”

Markus chuckled and shook his head. “Well, maybe, but it is better to get these things done as quickly as possible.” He turned back to me and smiled down. “I’ll see you in a week, Rainbow. I promise, this time for sure.”

He went to set off down the hallway, but I didn’t move. I don’t know what it was exactly that kept me standing there back then, only that half of me wanted to go and the other wanted to stay.

Then, suddenly, I felt something grab my shoulders and, with a yelp from me, I got lifted off the ground and pressed into a quick, but tight hug by Markus. He set me back down and started walking down the hallway, only turning around once to wave goodbye.

---

The next Saturday, me and Twilight were eagerly waiting at the station for Markus to arrive. I don’t know exactly, when we were there, I just know that somewhere during our wait, the clock chimed seven. Twilight insisted on being at least an hour early, in case we misread the plan or something. I don’t actually know anymore and honestly, I doubt I did back then, as I probably just shrugged it off as another Twilight-thing.

Finally, at 8am, the train arrived. We both had not spoken a word, as we were both staring at the wagon before us. The stream of ponies getting off slowly faded and soon cut off completely. The doors closed and the train slowly puffed off and out of the station. Still, Markus was not in sight. I felt a little twinge in my heart from the thought that, maybe, he had found something more important yet again. Twilight and I both shared a short, baffled look, before Twilight’s morphed into a sheepish smile.

“Well, uhm, maybe he just missed the train?” She said, trying to hide her worry.

I was about to throw my hooves in the air and sarcastically exclaim ‘YAY, three more hours of waiting! AWESOME!’, but before I could do that, a certain masculine voice called out behind us.

“Who missed the train?”

We spun around and were happy to see the 5-coloured pattern, we had been waiting for, for the past hour or so. We both went ahead and greeted him with a hug.

“Wait a second, where do you come from, all of a sudden?” I asked with a good bit of confusion.

Markus, meanwhile, just raised an eyebrow. “Euh, out of the train, obviously?”

“But that’s impossible! We’ve been watching the train this whole time and didn’t see you!” I retorted.

Markus just shrugged at this. “Hey, it’s not my fault that you two have been staring at just one train car this whole time!”

Twilight and I shared a baffled look, before a giggling fit overcame both of us, then extended into laughter over our own stupidity. Eventually, we managed to calm down and Twilight looked up at Markus again, only to tilt her head in wonder and point a hoof at his shoulders.

“Uhm, why did you bring those?” She asked.

I followed her hoof and just then noticed the black barrel protruding from behind his back. I hovered up to his height and saw that he had his backpack and weapon both strapped to his back, as well as his sword, knife and a red and a green pouch fixed to his belt.

“I mean, I can understand that you didn’t want to leave your weapons alone in Canterlot, lest somepony steals them, but why did you bring your uniforms as well? Are you planning on moving back to Ponyville again?”

Markus shook his head. “You are mistaken, dear Twilight. This backpack doesn’t contain my clothes. Instead, I have brought something else.”

“Oh, did you bring gifts from Canterlot?” Twilight asked with a hint of excitement and I can’t deny that I, too was a little bit excited over Markus bringing me gifts.

“In a way, yes.” He answered.

“Really? What is it?” I giddily asked, as my excitement grew steadily.

“Oh, you will see very soon. But first, we need to fetch Applejack.”

My heart stopped for a short moment as he said that. “Wait, the gift is for Applejack?”

To my relief, Markus shook his head and my heart started beating again. “No, I just need her to test something. In fact, I need you two as well.”

He gestured us to follow him, as he set off towards Sweet Apple Acres. Twilight and I shared a short look of confusion, before we set off behind him.

---

At Sweet Apple Acres, we instantly saw Applejack move around her Barn, doing stuff. We went straight towards her and, as she saw us, she went to meet us.

“Howdy, y’all, mighty fine seeing ya in Ponyville again, Markus!”

“It is a pleasure to see you too, Applejack. However, I didn’t come just out of courtesy. In fact, I would like you to help me with something.”

“Sure, just ask away!” Applejack said.

“Well, first off: Do you know a place where we wouldn’t disturb anyone, no matter how loud we will be, and wouldn’t do all too much damage if something went wrong?”

Applejack put a hoof to her muzzle in thought for a short moment, before she answered. “Well, there’d be the Southern Orchard. Ah’ve tried ta grow somethin’ down there, but now, it’s just some dead trunks left…”

She suddenly looked back up at Markus, her face showing a mix of confusion and worry. “Hold on a minute, what do ya mean with ‘if something went wrong’? Ya aint gonna blow up mah Orchard again, are ya?”

Markus chuckled and smirked at her. “Well, you are soon gonna find out, because the second part of my request is that you may accompany us.”

Applejack exchanged confused looks with me and Twilight, then thought for a short moment, before, finally, she agreed. “Ah shoot, okay. Come on then, Ah’ll show ya the way.”

She trotted off out of the gate and down the road and we followed her. Reaching the Southern Orchard, we saw what Applejack meant by ‘some dead trunks’. It looked like the other Orchards, except the trees didn’t carry any leaves or Apples and their bark had taken on a shade of dark brown to black in some cases.

We entered the Orchard and Markus promptly started his preparations. He set down his backpack and pulled three large Archery targets from it. He then went a good distance down the orchard and pinned them to the trees. He then came back and pulled a batch of metal parts out. It looked like two clamps, which were padded and held together by another piece of metal. There were also some additional parts and screws still in his pack.

He went to Applejack and set the contraption down on her back, before he went to work on the clamps.

“Euh, Markus, what in the hay are yaHIIIIIIIIIII--”

As Markus affixed the first clamp at her lower barrel, Applejack suddenly tensed up and started to shiver at the touch of the cold metal.

“Darnit, Markus! What’d ah tell ya ‘bout mares ‘n bellies?!” She scolded.

Markus kept working nonetheless, only chuckling for a moment.

“Sorry, Applejack. This design is still work-in progress, so obviously it isn’t perfect just yet.”

He closed another clamp on her upper barrel and then came back to retrieve the other parts. It looked like a foreleg with a fixture on one side, while the other had a large hole in it. He screwed the hole-end onto the forward clamp, letting the fixture thing hang in the air, about at Applejack’s eyelevel. He then put his weapon onto the fixture and attached a grip-like thing to its lower part and put it in front of Applejack’s face. He gave the grip a flick and a circle with a cross inside shot up from the grip directly in front of Applejack’s right eye.

“Now, Applejack…” He started. “take this into your mouth, but don’t bite down just yet.” He pointed at the grip-thing. Applejack did as he said, being careful as to not grab it too hard with her teeth. “Next, you aim the middle of that cross into the center of the leftmost target down there. When you’re ready, you bite down.”

Applejack bobbed her head in understanding and Markus went behind her.

“Oh yeah, one last thing: mind the recoil!”

Applejack turned slightly to the side with her eyebrow raised, still keeping the grip in her mouth.

“Phat do ya m—“

Suddenly, as she tried to form and ‘m’, she bit down onto the grip, causing Markus’s weapon to erupt in a tirade of loud cracks, shooting fire and glowing rocks from its end. Twilight quickly pulled me behind a nearby tree, as Applejack wiggled around uncontrollably, sending those glowing rocks flying everywhere around us. Markus quickly stepped in and grabbed Applejack, pointing her down the Orchard and helping her keep her balance until the whole thing ended with a ‘click’.

“Well, that went better than expected.” Markus said, as he freed Applejack from the device. Twilight and I, meanwhile, stepped out from behind the tree again.

“’Better than expected’? I would say it went completely out of control there.” Twilight commented.

“Yes, but because of a lack of training, not because the device didn’t work. That being said: Applejack, could you tell me, if you found anything wrong with it, apart from your obvious loss of control there?”

Applejack, who had calmed down by now, eyed the thing warily, before looking at Markus with a slightly insecure look. She kept her gaze for a short moment, before sighing and looking back at the thing.

“Ya know, ah don’t know much ‘bout this stuff, so ah can’t really say anythin’. What I did notice, however, was that my ears are mighty a hurtin’ ‘cause it was so close to’em. Also it felt kinda heavy on my front hooves, but my hind ones didn’t feel like they were carrying anything at all.”

Markus scratched his chin in thought. “Thanks Applejack. Maybe I should attach it to the middle part, then…” he mumbled, but quickly shook his head. “Well, now’s not the time, we need to keep going.”

He pulled two padded, metal semi-circles out of his backpack. Both had a few metal sticks attached to them, as well as a pair of screws. He put one of the semi-circles under the front part of his weapon and clenched it down with the screws, making it so that the padding pointed downwards. He then attached the second semi-circle to a small lever-like thing underneath the weapon, having it point forward. He then turned to me.

“Now it’s your turn, Rainbow. I need you to hold this thing, while you hover in the air.”

I quickly rose to his eyelevel and he handed me the thing. I tried to figure out, how to handle it, but failed miserably. Markus stifled a short laugh and then went to help me. He took my left foreleg and put it under the forward semi-circle, resting most of the weight of the weapon on it. He then took my other leg and put it into the other part. He also explained something to me, but I couldn’t listen, as I was too preoccupied with his touch. The feeling of his warm hands on my forelegs caused my face to warm up, but I managed to keep my composure. That is, until I suddenly felt his grip not on my forelegs anymore, but on my barrel and shoulder. In a flash, my face lit up and I quickly looked away, straight at Applejack, who gave me a confused look at first, which slowly morphed into a knowing smirk.

“Rainbow? Rainbow, are you still there?”

Markus’s calling quickly snapped me out of it. I looked at him and smiled sheepishly.

“Ehehehe, sorry, kinda zoned out there…”

Markus raised an eyebrow and then sighed.

“You know what? Nevermind. Just make sure you keep it pressed against your shoulder with your left hoof. Now, you rest your cheek against the rear and look through the visor, that’s the whole thing on top there.”

I did as he said, but found that there were two things to look through.

“Euh, which one? There are two here.”

“Doesn’t matter. The lower one is a small scope with a 3x zoom and a few distance markings, while the upper one is just a simple glass pane with a red dot in the middle. Just pick one and hold the middle marking over one of the targets. Then you press your right hoof against the contraption when you’re ready.”

I chose the lower one. It had a line running through the middle, as well as a circle with a cross in the center. I tried to lay that cross over a target, but I was swaying pretty hard. Then, when I swiped over it once, I pulled my hoof towards myself. Three cracks sounded up and three glowing rocks flew down the orchard, but nothing more happened.

“Euh, Markus? Why isn’t it working anymore?” I asked.

“I’ve put it into burst mode, seeing as Applejack had so much trouble with the recoil. You just need to tab it multiple times, that’s all.”

And so I did, pulling again after each of these ‘bursts’. I’ve got to say, it was a lot of fun, even though I knew that thing was made to kill. Admittedly, it was a bit loud, but I actually found it a lot louder when I was not behind it. I pulled a few more times, until a ‘click’ marked that the fun was over. Markus let go of me and stored his contraptions back into his backpack and shouldered his weapon.

“Now that this is over, only one thing is left.” Markus said, as he pulled something out of the green pouch. It was a small thing, shaped like a warped L, with the same lever-thing like the other weapon underneath it. He grabbed the upper end and held it out towards Twilight.

“Here, you have seen me work my rifle before and this pistol works in the same way. Just levitate it in your magic and try firing a few shots down the range. You aim by aligning the gap in the rear with the pin in the front and holding them over your target.” Markus explained.

Twilight levitated the ‘pistol’ over to her with her magic, then let it float before her face, before using her magic to pull the lever on the lower side. A single ‘shot’ fired with each time she pulled it, until after the fifteenth time, the upper part of the pistol stuck back and a hole in the top showed that it was empty. She then levitated the empty pistol towards Markus, who took it from the air and put it back into its pouch.

“That went perfect. Well, not that it’s unexpected. Now, I probably should pick up the casings…”

Suddenly, a bunch of golden objects floated up from the grass, surrounded by Twilight’s aura, before they placed themselves into Markus’s backpack as well. The targets came floating towards us and, as they drew closer, I could see a bunch of holes in each one of them. Well, at least mine and Twilight’s had a lot of holes in them. Apart from a few holes on the edges and five-or-so close to the middle, Applejack’s looked pretty empty.

Markus had a satisfied smile on his lips. He rolled the targets up and stowed them away as well, before heading back into town with us. We brought Applejack back to her Farmhouse, before setting off towards the Library. Markus went to open the door, but Spike was faster, quickly letting us in. However, as we were inside, we noticed that Spike didn’t look all too good. In fact he looked…

…Pretty distressed.

Ch20: Studies in Politics

POV: Twilight

Silence reigned over the Library, only disturbed by the sound of Owlowiscious ruffling his feathers, or me rubbing my temples in an attempt to take in, what I had just heard.

Prior to this, Markus, Rainbow, Applejack and I were outside, testing some contraptions which Markus had made. After that, we went back to the Library, where we found Spike in a pretty distressed state. Of course, I immediately asked him, what was the matter, but his answer did come as a slight shock, to be honest. Before he told me, I thought that he simply just broke something or maybe he accidentally sent something to Celestia when he sneezed, but that wasn’t the case.

“So…” I finally broke the silence. “Let me get this straight: While we were gone, some mare barged in and wanted to speak to me, something about a foalnapping or stuff and, as she didn’t find me, went off into the Everfree, apparently heading for the Old Castle.”

Spike nodded. “Well actually, she only said ‘Need Princess, foalnapping, castle, Everfree’, before she went off.”

“Could you give us a description of that mare?” Markus asked.

“No, I’m sorry. I was in the kitchen, so I only heard her, but didn’t see her.” Spike answered.

Markus brought a hand up to his chin, scratching it in thought, while Rainbow tried to quickly fly out through a window, but I caught her in my magic before she could.

“Oh come on, Twilight! We need to do something fast, or else something far worse than that foalnapping might happen!” Rainbow lamented, as I pulled her back inside.

“Calm down, Rainbow! We need to get the others first, or else we might find ourselves with some unsolvable puzzle in there. Remember what happened last time, we went to the Castle!” I scolded her, but it only caused her to lament even more.

“What?! Wait for the others?! Twilight, it will take ages before they are here! In that time, both the mare and her foal might be captured and taken off to Celestia-knows-where! Come on, Markus, tell her that I’m right!”

Markus jerked slightly as his name was spoken, obviously having been ripped out of some thought. It took a little while for him to come back, but then finally he spoke:

“Well, I, too, do think that time is of the essence in this case…” He said.

“HA!” Rainbow said, triumphantly. “I told you I-“

“HOWEVER:” Markus interrupted. “Let’s not forget that we are talking about the Everfree forest. We do not know, what exactly we might face in there and you have to admit that a rescue party that needs help themselves is rather pointless.”

For a moment there was silence, as Rainbow took in her defeat. Meanwhile, I couldn’t help but look at her with a victorious smirk on my face.

Finally, she threw her hooves up and exclaimed: “OKAY, FINE! But if we are too late to do something, it’s not my fault, okay?”

Both, Markus and I, nodded and I released her from my magic. She then went off to get the others, which arrived after a short wait.

The door flew open and Rainbow Dash rushed inside, followed by Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie.

“Did Markus’s stuff run wild again or why did ya need me again so soon?” Applejack asked, as she entered the Library.

“Wait Markus is here? Oh, thank Celestia, Markus, a word please?” Rarity said, as she, too, came into view. She gestured Markus into the kitchen, and he quickly did as she asked. However, Rainbow Dash swooped in and blocked their path.

“We’ve got no time for this, Rarity!” She exclaimed, causing Rarity to stumble backwards a few steps.

“Oh my, Darling, what’s with the hurry?”

“Wait, she didn’t tell you, what happened?” I asked.

“Nope, all she did was come in like ‘woooosh’ and then she went all like ‘Pinkie, quick, Emergency!’ and then she ‘wooosh’-ed away again and so I quickly gave Roseluck her Cupcakes beforefollowingdashietoApplejackwhereshealsowentlike’woosh’andApplejackwentlike’aaaah’an----“

I quickly placed a hoof over Pinkie’s muzzle. “Okay, yeah, Pinkie, I think, I get it.” I removed my hoof from pinkies muzzle and turned to face the others again. “Spike just told us that, apparently, while we were busy, a mare came searching for me, saying something about a foalnapping and the old castle, before running out towards the Everfree.”

For a moment, utter silence fell over the room, as both Rarity and Applejack seemed to take in, what I just said.

“Oh dear.” Rarity finally broke the quiet. “That IS rather serious, isn’t it?”

“Yes, it is! And that’s why we need to finally hurry up!!” Rainbow Dash all-but shouted.

“Wait, I’ll come too!” said Spike. Suddenly, all eyes in the room, except those of Owlowicious, were set on Spike, who looked back with quite a bit of confusion. “What?”

“Spike, I would find it better if you stayed here.” I said softly, as I leaned down to him.

Spike groaned in disappointment. “Aww, come on! I want to help you, Twilight! I’m your number one assistant after all!”

“Oh, you can actually help us from here, you know?” Markus chimed in. He gestured over to where he set down his backpack and weapons. “I need you to guard those while we are gone.”

Spike looked over to the pile and then looked back at Markus with a hint of annoyance. “Well, I don’t think those will suddenly grow legs and walk out, you know?”

Markus chuckled in amusement. “No, certainly they won’t.” Before he adopted a much more serious tone. “But they might change owners without me noticing, while we are gone, which I would like to avoid. Not only because those are mine, but also because these might do some serious damage, if they ended up in the wrong hands – or hooves for that matter.”

Both of them stared at each other for a while, until spike finally gave in. “Okay, fine, I’ll stay here!”

Markus smiled gently and turned around, while I pulled Spike into a hug, before we went off.

---

The Everfree was as dark and eerie as ever as we entered it. It seemed that, just for this special occasion, all harmony that was left within had escaped, leaving only pure disarray and while it may have been my imagination, it did give me a reason to stay close to Markus.

“It is very quiet in here, isn’t it?” I said, hoping to break the silence.

Markus gave a short glance down to me, before he returned to look ahead. “Quite so. Nevertheless, we should be wary of our surroundings. It IS the Everfree, after all.”

“Yes, I know. It’s unfortunate that you left your weapons at the library. I would have felt a lot safer if you had them. Come to think of it, why did you leave them? If you’re so afraid of them being stolen, you could have just taken them with you and would even have made our journey a little bit safer.”

Markus looked at me, as if I had just missed something obvious, before he smiled and turned his view back ahead. “I must admit: me not wanting them to be stolen, while not truly being a lie, wasn’t quite the truth either. In fact, in their current state, they are utterly useless.”

I stopped for a short moment, looking at Markus in disbelief, as I had seen their destructive power with my own eyes. “Why would you say that? I mean, we used them just a few minutes ago and they worked perfectly fine.”

“Indeed they did, but just like bows, they need ammo to work and sadly, I only packed enough for that little experiment of mine. However…” He looked down at his belt, where his sword and knife were attached and lay a hand on each of them. “I still have those with me, so I am still able to slice my way through a few opponents. And if bad comes to worse, you lot also pack quite a punch.”

“Heck, yeah! Don’t worry, Twi, if there are any dangers around, I will give them a taste of my hooves!” Rainbow commented, while she made a few demonstrative punches into the air.

“Well, while I would like to avoid getting mud in my mane, I suppose if our lives were in danger, we would have to fight our way out of there somehow.” Rarity added.

“Oh, uhm, I would like it if we didn’t have to fight, because, uhm, you know… I don’t like hurting others.” Fluttershy whispered from behind me.

“And ah’ don’t like this whole thing at all. Ah mean, like ya said earlier, Twilight, it’s just too quiet ‘round here.” Applejack said at last.

Pinkie, meanwhile sniffed along the ground like a dog, leading us further and further into the forest.

We came to a clearing and, as we entered it, I noticed Markus tighten his grip around his sword. At first I didn`t pay it much mind, until we reached the middle of the clearing and, all of a sudden, he stopped. He looked around, carefully eyeing each bush at the edge of the clearing, while keeping his hand to his sword.

“Markus, dear, what’s the matter?” Rarity then asked.

Markus didn’t look at her, instead continuing to watch the bushes around us. “Ever since we reached this clearing, my soldier-sense was going off, telling me about an enemy presence nearby. By now, it is going completely haywire, which likely means that we are already completely surrounded.”

Instantly, we took defensive stances as he said this, carefully watching the bushes at the edge of the clearing. All was silent, a tense atmosphere slowly building up… but nothing happened. Even after a few minutes of standing, we couldn’t make out anything in particular.

“Well, ah don’t see anythin’” Applejack then finally said, as she loosened her stance and started walking towards the other end of the clearing. “Come on, y’all! We better get movin, lest it be gettin’ dark before—“

Suddenly, Markus jumped forward, holding a hand before Applejack’s face, just in time for an arrow to pierce right through it and stop just short of her eye. She yelped and quickly made a step back, as a few splatters of blood hit her face. Markus meanwhile, seemed completely unfazed, despite the fact that an arrow literally just punctuated his hand. He broke the rear off with his other hand, before pulling the tip all the way through to the other side. He then reached back to his red pouch and pulled a bandage out of it, with which he bandaged his hand.

Meanwhile, the bushes around us had started to rustle, and one-by-one, we saw Gryphon mercenaries step forth from the undergrowth. I looked around and saw that, just as Markus had said earlier, we were completely surrounded.

“I had hoped that only the purple one of you would turn up, but I suppose having all of you isn’t bad eith—“ Suddenly, a mare started speaking from the bushes. The voice felt very familiar, so I quickly turned around just in time to see her freeze in place, as she left the bush. Seeing her only made her more familiar, until finally, I remembered where I saw her: She was the mare from the incident with Luna! Her gaze was locked at Markus, while Markus and Rainbow stared back. She looked like she wanted to flee right this instant, while Markus and Rainbow, understandably, seemed determined to smash her head in on the spot.

“How in the world are you here? I thought you were rotting away in the Canterlot Dungeons?!” Markus said angrily.

The mare tried to mask her fear with a cocky grin, but failed utterly. “Well, that dear P-princess of yours thought I had earned m-my freedom through my honesty and l-let me go.” She said, trying to sound cocky, but still slipping over her own tongue a few times. She then turned to the Gryphon that stood beside her and looked like the leader of the group and commanded him: “Leave the purple one alive, I don’t care about the others.”

The Gryphon smiled in response. He put on a dark gray steel helmet with visor and then screamed: “ATTACK!”

All around us, the gryphons pulled out weapons, ranging from swords to various maces and axes, but only the leader seemed to wear a cuirass and a helmet.

They began to charge in and Markus quickly drew his sword, while we others took defensive stances. Then, the fight began.

Rainbow Dash immediately flew up into the air, probably trying to get them from above, but she forgot that the Gryphons had wings as well. Still, she managed to out-fly her opponents, partly due to them carrying much more weight than she did. She swooped down and knocked out two Gryphons that were trying to sneak up on applejack, while her pursuers were still right behind her.

One Gryphon tried to come and get me, but I noticed him and immediately gave him a taste of my magic, sending him flying into a tree and knocking him out.

Applejack had a hard time dealing with them, as she needed to get up-close to do anything. Still, she managed to keep three of them at bay, while Rarity blasted away any more of them that tried to out-flank her.

Fluttershy had become a trembling huddle as soon as the battle started and Pinkie stayed close to her, fending off any incoming Gryphon with her confetti cannon.

Markus had taken on three of them in a swordfight and, even though his hand was noticeably stiffening from the wound, he still greatly outclassed them. The first one tried to stab him with his sword, but Markus swatted the blade aside with his own, directly going into a stab himself and hitting the gryphon directly into the heart, killing him instantly. He pulled his sword out and, within the same motion, slammed the pommel into the beak of a second Gryphon and then brought his sword around in another stab towards a third Gryphon, who was about to deal a blow with his mace. Now, two Gryphons lay dead before him, while a third was unconscious, his beak split in two.

The Leader stepped towards Markus and, without leaving time for him to prepare, swung a mighty battleaxe towards him.

Realizing that his Sword might not be enough to stop the much heavier weapon of his opponent, Markus instead made a quick dodge to the side, causing the axe to slam into the ground and dig deep into it. While the leader tried to free his axe, Markus brought in a mighty swing towards his head, only for it to bounce off. He didn’t let this irritate him, instantly bringing the sword around into a stab towards the cuirass, which, unfortunately, bounced off as well. Meanwhile, the leader managed to un-stuck his axe and Markus took a few steps backwards. He then did something I had never seen anyone do before: He turned his sword around, gripping it at the blade.

The leading Gryphon brought his axe down in yet another swing, which was yet again evaded by Markus. Taking his opportunity, Markus made a mighty swing of his own, bringing the hoofguard of his sword down onto the Gryphon’s helmet. The result was a dent, deep enough to squeeze the Gryphon’s skull. Markus made two more such hits, until the leader finally went to the ground and stayed there.

Meanwhile, Rainbow had managed to lose her two pursuers and was now helping Applejack to finish off the last few Gryphons. I turned around just in time to see Rarity blast another Gryphon past me into the bushes.

After that, a short moment of silence overcame us. Around us, there lay more than a dozen Gryphons, two dead, the rest unconscious. The mare had fled the scene as soon as the fight began and was by now probably too far away to pursue her. Also, we didn’t get out of this unscathed either: While Markus managed to evade all attacks taken towards him, he still had that wound in his hand. Applejack and Rainbow both had multiple cuts and scratches along their bodies, some of which were bleeding. Rarity had taken some bruises and I, myself, was not in the best of shapes either. Still, we managed to survive and none of us was too badly hurt.

Rarity went to help Applejack and Rainbow with their wounds and I wanted to do so as well, when suddenly, I heard something in the bushes behind me. I turned around and slumped back in shock, as Dash’s two pursuers and the one Gryphon, Rarity just blasted away, were jumping out of the bushes right at me.

There wasn’t enough time to cast a spell and even if there had been, I was too shocked to do anything. All I could do was to watch, as the three Gryphons came flying towards me as if in slow-motion, the left one with an axe, the middle one with a sword and the right one with a hammer.

However, before they could reach me, suddenly Markus stood before me, with his sword in his right and his knife in his left. He brought himself between me and the gryphons, blocking the Gryphons to the sides and keeping them locked with his blades. The one in the middle, however, managed to bring in a blow and hit Markus across the face. His head jerked away from the force, however he did neither wince, nor cry out in pain. Instead, he righted himself again, almost immediately, and went to his counter-attack. He yanked the pommel of his sword upwards, slamming it into the underside of the Gryphon’s beak and causing him to stumble backwards. He then used this position for a strike towards the middle one while he released the one on the left. He hit the one in the middle right into the head, splitting it in two, while the left one stumbled forward towards me. Yanking his blade free, he then went into a spinning motion, slicing the left Gryphon across the neck, while simultaneously stabbing the one on the right, who just managed to regain his balance, with his knife.

With all three Gryphons now dead on the ground, Markus stood still for a moment, before he put away his knife. I heard my friends quickly approaching, so I turned around, just in time to find Fluttershy in my face, frantically looking for injuries.

“Oh dear, Twilight, are you hurt? Oh no, no, no, look at this bruise... and this cut, oh dear.”

I gently pushed her away from me, to allow me to move a bit. The rest of my friends were now arriving as well and I smiled, seeing that all of them were well.

“Is everyone alright?” I heard Markus ask behind me.

“Yes, we are all alive and well.” I answered, as I turned around. However, as I saw Markus’s face, I had to fight the urge to vomit and quickly looked away, seeing that Rainbow and Applejack weren’t faring any better. Rarity promptly fainted and Fluttershy was so utterly shocked that she could only hold her hooves up to her mouth, while her coat lost all color.

A long gash now ran across Markus’s face, starting just over his right eye, making its way down between his eyes and along his nose and ending after it lastly passed his left cheek. The whole right half of his face was covered in blood, some of it even spilling down into his eye, while bubbles were forming over his cheek and nose, as he drew air through the two new holes in them. Underneath the gash, the blood-reddened bones were visible and some strands of flesh were still struggling to keep the two sides together.

“Good…” He said, weakly trailing off at the end. Then, suddenly, he collapsed forward onto his knees, quickly leaning onto his sword for support.

“Markus!” I gasped and rushed to him. He was panting heavily, while still struggling to stay conscious. Yet, somehow, he was smiling. Dear Celestia, how could he smile in this situation?!

“Markus, are you alright?!”

He gave me a short, ridiculing look. At least he probably wanted to, but he was barely even strong enough to speak by now. “Ehehe, I might be able to suppress my emotions, but… bloodloss… different… story…” He slowly trailed off, as his eyes slowly began to close. I tried everything I could think off, from simply tapping him to giving him magic shocks, but there was only so much I could do and finally he slumped down, rolling onto his back. He was still panting heavily, but no longer conscious and the cut in his face was still bleeding heavily.

I was in an absolute panic at that point. I couldn`t use magic to heal him, because I didn`t know enough about his body, to picture his muscles be mended in the right places, so all I could do was sit there and desperately try to think about something.

It was then that I remembered how Markus patched up Luna without using magic and I was relieved to find another of these prepared needles in his red pouch. The only problem was that I didn’t have much experience with sewing things, especially not ponies or any other creature for that matter. Yet, Rarity was still fainted and the others couldn`t hold a needle in their hooves, so it all came down to me. I quickly stitched the wound shut as tight as I could, hoping that the weird pattern I had made was strong enough to hold, at least until we got him to the hospital.

Rainbow and I then quickly lifted him off the ground and carried him, while Applejack took Rarity and Pinkie took Markus’s sword. We went as fast as we could, running out of the Everfree and straight towards the hospital, the fear of losing Markus clinging to my heels and the doubts of my own abilities gnawing at my hope, constantly reminding me that we might not make it in time. That we might not be able to save him…

Author's Notes:

So... corona finally got to us and school is closed because of it. On one hand that means, I can do more writing in less time, but on the opther that also means that I will have to take studying into my own hands, so we will see how that goes. In any case, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and as allways stay tuned for the next

Ch21: RE;awoken

POV: Markus

Darkness. A dreadful, yet calming Darkness. I lay there with my eyes closed, my head resting on a soft cushion and my mind enveloped by a feeling of complete and utter… déjà vu. I let myself drift into the memories of what happened last. The ambush in the forest, the battle and, finally, the slash across my face. Just thinking of it made the pain reappear. Though not nearly as strong as it was back then, it was still strong enough to be quite an annoyance.

I slowly opened my eyes and looked up into a white ceiling, which immediately told me, where I was. It wasn’t the first time for me, to be hospitalized. In all actuality, I was almost a regular at our base’s medical ward back home. Not because I am overly clumsy or anything like that, no, but there always seemed to be that one stray bullet that managed to get flung into my direction, just when we were about to wrap everything up.

Still, even though the hospital had basically become my second home, I could never feel quite comfortable in one. It’s not that the staff was rude or the beds were uncomfortable or anything, but it always made me feel like I had failed in a sense. That I was unable to do my job properly and as a result, I got hurt. I know it sounds quite pathetic. It does, even to me.

Nevertheless, this once, I was actually glad to have awoken in a hospital, as for once, it meant that I did not fail. That those I wanted to protect managed to get out of there and even had enough strength left to pull me along. Still, if I want to protect them further, it probably would be a good idea to practice using my magic in combat.

Suddenly, I noticed something on the inner rim of my vision. I strained my eyes inward to allow me to look at my nose, where I saw that there was a long, white plaster stuck on it and running down towards my left cheek. Nothing out of the ordinary, considering what had happened, but still, it reminded me that I should probably check the rest of my body for further injuries, just in case. My eyes wandered down towards my body, where I almost gawked in surprise at what I saw.

There, beside my body, lay Rainbow and Twilight, their heads facing downwards and rested upon their legs. For a moment, every process in my body was halted. Not a single thought went through my mind, as I watched both of their sleeping forms. The slow rising and falling of their chests, the occasional twitch in their wings and the sound of their breaths leaving their muzzles. Then, I realized that in order to be here like this right now, they probably have been by my side this whole time. A gesture, which had me feel absolutely flattered.

Still, I couldn’t let them be there like this forever. I wanted to say something, but I didn’t know what. I didn’t even know, if I should say anything. Maybe I should just let them sleep? In the end, I went for the most sensual thing to say:

“Mighty fine day, isn’t it?”

Both of them immediately shot up and looked at me with wide eyes. It was then that I saw that both of them must have been crying for a while, seeing as their eyes were reddened and their cheeks were stained with tears, with new ones already collecting over their lower eyelids.

“What? You look like you’ve just seen a gh—huff!”

Suddenly, both of them jolted forward, wrapping their legs around my neck and pressing their faces into my chest. My shirt started to grow wet, as I heard them sobbing, then outright crying, completely drenching my shirt in their tears.

I didn’t mind all too much, seeing as its predecessors had seen far worse. What I did mind, though, was that this whole situation came utterly unexpected. In vain I tried to find something about this whole situation to play it down, some last strand of professionality I could cling to, but there was none. As a result, for the first time in a long while, my emotions came in unchecked. All those things I had hidden in the back of my head came back in full, wrapping me into a blanket of happiness, embarrassment, arousal and love all at the same time.

I felt a wave of heat hit me, as half of my blood filled my head and a quick glance down at my blanket immediately told me where the other half went. Still, somehow I managed to calm down a bit, freeing me from some of the pressure and heat that had overtaken me. Yet, I did not manage to calm down completely, my mind still going completely haywire from the sudden rush of emotions. I could hear my heart thumping heavily, as it was hammering blood through my vessels like a blacksmith would hammer a sword. However, those heavy thumps seemed to have a calming effect on the two mares that were still staining my chest in their tears, as they slowly managed to calm down as well.

“We thought that you might not make it.” Rainbow said between sobs. “We thought that you might not wake up anymore… that you might d-d-d… die!”

“The doctors said that you had apparently lost a whole pony worth of blood, so they didn’t know about your chances.” Twilight added, her voice sounding strained from the amount of crying she had done.

They both then laid their heads on my shoulders, slowly ceasing their sobbing and at the same time, almost automatically, I pulled my arms free from underneath them and put them onto their backs, pulling them closer, which was rather hard considering that I currently had a hole in my right hand and an IV-Cord in my left arm. Regardless, I then put my hands onto their heads and began stroking their manes and occasionally scratching them behind their ears, causing them to momentarily interrupt their sobbing to give soft, pleasured hums.

Then, they both just lay there, seemingly content on staying like this and I would be lying to say that I was opposed to the idea. However, our sweet little calm there was suddenly interrupted by a knock and the door being opened.

“Howdy there, Rainbow ‘n Twi! Ah thought we might join y’all here, in case Markus… wakes… euh…” Applejack said as she entered the room. The moment she laid eyes upon us, she began to trail off, her face slowly taking on a shade of red, which she tried to hide behind her hat. Rainbow and Twilight, meanwhile, had shot up the moment the door opened and were now looking at Applejack, their faces reddened in embarrassment.

“Ah see, y’all are occupied, so ah’ll just come back later, alright?” She said, as she slowly began to retreat behind the door.

Twilight quickly jumped down from the bed and began to frantically gesture with her hooves. “N-No, we weren’t, ehm, you know… AH! Markus is awake!” She quickly changed topics.

Suddenly, I saw a pink blur shoot towards me which stopped just short of my face. Now, there were two large eyes locked onto mine, parted by a pink nose and with a large, pink curl of hair dangling in front of them.

“Ooooooh, Markus is awake!” Pinkie said, as she pulled me into a staring contest.

Meanwhile, Rarity also stepped forth behind Applejack and into the room. “My, it is truly delightful to know that you are well, Markus.” She said, in her classic, ladylike tone.

“Yes, uhm, it’s good to know that you are okay.” Fluttershy whispered, as she as well entered the room.

Meanwhile, Pinkie and I were still staring each other down, though Pinkie’s eyes were slowly growing red. My eyes, meanwhile, were still completely fine thanks to three years in the Luftwaffe and one year behind a desk having steeled them. Still, she kept going, her eyes slowly beginning to fill with tears, until finally, a few seconds later, she couldn’t take it anymore.

She jerked away, blinking frantically and rubbing her eyes. “Wow, you are better at staring than Fluttershy! You two definitely need to compete next!” She said excitedly.

“Well, maybe another time, but right now, I doubt that either of us is in the mood.” I answered.

Pinkie ‘aw’-ed at this, but nonetheless jumped down from the bed. With my vision now free of any obstructions, I noticed that Applejack still hadn’t moved from the door and still hid behind her hat.

“Applejack? What are you still doing back there?” I asked with a hint of humor placed in my voice.

Applejack jerked slightly at this and put her hat back on. She then laughed humorlessly and walked over to my right side, where she started staring at my hand with a guilty expression.

“Ah, you know, ah just… Ah wanted t’say ahm mighty sorry… for that.” She said, as she pointed a hoof at my hand. “Ah mean, if ah had listened to you and not moved, that might have never happ’nd.”

In response, I gave her an incredulous look. “Applejack, how often do I have to repeat myself? I am a soldier, it is my duty to keep others safe and I took this duty willingly and in full awareness of its risks. Besides, even if you hadn’t moved, that arrow was already nocked and aimed at someone else. Your movement simply just made you the target, so in the end, I would have had an arrow sticking through my hand either way.”

For a moment, no one said anything, the silence only broken by applejack shuffling around, until finally she managed to get a few more words out.

“Ah… guess so. Still… thank y’all for saving me, Markus.”

I leaned my head over to one side and gave a gentle smile. “No problem, Applejack. It wasn’t your mistake after all.”

“Yes, but speaking of mistakes:” Rarity then chimed in. “Markus, you seem to have forgotten to give me measurements for your request. I wanted to ask you yesterday already, but Rainbow wouldn’t let me.” She shot a quick glare over to Rainbow, who, in response, could only smile sheepishly and give a humorless laugh.

Meanwhile, I had noticed another problem. “Wait, yesterday? What time is it exactly?”

I was shocked to hear the response being that it was already Sunday morning and the next train to Canterlot would leave in about an hour. I quickly jumped up from the hospital bed and got into my shoes, slightly wobbling away, as I felt a bit dizzy after getting up too fast. Just as I reached the door, however, I felt a tug on my left arm and as I looked at what it was, I noticed that I was still connected to the IV.

“Wait, where are you going?” Twilight asked.

“Back to Canterlot, I need to do some things before the next week starts.” Came my quick reply.

“What?! But we haven’t had a ‘Markus is alive!’-Party yet!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“Yeah, and you’ve barely spent a day here, of which you were asleep most of the time!” Rainbow joined in.

“Yes, I know, but I really need to speak to Celestia and Luna before the next week starts and I can only do that if I take the next train that leaves toward Canterlot. I promise that I will spend time with you next week, but I really need to go now.”

In the end, Rainbow and Twilight both argued that I was still injured and lacking blood and thus potentially could collapse, but Nurse Redheart quickly debunked their claim after a short examination and removed the IV. I could imagine that they wanted to make this claim in order to get me to take them to Canterlot with me, but that would be pretty preposterous, wouldn’t it?

In any case, I quickly made my way to the Library, got my stuff and then barely made it to the train. Six hours later, I arrived in Canterlot and at the Palace. Instead of going to my chamber, I went straight to the Throne Room, where Celestia was still holding day court.

The guards were looking at me with their usual, almost unreadable expression, but I could very well see that they were curious as to what happened to me. Not all-too surprising, considering that I had a big white plaster stuck along my face and my right hand was wrapped in Bandages.

“I would like to see the Princess. Is she currently available?” I asked, as I waited before the portal.

“No, sir, you may talk to her. We will quickly announce your presence.” A guard answered.

He quickly opened the portal just enough to stick his head through the gap. “Your Majesty, Captain Markus Becker wishes to talk to you.”

“Oh, Markus wants to talk to me? Very well, he may come in.” Came the reply from Celestia.

The Guard bowed and fully opened the portal for me to go through. Inside, I spotted Celestia sitting upon her throne and wrestling herself through a pile of documents that was placed beside her.

“Good afternoon, Markus. What do you want to talk to—OH DEAR FAUST, WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!” She exclaimed, as she glanced up from the Document she was currently holding and laid eyes upon my bandages.

I held up my right arm to showcase the bandaged wound, while giving a devious smile.

“Well, you see, I had a little run-in with an old friend of ours. Tell me, did you know that Sugarcoat is on free hooves again?”

While Sugarcoat had already answered that question, I wanted to make sure. After all she is a criminal, whose statements should be taken with caution.

Celestia averted her eyes, looking at the ground to her side, like she has been caught stealing cookies from the jar.

“Sadly, I have to admit that I indeed knew that. I am sorry for not having told you this earlier, but Sugarcoat managed to escape her confinement a few days ago and we have yet been unable to find her.” She then finally said, as she looked back at me.

I breathed a short sigh of relief, as I heard that Celestia had indeed not set her free. Still, it remained a fact that she was back out there, away from our control, so I will have to deal with that one later on.

“But be at ease, I have already commanded my guards to search for her so she will hopefully be found soon.”

Coming back from my thoughts, I smiled back at her. “I have no doubts about this, your highness. Though, to speed up the process, you might want to have them look in the Everfree forest.”

“The Everfree? Why do you think she’s hiding there?”

As she asked this, I didn’t answer, but instead ran a finger along the plaster in my face. Celestia seemed to understand the gesture, as she formed an ‘o’ with her lips and slowly nodded.

“In any case, I thank you for the audience, your highness. That is all I wanted to know.”

I gave a bow, which Celestia returned, and then headed out through the portal, then up towards Luna’s chambers. It probably isn’t hard to imagine that she showed a similar reaction to Celestia.

“OH SWEET SISTER, MARKUS, ARE YOU OKAY?!”

But after a few seconds of calming her down, I managed to bring up the topic, which I wanted to talk to her about.

“So, about the thing I had asked you: Did you manage to arrange something?”

Luna’s earlier expression of shock morphed into a smug grin. “Who do you think I am? Of course I ‘managed to arrange something’. There is an old factory just outside of Canterlot, which you can use. Also, I have arranged for you to be provided all the materials you have requested.”

Hearing this, my face moved to copy Luna’s grin. Those were truly magnificent news.

---

The week went by rather smoothly, even though I found myself with yet another problem. Luna had provided me with a factory and enough materials to produce the ammo needed for the weapons I am going to give to my company. The problem with that is that a factory needs at least someone to run it, but I didn’t want to include any more ponies than necessary, in order to keep it secret. Sadly, I lack the knowledge to fully automate the process and having all the ponies sealed away within the factory is something Celestia would never allow me to do.

… In fact, I doubt that anyone of them would allow me to do that.

Nevertheless, the weekend came and just as I had promised, I used my entire Saturday to spend some quality time with Rainbow and Twilight, leaving the Sunday for me to do some stuff. What exactly, though, I had no idea myself, so I went to do what I had done back before the whole Luna-incident and went for a walk around Ponyville, thinking about how to solve this little problem of mine.

I went towards Sweet Apple Acres, hoping in the back of my mind that Applejack would have some idea, but it turned out that I didn’t need her. Just before I was about to knock on the door, I heard an elderly mare call out behind me.

“Good morning, Markus! Mighty fine day, aint it?”

I turned around and saw Granny Smith walk towards me with a bottle of some translucent liquid on her back.

“Good morning, Granny smith. Say, what do you have there?”

She tapped at the bottle with one hoof. “You mean this here thing? That’s some of this miracle tonic, them brothers are sellin’.”

I immediately knew what she meant, even though I seem to recall that the beverage was more greenish in color, but it could be faulty memory. After all, it has been a while since I watched the show.

Setting that aside, I asked her if I could have a look at it. I took the bottle up to my eyes and started to analyze the liquid. I gave it a few gentle shakes, took a test of smell and a test of taste, until finally I could determine for certain:

“Truly, Granny Smith, they have sold you one of the most miraculous liquids in the known world. It has brought forth all life that we know and still is the main component of many processes in every living organism. Its properties make it influence the weather and even the climate as a whole! Truly a miraculous fluid, going by the absolutely melodic name of… water.”

Granny Smith’s smile fell quickly and she was now looking at the bottle in my hand, as if she had just seen a ghost.

“B-But, I don’t understand. They even had somepony test it before our eyes!”

“The oldest trick in the book. They pretended to pick a random person, but in reality, they already had someone, whom they are paying to pretend to be a random person, waiting for their cue.”

Suddenly, Granny smith began to fume. “Ah them bucking liars! Ahma gonna give them a taste of them hooves of me!”

She wanted to ‘storm’ off, but I held her back. “Wait a moment, Granny smith. You can’t just go there and slap them silly! You will only get yourself in trouble with this.”

She turned around and looked at me with fury in her eyes. “So ya sayin’ that ah should just let ‘em go?!”

I quickly shook my head. “No. Maybe you can’t go after them…” I tapped on my sword, which I had elected to always carry around by now. “… but I sure can.”

Also, the solution to your little problem here could also be the one for my major problem…

I had Granny Smith lead me to the tent, where I heard Applejack already shouting about. I followed her voice and found her and Flim and Flam behind the tent, having a shouting match. I quickly stepped in, in order to avoid Applejack punching them before I could.

“Flim and Flam, in the name of the crown, you are under arrest.”

The shouting match stopped and Applejack seemed more than happy to see me, while Flim and Flam sure didn’t.

“Ah yes? And who says that?” Flim asked, before Flam quickly pointed him to the sword on my side, which was, after all, my symbol of authority.

Both of them broke into a sweat and Flam stepped forth to defend his brother. “What my brother wanted to say is that we don’t know why you are here, officer. We are just running a simple business of ours, completely legal and in harmony with the law.”

I cocked an eyebrow at this. “Oh really? Let’s see here for a second. As far as I can remember, you are wanted for: Tax fraud, advertising and selling of a fake product, illegal production of taxed goods, with stolen resources no less, and lastly endangerment of the health of multiple ponies. That should amount to a looooong prison sentence.”

Both of them tensed up as they heard this. “P-Prison? Oh, no that’s not… I mean, there surely is some other way we can go about this, can we?” Flim tried to negotiate.

I pretended to think for a moment, before I spoke again. “Hmmm, now that you say it… I’ve heard that you two have a talent for automation, don’t you?”

They looked at each other for a moment, before they frantically nodded. “Yes, yes! We have built quite a few machines, which make everyday life much easier, like—“

“Splendid!” I interrupted Flam, “In that case, you will pay back your debt with the crown by working it off.”

Their enthusiastic faces from earlier vanished instantly, replaced by a pale look of shock. “What? Do you mean force labor?! But I thought that it was outlawed long ago!”

I simply shook my head slowly. “Ts ts, forced labor is such a strong word. I prefer: ‘Community Service’.”

Without another word and with the help of Applejack, I brought them to the local guard station, from there they will be transported to the factory, later on, in order to start their forc—ehm, their community service. Now, with the last major problem gone, all that is left to do is to equip and train my company and finally enter service.

Author's Notes:

before anyone calls bullshit on Markus's Bloodloss, here are my calculations on that matter:

Markus's weight: ~90kg --> translates into ~8litres of blood (volume of blood in litres is about 8-9% of weight in kg)
average human male can lose about 25% of his blood before reaching a critical point --> 25% of 8 = 2 litres
assumed Ponies to be about 1m - 1,25m tall and weigh in at ~20kg --> ~1,6l - 1,8l of blood in a pony.
---> Markus can lose a Pony worth of blood and still be within his tolerance for bloodloss.

Am I absolutely overthinking this? Yes.
Do I like absolutely overthinking this? Also yes.

Anyways, I hope you liked the chapter and, as always, stay tuned for the next

Ch22: Studies in Magic

POV: Twilight

It was a calm Saturday morning in Ponyville. I got up a little earlier than usual, even though the Library was closed, and took a shower. It was the last weekend, before Markus would be unavailable for two whole months, after all, so I certainly wanted to look presentable.

I stepped into the shower and opened the water valve with my magic, only to almost jump back, as I was hit with an ice-cold stream. Apparently, in my half-asleep state, I had opened the wrong valve. Needless to say, I was now fully awake. I quickly switched to warm water and let out a pleasured hum, as its warmth touched down on my head and slowly made its way down my back. I let the comfortable feeling of it seep into my every pore, indulging in its relaxing similarity to…

Suddenly, a wave of heat hit my face, as my thoughts drifted back to last weekend’s incident. It wasn’t the ambush in the forest that still laid so thickly in my mind, but what happened afterwards… The hospital, the long waiting and hoping and finally, the flash of emotions when Markus finally awoke. It all still was as fresh in my mind, as if it had just happened yesterday. Not that I wanted to forget it, no. I wanted to keep it. The memory of his soft touch on my back and head and the pleasant feeling behind my ears, the smell of his body, as I was pressing all of my worries out and into chest.

I would have liked to stay there forever, in his embrace just as well as in the shower, indulging in this pleasurable memory. That was not to be, however, as I suddenly was ripped out of my thoughts by a knock on the front door.

Markus wasn’t to arrive for another hour, which had me slightly confused. Still, I quickly got out of the shower, flinching slightly as I stepped from its warm embrace into the cold air of the bathroom. A quick wind-spell took care of the leftover water in my coat and an illusion spell made sure that whoever was at the door didn`t see my unkempt mane.

I opened the front door and was immediately greeted by Derpy. “Good morning Twilight. Umm, is Markus around?” she asked.

“Uh, no, not yet. Why do you ask?” I replied.

“Oh… well, uhm, I have a delivery for him and we don’t have enough storage space to keep them for him…”

Having been made curious by this statement, I took a look outside and almost gawked in surprise at what I saw. There, before my Library, stood a cart, pulled by two earth pony stallions and loaded with two large crates and one smaller one. Two further stallions were currently unloading one of the crates, almost crumbling under its weight. They set it down right in front of my door and went to work on the second large Crate, which seemed to be much lighter as only one stallion was needed to lift it.

I had a look at the delivery note that Derpy was holding, to look at the crate’s contents. Apparently, the first one contained steel, the second douglas fir wood and the third, smaller one was filled with grease. Also, looking at the top lines, I saw that it was indeed addressed to Markus.

With my curiosity now beyond holding, I looked at Derpy with, probably, one of the weirdest faces I could have made, as she only smiled sheepishly at me. I looked back and forth between Derpy and the note, not quite grasping, what Markus might need those materials for, when one of the delivery ponies cleared his throat beside me. He looked at me expectantly, probably waiting for me to finally sign the note so they could get on with their jobs. Seeing no point in keeping them halted any further, I levitated a quill out from behind me and signed the paper.

Derpy gladly took the signed note and waved goodbye, before she and the delivery ponies left. I closed the door and went into the kitchen to get some breakfast, leaving the crates sitting outside. Certainly, Markus would have a good explanation for this.

---

An hour later, Rainbow Dash and I were waiting at the station, looking for the first signs of the incoming train. I was slightly nervous. In fact, I couldn’t even bring myself to stand still this whole time, which wasn’t just because I was seeing Markus again, though that was part of the reason.

The truth is: I had realized that this day was probably the last time I would have a proper chance to speak to Markus, seeing as he would soon be gone for two whole months, after which he would probably be sent to Celestia-knows-where, without any chance for me to, at least, say goodbye to him. That’s why I had made the decision, to finally… confess my feelings to him. Though, now that the moment was rapidly closing in, I had begun to doubt my decision. What would he say? Would he even want to take on a relationship? What if he wasn’t interested in me or even in Ponies in general? After all, he is a human, not a Pony.

The train came into sight, while I was still looking down at my hooves, trying to figure out, what exactly I wanted to say. I didn’t notice Rainbow Dash flying off to one of the train carts. I didn’t notice Markus disembarking and I definitely did not notice how they slowly crept up beside me.

“Yo, what’cha thinking about?”

I jumped in place, as I suddenly heard Rainbow call out beside me. I wanted to scold her, but then I noticed that Markus was standing beside her, looking down at me with an amused face.

I was at a loss. Just before, I was lining up every single word I wanted to say, in the exact order I wanted to say them, but right at that moment, suddenly, all my preparations were shattered and dispersed into the winds of my thoughts.

“Ah, I-I, um... euh, H-Hi, Markus.” I stammered, mentally scolding me for my ineptitude.

Markus looked down at me in visible concern. “Is something the matter, Twilight? You seem rather troubled.”

‘Is something the matter?’ Of course there is! I just can’t…

“No, everything is fine, I-I just thought about how to… solve Celestia’s next test… Yeah, yeah, that’s it.” I lied.

Markus easily saw through that, of course, raising an eyebrow at my statement. However, he just shrugged and decided to not press the matter.

Damn it, Twilight, now your chance is gone! You have talked to him so calmly all these times, how can it be that, now that you want to actually say something important, you can`t seem to properly align three simple words?!

The others slowly started to walk away, as I was still scolding myself. However, as I noticed the distinct lack of Markus and Rainbow, I quickly got myself together. After all, the day was still young and I would have many more chances on telling him… hopefully.

---

We arrived at the Library shortly thereafter. Markus quickly examined the crates still lying outside of it and started to delightfully hum, as he found that it was indeed the delivery he had ordered. But just as I wanted to ask, what these materials were for, I heard Applejack call out behind me.

“Howdy, y’all!”

I turned around and saw that she was pulling a wagon behind her.

“Hey Applejack. Why are you pulling that wagon?” Rainbow asked, before I could.

Markus now turned, to greet her as well. “Good Day, applejack. I see, you got my letter?”

Rainbow looked back and forth between them, before finally complaining to Markus: “What?! You sent her a letter as well? Aw, that’s not fair! Why don’t you send me letters?!”

Markus smirked at her. “Because I know, if I don’t write you, you’ll come visit instead.”

Rainbow blushed and looked away, while I was at a complete loss at what he meant. Meanwhile, Applejack positioned herself beside the crates, signaling Markus to load the Cargo.

“Euh, are you sure you can lift those?” I asked. “I mean, I saw two delivery ponies unload these earlier and they were barely able to lift them.”

“Yes, but you are right to assume that my bodily strength isn’t enough. However, there are still other methods.”

He lifted a finger up and then pointed it towards the crates. A black panel formed underneath them, slowly lifting them into the air, before setting them down on Applejack`s cart.

“There, you see? Magic sure is something I would have liked in my old world.” He commented.

I would lie if I said that I wasn’t impressed. Quite the opposite, actually I was very impressed. I mean, sure , I noticed already that he was advancing very quickly in his studies of the arts of magic, but to think that he would already be able to lift something this heavy after barely just coming into contact with the whole concept of magic…

The cart creaked loudly, ripping me from my thoughts as Applejack began to move. Markus led the way, as we started to walk… into the Everfree forest.

“Uhm, Markus, are ya sure, that’s where ya want t’go?” Applejack asked, audibly nervous about this situation.

Markus, however, just nodded and continued walking. We kept close to him, as he led us deeper and deeper into the forest, far beyond where Zecora’s hut was located and even beyond the Castle of the two sisters.

Eventually, he stopped in a large clearing. And large might be an understatement, as it was nearly as big as the town of Ponyville!

“So, what do we do now?” I asked curiously.

Markus signaled Applejack to move a bit further into the clearing. He then lifted the crates off of her wagon, causing it to creak as the weight was lifted from it, and set them down before him.

“Now, I will work some magic. Silence please, I have to concentrate.” He said, as he sat down on the ground, closed his eyes and extended one arm towards the crates.

The crates opened and metal bars and large pieces of wood started floating out of them, neatly piling themselves beside their crates. Then, something amazing happened. Out of nowhere, black clouds of some smoky essence formed around us, some smaller and some larger in size. They then started to take on different forms, some morphing into what looked like large hammers, some formed into what looked like cutting devices, as well as a whole lot of other things I couldn’t identify. Then, the true magic began.

First, the metal bars started to levitate again, forming a line in front of the first of the clouds. The cloud began to glow a bright white and morphed into a tube, through which the metal bars now started to float. As they came out on the other side, they were, literally, glowing hot. They started to split up into multiple smaller groups now, one big and two smaller ones.

The first smaller group was yet again split into five smaller groups, all of which were being pressed into a circular form with varying diameters. The first group of those was being pressed into a wire, less than a quarter of an inch thick, which was then used to be either coiled into springs or cut into smaller pins.
The second group was formed into a slightly thicker wire, which was then cut and formed into screws.
The third, fourth and fifth were all formed into tubes of three different diameters and lengths. The third was the smallest one by diameter, but was the second largest in length, while the fourth was the second biggest by diameter, but the shortest. The fifth group was both the longest and the biggest, having almost seven times the diameter the third had. All three tubes then had a set of spiraling grooves cut into their insides.

The second of the three original groups was split into further groups, as well, which then were formed into a multitude of smaller parts, most of which I was unable to identify.

The third and larges group was, like the other two groups, split up into further, smaller groups. Five, to be exact. The first one of those produced constructs that looked like a very stripped-down version of Markus’s Rifle, while the second’s products looked like Markus’s pistol. The third and fourth one produced two different sizes of box-shapes with a slit on either side of them, as well as a hole on one end. The fifth one produced smaller metal sheets, which were then connected to form what looked like the magazines from Markus’s rifle and pistol.

All these groups then came together, forming themselves into vague copies of Markus’s rifle, of which the trigger was now larger to adapt to a pony’s hooves, as well as copies of his pistol and two further types of weapon, which I had not seen before. Some of the smaller tubes had been connected to the smaller box-shape, while the bigger tubes were connected to the bigger one and had a large piece fitted to their end, which had a large hole in the front and two holes on either side.

However, I noticed that the rifle lacked the large rear piece that Markus used to brace it against himself. Pieces of the grips of both, pistols and rifles, as well as some covers on the barrels of the rifles were also still missing. The answer to that mystery came, when suddenly the wood started floating, being carved and fitted into the aforementioned spots.

At last, all the moving parts were now coated in a generous amount of grease, before everything neatly sorted itself into the crates. However, there was still a lot of wood and metal left. Had Markus bought too many materials? No, he hadn`t. The rest of the materials started to float now, as well and slowly morphed themselves into much more refined looking versions of that contraption, Markus had tested on Applejack last week. The large arm was moved from the front right to the center of the contraption and the clamps were now partially made out of wood, to reduce the weight and, probably, to help with the cold metal touch.

After those had floated back into the crates, as well, the crates sealed themselves and moved away. Markus’s magic grip on the objects disappeared and, as soon as it did, he jerked forward and started to pant heavily. Clearly, this whole thing was very straining for him, but also absolutely impressive. I had never seen anypony manipulate so many objects at once, not even Celestia or me!

I walked over to Markus and helped him up, to which he gave me a thankful nod in response. Applejack trotted up beside me as well.

“Yeah, well, that was mighty impressive ‘n all, but what do we do now?” she asked.

Markus was still slightly panting, but was quickly recovering. When he had caught enough of a breath, he answered her. “Well, first off, we need to set some markings for where the tents are meant to be placed and where the different training areas shall be. After that we just need to do some minor things and we are done.”

“Tents and training areas? Wait, are you planning on training your troops here?” Rainbow asked and Markus nodded in response.

He then got up and gave all three of us an area, which we then set out to mark with large branches, which we stuck into the ground in regular intervals. Markus himself, meanwhile, went into the Everfree to grab some branches and leaves, out of which he built a makeshift roof. As all of us were done we met up with him again. He looked around and seemed very pleased with the result.

“Very well, now there is only one last thing left to do.” He said, as he took a large stack of scrolled papers out of the crate, which held the containers with the grease earlier and wasn’t sealed back up. He then turned to Applejack and Rainbow, handing them both a few scrolls.

“Now, would you please go over there and attach these targets to the row of trees?” he asked them. In response, Applejack and Rainbow Dash both nodded and trotted off.

Next he turned to me, however instead of saying something, he suddenly squinted at the forest behind me.

“Meine Güte, hat der typ ‘n Navi gefressen? Wie zur hölle hat er uns hier gefunden?” (Good lord, did this guy eat a GPS? How in the world did he find us in here?) he mumbled.

I turned around to see Spike running towards us and panting from exhaustion. When he reached us, he sputtered some incoherent words, which I was unable to make any sense of. Noticing this, he took a deep breath and tried again.

“Twilight, some mare at the Library wants to speak with you. Something about a book having been damaged or something.”

I am needed at the Library? Today?! But I hadn’t had a chance to… No, I have to do this before I can do anything else. I thought.

I turned around to Markus, who waved it off, saying that we were almost done anyways, so I could go if I needed to. I heard Spike already walk away, while Markus took a shovel from Applejack’s cart and started digging a hole. I, meanwhile, just stood in place.

My heart began to pound hard, everything seeming to suddenly move slower than usual. I had to think: What did I want to say? How would I say it? The thoughts rushed through my mind, quicker than they ever had before, almost making my head burst. Then, I took a deep breath and:

“M-Markus? Can I… Can I ask you something?”

Ok, good start, now don’t falter, keep going!

Markus turned back to me, smiling gently. “Of course. Ask away.”

I took some final, deep breaths, bracing me for my next few words.

Ok, don’t worry, you’ve got this. It’s just one simple question, so just ask it! Well then, here goes…

Ch23: Crashing My Heart

POV: Rainbow Dash

The last weekend together with Markus had started and I was determined to make the best of it! So, of course, I made sure that I was at the station as soon as possible, to greet Markus when he arrives. It didn’t really come as a surprise to see Twilight there as well, but what did seem very strange, was that she was fidgeting around. Yes, Twilight, fidgeting around. I couldn’t believe it myself, when I saw it, but she was actually finding it more difficult to stay still than I did!

The train arrived and I saw Markus leave the train from one of the rearward carts, so I quickly flew over to him. After a quick greeting, he looked over to Twilight and, as I followed his look, I saw that she had properly spaced out right there. I decided to have a little fun with her and snuck up, before suddenly speaking up.

“Yo, whatcha thinking about?”

She jerked around, completely startled from my sudden appearance and seemingly ready to yell at me. But then she saw Markus and her eyes locked upon him. At that point, a few suspicions started to rise up inside my head, because she was getting pretty red, but, noticing I was constantly accusing everypony of trying to steal him, I thought it off as her just being a lot more startled than I thought.

After a few seconds had passed, she finally stammered a greeting, before spacing out again. Markus and I shared a very confused look, before deciding to just go on ahead. After a few steps were taken, however, we already heard Twilight catch up behind us and from there, all three of us went to the Library.

At the Library, I was pretty surprised to see a bunch of crates lingering around in front of it, but Markus didn’t seem to wonder at all. On the contrary, he seemed to have eagerly been waiting for them, walking around and thoroughly checking each one of them.

While he did that, Applejack approached from behind us, pulling a wagon. Twilight and I were both quite surprised to see her there, but Markus didn’t seem surprised at all, quickly greeting her, as he turned around. However, his greeting contained an accursed word. ‘Letter’.

Immediately, my uncertainty came back in force, bringing all these accusations with it, causing me to, probably more whine than ask, why in Equestria he would send everypony letters, except me. But the answer he gave me to that certainly hit me like a wall.

“Because I know, if I don’t write you, you’ll come visit instead.”

Did he really mean that just now? Does he not write me, just so I have a reason to come visit him?? I mean, I did so that one time, so he would probably… But did he really aim for that???

Now it was my turn to fidget around, trying to hide my blush behind my hooves, while trying to avoid looking at him smirking at me.

Twilight, meanwhile, was looking back and forth between us, visibly confused about what Markus was playing at. Applejack, on the other hoof, seemed to just ignore us, instead aligning her cart to be loaded.

Twilight remarked that the crates would be too heavy for us to lift, but that didn’t seem to stop Markus, as, just when I finally got myself back together again, he was pointing a finger at the crates. What I saw then, actually had me speechless for a moment, as suddenly, a thin, black layer appeared under the crates, lifting them up and placing them on Applejack’s cart. I actually had to fight my jaw to not slack open from seeing this.

Regardless, Markus and Applejack started to move and Twilight and I quickly followed suit, as Markus led us into… the Everfree forest.

We moved along behind him, every one of us carefully watching the underbrush as if anything could jump at us at any time, everyone except Markus, who seemed pretty relaxed, as if he was just taking a little stroll through the Ponyville Market. I actually found it absolutely admirable, how he could navigate a place as dangerous as the Everfree without even showing the slightest bit of fear.

I don’t know how long we were in there, but it was an hour at least, before we finally reached a gigantic clearing in the middle of the forest. Markus had Applejack move her cart further into the clearing, while Twilight and I stood a bit back. He then unloaded the crates, before using his magic to lift the contents out of them and neatly stack them on the ground.

Then, he did something absolutely amazing again. He formed multiple clouds of magic in the air, which looked somewhat like the rainbow production line in the Weatherfactory, through which he then levitated the metal bars he took from one of the crates.

Even though it truly was amazing, it didn’t really catch my eyes for long, because I don’t understand much about magic anyways. What did catch my eyes though, was Twilight in this situation. As one would have expected, she was absolutely enchanted by what Markus did there, but there was something more… I concentrated on her face, trying to read her expression, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t quite place it.

I moved around her, eyeing her carefully. She looked far beyond enchanted, I noticed. She looked… excited, no, more like… flustered…

Wait, is she… No, it can’t be, right?... It would make sense though, seeing as Markus lived with her for a while… Wait, are they maybe already..? Oh, no, no, no way Twilight would have…

My mind started to burn with thoughts about ‘what if’s and ‘theoretically’s. I was thinking back and forth, trying to convince myself that everything was fine. I mean, it could be that she was like this because Markus was working magic here. After all, it is Twilight, we are talking about.

In the end, I dug myself so deep into my thoughts, that I didn’t notice Markus finishing, only being ripped out of it by Applejack asking, what we would do next. Markus then had us each mark a certain area with sticks, which we would stick into the ground in regular intervals, while he made some kind of a platform made from branches and leaves he got out of the Everfree.

After we had finished, Markus took some targets out of one of the crates, which he then gave to me and Applejack, asking us to pin them to the trees on one end of the clearing. I hesitated for a moment, not quite wanting to leave those two alone after I just had those thoughts, but I came to the conclusion that the sooner I would do this, the sooner I would be back to keep watch. Also, doing this could potentially put me in Markus’s favor, if it really came to a rivalry between me and Twilight…

Sorry, Twi, but in this case, it will be every mare for herself…

Applejack and I trotted off, but we didn’t talk most of the way. At least, I didn’t, as I was still thinking about Markus and Twilight. Could it really be that Twilight was interested in Markus as well? If so, how far did they go already? Did she already tell him? Did they already kiss? Did they maybe even…? I shook that last thought out of my head. Surely, if it were like this, they wouldn’t have kept it secret, wouldn’t they? Still, the thought wouldn’t quite leave my mind.

I stopped about half way to the other end and took a look back at Markus and Twilight, just in time to see them talking. However, something clearly was off. I don’t know if Markus noticed, or if it was just because I am a Pegasus, but I could definitely see Twilight’s wings and tail twitching and it looked like she was even blushing a bit.

She said something, which I couldn’t hear and to which Markus shrugged, saying something himself. In response, Twilight jumped around giddily, before speeding off into the Everfree.

Wait, did she just…?

I stood still, my head rattling about with thoughts as to what they could have talked about, the same conclusion pushing itself into the foreground time and time again, but it couldn’t be… right?

Finally, after I don’t know how much time, a shove to my shoulder pulled me out of my thoughts. I looked to its source and saw Applejack, standing beside me with worry on her face.

“Are ya alright, sugarcube?”

I looked back and forth between Markus and Applejack, before giving a stammered reply.

“I-I, a-ah, yes, I’m ok, it’s just, I mean, I was just wondering, what Markus and Twilight were talking about.”

Applejack looked over to Markus and then smirked slightly at me.

“Huh, are ya worried that Twilight could’ve been faster than ya?” She said.

I immediately reeled back, stammering. “Wh-What? N-No, of course not, I mean, me and romance? Pah!”

Applejack seemed not convinced, still looking at me with the same smirk. “Oh really? Are ya sure that ya ain’t feelin’ a little different for Markus?”

Seeing no point in denying it further, I finally slumped down slightly and confessed. “A-Alright, yeah, maybe I am in l-love with Markus… How did you notice?”

“Well, frankly it was pretty obvious, at least to me. Ah mean, normally you behave more like a colt than like a grown mare, but whenever Markus was around, you were actually more like Fluttershy.”

I blushed slightly from this revelation. “Was it really that obvious?” I asked, now noticing myself, how similar I was to Fluttershy in that moment.

Applejack nodded in response, pacing a little before me. “Ah can’t really blame you, though. Ah mean, he really IS a fine stallio— euh, man.”

I nodded and smiled in agreement. “Yeah he sure i—wait a second, what do you mean by that? Applejack, are you perhaps also…?” I asked in uncertainty, giving Applejack a questioning glare.

She, meanwhile, gave me a confused look, before changing it into a smirk. She looked down at her belly and started to rub it. “Well, ah mean he has already touched me in a very private place…” She then said.

“Wai—Wha—How…? When…?” I stammered, trying to wrap my head around the implication Applejack just made. Not for long, however, as Applejack suddenly burst into laughter.

“Ah, don’t worry sugarcube, ah’m just messin’ with ya.” She said, while still cooling off from her laughing fit. “Seriously though, why don’t ya finally confess to him?” She then said in a more serious tone.

I looked down to my hooves, drawing circles into the ground, while contemplating an answer. “I… You know… I didn’t know what to tell him... I didn’t know if he would even accept me and… I was… afraid. What if he said no? What if we couldn’t be friends anymore afterwards?”

Applejack tilted her head slightly and looked at me. “In all honesty, Rainbow, this all sounds like it would be resolved if ya just told him how ya feel.”

“Yes, I mean NO! I mean…” I stammered, growing more agitated, before finally sighing and slumping down once again. “Ah, forget it, it doesn’t matter anymore. I just saw Twilight talk to Markus and I think, she just… She just…” I was on the brink of tears, barely holding them in, as my vision slowly began to blur.

“Now listen here, Rainbow Dash!” Applejack commanded, as she picked my head up with her hooves, staring directly into my eyes. “It ain`t like ya to just give up like this! Besides, take a look at Markus and tell me, what he looks like.”

She yanked my head around and pointed it directly at Markus. I blinked the tears away and looked closely at him. I saw that he was digging a hole, already standing knees-deep in the ground. Apart from that…

“Well, he’s a bit dirty, but apart from that, he looks like he always does.” I said.

“Exactly!” Applejack exclaimed. “Ah don’t know if ya’d noticed, but back in the hospital, when I walked in there and you two were squeezing him down, he was almost as red as one of mah apples! If he got like this just from a hug, what do ya think he would look like, if he got a confession?”

I thought back to the hospital, trying to remember what his face looked like back then, only to notice that I didn’t see it. What I did remember, though, was that his heartbeat felt… heavy. Sure, it could have been because he was so much larger than we are, but in that situation, I definitely wanted to believe that it was because of us.

Hope started to flare up within me again, causing me to smile wide. I turned to Applejack and jumped at her, pulling her into a hug. “Thanks Applejack!” I said.

“No problem sugarcube.” She replied, as I let go again.

I turned around, ready to get to work again. “Now let’s get these targets pinned up!” I said, flying off towards the edge of the clearing.

“That`s the spirit!” Applejack commented, as she followed suit.

---

After we were done with our work, we went back to Markus, who was now levitating the crates into the finished hole, before covering it with the platform he made earlier. He turned around to us and looked over the clearing, which had now been transformed into what looked like a pretty minimalistic training ground.

He clapped into his hands in satisfaction, telling us that we were done. He then helped Applejack get into the harness for her cart, before we then made our way back home.

On our way back, I thought about how I was gonna proceed from there on and I came to a conclusion. I had to tell him. I definitely would tell him, but how would I go about it? What would I say to him?

I contemplated this for the rest of the journey, finding myself pretty surprised as we reached Sweet Apple Acres shortly after. Applejack said her farewells leaving for her house, but stopped just before she crossed the gate. She turned around and looked at me with a smirk.

“And good luck to you, Rainbow.” She said with a wink, before turning back around and trotting off.

Markus looked back and forth between us in confusion, before finally asking: “What was that all about?”

“That, euh, that…I…” I started to stammer, desperately searching for something to say. “I, uhm… There’s this – this--- wonderbolt…competition! Yeah, a wonderbolt competition and I wanted to ask you if you could… help… me… train for it…” I trailed off, not sure why I was stalling again.

Markus shrugged in response. “Yeah, sure, why not?”

So, we ended up in the pink tree plains again, where I was pulling stunts in the air. Corkscrews, Immelmans, Flatspins, I did them all, but in the end, it was just a farce. I needed to buy time to think about, what I wanted to say, but I just couldn’t think about anything! Finally, I ran out of ideas for what stunts I could do, so I landed beside Markus.

He smiled at me, approvingly, seemingly completely satisfied with what I had shown him. He started to list off a few things, which he liked and what he thought could be done better and stuff, but I didn’t really listen. No, I was still thinking about what I could say to him, completely draining him out.

“Rainbow? Are you listening?” He finally asked, but I didn’t answer. I had made a decision. I wouldn’t think about what to say. I would just say something.

“Markus?” I started. “Can I ask you something?”

Ch24: RE;arrangement

POV: Markus

Okay, first of all: I may be an idiot sometimes, but I am certainly not blind. Of course, I had already noticed that both, Rainbow Dash and Twilight had a thing for me. Especially Rainbow since, you know, she asked me out on a date. The thing is: the feelings are indeed mutual. For both of them. Why didn’t I confess, I hear you ask? Well… euh, I was… scared…

Yes, I know, Captain Markus Becker, The Devil of Tehran, EXCALIBUR, scared about a little Romance. You may laugh if you want. Although, me being scared wasn’t my only reason for not saying anything. I also didn’t quite want to decide between the two of them. I mean, I liked them both and I felt that I would just betray myself if I would force a decision from myself. Thus, I decided that I would wait for them to confess to me and just go with the one who did it first. I honestly thought that it would be Rainbow Dash, because, well, she did technically already take the first step.

Needless to say, I was at least slightly surprised to have Twilight stand before me first and, to be honest, if it hadn’t been for us building a military training camp, giving me at least a hint of professionality to cling to, I would probably have looked like a tomato. Rainbow Dash followed suit by the end of the day, leaving me even more conflicted than before.

You might ask yourself: “Why though? Because Twilight clearly was first, right?” Well, thing is: none of them actually confessed. Instead, they made things even more complicated. They both asked me to meet them… in the same place… at the same time...

I decided to get there half an hour early, in order to have some time to think about how to prevent or at least contain the inevitable hailstorm that’s about to descent upon me. I mean: an accidental double-date? That’s about as cliché as it can possibly get, isn’t it?

Well yeah, turns out it can get even more cliché, as they even arrived at the same time. Not only that, but they also did and said the same.

“Hi, Markus! Hey, wait a second, what is *insert name of the other* doing here? I thought just we two were meeting?”

They then proceeded to stare at each other in confusion and, probably, even a bit of rivalry, I guess? I, meanwhile, tried to distract myself from the very uncomfortable situation at hand. Luckily, I found something to find interest in, as I took a look at their backs and sides. Both of them were carrying saddlebags, which seemed to be filled with something I couldn’t see. I didn’t try to find out either, as their bags weren’t what piqued my interest, but what lay underneath: their wings. Of course, having lived in Equestria for over two months now, seeing wings attached to ponies isn’t new to me, but something about their wings in that moment struck me as odd. I couldn’t quite point a finger at it, but somehow they seemed… asymmetrical.

We probably were quite the sight, standing there like this. Especially since the meeting point both of them had chosen just-so happened to be Sugarcube Corner at 2pm. Though, the weird looks from the ponies around us certainly was nothing compared to the situation at hand, it only added to my discomfort.

After a while, I noticed that Rainbow and Twilight had stopped looking at each other, instead giving me a demanding glare. As I noticed this, I could only laugh humorlessly, scratching behind my head and trying to somehow defuse the situation. The problem was: how would I do that? I’m not really well-versed when it comes to romance and I definitely don’t know, how to manage two angry girls – euh, mares. Still, I had to say something, so in the end, I said the first thing that came to mind:

“Ah, well, since we’re all here, why don’t we go inside? I’m craving for some Cupcakes right now.” I said, trying to look as innocent and cheerful as possible, although that probably wasn’t much.

We entered Sugarcube Corner and sat down at an empty table in the corner of the room. I sat in the middle, while the two mares placed themselves on either side of me. We placed our orders and, as they arrived, the show began.

A short while after starting to eat, Twilight levitated a piece of her Cupcake up, offering it to me. I took it from her magical grasp and flung into my mouth, thanking her with a content hum. Rainbow, meanwhile, wouldn’t let Twilight get ahead of her, plucking a slightly bigger chunk from her Cupcake and offering it with her wing. Twilight then took an even bigger chunk from hers and Rainbow responded with another, yet bigger piece. This went on until both their Cupcakes had vanished into my stomach, while mine remained mostly untouched.

Seeing their looks as they noticed this, I cut my cupcake in half, giving one to both of them and hoping to ease their moods a little. However, the only thing it really did was make the situation a lot more awkward. The mood became tense and the air around us felt so thick, I had the urge to chew before breathing. I wanted to ease things up a little, but I didn’t know how, so I simply just proposed that we may get on with the day.

Twilight and Rainbow had meanwhile started to glare at each other again, which I had properly ripped them out of. After collecting their thoughts a little, they both nodded and so we paid and left the bakery. Outside, Twilight levitated a scroll from her Saddlebags, starting to list off a few things she would like to do. Rainbow protested, saying that she, too, wanted to do a few things. To this Twilight just retorted that Rainbow wouldn’t need to stick around if she didn’t like it, after which they both fell into an… ‘agitated debate’.

After a few arguments back and forth, I finally stepped in, proposing that they could take turns. They both agreed, though I could see their reluctance to do so. Still, that left the question on who would start first and, of course, they both wanted me to decide this. Thankfully, I managed to convince them to just flip a coin, which Twilight had won.

The rest of the afternoon then consisted of me being yanked into all kinds of directions, as Twilight and Rainbow both took me through Ponyville, taking me into all kinds of stores and doing all kinds of stuff. Thankfully, they both came to accept each other’s presence, which not only made this whole thing much more enjoyable, but it also meant that I could spend less energy on trying to avoid the fourth world war and instead think about my primary problem.

The afternoon went by and I still hadn’t found any way of avoiding the disaster, which was inevitably approaching. Celestia’s sun began to set and Rainbow and Twilight took me to a hill just outside of Ponyville, from where one actually had a very decent view of the sunset.

They then both produced picnic blankets and laid them out on the hilltop for us to sit on. Both had also brought various different fruits and even self-made sandwiches, of which I gladly took a few.

The Sun continued its descend and we just sat there and watched it. For a moment, I thought that the catastrophe I have been expecting to happen would not happen at all. That belief was crushed, however, as both of them started to rummage through their saddlebags again at the same time.

I had to jerk back a bit to avoid having my eyes squashed, as they suddenly turned back around, both holding a small box out towards me. These boxes looked like those you would buy these fancy pens in, only they were much bigger. I opened them and I immediately realized why Twilight’s and Rainbow’s wings had looked so weird earlier.

In these boxes were two large feathers, one in blue and one in purple. By their dimensions and shape, I found them to be primary feathers and from there, it didn’t take much for me to figure out what this was meant to be. The act of giving someone the most important type of feathers on your wings could only be one thing.

The Pegasus/Alicorn way… of confessing your feelings.

I stared down at the two boxes in my hands as I tried to think of a way to properly react to this, but I couldn’t. The feared disaster was finally upon me and I was utterly unprepared.

I didn’t say anything, continuing to just stare at the boxes, causing Rainbow to say something.

“Ehm, you know, those are… primaries. They are… I mean, they…” She stammered.

“I know what they are… and I think I also know what this means…” I trailed off.

Silence befell us again, causing both of them to nervously shift in place.

“You know… if you don’t feel like this… just say so. I mean, I would understand… you are a human and I—We are ponies…” Rainbow said. She tried to play it cool, but couldn’t hide the worry and uncertainty in her voice.

“Oh no, that’s not the problem, Rainbow.” I said. “In fact, I do feel the same… for both of you… and that’s exactly my problem. I can’t decide between of you – I don’t want to decide between the two of you, you know?”

Silence, again. A very short-lived silence, however, as Twilight finally spoke up herself.

“Why don’t you take both of us then?”

“Yeah, if it was that eas—wait, WHAT?” I exclaimed, jerking up to look at Twilight and causing her to twitch back a bit.

“Yeah, well, you see:” She started carefully, “We mares outnumber stallions five to one and thus, even though we mostly don’t show it, Polygamy is actually pretty common. Especially with the nobles. So, if Rainbow agrees, I would be willing to share.”

She looked over to Rainbow, who frantically nodded in response. I, meanwhile, only looked back and forth between them, trying to comprehend what she had just said.

“Really? It’s that easy? Then, does that mean that I was worried for absolute nothing?” I thought.

It all came down on me. All the thoughts, the worries, the doubts, all of them were for naught and that just because there was this one little thing I didn’t know. The absurdity of the situation slowly crept through my head, causing my face to contort ever-so-slightly, but I managed to hold myself back. Not for long, however, as I soon started to chuckle, then to giggle and then broke out into outright laughter.

I laughed loud and I laughed hard, but Twilight and Rainbow Dash didn’t find it funny at all. Tears started to flow down their cheeks and they blushed heavily.

“I know it may sound ridiculous to you, but that doesn’t mean you need to laugh at us!” Twilight cried.

They both scrambled to get back on their hooves, but I quickly swept in and pulled them into a hug before they could run away. Their pained looks faded as I pressed them against my chest, causing my shirt to get stained in their tears yet again.

“Sorry you two. It’s just that… this is the first time that something I didn’t know actually solved a problem, instead of starting a new one.” I said, as I choked my laughter down to a chuckle.

“Wait, does that mean…?” Twilight said, as she lifted her head up to look at me.

I leaned down to their earlevel and whispered: “I will gladly accept the both of you.”

In response, both of them beamed up, before snuggling tighter into my chest. Then, we just sat there, enjoying the view of the setting sun. I don’t know how long we stayed there like this. I only know that it was long after the sun had settled that I loosened the hug. Both, Twilight and Rainbow, had fallen asleep by then and I decided to not wake them up. I carefully and quietly packed everything back into their saddlebags, before slowly lifting them up onto my shoulders and carrying them home.

Since I can’t fly, I obviously couldn’t bring Rainbow back to her house, so I laid her down into the guest bed in the Library instead, seeing as I would have to leave for the train soon anyways. However, since I don’t want to leave them just like that, I put a note on both of their beds.

And now, here I am, sitting at Twilight’s desk and writing this entry, while there are two beautiful mares sleeping beside me, with very content looks on their faces.

While I wrote this, I actually remembered something a friend of mine used to say. That I would find a girlfriend only after I had died. Well, Peter… I guess, you were right.

Author's Notes:

The Ship has sailed, everybrony!

Ch25: A New Type of Warfare

POV: Mystic Gem

The first month of our training had passed and the Captain had ordered us to pack up everything we had and form up at the base at 6am the following Moonday. Apparently, the theoretical part of our training had ended and we were to step on to praxis.

There wasn’t much to pack for me, as we aren’t really allowed to bring any personal belongings to the military, except for what we can put into our pockets. Thus, apart from the equipment I have been given, I only packed a picture of me and my mother back when I was young. There aren’t all-too many fond memories I have from my old village, really. Only my mother, whom I had lost before I moved to Canterlot, was something – or rather somepony, whom I fondly remember.

Nevertheless, at 5:45 the following Moonday, all of us stood assembled at the base. The Captain arrived five minutes later, though his attire looked vastly different from the usual. He was wearing his uniform with that wild pattern of black, red, green, brown and yellow dots, like usual, but he was also wearing some kind of a helmet in the same colors, as well as some sort of shoes, but for his hands and some kind of armor made from cloth and with multiple bags and pouches, as well as something that looked like a ball, attached to its front. Also, he had something like a big bag on his back and, in addition to his sword he now had a big, black… thing hanging from his shoulder.

He stepped in front of us and everypony saluted to him. He looked us over, signaled us to be at ease and then, he began to speak.

“Congratulations, everyone! You being here today means that you have made it through the first phase of your training. From today onwards, you will no longer be just a bunch of idiots with weapons, no. From today on, you will be proper recruits in my eyes. But don’t let it get to your heads! You may have come this far, but I promise you, it will become much more challenging. At 6am today, we will relocate from the safety of Canterlot down to the newly set-up training ground near Ponyville.”

Lieutenant Bulkhead made a step forward, indicating a question, which the Captain granted him to ask.

“Sir, may I point out that the train to Ponyville will already have departed by the time we got to the station?”

“Indeed, you may. While I have to admit that I had expected the military to own trains itself, it doesn’t affect my plan at all. Like my old instructor always used to say: ‘Fußbus fährt immer.’ Which roughly translates into: foot-bus always works. And for those who still don’t get it: We are going to walk.”

A few unsettled murmurs sprang forth from the lines behind me and Lt. Bulkhead seemed like he wanted to argue against it, however the captain began to speak before he could even open his mouth.

“Listen up! I know it may sound dreadful at first, but it is doable. Remember: you are not alone! You have your comrades to rely on. Help each other! Every single one of you has his own strengths and weaknesses and today you will find creative ways to utilize them to your advantage! Earthponies: nature gave you strength, help your weaker comrades and offer them to carry some of their equipment. Unicorns: you can use your magic to make your luggage and that of your comrades weigh less. Pegasi: You don’t have to rely on your legs. If they are tired, use your wings instead. This will be your trial of fire. After you’ve passed it, we will no longer just be comrades! We will be brothers-in-arms! We will be a family and in a family, we help each other. Stand strong, be creative and work as a team! Now, form up, we are moving!”

He then turned around and led the way, while we formed up in line behind him. First came platoon Alpha, then my platoon, Bravo, and Charlie was last. The according officer would always walk in front of his platoon.

After about fifteen minutes of walking, we reached and crossed the southern gate, beyond which I noticed an old factory building. This wouldn’t have been odd at all, if it wasn’t for the giant magic shield that was set up around it. I decided not to think about it too much. After all, I would need all of my energy for the trip that lay ahead.

And need it, indeed I did. After we had made it halfway along our journey, my legs started to hurt and I probably wasn’t the only one with that problem. After all, while I only had about half of my own weight in equipment to carry, most of my subordinates had to carry an additional pony, if not more. This made a journey, which would normally be very doable into a trip to hell and back.

Regardless, I decided to ignore the pain and march on, not only to pass this ‘trial by fire’, how the captain had called it, but also to be a good example to my troops. We soon reached Ponyville, where the Captain allowed us half an hour of rest, before we marched on into the nearby Everfree Forest.

After another hour of marching, we finally reached a large clearing, which looked like it had been crudely set up as a training ground. The whole journey only took about six and a half hours, though it definitely felt like I had been walking for longer. Although… even though my legs would hurt for days, I felt rather good afterwards. It felt good to have achieved something this tremendous, something to take pride in, but it was also kind of relieving to think that the worst had passed.

The training grounds themselves were actually just a few areas, marked by sticks, as well as a few archery targets on one end of the clearing, but I doubt that anypony minded it all-too much after the trip we just had.

The captain directed us into a large area in the middle of the clearing, where we were to deposit our equipment for the moment, before forming up into our ranks.

“I congratulate you once again.” He started. “You have all made it through the trial, but that doesn’t mean that you may slack off now. As you can see, this little clearing here has been crudely set up as a training ground and it will be your job now, to complete it. Your construction material will be whatever you can find in the forest. While you do that, I have something to do back in Ponyville. Lt. Overdrive will be in command while I am gone. That’s it, dismissed.”

He then left us in the clearing, where we went to work. The whole process went off rather eventless, apart from Lt. Bulkhead muttering on about us not being some cheap construction ponies and the captain probably having a feast at sugarcube corner. It wasn’t hard to guess what we were to do: The areas we were to use had been marked with sticks and we were to make proper fences out of them. There were also a few outlines made from sticks in one, as well as some small holes placed in regular intervals in another area. While we could figure out that the outlines were meant to become a maze of some sorts, we didn’t know what to do with the holes and decided to leave them be and ask about them later on.

The captain came back about two hours later, pulling a cart which was covered with a large cloth. We had finished building about half an hour before he had arrived and had used the remaining time to rest a little. The captain didn’t seem to mind this at all, seeing as we had fulfilled his orders.

The fences now formed three large areas with pathways in-between, as well as a large, free area in the middle, which we would use as a rally point from then on. That is also, where we formed up after the captain had arrived and where we were awaiting new orders. Though, the new orders came a bit as a surprise, as they were to shed our armor.

With some reluctance, everypony did as they were ordered, causing the spells, which made their coats look white, to falter which resulted in a sea of colors where before, there was only a large, white blob. The reason for this order came only a few moments later, as the captain revealed to us, what was hidden on that cart.

The cart contained uniforms, 189 in total, which meant that everypony was to get three, the officers included. We all were the given two uniforms, which had the same color pattern as the captain’s does, and one with a similar pattern, only with the colors white, black and gray, as well as fitting masks and hats to each uniform. The only thing that distinguished us officers from the rest, were little markings on our shoulders, which displayed our rank.

Another thing we noticed with these uniforms, as we put them on, was that they had a similar spell implanted in them, as the normal guard’s armor. Only it made our coats brown instead of white.

After everypony was done putting their new uniforms on, we were ordered to set up camp and that’s where we learned, what these holes were for. Every squad was to place their tents in a star-shape around one of these holes, with the tent’s entrances facing inwards. We officers would do the same together with the captain.

Speaking about tents, I also noticed something about the captain’s. Well, a few things actually. First off: normally, we officers get a slightly larger tent than the normal guards, but his tent was actually about the same size. The second thing was that, while the standard tent issued to guards and officers alike is white, his was imprinted with the same color pattern as his uniform, yet again. Lastly, while all our tents were issued as a large roll with separate pegs and struts, his tent was issued in two bags, out of which everything, even the bags themselves, were used.

After the tents were ready, we used the small holes to ignite campfires inside them. Now with everything set up, we were allowed some time for ourselves, before we all went to sleep.

---

The next morning held another surprise for us. The Captain told us that we were going to play a match of ‘hide and seek’. Naturally, everypony, including me, gave him strange looks for this at first, though, we would later understand, why he did this. The rules were that we would have to find him within half an hour, while he would hide himself somewhere within six hundred hooves from our camp. He even went as far as to offer half of his monthly wage as a prize to the one who found him.

In the end, we didn’t find him, even though we unicorns were using search spells. Back at the camp, we then found that he was already waiting for us, his face covered in mud. At first, I thought that he might have tripped on the way back, but his following lesson proved me wrong. It turned out that this whole ‘hide and seek’ match was meant to be an introduction to our first lesson: Concealment.

He then spent the following two days showing and teaching us different ways to conceal ourselves in different environments. A special treat came during the night, though, as he demonstrated to us, how sound would behave during the night and in a forest. For this, we went to one side of the clearing, while the captain would go to the other and murmur a series of numbers, which we would later have to tell him. It was actually pretty astonishing to see, or rather hear, how far so much as murmuring during the night would be audible.

The next two days were then spent doing the exact opposite: trying to spot different objects in the field and noting their position. Then, during the weekend, we went out into the forest, where we were taught how to navigate in foreign terrain.

After that, the following three weeks were then spent repeating the lessons we were taught. For this, each platoon would take on a different lesson each week, with the ‘concealment’-group and the ‘spotting’-group working in a competition against each other, ‘spotting’ trying to find ‘concealment’. He made this possible, by actually not supervising the lessons all by himself. Instead, he would give a lesson-plan to us officers, which we were then to execute ourselves, thus making the lessons for our subordinates also a lesson for us as officers.

On Stabledays, the ‘recruits’ were then allowed to slack off a bit, while we officers would receive additional lessons from the captain. In exchange, we would then get our free time on Sundays, while everypony else was tasked with washing their and our uniforms, as well as themselves. Obviously, that last part also applied to us.

Thus, the first month in the field went on, without any bigger incident. Well, except for one. During the second week, we suddenly got an unexpected visit by none other than General Pillbox himself. The problem was the day that he had arrived on. While normally, he would see everypony hard at work, out of all days he had to arrive on a Stableday.

Naturally, the first thing he saw wasn’t the captain or us, having a lesson in silent communication and the setting of ambushes, no. He only saw that the rest of us was currently only idling about, sitting around campfires and talking and laughing with each other. Needless to say, when the General finally came to us, he was fuming.

“What is that supposed to mean, Captain?!” He screamed, “I thought you were training guards here, yet I only see a bunch of lazy failures! And what in Celestia are they even wearing?! Where is their armor?!”

The captain slowly turned to him, seemingly unfazed by his screaming.

“Well, firstly, they have been busy training this whole week and today just-so happens to be their day off. Secondly: ‘lazy failures’ is hardly a fitting description for them. In fact, I would even claim them to be able to outmatch even the Solar and Lunar guards by now. Lastly: the armor they previously had didn`t befit the new doctrine, so I decided to abandon it and use these uniforms instead.”

The General didn’t take kindly to this, continuing on his tirade.

“I did not authorize those changes! Order them to put on their Armor IMMEDIATELY!”

“No, I won’t.” Answered the captain.

“WHAT?! That is insubordination! Know your place!”

“No, it isn’t.”

“And how would you think that, huh?”

“While, indeed, you are my superior, you cannot take away a freedom that was given to me by someone superior to you.”

“AND WHO WOULD THAT BE?!” The General screamed, even more agitated than before.

“Princess Celestia.” The Captain calmly answered.

For a moment, there was silence. The General narrowed his eyes and gave the Captain a threatening glare.

“Fine then, have it your way. Though, I wouldn’t be surprised, if one day something bad would happen to you, Captain.” He threatened, lacing his last word with so much venom, that I was actually afraid that the Captain might drop dead, for a moment.

“Well, while I hate agreeing with him, that was rather disrespectful.” I commented.

“Yes, indeed. Though, I do have my reasons. Sadly, I have met him once already, on the second day of your training. He came to me after we had finished your first physical training. He wanted to know, how long I would need until you were fit for deployment. After I told him that I would need three months, we had an argument about the necessity of this, as well as the viability of a new doctrine. Let’s just say that I can’t really respect someone, who is unable to acknowledge the importance of improving existing doctrines and/or exchanging them for newer ones.” He stated.

---

At the end of the first month, a strange delivery, consisting of four boxes, arrived. These boxes were labeled with numbers, although they didn’t seem to indicate any specific order. The first one was labeled ‘37’, the second and the third were both labeled ‘5,56’ and the fourth was labeled ‘9’. Though, the arrival of these boxes seemed to mean something, as the Captain had us take rank as soon as they arrived. He then lifted two boxes out of a hole, which was covered with a makeshift roof.

Inside we found multiple objects, of which some looked very similar to the one, the Captain had brought with him. I nearly had my jaw drop, as we were told that those would be our new weapons and we would begin our training with them that same day. The only problem was that the shooting range we had set up wasn’t quite large enough for everypony to train at the same time, but he also had a solution to this. He had been keeping track of our score in the ‘concealment-competition’ and these were now used to determine the order, by which we would get to practice with our new weaponry, by subtracting the amount of times, ponies of one team have been spotted by the amount of targets spotted by the team. Sadly, in the end I only placed second, with Overdrive being first and Bulkhead being third.

And so, we started the final phase of our training to become true soldiers.

Ch26: Studies in Trust

POV: Twilight

The morning after I… We had finally managed to confess our feelings, Rainbow Dash and I sadly awoke to find that Markus had already left. However, he hadn’t left without leaving a note for both of us, in which he stated the reasons for his early departure, as well as noting, how happy he was to finally have someone – or somepony, to share his feelings with.

I, myself, felt like a big rock that had been blocking my heart for a while now, had finally been removed. I had finally managed to voice my feelings and the result was as good as it could have been. I didn’t mind forming a herd with Rainbow Dash in the slightest. After all, we were friends before, so who said we couldn’t be a bit more?

A month went by and not much happened. Markus was busy training his company, Rainbow was on weather duty and I did what I usually did when I was bored and reorganized the library together with Spike. After all, the best method to pass time is to have some fun, isn’t it? However, the fun was interrupted, as Spike suddenly started to heave and cough, the telltale signs of an incoming letter.

The letter was from princess Celestia, however this time, it wasn’t a call for Markus or a request to help with some imminent danger, no, this time it was an invitation. She had invited me to have tea with her and the other princesses. After all, I was a princess myself now and things like these were part of the bundle.

I would be lying to say that I wasn’t excited. A tea-party together with Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence? Most definitely, yes! The only problem was that I was utterly over-excited.

“Do I need to wear a dress? No, probably not, but my crown should be… or should I wear one just in case? What about make-up? I’m sure, a bit of make-up… No, I think that would be too much…”

Thoughts like these ravaged my mind that day. Looking back, it actually feels a bit strange, after all I had been drinking tea with the princess quite a few times by then, but somehow, receiving such a formal invitation made it feel completely different.

In the end, I had almost managed to miss the train because I was, yet again, overthinking it all. Thus, all I wore on departure was my crown and I had also brought a bit of lipstick, just in case.

I arrived in Canterlot six hours later, a few guards already awaiting my arrival. I was greeted with a formal salute and was then escorted to the palace. There, I was then led to the Princess’s private quarters, where I was happily greeted by the princesses.

I sat down at the table with them and we started to talk about all kinds of things. We started off with how everypony was doing, going down to how things were around us, with a brief talk about politics to top it off. We then went on about social structures, from where we then came to the subject of love. That was, when I felt it the right time to make a revelation.

“Uh, princesses, speaking of love, there is something I might want to tell you…” I trailed off.

Cadence smiled wide as I said this. “Oh, little Twilight has found a special somepony? Come on, who is it?” She asked, before taking another sip of tea.

I shuffled slightly in my seat as I tried to align my words. “Its… uhm… Markus.” I then blurted out.

This revelation resulted in three different reactions from the princesses. Cadence almost choked on her sip of tea, starting to cough and sputter, trying to clear her throat. Luna smiled over to me.

“My congratulations, little Twilight. I must say, you have chosen a very fine stallio- uh, man for yourself.”

Celestia, meanwhile, seemed largely unimpressed, although I think I had noticed the slightest bit of a frown on her.

“I’m sorry Twilight, but I can’t give you my blessing for this.” Cadence finally said, as she had regained herself.

I looked over to her, feeling slightly hurt from what she had said. “But why, Cadence? Aren’t you the princess of love?”

“Yes, I am the princess of love. That is why I have to ask you to leave him.” Cadence firmly stated. “I mean, he beat up my husband, your own brother! How can you even fall in love with somepony like this?!”

“It’s, uh, you know… after a while, I have noticed that whenever he does something, he always only wants to protect everypony else and he is really good at doing this. Actually, he is one of the few pon- persons, I know, I feel truly safe around.” I said.

Cadence’s eye started to twitch slightly as she heard this, turning her disbelief into slight anger. “’Feel safe around’? ‘Protect everypony else’? Tell me, who did he want to protect when he beat up Shining Armor TWICE? Aunt Celestia, please say something already!”

Princess Celestia had remained silent during the argument, the light clinging of her teaspoon being the only sound audible from her. She took a sip of tea, frowning down slightly, as she set her cup down again.

“I cannot say that I agree with that arrangement either, but Twilight is a grown mare, a princess no less. Thus, she has the right of deciding for herself, whom she wishes to spent the rest of his life together. However, before you make any premature decisions, let me tell you, what your dear Markus is doing, while he says he is training Troops.”

Luna gave Celestia an aghast look, as if she already knew, what was about to be said.

“According to General Pillbox, he does nothing of that sort, instead letting his troops slack off, while he and his officers stand off to the side and have some friendly chats.”

“Sister!” Luna protested. “Haven’t we already talked about the reliability of this information? You know just as much as I do that General Pillbox and Markus don’t really get along!”

“Yes, and you know the reason why I had put him under General Pillbox in the first place!”

“Oh, you mean your reasoning that somepony who likes Markus might leave out the important bits of information as you let them spy on him?”

I jerked up slightly, hoping I had misheard. “Wait, you sent somepony to spy on Markus? Don’t you trust him at all? Even after he had saved Luna?”

Celestia winced slightly, before looking over to me with an apologetic expression. “Look, Twilight, I know I should be thankful to him for saving my sister, but there are so many other things for me to consider. After all, I have seen him display strong aggression against our Captain of the Guard and I have yet to find out, how he even got here in the first place. There is a difference between thankfulness and blind trust and I can’t risk having my little ponies hurt by blindly trusting somepony like him. I am very sorry, Twilight.”

The rest of the tea-party… didn’t really hold any similarities to a party anymore at all. And so, after a few more minutes, I decided to just leave, without farewells and without even looking back at them. I felt hurt, deeply. I felt betrayed by them, even though I could see where they were coming from. Even though I knew that it was Markus’s plan all along, to have them distrust him, but in the end, this didn’t ease the pain. No, not in the slightest…

---

The day had finally come, the day on which Markus’s company would finally enter service. Normally, that wouldn’t be such a grand occasion at all, but the fact that it was Markus, an extradimensional entity, who had trained them, warranted the attention of both the princesses. Naturally, I and my friends were also in attendance, as well as Shining Armor, Princess Cadence and several high-ranking officers and generals, one of them likely being Markus’s direct superior.

It had been a rather peculiar event, even before it had begun. Since nopony apart from Markus, his company and us knew about the exact location of the training ground, everypony instead gathered at the ponyville town-hall, visibly confused at first, seeing as you can’t see anything that remotely reminds one even just of an archery range anywhere in Ponyville. Therefore, Markus had set-up a rally point, which was really just a large sign, which read ‘Royal Guard’ next to the town hall. There, he was standing in wait for everypony to arrive. Interestingly, he had chosen not to wear his special garments, but his regular uniform, which earned him some strange looks by the generals. Although… it also could have been because they had never seen a creature like him before, one of the two definitely was the reason.

Anyways: Shining Armor and Cadence were the last to arrive and after a short check-up to see if everypony was there, we set off towards the Everfree. Some of the Generals seemed slightly unsettled, making me wonder, who of us actually was in the military. After all, while we were slightly afraid as well, we took it much more calmly than any of the military officials.

The walk was long and nopony said anything, as, apparently, everypony was too focused on watching our surroundings. However, the silence was broken, when halfway there, Luna asked a question.

“Say, why hast thou decided to train thy troops amidst the Everfree? Certainly, one of the normal camps would have sufficed, not to mention being easier to reach.”

Markus looked back over his shoulder to look at Luna, before looking forward again and answering her question.

“For a variety of reasons, actually. Firstly, I didn’t want to endanger civilians or fellow guards, when training my troops in combat.”

“Endanger fellow guards?” interrupted one of the officers, “Do you have so little faith in your guards that you suspect them of stabbing each other?”

Markus didn’t say anything at first, instead looking back at the officer and then at Applejack, who promptly found interest in looking into the forest.

“You will see.” He then said, as he turned back to where he was going. “Anyways, the second reason is that, out here, I can properly train them in a very crucial art in the field: survival. Nourishing themselves from what nature has to offer and navigating without having someone, whom to ask for directions. The third reason would be that I didn’t want anyone to know about this, until I was done training them.”

“Well, of course he wouldn’t want anypony to know that he was just slacking off all this time…” I heard one of the Generals mutter behind me. Markus seemed to hear it, too, but ignored it.

We all fell into silence again, until, just before we arrived, Rainbow Dash suddenly began to shift and look around nervously.

“What’s the matter, Rainbow?” I asked her.

She didn’t answer right away, instead hovering a bit higher, to take a better look around.

“I… don’t know, Twilight.” She said, as she came back down again. “I feel like we are being watched, but I can’t see anypony.”

I noticed Markus smile slightly at this, but at the time, I didn’t know yet, what that meant.

We finally reached the training ground, where the company already stood assembled and waiting for our arrival. We placed ourselves off to the side, while Markus placed himself in front of his company. The first thing everypony noticed, was that the guards weren’t wearing the standard guard’s armor anymore, but a multicolored uniform, similar to what Markus wore, as well as a fitting mask, which together covered most of their bodies. The second thing was that the few spots of coat that were still visible didn’t bear the standard guard white anymore, but a deep brown color. Apart from that, they also didn’t use the normal spears and swords of the guard, but the weapons Markus had made. What also struck me, as I took a closer look upon them, was that the feeling with them was different.

Normally, when you saw an Equestrian army, you would see a bright wall of white standing before you, making you either beam with hope or crumble in fear, depending on which side you were on. This company, however, didn’t have that benevolent aura. Even though I knew that they were on my side, I felt intimidated by them and I didn’t seem to be the only one. Even Celestia shifted uncomfortably in place, as she laid eyes upon them, the fact that their faces were covered only adding to it. Normally, you could read anypony’s mood by looking them into their face, but with them that wasn’t the case. It made them seem emotionless… inpony, of sorts. Also, while the normal guard also uses their outside appearance to intimidate by looking almost the same, Markus had managed to top that by far. Normally, even with Celestia’s spell, you can make out slight differences in the guard’s facial features, while with Markus’s company, that wasn’t the case. The only thing that one could tell was the gender, however that was only the case because even Markus couldn’t hide the different head shapes.

The guards stood all in a large formation with their corresponding officers standing in front of them. The only thing that distinguished the officers from the rest were little markings on their shoulders displaying their rank, as well as them wearing their traditional lieutenant’s hat on top of their masks.

I slowly looked over from the front to the back, taking in the sight. In front, there was the platoon of Lt. Bulkhead, whom I could immediately identify because he was the only one wearing his standard chestplate in addition to the uniform. Next up was Lt. Mystic Gem and her platoon, who only stood out by being the only female in the group and thus, by process of elimination, the last one was Lt. Overdrive. However, I noticed that he had nopony standing behind him. Some of the Generals seemed to notice this as well and started murmuring, however Markus ignored them for now and instead focused on the event itself.

“I congratulate you, Recruits.” He spoke, “Today, the day has finally come. You all have shown that you have guts. You all have shown that you carry the strength and willpower to truly serve. You all have shown, that you can adapt if need be and as your captain, I can truthfully tell you that you have made me proud. Thus, from today onward, you shall no longer be recruits. From today onward, you may call yourself ‘soldiers’!”

Everypony shouted ‘Ooh-Rah!’ in unison, stomping once with each syllable.

“However,” Markus continued, “That is not the only honor I may give today. There is also one pony, one officer, who has distinguished himself in my eyes.”

He walked over to Lt. Bulkhead and stood before him. “Bulkhead, you have shown that you are truly loyal to our cause. You have shown that you will follow orders, no matter what your own opinion would be and you have shown that you can stand up for yourself, if need be.”

Lt. Bulkhead puffed out his chest in pride…

“However:”

…only for it to deflate again, when Markus continued.

“Sadly, you lack adaptability. More often than not have you hindered your own progress by clinging to the old ways.” He lightly prodded against the chestplate with his boot. “And today doesn’t seem to be an exception.”

He turned away from Bulkhead and moved to the other side of the formation, standing directly in front of Lt. Overdrive.

“Overdrive, what immediately struck me when I saw you during the exercises was that you have an immense amount of physical potential. You easily carried through most of the physical tasks I gave you and listened closely, whenever I made corrections. However, you also tend to forget that your head is not only made to be used as a battering ram. More often than not, you would just go in before thinking for a second, causing you to, indeed, eliminate the most imminent problem, but at the cost of grasping the situation as a whole.”

He then went to the last pony left, Lt. Mystic Gem.

“Mystic Gem. I must say, at first I wasn’t impressed by you at all. Your physique is lacking, you had almost no knowledge of military structure and you seemed easily biased. However, as time went by, you have shown your true potential. You learned fast, easily making some high-ranking generals look like rookies. You maintained a level head when faced with difficult situations, you are intelligent, loyal, you care about your troops and you even dare to make sassy remarks towards your commanding officer. Now that I think about it, you remind me of my own sister.”

I noticed Luna wince, as he mentioned his sister, though I don’t know, why she did that.

“Therefore, with the authority bestowed upon me by her highness, Princess Celestia, I hereby promote you to the rank of 1^st Lieutenant and assign you the role of my second-in-command.”

Markus and Mystic Gem saluted before one another and everypony else, including me and the princesses, stomped in applause.

When the applause faded, Markus handed her some new markings and then turned around and started marching towards us. One of the Generals, presumably General Pillbox, did the same, meeting him half-way. They both stopped before one another and Markus saluted.

“Captain Markus Becker reporting: 6^th Guard Regiment, 4^th Company awaiting assignment, sir!”

“Very well. At ease, captain.” The General said. Markus dropped his salute and shifted into a slightly wider stance. “Henceforth, your designation will be ‘4^th forward reconnaissance company’ and you will be assigned to…”

I mentally begged to Faust that he may not be sent too far off, as the General spoke about his assignment.

“…Ponyville.”

All of a sudden, my worries vanished all by themselves. I looked over to my friends, who kindly smiled back at me. All except for Rainbow Dash, who looked just as stunned as I was. We shared a long look, before our faces slowly shifted into a wide smile. Everypony started to applaud and we both quickly joined in. After a few seconds, the applause faded and the General started to talk again.

“So, now that the formalities are over with, I am sure that the princesses would like to see a demonstration of your promised new doctrine.”

Both, Markus and the General looked over to Celestia, who nodded in response.

“As you wish, your highness.” Markus said. “In fact, one part of the new doctrine has already been demonstrated. I am certain that all of you have noticed by now that one of my platoons is missing. That is not an oversight, by all means. I may ask you, to turn around now and face the treeline.”

We did as he asked and waited curiously. However, the seconds ticked by and nothing happened.

“Well, ah don’t know, whatcha want t’show us over ‘here, but ah don’ see nothing’ but forest.” Applejack remarked after a while.

“Charlie Platoon!” Markus suddenly started to scream. “Taaaaaake… RANK!”

All of a sudden, the bushes before us started to rustle and then, we saw twenty ponies come out of various different hiding spots in the forest, all covered in different amounts of dirt, leaves and grass. They formed up into two ranks and marched towards the rest of their company, filing themselves into formation.

Meanwhile, all of us, even Celestia and Luna, stood speechless for a moment.

“Did you see them?” Cadence then whispered to Shining Armor, to which he could only shake his head.

“HA! I knew we were being watched!” Rainbow exclaimed, but nopony seemed to really care.

“That certainly was impressive.” Celestia remarked. “But what about those new armaments that your ‘soldiers’ seem to bear? Can you give us a demonstration of those?”

“Certainly, your highness.” Markus said, giving a bow. He then turned around to his unit. “Alpha Platoon, to the shooting range!”

Lt. Bulkhead obliged, commanding his unit to march to the set-up targets and we others followed suit. At the range, the Pegasi were first, lining themselves up and starting to hover, in order to free up their hooves to grab their weapons. Markus waited a few moments, before giving the command to ‘fire’. A series of loud cracks thundered through the forest and we saw glowing rocks fly out of the weapons, just like last time. The pegasi lowered their weapons and Lt. Bulkhead fetched the targets, showing them to us. Each one of them had three holes, which were neatly grouped around the centers, some of them even being bulls-eyes.

Next-up were the earth-ponies, which were split into two groups, one with smaller and one with larger weapons. First came the smaller ones. Just like the Pegasi, they lined up, then they unfolded their weapons and on Markus’s mark, they started a hailstorm of sparks flying down the range, the sound volume of which just barely not being painful. Just like the first time, the Lieutenant fetched the targets, which now seemed to consist more of air than of paper.

For the second group of earth-ponies, no simple targets were used. Instead, a row of thick logs was positioned on the other end of the range, which the soldiers now took aim to. Again, on Markus’s mark, they let loose a hailstorm of sparks. This time, though, the noise was unbearable and we had to cover our ears in order not to go deaf. When the tirade finally ended, we looked down the range, only to see that the logs had been reduced to mere splinters. The generals went slightly slack jawed at this and even Celestia couldn’t stop a short gasp of surprise to come out.

Lastly came the Unicorns and for their demonstration, Markus let the earth-ponies form up in front of them, placing apples on their heads. He then took a few helium balloons out of a crate off to the side and bound one to each unicorn.

The Unicorns ignited their horns and I heard a shocked gasp from Cadence, as the earth-ponies took aim at the unicorns. The hailstorm started again and we saw the sparks fly towards the unicorns, only to be stopped by a strong magic shield. When the firing stopped, the unicorns lowered their shields, and picked small ‘pistols’ out of their holsters, with which they then shot at the apples on the earthponies’s heads, each one of them hitting without hurting the pony underneath.

The demonstration was over, leaving all of us speechless. All of us, except Celestia.

“I must say, a very impressive display, but how do you manage to endure this noise?”

“Training, for me at least.” Markus answered. “For them, it’s actually a bit different. You see: when we first used these weapons, most of my soldiers couldn’t bear the noise either, but then Mystic Gem had the idea to enchant the masks with a filter-spell to filter out harmful noises.”

“Ah, very clever, indeed.” Celestia complimented. “But, talking about your weapons, as you have shown yourself, they can be deflected by magic shielding. Doesn’t this lower their combat value a good bit?”

Markus looked over to her and shook his head. “No, not really. You see: I had these ponies specifically trained to endure the power of these weapons. Normally, a unicorn would falter after just one or two hits. Also, we’ve done some testing on that matter and, like I just said, the 5,56, the smaller ones, are a challenge, but the 37’s, the big ones, are almost impossible to deflect. Also, while you can prepare yourself for an incoming arrow, because you can see it flying, you won’t be so lucky with these, because they move too fast.”

Celestia gave a long nod, before looking over to the assembled guard. After a few moments, she thanked Markus for the demonstration and started to head back to Ponyville. Markus assembled his company into parade formation and then we all followed suit.

On the way back, I felt more relieved than I had thought possible before. Markus would not be sent to the outskirts of the known world, but stay right here in Ponyville! It was exactly that kind of a romantic twist of fate that would even make me daydream a bit.

A Dream, out of which I was promptly ripped by Applejack, trying to get my attention.

“Hey, Twilight?” she said, as she nudged my shoulder multiple times. I responded with a slightly dazed hum and a confused glance in her direction.

“Ah’ve been thinkin’…” She started again. “Markus’s been station in Ponyville, right?”

I gave a slight nod in response, somehow having a very bad feeling about where this was going.

“Well, ah mean, it could be that ah missed somethin’, but… ah- ah didn’t know that Ponyville had Guard Barracks?”

Ch27: RE;alization

POV: Markus

Ok, so I’m finally done with training my company and have finally entered service. That should mean that the fun can finally begin, right? Wrong! General Pillbox has made a move again, this time under the cover of a simple assignment. At first, I was actually happy to be stationed around here, mainly because Twilight and Rainbow won’t have to feel lonely that way, but I didn’t know about the actual situation down here.

Right after the Ceremony, we went to Ponyville, where Pillbox led us to where we would be housed. The thing is – something that I should have known from the get-go – Ponyville is too small to warrant an actual base, so all it has is a guard station. These stations, however, were designed to hold a small complement of guards to garrison minor towns and such, not a full company. In Ponyville’s case, even that small complement of usually around twelve guards was cut down to just six guards and a commanding officer, meaning that what we found was a small sleeping room with six beds which looked halfway decent, as well as a further six which were completely and utterly shagged. Also there was only room for one officer in there, meaning that I would have to not only find sleeping space for 28 soldiers, assuming that we get these beds fixed up, but also for two of my officers.

Luckily, I remembered something: back when I was not yet occupied with my company, Rainbow Dash and I spent a day together, in which we raided a gang hideout in the outskirts of Ponyville. While certainly not an actual barrack, the warehouse they used would certainly be big enough to house our equipment and enough beds for everyone. Also, the warehouse is located, like I said, in the outskirts, which means that we – hopefully – won’t bother anyone when going out for drills and such.

As for the current situation: luckily, a good portion of my soldiers seems to live, or at least have relatives in Ponyville and they have agreed to take one or two of their comrades into their houses. As for the officers: Twilight has offered to take up me, as well as two further officers for the time being. Thus, Lt. Bulkhead has taken the sole officer’s room in the station, while I am now sitting here, listening to Lt. Overdrive get dumped by Lt. Mystic Gem, while Twilight is trying to sneak a peek over my shoulder at what I am writing, going full rose-blush as I write this line.

And just as I turn around to confront her she masterfully pretends to be searching for a book. Oh well… Anyways: By now I have the feeling that General Pillbox is not just bad with adaptations, but is trying to sabotage me. I don’t know why he is doing that, but the evidence THAT he is doing so has already been brought up. Still, tomorrow, we will go and take a look at the warehouse to see, what needs to be done and maybe even draw out some floor-plans already. I just hope that nothing more will– …probably shouldn’t jinx it, right?

---

Yep, I knew I shouldn’t have jinxed it… Damn that General Pillbox, but what can I do? He is my superior and I have to follow his orders, even if I don’t like it. But what has happened, I hear you ask, Mr. Blank Page? Well, just as I wrote yesterday, we went to take a look at the building in question to take some measurements and assess the situation. Fortunately, we found that the whole thing was already partially set-up for housing, so that we at least already had some bunks to work with. Still, there is a lot to be done and so we immediately went to work on it. Twilight was also there, but for what reason, I don’t know. Mostly she just watched us work, but she also used her magic to help a bit here and there.

Then, lunch break came around and we sat together to eat some. At first, it was just us, silently downing our meals, but then she asked a question.

“So, why don’t you just let them construct something completely new? I mean, you did set up your training grounds yourself, so why not do the same with the barracks?”

I looked at her with, admittedly, probably more of a ridiculing look than I had intended, but seeing the seriousness in her face, I gave her an answer.

“Because, obviously, those Ponies are soldiers, not construction workers. I mean, certainly, some of them do have a cutie mark that might relate to construction, but that doesn’t mean that their role has changed. Also, the training grounds were set-up as a temporary solution and were as such only made from what we could find in the forest. The barracks, however, need to live a bit longer than just three months and, as you might have guessed, I might be able to tinker with and replicate devices I know and build smaller structures, but neither am I an Architect, nor am I an Engineer.”

Now that I am writing this down, I might just take these construction-marked ponies and train them to be Pioneers. Though there would be little use of them, considering that I have trained everyone to build encampments, trenches etc. and there are no mines to be laid/cleared. Destroying bridges or other infrastructure would also not be a viable use for them, as most of the potential enemies I can think of can either fly or have magic at their disposal… I will do it anyways, even if just for the sake of having them…

Anyways, after our lunch break, we went back to work, where I obviously was also not idling, actively working everywhere, where hooves wouldn’t quite cut it. That is, until a certain General paid us a visit. At first, I was utterly baffled to have him scream at me yet again, but as his tirade slowly died down, more and more words formed actual coherent phrases until I could make out a single sentence.

“Officers in peacetime are not allowed to lower themselves to the work of their subordinates.”

At first, I found myself a bit confused at this, but I chose not to spark another argument and instead adhere to this (stupid) rule. Thus, I and my officers instead took up management roles, supervising the whole process, but apparently that still wasn’t enough. Apparently, my officers also count into this ‘subordinates’ – section, which means that I am not allowed to do the same as they are doing. To the question, what else I would be supposed to do then, he only answered that I ‘would have to think about that’ myself. I won’t lie, at first I planned to just continue work as soon as he left, but apparently he can read minds, as he turned around and directly ordered me to stand down. With that, he basically pulled the same stunt on me, which I did on him yesterday, as he is put into that position by none other than Celestia herself. This means that defying his orders would mean to defy Celestia herself and that would conflict with my oath of loyalty. Great…

Thus, I went back to the Library together with Twilight. However, not just to adhere to his orders, but to dig myself through military law to see, if he was actually right. Unfortunately, he was indeed right, however the search for that answer brought up something else, that would actually solve a problem: apparently, guards may use their own estates as housing, as long as these aren’t any further than 10 miles away from their assigned post. This makes the housing situation much easier to handle, as now the amount of beds needed is about halved, freeing up some much needed space for storing our equipment. Still, there is a lot of work still ahead and that will need some time to be done. Especially since I am not allowed to help…

---

So, I spent the last week or so here at the library together with Twilight. Originally I thought that I would be bored to death, but I was actually proven wrong. Being unable to do anything actually brought me into the same situation, where I had found myself in only three months ago: In the Library with Twilight, discussing different topics to learn from each other. Although, now with our relation changed a bit, it likely doesn’t come as a surprise that the topics have changed as well.

It actually came to be that we would sit in the library, sometimes together with Mystic and Rainbow and sometimes without them, and talk about our views on the world and whatever we have found ourselves interested in. Now, I don’t know if this is what actual couples normally talk about, but it is what we could find common interests in. Even Rainbow seemed interested in that, something that came pretty unexpected actually. She even has brought up some interesting thoughts in terms of the internal workings of Equestria, about the noble council and such. I had always thought that politics would be too slow-paced for someone as fast as Rainbow Dash, but apparently I have been wrong.

Of course, we didn’t always just talk about serious topics either. In fact, most of our conversations were just lighthearted chatter. Just like on Wednesday, when we came together in the evening to have some tea. Rainbow was reading the newest Daring-Do book, Twilight and Mystic were looking into some magic and Overdrive and I had a little man-talk. Then, suddenly, Rainbow grabbed our attention with a single line.

“Do you guys sometimes wonder how language came to be?”

Every one of us immediately stopped what (s)he was doing and stared at Rainbow Dash.

“What? Did I say something weird?”

“The question isn’t what’s weird, but whom it is coming from…” Twilight remarked.

“Hey! Even I wonder about these things sometimes!” Rainbow retorted.

“She does have a point though: How did language start?” Mystic chimed in.

“Well, I could imagine that somepony just started pointing at things, giving them names, like: Apple, Table… Cute Mare.” Overdrive said, as he pointed first at an apple, then at the coffee table and then at Mystic, who promptly rolled her eyes with an annoyed look.

“Real smooth, Romeo.” I then said. “If you continue up this road, you’ll probably lose your potency by hearth’s warming.”

Overdrive raised an eyebrow at me and gave a questioning look. “Don’t you mean ‘virginity’?”

I looked over to Mystic and then back at Overdrive, who was still giving me that look. “No, judging by the look on her face, it will be your potency.” This earned me a slight giggle from Rainbow and Twilight. “Though, going back to the languages, I would say that it came to be like Overdrive had just said, only that everyone always seems to try and seem more intelligent than the others, so that we went from ‘ball’ to ‘ball round’ to ‘THE ball IS round’ to ‘This even spheroid has a spherical shape’.”

“And in order to do that, they came up with all kinds of terms, gave it all some basic rules, now known as grammar and so, language was born.” Mystic finished.

“Exactly.” I agreed. “Although, in that process there have been some questionable decisions. Like, whoever had the idea to divide ‘laughter’ and ‘slaughter’ by only a single letter must have been an utter maniac.”

---

Those chats were what I mostly spent my time with during that one week, although that doesn’t mean that I didn’t do anything useful. In fact, I used my kinda forced vacation there on solving a little problem with the new doctrine. Well, two problems, actually. Firstly: The recoil, especially on the 37mm MKs is not to be underestimated and even though I have trained them to compensate for said recoil doesn’t mean that their hooves have suddenly become tracks, meaning that with each shot they are slowly pushed backwards. Also, most of the armies in this world are made up mostly out of melee fighters and while my company is designed to be highly mobile, melee combat isn’t always avoidable.

These two problems combined brought me to design a new piece of equipment. Although… ‘design’ might be a little too fancy a word. What I really did was: I took my knife, made it so that the blade could be folded back and gave it straps, so that it could be strapped to a pony’s legs and unfolded whenever needed. The earthponies could then slam them into the ground to get more grip while simultaneously it would also be at least something to defend themselves in melee.

I went through the design process, I ordered the needed material, worked my magic again and gave them to the ponies and, from what I’ve seen so far, they seem to quite enjoy my gift. Some of them have even found another use for them while working on the barracks: apparently, these blades make for excellent screwdrivers, which normally can only be used by unicorns. Although I have been wondering: why are there screwdrivers in the first place? I mean, couldn’t they just drive the screws with their magic? Oh well… It’s likely better to not question them too much. After all, it is me who doesn’t understand all-too much about magic.

Anyways, by the progress made until now, I am expecting the barracks to be done within the next two days, which hopefully will finally enable us to properly do our jobs. It might sound strange, but I am looking forward to patrolling around Ponyville, even though it might be not much of a difference to what I am doing anyways.

It could be that General Pillbox will chew me out because of that stupid law again, but I have thought about a fitting answer to that: ‘I am not patrolling, I am overviewing my subordinates’ work.’

Ch28: Surprises

POV: Mystic Gem

After our little show there at the ceremony, I actually expected to be transferred to some hot zone like the badlands or the changeling border, so Ponyville wasn’t exactly on my list. That isn’t to say that I was opposed to the idea. Ponyville certainly is a nice village and since we had made some contact with the locals already, it would likely not feel all-too awkward, given that we didn’t wear the standard guard’s armor. However, there was a tiny problem.

Apparently, Ponyville wasn’t fitted to hold a whole company of guards, so what we found instead was a barely maintained guard station, originally designed to hold twelve guards, but by now only maintained to house six. One might say that this was all schemed by General Pillbox because he obviously didn’t like the new doctrine, but I was and still am in no place to make such assumptions. Doesn’t mean I hadn’t thought that way, though…

Anyways, after seeing the situation at hoof, the captain promptly had to make some adaptations. Firstly, everypony who had housing or at least relatives in Ponyville and could take up one or two comrades would do just that, while we officers would be taken up in the local library by Princess Twilight. Two of us at least. Lt. Bulkhead politely declined the offer, instead choosing to stay at the station so that at least some guards are on alert.

With these first few solutions in place, he went to seek out a more permanent place to serve as barracks, which he soon found. Apparently, there was an old warehouse that was once used as a Gang Hideout, but was cleared and stood empty now. We regarded the building and found that it was certainly not an actual barrack, but it was more than the general apparently was willing to give us by himself, so we went to work.

At first, we made a plan on the layout of the building, taking measurements and of course making sure that the walls wouldn’t crash in on us at any moment. Next up, we removed whatever ‘furniture’ the former occupants had left behind and properly cleaned the place. I even found a few lost teeth in there, probably a curtesy of when the place was cleared.

It all seemed to go just as planned at first. The plans were made, the parts were ordered and the measurements were taken, but then the General showed up again. He ordered the Captain to adhere to some law, which apparently says that he cannot do the same things as we do, which basically left nothing for him. Thus, he had no other choice but to find some other occupations, which he found indeed. Only a few days after the order came, he came back with some new equipment. It was a box of knives, which were fitted to a small mechanism, which let them fold and unfold whenever we needed them. Originally, he said that they were to be used as melee weapons, as well as some sort an anchor for the earth ponies, but our soldiers quickly found other uses for them, as apparently they also worked as screwdrivers.

Also, he found that, while the law the general had mentioned indeed existed, there also was another law that allowed us to be housed at our own homes, as long as these aren’t further than 10 miles away from our post, which would be the guard station. Still, even when subtracting those that fell under said law, as well as the beds available in the station, there wasn’t enough room for all of us and so, the captain came to the site again to see if he could make some more room.

The whole place was completely set up by then, only lacking four additional bunks, which we couldn’t fit anymore. The captain walked through the warehouse barracks, trying to find a way to make room.

He stopped before the officer’s corner, how I liked to call it, where we had set up three beds for us lieutenants, as well as one larger bed for the captain, to accommodate his size.

He looked around, putting his hand up to his chin in thought and mumbling to himself. “So, my bed is the biggest here… if I were to ask Twilight if I could… then we could also do away with the locker, but that way we would only have room for two and a half beds…”

He looked around, searching for ways to optimize, until his gaze fell on the corner yet again.

“So here is what we’ll do:” He finally said, “First off, my bed and locker will be thrown out and I’m going to ask the princess to take me in. Also, one of your beds and lockers can be removed, because there is one in the station. That way, we should be barely able to fit four additional bunks.”

We did as he said and after an additional rearrangement of the lockers, we actually made everything fit.

With that, we were finally ready for service and the captain immediately made up a patrol plan, putting some drills in-between to make sure we don’t grow rusty. Now, one would think that everything was well, but that wasn’t the case, as apparently, our equipment was degrading faster than was explainable, even when considering that they weren’t made by a professional manufacturer. Sometimes, the wood parts would just break overnight and barrels and sights would mysteriously misalign themselves, greatly reducing the accuracy on our guns.

Of course, everypony accused General Pillbox at first, thinking that he may be sending somepony to mess with our equipment or even do it himself, but I didn’t believe that was quite true. Admittedly, I didn’t really like the General either, but I also saw that it was impossible for him to just mess with our equipment if he wasn’t even here. And even if it had been possible, there were still easier methods of sabotage than messing around with our weapons, especially if he didn’t know how they worked.

Then, a few days after these mysteries started happening, I was staying out late, talking with the captain for a bit, before heading back to the barracks. When I entered them, though, I heard something at the lockers. Something that sounded like somepony was working away at them. What was wondering me was that nopony seemed to wake from their sleep, even though the sounds were quite loud. I decided to sneak up and catch the culprit in action.

“Overdrive?” I asked astonished, as I saw, who was making the noise.

Overdrive spun around and looked and me in shock. A screwdriver was floating beside him and a few of our guns were lying before him on the floor. He looked around, before pulling the classic: “This isn’t what it looks like.”

“So, what else should it be?” I asked, barely suppressing my anger. “What else could you be doing than sabotaging us? I can’t believe you would do this, Overdrive!”

He looked around in a panic, slowly backing off until his flank hit the lockers and he slid down on his rump. His gaze dropped and he gave a final sigh, before confessing:

“Okay, yeah, it was me, but I can explain, I swear!”

“Oh yeah?” I said, more shouting than asking. “Well, I can’t wait to hear the explanation to this one.”

He whimpered slightly, something that I had never seen him do, and started to explain. “Well, you know, a – a few of our comrades… well, you have seen my shooting score, right? Yeah, well, they have laughed at me for this and I-I couldn’t – didn’t – I-I didn’t have the courage to tell them to stop, so I wanted to make their aiming worse, so they would be laughed about. Th-then I noticed, how much I actually bucked up on this one and wanted to repair things again, but I always seemed to hit the wrong guns and made it even worse…”

I stood there dumbfounded. This story was utterly unbelievable, yet he didn’t seem like he was lying to me. “This isn’t like you, Overdrive. What has happened to you?” I said, now slightly worried.

He perked up slightly and then looked around, as if to check if the others were still all asleep.

“W-Well, I suppose I can tell you… You know… I am not really this tough like I always seem to be. Actually I am not tough at all, but I always wanted to be and I thought that joining the guards would help me grow. But in the end, I just betrayed myself by going the easy way through the officer’s corps…” He trailed off.

I looked him over from top to bottom, regarding his pretty athletic body. “Honestly, I can’t see why you wouldn’t be more confident in yourself. I mean, you are very good looking, actually.” I said without thinking.

“R-Really, you think so?” He immediately beamed.

“Ye- I-I mean, you are pretty muscular and such, so you don’t have to be that shy about yourself. Honestly, I never would have believed that you really were like this all the time.”

He looked to the ground again, slightly scratching it with his hoof. “Do you promise not to tell anypony?” He then asked shyly.

I tried to convince myself that I should tell the captain, but this whole situation seemed so complicated and I actually pitied him a bit there, so in the end, I decided against it.

“Ok, I won’t tell anypony, but you have to promise to not do something like this again. And grow a bit more confident, while you’re at it.”

“O-Ok, I promise, I will grow more confident…” He vowed. “In fact, I-I think, I kn-know, where to start.”

“Really? Where?” Just as I finished that question, he lunged forwards towards me. He pressed his lips against mine in what was likely the weirdest kiss I would ever have. Yet, somehow it felt good… like I said, in a very weird way. In that exact moment, I just stood there, unmoving with my eyes wide open in surprise. Even when he finally retreated, I still didn’t move.

“H-Ha! I-I did it! Well, now, uhm.. thanks, Mystic, I-I think, I’m going t-to sleep now.. uh, see you tomorrow, I guess?”

He slipped past me and towards our corner, while I was still standing there, trying to process the whole situation. Honestly, in that moment, I actually found him to be quite cute and for a moment, I was actually entertaining the thought of accepting him. A thought that was quickly disregarded the next morning, as I woke up and found him to be the old Overdrive again.

Like I had promised, I had never told anypony. Not even the captain. Although I probably really should have…

Ch29: Romantic Assistance

POV: Spike

It didn’t really come as a surprise, when they broke it to me. I mean, Markus and Twilight becoming special someponies? Totally saw that one coming! I mean look at the way they behaved back when they weren’t a couple just yet and Markus was just staying here! Every day at lunch, either Twilight or Markus would cook for us three and then we would all eat together. After lunch, Markus would then take the ‘Equestria Daily’ and look through it, while answering Twilight’s questions at the same time. Honestly, they looked like they were married already and I just missed it for some reason.

The thing that I hadn’t expected was that he would take both, Twilight and Rainbow, but I guess it doesn’t really come as a surprise either, considering Rainbow’s reaction when she was told that Markus wasn’t visiting that weekend…

Of course I was happy for Twilight! She looked really happy and it didn’t bother her at all that she had to share with Rainbow Dash. Markus managed to equally divide his time and effort between these two and everything worked out… for a while at least.

They had managed to become special someponies, yes, but somehow they didn’t progress any further. It felt like their relation was – what’s it called? – stagnating, I think. Like, they had reached a certain point, but they didn’t manage to go beyond that. Like they were forced into this state and didn’t know how to progress further.

Actually, it seemed like exactly that was the case. Like they didn’t know how to progress from there or even like they were actively acting against it. It all went to the point that Twilight actually started to suffer from it. Slightly at first, being way more agitated than normal, then it became a bit worse, as she lost her concentration during sorting multiple times, something that normally DIDN’T happen at all!

Then, one evening, the bubble finally popped. Markus and I were sitting in the Library that evening, looking into some magic tomes and reading comics respectively. The Library was completely silent, the only noise being the occasional rustle of a page being flipped. That is, until Twilight came back from visiting Applejack.

Her mane looked a little disheveled, but all in all, she looked pretty normal, I guess. She then went over to Markus, who immediately set the book down and stood up.

“Hey, Twilight.” He said, smiling over to her.

“Hey, Markus.” She answered, smiling back.

Twilight went over to him and got up to her hind legs, looking him in the eyes. Markus made a step forward towards her, leaning in and giving her… a hug…

After a while, they broke the embrace and Twilight set down on all fours again, her smile now tainted with an undertone of disappointment. She turned towards the stairs and as soon as she thought that Markus couldn’t see it anymore, her smile dropped into a slight frown.

“I-I’m going upstairs to read now…” She said, as she slowly moved towards and up the stairs.

I had seen displays vaguely like this before with these two, but never before had Twilight seemed so let down like this, likely having told herself that he just needed some time. Now that ‘some time’ had passed and he still wasn’t living up to her expectations, she began to grow doubtful. I couldn’t really blame her either. I mean, they had been together for almost three months by then and they still hadn’t done it!

“Duuuuuude!” I said to Markus as I heard the door upstairs click shut, “Why do you still hold back so much?”

Markus turned around to me and looked a bit confused. “What do you mean, ‘hold back’?”

My look went from slightly angry to questioning, “Are you serious? Haven’t you noticed that Twilight doesn’t really seem like herself lately?”

Markus put a hand to his chin and thought for a moment. “I thought that there might have been something between her and the others and I decided to keep out of it unless she asks me to intervene.”

I stood there, my left eye open, my right half closed and my jaw slacking, in a gesture of complete disbelief. “DUUUUUUDE, you’ve been special someponies for almost three months now and you haven’t kissed her ONCE!”

His eyes went wide for a moment, before he slowly began to nod to himself. “Y-Yeah, I suppose that is true, but… I’ve felt like it would still be too early for that…”

“What do you mean ‘too early’? Like I said, it has been three months!”

“Actually,” He said, holding an authoritative finger towards me, “It has technically been only one month, because I wasn’t here during the other two.”

“Still, one month is more than enough time to bring in a kiss or two! Heck, even I have kissed Rarity a few times and we aren’t even special someponies… yet.”

“Yeah, a few pecks on the cheek, great job Romeo.” He quipped.

“That’s more than you’ve done until now.” I countered.

“…fair enough.” He had to admit.

“So you really should finally kiss her!”

He started gnawing on his thumb and started pacing back and forth. “You know, that isn’t really that easy, I mean, she is a pony and I am a human…”

“Then why did you become special someponies in the first place?!”

He looked over to me in dismay “Why?! Because I love her, of course!”

“If you love her then you should really finally kiss her!” I demanded.

“Yeah, I know, but I… I…” Markus stammered, growing more uncertain by the second. “I’M SCARED, Okay?! There, now you know it! But I mean, really, what if I make a mistake? What if I bite her tongue or her lip? What if I taste bad or something? I don’t KNOW!”

I sat there a bit confused. Markus and scared were two things I definitely would never have connected to one another. “Okay, well, that’s unexpected, you being scared of something…”

“And that is exactly the Problem! I gave her the illusion that I am completely flawless, but I am not! I don’t even know how to kiss properly!” He whined.

“Aw, come on, that isn’t true! While you were gone, Twilight had constantly talked about how she even loves your flaws!” I lied.

“Oh yeah? Like what flaw?”

“… Ok, admittedly, that lie wasn’t really thought to the end, but still! If you want to give her a completely flawless image of yourself, wouldn’t that mean that you should kiss her because if not it could be seen as a flaw?”

“Well, yes, but I… I…” He stammered. I looked at him demandingly, hoping to give him a clear sign to what he should really do.

Just as he wanted to speak again, I heard the door upstairs open and Twilight coming down the stairs. She stopped for a moment, as she reached the floor, looking over to Markus. Markus stood up and went over to her, she reared up… and he did it again. Except this time, Twilight didn’t smile. She stood still before him and looked downward, before a single tear made its way down her muzzle and onto the floor.

“Twilight, what’s wrong?!” Markus immediately asked, kneeling down before her to bring himself to her eyelevel.

“’What’s wrong’?! We just talked about it you dumb piece of @§%&!” I thought to myself.

“Do you love me?” Twilight suddenly asked in a somewhat agitated and demanding voice.

Markus looked a bit startled at first, but answered after a while. “Of course I love you, Twilight.”

Twilight’s head shot up, her eyes flooding and her cheeks damp. “THEN WHY DON’T YOU SHOW IT TO ME?!” She cried, her voice filled with pain.

“Twilight, I… I don’t understand. I am showing you that I lov-“

“NO! At first I thought you just needed time, so I gave you time, but… but…” She began to sob bitterly, dampening her coat even more.

“Twilight, please, calm down…” He wanted to pull her in to embrace her, but Twilight swiped his hand away with a hoof.

“Maybe this was a mistake after all…” She said. “Maybe, we should just – hmpf!”

I saw that at this point this whole thing would only spiral further downward and that they were unable to stop it themselves and so I did what a number one assistant should do and gave Twilight a gentle shove in the right direction, namely towards Markus.

Their lips connected and they both went rigid, eyes wide in shock, although Twilight quickly relaxed, closing her eyes and pressing deeper into the kiss. Markus, meanwhile, didn’t manage as quickly, his eyes darting back and forth between me and Twilight, trying to process the situation. Then, after a while of this, I simply gave him a ‘thumbs up’ as soon as his eyes landed on me again. Seeing this, he rolled his eyes at me and smiled a bit, immediately relaxing himself. He returned the gesture, before closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around Twilight, pulling her closer. Twilight did the same, putting her front hooves around Markus’s neck and together, they shared probably the most passionate kiss I had ever seen. Well, not that I had seen all that many kisses by then anyways…

I stood behind Twilight, mentally patting my shoulder for a job well done. Then, I quietly went into the kitchen, grabbed myself some well-earned ice cream and went upstairs to read comics, leaving those two lovebirds alone for themselves.

After that evening, Twilight’s mood seemed to improve greatly and Markus finally managed to give Twilight the occasional kiss instead of just hugs. Luckily, they didn’t slurp each other whenever they had the chance. They stayed decent, greeting and saying goodbye to each other with a kiss and occasionally kissing in-between. Why do I know this? Because they always seemed to do it in front of me, maybe even ESPECIALLY when I was there and it was embarrassing as Tartarus!

Author's Notes:

When I finished this chapter, I noticed that it is pretty short. thus, I have decided to start with the next one right away and publish both at the same time. I hope you enjoy both of them

Ch30: RE;dedication

POV: Markus

I never would have thought that my first ever relationship would almost break because I am way too shy about things like these. Luckily, Spike had seen our predicament and helped us resolve my little problem there. Does that mean I am finally free of my stupid angst? Hahahahaha, no. I still am unable to initiate a kiss and thus, logically, have yet to kiss Rainbow Dash. To prevent that she feels left-out, I have made an agreement with Twilight to only kiss when no one else is there, at least until I have resolved the Rainbow-problem. True to our agreement, she holds herself back whenever we are not in private, releasing the pent-up urges whenever we are at home. Poor little Spike currently has a really hard time to find a good spot for reading his comics without me and Twilight getting intimate right next to him… But I suppose it’s the price that has to be paid if I want to keep things ‘smooth’. I just hope that I can bring myself around quickly, because Twilight is already standing behind me again and demanding more…

---

Going back to the camp after the training had ended really felt strange, but it was for a purpose. Today was the day that my first and probably also my last student would finally graduate. It was a difficult path we had taken, sure, but it had paid off. Seeing Shining Armor go from an absolute amateur, first to ‘passable’ and now to a level that even I have to recognize as ‘expertly’ truly made me proud. And who knows… it is said that a student will surpass his master eventually, so one day, he might just be able to outsmart me. Even if not, his current level of skill definitely makes up for the time I have spent to make this possible.

Twilight came with me, as I went off to give Shining Armor his last trial in the Everfree Forest. The whole way there, she seemed overly happy about it all, jumping along like Pinkie Pie rather than walking normally. I suppose it’s only natural, seeing how close she and her brother are.

When we reached the clearing, Twilight immediately sped off towards her brother.

“Shining!” she screamed, before tackling him into a strong, sisterly hug.

“Whoa, hey Twily.” He greeted back, returning the gesture. “Hey, Markus, glad you’ve made it!” He then said, smiling, although I could hear his heart pumping all the way over to where I stood.

“Good day, Shining Armor. I hope you are well-rested and well prepared. Today will be the last trial before I will gladly acknowledge you as a proper general.” I said, stepping further into the clearing.

“Y-Yeah, as ready as can be!” Shining Armor lied, trying to mask his uncertainty. “B-but before I forget it again: congratulations you two! Honestly, Cadance was absolutely surprised when she got the news, but I actually saw it coming.”

“What news?” I asked in confusion.

“You two becoming special someponies of course! Cadence told me right after she came back from the tea party, where she had been told by Twilight.”

I looked over to Twilight, where she was sheepishly smiling back at me. “Well, good thing we talked about that one… Are there any others that know yet?” I asked with slight disappointment. I wasn’t really mad at her or anything, I just wished that I had learned this from her herself and not from Shining Armor.

“Euh, no… as long as Rainbow hasn’t told anypony, it should just be the princesses and Shining Armor…” She answered.

“Why don’t you want anypony to know, though?” Shining Armor asked.

“Euh, well, there’s two reasons for that. The first one being that every known relation can be exploited and used against you by your enemies.” I answered firmly.

“And the second reason?” Shining Armor pressed.

I looked away, not knowing what to say. My lips were suddenly locked tight and I didn’t manage a single sound.

“Yeah, well, Markus seems to be a little anxious around romance…” Twilight answered for me.

Shining Armor looked back and forth between Twilight and me, before stifling a laugh behind his hoof. “Markus being anxious about something? Well, that’s certainly something I didn’t expect!”

“Well yeah, I am anxious around romance, okay? You on the other hand seem to be anxious around trials. Speaking of which, shall we begin?”

Shining Armor suddenly froze, before slowly closing his mouth and gulping. Slowly, he nodded, signaling me that he was ready.

“Okay, so: Shining Armor, first off, you can be proud of yourself, for you are the first one to have ever made it this far.” I said, giving him a bit more confidence. Of course, I left out the fact that he was my first student over all. “This will be your final trial. If you pass, then I will gladly consider you as an equal. However, should you fail then there will be no second chances.”

Shining Armor gulped hard as I said this. Of course this was a lie, but I wanted to make him give his outmost for this last one, so I had to make him believe that he had only a single chance.

“As you know, an officer’s main function is to lead his troops, ensuring that as many of them as possible make it back home. However, even an officer sometimes can’t prevent having to fight himself.” I continued, holding a wooden sword out towards him, while I held another in the other hand. “That is why your final trial will be a duel… against me.”

He eyed the sword warily, tentatively stepping closer and lifting it up in his magic. “I-I accept the ch-challenge.” He stammered.

We both took positions a few steps away from each other. Twilight acted as a referee, placing herself off to the side. Then, it began. We both stepped in circles around each other, maintaining a distance that was just out of reach for our opponent. None of us wanted to be the one to attack first, as the one to make the first step usually is at a disadvantage.

Then, after a few minutes of circling, Shining Armor was the one to move first. He made a quick stab forward, which I parried, immediately going into a slicing attack towards his head. However, he managed to pull his sword up, sending me off course and causing me to stumble sideways a bit. He immediately utilized this by coming around with a cut towards my back, which I barely blocked by quickly turning around. Using my momentum, I brought my elbow up to his muzzle, sending him stumbling back a few steps. He recovered quickly, now rearing up on his hind legs and pulling his sword backwards. However, instead of coming down with a swing, he used his front hooves like fists, punching me twice into the chest. Admittedly, I didn’t see that coming, taking the full brunt of his punches and stumbling to the ground. He didn’t waste any time, bringing his sword down towards me in a stab, which I barely blocked by holding my sword in front of my chest. Now, he stood over me, trying to press his sword down onto me, while I held against it. Then, I brought my left leg up and around his neck, while simultaneously kicking my right heel into his right knee, sending him tumbling over to his side, which I assisted by pressing my right leg onto the ground. Now, our roles were reversed, me being on top while he was tightly locked under my leg. I wasted no time, immediately re-aligning my sword and bringing it down towards his throat.

“CEEEEAAASE FIGHTING! Markus has won!” Twilight screamed. I loosened my grip around his throat and helped him up. We both were panting slightly, having mobilized every bit of energy for this short fight.

Shining Armor looked over to Twilight in what looked like and apologetic look. “Sorry Twi, I lost…” He said, before looking back over to me. “I… I’ll be going then…” He said, starting to slowly walk away, his head hanging low.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.” I stated, immediately bringing his attention back to me. “You have lost, yes, but I never said that you need to win in order to pass.”

For a moment, he just stood there and one could see the exact moment when it clicked, as, slowly, a smile started to rise on his mouth. “Shining Armor, I hereby proudly announce that you have—“

“YEEEEEEEESS!” He interrupted me with a cheer, hugging Twilight tight and swinging her around in circles. Honestly, this whole situation reminded me of one of the most famous, unfinished quotes in Germany’s history:

“[…] wir sind zu Ihnen gekommen, um Ihnen mitzuteilen, dass heute Ihre Ausreise—“* [Interrupted by a thousand cheers around the yard] (translation: we have come to you, to tell you that, today, your departure—“)

When Shining’s euphoric outbreak finally had subsided, we bade our farewells to each other and parted ways. Although… that would imply that both us started moving… actually, Shining Armor went home, while we waited at the clearing for a while.

“Thanks, Markus. You’ve made Shining Armour really happy today.” Twilight suddenly said. She then looked up to me with half-lidded eyes. “Do you know what would make me happy?”

Not waiting for an answer, she swung herself up, standing on her hind legs and putting her forelegs around my neck. She then pulled me in for a long, passionate kiss. By now, I have gotten used to the feeling of it. My angst has slowly started to subside and who knows? Maybe I will soon be the one to initiate?

---

I FEEL SPLENDID! I feel like a new man! How this came to be, I hear you ask, Mr. Journal? Well, let me tell you:

It was a normal day at first. After the daily routines were through, I had come home and continued waltzing my way through all those magic tomes Twilight had at her disposal. I must say, a few things I have read in there are truly interesting, but that’s beside the point.

As the sun began to set, we heard a knocking at the door. It was Rainbow Dash, whom I promptly greeted with a hug of mine. Yes, I know, scold me later, it’s getting better, I swear!

Anyways: apparently, the Weatherteam wanted to properly start winter soon and she wanted to make good use of the last few warm days for flight training and had asked me to watch her. Of course I agreed and together, we made our way out into the pink tree plains, where she started flying her manoeuvres. I, meanwhile, found myself completely entranced by her. The way her mane reflected the red of the sunset, how the shadows danced on her light blue coat and how the orange-red accented her… curves.

Before long, I found myself day-dreaming about her. About how her mane feels when it brushes through my fingers. The slight tickling in my nose when I hug her tight and the soft accents of her fur, when I—

“WATCH OUT!” Her cry ripped me out of my dream and as my eyes adjusted to reality, I saw a cyan form slowly grow larger in my vision. It was Rainbow, who was currently heading towards me, trying to brake, but obviously failing at it. My eyes almost popped out, as I realized, where her landing spot would be. In a split-second reaction I brought my arms up before my head, bracing for impact and then… WHAM!

She hit me square on, dragging me along the floor, before I finally came to a stop with her lying on top of me.

“Ow.” I stated matter-of-factly. I lifted my arm from my eyes and looked into the sky above me, before looking down on the cyan cannonball that was rested on my chest.

Rainbow slowly slid out of her stupor herself, scrambling to her hooves and lifting her head up. “Ugh, sorry, Markus. I don’t know what happened th—“ She suddenly stopped, as she laid eyes upon my face. “Wow…” She hushed, slowly inching closer. “Dude, your scar looks… awesome…”

Honestly, I had almost forgotten about the scar that now adorns my face, but hey, it doesn’t really disturb me or anything, so there isn’t really a reason to remember it.

Rainbow slowly came closer, scanning my scar with her eyes and slowly tracing it from over my eye, to my nose down to my cheek. Suddenly, her eyes went wide and she began breathing heavily. I followed her gaze and a sense of Deja-vu hit me, as I saw just how close our lips actually were. She looked up to me and then, after a few seconds, started to move closer yet again. Her eyes slowly drifted close, while mine went wide when I realized what she was actually going to do. Yet again, my angst took full control of me, pressing my head into the ground, trying to squeeze just a few more millimetres out of it, while my brain went haywire. Should I flee? But that would mean throwing her off of me and I definitely didn’t want to hurt her.

My mind raced, trying to find a way out and in the end, I just… I just let go. Yes, that was it. I let go, freeing myself momentarily from my angst and accepting the situation. My eyes drifted close and soon, our lips met. Tentative at first, her soft fur brushing against my moustache, before our tongues interlocked.

The world around us began to fade and soon, it was just us two, sharing this moment together. Our tongues wrestled one another, both of us savouring the taste of the other and slowly moving our lips in synch to create a feeling of absolute bliss and unity between us.

I don’t know how long we stayed like this. All I know is that when we finally broke our kiss, the sun had long passed the horizon. Slowly, we untangled from each other’s embrace, unwilling to do so, yet knowing that we had to. We didn’t speak a word. We didn’t need to speak. Even now, as we were walking home together, it was just us. Rainbow was walking close to me, softly rubbing her side into mine, while I gave her gentle strokes over her head and mane, occasionally scratching behind her ears.

Soon, we reached her house and, after a last kiss as a farewell, she flew up, leaving me to walk back to the library. Twilight was already waiting, asking me where I had been all this time, but before she had time to lecture me or anything, we kissed. This time, though, I was the one to initiate. Twilight gave a surprised squeal as I planted my lips on hers, but quickly relaxed and gave in to the feeling.

“I take it today has been a success, then?” She asked, as she momentarily broke the kiss. I didn’t answer, instead planting my lips on hers yet again.

We stood there for a few minutes, enjoying each other’s warmth. Our kiss had soon died down into a simple, tight hug. And we enjoyed it. When we finally broke our embrace, we could both feel each other’s happiness. Both of us were content in ending the day just like that and so, we went upstairs.

And now, I am here, writing this entry, while Twilight is sleeping behind me. My angst has not returned yet and honestly, I hope it doesn’t show up again, all-too soon. Today was a beautiful day and I hope, the days to come will be just as good, if not better.

Author's Notes:

*Hans-Dietrich Genscher, 30th Sept. '89 from the balcony of the german embassy in Prague, speaking to hundreds of emigrants, trying to get from the GDR into the FRG

Ch31: Studies in the Snow

POV: Twilight

I was truly worried that evening. I don’t know why, especially since Spike told me he was out with Rainbow. Still, it was atypical of him to stay out longer than sunset and it was already past eleven! I was pacing around in circles, waiting, thinking of where he might have gone off to.

It turned out, however, that I didn`t need to worry much longer. The door opened slowly and it was Markus, who appeared behind it. My eyes immediately locked onto him and I turned around in a short wave of joy, which was soon replaced with slight anger. Who was he that he would make me worry like that after all? I was about to give him a good lecture, when he suddenly made a few steps forward and… kissed me.

I gave a short, surprised squeal, as I suddenly felt his lips press into mine, a feeling which I was quick to embrace and welcome by returning his kiss. For a few minutes, we just stood there. His actions had told me enough to know, why exactly he had been out for so long, so instead of giving him the planned lecture, I just broke the kiss momentarily and asked him.

“I take it today has been a success, then?”

He didn’t answer and he didn’t need to, as his actions spoke plenty for him. Soon, our kiss ended and we just held each other in a warm embrace, after which both of us were content in ending our days.

---

The following morning, we decided that it was finally time to tell the other elements, now that Markus had finally gained some confidence. Although, apparently, it was less surprising to them than I had thought, as the only ones who seemed actually surprised that day were me and Rainbow, as Markus had come up with it in the first place.

Turns out that the others had seen it coming all along and were only waiting for us to finally break it to them. Pinkie even had a whole Party already prepared and ready for launch that very minute! Markus tried to talk her out of it, but quickly learned that trying to make Pinkie stop a party was a fruitless effort.

Time went by quickly, as our relationship had finally broken out if its stagnation. Winter started and the Pegasi quickly covered all of Ponyville in a thick layer of snow. Rainbow took great pride in the amount of snow, openly boasting over it before us. This only earned her a playful, but strong smack across the flank from Markus, complaining about him having to swing the snow shovel for three days straight because of it.

Soon, Hearth’s warming eve came and we had a big celebration together at the Town Hall. Everypony greatly enjoyed it, but probably not nearly as much as Rainbow and I did. The reason for that was Markus. More precisely, Markus’s gifts. It wasn’t much, as he had stated himself, gifting both of us a rose that matched our coat, as well as a book on Starswirl that I had wanted for a while and a pair of dumbbells for Rainbow. Like he said, it wasn’t much, but it was easily visible that he had made an effort on finding the perfect gift for both of us and he had succeeded.

We both jumped at him, giving him a tight hug and squealing our thanks into his ears. Although, I couldn’t quite understand what was so special about a pair of dumbbells. Something that Rainbow quickly cleared up for me.

“What do you mean ‘simple dumbbells’? Those are hoofmade wingbells! Even some of the Wonderbolts can only dream of having a pair of those! Which makes me wonder though…” She turned back to Markus. “How did you get your hoofs – er, hands on these?”

Markus gave a smug smile down towards us as he replied. “One of the little perks of having the lunar Princess as a friend.”

A short series of laughter concluded this line of discussion and we went back to having fun at the party. However, it wouldn’t be long for the next big event to happen.

Only a week after heath’s warming eve, we sat in the kitchen eating breakfast together, when we heard somepony knock at the door. Markus went to open it, revealing Lt. Bulkhead standing on the other side with a letter levitating by his side.

Markus quickly opened and read it, remarking that ‘the guard apparently does own trains’ at one point, before commanding Lt. Bulkhead to assemble the rest of the company fully equipped at the station in two hours. The Lieutenant obliged, quickly setting off towards the barracks, while I walked to Markus’s side to ask him what had happened.

“Apparently we are needed in the crystal empire.” Markus said, as he put the letter into one of his pockets. “A train will arrive in two hours to get us directly into the north, where we are to meet up with the General and Shining Armor.”

While he was saying that, he already set off to get his stuff, an endeavour with which I quickly helped him, before he then went off with a quick ‘see you at the station’ from both of us.

As soon as he left the Library, I went to work myself. I packed a few things into my saddlebags that I thought I would need and went off to get the others. Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie quickly got some things into a saddlebag themselves before following me. Only Rarity needed longer than twenty minutes, although even that was a record for her. When she finally exited her boutique, she was pulling two big suitcases, which seemed full to bursting with things we probably wouldn’t need, but all of us knew this by that point and didn’t say anything.

When we arrived at the station, we saw everypony already assembled before a train with the markings of the guard on it. Markus stood before the formation and gave some last instructions, although something immediately struck me as odd. Namely it was that, at first, I could only barely make out Markus against the snow and it looked like he was talking with the air. That was because he and the ponies of his company had changed their attire. They now wore white uniforms, similar to the green and brown ones they usually wore, only that they were, well, white. Also they changed the coat colour not into brown but into white as well. Markus’s uniform, gloves, boots, vest and helmet, meanwhile, had been magically dyed as far as I could tell.

We approached the formation and greeted Markus, who quickly turned around to us and gave us a puzzled look.

“Well, that’s certainly some decent equipment for a simple farewell. Do you plan on going anywhere after I left?”

“Why, no! We are coming with you, of course, Darling.” Rarity answered him.

In response, he gave a quick look over to Rarity, before looking at me with a questioning gaze.

“Ooooooh, no no no no, Twilight.” He said after a while, “I am NOT going to take you into battle with me.”

“Why not? We have faced some serious threats already, so I’m pretty sure we can handle a little bit of marching in the snow!” I responded.

“’A bit of marching in the snow’ would not be a problem, but as far as my luck goes, we are probably going to face down a whole army of gryphons or even changelings! I know you have done well with facing down single monsters and such, but I doubt you can persuade an army of changelings to spontaneously drop their weapons.”

I pulled in an over-exaggerated gasp as he said this. “You don’t believe in the magic of friendship?! Only another reason to properly show you, what we can do! You will take us with you, if you like it or not!”

His eyes narrowed down and he looked sharply into my eyes. “Make me.”

He was as stubborn as ever in that situation, but I had a last resort. A trump card, if you so will.

“As a Princess of Equestria, I order you to take us with you!”

I heard a few of the soldiers give some short gasps at this and Markus’s mouth closed into a tight ‘o’, as he looked down in silence.

“That’s cheating and you know it.” He said finally.

“But it works.” I responded with a hint of triumphant glee.

He gave a longs sigh, slightly bobbing his head back and forth with his eyes closed. “Yes, it does indeed.” He turned around to the formation again and called out. “Squeak, go and fetch those spare coats we had lying around.”

The mare saluted and went off, before returning a few minutes later with six white, hooded long coats. Markus took them from her magic grasp and hoofed one over to each of us.

“You want us to wear these?!” Rarity exclaimed overdramatically, “Oh, never could I wear something this uninspiring, Darling. I am very sorry, but no.”

“Honestly, Rarity, since you are white already, I don’t really care, as long as you don’t go around like a piece of the rainbow itself. As for you others: As soon as we leave the crystal city, I want you to wear these and NOT take them off under any circumstances. Also make sure that they cover your whole body and at least part of your legs, understood?”

We all nodded in unison and then Markus led us into the train, together with his troops. There were no extra accommodations for us on the train, obviously, so we rode together with Markus and the other officers in a cart in the front. It was a rather spacious compartment. Not as spacious as the royal cove on the Canterlot Express, but still more spacious than what a normal first class wagon would afford. Of course, this extra space was needed, as the officers had to be able to move freely in order to access the map table that stood in the middle. There were also four bunks placed along the walls, adding up to eight beds in total.

Of course, that wasn’t quite enough for all of us, so we offered that we could put two of us in one bed, so that Markus and his officers each could have one bed, but Markus would have none of it.

“Oh, but I could never demand that a princess lowers herself to these levels… Your Highness.” He said sarcastically, giving an over-exaggerated bow at the end, clearly aiming to make me uncomfortable… which he completely succeeded in.

In the end, each of us got their own bed and Markus told Bulkhead and Overdrive to share one, while Mystic would sleep alone in one. Markus himself chose to stay awake during the ride, as he had some things to go over anyways.

It was a long ride towards the crystal empire, taking us almost a day to get there. During that time, we played some games or slept, while Markus and his officers mostly went around checking on their troops and talking to each other about what was to be done when we finally reached our destination.

---

I awoke again about ten minutes before we would reach the crystal empire. Markus was standing at the map table, intently studying the terrain. Since we had crossed the border, the temperature had dropped drastically, even though it was winter already. We ponies don’t really notice these temperature changes all too much, thanks to our coats. Markus, however, didn’t have a coat, his only defence against the cold being the clothing he wore. As such, he had changed his attire while I was asleep, now standing there not only in his field jacket, but also with a thick winter coat in the same colour scheme as his other clothes, with his vest strapped over it. He had also covered his face with a scarf, hiding his mouth and nose behind it.

I got up and walked over to him, giving him a slight and subtle swish with my tail to make myself known. He smiled down to me and gave me a few pleasant scratches behind my ears before returning to the map. I followed his gaze and saw that he was looking at the Crystal Mountains on the northern border of the empire.

“Quite an unusual formation, aren’t they?” Markus commented without looking at me. “While they do seem like they are of natural origin, there are some quite artificial-seeming features to them.”

He pointed at an entrance to a valley on the north-eastern border of the empire.

“Take this passage here for example. It seems like an ordinary valley at first, but when we trace it like this, it becomes apparent that it not only runs through almost the whole length of the mountain chain, but it also ends here…”

As he said this, he traced the valley with his finger, sliding it once over the whole mountain range and then stopping… deep within changeling territory.

At first, I thought that his finger might have slipped when tracing it, but every time I followed that Valley with my own eyes, I came to the same shocking conclusion, but it still made no sense. How could something like that have been overlooked for so long? It turned out that Markus had already thought of an explanation to that…

“It wasn’t there before.”

I looked at him with a questioning look, to which he responded with a short sigh.

“This map is enchanted to always show the current state, isn’t it?”

I nodded in response.

“So, that means that according to our knowledge, the terrain as we can see it on this map might have looked differently a few days ago.” He stated.

“Well, yes, but…” I responded, “but that’s impossible… I mean, mountains don’t spontaneously grow legs and move somewhere else, do they?”

“Of course they don’t, but someone who possesses magic might just make them.”

“Oh, but that’s highly unlikely. To pull that off, you would need the power of an entire A-“ I froze in place and my eyes went wide in horror, as my mind fully registered what I was about to say. “… an entire Army…”

Markus slowly nodded, as he traced the path he had shown me once again with his own eyes. “Of course I would like it to not be the case, but given that it was the Crystal Empire which has requested Equestria’s assistance, I find it unlikely that it is anything less than a national emergency.”

A heavy silence hung afterwards. Markus resumed his studies of the map, while I just stood there, slowly realizing, why exactly Markus didn’t want us to come along.

Shortly after, we heard the train apply its brakes. Markus and the officers immediately gathered up their equipment and went into the other wagons to gather their ponies, while I woke up the rest of the elements.

The train came to a halt at the same station, where we had arrived when we visited the last time and we were the first to disembark. I immediately spotted my brother, Cadence and General Pillbox on the platform, looking towards the train expectantly, although their faces changed to confusion, as they saw us exit the train. I quickly ran towards them and tackled Shining with a hug.

“Euh… Hi, Twilight, what are you doing here?” He asked me, exchanging a short look with Cadence.

“I ordered Markus to take me along.” I stated cheerfully.

“Wait, Markus?...” He looked over to the General, giving him a look that demanded an answer.

“Yes, she is referring to Captain Becker, sir. Given that his company is relatively new, I thought this to be the perfect occasion to properly test them.”

Shining Armor turned his head to look towards the rest of the train, where the first of the 4^th FRC were currently unloading their equipment. “Indeed, and I am sure that we will need their firepower. Although… I could very well do without him.” He then said, playing his role of hating Markus.

Speaking of Markus, he and his officers disembarked shortly after and rallied on the platform. He then walked over to the General and gave a salute.

“6^th Regiment, 4^th Forward Reconnaissance Company reporting ready for duty, sir.”

It was then that I noticed that Markus, as well as most of his ponies had wrapped their weapons in white tape, probably to disguise them against the snow.

“At ease, Captain.” The General said and Markus changed into a wider stance, “As you probably already know, this here is Captain Shining Armor, your superior. He has requested assistance in an internal matter and as such, you will be temporarily placed under his command.”

He let Shining stand before him and they both started to grimly stare at each other for a while. So long in fact that I slowly got the feeling that they were trying to pull off a show.

“So… we finally meet again. Captain.” Shining broke the silence, lacing the last word with a good deal of venom.

“Indeed we do, sir. I’ve heard, you need me yet again to pull your sorry butt out of a ditch?” Markus replied, pronouncing the word ‘sir’ in a sarcastic manner.

“Heh, I wouldn’t be so cocky if I were you, captain. You may have shown off a little a few months ago, but I am not impressed. The only reason that you are still here is that we do need the reinforcements.”

Shining made a few steps away from Markus and acted as if he was composing himself. “We have registered a few powerful magic outputs in the northern mountains, followed by short earthquakes. We don’t know what had caused them and it will be your task to find out. You will enter a small valley to the northeast and march through it towards the north-western border. Report anything you find…” He made a large step towards Markus, snarling at him. “And don’t break more than there`s already broken.”

“Oh, don’t worry, we will do just fine. As long as you refrain from giving any orders, that is.” Markus countered.

“If I were you, I would watch my tongue, as ranks can sometimes be very temporary, you know? Dismissed, Captain.”

“A show. Definitely a show.” I thought, as Markus and Shining walked away from each other. My friends, Cadence and most of the company looked pretty shocked at the display, except General Pillbox, who seemed to watch with stoic indifference, although I could swear I had seen him give a short, devious smile out of the corner of my eye.

While the others got ready to depart, Cadence approached me with a troubled expression. I readied myself, thinking that she might attempt to convince me to leave Markus, but got surprised, when she did quite the opposite.

“I… I have to apologize, Twilight. I thought that he just wanted to use you somehow, but now that I have actually seen him, I could feel the immense love he outputs towards you and Rainbow Dash… I-I’m sorry, Twilight. I was wrong. Can you forgive me?”

She offered me an apologetic smile and I quickly pulled her into a one-legged hug.

“Of course I forgive you, Cadence.” I whispered calmly to her.

We broke the hug and she gave another, this time thankful smile. “Thank you, Twilight. I promise I will make up for that outbreak soon. In fact… how about I try to solve the tensions between Shiny and Markus?”

I froze for a second, noticing that she could very well ruin Markus’s plan when doing that.

“Euh, No, no, you don’t need to, Cadence… I think that situation will resolve itself soon.” I tried to convince her, but she didn’t listen.

“I think, I already know, how. Don’t worry, Twilight, leave it to me!” She gave a short, playful salute and trotted back towards Shining. I considered telling her what was actually going on and decided against it, instead hoping that she wouldn’t get too much into it.

---

After a few minutes, we departed and made our way to the north-west. We walked for multiple hours through the snow, until we finally reached the entrance to the valley. From there, Markus led us along mountain paths and through ravines further and further through the mountains.

The march was straining for us. There was a constant wind blowing from one side of the valley to the other, making it hard to walk straight and a constant snowfall limited our vision greatly. Even Pinkie slowly lost her bounciness, instead opting for a more conservative walking style, although that might have been just as much of a mistake, as the cold slowly got to us. So much so, in fact, that even Rarity had finally decided to don her coat.

Soon, the small paths morphed into a single large one, which finally became a single large valley, along which we traversed until we came to a junction. According to the map that Markus had brought, both ways would eventually meet up on the other side, with one making a slight, long turn, while the other went straight over a hill.

Seeing as most of us were tired anyways, Markus opted to set up camp in this spot and wait for the weather to clear a little. Rainbow tried to clear it immediately, if not to save time then to make the situation a bit more bearable. She flew up and kicked the clouds, but there was no reaction. She shuffled around them, trying to move them away, but each time she approached one, she just flew straight through it. This was no wonder, seeing as we were no longer in Equestria.

Camp was set up and, as we didn’t find any firewood, we used magic to warm our tents. Since none of us six had brought any of our own, though, we were split up between the female soldiers. I was placed together with Mystic and after sentries were set up and shifts were assigned, we went to sleep.

At least that was the plan. However, the truth is that I couldn’t manage to fall asleep, even though I was very tired. It seemed that Mystic Gem suffered the same fate, as she suddenly spoke up.

“So, it seems it is really true, huh? That the captains can’t stand each other I mean.”

“Euh… well, yes, it sadly is.” I answered shortly, turning over to face her directly. She did the same and lit up her horn to spread a dim, blue glow around our tent.

“Must be pretty hard on you, then.” She stated compassionately.

“Yeah, it is pretty hard on all of us sometimes, but there isn’t much we can do, except keep them away from each other.” I answered.

“Yeah, but that’s not what I mean. I mean that it is especially hard for you.”

“I… what? I don’t know what you are talking about…” I said nervously, not liking the way this was going.

“Oh come on, princess! I know you have a thing for the Captain.” She said teasingly.

“What?! He is my brother! I would never even dream of-“ I tried to evade, but a single look at her face told me that it was no use. I let out a heavy sigh and admitted. “Yes, okay, it is true, I have ‘a thing’ for Marku- euh, Captain Becker.”

“Oh, so you are already past formalities, eh? When were you gonna tell him?” She suddenly asked and I felt my cheeks fire up.

She looked me directly into the eyes, trying to read my thoughts directly and I felt that it would be no use to hide it anyways. “Eh… actually, we are special someponies already… together with Rainbow Dash…”

This had her slack jawed a little. “Wow… I mean, I always believed in my captain, but to get into a herd and with a princess no less? That definitely is something.”

I had to giggle a little, as I thought back to how this all originally began. “Actually, he is more of the shy type. We didn’t even kiss until three months had passed…”

We spent the rest of the evening talking about romance and our (in Mystics case still very lacking) experience with it, until we finally fell asleep.

The next day, the weather had cleared significantly, leaving a clear sky above us. Markus ordered Lt. Overdrive to go along the long path, while he and Mystic would go for the short one. Lt. Bulkhead and his platoon were to stay behind and originally, we were too, but a quick use of my power as a princess quickly solved that problem.

We climbed up the hill, constantly on the lookout for anything that might be suspicious, but nothing was there. That is, until we reached the hilltop.

The hilltop was a large, long passage, enclosed by two rock walls on either side, though the passage was not what was interesting, but what we saw on the other side of it. Markus immediately ordered us all to lay flat on the ground and Mystic’s platoon scattered all over the place, hiding in ditches and behind Rocks, while Markus, Mystic and I were hiding behind another boulder.

What we saw on the other side of the valley definitely warranted such a reaction, as on the other side, we faced a large wall of black that was slowly approaching.

…Changelings. An entire army of Changelings.

“You know, sometimes I really hate it to be right…” Markus remarked, as he peeked out behind the rock to look at the army facing us. They hadn’t noticed us yet, still moving straight at us without a change in pace. As they slowly drew closer, one could see a single, large changeling walking in front of them. Queen Chrysalis.

“Mystic, get your unicorns ready to cast shields, we are going to open up on them.” Markus ordered.

“Are you sure, Captain? Shouldn’t we let them come closer and try to ambush them?” Mystic asked.

“Normally, that would be the plan, yes. Unfortunately, you can’t really ambush someone from the front and we can’t climb these walls without being seen, so we have to at least keep our range advantage. Also, opening up from here will make it easier to prevent them from taking flight, as we can shoot straight over their heads.”

Mystic nodded once and gave the order. Six unicorns slowly moved up and readied themselves, while the rest prepared their weapons and offensive magic. When everypony was ready, Markus gave the command.

“FIRE!”

Immediately, the valley was filled with bright sparks and magic blasts. The first two rows of changelings fell almost immediately, but those behind them as well as Chrysalis herself managed to erect shields. Although, those weren’t much of a problem either, as Chrysalis’s was the only one that truly managed to withstand and it is even likely that she got help from her drones.

After they had rallied themselves, the changelings began to return fire. Their green magic blasts flung towards us, hitting the shields with great force, but our unicorns stood fast. Rarity and I decided to help as good as we could by providing shields of our own, lifting some stress from a few of the other unicorns.

Slowly, the changelings resumed their advance, their pace quickening with every step. They wanted to close the distance as fast as possible to make use of their strength in numbers.

“Captain, they are getting closer! Should we retreat?” Mystic asked slightly panicked, as the changelings were only about two thousand hooves away.

“No, not yet. We need slow them dow- hmpf!” Suddenly, Markus was hit by a batch of snow from above, covering his face completely under it.

He dug himself out and looked up. He then turned around and searched along the walls of the valley and apparently, he found what he looked for, as a smile quickly washed over his face.

“Correction, Mystic: Get your ponies into that cave about 100 meters down that wall and hide in it. Twilight, you and the Elements follow her, while I will join up with you later.”

Mystic quickly agreed to his orders and I wanted to protest, but a sudden hit against my shield reminded me that this was not the time to argue. Markus gave his rifle to mystic, before we stopped firing and slowly moved backwards until we saw the cave that Markus had talked about. When we were there, we quickly shuffled inside and left the rest up to Markus.

He, meanwhile, still sat behind the rock with something that looked like a white flag in his hand. He waved it over the rock, while a tirade of spells was still being hollered his way. However, shortly after he had waved it, the attack stopped and Chrysalis called for him to come out.

He looked back at us and gave a devious smile, before he adhered to her command. Chrysalis looked very surprised and confused, as she saw Markus come towards her at first. They seemed to start talking, so I quickly cast a spell to amplify my hearing.

“…are you?” Chrysalis asked confused.

“I am a human, your highness, currently in service with the Equestrian Royal Guard.” Markus politely introduced himself.

“Oh, are you? Well, ‘human’, you do realize that I cannot show mercy to anypony who serves those pony weaklings?” Chrysalis threatened, charging her horn with magic.

“I am aware, yes, however, I would ask you to wait a moment, for I have a message for you.” Markus then said, slowly grabbing his grenade from his vest and holding it in both hands.

Chrysalis thought for a moment, before the glow on her horn faded and she took a slightly less aggressive stance. “Fine then. What’s the message?”

Markus quickly pulled the pin, reeling backwards and screaming: “YOU SHALL NOT PASS!” before throwing the grenade towards the Changeling army and darting to the ground. Chrysalis barely managed to erect a shield, before the grenade exploded, taking out several Changelings with its shrapnel. Although a sizeable amount of changelings fell to this grenade, the amount was dwarfed by the sheer mass of the rest of the army.

Markus quickly got back to his feet and Chrysalis took a few menacing steps towards him, laughing madly. “Nice try, human, but this isn’t even nearly enough to be a threat against my –“

She was suddenly interrupted by a loud crack, followed by a slowly growing rumbling sound. Markus started slowly walking backwards, keeping his front towards Chrysalis.

“Welp, it seems my message is delivered. I am very sorry, but I must take my leave now. Enjoy skiing!” He gave a quick salute, before turning around and running, just as two massive fountains of snow came pouring in from the edges of the valley, creating an avalanche that buried the whole changeling army, including Chrysalis, beneath it.

Meanwhile, Markus was still running towards the cave we were hiding in, with the avalanche fast approaching. He barely made it in, before it reached the entrance and sealed it off, trapping us inside.

As soon as the rumbling had ceased, we started digging ourselves a way out, before then marching towards the original meeting point with Lt. Overdrive. We met halfway, as the Lieutenant had decided to come help us when he heard the avalanche and showed himself very glad that Mystic was okay…

We went back to camp, where Lt. Bulkhead and his Unicorns had barely managed to shield themselves from the incoming snow, and spent another night there, before moving back towards the empire. The trip back wasn’t as harsh as the trip to, as the weather conditions had bettered greatly.

That isn’t to say that the march was an easy one, though and all of us were more than happy as we reached the train and set off back home. Markus reported in to Shining, telling him what had happened in the mountains, for which he wrote a proper report during our way home.

Speaking about home: as we came back to the Library, I was instantly greeted by a very worried Spike, which was no wonder, seeing as I had completely forgotten to tell him, where we were actually going. After I had successfully calmed my little Dragon, there was only one thing left, which I had never thought I would come to miss as much as during these three days.

A long, warm shower.

Author's Notes:

And that was the first mission of the 4th FRC. Next up: Fanservice and some light comedy

Ch32: RE;creation

POV: Markus

The battle up in the north has left me quite satisfied with my troops. They hadn’t broken line, their reaction time was minimal and they had kept their calm. Even if it was only a sample group, namely platoon bravo, that actually encountered resistance, I can safely assume that all of them would react in a similar manner, as they have all undergone the same training. Still, there was one thing that bothered me.

First off: I never thought them to be invulnerable. On the contrary, it was always clear to me that there would be casualties, should we ever get engaged in combat. Still, I found it unnecessary to equip them with helmets as, according to my plan, they would always only be engaged in ranged combat, where the unicorn’s shields would keep them safe and even if we would go into melee, a helmet would hardly shield them from a strike to their barrel. Also, a helmet is heavy and every gram of weight decreases the speed at which we can move and the ease with which said movement is done.

At least that was my line of thought when I neglected them said equipment. Now, after the battle, however, I was quite surprised to see that, out of four ponies that got wounded, three were hit to the head and even though none of these three were wounded by the enemy, it still sufficed to show me that helmets were indeed needed. Thus, with a little help from Rarity, I opened my magic workshop again to stamp some steel into shape.

I aimed to make them as similar as possible to my M92 helmet, which turned out to be quite a challenge. No wonder, given that the M92 is not made from steel, but from Aramid, which is likely a lot easier to shape, given that it’s a synthetic polymer. Still, I somehow managed to pull it off and after some test-wearing and precise cutting of the ear-slits, I had Rarity make similar covers like I had for mine, as well as some interior lining to keep the metal from freezing their heads in cold environments.

After the helmets were completely done, I gave order to wear them when on patrol, so they could get used to their weight. Still, it’s likely that it will take some time to get used to them, given that I trained them without helmets.

Still better than having them die because they ran into a low-hanging branch, though…

---

Today was a rather peculiar day, to say the least. A bit more than a month has passed since the battle in the north and I had decided that, after they had acquainted themselves with the new helmets, we all deserved a day off.

I planned to spend said day together with Twilight and Rainbow in the warm confines of the Library, reading books, talking and enjoying the warmth of the fireplace and each other on this day in early February. That is, until three certain fillies paid us a visit.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders entered just as I went downstairs to retrieve another book. A waft of cold air hit me, as they opened the door and then quickly closed it behind them again. They looked at me, blinked once and then ‘squee’-d over to me, jumping around my feet like carousel horses.

This commotion caused Twilight and Rainbow to stick their heads through the door upstairs and call down.

“Markus? Did something happen?”

“Yes, we have visitors! The Crusaders are here!” I called back up.

I heard the door creak open a bit wider, followed by hoofsteps on the stairs and the door clicking shut again. Soon after, Twilight and Rainbow rounded the corner in the staircase and greeted our visitors.

“Hey, girls.” Twilight greeted.

“Hey, squirt.” Rainbow followed suit.

“Hey, Dash.” Scootaloo greeted back, giving Rainbow a sisterly hug.

“So, what was it that you wanted from me?” I asked them, regaining their attention. All three lined up before me and looked at me expectantly, in a way that I almost already knew what was coming.

“Well, Dash told us about your super awesome trip to the Crystal Empire…” Scootaloo started.

“And we thought that it would be cool if we could do things like that.” Apple Bloom continued.

“So we wanted to ask you, if… um, you could maybe train us a little?” Sweetie Belle finished shyly.

Needless to say I wasn’t really surprised by this, as they have already asked me something similar before. “So, what would you need that training for?” I asked.

As an answer, they quickly shared a look with each other, before screaming out in unison:

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Soldiers, YAY!”

I face-palmed. Seriously, these fillies get the weirdest of ideas. First it was assassins, now it’s soldiers, what comes next? Cutie Mark Crusaders Waffen-SS? I can already hear the scream.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders Waffen-SS, YAY!“

Better not think too hard about it…

ANYWAYS: I wanted to scold them for this poor idea and list off everything that wouldn’t work with this plan. However, before I could actually do that, the door flew open a second time, giving way to Pinkie Pie, who was vibrating like a Jackhammer.

Twilight and Rainbow immediately sought cover, hiding under the table that stood in the middle of the room, while the Crusaders and I were just standing there.

“What is it Pinkie?!” Twilight asked anxiously, “Twitchy Tail? Curly Mane? Flabby Hoof? All three together?!”

Pinkie stopped vibrating and started sniffing around like a dog. “No, my Party Sense tells me that somepony isn’t celebrating their birthday!” She answered, growing more agitated towards the end of the statement.

Rainbow and Twilight looked at each other, while the crusaders did the same. All of them seemed to silently note that they all knew each other’s birthdays, so they would have celebrated them. All, but one…

Slowly, everyone in the room turned their heads towards me, giving me expectant looks. All I could do in that situation was to laugh uncomfortably and scratch the back of my head.

“Euh, yeah, well, I am 29 now. Surprise?”

As soon as these words left my lips, I was instantly entangled in a tight group hug and being bombarded with a thousand congratulations. Pinkie almost immediately volunteered to throw me a party, which I declined as soon as I could get a word in-between. However, she insisted on doing so and since I know it’s no use trying to talk Pinkie out of a party, I just let it slip.

Thus, we had the most peculiar birthday party I’ve ever been to, because everyone was celebrating, except me, the one whose birthday it actually was.

I don’t celebrate my birthdays. Not since my mother died on the very same day. I know it isn’t my fault that she died, but it still feels like I would be celebrating her death…

---

The concept of winter wrap-up had always been pretty alien to me. No wonder, considering that in my world, we don’t control the weather or the seasons, though I must admit that it was very impressive to witness first hand. Also, being an officer, I like the idea of an organized change, where everyone is given a task. However, winter wrap-up isn’t why I started this entry, but what happened today.

Twilight, Spike and I were sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast when Spike gave the signature signs of an incoming letter. A letter from Princess… Cadence?

Yep, that’s right. Princess Cadence sent us a letter. In it, she invited us and the remaining Elements to have a relaxing day at the beach together with her, Shining Armor, as well as Celestia and Luna.

“So that’s what she meant by ‘leave it to me’, huh?” Twilight commented.

I looked over to her, forming a questioning look on my face, which she immediately picked up on.

“Oh, didn’t I tell you? Cadence wants to solve the ‘tensions’ between you and Shining Armor and this is probably her first attempt at this.”

I looked back at the letter, just blankly staring and not really reading it. “Well, I suppose if I just go there, keep up my act and hope that Shining Armor does the same, I suppose there won’t be much to be afraid about. Also, going to the beach sounds like a good change of pace for once, I suppose.”

And so, we made ourselves ready to go. There wasn’t much to be done, really. All I did was change my attire back to the arid camo uniform I wore when I got here, while Twilight put a large blanket and some sandwiches into her saddlebags. We then went to get the others, all of which gladly came along.

We took the train southward to the location the letter had called us to, where the three alicorns and one unicorn were already waiting for us. Shining Armor and I gave a short, friendly greeting over the thought bridge, before we commenced our act, giving each other some hissed pleasantries. Cadence tried to calm us down and we played along, following her to the beach. It was a large area, completely covered in light yellow sand and in the shape of a crescent moon.

The Elements gave a collective ‘Ooooh’ at the sight of the cove and even Celestia and Luna showed themselves pleasantly surprised. Twilight quickly whipped out her blanket and sandwiches, while Applejack and Rainbow drew some lines into the sand, where they then started playing what looked like the pony version of Volleyball. Twilight joined them as a referee and Pinkie, Fluttershy and the other Princesses went to test out the water, while Rarity whipped out a sun mirror and lay down on a blanket of to the side. That left only Shining Armor and me and we decided to just sit down on the blanket and enjoy the view. And what a view it was.

Every time Rainbow took flight to strike the ball, her back muscles flexed, causing her behind to squeeze out ever so slightly and upon landing, her hind legs dampened her fall, adding a slight jiggle to her otherwise heavily muscled butt. She turned her head and noticed that I was looking at her, but instead of looking offended, she smiled playfully and gave a short, but intentional wiggle with her behind.

A short flush of blood hit my head and I quickly chose to look in another direction… like towards the group that was playing in the water for example.

I looked over right when Luna used her wings to send a massive splash of water hollering towards Pinkie and Cadence, who were unable to evade in time. The result was that Cadence’s mane hung over her eyes in a wet bundle of hair and her coat reflected the light in sporadic bright specks.

Well, mostly sporadic at least… There was one bright line of reflected light that seemed to continue along her body. I followed it with my eyes, seeing how it perfectly outlined her wing muscles, coming down to highlight the well-rounded form of her behind.

I was probably looking a bit too long, as I suddenly felt Shining Armor beside me shove my shoulders back and forth.

“Hey, eyes off my wife’s butt!” He commanded in mock anger.

“Ah, don’t worry, I’m not really one for hearts anyways… I prefer stars and rainbows.” I said back, to which he gave me a friendly jab against my shoulder.

Soon, the game Applejack and Rainbow were playing came to a conclusion and we all sat down to eat. Before that, Shining Armor and I of course made sure that we weren’t seen sitting beside each other without trying to murder the other.

Everyone had brought a few things to eat, so in the end, we had a wide arrangement of salads, cakes and fruit laid out on the blanket, Twilight had brought, while we all sat around it. Twilight and Rainbow had, of course, instantly claimed my sides, while Shining Armor and Cadence placed themselves directly opposite of me, together with Luna. Celestia, Applejack and Rarity sat down to my left and Fluttershy and Pinkie to my right. When everyone was seated, we all dug in, enjoying the taste of the brought goodies.

But that wasn’t the only thing that these ponies seemed to enjoy. In fact, I caught both Rainbow and Twilight a few times, as they were giving short glances at my upper body, which was still concealed by my uniform. However, they were not the only ones. In fact, Rarity was looking at me as well, albeit her stare was of a different kind.

“Say, Darling, why are you wearing that uniform today? Isn’t this attire a bit too formal for a simple day at the beach?”

I looked down on my shirt, giving it a light tug with my right hand. “Out of habit, I guess…” That was when I spotted Rainbow and Twilight looking again and it gave me an idea of what to do next.

I looked up towards the sun, shielding my eyes from its rays. “Though I suppose, it is rather warm today.” I said, gripping the lower brim of my shirt, to then pull it up and over my head.

The effect was just as I had imagined, as the moment that my shirt passed my eyes, I heard five distinct *POMF*s and when I finally completely tugged it off, I came to see five pairs of wings, standing at attention, with only Celestia being able to control herself, albeit her face told me that she was barely holding on. Twilight and Rainbow looked in wide-eyed awe at me, while Cadence and Rarity went fully slack-jawed. Luna was pretending to look away, giving only short glances over to me. However that was betrayed by her deeply reddened cheeks, not to mention her massive wingboner.

“Whoa…” came from Shining Armor over the thought bridge.

“Don’t go gay on me” I sent back.

“Wow…” Rainbow mumbled, “I thought the scar in your face looked cool, but these… They look awesome!”

Yep, my whole body is littered with scars. 24 in total. A curtesy of the Afghan Campaign, where every mission had earned me another scar. All except one and that’s because I wasn’t there. At that time, I was receiving a medal and the local General wanted to use my absence to get himself a place in the spotlight for once. In the end, though, it turned out to be a severely rushed operation, resulting in a total defeat, nearly 1000 losses and the demotion of said General…

Buuuuut anyways: When we were done with eating, I wanted to go swimming, but was promptly stopped by a magic aura that surrounded me.

“Ah ah ah, Markus, no swimming after eating!” Twilight said in an almost motherly tone.

“Who are you, my mother?” I shot back and I noticed Luna wince slightly. Probably due to what she saw in my memories. Twilight, however, just set me down beside her and I concluded that any move towards the water would be completely in vain, as she would just levitate me back here. Thus, when Luna proposed to play some games, I gladly accepted the offer.

---

I fucked up. Severely. This was the end. Total defeat. I was as good as dead. My opponent, Luna, the mare of the night, Nightmare Moon stood victorious and all that was left for me was to hope for a quick end.

She raised her hoof up high, my definite demise firmly gripped within it. She brought it down, connecting with the board between us with a loud *clap*.

“Checkmate!” She exclaimed, as her queen sealed the trap that her rook had laid out, completely trapping my king in the H8 tile.

“Wow, that’s 5 to 1. You’re on a streak, Luna!” Twilight assessed, while I busied myself with burying my face in the solid wood of the board.

I decided that losing 5 games in a row was quite enough and went to take a swim instead.

Soon, the day came to an end and we all bade our farewells, packing up and going to fetch our respective trains to then take the ride home.

---

WARNING: NSFW-CONTENT UP AHEAD!!!

---

If I called my last entry a peculiar one then only, because I couldn’t know what would happen to me only a few days after! What happened? Well, let me tell you:

The day started relatively normal. I was the first to get up, as usual, eating breakfast and then going to work. The first peculiarity came as soon as I reached the guard station. The first subtle sign was that, today, the morning patrol consisted only of stallions. That wasn’t really all that remarkable in itself, however I also saw that the morning, afternoon and evening patrols of the entire week had the same setup.

I went to the barracks to ask Mystic about it, but that’s where the second, not so subtle sign greeted me. Mystic intercepted me outside of the barracks, effectively blocking me from entering them.

“Mystic?” I asked her, “Say, why are there only stallions on patrol for the entire week?”

Mystic glanced around, as if not willing to answer. “Euh, well, you see… All of our mares are currently suffering from a… condition. I am only okay because I’ve taken the medicine…”

“If there’s medicine, then why don’t the others just take it as well?” I asked, not quite buying her explanation.

“W-Well, the medicine can cause an itch… in a very improper place.” Came her answer.

She was now severely blushing and looking off to the sides. I noticed this, of course and decided to let it go for now, as it seemed like I made her uncomfortable somehow. That isn’t to say that I didn’t plan on asking her again later on, though.

I came back to the Library in the afternoon, still trying to figure out what was wrong. Especially since there was now a third thing that I had noticed: I hadn’t seen a single mare, except Mystic, for the entire day.

I didn’t get to think any further about this, however, as I suddenly noticed a weird scent. It somehow smelled like a mixture of lavender and that smell when you go outside just after rainfall. But it wasn’t just a smell. There seemed to also be some kind of gas or aerosol in the air that made me slightly dizzy, as soon as I entered the Library. I easily overpowered the effects of it, but it was noticeable nonetheless.

“Twilight?” I called out, causing some stirring upstairs, but nothing else.

I went into alarm mode, carefully advancing up the stairs and slowly opening the door. As soon as I did that a thick wave of said smell hit me. It wasn’t unpleasant or anything. In fact, it smelled quite nice.

I slowly stepped into the living area and as soon as I did, the door slammed shut behind me. I turned around and tried to open it again, only to find it locked. Then, I heard two thuds behind me. I turned around and saw that it was Rainbow and Twilight, though something was strange about them.

Firstly, they were breathing heavily, almost heaving. Secondly, their tails looked like their bases were standing straight up and thirdly they were looking at me with what I can only describe as a VERY hungry look.

They slowly closed in on me, their hips waving back and forth, while I tried to keep the distance by walking backwards. This was soon met with resistance, as I hit the door behind me. But Rainbow and Twilight didn’t stop, no, they closed in further, right until their muzzles hit me and they took a deep sniff from my… well…

ANYWAYS: As if it wasn’t bad enough that I was completely unprepared for this, my old friend angst decided to pay me a visit at that exact moment. The result was that I panicked. I bashed through Twilight and Rainbow and made a sprint straight for the window, which stood slightly open, presumably from when Rainbow came here.

I jumped down and into a bush, where I felt safe for the moment, due to the camo that I was still wearing. It seemed to work at first, as I saw Rainbow shoot out of the window above me without seeing me. However, as Twilight looked out, she looked down and almost instantly spotted me.

She jumped down and I quickly got up and started running. I heard her hit the bush, but as I turned around, I saw that she had properly entangled herself in it. That didn’t mean that I could take a break now, though, as Rainbow had turned around in the meantime and was now hot on my tail.

I sprinted as fast as I could, zig-zagging through Ponyville, trying to somehow get her off of me. The problem was that I was bound to the passages between the buildings, while Rainbow could just fly over them.

I decided that running through the narrow streets wasn’t going to aid me in the slightest, so I went for the central plaza, where I could evade her more easily. At least that was the plan. HHowever Rainbow managed to get ahead of me and blocked my exit. She then held true to her name and Dash-ed towards me, which I promptly sidestepped, causing her to crash face-first into a wall.

I didn’t waste a moment and took off again, this time heading over the bridge to the south to then dive into the first bushline that I saw. There, I watched the street for a moment, before finally being able to properly catch a breath.

A breath that promptly escaped again, as I noticed that I wasn’t the only one hiding here.

“Euh, hey, Mr. Cak-“

“Psssh” He hushed me, holding his hoof over my mouth. “Not so loud, or else-“

“Caaaaarroooooot~~” I heard Mrs. Cake call out in a sing-song voice. Mr. Cake immediately reacted by darting out of the bush and running away, causing me to chuckle slightly.

“Maaaaarkuuuuus~~” Twilight suddenly called out.

“Oh snap.” I thought, quickly darting out of my hiding spot as well and making a beeline for Sweet Apple Acres, thinking that I might be safe there.

I reached the barn and looked behind me and as I saw that neither Rainbow, nor Twilight were behind me, I allowed myself to catch my breath for a moment.

Just as I was about to walk off again, I suddenly heard Applejack’s voice from inside the barn.

“Great.” I thought, “Maybe she can explain to me, what’s going on all of a sudden.”

I creaked the door open barely enough for me to look inside and immediately froze as I did so. There, in the middle of the barn, was Applejack. Her chest was pressed to the ground, her behind held high and a garden hoe was perfectly aligned behind her.

I immediately decided to ‘nope’ the fuck outta there, making a quick run for the front gate to then run to ‘whereeverexcepthere’. But I didn’t run. Instead, I stopped for a moment to behold the beauty of what lay before me. For before me, there was a large field, full with blooming Tulips.

“Wait, Tulips?” I thought, as it suddenly dawned on me. Tulips are blooming in mid- to late spring. Most animals I know go into heat in spring and the behaviour they have shown towards me definitely would befit what I would expect of a heat.

Now, I don’t know if Ponies even go into heat and I don’t really care either. It seems like these ponies do and that meant bad news for me, because I knew that heat doesn’t stop after just one day, but lasts about a week. Thus, I decided that I would go into hiding until this all had blown over with my choice for a hiding spot falling on the Everfree forest. The problem was that my camping equipment was inside my bag and my bag was inside the Library.

I waited until late at night, before I made my attempt. I closed in on the Library cautiously, not wanting to be detected and was relieved to see that the lights were already out.

During my time with Twilight, I had made the observation that Twilight always keeps one window open during the night and that was what I planned on using to my advantage.

I snuck around the tree, looking upwards until I found the window I had looked for. I climbed up until I hung from a branch just above my target, from where I then flung myself into the lion’s den.

The moment I set down on the floor, the window slammed shut and multiple candles went alight around the room, revealing Twilight and Rainbow waiting in the darkness.

“Hello Markus. Where have you been? We waited for you for sooo looooong~~” Twilight groaned, slowly pacing closer to me.

“He-Hello, Twilight… umm, should we really… I mean, what about Spike?” I stammered, trying to somehow come up with another escape plan.

“Oh, don’t worry. He’s staying with the crusaders overnight, so we have the Library aaaall for ourselves.” Rainbow chirped, coming closer as well and pressing her flank into my hip and rubbing her head and upper body along me.

My panic peaked right then and I started to run again. However, I didn’t make it far, as Twilight got a hold of me with her magic and started to levitate me. First, she brough me closer to her, giving me a deep and passionate kiss, before Rainbow did the same. Then, we started moving… towards Twilight’s bed…

Long story short: After 29 years of life, I have finally lost my virginity and you know what? I am really thankful that I got this second chance here in Equestria, because I now know what I’ve actually missed out on back on earth.

I awoke this morning in one of the most beautiful positions I could ever have dreamt of. I lay in the middle of Twilights bed, while Twilight and Rainbow lay on either side of me, curled into my arms.

I slowly rose out of bed, careful not to disturb their sleep, and went to take a shower, after which I sat down to write this entry. And now I’m here, writing this entry, while the two most amazing mares I know are softly sleeping behind me.

Just now, Spike has opened the door to the living area calling for Twilight to come down. He is coming up the steps and now he is standing in the door, slightly out of breath and a letter in his left claw.

A letter from Princess Celestia…

Author's Notes:

Yep, two 'long' chapters in one week. My head hurts a bit but it was deifinitely worth it

Ch33: Studies in Warfare

POV: Twilight

I woke up the morning after with a feeling of emptiness. Not in a bad way, though. It was more like a feeling of satisfaction that originated from the empty space to my left… as well as from the now empty space between my hind legs…

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling a bit groggy with the bliss from the morning after, and looked to my left, where I found Rainbow Dash lying beside the slight indent that Markus had made during his sleep. At that moment, I felt a slight spurt of affection towards the cyan Pegasus flare up inside me. It wasn’t like I loved her directly. More like we were connected in our love for somepony else: Markus.

Rainbow was slowly waking up as well. Her eyelids opened in a slow movement, stopping halfway and allowing her to give me a half-lidded, satisfied smile.

“Morning, egghead.” She groaned sleepily.

I greeted her with a smile myself and shared a long look with her. Then, almost without my own input, I, or rather we slowly shifted ourselves over, to occupy the middle. We lay close to each other, our foreheads and muzzles touching and our breaths coating the other’s snout in a thin layer of moisture and then… we made out…

It was almost like we both had the same strange idea at the same time. We both leaned in together, we both opened our muzzles together and we both explored the other’s muzzle together. All of this was fuelled by a sudden burst of passion I felt inside me, combined with the still glowing bliss of the night before.

The room was almost completely silent, the only sounds being some sporadic wet slurps from us, as well as the shower running in the background.

We slowly broke the kiss and then stared at each other for a while longer, before nestling into the covers once more and swimming in the leftover bliss from last night’s events, as well as the warmth that Markus had left in the spot where he came to sleep at last.

The sounds of the shower soon faded and Markus came back. Though, instead of lying back down between us, he sat down on the desk and started to write, probably not even noticing that we were already awake. I didn’t mind that at all though, instead finding the rhythmic scribbling of the quill on the blank parchment to only amplify what I was already feeling.

He wrote on for quite a few minutes and probably would even have written more, if it wasn’t for Spike suddenly running upstairs and opening the door.

“Twilight!” He called out and I noticed that he was holding a letter with the royal seal in his claw.

The moment he stepped through the door to my sleeping cove, he froze, probably a bit weirded out from seeing me and Rainbow in one bed and so close together at that. He looked over to the desk, where Markus was still sitting and gave him a slack jawed stare.

“Are you okay with this?” He asked while holding a claw out towards us.

Markus looked over to us, likely finally realizing that we were awake, before looking back to Spike and giving a shrug. “Well, yes, I am. Are you not?”

Rainbow’s face formed into a playful smirk and she shifted around to face Spike directly. “Maybe you aren’t experienced enough yet, to know what’s going on?”

“Well, you are one to talk, Rainbow.” I thought, holding back a giggle and from the corner of my eye I could see Markus do the same.

“Hey, don’t you want to know, what we were up to, last evening? Or maybe you’d rather know what we did… last night.” She teased, causing Spike to heavily blush and shake his head.

“N-No, no, no!” He stammered, “I-I am actually just here because there’s a letter… for Twilight… from Celestia…”

I shuffled out of bed and as soon as I had, Rainbow quickly occupied Markus’s still-warm indent. I took the letter from Spike’s claw, unrolled it and read aloud:

Dear Twilight,
A matter of utmost importance has come up which requires you, the Elements, as well as Captain Becker and his company to come to Canterlot as soon as possible. A special train has been dispatched and the switches have been set to allow for you to come here as fast as possible. I am afraid we are facing a catastrophe, greater than every problem you have faced so far combined.

Signed,
Princess Celestia

A heavy silence hung over the room, broken only by the sounds of everyday life coming from outside, oblivious to the news that had just reached us. Then, as if on cue, we all started off to quickly get ourselves ready. Rainbow flew out of the window to get the others assembled, while I hurried to get myself washed up and Markus got his equipment, before we both rushed out the front door, where we almost crashed into Mystic Gem.

“Captain!” She shouted in surprise, “Good that I found you, Captain. The General wants us to-“

“I know.” Markus interrupted, “Tell everyone that they are to get ready for redeployment. We will assemble at the station in twenty minutes.”

The mare saluted quickly, before running off to relay the orders Markus had given. We on the other hoof made haste to get to the station ourselves, where we then waited for everypony and the train to arrive.

Soon, we all stood in wait and Markus gave a quick briefing to his company, before the train finally arrived and we boarded it.

It seemed to be the same train that had taken us into the crystal empire, only that instead of overnight wagons, it had a few second-class wagons and a single first class wagon this time around. The soldiers all took the second-class wagons, leaving the first class to us.

The train departed with a loud whistle and the screeching sound of metal rubbing on metal, morphing its sounds into the soft clicking that we all knew from train rides. Apart from these sounds, there was absolute silence. Nopony spoke a word. Not until Rarity finally broke the silence after about an hour.

“Does anypony know, what this ‘urgent matter’ may be?”

I saw everypony loosen up slightly, as she asked this, as if this very question had been lingering in all their heads for a while now.

“I don’t know. Princess Celestia didn’t tell me in the letter and so far, I haven’t heard anything else. Markus, do you know anything?”

Markus didn’t answer. He just sat there with a stoic expression, his chin resting on his thumbs and his hands forming a roof over his mouth.

“Markus?”

He still didn’t say anything, but I could somehow feel, what was going on. Shining Armor has told him, but he couldn’t share his knowledge without exposing his true relation to my brother. Silence befell us again and it remained until we reached Canterlot after only another hour.

When we arrived, we all were in awe at what we saw. The whole Canterlot station was filled with trains from all of Equestria and we saw Guards streaming from each of them. Soon, we ourselves filed out of the train as well and Markus split off to organize his troops while we went to see the princesses.

“Hello, dear Twilight.” Celestia greeted, as we reached them. “I hope you and your friends have been doing well?”

We both briefly hugged and then I answered her. “Yes, we all are well, although, your letter really put a damper on our mood. Speaking of which, what is this ‘urgent matter’ you have mentioned?”

Celestia’s smile abruptly dropped. She and Luna shared a short look, before Celestia finally sighed and looked back to us.

“Please don’t panic at this, but it appears that… the Gryphon Kingdom has declared war upon us.”

A collective gasp erupted from my friends and me. Out of all the things we were prepared to face, war was definitely not one of them.

For a moment, none of us knew what to say and none of us needed to say any more. We all were now fully aware of the danger we found ourselves in. It was then, that another train reached the station, bearing the markings of the Crystal Empire. When it stopped, I saw not only a whole battalion of crystal guards, but also Cadence and Shining Armor disembark from the train.

Both of them made their way over to us and Cadence actually started to run, when she spotted me.

“Twilight!” She called out, before coming to a full stop before us and starting to chant: “Sunshine, Sunshine…” but she stopped after she noticed that I didn’t chime in. The news were still too heavy on my mind to actually do this and Cadence quickly realized that.

“So, aunt Celestia has already told you what had happened, huh?”

I quickly nodded and looked over to my brother, who seemed like there were many things on his mind right that moment. That wasn’t really odd, given that he was in charge of the Crystal Guard and the Royal Guard, which meant that he had a lot on his hooves due to the war.

“Now that everypony is here, I suppose it is time we made our way to the Palace and meet the Generals.” Celestia said, before turning around and trotting off, but she stopped after just a few steps and looked back over her shoulder. “Oh and Twilight? Even considering what happened with your brother the last time, I believe it would be wise to have Markus attend as well.”

I did as she implied and went to Markus to tag him along. We then departed together and made our way towards the Palace into the room, where Markus and I had been brought almost half a year ago, when he was showing his abilities for the first time.

We weren’t the only ones in the room though, this time around. This time, the room was filled with several Generals, one of them being General Pillbox, who were all standing around the map in the middle and were staring at Markus with different levels of confusion and/or disdain.

“Princess Celestia…” One of the more decorated Generals spoke up, “I thought this to be a meeting of the General staff. What are those civilians doing here? Not to mention that I can’t remember the newcomer having been promoted already.”

Markus didn’t react at all to the stallion, leaving it to Celestia to berate her general. “General Flatters, I believe you should be aware that these ponies are no mere civilians, but the Elements of Harmony. As for the Captain… you may have heard about his exploits up until now and apart from that he is the only one in this room beside Luna and me, who has experience in warfare.”

The generals shared a short glance at each other, some growling in contempt, others seeming slightly more welcoming towards Markus.

The princesses and Shining joined the generals at the map, while Markus, my friends and I placed ourselves slightly behind them.

“Now, I think it would be a good start to find out, why they chose this exact time to attack. I mean we all know the threat that was made earlier by Sharp Beak and which he made true now, but it seems a bit odd that he did this only now, a few months after the transgression.” One of the Generals started, causing the bundle to fall into mumblings towards each other, going on about different strategic possibilities, before General Pillbox spoke up between them.

“I think, if the Princess really has that much faith in Captain Becker, then why not have him answer that question?”

They all turned around to look at Markus, who in turn made a step forward and went into his signature ‘at ease’ stance.

“As you wish, General. First off, may I inquire, how many mares are there in the guard, in percent?”

“About sixty three percent.” I quickly answered, earning me some very astounded looks by almost all the generals present.

“All right. Now, as you all know, heat week has started just yesterday, which means that all our mares are incapacitated if they don’t take their medicine and even though the emergency protocol forces them to take it, the side-effects will likely render them a lot less effective in combat. That and it would be very foolish to attack during winter.”

Markus concluded his observation by giving a brief salute and moving to return back to us, but was stopped by General Pillbox. “If you are so well aware of the situation, I am sure you already have a plan ready, don’t you?”

Markus stopped for a moment and looked on with a blank stare, before giving a mischievous smile towards Shining Armor. “Well, as you’ve correctly assessed earlier, I am not a general. It is not my role to make detailed plans. Merely to execute them.”

He said this as if he was actually genuine about it, but by the looks he and my brother were exchanging, I was pretty sure that he just uttered some kind of a challenge towards Shining. A challenge, which he quickly picked up on.

“That is quite correct, Captain. It is not your purpose to make the bigger plans, but ours. Gentlecolts, I think I do have a plan.” He leaned over towards the map and pointed a hoof at a large line which likely represented the front line. “We cannot risk opposing them directly just yet, due to our overall strength being compromised due to heat week. Thus, we will instead turn to a more defensive strategy, holding them off while we can, but still slowly retreating, hoping to stretch out their supply lines a bit, while we wait for heat week to end. Once all our mares are free from the heat symptoms, we will launch an offensive. Though, we won’t attack on the whole front at once, but rather concentrate our attacks on a few key points.”

As he finished, he looked over to Markus, who gave an over-exaggerated look of surprise in return, though going by my brother`s brief smile, I think that Markus was congratulating him over the thought-bridge.

“Very well, that does indeed sound like a reasonable plan. Now, Twilight, I am sure that you are wondering why I have called you here as well. With a heavy heart, I wanted to ask you and your friends to participate in our war effort, to help save Equestria once more.” Celestia said, which caused an immediate reaction from Markus.

“WHAT?! Princess, you can’t be serious! I mean, Rainbow Dash would be understandable, since she is a wonderbolt cadet, but the others? They are just civilians!”

“That may be correct, but they are also our most powerful weapon, as you may know.” Celestia said back.

“A weapon that can turn corrupted ponies back into loyal subjects, yes, but these Gryphons aren’t corrupted! They are our enemies, BECAUSE they are loyal subjects!” Markus almost shouted, as he slowly grew more agitated.

“They are also very capable of defending themselves if need-be.” Celestia added.

“Against small groups of enemies, yes, but we are talking about a whole ARMY and-“

“ENOUGH!” Celestia interrupted him with a use of her Royal Canterlot Voice, “I have made my decision and you are in no place to question it!”

Her anger faded quickly, making way for a look of utter shock at her own words.

“Very well. I have voiced my objection, but I adhere to your orders, your highness.” Markus said flatly, turning on the spot and marching back to us.

“If you are so concerned about the Elements then I will gladly put them under your care.” Celestia added quickly, eliciting a quick ‘yeah, thanks’ from Markus.

“Whooee, don’t worry, Markus, I’m sure we’ll do just fine.” Applejack tried to calm him, but managed only the opposite.

“You know, it is exactly this innocent enthusiasm that worries me the most…”

---

After the meeting was over, Markus returned to his unit and all the guards assembled themselves in a large formation in the central plaza of Canterlot. A large pedestal was placed directly in front of them, on which we princesses stood, facing the formation.

It looked mostly like a gigantic blob of white and gold, with only four segments sticking out. Namely it were the Solar guard on the left, which wore a large, orange saddlecloth underneath their armour, which additionally had a silvery colour instead of the standard gold. Then there was the Lunar Guard to the right, who wore their standard dark blue Armour with fin-like protrusions on their helmets, as well as having their coats coloured a dark grey. Also there were the crystal guard, shimmering slightly on the front left of the formation, wearing their light pink armour. And lastly, of course, there was Markus’s company, standing on the front right in their woodland camouflage uniforms and with their coats coloured a deep brown.

While I was busy looking over the guards, Celestia walked to the front end of the pedestal and delivered a speech.

“My little ponies, I am certain that rumors have already made their way into your ears and sadly, I am here to confirm them. Yes, the Gryphon Empire has declared war upon us and is violating our beloved homeland this very instant. As a ruler, of course, I am concerned about the future of Equestria, of the nation that my sister and I have built over the centuries, but that sorrow is vastly overshadowed by my concern over those poor ponies that may not have fled quickly enough and are now trapped under foreign rule. We cannot allow our little ponies to come to harm and that’s why we ask your service in this dreadful moment. We ask of you no less than to aid our cause in keeping Equestria safe and if necessary do so with your very life. It is not a simple thing to ask and I shall respect everypony’s decision if they wish to drop out. So I ask you now: are you willing to heed our call?”

A collective ‘YES, Princess!’ erupted from the formation.

“You have my sincere thanks. Now, follow your leaders! Sally out and free those poor ponies from our enemies!”

With that, the whole formation set into motion and we followed close behind, as Markus and his ponies boarded a train and went for the front lines.

---

During the first week, not much happened. Like my brother had planned, we made some brief defensive stances and retreated as soon as the enemy began to overwhelm us. This held our losses at a very minimal level and also meant that we Elements actually never came to fight.

That is, until the first week ended and we were called to attack. Markus was tasked to secure the town of Trottingham and so, we made haste to reach it. As soon as we were there, Markus ordered Bulkhead and Overdrive to secure the buildings around us, while Mystic, Markus and us were moving along the main road into the town square. We didn’t encounter a single enemy on our way, which seemed to gravely unsettle Markus and Mystic. In fact, we didn’t encounter anypony at all…

When we reached the square, Bulkhead and Overdrive re-joined our group to receive new orders, while we looked around a bit.

The town square was a large plaza with shops set up around it and roads coming in from every cardinal direction except one, where there was a large church instead. I went to study the church’s construction and briefly noted that Overdrive and Mystic had received order from Markus to secure the rest of the city, while Bulkhead was to establish a perimeter.

Those orders, however, never were fulfilled, as their actions were interrupted by a low whirling sound, followed by a large boulder impacting in the middle of the plaza. Markus immediately screamed for us to take cover, an order which everypony quickly followed. Everypony, but I.

More boulders followed, quickly developing into an outright hailstorm of rocks and yet, I still didn’t manage to move. Suddenly, I heard a loud impact from above me, which was finally enough to free me from my trauma, but it was too late…

A few falling bricks already hinted at the worst and I looked upwards just to see the massive belfry of the church come falling down towards me. I closed my eyes, certain that my end has come.

I had already laid down my life, when a sudden crack emanated from my far right and I was suddenly slammed out of the way, just before the belfry hit the ground in a loud crash. At first, I thought that Rainbow had come to help me in the last second, but I quickly noticed that I wasn’t feeling the texture of fur, but of a uniform.

I opened my eyes and saw that it was indeed Markus who had saved me from being crushed to death, but I could not comprehend, how he did that.

“That? Oh well, it’s actually quite simple. You know, recently I found out that I can’t just form shapes with my magic, but actually use it to propel myself by placing it under or behind me and moving it around. Though, in all seriousness, I don’t know how the g-forces on that one didn’t kill me. I mean I went from a complete standstill to supersonic in literally no time and yet, I am still alive… well, magic, I guess…”

As he finished this statement, we noticed that the hailstorm had abruptly ceased, something that Markus found very strange. He sent Rainbow up to see if she could find any Gryphons in close vicinity. She went off and almost immediately came back with wide eyes and a nervous stammer.

“Gryphons… Close… Coming…”

Markus reacted quickly, forming a plan to defend our position.

His plan was to utilize the plaza as a large trap. He would place some of his soldiers in the buildings around it, while a few soldiers and he would act as a decoy to lure the gryphons into the middle, so they could be fired upon from all sides at once. That meant that those who were in the middle would not only have to face the enemy in melee, but also be threatened by friendly fire, so he was now searching for volunteers.

My friends and I volunteered almost immediately for the job, but he wanted us to hide inside the buildings instead, so I pulled the old princess order again. Oh, how foolish I was…

He found his volunteers and the rest scuttled into the buildings just in time for the Gryphons to reach the plaza and lay eyes upon us.

With a loud screech, they charged towards us, some flying low, others running on the ground. The other volunteers fired as much they could and the Gryphons answered with arrows. I quickly built a magic shield around us to protect us from them, but I wasn’t fast enough, as I suddenly heard a pain-filled scream behind me.

I looked around and saw with horror that Applejack was lying on the ground, an arrow firmly lodged in her flank. Fluttershy quickly moved to help her, but couldn’t remove the arrow, for risk of making the wound even bigger.

Soon, the Gryphons reached the plaza, where they moved to completely surround us before engaging us in close combat. The ponies in the buildings immediately opened fire as soon as the circle was closed, but that didn’t stop the Gryphons from pulling us into the fight. Soon, we all were engaged in melee combat, although on our part, that would be best described as ‘trying to survive’.

Rainbow immediately went off to try the same stunt she had pulled in the Everfree, but was almost immediately thrown to the ground by another Gryphon, where they then wrestled with each other.

Markus took on multiple opponents at once, almost recklessly slashing through the hordes with Gryphons coming in from behind him almost continuously. Though, every time they tried to hit his back, their blades just seemed to bounce off of a suddenly appearing black panel, which vanished just as fast as it came before Markus turned around and struck a blow of his own towards his opponent. It was only after a few of these displays that I realized that it was indeed Markus’s own magic that was creating these ‘shields’, if you so will.

I, meanwhile, was fending off the Gryphons with blast after blast of stun spell, but they seemed completely unaffected. Every time I hit them, they flew back a bit and then almost immediately got back up again.

Pinkie was using her party cannon as a weapon again and was actually doing pretty decent with it. Until a Gryphon managed to sneak behind her, that is. I barely managed to call out to her, before he made a slash towards her chest. She tried to evade, but didn’t manage in time, causing the blade to rip a large, oozing gash into her coat. She fell to the ground, writhing in pain and the Gryphon went to finish her off, but was luckily blasted away by a spell from Rarity, before she then tended to Pinkie.

Slowly but surely, this whole situation came down on me like the bricks in a barely maintained ceiling. The pained moans from Applejack, Pinkie’s cries, the screams of Ponies and Gryphons around me, it all hammered at my psyche, slowly breaking it like a dome of glass.

I finally couldn’t take it anymore. I didn’t want other ponies to be hurt, I didn’t want my friends to be hurt, I didn’t want MARKUS to be hurt. So, in a purely emotion-fuelled notion, I charged my horn with a deadly blast of magic and unleashed it upon the gryphons. I don’t know how many I killed and, frankly, I don’t want to know either. I just know that, when my blast ceded, so did the fighting and the remaining Gryphons fled.

We all assembled and my friends and I embraced each other in a group hug, happy that we were still alive. All, but Rainbow. I quickly looked around, fearing the worst, but was relieved to see that she was sitting a few hooves away in front of a dead Gryphon and was… crying?

Markus seemed to notice as well and so we quickly went to her. However, before we could ask her why she was crying, we saw the answer ourselves, for the Gryphon before her was none other than… Gilda.

We all stopped and stood in silence behind her as we noticed this. None of us dared move, except Markus, who went to her side and knelt down beside her. He then moved to place a hand on her shoulder, but as soon as he did, she whirled around and pressed herself against him in a desperate hug.

“I-I… I didn’t want…!” She sobbed heavily, barely managing to get words out at all. “I… didn’t… want… kill…” She cried out, her tears freely flowing and wetting Markus’s Uniform. We other’s couldn’t keep our eyes dry either, only Markus remained as calm as always.

“I know… she was a jerk, but… She was… still… friend…” Her last barrier finally fell and she didn’t bring out another word, only managing to cry out her soul into Markus’s chest. He didn’t stop her. He didn’t try to say anything, as we all knew that it would be useless. He just sat there, providing a literal shoulder to cry on for Rainbow.

Slowly, her cries faded to sobs and her sobs then went into heavy breaths, before she finally went into a quiet mourning.

“Markus?” She mumbled in a shaky voice. “I-I don’t want to lose any more friends… I don’t want to lose you! Please tell me that you won’t go anywhere… that you won’t leave us…”

“Rainbow, of course I won’t go away. I will always be there and watch over you.”

“Do you promise?”

“I promise.”

“Pinkie Promise!”

Markus smiled briefly and gave a sigh, before making the unbreakable promise. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. There, all good now?”

“hmmhmm.” Came from Rainbow and she nodded, curling herself a bit deeper into Markus’s chest and staying like this. Meanwhile, I looked over to the rest of our friends, or rather, what was left of them.

Applejack still had that Arrow sticking out of her flank, which was only covered up by a few bandages to keep her from bleeding out. Her movement was severely hindered by this, causing her to make a very wobbly limp rather than actually walking.

Rarity’s coat was dotted with red and blue marks, some from blunt hits, some from cuts which bled out into her coat. Her mane was completely dishevelled, her horn was showing severe signs of wear and also, she was sporting a very unladylike swollen eye.

Fluttershy seemed mostly okay at first glance, but a closer look at her wings and mane showed that not even her innocence kept the Gryphons from trying to harm her. Her mane had some ripped hairs in a few places and some of her feathers were broken in half.

The one who was hit the worst, though, was Pinkie. She didn’t even stand in our group, but lay a few hooves away, unconscious. The cut on her chest was still covered in blood, even though the wound seemed to have been closed by Unicorn Magic. She didn’t move. The only sign that she was still alive was her chest, which was going up and down ever so slightly.

It was then that I finally realized how foolish I had truly been. That I just couldn’t see that this wasn’t like calming an ursa minor and bringing it back into the Everfree. It wasn’t like defeating Sombra in the Crystal Empire or our usual fight with an Everfree monstrosity. This was something entirely different. This was war…

Author's Notes:

Let's go to war... LET'S GO TO WAR!!!! ^^

Yep, the war is on now, which not only means that the situation of the story has changed, but also that I will make a change in my upload cylce. namely, I will from now on upload two linked chapters in one go, one being a battle-report from Markus, while the other is a more personal assessment of the situation from either Markus or Mystic Gem. In any case, you can look forward to it, 'cause I have quite a few good things planned for it ^^

Bi-weekly Report to the Crown #1

As per CptotG* Shining Armor’s plan, the 4^th Forward Reconnaissance Company has spent the first week of the war on a constant tactical retreat, fighting only when the opposing forces could be dealt with from afar.

When the first phase was over and the second Phase began, General Pillbox tasked us with securing the town of Trottingham together with the Elements of Harmony, though their impact on the outcome can largely be ignored, with Twilight Sparkle being the only one of note by giving the Gryphon Forces the final motivation for their withdrawal. After the battle, the Elements of Harmony decided to relocate back to the home front due to them having been heavily wounded – both, physically and mentally.

The total losses on our side of the battle lay at eight heavily wounded, out of which one was incapacitated, as well as a further six lightly wounded and no KIAs. The Gryphon’s losses are estimated to number around a hundred.

An important note to make would be that the whole town seemed vacant, with not even our later in-depth searches turning up any traces or hints about the whereabouts of the local population.

---

General Pillbox sent the 6^th heavy company to defend Trottingham after we’d successfully captured it, while we were ordered to use our momentum and advance further, into a village called ‘Hoovesville’ further to the north-west, which was held by a small garrison force. We managed to surprise the enemy and force them to flee without suffering any casualties.

The Village was thoroughly searched and we found the local population, as well as some refugees from Trottingham hiding in the buildings. I suggest interrogating them to gain intel about the possible locations of the remaining ponies.

Our following task was to remain in the village to wait for the 5^th heavy company to arrive and set up defences around the town.

The enemy launched a counter-attack on us the day after our successful attack, which we managed to repel.

In total, 26 of my ponies were wounded in battle, out of which eight need further medical attention, with, as of current, no fatal injuries and no KIAs. The villagers were successfully defended with only one having sustained a sprained ankle from tripping over a body after the battle.

The enemy casualties could not be determined.

I decided to overrule the General’s orders and withdraw from the village, taking the villagers with us and handing them over to the 5^th, with which we met up on the go. At the time of writing this report, we have been reassigned to a defensive position for the time being.

---

Comment by 1^st Lt. Lucky Throw of the 5^th heavy company

Of course, it came as a surprise to see them coming our way at first, but when I saw the state the 4^th Recon was in, it was actually quite understandable that they chose to withdraw. Only about half of them were still free of any bandages. Some of them were limping, others had to lean on their comrades and eight of them were even carried on ponyback, because they couldn’t walk themselves anymore.

With them, they were taking several civilians out of the village that lay ahead and after a short discussion I agreed to take charge of them. You probably can’t imagine the massive… feedback we got, when we took them back to the exact same village they had just fled from.

Speaking of the village, what we saw there was truly the stuff that nightmares are made of. What must have happened there cannot be called a simple battle, but a massacre! At first, we only saw sporadically placed gryphon corpses, which grew in density the closer we got to the village, which was fairly normal. However, what we saw INSIDE the village was absolutely horrifying.

There weren’t many bodies. At least not many that we could identify. Those that we could identify, however, were heavily burnt. And as if that wasn’t enough, there was a heavy stench that smelled like a combination of burned flesh and that smell when you walk past the chemistry wing of the royal academy.

Some of the houses were burning and so were the patches of grass and flowers that once decorated the village centre. Speaking of which, it was the village centre, where we found the most terrifying thing of all. In front of the village hall, there was a large patch of molten ground from where there were multiple smaller molten patches leading away from it and along the path they formed, we found multiple sets of heavily charred armour and weapons and even some barely maintained bones and splotches of blood and other bodily liquids.

Whatever the 4^th had unleashed there, at that time I was just glad that they were on our side…

Author's Notes:

*Just in case it isn't obvious: CptotG means 'Captain of the Guard'.

Ch34: A Heated Battle

POV: Mystic Gem

Even though it lasted for only about 5 minutes, the battle of Trottingham was intense all the same. The Gryphons fought like they had no other reason to live and even as we took them on from two sides, they still wouldn’t retreat. Only when Princess Twilight blasted a few of them with her magic did they finally flee.

The Damages caused by the battle were very low, considering that we were heavily outnumbered. The only ones who really had a hard time keeping up the pace were the Elements of Harmony, which may be a shock to most others considering their status, but to be honest, none of us really expected them to do much and some of us were even surprised that they were actually still alive in the end.

Well, actually calling it ‘alive’ might already be a bit of a stretch, considering that Miss Pinkie Pie was only kept alive by unicorn magic and yes, I know that Twilight has said something else, but you’ve got to take into account that she was also severely traumatized, the poor thing. The truth is that she hadn’t merely sustained a single cut, but was actually stabbed twice and was then struck from front to aft across her belly. Not a pretty sight, I can tell ya.

Anyways, in the end, the wounds they had received – physically as well as mentally – made even them realize that they may be able to handle the Everfree, but not the atrocities that come with war. Though, to be fair: Neither did I at that time, but at least, I was trained to fight.

The Elements thus decided that they were not fit for the battlefield and, when the 6^th arrived a few days later, they went home, while we went in the opposite direction, further into enemy territory. To be exact, our next target was the village of Hoovesville, though to be fair: while it was still listed as a village, it had actually been a small town already, with a small plaza in front of their Town Hall, multiple shops of different kinds and even a bar and a pizzeria!

Anyways, we arrived there during the early night hours, which was quite beneficial for us, as the town was occupied by the Gryphons. They had set up multiple sentries at the entrances and on the rooftops watching the roads, but none of them seemed to watch the sky. The Captain took note of this and thus quickly formulated the plan to have our pegasi ambush them from the air.

I would describe the battle that took place, but the truth is that what happened there couldn’t even really be called a ‘battle’. The Gryphons were completely unprepared and offered little to no resistance. Our Pegasi were outside of their bow’s reaches and everypon- euh, everygryphon, who tried to get into the air, was quickly shot down.

In the end, our pegasi didn’t even suffer a scratch, while the Gryphons were forced to flee. And yes, it was actually fleeing and not a tactical withdrawal.

We went into the village and the first thing we did was sweep the houses to see if anygryphon was still hiding in there. We didn’t find any Gryphons, but we found a whole lot of civilians that hadn’t managed to flee in time and were held captive. Some of them were actually refugees from Trottingham, which suggested that the Gryphons had dispersed and deported the local population.

However, that wasn’t our concern at the time, as we had our orders and anything that wasn’t part of them didn’t matter. I know it might sound cruel, but that’s how the military works.

After we had secured all the buildings and provided for the civvies, we held a strategy meeting. I remember asking the captain about our role, as rushing through the enemy lines didn’t seem like what forward reconnaissance was supposed to do.

“It really seems weird, doesn’t it? Well, to be fair, I don’t know what to think of it myself, as on one hand it is exactly what I’ve trained you for, but on the other hand it makes me question if General Pillbox actually knows how to use forward reconnaissance.” Was all he said to that.

The rest of the meeting was actually far more serious though, as the Gryphon’s quick ‘withdrawal’ suggested that they were planning on attacking us later with higher numbers. The captain thus ordered us to dig in around the outer edges of the town and also prepare a few positions inside the town, just in case.

At this point, I would say that it felt like the siege at Zebraville, where Major Thin Line and his forces defended against a horde of local militia, but it wouldn’t really be correct. First of all: the area around the town was very hilly, which meant that we couldn’t see very far. Second of all: Major Thin Line was fighting against a horde of almost untrained locals, with a few mercenaries in-between, while we would take on the fully-trained Gryphon Army.

Our worries were confirmed the next morning, as our sentries spotted several Gryphon scouts and we barely managed to get into our positions for the first wave to hit us.

It was a relatively small wave with only about sixty to 100 Gryphons attacking us and it was thus repelled with relative ease. What followed was another wave with easily double if not triple the Gryphons. They stormed us with all their might and actually reached the village, so that we had to fall back and engage in close combat.

They came in from the northern and western entrances and I was tasked with holding the north together with Bulkhead. They stormed against our line like their lives were as expendable as the arrows they shot at us and soon, they had reached even the inner line and forced us to fight up close. At least that’s what they wanted, but Squad four, led by Private ‘Nambs’, managed to stall them for a good bit longer than they could’ve afforded.

What they did was that they made use of the old wooden buildings that lined the street that we were defending and when I gave permission to execute their plan, they positioned themselves in the upper levels on both sides and destroyed the support beams that were holding the walls in place, causing them to fall outwards and onto the Gryphons.

Admittedly though, the Gryphons weren’t the only ones that were distracted, but I was as well. This nearly cost me my life, as a Gryphon tried to make use of it by throwing a Spear towards me.

When I noticed the incoming projectile, it was already too late for me to do anything and the only reason that I am still alive today is that Bulkhead stepped in. He placed himself directly between me and the spear, caught it in his magic and threw it back at the Gryphon who threw it. But he didn’t stop there. He actually remained in place and defended me from a few more Gryphons who tried to finish what their comrade had started.

Finally, they were ordered to withdraw and we could catch a breath. A breath that Bulkhead promptly used to lecture me about spacing out on the battlefield.

Suddenly, something big impacted into the buildings next to us and we barely managed to realized what it was, when a gigantic barrage of rocks came hailing down upon us. We reacted quickly and herded the civvies together as fast as we could, so we could then shield them with our magic while the Pegasi took off to deal with the threat.

It felt like hours that we stood there, even though it had likely just been ten to fifteen minutes. Eventually, the rocks stopped coming and we lowered our shield, but that didn’t mean that the tensions were gone as well.

Suddenly, I felt something blunt impact with my flank, sending me to the ground and I immediately saw our earth ponies and unicorns around me train their guns on a stallion that was suddenly standing behind me.

“LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE TO OUR VILLAGE!” He started to scream. “DO YOU EVEN KNOW HOW LONG IT TOOK TO BUILD ALL THIS?!”

I was about to tell this stallion quite a lot, I mean we’d just saved their lives and this was their thanks? However, the captain stepped in before I did something stupid.

“I am very sorry for your loss. I will make sure that a few engineers will come here to help you rebuild this place.”

The stallion still seemed dissatisfied. It appeared that he wanted to say a lot more, but before he could do that, the captain pulled out one of his trump cards. He just looked down at the stallion. It might not sound like a trump card right now, but that’s only because you haven’t ever seen him do that. When he stared you down, it did something to you. Like he was looking directly into the deepest depths of your soul and telling it directly that you had no chance. That all resistance was futile and you better stepped down before worse would happen.

The stallion did exactly that and slowly stepped back, making some weird scoff to try and look dignified. The captain then immediately turned to me and asked me if I was hurt, to which I could thankfully say no. I then looked back after the stallion, with a single question floating through my head.

“What was that all about? I mean, we literally just saved their lives and that’s the thanks?”

The captain now looked after him as well, although he didn’t seem like he was looking at anything at all.

“Don’t let it get to you. It’s just that to these ponies, we aren’t the ones who saved their lives, but the ones who destroyed their homes. They don’t see what was saved, but only what was destroyed and blame us for it. Though, frankly, this kind of people isn’t the worst, by far.”

I looked over to him in disbelief. There were ponies who were worse than this? He in turn, only smiled down to me. It almost shocked me a bit, as it wasn’t his normal smile, but a very sad one. This was actually the first time that I had seen him display something like sadness.

“I know what you’re thinking and yes, there are worse. Back in my old world, there were people who would just generally demonize whoever dared to carry a weapon. They didn’t know who these people were. They hadn’t witnessed what these people did. All they knew was that their job was to fight and therefore: evil. None of them seemed or even wanted to realize that in some cases, these soldiers were actually the only reason that they were still alive and could make these claims…”

We both then just looked into the distance, none of us looking at anything in particular. We would have sat there for quite a while longer, if a sudden call from above hadn’t ripped us from our trance.

It was our Pegasi team that was coming back from their mission, but something was off. They made haste to land and it was then that I saw the panicked looks on their faces and I immediately knew that something bad would happen.

I quickly ordered my ponies to pony their positions, just in time to hear the enemy approaching. And yes, I heard them or rather their hoofsteps. It turned out that the enemy general finally had enough and was now sending everything. And with everything, I mean EVERYTHING!

I don’t know, how many it were exactly, but it were at least a thousand if not more. They came swarming down the hill like a massive wave that was slowly washing ashore, only that they wouldn’t just flow back after a few seconds.

We defended ourselves as good as we could, but we were too heavily outnumbered to hold our ground. We fell back to the main plaza, where we could concentrate our defences more effectively, but even that didn’t seem to work. That was, when the captain surprised me with an order. He ordered us to slowly retreat into the town hall and cover ourselves and the civvies with heat shields. Yes, heat shields.

I had many questions to this, but by far not enough time to ask them all, so I just did what he said. We rallied up all the civilians and brought them into the town hall, before we covered the whole building in a gigantic heat shield.

The captain remained outside and was quickly surrounded by the Gryphons. He asked to meet their general, which they agreed to.

The General was about as large as the captain was, with a white head, grey body and a scar covering his left eye. He stepped forth between his subordinates, smiling as if he had won already.

“So, I take it you want to surrender?”

Now, the captain was smiling as well, though his was an evil, almost devilish smile.

“No... I just needed to know, whom to kill first…”

Suddenly, the captain was enveloped in some sort of black mist, which slowly started to glow.

The ground below him slowly became liquid as the glow and heat around him increased in intensity. When a certain point was reached, he started to walk towards the General. Every step caused a small flame to erupt and instantly left a molten footstep in the ground.

The General seemed frozen in place by the display, as the captain slowly made his way towards him.

Then, the captain held out his arm and as soon as he made contact with the General, he burst into a cloud of steam, blasting his helmet and armour away and causing the Gryphons and us to wince back.

The Gryphons then started to flee, but it was no use. The captain used his magic to quickly zig-zag through their lines, vaporizing those he came into contact with, while the poor bastards who happened to stand too close to him started burning alive from the heat.

Soon, the massive Gryphon Army that had surrounded us was reduced to a few steaming sets of armour, many burning bodies and a handful that managed to escape. The captain cooled off, literally, before he came to us and had us do a casualty report.

We were hit heavily, sure, but definitely not as heavily as the Gryphons were. Still, the captain decided that we could not hold our position in our current state and that some of us needed medical assistance. Thus, we blindfolded the foals and those who couldn’t bear the sight of the aftermath and left the village.

The stench of burning flesh hung heavy over us, even after we left the village. A few vomited directly after the doors were opened. One of them even managed to trip and sprain his ankle because the strong smell disoriented him.

We met the 5^th on the way back and they took over the civilians while we made our way back to HQ. Needless to say, Pillbox wasn’t all-too happy that we decided to abandon our position, even though he could clearly see that we could be happy to not have suffered any fatalities.

Still, after that we were stationed to the rear for a while, where our wounded could heal… and we others would bore our flanks off…

Author's Notes:

Yes, I mutilated Pinkie. Yes, I referenced the siege at Jadotville. Yes, I've 'ponified' Quinlan as Thin Line. Yes, I am pleased with myself.

Bi-weekly report to the Crown #2

The General gave us one week of rearward assignment, before sending us back to Hoovesville despite my advice to let my soldiers rest another week.

In Hoovesville, we were immediately given order to prepare an attack on a nearby encampment, the garrison of which heavily outnumbered our company. Here be noted that I pointed this out towards General Pillbox, but he chose to dismiss it.

Thus, using the maps we had available, I formulated a plan to make a fake-attack from the open fields to the south, while a small fighting force would use the nearby forest to position themselves behind the enemy and attack them from the rear. To increase our chances of success, I sent a team of scouts led by Lt. Overdrive, who volunteered for the mission.

According to the information they brought back, I made adaptations to my plan and launched it the following night. However, the information had proven incorrect, likely because the enemy had spotted our scouts.

By the time our flanking force arrived, the enemy was already lying in wait inside the forest and forced them into close combat. Meanwhile, the diversion force had been led into a trap, where the enemy forces tried to encircle us, which we barely managed to evade. Seeing that my plan had failed and not wanting to risk unnecessary losses, I ordered a retreat as soon as possible.

The total casualties on our side were: 20 lightly wounded, 12 heavily wounded, 4 MIA, 0 KIA.

The enemy casualties could not be determined.

We withdrew back towards Hoovesville and dug in, as the Gryphons will likely use our weakened state and attack us within the next few days.

Ch35: Ignorance and Failure

POV: Mystic Gem

General Pillbox sent us out after only a week of rest for our wounded and yes, I know, going by my conclusion on the last one, I should have been happy to finally get to move again, but in that moment, I certainly wasn’t. And rightfully so, as only a few of the ‘lightly’ wounded could actually be called ‘combat ready’ by then, not to speak of those eight ponies, who were heavily wounded.

The captain didn’t like the idea either and he made this unmistakeably clear towards the General. Honestly we all thought he would be demoted from this, but all he ever got was a stubborn ‘no’ from the General. Albeit that his formulation was quite a bit more colourful.

The reason for his stubbornness seemed to be that he wanted to move his command post further towards the front, namely into the village of Hoovesville, and he couldn’t do that while we were still assigned to the old post. Honestly, to this day I don’t know what our assignment had to do with the command post, but going by my experience with the General, it probably isn’t even worth asking.

Anyways, the captain reluctantly adhered to the general’s orders and gave order to sally out towards Hoovesville – again. The reaction of our poor soldiers was about as positive as the captain’s was, but orders are orders and so we made ready.

The new command post was set up in a small hut a short trot away from the actual village, inside a small patch of forestry. The General seemed pleased when we finished setting things up, so we were in high hopes that he wouldn’t come up with something else.

However, the seemingly unreasonable relocation of us wouldn’t stay the only idiotic order the general gave that day. In fact, he gave another one that was far more idiotic than anything I had ever heard before and the captain seemed to think likewise.

It seemed like there was a large encampment of the Gryphons toward the north-west, behind a forest. This encampment was to be our target. I probably won’t have to explain that attacking an encampment that we would call ‘large’ with a force, consisting of only 60 ponies, even if we were trained by the captain, was absolutely horseapples! Not to mention the fact that out of these 60, eight were still unable to fight.

Again, the general was stubborn and didn’t even try to see reason within our complaints. It honestly felt like he didn’t care about his subordinates at all!

The captain, again, reluctantly followed his orders and came up with a plan that would at least give us a chance of success. His plan was to have two platoons create a distraction, while the other would use the forest as cover and attack them from the rear.

Now, of course the captain was no idiot. He knew that our chances of victory were slim and that a simple plan wouldn’t be enough to make up for all our disadvantages. Thus, he asked for volunteers to go ahead and scout out the enemy beforehoof.

Overdrive basically jumped into his face as soon as he said that and his begs and pleas reminded me of a hyperactive filly or even Pinkie Pie. So, Overdrive was the one to carry out the mission. Though, the captain insisted that he take at least four of his soldiers with him and so the five brave ponies went off onto their mission.

They returned a few hours later with detailed information about their numbers and positions and so, we attacked the following night.

At first, everything seemed to go just as planned. The number of patrols was small and the camp seemed mostly empty as well. The sentries didn’t see us just yet and there was no sign that the flanking platoon has been spotted either. At this point be noted that the flankers were led by Overdrive, while Bulkhead, the captain and I were going in from the front.

Suddenly, we heard shots coming from the forest behind the camp and at once, the whole camp was swarmed with Gryphons that didn’t seem like they were sleeping just a second ago. Quite the opposite, they seemed like they had been lying in wait this whole time.

I didn’t have time to think about that, though, as suddenly, we found ourselves almost completely encircled by Gryphons and arrows started to rain down on us. Our Unicorns quickly put up shields, but it was a little too late, as we could already hear our comrades scream that they’ve been hit.

The Gryphons closed the distance while we tried to keep them away with everything we had, but it was no use. They were too many and I could see in everyponies eyes that either the captain would lead an orderly retreat or we would soon fall into chaos.

Luckily, he did just that. He quickly let us form an arrow shape and we broke through the enemy formation, making a beeline towards the forest and back towards Hoovesville, where we re-grouped with Alpha.

“Alright, casualty reports from every platoon, ASAP.” The captain ordered and we quickly obeyed.

In total, we now had 24 lightly wounded, 20 heavily wounded and 4 MIA. The 4 missing were all from platoon Alpha.

“Ok, can you tell me who exactly is missing?” The captain inquired.

“Dashlane, Speedy Arrows, Blueblossom and Lightning Rod, sir.” Overdrive replied almost immediately.

“Hey, aren’t those the ones that came with you on that scouting trip?” One of his soldiers remarked.

Overdrive turned around and gave a short look towards the stallion who pointed it out, before gazing out into nothingness in a short moment of concentrated thinking – something that didn’t occur often.

“Huh, yeah, they were. Well, maybe the Gryphons recognized them or something? Could be coincidence all the same.”

“Wait, how would the Gryphons recognize them? Come to think of it, why did you even fire so early? I thought the plan was to attack while we were distracting them?!” I asked confused.

Overdrive’s ears flattened backwards and he looked towards the ground in only the second display of shame I had ever seen from him.

“They were already lying in wait for us when we got there and… I can’t deny that this might be because we may have been spotted while scouting…” He trailed off.

We all stood in silence for a while after that. I didn’t really blame Overdrive for what happened, though. It was just dumb luck as far as I knew and that could happen to the best of us.

“Very well then… I think this concludes this night’s operation. See to it that our wounded are being cared for and tell the others to get some rest. Bulkhead, you are in charge of the night watch. I don’t think I need to tell you that you should pick those who are still in good shape.” The captain ordered and Bulkhead answered with a salute and a quick ‘yes sir’ before he went off.

---

The next morning the Captain, Bulkhead and I were looking around at the outer edges of the town to make a detailed defence plan. The reason for that was that the Gryphons didn’t seem to have followed us, which led to the conclusion that they had either given up chasing such a small force or, which was more likely, that they were preparing a larger offensive, now that they knew which position was only held by a smaller and heavily wounded force.

Somewhere along our inspection, Bulkhead and I got into an argument about our tactical approach when defending the town.

“Shouldn’t we try to ambush them in the forest? Like, make use of our camouflage ‘n stuff?” I asked and was immediately met with an answer from Bulkhead.

“That way we would leave the town undefended. What if they just went around us? They could just go into the town and claim it their own!”

“Yeah, maybe, but if we were to set up defences right here, we would pull them into the fight yet again! Remember their reaction the last time we were here? I don’t really want another hoofmark on my flank, you know?” I said back.

“The fifth is still here! They could take the civilians out and protect them while we defend the town!” He argued.

“Yeah, the fifth is still here! They could defend the town while we ambushed the Gryphons in the forest!” I argued back.

“Enough!” The Captain stepped in. “If you would fight the Gryphons with the same energy you fight each other with, we would have won this war by now. As for our plan: both of your proposals have their advantages and disadvantages. If we were to stay here, we would have a secured position where we definitely knew that the Gryphons would come here, while on the other hand, we wouldn’t be able to play out all our strengths. Meanwhile, if we were to ambush them, we would have a vast tactical advantage and would be able to play our strengths, though it would require the enemy to attack from the forest. I will make my decision based on the situation when the time comes. For now, let’s head back into town.”

We walked back along the western road towards the town centre, where we had set up camp for now. However, as we reached it, we were in for a somewhat nasty surprise.

The local townspeople were so kind to lend us medical aid and supplies, probably as thanks and as reparation for what they did the last time. The Guardsponies of the fifth meanwhile had taken over watch and were standing at key positions to watch over the town and the surrounding area.

The problem didn’t lie with them, though, but with our own ponies. They moved sluggishly, their heads hanging low and their faces downcast. Clear sings of low morale and I knew why.

Before then, we had only had victories, so suffering a defeat for the first time certainly put a damper on their mood. I can’t claim to be an entertainer or something either, so I didn’t know how to heighten their mood again.

That was when the captain surprised me yet again. He ran into the town hall and, after a short while, came out, pushing a piano. He then seated himself in front of it and started playing a short prelude, after which he continued to play and sing.

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above.
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love.
The love that asks no question,
The love that stands the test.
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best.

His playing and singing suddenly increased in intensity as he played/sung the next few lines.

The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
the love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

He played a short interlude after that. By now a large crowd had gathered, consisting of our own soldiers, as well as the ponies of the 5^th and civilians as well and we all prepared to join in, as the music of harmony finally kicked in and signalled the second verse.

And there’s another country I’ve heard of long ago.
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know.
We may not count her armies, we may not see her king.
Her fortress is our faithful heart, her pride is suffering.
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase
And her ways are ways of gentleness and all her paths are peace.

The effect of the song was visible almost immediately and directly after we’d finished singing, the captain changed to another song. It sounded almost like… a waltz?

Yep, the Captain had decided that it was the right time to dance a little, but nopony seemed to get the message. Either that or they were just too shy to be the first ones.

That was when I saw a hoof stretch out towards me. I looked to the side and saw Bulkhead hold out his hoof.

“May I ask for this dance, my lady?” He said, true to his nature.

I can’t deny that I felt flattered and maybe I even blushed a little. Nevertheless, I took his hoof and we set out towards the middle of the crowd.

When the first few ponies noticed what we were up to, they immediately made room for us and I could even see Pvt. ‘Broom’ give cheers as we started to dance in time with the music. The next ponies to join were Pvt. ‘Nambs’ and ‘Squeak’ and after them, the majority of the crowd joined in and we all shared a peaceful dance together.

At least for a few minutes. Sadly, just when the captain prepared to play a second piece, we heard the unmistakable yell of a wild, angry Pillbox.

“What in Equestria are you doing here?!” He screamed as he pushed his way through the crowd towards the captain, who stood up and saluted before him.

“Sir, I came to notice that the morale was low, so I took action against it.”

“So, just to heighten your troop’s morale, you start a party in the middle of a war?” The general fumed at him.

“Yes sir.” The captain replied.

Pillbox seemed not amused at all by this answer. His anger was firmly imprinted in his face and he started to scream at the captain. “Listen here, you incompetent bucker:…”

“Incompetent? Well, you’re one to talk…” I thought.

“We are on the front lines, the enemy could attack at any second, so you better get your ponies in position this instant or I’ll demote you right here! I don’t care if you’re the princess’s favourite, if you don’t obey my orders then you don’t have a place in my regiment, ARE WE CLEAR?!”

“Yes sir.” The captain replied, seemingly completely unfazed.

The General huffed and walked away while the Captain played a few last notes before he pushed the piano back into the town hall.

Now, one might think that the Captain remained completely neutral towards this whole thing or even the general by himself, however, those who paid attention found a very clear message of what he thought within those last few notes he played.

‘fac de g’

Author's Notes:

Note: the casualty figures of Mystic and Markus are different because Mystic counted all the wounded the company had, while Markus only took those who were wounded in the latest battle.

Bi-weekly Report to the Crown #3

The Gryphons gave us one week to prepare ourselves, during which I had Bulkhead place recon posts all over the forest so we would know quickly, which path the Gryphons chose.

They chose to attack from the forest to the north-west with an army that numbered at least six hundred. Their advance through the forest meant for them that they had to move in a tight formation, as they apparently chose to not fly, probably for risk of being detected.

I used the forest to my advantage and prepared an ambush along their chosen path. The ensuing battle couldn’t even be called a battle anymore, as the Gryphons didn’t have the chance to attack.

Our losses in this battle numbered none for my company and 2 Officers and General Pillbox over all.

General Pillbox and his two officers died in fulfilment of their duty. After the defeat a week prior, they finally saw reason and chose to re-formulate their plans while I would defend the citizens your royal highness has ordered us to protect.

Unfortunately, I have partially failed in my task, as a small group of Gryphons managed to slip by our sentries and attack the command post that was undefended at the time. Pillbox as well as his two officers were attacked by surprise, none of them having had a chance to draw their swords as their heads were smashed in from behind. The Gryphons then set fire to the command post, which only then made us notice what was happening there.

When I arrived at the scene, the post was burning brightly and I stormed inside only to find the lifeless bodies of the three brave ponies. With a heavy heart, I left their bodies in the flames and chose to save the remains of the momentarily more important tactical and strategical maps and plans that the Gryphons had left behind.

Despite our differences, General Pillbox was an honourable Stallion. His death shall be mourned and his legacy shall be carried forth into distant generations, for his family can truly be proud that a stallion like him has sprung forth from their ranks.

Ch36: RE;alignment

POV: Markus

Father, forgive me, for I have sinned… I have committed a grave sin against your holy rule and am willing to accept the punishment that awaits me for it.

It all began during the second defence of Hoovesville. After our offensive had failed, we prepared to be met by an attack ourselves. As part of these preparations, I had Bulkhead place sentries throughout the forest which would alert us of any movement our enemy would make.

Six days after I gave said order, the first sentry reported in that the Gryphons had begun marching along the road leading in from the north-west. Going by this, I followed through with a prepared plan to set up an ambush along the road they were using, in order to make full use of our higher flexibility and superior camouflaging capabilities.

The Gryphon army numbered around six hundred troops, which were arranged in six ranks, each a hundred gryphons deep. To make the ambush work, I had to spread my forces out thin in order to attack their whole length at once. This wouldn’t be a problem, however, as the advantage the forest gave us was nearly enough to make up for our few numbers and good tactical placement of my troops would do the rest.

Although… that wasn’t all there was to our victory. I had another ace up my sleeve. I am certain, you remember me talking about training pioneers? Well, firstly I have remembered that they are actually called ‘sappers’ in English and secondly, I had them make their first appearance in this very battle.

A small group, led by squad six of Platoon Alpha, consisting of Pvt. Broom, Nambs and Squeak, was tasked with hiding a few 37mm HE shells under the dirt of the road. These rounds were then rigged with magic, so their explosion could be triggered from afar.

With these preparations in place, we placed ourselves in the underbrush of the forest and waited patiently for our victims to arrive. When they did, we opened fire and blocked their path forward and backward and had our Unicorns raise barriers to prevent them from coming too close.

That and to shield us from the incoming explosion. On my mark, Mystic triggered the shells we had hidden under the dirt, causing a multitude of explosions to erupt along the path, engulfing the former Gryphon Army and leaving only a pile of burned and shattered corpses.

I couldn’t help but let a small smile creep across my lips, as I saw the plan work so perfectly. However, this smile would only last for so long, as I suddenly heard a terrified scream from behind me. I spun around and froze in horror, as I saw the very last thing I wanted to see.

The whole population of Hoovesville had apparently followed us into the forest, into the very zone that I didn’t want them to be in and were now watching in horror as the Gryphon Army was completely obliterated by us.

They panicked, seeking to hide themselves in the nearby forestry, where they would probably never have been found again. However, I would not let this happen. I gathered my officers and we quickly calmed them down and brought them back together, ensuring them that they were safe now and that the Gryphons were defeated.

Slowly, they regained their senses. When they had finally regained themselves enough, I chose to speak to the first Stallion that I could bring to answer.

“Say, what are you doing here? This is a battlezone, it’s no place for civilians like you.” I said to the still panting stallion.

“We-we didn’t know that the battle would take place here. We were told that the Gryphons were coming from the east and we should hide in the forest…” The Stallion answered.

“…Who said that?” I asked, my mood now quickly declining into a rage-like state.

“Th-The General.” Came the answer.

This was the last drop that brought me over the edge. I ordered Mystic and the others to take care of the civvies and the Gryphons, while I went to have a serious talk with Pillbox. However, as I came close to the door, I heard them talking and stopped to listen in on their conversation.

“Do you think it will work this time?” One of the officers asked.

“Yeah, using him as a scapegoat didn’t work last time, so why should it work now?” The other officer added.

“Relax, gentlemen. Not even the captain should have the resources to deal with such a sudden change and when he finally comes back and reports that those ponies were taken prisoner, we can blame him for his failure and earn ourselves some renown by freeing them again.” The General said in an almost cheerful sounding voice.

I decided to take this exact moment to make my entrance. “Gentlemen, I’m afraid your plan has failed.” I said as I slowly stepped through the door, causing the three ponies inside to go rigid.

“Yes, it indeed seems so…” The General stated, as he recovered from the initial shock. “Well, I’ve got to admit that you are a lot brighter than I’d like to credit you for. Truly, you would make a marvellous ally. What do you say? Will you join us?”

I was utterly disgusted by the proposal, but decided to play along for the sake of gathering information. “… Let’s say I was interested: What would be the purpose of our ‘alliance’?”

“Why, to further our renown, of course!” One of the officers answered. “After all, in this world, renown is almost a second currency and earning a medal or two certainly helps with the effort.”

“And that’s why you’ve endangered the very civilians we were meant to protect?”

The General chuckled. It was a dark, almost maniacal chuckle. “Captain Becker… I thought you would have noticed by now that Princess Celestia’s only concern is her Ponies’s well-being.”

“That, I have indeed noticed, but what does this have to do with your plan?” I inquired.

“Well, we can’t really rescue her little ponies, if there’s nopony to be rescued, isn’t there?” He implied.

“So you help things along a little by causing problems so you can come in yourself and save the day.” I concluded.

“EXACTLY! Isn’t this a truly brilliant plan? Oh, how the princess will-“

I didn’t let him finish. I didn’t need to hear any more, I didn’t want to hear any more. For the first time since my mother died, I felt a rush of emotion flow through me. Disgust, anger, disbelief, they all piled up to form a cacophony of feelings that combined themselves to form a strangely empty indifference. In this very moment, my mind told me that their lives had just become expendable. Not through rage, not through blind hatred, but through a cold clearness in my mind.

In a single, swift motion, I grabbed my pistol, pressed it against his head and ended his miserable life right there, before I made his two treacherous officers follow his example. I then took a plank out of the floor and smashed their heads in so the bullet holes couldn’t be found. I then took the three bullets as well as the most important maps and plans that I saw lying around, before I set fire to the location, letting their bodies be devoured by the flames.

I stepped out of the flames and into the path that lay behind, where Overdrive and Bulkhead were already storming towards me, asking what had happened.

I explained to them that we apparently had missed a few Gryphons and that the General and his officers had been killed by them. I used the same lie in my report to the princess.

Though, I have to clarify: I didn’t do this to mask my own actions. I am an honourable man and I have done what was necessary to ensure the safety of my protégées. However, the actions of Pillbox were not honourable in the slightest. What I did was an act of mercy towards the noble family of his, as else they would have suffered greatly from the dishonourable actions of their kinsman. Actions, which the high nobility of Canterlot would never forget, even if Celestia were to forgive them.

Yet, that doesn’t change that I have committed a sin. Father, forgive me, for I have reported falsely to those put into power by your wisdom and might. For I have acted against your rule and lied to those whom you have bestowed with the power to bring judgement and order to this world.

Author's Notes:

Welp... this chapter seems awfully short, doesn't it? Eh, I'll just make up for it in one of the next few chapters...

Bi-weekly Report to the Crown #4

The General was given a respectful parting ceremony as his corpse – or what was left of it – was taken back to Canterlot by cart. While he was transported back home, we made further advances into the enemy lines. The first step to that was the capture of the camp we had attempted on earlier – the last order of the General.

This time, however, there were far fewer Gryphons present, as we had slain all the others that had sallied out a few days prior. The rest was eliminated before they had time to respond and the camp was taken without casualties on our side.

The camp was thoroughly searched for valuable information, though none was found. What was found, however, were our four missing soldiers. Three of them were immediately ready for re-deployment, while the fourth, Private Lightning Rod, had been tortured for information. Apparently, the Gryphons were torturing him up until the day they sallied out. Even during our initial assault on the camp, he was already being tortured. According to his testimony, as well as the lack of a protocol, he held tight until we rescued him.

Due to heavy injury as well as possibly mental damage, I have sent him to a medical ward near Ponyville and I recommend an honourable discharge with a double Pension’s pay for his services to the crown.

After General Armor had taken direct command over our regiment, I’ve been given free hand in my operations for the most part. I used said freedom to make multiple smaller strikes along the front line in order to weaken the enemy for our other units to push through.

The enemy front lines collapsed partially, allowing us to make fast progress further northward. The City of Stalliongrad was retaken without a fight, as the enemy had chosen to abandon it.

However, said progress slowed drastically soon enough. The Gryphons had set up a retreat line along the Northern Stalliongrad Mountains, where they have set up defensive positions and light siege machinery, like ballistae. We have reached said line one day prior to writing this report and by the time I am writing this, we have made two attempts on breaking through, both of which ended in critical failure.

Total losses on our side: 1000+ lightly wounded, 58 heavily wounded, ~200 KIA
Losses in my company: 2 lightly wounded, 1 heavily wounded, 0 KIA

Enemy losses could not be determined.

Note: Due to our specialization on swift strikes, our company has not directly partaken in either of the attacks, instead giving fire support from further back. The three wounded were due to a stray ballista shot that hit close to our formation.

Ch37: Counter-Offensive

POV: Mystic Gem

When the report of Pillbox’s death reached Canterlot, they sent a carriage with three coffins for him and his two officers to be brought back home. At least, what was left of them. The fire had done quite a good job at making sure that none of us knew, which of these bodies actually belonged to the General, so we just made sure that there was a body per coffin and hoped that nopony would notice. The captain then ordered a short minute of silence in respect to the fallen General, even if we didn’t really like him.

Then, as soon as the carriage departed, the captain ordered us to move. Our target was the encampment further to the north-west that we had attempted to secure a few days prior. This time, however, there were far fewer Gryphons around than before and the Captain intended to use this to his advantage.

He let us take up position around the camp, completely surrounding it, before he then made use of our Pegasi again and let them attack the camp from above.

The camp immediately fell into absolute chaos. Those few who managed to take up arms offered what resistance they could before they were gunned down, while others tried to flee only to be taken prisoner by the rest of us.

All-in-all, we didn’t suffer a single casualty, while we captured seven Gryphons and killed twenty more. We then went into the camp and thoroughly searched it from top to bottom. To our pleasant surprise, we found our four missing ponies, out of which three were immediately taken back into our ranks.

However, the fourth, Private Lightning Rod wasn’t so lucky. He was tortured by the Gryphons to the point where he couldn’t even move his muzzle anymore, for risk of ripping the few shreds of skin he had left. The captain immediately requested assistance from the fifth, who were still nearby and who brought a carriage for him to be transported. Lightning Rod was then brought into a medical ward close to Ponyville, where he remained for the rest of the war.

I truly hold deep respect before this Stallion. Not only because he actually held tight, even though the Gryphons had basically reduced him to a bundle of flesh and bones, but also because of what came afterwards.

Lightning Rod was honourably discharged during his stay in hospital and offered a doubled pension for his deeds in the line of duty. However, he… refused. Instead he appeared in my ‘office` the day after he was released and slammed an application form onto my desk. He has recently been promoted to ‘Sargent’ and is now the leader of squad 4 of Charlie platoon.

But… I’m getting sidetracked… anyways: after Pillbox had fallen, General Shining Armor had taken direct command over our regiment and placed the captain as his deputy commander. This came as a surprise to all of us at first, seeing as they didn’t really like each other, however we came to the conclusion that this was purely due to his rank.

See: normally, a unit with the size of ours is led by a 1^st Lieutenant like I was at the time. This meant that all the other companies were actually led by 1^st Lieutenants, which made the captain the highest ranking officer directly after the General.

What didn’t come as a surprise was that we were released from the chain of command and given complete freedom of choosing our course of action. Obviously, they didn’t want to have to deal with one another, so they avoided having to contact one another.

The Captain was quick to utilize this freedom. As soon as the camp was cleared and garrisoned, he led us further into enemy territory and behind enemy lines. We then spent the following two to three days laying ambushes along their supply lines or attacking their defences from behind. Not with the goal of actually breaking their lines or capturing an important position, but to stir them up a bit.

In the end, it actually worked. Our attacks caused the Gryphon army to completely fall into chaos. In some places entire armies left their positions to defend another where we had previously been, but were long gone already. This caused massive holes to appear in their front lines, which our armies quickly pushed through.

After those three days, the entire Gryphon Army was on the retreat. We pushed them northward further and further back towards our original borders.

When we reached Stalliongrad, we prepared ourselves for a siege. A siege that never came. The local population had noticed their captor’s retreat and taken up arms against those few that were left.

When we reached the gates, we were greeted with cheers and smiling faces. Laughing foals came to bring us flowers and young mares came to greet our stallions with kisses and hugs. The captain gave us a few hours to indulge in the spoils that we were given before we continued our march to not lose too much of our momentum.

We pushed them back further and further into the north and it seemed as if our advance couldn’t be halted anymore. Sadly, we were wrong.

We reached the Northern Stalliongrad Mountains only about two days after we had passed Stalliongrad, but as we tried to cross them we were greeted by a flying wall of arrows that rained down upon us.

It turned out that the Gryphons had used the mountains as a defence line, which they had fortified. Nevertheless, we tried to keep our momentum and just wash them away like we had done the week prior, however the Gryphons were far too prepared for that and easily fended off our attack.

Thus, our advance came to a stop and the Stalliongrad Siege began – when I heard that they called it that, I actually found it quite amusing, given that Stalliongrad was never besieged.

Anyways, the problem with this whole siege was that General Armor was in Canterlot at the time and a few of the 1^st Lieutenants refused to listen to Captain Becker’s orders, which is why the first attack ended in such disaster. When the second attack was planned, the captain emphasized quite clearly that in order to win the battle, we had to rely on each other’s cover, so breaking formation would essentially be a death sentence.

A plan was formed, where the heavy companies would make another advance towards the enemy positions to try and create small holes in their defence. The light companies were to then utilize these holes to break through their lines and attack them from behind.

The other officers agreed to the plan, however they had a condition: They found that our company had already earned far too much glory and that it was their time to shine now. This was fine by the captain, seeing as our company wasn’t really made for sieges anyways, so we stood back and gave fire support.

However, I knew that the plan would fail. How did I know? Well, there were multiple signs that luck clearly wasn’t with us that day.

The first sign was that a stray ballista bolt just so happened to pass through a hole in our shield wall that was barely wide enough to stick your hoof through and gave one of our ponies a long, deep gash along his barrel, while two others were knocked off their feet from when it impacted the ground beside them.

By that point, we officers had earned the nickname ‘blank flanks’, as we were the only ones left without any scars. Even the Captain had this giant scar across his face and according to Twilight, there were a lot more beyond that uniform of his.

Anyways, the second sign was that a wild raincloud suddenly rolled over the mountain range which the Pegasi couldn’t deal with as every time they tried, they came under fire from the Gryphon ballistae.

The third and last sign was that as soon as the rain came down on us, the left flank broke formation and charged in, followed by the right flank and lastly the rest of the formation. Needless to say, they soon found that simply charging in did not work in the slightest.

The captain called for a retreat and after some hesitation, the other officers followed his orders. We waited out the rain before we then sat together in another meeting.

All of them tried to find some explanation for their actions, though completely in vain. To the captain, it was already clear that a coordinated attack was unfeasible due to heavy reliability issues and thus, a new plan had to be thought of.

The new plan was to not attack. At least not in the conventional sense. Instead, we tried something similar to what we did almost two weeks prior, when our counter offensive started.

The captain ordered the heavy companies to dig in along our front line, while the lights, including us, would skirmish the enemy position in irregular intervals. Said skirmishes could be carried out whenever the corresponding officer saw fit and did not have to be reported to the captain. The only thing that they had to do was to retreat in time, as to not risk unnecessary losses.

Thus, we slowly ground away at the enemy positions. We ourselves attacked multiple times, each time coming under heavy enemy fire and retreating as soon as the resistance got too strong to handle without losses.

After four days of assault, a gap formed in their lines, one large enough to push an entire company through. The captain was reluctant to use it at first, as he found that it was unlikely that we had caused enough casualties already to cause a gap of this size. What was more likely was that they wanted to lure us in so they could then cut us off and get rid of some of our strength in order to then start an assault of their own.

But the captain had an idea how to use this trap against them. He ordered Bulkhead that his earth ponies shall leave their weapons behind and instead take as much food and supplies with them as they may carry. The remaining unicorns of his platoon, as well as Platoon Charlie and my Platoon, Bravo, were to then form up in a spearhead shape around them to keep them safe on the ground, while the Pegasi would keep the skies clear.

When the preparations were done, we stormed the gap and broke through it and just as we thought, as soon as we passed, the gap was quickly closed again. Though, they probably thought that we would try to come around and assault them from behind in order to get back, but we didn’t. Instead, the captain led us further, deep into enemy territory, with enough food to last possibly multiple weeks.

According to our plan, when the Gryphons caught on to what was happening, they would panic or at least try to catch us by sending troops from their garrison. This would then hopefully leave enough of a commotion for the other companies to make their push and break through.

Meanwhile, the captain had already sought out a goal for us: The Gryphon Capitol. His reasoning was simple: no matter how dangerous the beast, if you cut their head off, they are dead… well, except hydras but they are just an exception.

Anyways, we marched through enemy territory for about four days, sometimes encountering an enemy patrol which we quickly shot down in order to keep our route concealed.

We didn’t march directly towards their capitol, as it would have been too predictable. Instead, we took a zig-zag course through the Gryphon countryside, resting in forests and sometimes even encountering a Gryphon civilian or two.

I must say, those few who dared talk to us and didn’t run off the moment they saw us were actually quite nice. Some of them even offered us food, which we had to refuse for risk of poisoning… well and because some of it was meat. Every time we encountered civilians we also had to change directions, as we couldn’t be sure if they wouldn’t report our position, even if they were hospitable.

We finally reached the capitol in the night from the fourth to the fifth day and snuck around to the north gate. Our unicorns used their magic to set the guards asleep and we got in. We then slowly and quietly made our way to the palace. This is where our uniforms came in handy, as the loud clanking and the bright colours of the standard armour would have definitely given us away, while our darker colour scheme combined with the quiet nature of soft cloth made us very hard to detect.

Still, that didn’t change that we were 62 Ponies and one human sneaking through Gryphania. In order to stay hidden, we had to rely on side-alleys and dimly-lit, narrow streets to move through. Every time we encountered anypony, be it guard or civilian, they were knocked out in melee.

We soon reached the main avenue, leading directly to the palace. However, instead of just following it, there was something else that caught the captain’s attention. There were multiple rope-like things running from house to house, before vanishing into a small shop, the sign of which read ‘telegraph’.

We moved to it and found an open window, through which we could see light. We moved closer and a regular beeping sound became audible. However, after we heard a few of these sequences, the captain suddenly froze in place. His eyes went wide in a display of shock that I had never seen from him before and what he said next made me show the same reaction.

“Canterlot has fallen…”

Ch38: Battle on the Homefront

POV: Mystic Gem

The info hit us hard and the captain immediately made it clear that nopony except us officers was to know this, as the morale of our troops would plummet if they came to know.

We made haste to get to the Palace, where the next surprise was already waiting for us. The Palace was completely unguarded. Not a single guard could be spotted throughout the entire complex, as we made our way to the throne room.

We halted right in front of the doors, but we didn’t open them. Instead, the captain waited for a few seconds, before he gave a new order.

“We’re falling back. We will split up and meet at the northern gate again.”

At first, I was a little confused by this. We were so close to our goal of getting their king and now we were retreating? However, when I looked into his eyes, I knew what he was thinking and it made my mind go blank from shock.

The lack of guards, the vacant hallways, the blatantly obvious weak point at the northern gate… it was a trap all along. The King wasn’t here. If this telegraph-thing was what told the captain what happened to Canterlot, then why shouldn’t it tell the Gryphons that we were coming for their king?

We hurried back out of the palace, knowing that each second spent here was spent sitting in the grasp of our enemy. When we finally found the palace gates again, we quickly broke through them, but we were too slow. Before us, there was a whole company of Gryphons ready to close their trap.

The captain quickly brought us into a rectangle formation, with Bulkhead’s still unarmed Earth Ponies in the middle of it. We then opened fire on the Gryphons. As soon as we did so, they took flight and scattered, which we used to quickly form into a spearhead and break through. We couldn’t let us get pulled into an elongated fight. Not here, where we couldn’t get supplies that easily and especially not in the very capitol of our enemy.

As soon as we cleared the enemy formation, we split up and took different routes towards the north gate. Though, that was easier said than done, given that we had no map of the city, only the general direction we had to go. Worst of all, there were still about a hundred Gryphons hot on our hooves and losing them in their very home city was highly unlikely.

Still, somehow we made it back to the north gate, where the Gryphon guards from earlier were still fast asleep. We quickly formed up and bashed through the gate, fully expecting that there would be a whole army waiting for us, but were pleasantly surprised as we only found a few very startled civilians standing before us. We made haste to get back to our lines. Secrecy had now become optional, while speed was our top priority.

We reached them after only half a day of marching. Our initial plan to startle the Gryphon defences had worked, apparently, as we found our fellow Guardsponies marching in an orderly line towards the Gryphon capitol.

We went back behind our lines, where we held a short strategy meeting with the other officers. We informed them that the Gryphon capitol was only sparsely defended and that it could be taken within just a few hours. We meanwhile would head back to Canterlot to rearm and recover. That last part was a lie, of course, but we couldn`t risk telling them the truth, lest they broke formation again and rushed back to aid Canterlot.

The leader of the fifth heavy, Lieutenant Lucky Throw was kind enough to bring the equipment along that we had left behind. Bulkhead quickly let his Ponies take their weapons again before we continued our march back to Stalliongrad, from where we took a train back to a village called Rockridge, at the foot of the Canterlot Mountain. From there, we marched onwards towards Canterlot, as the trains were unable to reach it anymore.

When we reached the city, we found it to be under siege, though not by a Gryphon force, but by our very own Royal Guards. The Elements of Harmony, as well as Princess Twilight stood among them, aiding in their assault as best as they could, but ultimately achieving only very sparse results.

They stopped their attack as soon as our marching became audible and the elements and the princess quickly came to greet us together with an officer, who likely was currently in charge.

The officer was a captain of the reserve. This left to assume that most of the Forces we had were also reserves and garrisons from the surrounding villages. They saluted each other like equals, before their captain gave a short report.

Apparently I was right. These ponies were all from the surrounding garrisons and the reserves. This meant that they had some basic training but none of them had seen any combat until now. In addition to that they didn’t have any siege equipment, so all they could do was try to open the gate. The problem with that was that it appeared to be magically sealed.

As soon as the other captain had finished his report, our captain turned around and gave orders.

“Alright, everyone is to take position in front of our camp and train themselves on these walls. Bulkhead, Overdrive, I want you to coordinate the fire. I want the walls and the main gate clear. Anyone, who dares to even just poke their heads out are to be shot on sight, understood? Now move!”

As soon as these orders were spoken, everypony set into motion. Bulkhead and Overdrive as well as the other captain went ahead with the rest following close behind, leaving only the captain, me, Princess Twilight and the rest of the elements standing there.

“Good. As for yo-“ The captain was cut off mid-sentence by Twilight who quickly gave him a kiss.

“Ey, don’t leave me out!” Rainbow Dash complained, before she joined in as well.

The captain crouched down to their height and locked them both into a hug, his face portraying the first genuine smile I’ve seen from him in the past two months, only to have it replaced by a sudden look of realization.

His eyes darted over to me and I instantly knew what he was worrying about. I quickly waved him off, saying “Ah, don’t worry, Twilight told me already.”

He looked over to the princess, who gave him a sheepish smile in return. After a short moment, he smirked and rolled his eyes, before letting go of them both and standing up again.

“Right… that’s certainly good to know. Well, anyways, as I was about to ask: Where are the Princesses? Are they still inside the palace?”

Twilight’s look changed from a happy smile to a slightly serious frown. “Yes, sadly. They didn’t manage to escape in time. Well, that or they wanted to stay behind with everypony else.”

“I see.” The captain said. “Well, I suppose we have to find a way in then.”

We then started walking towards the camp. However, as soon as we reached its outer perimeter, the captain suddenly froze. For a short moment, his eyes widened ever so slightly, before he went back to his usual calm. He stood in place and looked over to the wall, as if he was looking through it directly at the palace.

“Correction:” He then stated, “Mystic, get some of the 37s and try to break this gate. I have some preparations to make. I will be back in a few hours.”

Before any of us could object or even ask where he was going, he sped off with the help of his magic, leaving us startled from the loud crack it made.

When my ears stopped ringing, I went to fulfil the task I had been given. Well, at least as much as I could fulfil it. It turned out that the Spell that was cast upon the gate was made by Celestia herself to make it near impossible to break the gate down. Originally intended to keep the city safe was it now keeping us from saving the city.

Still, we kept hammering at the shield, in the hopes of at least ‘denting’ it a bit, but it didn’t even budge. I soon found that it was a waste of ammo to keep firing at it non-stop and ordered volleys. This also gave me a chance to take a closer look at whom we were dealing with.

To my great shock, when I looked up to the parapet, I saw not gryphons as I had expected, but Ponies! We were actually being betrayed by our own kind, though something seemed off. It was their clothing. They didn’t wear guard armour, but white frocks with a symbol sewn into their chests. The symbol was showing a crimson moon which contorted downwards into a single, large droplet.

Two hours later, we were still keeping the walls clear and the gate under fire, though we still hadn’t made any progress. That was soon to change, however, as suddenly a massive volley of bullets hit the gate from above, followed by what sounded somewhat like multiple 37s firing at the same time.

I looked into the direction where the sound came from and saw a massive bird-like thing flying towards us and shooting at the gate. Though, even it couldn’t do much, as the gate still held firm. When the bird-thing came to realize this as well, it pulled up sharp and I came to see that it had two burning circles in its rear that were probably propelling it forward.

It passed low over the gate with these burning things pointing almost directly downward. Then, it ignited them further, spouting massive flames at everything that stood beneath and scorching everything and everypony that stood in the way.

We could hear a few pained screams, likely from those that were now burning from its attack, while it gained height again and made a wide turn. It lined up behind us again and was again headed straight for the gate. Though, something was different this time: Instead of getting slower and shooting, it passed over us and the top piece of its head suddenly came off with something shooting out of it, while the thing was still accelerating straight towards the gate.

It hit with a loud crash and erupted into a massive ball of flame that stretched far into the city behind. The impact was strong enough to pierce through the spell and break the gates open.

Suddenly, something impacted the ground beside me, which looked vaguely like… a seat? I also noticed that there was now a large shadow looming above me. I looked upwards at what caused it and saw a large, circular piece of cloth with something dangling from it that looked like…

“The Captain!” I exclaimed, quickly gaining the attention of everypony around me. Twilight and the elements quickly came running to me while the captain slowly made his descent.

He touched down and let himself fall to the side, before he then quickly, albeit a bit clumsily, removed the harness that was connecting him to the strings that held the cloth. He then sat upright for a while, breathing heavily. Twilight wanted to help him up, but he signalled her not to. He was looking very dizzy and his face was pale.

His face wasn’t the only thing that seemed wrong though. Firstly, his knife was missing, which I explained to myself that it must’ve fallen off when he was catapulted out of that thing. Secondly, something was different with his shoulders. I couldn’t quite place it at the time, though, as looking at them from below doesn’t really give you the best view.

“Well…” He started after he had regained his normal colours, “it seems flying a jet fighter without a G-Suit wasn’t the best idea I’ve ever had. At least it seems to have worked, though.”

He slowly got up again and walked through the open gate with us and the other guards following close behind. On the other side, we saw debris and wreckage lying all over the place. Most of them were from the gate, but there were also a few metal pieces, some of which were even spouting lightning. The wings of the beast had lodged themselves into the buildings to the side of the avenue, ripping long gashes into them before becoming stuck. The rest of the ‘jet fighter’, as the captain had called it, was reasonably intact, at least from what I could tell. I mean, apart from the snout looking very deformed, the wings missing and quite a few holes, gashes and scratches in the rest of the body, it still resembled the shape I could see earlier.

“Oh no…” Princess Twilight sighed as she came to see the carcass, “Markus, your Tornado!”

She turned to look at the captain, but he simply waved her off. “Ah, don’t worry. It made a noble sacrifice in giving us a chance to save Canterlot. Besides, I was running out of Kerosene anyways…”

Without any further words and without explaining, what this ‘Kerosene’ thing was that he was talking about, he turned around and went to inspect one of the corpses of those traitors.

The body belonged to a stallion. It was partially burnt, but the frock was still clearly identifyable. The captain knelt down beside him and took a close look at the symbol on it.

“Bloodmoon…” I heard him mutter, which quickly got my attention.

“Bloodmoon? What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked. Looking back, I could definitely have made that connection by myself, given the symbol…

“It’s a cult that we’ve run into a few months ago… apparently I’ve underestimated them quite a bit.” He answered.

“We?”

“Yes, we. At first, they’d taken Fluttershy hostage and impersonated her. Then, Rainbow and I went to rescue her by raiding their hideout before the survivors of the raid tried to kidnap Princess Luna. Oh, and then there was that incident in the forest, where they wanted to kidnap Twilight. And now, apparently, their new goal is reaching even higher than just the princesses themselves.”

He stood up again and turned to face the rest of us. “But I suppose it’s time to start moving, isn’t it?”

“Yes, and we’re coming with you.” Princess Twilight said firmly, looking like she was mentally preparing herself to defend her point.

“Agreed.” The captain said.

“But you ca- wait, what?” She looked at him with confusion, obviously having expected him to object.

“Yes, you heard right.” The captain said, “You are to accompany me to the palace, along with the other elements. Bulkhead, Mystic, you two are going perform some house-clearing. Make your way from here to the central plaza and then move out from there. Don’t leave any building untouched! Overdrive, you are going to secure the train station. Captain, you and the rest of the guards are going to guard the gate. Do not let anyone in or out, be it Guard, civilian or even the princesses themselves!”

With our orders given, we moved out. Bulkhead and I coordinated our platoons to each sweep one side of the road, while making our way towards the centre. We ran into a quite a few civilians who were hiding in their houses, but we couldn’t risk any of them being a cultist, so we had to detain them as well.

It all went rather smoothly, just like we had practised. We mostly ran into little resistance which was quickly eliminated. That is, until we reached a small café close to the central plaza. A pair of Pegasi, one stallion with a green coat and a pink mane and a mare with a slightly lighter coat and a blond mane, was holding their own outside of it, while there were multiple civilians locked inside.

Though, ‘holding their own’ is quite an optimistic formulation, as they were indeed showing signs of fatigue, while they were still swarmed by more and more of these cultist. In accordance with our duty as royal Guardsponies, we took a few of our squads and quickly went in to aid them.

We broke into their encirclement, placing us directly between the pair and the rest of the cultists. Said cultists seemed startled for a moment, but when they registered our appearance, they just started attacking ever-more fiercely.

We managed only a few shots before we were locked into melee combat. You know, in hindsight we could have just shot them from behind, but somehow, that didn’t come to mind in that moment. I don’t exactly know why.

Our training definitely paid off in that situation, though, as we clearly outmatched the cultists when it came to melee combat. We were practically mowing them down one after another, leaving them no time to regroup.

However, one of them found time for something else. I suddenly felt a surge of magic building in front of me and I quickly erected a shield, fully expecting the attack to be directed at me. Though, sadly, that wasn’t the case. Instead, it was aimed at the pair of Pegasi that was still recovering behind me.

It impacted directly beside them and caused a gigantic flame to erupt from the spot it hit. Bulkhead and I were pushed to the ground by its force, while most of the others were only slightly singed by its heat. The pair of Pegasi, however, wasn’t so lucky. They stood right at the epicentre.

The stallion was immediately engulfed in flames and kept burning even after the initial flame subsided. The mare, meanwhile, was blown away by the shockwave and suffered heavy burns across her whole body except her face.

I quickly galloped to where the mare had landed, trying to help her with my magic, but it was too late. Her wounds were too severe and all I could do was to catch her last words.

“D-Do you know… P-Ponyville?”

“Yes, I am stationed there.” I answered her.

She smiled weakly at me. “P-Please… protect… Scoota-loo…”

Her eyes slowly drifted closed and I felt her pulse slowly fading. I couldn’t help but let out a few sobs, for I felt that I had failed. I had failed at my job as a guard, my oath to protect the citizens of Equestria.

And I had failed the captain’s training as I totally forgot about the cultist that was still standing there and was preparing to impale me on a spear. The offending projectile made its way towards me and I was yet again too slow to protect myself. I was already preparing myself for the worst, when suddenly, a wall of white fur pushed itself in front of me and I felt the odd sensation of Deja-vu as I looked up and saw Bulkhead’s face slightly smiling down upon me. He had placed himself directly between me and the spear, rearing up on his hind hooves.

I had only a few milliseconds to register all this, before disaster struck. The spear impacted Bulkhead’s lower back and its tip came out through his lower abdomen. His gut was partially pressed out by this and the impact made him collapse forwards towards me.

I quickly caught him in my hooves while I used my magic to draw my pistol and fill the cultist with, admittedly, more bullets than would have been necessary, as my mind was assaulted by rage and sadness alike.

When my pistol clicked empty and I was ripped out of my fury, I realized that I could feel bulkhead still breathing. I set him down and immediately a few unicorns from the other squads came to help me mend his wounds. Though, yet again, we were not enough. None of us was a doctor and in addition to that, the spear made it impossible for us to properly stop the bleeding.

“Bulkhead, why do you keep doing this for me?” I asked him with a mixture of desperation and sadness now covering my mind.

Bulkhead turned his head slightly towards me and smiled. Not like one would out of happiness, but as if he was content in dying right there at that moment.

“Because… I love you, Mystic.” He then said.

I froze and felt a third emotion add itself into the chaos in my head, as my cheeks suddenly started to burn.

His eyes slowly drifted close and I gripped his head and started to shake it to try and keep him conscious.

“No, Bulkhead!” I cried out in desperation, “Don’t you dare dying after saying such a thing!”

I tried to keep myself calm, but it didn’t work. I still started sobbing when I felt his pulse fade.

Suddenly, though, I noticed another magical aura form around him. The door of the café swung open and a yellow unicorn stallion with a red cross cutie mark galloped out towards us.

“Leave him to me, I’m a doctor!” He said.

He sat down to his side and concentrated some of his magic around Bulkhead’s heart and slowly, his pulse started recovering.

All of a sudden, an explosion shook the city around us and when I looked in the direction it came from, I saw a massive cloud of smoke rise up from the palace. My duty told me that I should go and help, but my mind told me to stay and watch over Bulkhead.

I looked back and forth between the two options, unable to decide between the two. Luckily, though, the doc came to help me with that as well. He smiled up at me when I was looking at Bulkhead again and then firmly said: “Go. There are others that need your help. There’s nothing that you can do here anymore.”

I looked down on Bulkhead once again, still not quite sure if I really should go.

“Don’t worry, I will get him through. Now, go!”

I looked back at the doctor and gave him a slight smile and a nod. I then gulped down my emotions and let professionality take over, just like the captain had taught us.

“Alright, everypony, get back to clearing those houses! Nambs, get your squad over here and follow me! We’re going to the palace!” I ordered. Squad 2 quickly assembled around me and we sped off to the main avenue.

There, we almost crashed into Overdrive.

“Overdrive? I thought you were at the station!”

“Yes, I was, but I heard that explosion and wanted to help. My platoon should be able to handle the rest, now come on! We gotta move if we want to help!” He quickly said and we both made haste to get to the palace.

I could see the captain and the elements from afar, but something felt off. Sadly, I only noticed exactly what was wrong, when we stood directly beside them and found ourselves surrounded by cultists yet again, only this time, there was one that stood out.

It was a massive stallion with a brown coat. His face was covered by the hood of the white frock he was wearing and the other cultists had formed up around him like he was some sort of a leader.

“Ah, even more guests have arrived.” He said. “Still, you won’t be able to stop us anymore, Captain. We have the princesses and you surrounded and it’s only a matter of time until they run out of food.”

“We won’t let you have so much time. You know that we are not the only Guards here.” The captain said firmly.

At that, the brown stallion let out an almost devilish laugh, before a menacing smile became visible from under his hood.

“Maybe you aren’t the only ones here, but you are the only ones that still don’t know, which side to choose.”

I saw movement behind the cultists that surrounded us and soon they were joined by our former fellow Guardsponies. It shocked me deeply to see that so many had betrayed us, but not nearly as much as the one guard that I saw step up beside their leader.

“Long time no see, Captain Becker.” Shining Armor said, looking at the captain with a victorious smirk.

“No! Captain Armor, how could you?!” I screamed in disbelief. The one Guardspony that should never even be tempted had now full-on betrayed Equestria.

“Sorry, Lieutenant, but I couldn’t just sit and watch him grow more influential and powerful than me. The Bloodmoon has kindheartedly offered me to help me get rid of this nuisance in exchange for my help.”

I could see the captain smirk beside me and heard him cough up a short laugh. He looked at Captain Armor for a while, before looking back at the brown stallion.

“Now that you’ve shown us the traitor, why not also show us your disciple?” He said, before looking over to Overdrive.

I looked at him as well, shocked from the implication, while he looked like sweat was building up on his forehead.

“Overdrive.” The sound of the brown stallion’s voice boomed through my ears, “It seems, you have failed me again.”

Overdrive lowered his head and pressed his ears back, while slowly walking forward. “Y-Yes, I’m sorry, my master, but-”

“KEEP YOUR MEAGER EXCUSES! YOU HAVE FAILED ME TOO OFTEN, OVERDRIVE! YOU ARE A FAILURE!” His voice dominated everything that surrounded us. Overdrive winced back, trying to make himself as small as possible.

“I will give you one last chance to prove your worth.” The stallion then continued, “Remove those unwanted bystanders.”

Overdrive looked up again, this time wearing a maniacal smile. “Yes, my master.” He said. He then turned around, drew his pistol and pointed it at my head. “Sorry, cutie, but your beauty will sadly be wasted.”

I blinked in disbelief, still trying to grasp the whole situation. I tried to find a way out, looking around to find something helpful. Then, I looked up at the captain. He just stood there, looking down at me, a soft, reassuring smile on his lips. He was calm. He had a plan and as long as I followed it, nothing would happen. Seeing him made me calm down. I knew I was safe. I looked back at Overdrive, who was now slowly pulling the trigger backwards in his magic. I closed my eyes, leaned my head backwards and readied myself for whatever was to come next.

ARC FINAL Ch39: Studies of a Madman

POV: Twilight

While the 4^th was occupied with clearing and securing the city, Markus took us towards the Palace, where we would hopefully find Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. We mainly went through side-alleys and small passageways to avoid running into any cultists along the way. Though, it appeared as if this was unnecessary, as we didn’t see any cultists at all. Tentatively, we went for the more open streets that provided a shorter route to the palace, always keeping our eyes and ears sharp for anything that might be lurking for us.

The further we went from the walls, the more unsettling it got. Nopony was there, not even civilians or cultists hiding in the buildings. An eerie silence hung over us that was only slightly filled with the distant sounds of fighting that was still going on everywhere in the city. Everywhere but where we were.

We slowed our pace a little, so we could react faster when we ran into a trap. It had to be a trap. Even if Canterlot was currently held by cultists, shouldn’t there at least be some civilians still hiding in the buildings? The thought of what could’ve happened to them sent a shudder down my spine and I quickly pressed the thought out of my mind to focus on what was important right now.

We reached the palace and found that it, too, seemed completely vacant. No cultists trying to break into it. No guards trying to defend it. Not even the princesses, blasting away whatever cultist may harm their little ponies!

Slowly, we went over to the main entrance, where we paused for a moment. Markus looked in through the windows, but could see nothing. He looked through the gap under the doors and still saw nothing. Then, when he was sure that there was nopony behind the door, he slowly opened it… only to quickly slam it shut again and dart back in front of us.

I barely managed to erect a shield before a massive explosion blew us away all the way back to the palace gates. The doors had been rigged with an explosive rune which Markus only saw when the door was opened.

We scrambled back to our hooves and feet as quickly as we could, but found that we were already completely surrounded by cultists who seemed like they were only awaiting a signal to blast us to Tartarus. The Pony who would give that signal was also not hard to find, as he stood out quite a bit from the rest. It was a massive, brown stallion who wore the same white frock as the rest of them and had his hood pulled over half of his face so we couldn’t see his eyes.

“I see our guests have finally arrived.” He said in a low, booming voice that was so powerful it shook the earth beneath us.

“HEY! That’s the bucker we saw in that cave!” Rainbow seemed completely unfazed by his presence, which I found, and still find, truly remarkable, given that I was shaking from head to tail.

“Language, Rainbow. You wouldn’t want to anger our ‘host’, would you?” Markus chided. He was calm, as always. His voice didn’t carry a hint of fear and he stood upright directly in front of the stallion that had now become our captor.

“Good. At least one of you understands the situation you are in. Tell me, human, what do these harmonist weaklings offer you to fight for them?”

“May I take from that question that you intend to make me a better offer?” Markus asked with a smirk.

The stallion smiled slightly from under his hood. “Join our cause. In exchange, I can guarantee that none of the ponies you care about will be hurt. I can make you powerful enough that you can even see to that yourself. To that, I can give you my word as a Gentlecolt.”

Markus smirked again, before he let his head fall forward and shook his head. “I am very sorry, but I have to refuse. As much as I’d like to know that those I hold dear are safe, I have made an oath to protect everyone that is in need of protection. Following this oath, I am sadly forced to oppose you. As a ‘Gentlecolt’, I hope you understand this.”

The stallion’s smile fell and his tone became just a hint more menacing, which still was plenty to give me the urge to run. “Fine. Have it your way then. I hope you are prepared to die, because your resistance is futile.”

I was watching their exchange with mild confusion. Up until when Markus refused the offer, one could have thought that they were simply sitting together, enjoying tea and talking about the weather, were it not for the meaning their words actually held. To this day, I still don’t know how Markus could speak to a villain as if he was a close friend of his and maybe even actually treat him as such.

My thoughts were scattered by the sound of galloping hooves closing in from behind us, followed by skidding, before I then saw Overdrive, Mystic and three others come to a halt beside us.

“Ah, even more guests have arrived.” The stallion said, as he laid eyes upon them. “Still, you won’t be able to stop us anymore, Captain. We have the princesses and you surrounded and it’s only a matter of time until they run out of food.”

“We won’t let you have so much time. You know that we are not the only Guards here.” The captain said firmly.

At that, the brown stallion let out an almost devilish laugh, before a menacing smile became visible from under his hood.

“Maybe you aren’t the only ones here, but you are the only ones that still don’t know, which side to choose.”

Suddenly, I saw multiple sets of golden armour come into view from behind the cultists with Shining Armor walking out from behind the brown stallion.

Mystic became very agitated the second she saw Shining Armor, but I stayed calm… for once. This was probably the moment those two had been waiting for all this time and I could bet that they were already planning out, how to deal with all this trouble.

“Now that you’ve shown us the traitor, why not also show us your disciple?” Markus suddenly said, before looking over to Overdrive.

Disciple?! We have a traitor here?! I thought, now looking over to Overdrive as well.

“Overdrive.” The brown stallion’s voice boomed with anger, “It seems, you have failed me again.”

Overdrive lowered his head and pressed his ears back, while slowly walking forward. “Y-Yes, I’m sorry, my master, but-”

“KEEP YOUR MEAGER EXCUSES! YOU HAVE FAILED ME TOO OFTEN, OVERDRIVE! YOU ARE A FAILURE!” He shouted at the Lieutenant, his voice echoing off the nearby buildings and Canterlot Mountain itself.

“I will give you one last chance to prove your worth.” The stallion then continued, “Remove those unwanted bystanders.”

Overdrive looked up again, this time wearing a maniacal smile. “Yes, my master.” He said. He then turned around, drew his pistol and pointed it at Mystic’s head. “Sorry, cutie, but your beauty will sadly be wasted.”

Mystic seemed panicked. Understandable, given that she was now faced with certain death. She looked around, trying to find something or somepony to help her. I wanted to help her, but Markus signalled me not to.

WHAT?! Is he really going to sacrifice Mystic?! I thought.

Mystic was now looking at Markus as well and seemed to calm down from it. I thought that maybe he wasn’t sacrificing her, but giving her signs on what to do. However, those thoughts were quickly proven false, when she just looked straight ahead again and closed her eyes.

I saw Overdrive slowly pull the trigger, probably relishing in this moment of power over his former ally’s life. Then, the hammer struck. The loud crack of a shot rang through my ears, but instead of Mystic falling backwards, I saw Overdrive’s pistol dismantle itself within his magic grasp. It seemed like Markus was using his magic to plug the barrel, causing it to burst from the pressure and rip the pistol apart.

Overdrive immediately dropped his former weapon and spun around, only to look at his master who looked more than just displeased with him.

“Please, I’m not done yet, I- AAAAAAAAH” His whimpers were cut short, as suddenly his skin and flesh started to dissolve and form into a red stream, that slowly made its way towards the stallion, who seemed to absorb it into himself. The internal organs followed suit until only bones were left, which then quickly turned to dust.

I had to fight the urge to vomit at the sight and I can’t imagine any of my friends or the ponies around us to fare any better. Even Mystic seemed to have difficulties to keep her lunch in.

“Now that my apprentice has failed, it seems that I will have to deal with you myself.” The stallion made a few steps towards Mystic, but was then suddenly met with a strong buck which threw him off to the side.

“Oh yeah? You’ll have to deal with me first.” Shining said and the guards around us took this as their cues to attack the closest cultist they could find.

The cult leader looked back over to Shining again and even though his eyes were still covered, one could see the confusion on his face. “Oh, you don’t get it? Well, let me help you: Markus and I have never been enemies! In fact, he has even shown me a few cool moves and helped me get better at strategies and-“

“Shining, you’re babbling.” Markus interrupted, earning him a sheepish smile from my brother.

“Yeah, right, sorry. Anyways: In the name of…” Shining turned back around only to see that the cult leader had used their short banter to flee the scene. Mystic, her squad and Shining immediately took up pursuit and I wanted to join in too, but Markus held me back.

“No, you need to find the princesses. Let us handle this.”

I looked up at him for a short moment, before I quickly nodded and went into the palace together with my friends.

The room they were held captive in wasn’t hard to find, given that it was the only room that was being besieged by cultists. We used the element of surprise to quickly deal with the few cultists that we found there before we knocked at the door and called out to those inside.

We heard furniture being moved on the other side before the door swung open and revealed Celestia, Luna and a few further guards. Celestia then quickly made a few steps forward and embraced me in a hug.

“I am very glad that you are safe, Twilight.” She said, before releasing me and looking around. “Isn’t Markus with you?”

“No, he is currently pursuing a brown stallion that seemed to be the leader of these cultists.” My answer seemed to pale both Celestia and Luna. Well, as far as that is even possible in Celestia’s case.

“That is not a good idea, Twilight Sparkle. This Pony is very strong. So strong in fact that our very own magic hadn’t dealt a scratch to him.”

Now it was my time to pale. If what Luna said was true then Markus could actually be vastly outmatched against this stallion.

“WHAT?! Does that mean we have nothing to fight him at all?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Celestia and Luna both looked at each other for a moment, before Celestia spoke up. “Well, there is a Spell that we know, but it has only been tested once until now and we will need all your power for this. With this spell, we can bundle our powers and use it as a weapon in a single, concentrated beam of magic.”

“Perfect, let’s go! We don’t have time to waste!” Rainbow flew off before any of us could say anything and we quickly followed her out, through the battle that was unfolding before the palace and down the street into which the stallion had fled.

A few moments later, we reached a small plaza and were greeted with a horrifying sight. Mystic and the squad were lying unconscious to the side while Shining barely held himself standing. Markus was meanwhile facing off against the stallion with his sword. His rifle lay off to the side with hundreds of casings littering the ground around him.

The stallion reared up on his hind hooves, before he came down on Markus with a mighty stomp. Markus, however, didn’t evade backwards but made a step forwards and pushed his sword up into the throat of the aggressor. It pierced through the neck and stuck out on the other side. Markus then swung the blade around and decapitated the stallion.

“Didn’t you say that Markus might have a problem dealing with him?” I asked, but Celestia didn’t even look at me.

“Do you really think that he would be still alive if it was that easy?” was her answer.

At that moment, the stallion’s body suddenly bucked out towards Markus, who barely managed to bring his sword in as a cover before it hit. Still, the force of the impact sent him rolling backwards quite a distance before he could right himself again.

Meanwhile, the headless body of the stallion stood there, seemingly looking at Markus, which must have been quite hard without a head. But speaking about the head: something was happening to it. It seemed like the exact same thing that happened to Overdrive, only that those parts that were dissolving were simultaneously forming themselves anew on the Stallion’s body. First the neck, then the lower jaw, followed by the upper jaw, the cranium and then the eyes.

However, when the eyes were restored, now without a hood to cover them, I came to see the source of his powers. In his pupils there sat two glowing red skulls. The markings of a Necromancer.

I instantly knew this meant trouble. Necromancers have always been a pain to deal with, not only for the normal ponies. Even for us, they could be deadly and so, instinctively, I tried to do something to save the most important thing to me first and called out: “MARKUS!”

Markus reacted, by looking my way. It was just for a split-second. Just a tiny moment, but it was enough. The stallion used this tiny moment of distraction to close the distance and hit Markus hard with a buck.

He flew off into a building and crashed through the wall. I let out another, pained cry: “MARKUS!” But Celestia stopped me, before I could do any more stupid.

“Quick, we need to cast the spell!”

I nodded and we held our horns together. Strong winds stared to pick up around us, as we bundled our energy and my friends behind us also sent theirs into the mix. Everything seemed to go well and we were just about ready to cast, when Rainbow was suddenly hit by a flying piece of debris. The energy fluctuated for just a short moment, before it was set free, completely out of our control, and hit the stallion.

However, it didn’t seem to do much, as he was still standing while we were completely exhausted and almost unable to move. The stallion looked over us with a triumphant smile and was just about to claim his prize, when a Rock hit him square in the face and caused some of the flesh around his eye to pop off. Just like before, though, the wound mended itself again, although it seemed to be far slower than when he lost his head.

I looked to where the Rock had come from and was flooded with joy, as I saw a slightly beaten, but not yet yielding Markus standing there with another rock at the ready. He threw it at the stallion again, which now gained him his full attention.

“So you are still alive. This time, I should make sure to dissolve you rather than just break your bones. It is time to end this!” He growled, but Markus seemed unfazed by this.

“Yes, I am still alive, as you can see. Although, I must say that you’ve scored a good one on me. And I have to agree: It is time to end this nonsense.” Markus said. He then started walking closer to the stallion.

Meanwhile, Mystic stirred awake again and Markus immediately addressed her. “Hey, Mystic, could you do me a favour? I need you to watch over these troublemakers for a while.”

He waved a hand in our general direction, before he then turned and faced us directly. As he did so, I could make out a glow on his chest that was slowly growing stronger and brighter.

“Pinkie, I want you to throw the biggest party Equestria has ever seen. Twilight:” He looked directly at me now and paused for a moment. He then gave me a reassuring smile and said: “I’ll be back.”

Suddenly, both, Markus and the stallion, vanished from sight, accompanied by a loud crack. I looked around to see where they may have gone and could barely make out a small dot in the distance, speeding off over the cliff and into the sky.

“Twilight!” The weak cry of my brother ripped me out of my daze and I bolted over to him and tried to help him, but all of a sudden I was blinded by a horrendously bright flash and as my vision slowly returned, I found that everything was now basked in a faint, orange glow.

I looked in the direction, from where the glow seemed to come and almost choked from the massive gasp I took. It was the same direction Markus had flown off to, but instead of a faint dot, there was now a massive cloud in the shape of a giant mushroom looming in the sky.

A massive shockwave suddenly hit us, carrying with it the sound of the most powerful explosion I have ever heard in my entire life. I looked back at the cloud and felt a piece of my soul break away. Right at this moment, I slowly began to grasp what was going on and the painful truth started to settle in:

Markus was gone.

---

When we stepped through the library doors the following morning, our faces were still wet from the tears we had shed.

Initially, I didn’t cry. I was too much in shock. I almost took off and tried to fly after him, maybe to look for him, hoping that he was alright after all, but Shining Armor, Mystic and the princesses held me back. Shining had then tried to call him via the thought bridge, but nothing happened. And nothing truly meant nothing in this case. It seemed as if the bridge didn’t even exist in the first place. Only another evidence for the one thing that I didn’t want to accept. That Markus was dead.

Then, in the train, tears began to flow. Slowly at first, in silent weeps, which soon grew into sobs and then into cries, which sparked a chain reaction throughout the royal compartment. Everypony joined me in my pain and Rainbow and I even clutched together in the hopes of somehow finding comfort in the other’s warmth. We ended up spilling tears during the entire ride home and only barely managed to contain ourselves when we disembarked and walked to the library.

Spike was quick to open the door, greeting us at first, as if nothing happened. Then, he noticed Markus’s absence and before he could even ask, he saw my tear-stained face and seemed to know, what had happened.

“I’m so sorry, Twilight.” He sobbed into my chest, as we all came together in a group hug and started crying again. How long we sat there, I don’t know and it didn’t matter, really. To me, it felt as if the whole world had lost its meaning. As if the only one thing that held meaning in this world was suddenly stolen from us.

We would’ve kept crying forever, if it wasn’t for us to slowly run out of tears. When the huddle dissolved and our faces started to dry, Spike pointed us towards the kitchen. “M-Markus was here yesterday and… he-he left something for you. Said that it was important…”

We went into the kitchen and found that there were eight caskets in different colours placed on the table, as well as a scroll, which had ‘read in case of death’ written on it. I unrolled it and began to read aloud:

Dear Twilight,

If you read this then it means that I am dead. I am very sorry for the pain I have caused you through this and maybe it soothes you a bit when I say that it didn’t come unexpected. I knew I would die if I partook in the battle for Canterlot. I would like to attribute it to my soldier-sense, but that wouldn’t be true. It was something else… almost like a deity had whispered it into my ears…

But anyways, before I can let you forget me and find happiness again, I have to ask one last favour of you. I want you to assemble the elements, Luna, Celestia and Mystic Gem before you continue to read. I know this might be a bit much, given that your tears probably haven’t even dried yet, but this is a matter of utmost importance, for beyond these lines lay my last will.

I quickly looked up from the scroll, the sadness from only a few seconds ago momentarily forgotten, and looked around. The elements were already assembled and Mystic was here as well, as she had followed us back to the library without even thinking about it, so the princesses were the only ones that I needed to fetch. So, I quickly levitated a scroll over to me and wrote them a letter.

‘Dear Princesses. We urgently need you both in Ponyville as quickly as possible. Signed: Twilight Sparkle’

Normally I wouldn’t write a letter to the princesses in such a haphazard manner, but that was hardly a normal situation. The princesses arrived about an hour later via chariot and in their attendance, I continued to read aloud:

Before you, you will find eight caskets, each in the coat colour of its recipient. When you read this, I would like for the respective recipient to take and open their caskets only when their respective passage is read, as I do have a few words to write to each of you.

At first, there will be Mystic Gem. We have only known each other for ¾ of a year now and yet, I have come to see you as one of the most reliable persons I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Therefore, I have no regrets when I leave my rank markings and my pistol in your care, as well as something else:
Presuming that I am, per tradition, promoted by two ranks, in my power as a Lieutenant-Colonel, I hereby promote you to Captain and assign you the leadership over the 4^th FRC of the 6^th Regiment. I know I can count on you.

Next comes Fluttershy. I know, we’ve had very little to do with one another and that maybe you might feel like it is you who didn’t repay me quite enough, given that I’ve rescued you from the Bloodmoon. But even if you felt that way, it doesn’t change that I don’t think you know, how much you’ve actually done for me by simply allowing me to hunt in the Everfree. But, for all the lives I have taken, I have also rescued one and that one live, I will now bestow upon you. In your casket, you will find a baby bunny, which I’ve found only a week ago in a forest close to the village of Hoovesville. I fed him through as good as I could and now I’m giving him to you, knowing that you will raise him into a proper bunny… Even if I don’t know, if it is male or female.

Applejack, you’ve been the first of those present to make contact with me and since then, I’ve felt like you’ve been on a major streak of bad luck. I don’t exactly know if it is because of me, but I still feel like I should make up for it. Therefore, in your casket you will find a recipe for a strong fertilizer from my world, as well as a prepared bottle. One last warning before you use it, though: It is very strong and not selective, meaning that it will make EVERYTHING grow, including the weeds.

Next will be Pinkie Pie and, same as with Fluttershy, I can’t really claim to have spent a lot of time with you. Still, your parties and shenanigans have truly helped me with making my time here much more enjoyable and as a thanks for it, I have written down a few cake recipes for you, which my grandmother always used when one of our birthdays rolled around. I hope you find them just as tasty as I did.

Rarity, I have always held a good deal of admiration for you. Not because of your fashion skills, mind you, but because of your absolutely generous nature. I was truly and deeply touched when you offered to make me clothes free of charge, but I had to insist that I repay you somehow, as else I would have defiled my own honour. As a side note, I always found it funny that you, Rarity, are the Element of Generosity, as, back in my old world, generosity could truly be considered a rarity.
By now, you have certainly noticed that there is no casket for you. This is not because I have forgotten about you, but because what I want to gift you is too big to fit into one. My gift to you is my dress uniform. You know, the one I wore during the ceremony. I know you don’t particularly liked my uniforms, but the dress uniform is the most fashionable thing I possess, right after the clothes you made me, but I can hardly gift you something I got from you in the first place, can I?

Now comes Rainbow Dash. I am very sorry that I leave you behind like that. You and Twilight both, but you’ve got to understand: Sometimes, there are moments in the life of a man or stallion and particularly in the life of a soldier, where one’s own life and the damage one’s death does to those close to us, are less important than what would happen if we wouldn’t sacrifice ourselves. At the point of writing this, I don’t know what the cause of my death will be, but rest assured that having met you both, I can now face death a second time without needing to look back.
Still, someone needs to keep you both safe when I’m gone and that’s what my gift to you is for. In your casket, you will find my knife. During its roughly one year of existence, it has served me well in many cases and continues to do so to this day. I will now place it in your hooves, knowing that you will use it to defend our friends to the best of your ability. My only regret in that regard is that I never came to teach you how to use it in combat, but maybe Shining Armor and Mystic can help with that?

Twilight, to you as well, I am very sorry that I have to leave you like that and I want you to know that I truly love you, both of you and not even death may change anything about that. In your casket, you will find two books. One is my journal, where I have written down every single event that somehow struck me as important. However, it’s the other book that will likely strike your interest. I am sure you have noticed that I took quite a few trips to the archives of the palace, haven’t you? Well, that’s because I have made an effort to discover as much about magic as possible on my own. Doing so, I have found that some things that are possible with magic are completely overlooked, likely due to the fact that magic is a natural occurrence to you. To me, however, the whole concept of magic is alien and as such, I am not as prone to take things for granted as you are. Thus, I set about, researching and testing new ways to utilize magic and wrote everything down in that book. Everything, but a single spell.

An that’s where we come to the last gift. Celestia and Luna: this Spell is my gift to you. I have found it when I was experimenting with my very own unique magic. It is a spell with which one can effectively shield every single entity within a certain radius, given one has a sufficient energy source. The problem is that it needs my extradimensional magic to function, but I also have a solution for that, I think. I have used zebra magic to cast a preservation spell on my own body. It isn’t strong enough to keep me alive, but it will ensure that there will be enough of me left to be used as a catalyst for the spell. I know it might sound a little bit macabre, but I want even my remains to be of use in helping protect those I care about.
After the spell is cast, I want you to burn the parchment it was written on and forget every detail of it. The reason for that is that I wrote it as a shield, but I found that it can also easily be turned into a weapon of mass destruction.

At last, here is one thing for all of you: Please don’t mourn over me for all-too long. Take yourself one or maybe two days to truly mourn, if you need to, but after that please try to keep yourself in check. I could never forgive myself if you were to lose yourself over my departure and it certainly would make things easier for those around you. Try to find happiness, even if only because I told you so.

-Markus Becker

Where we all thought that our tears for today had been spent, there had been more already lying in reserve. Every single one of us went down in sobs when her turn came. Rainbow began loudly crying again, even more so than back in Trottingham and I can’t deny that I had difficulties holding myself in check when I read my passage. Even Luna had to bury her face in Celestia’s neck to not start staining the floor with her tears, although I would’ve hardly minded. Celestia herself tried to be calm about it, but I guess seeing all of us, including her sister, in so much grief caused even her to crack ever so slightly, as tears started leaking down her cheeks.

After about an hour of mourning, Celestia and Luna bade their farewell and so did the others. I won’t deny that letting go of him was hard. Yes, even more so since his very own last will included that we weren’t allowed to mourn him for more than two days. However, in the end I managed to overcome my grief.

Luna and Celestia went to find Markus’s remains later that day and it was in that spell they would be used in that I found a way to overcome my grief.

After all, now it is like Markus is always with us, isn’t he?

Author's Notes:

Here be credited Queen Sanguine Dreams for her idea of a Necromancer's outward appearance and abilities. Thanks for letting me use it :3
Here's the story I took it from specifically

This marks the end of the 'Brave new world'-Arc. Next up: the 'Aftermath' -mini-Arc

Ch40: Time Will Mend All Wounds

Author's Notes:

Yay, new arc :3 and with it comes a slight change in regards to the perspective.
From this chapter onwards, almost every chapter will be written in 3rd person, to make them easier to write and maybe even to read.

Also: this arc WILL feel a bit rushed. that's becaused it is a mini-arc and don't worry, the arc after this will make up for it.

When word spread that the cultist insurgency was successfully repelled, the Gryphon forces immediately surrendered. When questioned, the Gryphon leadership stated that the cultists had slain their former king and took up rule for themselves. They promised to bring back the glory of the old Empire. Some saw through their lies and knew that they would only use the Gryphons as their pawns, while others like Sharp Beak didn’t want to pass up the chance to become a powerful country once again.

After the war, the Gryphon Empire was dissolved and temporarily put under equestrian jurisdiction, until a final decision would be made. Said decision was thoroughly discussed in court and, for the first time in my life, I came to see that beyond her normally motherly nature, Celestia could also be a very strict and almost… vengeful ruler.

The council was basically split into two factions: those who saw economical potential and those who saw military potential in the former Empire. Those, who saw it economically wanted to help them rebuild their nation, so they could then make them tributaries, while those who saw it militarily wanted to rebuild their military first and make them an ally.

I personally thought that neither of these options was going to work in the long term. Rather, I wanted to allow them to form an independent state again and teach them to live in harmony like we do and Luna supported the idea. Celestia, however, had entirely different plans.

“I think it better to annex their territory.” She said, as the discussion found no end.

Immediately, every eye in the room was on her. She got up from her throne and walked down to the large table that we sat assembled at. None could really believe what we had just heard, yet there had been no mistake. Her look and the tone of her voice clearly confirmed what we had thought as unthinkable from her.

“Princess, are you sure?” One of the nobles spoke up. “Just think about how our public image would suffer from this! Our benevolent Princess of the sun, annexing a foreign country… that is just unthinkable!”

“I can’t afford to think about my image, Red Carpet! The Gryphons have shown yet again that they are a threat to Equestria. I can’t let my ponies suffer just because I have an image to uphold!” Celestia seethed. None of the nobles dared oppose her and I didn’t have the authority yet to overrule her, so it all rested upon Luna`s shoulders.

“Sister, we think that thy decision is too rash. Think about what will happen to the Gryphons. They will still see you as their enemy and likely won’t accept thy rule without resistance.” Luna reasoned, but Celestia didn’t seem to listen. She started to move again, slowly making her way to the doors.

“Sister, if you won’t listen to me now, at least take some time to think about it yourself!”

Celestia stopped just before the doors and stood silent for a moment. “Fine. I will postpone my decision until after the Funeral.” With these words, she then left the throne room.

---

Markus, for his deeds and sacrifice, had been recognized as a national hero and had thus gotten a state funeral. His coffin was carried through the streets of Canterlot, surrounded by the company he once commanded and followed by the rest of the regiment. He was then set to rest among the other national heroes and shall serve as a symbol that one does not need to be a pony to become a hero.

Pinkie Pie had been in charge of the planning for the ceremony and, true to Markus’s last command to her, it had become the biggest one Equestria had ever seen. Sure, his last command was to throw a ‘party’, but it seems not even Pinkie is able to muster up this much happiness after losing a friend.

After multiple artists and bands had played a piece or two to commemorate our fallen hero, everypony held a minute of silence, before a few ponies then gave commemorative speeches. Among them was Shining Armor, who cleared up the secret about the training Markus gave him and how they’d planned for one of them to be contacted and feign an alliance with the cult.

While those speeches were held, I looked around and saw that Princess Celestia was looking as if she wasn’t fully paying attention. Furthermore, she seemed in thought, almost troubled. I decided to go over to her and have a few words with her. However, when I addressed her, she didn’t react at first. I actually had to call out to her multiple times and even poke her a few times before she noticed me.

“Oh, Twilight, I’m sorry, I seem to have been quite deep in thought. What were you saying?” Celestia asked, startled.

“I asked if Markus’s spell had worked.”

“The spell? Oh, yes, the spell, it did work, don’t worry.” Celestia said, yet it seemed as if there was something else that she wasn’t telling me.

“Princess,” I said firmly, “you know that you can trust me and I know you well enough to see that there is something troubling you. So: what do you have on your mind?”

The Princess looked over me once, before sighing and answering me. “I was thinking about the Gryphons again. No matter how hard I try, I still can’t bring myself to allow them to build their empire again.”

I immediately wanted to protest, but Celestia held her hoof over my muzzle.

“However… I have to agree with you and Luna that annexing them would only bring more problems than it would solve. Therefore, I sought advice from… an outside source and with their help, I came up with something else. We will help them with their reconstruction efforts and allow them to largely govern themselves, however it will all happen under our supervision and we will teach them in the ways of Harmony. Basically, we will make them a dominion.”

I was relieved to hear that the Princess had finally seen reason and even if she wasn’t allowing them full independence, it was still a better decision than outright annexation.

Thus, the Gryphon Empire became the Republic of Gryphonia and a Dominion of Equestria. At the time of writing this, it has been only two months since the war had ended and yet, the Gryphon-Equestrian relations seem more stable than ever before. All this was possible because Markus Becker fought to the very end to keep Equestria safe and bring peace and now, it lies upon us to keep it.

---

---

Twilight let out a relieved sigh as she finally lifted her quill from the parchment. Before her lay the script of a book she had been working on. ‘Markus Becker – a hero from another world’ was its title. For this, she had used the journal Markus had left her, as well as transcripts of interviews with those who were close to him, mainly from herself and Rainbow, though.

Twilight got up from her seat and trotted a bit through her room. After all, she needed a bit of movement after she had just spent hours sitting and writing. The book was ready as far as she was concerned. All that needed to be done now, was to send it to the ‘Canterlot Institute for Educational Literature’ to have it proof-read, edited and published.

Still… she could make their job a lot easier if she read through it herself before she sent it, so she went back to her desk to give it a final look-over. However, just as she was about to sit down, she heard a knock on the window. She looked over and saw Rainbow Dash waving at her.

She magically opened the window to let her friend and herdmate enter her quarters and set down beside her.

“Hey, Twilight!” the prismatic mare greeted, “Still writing that book, huh?”

Rainbow looked over to Twilight’s desk, where a few sheets were neatly sorted, piled and bound together to form what already looked like the beginnings of a book.

“Yeah, well, actually I’m just about done. I just wanted to give it one last read before I hoof it in.” Twilight said. However, Rainbow Dash’s eyes had spied another interesting thing on Twilight’s desk, lying directly beside the script.

“Ooh, what’s this?” Rainbow chirped, as she quickly snatched the few additional pages up in her hooves and started to read before Twilight could stop her. Not that she even wanted to stop her. After all, if she was allowed to read Markus’s journal, then so was Rainbow, right?

“Oh, just two entries that didn’t make it into the final version.” Twilight answered. Not that Rainbow was listening… she was already too occupied with reading her deceased lover’s perspective.

“Hehe, we really did that, didn’t we?” The first entry was about heat season. Twilight didn’t want to include it, for personal reasons.

Rainbow went through the entry relatively quickly and started to read the next. However, as she progressed in her read, her eyes slowly grew wider, until she came to the end and her mouth fell agape.

“Did Markus really do this? I mean, the General sure was a jerk, from what I can tell, but… Well, Markus surely had his reasons…” The second entry was the last entry she found in the journal. The one where Markus admitted to the murder of General Pillbox. The reason for this wasn’t to keep Markus’s name clear, though. Truth be told, if she had included the entry, due to the background on the incident, the public would likely have treated Markus as an avenger, rather than a murderer. No, the reason she didn’t include it was the last paragraph of the entry. The one, where he explained why he reported falsely to the princess. Because he wanted to keep Pillbox’s family’s name clear. If she had included the entry, then Pillbox’s family would’ve had to fight with the dishonour of having born a selfish tyrant. Even though such personalities were not at all uncommon among nobles, it would still have been used against them.

“Anyways, what I originally came here for:” Rainbow started, as she set the papers back onto Twilight’s desk, “I wanted to ask you if you want to come to Canterlot with me. I wanted to go and visit Markus’s grave.”

“Yeah, sure.” Twilight didn’t even need to think about the answer or look at the clock. She knew that she had been working overtime already and that some fresh air will help her clear her mind a bit. So, they packed a few things and went out onto the balcony, from where they started their flight towards Canterlot.

---

They landed in front of the cemetery’s gates and walked into the main area, as flying was regarded as very disrespectful towards the dead. They went straight to the other side of the yard, where another gate separated the normal graveyard from the more important personalities. There, among personalities like Starswirl the Bearded and even Queen Faust herself, lay Markus’s grave.

Rainbow and Twilight took a minute to just sit in front of it and think about the many fun times they had together. How they met, how they ended up and how he gave his life to protect them.

They didn’t shed a single tear. Rather, they smiled. They smiled over the past they had and into the future that was yet to come and when they were done, they went to clean the gravestone and left a few flowers, before they went back to make their way home. However, when they passed through the ‘normal’ graves, Rainbow glanced to the left and saw a young, orange Pegasus filly with stubby wings.

“Scootaloo?” Rainbow thought, as she turned and walked towards the filly.

Scootaloo was sitting before the grave of her parents. They both died during the battle of Canterlot. Her aunts said she could be proud to have had such brave parents, that they died defending their fellow ponies, but that didn’t help one bit.

Scootaloo didn’t cry. She didn’t allow herself to cry. Her cheeks shall remain dry, because her parents didn’t deserve her grief. After all, how could they be so selfish and just die and leave her behind? Why didn’t they just hide like everypony else?

“Hey, squirt.” Rainbow Dash said from behind her. Scootaloo turned over her shoulder to look at her, before looking forward again and giving a monotone answer.

“Hi, Dash.”

Rainbow looked at the gravestone and didn’t need long to figure out what Scootaloo was here for. She looked at the filly again and saw that she wasn’t crying. No, that wasn’t quite correct. Her cheeks were dry, but her mouth was contorting slightly and her eyes were watery already. She was fighting her tears.

Rainbow smiled and sat down beside her. “You know, when Markus died, I almost couldn’t stop crying. I lost something very important to me and I thought that I would never be normal again, but eventually, everything was well again.”

“I know.” Came the reply from Scootaloo.

Rainbow scrunched up her nose for a moment, before continuing. “What I want to say is: it’s okay to cry, you don’t need to hold back.”

“I know, but I don’t want to cry… I don’t need to cry. They just left me behind, they aren’t worth crying over…” Scootaloo sniffled.

Rainbow was shocked for a moment, but when she looked into Scootaloo’s face again, she saw that the dam was just about to break. She smiled and pulled her quasi-sister in for a hug.

“Hey! What’re you doing?! I just said I won’t cry!” Scootaloo protested between sniffles.

“Of course you won’t! You’re just cleaning your eyes, is all!”

Scootaloo pressed her face into the fur of Rainbows belly. “Yeah, that’s right, I’m not crying and you know that!” Then, she started crying. She cried off all the regret she held. From almost never seeing her parents to every single fight she had with them. She cried for their loss, she cried for everypony they had saved.

When she finally calmed down, she kept the hug for another few moments. Twilight had found them in the meantime, but decided to keep silent to not interrupt their moment. Then, suddenly, Scootaloo gave a few testing pokes into Rainbow’s belly, earning her a yelp of surprise from the older mare.

“Hey, what was that for?” Rainbow asked in confusion.

“Have you been working out more? Your belly feels a bit… stiffer than usual.”

Rainbow released the filly to look at her belly herself and gave a few prods against it.

“Huh.” She intelligently commented.

At that moment, Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty rounded the corner and walked straight towards Scootaloo.

“Ah, here you are. Have you said goodbye to your parents? Come on, now, the lawyer is waiting, we need to hurry.”

“Lawyer? What do you need a Lawyer for?” Twilight asked.

“Oh… you know, Aunt and Auntie apparently don’t count as va... vi… via—UH! They aren’t allowed to be my foster-parents and now they want to go to court for it. If they win, I can stay with them and if they lose… I’ll likely be sent to an Orphanage…” Scootaloo explained.

“Wow, that’s awful! Can we do anything to help?” Rainbow asked, but Aunt Holiday shook her head.

“It’s nice of you to ask, but I don’t think there’s a way for you to help. Anyways, we are running late now. See you soon!”

With that, they vanished through the gate and, after sharing a short look, Twilight and Rainbow followed suit and made their way back to Ponyville.

---

An hour later, they set down in front of the Library and were just about to enter it, when Rarity suddenly came running from behind them.

“TWILIIIIIIGHT!” She screamed, looking panicked. “There’s a massive, three-headed DOG at Sweet Apple Acres!”

“A three-headed dog? Yeah right, I thought only Pinkie and I could pull such cheap pranks.” Rainbow dismissed.

Twilight prodded her elbow into Rainbows side, giving her a sharp glare, before motioning for Rarity to lead the way and following her. After giving a very unenthusiastic ‘Okay, fine.’, Rainbow followed suit.

When they reached Sweet Apple Acres, they indeed saw a massive, black dog with three heads, which was rolling on the ground, writhing and howling in pain. Applejack was jumping around beside it, trying to keep it from squashing her Appletrees, while Fluttershy was examining it for wounds.

“Fluttershy, what’s up with him?” Rainbow asked, trying not to acknowledge that Rarity wasn’t pranking her.

“Oh, uhm, he seems to have a cut in his… uhm… behind. It’s not very big, but it’s very deep and it seems to be infected. I can fix it, but uhm, I need a salve from Zecora, so if you could, uhm, you know… get it for me? Only if you want, that is.” Fluttershy answered.

“No time fer banter, girls! That dog is squashin’ mah Appletrees! We need tah get this salve, now!”

Applejack ran off and Rainbow, Twilight and Rarity quickly followed suit. They got to Zecora and the salve was quickly made. However, on the way back Rainbow suddenly stopped and looked into the Forest.

“Rainbow, dear, have you seen something?” Rarity asked in concern, quickly ripping Rainbow out of her daze.

“Huh, what? Uh, no, I just realized that… I need to go for little mares. You can go ahead, I’ll catch up with you.” She said.

“Oh no, Ah ain’t leavin y’all alone in tha forest. Go on, but make it quick, will ya?” Applejack said. Rainbow gave a quick nod and vanished into the bushline.

Moments turned to seconds and seconds to minutes and Rainbow didn’t come back.

“Dangit, Rainbow! Make it quick, there’s a giant dog killin’ mah Appletrees!” Applejack complained.

A few more minutes passed and Rainbow still didn’t return. “Okay, that’s mighty enough, I’mma go ‘n get her back.” Applejack said firmly as she stepped into the bushline.

“WHOA NELLY!” She suddenly cried, causing Rarity and Twilight to quickly jump after her, ready to help their friend. However, what they saw wasn’t quite what they expected to see.

There, in a small clearing behind the bushes, lay a dead rabbit with its belly partially ripped open. Beside it, there stood Rainbow Dash with the blood literally fresh on her hooves… and muzzle.

“What in tarnation are you doin’ here, Rainbow?!” Applejack more shouted than asked.

“Applejack, wait, I can explain this!” Rainbow tried to defend herself.

“What do you want ta explain?! You’ve killed a rabbit!”

Rainbow quickly shook her head. “NO! I just found it here and then, when I looked at it, I… I…”

“Y’all took a bite outta it and went eatin’ meat! Why did you do this, Rainbow? You know that Ponies can’t eat meat!” Applejack scolded and Rainbow had no answer to her. “Listen, you’re goin’ to Nurse Redheart right now an’ get that meat outta yer system! Ah’ve already lost one friend, don’t wanna lose another.”

Rainbow nodded quickly and flew off towards Ponyville, while Applejack moved out of the clearing with Rarity close behind.

“Oh my, how could she even think about that? I mean, WHY in the name of Celestia?”

Applejack turned to look over her shoulder with an almost bored stare. “Honestly, Rares: This ain’t the weirdest stuff we’ve seen until now. Ah just hope she makes it to Redheart before the food poisonin’ kicks in.”

Rarity paused for a moment and pursed her lips, before giving a long sigh. “I guess you’re right. Let’s just hope she’s alright after this.”

Twilight had remained in the clearing and said nothing… because she could see, why Rainbow did it. She could feel it as well. The slight, underlying urge to just have a single bite out of that tasty rabbit. She was almost tempted to do so, but quickly shook her head to clear her mind. She turned to leave, but before she did so, she teleported the cadaver well out of sight, lest somepony, or worse, Fluttershy, came by and saw this mess.

Rainbow, meanwhile, took a slight detour to dip into the Ponyville river, before heading to the clinic. She didn’t really want to show up there with blood on her hooves and muzzle, now did she?

She stormed in and immediately went to Nurse Redheart. “Redheart, I ate meat, HELP!”

Nurse Redheart didn’t miss a beat. She immediately grabbed Rainbow by the shoulders and pulled her into the ladies’ bathroom, where she forced her to vomit it all out. Sure enough, there were multiple lumps of still-bloody meat in the mix.

“Oh dear, that’s quite a lot. How did you manage this?” Redheart asked.

Rainbow started sweating slightly. She couldn’t really tell her that she did this out of her own accord or else she would probably be branded a meat-eater for the rest of her life.

“Ehehe… ehm, you know… Gilda sent me a gift from Gryphonia… as a little apology for the war ‘n stuff. It was some homemade food, but she apparently forgot that Ponies don’t eat meat and I didn’t see it in time…”

Redheart squinted and looked back into Rainbow’s former stomach contents. “This looks rather uncooked for a dish, don’t you think?”

Rainbow started sweating even more and scratched the back of her head. “Ehm, that’s because… the dish was a specialty with only raw meat! Yes, that’s it!”

“… Uh huh…” Redheart didn’t quite believe her, but saw that she was getting nowhere, so she decided to drop this line of questioning. Instead, she led Rainbow into another room, where she was thoroughly examined for food poisoning. When nothing was found, she was released again.

Outside, Rainbow could basically feel Gilda slapping her from the afterlife, for using her as a cheap excuse. She quickly apologized to her and to all the Gryphon chefs she may have insulted with her lie, just in case. After all, when she dies, she doesn’t want to be pecked to even-more-death by a mob of angry gryphon cooks.

Ch41: When Hostility Takes Over

It was rare that the Princess was the one to write to Twilight. Even more so was it rare that she sent a plea for help. However, it was unthinkable that the Princess would lose formality in such a letter, so it shouldn’t be hard to imagine that, when Twilight and her friends stood before her a few hours later, the mood was already pretty tense.

“So, what is this ‘matter of national security’ you have called us here for?” Rainbow Dash asked impatiently and was promptly hushed by Twilight.

“Rainbow, it’s the Princess you are talking to!” she hissed, however the Princess waved her off.

“It is true that it was rude, but considering the circumstances, it certainly is the right attitude.” Celestia said. Twilight turned back to her mentor, looking at her with a slightly anxious gaze, before Celestia spoke further.

“You certainly remember the dog, you have written to me about, a few days ago?”

Twilight nodded.

“That dog’s name is Cerberus and he was… is the guardian of Tartarus. You certainly remember it from when I told you about the secrets a princess has to know.”

“Well, good to know that Twilight knows, but what about us?” Rainbow asked. Twilight turned to her friend, but before she spoke, she looked back to Celestia to receive her permission, which she gave with a nod.

“Tartarus is a prison for those, who cannot be reformed, but pose a threat to Equestria and Ponykind.” Twilight explained quickly.

“Well said, Twilight. Sadly, the absence of Cerberus meant that something has happened and when I went to take a look myself, I found that one of the most dangerous criminals of Equestria, Lord Tirek, has escaped.”

“Ha! And now you need us to beat this bucker back into place. I’ve been waiting for something exciting to happen!” Rainbow exclaimed, throwing a few punches into the air.

However, Celestia shook her head. “No. I am afraid, without the Elements of Harmony, you six are no match for the dark powers that Tirek possesses. No, I need you to convince another… ‘friend’ of yours to help us. A friend that I presume is already listening in.” she said, raising her voice a little at the last sentence.

Discord chose that moment to materialize beside her. “I must say, you certainly have sharp eyes, princess.” He said, pointing at his eye and eliciting a glint from the edge of it. “I am sure you know that what you want to ask of me comes close to what Captain Becker has done?” He pinched his nose and blew, causing his torso to explode in a heap of confetti.

Twilight and Rainbow flinched back, trying to force down the memory of their beloved’s sacrifice.

“We both know that your powers more than suffice to deal with Tirek.” Celestia said firmly.

Discord quickly teleported over to the white alicorn and wound himself around her like a snake. “Ooh, have I just heard a subtle ‘you are more powerful than me, Discord’?”

Celestia ground her teeth, but remained silent, while Discord unwound himself from her and popped out of and back into existence directly in front of Twilight.

“But, what would I get from helping you? I mean, not even friends always work for free, do they?” He said, leaning down to her.

“Friends ain’t leavin’ their friends hangin’ either!” Applejack interjected.

“Of course, dear Applejack, of course, but I would be risking my life, so I think a proper reward is in order.” Discord said, folding his arms and pouting.

“Please, Discord.” Fluttershy begged with puppy eyes. “We can have some tea afterwards, if you want.”

“No, those eyes won’t work on me, Fluttershy.” Discord said, shielding his eyes with his talon, but unable to resist peeking through with one eye.

“Okay, fine.” He finally gave in.

Fluttershy flew over to him and clamped onto his torso in a hug. “Thank you, Discord.” She said, causing Discord to blush slightly.

“Don’t thank me too early, I haven’t done anything yet.” He said, pulling her off of him, before snapping out of existence yet again.

“Fine friend we have here, asking a reward for helping us.” Applejack commented sarcastically.

“Oh, uhm, but we are asking a lot of him… so, uhm, I can understand why he wants something from us…” Fluttershy defended.

“At least he has chosen to help us in the end. Let’s just hope that nothing bad happens…” Twilight said.

“Don’t jinx it!” Everypony else commanded.

---

For the whole ride home, Twilight remained silent. Even when they left the train and neared the Library, she still didn’t say a word, the strangeness of which alerting her friends.

“Twilight, darling, what`s wrong?” Rarity asked, just before Twilight could open the door to her home.

She looked back, forcing a smile and trying to look cheerful. “Nothing. Everything is fine.” She lied. Rarity gave her a stern look, which quickly conveyed to her that her charade hadn’t worked. She let her head drop, sighed miserably and answered. “It’s just… I feel so utterly useless. First, in the Crystal Empire, we couldn’t do anything to help Markus. Then, in Trottingham, we nearly got ourselves killed. In Canterlot, we came too late to save him and now…”

“Oh, come on! We aren’t useless! We were just outclassed, is all! I know there must be some way for us to help!” Rainbow quickly objected.

“I guess… maybe we can find some spell in the Castle of the Two Sisters that may help?” Twilight said with a weak, but hopeful smile.

“Alright then, let’s go to the old castle. Better than stayin’ here an’ doin’ nothin’.” Applejack decided. So, the group made their way into the Everfree and towards the castle.

Their way led them past the crevice in which the Tree of Harmony was hidden and they found it a good idea to take a detour to see how the tree was faring.

“It is too bad, we had to give them up to save the tree. The elements, that is.” Rarity said, as they all stood assembled before the glowing, crystalline entity.

“True, but at least Ponyville was saved through it. I don’t want to think about what might have happened if these vines spread further than they did.” Twilight said.

“Indeed, my little Chaos Seeds might’ve caused a LOT of mayhem.” Suddenly, a voice said out of nowhere.

Discord materialized in front of the group, who immediately made a few steps backwards.

“Discord!” Applejack seethed, “Shouldn’t y’all be on yer way to get this Tirek?”

“Why, yes, I should. I was just saying goodbye to my dear friends, before my departure.” Discord turned around and looked at the crystal tree. “Ah, the Tree of Harmony. Truly a shame that you had to abandon its gifts, don’t you think?” He said, growing four additional arms and spawning six presents, only to throw them away and degenerating his new limbs again. “But hey, it left you this nifty mystery box here. Too bad it’s still locked.”

“So what do you care? Ain’t ya the god of Chaos ‘n all? Shouldn’t y’all be happy that it’s still locked?” Applejack accused.

Discord took an exaggerated gasp and leaned back. “My, Applejack, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten that I’m reformed now? I just want to help you and who knows? This box is made by the Tree of Harmony itself, so why shouldn’t it help the Elements of Harmony?”

“Let that be our problem, Discord. You should concentrate on finding and defeating Tirek.” Twilight commanded.

Discord made an exaggerated bow. “Of course, your Highness, I shall excuse myself.” He then spawned a city scooter beside him, with which he then drove off into and through the cavern’s wall…

Only to pop back into existence directly behind Twilight and Rainbow Dash.

“Oh, one last thing for you two, before I’m going.” He said, before making a few steps backwards and suddenly losing his ever-apparent sarcastic nature and replacing it with a genuine expression of guilt.

“Twilight, Rainbow, I am… truly sorry for what I did in the palace.” He said, rubbing his left paw guiltily. “I know, making jokes about Markus this soon… wasn’t very nice of me. Please know that I, too, truly admired Markus. Not for his obvious deeds like you do, but for what others don’t see. You see: behind his façade of collected calmth always lay a plethora of chaotic emotions and memories. So to say, he was what you want me to become: A being of Chaos which has adapted to the rules of Harmony. Still, beyond what he truly was, he still found it in himself to care about others far more than about himself.” He extended his paw and suddenly held Markus’s last will in it. “I mean, look at this! Even after he sacrificed himself to save you all, he still thought that he hadn’t done enough and gave you everything he had!” He turned the parchment around and marked the passages where the gifts were mentioned in yellow lines. He then held it towards Twilight, who grabbed it with her magic. “It seems that the most chaotic beings in the end can be those who bring about Harmony. I, as the reformed God of Chaos should know that.” Discord then offered a sympathetic smile, before suddenly snapping back into his old personality. “So, now I should really be on my way. I hope the tea party is still on, Fluttershy?”

“I wouldn’t miss it, Discord.” Fluttershy answered, earning her a soft squee from Discord, before he puffed out of existence again.

Everypony except Fluttershy was standing there, their mouths partially opened and completely unmoving.

“Did… Did Discord just… apologize?” Applejack spoke out what everypony (except Fluttershy) was thinking.

“See? He really IS reformed! And he may be right: this box could have something in it that we need.” Fluttershy said, forgetting that she was shy for a moment.

“Well, it’s not like we have any other options, so maybe we should try and open it?” Rainbow proposed.

“Yeah, how’ya gonna do that without keys?” Applejack pointed out.

“Maybe we can find some hints on that in the old castle’s Library?” Twilight said. Rainbow and Applejack shrugged to one another and then nodded towards Twilight, before all six of them made their way to the castle.

---

Nothing, nothing and nothing again. The search in the Library has brought as much information as not searching at all. What was even more worrying/frustrating, though, was that Discord has been gone for over two days now and had yet to be heard from again. Normally, this wouldn’t have been weird at all, but the current situation made the lack of information an absolutely nerve-racking experience. Not only for Twilight, but also to her friends, who were still helping her dig through hundreds of tomes that the lavender alicorn had amassed over the years.

After they had cleared the old castle, they went to search in Twilight’s own Library, though with the same result. The six were just about to take the last books on their respective piles, when Rarity and Twilight suddenly felt something. It felt like the magic that surrounded them would be drawn away from them… like somepony was charging up a massive spell…

There was only a minimal timespan between Twilight’s realization and the subsequent flash of magic that suddenly hit the Library. The old tree instantly went aflame with the six ponies and one baby dragon trapped inside. Rarity and Twilight erected shields as fast as they could and barely managed to do so, before the whole construct collapsed around them.

When the onslaught of debris ended, Rarity and Twilight were barely able to uphold their protection and, with the help of their friends, slowly pushed outward to free them of their prison. When they finally saw sunlight again, however, they also saw something or rather somepony else, who let their blood freeze in their veins.

There, in front of the Library and surrounded by the seemingly lifeless shells of Ponyville’s inhabitants stood a massive centaur. His horns alone were easily long enough to completely pierce through a grown pony, but the rest of his body made even them look like toys. All-in-all, he stood easily as tall as the second story of Twilight’s (former) Library. Beside him, there was something that looked like a bubble and inside of it was…

“Discord?!” Rainbow Dash noticed.

“Hey there, pals. Sorry, it seems, I got a teensy tiny bit distracted…” Discord said, muffled from the bubble around him.

“’Pals’? So these are the ‘friends’ you’ve been talking about? I thought you, as the God of Chaos, would at least choose more promising candidates than these weaklings!” The centaur taunted.

“Don’t underestimate them, Tirek! After all, these ponies are the ones who defeated me… a second time.” Discord defended from within the bubble.

“These little maggots? HA! You will see, I will squash them like the insects they are!” Without further warning, Tirek suddenly shot a beam towards the group, which they barely managed to evade. It hit the ground in an explosion, the shockwave of which sending our heroes flying for a good few metres, before they came to a sliding stop.

They quickly scrambled back to their hooves to start their own series of attacks. Twilight shot multiple beams of magic at the centaur, which sadly did little more than distract him. Meanwhile, Applejack and Rainbow Dash tried to beat him through physical force, but didn’t manage anything more than an annoyance and Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie and Spike tried to fill one of Pinkie’s confetti cannons with all kinds of crystals and rocks and shoot them at the centaur, but they were too slow.

“You are ANNOYING!” Tirek shouted, swiping with his massive hand and slamming it into Applejack and Rainbow, who were flung away. Twilight, momentarily distracted by this, was hit with a sudden bolt of magic, which flung her directly towards her friends and a second bolt obliterated Pinkie’s cannon.

Twilight saw this with horror and now, one thing clearly dominated her mind: “We cannot win this… Oh, if only the Princesses were here.” She whined, drooping her ears and lowering her head.

“The Princesses! Somepony needs to warn them!” Rainbow Dash alerted from beside her.

“Yeah, but how? We can’t get past him!” Twilight pointed out.

“You’ll go and warn them, while we distract him, okay Twilight?”

Twilight’s head shot around and she looked at her herdmate in disbelief. “WHAT?! No! I can’t leave you here alone!”

“You and the princesses have far better chances at downing him than we do, Twilight!” Rainbow argued.

“Yeah, maybe, but—“

“TWILIGHT!” Rainbow grabbed Twilight’s face with her hooves and looked sternly into her eyes, conveying the message clearly and unmistakeably. Twilight was shocked for a moment, but took a deep breath, closed her eyes and steeled her resolve. With her newfound confidence, she looked at Rainbow, signalling her that she was ready.

The prismatic mare smiled at her herdmate, before she called the rest of her friends together and they charged at Tirek once again, while Twilight took the opportunity to flee as fast as she could. She took air and went to fly to Canterlot. However, this didn’t go unnoticed by Tirek. He spun around, trying to suck her magic before she could escape, but just before his magic hit her, a cyan wall of fur appeared between them and caught the blast.

Rainbow was hit square into her chest and her energy left her in a cyan stream that slowly flew towards Tirek, while she slumped to the floor.

“RAINBOW!” Twilight shouted in despair as she saw her friend lose her power. But she didn’t stop. She knew that if she stopped now, Rainbow’s sacrifice would have been in vain.

---

She set down on the main balcony of the palace and immediately took off into a sprint towards the throne room. Inside, Celestia, Luna and Cadence were already assembled and discussing possible steps, when Twilight suddenly bashed through the doors, completely drenched in sweat and heavily panting.

“Oh my Celestia, Twilight, what happened?!” Cadence immediately came to aid her sister-in-law, who was barely still strong enough to keep herself on her hooves.

“Tirek… Ponyville… Help…” Twilight panted, but her message was still understood.

“So, time is up, I presume?” Luna commented.

“Yes, quite indeed.” Celestia confirmed.

“So… we really have to do this?” Cadence asked with a hint of worry.

“Do… what?” Twilight asked, slowly regaining her stamina.

“We will temporarily rid ourselves of our powers. After all, Tirek can’t steal magic if there’s no magic to steal.” Luna explained.

“Wouldn’t this require for somepony to take all that power?” Twilight asked in wonder.

“Yes, indeed. That is, where we need you, little Twilight.” Celestia stated, smiling down at her former student.

“I—WHAT?! But Princess, I…”

“We have had a long discussion about this, Twilight. We all think that you can keep our powers safe from him.” Cadence tried to reassure.

Twilight was looking back and forth between the white and the pink princess, still trying to comprehend their words.

“Sister, we need to hurry! With all the magic Tirek has absorbed already, he might reach Canterlot within the next few seconds!” Luna reminded.

Celestia looked from her sister over to the still panting Twilight, who was in turn gazing at her. They shared a long stare with each other and after a while, Twilight shook her head clear and nodded. “Alright. I’m ready when you are.”

Celestia nodded and the three alicorns touched their horns together. A stream of multi-coloured magic slowly made its way towards Twilight, until it connected to her horn and began charging her up. Celestia’s, Luna’s and Cadence‘s colours slowly faded into grayscale, while Twilight’s colours grew ever stronger. When the transfer was complete, the three princesses looked like they had fallen into a pit of dust, while Twilight was shining like the sun itself.

There was no time to admire her new colours, however, as one could hear heavy stomps in the halls already. Celestia quickly gestured her to hide, before Tirek blasted the doors open and entered.

From her hiding spot, Twilight could barely see what was going on, but what she saw was enough to determine one thing: since she last saw him in Ponyville, he had grown even larger, suggesting that he now held the magic of all her friends as well.

“Ah, the princesses, ready to become the main course. Perfect.” He mused, as he made his way to his prey, not noticing their lack of a reaction. He stood before them and worked his magic… only to grunt in confusion, when he felt nothing at all.

“WHAT?! Where’s your magic?!” He demanded, not paying attention to Twilight, who was sneaking past him and towards the doors.

“Our magic is safe, Tirek! We will never let you get it!” Celestia said, defiantly. At that moment, Twilight passed the doors and only when they slammed shut, Tirek noticed his mistake and let out a roar of frustration.

He sprinted out, through the doors and past the guards whose magic he had taken. He looked where he could think of, but Twilight was nowhere to be seen. Then, he had an idea. With such a substantial amount of magic, her signature must be ginormous. So, he focused on the flow of energy around him and looked for large sources.

It wasn’t long before he finally found her. There she was, hiding behind a rock in the hills close to Ponyville.

Twilight knew that her hiding spot wouldn’t last long, but she still hoped that Tirek would have taken at least a bit longer than he did. She wanted to come up with a plan, but the time she got wasn’t enough. Now, there he was, standing on the other side of the rock and calling out for her to surrender. Of course, Twilight wouldn’t do such a thing. She had promised the princesses to keep their magic safe and that was exactly, what she was going to do.

She needed a solution. She needed a way out, now! But no matter how hard she tried, no matter how hard she thought ‘what would Markus do?’, the answer was always the same.

Tirek finally lost his patience and he blasted the rock out of existence. However, behind it, he found that Twilight was not cowering in fear, but standing upright and facing him with a spell already charged, for the answer that Twilight found was simple, yet definite. “Markus would fight.”

She unleashed her power upon Tirek, who was hit completely unprepared. The spell, powered by the might of four alicorns drove him backwards for several miles, before the range of the spell was expended. He recovered and sent a blast of his own towards Twilight, which hit her and blew her away as well.

The two went into a hard, yet equal fight in which both tried to somehow get the upper hand. They blasted, kicked, punched and threw each other to somehow bring their opponent to yield. Yet, after minutes turned to hours, a winner had yet to be determined. They both had yet to seriously hurt the other and so, they both drew their last trump. They put all their reserves into a single attack that meant to determine, who of them would come up victorious.

Their blasts hit, causing a massive explosion to erupt between them and turning their surroundings into a massive wasteland. Still, the two contenders stood unharmed, their options expended.

“It seems, we have come to an impasse, Twilight Sparkle.” Tirek said, suddenly smiling deviously. “How about a trade?” He snipped once, causing Discord, Rainbow, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Spike and Pinkie Pie to appear behind Tirek, trapped in similar bubbles as Discord was.

“I will free your friends in exchange for the magic you hold.”

Twilight looked back and forth between the five mares and one Dragon before her. Her friends frantically shook their heads, trying to signal her not to, but Twilight just couldn’t let her friends down. With a sigh, she drooped her head and agreed.

With a loud and devilish laugh, he sucked in Twilight’s magic and, true to his word, the bubbles popped and everypony was set free. Everypony, but Discord.

“Hey! What about Discord?” Twilight ask, offended, “He is our friend as well!”

“Oh, are you sure about that? When I offered you to free your friends, you looked at everypony, except Discord. You may call him your friend, but deep inside you, you yourself don’t believe in it and therefor, he isn’t. Now, if you’d excuse me, I’ve got a throne to take.”

With one last, devilish laugh, Tirek left the group, Discord levitating closely behind him. However, Discord hadn’t given up. He knew a way out and he had to show them. He pulled a piece of parchment from behind his back, one with several lines written on it, of which some were marked in yellow and he was frantically pointing at it.

Twilight had to squint, but could identify it as Markus’s last will, but what did he want to say with that? She thought, harder and harder and then harder yet, until it finally clicked.

“The most chaotic beings in the end can be those who bring about Harmony…” she mumbled.

“What was that, dear?” Rarity asked, however, Twilight wasn’t listening.

“He wasn’t just apologizing, but he was trying to give us a hint!”

The five mares and one dragon looked at her in confusion, causing Twilight to groan in frustration.

“It’s Markus, who needs to open the box!” Twilight said.

“But dear, you realize that Markus is dead, don’t you?” Rarity asked, even more confused than before.

“Indeed, he is,” Twilight admitted with a shudder, “but he left each of us something that might work just as well.”

Suddenly, it clicked with all of them. Their eyes widened slightly as they realized, what was meant and, without any further word, they dispersed, running to their (in Twilight’s case former) homes and fetching what Markus had left them in his will.

When Twilight saw the ruins of her Library, she almost lost her hope again, as she had forgotten, what had happened to it. However, when she went to search anyways, she was rewarded with a feeling of relief, as she found the small chest with the one book that was most precious to her.

They all met again in the cavern where the tree of Harmony sat, but hesitated, when they remembered, what Fluttershy’s gift had been. The small bunny sat on her hoof, looking at her, while Fluttershy was returning the gaze with uncertainty clearly displayed on her face.

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” She asked. In return, the bunny nodded and said something that only she could understand.

“(Yes. He saved my life and raised me like his daughter. Now, it is my turn to repay him.)”

“Okay… if you are so sure about it… thank you, Mrs. Bunny.”

When the last confirmation was given, everypony looked at each other once more, before they extended their gifts towards the box. As soon as they touched it, the five objects and one bunny turned into keys. Their blades and shoulders were golden and their heads were pitch-black. Each key held a representation of their bearers cutie mark in their blades.

The keys inserted themselves into their respective holes and turned. The box flew open and a beam of rainbow shot up a few metres, before coming down upon the six mares that stood beneath.

When it hit, a rush of energy flowed through them. Their manes and tails grew longer and more colourful and they were now emanating a faint glow. Their minds were enveloped by a cold calmth and their right eyes turned black and were now emanating a black mist.

With their transformations now complete, they didn’t need to vocally communicate anymore. They knew what they had to do and so, everypony got together and Rarity and Twilight cast a teleportation spell, sending them directly in front of Tirek, who was still on his way back to Canterlot.

He stopped quickly, when he noticed who was standing before him yet again and with a slight confusion, he went to collect their energy once again. However, Rarity and Twilight were quick to erect a shield, blocking the spell from taking effect.

With a frustrated grunt, Tirek chose to use more physical methods. He rose up his right arm, bringing it down towards the offenders in a slam. Out of habit, Twilight wanted to fly off, but a voice within her stopped her. It wasn’t like somepony else trying to speak to her, but more like an instinct that had somehow gained a voice.

Don’t fly; evade left

She did exactly as commanded, causing the slam to hit the ground beside her. She was now standing off to his completely undefended right side.

Kick right front knee

She made a dash for his right leg and slammed her hoof into his knee. Applejack, Rainbow and Pinkie did the same with the remaining three legs, causing him to collapse, while Rarity and Fluttershy were holding his arms in place.

Fly; kick face

Rainbow Dash and Twilight both took air and, when their hooves were on Tirek’s eye level, made a round-house kick towards his eyebrows. Not yet unconscious, but momentarily dazed, Tirek’s upper body slumped backwards, as Twilight and Rainbow set back down onto the ground.

Use Friendship-beam

Twilight’s heart called out to her friend’s and with their collected powers, she shot a massive rainbow-beam at Tirek. He screamed, as he was hit and slowly, he began to shrink again. The magic he had stolen returned to their respective owners in a multitude of colours, while Tirek slowly took on his old shape.

When the process was done, Twilight teleported him into the throne room in Canterlot, where Celestia was already waiting to deal with him, while she and her friends teleported back to the tree of Harmony, to give back the powers they had borrowed.

While all this happened, Discord stood off to the side and, for once, it was his turn to be utterly baffled. He was looking around, trying to comprehend what he had just witnessed and wondering, what had happened to his cute little Fluttershy…

The powers were returned and the keys turned back into the objects (and one bunny) they were before and, now that the effects wore off, the six mares shared their experiences.

“Duude, that was so cool! When the magic hit me, I suddenly wasn’t scared anymore, like, at all! There was just all this calmth, as if there was no way that I could fail!” Rainbow described excitedly.

“Yes, indeed it was quite an exhilarating experience.” Rarity added.

“That’s how it was for me, too! Also, there was this strange voice… well, not really a voice, but more like… an instinct?” Twilight said.

“What, you heard it too? At first I thought it was you guys talking to me, but with the difference that it somehow felt like… like I had to do what this voice said.” Rainbow filled in.

While they were talking, the Tree of Harmony was doing the next few steps that were required, until suddenly, it sent the box flying, heading it towards Ponyville.

The six mares followed it and watched, as it impacted the ground in the outskirts of the town, only for a massive, crystalline castle to grow out of the spot, proudly displaying Twilight’s cutie mark on its highest Tower.

---

After the battle and the subsequent creation of the Castle of Friendship and the Cutie Map, Twilight moved in, seeing as her Library was destroyed and the Castle was so obviously marked as hers. However, even though the bed was soft and the room was quiet and dark, she still awoke with a feeling of heavy drowsiness. Sometimes it was even a feeling of nausea, combined with some gagging, prompting her to put a bucked beside her bed, just in case.

This bucket was finally needed, when one morning, it weren’t just gags anymore. Spike walked into her bedroom and saw her hanging over it and emptying her stomach into the silvery vessel.

“Twilight? Are… you okay?” Spike asked tentatively.

When the waves of vomit subsided, Twilight looked up and at Spike, who was quick to swipe away the remaining bits of stomach contents. “Frankly, no, I’m not. Ever since we moved here, I feel like my stomach would empty at any moment… which obviously has happened today. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to move here?”

“Oh, come on, Twilight. The Tree of Harmony gave this to you, so it can’t be the castle’s fault. Most likely it’s just a coincidence that you became sick or maybe you caught something during your fight with Tirek? Anyways, you should see a doctor, first.” Spike advised.

Twilight nodded groggily. “That would likely be the best, yes. Thank you, Spike.”

---

“There is absolutely nothing wrong with you, Mrs. Sparkle. At least, nothing we can find.” Doctor Goodhoof said, as he was reading out the results.

“What do you mean, ‘nothing wrong’? I have vomited right after getting up and you say there’s nothing wrong?” Twilight asked, slightly agitated for some reason.

“Well, at least there’s no sign for an Ill—wait a second.” The doctor said, as he finally came to the hormone readings. With a smile, he turned back to Twilight and said: “Miss Twilight, I would like to run one more test.”

Twilight nodded and lay down on the exam couch. The doctor began to apply magic to her lower belly. It felt like multiple small prods, before something searched around within her. The doctor began to smile, as his magic slowly faded away.

“I may congratulate you, Miss Sparkle. I can happily tell you, that you have a healthy foal growing inside of you.”

Twilight’s mouth went agape, as the words registered. “Does… Does that mean, I’m…”

“Pregnant, yes. Congratulations.” The doctor finished for her.

Twilight looked down to her belly, lightly stroking it, while her face quickly lit up with a smile, as the fact slowly registered within her mind.

I am pregnant… She thought happily. And the only one I’ve done it with is… but that would mean…

“Doctor, would you please wait here for a few minutes? I have to get somepony.”

“But of course, Miss Sparkle. I will wait.” The doctor answered with a gentle smile.

Twilight quickly darted off and, a few minutes later, she came back with Rainbow Dash following close behind.

“Wait, the ‘great surprise’ is a visit to the doctor? Oh, come on, Twilight! If you want to prank me, you could have thought of something better!” Rainbow lamented, however Twilight paid her no attention.

“Doctor,” she asked, “could you please run the same test on her, as you did on me?”

The doctor understood Twilight’s thoughts and motioned for Rainbow to lie down on the couch. With a bit of hesitation and a look of confusion, she did as she was asked and the doctor went to work.

Twilight’s heart momentarily stopped, when a frown appeared on the doctor`s face, but began to pump even quicker again, when this frown was replaced with a smile.

“Your assumption was correct, Miss Sparkle.” He said, “She is as well.”

“I am what? What were you looking for?” Rainbow asked, now with worry adding to the mix.

Twilight approached her and placed a hoof on her belly. “Well, Rainbow, it seems he left us more than just some gifts…”

Rainbow was still looking on in confusion, still unable to follow. Twilight smiled lightly and clarified herself. “We are both pregnant, Rainbow.”

Rainbow’s eyes widened as the words sunk in. She looked down and began stroking her own belly, slowly repeating the same words to herself over and over again: ‘I am pregnant… I am pregnant…’

While Rainbow was registering this, the doctor pulled Twilight aside for a word.

“Yes, what is it, doctor?” She asked in a happy tone.

The doctor glanced over to Rainbow, reassuring himself that she was still occupied. “Well… it is about Miss Dash’s foal…” He started.

A hint of worry started to spark up inside of Twilight. “It... It’s in good health, isn’t it?”

“Yes, don’t worry, everything is fine, it’s just… your foal is an alicorn. Given your own physique, that certainly is no surprise, mind you. However, Miss Dash’s… is as well. If you’d allow me the question: who is the father?” Goodhoof asked.

“It is Markus Becker. The Hero, who recently deceased.” Twilight answered, trying to be formal about it. “Maybe, the genes from his dimension translate into alicorn genes in ours?”

Goodhoof nodded in understanding. “It is possible, yes. Frankly, it is remarkable that you were even compatible, but as it seems you were and beyond that, anything might be possible.”

Twilight took a hoof to her snout in thought, something she had copied from Markus, but after a few moments, she shook her head. “You know, doctor, it isn’t important, what it’s going to be. Alicorn or not, we will still love them with every inch of our heart.”

The doctor smiled and nodded and Twilight turned back to Rainbow, who was still mumbling to herself. “Yes, Rainbow, you are pregnant. Come on, let’s go and tell the others!” Twilight commanded happily, however this time, it was Rainbow’s turn to ignore her.

“Well, I guess I can forget about the Wonderbolts for a while, huh?” Rainbow stated with a chuckle.

Twilight jerked back slightly in momentary shock. She was so occupied with her own luck that she hadn’t even thought about that. “Well, there’s still the option of abortion, if you really want to join the Wonderbolts.” Twilight said, somewhat disappointed.

Immediately, Rainbow’s head shot up in a glare towards Twilight. “WHAT?! Abortion?? NO! Buck the Wonderbolts, they can wait! I’m not gonna abort Markus’s foal!” She all-but shouted, before going back to softly caressing her belly.

Twilight was surprised by this outburst, though not in a bad way. She felt happy and proud that Rainbow had chosen to keep the foal, together with her. She let her herdmate caress the unborn foal for a few more minutes, before she gently tugged on her leg, signalling her that it was time to go.

They both left the clinic together and went home, their heads filled to the brim with euphoria over this newest development.

Author's Notes:

Woo, Friendship Castle, yay!

Also, side note: when writing this chapter, I nearly lost myself in a laughing fit, as, through a typo, I accidentally designated the 'Castle of Friendship' as the 'Castle of Friendshit'

Ch42: Expanding The Family

As soon as Twilight got home, she wrote to the princesses. After all, such grand news had to be shared with everypony important and who was more important than the princesses? Spike, of course! That’s why he got to know first… and because he was the first to run into them.

While Twilight was occupied, Rainbow sat down on one of the reading couches in the new library and let her mind wander off. Subconsciously, her hoof went to her belly again, as she started contemplating, how her future plans would change now. Not in a bad way, in most cases at least, but in one of the most wonderful ways she could have imagined.

Of course, it wasn’t her plan to get pregnant so soon at all, but being a mother at 26 years wasn’t really that uncommon, wasn’t it? And even if it was, Twilight was only 24, so it couldn’t be that bad. Still, even though the rest of their friends said that Twilight seemed more mature than Dash, despite her being younger, the actual age difference became apparent in that exact situation.

When Twilight learned that she was pregnant, her first impulse was to tell her mentor, the very pony that had become like a second mother to her. Next up came her actual parents, which actually posed a major problem since during all the time they had spent with Markus, they had completely missed out on introducing him to their parents, so it was likely that Twilight, Shining Armor and Rainbow were going to grow a major headache explaining where this foal came from. Luckily, Rainbow`s parents would likely only scream and faint from the sudden jolt of happiness and pride, hopefully giving them enough time to quickly disappear before they had the chance to bombard them with unnecessary talk about how proud they are and such…

As soon as Twilight was done writing the letter to her parents, Princess Celestia’s reply came in. In it, she wrote that she was happy to hear of Twilight`s fortune, but also that she was a bit jealous at her, because she was about to get an heir,…

“[…] before I even got to get my cherry popped. […]” –Princess Celestia, 1005 A.N.M.

When she read that passage, Rainbow looked over to Twilight with an expression of flustered disbelief. Twilight, however, seemed like, apart from a slight blush, it was the most normal thing to her. She looked up and caught Rainbow’s gaze, which she immediately picked up on.

“Yeah, pretty amazing to read this when you only know her as the God-Princess everypony loves, isn’t it? Actually, most of her replies are open like this and, to be fair, from the few times I joined her in day court, I can definitely see why she needs to get out of that role once in a while.” She looked back at the passage in the letter, which made her blush deepen ever so slightly. “Though I’ve got to admit that this is a first, even for me.”

Quickly changing the subject, Twilight started trotting towards the doors. “Anyways, we should definitely tell the others. Come on, let’s get going.” However, before she even managed to apply her magic to the doorknobs, Rainbow landed in front of her, blocking her way to the exit. “What? Don’t you want to tell them yet?”

Rainbow shook her head. “That’s not it. It’s just that simply just telling them seems kinda… not awesome, if you know what I mean.”

Twilight knew, what Rainbow meant. Her herdmate wanted to liven up things by throwing a prank into the mix and frankly, Twilight couldn’t see why they shouldn’t.

“So… what did you have in mind?”

---

A few hours later, everypony sat assembled around the dinner table at the Apple Family Homestead. Twilight and Rainbow were sitting on one end, their heads low, their ears splayed back and their faces forced into the most dreaded and anxious expression they could muster. Spike was also there, to ‘comfort’ his basically-sister(/mother?).

“So… what is this thing that may ‘change all our lives’?” Rarity finally broke the dreadful silence that hung over the room.

“Yeah, I mean y’all look pretty stressed out an’ all, but we can’t help y’all if ya don’t tell us what’d happened.” Applejack agreed.

Twilight let out a miserable sigh, which she made to keep herself from giggling. “You know…” She started, “Today, Rainbow and I went to the doctor…”

“…and there, they told us something that’s… pretty heavy…” Rainbow Continued.

“Rainbow and I are… are…” Twilight finally couldn’t hold it anymore. Her ears sprung up again and she cracked a smile. She looked up at her friends and shot up, leaning onto the table. “…PREGNANT!” She finally exclaimed.

The remaining four mares let out the gasp they already held prepared and Rainbow burst out laughing.

“HA! You should see your FACES!” She laughed out, while the other mares slowly processed what had happened.

“Ah shoot, you two really got us there. Heh, shoulda known ya ain’t pregnant without a stallion!” Applejack conceded.

Twilight leaned back in her chair and started stroking her belly softly. “Actually… that part was true… and Markus is the father.” She smiled down at her growing foal, while on the other side of the table, everypony went slackjawed yet again.

Everypony, except Pinkie. Her pupils started growing and glinting, seemingly aiming to completely fill her eyes and one could see that something was building up inside her, until suddenly, it was all released.

“Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! Do you know what that means? Double Foal SHOWER!!!!!!” She quickly went around, pulling party hats and blowouts out of her mane and giving one to each pony in the room, before wildly dancing around them, playing a happy tune on a random accordion and dancing a polka while she was at it. Then, she suddenly pulled in a deep gasp. “I need to start PLANNING!!” she exclaimed, before she ‘Warp 10’-‘d out of the room, leaving the five mares and one dragon behind.

Shrugging it off as Pinkie being Pinkie, the others went into the classic Q&A that probably every pregnant mare has to go through. Questions like ‘Do you have a name for it?’ or ‘Is it a colt or a filly?’ were quickly asked and answered. Everypony was in an absolutely celestial mood. At least up until a little filly entered the room.

Apple Bloom opened the front door with a long creak and slowly made her way to the stairs, her head hanging low and her face expressing nothing but sadness. Applejack saw this and immediately went into high alert. “Apple Bloom? What’cha all makin’ such a long face for?”

The filly stopped and looked over to her big sister, who had trotted to her side by now. “It’s… it’s about Scootaloo. She… her aunts… they lost. She said she can only stay for another week b’fore she’ll have ta go ta Canterlot’s Orphanage…” Tears filled her eyes and Applejack quickly embraced her sister. Rainbow and Twilight meanwhile sat back at the table and shared a look…

---

The Crusaders used the week to every extent they could think of. They tried to get fishing marks… again. They tried to get singing marks… again. They even tried to convince some of the 4^th to teach them how to shoot a gun... again. And yet again, they didn’t find their cutie marks and frankly, they didn’t care. This time, they didn’t do these things to find their calling, but because they wanted their last few days together to be special. They wanted their last memories to be of fun and joy and not filled with tears and unintelligible farewells. They used every day they had left. Every day, but the last, for even the crusaders knew that drawing it out until the last moment would only make it hurt more.

Thus, on her last day in Ponyville, Scootaloo sat in her room, going through her things again, for the umpteenth time, just to keep herself busy, so she didn’t have to think about what she was leaving behind.

Suddenly, somepony knocked on the door and when Scootaloo went to open it, she saw that it was none other than…

“…Rainbow Dash!”

“Hey squirt.” The cyan Pegasus replied. The speechless orange filly sat before her, mouth agape and eyes shimmering from sitting face-to-face with her idol.

“What are you doing here?” She exclaimed happily when she broke out of her stupor.

“Well, I heard that you’re leaving Ponyville today and I thought that I could give you an extra, Scootaloo-exclusive air show. What do you say?”

She didn’t get an answer. At least not a vocal one. Instead, she got a happy squeal, followed by her greatest fan rushing back into the house to get her helmet and scooter, only to then basically fly out of the front door.

The two pegasi made their way into the Pink Tree Plains, where Rainbow began her show. She flew all the tricks she knew in all the variations she knew, combining them into an event that lasted multiple hours, but for Scootaloo, it felt like mere minutes. When she was finally done, she was heaving and panting, but seeing the happy filly on the ground made her smile anyways.

“You know what, squirt?” She asked, as she set down. “I’ve never actually seen you spin those wheels. Why don’t you show me what you got?”

Scootaloo didn’t know what to say at first, but she quickly decided that showing would do way better than saying, so she went to work. She as well did everything she could think of. She used a fallen tree as a grind rail and, with the help of Dash, made a ramp from a few rocks, a bit of dirt and an old plank, with which she could jump over a ditch in the ground and do some air tricks.

However, her show didn’t last nearly as long as Dash’s, as she suddenly stopped when she saw the setting sun on the horizon.

“Oh, ponyfeathers!” She cursed, “I need to get to the station! I’ll miss my train!”

She wanted to quickly scoot off, but Rainbow stopped her. “Nah, don’t worry, I’ll fly you, when we’re done.”

Scootaloo’s face lit up again. “Really?” she asked and with a smile, Dash answered. “Really. Now, how about you show me how fast you are? Let’s have a race, from here to the Everfree. Don’t worry, I’ll leave you a chance.”

“Ha! You mean, I should leave you a chance!” Scootaloo retorted, before both sped off.

They both raced each other multiple times, from sunset until long after it was dark. Then, when both seemed to slowly get to their limits, Rainbow uttered a last challenge.

“Okay, last race. From here to the castle. Ready? GO!”

Again, they both sped off, but now, Scootaloo could already feel the inviting embrace of sleep tug at the back of her mind, trying to lull her into just letting her idol win and lay down into the grass beside the road. But Scootaloo wouldn’t have it. She had to win. This last race had to be a win. She pulled every last string she had and brought up as much power as she could muster. With multiple strong kicks, as well as the assistance of her wings, she slowly managed to close in on her idol, until, just before they reached the goal, she managed to overtake her.

She braked hard and came to a stop just before she would have hit the stairs. She turned around and saw Rainbow set down behind her.

“I won…” she realized, “I WON!!”

She jumped off her scooter, wanting to strike a victory pose, but her overused hind legs gave out underneath her, causing her to topple and fall face-first into the tuft of soft fur on Rainbow’s chest.

“Yes, you did.” Rainbow confirmed in a soft voice, as she took the tired filly into her forelegs.

Scootaloo`s eyes grew heavy and with every breath she took, her eyelids drifted closer together. She took in Rainbow’s smell, the smell of freshly fallen rain, and let it slowly carry her closer to Luna’s realm.

She heard hooves set down and through her almost closed eyes, she could make out four purple legs.

“Did you get it?” Rainbow asked and the purple-legged pony answered “Yes, I did.” in a happy sounding voice, before Scootaloo could hear the whirring of magic and the sound of paper being lifted.

“Awesome.” Rainbow replied, before placing a hoof on Scootaloo’s head and starting to caress her mane. This was the last thing she witnessed, before Rainbow’s soft ministrations slowly drove her into the realm of sleep.

When she woke up, it was already morning again. With a groggy mind, she rolled off the sofa onto the crystalline floor. At first, she was wondering, where she was. Then she looked out through the window and it all came back. The air show, the races, the orphanage.

“Buck.” She said, as she realized that she was probably going to be VERY late.

She stormed towards the doors, but before she could open them, somepony else did from the other side. She skidded to a halt just before she could run into said pony, whom with a little bit of surprise she identified as Rainbow Dash.

“Dash! The Orphanage! I’m late!!” She panicked and Rainbow tried to calm her down.

“No need to worry about the orphanage, squirt, I got you covered.” She said.

“Covered? But Dash, I-“ She was cut off by Rainbow holding her hoof over her mouth.

“I’m more than just ‘Dash’ now, squirt.” She said, before giving a loving smile and tilting her head slightly to the side. “You can call me ‘mom’ now.”

Scootaloo wanted to say something, but cut herself off, as her mind registered what had just been said. Her eyes started to water up and before any more words could be spoken, she lunged herself at Dash and the Pegasus in turn closed her into a tight embrace.

Scootaloo started to cry. They were tears of joy like she had never thought she would ever shed them. She buried her face into her new mother’s chest fluff and wetted it with a salty stream. Eventually she settled down again and the two kept their hug until there was just a single last thing to be made clear.

“I’m still gonna call you ‘Dash’, though.”

---

The next few days were spent moving furniture and various belongings into Twilight’s castle. Not only from Scootaloo, but also from Rainbow Dash. The soon-to-be mother had decided for herself that she would rather move down to live with Scootaloo now, especially since she had a foal growing inside of her and she knew that, eventually, she would get too heavy to fly up to her home anyways. She couldn’t quite bring her to sell her Cloudominium though, so she decided to just keep it and see if maybe she could one day use it again.

After a few days of moving stuff around, Rainbow’s and Scootaloo’s rooms were ready. Twilight and Rainbow had settled for separate rooms, so they wouldn’t make things weird for Scootaloo and Spike.

They were standing in the door, leading into Scoot’s new room, when suddenly, somepony knocked on the front door. Twilight went to open it, but when she did, her jaw almost hit the ground.

She was looking at two legs and pants in a very familiar, multi-coloured pattern and as her eyes wandered further upwards, she also came to see a face that she had missed for far too long.

“Markus?”

Ch43: Disappointment

Twilight was overwhelmed. Her mind was struggling to process what she was seeing there. The rather muscular stature, the gentle smile, the moustache, the eyes, everything was there, yet she couldn’t believe it.

Markus was smiling down to her, looking her directly into the eyes. “I’m back.” He said.

Twilight’s eyes started to water. Now that her ears had confirmed what her eyes were seeing, she had certainty that this wasn’t a dream. This was indeed reality and whom she saw before her was indeed Markus. She began to sniffle and sob and Markus crouched down to ask what was wrong, but before he could make a sound, she lunged forward towards him and locked him into the most passionate kiss she could give. Markus was a bit surprised at first, but quickly leaned in, himself.

They parted after a few minutes, though for Twilight, it only felt like seconds. “Well, it seems somepony sure has missed me.” Markus said with a smirk.

Twilight said nothing and instead dug her face into his shoulder and began to sob again. “… We thought we had lost you forever…” Tears started to fall from her eyes, as she painfully remembered the moment, when she thought her life had lost all meaning. “Don’t do something like that ever again, ok?” She said with her face pressed against his shoulder. “Rainbow and I had been crying for days and even the princess—“

Her head jerked upwards, as she noticed something very important. “The princesses! I need to tell them that you’re back! Oh, they’re going to be so happy to hear that!”

She wanted to trot off to her writing desk, but was stopped by Markus. “Now, now, no need to rush things. You will have plenty of opportunity to tell them in their invitation to the ceremony.”

Twilight stopped and looked at him. “Ceremony? What do you mean?”

Her eyes went wide, when he knelt down before her and took a golden ribbon out of his pouch, which he then bound to her right foreleg. He then lifted it up and said: “Do you want to marry me?”

Silence befell the room, as Markus now nervously waited for the answer. An answer that he got, not in a vocal form, but in the form of a very happy squeal, followed by a tackle and a kiss.

She pulled back, jumping in place and giggling happily like a little filly. “Oh my Celestia, YES! I need to get Rainbow and tell her that you want to marry us!”

Twilight wanted to sprint off, but Markus was holding her on her hoof. “No, Twilight.” He said when Twilight looked back at him. “I said, I want to marry you.”

Twilight stopped tugging with her hoof and slowly sat down on the ground, looking at Markus in disbelief. “What? But what about Rainbow?” She asked, the befuddlement heavy in her voice.

Markus got up and started to pace a little. “You see, Twilight… During my time in solitude, I had many moments in which my mind started to wander in longing. All of these times, I had thought about you. Not Rainbow, not anypony else, only you. That made me realize that it’s only you who I truly want, Twilight. Nopony else, just you.”

Twilight wanted to object, but before she could do that, a third voice came in from the stairs.

“Ah…” Rainbow said when she cleared the stairs. “So that’s how it is.” Her voice started to sound shaky and her eyes glinted with tears. “Good. Fine by me.” She said, though it was obvious that it was not. She slowly walked backwards, trying to keep a straight face, but utterly failing at it. “I-I’m going back... upstairs. I d—I didn’t want to interrupt y- you…” She turned around and sprinted up the stairs, leaving a few tears to drop onto them.

Twilight immediately galloped after her friend, while Markus stayed in place and looked after the two. “Buck.” He then said with a hint of annoyance, before he, as well, went after them.

---

Twilight reached the door of Rainbow’s room just after she had slammed it shut. The bang of it echoed through the crystal halls of the palace like gunfire and nearly made Twilight’s eardrums burst.

Scootaloo stood beside her. She was already standing there, when Rainbow passed through and was now looking in wide-eyed wonder at the scene that unfolded before her. “I thought Markus was back? Why is Rainbow crying then?” She asked.

Just in speak of the devil, Markus caught up and looked at Twilight. Twilight looked back demandingly, signalling him that this was his fault, so he should be the one to resolve this. Getting the hint, Markus slowly neared the door, before he then slowly opened it and stepped through. When the door was closed again, Twilight held her ears onto it to hear, what was going on inside.

“Rainbow?” She heard Markus ask, but without getting an answer. “Rainbow? Are you okay?” He asked again.

“Pff, yeah, of course! Never been better!” came Rainbow’s muffled, sarcastic answer.

“Look, I’m sorry. I wanted to bring it to you differently, but-“

“SO WHAT WOULD THAT HAVE CHANGED?!” She suddenly screamed. “I AM PREGNANT WITH YOUR FOAL AND YOU’RE JUST abandoning me!” She plopped back down onto her pillow before the last two words were screamed, muffling them again.

“Rainbow, look, I… I am not abandoning you. I said, I would only marry Twilight, but that doesn’t mean that I’ll just kick you out. Of course, I’ll still care for our foal or if you don’t want to see me then at least pay foal support, or…”

“Yeah, not seeing you actually sounds good. Get out.” She commanded.

“I- what? Rainbow, come on, I’m—“

“I SAID GET OUT!!!”

Steps became audible on the other side of the door and Twilight quickly moved back, before Markus stepped out of the room again.

“Well… that could’ve gone better.” He commented, earning him a scolding look from Twilight. She then looked back at the door again and sighed. She decided that she, as well, should try to calm her down. She stepped through the door and was immediately met with a very warm welcome.

“WHAT DIDN’T YOU—“ Rainbow cut herself off, when she saw Twilight standing in her room. “Oh… hey Twilight.” She weakly greeted, before pushing her face down into her pillow again.

“Hey, Rainbow.” Twilight greeted back, tentatively making her way over to her friend. “How… do you feel?”

“I think you can answer that one yourself, Twilight.” Rainbow answered, not lifting her head from her pillow.

“Yeah… right… Are you mad at me?” Twilight asked.

Rainbow turned her head to the side and looked at Twilight with a tear-stained smile. “No, I’m not mad at you.” Her face darkened suddenly. “I’m mad at Markus though.” She said, before pressing her face back into her pillow.

Twilight sighed. “Look, Rainbow, I’m sure that he’ll see his mistake, if you just give him some-“

“No, it’s ok, Twilight.” Rainbow interrupted. “You know, even though it hurts, it doesn’t really come as a surprise to me.”

Twilight looked at Rainbow in confusion, though the Pegasus couldn’t see it. “What? What do you mean with that?”

“I mean that he’s been living with you this whole time, while I’ve just been visiting from time to time. Even though he managed to balance us at first, deep inside I knew that this would happen with that arrangement.”

Twilight looked a bit ashamed. She knew that Markus was spending more time with her, but she always thought of it as a necessity, since he couldn’t fly up to Rainbow’s, let alone stay there for a prolonged time without falling through the clouds.

“Well… ok, yeah, but maybe, if we go to him, we can persuade him to take you as well?” Twilight proposed, but Rainbow just groaned in frustration.

“What would it be worth if we had to persuade him to marry me? That would be worse than just not marrying him in the first place!” Rainbow sighed and sat up on her bed. “The truth is… I’m not really just mad at Markus… I mean, I am mad at Markus, but mostly, I am just mad at… myself. You know, even though I heard that he would leave me, in the worst way possible, I still can’t hate him… I don’t know if it’s because I am the Element of Loyalty or because I’ve got his foal growing inside me, but I still desperately want to stay with him – even if it would just be as his concubine or something.”

Rainbow started slowly caressing her belly, which by now had formed a decently visible bulge against her otherwise athletic body.

“You know what? If he won’t take you, he’s not going to get me either.” Twilight determined.

Rainbow shot around to look at her. “Wait, what?! No! No, Twilight! No! It is one thing that he left me, but you? He actually made you a proposal! You can’t just pass up a chance like this! If you want to make this whole ordeal to be somehow worth it then go ahead and accept it!” Rainbow commanded.

Twilight looked very worried now. “But Rainbow, what about you? I don’t know if I could handle seeing you sad while I’m happily married.”

Rainbow sighed again and looked at Twilight with a soft smile. “Look, I just told you how I feel. I’m okay, really. I just need a few hours to get this all out of my system and then I’ll be just fine, promise. Now, I think you’ve got a wedding to plan, don’t you?”

Twilight let out a long breath, before she smiled lightly at Rainbow and nodded. She then went over to the door, but before she could open it, Rainbow called out to her again.

“Oh, uhm, Twilight? I know it may be weird, considering what just happened, but… You know I thought that… if I’m not the bride, maybe I could at least be… best mare?”

Twilight was a little surprised at first. She thought that Rainbow wouldn’t want to come to the wedding at all, but being best mare? That meant she would get a front seat when the one thing she wanted was given to Twilight instead. At least, that were Twilight’s thoughts. However, when she looked at Rainbow, she didn’t look into the face of somepony who just lost her coltfriend, but into the face of somepony, who wanted to support her friend to the fullest.

“Of course, if that’s what you want. It’s the least I can do for you.” Twilight said, moving further towards the door, before being interrupted again.

“Oh, and Twilight?” Rainbow asked again and when Twilight looked at her, she saw her smiling.

“Thank you.” She said.

Twilight smiled back at her and finally made her way out of the room.

---

After the situation with Rainbow was kinda resolved, Markus and Twilight went to the rest of the Elements. After all, they, too, had the right to know that Markus was alive and well. An Information that caused quite a few tears to roll when they were presented with it.

However, those tears of joy quickly disappeared, when they were presented with the coming marriage, or, specifically, that Rainbow would not be a part of it. They didn’t say anything though, as they didn’t want to make Twilight feel uncomfortable. Also, they knew that even if they didn’t like it, the decision lay solely with Markus.

When the tour was through, they went on to the next point on their list: the date of the wedding. They went to the mayor’s office, where they were presented with a few options.

“I would like the earliest available.” Markus said. Twilight looked at him with a bit of surprise, but kept it for now.

“The earliest, let’s see… that would be the day after Nightmare Night, on the 1^st of November.”

“Taken.” Markus quickly said.

Twilight was taken aback by the quick decision. “Are you sure? That’s only three months away.”

Markus knelt down to her and cupped her face with his hands. “Yes, I am certain. I don’t want to wait any longer, Twilight. Meeting death has taught me that every second of life is precious and I want to spend them with you.”

Twilight looked at Markus in slight awe, before answering with a smile. “The 1^st of November it is, then.”

With the date now set, they left the office. However, just after they left the building, Markus was suddenly tackled down by an incoming black mare.

“Captain! I knew you wouldn’t just get killed like that!” Mystic cheered. She was wearing her usual patrol uniform, but had Markus’s rank markings strapped onto it, instead of her old Lieutenant’s insignia.

Markus got up again and dusted himself off. “Yes, it is quite a pleasure to see you too.” He said.

Mystic stood in front of him and blushed slightly. “Euh, yeah, sorry about that… I was just… euh… yeah, well, doesn’t matter. Anyways… now that you’re back, will you lead us again, captain?”

Markus looked down to her and smiled softly. “Sorry, but I have to refuse.” He looked over to Twilight, who was standing beside him. “You know, now that I’ve met death, I’d like to enjoy life for a while.”

Mystic formed an ‘o’ with her mouth. “Oh… okay then… see ya later, I guess?”

Markus and Twilight bade their farewells and made their way back home, but before they were too far away, Mystic shouted something after them: “Ah, captain, don’t forget J44!”

“Yeah, I won’t, don’t worry.” Came the answer from Markus, before they were completely out of earshot.

None of them saw how Mystic’s smile fell, or the serious expression she adopted afterwards.

Ch44: A Ponyville Wedding

With the date of their wedding set, the preparations began. They chose Pinkie as their organizer, seeing as she clearly had the most experience in terms of celebrations in all of Equestria. Applejack and Fluttershy took it upon themselves to care for proper buffet and music, respectively. Markus was handling the invitations, while Rarity was, of course, the only pony who could ever tailor a fitting wedding dress for Twilight.

However, the process of this turned out to be more tedious than Twilight would have anticipated. Numerous appointments to take measurements over and over again, in addition to several fittings followed by the scrapping and re-drawing of designs, until one day, the last made its debut.

“Ow.” One could hear Twilight whine from inside the carousel boutique. Rarity, during her time designing the dress, had grown quite fond of the possibilities that Twilight’s wings and horn presented together. Much to the dismay of Twilight, who had to constantly be on the lookout for Rarity, who would sometimes tighten her ‘wingpouches’, as she had called them, to a degree, she was sure wasn’t at all healthy for her bone structure. Fortunately, Rarity had made the design with Twilight’s pregnancy in mind, so that at least her belly had plenty of room underneath the dress.

“Oh, come on darling.” She cooed, as she went back to work on Twilight’s left wing, “Beauty demands some sacrifice, you know? Besides, with all the… situations Rainbow has found herself in already, I doubt that such a little squeeze could really hurt them that much.”

Twilight was shifting a little in her place. She knew that what Rarity said was probably right, but it didn’t make the position of her wings any more comfortable.

“Yes, I know, but couldn’t you at least give them a little more space? Bear in mind that I do need to get into and out of this dress as well as just wearing it.”

“Oh, darling, there is already plenty of space for that. The only reason your wings are so uncomfortable is because you are so tense. Relax, Twilight, relax.”

Twilight tried the breathing technique Cadence has taught her, but the euphoria, combined with the constant tugging from Rarity made it almost impossible to concentrate.

“I’m trying, but… it just doesn’t work. I’m just too excited, you know?”

“Yes… I can imagine. I just hope that poor Rainbow Dash feels the same way.” Rarity suddenly remarked.

Twilight’s ears immediately flattened against her head. “Are you still mad at Markus because of this?” She asked tentatively.

“Mad? Oh no, darling. Markus is a grown col- euh, man and as a proper Lady, I know that it is purely his decision with whom he wishes to spend the rest of his life. It’s only that I already had fitting designs for both of your wedding dresses, which would have complemented each other in such a fine way. Now it seems that they will sadly never see the light of day.” Rarity lamented, but Twilight wasn’t buying it.

“Rarity, we both know that you would never see the need for a new dress as a burden. Quite the opposite, you mostly see it as a new opportunity for yet a new ‘fabulous’ design as far as you’ve told me.”

Rarity slumped a bit, but kept at her work with the same proficiency nevertheless. “Yes, I suppose you are right, darling. It’s just that… as much as I know that it is his decision, I can’t help but feel bad for poor Rainbow Dash. After all, dropping such a bombshell immediately after his eagerly-awaited return clearly isn’t what a proper Gentlecolt should do.”

“Yes, I know. Even though Rainbow has already given up, I am actually still hoping that one day he will come around and take her as well. But until then, it seems like this is the best outcome we can get.”

“Now, now, darling, don’t just say things like that. You make it sound like you would be forced to marry King Sombra to save Equestria or something like this. No, this is definitely something you should enjoy, even if it came at a certain cost, but as I say, what’s done is done. And speaking of done: I think, we are as well.”

Twilight turned around to look into the mirrors behind her. She took in what she saw from all angles possible and had to admit yet again that Rarity had definitely outdone herself. The dress was by far the most beautiful Twilight had ever seen and she had no intentions in hiding that. She was swirling around on the stage, making the dress flutter along and swing around her legs, once she stopped.

“Rarity, this looks absolutely marvellous! Thank you so much!” Twilight complimented.

“Well, I wouldn’t be Rarity if I wouldn’t strive for the best, now wouldn’t I?” Rarity said, bearing a satisfied smile.

The dress was then properly stowed away so it wouldn’t get damaged by accident before the day of the wedding. A day that was now merely a week in the future.

---

One week later, the day had finally come. The day on which Twilight and Markus would finalize the contract that would bind them for their remaining lifetime. Twilight was ecstatic. Ever since she was a little filly, she had imagined this exact moment. She would be standing in front of the large doors of the throne room in Canterlot, Princess Celestia standing behind her and giving her congratulations, while her groom was waiting for her entry, on the other side of these doors.

“Twilight? Are you ok?” Rainbow asked from behind her, as she stood in front of the Town Hall in Ponyville, ready to step inside, where her groom was waiting. Twilight looked around and gave Rainbow a hesitant smile, before she looked forward again and stepped forth.

The doors swung open and revealed the decorations that had been put into place. The whole room was painted a pure white, from the floor to the very ceiling. On each side of the walkway, which consisted of a long, red carpet, one could find multiple round tables which had the chairs placed around them. On the tables were glasses and plates already prepared for the buffet that would come after the actual ceremony.

The whole ceremony was scheduled to be in the evening, so that both the sisters could attend without much discomfort. Speaking of them, they sat at the very first table in the back on the right, looking from the entrance. Her friends, including Mystic, were sitting directly on the other side of the walkway, taking the other table that would be closest to the young pair.

Directly behind them sat Twilight’s parents, as well as Shining Armor and Princess Cadence. Since Markus didn’t have any relatives in Equestria, the seats that would normally be held by them were occupied by Derpy and Dinky, as well as the CMC. The rest of the seats were then filled with, what looked like, the rest of Ponyville.

Finally, up in the very front, there stood her groom. Markus. He wore a simple, white suit with a black bowtie. In front of him stood Mayor Mare at a podium, upon which there lay a book, which was opened to a page which seemed to be somewhere in the middle, if not exactly so.

When Twilight started walking down the red carpet, Markus turned around and smiled at his future wife. Twilight smiled back, although it was hard to see through the veil that covered her face. She placed herself directly beside him and they both now looked forward, where the Mayor began to speak.

“Markus Becker, will you take the here present Twilight Sparkle as your rightful wife, be loyal and faithful to her until the very end?”

“Yes, I will.” Markus answered.

“And Twilight Sparkle, will you take the here present Markus Becker as your rightful husband, be loyal and faithful to him until the very end?”

“Yes, I will.” Came Twilight’s answer.

“Thus, with the power bestowed upon me by the royal sisters, I hereby declare you husband and wife. To finalize the oath, you may now kiss the bride.”

Markus knelt down to Twilight and freed her of the vail. They both smiled at each other for a moment, before they both closed their eyes and leaned in closer. Twilight could feel his moustache tickle her snout, before finally, their lips—

Suddenly, the door burst open again and a low, booming voice echoed through the hall.

“Impostor!”

Both, Twilight and Markus jerked back and looked at the doors. Twilight’s eyes shrunk down to pinpricks, as she saw who interrupted them. It was a red-coated unicorn stallion, easily the same height as Princess Celestia, with two large, black patches on the sides of his barrel, a black horn and a mane and tail that seemed like it was made up of a flowing, black mist that slowly dissipated towards the ends. What was most disturbing about him, however, were his eyes, as they, too, were completely black.

He started moving. Slowly, deliberately. Each step kicked up a small cloud of the same mist that seemed to emanate from his mane. Twilight’s friends, as well as Shining Armor and Mystic stepped in to block the path of the Stallion, excluding Rainbow, who was still standing beside Twilight and placed herself directly in front of her.

The stallion stopped in front of the barricade and leaned down to Shining Armor, who was standing in front.

“So… You are willing to stand before me to protect your loved ones, even though the cold grasp of fear is already becoming visible in your faces? A chivalrous act, it is indeed, however you need not fear me, for I do not intend on harming anypony present.” The stallion spoke in a voice that would’ve reminded Twilight of her grandfather, were it not for another disturbing feature that just became apparent. While the stallion did indeed talk, his mouth did not move.

“AnyPONY present? What about the human in the room?” Shining replied defiantly, trying to mask his fear.

The unicorn briefly looked over to Markus, before he gave his answer. “Unfortunately, I have to confirm that he is indeed my target.”

“In that case I am very sorry, but I can’t let you pass.” Shining Armor said.

“That is indeed unfortunate for you, as with that, you have become obstacles and thus need to be removed.” The stallion said, while the black patches on his sides extended out and forwards towards the group in two large appendages.

“AN ALICORN?!” Cadence shouted in disbelief.

The red alicorn’s wings now made their way between the group, where he then shoved them all aside in a single, powerful push. Multiple surprised yelps could be heard, as the defenders were flung to the sides, onto tables, chairs and other ponies. Meanwhile, the stallion continued his stride forwards, until he came to the next line of defence.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood defiantly before him in the same way their sisters did previously.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t let you through! Cutie Mark Crusaders Defenders, YAY!” They shouted, pronouncing the ‘yay’ somewhere between a cheer and a war cry.

“That is truly a noble endeavour. Facing an enemy that is clearly superior to save those, one cares about is truly an act one can take pride in.” He said to the fillies. “However, the days in which you can do so effectively, are still part of the future.”

He moved on, stepping over the three fillies and further closing in on the stage at the end of the room. Now, it was the princesses’ turn to protect their subjects. Celestia, Luna and Cadence placed themselves directly in front the fifth alicorn and blocked his path.

“Cease your actions, villain! I will not allow you to harm my little ponies!” Celestia said.

“Oh, dear Celestia, you should know that even you are not enough to hinder me in my objective. However, you may be at ease, for I do not plan on performing villainous deeds.”

With that said, the stallion suddenly de-materialized into an orb of black mist, which quickly slipped past the three Alicorns, before re-materializing directly in front of the stage, atop which Markus and Twilight still stood, with Rainbow directly in front of them as their last line of defence.

“You will not get past me!” Rainbow said determined.

“Rainbow Dash, please, for the sake of your foal, step out of the way.” He said, but Rainbow didn’t budge. He leaned down to her and said in a slightly less commanding voice: ”Rainbow Dash, please, listen to your heart. Is this truly the man, who holds your loyalty as a marefriend and future wife? He, who has abandoned you, what the original would never do? He, who, for the one he claims to be, has a distinct lack of a scar in his face?”

Rainbow and Twilight both gasped and looked up, where they could indeed find no scar in the face of the groom.

“Be assured that today, I am not here to harm innocent ponies, but bring judgement upon the filthiest of traitors.”

The stallion pulled the same trick he had used on Celestia again and placed himself directly behind Markus. From there, he lashed out his hind legs in a powerful kick that sent Markus flying across the room. He reached the door, where he hit his head on the top of the doorframe, jerking his head back from the impact. A loud ‘snap’ became audible, as through the force of the impact, his spine was severed.

“NO!!” Twilight screamed, seeing her love die for a second time. She turned around, blasting the foreign stallion with everything she had. But her spells seemed to be useless. Every spell she let loose only caused a few black hexagons to flare up, which then dispersed the spell in a hemisphere around him.

“Twilight Sparkle, have you yet not caught on? This man has never been the one you had loved.” The stallion said, before de-materializing into an orb again and flying across the room, leaving a trail of black mist in the air. He re-materialized next to the corpse of the wannabe-Markus. “He was just some filthy traitor, trying to make use of you by impersonating the man you loved most.”

He touched his horn to the corpse and it momentarily flared to life with magic, before the corpse began to rapidly deteriorate. The skin peeled away like pieces of burnt paper, revealing another form underneath. It was a unicorn stallion with a grey coat and black mane, who wore a distinct white frock with a crest of a crimson moon printed onto it.

Twilight slumped at this revelation. She had known. Deep inside, there was something poking at the back of her mind this whole time. Yet, her hopes caused her to ignore the feeling, to indulge fully into the faked image that was presented to her.

“I truly am sorry to have ruined such a grand day for you, Twilight Sparkle.” Said the stallion, bowing down to the corpse. “However, do not fret, for your rightful husband will return…” He said, while opening his mouth, grabbing the corpse with it and then looking back to Twilight one last time. “…in one year.” He then de-materialized again, before he flew out through the doors, leaving the befuddled ponies behind.

“So… a new alicorn has emerged, huh, aunt Celestia? What do you plan to do now?” Cadence broke the silence that had taken reign over the room.

“As much as I am opposed to this, we will follow the Equestrian tradition. We will seek him out and determine which side he chooses to take. If he chose to side with Equestria, then, per tradition, he will be offered a place within the equestrian royalty.”

“And if not?” Cadence pushed further.

Celestia looked back to Twilight’s slumped form. “Then, we might have a problem.”

Meanwhile, Twilight still hadn’t recovered from the shock she just went through and Rainbow tried to change that.

“Come on, Twilight! You can’t just blame yourself for this whole mess! None of us knew that he wasn’t Markus!”

Twilight twitched upwards, mumbling to herself. “I think, one of us knew…” she then called out to Mystic, who quickly came over to her. “Mystic, say, what does ‘J44’ actually mean?”

Rainbow was confused, but Mystic immediately knew, what she meant. “It means… nothing. It is something I came up with on the go.”

Twilight’s head slumped forward a little, as she heard this. “So you knew, huh? You knew that he wasn’t Markus all along.”

“Yes. I knew.” Mystic said, with a hint of guilt in her voice.

“WHAT?! You knew? Why didn’t you say something?! I thought Markus had ordered you to protect her?!” Rainbow accused.

“BECAUSE… I knew that you would react like this if you found out. The captain indeed ordered me to protect you and that includes your physical, as well as your mental state. I saw how you immediately attached yourself to the fake and figured that as long as I would keep an eye on him, everything would be fine. That and a spy like him rarely comes without a Plan B. Unfortunately, such a Plan B mostly just includes a safe retreat for the spy, for which they might use more… physical methods than just mere impersonation.” Mystic explained.

Twilight slumped again, sobs starting to sound from her. Rainbow quickly went back to her attempts on trying to cheer her up.

“Come on, Twilight! You heard, what that stallion just said. Markus will return in only one year! When he comes back, he will definitely marry you and nothing will be able to stop him!”

Twilight perked up at what she had just heard from her herdmate. “Rainbow… I think, you are mistaken.” She said, smiling to her. “You certainly mean, he will marry us. After all, the one that abandoned you, wasn’t Markus.”

Rainbow stopped for a moment, before tears began to well up in both their eyes and Rainbow smiled back at Twilight. “Yes, he will marry us.”

They grabbed each other in a hug, shedding tears of both, relief and joy, over the danger that has passed, as well as the newfound certainty, that their loved one will indeed return.

Author's Notes:

In case someone is wondering, what the new Alicorn sounds like, I thought about something like in this fanfic reading by scribbler.

Ch45: Ghosts of the Past

A month had passed since the wedding. Twilight felt like she was at fault for such a disaster to take place. After all, if she hadn’t been so gullible, the fake Markus would’ve likely never come to cause such emotional damage, to Rainbow as well as to Twilight herself.

Seeing as she was the only one, who saw through the scheme, it was a logical decision to keep Mystic close, in case something similar happened again. Well, that and she had grown quite fond of the mare, as she was one of the few with whom she could have a serious, intellectual conversation. Needless to say, Twilight was quick to count her to her close friends and as such, it wasn’t a difficult decision to offer her a room in her castle.

Now, one would think that Mystic was overjoyed by the offer, given that not only would she live with her new friends, but she would also have it much easier to fulfil the captain’s last orders to her: to protect Twilight and Rainbow. And indeed, she was happy at first. However, soon after she had taken the offer, a feeling sprang up in the back of her mind. Subtle, at first, barely noticeable, until one day, she could make out, what it was.

Twilight trusted her to the fullest. Everything she said was undoubtedly true, in Twilight’s eyes. Everything she decided was definitely right and even if she herself felt that her actions seemed weird at first, Twilight didn’t question them.

This level of trust slowly let uncertainty grow inside her. Was she really worthy of such trust? Could she really fulfil every expectation that was placed upon her? Was she really who Twilight thought she was?

This uncertainty soon evolved further and morphed into another feeling. A feeling of guilt. But it wasn’t the usual, unfounded guilt that would sometimes spring up in situations like these. Guilt that would be resolved by simply saying ‘Don’t worry, I know what you can and I trust you because of it.’ or something like that. No, Mystic indeed had a reason to doubt her own trustworthiness and felt guilty because she was trusted nevertheless.

She tried to subdue the feeling. She tried to blot it out, but no matter how hard she tried, the feeling grew stronger, stronger and stronger yet. Many a night she sat in her room in Twilight’s castle, not able to find sleep over the ever growing thoughts that she might not be worth the trust placed in her.

After many weeks of suffering, she made a decision. She would tell Twilight the truth. She would show her, what a mare she actually was.

Twilight sat in the map room in her chair. The other elements were present as well, talking about some friendship-business that had apparently sprung up. Mystic didn’t listen all-too closely, as she was still contemplating, what exactly she wanted to say. However, time was seemingly working against her, as suddenly, all six of them got up and started to move to the door.

They all greeted Mystic as they passed, while she was stammering to herself, trying to form a coherent sentence. Finally, Twilight walked past and with it, seemingly her previous goal of confessing her guilt.

“Huh? Wha—Where are you all going?” She asked.

Twilight and the others stopped and looked over to her. “There’s a Friendship Problem that apparently needs all of us to solve it.” Twilight said and gestured over to the map.

Mystic followed the point and saw that, indeed, the map was showing all their cutie marks hovering and circling over a point somewhere in the northern mountains.

“That’s pretty far away.” Mystic noted, “Are you sure that you should take that trip? Especially given your pregnancy?”

By now, Rainbow’s and Twilight’s pregnancies had become very apparent. Not only by their clearly overgrown bellies, but also by the rare sight that Rainbow was staying on the ground for once.

Twilight was well aware of that. Yet, she was also aware of her duties as an element of Harmony. “Don’t worry. I doubt that the tree of harmony would send us somewhere, where we could lose our foals. However, I have to agree that it is far away, so I doubt that we can come back today. Would you please watch Scootaloo while we are away?”

“Sure.” Mystic agreed, “How long do you think will it take?”

Twilight thought for a moment, before answering. “I think, about half a day for the train ride, give it one day for the problem, then another half day, soooooo… about three, maybe four days if it takes a bit longer to find a solution.”

Four days? She couldn’t wait that long! She had to tell her now, or these four days would rip her apart. Twilight and the others had already given their farewell and were about to step through the door, but Mystic couldn’t let them.

“Wait!” she shouted, causing the other mares to stop and look at her again. She turned to Twilight and, after a little hesitation, asked her: “Before you go, can I please talk to you for a moment? In private?”

Twilight turned to the others, who just shrugged. They then turned around and went on ahead, while Twilight remained with Mystic.

“So, what did you want to talk about?” Twilight asked, after the door was shut.

Mystic shifted a little in place, but no matter how much she would like not to, she knew that she couldn’t turn back now.

“W-Well, you know… there’s something I need to tell you… a confession, if you so will…”

Twilight blushed suddenly and looked surprised. “I… euh… Mystic, I… I feel flattered, but I-I’m not… like that and I’ve already got Markus and...”

Mystic picked up on what Twilight thought this was about and quickly sported a blush herself. “Wha- Oh, No! No! Nonononononononono that was not what I meant!” She sighed and sat down before her, before taking a deep breath to steel her resolve and trying again.

“Actually… this is about Pillbox. His death, to be exact. You see… he didn’t actually die in battle…”She said, trailing off.

Twilight perked up a little in recognition, before softening her look down to a soothing smile.

“Oh… so that’s what bothered you? But Mystic, I know already.”

“What? You know?” Mystic asked, confused.

“Yes, I know that Markus killed him. It said so in his Journal. Don’t worry, I’m not mad at you for not telling me.” Twilight ensured, however, Mystic didn’t seem to relax.

“Yeaaaahh, that’s not quite what happened either… In fact, I had a bit more of an active role in it…”

---

6 months prior, the outskirts of Hoovesville.

Markus, Mystic and Squad 2 of Platoon Bravo stood in front of the small shack that Pillbox had converted into his command post. Prior, they had been fighting the Gryphons in the forest to the north-west. However, an unexpected turn of events, wherein suddenly the civilians of the town found themselves on the battlefield, has now brought them here.

They were listening in on the conversation inside. Apparently, it was about some plan they had thought of together. It was also said that they wanted to use the captain as a scapegoat, so they could further their own reputation, while he would slowly slip into disfavour with Princess Celestia.

Mystic had already heard enough. She wanted to run in there and smash their heads in, but Markus held her back. He wanted to hear more, know what their plan was and evaluate the situation.

He didn’t have to wait long, however, as suddenly one of the officers with Pillbox mentioned the sacrifice of civilians, to which Pillbox simply just stated that minor sacrifices were necessary to reach one’s goals.

That finally set off Markus as well. He positioned himself in front of the door and, just as trained, Nambs and Mystic took place to either side of him, ready to keep whoever stood behind it in check. The door burst open and Mystic and squad 2 trained their weapons on the officers in the room, while Markus went head-to-head with Pillbox himself.

The General showed himself surprised at first, but pushed that away, as he now had a more serious problem to solve: Markus and the rest obviously had heard everything and he now needed a way out. The easiest way he could think of, was to try and bring them to his side.

Markus pretended to be interested in his proposal. He went along, trying to procure as much information from him as possible. Then, when seemingly all information was gathered, the General suddenly found himself with a pistol pressed against his head. At the same time, Mystic and the others made ready to shoot. They didn’t think about what they were about to do. All that was inside their heads was that these ponies… these Traitors had risked the lives of innocent civilians to gain what can only be regarded as a mild boost in reputation.

Still, they didn’t seem to regret anything they’d done and Pillbox even had the audacity to try and reason with Markus about what he did. That he was in the right and that his offer would certainly help Markus’s social stance as well, if he chose to accept it. However, as it became apparent, that Markus was not going to accept it, his reasoning degraded into mere begging that his life be spared.

At this point, his fate was sealed. If he would’ve just admitted his own wrongdoing, he would likely have gotten away with a court martial and a subsequent jail sentence. However, during all his whimpering, all his begs that he be kept alive, not a single word he uttered indicated that he saw what he did wrong and after a few minutes of this pathetic display, Markus finally had enough.

A shot rang out, coming from Markus, who had just shot the ugliest insect ever to be seen in all of Equestria and Mystic and her squad quickly made the other officers follow their general’s example. They then smashed their heads in, as to avoid the bullet holes to be seen, before they then set fire to the place.

With a few of the more important strategic maps in hand/hoof, they then quickly left the burning shack, before it collapsed due to structural damage…

---

“… I didn’t feel anything when I did it. My mind was almost completely empty, with only the need to kill sitting in the forefront of every thought I tried to take. The next morning, however, my thinking was clear again and the guilt that I had been supressed before was now free to hit me.
I went to talk to the captain about it and told him that I was scared… about what would happen if we were found out. However, the captain said that we didn’t need to worry, as we did nothing wrong. He would send a false report to Celestia about the general’s death, but in case there would be an investigation, he wanted to plant false evidence that would paint him as the only assailant…”

Twilight listened to Mystic, as she told her everything about what happened on that day. Mystic had begun sobbing in the middle of her tale and Twilight had moved in to hold her, showing her that she was there to support her.

“… and that is why… why I don’t think I deserve your trust, Twilight. I have murdered somepony and I didn’t even have the guts to talk about it up until now…”

Twilight loosened the embrace to look Mystic into the eyes. “Mystic, you don’t need to blame yourself for this. You don’t need to feel guilty about this. Now, don’t get me wrong, killing somepony is not something I could normally tolerate, not even as a last resort…” Mystic winced slightly, but Twilight only gave a benevolent smile. “However, this case wasn’t normal. You all were stressed from the previous battle and even if you weren’t: Pillbox was a noble with ties throughout Equestria. If he had gotten a jail sentence, then there would definitely have been somepony to pull him out again. Even if that doesn’t warrant just killing him, I still don’t think any less of you because of it.”

Both mares stood up again and Twilight started slowly walking towards the door. “Now, I really have to go. Don’t worry, I won`t tell anypony else. And don’t forget: no matter what you’ve done in the past, I still trust the mare you are now. I know that I can count on you.”

With that, she slipped through the doors, leaving Mystic alone.

Mystic sat down on one of the sofas in the reading area. Her heart felt light. As if a whole army base had been sitting on top of it and was now suddenly removed. She felt happy. She felt relieved. She felt glad that, finally, the burden that lay upon her had been lifted. And so, with newfound vigour, she set about to face her next task: babysitting Scootaloo.

---

Four days… They have been gone for four days already. Normally, this likely wouldn’t be such an unnerving occurrence, given that these friendship problems tend to get out of hoof rather quickly. However, normally two of the mares involved wouldn’t be pregnant and normally, they wouldn’t have to go to the other side of Equestria for it.

Mystic was pacing up and down the map room. Twilight had said, they’d be gone for three days, yet it was already day five. She definitely had to help them, yet she also thought that she needed to trust them. But what if something bad happened and they needed help? Yet, like Twilight said, the Tree of Harmony would never send them somewhere that could be dangerous to the foals and therefore, by extension, their mothers. Yet, it was exactly because of these foals that she was worrying so much. After all, even the slightest bump in the wrong place could have drastic consequences.

Mystic made up her mind. She needed to help. Twilight trusted her and she wouldn’t let her down. Expecially not after she had simply just accepted that Mystic was a murderer without losing the trust in her.

She galloped to the barracks, where she quickly formed up Platoon Bravo and made them ready to head out. They then took the next train that went northward, with much protest by the conductors.

They arrived at the closest station twelve hours later and from there on made their way on hoof. About another hour later, they had cleared the mountains and were looking into a valley, in which sat a village with just a few houses that were arranged along a single dirt road, with one last building sitting at the end. Concluding that this had to be the location of the problem, they went in to search for the six missing mares.

The search became unnecessary as soon as they entered the village grounds, as they could immediately spot the mares in question, standing with their backs to the last house and surrounded by a… by a mob of angrily shouting ponies!!!

Mystic and her platoon immediately went into a gallop, storming in to save her friends. However, as they closed in, they noticed something about the situation… The six didn’t look like they were frightened or prepared to fight and listening more closely, the shouts began to sound more like cheers…

Mystic’s gallop slowed down to a trot, before she completely stopped behind the crowd.

“What’s going on here?” She asked out loud, which caused the cheers to stop and the crowd to turn around to her.

Suddenly, she found her vision blocked by the face of a Pink mare, who suddenly grew out of her shadow.

“Hey Mystic!” Pinkie greeted cheerfully.

“Oh… Hey, Pinkie… would you mind telling me, what’s the meaning of all this?”

“Simple! There was this big meanie meaniepants that stole all their cutie marks and made them look aaaaaaall happy, but they weren’t! So, we came to get them back, butthenwewerethrownintojailandthenwewerefreedagainandthenwefoundoutthatthemeaniestillhadhercutiemarkandtheneveryponygotangryandhelpedchaseherout.”

“Okaaaaay, I got about… half of that. So, that means that… you’re all okay?” Mystic asked. Meanwhile, the remaining four mares had emerged from the crowd and walked over.

“Yep, don’t worry, we are fine.” Twilight assured. Mystic breathed a sigh of relief at that.

“Yeah, todally fine.” Applejack remarked. “But ah’d also find it fine, if we’d hurry ‘n get home.” She said, walking past Twilight and Mystic.

“Agreed, Darling. This definitely has been one of the more… eventful problems to solve.” Rarity added, as she and the rest followed behind.

“I knew I could trust you.” Twilight suddenly said, causing Mystic to whip back around.

“What?”

“I knew that I could trust you. Normally, ponies tend to wait two, maybe three days after the deadline before they send help. Not you, however. Immediately when the deadline passed, you went to search for us, which means that if something would’ve happened, you would likely have come in time to save us. Luckily, we didn’t need your help this time, although… if it weren’t for some of the villagers, we likely would’ve actually needed your help…” Twilight said.

“What? Why?”

“Aaaah, I’d better keep that to myself. Lest I’d cause you to commit murder a second time.” Twilight giggled, before she and Mystic went after the remaining five mares and they all left for Ponyville.

ARC FINAL: Ch46: The Prince of Death

Time went by and the warm months passed. Snow soon covered the land and with it came the first hearth’s warming eve that Rainbow and Twilight would spend solely at home.

Their foal’s development went smoothly. Twilight read a lot of books about pregnancy and even Rainbow indulged in tomes of the sort. They both figured that the less they moved around, the less they would have the chance to endanger their foals, so they both agreed on minimizing their movement as much as possible. This was especially hard for Rainbow Dash, as this meant that flying, in particular, would be suspended until well after the pregnancy.

Thus, hearth’s warming eve was spent in the cosy warmth of Twilight’s castle and while everypony else used the free space to happily dance and mill about, Rainbow and Twilight kept to the sidelines and enjoyed just watching their friends have fun, while their own precious gifts were growing inside them.

The day after, the CMC went to spend the entire day searching for their Cutie Marks, followed by a sleepover at Apple Bloom’s. This meant that Rainbow and Twilight had the castle all to themselves. Not that they planned on anything, they weren’t little fillies after all. However, as much as they both loved Scootaloo, she was now slowly coming into puberty and with that came certain… developments in her personality that made it a true hoofful to care for her. Thinking about that this was only the beginning sometimes truly made for the perfect horror story, when one saw one of her early-pubescent outbreaks.

Needless to say, as much as they loved her, Twilight and Rainbow enjoyed the quiet that reigned when their little troublemaker was not at home. They spent this time together with Mystic, reading books and talking about how their pregnancies were progressing. Well, at least as much as Mystic could talk about it without being pregnant herself.

However, it didn’t bother her too much that she didn’t have much to contribute. After all, it was her greatest pleasure to fulfil her duty. To watch over Rainbow and Twilight and make sure that their foals were safe. In fact, she felt more than happy just sitting with them inside the reading area of the castle and hearing them talk about how well they were doing, while stifling a giggle from time to time, when one of them sent yet another ridiculous food-request for Spike to fetch.

The whole day went by calmly, with the fire crackling away in the fireplace and warming the three mares present with its soft glow. However, when evening came around, so came the first signs that the day might not be at its end just yet.

Applejack and Rarity hurried through the door, both wearing concern-filled looks.

“Say, you two, did you see Sweetie Belle or Apple Bloom somewhere around here?” Rarity asked, not bothering with a greeting.

“No…? Shouldn’t they be at Applejack’s by now?” Twilight answered with slight alarm.

“Yeah, that was tha plan anyways. Thing is they didn’t turn up at all, even when I waited fer an hour! I then went ta Rarity`s t’ see if they were there, but as ye can see, they weren’t. We searched all of Ponyville, but nopony has seen them either and now, your castle was the last place we thought they could be.”

Twilight and Rainbow immediately slid off the sofa onto their hooves.

“That’s horrible! We need to go find them!” Twilight said in a panic, before both, she and Rainbow, were pushed back onto the sofa.

“No, you won’t.” Mystic said firmly, as she released them from her magic.

“But Mystic! What if something happened to them? What if something happened to Scootlaoo?!” Rainbow panicked.

“Don’t worry about them! You two need to stay calm and remain here. I will send Alpha and Charlie to search for them.” Mystic stated. She then turned and left the castle, leaving the four mares behind.

Silence befell the group. An uncomfortable silence, heavy with the weight of uncertainty that each of them were carrying.

“We could see if the map shows them.” Rainbow broke the quiet. “Maybe… maybe they’re stuck in a friendship problem that somepony needs to solve?”

“Rainbow, you know those three. They would never-“ Twilight was cut off by Rainbow grabbing hold of her shoulders and pleading to her.

“Pleeeeaaaase! You know I can’t stand just sitting around and doing nothing! I want to help somehow!”

Twilight wanted to argue against it, say that it was unlikely that the map would be showing their location, but seeing her herdmate in such distress made her reconsider.

“Fine. We can at least have a look, right?” Twilight gave in.

They made their way to the map room and opened the doors, but found it to be strangely dark inside. Normally, the chandelier would emit constant illumination, but now, it seemed like it wasn’t emitting light at all.

“Huh, that’s strange.” Twilight said absentmindedly, as she made her way into the middle of the room, where she gave a short pulse of her magic, which ignited the crystals yet again.

“So, now, as you can see, it’s not even… ac… tive?” Twilight trailed off, as she saw her friends standing in the entrance and shaking in fear. Rainbow was pointing somewhere directly behind her and when Twilight followed the point, she nearly went into early labour as she laid eyes on what it was that caused her friend’s reaction.

Directly behind her, there was a tall, bipedal entity leaning against the wall with its arms crossed. It stood slightly taller than Twilight remembered Markus to be and its shoulders seemed to be slightly narrower. It wore dark brown boots, a long, black leather coat with a hood that covered the back of its head, a black hat with a rim about as wide as its shoulders, as well as a white mask with a long beak, through which shone two yellow, reptilian eyes. Eyes which were currently looking directly at her.

“Greetings.” It said in a hollow and synthetic sounding voice.

Twilight recoiled, scooting back on her rump, trying to gain distance to the unknown entity.

“Oh my. There is no need for such a reaction. I am not here to harm.”

“W-W-What – w-who are you?” Twilight stammered.

“I am but a messenger. I was sent by my master to deliver a message.” It answered.

“W-who is your m-master?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, you have met him already. He was a… special guest. At your wedding.”

“Special guest? He… He might not have been a red alicorn, has he?” Twilight asked.

“A red alicorn? Hm… yes, that was certainly him.”

Applejack abruptly came out of her stupor with a slight outbreak of anger. “So yer working fer this varmint that shoved us harder than ah can applebuck mah trees? Ah swear, if ah get mah hooves on him again, I’ll-“

“AJ, please! I know that he did that, but it was only to rescue Twilight!” Rainbow tried to calm her.

“So… what’s the message?” Twilight asked tentatively.

“The message… is that my master has accepted the offer of your princesses.” It said.

“Offer? What offer did the princesses make to him?” Rarity asked.

“Why, they offered him a position of royalty, of course. Now, if you will excuse me, I have already stayed longer than my contract allows.”

Leaving many questions unanswered, the entity made its way towards the exit, but stopped just before exiting. “Oh… and don’t worry about your sisters… I will inform my master about your problem and I am sure he will see to their safety… if they aren’t due yet.”

With that, the entity left the room and with it, four very frightened and stunned mares.

---

A few hours later, the crusaders still had yet to be found. Mystic’ search parties were still roaming the immediate area and parts of the Everfree Forest, but in quiet they all knew that, if the fillies had gone in there, they would likely not be found all-too soon.

While her soldiers were searching, Mystic had returned to the castle, together with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who wanted to help the search. However, as it had already gotten dark outside, they found it better to help Twilight and Rainbow calm down.

Suddenly, somepony knocked and before anypony could react, Rainbow was at the door and opened it. At first, nopony seemed to be there, but when her eyes adjusted, she could see a tall figure with a large horn and a flowing mane just outside of the light.

“Princess Celestia?” Rainbow questioned, however recoiled as she was answered.

“Unfortunately no, I am not.” A male voice said. A voice, which she had heard only once before. A blood red hoof stepped into the light, followed by a body and a snout in the same colour. A black horn and black eyes became visible next, as well as a black mane and two black wings that were extended upwards in a roof to shield his back from the falling snow.

The crimson stallion stepped further forward, into the castle. Rainbow was slowly retreating at the same pace, while her friends were now filing in from the room behind her.

“Good evening. I hope I do not come at an inconvenient time.” The stallion said.

“Yeah, as if you could ever come at a convenient time.” Applejack hissed. “What’cha come ‘ere for? Tell us that our sisters are ‘due’?”

The stallion strode further forward. “There is no need to be so hostile, dear Applejack. Be assured that I have not come to tell you of the untimely demise of your sister. In fact, I have come to tell you quite the opposite.”

He stopped and retracted one of his wings, revealing a blanket on his back, under which there lay three sleeping fillies. He angled his right wing downward, using it like a ramp on which he let the sleeping crusaders slide down to the ground. Immediately, their sleeping forms were greeted with tight embraces by their sisters/mother-in-law.

“After my servant has told me of their fate, I have sought out for their lifetimes and found that they indeed still have plenty of time left. As such, I went ahead and searched for them myself and I found them on the north-eastern edge of the Everfree. I do not claim to know their means to get there, but seeing the result, I doubt that this information is of importance.”

“Yeah… I-euh… thank you.” Twilight said. However, something seemed to be amiss, as she started looking downward and circling her hoof on the floor.

“There is no need to remain silent, Twilight Sparkle. If there is something that bothers you, then I am willing to listen.”

Twilight breathed a small sigh. She looked up, hesitantly, but eventually, she began to speak. “The-The time of Markus’s return… the time those three have left… how come you know such things?”

The stallion seemed completely unimpressed by the question, however apparently found it difficult to answer it anyways.

“Well… I’ve got to admit that I can’t seem to phrase it properly… Perhaps, showing you would be the better solution.”

He turned his side towards the group and then lifted his wing slightly, so that his flanks were freed of the feathery appendages. Beyond the black mass, atop the red background, there the ponies found a picture of a golden T-scale with a pony angel in the left bowl and the pony of death in the right.

“So… you balance good and evil?” Twilight asked curiously.

“No… not quite. Albeit your formulation seems quite fitting, it is not good and evil that I balance, but life and death.”

“A-ah…” Twilight had not awaited such an answer and as such felt slightly unsettled, now that she’d heard it.

“Now, I think I’ve stolen enough of your time.” The stallion said, before giving Twilight a respectful bow. “Farewell, Twilight Sparkle. We shall meet again.”

He turned around and went to leave the castle, but stopped when Twilight cried out to him. “Wait! You’ve never told us your name.”

The stallion looked over his shoulder back at the group. “Indeed. That is because I do not carry a name. However, if you want me to tell you one, then I believe ‘Mortis’ to be quite fitting.”

With that, the stallion stepped outside, before he then formed into an orb again and ‘shadowed’ away.

---

About a month later, Twilight got a letter from Princess Celestia, that a new alicorn would be crowned. Of course, Twilight knew by this time that it could only be Mortis who was meant by this. Thus, on the day of the coronation, which coincidentally seemed to be on Markus’s birthday, she and her friends travelled to Canterlot, with yet another set of garments that Rarity had tailored for them.

It was the first time that Twilight would attend such a ceremony not as a normal attendee, but as an actual princess sitting on a throne. Her friends were allowed to stand beside her on her right, while Princess Celestia, Luna and Cadence sat to her left and to their left, there stood Shining Armor. Before them, there were two large groups of Ponies. The nobles of Canterlot, who were allowed to witness the ceremony from within the throne room, while the remaining populace would wait outside.

Celestia held a short speech, before she called out for the ceremony to begin. On cue, the doors swung open, revealing Mortis standing behind them. However, in contrast to Twilight’s coronation, he did not wear any special garments or hoof-tailored suit. Indeed, he chose to wear nothing, stepping in in his pure, red form.

He slowly made his way along the red carpet that was laid out from the door up to the throne. This time, the dust that his steps kicked up seemed a lot lighter in colour, albeit still being black. His wings were slightly extended up- and outwards in a display.

He reached the throne and lowered his head before Celestia, who then lifted up a crown from behind her throne. Said crown was of a simple, six-pointed design with multiple blue crystals embedded into its sides.

The princess put the crown onto his head. However, as soon as metal touched fur, the golden colour began to fade. A swirl of black mist surrounded the crown, until the gold and blue colours were gone and replaced by black metal and red crystals. A few gasps became audible from the audience, however, Celestia remained unfazed.

“I hereby present to you…” She began to declare, “the newest addition to equestrian royalty. This stallion shall henceforth be known as: Prince Mortis.”

This declaration immediately caused Blueblood to step in from somewhere off to the side. “WHAT?! PRINCE?! Aunt Celestia, I don’t think this is appropriate. I am the only true prince of Equestria!”

Celestia facehoofed at Blueblood’s tantrum, however the prince didn’t seem to notice. He went over to the new prince and looked him dead in the eye. “Listen, you wannabe-prince: I am the only one who may ever truly carry the title of prince, so I command you to step down immediately!”

Mortis lifted his head and looked down on the prince. He then looked over to the princesses, scanning them seemingly in search for something. “I am sorry, but I fail to see the connection.”

Blueblood gave an upset gasp. “How dare you?! It is no question that I carry the same coat and mane colour as my aunt does!”

“That may be,” Mortis agreed, “yet, every royal pony in this room seems to at least carry a horn. An appendage that seems amiss on your forehead.”

Blueblood was speechless. Mortis had just picked at his weakest spot. The wound he had sustained from his failed duel with Markus. The stump that had been left was already healing, true, but it was still multiple years away from becoming the once magnificent horn that once adorned the most beautiful head in all of Equestria.

Multiple loud gasps sounded from the attending nobility.

“He has insulted Prince Blueblood!”

“He has insulted the Prince!”

“How could somepony like him even become an alicorn?!”

“Why would Celestia ever choose somepony like him?!”

Suddenly, Twilight and her friends found themselves the target of a barrage of various fruits and vegetables that came flying from the audience. Twilight closed her eyes and readied herself to be hit, but all that she ever came to notice were multiple dull thumps that came from right in front of her. She tentatively slid one of her eyes open, only to then rip them wide when she saw what had saved her.

She saw a wall of black that seemed to have a feathery texture. She looked over to her right, where she saw the ends touch the wall. She then looked to her left, where she saw that these walls were indeed the wings of Prince Mortis, which, now completely unfolded, spanned the whole width of the Throne Room.

Fluttershy, Rainbow and Cadence instinctively opened their wings in a wing display and Twilight could feel her new Pegasus parts scream at the back of her mind to do the same. However, due to her Unicorn heritage, it was relatively easy for her to subdue.

“That is enough.” Celestia commanded. Mortis respectfully bowed his head, before he tucked in his wings again. Strangely enough, it seemed as if the tucked-in wings were much smaller than they actually should be. Though, it didn’t seem like they had been magically shrunk or something like that.

“We have made our decision to accept him into equestrian royalty. You as the equestrian nobility are to accept and respect such a decision! Now, the ceremony shall continue!”

Following her order, the festivities went on. The princesses and the newly crowned prince left the throne room and made their way towards a balcony, from which one could oversee a large plaza, where seemingly all of Equestria was currently gathered to witness this event.

When he reached the end of the balcony, Mortis put his wings on display again and, according to tradition, held a speech regarding his ascension, which was accented by a wonderbolts display at the end and received with loud cheers by the audience.

After the speech was held, he retreated himself into the castle. Twilight went after him and called out to him just before he could round a corner.

“Prince Mortis!”

The Prince turned around and faced her. “Twilight, please, there is no need to address me with my title. After all, we are of the same standing.” He said, making Twilight give a sheepish smile.

“Ehehe, yes, I know… Uhm, Mortis, there is something I wanted to ask you…”

This quickly gained his interest. “Go ahead. I will answer any question you may have.”

“Euhm… I’ve been wondering… if you know the date of his return… do you know where he currently is? And if you do, could you please tell me?”

The Prince stood silent for a moment, making Twilight gulp in discomfort. “Well, I do indeed know where Markus currently is. However, I may not tell you.”

“Oh… Why don’t you want to tell me?” Twilight asked in slight disappointment.

“It is not that I don’t want to tell you, dear Twilight. Rather, it is because Markus doesn’t wish to be found. All I can do, is repeat to you what I have told you once before, for your rightful husband truly will return… in eight months.”

Twilight was still disappointed with the outcome. However, if it truly was Markus’s wish to remain hidden for now, then she was willing to wait it out.

With those last words exchanged, the newly crowned Prince Mortis resumed his path. He rounded the corner and vanished from sight.

Author's Notes:

In case you are wondering: Mortis's servant's voice sounds like TheVolgun's SCP-049 impression.

So, this concludes arc 1.5 'Aftermath'. Next up: Arc 2 'From the Shadows'. Before that can happen, however, I will sadly have to tell you that this story will go into hiatus for a prolonged period of time. 3 months and 2 weeks, to be exact. This is due to me starting my basic training in two weeks and the need to take a break anyways.
However, fear not: I will not vanish completely. There are a few minor ideas that have been floating about for a while and which may now come to fruition in these two weeks. also, in case I may have a bit more time than I'd thought, I have a smaller project already in preparation, which I will tend to instead.

That or I write a second season for Homo Draconis.... you know what? I'll let you decide on that one. I'll write a blog post on that matter, where I can let you post your opinion.

CH47: RE;surrection

In a train near Trottingham, 12hrs before the war ended

The train was rattling along its tracks. Outside, one could catch brief glimpses of the remnants of battles fought barely more than a week ago. The loud clattering of metal against metal made its way through the landscape, as the train chugged on towards its goal: Canterlot.

Inside the train, the clattering noise was dampened, but still very audible, especially since there were no other sounds to overshadow it. This silence was no peaceful one, however, as its only reason was the very downcast moods of the ponies and one human who sat inside.

“Canterlot has fallen.”

That was the message that was only now finally sinking in with all of them, as they were free from the constant fighting for the first time in two months. If one were to look into their minds, one could think that they were part of a hivemind. All their thoughts seemed to be coupled, as they all thought about the same things and came to the same conclusions.

No matter how it happened, whoever had taken Canterlot from right under their muzzles had to be powerful, especially so since the Princesses had remained there and somehow were still beaten.

That, in turn, raised the question if they could even do something about an enemy that seemed to possess such powers. A question, which was quickly answered with only a single glance at their commander.

Markus sat at the far end of the train car. He and his officers had, for the sake of mobility, decided to shed the extra weight of the command cart and instead were now travelling together with their soldiers in the crew cabins. He had his chin rested in his hand, covering his mouth and looking towards the ground, as if he was looking right through it. If one watched him closesly, one could almost hear the gears in his head rattling about, forming potential battle plans and mapping out the possible strength and positioning of their enemy. There was no hint of fear or nervousness on his face, only pure, cold determination.

Seeing their commander in this state quickly put their minds at ease. They knew that, under his lead, they would come out victorious. After all, it wasn’t a secret that some of them considered their commander even more powerful than the princesses themselves. No matter whom they may face, they would come out on top as long as they followed his command.

Markus didn’t notice any of this. He was much too deep in his thoughts to notice anything for that matter. The only thing that was of importance at that moment was that he had to recapture Canterlot. The problem with that wouldn’t really be what to do inside the city, as it would just boil down to standard house-clearing practice. No, the problem would be to get behind the walls in the first place. Sadly, there was no way for him to know the exact defence strategy of his opponent just now, so that part of the plan had to be made on the fly.

“Captain?”

A voice he knew sounded from his side and, as he had reached an impasse anyways, he left the realm of his thoughts and focused his attention on whoever wanted to speak to him. He turned his head to his right and looked right at the source of the voice. His second in command, Mystic Gem, was looking at him with a hint of enthusiasm. She seemed like she was eager to go into battle once again, something that Markus truly found relieving. After all, his Second in Command also had the task of reflecting the mood of the rest of the group and if she was in such high spirits, he knew he could count on the rest of his company as well.

“Yes, Mystic?” He answered her call with a smile, signalling her to go ahead.

“I’ve been wondering: when we try to enter Canterlot, couldn’t you use that ability of yours to your advantage?”

Markus looked at Mystic for a moment, trying to figure out, what ability she meant, exactly. “Well, if you mean the speed boost or the shields, I’d say that I hadn’t even considered not using them, so… I guess that would mean yes.”

Mystic shook her head. “No, I mean your ability to hide your magic signature. Maybe we could use that to sneak up on them or something.”

Markus blinked at that for a moment. “I didn’t even know I had such an ability.” He said in irritation.

Mystic seemed confused as well. “You didn’t? Then what was that back in camp?”

---

7 months ago in the Everfree Bootcamp

A game of hide and seek? What kind of training is this supposed to be?

Those were Mystic’s thoughts when she heard the first step in their upcoming training program. She sure was expecting almost everything, but a simple game of hide and seek? That definitely wasn’t on her list.

Oh well… She thought, maybe he’s just trying to figure out our determination by giving us a seemingly pointless task? Certainly would make sense considering he promised to show us a whole new level of warfare.

Mystic and a small group of other guardsponies were stalking through the bushes of the forest, looking for every trace their captain could’ve left. They thought it couldn’t be that hard to find his tracks, considering he was the only creature in the forest with feet instead of paws or hooves. However, they found nothing. Not a single broken twig or even a footprint. It was as if he simply vanished into thin air.

That’s it! Mystic thought, as she lit up her horn. If we can’t find him the normal way, I’m just gonna scan for him. After all, every creature has a magic signature!

And so, she cast a scanning spell. Her vision went blue and she could see the magic signatures of every living being in the area displayed in various shades of yellow and red, according to the being’s magical strength. Yet, besides all the trees, her comrades and the odd rabbit or bird, there was still nothing. She grew frustrated, forcing every bit of her magic into the spell, yet there was still no sign of the Captain.

Then suddenly, a voice shouted from behind her: “Time is up!”

Mystic froze, as she realized her defeat. How had he done this? How did he manage to avoid all of her comrades up until now? There was only one way to find out. Mystic went into a full gallop, even neglecting to turn off her magical scan. She came to a skidding halt in the camp area, where Markus stood, covered in dirt, leaves and twigs. However, Mystic didn’t see any of this through her scanning spell. In fact, she couldn’t spot Markus at all. She was about to call out to him, when he started to speak again and, when concentrating on the source of his voice, she indeed spotted something. A tiny speck of magic hovering in the middle of the field. If she hadn’t known that she was standing right before him, she would’ve thought he was miles away. Yet, she still couldn’t believe it, even as she deactivated her scan and saw him with her own eyes, she could still not believe this.

How did he do that?

---

Back in the train

“Well, I really didn’t know about that.” Markus said, as Mystic finished explaining. “But if that’s really the case, we could definitely use it to our advantage. If everything else fails, we may be able to get the princesses out of there in a stealth operation and then just steamroll the whole town. However, I’d like to keep such brute-force-manoeuvres as a last resort. After all, we do not know what we will be facing. I will come up with a plan to get in as soon as we’re there.”

Mystic nodded, fully trusting the judgement of her leader. If he thought it had to be this way, then it had to be the right choice. She turned her head to look out of the window and watch the landscape quickly swish by. It was still a long trip to Canterlot and yet, somehow it felt like the end was closer than ever...

---

The gates of Canterlot, 2hrs before the war ended

Already long before they had reached the City, Markus and his troops could see the siege that was going on there. The ponies tried to recapture their Capitol with all their might, but they couldn’t make any progress. Instead, it seemed like they were going to be pushed back or even fully obliterated, given the time. Upon realizing this, Markus made haste to arrive as quickly as possible and avoid a possibly lethal blow to the already weakened equestrian forces.

When their marching was heard, the attackers momentarily stopped their efforts and he could see somepony, who seemed like an officer, as well as his two loved ones and their friends approach. He and the officer saluted each other, before the other, an officer of the reserve, reported to him what had been happening.

While the report was given, Markus was already formulating a plan in his head. The barrier in front of the main gate certainly was an issue, but one that could certainly be overcome somehow. Firstly though, the walls needed to be kept clear, so he ordered Overdrive and Bulkhead to do just that together with the rest of the company, as well as those who were already here. When they had left to fulfil their tasks, he turned to Twilight and the rest. However, before he could finish his sentence, he was caught in a surprise attack by the purple alicorn, in which Rainbow quickly joined as well.

Surprising didn’t mean unwelcome though, as he savoured their embrace. After all, he hadn’t had any contact with them for the past two months. However, his delight suddenly fell and was replaced by a slightly horrified realization, as he noticed that Mystic was still standing beside them and, thus, now certainly knew what was going on between them. However, she waved him off, saying that Twilight had told her long before, which made the alicorn give a short, sheepish smile towards him.

Markus wasn’t angry at that, though. Frankly, he would’ve told her anyways, if there would have been time. And speaking of time, there was none to be lost now either. He inquired about the other princesses and sadly, his thoughts were confirmed by Twilight. The princesses were trapped inside the castle, so a full-on assault was not possible. Sneaking inside was also not an option, as the walls couldn’t be climbed easily and they would have to wait ‘till nightfall to use pegasi. Unfortunately, every second counted, so that plan was out of the question.

Still having found no concrete way, Markus decided that having a closer look upon his problem would certainly aid in his efforts, so he followed the rest of the ponies towards the camp. However, as soon as he took a step into its outer perimeter, a voice suddenly called out into his head.

Be warned, saviour! Setting foot into Canterlot now will indeed liberate and save it from your enemy’s grasp, but the price of this achievement will be your life!

He didn’t know where that voice came from, but there was something about it that felt… familiar. It felt just like in that dream that he had, when that book opened before him and revealed that spell.

A smile formed on his lips, as he answered the call. “Maybe, but I don’t care. As long as I can keep them safe…”

The smile vanished suddenly. He froze and his eyes widened, as he realized something. “The others! What will happen to them after my death? I have to make preparations!”

“Correction:” He continued his conversation with the group of ponies before him. “Mystic, get some of the 37s and try to break this gate. I have some preparations to make. I will be back in a few hours.”

He then thundered off before any of them could object.

---

Ponyville, 1.5hrs before the war ended

Markus landed in front of the Library and immediately dashed in. He had already thought about what would be best to leave with whom, so all he had to do was package it all. He removed his rank markings, his knife and his pistol and put them into the boxes for Rainbow and Mystic, respectively. He then took the notebook he started when he began researching magic and put it into the box for Twilight. The bunny for Fluttershy, the clothes for Rarity, a few cake recipes for Pinkie and fertilizer for Applejack. Lastly, he took a piece of parchment and wrote down a spell, which he had not written down in his research notes, for fear that it might somehow be abused, or too powerful in general. However, if he wanted to make sure that Equestria shall stay safe, he had to risk it this once. When he was done, he ripped the paper in two and gave one half into either of the boxes marked for the two princesses. Lastly, he took up a quill and wrote his last will.

Having done so, he rolled up the parchment and placed it onto the table, writing ‘read in case of death’ onto it. Spike stood beside him the whole time, but to the question, what this was all about, Markus only answered that those were necessary preparations.

Next, he took the boxes he had prepared and brought them to an old shed close to Fluttershy’s cottage. There, he placed his gifts, until the others would find them when he had found his end.

---

Wonderbolts HQ, 1h before the war ended

After finishing his preparations in Ponyville, Markus went to the Wonderbolts HQ. Specifically, he went to one of the Hangars, in which his trump card was stored.

He approached the aircraft, feeling the same euphoria he felt, when it was first summoned to this world. He didn’t tell Twilight or any of the others for that matter, but it was actually an exact copy of the one he used during his time in the ‘taktisches Luftwaffengeschwader 33’ (33rd tactical Airwing), complete with the motto he painted onto it: ‘Alles Gute kommt von oben.’ (Everything good comes from above.)

He placed his hand onto its intakes and slowly walked along its sides, running his hand along the edges of the wings and fuselage, until he came around the back. He knew what his plan meant for this machine and, even though he was hoping that the cannons would be enough, he couldn’t quite come to truly believe it. With a sigh, he took a few steps back to look upon his old friend and partner in its full glory one last time, when suddenly the Hangar doors were opened and a heavily bandaged mare stepped inside.

“So, you are that guy, who overruled my call to arms for the newbie, huh?” Spitfire asked, as she laid eyes upon Markus.

“Yes. My Apologies, but I found her still too inexperienced to risk letting her go into battle. I’m very sorry.” He answered, however, Spitfire shook her head.

“No, I’m the one, who should apologize.” She said, earning her a raised eyebrow from Markus. “You know… originally, I wanted to tell you what I thought about your intervention in the old-fashioned way… but that was before we went out there.”

“You know, we were placed under the command of Prince Blueblood.” Spitfire continued her tale after a short break. “Eighty Wonderbolts collected in one place, that was something that’s never been there before. The prince, of course, wanted to be swift in his ‘victory’, so he sent us as far forward as we could get. None of us objected, of course. We were the best after all. Boy, how wrong we were… Thunderlane was the first to come to know this, or, well, he would have, if he wasn’t dead by the time he could have realized. Really, I didn’t even see the arrow coming. I only suddenly saw it sticking out if his forehead, before he went down. We others were then ambushed by a horde of Gryphons, who quickly decimated us all. No wonder, in hindsight. We were an aerobatics team after all, with only Soarin and me having been with the guards once… And so, Soarin and I were the only ones who came out of there alive. Or rather, I am the only one who actually came out of there alive. Soarin… he lost both of his wings and he is now in a coma in the Cloudsdale hospital…”

Spitfire concluded her tale with a look of sorrow, as she recalled the state, her vice-captain was in. “You know, I’m really gonna miss these halls, but I can’t change the past. The Wonderbolts are done for…” She then added.

“No, they aren’t. You’re still there. You can train new ones.” Markus pointed out.

“Pff, yeah, easy to say for you. I’ve seen those poor bastards get swatted like flies. I’ve seen my training fail them and costing them their lives. From what I’ve heard about you and your successes, there were no deaths in your company so far, so I doubt you’ll understand.”

Markus looked at her in empathy. He knew how that felt. Before coming to this world, he had lost many of his comrades and he always felt like it was his fault. That it was his mistake that caused them to die.

“Oh, you can’t imagine, how wrong you are. I, too, have lost comrades. Many of them, in fact. However, I have learned from my mistakes. I adapted my strategies and made sure that their sacrifice wasn’t in vain. That is, what you should do, Spitfire. Make their sacrifice mean something. Learn from your mistakes and train your new recruits based on that.”

Spitfire looked to the ground for a moment, as if thinking about what Markus had just said, before her miserable frown turned into a weary smile. “You know, I think I know now, why the newbie likes you so much. I will do that. Thanks for lifting me up.”

“No problem. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a capitol to save.” Markus replied, getting into his Tornado and taking off as quickly as possible.

The flight was everything but pleasant to him. The lack of a G-Suit meant that the powers of physics were tugging at him with every movement, but he held strong. Canterlot came into view and Markus came to see that the gates indeed hadn’t been broken yet. He joined in on the barrage that Mystic was placing upon it with a burst of his own, but to little effect. Seeing this, he pulled up again and performed his scorching-manoeuvre, before pulling around and aligning himself again.

Turning around was like sitting beneath a hydraulic press. His whole body was forced downwards and he could actually feel the blood collecting in his feet. His vision went black for a moment, as his body had already given up and it was only his own willpower that kept him awake. He aligned himself one last time, before going into full thrust and activating the afterburner. The engines went to work, accelerating the aircraft with all their might and, after he confirmed the course one last time, Markus pulled on the ejection handle…

---

???, ?hrs after the war ended

Darkness surrounded him. It wasn’t a darkness like being in a dark room or something. Rather, it was as if there was absolutely NOTHING around him. No light, no matter, no anything. The void between worlds presented itself as just that. A void.

Markus was floating in the void. He was awake and yet he felt as if he was sleeping. He tried to touch the ground, if there was any, but either his feet couldn’t reach it, or it wasn’t there at all. Next, he tried to touch his own body, but yet again, he was met with no results. No matter where he tried it, his hand just went through it. That left the question, what exactly was missing. Was it his body or his hand? Or maybe even both? The thought made him feel sick in both his stomach and head, so he quickly decided that it was a matter of minor concern for now.

“Aaaah, our guest of the hour has finally arrived.” A voice suddenly said from somewhere within the void.

“Euh, it seems so. Might I ask, whom I’m speaking with?” Markus asked in return.

“Yes, you may. However, I cannot fully answer that question. At least not within your limited vocabulary. Therefore, let’s just say, that I am the one who brought you to this world in the first place.”

“Ah, so I’ve basically met my maker, haven’t I? Well, I suppose that means that I’m dead now.” Markus concluded.

“Yes… and no.” The entity replied.

“Ok… could you please elaborate?”

“Of course. You see: from the point where you were born in your old world, you were meant to be something more. The death of your sister and mother, your successful military career, the start of the third world war and the second Gryphon war in Equestria, they all are connected to you. Not because you are a Deathmagnet, no… but because you are death.”

“Wait, what?” Markus noted in slight surprise.

“Indeed. From the very beginning, you haven’t been human. You only bore the vessel of a human, which you then brought over into this world. It has its benefits, indeed, but soon, you will find yourself in your true body. Your journey has only just begun, my child.”

“’My journey has only just begun’? Oh, yeah, sure and now I’m the one to lay death upon them all or what?” Markus commented sarcastically.

“No, quite the opposite in fact. You may have been born as death, but through your life in Equestria, you have become connected to this other aspect. Life. Now, just as Anakin Skywalker was meant to balance the force, you now stand in-between the two forces of life and death. You preside over both and it is your task to keep them in sync.”

Markus remained silent for a while. Was he seriously meant to rule over life and death? He couldn’t deny that it was a compelling thought, but still terrifying at the same time. “So… why does life and death need balancing anyways? Isn’t there just a natural median being followed like with all natural forces?”

“Normally , that would be the case, yes. However, here in Equestria, there are those, who aim to gain immortality or, the opposite, kill as many as possible before they die themselves. Also, there are entities in this world that exist only to disturb that balance that you are now in charge of.”

“Sounds like something that my old, human abilities won’t really be cut out for…” Markus pointed out.

“Of course, you will find yourself with new abilities that you will have to learn to control, however you should be able to master them quite quickly.”

“Like entering and leaving the realm of death?”

“Yes. Unfortunately, in order to leave your realm, you have to be summoned back to Equestria. Only then will your powers activate and you can take on your new role in this world.”

“Ah, so I’ll just have to wait a few millennia, until someone is daring enough to summon death himself.”

Markus could feel the entity grin at that. “Oh, don’t you worry, you have already left them with the formula to do so.”

“I have left them with that formula? I thought the only formula I left was a shield spell?” Markus wondered.

“Yes, and no. The exact phrasing was that ‘the spell shall summon an everlasting shield against the forces that dare endanger the summoners.’ You see, such a task can be carried out not only by a passive shield, but also by a living being…”

“Ah. So basically, you tricked me into following your plans without me knowing it, huh? Well, I could ask, why you didn’t just outright tell me your plan, but I think, I can already imagine why.”

“Quite so. Now, it seems to be time to end this banter, as the ritual has been carried out.”

As the entity said that, a brightly glowing vortex opened up beneath Markus and he was slowly pulled into it.

“When you awake, you will find yourself with new knowledge, both about your new task and your new abilities. Your true persona will awake and you will fulfil your destiny!” The entity said, just before Markus was completely devoured by the vortex.

---

Canterlot Castle, royal chambers, 3 days after the war ended

Markus opened his eyes. He could feel his arms and legs again, luckily, and yet, something felt different. His head was pounding from the plethora of new information that it was given, but for now, it was a minor concern. He sat up and looked around him, ignoring the two arguing alicorns in the corner of the room, instead laying eyes upon the object he had been searching for.

He stood up and walked towards the full-sized mirror that hung on one of the walls. Every step made a sound like he was walking on dry leaves and he could swear that his back was growing heavier. When he finally arrived at the mirror, he could see the reason for that. His whole body was charred, only his eyes and some of his teeth were still where they belonged. His lower abdomen was missing completely, as well as the respective organs. In some places around his arms and legs, there were even bones left uncovered and burned beneath the thinned skin and on his back… were wings?

Markus stared in wonder, as he watched two pitch-black wings grow from his back. He wanted to touch them, but noticed another change that had to be quite recent. His fingers had merged into hooves… and his arms were elongating…

Suddenly, his whole body flared up in pain, as the transformation started. He felt his bones shift, elongate, shrink and contort in many ways. He wanted to scream in pain, but no sound came out, no matter how much he tried.

When the pain finally subsided, Markus could barely hold himself upright… or could he even do so in the first place? He found himself standing on all fours, with his neck bent backwards to allow for normal head movement in this position. He already knew what had happened, even without looking into the mirror, so when he did, he wasn’t surprised at all. What he saw in the place where the broken human stood before, was an alicorn stallion with two enormous, pitch-black wings. However, the skin apparently hadn’t changed and was still charred and even left his lower jaw, parts of his ribcage, as well as his lower legs bare.

Yet, there were two patches on his flanks that seemed untouched, revealing his new coat colour to be red and the reason why these patches were still intact was also answered, when a flash of light momentarily blinded him and left a symbol on either side. A symbol, displaying a T-Scale, in the bowls of which sat ponified death on one side and a ponified angel on the other.

Author's Notes:

Yay, it's back. Well, not quite yet. This chapter was pre-written and I'm publishing this on the day my basic training ends. You may take the time between this one and the next chapter as my new upload schedule, unless I say something else in the author's notes. until then: happy reading!

Ch48: A New Beginning

Sometimes, Celestia found the absolute loyalty of her guards to be disturbing. Like she wasn’t worthy of their willingness to lay down their lives for her, to say nothing of trusting her no matter what and never questioning anything she did.

Today was definitely not such a day, she noted, as she and Luna were both carrying the charred remains of the once profound human hero, Markus Becker, into her royal chambers. Markus had left them with a spell that, by his description, held the power to protect every creature in Equestria from harm indefinitely.

As ruler of Equestria and protector of her little Ponies, Celestia could not leave such a claim untested. If it was true that this single spell could protect all of her subjects indefinitely, then she had to try. Unfortunately, one of the components of the spell was a sample of foreign magic and Markus was the only source of it. Luckily, he seemed to know that and placed a strong preservation spell onto his own body. It wasn’t strong enough to avert all damages or even save his life, but it left enough of him intact to extract the needed amount of magic.

Celestia breathed a sigh of relief, as she and Luna finally reached the privacy of her chambers together with their… rather bizarre cargo.

“Luna, please remind me to never carry burned corpses through the palace EVER again. In fact, let’s just say corpses in general.” Celestia said, when she let her aura fade from her half of the corpse.

“We fail to see, why thou should ever need to carry a corpse through the palace, apart from today, but we will keep it in mind.” Luna answered with a barely stifled smirk. She, too, then let go of her half of the corpse, before she went to arrange the two halves of the former hero into the middle of a transmutation circle on the ground.

When they had found him, Markus was cut clean in half by the explosion. His internal organs seemed to have been burned or flung away, leaving only his bone structure and burned skin and muscle tissue somewhat intact. It was truly a gruesome sight and even though Celestia had been very doubtful about his trustworthiness, even after he came to rescue Canterlot, she couldn’t help but feel deeply saddened over his untimely demise.

Now, they were standing in front of his corpse again, this time arranged in a way that would make it seem like it was at least not cut in half. Both sisters looked at each other one last time, before they touched their horns together and began to fulfil this warrior’s last will.

They projected their magic upon the circle, which began to glow in return. The runes written into it projected themselves onto the very air above them and began to rotate around the center of the circle.

A bright flash suddenly erupted from the middle, leaving both Alicorns temporarily blinded. When their eyesight returned, they found that… nothing had happened. At least nothing they could immediately perceive. The circle was gone, but the corpse was still there. Did that mean that the spell had worked? Or did that mean that it had worked only partially? There was only one way to find out!

Luna loaded a shock spell and, with her agreement, shot it right at Celestia’s sun - and not the one in the sky, I might add. She yelped in pain, as the spell hit her flank and left a small black spot on her sun cutie mark.

“Ouch.” She whined. “Well, I guess that means that the spell has failed.”

“But how? We did everything like it was described!” Luna wondered aloud.

“I know it might hurt, Luna, but the spell Markus has found could simply be ineffective in itself. Maybe it didn’t even exist in the first place? It would certainly explain, why I hadn’t ever cast it before, seeing as its apparent effects were quite promising.” Celestia stated, however, Luna didn’t like what she was implying at all.

“WHAT?! Sister, art thou implying that Markus might have faked this spell?” She seethed.

“No, Luna. All I said was that the spell might have been faked by anypony, not just Markus.”

“But you wouldn’t exclude him from this possibility either.” Luna noted. “What is it that thou have against him, sister? At first, we could understand thee, as he was definitely a threat, given that he didn’t come from this world, but now? He saved Equestria TWICE, maybe even more and you still don’t see him as trustworthy?!”

“You have to understand that I have to care not just about me, but about all of Equestria, Luna! I can’t just go about and trust anypony that suddenly falls through a portal or through whatever means he arrived.” Celestia argued against her sister.

The two sisters were so ensnared in their argument that none of them noticed the corpse suddenly open its eyes again. They also didn’t notice, how the corpse got up and walked to the window. They didn’t notice the wings that were suddenly growing on its back and they didn’t notice the subsequent transformation. Only when a bright light suddenly filled the room did they notice that something was happening. They looked to the source of the light, but what they saw made them both go rigid and caused their heartrates to skyrocket.

There, before Celestia’s mirror stood an alicorn stallion. This in itself was unnerving enough and the appearance of said stallion wasn’t helping the impression. He seemed burnt from head to tail, his skin beginning to peel off in some places, while already missing in others. His lower jaw hung completely bare, as well as his ribcage and lower legs. His eyes were pitch-black, as was his horn and wings, the latter of which covered the entire length of the stallion thrice. The cutie mark of this stallion appeared to be a T-scale with the Deathpony in the right bowl and an Angel in the left and the fur below indicated that his coat colour was red.

Their staring didn’t go unnoticed much longer, as the stallion suddenly turned his head towards the two sisters. Both, in turn, cowered back as they were met with his gaze.

They quickly put more distance between them and this unknown stallion and he moved to follow. First his right foreleg, then his left and then…. He suddenly fell to the floor. Both royal sisters now looked at each other slightly confused. Did he not know how to properly walk on four legs? It was then, that Luna had a hunch and looked over to where the corpse lay before.

She almost cheered in delight as she saw that indeed, the corpse was gone. She couldn’t be sure yet, though, so she turned back to the stallion and tentatively asked: “Markus?”

The stallion opened his jaw to answer, but no sound came. This was hardly a surprise, given that his lungs and probably even his vocal cords were missing. Seeing as a verbal answer was thus out of the question, the stallion then went for a non-verbal answer.

He nodded.

A moment of silence reigned over the three alicorns, as Celestia and Luna were processing his answer. When they were done, however, Markus suddenly found himself with a new problem, as Luna suddenly came in for a strong hug that felt like it would crush what was left of his body.

“You’re alive!” She cheered, tears of joy falling from her eyes, as she tightened her hug. Even Celestia couldn`t help but release a few drops of her own, though her joy was not as strong as Luna’s, by far.

“We thought you were gone forever!” Luna said, as she broke into sobs and tightened her grip even further. Markus felt how his neck was slowly giving in to the strain, so he tried to tell her to stop, but his voice was still unavailable. He needed to stop her somehow, lest his neck breaks in two and he’d have to go through this whole ordeal again.

He tried tapping her with his hoof, but this action only held the result of her further snuggling into the hug. Luckily, Markus then had an idea: He used his ability to create force fields and spawned one directly above him. A big, black rectangle appeared and he used it to transmit vibrations into the air.

“Luna, please stop, you’re crushing my neck.” Sounded a very high-pitched voice from the makeshift-speaker. It didn’t sound like Markus at all. Rather, one could think it was Pinkie speaking through a voice emulator. It sounded synthetic and Luna had to take a moment to realize, that it was indeed Markus, who spoke to her.

“Markus? What has happened to your voice?” Luna asked, while Celstia barely managed not to laugh at the absolutely ridiculous voice that Markus now spoke with.

“I have to agree that it sounds ridiculous, even to myself, but sadly I have to use this voice, as my vocal cords are currently… unavailable.” Markus explained, to which Luna gave a short glance down at his throat, only to flinch back, when she remembered the state Markus was in.

“Y-Yeah, I know. Sadly, there is no healing spell that directly affects the vocal cords and generic healing magic always works itself from the outside to the inside, so all I can do is offer you a ‘therapy’.” Luna offered somewhat saddened by the fact that she couldn’t do more for him.

“That would indeed be very nice of you, Luna. I gladly take your offer.” Markus said, causing Luna to cheer up a little bit. “Now, I just need to learn, how to use these.” He then said, while tentatively flexing his new wings.

“Oh, I can teach you! I can do that directly after the therapy! And if you want, I can even teach you how to properly walk on four legs!” Luna eagerly offered.

“That would indeed be nice of you, although I don’t think that I’ll need the lessons on four-legged movement.” Markus told her.

Luna wanted to point out that he had just graciously failed at moving on all fours, but at that moment, Markus suddenly seemed to shape-shift. His features contorted and his whole body began to shift, contract and bend back into the shape of a male human.

“Thankfully, the pain brought by this transformation now doesn’t come unexpected anymore. Still, I would like to keep my transformations to a minimum and I have to say that I am simply more used to this form than to my new alicorn-form.”

Luna and Celestia both wanted to protest, tell him that an alicorn would be easier to hide in a world full of ponies, but they both realized that it would be a fruitless endeavour, as Markus seemed stubborn in his decision. Thus, Luna simply sighed, before she put on a smile and began with the first ‘therapy-session’.

“Thanks. Now that at least my not-yet-re-inserted internals are covered, I will retreat myself. Before you protest, however: do not worry, I am not going to leave this room. I have become death after all and as such, I have a new realm to inspect.” Markus said and before either Luna or Celestia could ask, what the Faust he was talking about, Markus opened a black, swirling rift out of thin air and went through it.

---

A dark expanse. That was all one came to see, if one was to set foot into the realm of death as a mortal. A few specks of light could be seen throughout the void, dancing in weird patterns that would make any mortal wonder, if those were indeed just specks of light or if they were something more. And indeed, it weren’t just mere lights, but the souls of those who have passed on and have now taken the next step in their existence. All of them were now overlooking their own little worlds, having created their own paradise for themselves with only their own wishes and dreams and no other could see them beside they themselves… and one other.

A vortex of white light suddenly emerged in the void and from it stepped a red alicorn stallion. He was the ruler of this realm, the newly born prince. It was his task to oversee this plane and watch over it. Also, he was the only being that could see the worlds which the dead had created for themselves.

All but one, that is.

“Markus?” A voice suddenly asked. One, that Markus immediately recognized.

“M-Mom?” Markus replied in wide-eyed wonder.

“Yes, my dear, it’s me. It has been a long time since we last had a word.”

Markus stood still and didn’t say a word, as he was too shocked from this newest revelation.

“What? Eight years and you can’t even properly greet your own mother? Oh come on, I thought I had raised you better!” She said after a moment with mock disappointment.

Markus meanwhile couldn’t hold it any longer. His eyes began to tear up, until the salty liquid wetted both of his cheeks. He went down to his knees, clutching the spectral form of his mother in his hands and crying out his very soul.

“I have missed you so much, mother!”

His mother, in turn, said nothing, as she held her son in her arms and comforted him like any mother would do. It took a while, but eventually, Markus could restrain his own emotions again. He stood up and looked at her, now with a slight bit of wonder.

“But how are you here? You should be in the death realm of our old universe and not of this one!” He asked.

“Oh please, do you really think that such a little bit of dimensional travel would stop a mother from seeing her son? I thought you knew better, Markus!” His mother replied. „Besides, I was worried about you! You still have this trait about you that you always have to protect others, even risking your live for them without being asked.”

“You know that I have made an oath to protect.” Markus pointed out.

“I know, but that doesn’t mean that you have to actively seek death every time it comes to you! You have died two times already, for Christ’s sake!” His mother retorted.

“And if you’ve been watching, you should know that it was my pre-written fate to die twice and that now, I have basically become death incarnate by doing so.”

“Yes I know, but still… sometimes you’re just overdoing it. Don’t get me wrong, defending others definitely is a noble cause… but you have to also let them defend themselves at least a bit. If not for your own sake, then at least so that they don’t grow too dependent of you.” She pleaded to Markus, hoping that her son would finally see reason, after having died two times now.

“You do realise that, even if I were to let them fend for themselves, they probably wouldn’t achieve much without the proper training?” Markus pointed out, earning him a disapproving glare from his mother. After a short while of staring, he finally relented with a sigh. “Though, I have to admit that I wanted to use the current situation to do some covert-ops and I can’t do that while I’m also openly protecting everyone else. Still, they need to grow stronger or else, things might look pretty grim for them…”

Markus brought his hand up to his chin in his standard thinking pose. He then stood there, thinking for a moment, before his mouth formed up into a smirk.

“In fact, I think I know how to do that already…”

Author's Notes:

Wooooo, new Chapter! Yay!

And before you point out that Markus enters the death realm as an alicorn, but suddenly is a human or that their conversation is in english: The realm of death (the way I imagine it to be) is a completely abstract place, at least to us, as it doesn't contain matter and everything one can perceive in there is formed by one's own imagination and interpretation. Also, communication isn't done per voice, but per thought and is only then transformed into their respective native language by the recipients. In the case of the generic reader on this site, this would be english.

Now, some more important stuff: going by my current schedule, I think I can manage to write one chapter per week, but I can't guarantee that this will always be the case. I will, of course, always try my best, but there might come the day, when that simply won't be enough and I won't be able to deliver. In fact, I currently know about two weeks, where I definitely can't deliver in time and I will of course alert you, if thats the case.

Until then though, I will continue Markus's story. After all, there's still a full year's worth of work ahead of me ^^

CH49: True Neutral

“Ok, now swing those big black appendages of yours! Oh yes, that’s it, now push deeper! Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about! Come on, we’re almost there!”

Just as she had promised, Luna took it upon herself to teach Markus how to fly with his wings and so, after her therapy had healed them, they began their first lessons. It was a difficult start for both of them, given that Markus’s wings were excessively large, yet seemed to have mostly the same characteristics as Luna’s wings, making him slower in return, when flying.

Setting that aside, Markus was a fast learner and so, it wasn’t long before they went on actual flight tours through the Canterlot Mountains and the surrounding area, of course always careful not to be spotted by anypony else.

“I am glad that you show so much enthusiasm, Luna, but I would be grateful if you’d watch your phrasing a little.” Said Markus, as he set down beside Luna, his voice since having returned to normal through the therapy. “I mean, I am glad that your illusion spell works this well, but having me be your personal accountant definitely sparked some envy especially among the lunar guard and I’d like this envy not to be spiced with some cheers gone wrong, heard by the wrong pony.”

Luna smirked at that. “Oh, don’t you tell me that you of all ponies are afraid of a little gossip? Really, you wouldn’t believe what sister and I had done even before the… incident.”

Markus paused for a moment, tensing up at the implications, before looking over to Luna with his eyes and giving her a very disturbed look. “No and I don’t think I want to know…”

Luna chuckled, before looking ahead again. They were at the bottom of a steep cliff that was surrounded by lands, long left uninhabited. The few trees that grew there had died long since and whatever animals had lived there had fled eons ago. This was Tartarus, the place, where the most evil of villains were brought, to be imprisoned for eternity.

“Anyways, we have arrived. Now, do tell: why did you want me to show you Tartarus?” Luna asked, looking back at Markus, who was studying the gate in front of him.

“Because, as much as I would like to avoid this place, the fact remains that I am the alicorn of death and as such, most of the villains that are powerful enough to be a threat to my realm are either already here or will end up here.” Markus answered her, keeping his gaze fixated on the gates. “And you are certain that nothing in there will ever come out?”

“Why, of course! Sister and I have proofed this gate against everything we know and we are still renewing the spell every year at the summer sun celebration!” Luna proclaimed. “After all, the safety of our ponies is what we, Celestia in particular, hold most dear!”

“Ah, in that case excuse me for worrying too much. Of course, I never intended to insult your skills.” Markus apologized with a bow. “In any case, thank you for bringing me here. Nothing is better than a wonderful day with a wonderful mare.”

“Oh cut the flirting, Markus. You already have two ‘wonderful mares’ to worry about, I doubt you could handle a third.” Luna chided playfully, before launching back into the air with Markus following close behind.

---

A droplet. And another. And another yet. Droplets of water falling in regular intervals, surrounded by the otherwise complete darkness that was Tartarus. That was what Tirek had to face day in and day out. Sometimes, he wondered how and why he had ended up in here. Sometimes, he wished that things had played out better, but in the end, the truth stayed the same: he was here, counting water droplets.

A few meters in front of his cage sat one of the many reasons he had yet to flee: Cerberus. The guardian dog of this damned prison was the sole thing that seemed unaffected by his magic drain and thus was the ultimate hurdle to overcome, if he ever wanted to get free. The question was: how could he get rid of him?

If one would have told Tirek at the start of the day that this question would soon answer itself, he would have just thought it to be a cruel joke, meant to give him futile hope of salvation. Thus, when the gates opened, he definitely wasn’t expecting Cerberus to growl and bark, only to then suddenly flee while whimpering pathetically.

He heard something that sounded like a sword being thrown to the side, then hoof steps, which were coming closer. Lights flickered to life around him, as whoever just defeated the guardian was approaching him. He had to hold his hand out in front of him, as his eyes weren’t used to be exposed to light anymore.

While he was trying to regain his sight, the steps were continuously growing louder, until they were right in front of him. Tentatively, he opened an eye, not only to test out the light, but to also get a glimpse of what had come for him. He opened both eyes wide, when he saw that he was looking at a male alicorn. His coat was blood-red and his wings, horn, mane, tail and eyes were completely black.

He scowled at the sight of his visitor, thinking that he certainly was here per Celestia’s wish. He grabbed the bars of his cage and leaned against it, showing his teeth to the unbidden encounter. However, just as he pushed his weight into the bars, he heard a metallic ‘creak’ and the cage door he was leaning against opened without a problem. This caused Tirek to stumble and fall directly in front of his unlikely saviour.

“Lord Tirek, I presume?” The alicorn asked, as he looked down upon the badly malnourished Centaur.

“Yes, that would be me. May I ask whom I may thank for my freedom?” Tirek asked back.

“My name… is irrelevant. We shall not meet again anyways.”

“I take it then that my servitude is not what you seek?” Tirek asked in slight wonder.

“No. It is merely your hate for Celestia and your thirst for revenge that I need. Consider this a chance to fulfil your desire. You may take the magic of the other prisoners if you want. I don’t particularly care about any of them.” The alicorn answered, before turning around and walking towards the exit.

“Then, I thank you for the chance. I assure you, I will not let it go to waste.” Tirek thanked with another bow.

“Oh, I am sure you won’t.” The alicorn commented, but then suddenly stopped and spoke over his shoulder. “One last thing before I go: Celestia has gotten quite powerful over the past few years, especially now that her sister has returned from her banishment. However, she has a weak point: Her protégé lives in the town of ponyville in the local library. She is quite powerful herself, but also very inexperienced and should thus be a very good source of power for you.”

“I will keep it in mind, my lord.” Tirek confirmed.

Thus, with everything said, the alicorn turned for the exit one last time and vanished beyond the gates into the blinding light of an equestrian summer day.

---

“So… I’ve really done it, haven’t I?” Markus thought, as he was walking through the Everfree Forest.

After he had freed Tirek, he had to think. He needed to contemplate, what to do next and what better time to do so than during a calm hunting trip in the Everfree?

“Well, it’s not like they are completely defenceless, they’ve got the Elements after all. And even if everything goes to shit, I can still intervene, if necessary.” He told himself, as he was aiming an arrow at a rabbit that he had just spotted. He let go and the arrow hit the rabbit dead-center, killing it instantly.

Satisfied with his performance, Markus walked over to the rabbit and pulled out the arrow. He was just about to gut and skin his prey, when he heard a few familiar voices come closer.

“Oh crap.” He thought, “I can’t let them find me here! I have to hide!”

He quickly jumped into the bushes and watched, as the four mares passed him. Or rather, as three of them passed by, while one suddenly stopped. It was a blue Pegasus with a rainbow-coloured mane, whom he knew only too well… and she was looking directly at him.

“Oh shit, did she see me? Oh no, no, that can’t be, calm down, Markus, calm dooowww-“

After a few unintelligible words were spoken, Rainbow suddenly moved into the clearing, where Markus had just been standing. Tentatively, she made her way towards not the bush, where Markus sat… but the rabbit that lay in front of him.

“Wait… what is she doing?” He asked himself, as Rainbow was inching closer, sniffing and prodding at the dead animal.

“Yes, Rainbow, that’s a dead rabbit. Now ksshh, get on with your life, do stuff, please leave!” He told her in his mind.

Rainbow held up her head and looked around, as if she was checking if anyone was looking. Then, she opened her muzzle and tentatively closed in on the carcass.

“Wait, is she…?”

She bit down close to where the arrow had been sticking just a few moments before and yanked a small piece of fur and meat from it. She almost immediately spat it out again, trying to get the hairs off her tongue, but there also seemed to be something else. In fact, it looked like she liked the taste of the meat, as she went back to the rabbit and ripped another chunk of meat from it, this time even chewing and swallowing it.

This repeated a few times, Markus still sitting in his hideout and watching his prey slowly be devoured by his marefriend. It certainly would have gone on until the rabbit was a mere heap of bones, if it wasn’t for Rainbow being interrupted by a loud:

“WHOA NELLY!”

Applejack was suddenly standing behind Rainbow, who by now was covered in blood from her muzzle down to her front hooves. Applejack definitely didn’t like the sight at all and Rarity and Twilight seemed to agree, when they finally arrived as well.

What followed was a scolding by Applejack, after which Rainbow sped off and the other mares also took their leave. During this whole ordeal, Markus didn’t move a muscle. Being found out by one of them can be dealt with, but four? That would be a problem even he couldn’t fix.

“Well, at least now they’re gone and there might just be enough left of that rabbit to at least have a little snack.”

Just as Markus thought that, the rabbit was suddenly engulfed in a purple aura, before it vanished with a ‘poof’.

“Well, fuck you too, Twilight!”

Author's Notes:

I feel like these chapters are growing shorter... ah well, next one will definitely be a longer one again! Most likely... maybe... ok, I can't guarantee, but we'll see.

CH50: A Plan Set Into Motion

Markus sat in his suite in the Canterlot Castle, letting his few precious moments of silence take him. Ever since he was brought back to life, he had spent most of his time either learning the basics of flight or overseeing the progress of his plan, not to mention the work he did to keep up the disguise, Luna had given him. Thus, moments like these, when he could just relax without being both-

“MARKUS!!! WE HAVE A PROBLEM!!!” Luna suddenly barged in, screaming in panic.

“What? What happened?” Markus asked, slightly annoyed that his precious freetime was likely about to be stolen.

“Lord Tirek broke free from Tartarus!”

Markus put on a shocked expression, though, internally, he smirked, as his plan seemed to slowly take shape. “What? Really? In that case, we need to immediately notify Celestia!” Markus said, transforming into his Alicorn form and walking towards the door. “Come on, we don’t have time to lose!”

They made haste to arrive at the throne room, in which Celestia sat already with a very troubled expression.

“Here we are. So, what do you plan to do?” Markus asked Celestia, as he stepped towards the throne.

“Frankly, I don’t know yet, myself. My first impulse was to send the elements, but I am sure that you will find something to argue about with that plan yet again, won’t you?” Celestia asked rhetorically, which didn’t stop Markus from answering, though.

“Indeed I will. For one, the elements of harmony are magical items and Tirek’s ability is to absorb magic. Secondly, it is unlikely that they have fully recovered yet and will thus likely be less effective when it comes down to it.”

“Yes, I know, but sadly, we don’t have another choice in the matter.” Celestia stated forlornly.

“Actually, yes, we do.” Markus countered, causing Celestia to quickly perk up.

“We do? What do you have in mind?” She asked, although slightly hesitant.

“Well, there is one other being, beside the elements, that holds as much, if not more power than you do and whose magic can likely not be absorbed by Tirek.” He answered cryptically.

“What? You’re not speaking about yourself, are you?” Celestia asked disapprovingly.

“No. You know exactly who I am talking about, Celestia.” Was Markus’s answer.

Celestia sighed, before looking up at the former soldier again. “So… how do you plan on making him do that? Or how do you even want to make him come and listen in the first place?”

“Oh, that’s simple: he may not like you all that much, a feeling which seems to be mutual.” Markus stated, causing Celestia to snort in bemusement. “, but he seems very interested in Fluttershy, to the point that he always keeps an eye on her, no matter where he is. Thus, you can just invite the Element bearers and Discord will certainly tag along. As for actually convincing him… Well, I’m sure that Fluttershy will find a way to convince him.”

Celestia took a moment to think for herself, though just as much to ponder over the idea, as to process the implications towards the relationship between Discord and Fluttershy. In the end, she gave a resigned sigh, before closing her eyes and nodding.

“I must admit, your plan seems promising enough. Very well, I will send the summons immediately. There is no time to be wasted.”

Just as she had said, Celestia immediately materialized parchment in front of her and scribbled down summons for the elements, which were immediately sent out.

Just as expected, Twilight and her friends arrived only a few hours afterwards and with them, Discord also came along. In disguise, of course, though Celestia almost immediately called him out. What followed was some major drama on Discord’s side, but eventually, he was brought around and agreed to help out.

With that settled, the element bearers left the throne room again. During this whole time, Markus was sitting in a hideout behind the throne and listening to the conversation taking place. When all was said and done, he came out of his hiding place, where he was immediately intercepted by Celestia.

“So, what do you plan on doing during this whole mess? I take it you will help us in our efforts?”

“Unfortunately no, I can and will not help you.” Markus answered. Both Luna and Celestia looked a bit taken aback at this.

“What? But why won’t you help us? Isn’t that what you have always talked about? That it is your duty as a soldier to protect others?” Luna asked with a hint of suppressed disappointment.

“Indeed I did. However, the escape and subsequent re-imprisonment of Lord Tirek is a major event in Twilight’s life. One I am not allowed to interfere in. But rest assured that I will keep an eye on everything.” Markus assured.

“Your knowledge from another world again, I take it?” Celestia pointed out.

“Partially, yes, although not only that. You see: by becoming the alicorn of life and death, I have, in a way, also become the alicorn of another factor in everypony’s life.” Markus answered cryptically yet again, as he began to make his way to the door again.

“Which would be?” Celestia wanted to know before Markus left. He, in turn, stopped and gave a single, short reply.

“Fate.”

---

Two days. It had taken two whole days for everything to properly come into motion. However, in the end, everything went to plan. Tirek sucked in everypony’s magic and even got the princesses’ magic in the end. Markus was almost about to step in at that point, but then Twilight and her friends went back to the Tree of Harmony and that was when Markus remembered, how Tirek was actually defeated.

From a cliff, he observed, how the Element Bearers each brought an item along with them, though he was quick to realize that it were the gifts he had given them. Not only that, but to his great surprise, the Tree actually accepted them and gave them their powers. At that moment, Markus felt a tug in the back of his mind, as if something was suddenly connected to him. It was at that moment that he realized that his presence in this world has likely already altered it to the point, where relying on the old show’s timeline may have worked this time, but certainly won’t be a reliable method anymore.

Still, everything else went entirely to plan and, just as planned, Twilight has her Castle standing proudly on the edge of Ponyville. Though, there was also something else discovered that Markus didn’t know about just yet…

He was yet again sitting in his room, this time experimenting with his new abilities, when Luna barged in yet again.

“Markus, we bring absolutely TERRIFIC news!” She cheered, holding what looked like a letter from Twilight.

“A friendship report? Oh, but I know about her Castle already, Luna. After all, I’ve seen it grow out of the ground.” Markus explained.

“Yes, I do know that, but there is something else written in here that may interest you very much. How about you just read this passage here?” Luna held the letter out to him and Markus started to read.

“Seems like a normal friendship report to me, I don’t… know…” His eyes went wide for a moment, but he quickly gathered himself again. He grabbed the letter in both hands and read the same passage over and over again.

Luna was a bit worried about his reaction, or rather the lack of one. She was looking at Markus with definite worry written on her face. “Markus, what is it? Aren’t you happy about their pregnancy?”

Markus looked over at Luna for a moment, before forcing a cheerful smile. “Oh, yes, of course I am. I am just a bit overwhelmed, that’s all.” He chuckled.

Luna seemed satisfied with that answer, though. “Oh, of course. In that case, I shall leave you alone for a moment, to collect your thoughts.”

As soon as Luna shut the door, Markus finally let his façade drop. He dropped to his knees, having to support himself with his arms in front of him to not topple over.

Twilight’s letter said that he was definitely the father. Though, he had only done it with them once, back before the war. That meant that they had to have been pregnant since then, which in turn also meant…

“I have not only endangered their lives, but also the lives of our unborn foals…”

It has always been one of his principles that children, no matter which kind, had to be protected by any means. Yet, here he was, endangering his very own children in an attempt to make Twilight and Rainbow stronger.

His principles had been hurt, worst of all by himself, causing him to plummet into only the second mental breakdown he had experienced in his entire life. However, what he didn’t notice was that his breakdown caused his inherent magical abilities to finally awaken.

He didn’t notice how his powers became stronger. He didn’t notice the magical surge running through his whole being… and he didn’t notice how his skin, flesh and bones slowly crumbled to dust…

---

Luna came back an hour later, with two cups of coffee floating in her magic. She figured that the way she knew him, Markus would need somepony to talk to after such a grand revelation. For a change, she made her presence known, by knocking on the door first.

“Markus? It’s me, Luna. I’ve brought some coffee for you.”

No response. This wasn’t unusual for him, as he tended to be lost in thought quite a lot. One of the reasons why she normally just barged in without knocking.

This time, though, she was more careful, given the situation. Instead, she scanned the room with her magic, to see what Markus was currently doing… only to find that there were no living beings inside the room.

A pang of worry hit her, so she tentatively pushed the door open and peeked inside. “MarkuuuuuuUUUS?!”

She dropped both cups and reeled back in surprise, as she found that there was a large, black orb of liquefied magic floating close to the ground, surrounded by what seemed to be… ash?

“Luna? Oh, well, uhm…”

The orb flew upwards, now floating slightly higher than Luna’s eye level.

“I, uhm… it is very embarrassing to have you find me kneeling on the ground, you know?” the orb spoke with Markus’s voice, though Luna couldn’t be sure…

“M- Markus? Is that you?” She asked tentatively.

“What? Don’t tell me after just leaving the room you spontaneously don’t recognize me anymore?”

“A-Actually… no, I don’t… Here, take a look at yourself…” As she said that, Luna took the full-size mirror from the corner of the room and floated it beside Markus with her magic. She didn’t know if he was actually looking inside of it, but his reactions at least made it seem like it.

“Hmmm… interesting.” He commented, before the orb suddenly formed itself into a string of black mist, which swirled around for a bit, before it assembled itself into Markus’s human body. He looked himself over from top to bottom, before giving a satisfied smirk and turning to face Luna.

“Luna, I think my life just got quite a lot easier.”

Author's Notes:

AAAAAND another chapter done. So, here some basic things before you rant on in the comments: Yes, I know it is quite blockheaded of Markus to not notice that this Equestria isn't the one that he knew, after a literal WAR has taken place. To explain this: He was kinda going insane for a moment there after his true calling was activated without his magic being ready for it. Think of it as a large-scale magic overload.

CH51: Political Problems

Bickering. Insults. Complete and utter disharmony and eventually, even two wars. To Celestia, the Gryphons had always been a vile race. They knew not much about how harmony worked and they didn’t care about it either. All they ever cared about was their own pride and their own ‘honour’. Thus, when they finally came to bond together and form a nation, it wasn’t much to Celestia’s surprise that it had become another monarchy, much like Equestria at the time. However, the differences between the two countries were easily recognizable.

The Gryphon Kingdom was founded on the very principle of ‘survival of the fittest’. It’s whole society was based on the constant rivalry between its citizens, forcing them to come up with different ways to be better than the others. Much in contrast to Equestria, where everypony worked in harmony together and worked towards a common goal.

With their different approaches, Celestia knew it wouldn’t be long until war would break out. At the time, Equestria wasn’t as peaceful as it was now though. In part due to her ‘one-decade-argument’ with her sister, most of the country was still at arms, when the Kingdom finally made its move.

What followed were two centuries of utter chaos, which Discord would have truly enjoyed, had he not been encased in stone at the time. Whole Generations were born and died again, which knew only one thing: war. It was sad to Celestia, at least looking back now. At the time, though, she herself was too upset about everything that went wrong between her and her sister to even notice the folly she was getting into.

Then, finally, something that Celestia had never even considered possible happened. The newly crowned Gryphon King, Steelclaw the third, sent a messenger and… asked for peace. At first, she was of course expecting a trap, but as it showed, it actually was none. The Gryphons really wanted peace and, after she had finally gotten ahold of herself again, she met up with the young king and together, they formed a peace treaty.

And yet, not even a millennium later, the Gryphon Kingdom declared war upon Equestria yet again and this time, Celestia would not accept them to just make peace again, not after breaking the very treaty she and King Steelclaw had signed together.

Thus, when the peace talks came down, there was one certainty. The Gryphons could never be allowed to become powerful again. Sadly, not all of her little ponies saw it the same. Especially her newly returned sister seemed opposed to the idea, but what would she know? She wasn’t there, when all this started, after all.

Those were Celestia’s thoughts when she closed the doors of the Throne room behind her that day. She had promised them to think about it again, yes, but in truth, she knew that she didn’t need to. All that needed to be done now was for her to retreat herself to her royal chambers and lower the sun.

“Those peace talks were over awfully quick, weren’t they?” Markus suddenly intercepted Celestia in a hallway, the newly revived human having been waiting for her to pass by.

“Yes, they certainly were. Although, frankly, I don’t see why not. After all, I’m certain you know as much as me that we cannot allow them to harm our little ponies.” Celestia answered him.

“I’m… not sure I follow, Celestia.” Markus stated with a slightly uneasy smile.

“I plan on annexing the Gryphon Kingdom.” She told him.

Immediately, his demeanor shifted, as he took on his signature thinking pose. “I hate to tell you this, but I doubt that this is a good Idea.”

“What? I thought that at least you, as a soldier, would say that I’m right.”

“True, as a soldier, this would seem like a valid way to assure that something like this never happens again.” Markus started. “However, as a Strategist, I’ll have to tell you that it’s likely only going to cause more strife.”

“And why would that be?” Celestia demanded, growing slightly angry now.

“Firstly, annexing them would definitely cause them to revolt, which would likely result in a civil war. However, we also have to look at the other nations. Saddle Arabia, Yakyakistan, the Dragon Lands… What you don’t seem to realize is that they all have watched this conflict very closely. What concerns me is that they all know you as the benefactor of all living beings and thus, they would likely be very disturbed if you were to actually annex them now. Even worse, from what I know about them, they might just try to aid the Gryphons in their attempts at freedom, which would definitely result in another war.”

“So what would you have me do instead?! Set them free and allow them to draw their plans on how to murder even more of my ponies?!” Celestia snapped, though Markus remained completely unfazed by this.

“No. As much as I find it unwise to actually annex them, I have to agree that setting them free would be as well. However, there is a third option. Let them form a new nation. One, which is a subject to yours. Allow them to largely govern themselves, while under the supervision of an equestrian governor. In short: make them a Dominion.”

---

Celestia sighed as she thought back to that discussion. After she had officially made it a Dominion of Equestria, she sent Sweet Talk, one of Equestria’s best diplomats to act as the Governor. The stallion had long since held Celestia’s trust and was actually one of very few, who refused her advances.

While there seemed to be some slight difficulties at first, Sweet Talk soon reported that relations with the newly founded Gryphon Republic were slowly evening out and that their efforts to bring harmony to them were showing first results.

That is, however, until that very morning, when a letter arrived. A letter addressed to princess Celestia, notifying her of Sweet Talk’s death. Apparently, he had been brutally murdered in his apartment by a few enraged Imperialists.

“There you have it, those Gryphons can’t be trusted! We need to crush them as soon as possible!” the voice within Celestia’s head called out to her again, after having left her alone for almost eight hundred years.

“What?! I don’t know how you broke free again, but I can’t just wipe out a whole species!” Celestia defended.

“Oh, is it really that you can’t… or that you don’t dare to?” The voice taunted.

“You know as much as me that you can’t lure me with dares.”

“That may be, but it wasn’t my intent to lure you, dear Celestia. I wanted to warn you… Those Gryphons can’t be trusted and you know that!”

“And you know that I won’t send my Ponies into a war yet again! They have suffered enough!”

“Tia? Whom art thou arguing with?” Princess Luna suddenly asked as she entered the room.

“Luna, I… Oh, it was nothing, I was just… talking to myself, that’s all. Anyways, have you brought Markus?” Celestia changed subjects, which earned her a slightly annoyed look from Luna, who then decided to just go with it.

“Yes, actually, we have brought him with us right away.” She answered, gesturing to a light grey unicorn stallion with a brown mane, who was coming in behind her.

Celestia blinked a few times, as she recognized the Cutie Mark on the stallion’s flank as the one Luna had talked about, having used a variation of Markus’s in her illusion, where the Angel and the Deathpony were just exchanged with piles of bits.

“I must say, Luna, your magic seems to have gotten quite powerful, if your illusion spell is strong enough to even fool me.” Celestia complimented her sister.

“As much as we’d like to keep the compliment, sister, it is not the work of our illusion spell that you can only see Markus’s disguise.” The lunar princess responded.

“Indeed. It seems that after you’ve revived me, I didn’t have access to all of my new magic from the get-go and that my powers apparently had to awaken first. Long story short, I can now freely and painlessly shapeshift.” Markus responded.

Celestia was definitely surprised to hear of his new abilities, but she didn’t show it. However, she almost immediately came up with a way how they could be taken to good use.

“That is most impressive, indeed. More so, it even aligns perfectly with the reason I have called you here.”

“Ah, yes. I’ve heard you need my advice once again?” Markus asked.

“Originally, that was my intent, yes. However, with your new powers, I think I know of an even better way to utilize you.” Celestia said.

“Euh, I can’t say, I know what you mean…” Markus pointed out, slightly anxious over what might come next.

“I mean that I will make you the new governor of the Gryphon Republic.” Celestia revealed.

Markus and Luna both remained silent for a moment, before the former let out a very uneasy squeak.

“Oh dear…”

Author's Notes:

Yep, a short one once again. However, this time there is a reason: Originally there was something planned to come after Markus's new assignment, however I decided to move it into the next chapter.

CH52: Of Ships, Pilots and Ambassadors

The Canterlot Central Hospital was as busy as ever. Doctors and Nurses rushed through the hallways on their way to their respective patients, carrying bottles, bandages, blood bags and whatever other medical instruments may start with a ‘B’.

From the front desk, however, you would rarely see any of that. The reception was usually a quiet workplace. The occasional patient or visitor would come in, get their directions and be sent off within just a few seconds, allowing whoever held that post to have quite the relaxing work day… or boring, depending on whom you ask.

Being Canterlot’s biggest hospital, the employees of course weren’t unfamiliar with nobles, guardsponies or even the princesses either. In fact, just about a year ago, they had the honourful duty of caring for Princess Luna, who was badly wounded in an attempted abduction.

As such, the receptionist that day wasn’t really surprised at first, when she saw a dark-grey unicorn mare in the standard guard dress uniform walk towards her. However, as she came closer, she came to notice that there were a few things odd with that uniform.

Firstly, there were her rank markings, or whatever these three silver diamonds on grey rectangles were meant to be. It certainly wasn’t a rank anypony in the room was familiar with.

Secondly, there was something that immediately made the receptionist’s eyes almost pop out of their sockets, when she saw it. This mare held three of the highest medals in all of Equestria.

The medal of loyal service, given for… well, loyal service,

The guardian’s cross, given for successfully defending a number of equestrian citizens while badly outnumbered,

But those two, while very high in terms of medals, were nothing against the third in the bunch. The Celestial Medal for Heroic Actions, given only to those who played a major role in ensuring the continued existence of Equestria as a whole. This medal was so rarely given that, apart from the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, there was only one unit of guards that received this medal within the last six centuries.

And then, there was the mare herself. She was a bit more muscular in places where guards normally weren’t. As the guard is usually (as the name implies) guarding the palace, the ponies that serve in it mostly had slightly swollen hooves. That was because standing around all-day caused their ankles to be constantly under strain, though not enough to actually build up muscle.

This mare, however, was visibly trained. Her legs were muscular, yet sleek and her flanks and shoulders looked firm. Her whole figure was that of an athlete, though somehow without losing her femininity. With a body like this, it certainly was no wonder that most of the stallions and even a few mares that were present had their gazes centered on her. Even the receptionist was ogling her, probably a bit more than socially acceptable and for a moment, she even thought that filly-fooling might not be all that bad.

“Excuse me?”

The receptionist was suddenly ripped out of her thoughts by the exact mare she had been staring at this whole time.

“Uh-Uh, yes? What can I help you with?” She quickly gathered herself and tried to be professional about it, in which she just barely succeded.

“I… uh, I am searching for a comrade of mine, who should be a patient here. His name is Bulkhead, 2^nd Lieutenant in the Royal Guard.” The mare answered.

Deciding to better do her job, lest she risk losing it, the receptionist quickly pushed the thoughts from earlier aside and went to look through the list of patients currently in the hospital.

“Uh, I am sorry to say this, but there is no 2^nd Lieutenant Bulkhead… at least not on this list.”

“What?!”

“…There is a pensioned Captain Bulkhead, however.”

The mare blinked, before apparently suddenly remembering something and giving a sheepish smile.

“Eheh, yeah, that’s him. I forgot he got a double-promotion after… you know… all that stuff that went down.”

The receptionist winced at the memory. It had been only one and a half months since the war had ended, so the images were still pretty fresh in her mind. And even if she hadn’t been in Canterlot at the time, the weeks afterwards were a real nightmare for any shift-worker, as there was such a giant overload in patients that nopony made a day without taking a double-shift. Still, they were getting paid accordingly and even if that didn’t mean much, due to the wage being pretty low to begin with, it was work that had to be done and they could proudly claim themselves to be those few who were willing to put up with it.

“Ah, yes… That… Hard to miss when you’re a Canterlot citizen, really. Anyways, if this Captain Bulkhead really is who you are searching for, then you’ve got to go into the west wing, third floor and search for room number 3-803.” The receptionist read off the list.

“Room 3-803, got it, thanks.” The mare replied, turning away and heading for the corridor to the side, unintentionally giving the receptionist a good view on her hindquarters as she marched through.

After a look that, yet again, was probably longer than socially acceptable, the receptionist turned around in her seat again, her cheeks now a good bit rosier than before.

---

Bulkhead lay in his hospital bed, nearly bored to death. True, he had only woken up a few days ago, but still… laying around in bed all day was a pure nightmare for him. It reminded him of that accursed battle in Hoovesville and the hospital-days that followed. This in turn made him think of his old comrades… and thinking about his comrades also made him think… about Mystic.

Just as he had that thought, it suddenly knocked on the door and after calling out ‘come in’, he nearly fell out of bed, when he saw that the pony who entered was the exact mare he had just thought about.

“Hey, Bulkhead. I heard you’ve finally woken up, so I came to pay you a little visit. Also, congrats on getting promoted – twice.” Mystic offered as she entered, sitting down on one of the chairs in the room. It was one of the special suites reserved for high-class nobility or even the princesses, which, in Mystic’s mind, was only what he deserved after what he did. Unfortunately, the hospital staff didn’t think so at first, stuffing him into a cramped room together with a bunch of short-term patients. Something that Princess Twilight luckily changed personally, after Mystic may have complained about it a little too loudly around her.

“Yep, I outrank you now, Lieutenant! That means you have to do as I say now!” He joked, adopting a tone that reminded Mystic a bit too much about a certain, red-coated traitor.

“Nope, sorry, but I got promoted too, Bulkhead. We are at the same rank again, now.” Mystic said, with a small grin, which dropped immediately as she started her next sentence. “Also, please don’t try to mimic Overdrive. I know you can’t know what he turned out to be, but just… don’t. With that stunt you’ve pulled back then, it is hard enough for me not to put you back to sleep anyways.”

“Which one? The meat-shield or the confession?” suddenly slipped out of Bulkhead’s mouth without him actually wanting to say it.

“BOTH!” Was Mystic’s reply. “Why did you even do that? I mean, it was shocking enough to see you get impaled in front of me, but to hear something like that immediately afterwards was just- just- UGH!” Mystic quickly covered her face with her hooves as a blush threatened to light up her face in a bright pink that rivaled Pinkie’s “And it’s not even like it was just a short moment of irritation! I’ve literally spent two whole weeks thinking about that moment and if you really thought about me that way or if it was just a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing!”

“Euh… sorry about that…” Bulkhead apologized, before he looked from her over to the covers in front of him, staring a moment, pondering what to say next. “Honestly, I don’t know why I chose that exact moment, either. It was just… I held these feelings ever since we finished training in the Everfree. I wanted to tell you again and again, but every time I told myself that I had to wait out a better opportunity. And so, when that moment came, when I was hit and my mind was going through all my memories and all the things I wanted to do while you were holding me, I guess I just went ‘hey, it’s literally now or never, right?’ and then, I just… said it.”

“Still... it’s not something you just blurt out like that! You need a romantic setting, some proper clothes, some… I don’t know, just… not like that.” Mystic replied, having pulled her hooves from her face again and staring at the ground beside her now.

The room went silent again. None of the two knew, how exactly to continue now, leaving a tense silence between them, which was quiet enough to hear a pen drop on the other side of Equestria, while also being tense enough to rip the room apart any moment now.

“So, what’s your answer?” Bulkhead suddenly broke the silence.

“What?” Mystic replied almost instantly.

“Now that I’m – against all odds – still alive… what is your answer?” Bulkhead asked again.

Mystic shifted uncomfortably in place. She knew that his question would come up, but still… “I don’t know. I’ve thought about it. I really did, but… I just can’t quite figure it out yet… I… I don’t think that you are a bad stallion – quite the opposite, really, but… I need some more time to think it over, with all the things that have happened lately. Can you wait a little longer?” She asked him, giving a slightly pleading smile.

“Of course, take all the time you need. After all…” He answered, pulling his covers aside. “It’s unlikely that I’m going anywhere in this state.”

As he said that, he pointed down towards his belly and his motionless rear hooves. While the latter seemed to at least have healed fully to the outside, his belly was sporting a large scar now and Mystic could only imagine what his back must’ve looked like.

“That and the Captain would likely send me to Tartarus if I pushed you too hard.” Bulkhead said with a chuckle. One that Mystic couldn’t share.

“Yeah… yeah, he likely would.” She said, subconsciously stroking the patches she had sewn into her dress uniform. “Have you heard what happened? With the Captain, I mean.”

Bulkhead’s smile dropped as well and he took on a somewhat depressed look. “Yes, I have heard. Honestly, I almost missed it, between suddenly being bombarded with my pension and being paralyzed and such.” He looked down towards his rear hooves, moving them around with his fore-ones and lightly massaging them.

“It is a real shame. I mean it. Even though we definitely had our differences, he was definitely a stallion – a man – that deserved to be respected and after the war, I can most definitely say that I am both glad and proud to have served under his command.” He recalled, looking over at Mystic again with another, sad, smile.

“Yeah. We’re really lucky that we got to serve under him and not under one of the other idiots, who almost got their whole units wiped out. I just hope that… he can rest in peace now.” Mystic mused with a sniffle or two along the way.

“Oh don’t worry about that, Mystic.” Bulkhead said, looking up to the ceiling. “I am sure that, wherever he might be now, the Captain has found his peace and has gotten his well-deserved spot among Starswirl, Queen Faust and all the others.”

---

[Meanwhile, on an ocean liner on its way towards the newly founded Gryphon Republic]

*HURGH*

The ‘Magna Luna’ was a high-class luxury ocean liner, reserved for high-society guests and the occasional royal ambassador. As such, since these ponies rarely left their homestead for too long (apart from the ambassadors, of course) it wasn’t rare to see one or more of them hanging over the railing and emptying their stomach’s contents into the sea. However, never had one been so fast to do so, as this grey stallion with brown mane was.

“Und darum bin ich zur Luftwaffe gegangen und nicht zur Marine…“ (And that’s why I joined the Air Force and not the Navy…)

“Sir? Are you not feeling well?” A gryphon butler suddenly emerged from behind him.

“Frankly, no, I’m not. I’m just not made to be on a ship... say, how long until we reach the Republic?” Markus asked the Gryphon.

“Unfortunately, I have to tell you that we’ve barely just departed, sir.”

Markus’s reaction to hearing this was an agonized groan, before he leaned over and raised the Ocean’s pH again.

“Sir, if you don’t mind: In my experience, passengers who are seasick are best kept below decks, as there, the sway of the ship is less noticeable. Also, you will have the opportunity to busy yourself with something, which might help keeping your mind off the fact that you’re on a ship.” The Gryphon suggested, to which Markus replied with a weak nod.

“Yes, I suppose that’s a good idea. I’ll just go below decks and hide myself in my cabin for the remainder of the trip. I just hope the railroads are repaired soon…”

---

A few hours later, the sun slowly rose over the horizon, just barely hidden behind a multitude of spires and larger buildings. Markus was standing on deck, not vomiting into the sea this time, but admiring the truly spectacular view.

He had been to the Gryphon Capitol once before, during the war, but the circumstances didn’t leave him enough time by far to admire the absolute beauty of the architecture.

The ship reached the port and Markus got off, immediately getting swarmed by a horde of reporters who all wanted to get a picture of the new governor, who was stupid brave enough to take on the job after the fate of his predecessor.

“Out of the way! Clear the way for the Head of the Council!” A voice suddenly boomed out, making all the Gryphon reporters go silent and look to the source. After a moment, they all moved aside to form a passage for another Gryphon, though she seemed to not be a journalist. She was a rather tall Gryphoness, about the size of Luna and decorated with jewelry around her neck. She also wore a purple robe, which was regarded as a symbol of power among the Gryphons.

“Ah, so this is the new pony governor? I must say, you are a bit… younger than I had expected. Your predecessor was old and experienced, but you? You seem like you’ve been picked spontaneously just because you were there at the moment.” The Gryphoness remarked.

“You would be surprised how right you are, Chancellor Scythe Claw.” Markus responded courtly, making the Gryphoness seem a little surprised.

“Oh, well, at least you seem to have informed yourself in advance. Credit where credit is due, your predecessor didn’t know my name when he first set hoof into our lands.”

“It is best to inform oneself before going on a mission like mine. Now, I suppose we should get right to it, would you be so kind to show me to my office and living quarters?”

“Of course. Follow me, governor.” The Gryphoness answered, before stretching out her wings and taking off. Markus followed suit, although he was still a bit shaky with his new wings.

“I suppose you know what happened to you predecessor, don’t you?” The Chancellor asked during the flight. “He was brutally murdered by an unknown group, which we still haven’t found. I don't want to scare you, governor, but you have chosen a very dangerous job for yourself.”

“Oh don’t worry. Whomever I have to thank for this position should really think thrice about doing the same to me. Lest I have to hurt somepony, or rather somegryphon, I suppose.

As Markus said that, the Chancellor suddenly started to laugh. “Oh, you are brave, pony. I like that. Bravery is one of the values that’s still held high in Gryphon culture and as such, it is never a bad idea to show bravery when dealing with other Gryphons.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

---

The duo reached the Palace a few minutes later. The old palace, where Markus and his company had tried to kill the king during the war, had since been repurposed to house the parliament, as well as offer living- and workspace for the various ambassadors and other visitors from Equestria and other nations that had since taken up relations with the Gryphons again. It also held the living quarters and office of the equestrian governor in the repurposed royal chambers.

As Markus and the Chancellor arrived at the double door leading to his new home for the foreseeable future, they were greeted by another Gryphoness, this one clad in golden armor and holding a spear with a golden tip and multiple gems set into its sides. It was obviously more for show than for actual combat.

“Your Highness, sergeant Bloodwing reporting for duty!”

“Ah yes, I almost forgot. This fine hen here will be your personal guard, governor. I can assure you, she is one of the best our military has to offer.” The Chancellor introduced them courtly, before pointing a wing towards the double doors. “Anyways, you will find your chambers and office right behind those doors. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some more work to do.”

The Chancellor bid her farewell and left Markus alone with his guard. He, in turn, immediately made his way over to the double doors and opened them, revealing a rather modern looking office behind them. Actually, it reminded him of one of those mafia movies, with that large wooden table and leather chair standing in front of the window, just waiting for him to do that thing where one would slowly spin around to face whoever just entered the room while already starting an evil speech or something.

Sergeant Bloodwing placed herself at the entrance as soon as Markus entered and was watching him look around the room with great interest, although he also seemed to always keep an eye on her.

“Ok, spill it, what’s wrong, sergeant?” He suddenly asked.

“Nothing, sir! Everything is in order, sir!” The hen replied.

“That’s a lie sergeant and you know it. I’ve been around enough soldiers to see through that mask, you know? Now, come on and say it, you may speak freely. In fact, I order you to speak freely.” Markus told her.

“I suppose if it’s an order then it can’t be helped.” The Gryphoness relented. “Sir, with all due respect, you disgust me.” She then said. “It disgusts me that you are here. I hate you, I want to strangle you on the spot, but I can’t. It takes every fiber of my being not to just slit your throat on the spot. I hate you and don’t even think that your pony-magic would change anything about that, I will never forgive you! Not after you’ve killed my sister! Not after you’ve murdered Gilda!”

She worked herself up more and more, up to the point where her blood was basically boiling with rage. Then, suddenly, she remembered the post she held and forced herself to calm down as quickly as possible. To the Gryphoness’s great surprise though, the new governor seemed completely unperturbed by her outburst. “I am very sorry, sir. After you’ve allowed me to be open, I just couldn’t hold it any longer.”

“Oh, don’t be, sergeant. In fact, I have to thank you for that.” Markus answered.

“…Sir?”

“Yes, you heard right. After all, to fix a problem one has to first learn of its nature and you have just provided me with that knowledge.” He said, turning around and heading towards the doors again.

“Are you going out? I thought you were about to start working?” The hen asked curiously.

“Oh yes, I am going to start working. It’s just that my work includes keeping contact with the people, doesn’t it?”

“Sir, I have to warn you that most of the Gryphons think similar to me.”

“And I hope they are just as vocal about it. After all, I can’t fix their problems if they don’t tell me about them, can I?” The governor replied, leaving his office shortly after.

Sergeant Bloodwing looked after him for a moment in astonishment, before quickly following him out.

He was certainly surprisingly brave for a pony.

Author's Notes:

Yay, another chapter! and it's even full legth adn, in my opinion, on par with the old ones in terms of quality! double YAY! :D

Sadly, I have bad news, though: next week will be one of these two dreaded weeks that I have mentioned that will yield no new chapter for you. I am very sorry and I promise I'll try to make up for it in the chapter that follows.

Ch53: Fishing With a Live Bait

Celestia’s sun still sat low on the horizon as Markus and his newly assigned guard arrived at the Marketplace. The smell of freshly caught fish and cooking meat wafted through his nostrils, while his ears picked up the sound of different stand owners trying to get the peoples’s attention, be that by voice, playing music or simply by making some noise, everything was used. However, these impressions didn’t concern him much at the time, but rather the numbers floating over everyone’s head.

He first came to notice them the moment he opened his eyes again, after his second resurrection. Luna and Celestia both had a white bar floating over their heads, though apparently not in reality, but only for him to see. The nature of this bar became a little clearer, when he left Celestia’s Royal Chambers for the first time and saw the Guards outside having something similar atop their heads. Only it wasn’t a bar this time, but a set of numbers slowly ticking down.

From there, it didn’t take long for him to figure out what these numbers meant. There were seven sets of these numbers, out of which the rightmost was ticking down one count every second, starting from 59 and going to 00. Every time it reached zero, the second set would count one down, starting from 59 and going to 00 as well. Thus, the most likely conclusion was that these numbers represented their bearer’s remaining lifetime.

While certainly something macabre to think about at first, it only made sense for him to see them. After all, he was now the Alicorn of Life AND Death and seeing the remaining lifetime of those around him could actually be attributed to both.

Still, while watching those several hundred numbers slowly tick down, he could not help but compare Pony and Gryphon lifetimes. Gryphons seemed to live far shorter lives than ponies, albeit their theoretical lifespan almost doubled that of the equines and when checking for the deaths fate held ready for them, the reason for that became clear almost immediately.

Most of the deaths these Gryphons were to experience were unnatural. Most appeared to die of disease, while murder was a very close second. Third was death by losing a duel, fourth a deadly work accident, fifth would be being sold into slavery and then worked to death and only then, in sixth place, would finally come the natural death.

Markus found himself momentarily shocked, albeit not by the things he had just ‘read’ through so easily. Rather, it was the lack of shock that had him shocked now. Normally, he would have felt pity for these poor creatures. He would have wanted to help them, to show them better ways to live life and make sure that these new ways would stay secured. That was why he became a soldier, after all. To help others, to save others, to protect and guide others.

Now, however, he couldn’t even bring forth a minimum of motivation to follow his old morality, at least not in this case. Was it because he had fought a war against them? But he found it within himself to help rebuild Afghanistan after he had fought and won there, so no, that couldn’t be it.

Was it maybe because they weren’t human? That somehow he couldn’t show the same kinds of emotion towards the creatures of this world? Possible, but very unlikely. After all, he had already planted his seed into two mares and he knew that the feelings he held towards them were indeed real.

The last possibility that sprang to mind was that it may be because of his ascension. That somehow, through becoming the Alicorn of Life and Death, his view on these two might have changed. That now, instead of putting everyone else’s lives over his, he now represented death and as such wasn’t as inclined to interfere with the course of fate as he was before.

He decided that thinking about such things could come later, since he had something else to do that was far more important. After all, he hadn’t just come to the market to compare lifespans.

Markus had to find out, who was behind his predecessor’s demise, but whoever it was, was clever. They hadn’t left a single clue behind. Sure, the Chancellor had pointed at some group that was apparently known for being a bit extreme in their mindset, but Markus quickly dismissed them as the potential assailants, as, during his service in the Army, he had come to learn that those who were so open about their motives were rather harmless. In actuality it were those, who remained hidden and who kept their motives only to themselves that were truly dangerous.

Unfortunately, this mindset of staying behind closed curtains also meant that these groups were immeasurably hard to track down, which in turn meant that Markus was about to face a whole load of work.

Or maybe he wouldn’t?

What if the killers could be lured out to show themselves out of their own free will? It was an idea that came to Markus’s mind when the sergeant had her outburst, that the group that had attacked and killed Governor Sweet Talk would likely also go for his replacement. All he would have to do is make his presence known to the public, interacting with them as much and as long as possible, while at the same time appearing to be as careless as he could force himself to be. In short, he would use himself as bait to lure in a predator… and then make that predator meet an even bigger predator.

However, this plan meant that he first needed to grab the attention of the local population. Something that Markus found to be quite difficult, given that he was now only a little Pegasus in a sea of Gryphons, who were all busy with bartering and talking and sometimes even arguing over prices.

Suddenly, though, while he was trying to figure out, how to get the right Gryphon’s attention, he suddenly found his muzzle firmly embed itself into a mass of slightly rough feathers. His guard behind him had to stifle a laugh, when Markus ran head-first into an elderly Gryphon, having his head disappear almost completely within his wings. However, the Gryphon in question didn’t seem to find it just as amusing as she did, as, as soon as Markus had freed his head from his wings, he suddenly shot around and began shouting at the two.

“Who in the name of the King-?!” He suddenly stopped when he laid eyes on
Markus and within moments, what before seemed to just be annoyance morphed into white hot anger and fury.

“Oh, of course, another Pony that comes to defile this land of ours! Haven’t you already done enough damage as it is? No, of course you have to send governors over here to keep an eye on us! And what do you do after we show you that we don’t want your governors?! Of course, you just send a new one! Oh, just you wait until this evening, when the boys--!” He suddenly cut himself off after noticing the glare the guardhen was giving him. It was not one that was to show him his place, but rather one that was warning him to not reveal the secrets that were about to slip his tongue.

This did not go unnoticed by Markus, but he pretended that it did. When the older Gryphon said nothing anymore for a few more seconds, he put on his best service-center-smile and spoke to the Gryphon in question.

“I apologize for the inconvenience, sir. I have taken note of your dissatisfaction with the current situation and I will do my best to fix the issues that currently seem to bother you.”

“Pff, yeah, sure, you try that…” The Gryphon grumbled, before busying himself with the Marketstalls around him again. Markus, meanwhile, decided that it was time to head back. After all, he now had what he wanted…

---

When the sun slowly began its descent, Markus was sitting behind his new workdesk and sorted through all kinds of papers that had come in over the day. Mostly it was just reports and a few forms he had to fill out to finalize his takeover. It was all important work that had to be done, though not nearly as important as what was yet to come.

While truly important, the forms were far from due. Markus had only picked them up in order to appear busy while he was waiting for the main event of the day. Through his little encounter on the Marketplace, he now knew that he likely was to be eliminated that same evening, though he sadly didn’t know the exact time.

Time ticked by and evening morphed into night and Markus was still waiting.

‘Maybe I read too much into his words?’ he thought to himself. ‘I mean, did he really mean that I was about to be killed or was he going to say something else? I was pretty focused on finding the killers, so I could very well have just assumed that he meant what I needed…’

Markus looked out the window, watching as the last little rays of light finally joined the rest beyond the horizon. The landscape around the City went dark and within it, one could see lights spring to life within almost every house.

“I think it is time to go to bed.” Markus stated, deciding that he should really call it a day for now.

“Of course. Your chambers are this way, sir.” Bloodfeather replied, gesturing to a smaller set of double-doors to the side of the office.

Markus nodded his thanks and opened the doors… only to find an empty room behind them. He made a few steps forward into it to confirm that it indeed was entirely empty. The steps he then heard from behind him were the last piece needed to make it click.

“Oh, let me guess: You wanted me to ask ‘Hey, where’s my bed?’, so you could then answer something along the lines of ‘Oh, don’t worry, you won’t need one.’, am I right?” Markus said, spinning around and smirking at the, now three Gryphons standing in front of him.

“Oh come on, you can’t do that! I’ve been working a whole week on this joke and you’ve ruined it!” One of the new arrivals whined.

“Don’t get distracted, we have a job to do!” Bloodfeather hushed the other hen.

“Ah, so I take it, you were the ones who killed Sweet Talk? Huh, should have guessed so from the beginning, actually.” Markus remarked.

“Indeed, you should have, but don’t worry: You’ll soon have plenty of time apologizing to him.” With that said, all three hens suddenly lunged forward, with their claws outstretched to slice their prey into pieces.

Markus was prepared. With his wings already tensed, he used his previous experience in fighting to quickly retreat himself out of his enemies’s reach.

And that exactly was his mistake…

All his experience stemmed from his time as a human. However, he was currently in the shape of a Pony, a Pegasus at that. With this outward change came the fact the he now had not two, but four legs and two wings, while also being a lot lighter than before. Thus, when he used his full force to propel himself backwards, he massively miscalculated his flight path and hit the wall behind him before he had time to react.

Using their advantage, his three assailants quickly caught up. Two of them pinned him to the ground, while the third, Bloodfeather, positioned herself directly in front of him and drew her sword.

“Nice try, sir, but it wasn’t good enough.” She said, swinging her sword down upon Markus.

‘Oh no, not again…’ He thought, as the sword connected with his head… and passed right through it.

“What?!” The three hens shouted in unison.

“What?” Markus wondered aloud, as a small puff of black smoke that had been split off from his body quickly reattached itself to where it belonged.

‘Oh, yeah… I forgot.’ Markus thought to himself, as he remembered, what his true form was now. With a grin, he quickly de- and re-materialized himself between the three hens, making the two that were holding him down fall to the floor.

“What, Magic?! But I thought only Unicorns could use magic!” Bloodfeather shouted in panic.

“Unicorns and Alicorns, yes.” Markus replied, before he quickly slit the throats of the two nameless hens and kicked Bloodfeather away faster than any eye could have picked up his movements.

She was flung away backwards and slammed into the wall right beside the door. She plopped down onto the floor and the last thing her now fading consciousness picked up was a set of slowly approaching red hooves…

When she woke up a few hours later, she found herself tied to a chair, with the Governor sitting across from her behind his workdesk and in his chair, idly spinning back and forth.

“Oh, you’re finally awake. Took you long enough.” He remarked, jumping off his chair and standing right in front of it.

“What?! Where am I?! What have you done to me?... What are you?” Bloodfeather asked in a panic, trugging at her ties and finding them to sit tight on her, only allowing her barely enough room to breathe.

“Slowly, slowly there. Don’t worry, I haven’t brought you anywhere, you are still in my office and apart from tying you up, I haven’t even touched you. As for what I am… well, maybe I’ll tell you another time.” Markus told her, while slowly making his way around the table.

“What?! What is that supposed to mean?! Tell me who—“

“Cut it now, hen. I don’t have time for you futile attempts to buy time. After all…” Markus said, stopping when he stood right beside his captive and showing her a sadistical grin. “… I still have some questions of my own.”

Bloodfeather gulped while she looked at the stallion beside her, in what could have almost been fear. Up until that point, she would have never thought that she would find a PONY to be intimidating.

And the show was only starting…

CH54: (Surprise) Visits

Canterlot, the center of equestrian society and the capitol of Equestria. A mass of houses, shops, restaurants and… other establishments, surrounded by thick walls that, with the exception of the southern gate, have lasted more than a thousand years by now. It is home to the Royal Palace, which houses the Royal Sisters. It is here that all important decisions regarding Equestria are made and it is also the third largest City in Equestria by Population, but at the same time, the most densely populated one, which is no wonder given that it is built on a small plateau on the side of a mountain.

Somewhere in this truly magnificent City, there stood a house. It didn’t really stand out from the others. It had no particularly eye-catching colour, at least by equestrian standards, and it wasn’t particularly large in comparison to some of the noble’s mansions. No, what made this place interesting wasn’t the house itself, but rather the two mares standing in front of it.

To an outsider, these seemed to be two completely normal, albeit somewhat nervous-looking mares. To an actual Equestrian, however, those two were instantly recognizable as two of Equestria’s most recent set of heroes -- one of them even having ascended to alicornhood!

However, being a hero doesn’t save you from the plethora of emotions that comes with the prospect of having to make a grand revelation, to your parents at that and the two mares standing in front of this little house were only now realizing, what a plethora it truly was.

Twilight was nervously shifting her hooves, as she and Rainbow stood in front of the door that led into her childhood home and thus into the home of her parents.

She had told them in a letter that she had something grand to reveal to them, just after she had gotten the info herself. In the endorphin-induced high she was experiencing at the time, she wasn’t even thinking about the scale of such a revelation. Sadly, these thoughts had only reached her, when she was already on the way to Canterlot and had thus just barely arrived in time to cause a major panic attack with the already very breakdown-prone, young alicorn.

At least, when she had sent the letter at first, she had the foresight to also write to Cadence and Shining Armor, so that she would only have to go through the same mental breakdown once. That and she now had somepony to back her up, when she would be telling her parents for the first time, that she had a coltfriend...

“Oh, come on, Twilight! You can’t get cold hooves now! We’re almost there! Just knock on the door already!” Rainbow complained, trying to hide her own nervousness behind her normal personality.

“I know you are just as nervous about this as I am, Rainbow. If you’re so impatient, why don’t you just knock?” Twilight said back, still not having calmed in the slightest.

“Because it’s your parents we’re talking about here, not mine!” She quickly retorted, hovering in the air just beside Twilight now, to make herself seem a little taller by instinct.

However, they both were beaten to the punch, when the door was suddenly opened without them having to knock. They both looked forward and saw that the pony who had opened it was indeed Twilight’s mother, who was wearing a slightly impatient smile.

“You don’t need to knock if you’re bickering loud enough for the whole house to hear it, you know? Now, come on in. Night Light and I are practically dying for that revelation you have promised us.” She said, heading back into the house, motioning for Twilight and Rainbow to follow. They, in turn, shared a very nervous glance, before following Velvet into the cozy confines of her home.

Inside, Night Light was reading the Newspaper, while Shining Armor and Cadence were sitting across from him on the sofa, already waiting for the arrival of the mares of the hour.

Twilight and Rainbow sat down on the sofa beside Cadence and Shining Armor and waited for Velvet to sit down beside her husband. And then they waited longer. And then a bit more and even more yet, an uncomfortable silence slowly building in the room.

On one side of the small table in the middle of the living room sat two mares, who were dreading to reveal something that was probably long over-due and on the other side sat two parents who were anxious to hear what possibly catastrophic news their daughter had to share that even Shining Armor and Cadence had to come.

“So… what are the important news you wanted to tell us? Your letter really made us curious, you know?” Cadence broke the silence, hoping to get Twilight to finally spill the beans. She had, of course, a suspicion as to what this meeting was about, being the princess of Love and all that, but even her powers only allowed her an insight, not omniscience.

“Indeed, Twilight. You know you can tell us everything, right? We are your parents after all.” Night light said, taking a cup of coffee from the small table in front of him and holding it with slightly shaky hooves, forgetting that he was a unicorn and could just use magic because he was so nervous.

Looking at Rainbow for support, Twilight took in a deep breath, before beginning to slowly speak.

“Well… As you all know, I wanted to tell you something important… Actually, we, Rainbow and I, wanted to tell you something important…”

Everypony tensed up a bit in anticipation. Night Light tried to calm himself a bit, by taking a few sips of his Coffee.

“The thing is, Rainbow and I we…”

“We’re pregnant!” Rainbow suddenly blurted out, quickly covering her mouth with her hooves, but the words were already spoken.

Night Light immediately sent the Coffee he had in his mouth flying across the room in a brown fountain, while Cadence let out a gleeful squee and his wife just sat there beside him, processing the information she was just given.

‘Way to go, Rainbow…’ Shining Armor thought as he was observing his parent’s reaction. ‘Probably should have built a foundation though, ‘cause I can already see that tower starting to crumble…’

Night Light had gone into a coughing fit after his unintentional jettisoning of good coffee, using every free breath to throw another quick, single-word question into the room.

“What?! How?! Who?! When?!” Was all he brought out, but it got the message across good enough.

Twilight Velvet, meanwhile, had recovered from the initial shock and was, of course, going down the exact wrong path of thoughts.

“What? But I thought you had no Coltfriend? Oh no, have you been raped?! Oh, if I find that… that…!” She seemed about to deep-fry somepony’s head right there, so Twilight quickly intervened.

“No! No… it was all completely consensual!... well, almost…” She said, giving Rainbow a quick glare, although it was hard to take her serious, given that her cheeks were bright red now.

Not having heard that last part, Velvet immediately went into mother-needs-to-know-mode. “Oh? So who is the father? Is he a noble? Or maybe famous? Is he even a pony?”

Twilight shifted in place a little uncomfortably, dreading the reaction she would get once she answered her mother’s questions. “Euh… No. To all three.” She answered courtly, making her mother pause for a moment.

“Wait… he is not a pony and not a noble? What species is he then? And how did you even meet him?” Velvet asked, but before Twilight could answer, Cadence interjected.

“Actually, he should have become a noble when he became an officer, just like Shining did.”

“Oh, so he’s an officer in the guard? But the only non-pony officer in the guard that I know of is… is…” Velvet trailed off when she saw the sudden sad look on her daughters face, confirming her thought.

“Oh, my poor little filly.” She quickly went over to her daughter and gave her a tight hug. “I’m so sorry that you had to go through something like this. I’m sure it was hard for you and I want you to know that we’re always here, should you need somepony to talk to.” She assured her, tightening the hug around her daughter, as if to press all her motherly love directly into her.

Meanwhile, Cadence took the opportunity to lean in towards her husband and whisper into his ear.

“You know… Now that Twilight is pregnant, I think I know what’s been missing in our marriage thus far…” She implied, looking at Shining Armor with a sultry smirk.

His answer to that was a flustered expression and slightly questioning look.

The hug between mother and daughter was slowly broken, as the sadness was finally carried away.

“Thanks, mom. Don’t worry, we’re already over it. It was hard, sure, but I wasn’t alone.” Twilight assured her mother, looking over to Rainbow and then back to her. “Rainbow and I both shared the pain of losing our stallion and together, we made it through it all and you know what? Now, I am actually quite happy, because… because I know how much pain Markus actually went through to achieve what he did. Because I am glad that Rainbow and I get to keep a part of him and… because I hope that, wherever he is now, he is in a more peaceful place than the Equestria that he has left behind…”

---

At the same time in the outskirts of the Gryphon Capitol, a thug suddenly flew through the doors of an abandoned warehouse.

“Knock Knock! It’s the Janitor, I heard here’s some trash that needs to be thrown out?” A young, masculine voice sounded, right before a Pegasus stallion emerged through the dust.

The inhabitants of the warehouse were all stunned silent, gawking at the little Pegasus before them, until a very enraged sounding voice suddenly commanded from behind them.

“Oh, by the King, kill him already!!!”

Knocked out of their stupor, the gang of Gryphons charged at the lone Pegasus. However, the attack immediately came to a halt, when they saw the first few unlucky ones get beheaded the moment they got too close to their target.

The Gryphons, now wary of their foe, looked at him with slightly fear-filled eyes. As such, it was no wonder that some of them flinched when he simply moved his mouth to speak.

“Say, would you be so kind to point me to your leader?” The stallion asked politely.

Immediately, every Gryphon pointed at the one that had shouted earlier, who was sitting in the back on a slightly elevated chair.

“Splendid, thank you very much.” The stallion thanked them, while making his way towards their leader.

“So… what are you gonna do now? Kill me?” The Gryphon taunted, trying to sound brave.

“Oh, as it turns out, I don’t need to. You are scheduled to die off a heart attack in ten seconds anyways.” The stallion responded.

“A heart attack?! HAH! And why should I believe such nons—Hnngh!” The gryphon suddenly grasped his chest with a talon, breathing heavy. His eyes slowly lost their focus and his face was slowly drained of colour, until all life was gone from him and his body fell limply down before the stallion’s hooves.

As the corpse hit the ground, a note slipped out from under his wing. The stallion picked it up and identified it to be a contract. Specifically, a murder contract, with his name on it.

“So… it seems the situation has changed a bit.” The stallion said, as he turned back around to face the many gryphons, staring at their leader’s corpse. “I won’t lie to you, originally, I planned on killing you all. However, now that I know that you were contracted, I am willing to give you a chance… I will now close my eyes and count to ten. Everyone who is still in this room by then, will die. Understood? Okay. One…”

Suddenly the loud flapping of a mass of wings could be heard and, just as quickly as it began, the room was quiet again. The stallion didn’t bother counting any further, as doing so would have been a pointless waste of time, as the room was now completely devoid of any Gryphons.

Chuckling to himself, Markus left the cleared warehouse and stepped out into the warm light of the afternoon sun, where a neatly tied Gryphoness was already waiting for him to return.

“Alright, ya happy now?! I told ya where the hideout was, so now let me go already!” She demanded.

“Oh, that would be highly unwise. For me as much as for you.” He replied, earning him an angry and, at the same time, confused glare from his captive. “Oh, come now. You weren’t really expecting your old comrades to welcome you into their midst again, now that you’ve betrayed them, did you?”

The Gryphoness’s face fell quickly, when the one fear she had was smacked into her face. Of course, she knew that they would never forgive her, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t hope, right?

Markus chuckled darkly as he saw his captive’s expression change, yet again something that he wouldn’t have done before his ascension. “I see you’ve come to the same conclusion, huh? Well then, I shall offer you a deal. I will keep you as my guard, both to keep you safe and to keep an eye on you. In turn, you will give me every bit of information you have on this contract you were given.”

Bloodfeather looked up to her captor with anger, humiliation and, possibly, even a bit of hope. After all: what did she have to lose? She had betrayed her own kin, was now likely on their kill list as well and didn’t know where to go. As much as she would have liked to embrace the pony way of forgiveness right then and there, she knew that her former comrades wouldn’t do the same. As such, there was only the Gryphon way of selfishness left to choose and her selfishness told her that, in order to survive, she had to…

“I accept.”

---

“Alright, you remember the plan?” Rainbow asked, as both, she and Twilight, were standing in front of a cloudhouse in the outskirts of Cloudsdale.

“Knock, drop the bomb, wait for a reaction and then bail, yeah, but why? Are you expecting them to be very angry?” Twilight asked nervously.

“No, the opposite, actually. The thing is that they… kinda overdo it most of the time.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight questioned.

“Oh… you will see…”

Before more questions could be asked, Rainbow knocked on the door, which was then immediately yanked open by a light blue Pegasus mare with a rainbow… wig?

“Rainbow! Oh, how is our little champion doing? Come on in, we are always prepared to welcome you home!”

“Maybe later, mom, I actually just came to tell you that I’m pregnant.” Rainbow said as if it was nothing.

Her mom stopped, as if needing to process what had just been said. When she was done, she suddenly let out a delighted wail. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”

This got the attention of a slightly darker Pegasus stallion with an actual rainbow mane and tail. “What happened? Is the lawn on fire again?” He asked, before being grabbed and shaken back and forth by his wife.

“Rainbow is pregnaaaant!!!” She screamed at him.

He looked back and forth between his wife and daughter, before he, joined his wife. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!”

“Alrightjustwantedtotellyoubye!” Rainbow quickly fled the scene, pulling Twilight with her.

A few hundred kilometers away, she then stopped and looked around. When she didn’t spot her parents Pinkie-ing out of a cloud, she let out a sigh of relief and put Twilight down, who had a hard time not reviewing her own lunch after the impromptu Warp-10 trip through Equestria.

“Phew, I think we should have lost them for now…”

“For now? You almost brought us all the way to the Gryphon Republic. We should definitely-“

Twilight was suddenly cut off, as a somewhat familiar sounding pair of voices could faintly be heard in the distance.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

“Oh no, RUN!!!!!”

Ch55: May God have Mercy upon my Enemies...

“A toast to our new governor!” The Chancellor called with her glass held high. The other Gryphon nobles followed reluctantly, as they were to welcome someone or, more precisely, somepony whom they rather wouldn’t have to deal with at all.

Markus, meanwhile, sat in his chair at the large banquet table a little awkwardly. It wasn’t that the chair was uncomfortable in any way, nor was it that he couldn’t stand the meat that was served at the banquet. Actually, he felt the idea quite appealing to just take one of the steaks served there and take a big bite out of it, the strange looks he’d be getting be damned.

However, therein lay the problem. Not in the looks, mind you, but in the eating itself. When Markus took on his disguise, he only made an empty hull. Since he didn’t need to eat or drink or, if he wanted, sleep anymore, he found that adding a digestive tract would just be unnecessary details. He, of course, could change that on a moment’s notice if he wanted. However, there was a slight problem with that.

The nobles of the Gryphon Republic and Gryphons in general were very twitchy around magic, which was only natural, given that they themselves didn’t normally possess magic and in order to add a digestive tract to his disguise, he would have to rework the whole thing, which would mean that they would see him getting devoured by black fog for a moment.

And so, he just sat there, staring at an empty plate. The nobles were probably thinking that he was just awkward because of all the meat that was served and he did not intend to change that. Though, that didn’t mean that he felt any less annoyed by the stares.

Then, suddenly someone knocked on the door, promising salvation, as Bloodfeather entered the room and gave a salute.

“I greet you, great chancellor! I came to discuss urgent matters with my charge, the governor.”

Markus immediately jumped up from his seat, thankful for the opportunity to leave.

“In that case, there is no time to be wasted.” He said, looking and bowing respectfully to the chancellor. “Chancellor, I am very sorry, but it seems I will have to take my leave a bit earlier than expected.”

Before the Chancellor could reply in any way, Markus and Bloodfeather already left the room and were walking down the hallways.

“I am very sorry, if I have sought you out at an unfavorable moment, my lord.” The Gryphoness apologized.

“Oh, don’t worry, sergeant, there isn’t much I’m going to miss out on and I was already feeling bored anyways.” Markus assured. “Now, what have you found?”

---

Markus was flipping through page after page in the book he held in his hands. He had to have missed something somewhere, but he couldn’t find out where it was!

The information he got from Bloodfeather was unsettling, yet sadly yielded no good clues. The one who gave the kill order on the old governor and him was indeed not a Gryphon, but a pony. Though, who exactly, or at least what he or she looked like was not part of the info. The only thing that was certain was that there was some reason for that pony to hate Equestria.

A sudden knock on the door to the library derailed his train of thought. Markus closed the tome he held in his hands and looked towards the door with a polite smile.

“Come on in, Luna.”

The Princess of the Night entered the Library and strode towards the human sitting in the small reading area right in front of her.

“I must say, I know you for almost a year now and yet, your dreamscape continues to amaze me.” She complimented him, as Markus offered her a seat.

“Thank you for the compliments.” He answered. “However, not to appear rude, but I doubt that you’ve contacted me in such a private manner, just to compliment me.”

Luna’s smile fell and morphed into a concerned expression. “Yes, you are indeed correct. Something… has happened.” She said cryptically.

Markus waited a few moments and when she didn’t continue, Markus spoke up. “Care to elaborate?”

“Oh, of course, I am sorry, I just… I was lost in thought for a moment. Anyways, it seems somepony has appeared, or rather someone has appeared who shouldn’t be there at this moment.”

“And… who would that be?” Markus asked.

“You.” Came Luna’s answer.

“What?” Markus asked again, raising an eyebrow.

“Today, a letter reached us, in which Twilight invited us to your wedding, but we knew that it wasn’t you, who revealed himself to her, because Tia… euh… well, she… may have put a tracking spell on you?” Luna looked over to Markus apologetically, waiting for him to lose his temper, over the impostor, as well as over the tracking spell. However, he just sat there neutrally.

“Oh, I already knew that. The tracking spell I mean. Honestly, Celestia wasn’t all that subtle when casting it, wasn’t she?” Markus said. “And as for the impostor…“ Markus got up out of his seat and walked over to a section in the bookshelves with books that looked relatively new, at least compared to the rest. He pulled one out and opened it, revealing memories of his time with Twilight and Rainbow within. “… It is a shame that it won’t be me, whom they’re wed to, but as long as they’re happy, so am I… and besides, I am sure that Mystic already knows about the impostor and that she will do everything to keep Twilight and Rainbow safe.”

Luna felt like she should add that Rainbow wouldn’t be included in the marriage, but she just could bring herself to say it. Not when she saw Markus like this, obviously missing the two, but still pushing on and wishing for them to be happy, even if it’s at his own loss.

Instead, she chose to make a different remark that had been sitting on her mind. “You seem to think an awful lot of her.”

“Indeed. After all, there is a reason why I’ve promoted her to take my place.”

Luna took a hoof up to her chin, mimicking Markus’s signature thinking pose. “Oh really? I thought it was because she is such a pretty mare.” She joked.

“Pfff, yeah, sure, as if I’d ever cheat on my two wonderful mares.” Markus said. “But as far as I know she’s still single, if you’re interested.”

---

“Achoo!” Mystic sneezed, as she and Bulkhead sat together in the park close to the hospital.

“Bless you. I hope you aren’t getting a cold, are you?” Bulkhead asked her, as she took a hoofkerchief and wiped her nose.

“Oh, no, I’m okay. It’s just a little chilly, that’s all.” She answered.

“Ah, that’s a relief. Anyways, what was it that you wanted to talk about?”

Mystic suddenly found that the temperature around her was rising and she couldn’t hold her legs still anymore. She shifted a little awkwardly in place, trying to find a more comfortable position.

It was true that she had come to Bulkhead to tell him something, but now that the moment was there, she found it immensely more difficult than she had imagined.

“Euh, yeah, there was something I wanted to talk about.” She took a deep breath, trying to steel her nerves. Honestly, Bulkhead was the one who brought it up first, so why was she so nervous about it?

“A-about your confession, I…” She stammered. As soon as she mentioned his confession, Bulkhead turned round and looked at her, waiting for her answer.

“I… I… I think, I accept…” Mystic said quickly.

“Wohooo!!!” Bulkhead cheered, jumping out of his Wheelchair to dance a polka, though he was quickly reminded, why he had that Wheelchair in the first place. He landed in a heap on the ground, unable to lift himself up. He looked up at Mystic, who had both her hooves before her mouth in shock. “Euh… help?” He asked sheepishly.

Mystic couldn’t hold her laughter anymore. She started laughing loudly and Bulkhead joined in. The two laughed for a good while, before Mystic then gently lifted him back into his Wheelchair with her magic.

“Though… none of this lovey-dovey nickname stuff yet, okay? I’m just not ready for that yet.” Mystic determined. “A-and speaking of… ready…”

She blushed and quickly looked away. Bulkhead sighed and looked down to his hind legs. “Yeah, I can guess what you want to say. Honestly, given my situation, you’d probably have to do all the work by yourself anyways, so…”

“Y-yeah…” Mystic blushed even harder, though it wasn’t because of what Bulkhead had said. “B-but there is one thing, that I’d be ready for…”

“And that would be?” Bulkhead asked hopefully.

“Maybe… maybe you could… kiss me?”

“What?” Bulkhead asked out of surprise. Was she really already willing to kiss him? After all, that was a major step in a relationship!

“A… a kiss. Like… Like this.” She looked Bulkhead deep into the eyes and slowly began inching closer and Bulkhead did the same.

Their lips met in the middle and thus they shared the first kiss of their blooming love. They held it for a long while, both savoring the moment, before departing again. Mystic’s face was bright-red by now, but Bulkhead didn’t mind one bit. He found that she looked even prettier like that.

In content silence, Mystic and Bulkhead returned to his hospital room. Mystic bid her farewell and soon left, leaving Bulkhead alone. He wasn’t sad that he was alone again, though. After all, he now had even more of a reason to look forward to her next visit…

Author's Notes:

New chapterrrrrrrrr, YEAH!

And no new chapter next week......... yeah... the second dreaded week has come... welp, the chapter after that wll be fun, though, so look forward to that ^^

Ch56: ...'Cause I Won't.

‘I am happy, as long as they are’… truly a very noble thing to say. Putting the well-being of others before your own is something only very few beings manage to do. It was truly a very beautiful mask to use in order to hide the ugly face that may slumber beneath.

Unfortunately, even the most sophisticated ornaments and most beautiful of colorations couldn’t change what it truly was: A mask and Markus knew that only too well.

‘I am happy, as long as they are’… what a load of bullshit. Of course, he desired nothing more than to reveal himself to the two beings in this world he truly cared for. He knew that they were pregnant and that having a child/foal, which will most likely be an alicorn, can be quite stressful, but he wouldn’t have joined the army if he was afraid of a little stress, now would he?

And yet, even though it was his greatest desire to see them again, he still sat in that damned Gryphon Capitol, chasing a phantom that normally wouldn’t even have been his problem, only because he needed something to concentrate on in order to suppress his true emotions. And now, due to this decision, both of his loves were to be married to someone else.

Markus growled in anger. The thought of their wedding brought forth a kind of anger that he had never felt before, only amplified by the fact that the day of this tragedy had arrived. Throughout the whole day, he could feel it banging in the back of his mind, demanding to be set free. The anger, the jealousy, the primal instinct to fight for his females.

He needed a way to vent his anger and he quickly decided that the thug, who was guarding the warehouse in front of him, would be an ideal target for that.

The Gryphon flew through the gates and took them with him inside the warehouse and Markus followed him in.

“Greetings, dear thugs. I hereby pronounce this hideout found and cleared, anyone who wishes to surrender shall do so now, everyone who tries to escape will be hunted down and brought to justice immediately.” He rattled down without much enthusiasm. The first few times of busting these hideouts might have been exhilarating, but after doing the same thing for 30 times in a row, he found it to be quite monotone. He would always first eliminate the guard in front in one way or another, before he just went in through the front door and took care of the rest.

However, this time, something was different. Something, which immediately caused him to stop after he passed the dust cloud at the entrance.

The warehouse was indeed filled with criminals, like all those times before. However, this time it weren’t Gryphons, but Ponies and looking around through the crowd, he found that all of them were wearing a very familiar white frock with a red crescent moon imprinted on them.

Suddenly, his anger, which had barely been relieved from the little thug outside, came back to the forefront of his thoughts. How could it be? Hadn’t he personally made sure that their leader was vaporized? Was all he had done thus far been for naught?

“Though, on second thought, I might make an exception. Today, no one will be kept alive.” He determined loudly, before quickly dashing into their midst.

Without waiting for a reaction, he began slicing his way through the group, killing many before anyone even found it in themselves to grasp what was happening and those few who did only barely made it in time, before death was upon them as well.

He cut his way through the whole group in barely any time, leaving only one pony at the very end of the crowd. It was a Pegasus stallion, who, judging by the different coloration of his frock must have held some sort of a higher position within the cult.

Markus made his way towards him. He had no intention in sparing this one’s life, however, given that he might hold some kind of authority, he wanted to gather some information before he sent this one into the eternal torment that hopefully awaited him.

“Ah, I see the cursed sun’s lapdog has finally found us.” The Pegasus said. “Well, too bad. However, there are many more of us out there. You will never get us all. The Bloodmoon will live forever and our goddess shall reign supreme!”

He rambled on, spewing zealous paroles without taking any time for breathing, his voice growing more insane-sounding by the second, until he suddenly whipped out a knife from under his frock and slammed it towards his own throat. However, before it could even come close, it was caught by a black aura.

“As much as I’d love to see you die right now, I cannot allow it just yet.” Markus said. “So… tell me what you’re up to and I’ll give you a quick and painless death. If you don’t, then I’ll use you as a means to vent my anger. I will take my time, slowly beating the life out of you and then letting you recover, just so I can do it again.”

“Ha! As if a loyal servant like me would be intimidated by such meager threats! I am more than willing to suffer eternal torment for our ultimate goal! After all, we cannot be stopped anymore. At this very moment, one of our kin is claiming the youngest princess for his own and there is nothing you can do against it!”

Markus made a fast step forwards, bringing him directly into the other stallion’s face. “What do you mean, ‘take her for his own’? What have you done to her?!”

The stallion cackled madly under Markus’s threatening gaze. “Hehehe, oh, don’t you know? The extradimensional Hero, Markus Becker, has returned, only… that it isn’t really him! Oh, what do you say now, governor? Now that you see the end of Equestria coming closer? HAHAHAHAHAHAA—Chrrk”

The stallion’s body fell limp, as one last, nerve-racking sound escaped his body. His head was slowly turned around, twisting and breaking his neck and spine. Markus, meanwhile, was staring straight ahead with his eyes wide in disbelief.

Twilight and Rainbow were being wed to a member of the Bloodmoon? But how?! Hadn’t he personally seen to their destruction? Hadn’t he done everything to ensure this threat was dealt with? Apparently, it wasn’t enough, as the cultists he had just dealt with were definitely real.

He had fucked up and he needed to fix it. And so, without really thinking about it, he sped off towards Equestria. That day, a myth sprang forth between the airborne citizens of Equestria, that on the evening of the young princess’s wedding, a black orb with a black smoke trail was seen flying towards Ponyville, with a speed unmatched even by the legendary Rainbow Dash.

---

Only seconds before his arrival did it appear to Markus that he could not just appear in his usual disguise, as he was reportedly in the Gryphon Republic right now. He needed another form, so he quickly took the first one that came to mind. After all, there was no time for long thinking, as when he arrived, he could already hear Mayor Mare read out the dreadful words. “… you may kiss the bride.”

Quickly, Markus lunged forwards and slammed the doors open and took in the sight before him. His head filled with fury, as he saw that not only was this fake about to kiss Twilight, but also that Rainbow was standing off to the side, which could only mean… that she wasn’t included.

The pain she must have suffered through for this fuelled Markus’s rage even more, to the point where the one word that hung on his tongue was no longer just spoken, but projected directly into the air around him.

“Impostor!”

He shouted with a low, booming voice that shook the very foundations of the Town Hall. Twilight, as well as the fake were looking at him with fear-struck eyes and the rest of the attending audience did the same.

Markus, meanwhile was only now made aware of what his outbreak had caused him to do.

“I have revealed my existence now… Oh lord. Well, at least they don’t know yet, that I am the real Markus… Now, just play it Royal, Markus. Slow steps, regal posture, you can do it!”

Markus thought, as he slowly stepped along the red carpet. Though, what may have looked like a royal gait was actually just Markus trying to not royally faceplant himself. After all, he had spent most of his pony-time with the shorter legs of his disguise, so switching back to the large alicorn-form now had put him a bit off-balance.

Twilight’s friends, as well as Shining Armor and Mystic meanwhile stepped in to block Markus’s path, excluding Rainbow, who was still standing beside Twilight and placed herself directly in front of her.

Markus stopped in front of the pony-barricade and leaned down to Shining Armor, who was standing slightly before the rest of them. He would have normally been proud of his former student, to take stance in such a dreadful situation. However, with it being directed against him, he found this defiance to be just annoying. Yet, just beating him down now would only serve to make everypony afraid of him and thus ruin every chance of reuniting with his beloved.

“So… You are willing to stand before me to protect your loved ones, even though the cold grasp of fear is already becoming visible in your faces?” He said. “A chivalrous act, it is indeed, however you need not fear me, for I do not intend on harming anypony present.” Markus said this in a similar way he had, when he entered, by directly projecting his voice into the air around him. He was actually quite surprised to hear the quite old and somehow wise sounding voice.

“AnyPONY present? What about the human in the room?” Shining replied defiantly, trying to mask his fear.

Markus briefly looked over to the impostor, before he gave his answer. “Unfortunately, I have to confirm that he is indeed my target.”

“In that case I am very sorry, but I can’t let you pass.” Shining Armor said.

It was an answer that Markus had expected to come, yet had hoped not to. However, he had come here for a reason and his fury-filled mind would find no peace until he knew the vile being that dared standing beside his beloved to have joined the ranks of his newly acquired realm.

“That is indeed unfortunate for you, as with that, you have become obstacles and thus need to be removed.” He said, while he extended his wings and placed them directly in the middle of the group before him.

“AN ALICORN?!” Cadence shouted in disbelief.

Markus then forced his wings apart in a single, powerful push. Multiple surprised yelps could be heard, as the defenders were flung to the sides, onto tables, chairs and other ponies. Meanwhile, Markus continued onwards, until he came to the next line of defence.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood defiantly before him in the same way their sisters did previously.

“I’m sorry, but we can’t let you through! Cutie Mark Crusaders Defenders, YAY!” They shouted, pronouncing the ‘yay’ somewhere between a cheer and a war cry.

The adorability of the whole act was almost enough to convince him to turn around. However, when he looked back at Twilight standing in front of him, his resolve was strengthened anew. He couldn’t stop now, not with Twilight and Rainbow being only a few meters away.

“That is truly a noble endeavour. Facing an enemy that is clearly superior to save those, one cares about is truly an act one can take pride in.” He said to the fillies. “However, the days in which you can do so effectively, are still part of the future.”

He moved on, stepping over the three fillies and further closing in on the stage at the end of the room. Now, it was the princesses’ turn to protect their subjects. Celestia, Luna and Cadence placed themselves directly in front the fifth alicorn and blocked his path.

“Cease your actions, villain! I will not allow you to harm my little ponies!” Celestia said.

Markus stopped before her and looked at her with bemusement. He hadn’t expected her to understand his intentions, especially given that he hadn’t told her about his discovery yet. However, he still felt slightly betrayed by this obvious show of defiance, so he chose to make his intentions clear, without alerting the other attendants.

“Oh, dear Celestia, you should know that even you are not enough to hinder me in my objective. However, you may be at ease, for I do not plan on performing villainous deeds.”

With that said, Markus utilized his new form, by suddenly de-materializing into an orb of black mist and quickly slipping past the three Alicorns, before re-materializing directly in front of the stage, atop which the fake and Twilight still stood with Rainbow directly in front of them as their last line of defence.

“You will not get past me!” Rainbow said determined.

He looked at her for a moment. He saw that, now that he was closer, her belly actually did show already, the sight of which momentarily lessening his anger. That is, until he looked up to the fake again and found something that deeply shocked him. In all honesty, it was likely only a minor detail, but did he really leave such a fleeting memory that they would miss such an obvious thing in such an obvious place? Or was it maybe… that they were so desperate to see him again that they simply ignored it?

The last thought managed to momentarily quench his anger and instead filled him with a very odd kind of joy. Something that felt like grief and joy combined.

“Rainbow Dash, please, for the sake of your foal, step out of the way.” He said, but Rainbow didn’t budge. He leaned down to her and said in a slightly less commanding voice: ”Rainbow Dash, please, listen to your heart. Is this truly the man, who holds your loyalty as a marefriend and future wife? He, who has abandoned you, what the original would never do? He, who, for the one he claims to be, has a distinct lack of a scar in his face?”

Rainbow and Twilight both gasped and looked up, where they could indeed find no scar in the face of the groom. Markus also looked up to the fake and prepared himself, for the moment had come to bring this whole act to an end.

“Be assured that today, I am not here to harm innocent ponies, but bring judgement upon the filthiest of traitors.”

He pulled the same trick he had used on Celestia again and placed himself directly behind the fake. From there, Markus lashed out his hind legs in a powerful kick that sent him flying across the room. He reached the door, where he hit his head on the top of the doorframe, jerking his head back from the impact. A loud ‘snap’ became audible, as through the force of the impact, his spine was severed.

“NO!!” Twilight screamed, seeing her love die for a second time. She turned around, blasting the real Markus with everything she had. Markus, in turn, used his magic to create a dome-shield around him, which first dispersed the magic over a larger area, before harmlessly bleeding it back into the natural magic cycle.

Markus then looked over to Twilight and, for the first time, saw her pained expression. It wasn’t mere pain that she was feeling. She had long passed the margins that mere pain could express. Her whole psyche seemed to be in shambles at that moment, only held together by a single thing that Markus had also felt just a few moments ago.

Rage.

A blistering, mind-consuming rage that Markus could feel being directed at him. It was an expression that made him feel guilty beyond comparison. After all, he was the one, who put her into this position in the first place. He was the one, who killed the one she thought to be him before her eyes… and he was the one, who had put her up to all this in the first place, by denying her the truth of his resurrection…

“Twilight Sparkle, have you yet not caught on? This man has never been the one you had loved.” Markus said, before de-materializing into an orb again and flying across the room. He re-materialized next to the corpse of the wannabe-Markus. “He was just some filthy traitor, trying to make use of you by impersonating the man you loved most.”

He touched his horn to the corpse and it momentarily flared to life with magic, before the corpse began to rapidly deteriorate. The skin peeled away like pieces of burnt paper, revealing another form underneath. It was a unicorn stallion with a grey coat and black mane, who wore a distinct white frock with a crest of a crimson moon printed onto it.

Twilight slumped at this revelation. She had known. Deep inside, there was something poking at the back of her mind this whole time. Yet, her hopes caused her to ignore the feeling, to indulge fully into the faked image that was presented to her.

Markus looked at her again. She looked weak, physically as well as mentally. She had just suffered the same amount of pain that Markus had been subjected to all those years ago and realizing that he was the one at fault for this made him feel just outright awful and thus, he made a decision.

“I truly am sorry to have ruined such a grand day for you, Twilight Sparkle.” Said Markus, bowing down to the corpse. “However, do not fret, for your rightful husband will return…” He said, while opening his mouth, grabbing the corpse with it and then looking back to Twilight one last time. “…in one year.” He then de-materialized again, before he flew out through the doors, leaving the befuddled ponies behind.

---

A few minutes later, Markus sat in his room in the Royal Palace, with the cultist’s corpse lying directly in front of him. He was deep in thought, when Luna suddenly entered and immediately spoke.

“So, I see you have finally decided to show yourself to Twilight and Rainbow Dash?”

“Yes… and no.” Markus answered, which Luna quite obviously didn’t find funny.

“What do you mean, ‘yes and no’? Markus, are you going to start this nonsense all over again?! Let me tell you: I have tolerated your ‘happy when they’re happy’-excuse only because you seemed to be in a rare state of disarray. Don’t you see the amount of suffering you’ve caused with this?!”

Markus was silent for a moment, wiping his face with a hand, before he sighed and stood up.

“Yes, I know, Luna. I actually knew all along and yet, there was something that was stronger within me. You see: I was never that strong, socially speaking. I have my issues, believe it or not, and social interactions are a very prominent one. When you and Celestia resurrected me, I had to readjust to a multitude of things that were new to me. New powers, new duties… and a new body. I had to question myself and, subsequently, came to question my relation with Twilight and Rainbow. Would they still accept me after these changes? After all, I have literally become death incarnate.”

“But that is just nonsense! You know that they deeply love you and that they would always accept you, no matter which shape you take!” Luna quickly interrupted, working herself up again.

“Yes, I have come to see that today. I have seen how they truly missed me all this time and I have felt terrible about it, which is why I have decided to return. Just… not yet.”

“Yes, I’ve heard. In one year, you said, but why? Why make them wait if you could reveal yourself right now and finally end their suffering?” Luna asked, her temper slowly dying down.

“Because there is something I need to take care of first.” Markus said, gesturing to the dead cultist. “You see: If I were to reveal myself right now, these cultists would likely be up for revenge. They have shown today that they know how close I am to Twilight and Rainbow, so it is reasonable to presume that they would use them to hurt me… which could include hurting them, which I would like to avoid.”

“But if that’s the case, then wouldn’t it have been better to just tell them that you were alive without the one year?”

“Indeed. The thing is that I also wanted to lessen their pain a bit and at the same time give them some hope. With the one year, I have given them hope, as well as given myself a time limit. I have one year to completely erase the Bloodmoon cult before I show myself. If I don’t manage to do so by then, I will show myself anyways and ask Twilight, Rainbow and their friends, as well as Mystic for their help. With them, we should be able to complete my goal, presuming that I will have gathered at least some intel on them by then.” Markus explained.

“In all honesty, to me this sounds like and elaborate plan for revenge.” Luna mused aloud. Markus didn’t seem to be bothered by it though, instead choosing to gently smile at her.

“You don’t need to worry about that, Luna. I am not out for revenge, as much as I am out for the safety of Rainbow and Twilight and, by extention, the whole of Equestria. You can trust me fully in this regard, after all… old me is back.”

Ch56.5: Tactics and Strategies

With the wedding-crisis averted and the culprits identified, Celestia, Luna and Markus met up in his room to discuss their further steps. Though… actually it was Markus telling them his plan more than an actual discussion.

“So… you accept the title of prince?” Celestia asked. She had already expected him to agree. After all, both in the case that he wanted to harm and benefit Equestria, a position of power was only beneficial to his cause.

“Indeed. And I would like to place the date of the coronation on the 2^nd of February, if you don’t mind.” Markus told her, while scratching his chin. True to his nature as a strategist, he was already planning far ahead, way farther than one would normally do.

“No, I don’t mind… Though I am curious, why exactly that day?”

“Because it’s my birthday.”

Both, Celestia and Luna, blinked at that statement. “Your birthday?” Luna asked slightly stupified. “Huh, I thought you weren’t one to really celebrate birthdays.”

“Quite a correct assessment.”

“Then… why did you choose your birthday for the coronation?” Celestia pressed.

“Because of Pinkie Pie.” He replied shortly. However, when it became obvious that this answer wasn`t enough, Markus went to elaborate. “Pinkie somehow has the ability to sense uncelebrated birthdays. I don’t know if that ability is bound to any factors that may limit it, but what I do know is that Rainbow, Twilight and Pinkie know my birthday and that they could get suspicious.”

Luna and Celestia gave a long nod of understanding, before deciding to switch topics.

“Alright, but what about the cult? You said that you were going to actively fight the cult, but how were you planning to do that while you are still acting as governor of the Gryphon Republic?” Luna asked.

“Well, I could just revoke his position and assign a new governor, so that wouldn’t be a problem.” Celestia said.

“Actually, there’s no need for that.” Markus said back. “I am capable of travelling between Equestria and the Republic in merely a few minutes and the position of governor there actually still holds a bit of importance to me. Truth be told, I have found a cell of the Bloodmoon within the Gryphon capitol, so I’d like to watch them a little longer, maybe even comb through their nobility…”

He suddenly stood up and moved to the middle of the room, where there was sufficient space to all sides.

“And there is also something else that needs to be addressed…”

Black mist swirled around him, covering him completely and when it finally dissipated, where Markus stood before now stood a being of similar height, but its shoulders were a good bit smaller. It was clad in a black long coat with fitting black boots and pants. On his head, he wore a black, wide-brimmed hat and in his face, there sat a white bird mask, with two reptilian eyes looking through from behind it.

Markus looked himself over, before turning back to the two alicorns.

“How do I look?” He asked, to which Luna just flatly replied:

“Like you’re wearing an elaborate Nightmare Night costume.”

“Oh, har har. Well, it’s not meant to be attractive or anything of that sort. I just want to be able to fight bipedal without risking being found out immediately.”

“So basically another game of hiding on your side.” Luna pointed out.

“Not necessarily, no. After all, I am going to show myself, just not as Markus. Like I already said, I am going to wait another year until I reveal myself and I intend on holding true to that.”

“Alright, if you say so… but I will personally enforce that promise, just so you know it!” She told him with a smirk, to which he just gave a short laugh and turned away.

“Setting your promise aside, is there anything you would want us to do in the meantime?” Celestia asked.

“Actually yes, there is something: I actually wanted to ask you to look into the impostor. Maybe you can find something that might be useful. Known connections to criminal organizations and the likes.” Markus told her.

“I will see what I can do.” Celestia said and after Markus gave some final instructions to Luna, the meeting was concluded and the two Princesses left the room, leaving Markus alone.

“Alright.” He thought to himself. “Time to slay some cultists… again.”

Author's Notes:

Yep, short one. Not because of a lack of time though, but simply because there really wasn't much more planned for the chapter and I didn't want to bore you out with this stuff for too long...

CH57: A Belated Heath's Warming Present

Silence. The most dreadful thing that could possibly be heard. Only a moment ago, the halls were filled with the sounds of fighting and the screams of ponies being slaughtered, but now… silence.

The ritual had almost been finished. They were so close! And yet, only moments before the spells could be cast, the door had burst open and their whole hideout was suddenly engulfed in carnage and bloodshed.

Cannon Fodder was leaning against a pillar, her dagger in hoof. She knew that one day she would definitely meet a cruel demise. Heck, her name literally was Cannon Fodder! Still, she had hoped that she would at least find her end in battle, alongside the rightful ruler of Equestria, fighting to undo the injustice that had been done upon her.

She glanced around the pillar and there she saw it. The bipedal being that had slaughtered her brothers and sisters, which now lay on the ground, their once-white frocks now stained red with blood.

Cannon Fodder retreated back behind her pillar. She was breathing quickly, almost hyperventilating. Had she only fought alongside the others, maybe she was the one pony that would have turned the tide? No, she couldn’t think about ‘What ifs’ now! Now, she had to-

Oh no, he was gone! Where did he go?! She didn’t hear steps or anything for that matter! She quickly pulled back behind her pillar, the dagger clutched tight between her hooves, when she noticed a shadow beside her, that wasn’t there before.

“Indecisiveness on the battlefield will inadvertently lead to your death.” Suddenly spoke a synthetic and hollow sounding voice beside her.

Cannon Fodder only barely had enough time to turn her head and utter a confused ‘Huh?’ before she felt something penetrate between her right shoulder and her neck. A searing pain flooded her mind, as she saw one of the ritual knives being thrust into her. A red stain of blood formed itself around the blade, as it was thrust deeper inside of her.

She didn’t scream. The shock prevented her from it. All she could do was watch, as her, now unresponsive body slowly tilted forwards and slumped to the ground. Breathing became a difficult and laborious task and the pain dulled down, as she saw her whole life replay itself before her mind’s eye.

From the corner of her fading vision, she saw the creature that had killed her step from the shadows and gaze down at her, with a look that almost seemed pitiful.

Right in that moment, she was at peace. She didn’t know why and she didn’t know how. It was, as if this very creature held the sole right to kill as it pleased and as the black walls that confined her vision crept closer, her thoughts drifted to the one pony she could think of that was worth this sacrifice. The one, whom she had devoted her life to and whom she would do everything for and with these last thoughts in mind, she took her last bit of consciousness and uttered one last name.

“P-Princess… Luna…” And her vision faded to black.

---

Markus stood beside the mare he had just downed, looking at her. She had blacked out only seconds after he had stabbed her, but her body was still alive, mobilizing every last bit of energy to keep itself running. And yet, it was a futile effort. He had cut through one of her arteries, so without any medical help she will die of bloodloss within the minute. Still, Markus wasn’t one to let his enemies suffer, so he took the knife once again and aligned it with her neck, preparing to give her the coup de grace.

“WAIT!” Suddenly sounded Luna’s voice behind him.

Luna quickly rushed beside him and cast a quick healing spell on the mare, healing and stabilizing her. Markus, still in his disguise, looked at Luna with a questioning gaze.

“And why should I wait? Have you taken pity on this particular one just because her last words were your name?”

“Well… yes. But before you say any more, I shall point out that the last words a pony speaks are of great importance, not only for those listening, but for the ones saying them as well.” She looked down at the unconscious mare, lowering her tone a bit. “This mare chose to say my name as her last words. She must hold me dear in some way. Maybe, she can still be redeemed?”

Luna looked back up to Markus with pleading eyes, but her words seemed to have had little effect on his opinion. He still seemed hell-bent on eradicating every single cultist he would see.

“Markus, please come to your senses! If you were to just go out there and kill without mercy, you would be not a bit better than them!”

“So be it.” Markus said. “If that’s what’s necessary to avoid what has happened to my world, then I’ll gladly become the bad guy.”

“It is true that sometimes it is necessary, but not now! She has shown that she still has faith in us, which makes her one of our ponies and you know that we would never let one of our ponies die before our eyes!”

A few tense, silent seconds ticked by, before Markus broke the silence. “Fine. If you say that she is one of yours then I no longer have a reason to kill her.” He turned around and walked to the middle of the room again, where he took a corner and went into a smaller room off to the side, where a familiar amulet sat on a pedestal.

“The alicorn amulet?” Luna asked to no one, as she followed Markus.

“It would seem so. Apparently, it has found its way into the wrong hooves yet again. We should take it with us and hide it properly this time.” Markus said.

“Indeed, but where would that be? It would need to be a place, where its dark magic could not be detected as easily and preferably, where it’s guarded.”

“I think I know a place that meets those requirements.”

Markus took the amulet and its container under his arm and left the room. He took the still unconscious mare under his other arm and, together with Luna, then left the hideout.

---

Markus had successfully snuck into Twilight’s castle undetected and made it into the map room. He carved a small hole into the map table’s base, one which was barely large enough to squeeze the amulet with its container in and seal it again without leaving much of a trace.

He had chosen this place mainly because he hoped that the powerful harmonic energies from the table were enough to shroud the amulet’s darkness and because he knew that it was well-guarded in there, with his company being around and such.

Just as he re-sealed the hole, however, he heard steps and voices outside, coming for the map room. He panicked and quickly forced the magic out of the chandelier, in the hopes that he wouldn’t be noticed in the darkness.

The doors swung open, revealing four mares he very well recognized. Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Twilight stood in the doorway and looked into the dark room.

“Huh, that’s strange.” Twilight said absentmindedly, as she made her way into the middle of the room, where she gave a short pulse of her magic, which ignited the crystals yet again.

As soon as the lights were on again, Markus was – of course – immediately spotted by the other three, causing them to immediately fall into fearful shudders.

“So, now, as you can see, it’s not even… ac… tive?” Twilight trailed off, as she saw her friends standing in the entrance and shaking in fear. Rainbow was pointing somewhere directly behind her and when Twilight followed the point, she nearly went into early labour as she laid eyes on what it was that caused her friend’s reaction.

“Oh, great… Well, as much as I’d like to just hug her fears away, I’ve got to keep up the role for now…”

“Greetings.” He said.

Twilight recoiled, scooting back on her rump, trying to gain distance to him. It hurt Markus to see this, but he kept going on anyways, knowing that she couldn’t know that he was standing before her.

“Oh my. There is no need for such a reaction. I am not here to harm.”

“W-W-What – w-who are you?” Twilight stammered.

“I am but a messenger. I was sent by my master to deliver a message.” He answered.

“W-who is your m-master?” Rainbow asked.

“Oh, you have met him already. He was a… special guest. At your wedding.”

“Special guest? He… He might not have been a red Alicorn, has he?” Twilight asked.

“A red alicorn? Hm… yes, that was certainly him.”

Applejack abruptly came out of her stupor with a slight outbreak of anger. “So yer working fer this varmint that shoved us harder than ah can applebuck mah trees? Ah swear, if ah get mah hooves on him again, I’ll-“

“AJ, please! I know that he did that, but it was only to rescue Twilight!” Rainbow tried to calm her.

“So… what’s the message?” Twilight asked tentatively.

“The message… is that my master has accepted the offer of your princesses.” Markus said, barely able to think of something in time before it would’ve become awkward.

“Offer? What offer did the princesses make to him?” Rarity asked.

“Why, they offered him a position of royalty, of course. Now, if you will excuse me, I have already stayed longer than my contract allows.”

Quickly seizing the moment, he made his way out of the room, but stopped when he remembered what he had heard them talking about outside of the doors. From what he could understand, Scootaloo and the CMC had gone missing. This was something that Markus could not ignore.

“Oh… and don’t worry about your sisters… I will inform my master about your problem and I am sure he will see to their safety… if they aren’t due yet.”

---

“So… why did we come here again?” Sweetie Belle asked, as she and Scootaloo followed Applebloom through the Everfree Forest.

“Ugh, how often do ah need t’ tell ya? Ah found somethin’ in there an’ ah need y’all t’ see it!” Applebloom answered in annoyance.

“But… euh, how did you find it anyways? I mean… we’re in the Everfree!” Scootaloo demanded, nervously looking around for threats.

“Ah’m gonna tell ya, when we’re there. Will be easier to explain that way.”

The three fillies moved on in silence through the snow-covered woods. It was the day after Hearth’s Warming Eve and all three fillies had received a rich helping of presents from their (foster)parents and older sisters. Though, with that in mind… when did Applebloom have time to slip away and find whatever she was going to show them?

They reached the Castle of the two Sisters and entered into its ruined corridors. Scootaloo and Sweetie still had no clue where they were going, while Applebloom seemed to navigate the hallways as if she had been here thousands of times.

She stopped in front of a wooden door and signalled her friends to come closer. “Look, behind this door is something absolutely AWESOME!” She said, lightly pushing against the door and opening it only a small crack. “Go on, Look!”

Scoots and Sweetie looked at each other nervously, before opening the door wider and stepping inside.

“Euh, Applebloom… there`s noth- OOF!”

Suddenly, they both felt a kick into their hindquarters, sending them falling forwards into the room. The door slammed shut and they heard the metallic squeaking of a bolt being locked.

The two fillies found themselves trapped in absolute darkness, with only a cold stone floor beneath them and the chilly air around them.

“Ow… Scootaloo, are you okay?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“Ugh… no… I landed directly on a pile of… rocks or bricks or something.”

“Sweetie Belle? Scootaloo?!” Suddenly a familiar voice asked from the darkness.

“Applebloom?!” the other two replied in unison.

“But… How? Didn’t you just lead us in here a moment ago?” Scootaloo asked in confusion.

“No, Ah thought Sweetie wanted t’ show me something and then she kicked me inta here!”

A moment of silence ensued. If they could’ve seen each other at that moment, they would’ve seen each other deadpanning.

“We were tricked, weren’t we?” Sweetie Belle said what everypony was thinking.

“Yep.” Replied Applebloom and Scootaloo.

“Well… that’s just great! What better way to spend hearth’s warming than to be imprisoned by… who are they anyways?” Sweetie rambled.

“Ah dunno. Ah think a heard a name though… Sugarcoat ah think it was?” Applebloom told her.

“Sugarcoat?!” Scootaloo immediately exclaimed. “Dash told me about her! She’s with the Bloodmoon!”

“Bloodmoon? What’s that have t’ do with anything?” Applebloom asked.

“Didn’t you hear? That cult that took over Canterlot?”

Both other fillies gasped. “What?! But wasn’t that cult destroyed when Markus… eh, you know…”

“Yeah…” Scootaloo confirmed glumly. “… Twilight and Dash were really upset about that one…”

“Our sisters!!” Applebloom exclaimed. “We need tah warn them!”

“And how do you think we should do that when we’re stuck down here?” Sweetie pointed out.

“Eh, don’t worry. I bet Mystic is already sending search parties out here. I bet they’ll find us any moment now!” Scootaloo assured.

“Great. More waiting.” Applebloom remarked sarcastically as she slumped down into a corner and did what she had done all day.

Hours went past without any sign of much happening, except the occasional steps in the hallway outside, which always had the fillies perking up in hope, only to realize that it was probably just another change of guards.

“So… when do ya think they’ll get here? Applebloom finally asked.

“I don’t know. Can’t be too long anymore. The castle should be an obvious place to look.” Scootaloo answered.

“If it’s so obvious, shouldn’t they already be here? It’s been hours!” Sweetie Belle commented.

“… Maybe we should try an escape?” Scootaloo thought aloud.

“Yeah… but how’re we gonna do that? We’re jus’ three fillies!” Applebloom pointed out.

A moment of silence followed, while Scootaloo tried to think of something.

“I think I have an idea.” She said after a while. “Applebloom, how good are you at bucking?”

A tense silence followed and one could hear Applebloom nervously shuffling about. “Uh, Ah don’ know why you want t’ know tha—“

“APPLEBUCKING, Applebloom! APPLEBUCKING!” Scootaloo quickly corrected, having her orange coat flush red for a moment.

“Oh… uh, ah think ah can buck pretty hard already. At least ah can make some apples fall down from th’ trees.”

“Uh… good enough, I guess?” Scootaloo said uncertainly.

“What’s the plan anyways?” Sweetie asked.

“Well, it’s simple. The door opens inwards, so when we make some noise in here and the guard peeks in, Applebloom’s gonna stand on the off side and buck the door, slam it into the guard and knock him out… hopefully.”

“Ah. Well, we can try…” Sweetie Belle said.

---

“HELP!!!” the prisoners screamed from inside the cell.

“Nopony’s gonna hear ya, lads. You’re fifty hooves underground, for moon’s sake!” The guard grumbled.

“HELP!!!! THERE’S SOMETHING INSIDE AND IT’S EAT—AAAAHHNNNNGGG!” He heard gurgling sounds and something falling to the ground inside and then… silence.

“What in the world is going on in there?!”

He quickly pushed the bolt aside and rushed through the door. However, the moment the door was fully open, it came flying back at him, slamming into his head.

“OW! WHAT THE BUCK?!” He screamed.

“Quick, Sweetie! Plan B!!!” Scootaloo screamed, throwing one of the bricks she had originally landed on into the air at the guard. Sweetie mustered as much magic as she could and accelerated the brick, slamming it directly into the guard’s muzzle and knocking him out.

“Wow… that worked.” Sweetie remarked in astonishment.

The three fillies stepped out of their cell and looked at each other, the corners of their mouths slowly creeping upwards, before they screamed together:

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS ESCAPEES, YAY!!!”

“The prisoners are escaping! Quick, get them!!” Suddenly somepony shouted from down the hall, which was quickly followed by the sounds of hooves coming towards them.

“Uh-oh.”

Scootaloo and her friends quickly turned and ran in the other direction, trying to somehow gain some distance to their pursuers.

They took sharp turns and somehow managed to hide in a room and let their pursuers run past them. Seizing the opportunity, they quickly ran in the other direction, somehow slipping past the other guards into the entrance hall, where they quickly rushed through the main doors.

The cold air of the winter night hit them like a slap to the face, but they pushed through anyways, as they could already hear hooves behind them again. They ran into the forest as quickly as they could, but the snow made it difficult to manoeuvre. The wind that was blowing into their faces didn’t make things easier either and soon, they even found themselves caught in a snowstorm! Scootaloo pressed on as much as she could, but she knew that if they didn’t reach Ponyville quickly, they would freeze to death out here.

Suddenly, she heard a thud behind her. She turned around and saw that Sweetie Belle had collapsed and was now lying in the snow, unconscious.

“Sweetie!” She called, before she heard Applebloom collapse as well. “Applebloom! Come on, we can’t rest now! We have to go on!” She shouted, even though she could already see the world swimming before her eyes.

“Scoots… ah… ah can’t walk anymore… ah’m… ah’m tired…” Applebloom’s eyes drifted closed and her breath became shallow.

“N-No… Applebloom… you can’t sleep now!” Scootaloo protested weakly, but her own legs betrayed her. “N-No! We… we have to… carry… on…”

She struggled as much as she could, but in the end, her fatigue won. She fell over onto her side, directly beside her friends. From the corner of her fading vision, she could see a set of red hooves approaching and so, she put her last remaining energy into a final plea.

“H-Help…”

---

“’If they aren’t due yet.’ What the hell was I thinking?!” Markus muttered to himself, as he and Luna were stalking through the snowstorm in the Everfree Forest. “That sounded as if I was planning on letting them die out here!”

“Maybe that was for the best. As much as we may hope, we cannot guarantee that we find their sisters.” Luna said from beside him. “Besides: didn’t you say that you were back to your old self? Because as far as I can remember, the old Markus was always calm.”

“Being calm and second-guessing myself are two different things, Luna. I have always been second-guessing almost everything I have done. If I hadn’t, I would’ve probably ended up like that idiot Pillbox, stubbornly ramming my head into a wall instead of just going around it.”

“True enough I guess. But still, I—“

“Shh.” Markus quickly silenced her. “I think I hear something!”

They both listened closely, and indeed, they could hear voices somewhere in front of them.

“Applebloom! Come on, we can’t rest now! We have to go on!”

“That’s Scootaloo!” Markus recognized, hurrying to get to her. He came to see her just as she, too, collapsed beside her friends and, just as he reached her side, he saw her eyes flutter shut, with a final plea from her.

“H-Help…”

“Yes! It’s them!”

Markus quickly wrapped them into the blanket he had brought along and placed them onto his back, shielding them from the snow with his wings. Meanwhile, Luna seemingly found interest in the hoofsteps they had left in the snow.

“Come on, let’s bring them back.” Markus said, turning around and heading back to Ponyville, however, Luna did not follow him.

“Luna? Are you coming?”

“Go ahead without me, I will go and see where these fillies have been in the first place.” She pointed in the direction where the fillies seemed to come from. “If my sense of direction serves me right, these hoofsteps should originate at our old castle. I want to know what they were doing there or rather, what it was that they were fleeing from.”

“Very well, but be careful, Luna. I know you are powerful and such, but that still doesn’t make you invincible.”

Luna smiled and rolled her eyes, walking off to back-track the trail while Markus made his way to Ponyville.

As soon as he left the Everfree, the snowstorm mysteriously disappeared, leaving only a light snowfall behind. He stepped through the snow, careful not to disturb the three fillies that were resting on his back.

He reached the front door of Twilight’s castle and knocked on it. Only a few seconds later, the door was opened and a very obviously pregnant Pegasus stood in the doorway.

“Princess Celestia?” Rainbow questioned, however recoiled as Markus answered.

“Unfortunately no, I am not.” He said in the deeper voice he had first utilized at the wedding.

He slowly stepped forward into the castle, while Rainbow retreated at the same pace. Behind her, the rest of the elements, as well as Mystic were filing into the entrance hall and seemed to go slightly rigid, when they spotted Markus.

“Good evening. I hope I do not come at an inconvenient time.” He said.

“Yeah, as if you could ever come at a convenient time.” Applejack hissed. “What’cha come ‘ere for? Tell us that our sisters are ‘due’?”

Seeing Applejack so hostile definitely hurt him, although not in the way that he felt insulted, but more that he could understand what she was going through. After all, he had already truly lost a sister and knew how that felt.

He strode further forward and placed himself directly in front of the group of mares. “There is no need to be so hostile, dear Applejack. Be assured that I have not come to tell you of the untimely demise of your sister. In fact, I have come to tell you quite the opposite.”

He stopped and retracted one of his wings, revealing the blanket on his back with the crusaders underneath. He angled his right wing downward, using it like a ramp on which the sleeping crusaders slid down to the ground. Immediately, their sleeping forms were greeted with tight embraces by their sisters/mother-in-law.

“After my servant has told me of their fate, I have sought out for their lifetimes and found that they indeed still have plenty of time left. As such, I went ahead and searched for them myself and I found them on the north-eastern edge of the Everfree. I do not claim to know their means to get there, but seeing the result, I doubt that this information is of importance.”

“Yeah… I-euh… thank you.” Twilight said. However, something seemed to be amiss, as she started looking downward and circling her hoof on the floor.

“There is no need to remain silent, Twilight Sparkle. If there is something that bothers you, then I am willing to listen.” Markus assured her.

Twilight breathed a small sigh. She looked up, hesitantly, but eventually, she began to speak. “The-The time of Markus’s return… the time those three have left… how come you know such things?”

Markus knew that this question would come sooner or later and so, he luckily already had a few answers stored in the back of his mind.

“Well… I’ve got to admit that I can’t seem to phrase it properly… Perhaps, showing you would be the better solution.”

He turned his side towards the group and then lifted his wing slightly, so that his flanks were freed of the feathery appendages. Beyond the black mass the ponies laid eyes upon his Cutie Mark for the first time and, of course, mildly misinterpreted it.

“So… you balance good and evil?” Twilight asked curiously.

“No… not quite. Albeit your formulation seems quite fitting, it is not good and evil that I balance, but life and death.” Markus corrected.

“A-ah…” Twilight didn’t seem like she had awaited such an answer and as such likely felt slightly unsettled, now that she’d heard it.

“Now, I think I’ve stolen enough of your time.” Markus said, before giving Twilight a respectful bow. “Farewell, Twilight Sparkle. We shall meet again.”

He turned around and went to leave the castle, but stopped when Twilight cried out to him. “Wait! You’ve never told us your name.”

“CRAP!” Markus thought “I’ve never thought of a name! Oh, come on… Latin! Yeah, I just take the Latin word for Death!”

Markus looked over his shoulder back at the group. “Indeed. That is because I do not carry a name. However, if you want me to tell you one, then I believe ‘Mortis’ to be quite fitting.”

Satisfied with his own answer, Markus left the Castle and, as soon as he was outside again, warped back to Canterlot Castle.

---

When Cannon Fodder awoke again, she found that the room she was in was brightly illuminated and that she was not lying on the cold ground, but in a soft and warm bed beneath an even softer and warmer blanket. She hesitantly cracked her eyes open a bit and saw what looked like a five-star hotel room, as far as she could tell.

“We see, thou art finally awake.” A calming voice said from beside her.

Cannon Fodder slowly turned her head over to the source, where she could barely make out a flowing mane that looked like the night sky. She ripped her eyes open fully, when she finally spotted the form of Princess Luna sitting beside the bed she lay in.

“P-Princess Luna!” she exclaimed, hastily trying to get out of bed to bow before her, but found herself held back by that same princess.

“Thou dost not need to bow before us. Thou needs to rest. Thy wounds have yet to heal fully.”

She looked at her upper body and indeed spotted bandages running over the cut at the base of her neck.

“You… You spared my life? But… why? I thought that I was meant to die.”

“’Tis true that the life of Cannon Fodder has ended back then.” Luna said.

Cannon Fodder did not understand what she was saying, however before she could ask, Luna continued. “The mare sitting before me no longer holds the name of ‘Cannon Fodder’. Instead, she now goes by the name of ‘Nightshade’, my personal servant.”

It took a moment, before her mind registered what had been said, but when it did, Nightshade’s eyes started to water. She held her muzzle, as tears of joy were flowing from the corners of her eyes.

“Princess, I… I…”

“However, let us tell you right away, that this gift has its price.”

Nightshade quickly gathered herself again, not willing to let this chance slip away. “O-Of course! You can have everything! My belongings, my life, m-my b-bo—“

“’Tis not some materiel payment that we seek.” Luna interrupted her. “Rather, we need information. Tell us: What is the goal of the Bloodmoon Cult?”

Nightshade let her head hang. She could’ve guessed that even with this new chance, her past sins wouldn’t be forgotten like that. Still, she was more than willing to seize the opportunity, to finally be by the side of her true goddess!

“The Bloodmoon’s goal…” She began. “It is to… bring back Nightmare Moon.”

Author's Notes:

Heya! Sorry for the long wait, I had a bit of stuff going on regarding CoVID. Building tents and all that crap they're using the army for these days. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter as much as I did and are tuned for the next.

ANNIVERSARY: The Story Of This Story

Heyyyyy, I noticed that I missed the anniversary of my own story! YAY, for fuck's sake. Anyways, I take this grand occasion and thank everyone who has accompanied me along this journey and to celebrate one year of Markus's shenanigans, I give you a.. somewhat different kind of story.

Once upon a time, I was me. 'Once upon a time' being fall 2019. Back then, I was going through my youtube recommendations for something to watch or listen to, when something caught my eye. It was a fanfic-reading for an MLP fanfic called 'Changeling Queen'. I've had many videos like that sitting around in my recommended section, so, at first, I paid it no mind. That is, until Autoplay decided that it was the perfect thing to listen to after some song I don't remember anymore.

The thing is: normally I would have just skipped the whole thing and gone on with my life, but... I was playing Stellaris with mah bois and didn't want to tab out and skip. And I'm glad that I didn't because, while I was subjugating aliens left and right, I listened to this fic and thought:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjUqUVrXclE

And before I knew it, I listened to more fanfic readings. Among others, I remember 'Scent', 'Queen Twilight Sparkle', 'Leviathan', 'Anonymous Letter to Celestia' and 'Johnny never knew what hit him' to be among my first and the list grew quickly, until I came across a single fic that would become one minor reading for me, but a major stepping stone for this story: 'My new life in Equestria'.

The thing with that fic, you see, was that - firstly - It was my first multi-part fanfic reading, and secondly, I had discovered that one doesn't need a hero or a villain to make a story worth the read. 'My new life in Equestria' solely focused on that one guy, who gets transported into Equestria and just... lives his life. And thus, I found the joy of the genre of 'Slice-of-Life' (Well, not really found, but it was the first time that I came to actually fully enjoy it).

Of course, as a boy with WAY too much boredom, I wasn't satisfied with simply listening to his story, but I wanted to be part of it and so, I imagined that I was part of the whole action. Why is that important to know? Well, you see, on one point, the protagonist faces off against King Sombra with the power of the Elements and wins the day. However, I imagined: 'What if I was there and he didn't win?' and my answer to that was: 'I would likely make myself a bomb and sacrifice myself to kill him... and then come back as an alicorn, because sacrificing myself has bound me to the aspects of life and death for some reason.'
Anyone get the feeling that this is familiar? Yes? Just wait, it gets even better, 'cause after that whole Sombra-shit, the protagonist goes ahead and marries Applejack. So far so good, but what if I appeared at that wedding in my new alicorn form and revealed some scheme or another? Again, sound familiar?

Now, as some of you might've noticed, by the time that all went down, I had yet to watch a single episode of MLP. That was to change, when the october holidays rolled around and I thought 'fuck it.' and binge-watched the whole series in less than a week. Just as a side.note: during that time, I was going through the officer exams and... failed. Frustratingly enough, I aced all the theoretical stuff and then crashed at the interview. It was also around that time that I found that site called 'fimfiction.net' -- Anyone know that site? Meh, dunno, what that's supposed to be either. -- and actually read a few fics myself for the first time.

Fast forward to early december 2019, I begin contemplating writing my own fic. the protagonist of that fic would be modeled after about half of my personality. Stoic, calm and level-headed... and a virgin. In addition to that, I also made it so that he was the same age as me, just a few years in the future, and that he accomplished what I had failed to do - becoming an officer. Ta-dah, Markus was born!

I took the fantasies I mentioned earlier and slapped them into the roadmap for that fic, but quickly noticed that I couldn't just let him die immediately after I put him in there, 'cause boring and stuff, so I made up a few things that he could do. The expedition to the north and the Pony-Gryphon war, that would ultimately lead to his death being among the first to come about. Of course, that required for him to hold command over a unit... a company maybe? And just for the fun of it, I let Celestia and Luna hate him at first, only for him to save Luna in an assassination attempt... or maybe just a kidnapping, we'll see.

The ideas kept coming and coming and thus, the 'Brave New World'-arc was born or, as I refer to it: "The longest exposition ever made, blyat!"

Fun fact: originally I estimated this whole fic to come out at around 20 chapters and 50k words... yeah, we've crossed that line a while ago...

Also: one thing was still missing. One thing, that by now has become such a major plot point int the story, that one probably wouldn't even think that, in the beginning, it wasn't even meant to be there. The Bloodmoon cult.
It wasn't until a comment from 'XBlaster' under the 4th chapter pointed out that Fluttershy was behaving out of character. Now, you see: I don't like to fiddle with the chapters that I've already written, so most of the time, I come up with something that may invalidate the criticism I get and/or add something like that into the next chapter and that was exactly what I did in this case.

Suddenly, I noticed that the addition of that cult not only could help with my current problem, but also help with other problems I had put on hold for now: Who would start the war? Who would try to kidnap Luna? Whom would Markus try to fight that whole time? The answer: The Bloodmoon cult.

Fast forward into late January 2020: A hacker hacked my friend's steam account, so I intelligently decided to mess with the hacker, so he decided to mess with my PC in return and made it go

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUl9NPPMx8s

So, without a PC to write on and - more importantly - the word document that I am still writing this fic in still sitting on my hard drive, I decided that I should take a forced break... or just start another fic that I could write in the meantime. Ta-dah, Homo Draconis was born! And I actually managed to (almost) finish it before my new PC arrived.

fast forward another few weeks and CoVID comes knockin at Germany's door, forcing us into lockdown and while the whole world was running around in circles, panicking and spreading the virus even furth, I went "Hmm, I am locked down now and manage to finish all that homeschooling stuff before I even eat breakfast... Hah, more time to write!" And so, I churned out chapters like crazy again and quickly came to notice one critical thing: I was writing faster than I could come up with new ideas...

Luckily, there was a solution to that too: I wrote another fic! It's called 'Curse of a Poet'. Never heard of it? Hah, no wonder it only got 116 views! And that even though it's completely rhymed. Like, even the descriptions are rhymed for flak's sake.

In all seriousness though, by the time I wrote tht fic, I had actually put E.TA on hold already. Why? Basic Training, 'cause I may have messed up my officer's carreer, but I joined the army anyways, 'cause fuck you, I'm going to keep annoying these guys, until I get my officer!

Anyways, due to corona, the first month of it was spent in homeoffice. Did I make use of that time by continuing E:TA? No. I wrote a sequel to Homo Draconis, which I dubbed 'Homo Draconis 2' - ♫Caaaan you feeeeel the creativity toniiiiight?♫ - and which simultaneously was my first time writing erotica... Nothing more to be said here, EXCEPT that I pre-wrote one chapter of E:TA shortly after I finished HD2, so I didn't need to find time to write during basic.

After basic, I sadly then had to tone down my schedule to one chapter per week, 'cause the barracks I'm in don't have internet. yay. that means, in order to upload a chapter, I have to come back home, which means travelling 2.5h by car and 4h by train. Needless to say, I can only do that during weekend leave.

But yeah, that's about it. Of course, there's also my current secondary project, 'That Time I conquered Equestria... As A Colt', but they have really nothing to do with each other, other than that it was probably a bad idea to write two fics in parallel, while working in the army... Meh.

So... that was it. Basically a 'behind the scenes', now that I look at it, of Equestria: The Afterlife. I wish you all a happy new year 2021. Stay safe and stay tuned!

Also, one thing I just noticed: I know it's likely just a coincidence, but one of the important locations in the new 'Cyberpunk 2077' game is a club called 'The Afterlife'. Truly pure coincidence? And what does Illuminati have to do with it?

CH58: The Shadow Guard

The day had finally come, when the mysterious alicorn called Mortis would become an official prince of Equestria. Markus was, of course, aware of what that meant for him, regarding his new public standing and that he would likely have to tread even more carefully than he did before, but he nevertheless was… happy that this day had finally come.

Sadly, it didn’t seem like everypony was as euphoric as he was. In truth, he had felt that in the month prior to this day, Celestia seemed… almost hostile towards him, as if she was actually completely opposed to the idea.

However, these thoughts were pushed aside, when he heard Celestia hold a short speech about the upcoming coronation. He quickly readied himself, before the doors finally swung open and he stepped in.

Contrary to Twilight on her coronation, he had chosen not to wear any special garments, instead treading along the red carpet in naught but his deep red coat, with his wings slightly extended up- and outwards in a display.

This was not purely for show, though. In truth, during his little incursion in Twilight’s wedding, he had found that his wings were of truly magnificent size. So magnificent in fact, that he barely fit through the narrow passage and while the passage during his coronation was much bigger, he nevertheless chose to take preventive actions.

What was visible in his display were only the tips of his wings. The rest of them were actually hidden away within the death realm, via two portals which he constantly held open at the base of his wings.

He reached the throne and lowered his head before Celestia, who then lifted up a crown from behind her throne. Said crown was of a simple, six-pointed design with multiple blue crystals embedded into its sides.

The princess put the crown onto his head. However, as soon as metal touched fur, the golden colour began to fade. A swirl of black mist surrounded the crown, until the gold and blue colours were gone and replaced by black metal and red crystals. A few gasps became audible from the audience, however Celestia remained unfazed. After all, Markus had already mentioned that something might happen, the crown being corrupted by his magic as soon as it left Celestia’s (literal) sphere of influence.

“I hereby present to you…” She declared, “the newest addition to equestrian royalty. This stallion shall henceforth be known as: Prince Mortis.”

This declaration immediately caused Blueblood to step in from somewhere off to the side. “WHAT?! PRINCE?! Aunt Celestia, I don’t think this is appropriate. I am the only true prince of Equestria!”

Celestia facehoofed at Blueblood’s tantrum, however the prince didn’t seem to notice. He went over to the Markus and looked him dead in the eye. “Listen, you wannabe-prince: I am the only one who may ever truly carry the title of prince, so I command you to step down immediately!”

Markus lifted his head and looked down on the prince. He then looked over to the princesses, scanning them seemingly in search for something. “I am sorry, but I fail to see the connection.”

Blueblood gave an upset gasp. “How dare you?! It is no question that I carry the same coat and mane colour as my aunt does!”

“That may be,” Markus agreed, “yet, every royal pony in this room seems to at least carry a horn. An appendage that seems to be amiss on your forehead.”

Blueblood was speechless. Mortis had just picked at his weakest spot. The wound he had sustained from his failed duel with Markus. The stump that had been left was already healing, true, but it was still multiple years away from becoming the once magnificent horn that once adorned the most beautiful head in all of Equestria.

Multiple loud gasps sounded from the attending nobility.

“He has insulted Prince Blueblood!”

“He has insulted the Prince!”

“How could somepony like him even become an alicorn?!”

“Why would Celestia ever choose somepony like him?!”

Suddenly, a barrage of various fruits and vegetables came flying from the audience. At first, Markus wondered where they had even taken these from, seeing as he could not recall seeing anypony in the room holding anything when he came in. However, he quickly pushed these questions aside, when he was done analysing the projectile’s flight path and saw that they were headed not at him, but at the princesses sitting in front of him.

Immediately he reacted, pulling his wings out of the portals he had stored them in and shielded the nine mares and one stallion, who stood before him. Although he didn’t show it, he definitely felt a bit of pride well up from within, when his actions caused Rainbow, Fluttershy and Cadence to instinctively mimic the pose.

“That is enough.” Celestia commanded. Markus respectfully bowed his head, before he tucked his wings back into the portals. “We have made our decision to accept him into equestrian royalty. You as the equestrian nobility are to accept and respect such a decision! Now, the ceremony shall continue!”

Following her order, the festivities went on. The princesses and the newly crowned prince left the throne room and made their way towards a balcony, from which one could oversee a large plaza, where seemingly all of Equestria was currently gathered to witness this event.

When he reached the end of the balcony, Markus put his wings on display again and, according to equestrian tradition, held a speech regarding his ascension. Of course, the way he had actually ascended was kept secret, so he had to make up a few pieces here and there, when he wrote this earlier.

The speech concluded with a display by the wonderbolts, after which Markus retreated himself back into the castle. Twilight went after him and called out to him just before he could round a corner.

“Prince Mortis!”

Markus turned around and faced his now VERY heavily pregnant marefriend. “Twilight, please, there is no need to address me with my title. After all, we are of the same standing.” He said, making Twilight give a sheepish smile.

“Ehehe, yes, I know… Uhm, Mortis, there is something I wanted to ask you…”

“Go ahead. I will answer any question you may have.”

“Euhm… I’ve been wondering… if you know the date of his return… do you know where he currently is? And if you do, could you please tell me?”

Markus stood silent for a moment, making Twilight gulp in discomfort. Of course, he knew where he was, he was standing right in front of her! But could he tell her? In truth, yes, he could, but as much as he wanted to, the risk of her coming to harm because of it was still too great for him to do so.

“Well, I do indeed know where Markus currently is. However, I may not tell you.”

“Oh… Why don’t you want to tell me?” Twilight asked in slight disappointment.

“It is not that I don’t want to tell you, dear Twilight. Rather, it is because Markus doesn’t wish to be found. All I can do, is repeat to you what I have told you once before, for your rightful husband truly will return… in eight months.”

It hurt him deeply to see the disappointment in Twilight’s eyes, but the ball was already rolling. Now, he had to finish what he started. With those last words exchanged, the newly crowned Prince Mortis resumed his path. He rounded the corner and vanished from sight.

Later that evening, when the Festivities were over, Markus met up with Celestia and Luna, now being able to freely roam the castle in his alicorn form without the need of a disguise. They took a short walk together, discussing the steps to come, when the topic of actually fighting the cult came up.

“I mean, finding these cultists is one thing, but we can’t just take out every single hideout alone, Mark— Mortis! We will need additional forces, or they might slip through our hooves!” Luna insisted.

“True, but I am hesitant to use the royal guard in this matter. Firstly because I want Shining Armor to be kept in the dark for a while longer and secondly because there might be traitors within our own lines.” Markus answered.

“So what do you propose? That we hire mercenaries?” Luna asked sarcastically.

“No, of course not.” Markus said, a smirk coming to his face, as he looked over to the night princess. “But I have a favour to ask of you.”

---

“And why in Equestria would he want you and the entire company to come to Canterlot?!” Twilight asked hysterically, as Mystic was standing in the doorway, about to depart.

“As I said, I don’t know. All I know is that I got orders to come to Canterlot, with all three platoons, and meet with this new ‘Prince Mortis’. I don’t know why. That stuff usually only reaches me when it’s too late, if it does at all.” Mystic lamented, rolling her eyes upwards and staring at the ceiling for a moment.

“B-But…” Twilight sighed. “It’s just… We’re both going into labour soon and I… what if you’re sent somewhere? After everything that happened, I’m not sure if I could feel safe anymore without your protection…”

Mystic raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What do you mean? I can’t remember anything all-too dangerous apart from that thing with the kids… And Tirek… And the impostor… Okay, I think I see your point.”

Mystic looked back down, where she noticed that her recalling of the past events hasn’t really eased Twilight’s mood. “But I’m sure that everything will be okay!” She said quickly. “I mean, there are laws for such stuff. Even if he’s a prince, he can’t just send us to somewhere without doing the proper paperwork first! And even if he does: You are a princess, you can just veto his decision.”

“Oh… yeah, I can… hehe, eh, sorry, those hormones are really driving me crazy lately.” Twilight admitted meekly.

“Oh, I can imagine. I’ve got to go now, or I’ll miss the train. See ya later!”

Mystic waved and departed, but not before Twilight lunged forwards and gave her a quick, friendly hug.

The train ride was uneventful, with most of the passengers being the soldiers of the 4^th FRC. When they reached Canterlot, Mystic put them into a parade formation, which she then led through the streets of the capitol, all the way up into the royal palace, where the prince was waiting.

Two royal guards were standing outside the throne room, when Mystic arrived. She gave a short salute to one of them, who saluted back and quickly opened the doors for her. On the other side, two further guards were waiting to close the doors, once she and the rest of the company were in. She let her soldiers form up behind her, while she went up to the throne to answer the prince’s call.

When she turned around and faced the prince for the first time, she froze for a moment. Looking upon him, sitting where her princesses would normally sit, he shared none of their known grace and benevolence. Instead, she felt another emotion that she hadn’t felt since the Gryphon war: genuine fear. But at the same time, she somehow felt protected. It was hard to describe and even harder to comprehend, so she chose to ignore that feeling altogether and instead focused on the task at hoof.

She took a few steps forward, before saluting and reporting: “Your highness Prince Mortis, Captain Mystic Gem and the 4^th Forward Reconnaissance Company reporting as ordered!”

“At ease, Captain.”

Mystic took her hoof to the ground again, adopting a more relaxed stance.

“I am certain that you are all wondering, why I have called you here.” He gestured the two guards who were still standing by the doors to leave and only continued when the doors audibly shut.

“I have called you here, because your unit, the 4^th Forward Reconnaissance Company will be disbanded.”

“WHAT?!” Mystic shot up, but was quickly silenced by the prince waving a hoof.

“All of the members of the former 4^th FRC are instead going to be transferred into a newly formed guard, called the ‘Shadow Guard’ and thus be placed under my direct command.”

“… Is this going to be a power-grab?” Mystic questioned tentatively.

“No, it is not.” The prince said sternly. “Although, I can’t deny that I plan on using you very soon.”

“Your highness, allow me to comment that, even if we’re bound by your orders, you can’t expect us to fully trust you yet.” Mystic commented without waiting for approval.

“Indeed, I do realize that you can’t just trust a new prince without knowing him.” The new prince said, while descending the stairs that led up to the throne. “But I know you would trust me.” He suddenly said with a much higher pitched voice. One that Mystic recognized immediately.

She watched with wide eyes, as black mist suddenly enveloped Prince Mortis and left a human she hadn’t seen for far too long in his place.

“Good evening, Mystic. It has been a while.” Markus said, as he now stood there in his normal, human form and his old uniform before Mystic and the rest of the newly formed Shadow Guard

“Uh… g-good evening, Captain.” Mystic stuttered in disbelief.

“Keep it together, Mystic! You can’t know for sure yet!” She berated herself, before pointing an accusing hoof at Markus.

“Wait, if you really are the Captain, you have to prove it first!” She demanded. “What was the first practical lesson you gave us?!”

Markus chuckled a little to himself. “It was a little game of hide and seek to introduce you to the concept of camouflage.”

As soon as the answer was given, the whole room erupted into cheers as the entire company, including Mystic, shouted: “YEEEEAAAAAH!!!! THE CAPTAIN LIVES! THE CAPTAIN LIVES!”

“Easy there. If you go any louder, you might break through the soundproofing spell.” Markus said with a chuckle.

“Eheh, yeah, sorry.” Mystic said sheepishly, after she calmed down. “Anyways, does that mean you’ll be leading us again?”

“Actually, to that, I’ve got something else to tell you.”

He took a step towards her and placed his hands on her shoulders, where she still wore his old rank markings. Two small clouds of black dust formed and when he pulled his hands away again, the three small stars were replaced by a single star, which sat atop two oak leaves which were bound in the middle and pointed to the sides.

“Captain Mystic Gem, in my power as a prince of Equestria, I hereby promote you to the rank of ‘Major’.” He said and saluted her.

Mystic looked at her shoulders in disbelief and then back at Markus, with her eyes wide and her mouth open. “I-I… but… how? I’m only a captain for half a year now. Aren’t there time restrictions to promotions?” She asked.

“Euh, yes, there are, but… Actually, now that I’m a prince, I am no longer allowed to be the leader of a military force, so I’ve decided that you would be perfect for it.” He said, rubbing the back of his head.

“Euh… but… is a major even allowed to lead a whole guard sub-division?” She asked almost drunkenly, her brain working overtime to process everything that was going on right now.

“Eh, no, which is why the Lt-Colonel is already pending, to be executed once the paperwork is through.”

That was the final straw that broke her. Her jaw hung open, her pupils dilated and her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of the water.

“But speaking of promotions: Nambs, Broom and Squeaks, to me!”

Three ‘Yes sir!’s came from the formation in the back, before three Privates quickly ran forward and formed a row, with the foremost, Nambs, saluting “Your Highness, Private First Cla-“

“At ease, private, no need for formalities right now.” Markus interrupted. “I must say, when I first met you three, I was not really impressed. You were sloppy, messy and were all around… not quite unfit, but definitely not up to my standard either. However, experience says that those who have a rough start can turn out to be true gems and that is exactly what happened here. You three did well and that calls to be rewarded. As far as I can see, there are still three free officer positions in the company. I hereby promote you three to corporals, with a recommendation for an officer career. I will arrange it so that if you choose to take it, you’ll just have to go to the academy next Monday and say your name.”

“Yes sir! Thank you, Sir!” Nambs thanked.

“No need. Actually, there’s one more thing for you. It’s an experiment I want to run on you. There are health risks involved, so you don’t have to agree, if you don’t want to.” Markus said.

“What kind of experiment, sir?” Broom asked.

“I want to try if I can infuse you with some of my magic. I know for a fact that harmonic magic and mine are incompatible. What I don’t know is what would happen, if both were to meet within a living body. Like I said, there are major health risks involved, but if my hypothesis is correct, you might just end up with some of my abilities.”

The three corporals shared a short glance, before looking back at Markus with determination.

“I’m in.” Nambs said.

“Me too!” Squeaks agreed.

“I also volunteer.” Broom said lastly.

“Splendid! We shall take the first step right now!” Markus said with excitement, as he changed forms back to his Alicorn Form. “Now, I need you three to hold your foreheads against my horn. I’ll do the rest.” He instructed, angling his head down, so they could reach.

They did as instructed and pressed their heads against the horn. A short surge of black mist passed between him and them and then a short moment of silence ensued.

The silence was abruptly broken, as all three backpedalled, screaming in anguish and pain. They rubbed their foreheads with their hooves, trying to lessen the pain a bit, but it didn’t work.

Their coat colours slowly paled and faded into grey and their eyes and mane started to grow darker in contrast, until, when their screaming finally ceased, no more colour could be found on those three ponies.

Markus stood to the side, back in his human form and with his eyes wide. “Woah… I expected side-effects, but I didn’t expect them to be so visible… well, I’m sorry but with that, I’ll have to treat you as a national secret, until—“

A sudden burst of black mist caught his attention and when he turned to look, he saw that the previously monochrome Corporal ‘Squeaks’ had now returned to colour.

“Wow, that worked!” She exclaimed.

“What worked?” Nambs asked.

“That transformation thingy! Just imagine your old coat colours and try pressing that image into your body or something… I don’t know how to explain, just try it!” Squeaks answered excitedly.

Nambs shrugged and closed his eyes. After a short moment, he also erupted in a cloud of black mist, before he, as well, had regained all his colours. “Huh, neat.”

And as Broom mimicked the other two, Markus stood there, open-mouthed. “Okay, I didn’t expect you to gain that ability, but huh… works too I guess? One last test though: imagine yourself standing behind me for a second and see what happens.”

The three did as he asked and the result was exactly as he predicted: The three suddenly evaporated, flew over and re-condensed behind him.

“Wow… well, that’s certainly something I can work with. I will keep you here for a while, though. You will be registered as my personal guard, so you don’t stand out too much.
Now one last thing: As my new personal guard, I will grant you new nicknames. These shall serve as your new, official names whenever I call for you and whenever you are otherwise on duty.” He said, walking up to the first in the line: Corporal ‘Nambs’. “Nambs, henceforth, you shall be called ‘Shadow’…”

Next in line was Broom “And Broom, you shall be called ‘Night’…”

And lastly… “Squeaks, your new name will be ‘Darkness’.”

“Eh… is it just me or do these names sound kinda… dark…?” Mystic asked, having finally regained herself.

“Well, yes they do. That’s because your field of operation has changed. From now on, the Shadow Guard will, in addition to acting like a conventional army, also act in the field of covert ops. And as for you three:” He turned back to his three experiments. “While you will officially be working as officers in the Shadow Guard, you will soon also be used for things like espionage and assassinations and stuff like that.”

“Espionage? Assassinations?! Captain, what in Equestria is going on?!” Mystic exclaimed.

“Oh, nothing much, calm down Mystic, all is well.” Markus tried to defuse.

“No, it’s not ‘all well’! I know you are hiding something from us, Captain!”

“Oh please, why should I hide something?” Markus lied, forcing a smile.

“Because every time something is bothering you, you try to hide it by acting cheerful, tremendously overdoing it in the process.” Mystic replied flatly.

Markus smile fell the moment she started the sentence. He knew he had been found out, so there was no use in further hiding it.

“Alright, I guess there’s no hiding it anymore. I wanted to hide it because I know how much this might hurt some of you to hear, but…” He looked around, seeing that the whole company had come closer and gathered around him. With a last sigh, he continued speaking. “I have found that the Bloodmoon cult is still active.”

The mere mention of the name brought forth a row of gasps and mutters of disbelief.

“WHAT?!” Mystic shouted. “B-But I saw how you literally DETONATED their leader! How are they still there?!”

“Apparently, Sugarcoat, who seemingly acted as that guy’s deputy, has taken over and gathered the remnant of the cult. We also know their motive: resurrecting Nightmare Moon.”

Another row of gasps sounded.

“WHAT?! And we are still sitting here?!” One of the soldiers cried.

“Yeah, we should go kick their butts!” Another chimed in.

“YEAH, Come on! Let’s get ‘em!” A third.

“I THOUGHT I TAUGHT YOU DISCIPLINE!!!” Markus suddenly roared. Immediately, everypony went silent and stood at attention.

“Yes sir, sorry sir!” They said in unison.

“At ease. I know how you all feel about this, but we can’t just barge in there without a plan. I want to be sure to wipe them out good this time, but for that we need to know where exactly they are first. Like I said, you will be operating in covert ops and espionage. You will help me get that information and will be the ones to serve the – hopefully – final blow to these bastards. But until then, all this is to be kept top secret. Nopony – and I mean NOpony, including former members and young princesses – “ He said, glancing over to Mystic, who blushed lightly and looked away. “Is to know this. Every bit of information gathered on this matter is to be delivered to me directly, as soon as you get it. No stops in-between and no showing it around. You will get all the information you need for your missions, don’t worry, but until then, we need to keep as low a profile as possible. Dismissed.”

The company saluted, before, on Mystic’s command, they retook their formation and exited the throne room.

The train ride home was uneventful and seeing as it was already dark when they came back, Mystic sent her company off-duty before the train even reached Ponyville.

When she reached the Castle again, Mystic was immediately greeted by an excited Twilight.

“So? What happened? Did he relocate you? Did he dissolve the company?! Did he FIRE YOU?!!” Twilight worked herself up.

Mystic was momentarily taken aback by how accurate one of her guesses was, but quickly pushed that out of her mind and donned a happy smile.

“I got promoted.”

Author's Notes:

I can't help but feel like this chapter is of very low quality... I don't know why, really. Maybe I'm just overly critical with myself or something? Who knows? In any case, starting next week, I'll be back to the old schedule, meaning one chapter per week, published on Friday. Until then: see ya soon

CH59: New Life

Life certainly is something wondrous. A being, a lifeform, a fragile combination of carbohydrates and proteins that can be brought down by something as simple as a single cut is yet able to do something that the most advanced technologies have yet to achieve – create life – and it was the wonder of life that had led Mystic Gem, the Elements of Harmony, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, as well as all of pony royalty (excluding Blueblood) to the Ponyville local hospital that day.

Scootaloo was shuffling nervously in her seat. She, the remaining CMC and the remaining elements were seated right next to the door, behind which her step-siblings were about to be born.

“Relax, dear Scootaloo.” Mortis said, as he sat on the other side of the waiting area, along with the other alicorns and Shining Armor. “Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash will both be well.”

Markus said that, even though he was in no better condition himself and him having to hide his nervousness to avoid blowing his cover didn’t help in the matter at all.

“Maybe she’s jus’ scared a’ you!” Applejack spat. “What’re ya dang varmint doin’ here anyways?”

“It is only proper etiquette to be present on such an occasion.” Mortis answered, although not quite genuinely. Of course, Markus wasn’t just here because etiquette required it, but because he felt that he should at least be present, when his children were born.

“Ah’m not so sure ‘bout that one. Ah just know there’s something yer hidin’! Don’t ya think ah can’t see that, ya hear?! Ah’m keeping an eye on ya!”

“Calm down, Applejack!” Cadence butted in. “Apart from the little incident at the wedding, he hasn’t done anything bad yet. On the contrary, he has even gone into the Everfree Forest to save your sister!” Applejack huffed and turned away at that. “Besides, as the Princess of Love, I can tell you that he holds no malicious feelings towards those two. Rather, he feels deeply connected to them. I would even say that he loves them.”

Suddenly, everypony in the room gave shocked looks to either Mortis or Cadence, except for Mystic, Celestia and Luna, who tried to look shocked, but failed miserably at it.

“You better keep your hooves off of her! Like you’ve said, Markus will return to his rightful place by her side and I will allow nopony other than him!” Shining Armor threatened after a while.

“Do not worry. I still intend to hold true to my word, for their rightful husband WILL return.” Mortis answered him calmly.

Applejack seemed like she, too, wanted to bark in again, but was stopped when they could hear noises from inside the room.

At first, it seemed like slightly pained groaning, which grew in intensity ever so slightly, before the room was filled with cries and screams of pain.

It had begun. Twilight and Rainbow were going into labour right at this moment, silencing the previously bickering ponies outside.

“Are you okay?” Mystic whispered into Markus’s ear as the others weren’t looking. He definitely didn’t seem to be ‘okay’.

Markus was sweating. This was the first time he witnessed childbirth and the need for him to stay in the role of Mortis wasn’t really helping him ease up. As much as he wanted to get inside there and be there for his beloved, he could do nothing but sit outside and listen to them scream in pain.

“Frankly: No, I’m not, but there’s nothing I can do but to wait it out, sadly.” Markus whispered back, meanwhile thinking about something that his mother had told him quite a few years back, when they had the talk about ‘The birds and the Bees’.

“It sounds worse than it is. It sounds worse than it is. It sounds worse than it is…” He told himself, repeating this one sentence to himself over and over again like a mantra and it did seem to work… at least until a particularly painful-sounding scream from Rainbow overshadowed everything they’d heard before.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!”

“Soundsworsethanitissoundsworsethanititssoundsworsethanitis!!!!”

Finally, the screams subsided, giving way to the sounds of two crying foals, as the doors to the room finally opened.

Scootaloo was the first to speed in and jump to Rainbows side, followed by the CMC, the Element bearers and the princesses. However, as they laid eyes on the infants for the first time, especially Twilight’s, they quickly signalled Markus to quickly take his leave and, as he too saw them, he immediately knew why.

“It is good to see you in good shape.” Mortis said neutrally as he turned around. “You shall know that Markus is just as happy as you probably are and that he is eagerly awaiting the day of your reunion.”

With that, he quickly retreated himself into the Death Realm, before anypony could make another move.

---

“Dear Celestia, I thought the Wonderbolts Exam was stressful, but THIS?” Rainbow exclaimed.

“I know Rainbow. I went through the same thing right next to you, remember?” Twilight said back.

“Yeah, but you had it easy. You only had to push soft wings through a canal that’s made to push out horns. I had to push a hard horn through a canal made for soft wings.”

“You do realize that both our foals were alicorns, right?” Twilight questioned.

“Yeah, but I figured that us being a Pegasus and a Unicorn respectively would negate the correlating parts in the context of what I just said.”

Twilight went to say something, but stopped and instead squinted at Rainbow beside her. Rainbow, meanwhile, was dreamily looking ahead, only on accident looking over and noticing Twilight’s stare.

“Eh, Twilight? What’s wrong?” She asked sheepishly.

“You know…” Twilight began. “The longer we live together, the more I get the feeling we are picking up some of the other’s traits.”

“Huh, really? What makes you say that?” Rainbow asked.

“Well, first of all, you just formed a grammatically correct sentence with vocabulary that I would normally have used. Secondly, you have yet to make any mention of ‘rad’, ‘cool’, ‘sick’ or ‘awesome’ since we started talking.”

“Oh really? Heh, that’s awesome!” Rainbow grinned.

“You just had to ruin it, didn’t you?” Twilight chuckled with faux annoyance.

“Yeah, really foul play there Rainbow! Now, could you please come here and help me?!” They suddenly heard Mystic cry from off to the side.

They both turned their heads and chuckled when they saw their friend and protector being assaulted by two infant alicorns. Being of equine heritage and alicorns at that, they were already quite active, even if they were only born a few hours ago.

One had latched onto her ear, dangling from it as he held fast with his – luckily toothless – muzzle. The other was meanwhile making a mess of her mane, latching into it and tugging on it, while simultaneously prodding at it with her hooves.

The two fresh mothers chuckled lightly, before Twilight levitated both of their foals to their respective mother. She looked over to her back, where she placed her foal, a colt with a red coat, purple mane and deep black eyes.

“You can’t just bite auntie Mystic’s ear like that, Dawnbreaker, nononono.” Twilight cooed and Rainbow was doing the same with her foal, a filly with a cyan coat, Rainbow hair, black horn and wings and blue eyes.

“And you shouldn’t eat her mane, Spectral Flash! It isn’t even tasty!”

“Yeah, har har, very funny, you two.” Mystic commented dryly, making the other two giggle. “Now let’s get going back to the castle. I really need to fix my mane and you two could probably use some rest.”

---

They reached the castle a few minutes later. Mystic went ahead with Twilight and Rainbow following suit. However, as they reached the middle of the entrance hall, they stopped and looked around nervously. Something was wrong. Something was VERY wrong.

“Spike?” Twilight called.

“Scootaloo?” Rainbow did as well.

However, neither got an answer.

They slowly moved onwards towards the Central hall, which held the map, in hopes of maybe finding answers in there. And indeed, they did.

“Twilight Sparkle! Finally, we meet again!” A mare called from the middle of the room, once they had entered. A mare, whom they had not expected to meet again so soon…

“Starlight Glimmer!” Rainbow hissed as she made herself ready to either pounce the mare or take to the air.

“Yes, it is me. You have ruined my life! I have come to do the same to you. I am going to take the most precious thing you possess from you! Your stupid friendship!”

She lifted two ripped pieces of parchment into the air, showing off to her three opponents.

Twilight gasped. “Is that Starswirl’s Timespell?!”

“Hah, yes, it is. I am going to go back in time and prevent you from ever becoming friends!”

She slowly levitated the pieces towards each other, setting the lower parts of the fragments together and working her way upwards, until –

*BZZZT*

A lighting suddenly flashed across the room and struck the parchment, burning it to ash in the blink of an eye.

“NOOOOOO! STARSWIRL’S TIMESPELL!!” Twilight and Starlight screamed together, before fixing Mystic with glares.

“What?” Mystic defended. “Do you really think I’m just going to sit here and wait while my opponent waves her weapon of choice directly in front of my face? Twilight, please, where do you think we are? A foals cartoon series?”

“NO!” Starlight screamed. “No! It can’t be! My revenge!” She looked over at Twilight and Rainbow and they both looked back at her in return. “No! That just can’t be!”

Twilight sighed, having gotten a hold of herself again and together with Rainbow, she advanced on the mare.

“N-No, don’t come closer! I’m going to blast you away!” She threatened, making both mares stop.

“Starlight please, you don’t have to do this!” Twilight pleaded.

“Yes, I have! You’ve ruined everything! Now I’m going to ruin YOU!”

“No, that isn’t what’s really wrong! Starlight, trust me, I know. From the moment I saw you the first time, I knew that there was something deep inside you that was hurting you every day. You lost somepony, didn’t you, Starlight?”

For a moment, Starlight froze. How could she know that? She never told anypony about this, not even the closest of her subjects! “H-How?! How do you know that?!” Starlight screamed.

“We lost somepony too, you know? It hurt us, mentally, as well as physically.” Twilight softly told her, slowly closing the distance again.

“And how could your—OUCH!! HEY!!” Starlight shouted, as suddenly, something small and… red? Was dangling from her horn.

Twilight quickly checked her back and found that her passenger has indeed left his seat.

“OW! What… what is going on here?!” Starlight struggled, as Spectral Flash joined in on her half-brother’s game, jumping on Starlights back and giggling, while Dawnbreaker kneaded her face.

“Ufffnfffwhapp iff goin’ on?!”

The room was filled with baby-ish giggling, as Starlight tried to shake them off somehow. Meanwhile, Mystic, Rainbow and Twilight were fighting back their giggles.

“ENOUGH!” Starlight screamed. In a flash of magic, Dawnbreaker and Spectral Flash were suddenly suspended in the air, surrounded by Starlight’s magic aura.

Twilight and Rainbow wanted to step in, but stopped when Starlight lit her horn a bit brighter.

“One wrong move and I will toast them!” She threatened. “Now tell me, how does your loss even COMPARE to mine?”

Twilight looked up to the two foals floating around beside Starlight’s head. When she looked back down, she was wearing a benevolent smile, just like Celestia always had when she needed to be calmed down.

“Because the one whom we’ve lost… was the father of these two foals.” She said, which apparently held the desired effect.

Starlight’s eyes went wide, as she heard this. “Y-You mean… You’ve lost your special somepony?”

“Yes. He died in the battle of Canterlot and in all honesty… for a while I even considered going after him – to just end it right there and be together with him again.” Twilight sighed. “However, he wouldn’t have wanted this. His will actually specifically stated that. He wanted us to live on and to overcome our grief and so, we did. For him.” She looked at Starlight again, still wearing that smile and slowly advanced towards her.

Meanwhile, Spectral Flash floated by one of Starlight’s ears just close enough to paw it with her forehooves and giggle when doing so.

“I think she likes you.” Twilight commented. Starlight levitated her down to her face, looking her over. She didn’t have any foals of her own and she couldn’t even comprehend what it must’ve felt like to lose their father.

“I-I…” Starlight stammered. She knew she had lost, but why didn’t she feel like she did? Why did it feel like even though she lost, she might even have gained something from this?

“I… I don’t know what to do anymore!” She started to cry, first softly, then a bit more forcefully. Then, she suddenly felt hooves wrap around her and as she opened her eyes, she saw Twilight Sparkle pull her into a hug. That was the moment that her tears were finally freed and the floodgates burst open.

She cried. She cried out all the pain that had accumulated over the years. Sometime during her weeping, she felt a second pair of hooves wrap around her, but she didn’t care. She felt humiliated, showing her feelings so openly to somepony, who was her enemy only moments before, but in a way, she felt also… relieved. All this pain that had been weighing her down for all those years had finally been released and when her crying finally stopped, she saw Twilight in a completely new light.

“Starlight, let me show you what friendship can truly be. Let me and my friends show you the magic of friendship and introduce you to its wonders. Let me make you my first student.” Twilight offered.

“Yes. Yes, I will become your student.” Starlight sniffed happily.

“Good.” Twilight said, as she and Rainbow tightened the hug.

And tightened it even more.

And more.

And even more.

Okay, this was getting uncomfortable.

And yet they tightened more.

Euuhhh…

“G-Girls… I c-can’t breathe!” Starlight wheezed, however Twilight and Rainbow didn’t loosen their grips.

“There’s one last thing that needs to be addressed though.” Twilight said in a slightly aggressive sounding tone, as she and Rainbow slowly pulled back, wearing faux smiles that only barely covered the angry expressions they tried to hide.

“Where is Spike?” Twilight asked.

“…And Scootaloo?” Rainbow added.

“Wh-Who?” Starlight wheezed again, suddenly finding herself freed of the death-grip and stumbling backwards.

“The drake and the filly, where are they?!” Twilight demanded, lightning sparking around her horn.

“Th-The drake and the filly?” Starlight repeated numbly.

“Yeah. Where are they?” Rainbow repeated a bit more aggressively.

Starlight gulped, already seeing herself getting beaten up by these two clearly furious mares. “I-I p-put a sleep spell on the drake and I- uh s-send the filly into her room.”

Twilight’s and Rainbow’s expressions suddenly blanked out at that. “Wait, she just did so when you told her?” Rainbow asked.

“Uh, y-yeah? I-I mean, you need a bit more t-than a cutie mark-stealing staff to run a t-town, you k-know?” Starlight answered sheepishly.

Twilight and Rainbow stared at each other, their faces unreadable, before they looked back at Starlight, making her gulp again.

Suddenly, they lunged forward, grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her back and forth.

“PLEASE MOVE IN WITH US!!!”

Author's Notes:

Is it weird when I say that about half the time I needed for this chapter was spent on thinking about how to name the foals? really, I may be bad with emotions, but I am even worse with names

CH60: The Duties of a Death-Prince

The news that not one, but two alicorns had been naturally conceived and born spread around Equestria like a wildfire. Of course, speculations ran wild as to who the father was, among the Palace’s staff especially so.

Some speculated that an unknown donor had spent a night with them, some that they magically impregnated themselves. Some say that the tree of harmony itself had impregnated them and even others said that the whole pregnancy was faked by the young princess to grow more popular.

And then, there were the more… adventurous rumours one could catch up. Some of them were quite graphic descriptions of how King Sombra had come back and had raped them both, while brainwashing them and making them into his broodmares. Others depict how they had used magic to grow masculine parts and impregnate each other. Depending on the version of that story, sometimes the other elements, the 4^th FRC or BOTH can be involved.

But there were also some rumours that hit much closer to the truth than Markus himself would’ve liked. Apparently, a nurse had overheard what Cadence had said and, connecting the dots, concluded that Mortis may be the father. Luckily, this theory found little to no support, especially since Twilight and Rainbow themselves stated that theory to be false.

That didn’t change the fact that they could barely leave their castle anymore. Not because the foals were such a nuisance or something, but because only hours after they had made it home, they experienced a virtual Tsunami of paparazzi washing against their doors and persisting even weeks after.

Mystic had only barely managed to disperse them enough that at least she could enter and exit the castle undisturbed, but as soon as Rainbow and Twilight tried their luck, the storm worsened again.

Speaking of Mystic though: merely a few days after the birth of Dawnbreaker and Spectral Flash, the Shadow Guard was introduced to the public, much to the dismay of Mortis and Mystic.

Turns out that Celestia didn’t find it funny in the least that Mortis tried to establish his own military power and away from the public eye at that.

“Rules are rules and we are bound to them just as much as anypony else, Markus!” Celestia chastised him.

She loved her little ponies and could never hold something secret from them. One of her great weaknesses, in Markus’s opinion and apart from that also a major security hazard.

Furthermore, Celestia also found that her own reasoning also meant that he had to adhere to the same rules and duties as she and her sister, now that he had his own guard. Thus, she had him run a day court for her, while she finally had a day of vacation in, what felt like decades. However, this experiment backfired massively, due to Markus being so fundamentally different to Celestia.

Celestia was a kind and loving Monarch, who put her ponies over herself and, most importantly, who could be negotiated with.

Mortis, on the other hand, wasn’t a diplomat. He was calm, calculating, direct and stubborn. The nobles had to experience this first-hoof, when one of them, a lowly noble with a name not worth mentioning, proposed that all orphans from the age of 14 onwards shall work in order to “get at least some use out of them”.

Needless to say, Markus, being a highly protective idealist, wasn’t amused in the slightest. He gave the noble a very distinct ‘No’ and told him to leave that very instant. However, that was when the noble made a grave mistake: he started to negotiate.

His plan was likely to make such an absurd proposal from the beginning, to then negotiate the Princess down to something that would seem less bad for her, but would likely be just as favourable to the noble. With Markus, however, his seemingly unstoppable force didn’t just meet an immovable wall. It met a Black Hole.

“So that’s why I thought, maybe we could—“

“You aren’t listening to me, aren’t you?” Mortis said, rising from his throne.

“M-my prince? Why, of course I am listening to you! I just thought that—“

“Your words seem to differ greatly from your actions. Though, not to worry: You might not listen to me, but I think I know somepony, whom you will lend your ear…”

A black, swirling portal suddenly appeared beneath the noble, sucking him in and transporting him into a dark room with millions and billions of small lights dancing about in front of him, but strangely not leaving enough light to reflect off the walls.

“This is the death realm. Specifically, the area which holds the souls of deceased minors. Some of them were orphans and died due to slavery and other cruel acts and all of them would like to voice their opinion on your proposal…”

What followed was too brutal to be described in a Teen-rated fic, however you can be certain that the experience broke the noble on a mental AND physical level.

Needless to say this whole event didn’t resonate well with the nobility, which promptly forced Celestia to cancel her experiment and take her sole spot in day court yet again. However, it didn’t just have negative results, as a few days later, Mystic found fifty applications sitting on her desk.

Turns out that while it didn’t resonate well with the nobles, the general populace liked to see a prince who kicked noble butts.

Mystic asked Markus what to do with them, as it wasn’t originally intended to expand the shadow guard. However, looking at his future role, Markus realized that this might be necessary, seeing as the royal guard’s performance during the past war was – to him – less than just dissatisfactory.

But Markus didn’t know, what an avalanche he had caused there, as within only two months, the shadow guard had grown from 60 to over 200 ponies, with even more temporarily put into the reserves due to a lack of uniforms and weapons.

And that was the next problem. When he made these weapons at first, Markus didn’t want them to be replicated. He knew what this new technology would bring upon this world and thus wanted to limit them in number and distribution.

However, this line of thought was flawed from the beginning. Isolating a concept is almost impossible if it has already taken materiel form. The war had happened. Nations outside of Equestria had already witnessed the power these weapons brought and were now most likely looking into building some of their own and, sadly enough, the only way to avoid another war was to further distribute these weapons and research new ones to remain on top. It was an endless cycle and Markus knew full-well that he had started it.

He went to the factory, where Flim and Flam were still entrapped. He only wanted them to replicate the weapons he had built for his company, however when he entered the facility, he came to see something truly amazing.

Robots. Flim and Flam had used their magic to build robots and thus automate the entire production process. Markus had never mentioned any kind of automatons to them and yet these robots were there.

This simple thing made Markus realize something: when you’re faced with a problem, you don’t simply strive to encounter it, but to completely overcome it. The Twins had not only built enough machinery to complete their momentary tasks but had automated enough that this single factory had supplied the 4^th FRC on its own and was still far from capacity.

Thinking this further, made him think about what other nations were doing with their knowledge about his weapons. He had only thought about how they might try to replicate them, but now he realized that they likely would also research ways to counter them. The ball was already rolling and now, Markus could only keep Equestria from being rolled over.

Mortis made Flim and Flam his head researchers and immediately gave them their first project: finding a way to propel carriages with magic alone.

Those changes all took place in the mortal realm. However, there were also changes in the death realm.

When Mortis became a prince of Equestria and thus found public recognition, the Death Realm changed as well. An intermediary plane was created, where the souls of the deceased would be judged by none other by Mortis himself, who would then assign one of four fates to the soul. The first option was immediate Resurrection. The second was the Death realm, where the souls, freed from their bodily needs, could exist in eternal bliss. The third option was reincarnation and the last option was destruction.

In order to make such a decision possible, the plane provided the Prince with all the memories of the soul. His task was, in turn, to talk to the soul and determine the personality and maturity of it.

In addition, this plane had a few rules that even the prince couldn’t break. Firstly, one could not exert any kind of physical force upon each other. Secondly, one could not leave the plane until a ruling was made. Thirdly, reincarnations cannot keep the memory of their encounter, while the resurrected may upon request. The fourth rule was that the fate of the souls could not be disclosed to others, not even close relatives. Lastly, one could not lie and was always forced to say the full truth. Should one try to lie anyways, one would experience the same unpleasantries the soul before Mortis did right at this moment.

His memories were showing him to be envious of his brother, because he was always popular with mares. However, one day, he found his special mare. They married, had three foals and a wonderful house and when he came home early one day, he found his wife in bed with his brother. His reaction was to kick him out of bed and then sit on top of him and literally slap him to death. When he realized what he had done, he turned to his wife in shock, only to see a frying pan come flying his way. Result: death by flying pan.

Mortis knew all of that, of course, when the soul entered the plane. However, what he didn’t know is how mature this soul actually was, so he talked to him, until he found an opening and asked about his brother…

And now we’re here.

“My brother… hgnnnn is… I…” His face contorted as he tried to hold back the answer that was coming and instead tried to replace it with his own. However, his struggling was in vain, as rules were rules and NOPONY could break them.

“I… Khhllt mngh britha.”

The stallion froze, as these not fully understandable noises slipped from his lips, before he repeated out of his own volition: “I killed my brother…” And again. “I killed my brother…”

Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes as he repeated this over and over to himself, finally realizing the full extent of his actions, he broke down and cried.

“I KILLED MY BROTHER!!” He cried louder and louder, until his lungs gave out and he had to stop. He looked at Mortis, who was sitting silently directly across from him. “I killed my brother.” He told him with regret clear in his voice. “I.. it just… it just happened. I don’t know how or why, I just—“

“You do not need to speak further, child. I have heard everything that I need.” Markus interrupted him.

The soul looked downward in an expression of shame, before he asked: “W-What’s going to happen now?”

“Now, I am to judge what will happen to your soul.”

“And… what options are there?” The stallion asked nervously.

“Well, there would firstly be the option of the afterlife. Stripped of your bodily needs you would experience eternal bliss. Then there is reincarnation. A second chance, if you so will. Thirdly, there’s immediate resurrection and lastly, there is destruction.”

The stallion gulped as he heard the last option.

“Right now, I don’t believe the afterlife to be fitting for you, as well as resurrection. However, destruction is also not necessary, as your soul is in no way corrupted.”

The stallion let out a sigh of relief as he heard that.

“Instead, you are going to be reincarnated and get a second chance. The memories of this encounter, as well as your past life will be erased to allow you to start completely anew.”

“Th-Thank you, but… may I ask you something before I go?” The stallion asked.

“Of course.”

“Where did my brother end up?”

“Unfortunately, I may not tell you that.” Mortis answered.

“I see. That is unfortunate. However, if he is in the afterlife, could you please tell him that I’m sorry?”

“Yes, I could do that.” Mortis answered.

The stallion nodded his thanks, before Mortis lit up his horn and the soul vanished from the plane.

His brother’s soul came there just as he did, however, his encounter wasn’t as fortunate. When he met Mortis and realized where he must be, he immediately went on a rant, how he should’ve been the one to marry that mare since he was the naturally more gifted one of the two. In short, while he was the victim, he didn’t recognize his fault at all, even labelling it as his actual right to steal his brother’s wife. As such, before he had even said a single word, Markus had made his judgement and incinerated the soul right on the spot.

Author's Notes:

Another chapter done, though this time just a rough summary of what happened between the last and the next chapter, as I found none of this to be worth its own chapter.

Speaking of next chapter, I sadly have to tell you that next week there won't be one, as I've got some stuff to do (again). I'll try to make up for it the week after, but sadly, I can't promise. :c

CH61: Brothers in Arms

Two months after the birth of the two new alicorns, the swarm of journalists finally dissipated, allowing Mystic Gem, Twilight and Rainbow to finally go about their daily business again. Not that Rainbow and Twilight currently had much reason and/or opportunity to leave the castle anyways, due to the constant threat of a baby-alicorn-induced nuclear bomb exploding whenever they weren’t looking. Yet, somehow Twilight managed to absolutely bury Starlight in friendship lessons and since Spike was pretty much used as a free baby sitter whenever Twilight had to do princess-stuff, Mystic remained the only one who could profit from the freed pathways (or was bothered by them to begin with). Still, no longer having to disperse a crowd of overgrown leeches whenever she was commuting was still a pleasant change and not the only one at that.

It turns out that the reformation of the 4^th FRC into the Shadow Guard brought with it not only two promotions for Mystic, but also a whole guard base full of new possibilities… literally.

Since Markus, as a prince, now had access to the crown’s budget, Ponyville would finally get a proper guard base for the Shadow Guard. Only a few days after he revealed himself, Mystic had already brought forth the request, which was then swiftly granted and financed by Markus. Thus, the only thing left was the actual construction.

It came as a pleasant surprise to Mystic that a good portion of Ponyville’s residents volunteered to help out for free, with the remaining workload mostly covered by members of the Shadow Guard itself. To do that, Mystic created a separate company for ‘construction duty’, to which she assigned everypony with either a Cutie Mark in something construction related or even direct experience with construction work.

The new base was to be built around the old warehouse, though with new separate barracks for the soldiers to live in so that the warehouse can get re-repurposed to being what it was meant to be in the beginning – a warehouse. In addition to that, the forestry around the building was to be cut down and the materials and space were then used for additional buildings and a proper exercise area.

Originally, Mystic wanted to use the one in the forest, but a year of being neglected had left that one a bit… out of shape, to say the least. That coupled with the additional costs it would bring forth sadly meant that the old site was left abandoned.

A sigh escaped Mystic’s lips as she thought back to the olden times. Even though the old training grounds were not the most sophisticated by far, they had left their mark in her memory. After all, it was the place where she had become what she is now, but even so it was just another place in the world, Mystic knew that full-well.

She quickly shook these thoughts from her mind, when around her the sounds of progress became audible. Hammering, sawing, chatting and the sounds of various spells being cast filled the air as she arrived at the construction site. Of course, there was little to nothing that she could help with in that regard, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t supervise things a little, right?

“So that’s where this new ‘Shadow Guard’ is meant to be stationed? Pah, there’s not even a proper base here! And where is their commanding officer?” A voice suddenly complained behind her and when she turned around, she saw that it was a captain and his adjutant coming towards her. Though, on closer look, she saw that they were not from the Royal Guard, but of the Solar Guard, shown by the saddlecloth hanging from them depicting a sun with long rays on a white background.

“Hey you!” he suddenly called out. “Go fetch your commanding officer! We demand to talk with her immediately.” He ordered to her in a tone that clearly portrayed who he thought was in charge here.

“And why do you assume that I have to follow your orders?” Mystic said back, already properly pissed off by this guy’s presence alone.

“How dare you speak up to an officer! Go fetch your superior RIGHT—“

“Oh my, it appears we are coming at a bad time.” Suddenly another voice interrupted from Mystic’s left. Both she and the solar captain turned to face the newcomer and saw that it appeared to be a captain as well, only this time one of the Lunar Guard.

“Oh dear Celestia… The day had such a good start, how could it descend so quickly?” Mystic lamented internally as the two captains moved towards each other.

“And who invited you, cat-eye?” The solar captain spat, to which the lunar captain only laughed.

“I don’t believe I have to ask you for an invitation, do I now? Maybe your exposure to the sun has fried your brain a bit too much?”

“And I will fry you both if you don’t immediately stop bickering and tell me what the buck you want!” Mystic interrupted them, earning herself a glare from both of them.

“How dare you interrupt us?! Didn’t I tell you to fetch your superior?!” The solar captain now spat at Mystic.

“You do realize that I outrank both of you, right?”

The two captains shared a short look, before adopting very hostile looks. “And you do realize that lying to a superior officer is a severe offence, right? I can’t see any rank markings on that colourful uniform of yours.” The solar captain said.

Mystic was about to tell them what they had gotten themselves into, when yet another voice joined in, though this one, she knew all-too well.

“Heya, Mystic!” Applejack called, as she and Big Mac each brought a wagon full of building materials and fresh apples. “What’re y’all arguin’ here for? Somethin’ goin’ wrong with the new base?”

The two captains noticed Applejack as well, of course, though their attention wasn’t on her. The moment she had said Mystic’s name, their demeanour changed. Sadly though, not to ‘apologetic’…

“Ooooh, so you are this Mystic Gem we have heard about?” The lunar captain noted.

“Indeed, that is me. Lieutenant-Colonel Mystic Gem.” She clarified, though her rank apparently brought her little to no respect with these two.

“Oh, so you really are the wannabe-colonel!” The solar captain blurted out. He started circling around her like a tiger cornering his prey. “Say, what did you have to do to get to that rank so fast?”

“Excuse me? What d’ya mean with that?” Applejack cut in.

“He means that there are certain… rumours, that there may or may not be a third alicorn foal on the way.” The Lunar captain implied.

“WHAT?! That’s ridiculous!” Mystic complained.

“Yeah, what in Celestia’s name are ya thinkin’?!” Applejack joined in.

“I am thinking that it is very suspicious if somepony climbs a few years worth of ranks in merely a few months, while I have been stuck at ‘captain’ for the past four years!” The solar captain said, continuing to circle Mystic.

“And I am thinking that, in that case, you should probably spend your time getting some training in instead of whining in front of your superior.”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac agreed.

“How dare you insult me like that?!” The solar captain recoiled. “I cannot allow such an insult to stay unpunished! I hereby challenge you to a duel, right here and now!”

Mystic sighed. She had a feeling that it would come to this, yet she had hoped that it wouldn’t. “Very well, I accept your challenge. As the one challenged, I get to set the rules and I say that the first hit wins. I don’t have time for this nonsense.”

“And I shall bear witness to your duel.” The lunar captain offered.

“Fair enough. I accept your rules and the neutral party.” The solar captain agreed.

The duel started only a few seconds later. The solar captain lunged forward and tried to get a good hit in on Mystic’s nose, but was side-stepped and instead got a hit on his own nose. The duel was over within 2 seconds. Mystic had won.

“No, I don’t accept that!” the defeated captain shouted, straining against the grip of his adjutant.

“That doesn’t matter. You lost, as per the rules both of you had agreed on.” The lunar captain reminded him with a smirk.

“Please, captain, calm down! You might give these lunar traitors an advantage otherwise!” The adjutant said, to which the captain stopped resisting, instead looking at him, before giving his lunar counterpart a scowl. “Come on, we’re leaving.” He then said to his adjutant, who immediately followed after his superior.

Mystic let out a sigh of relief as the two left.

“Ah can’t believe that those were from the solar guard. Ah thought those ponies were the Elite!” Applejack stated with disappointment.

“Oh, they are, normally at least. It’s just that even they have their underdogs, ponies who only barely made it through their entrance exams and who always need somepony below them to convince themselves that they didn’t just make it due to pure, dumb luck.” Mystic said.

“Indeed.” The lunar captain agreed, reminding everypony else that he was still there.

“And what are you still doing here? Are you here to duel me too?!” Mystic asked with annoyance.

“Me? Oh no, I just wanted to verify if the rumours about you were true.” He said. “Though, I suppose I have reached that goal, which means that I, too, shall bid my farewell.”

He bowed before Applejack, gave a proper salute to Mystic and then he, too, left together with his adjutant.

“Y’know what, Mac?” Applejack said to her brother. “Today’s one a these days where ah’m glad that ya didn’t join the guard.”

“Eeyup.”

---

The remaining day luckily went by rather uneventful, though it took until evening to restore Mystic’s good mood. Luckily for her, Dawnbreaker and Spectral Flash had properly tired themselves out during the day so that at least that problem was dealt with for the moment.

“Are you okay, Mystic? You seem a lot more stressed-out than usual.” Twilight asked her in concern. She and Rainbow had just brought their foals to bed and were now sitting in the castle’s library together with Mystic. Normally, at this time of day, they would talk about their days, have a small chat and such, but today, Mystic didn’t seem to be in the mood for talking at all.

“Frankly, no. I got a visit by a few… colleagues, if you so will. Though, they were not there for a friendly chat.” Mystic answered.

“Oh really? Why else did they come? Did they come to test you or something?” Rainbow asked.

“No. If it was just that then I wouldn’t be in such a bad mood. Apparently, there are some weird rumours going around about me having slept my way to the top.”

“WHAT?! Who said that?! I’ll kick their heads in! Nopony insults my friends!” Rainbow shouted.

“Relax, Rainbow. I know your hormones are still running wild, but you don’t need to emphasize that on every occasion. Besides, I already dealt with that. What actually concerns me more is that apparently we’re now in on the lunar and solar guard’s little game.” Mystic calmed her.

“What game? Wait, the solar and lunar guard? Why would both of them come here anyways?”

“The solar and lunar guard have a pretty difficult relationship ever since Luna came back. From what I’ve heard from Shining, the solar guard is still seeing Luna and her guard detail as the traitors they once were, even though none of them were born yet at that time. The lunar guard, of course, doesn’t like that and took up open hostilities. Celestia and Luna both tried to resolve the issue and have them talk it out, but only managed to cool it down to a strong rivalry.” Twilight explained, sighing after she finished. “Though it makes me wonder how they could stand right next to each other without smashing their heads in.”

“Simple: they found common ground when they started picking at me. The solar muppet was the worst of these two. The lunar guy was actually quite a decent fellow, but the solar one… I would make a joke about close to the sun and being a hot-head, but I’m way too tired to think of a good one right now…” Mystic said, letting herself sink a bit into the cushions.

“In that case, maybe it would be better to call it a day a bit earlier than usual? I mean, we really do nothing else than talk at this time, so you wouldn’t really miss all that much.” Twilight offered, to which Mystic tiredly nodded.

“Yeah, I think I should really head for bed early. See you guys tomorrow.”

“Have a good night!” Rainbow and Twilight both said together, while Mystic retreated herself to her room.

As soon as she entered, she made a dash for her bed, not bothering to take off her uniform. The moment she hit the pillow, her eyes drifted closed and within a few seconds, she was fast asleep…

Only to be awoken a few hours later when the door suddenly burst open.

“MYSTIC!!! We’ve got a problem!!!” Starlight screamed at the top of her lungs as she stood in the doorframe with panic in her eyes.

“Wha- what?” Mystic asked groggily.

“No time! Quick, get up!!” Starlight panicked further, lifting Mystic out of her bed with magic and dragging her along as she sprinted out of the castle.

Before Mystic could even ask what the buck was going on, she was already through the door and could see for herself. Her eyes diluted in horror, as she saw the hydra that was currently running wild in the middle of the town.

Mystic reacted quickly. The soldiers on patrol duty had already begun evacuating the immediate area, just as they were trained to, while she rallied a small force to take on the beast. A few concentrated volleys of fire brought it down within just a few minutes, leaving only its carcass and the destruction it had caused.

Killing the beast was the easy part of it. Putting out the fires it had caused, tending to the injured and rebuilding the buildings that had collapsed would be the true challenge, but for now, the worst had passed.

At least, that’s what Mystic thought until she heard galloping and a shout behind her.

“Do not fret, the solar guard is coming… to… help?” the solar captain shouted, but quieted down when he saw that the hydra was no longer moving. “I, euh, you…”

“Say, captain…” Mystic said, without turning around and with an undertone in her voice that send shivers down the captain’s spine. “how come that you arrive just when something bad happens? And just after I defeated you in duel at that?”

“What are you implying with this?” The captain hissed at her, encountering her barely subdued anger with his own.

“I am implying nothing. I’m just saying that it’s highly unusual for the solar guard to be active at night.” Mystic encountered.

“Even we carry out night operations, you know that as well as I do! Besides, that’s not how you thank somepony who just came to help.” The captain argued.

“You just came to polish your own image. Maybe you’ve even staged this whole incident yourself.”

“And why would I do that?” The captain pressed with a twitching eye.

“Because you are a low-life idiot who can’t do shit!” Mystic exploded.

“Why, you little-!”

The captain pulled his sword out of its sheath and swung it at Mystic. However, before she could react, Applejack suddenly pushed herself between the two.

“Applejack, what the BUCK are you—“ Mystic shouted, but stopped when she saw that her opponent’s rage-filled face had morphed into a look of shock. She followed his eyes and saw that the sword that was meant for her was now stuck in Applejack’s chest.

Applejack collapsed shortly after she was hit. Everything seemed to blur together, as her vision suddenly contorted and darkened. She heard screams, shouts, accusations, but they all were muffled. The last thing she heard was a shot, before her consciousness gave out.

---

Applejack awoke in a white room. At least, she thought that it was a room, but no matter how far she would walk, there were no walls to be found.

“Huh, what in tarnation is this place?” She wondered aloud.

“A place where you aren’t meant to be yet.” A familiar voice suddenly said from behind her. She spun around and found herself looking at the newly crowned prince.

“Prince Mortis.” She said, bowing before him.

“There is no need for formalities in this realm, dear Applejack.” The prince dismissed.

“’In this realm?’ Where are we?” Applejack asked.

“We are in an intermediary plane between the death-realm and the realm of the living. You have died, dear Applejack, though you weren’t meant to.” The prince answered.

“What d’ya mean, ‘not meant to’?”

“It means just that. You shouldn’t have died. Some force outside of my power has influenced your fate.” Mortis explained.

“Wait, Ah’m dead?! Oh no… no! Ah can’t leave Applebloom behind! An’ Mac! He ain’t ever say something again! Mom an’ dad already hurt too much fer him!” Applejack lamented, but was interrupted by the prince.

“Do not worry, dear Applejack. As I’ve said, you were not meant to die yet. As such, you will be resurrected and may continue your life.”

Applejack sighed in relief, before asking something that suddenly sprang to her mind.

“Is that what happened t’ Markus?”

“No, this realm didn’t exist yet, when he died.” Mortis answered, hoping that she wouldn’t press further.

“Then how’d ya meet him?” Applejack pressed further.

“I didn’t actually meet him. At least not in the traditional sense.” Mortis answered.

“An’ how’d ya know that he is still alive?!”

“That is because I am him.”

Silence. With the beans now spilled, neither Applejack nor Markus knew what to say. Applejack moved her mouth open and closed, as if she wanted to say something, but couldn’t find the words, while Markus facehoofed.

“You know, I hate this particular rule of this place. No matter who happens to be here, they are utterly unable to lie, me included.” Markus said with his own voice.

“W-Wait… Markus? Is that… really you?”

“Yes, like I just said.” He confirmed.

“No—ah-ah don’ believe you! How can ya prove that you’re really him?!”

“Like I said, you can’t lie in here. You may try it, try lying to me.” Markus challenged.

Applejack gave him a suspicious look, but tried anyways. She tried, but managed no further. Every time she opened her mouth, she only barely managed a sound, before she was forced to stop. She tried again and again, but failed each time. Yet, she continued to try with tears welling up in her eyes. Though, those were not tears of pain.

Even though it had been proven that he didn’t lie to her, she still couldn’t believe it, this was actually Markus! She tried again and again, just to make sure that she didn’t just imagine things and was always proven to be ‘awake’ as much as that was possible when she was dead.

“So? Still not convinced?” Markus suddenly asked, ripping her out of her loop. Then, suddenly, she lunged forward and hugged him, letting her tears flow free.

“Now, now, Applejack, there’s no need to cry.” He tried to soothe her, but ultimately, it was no use. All he could do for now was let her cry until she had calmed down.

“But ah… ah don’t understand… why do ya not tell Twilight ‘n Rainbow that you’re here? Why are ya hidin’ like that?!” Applejack asked when she had finally calmed down enough.

“Because… I was afraid that they might not accept who I’ve become – what I’ve become. I was afraid that they wouldn’t accept me and thought that it was better to just let them think that I was dead.” Markus admitted.

“But that’s stupid! Y’all know that Twilight ‘n Rainbow love ya no matter what!”

“I know that now too, Applejack, don’t worry. I’ve left these worries behind a good while ago.” Markus told her, smiling at her.

“Then why do ya still hide yerself?” She pressed.

“Because I am afraid they might be in danger if they knew. The Bloodmoon Cult is active again and I fear that if I were to reveal myself, they could also come to harm. On that note, please keep this a secret, okay? Like I said, they might be in danger if they knew.”

Applejack wanted to say something, but ultimately decided against it. Instead, she just sighed and let her head hang.

“Oh, come now. You remember what I said back at the wedding, don’t you? Rest assured, I will keep my promise.” Markus assured.

“You better. If ya don’t then ah will!” Applejack said pointedly.

“I’m counting on it. In any case, I believe I should send you back now. We’ve already taken longer than normal and I am afraid that Luna is taking advantage of my body right now.”

Applejack suddenly blushed, making Markus quickly reconsider his wording. “NO! Not that way, I meant—ah, forget it, I should really get you on your way now.”

“Y-Yeah, ya really should. So, see ya in half a year then?”

“Yep, See ya in half a year.”

---

When Applejack awoke the next time, she was looking at a white ceiling and felt bandages clinging to her chest fur.

She was lying in a hospital bed, surrounded by her friends, who seemed to have stayed with her this whole time. Right now, everypony was asleep though.

She felt a slight burning in her chest, likely the place where the sword hat hit her. It wasn’t just a burning pain though. Rather, it felt like a small fire, pulsing in time with the heart monitor to her left.

“Is that how Markus felt back then?” she wondered to herself.

Markus… the memories of her encounter came back. Markus was alive. She still couldn’t quite believe it. She looked at her friends and smiled, however when she remembered that she couldn’t tell them, her smile fell again. She wanted to tell them, but she promised not to.

It hurt her to do so, but a promise is a promise and an Apple never breaks their promises! She would keep her mouth shut until the promised day came.

She smiled again when she thought that. ‘The promised day’. It somehow sounded like some weird name a cult would use, yet it was fitting. But that was still part of the future, Applejack decided. Right now, she had more important things to worry about… How long will she be hospitalized, for example?

Author's Notes:

Sorry for the wait, everryone! The chapter was actually done on schedule, I just... kiiinda forgot about it.

To make that up to you, I'll publish the next one aheead of schedule! About an hour from now or something? I don't know, depends on how fast my editor will work.

CH62: The Magic of Memory

“S-Sugarcube… Ah can’t… breathe!” Applejack wheezed under the assault of a uniform-clad, dark grey unicorn, who was currently hugging her like there was no tomorrow. The reason for that might be that she had thought that there would be no today anymore… at least for Applejack.

Only a few hours prior, Applejack had taken an otherwise deadly blow to the chest and fell unconscious, only arriving at the hospital barely soon enough to stabilize her and hope for the best. Thus, it was only natural for Mystic to almost hug her back into unconsciousness when she finally opened her eyes again, especially since she had placed all the guilt on herself.

“Oh, s-sorry, Applejack, I’m just…” Mystic pulled back from the hug, her tear-stained eyes sparkling slightly as she sat back down beside the hospital bed. “I’m just so glad that you didn’t die back there. I really thought we’d lose you!” She sniffled, wiping tears from her eyes.

“Ah shoot, sugarcube, don’t ya worry none. It takes more than a sword t’kill an apple!” Applejack ensured.

“Actually…” Twilight joined in, with her eyes just as tear-stained as Mystic’s were. “When we got you here you were actually flat-lining for a whole five minutes! The doctors were already about to give up when your heart suddenly started beating again.”

“Yeah! It’s a miracle! Wohooo, miracle party!!!!” Pinkie shouted, shooting a cannon full of confetti through the whole room.

“Now now, darling, I think we should grant poor Applejack some rest, now shouldn’t we?” Rarity said, stopping Pinkie dead in her tracks, just as she was about to start some indoor fireworks.

“Awww…” She whined, but ultimately agreed that that was likely for the better.

The rest of them also got out of their seats and slowly made their way towards the door.

“Euh, wait a moment, Mystic.” Applejack stopped her before she could step out.

“Yes, Applejack? What do you need?”

“Uhm, ah dun know if mah hearin’ was right, but when ah blacked out, ah… ah think ah heard a shot or somethin’… did y’all shoot him after… you know?”

Mystic suddenly found interest in a particular spot on the ground, circling her hoof around it. “Uh… well, uh… maybe?” she offered with a sheepish smile, though that only earned her a slightly scolding look from Applejack.

“Yeah, okay, I did… but it wasn’t lethal! At least… it shouldn’t be…” Mystic quickly said, to which Applejack only sighed.

“Honestly, sugarcube, when ah think that ah went through this so that things didn’t escalate…” Applejack trailed off, motioning at her bandages.

“Well, you’ve got to admit, given that you almost died there, I’d say the situation even cooled down a bit.”

“Heh, yeah…. Almost…” Applejack mumbled to herself.

“Euh, what was that?”

“Nothin’! Ah’m just… feelin’ sleepy, is all! Ah think a should get some more shut-eye.” Applejack quickly replied.

“Oh- oh, yeah, right. Well, I guess I’ll see you later then?” Mystic said, getting ready to leave again.

“Yeah, see ya later.” Applejack replied, leaning herself back into her cushions while Mystic left the room.

Together with Twilight and Rainbow, she then returned to the Castle, where Spike was already waiting.

“Finally! Is Applejack getting better?” He asked when he saw the three mares approaching.

“Yeah, she’ll hopefully make a full recovery. If you wanted to know so badly, why didn’t you just come with us?” Twilight answered.

“Because if I did, who would watch my siblings? I mean, sure, Scootaloo could, but euh… I’d rather not add fuel to the fire.” Spike said.

Twilight and Rainbow cringed slightly when he said that, but Mystic only looked confused. “What about Starlight? I haven’t seen her all day.”

“She’s out on a friendship lesson. I told her that she should go out and try to make some friends of her own. That shouldn’t be too hard.” Twilight told her.

“Of all the ponies, you’re really one to talk.” Rainbow chuckled. “I mean, you remember your first few days in Ponyville, right?”

“Hehe, yeah… okay, maybe it is a bit hard… but it should be doable nonetheless. Anyways, we should probably go look what our two troublemakers are up to.” Twilight said, going past Spike into the library, where she found Dawnbreaker nibbling on a book, much to her horror.

“Oh, I almost forgot…” Spike said, as Mystic passed him. “I have a letter for you.”

He went over to a drawer and pulled out a scroll, which appeared to be a summon from Prince Mortis.

---

“And that’s about the gist of it…” Mystic finished, after she had recounted everything that had happened within the last few days.

Markus sat on the throne before her and nodded his understanding. “Hmm, alright, but even though I agree that somepony like him shouldn’t be allowed to procreate, shooting his balls was a bit too harsh. Though, since it all happened in a very extreme situation, I can let you go with a formal reprimand. So: Lieutenant-Colonel Mystic Gem, I hereby formally reprimand you for shooting the testicles of your fellow guards.”

Mystic just stood still before him, until a short look from Markus reminded her that she was supposed to answer. “My Prince, I hereby stand reprimanded.” Mystic cited, going into parade rest and saluting.

“Very good. At ease.” Markus said and Mystic did just that. “Now that that’s out of the way, how’s Bulkhead doing?” Markus suddenly asked.

“Euh, what? Euh… “ Mystic stammered at the sudden question. “Bulkhead is… fine, I’d say. He is paralyzed, but he’s getting by and—“

“Oh no, I know all that already.” Markus interrupted. “What I meant is: How are you two doing?”

Mystic blushed slightly and looked away. “Uh, I uh, don’t know what you’re talking about…”

“Oh come on, Mystic, I know what’s going on between you two.”

“B-But how? How do you know?” Mystic asked, slowly looking back at Markus again.

“Oh, you know… Nurses tend to gossip and the castle’s infirmary is staffed by the central hospital, so…” Markus implied.

“A-ah…” Mystic replied numbly. “W-well, we uh… he confessed to me a while ago and now… we are a couple. We haven’t really, uh, gone beyond kisses and such, though…”

“Ah, so no chance of you becoming a mother anytime soon, then?” Markus asked casually.

“Wh-what? Me? A mother? I-I mean, Bulkhead is nice and all, but-but a foal? I-I mean…” Mystic stammered, heavily blushing.

“Calm down, I was just joking. No, in fact I’m actually asking you to wait with that.” Markus told her.

“Uh, huh?” Mystic re-focused on the Prince. “Is-uh, is there a special reason for that? Not that I’m planning on anything, of course, I’m just… you know… asking.”

“Yes, there is. I will soon give you a set of missions which are to be prepared and executed as discreetly as possible. Send only the best, I trust your judgement in that regard. You yourself are to stay back, though I want you to be ready to move out as well, just in case.”

“Understood. What about your personal guardians? Should I assign them missions as well?” Mystic asked.

“No. Let them focus on their studies for now. I still haven’t tested their combat abilities to a sufficient degree and these missions are too important to fail because of unforeseen side-effects. Anything else?”

“No, sir!”

“Very well, Dismissed.”

---

A few hours later, Mystic arrived at the Castle again. Coincidentally, that was also the time, when Starlight came back.

“Oh, hey, Starlight!” Mystic greeted, looking past her and spotting another mare beside her. “Oh, who’s that?”

Starlight looked over and smiled warmly at her. “Hey, Mystic! Let me introduce: this is Trixie.”

“The GRREAT and POWERFUL Trixie!” Trixie interjected.

“Yeah, that. Anyways, She’s my new best friend.” Starlight told her.

“Oh, so your friendship lesson was a success then?”

“Not yet, I have to tell Twilight first.” She replied.

“Wait, Twilight? That name rings some bells…” Trixie said absent-mindedly.

“Really? Huh. Mystic, do you know Trixie perhaps?” Starlight asked her.

“Uh, now that you say it… I think I’ve read her name somewhere… I think it was when I archived the crime reports from a few years ago…” Mystic remembered.

“Wait, Crime reports?” Starlight asked, looking back at Trixie.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I only vaguely remember it, so it can’t have been something all-too serious.” Mystic reassured. “More importantly, we should really get inside. Twilight and Rainbow are likely already waiting for us in there.”

“Yes, of course.” Starlight agreed.

They both opened the doors and moved inside, heading straight for the living room, where they would find Twilight at this time.

“Twilight, we’re back! And guess what: I actually managed to make a friend!” Starlight greeted as soon as they saw Twilight stand in the room with her back to them.

“Oh really, that’s nice to hea- what is she doing here?!” Twilight’s demeanour suddenly changed when she looked around and spotted Trixie.

“It’s you!” Trixie gasped. “I knew that the name sounded familiar!”

“What? What’s going on here?!” Starlight demanded.

“This mare…” Twilight pointed a hoof at Trixie. “… came into Ponyville, boasting about things she couldn’t do, resulting in two colts bringing an ursa minor into town.”

“Ok, yeah, that’s pretty bad, but, I mean, boasting is kinda her job, right? You can’t really hate her just for doing her job…”

“AND a while later, she came back with a dark amulet to make her more powerful so she could duel me, because I solved the problem that she had caused!” Twilight continued.

“Ok, that’s actually pretty bad…” Starlight conceded, giving a look at Mystic, who shrugged.

“What? These folders only hold unresolved charges. Maybe she made amends, but… I don’t know, forgot to pay a parking ticket or something?”

“Of course not! The GRREAT and POWERFUL TRRIXIE always pays her tickets!” Trixie scoffed indignantly.

“Implying that it happens regularly.” Starlight gave her a sideways glance that made the mare shrink down slightly.

“SEE?! She is a villain!” Twilight shouted.

“Now, I wouldn’t exactly say that repeatedly getting ticketed necessarily makes you a villain. Especially if you pay them.” Starlight said, slowly advancing towards her mentor. “Also, yes, she did some bad things, but so did I. For Celestia’s sake, I was literally an evil tyrant before I met you and yet, you forgave me! So, why can’t you forgive her?”

“Because I, uh…”

“Also, aren’t you meant to be the princess of friendship? Because in that case, you should be supporting this rather than try to stand in our way.” Starlight finished.

“I—ugh, you’re right. I’m sorry. It’s just—“

“AH! What the buck is THAT?!” Trixie suddenly cried out. Starlight and Twilight turned around and saw Trixie levitating a few centimetres in the air, enveloped by a red aura.

“Oh, that’s Twilight’s colt.” Starlight said casually as she levitated him over to herself.

“Wait, Twilight’s colt?! She has a colt?!” Trixie shouted in disbelief.

“Yep, I’m a mother by now, Trixie.” Twilight affirmed flatly, making Trixie’s jaw drop. “Anyways, like I was saying, I’m sorry. You’re right, I can’t just decide for you, which friends you should have and as the princess of friendship, I will of course support this in the fullest, it’s just…. Recently I’m feeling like my whole past is coming back to me, only… backwards, you know? First, you return. Okay, no big surprise there. Then, one of my friends almost dies, which is already very concerning on its own, but then, Trixie also returns. I mean, what’s next? A second changeling attack?!”

“Oh come on, Twilight, it can’t be that bad.” Mystic chimed in. ”Maybe you’re just a bit more stressed out today? It would be understandable after all. You know what? Let me and Starlight handle the babysitting for the rest of the day and go hit the bed early. The extra sleep might help a bit.”

“Thanks Mystic.” Twilight said, yawning. “I think I am a bit tired, actually. Well, I guess see you tomorrow, then?”

“See you tomorrow!” Mystic and Starlight both said.

“So, Trixie, how about you help us babysitting, huh?” Starlight said over her back, where she saw that Trixie was still sitting slack-jawed.

“Trixie?” Starlight said concerned, as she came over and waved a hoof before her eyes.

“Somepony actually BUCKED—?!“

Author's Notes:

There it is, the promised second chapter. Also, I have a discord now! If you want, you can join, if you don't, then... don't.

Link: https://discord.gg/zG6WReuUYx

In there, you can find channels with my current projects/ideas and I'll also be chillin' there from time to time... and when I'm writing on a new chapter. Until then!

CH62.5: The times they are Crystalling

Prince Mortis walked through the great hallways of the Royal Palace, heading for the Throne Room. Only minutes ago had he been summoned by the princesses to be met there, as, apparently, there were some major developments to be discussed.

He could have, of course, used faster means of transportation to get there, like vanishing into the death-realm and re-appearing in front of the princesses or simply just by shadowing there. However, recent experiences have shown that, when the princesses send a message, they usually expect the recipient of said message to actually require time to reach them. As such, Mortis had found himself in some quite peculiar situations recently, one of them being finding princess Celestia in her chambers, without any mane or tail whatsoever, which resulted in him having to vow to never tell anyone else.

The prince let a small smile grace his face at the memory, albeit one that was removed as quickly as it came, for he had reached the doors to the Throne Room and did not intend on leaving the princesses waiting.

The doors swung open and the prince silently carried his weightless body through the doors.

“We greeteth thee, prince Mortis.”

Luna’s voice carried over the room, although she wasn’t looking at him. Her eyes were fixed on a scroll that covered half the room in length, which she seemed to be currently reading through with her sister.

“You say that and yet you seem quite affixed by that scroll of yours. May I assume that it is a letter from either princess Cadence or princess Twilight?” Mortis asked, making his way across the large hall.

“Thou art correct in assuming both, dear prince. Pray tell, didst thou know that princess Cadence has an heir?”

Mortis stopped dead in his tracks and looked at the princesses in stunned silence. “No, I cannot say that I was aware of one.”

“And neither were we. We did not even know that she was pregnant and yet, there seems to be a third alicorn foal now.” Celestia told him.

“And I presume, this letter contains all the details that princess Twilight could find on the matter? It would certainly explain its length.” Mortis said, gesturing along the rolled-out parchment.

“’Tis in fact even more than that. It would appear that she used their visit to the empire to have her student, Starlight Glimmer, prepare the ‘Crystalling’ for the newborn princess Flurry Heart, through which she reconciled with her old childhood friend, who now has become young Flurry Heart’s crystaller.”

“Good. Seeing as you didn’t hear about the whole affair until this letter came, I presume it went by without any complications.” Mortis noted.

“Indeed, although it seems there has been another development that may require our attention.” Luna cautioned. “It appears that the love surge of the successful crystalling caused a changeling’s cover to fail and reveal himself. Apparently, he looked like a normal changeling to the outside, apart from his eyes, which seemed to carry a colour different from the normal blue.”

“So Thorax is already there, huh? This might actually become a problem later on…” Markus thought to himself.

“A changeling you say? May I ask what happened to him?” Mortis inquired.

“Originally, he was to be thrown into the dungeons. However, it appears that Spike managed to convince everypony that the Changeling was not dangerous. Whether he himself knew that for certain at the time is unknown. What is known, however, is that his notion proved to be correct, as they appear to have befriended the changeling. As a side-note, it appears that his wings have taken on some kind of a ‘shimmer’. The changeling has been made an official resident of the Crystal Empire, going by the name of ‘Thorax’.” Celestia explained.

Mortis remained silent for a moment. This new information has brought with it a plethora of new problems to be solved. Furthermore, with Thorax turning up earlier than expected, it was reasonable to assume that everything else might progress faster as well.

“I thank you for sharing this information with me, dear princesses.” He said, as he turned around to leave. “If you would excuse me: I shall now take a walk through the streets of Canterlot.”

“Certainly. You may take a small guard detail with you, for protection.” Celestia offered.

“With all due respect, dear princess, but I would rather be on my lonesome for this.” Mortis said absentmindedly, before leaving the room and heading down into Canterlot.

---

It was a calm night in the streets of Canterlot. Bright neon lights illuminated the city and advertised all the places where ponies could dance the stress of the day away or indulge in more… delightful activities.

However, these places were of no interest to the red alicorn that was roaming the side alleys of the city. Truth be told, he even found them to be quite annoying, especially when one tried to form a coherent thought or two.

Mortis had been walking through Canterlot for a few hours now, thinking of the recent developments. They had very little to do with his plans, true, but he couldn’t help but wonder about the effects this will have on Twilight and Rainbow. After all, Thorax will be the centre of a few very interesting developments in the near future, which will undoubtedly now be even closer.

No matter which way he looked at it, he needed to speed up his own work, if not for the sake of revealing himself earlier then for the sake of keeping his loved ones safe.

Suddenly, a scream ripped Mortis out of his thoughts. It sounded like a mare crying for help in one of the neighbouring alleys. He shadowed through the building next to him and found himself standing in the shadows right in front of a robbery scene.

A mare lay knocked-out on the ground, while a masked stallion was rummaging through her belongings. Mortis was about to step in, when he saw a white blur shoot down from the rooftop, slamming down on the assailant. The white-coated saviour seemed to be a mare with a two-tone blue mane and large, purple sunglasses.

“Wait, that mare seems familiar… Vinyl Scratch? I think that was her name.” Mortis thought, while the unicorn walked over to the now knocked-out robber.

Suddenly, as soon as she reached him, she opened her mouth slightly, revealing two fangs, which she then rammed into the assailant’s throat.

At first, Mortis was stunned, however his astonishment quickly vanished as he watched the vampire suck blood.

“I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. In a world where there are all kinds of mythological creatures, vampires aren’t unlikely at all.” Mortis thought to himself. His lips curled up lightly as he smiled and chuckled to himself.

“Who is there?!” Vinyl shouted as she unlatched herself from her prey and whipped around. She hadn’t felt any more presences in the immediate area, so how could it be that there was another one?! Maybe she had just misheard?

That question answered itself, when she saw a tall, red alicorn step out from the shadows, who she immediately recognized.

“P-Prince Mortis!” She blurted, her ears flattening down as she bowed before him. “I-I swear, this isn’t what it looks like!”

“Oh, I think it very much is. You have come to help this poor mare in need, for which you have my thanks as a prince.” Mortis calmly told her.

“So… you’re not going to… kill me?”

“No, why should I do such a thing? You may be a vampire, yes, but that makes you no less of a citizen than anypony else.”

Vinyl let out a breath of relief, before steadying herself a little. “Well… a few hundred years or so ago, princess Celestia ordered us vampires to be wiped out and… I thought that was still in effect?”

“And you are very right in that assumption.” Mortis answered, causing Vinyl to take a few cautious steps back. “However, I am not princess Celestia. In fact, I might have use for your powers. What would you say if I offered to hire you?”

Vinyl was a bit sceptical. This whole development seemed just too convenient to her. “And why exactly would you want to hire me? And what for? And why should I accept?”

“Now now, one question at a time, my dear. Firstly, your abilities make you a very good ally. Even if you’re still untrained, I can see a raw diamond in you that just needs to be ground into shape. My motivation, however, I will keep to myself for now. As for your own reasons: I can guarantee to you that, as long as you serve me, nopony will even dare harm you. Also, I can provide you with a steady supply of blood.”

Vinyl mulled the offer over. It seemed that this was entirely in her favour, even though the secrecy around his motivations was concerning. However, there was also another thing in the back of her mind. Something that had already made the decision for her before she had even started to think about it.

“I accept your offer.” Vinyl said. “But… may I ask something in return?”

The prince lowered himself down to the mare and looked her into her eyes. “You may ask, yes, but I cannot guarantee that I can provide.”

Vinyl gulped and took a short breath.

“I want to ask you to help my friend.”

Author's Notes:

Welp, that was a short one. Next up: Sidestory, where I will introduce two new characters, whom I will use once or twice, before you will likely never hear from them again. Yay. They are connected to the main plot, though, so don't worry about that.

Intermission pt. 1: Daemonic Heritage

Canterlot, the Shining symbol of wealth and might in the centre of the Pony Nation, was a flurry of activity. Large signs and blinking lights tried to lure in potential customers to various establishments in the lower and middle districts, while in the upper district, garden parties were abundant. The whole city created its own ambience with the sounds of music, chatter and heated arguments. There was, however, an exception to that.

The house of the noble family of Melody sat in silence, for the day was a day of joy, but also of great tragedy. A foal had been born, with a grey coat and black mane and tail. However, the foal was not a unicorn, but a mere earth pony.

“What?! How could you?! Why did you not tell me that your blood was tainted by this mudpony scum?!” The father shouted as he saw the misfit that was his daughter.

“MY blood?! My blood is as pure as holy water! I dare say that it was your blood that brought forth this mess!” The mother shouted back, both ignoring the crying foal that still lay in her mother’s forelegs.

The father scowled, but noticed that his servants were still in the room and even though they all were professionals beyond mortal comprehension, even their masks seemed to crack slightly. So, instead of disgracing himself any further, the father instead turned around, left the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

In his study, he then busied himself with reading books. However, as if the universe was playing some perverse game with him, everything now seemed to remind him of the pile of dirt that has now become his daughter. ‘Studies on Earth Pony Physiology’, ‘Earth Ponies: the Third Race’, ‘Equis Draconis – Connections between Ponies and Dragons?’.

In a fit of Rage, the stallion ran his hoof once over his desk, screaming out his rage for everypony to hear. However, not only did this action create a horrid mess in the otherwise orderly room, but it also revealed something that was hidden within one of the books. A small envelope with a big red seal on it, depicting a moon that distorted downward into a drip of blood.

The moment the stallion saw the envelope, his rage subsided, instead replaced by confused curiosity. He ripped it open and read through the contents, a small smile slowly creeping up his lips as he did so. “Maybe she isn’t so useless after all…”

---

On her sixth birthday, the daughter of house Melody blew out the candles, which, as per tradition, was followed by a light applause from all the servants in the room, though none of them broke their stoicism to do so. The father was entirely absent that day, only the mother sat beside her daughter, more out of tradition than out of actual love for her foal.

“Mommy, where are my presents?” the young filly asked as the cake was cut, but no presents were to be seen.

“Oh dear, your father is currently busy preparing it. You will receive your gift this evening. Be a good filly in the meantime and be patient, understood?” The mother said, with as much disinterest as she always did. The young filly smiled at her mother. This tone of voice meant that everything was good, right? At least she wasn’t yelled at, so she didn’t do anything wrong.

“Okay, mother.” She said, picking up the fork and eating her cake like a good filly.

Later that evening, it finally was time. Her mother called her and together, they went… into the basement?

“Here.” The mother said, while pointing at a door. “Behind this door waits your present. Just go inside and stand in the middle of the room. I will close the door behind you.”

The young filly was unsure of it at first, but as her mother seemed to grow impatient, she quickly slipped inside. After all, she knew what happened if she didn’t behave.

The room was dark. So dark that she could barely see her own hooves. That is, until her mother closed the door and her sight was no more.

“Mother? Mother, what’s going on? Mother, I’m scared!” The filly whined, but nopony seemed to hear her.

Suddenly a light illuminated the room. It was her father’s horn that had started to glow. “Father! You’re here! Wait, is this part of my birthday present?” She asked.

“Yes, it is. Now, stay right there. Your father has to do something first.”

The stallion then lowered his horn to the ground, where some weird lines were drawn. As soon as his horn touched these lines, they suddenly started to glow, basking the room in a bright blue light and revealing several other ponies, who stood in a circle around her, all wearing white robes.

“Father? Father, who are these po—aaargh!”

A searing pain flew through her whole body, making her want to scream, but weakening her too much to do so. She felt how her innermost parts, no, her very soul was infested by something foreign that pressed itself into her like a knife into a loaf of bread.

The glow of the lines around her intensified thousandfold and with her fading senses, she faintly heard the ponies around her sing a weird song that made her head burn.

After several minutes of suffering, the pain finally started to lessen, until in the end, it was completely gone. By the end of it, the filly was a panting mess, laying on the ground, only barely still conscious.

With all her remaining strength, she barely managed to push herself to her legs again and, just as she did so, she saw everypony around her bow down.

“My mistress, we, your humble servants, have summoned you to this realm to retake your rightful throne. Please, answer us!”

“Mistress? Servants? Father, what’s wrong? Why are these ponies bowing down? Where are my presents?” The filly asked weakly.

As soon as these words left her lips, all the ponies in the room rose again and scurried away, leaving only her father and her. He made a few quick steps towards her and before she could even see what he was doing, she felt a hoof striking her cheek.

“Not even as a sacrifice are you any good. You truly are a disgrace – no! You are a true kharagh. A curse.” Her father spat, before turning around and exiting the room, leaving the sobbing filly on the ground, all by herself.

---

From that day on, the filly’s life changed for the worse. The little love her parents seemed to have was now gone as well, instead replaced with disgust that she came to feel every day from then on.

She was no longer the daughter of the noble family of Melody. Officially, she didn’t even exist anymore. All she was, was another rat in the house and it was made pretty clear to her that, for a rat, she was very privileged. She was the only rat that was purposely kept alive, after all. Granted, she wasn’t allowed to leave the house, sometimes not even the little room she called her own, but still, she lived… somehow.

Rarely was she allowed to sit with her parents in the livingroom, although those times, she was treated more like another servant than their daughter. She was sent to fetch water or wine and sometimes even more exotic beverages when they felt like it and while these instances didn’t occur on any regular basis, they happened often enough for the little filly to thoroughly memorize the sizable wine cellar that the family possessed.

This went on for a further two years, until one day something peculiar happened. The filly woke up, not woken up by any of the servants or her father, but by the rays of the sun shining through the tiny window in her chamber. She slowly opened one eye, then ripped both open and jumped out of her bed. She knew what her father would do to her if she overslept and she was very eager to avoid that.

She quickly combed her mane to look acceptable and rushed out of her room, only to find… nothing. Nopony was waiting for her, nopony was cussing her out… nopony was even there.

She slowly opened the door to the living room, but found nopony yet again. What she did find, though, was her mother’s cello. The one she was never allowed to touch, under any circumstances. The one that now seemed to magically draw her in, as if something inside her was driving her towards it.

She lifted her forehoof up and, without having ever played before, grabbed the bow and started playing as if she had never done anything else. A soft glow emanated from behind her, but she didn’t notice, as her body was currently moving on its own.

A soft tune filled the room. Soft reverberations that, were it not for the pony playing them being visible right there, could as well have come from a seasoned artist. They were so masterfully played that, when the father barged into the room, he did, this once, not scream in anger at her. He simply stood there, awestruck at the performance that his daughter was delivering.

The filly stopped playing and set the bow down. The moment she did so, her father was taken out of his awe and now clearly saw the young filly standing beside her mother’s cello. “You little kharagh! What did I tell you about touching your mother’s cello?!” He screamed, lunging forwards to hit the filly. However, the mother stepped in, catching her husband mid-air and calming him down.

“Darling, wait, didn’t you hear that? She knew how to play the cello! And so good at that! Darling, she has so much talent, maybe we can make use of that?” She offered, making her husband think for a moment.

“Yes, she has talent… but she also knows how to play the cello.” He stepped forward, pressing his snout into the filly’s. “Spit it out, you little kharagh! Who taught you to play cello?!”

The filly flinched back and lowered herself to the ground, shivering from her father’s wrath. “N-Nopony taught me! I-I didn’t even know what I was doing!”

A hoof flew over her face, making it burn with pain and turn a deep red. “Don’t lie to your father! Who taught you?!”

The filly pleaded again, saying that nopony taught her and again, her father wouldn’t listen. His hoof came down again, but it never hit the filly, as her mother, yet again, stepped in.

“Darling, look!” She said, pointing to the filly’s flank. The father followed the point and saw that his daughter’s flanks were now adorned by a cutie mark. A treble clef was now imprinted onto both of her flanks.

The father lowered his hoof upon seeing this, however his anger did not subside. Instead of hitting her, he stared the filly down, telling her in a commanding tone: “Go into your room. We will talk later.”

The filly immediately did as her father commanded, running off into her room as fast as she could. When she closed the door to her room, she immediately jumped into her bed… and started to cry.

After a few moments of crying, the filly heard hoofsteps in front of her door. She quickly wiped the tearstains off her face and sat upright. After all, her father told her that he didn’t want her to cry when he was around. The door opened and the father stepped in, together with her mother, who waited by the door.

“You are going to school from now on.” The father told her out of the blue.

“Huh?” Was all the filly brought out before her father continued.

“Starting tomorrow, you will be attending school. You will be a bit behind, so you will have to also study at home to keep up.” He leaned in to bring himself face-to-face with his daughter. “I will give you a chance to offset the disgrace you have brought upon my family by becoming a cellist. For this, you will have to pass school first. This is an exception, are we clear? If you fail, then I no longer have a daughter.”

“W-Will it make you proud if I do that?” the filly asked almost anxiously. The father, in turn, chuckled darkly and retreated himself from his daughter’s face.

“Yes, daughter of mine. Yes, it will make your father very proud.”

---

The filly spent the next few years studying hard in order to fulfil her parent’s wishes. She never made any friends during that time, only ever focusing on scoring the best marks. When she was at home, she practiced playing the cello. She was overjoyed when she got one of her own for her twelfth birthday.

The years ran by and the filly grew up to be an absolutely stunning young mare. She was beautiful, talented, but at the same time oh so unreachable. Nopony who ever spoke to her got more than a friendly smile, a greeting and a friendly decline. Nopony, except one young mare.

When the filly finally was old enough to apply for the Canterlot Orchestra, her parents pushed her to do so. However, up until now, she had always only had her parents as audience and they could already be so cruel when giving her scores. How would other ponies react, if her own parents already did that way?

“And now the young lady of house Melody!” One of the judges called out. She was next, but her legs refused to move.

“Miss Melody? Miss Melody!” The judge called yet again, but her legs still wouldn’t budge.

That was when, suddenly, she felt something creep down her legs. Like snakes that slithered their way down, winding themselves around her extremities like they were about to devour them whole. She glanced downwards and almost screamed out in horror, as she saw two thick, black tentacles spiral down her legs. However, she didn’t manage to scream. She didn’t even manage to flinch. It seemed as if those tentacles had completely taken over her entire body, as she suddenly started to move.

Without her own input she laid her left hoof over her cello and her other grabbed the bow. Then, like a puppet on strings, she began to play. The judges were immediately enamoured by the soft tune her hooves produced and before she realized, the tentacles were gone. She alone was now playing the cello. She was the one playing this lovely tune and as she finished her piece, the judges and small audience broke out in applause.

She had done it. She actually made it into the orchestra! Her spirits were high. Finally would her parents properly recognize her and no longer look at her with disgust!

With these thoughts in mind, she entered practice the next day, together with the other musicians. She took a seat in the strings section and started to play.

“Woah, you’re really good!” A young mare beside her told her after the first rehearsal. Her coat was mint-green and her mane was light grey with a white stripe running through it. “I’m Lyra Heartstrings. Nice to meet you!”

The musician stretched her hoof out to the mare, who in turn only stared at it until Lyra just grabbed her hoof and shook it that way.

“Ehm… I’m pleased to make your acquaintance, miss Heartstrings.”

“Just Lyra is fine. And you are?” She asked excitedly.

“I? Oh, I’m the daughter of house Melody.” The mare answered.

“Pff, yeah, I knew that. I mean, what’s your name?” She asked again.

“Name? I, euh…” The mare thought for a moment. Had she ever even received a name? Her father and mother always only called her ‘daughter’ or sometimes even ‘karagh’ when they were angry, but never anything else.

“I… I don’t think I ever received a name.”

Lyra stood still for a moment and stared at her, waiting for her to say that this was a joke. When nothing like that came she just laughed nervously. “Eheheh… ehm, okay… but I have to call you something, don’t I? Well, let’s see…”

Lyra put her hoof to her chin and thought. She looked around the room for inspiration and her gaze inadvertently fell to the mare’s cutie mark.

“Hey, how about ‘Trebla’?”

“Trebla? I… don’t know. It sounds a little… Weird.” The mare said tentatively.

“Eh, you’re right. It sounded better in my head, but something about music would definitely fit for you… Maybe eighth?”

“Euh… why exactly an eighth?” she asked.

“Oh, you know, because eight is just everywhere! We’ve got the eighth, we got the octav—OCTAVIA!” Lyra suddenly shouted, making the mare recoil in her seat.

“W-What?”

“Your new name! Octavia Melody, how does that sound?” She asked excitedly.

“Oc… tavia… Octavia Melody… Yes! I like it!” Octavia agreed happily.

“Great! So from now on your name will be Octavia! Nice to be your Musicbuddy, Octavia!” Lyra said.

“… Musicbuddy?”

“Y’know, like normal buddies, but with music involved! Musicbuddies!”

Octavia giggled into her hoof, before smiling at Lyra, her new and first friend. “Okay, we’re Musicbuddies now. Nice to meet you, Lyra.”

---

After rehearsal, Octavia went home with a little more pep in her step than usual. She felt absolutely delighted at having just found her first friend. So excited, in fact, that she immediately went to tell her parents.

“Father, mother, I’m back from the orchestra rehearsal.” She announced courtly upon entering the living room. “And I’ve made a friend along the way.” She added excitedly.

“A friend you say? Is she a unicorn?” her mother asked.

“A Unicorn? Euh, yes, yes she is. Her name is Lyra Heartstrings and she – well – she plays the lyra in our orchestra.”

“Ah, the Heartstrings-family. Minor nobility, but yet not a name that’s all-too unknown.” Her father added in.

“Ah, yes, and that’s the second thing I wanted to ask you. Do I actually have a name?”

“No, we didn’t bother giving you one.” Her father answered with disinterest.

“Oh… Well, you don’t have to bother anymore. Lyra gave me a name, Octavia, and I think it—“

Octavia barely had time to react as she saw a hoof flying for her face. The tentacles appeared again, this time wrapping themselves around her face in a thick, protective layer, catching most of the blow. The leftover force still made Octavia recoil, but she didn’t actually feel that much pain from it.

“WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! This brat dared name MYPROPERTY?!” Her father fumed.

“What- What’s wrong, father? What did I do wrong, what—“ Octavia stammered with tears in her eyes, though these tears were not from her physical pain.

“Go into your room and don’t you dare come out today anymore!” He screamed at her, before leaning down and giving her his most potent death-glare. “And I never, EVER want to hear that accursed name again. I was right after all. You truly ARE a kharagh!”

Octavia didn’t know what to say anymore. Her ears were laid back and she was slowly retreating backwards towards the door. This slow retreat then turned into a gallop, when she reached the door, turned around and fled to her own room, where she immediately pressed her face into her pillow and started to cry.

Author's Notes:

Originally I wanted to get this little sidestory through in one go, but I didn't manage to get it done in time. Instead I am going to resume this either immediately next week or write a few main-story-chapters first, before finishing this. I leave that up to you.

Also, as some of you might have notice, I took some *cough* 'Inspiration' from another fic, called 'A Puppet To Her Fame'. I have asked the author if this is okay for him, but so fa hae yet to receive an answer. Depending on his answer, this chapter might very well be deleted at a later date, which will be an absolute hammer to my dick, 'cause this was one of the hardest chapters to write so far.

Intermission pt. 2: Control your Deamons

The next day, Octavia went to the Orchestra as if nothing had happened. However, when Lyra tried to strike up a conversation with her, she always busied herself somehow or just looked away. Lyra noticed this of course, but didn’t immediately say anything. Only when practice concluded for the day and she had followed Octavia until they were out of earshot from the others, did she try again.

“Octavia, wait!” she called after her new friend.

The grey mare tensed up for a moment, but quickly gathered herself and kept on moving with a slightly quickened pace.

“Octavia, please! At least tell me what’s wrong!” Lyra called again.

Octavia hesitated again, however she would’ve kept going again, if Lyra hadn’t been fast enough to block her path this time. Octavia tried to get past her, but every time she moved, so did Lyra.

“Octavia, please tell me—“

“Don’t call me that anymore.” Octavia said in a firm, yet regretful sounding tone.

“What? Why?”

“Because… Because…” Octavia stuttered, slightly tearing up.

“Don’t you like it anymore? I-I can think of another one, if you want?” Lyra offered.

“No, it’s not that. I like it, I really do! My parents, however… they don’t.” Octavia said, rubbing her cheek with a hoof. “My father, in particular, was very thorough in telling me that.”

“Oh my gosh, are you okay?” Lyra lunged forward, holding Octavia’s head in her forehooves and looking it over to see, if she were hurt.

“No- I mean yes, I’m fine, it’s just… My parents just don’t like it if I’m given weird names.” Octavia told her.

“Oh. Well, did you ask them what your actual name is, then?”

“Euh, yes… yes, I did…” Octavia trailed off. Lyra waited for a few seconds and when no further details came, she pushed for an answer.

“So, what is it?”

“I… I… I have none.”

“WHAT?! Why? Did they forget or something? Why didn’t they give you a name?!” Lyra exclaimed.

“Because they… they thought I didn’t deserve one, because I’m nothing more than a disgrace.” Octavia whined, only margins away from actually starting to cry. “They said that me, an earth pony, being born to a pair of unicorns is only an omen for bad luck. They say that I’m nothing more than a kharagh!”

Lyra gasped, as she heard that. “They WHAT?!”

“And-and I somehow get the feeling they are right, I mean-“

“Now that’s horsedung, Octavia!” Lyra interrupted her. “For the record: I think you are everything but a disgrace and I even dare say the exact opposite of a kharagh. If your parents can’t see this then it’s their fault, not yours!”

Octavia looked at Lyra with a slightly shocked expression. It was the first time for her to hear somepony else say something so nice to her.

“R-really, you think so?” She asked tentatively.

“Of course I do! Why else would I want to be Musicbuddies with you?” Lyra ensured.

A few tears finally fell free from Octavia’s eyes as she lunged forward and embraced her friend.

“Thank you so much, Lyra!” She cried into her friend’s shoulder.

“No problem. That’s what buddies are for! Now come on, we go to the guard and tell them what your parents do to you. They will help.”

“Th-The guard? No, please don’t tell them, I-I am scared.”

“Of what? Relax, you’re not in trouble if you haven’t done anything wrong.” Lyra reassured her.

“B-But my parents… my father will be mad at me and… and… Lyra, please don’t. I appreciate that you care, really, but please, no…” Octavia pleaded.

“Are you sure? Telling the guard might help a lot, you know?”

“I know, but… what if it doesn’t? Please, I’m thankful, but keep the guard out of this.” Octavia pleaded again.

Lyra gave her a strong look, until she finally sighed and hung her head. “Fine. But the next time something is up, please tell me. Even if you don’t want to involve the guard, I can still just be there for you, you know? Just what a real buddy would do.”

Octavia gave a teary, grateful smile, before embracing her again. “Thank you, Lyra, I really appreciate that.”

She loosened the hug after a short while and made a few steps back. “Sorry, but I really have to go now. I’ll see you tomorrow at the practice, okay?”

“Yep, see you tomorrow!”

---

Octavia and Lyra continued their friendship, spending their breaks together and helping each other when they had problems. Whenever there was another case of Octavia’s parents lashing out to her, Lyra was there to comfort her. She kept up her offer of going to the guard, however Octavia refused every time.

Though, while she still didn’t want to involve the guard, Octavia had changed through her interactions with her new friend. Lyra helped her think of herself no longer as an object, like her parents did, but as an actual living being. She kept being obedient to her parents though, simply because she still held parental respect towards them and maybe even feared them a little.

Then, another big event took place. A bipedal being, identifying itself as a human, came to Equestria and, after some rather strange rumours had sprung up about it beating up the captain of the guard and such things, it joined the guard as an officer.

As such, he was also properly sworn in, which was followed by a dance night, as per tradition. By that time, Octavia had already shown herself to be quite talented, even among the other musicians in the royal orchestra, so she was one of the first to be picked to perform at the event.

It all went rather swimmingly. She didn’t make any mistakes during her performance and there was nothing of note inside of the ball room. Outside, however, it appears that there has been a duel between Prince Blueblood and the new officer.

After the duel, the new officer re-entered the ballroom and talked to a few ponies here and there… including Octavia. Their conversation was only trivial, really. He complimented her performance, she thanked him accordingly and then they went on a little tangent about different kinds of instruments that go well with certain occasions.

However, there was actually a problem with that conversation she held, as her parents, as nobles, were also present at the party and they did not like that Octavia had dared talk to anypony at the party, which she got to feel the moment the door to their home shut.

A hoof flew over her face just like all those countless times before.

“OW! What was that for, father?!” She demanded. She wasn’t a small filly anymore, hitting her didn’t resolve any arguments. If anything, it sparked them in the first place.

“How often do I have to tell you that you are NOT to talk to anypony who isn’t of noble birth?!” Her father fumed.

“Excuse me?! Am I not allowed to choose my own conversations or what are you trying to tell me?!”

“You are not supposed to be talking at all. Be grateful that I even let you speak to that friend of yours. You truly are nothing but a kharagh. Now, go to your room and Celestia beware if you dare come out before your next practice!” He ordered.

“You cannot simply resolve any argument by sending me to my room, father!”

He inhaled and looked at her darkly. “I am not arguing with you, my daughter. You do not have the right to argue with me. I am saying it one last time: Go. To. Your. Room. Or else, you will see that friend of yours never again.”

Octavia worked her mouth, but didn’t say anything anymore. She knew that saying anything would just harm her and her alone, so in the end, she just turned around and went to her room.

---

The next day at practice, Octavia’s performance was horrible to say the least. She missed her cue at least a dozen times and sometimes played completely wrong notes. Lyra took note of this and was concerned, as this could only mean that she had had an argument with her parents yet again.

“Octavia? What’s wrong? Did something happen again?” She asked her friend.

“Oh, hi Lyra. No, it’s—actually, yes, something happened.” Octavia answered hesitantly. “I had an argument with my father again. This time because I talked to that human at the ball last night.”

“Let me guess: he said something along the lines of ‘you don’t have any right to talk to strangers and yadda yadda’, am I right?” Lyra said.

“Yes, just as you would expect. That isn’t what’s conflicting me though. It’s that this time… I stood my ground.”

“Oh?”

“Yes, I talked back to him. I don’t know what came over me. Maybe I was just tired, maybe it’s your influence or maybe I’m just growing up? It could very well be all three at once all things considered.” Octavia told her.

“But that’s wonderful! You finally stood your ground and finally stand up for your rights!” Lyra exclaimed.

“Is it really that wonderful though? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do want them to treat me like a normal pony. I want to live a good life and I want to do more than just be a puppet to their noble schemes and such, but at the same time… I don’t know, it’s just… they’re still my parents, you know?”

Their conversation fell silent for a moment, before Lyra had an Idea how to brighten her friend’s mood.

“You know what? After practice today, I’m going to hit the clubs. Why don’t you join me? It would definitely be a good distraction for you.”

“The clubs? Oh, I don’t know. My parents would likely be really mad about that.” Octavia said hesitantly.

“Oh come on, just tell them that practice took longer today or something! What could possibly go wrong?”

---

Lyra led Octavia into a district filled with flashing lights and bright neon signs. The loud booms of house and techno music emanated from several establishments, but they seemed to walk past all of them. Instead they walked into a side alley and to the back door of one of the clubs, which was guarded by a very tall stallion, who wore a black suit.

Octavia was intimidated by him at first, but Lyra just walked to him, shot him a smile and he let them in.

“Uhhh… are you a VIP here?” Octavia asked dumbfounded, as the door closed behind them.

“VIP? Pfff, nah, I can go places even VIPs don’t get to see!” She boasted. “You know, I’m friends with the DJ here and we meet down here every now and then.”

Octavia looked confused over this. “Uhm… Excuse me if this sounds stupid, but… what’s a Dee-Jay?”

Within merely a few seconds, one could see Lyra’s face morph from a ‘are you serious?’-look to an ’Oh’, as she remembered Octavia’s situation. “Oh, uhh, a DJ is a musician… mostly… I think. They stand in front of the crowd and play the music for everypony else.” She explained.

“Oh, so there are multiple DJs in this club then?”

“Uh no, it’s just one.”

“Really? Huh, I mean every single instrument sounds beautiful without question, but entertaining a whole club for a whole night with just one instrument sounds rather… dull.” Octavia pointed out.

“Oh no, there isn’t just one instrument. Actually, there is none, at least not in the traditional sense. You see: normally, DJs play pre-recorded tracks while they stand behind this wall of buttons and adjust things like volume, the amount of bass and treble and such.” Lyra corrected.

“So more like a conductor then…”

“Eh, close enough.” Lyra conceded with a shrug “Now that I think about it: If you didn’t know about DJs, how come you know about VIPs?”

Octavia gave her a playful annoyed look. “Well, excuse me for applying the first general term that came to mind.”

They both snickered after that, before they continued down the hallway. After only a few steps, they could already hear electronic music playing, although dampened by the walls. Octavia was fascinated. Never had she heard such tunes and never before had it happened to her that she couldn’t place the instruments that were used, nevermind comprehend that such tunes could even be played by any instrument.

They came to a door, which Lyra stopped in front of and turned to Octavia. “Okay, now brace yourself, this is going to get very loud very quickly.” She told her.

“Really? It sounds pretty moderate right now, I doubt that—“

Just as Octavia said that, Lyra opened the door to the main room just a few inches. Immediately, Octavia’s ears were assaulted by loud, banging music that almost made her eardrums burst.

“WOW, THAT IS LOUD! WHY IN EQUESTRIA WOULD ANYPONY DO THIS TO THEMSELVES?!” She tried to shout over the music, but barely managed to reach conversation-level of audibility.

“I KNOW, RIGHT?! IT’S BECAUSE THIS DOOR LEADS DIRECTLY BEHIND THE STAGE! IT’LL GET BETTER WHEN WE MOVE AWAY FROM THE SPEAKERS!” Lyra shouted back, leading Octavia inside. They took a turn to the right, immediately after they passed the door and made their way to a small sitting area, where one pony was already sitting.

The mare had a green coat and a blue and purple mane and looked like she was expecting somepony. That was when she laid eyes on Lyra and greeted her.

“Hey Lyra! You’re later than ususal, did something—Oh, you brought somepony?”

“Yep, this is my Musicbuddy. Her name is Octavia.” Lyra answered.

“Uh, hello.” Octavia greeted shyly.

“Hello, Octavia. My name is Bon Bon, nice to meet you.” Bon Bon said, standing up to give Octavia a hoofshake.

“Oh, the pleasure is mine, really. It’s the first time that anypony has brought me somewhere that isn’t my home, school or my workplace, so it really is refreshing, even if a bit loud.” Octavia said. “Although, now that I think about it, this little area seems awfully quiet compared to what we just went through.”

“Yeah, this area is magically sound-proofed. You just heard the volume of these speakers and I bet your ears hurt from just a few seconds of that. Now imagine you are the DJ and you have to stand beside them for most of the evening. I bet you’d beg for at least a little peace and quiet and that’s what this little sitting area is for.” Lyra clarified.

“Yep, ‘cause being deaf is definitely not cool… or so I heard.” A fourth voice agreed from behind them.”

“Hi Vinyl.” Bon Bon greeted.

“’Sup, Bon Bon, hey Lyra. Uh, who’s the third?” Vinyl asked when she noticed Octavia.

“That’s Octavia. She had nothing to do today, so I brought her over. I hope that’s okay for you?”

“Your friend is my friend. Hey there, Octavia. I’m DJ Pon-3, or as my friends know me: Vinyl Scratch.” Vinyl greeted, stretching her hoof out.

Octavia took the hoof and shook it. “Hello, Vinyl Scratch, I am the Daughter of House Melody, or as Lyra has called me since: Octavia.”

“Heh, you know, Octavia: I have a feeling, this is gonna become an awesome friendship.” Vinyl joked.

And indeed it would. Octavia told her parents that, from time to time, they would now conduct ‘additional lessons’. In these occasions, she would then go to the club together with Lyra and ‘hang out’, as it was apparently called.

During their time together, Vinyl and Octavia grew closer and closer. It was strange, really. They had nothing alike, had completely different interests – in music just as in almost every other aspect of life. Yet, somehow these differences were set up so perfectly, that they complemented each other like Yin and Yang.

Even when the war broke out would they stick together, though the club was closed due to rationing of resources, so they hung out at Vinyl’s home instead.

This all went well until the day of the invasion of Canterlot, although it wasn’t really an invasion. Octavia woke up just as usual, but quickly noticed something was wrong, when yet again nopony was to be found, at least until she went into the basement.

White-frocked ponies were standing in a circle, similar to her sixth birthday, only that this time, nopony was standing in the middle. Unfortunately for her, the door and especially the door hinges were very old and produced a very loud squeaking noise when she opened them. Everypony in the room was suddenly looking at her, while she stood in shock.

Her most basic instincts kicked in and she turned around and ran as fast as she could, up the stairs, out of the house and into town. Her first thought was to go to the nearest guard station and report the incident. However, as she arrived there, she had to see how more ponies in similar frocks were besieging the building.

Turning back around, she instead headed for the next best spot she could hope was safe: Vinyl’s house. When she arrived, she almost burst through the door, had it not been locked.

“OH YOU STILL DON’T HAVE ENOUGH?! BUCK OFF ALREADY YOU STUPID--!!”

“Vinyl it’s me, Octavia! Please let me in, I need your help!” Octavia pleaded, resulting in momentary silence, before she heard the keys being turned from the other side and the door swung open.

Octavia immediately jumped inside and into Vinyl’s forehooves, sobbing her gratitude into her fur, while clutching her tight.

“Woah there, ‘Tavi, it’s alright, I’m here.” Vinyl tried to soothe her while she closed and locked the door again.

“Vinyl, my parents are gone and there are these weird ponies and I-I…”

“Shhhh, everything’s alright. You can stay here ‘till all this blows over.” Vinyl offered.

“Th-Thank you, Vinyl. Thank you so much.”

---

On the morning of the next day, Octavia awoke next to Vinyl in her bed. She was a bit hesitant to take the offer at first, but Vinyl didn’t possess a couch and, even though she offered to sleep on the floor, Octavia didn’t want that either. Thus, sharing the bed was their best option.

Octavia got up early as usual, and immediately wondered where she was. The room looked so strange, so spacious and comfortable. Almost like she had fallen asleep in one of the servant rooms. That was when she remembered what had happened and where she was… and suddenly, she felt very unsafe.

She looked behind her, where Vinyl was still asleep. Not that Octavia had expected anything else. After all, she always got up very early, even compared to the servants, so getting up earlier than a DJ, who usually worked until late at night was no wonder.

Suddenly the door burst open and a group ponies with weird equipment and multi-colored uniforms barged in. All three of them wore masks that obscured their faces and made them all-the more terrifying at the same time.

“Clear!” One of them shouted.

“Clear!” the second echoed.
“Two civvies, no hostiles!” the one who was currently right in front of her shouted back.

“Alright, secure the door, I’ll talk to them.” The apparent leader of the group came into the bedroom, switching posts with the other.

“Don’t worry, we’re with the guard, 4^th Forward Recon.” He said, taking down his Mask. “We’re here to recapture Canterlot. Have you seen any Cultists or maybe even their hideouts?”

“C-Cultists? What do you mean?” Octavia asked, still in shock.

“Well, you know, cultists, like… white frocks, weird rituals, foalnap ponies, have infiltrated Canterlot and stuff.” The soldier described.

“I… uh, I think there were some in my house.”

“Really? This isn’t your house then? ‘cause there are none in here.”

“N-No, this is the house of my friend, umm, my house is the Melody residence.” Octavia said.

“Ah, the Melody residence. Of course. Well, the larger Estates of upper Canterlot are being cleared by a different team, but I will make sure to relay your information. Anyways, there is a rescue-area set up at the train station. The way there is clear, so you can easily make it there on your own and if not, there are a few teams already out collecting civilians, so you just need to wait a little.”

The soldier donned his mask again and walked to the door. “Oh and next time, you don’t need to lie just to tell me what you saw, okay? I don’t care what you were doing at the Melody Estate, I just want to know where these Cultists are hiding.”

“L-Lie? But—“

“Alright, fillies, come on, we’ve got more houses to clear!” He ignored her, instead rallying his group and moving on to the next building.

“Huh, well that was rude.” Octavia noted, turning around and heading back to the bed… where Vinyl had slept through the whole event.

---

After a few minutes of waiting, Octavia and Vinyl were picked up by the rescue group and brought to the train station. There, they reunited with Lyra and Bon Bon, who had apparently barely made it to the station when the Cultists originally attacked.

Apart from an explosion that suddenly shook all of Canterlot, their stay in the ‘refugee camp’ was rather uneventful. What had apparently started as a major threat to Equestria as a whole quickly dissolved itself into utter chaos, once their leader was killed. By the end of the day, the remaining cultists were rooted out and the civilians thus returned home.

The group took their walk home together, first taking Bon Bon home and then Vinyl. Then was Octavia’s turn, with Lyra still by her side.

They met her parents at the entrance to the estate, seemingly completely disinterested in the recent events.

“Ah, you have survived. Very good. It would have been quite bothersome if you’d have gotten yourself killed in this mess.”

“Well, ‘bothersome’ is certainly one way to put it.” Lyra said mockingly.

“I cannot recall having asked your opinion, Miss Heartstrings. Only because your family is considered nobility doesn’t mean that you get to speak up to those, who actually bear a title. Now, scurry off, will you? There is nothing to see here for you.” The father said insultingly.

Lyra took it in stride, ignoring him and instead turning to Octavia.

“Well, I guess you’re home now. See you at the Orchestra tomorrow.”

“Yes, I will see you at the Orchestra.” Octavia replied.

---

After the war had ended, everything went back to normal rather quickly. Some of the orchestra’s members had been injured during the attack, but mostly nothing that a few days in the hospital couldn’t fix. After their orchestra lessons, they would then, as usual, go to the club or to Vinyl’s house and spend the evening together, until Octavia went home.

Half a year passed by without any major events. The only thing of note was that a new prince had been crowned, but other than that, everything went as it always did.

That is, until one day, Octavia came home to find her father waiting for her in the Livingroom.

“Daughter, what in the goddess’s name were you thinking?!” He immediately accused, when she entered the room.

“W-What? What did I do wrong?”

“What you did wrong you ask?! Well, how about that you lied to me about your additional practices?!” He fumed.

Octavia felt how a cold current surged through her whole body. She had been found out.

“And as if that wasn’t enough, I find you fooling around with this lowly filth! You truly are a kharagh!”

“And who gives you the right to tell me how I spend my time?!”

Octavia was equally as shocked as her father when these words left her lips. Yet, it also felt… exhilarating. As if simply speaking these words has increased her own freedom by a thousand times.

“Excuse me?!”

“Yes, you’ve heard right!” Octavia went on. “I have enough of your stupid obsession! So what if I’m an Earthpony? Every pony race is worth equally as much as the others. You may have wanted a unicorn, but that hasn’t happened! Get over it, it’s called ‘growing up’!”

“YOU DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THIS?!” The father shouted in anger. “You have no right to even exist, are we clear?! You are my property and property doesn’t talk back to its owner!”

He went into his ‘rage-mode’ again, giving Octavia a full speech about how she was just worthless junk in his clean bloodline, but this time, Octavia didn’t shrink under his ministrations. She held on. So much so, that she could feel her teeth grind together and her blood start to boil. The tentacles appeared again, this time wrapping themselves around her right forehoof, before Octavia shouted:

“ENOUGH!” And flung a right hook directly at her father.

Her hoof connected with the force of twenty elephants, sending her father flying to the other end of the room and smashing into the wall. He survived, but was only barely conscious after the attack.

Octavia was shocked by her own action. She looked back and forth between her own hoof and father. Then, she heard somepony walk in one of the adjacent rooms and when she saw the handle of one of the doors turn, she turned as well and ran out and down the street.

She found herself at Vinyl’s house again, this time bashing clear through the door and stumbling into the entryway.

“Woah, ‘Tavi, what was that about?” a startled Vinyl asked.

“I-I need a place to stay. I-I messed up. Badly. Oh no, they’re going to kill me…” Octavia mumbled to herself.

“Easy there, ‘Tavi. Come on, I’ll get you something to drink and then you tell me what happened, okay?” Vinyl offered.

“N-No, please. I just—I just want to stay with you for a bit. I don’t want to pull you anymore into this than I already am.” Octavia declined.

“O… kay then? Well, I mean we can watch some Neighflix, if you want.”

Octavia smiled gratefully at Vinyl. “Sure, Neighflix sounds good.”

However, their time together was very limited, for soon after Octavia’s unexpected entry, somepony else knocked on the door.

“Good evening, Sgt. Safe Streets of the Royal Guard. I have orders to retrieve a certain ‘Octavia’ from this house. Please do not resist and this will be over without anypony getting hurt.”

“No, please, you can`t get her back there! Her parents, she—they will definitely hurt her, they—“

“Vinyl, please.” Octavia calmed her friend. “I don’t want you to get into trouble for this. I’ll just… I’ll just go and—“

“No! No, you won’t! ‘Tavi, I… I know about your parents, okay? Lyra has told me a while ago and it’s fine if you don’t want to go to the guard, but I’m not just going to give you up!” Vinyl declared.

“And I’m thankful for that. Really, I am. It’s just that I don’t want you to get into any more trouble.”

“But ‘tavi—“

“Vinyl. Please.” Octavia pleaded, looking her friend into the eyes.

Vinyl sighed and made room for Octavia to pass through the door.

“Thank you, Vinyl. For everything you did. Please don’t worry too much about me.” Octavia said as the guardsponies led her away.

“Damn, ‘Tavi… haven’t all these series taught you that it’s this exact sentence that makes ponies worry?”

---

A few days pass by without any sign of her. She didn’t even show up to the orchestra practices anymore.

Vinyl decided that this was enough and, on the third day after Octavia’s disappearance, she went to the guard to file a report.

“I want to file a report of domestic violence and probably foalnapping.” She said to the pony at the reception.

“Okay, against whom?”

“Against the patron of house Melody.”

The receptionist’s face fell a little at that. “I’m sorry miss, but the Melodies are part of the high council and therefore enjoy full diplomatic immunity. Unless you can prove your claim, you won’t be making any progress.”

“B-But my friend is in danger!” Vinyl tried again, unbelieving of what she just heard.

“As I said, miss, we can only do something if you bring proof. Besides, how did you manage to befriend anypony in that house? The pair of house melody is known for their isolation, even amongst other nobles.” The receptionist asked.

“I’m friends with their daughter.” Vinyl answered.

The receptionist’s face morphed into one of disappointment and anger. “Listen here, miss: the guard is not a place to bring your personal grudges. If you want to damage house melody, fine, you’re not the first one, but you’ll have to think of something better than that!”

“W-Wha—“

“After all, everypony knows that house Melody is currently completely without heir.” The receptionist finished. “Now, I suggest you leave, before I arrest you for defamation.”

Dejected and disappointed, Vinyl left the station, trying to think of another way to help her friend.

---

How long has it been since Octavia had been locked in her room? Was it four days? Five? Maybe even longer. She didn’t know, as the window had been boarded shut from both sides, leaving no room for sunlight to come in. Her rations also came very irregular, making it difficult for her to guess the time in any way, although the fact that she was getting rations at least meant that her parents weren’t going to kill her… yet.

Thinking of the Devil, her Parents entered the room, completely emotionless and unsympathetic to her current situation.

“Now, you little kharagh, what do you say to your father after you attacked him like that?” Her mother said in a commanding tone, while looking down on her – both, symbolically as well as physically.

“That I wish I took a second swing.” Her mouth worked on its own, but Octavia didn’t care. Pretending that she wanted to say something else would’ve been hypocrisy after all.

“Why you!” Her father stomped down on her head, but the tentacles were protecting her again, nullifying the pain completely.

“You can hit me as much as you want, I will remain resolute.” Octavia said in defiance.

“Oh is that so? In that case, we will have to resort to…alternate means.” Her mother implied.

“What do you mean with this?” Octavia asked.

“Oh, stupid little kharagh, didn’t you know? We are holding your little friends in the basement, as a little encouragement for you… but if you don’t behave, we will have to start torturing them.” The father said, casually.

“No…” Octavia mumbled in disbelief.

“Oh yes. And since you didn’t behave properly, we might just go for the first round right now.” The mother said.

“No.”

“Ah yes, that is truly a great idea.” The father agreed.

“NOOOO!!!!!” Octavia shouted with fury. She shot up, glaring at her parents, who were just about to leave the room. The tentacles formed again, this time in a row before her, with their tips aimed for her parents.

Two thick tentacles flew forward, impaling both of her parents back to front and piercing through the other side. Both of them wore a look of utter shock after that, coughing and sputtering as their lungs filled with their own blood.

They flailed, trying to free themselves, but whatever they tried, nothing of what they did was directed against the tentacles and therefore helped little with their predicament.

Slowly, their coats lost their colour, drained of blood and oxygen. Her mother gave a last, agonizing screech, before both of them went slack. The tentacles disappeared and the bodies of her parents fell to the ground.

Octavia still stood behind them, panting from her rage, but slowly cooling down. Then, suddenly, she remembered, why she was so enraged in the first place.

“NO!” She shouted, running down into the basement to save her friends… but they weren’t there. She searched every room, but there was no trace of them.

‘Maybe… Maybe they lied?’ She thought to herself, running out and the same route again that she had run for the third time now. She ran to the house, knocked on the door and waited.

The waiting was pure agony for her, seemingly stretching itself for multiple hours, when it was actually just a few seconds.

The door opened and on the other side stood none other than…

“VINYL!” Octavia cheered, jumping at her friend and tackling her to the ground. “Oh I’m so glad that you’re okay! I thought—“ She suddenly stopped and her eyes went wide as she saw a tentacle creep up behind Vinyl and hold its tip in the direction of her throat. “Oh no…”

“You’re glad that I’m okay? Sweet Celestia, ‘tavi, I thought they were really going to—OW!” Vinyl winced, as the tentacle stung her once.

“N-No, please, please don`t…” Octavia mumbled.

“’Tavi? What’s wrong? What was that just n-OW!” Another sting, this time with more force. More tendrils formed up around Vinyl, all of them seemingly ready to kill her at a moment’s notice.

“N-No, please… I’ll do everything, but please!” She pleaded. More tendrils showed up, this time wrapping around her forehoof and leading it to point outdoors.

Vinyl followed the point and asked. “What’cha pointing at, ‘Tavi? And what the buck were those stings just now?”

“I-I gotta go.”

“What? But ‘Tavi, I-“

“I really really gotta go now, sorry!” Octavia said, before rushing out the door.

“’Tavi, WAIT!” Vinyl shouted, running after her.

They reached the Melody Estate and Octavia ran inside, followed closely by Vinyl. Octavia ran into a room, the door of which stood slightly open, shortly before a soft tune started to play from within.

“’Tavi?” Vinyl called, as she reached the door and went through it. What she saw on the other side made her gasp and recoil. Directly behind the door lay two bodies, which were faced towards the door and had gaping holes in their chests. Directly behind them was Octavia, playing on her cello with a warm smile directed at Vinyl.

Octavia was in a panic. As soon as she had entered the room, the tentacles had completely enclosed her and were now forcing her to play cello, even though that was the last thing she would want to do at a time like this.

“’T-Tavi? Are you Okay?” Vinyl asked bravely, ignoring the two corpses that lay before her and walking towards her friend.

‘Vinyl! No, I need help! Please help me!’ Octavia wanted to say, but couldn’t. The tentacles had taken complete control over her and there was nothing she could do.

“’Tavi, please, say something!” Vinyl pleaded, but still didn’t get an answer.

“What is wrong? Please, ‘Tavi, answer me!” Again, no answer.

“Is it- is it because of this?” She asked, pointing at the two corpses behind her. “Don’t worry, ‘Tavi, I won’t tell anypony, just please, say something!” She pleaded again and again, there was no answer.

“Please… ‘Tavi... When you were taken away, I was completely distraught. It felt like everything I had was suddenly just… gone. And now, you’re back and everything could be fine, but then you run away and when I follow you I get to see this.” She points at the corpses again. “And you know what? I don’t care! I don’t care that you’ve killed your parents, ‘Tavi and you know why that is? Because I love you ‘Tavi, I LOVE YOU!!” She shouted at the top of her lungs.

Octavia’s eyes went wide for a moment and her playing stopped.

“’T-Tavi?”

Only to start again, with only a few tears being an indication that anything happened at all.

“Please, ‘Tavi, Please! Why don’t you say something! Please answer!” Vinyl cried.

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible.” A low voice suddenly came from the door, just before a tall, red and black alicorn stepped through.

“Prince Mortis, you’ve got to help her!” Vinyl immediately cried. “Please! You’ve promised that you would!”

“And I will, do not fret. Unfortunately, there is very little I can do in this case.”

The prince walked up to the still-playing Octavia and looked her in the eyes. “Listen Octavia: These tendrils that you see are nought but your subconscious given form, you hear? You have to clear your thoughts and regain control of yourself to make them disappear.”

‘But I don’t know how!!’ Octavia internally begged and as if he could hear her, the prince answered.

“I can assist you. I can lend you a bit of my power. However, in the end it is you who will have to overcome this threat.”

The prince held his horn against Octavia’s forehead, making it glow black. Octavia felt how a slight trickle of power went into her, putting her at ease and calming her down.

‘It’s working!’ She thought, directing everything she had into doing the same that the prince was doing.

Slowly, the tentacles that had encased her dissolved and loosened their grasp. First, she was only able to slightly control her facial features, but soon, her leg muscles would listen to her commands again and the rest of the body followed shortly thereafter.

“’TAVI!!” Vinyl cheered, jumping into her and clutching her tight.

“Vinyl… I’m so sorry.”

“For what? You have nothing to be sorry for.” Vinyl assured.

“But I have! I brought you into this all, made you see this all and… and…” Octavia loosened the hug and scooted a bit away from Vinyl. “You have to think that I’m some kind of freak now, don’t you?”

“A freak? No! Why would I--?” Vinyl stopped and looked down guiltily. “Y’know… you’re not the only freak here.”

“What do you mean?”

“I-I mean…” Vinyl looked away, unable to finish the sentence.

“Our dear Vinyl here is a Vampire.” The prince said casually.

“What?! Really?” Octavia asked in disbelief.

“Heh, yeah, I… I am a Vampire.” Vinyl confirmed.

“But that’s nothing to be ashamed of, Vinyl! I don’t mind that you’re a Vampire at all!” Octavia assured.

“But you do know that Vampires are technically still hunted in Equestria, right?”

“Just as much as tentacle-daemons.” Octavia added.

“Heh… yeah.”

A moment of awkward silence ensued, before Vinyl spoke up again. “So, Octavia, about just now, I…”

Octavia shushed her with her hoof. “No need to say anything, Vinyl.” Before leaning forward and giving her a passionate kiss. It lasted several seconds, before they parted again and Octavia looked Vinyl in the eyes.

“Well? Was that enough of an answer?”

“Hmmm, I’m not sure… I might need a bit more.” Vinyl answered, before leaning in again.

“You can gladly do all that once we’re finished here.” The prince interjected.

“Uh-Uh, yes, of course!” Both, Vinyl and Octavia said, before quickly standing up again.

“Now, formalities first: Octavia, since your parents have… ‘Mysteriously deceased’, without leaving an official heir, that leaves you as the only pony with direct ties to them. Therefore, in my power as prince of Equestria, I hereby acknowledge you as the rightful heir to the House of Melody. Henceforth, you shall bear the Title: Countess Octavia of House Melody, as well as inherit your parent’s position in the High Council.”

“Wait, you are a COUNTESS?!”

“Uh, I don’t know… maybe?” Octavia answered uncertainly.

“Holy Celestia, that’s… very surprising actually, even if it explains a few things.”

“Ahem, moving on.” The prince continued. “As you have now shown to be possessed by a ‘tamed’ daemon, but need training in controlling it, I hereby draft you into the shadow guard, Special Service Group Alpha. There you will learn to control your abilities.”

“Wait, I’m drafted into the guard?! But I don’t want to—“

“Relax, ‘Tavi, that’s just some formal stuff to protect us. If we’re under the personal wing of the prince, then nopony can actually legally hurt us or whatever, something like that.” Vinyl explained.

“Yes, while not an exact quote, it is indeed ‘something like that’. Now, if you will excuse me, I still have a few things to do and I believe you have a family to run. Am I right? Vinyl Melody?” The prince teased, before levitating the two corpses up and exiting the room, leaving the two newfound lovers alone…

Author's Notes:

And that concludes this little side-arc. Sorry that it took so long, but if you look at the length of this chapter then the reason for that should be obvious. I hope you enjoyed it and, as always, hope you are looking forward to the ext one.

Speaking of it, the next chapter will be my take at "To where and back again", so you can look forward to that ;)

CH63: Nowhere to go back again

“And why did they look at me like that anyways? Surely, they must have heard about the GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE!”

Starlight and Trixie came back early in the evening from their trip to Starlight’s former town. She had been invited to participate in the festivities there and was allowed to bring a friend. Obviously, her choice fell on the first friend she had made: Trixie.

“Eeeeh, sorry, but I think I did a very good job of isolating us back in the day… hehehe.” Starlight chuckled dryly.

“Hmpf, I can’t blame them for being mad at you, if that isolation made them miss out on shows by the GREAT and POWERFUL TRIXIE! I definitely have to visit them again and give them an encore!”

“Yeah, I thought you would say something like that.” Starlight playfully rolled her eyes, while she and Trixie got off the train and made their way through Ponyville.

“So… how about we do something together, huh? We could go shopping or maybe we could do some magic tricks or—“

“Sure, we can, but first I’ll have to get my grades from Twilight.” Starlight cut Trixie off, just as they reached the front door of the Castle.

“Oh, really? Is that friendship-stuff really so important to you?” Trixie scoffed.

“Says the one asking me to go shopping with them, like a friend. And yes, it is important to me. Twilight gave me a second chance and I am more than willing to repay that favour.”

Without waiting for Trixie’s response, Starlight pushed the doors open and stepped into the main hallway. She expected Spike to be there and greet her or at least hear the two foals play somewhere. However, only silence greeted her.

“Huh, that’s odd.” She thought as she traversed the empty corridors on her way to the only room she could think of where everypony could have gone. And indeed, when she and Trixie reached the doors that led to the map room, they heard voices.

“Great, now go in there and get this done with! Trixie hates wai—“

Starlight’s hoof flew to Trixie’s muzzle and silenced her. There were voices coming from the map room, yes, but they sounded… different. Starlight had spent enough time with Twilight and her friends and while she could not claim that she had perfect memory, she could tell that these were definitely not theirs.

Slowly, she crept closer and when she reached it, she opened the door just a tad to look inside. What she saw almost made her gasp out loud – six insectoid ponies were sitting at the map table, looking up to a hologram of a seventh that spoke to them, as if giving orders (and needlessly reciting a plan).

“Hey, those aren’t –“ Trixie suddenly blurted as she looked through the gap.

Starlight immediately shushed her, but it was too late. She only barely managed to pull Trixie behind the door again, before the strange beings inside could ask “What was that?” and similar things, before the voice from the hologram ordered: “find out who or what that was. It is too early to get my plans discovered.”

Starlight stifled a gasp and quickly teleported Trixie and herself out of the castle before they could be found.

“WOW!” Trixie lamented. “At least warn me before you teleport us, Celestia dammit!”

“It was necessary! We were almost caught! We must report this to Mystic, right now!” Starlight commanded, immediately storming off towards the barracks.

“Starlight, wait!” Trixie shouted after her, before sighing and shaking her head. “And there goes our afternoon together…”

---

A few moments later, Trixie and Starlight found themselves in front of Mystic’s office. Starlight knocked, before the ‘come in’ came from Mystic.

“Mystic!” Starlight immediately shouted when she barged in. “We have a problem! There are these weird Bugpony-things in the Castle and Twilight and Rainbow are nowhere to be seen, let alone Spike and the foals!”

“Ah, I see.” Mystic replied neutrally. “Well, before we get the investigation going, please give me your name and address first.”

Starlight was dumbfounded. “WHAT?! Mystic, Twilight has vanished! We need to find her, now!”

“Yes, I do see the urgency in this, but we still need to follow proper protocol.” Mystic said back.

“Proper--?! You’ve never cared about protocol until now!”

“Just because you`ve never seen me do it doesn’t mean I never do it.”

“That would be true if I hadn’t seen you actively break protocol before!” Starlight retorted.

Mystic seemed to become slightly nervous at this, as if she had been found out. “Oh yeah? Euh, well, how would you know what’s proper protocol anyways? I mean you’re not a member of the guard.”

“Because I help you sort through some minor legal matters every evening at Twilight’s, did you forget that as well?” Starlight accused with a glare. “You know what? I think this isn’t Mystic that I’m talking to right now. You’re part of this, aren’t you?!”

“Now, that’s just—“ Mystic wanted to protest, but Starlight was faster.

“ALAAAARM!” Starlight shouted, which immediately caused the hallway to become a mess of shouted orders, before the clopping of hooves could be heard quickly approaching.

“Who just screamed ‘alarm’?!” A sergeant demanded as he barged in.

“Sergeant, remove these two from my office this instant!” Mystic ordered.

“WHAT?! What does Trixie have to do with--?” Trixie lamented, but was cut off by Starlight arguing.

“This isn’t Mystic! Some weird Bug-Ponies replaced the Element Bearers and I think Mystic as well!”

“As you can see, she’s just spouting nonsense right now. Get them out of here, I have to get back to work.” Mystic commanded again.

“Yes, certainly, but first…” the sergeant hesitated for a moment, seemingly thinking of something. “Ma’am, as you know I will have to write an incident report on this, so may I have your service number?”

“980-02-1003, there you go. Now, carry on, sergeant.” Mystic dismissed.

“Yes, certainly, Colonel.”

The sergeant lit up his horn and looked at Starlight.

“No, wait! I’m not lying, she’s really—“

The sergeant blasted a stun spell clear across the room and hit Mystic square on the face. She stumbled for a moment, before falling to the ground.

“Firstly, there is no protocol that states that a senior officer, or any soldier for that matter, has to give their service number to anypony and that for good reason.” The sergeant said, while walking over to the desk. “And secondly, that was the wrong format. The prince had the format of our IDs changed, pretty much for this exact reason.”

When he passed the desk and looked at the impostor, he only barely let a small expression of surprise slip through his stoicism.

“I had a feeling already, but it still is somewhat of a shock that the Bugponies you meant were Changelings.”

“Oh, so those are Changelings! Twilight told me about them before, but I had always wondered what they looked like.” Starlight remarked.

“You’ve never seen a Changeling before? Huh, I though pictures of these things spread like wildfire after the original Canterlot Invasion?” The sergeant questioned.

“Uhhh, yeah, at that time, I think I was pretty occupied being sort of a local tyrant and stuff?” Starlight said sheepishly, to which the sergeant raised an eyebrow at her.

“She isn’t joking, mister. Don’t worry though: She’s now Twilight’s personal student or something like that, so she’s clear.” Trixie remarked.

“Ah, so you are Miss Starlight then? In that case I have to apologize that I have even thought of doubting you.” The sergeant apologized. “But back to the topic: We will interrogate these Changelings on the whereabouts of the Element Bearers, but seeing as the prisoners from the original invasion didn’t say much, we’ll likely have to dig a lot deeper than that.”

“But how? I doubt that anypony except a Changeling would know where they keep their prisoners.” Trixie stated.

“Well, then why don’t we just ask a Changeling then?” Starlight said.

“Yeah, well, miss, that`s pretty much what interrogations are and—“

“No, I don’t mean like that. There is a ‘friendly’ Changeling up in the Crystal Empire. We can go up there and ask him where their hive is. Maybe he can even lead us there.” Starlight explained.

“Ah, that is indeed a valuable asset. I propose then that you go and talk to that changeling, while I have the others arrested… and report to the Prince. He probably won’t like this at all.”

---

Taking the late afternoon train to the Crystal Empire, Starlight and Trixie arrived there the next morning. Starlight rushed towards the palace, Trixie following right after and explained what had happened in Ponyville.

Shining Armor’s reaction to the news was to immediately jump up and try to rally his guard, however Princess Cadence stopped him. After all, they did not know where they were brought, not to mention that transporting the whole Crystal Guard to wherever they were held would likely take much too long.

“But we can solve that first problem right away! That’s actually why we’re here, we need to talk to Thorax!” Starlight explained, gaining a nod from Cadence, who then called the guard to fetch Thorax.

“Yes, Princess? W-what do you need?” Thorax asked as he entered the throne room.

“Hey Thorax. Good to see you again.” Starlight greeted.

“Oh, h-hey Starlight.” Thorax greeted back.

“Thorax, Starlight just told us that Twilight has vanished and that instead of her and her friends, there were Changelings sitting at the map table.”

“What? But t-that’s horrible! That means that Chrysalis has taken them prisoner!” Thorax whined.

“Exactly and this is where you come into play. Starlight over here had the idea that you could lead them to your hive, right Starlight?”

Starlight didn’t seem to listen. Instead she was staring at Thorax as if she had just seen a ghost. “Eugh, Starlight? Is everything okay?”

Starlight was ripped out of her staring and shook her head. “Huh? Oh, umm, sorry, I just… It only just now fully registered with me that you’re a Changeling.”

“Really? But then why did you come to ask me if you didn’t know?”

“I did know that you’re a Changeling... since yesterday. It only just fully sank in just now.” Starlight tried to explain.

“Ooookay? Well, I mean, anyways, I can show you the way to the hive, if you want.”

“And I’m joining you in the search!” Shining Armor proclaimed.

“That would be very unwise, dear Shining Armor.” Suddenly another voice said from the other side of the throne room.

Prince Mortis had suddenly appeared behind them, now slowly walking towards the two ponies and one Changeling who were bowing before him.

“Prince Mortis. I didn’t expect you to come here as well.” Princess Cadence noted.

“And what do you mean with ‘That would be unwise’?” Shining Armor added.

“Exactly what I said. Despite not being an alicorn, you are still the prince of the Crystal Empire and therefore a valuable asset for both sides. If Queen Chrysalis were to get her hooves on you again, she would certainly take care to not repeat her previous mistake. But do not fret: I will accompany them and make sure that they arrive safe and sound.”

“Oh, so you are allowed to go huh? Ever thought about what happens if they capture you?!”

“They can’t.” Mortis said simply.

“Really? That’s it? That is just like a foal in the playground saying ‘you can’t do that’.”

“Not quite.” Mortis said, suddenly appearing beside Shining Armor. “You see: you have a materiel body. I don’t. I can just vanish into the death realm if I get in danger. You can’t.”

“That is all good and well, but it’s useless if we waste our time here arguing!” Starlight cut in.

“Quite right. I can transport us to the hive’s location immediately. All I need is our dear Thorax here to think about it.” Mortis explained as he walked over to him and lowered his horn to his head.

“O-Okay… Umm, well, here-“

And suddenly, they were gone.

---

Barely a few moments later, two ponies, a changeling and an alicorn suddenly appeared on the edge of the Badlands, within viewing distance of the Changeling hive. Though, while Prince Mortis seemed completely fine, the other three were not.

Starlight, Trixie and Thorax were dry-heaving, nearly collapsing to the ground while doing so.

“What was that?! Trixie just felt like… like… like she was just pressed into being infinitely small and then was suddenly ripped apart again!” Trixie whined.

“I had not thought that my method of teleportation would cause you such distress. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.”

“This is a bit more than just an inconvenience, you know?” Starlight said, while coughing off the last bit of her nausea.

“And couldn’t you at least drop us a bit closer to the hive? Trixie hates unnecessary troubles.” Trixie whined.

“Unfortunately not, no. This area seems to be surrounded by a very strong magical barrier. I’m afraid that you will have to traverse the rest of the distance on hoof.” Mortis stated.

“A magical barrier, huh? That would then also mean that we can’t use magic in there.” Starlight noted.

“Indeed. However, since this is the home of the Changelings, I doubt that it causes them any trouble.”

“N-No, we Changelings can still use our magic behind the barrier.” Thorax confirmed.

“Be that as it may, we are already here, so there’s no turning back now.” Starlight said, before walking through the barrier. When she did so, she felt a shiver run through her spine, as the blockade took effect.

Trixie followed her with the same reaction, while Thorax remained unfazed, just as he said.

“I am afraid I cannot accompany you any further.” Mortis suddenly said.

“What?! Why all of a sudden?!” Starlight protested. “Did you suddenly get cold hooves?!”

“Not so much cold hooves as a rather painful realization.” Mortis clarified. “Do you remember what I said in the castle, about me not having a materiel body?”

“Euh, yes. Wait, you don’t mean…”

“Exactly that.” Mortis said, reaching a hoof out for demonstration. The parts that went over the barrier immediately vaporized into black dust.

“I am very sorry, but it seems that you will have to carry on without me.” He stated, looking over the invisible barrier. “Though, I suppose if you could destroy whatever artefact is creating this, then I could join you again.”

“The barrier comes from Queen Chrysalis`s throne. I don’t know if we can even get there…” Thorax said.

“We will have to try. Come on, we’ve wasted way too much time already.”

---

When they reached the main gate, the trio wasn’t surprised to find it guarded by two changelings in armour. Originally, Starlight wanted to use a sleep spell, but the lack of magic kept her from doing so.

“Hey, why don’t you go over there and ask them to open the doors?” Trixie said.

Thorax didn’t say anything, instead hinting over to his very sparkly wings.

“Oh… yeah, I forgot about those.”

“Okay, that only leaves one thing. I will—“

“NO!” Trixie cut Starlight off. “I know exactly what you’re going to say and no. You’re not going to distract them so we can get in there.”

“But somehow we have to get rid of them!” Starlight argued back.

“Yes. I said that you aren’t going to distract them. This is a stage for the Great and Powerful TRIXIE!” Trixie said.

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to—“

“Okay, just to be clear, firstly: you wanted to save them, so it is you who has to go in there. Secondly, the Great and Powerful TRIXIE knows how to captivate an audience…

---

A few minutes later, a small explosion suddenly grabbed the attention of the guards. Trixie had used a few smoke bombs and firecrackers that she seemed to always carry around. When the guards spotted the mare, they immediately went after her, leaving the gate unguarded.

Inside, Starlight and Thorax found the hallways to be strangely… empty. Not a single guard was to be seen, nor any other changeling that might have milled about. The reason for that became apparent, when the two rounded a corner somewhere in the middle of the hive and found none other than Mystic Gem fighting off a group of guards.

“Hyaaa! Take that you little—Oh, hey Starlight, what took you so long?” Mystic asked, when she was done with the Changelings.

“I… eugh, I… wow. It seems you didn’t need help after all.”

“Oh, I would’ve needed some help the day before yesterday, when these weird— Starlight, watch out, behind you!!” Mystic suddenly cried out, running towards Thorax.

“Mystic, wait! This one’s okay! It’s the one that Twilight and I told you about!” Starlight shouted, throwing herself between the two.

“Oh. Sorry. Well, anyways, we have to get a move on. I think the pods are this way!” Mystic said, rushing into one of the corridors.

“Pods? What does she mean by that?” Starlight asked.

“Ugh… I think it’s better to show you and then explain…” Thorax said, looking somewhat ashamed.

Starlight shrugged and ran after Mystic, whom they caught up to when she stopped before a room and went inside.

Going after her, Starlight suddenly understood what she meant with ‘pods’, as she saw rows and rows of green capsules stretch out before her. Most of them were empty, only eight of them held ponies and one a baby dragon.

“Thorax… what are these pods?” Starlight almost whispered in disbelief.

“These are used for love-extraction. They make you experience your most love-intensive memories, so we can harvest that love from you.” Thorax answered.

“Oh, really? Huh, almost makes me think that we should leave them like that. Almost.” Mystic said, before slicing a cut into the cocoon with her horn. Immediately afterwards, a green fluid came gushing out of it, bringing a coughing purple alicorn along for the ride.

The same was done with the remaining eight pods and a few hacks and coughs later, everypony stood together in the middle of the room.

“Hah, these guys were lucky that they caught me during my nap. Otherwise I would’ve totally kicked their butts!” Rainbow boasted, eliciting a happy giggle from Spectral Flash.

“Of course ya would’ve. Ain’t like ya almost started cryin’ when they put us in these things.” Applejack teased her.

“Hey! That wasn’t crying, that was… A distraction! Yeah, I wanted to distract them, so you could… you know… try to break free and so on.”

“Of course you did. Anyways, now that we’re all free again, we should probably try to get out of here.” Twilight said.

“Wait, we can’t leave yet!” Starlight protested. “Twilight, we are in their hive! You six can go to this Chrysalis and try to use your elements on her! Who knows, maybe it works? Also… I don’t know if Trixie made it and maybe we can--”

“Oh, I’m over here.” Trixie suddenly said from the door. The group looked over and saw her, suspended in the air by the magic of two baffled-looking Changeling guards.

Before anyone could say any more, Mystic was suddenly charging towards the two guards, giving both of them a fresh taste of her rear hooves and sending them flying to the opposite wall, knocking them out.

Trixie, suddenly freed of the levitation magic, dropped to the floor, right on her rump. “Ow.” She whined, rubbing her behind with a forehoof.

“Trixie!” A happy Starlight called, rushing to her friend and pulling her into a hug.

“Well, I suppose that’s one thing taken care of. Also, I think you’re right, Starlight. We should really go and pay this ‘Queen Chrysalis’ a visit. I still have a score to settle with her.” Twilight said somewhat darkly.

---

The group followed Thorax’s lead to a large double door. With a short nod to one another, Mystic and Starlight pushed the door open, running inside.

The large hall that lay beyond was mostly empty, except for a smug-looking changeling queen sitting on a stone throne at the end of it.

“Ah, I thought I had heard something. Did you really think you could run around in my hive without being noticed?”

“Surrender now, Chrysalis! You have lost!” Twilight shouted.

“Oh, have I now? To me it looks more like you are the ones who lost.”

Suddenly, the group found itself surrounded by hundreds of Changelings. The doors shut behind them, cutting off their last possible way out.

“Chrysalis, you don’t have to do this! We can work out a way to get along! We can teach you the way of Harmony and—

“Teach me the way of Harmony? Oh no, you don’t understand what’s going on here at all, don’t you? My Changelings are starving and the only way to nourish them is a steady supply of love. Now, you see… Ponies don’t exactly like to give their love to a species like us, so the only option for us is to capture you and harvest what you have.”

The Changelings around them started moving towards them, threatening to capture the ponies again, when Thorax suddenly spoke up.

“WAIT! There is another way!”

“And who allowed you to speak up, traitor?! You no longer have a right to say anything! As soon as we have dealt with them, you will be next!”

Thorax gulped down her threat and instead focused on talking to his brethren. “Please, listen to me! There is another way! You are right, we need these ponies to survive, but not in the way that you all think! I have learned from them that even us changelings can not only take love, but we can also give it! All we need to do is try it!”

The marching stopped and a few very confused faces were now staring at Thorax. “Please, just try it! Try concentrating on yourself and imagine all the love not just flowing inwards, towards yourself, but also outwards to every other changeling!”

Nothing happened. For a few dreadful moments, nopony and no changeling moved. Thorax was about to lose hope completely, when a sudden shimmer appeared somewhere in the front rows before him. One of the changelings was suddenly enveloped by a strange glow, before then changing colours just as suddenly – from the old black to a lush orange. His immediate neighbours followed suit, sparking a chain-reaction that went through the changeling lines.

Thorax himself also started to glow and was lifted into the air. A bright light blinded everyone present and when it finally faded again, Thorax had changed the most of all.

His height had doubled and his chitin was now a bright green colour. In addition to his horn he had now also grown two mighty antlers that protruded from the upper sides of his head.

Not all of the Changelings underwent the transformation, though. A few loyalists remained, which had formed up around their queen like a shield.

“Queen Chrysalis, please. You can see that this works. All I want is for our species to prosper, just like you. Please, I beg you, lay down your weapons.” Thorax pleaded, but Chrysalis would not budge.

“I WILL NEVER SUCCUMB TO THE PONY WAYS!” She shouted, unleashing a beam of magic that flew directly at Thorax.

The newly ascended Changeling only barely managed to erect a shield, before the beam came in, bounced back and barely missed Chrysalis. Instead, the beam shattered the throne and with it, the barrier it was holding, before blasting a hole clean through the wall behind it.

“You will not get away with this, you will—“ Chrysalis cut herself off, as a black ball flew through the doors and impacted the ground.

“I suggest you seize your resistance this instance, Queen Chrysalis.” A low voice came from the place where the ball landed.

The black ball puffed out into a cloud of smoke, which then condensed into the form of a tall, red alicorn.

Queen Chrysalis looked at the transformation with a scowl, but as more and more features became visible, that scowl morphed into an expression of confusion and in the end… fear.

“Everyling, we’re leaving!” She quickly ordered, turning around to the hole in the wall. “This is not the last time we will meet, you hear?!” She screamed, as she jumped out and flew away, her remaining loyal Changelings following her in a thick, black cloud.

Thorax sighed in a mixture of relief and sadness. He had wished that every’ling would go through the transformation.

“Do not fret, Thorax. You have done everything you could and converted most of your kind to the ways of Harmony.” Mortis tried to soothe him. “There will always be a small amount of failure in every success. It’s how the world works. What’s important is to not just look at this small amount, but look at the whole.”

“Yes, I know. Still, I wish that all of them would’ve just… stayed. We may not see things the same way, but they are still my brethren.”

“Which is entirely understandable. However, even a family cannot always have the same opinion. Opinions differ greatly between each individual, something that you will find out yourself in your new role, King Thorax.”

As Mortis said that, Thorax recoiled. “King?! But I- I can’t be a King! I don’t even know how!”

“Given your obvious outward difference towards the others, I dare say that fate has made that decision for you. Do not worry, no one expects you to be a perfect leader from the first day. Knowledge comes from experience and I am certain that Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, Princess Cadence, as well as everyone present right now is more than willing to share theirs.”

“I-I… thank you. All of you. I… I promise I will always try my best!” Thorax said to his changelings, as well as everyone else, who in turn broke out in a round of cheers.

“So, now that that is settled, we should take up pursuit of the fleeing changelings and their queen.” Mystic said when the cheers died down.

“You should go home and rest now, all of you. You all went through quite a lot of stress and deserve a little calm for a change. I will meanwhile take care of the remaining loyalists and their queen.” The prince said, forming back into a magic orb and soaring through the hole in the wall, without waiting for an answer.

---

A few minutes later, Mortis touched down in front of a small cave, which Chrysalis had taken refuge in.

“I greet you, Queen Chrysalis. I have a few matters to discuss with you.” Mortis said, as he walked into the dark cave.

“No! We will not adopt the pony ways! No curse in the whole world could bring me to steep so low!” Chrysalis shouted.

“Adopt to the pony ways? Oh no, that is not what I want.” Mortis assured. “Quite the opposite actually: I want to make you a proposal.”

Mortis closed in further into the middle of the cave, where Chrysalis sat among her Changelings.

“I will allow you to continue your ways and I will help you rebuild a new hive directly under Canterlot, but under a few certain conditions.”

“And what conditions would that be?” Chrysalis inquired.

“Well, for one, I would have to regulate your ‘harvests’. Nopony will find it odd, if one or two nobles suddenly vanish or die in mysterious ways. However, if there are too many concentrated cases, then even the ponies might get suspicious, especially after last year’s events.
Secondly, I want to utilize your expertise in regards to infiltration and espionage. I would integrate your Changelings into the Shadow Guard and thus make you official subjects of mine.”

Chrysalis mulled over the offer for a moment, before giving her reply. “No. No, I will never bow my head to any pony! We Changelings are a proud race. We would rather die than get subjugated!”

“Which would be my last option.”

Chrysalis’s eyes went a bit wider, when she heard this. “What?”

“You are a threat to Equestria as a whole, Queen Chrysalis. You have shown multiple times by now, that you can and will cause harm to the pony nation. As such, my only choice is to either control… or eliminate you.” Mortis stared Chrysalis into her eyes. Her wide, fear-riddled eyes, but also eyes filled with sorrow. “Queen Chrysalis, I know that you care deeply for your subjects, just as I do for mine. As such, there can only be one single answer to this.”

Chrysalis closed her eyes and gave a long, shuddering sigh. “You are right. There is only one answer.”

---

The following morning, Mystic Gem was sitting in her office and sorted through a stack of files and reports, when suddenly a knock came from her door.

“Come in!” She called without looking up, but as the door opened and she saw the colours from the corner of her eyes, she immediately sprang up and snapped a salute. “Prince Mortis, sir!”

“At ease, Mystic.” The Prince replied and Mystic went back to a more relaxed position. “I only came by to see, how you are doing in your new task and rank.”

As the basic bureaucracy of setting up the new guard was done, Mystic had gained yet another promotion, placing her now at the rank of a Lieutenant-Colonel.

“It is… actually all very confusing right now. With my new rank there came so many new responsibilities so fast that I almost thought I might lose myself there for a moment.”

“Relax. With time, you will grow used to it and before you know it, you won’t even notice the extra stuff anymore.” Mortis assured.

“Yeah, I know, but Prince? If I may ask… that isn’t really the only reason you came here, is it?” Mystic inquired.

Mortis chuckled at that. “As astute as ever. No, I actually wanted to introduce a new colleague to you.”

On cue, another pony entered the room. It was a very tall mare, almost as tall as Mortis himself. She was clad in a uniform, much like the other soldiers, only that her colours were different shades of grey and black instead of the standard multicolour scheme. She also wore the standard face mask, also in black, which was extended and covered her whole head and neck. The only thing that wasn’t covered was a jagged horn that extended through the hole in the mask.

“Mystic, let me introduce: This is Major Enigma. She will be leading the Covert Ops Company, Delta.” Mortis introduced.

“Ah, so we’re getting a whole new company! But wait, Delta? What about Charlie? We haven’t filled that one yet!” Mystic pointed out.

“Yes, I know. Charlie is reserved for… an experiment of mine.” Mortis answered cryptically.

“Ah… Well, in that case:” Mystic turned to the Major and extended a hoof. “Lieutenant-Colonel Mystic Gem, but Mystic is just fine. Nice to meet you.”

The Major returned the gesture and replied: “Major Enigma. The pleasure is mine.” In a voice that sounded somewhat familiar…

Author's Notes:

Trivia:
- Mystic's service number in the new format is: 120280-MG-00117
let's see, if there are some code-crackers among us ^^

- Mortis maybe invulnerable to physical attacks, but since he is made out of magic, he is very vulnerable to magic dispelling. Not only that, but his own magic reacts to equestrian magic in the same way as matter does to antimatter, meaning that, should anyone for whatever reason ever manage to get a direct hit in with a magic blast, it would cause an annihilation-reaction which would have roughly the force of three Tsar bombs. This is why Mortis almost never drops his shield.

CH64: Infiltrators

It has been two weeks by now, since Octavia and Vinyl had been inducted into the Shadow Guard -- more specifically, into the Alpha Group, seemingly an elite group within the Guard, that, apart from the Prince, only the original members of the Alpha Company and the group itself know of. At least, that was what they were told at first.

Vinyl and Octavia were summoned to the Royal Palace just two weeks after their integration, much to their surprise. They had thought that they would be called a lot sooner, to be introduced to their colleagues and such. However, that never happened. Instead, Octavia found herself dragged from one estate to another. Not a surprise given that she had abolished the isolationist traditions her family once upheld. Now, everypony wanted to become fast friends with her to increase their own influence, only made worse by the sad fact that she and Vinyl had not yet made anything public, regarding their relationship, meaning that bringing her along to one of those little “tea parties” would likely raise more than just a few eyebrows.

They arrived at the door to the Throne Room and the guards let them in, after announcing their arrival. Inside, they found the prince talking to Lt.-Colonel Mystic Gem, as well as three other ponies. One of them was a mare who was dressed in maid-garments, while the other two were covered from head to hoof in a gray-scaled version of the Shadow Guard’s uniform. Also, one of them was almost as tall as the prince was.

“Greetings, Octavia and Vinyl.” The prince greeted, as he saw them. “May I introduce: these are Major Enigma, Sgt. Incognito and Nightshade.”

The respective ponies gave a short bow as their names were called and Octavia returned the Gestures. “Pleased to make your acquaintance. My name is Octavia Melody and this is Vinyl Scratch.” She introduced.

“’Sup.” Vinyl greeted.

“Vinyl! You should show a bit more respect before the prince!” Octavia chastised.

“Yeah, ‘Tavi, I know. I’m just not used to all that court manners-stuff yet.”

“And that is actually beneficial to us.” Major Enigma claimed. “If you were to suddenly change your attitude, this would draw unwanted attention towards the operation.”

“Operation? Excuse me, why exactly are we here?” Octavia asked.

Prince Mortis rose from his throne and walked down towards the ponies before him, while answering: “These two are Infiltrators, dear Octavia, and I want you two to help them with their mission. Vinyl, you are to take Sgt. Incognito to the club with you and help him gain connections with the ponies in the crowd. Octavia, are you still attending these house-parties?”

“Euh, yes. I-I can stop doing so if that is a problem.”

“Oh no, on the contrary. I want you to host one of your own and invite as many nobles as possible. Major Enigma herself will be your partner. She will be posing as Duchess Sundown of house Eriwick.” Mortis explained.

“But your highness, there already is a duchess of house Eriwick. True you might not have heard of her, because—“

“Because the house Eriwick is just as isolationist as the former house Melody, yes, I know that. It is because of this isolation, that seemingly nopony knows just yet, that the house Eriwick has died out.”

This got a gasp out of Octavia and a slightly disturbed eyebrow-raise from Vinyl.

“But how?! I never thought that anypony would have a reason to harm, never mind kill them and the duchess was far too young to die of any natural cause!”

“Indeed, she died of a heart attack, the reason of which cannot be determined from her memories or her body. What is clear, however, is that she has not been attacked directly. Her parents were already dead long before I even became a prince.” Mortis explained.

Octavia brought a steadying hoof up to her beating heart. While she never had any official business with the house of Eriwick, she had met with the young duchess once, when their parents were meeting. Their relationship was short-lived and it was nothing that one could call a friendship. However, she wasn’t hostile to her either, which was the most positive relationship she held at the time.

“I see… So, I am to introduce her to the nobles that will attend, but how are we to know, which ones to observe?”

“That’s where I come in.” Nightshade said. “I can identify a few of the higher-ranking cultists, should they be among the nobles.”

“That is… rather convenient. Say, how do you know how to identify them?” Octavia inquired.

“Euh, it’s… because…” Nightshade trailed off.

“There is no need to make up backstories, dear Nightshade. Everypony in this room can be trusted.” Mortis said, shooting a barely noticeable look towards Enigma and Incognito. “Nightshade has once been a cultist herself. But before you get hasty: she has been reformed and is now working as Princess Luna’s personal maid.”

“May I point out that this sounds a lot like you’ve just given her, what she needs?” Mystic pointed out.

“Which is just another reason to trust her. She has been in the princess’s service for almost two months now.” Mortis countered.

“So, did I get this right? You want me and Octavia to help these two get into the Bloodmoon or whatever it was called? Heh, no offence, but you stick out like a sore horn like this.” Vinyl said.

“Don’t horns always stick out?” Octavia whispered to her.

“Indeed they do, but do not be fooled by their appearance. These two are highly skilled infiltrators and their disguises are almost impossible to see through for a laypony.”

“Is that so? Well, if the prince says so then I have nothing to argue against it. Still, something strikes me as familiar with you two…” Vinyl mumbled.

“That is likely a coincidence. Now, I hate to be rude, but I have to hurry you along. The more time we waste, the more this little pestilence will spread.” Mortis hurried.

“Yes, of course, my prince.” Enigma bowed before the prince, before turning to Octavia. “Lady Melody, please arrange everything for the party and have an invitation sent to the estate of house Eriwick. I will arrange for everything else.” Enigma ordered.

“Of course. However, before that, I will likely first have to teach you proper noble behaviour.”

“Don’t worry, this is not the first time I have infiltrated the noble houses.” Enigma waved off.

“Ah… That’s, euh, good to know?” Octavia said, uncertainly. “Umm, in any case, we, uh, we will be on our way now.” Octavia said, bowing together with Vinyl, whose head she pushed down with her hoof. Both of them then turned around and left the Throne Room.

“What did you mean with ‘they look familiar’, Vinyl?” Octavia asked outside.

“I don’t know… I couldn’t see any more than you did, ‘Tavi, but… I think I heard that voice before…”

---

A few days later, the mansion of house Melody was filled with nobles. The heads of many houses, some of them even related to the princesses themselves, had come to be the first to make social contact with the young countess. Octavia had made sure to send invitations to every noble house that she knew of.

Unfortunately for her, Vinyl was not with her, yet again. She would’ve loved to announce their engagement at this event, but that would have to wait. Instead, she was currently flanked by Nightshade, the former cultist the prince had introduced her to. She didn’t know if she could trust the mare, but the prince seemed to do so, so she really didn’t have much of a choice.

They were scanning the room for a certain third mare they were awaiting. Both were uncertain how well Major Enigma would be able to blend in. After all, she was quite a bit larger than the other ponies in the room, which raised the question of why they hadn’t spotted her yet.

“Excuse me please. Do you perhaps know a Lady Octavia Melody?” A voice asked from behind them.

“Yes, that is me.” Octavia answered and turned around. However, her jaw locked open when she laid eyes on the mare that called. “Sundown?” She asked in befuddlement.

“Why yes, that is indeed my name. It has been quite a long time, Octavia.” Sundown said, before leaning in close and whispering into her ear. “Don’t get overwhelmed by your emotions now, Miss Melody. You know who I actually am. Remember that we have a mission to fulfil.”

“Wait, miss Enigma?” Nightshade asked from her side.

“Don’t use that name here! I am Duchess Sundown of Eriwick!” Enigma hissed.

“O-oh, yeah, sure. I, uh… I was just surprised at how accurate your disguise is. I’d never thought that you would be able to change your size.” Nightshade excused.

“And I would like it to remain unknown. Enough chit-chat now, we have a mission to focus on! And remember: I am Duchess Sundown of Eriwick and we are childhood friends!” Enigma whispered aggressively.

“Y-Yes, of course.” Octavia confirmed.

---

Meanwhile, Prince Mortis was inspecting the small factory at the outskirts of Canterlot. Flim and Flam showed him all the improvements they had made to the production process, as well as the new mass production of weapons. The weapons that were made here were far more reliable and sturdier than the ones that Markus had made by himself, but were lighter at the same time. However, that was not what he had came here for.

“And lastly, the little project you had given us…”

Flam led him into a small room underground, where a single piston engine prototype stood on a testing rack.

“The task was not easy to accomplish, but the concept of a “Piston Engine” that your higness had given us helped quite a lot. With these, it was rather easy to find the three types of Crystals we used to make this work. One is a magic-storing crystal with a low capacity, which can rapidly discharge all the magic stored within. The second one is a conductor crystal that forces such a discharge to happen. The third one is a simple large-capacity battery crystal. The basic concept is that whenever a charged low-capacity crystal is held close to a conductor, it will discharge, which results in an impulse that throws the two apart.” Flim explained.

“This basic design only has one Cylinder and one pair of ‘Pushers’, as we have called them. However, it is entirely possible to mount multiple Cylinders and/or multiple Pushers per Cylinder. Also, the efficiency can be greatly increased with better battery crystals or by decreasing the distance between the Pushers. This can be achieved by lowering the quality of the Conductor crystal, which also has the effect of turning a higher percentage of the magical energy into a kinetic impulse.” Flam added.

“So, in summary, by saving money on the design, we can actually make it more efficient?” The prince asked incredulously.

“Exactly, sir. Not only that, but it also makes hiding this project a lot easier, since the lower-quality crystals are usually thrown away and can thus be taken from the dumpsites in secret.” Flam confirmed. “Also, we have begun the second step of the project and looked into the total power output. We have not yet looked into horizontal movement, however we have tested its torque. This basic test engine is thus far capable of rotating a 2 ton weight with minimal difficulty.”

“Excellent. I will provide you with blueprints for a gearbox and a differential later on. You are to find a way to produce them with the resources available to you.”

“Certainly, my prince. It shall be done.” Flim said, bowing together with his brother.

“Good. Once you’ve finished this task, I will have further instructions for you.” The prince announced, before leaving the factory and heading back to the royal palace.

CH65: Requiem Sugar Lorica

“Already?!” Octavia shouted. She and Vinyl had yet again been called to the prince. However, they weren’t quite expecting the news they would get… at least not so soon.

“So, you tryin’ to tell me that your ‘Infiltrators’ already found their Headquarters? Damn, that sounds a lot like a trap to me.” Vinyl said.

“Oh, it most certainly is.” Enigma confirmed. “However, the base is genuine. Apparently they are quite eager to meet you, my prince. So eager in fact that they might just sacrifice all of their hideouts just for this opportunity.”

“Which is even more concerning. If they really want him so much, then surely they have a method of detaining him.” Mystic added.

“They most certainly do. However, if the reports are correct, then they aren’t trying to lure me in. This appears to be more of an open challenge than a bait – a challenge that I am willing to accept.” The prince said. He rose from his throne and made his way past the three ponies before him, over to the doors.

“What, right now?!”

The prince stopped and turned around. “Indeed, dear Octavia. The longer we wait, the more time they will have to prepare for our arrival. We, however, already have gathered everypony we will need.”

Octavia looked around and then back at the prince with a slightly worried look. “Uh, my prince, I don’t want to be rude, but… There are only us four in this room.”

“Again, that is indeed the case. I have already sent orders to the Shadow Guard to deal with the smaller cells and I believe that an elite infiltrator, a vampire, a tentacle monster and a shapeless magical being are quite enough to deal with whatever threat we might be faced with.”

---

“Ahahaha, I can’t believe you fell for that!” Sugarcoat laughed loudly, while prancing in front of the three magic-bound ponies before her.

“I told you that this wouldn’t work.” Octavia pointed out. “Although, that helps us very little right now.”

“Yes, you should have listened to your little friend over there. If you did, you wouldn’t be trapped right now.” Sugarcoat said in a mocking tone.

The prince didn’t respond. Instead, he did something that nopony in the room expected of him: He let his head hang in a gesture of defeat.

“What?!” Sugarcoat blurted. “You can’t be serious! You just give up like that?!”

She stormed over to him, shouting all the while. “I went through all this trouble and now you just give up?! No! I won’t let you!” Her eyes became filled with tears, as her shouting intensified into furious screaming. “I want to see you suffer! I’m going to kill everypony you know and love! I will destroy everypony you know and I will—“

Before she could finish her screaming, she felt a strong impulse, followed by a sharp, burning pain in her chest and back. Her breathing sounded rhaspy and every time the air left her lungs, she could feel liquid coming with it.

She looked down and found that Mortis now had his forehead pressed into her chest. She looked to her back and saw a bloodstained black cone stick out from it.

“Surrender was never an option. I am very sorry, miss Sugarcoat, but this time you have stepped into my trap.” The prince said.

Sugarcoat’s reaction to that was just as unexpected as it was confusing. Her shocked look turned into a relieved smile and a few last tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Yes. That’s the way I knew you… Markus.”

With her last breath expended, she finally fell limp, resting atop the prince’s neck with her smile still on her face. The moment her head hit his back, the magic shackles that held them back disappeared and the anti-magic field that surrounded them collapsed.

“Your leader has been slain!” Enigma shouted. “Lay down your weapons and surrender yourselves! If you do so then none of you shall be harmed!”

A short moment of silence was followed by the clattering of multiple weapons hitting the ground. Enigma and a few of her infiltrators, who had been hiding withing the crowd, arrested the remaining cultists, while the prince was… performing a very weird dance.

“Uhhh, prince? What... what are you doing?” Vinyl asked carefully.

The prince stopped whirling his head around and looked at her, though Sugarcoat’s hanging corpse was blocking his eyes.

“I am just now experiencing the reason, why there is no documented instance of using one’s horn as a weapon within the last thousand years. Now please, would somepony get her off of me?”

---

The Death Realm, no measurable amount of time after Sugarcoat died.

Sugarcoat found herself sitting in a completely white room. She looked around and could not see walls anywhere, just endless nothingness. She looked forward again and recoiled slightly, when she saw Mortis sitting right in front of her.

“Uh, h-hello, prince Mortis.” She greeted meekly.

“Hello, Sugarcoat. Since you should be very well aware of what happened, I presume that you know, where you are?” Mortis greeted back.

“Y-yes, I think I am… We are here so you can judge me, right?”

“Exactly. Now, be aware that, originally, I already had a verdic for you before you even came here. However, your last actions have put up questions that I would like to have answered. Firstly: how did you know that I am Markus?” Markus asked.

“That’s easy to answer!” Sugarcoat blurted a bit too quickly. “My master taught me a bit of soul magic and… well, your body changed, yes, but your soul didn’t.”

“I see. Quite intriguing, indeed. Second question: what were your last words all about?”

Sugarcoat’s face reddened significantly at that and she looked away. “Yeah, well…”

“Well?”

“Well… okay, from the beginning: You remember when you first saw my real face? In the cave?”

Mortis nodded.

“You really impressed me there, you know? Like, I’ve never seen anypony cut down so many foes by himself. Then, when I tried to foalnap the princess, I… I was terrified, I’ll admit that. With what looked like only a few twitches, you had killed my two comrades and destroyed my horn. Thanks for that, by the way. It never had the chance to fully regrow…” she said, rubbing the small cone atop the stump that had previously served as her horn.

“Well, ayways… when you came to interrogate me, you looked to me like the greatest monster in all of pony history, but after I was let go, I became… kinda obsessed with you. I wanted to somehow control you. Seize your power for the brotherhood and such. However, when I tried to, you just repelled the attack and escaped unharmed… at least you would have, but instead you did something that had… unexpected effects on me. Without even thinking, you threw yourself between the purple princess and one of my goons and took the hit. At that moment, I think some kind of switch was flipped. I was still obsessed with you, don’t get me wrong, but… in a different way.”

Sugarcoat drew in a shaky breath – even though she was dead and thus didn’t need air anymore – before she continued.

“I started stalking you. I kept telling myself that it was all for the purpose of gathering intel on you, but…” She trailed off, looking to her hooves for a moment, before continuing. “Then, when you killed master, I felt… weird. I told myself that I was angry at you for killing him, so, since you were dead, I tried to take revenge on your marefriends. When the report then came that there was some new alicorn now, I immediately checked what that was all about and then… I found out that you were Markus.”

“So you realized that your plans in equestria were doomed and tried your luck in the Gryphon Republic.” Mortis concluded.

“What? No! No, that wasn’t the reason at all! I… I…” Sugarcoat tried to defend.

“You what?”

“I… I don’t want to say that out loud. Can I whisper it to you?” She asked.

“I assure you that there is nopony here that could listen in. You are perfectly fine to say what you want.”

“I know that! It’s just… I don’t feel comfortable saying it loud!” Sugarcube replied, heavily blushing while doing so.

Mortis stared her down for a moment, before sighing and complying to her wish. “Okay, what did you want to say?”

“I… I might have fallen for you.” Sugarcoat whispered, making Markus recoil a bit.

“N-Now, I may tell you that sweettalking will not help your case in any way!” A blushing Mortis said quickly.

“But it’s true!” Sugarcoat defended. “When I saw for myself that you were still alive, I was relieved! I was happy that you were still there and I… I might’ve considered trying to seduce you for juuuuuuust a moment…”

“Ah. That doesn’t explain the thing in the Gryphon republic, though.” Mortis reminded.

“May I remind you that that was before I knew you were still alive? Back then, I… had a phase. I was suddenly the leader of the brotherhood, but I also felt so… so lonely. Not to mention that finally, everything that the brotherhood did was laid before my eyes and I felt… bad for it. I didn’t really get anything done during that time, as you might imagine, so some of the higher figures in the brotherhood just bucked off. I also think that they tried to actively remove me by creating evidence to my plans and just leaving it in the open…”

“Ah, I see. I think I have heard enough.” Mortis said.

“Wait, what? What do you mean with that?” Sugarcoat panicked.

“I mean that I have gathered enough information to make my decision.”

“But…”

“Sugarcoat!” Mortis bellowed. “You are well-aware of the blood that clings to your hooves. As such, you are not allowed to pass on into the afterlife.” Mortis said.

“No… please, don’t…”

“Resurrection is also out of the question.”

“No, please!”

“However do not fret, for I will also not destroy you.”

Sugarcoat’s look changed from panick to a relieved smile, while Mortis lifted his left hoof and pointed into the void, where a swirling portal opened at the tip of his hoof.

“This gate leads into a new opportunity for you. A new life, a new name and a new body will be given to you. You shall start anew and be a better pony than in your previous life.”

“Wh-What? Really? …why? Why do you give me this chance?” Sugarcoat asked.

“Because you have shown remorse. Even if your deeds were evil, you have shown that you understand what you have done and thus can still be changed for the better, given the right environment.”

Sugarcoat said nothing for a moment, instead just staring at Mortis, before suddenly jumping at him.

“Oh thank you! Thank you so much! I promise, I will become a better pony! I will!” She exclaimed happily, before running over to the portal. However, she stopped a few metres before it and turned around.

“Say, will I remember any of this? You know, the judgement, my life before that, all that stuff?”

“No, you won’t.” Mortis answered shortly.

“Well, in that case, may I do something real quick before I go?”

Mortis raised a curious eyebrow at that. “Uhh… sure, but be aware that you are dead, so there aren’ many things that—hmpf!”

Sugarcoat rushed back to him and suddenly planted a passionate kiss right onto his mouth.

“Wow… that was the first time I ever kissed a stallion. That felt… weird.” She murmured when she pulled back again, before realizing what she just did and blushing heavily.

“W-well, that was just… ehehehe, you know, umm, I- I have to go!” She stammered, before running back to the portal and jumping through.

Mortis remained still for a while after that, before shaking his head once and releasing the breath that he was holding.

“Phew… I don’t know how, but these cases seem to get exponentially weirder…”

Author's Notes:

And so ends a character that I have used not nearly enough and that I wanted to at least have one last, beautiful appearance. Also, I only know very little latin and thus confess without being ashamed that the title was translated with google translate. If I caused anyone to die of cringe with that... well, I suppose they don't care anymore anyways.

CH66: The day draws near.

With the fall of their Headquarters and the death of their leader, the rest of the Bloodmoon fell quickly and only a few hours after the prince’s return to the palace came the report that their last hideout had been cleared.

“Wow…” Mystic marvelled as she signed off the last report. “I can’t believe it, but this… this was it. We actually managed to clear all of the hideouts we know of in one go… Now that it’s done, I can’t really comprehend how he hadn’t done this sooner.”

“Because we didn’t know the exact locations of all of their hideouts and their HQ. Without this information, a victory would’ve been pointless.” Markus pointed out.

“True. Still, after we cleared them so easily, it makes it feel like making Rainbow and Twilight wait for so long was unnecessary.” Mystic said absent-mindedly, before fully registering her own words and slowly lifting her head from the sheets before her with a growing smile. “Ooooooh, Markus, you know what this means? You can come back earlier than you promised! Oh, this is going to make them sooooooo happy, I’ve got to tell—“

“No.”

“… What?” Mystic looked at Markus in disbelief.

“No, I’m not planning on coming back earlier.” Markus clarified, to which Mystic gave him a disapproving look.

“And why would that be? Don’t you dare even thinking about not holding your promise! They might play tough on the outside, but on the inside, they are almost falling apart. The only thing that holds them together is their hope for your return.” Mystic chastised.

“I am well aware of that.” Markus said.

“Then WHY don’t you want show yourself ahead of schedule?!” Mystic half-shouted angrily.

“Because firstly, I need to make sure that we really got them all. If even only one of them slips away, they might try to rebuild their cult. It would take a while, sure, but eventually, they would come back.” Markus answered.

“And secondly?” Mystic pressed with a raised eyebrow.

“Secondly, I… I need to prepare. Returning after such a long time of ‘being dead’ takes quite a lot of…” Markus trailed off.

“Willpower?”

“Maybe. It’s just that… I love them, sure, but that doesn’t change the fact that I’m still afraid. On the contrary, if I wasn’t technically already dead, then the fear over me being rejected by them would probably kill me.”

“Oh, come on, Markus, we already had that talk a thousand times!”

“A thousand and twenty two, actually.” Markus corrected.

“…Right. Like I was saying: we talked about this so many times already! They won’t just abandon you, just because you’ve changed! On the contrary, if your race had ever been a concern then they should be drawn even more towards you, now that you’re an alicorn!” Mystic pointed out.

“Probably. Sadly, fear isn’t rational. If it was then I would’ve probably been married by the time I came here. Heh, maybe I wouldn’t have come here at all, concidering that my potential wife would’ve probably tried to talk me out of the army…” Markus said, laughing lightly at this hypothesis.

“In that case, I would say that fear is a good thing, right? After all, it is the reason that you ended up here.” Mystic joked.

“Awww, well aren’t you a humble little pony. Don’t you think you’re the lucky one? If I hadn’t been afraid, then you wouldn’t’ve had the chance to be trained by the most capable officer there is.” Markus boasted jokingly.

They both looked at each other with semi-serious looks for a short while, before both burst out in laughter.

---

Meanwhile in Ponyville, Castle of Friendship:

The Castle was a lively place at this evening in late September. The Running of the Leaves had been held a few days earlier, though neither Rainbow nor Twilight or Applejack participated this year. Rarity had tried to participate, but in the end she was more worried about her outfit than the actual race – not that anypony expected anything else.

Instead of participating in the race, Rainbow and Twilight had chosen to prepare for the next month, for the coming Nightmare Night… and for Markus’s return.

“Why in Equestria did Trixie agree to this?!” Trixie whined as Spectral Flash pulled on her mane again.

“Because you wanted to be a good friend to me, remember?” Starlight answered, while having her own mane getting eaten by Dawnbreaker.

“Yes, Trixie knows that part, but, I mean - why?!” Trixie whined. “Why did you even need Trixie’s help in the first place?! Isn’t there normally another mare here that helps you?”

“Mystic is currently in Canterlot for some important anti-terrorist operation or something and I can’t do this alone, as you might’ve already noticed.” Starlight said in an annoyed tone.

“Then why don’t they just care for them?! They’re their own foals after all!”

“Because they’re busy preparing for a very important event at the end of next month, so they need somepony else to care for their – OW!” Starlight explained, just as Dawnbreaker decided that she needed a new manestyle.

“Who in Celestia’s name prepares for Nightmare Night one month early?!” Trixie exclaimed incredulously.

“Well… it’s not for Nightmare Night, really. It’s… more personal, to them at least. You know that their special somepony died in the war, right?” Mystic asked. At that, Trixie’s face slowly morphed from a very annoyed expression to a more compassionate one.

“Oh… really? I-I’m sorry then. I really didn’t know.” Trixie apologized.

“I know. They – understandably – don’t like to talk about it, probably because they’re still hurting. However, there’s a light that they’re looking towards. Apparently, there’s some kind of a prophecy or something that he will return in some kind of way somewhere around this year’s Nightmare Night.”

“Really? So he didn’t actually die then? Wow, if he’s really that much of an a—“ Starlight quickly slammed her hoof over Trixie’s mouth before Spectral Flash and Dawnbreaker could catch a bad word and gave Trixie a scolding look. “Ehehe, sorry… but really, if he is that kind of stallion then I don’t know why they even want him to return.”

“That’s the thing: apparently they were there when he died. They never told me the whole story, but from what I could gather, they saw him get blown to pieces in mid-air and Twilight’s brother also confirmed that he had lost contact with him over their mind link or thought bridge or whatever it was.”

“What? Wait wait wait, they had connected their minds? Why?” Trixie asked.

“I don’t know, but Twilight surely knows, so you could ask her or, if you’re interested, you can read Twilight’s book. It’s basically Markus’s diary, with some added chapters about those who were close to him. Actually, I can borrow you mine, if you want to.”

“Wait, she used his diary for her book?” Trixie asked.

“Euh, yes?”

“And now he’s coming back?” Trixie asked again.

“Yes, that’s what I-- oh. OH!”

Starlight stood there for a moment with a slightly shocked gaze, while Dawnbreaker was still messing up her hair. Trixie meanwhile had brought Spectral Flash under control, for the most part at least. Never would she have thought that taming an alicorn foal would be this difficult, but there was no use in complaining now.

She was just about to try a sleep spell on her, when Spectral Flash suddenly sneezed and sent a beam of magic right through the door.

“WHOA!” Twilight exclaimed. She and Rainbow barely managed to evade the powerful magic beam when they entered the room. “You two are having fun, I see.”

“Very funny, Snarkle. Now get this monstrocity off of me, before Trrrixi—OW!” Spectral Flash bit Trixie’s cheek.

“Hmmm, yes, I do actually find this funny, Trixie.” Twilight teased. “Still, it’s probably better if we free you of our little monsters. Starlight is so overworked that she spaced out after all.”

“Oh that? No, no, I wasn’t spacing out, I just… remembered something.” Starlight said.

“Oh really? Must’ve been a really intense memory for you to freeze like that.” Rainbow pointed out.

“Uh, yes, you could say that.”

The four mares were just about to leave the room, when Spike suddenly barged in and hastily waved a scroll in front of them.

“Twilight! You’ve got to read this!!” He screamed excitedly.

“What is it, Spike? Did Princess Celestia send… us…” She trailed off as she examined the front of the scroll and read a name on it that she hadn’t heard for far too long.

‘To: Twilight Sparkle,
Rainbow Dash

By: Markus Becker’

Author's Notes:

1 until Markus's return, boys! (and girls!)

CH67: Reunion

Nightmare Night had finally arrived. Ponyville was lush with decorations and one could not set a hoof outside without running into at least one foal that was dressed up and ready to earn some candy. Twilight and Rainbow were out tonight as well, though they were looking for a different kind of sweetness…

The letter they had received a month ago said that, on this Nightmare Night, Markus was finally returning. For that occasion, Twilight and her friends were to gather at the entrance to Applejack’s barn at exactly 10pm, which left them with the difficult task of finding somepony to watch Dawnbreaker and Spectral Flash. Luckily, Mystic Gem and Starlight volunteered to do that, although in Twilight’s opinion that meant that the ‘bring your friends’-part wasn`t fulfilled anymore.

With the two troublemakers in good hooves and Spike and Scootaloo out with the CMC to collect some candy, Twilight and Rainbow made their way to the mentioned meetingpoint.

“Alright, Twi, we’ve come ‘ere. So, what’d Markus’s letter tell ya t’do now?” Applejack asked, when they arrived.

“Uhhh, nothing, sadly. I only know that we were to be here at exactly 10pm…” Twilight was interrupted by the Townshall’s bell chiming ten times. “Which would be now, so… why are you looking so scared?” Twilight asked as she looked back at Applejack, who was looking at her in pure shock… or rather, she was looking behind her.

What Applejack had spotted and what everypony except Twilight and Rainbow were also now setting their eyes on was a cloud of black dust directly behind the two. Two yellow eyes were shining out of the cloud and appendages that looked like an amalgamation of arms and Tentacles were quickly moving to grab ahold of the two mothers.

Before anypony could react, they were sucked into the cloud. Both let out a surprised cry, which was cut off as they entered the cloud and their voices were silenced. The cloud condensed into a small orb which then flew away, barely slow enough to not shake off the remaining elements.

The four mares took up pursuit almost immediately, chasing the orb through the farm, past Fluttershy’s cottage and into the Everfree Forest. The orb flew through the bushes and through trees as if they weren’t even there, while Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie had a hard time squeezing themselves through every gap they could find. Rarity meanwhile was only ever using the paths that the others had already used and opened, so that her effort and thus the damage to her coat and mane were minimal.

Finally, the flying orb reached an open path, where it sped off, barely slow enough for the mares to see, which way it took, but at the same time far too fast to ever hope to catch up.

“Ooooh, a game of ‘tag’, huh? Well, guess what, I’ve NEVER lost a game of tag before!” Pinkie proclaimed, before rushing down the pathway, her remaining friends now struggling to even keep up with her.

After a few minutes spent in full gallop, they finally arrived at, what looked like an abandoned mansion. It had a spiked metal fence put up around it, although the fence and the yard behind it looked like they hadn’t been maintained for well over a century by now. The house itself didn’t look any better either. Most of the windows were shattered and had plants growing through them, while the few that weren’t were either boarded shut or so dusty and dirty that one could never hope to look through them, even from up close.

The group looked upon the building in awe and maybe with a bit of fear, while slowly forcing themselves to advance further. However, as soon as they passed the gate, it slammed shut behind them, leaving them trapped in the yard, with no alternative but to press on.

“Aaah, a sissy, two cowards and a lunatic, coming to rescue their hopeless friends.” A familiar deep voice suddenly said out of nowhere. The group looked around and spotted a pony silhouette with yellow eyes standing on the roof of the mansion, before it dissolved and reformed on the ground, a few meters to their left.

“Chivalrous. Truly chivalrous.” It said, advancing on them. The group took defensive stances, ready to be attacked, when the silhouette dissolved again reformed on their other side, with its back turned towards them. “Go ahead, you will find your friends just inside. Your friends, as well as your demise.”

With a dark and overly evil laughter, the figure formed into an orb and flew into the mansion and then, everything went silent.

“W-w-what was t-that?” A shivering Fluttershy asked.

“A-Ah dunno, b-but w-we need ta m-move on—“Applejack shook the fear from her head, before finishing her sentence. “We need to move on in order to save our friends. Markus said he’d be comin’ back t’day and ah’ll be damned if Rainbow an’ Twilight were not there t’ greet him!” She assured, more to steel her own resolve than that of her friends.

“Y-Yes, you are right, Applejack. I simply cannot allow such a ruffian to disturb such an important day for our friends!” Rarity said and Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded their agreement. They all shared one last look, before they stormed into the mansion. A long hallway stretched out before them with doors on either side, however only the one right on the other side had light shining through its gaps.

Without much thinking, the group stormed towards that door and when they reached it, Applejack swung around with her powerful hind legs and kicked it open.

“Oh hey girls, it really took you a while.” Twilight said upon their entrance. She and Rainbow were sitting on a rather comfortable looking couch at a wooden table, on which there were two mugs of steaming coffee, which they were casually swirling in.

“Uhhh… Twi? Rainbow? Are you… are you alright?” Applejack asked with no small amount of astonishment and suspicion.

“Do I look wrong to you? If so, then you must be imagining things, I am perfectly alright.” Twilight said, while the other three filed into the room. Just when Fluttershy had entered the room, she took a small sip of her coffee and right at that moment, the door slammed shut behind them.

They all whipped around and saw that there was a third pony hidden behind the open door and waiting for his cue. It wasn’t just some pony either. It had a distinct red coat with a black mane and tail and was significantly larger than the other ponies in the room. It also was an alicorn, the wings and horn being the same black as the mane and tail. He was laying down on a patch of straw which, while not exactly looking comfortable over longer periods, was certainly a major improvement to the cold stone floor beneath.

“Greetings.” Prince Mortis greeted from his perch.

“Prince Mortis? Why are you here? Oh, oh, did you come to save Rainbow and Twilight? That would be great, because we came here to do that tooandifyouwanttodothesamethenwecanworktogether!” Pinkie rattled down.

“That would indeed be a reasonable proposal… if I were actually here to save them, that is. After all, it would be quite paradoxical of me to save them, as I am the one who brought them here in the first place.” Mortis answered.

“What?! No, NO, you can’t do that! You said yourself that Markus would return today! You can’t just—“ Rarity shouted, but Mortis cut her off.

“Never have I claimed that Markus, specifically, would return. I merely said that their rightful husband would return, and return he did indeed. Rainbow, Twilight, come to my side.” He said, opening his wings slightly to give Twilight and Rainbow some room beneath.

“Yes, master.” They both repeated in a slightly cheerful voice. They then laid down on either side of the alicorn and Mortis closed his wings again, pressing the two mares gently to his sides.

“Oh, so that’s how it is? From the beginning, you always just wanted them to be yours and we fools actually fell for your scheme!” Rarity overdramaticized.

“Indeed, I always wanted them to be my own. However, they seem to be of high value to you as well and you know what? You can have them back.”

“We—what?” Rarity asked in disbelief.

“You heard right, you can have them back… however, in exchange I will need something else from you.” Mortis said, standing up and slowly walking towards Rarity, who was gritting her teeth by now.

“And what would that be, you filthy beast?” She hissed.

“I need you to…”

The whole room was suddenly filled with thick, black smoke which completely blocked all view.

---

Twilight and Rainbow were thrown down on something… that felt strangely soft and bouncy. They were both too occupied with hacking and coughing over the very bizarre feeling of being compressed into an infinitely small point to even notice this. And just as quickly as they were let go, they felt themselves be picked up again and… kissed?

Both ripped their eyes open, struggling against the action, but when they laid eyes upon who was kissing them, their resistance immediately fell.

The brown hair, the small nose and the scar that ran across it from between his eyes… finally, Markus was holding both of them again. They closed their eyes in contentment and relished this moment of reunion, letting a few joyful tears flow.

When Markus finally broke the kiss, he smiled at both mares in his arms and proudly proclaimed. “I am ba—OW! Okay, I deserved that.” He said, as a left hook from Twilight hit him on the cheek.

“OW! Okay, I deserved that too.” He said, as Rainbow did the same, before coming back around for a backhoof blow. “OW! Hey, now you’re pushing it!”

“I’M pushing it?! What about you?! What were you thinking?! Where have you been?! Don’t you know how we’ve been feeling this whole time? Did you even care?” Rainbow shouted, while starting to cry. “This whole time, we were only one small step from completely losing it, you know? Do you even know how hard it was to… to see you die like that?”

“I’m… I’m sorry.” Markus apologized. “I never intended to make you sad, I just… I wanted you to be safe and… I had thought that I was the root of all evil. That I might have been the reason why so many things happened and that, by going down with the last enemy, I could make sure that you get to live on in peace. However, things would not turn out this way and so… I was brought back a few days later.” Markus explained.

“But where have you been? If you’ve been here all this time, then why didn’t you come back to us? Why couldn’t you at least show yourself to us?” Twilight asked him, her own tears falling freely, though she managed to keep some control.

“Actually, I… I kinda did.” Markus said. He put the two back down and took a step backwards. He then transformed into his alicorn form, which had Twilight and Rainbow stand in speechless awe.

“W-wait, you are Prince Mortis?! B-But how?! WHY?!” Twilight stammered.

“Because I was afraid of what you might think of me, if you were to know that this is what I have become. I was afraid that you might fear and/or abandon me if you were to know.”

“But Markus, you know that we don’t care which form you are in, as long as you are you!” Twilight said.

“Yes, I know that, which is why I found the strength to actually show myself again.” Markus said, leaning down and giving both of them another kiss. “And now that I’ve done it, I don’t know why I was ever afraid.”

“Yeah, that was pretty stupid of you. I can’t wait to see Applejack’s face when she sees that you came back, though!” Rainbow said.

“Speaking of which, I prepared a little something and I need your help with that…” Markus said, instructing them on his plan.

---

“I need you to…” Markus said, before letting a cloud of his smoke blind the four mares in front of him and when it was gone, he had changed back into his human form. “… give me a warm welcoming hug!” He finished, letting himself slump down on a second couch that he had materialized behind him.

He sat down right between Twilight and Rainbow, who were already sitting on the couch and who were eager to be the first to follow his order.

“W-wait, M-Markus?” Rarity asked in disbelief.

“Yes, it is me. It has been far too long, hasn’t it?” He answered her.

“YAY, Markus is back!!” Pinkie screamed, jumping onto him and wrapping him in a tight hug and slowly, the remaining three joined in as well.

Their hug held for a few minutes and after it dissolved, Markus got the same questions from them as he did from Rainbow and Twilight. He knew this would happen, though and he found that it was the least he should do to tell them the whole story as well, including that he was Prince Mortis.

“So, you’ve been here this entire time, but you didn’t show yourself? Wow, that sounds… weird.” Pinkie said.

“That actually sounds weird comin’ from you, Pinkie.” Applejack remarked. “Still, ah have t’ agree with ya. This wasn’t yer best idea, Markus.”

“Indeed and speaking of ideas: there is one idea that has been floating around in my head since even before the war had begun.”

He slipped off the couch and knelt down before it, while holding Rainbow’s and Twilight’s hoof in either hand. He then produced two golden ribbons from his pockets and bound them into a bow around either hoof.

“Twilight, Rainbow, do you want to marry me?” He then asked.

The words hit like a magic spell, as as soon as he spoke them, everypony went completely silent. Rainbow’s and Twilight’s faces immediately went alight with joy and they visibly were about to just say yes on the spot, but then something made their faces drop. A bad memory that had burned itself into their heads. They both shared a glance, before they apologetically looked down to Markus.

“Markus, I… we are sorry, but… we can’t accept, at least not now…” Twilight said. Her friends immediately drew in a shocked breath at that.

“It’s just… you know… there was this fake Markus and… and we really want to believe that you’re the real one, promise, but… we can’t. At least not yet.” Rainbow finished.

Markus’s face didn`t waver one bit and when they had given their answer, he let his head drop forward.

“To say that this doesn’t hurt would be a blatant lie. It hurts, a lot.” He lifted his head up again and was smiling brightly at both of them. “And yet, I am glad. I am glad that you’ve learned from your mistake and I see this as… sort of a payback for the stunt I’ve pulled for the past year. Also, I am immortal now, so I can safely say that you can take your time, I can wait.” He said, giving them a brave smile, though it was uncharacteristically obvious that he was hiding pain behind it. “Now, how about we go home?” He offered and the others agreed immediately.

---

“So you actually decided to ditch the disguise, huh? Was about time, It was slowly getting difficult to hide my knowledge, you know?” Mystic said, when the party arrived back at Twilight’s Castle.

“Wait, what? You knew?!”

“Yep, I knew. Why so shocked, Twilight? Don’t you think that I would know? I mean, he’s our commander again, that should’ve been enough of a clue for you. Oh, by the way, the whole of Alpha company knew this.” Mystic said.

“The whole Alpha Company?!” Twilight repeated disbelieveingly.

“Yep. Princess Luna and Princess Celestia also knew.” Mystic continued.

“Really?! Oh dear goddess…” Twilight brought a hoof to her face and groaned into it. “Is there anypony else that knew?”

“Uhh…” Applejack raised her hoof. “Ah kinda did…”

Twilight immediately spun around and looked wide-eyed at her friend. “You knew?! HOW?!”

“Yeah, uhh… remember that whole Hydra thing? Y’know, when the Solar Guard wanted to ‘save’ us?”

A shudder ran down Twilight’s and Mystic’s backs. “Y-yeah, I do… sadly.”

“Yea, ah actually died there an’ Markus is the alicorn of death now, so he was the one who actually brought me back t’ life. He had me swear to not tell anypony though.” Applejack finished.

“Oh, so you never managed to keep a secret for long, but this one you manage to keep?!” Rainbow butted in.

“Ah actually just went lucky that y’all never asked…” Applejack said.

“Oh…”

Author's Notes:

Anyone of you played X3? Yeah, weird that I remembered that from this chapter, isn't it?
Well yeah, anyways: Markus and the Gang are back together, yay. Is this the end of the story? No. We're close, but not there yet, so stay tuned for the next chapter. :3

Ch68: Rivalry

Markus trotted through the halls of the Royal Palace with his thoughts far away from where he actually was. Well, actually not far enough for him, as he was thinking about the balcony he would be standing on in just a few minutes, holding a speech to all of Canterlot and even all of Ponykind, through the new television technology that he may or may not have played a role in creating.

After he revealed himself to them, Twilight and Rainbow were very clear that this secret was the worst idea Markus ever had, so they demanded of him to reveal himself to the entirety of Equestria. He denied at first, however Celestia and Luna somehow caught wind of that little argument and took Twilight’s side. Luna in particular threatened that if he didn’t reveal himself, she would do so for him and that, since ponies highly valued honesty, they wouldn’t be very pleased to hear that. With such a convincing argument, Markus had no other choice but to adhere to Twilight’s and Rainbow’s demands and publicly reveal himself.

Still, even when he was standing directly in front of the door, he still had his doubts, but as an experienced officer, he knew that when one had unnecessary doubts, the best way was mostly to (literally) push past them. And so, he finally stood on the balcony, overlooking a grand plaza with thousands of ponies gathered to listen to him. He gulped down his last bit of hesitance and started to speak.

“Ponies of Equestria!” His voice echoed throughout the plaza and the few mumbled conversations in the crowd immediately died down.

“I, Prince Mortis, the alicorn of life and death, have a confession to make. When I first revealed myself, I have neglected to tell the whole truth about my arrival in these lands and that because of a reason. In truth, I have been here for far longer than I had implied at first. In fact, I have even neglected to reveal my true identity.”

When he finished saying that, he enveloped himself into a plume of black smoke and transformed into his old human self. As soon as the smoke lifted and his body was revealed, one could hear the whole crowd gasp and fall into chatter.

“Yes, it has been me this whole time. When I sacrificed myself to destroy the leader of the Bloodmoon cult, I apparently also activated a part of me that has been slumbering for my whole life. It would seem that – even though I come from an entirely different universe – I have been an alicorn all along and when I took my place through my sacrifice, those powers had been awakened. I took my place in the plane between life and death and through a ritual, performed by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, I had been brought back to life.”

Markus looked over the crowd that was now looking at him with expressions from questioning to suspicious, to even accusing.

“I do not expect you to trust or even believe me. However, I will ask you to forgive me, for if I hadn’t kept my existence a secret, then my earlier efforts might have been in vain. I promise to all of you that I will strive to become a royal figure, at least comparable to the likes of Celestia, Luna, Twilight and Cadence and that I will put the interests of Equestria and of the ponies inhabiting it far above even my own life.”

Markus finished his speech with one last look over the silent crowd, before he turned around and vanished back into the Castle. As soon as he did so, he was intercepted by Rainbow and Twilight, who were carrying their foals on their backs. Both of them apparently knew on instinct that Markus was their father, so they had little to no difficulty to warm up to him. Then again, they warmed up to Starlight even when she basically held them hostage, so that doesn’t necessarily say much.

“MARKUUUUUUS!!!” A male voice suddenly bellowed through the hallways and when Markus turned to see, where it came from, he saw Shining Armor and Princess Cadence storming towards him.

“HOW DARE YOU scaring my sister like that?! What were you even thinking?! And why didn’t you reveal yourself earlier?!” He shouted angrily.

“Aww, did you miss me that much? I’m sorry Shiny, I’ll make a note to tell you next time.” Markus teased.

“NEXT TIME?! You’re planning on doing that AGAIN?!”

“Calm down, Shiny!” Cadence tried to calm. “Although, I have to agree with you: That was very stupid of you, Markus. I’m sure there was a far better solution than blowing yourself up in front of your marefriends.”

“Yes, I’m sure there was, however I didn’t see that other opportunity and thinking would’ve cost too much time.” Markus argued.

“Still, you’ve got to think about us as well, when you’re doing such things.” Twilight said.

“Oh, I did think about you. In fact, you were the only thing I was thinking about and that whole maneuver was only done, so you could live another day. And just so you know: I will do that again, should the need arise, as long as that means that you will get to live on.” Markus said.

“But how do you want to protect us afterwards if you’re dead?” Rainbow asked, drawing all attention to her. “What? Did I say something wrong?”

“No, on the contrary actually. I think none of us would’ve expected such a logical argument to come from you, Rainbow. Huh… Well, dying isn’t really an option for me anymore anyways, so this discussion was pointless from the beginning.”

---

A few days later, the first royal council was held, with all the alicorns of Equestria present. The reason: rivalries between the guards.

“As you all know, Equestria currently has four different guard sections. The Royal Guard, led by Shining Armor, The Solar and Lunar Guard, which are semi-directly led by Luna and myself, as well as the newly formed Shadow Guard, which is led semi-directly by Markus.” Celestia explained.

“Yes, we are well aware, dear sister. Now, what would be the problem?” Luna asked impatiently.

Celestia gave an annoyed look over to her sister, before continuing. “As you are likely also aware, there have always been rivalries between the guards, which had been resolved by separating their areas of exertise. The Royal Guard became the primary military and police, while the Solar and Lunar Guard specialized in covert operations during daytime and at night, respectively. Now, we have the Shadow Guard, which seems to fill in all four roles at once, which has sparked those rivalries anew.”

“Ah… so what’s so bad about that?” Markus asked.

“You ask what’s so bad about that? Rivalries are not the way of Harmony, Markus. They will only lead to conflicts at a later time, so they must be doused as soon as possible!”

“On the contrary, dear Celestia. I think that rivalry is one of the most harmonious things to be.” Markus said, drawing questioning looks from the remaining four alicorns. “What, have none of you ever had a true rivalry? The barely suppressable need to outdo someone or somepony else? The addictingly delightful feeling when one actually manages to do so?”

Twilight sheepishly looked away at that. “Well, umm, there was that one time…”

“And now that that’s behind you, what do you think you’ve gained from it? Do you feel like you’ve improved? Have you maybe grown through the experience?”

“Now that you say it… yes, I actually think I’ve gained quite a lot of valuable experiences.” Twilight noted.

“Exactly. Rivalries push ourselves to go beyond our own limits and are a key factor to development, no matter which kind. However, I agree that we will need some way for them to keep up this rivalry without escalating it.”

“This sounds like you already have something in mind.” Cadence pointed out.

Markus confirmed this with a small smile, before saying his idea out loud: “Competetive Wargames.”

“Competetive… what?” Cadence repeated.

“Competetive Wargames. Think of it as the Equestria Games for the military. The participants compare their might in a series of disciplines, however instead of sprints and hurdle races, there will be day and night combat in different types of terrain, as well as VIP protection and a military parade as an opening ceremony.” Markus explained.

“I see. So you suggest that instead of trying to negotiate between them, we should let them brawl it out with only a few rules in place to keep them from killing each other?” Luna summarized.

“I knew at least you would understand what I am talking about.”

“Indeed, for I have made the exact same proposal when this problem arose the first time, two thousand years ago.” Luna said, giving her sister a slightly bemused look.

“Indeed you did and since we already had that discussion once, I think we should—“

“Go through with it this time.” Markus cut in.

“No, we should not. Letting our ponies pitfight each other is not only long out of fashion, but it is also brutal and utterly disharmonious.”

“And this way of thinking is the exact reason why you would’ve lost the second gryphon war without me.” Markus claimed. “The gryphons were not only well trained, but they also had the mindset necessary to fight effectively. Your guard, on the other hoof, was only really trained in police duty and was so utterly blinded by the idea of peace and harmony that they mostly even refused to fight beyond holding their ground. That is actually one of the few positive things I can say about General Pillbox: He ordered us to attack – even if it was likely only to get rid of me…”

A moment of silence ensued, where everypony was giving each other unsure looks, with the exception of Markus.

“I actually think that Markus might have a point, aunt Celestia. Having them practice some actual combat every now and then might be exactly what our guards need.” Cadence finally said.

Celestia looked around and saw that everypony seemed to mostly agree with Markus. With a sigh, she nodded and agreed as well. “Very well, we shall hold these ‘Competetive Wargames’ then. Markus, I suggest since you are the only one familiar with this concept, you should be the one to prepare them.”

“I’ll help!” Twilight piped up.

“Yes, I was actually already expecting that.” Markus said. “Thank you, Twilight. Your organization skills will certainly come in handy.”

“… what does ‘handy’ mean?”

---

“’Competetive Wargames’, huh?” Mystic mumbled after she had joined Markus and Twilight on the train back home. “So basically we are going to fight the other guard sections in a sporty fashion, eh?”

“Indeed. So far, I’m thinking about day and night fights in open and urban terrain and in the forest, after which each section will have to protect their respective VIP from attacks by the other guards, which will double as a competition to capture a P.o.I. All that will be opened by a military parade.”

“A parade? Heh, admit it, you only added that because you wanted to show off our new toys.” Mystic teased.

“Perhaps…”

“New toys? What do you mean with that?” Twilight asked.

“Recently, we received a shipment of new equipment, which none of us could really make head or tail of, but when we saw that there was also a written order by the prince for me to prepare the founding of Charlie Company, we all understood what had happened. For the most part at least, we still have no clue when or where our dear Markus here had the time to develop and build this stuff.” Mystic explained.

“So, did you fill out the forms like I asked you to?”

“Oh, yes, I did, except… there was a minor problem: what should I fill in for the type of unit?” Mystic asked.

Markus gave her a half-sided smile and answered: “Motorized Infantry.”

CH69: National Infantry Competition Exercises

Markus walked through the small factory at the outskirts of Canterlot, with Flim and Flam by his sides. However, they weren`t moving into the factory, but out of it.

“Sir, if I may ask, where are we going?” Flim asked slightly nervously. After all, now that they’ve found such an extremely profitable job that they even mildly enjoyed, both were not keen on losing it again.

“Southward.” Markus answered shortly.

“Southward? Uhh, sir, may I ask why?” Flam asked with the same nervousness as his brother.

“It has come to my attention that a few key factors severely limit the effectiveness of production and I am going to fix these issues now.” Markus answered again.

“Issues? With all due respect sir, we haven’t noticed any issues.” Flim protested.

“Indeed and I didn’t expect you to. In fact, I would be surprised if you did.” Markus said.

“What does that mean?” Flim asked his brother, who only shook his head with a similarly confused look as him. They both waited for Markus to answer, but he didn’t. Instead, he entered a chariot, pulled by two Royal Pegasus Guards and signalled the two brothers to enter as well.

The chariot took off, once the two former con-artists were inside and after a few minutes of flight, the destination came into view.

“Ponyville?!” Flim and Flam both exclaimed.

“Sir, with utmost respect, you aren’t going to have us apologize to the townsfolk or anything like that, are you?” Flim asked in a tone that was technically beyond his permissions – even as head of R&D.

“While that would be, what Ponies called ‘the right thing to do’, it is not what we are here for. Like I said, there are a few things that directly affect production that need to be fixed.”

With that short answer given, Markus fell silent again, until the chariot descended, not directly into Ponyville, but a bit off towards the outskirts, where a whole new military base was now proudly standing.

The chariot set down in a large open area in the middle of the base, where Mystic was already awaiting the trio.

“Sir, welcome back to Ponyville. We have prepared everything as ordered and are ready for the first inspection!”

“Inspection? Sir, I have to say, this is getting weirder and weirder. What exactly do you want us to inspect?” Flam said, with more than just a hint of annoyance.

“That.” Markus said simply and pointed towards an absolute giant of a building. Not only that, but it also seemed drastically different from the others in that it didn’t seem to serve any military purpose. In fact, it looked more like…

“A factory?” Flam asked. “Sir, why is there a factory in this military base?”

“Like I said, I noticed a few issues. We were running out of production capacity, the supply lines from the factory to the base were too long and unreliable and I found that Canterlot as the cultural and political center of Equestria, where diplomats and tourists from different countries are roaming about, is not the best place to run a factory of this type. All of these issues could luckily be solved by simply building a factory within the base.” Markus explained.

“Ah… but sir, we were running far from capacity! In fact, we still had room to expand even after the production line for these ‘Trucks’ went online.” Flam said.

“I know, however there are only so many different production lines that such a small factory can run simultaneously, even if it runs fully automatic. That reminds me: here’s your next project.”

“Another one?!” Mystic, Flim and Flam exclaimed.

“Don’t worry.” Markus said with a chuckle. “This isn’t going to be as much of a leap as the previous one has been. I simply want you to take a few of the truck chassis and give them thicker steel plates, remove the flat bed and mount a machine gun in an armored turret instead.”

“Turret? Oh, you mean that steel can that can rotate that you wanted us to develop? Huh, I was already wondering, what you needed that for.” Flam noted.

“Exactly, that one. Before you can focus on that project, however, you will have to oversee the transport of all your equipment and supplies from Canterlot over here. The factory has its own entrance, so don’t worry about bothering or being bothered by the soldiers here.” Markus said.

“All of our equipment? Does that mean that we`re abandoning the factory in Canterlot completely? After all this talk about capacities, it would seem more logical to me if we would run both of them at the same time, not to mention the immense workload involved with moving an entire factory worth of equipment.” Flim argued.

“Indeed it would seem counterproductive, however I found that a fully automated factory running unsupervised can be a major security hazard, as a spy would only have to open the door and would already have everything he needs right in front of him without anypony there to stop him. As for the workload: now that we have trucks, transporting the equipment should not be an issue anymore.” Markus said.

“Yes… about that.” Mystic spoke up sheepishly. “I know you told me to form a separate logistics platoon and have them train on those trucks first, but… No matter how much effort we put into it, we just can’t seem to make progress. Even those who have previous experience in driving carriages or some even trains can only barely get the hang of it. Worst of all, I myself can’t drive them, so Twilight is helping out as a teacher, after she spent a whole night trying to grasp the manual that came with these things. On top of that, we already damaged ten of these Trucks during lessons and since the mechanics are also still in training, we have no way to fix them!”

While explaining her situation, Mystic worked herself up more and more, her voice growing in desperation, until a red hoof landed on her shoulder.

“Don’t be so frustrated about this, Mystic. All of this is a completely new era of technology. I wasn’t expecting you to immediately understand it all. Keep training and you will see that at some point, you will get the hang of it. As for the transport: gather those who have made the most progress up until now and have them do the transport as an additional exercise. Flim and Flam will help you train the mechanics, as they are the ones who know best, how the Trucks are meant to work and what they are meant to do.” Markus said, giving Flim and Flam a short look.

“Yes sir, of course, sir.” Flim and Flam agreed.

“Great. Now, you have your orders and I still have to plan an event. Dismissed.” Markus said and went back to the chariot.

---

The Competition was coming closer and closer with every passing day. Mystic and the Shadow Guard were well aware of that, which was why one could hardly find a day, where they weren’t going through drills and special exercises, the newly established Motorized Company ‘Charlie’ in particular.

Mystic sighed as she went through the drill plans she had come up with. It was a very… experimental idea to raise a new company with only so little room for training, so she was currently moving all formal duty exercises as far forward as she could. After all, Charlie wasn’t meant to partake in any of the combat disciplines, so having them not crash into one another during the parade was already sufficient. Unfortunately, even that seemed to still be far out of grasp.

Crash!

Mystic sighed as yet again, one truck collided with another. This time one of the drivers towards the front had hit the accel instead of the brakes and ran into the truck in front of him. The driver behind him didn’t manage to brake in time and thus three trucks were now stuck on one another. Fortunately they were built as military vehicles from the beginning and were therefore rather sturdy, so there was little more than scratched paint to repair. Mystic was contemplating to not even do that, as a few scratches here and there would make them look battleworn and certainly add to the aesthetic. She made a note to bring that up to Markus, before the tournament started.

“What did I tell you, sergeant? I told you these numbnuts can’t even parade properly!” A familiar voice said behind her, just as Mystic finished getting the formation back into order. Her face immediately portrayed her annoyance, even before she turned around, as she remembered this particular voice very well.

“And what do you want?” She asked the Solar Guard Captain that had technically trespassed into the base.

“Me? Oh, I just wanted to see how you are doing. Not all too good, it would seem.” The captain mocked.

Mystic took a deep breath and said, in an authoritive tone: “Firstly: You dare mock a superior? Secondly: You dare say that we aren’t doing well while you aren’t doing anything at all? And lastly: You do realize that you are currently trespassing on a class A security area? I order you to leave at once or I will have you jailed.”

“Aww, why so hostile, little Colonel? Aren’t we your comrades?” the captain asked mockingly.

“No, all that you are is a nuisance. I’m going to count to three and if you haven’t left by then, I will personally knock you out and throw you into a cell!” Mystic threatened.

“Oh really? Heh, I would like to see that.”

“One.”

“Oh, come on, Mysty, we are all friends, aren’t we?” The captain mocked further.

“Two.”

“Captain, she seems to be quite serious about this.” The sergeant cautioned.

“Oh, don’t be such a filly, sergeant. Do you really think—“

“Three!”

An electric blast shot from Mystic’s horn and hit the captain directly into his chest. He flew a few meters, rolled another few and then stopped on his back, with his chest still smoking from the impact. When Mystic saw him stop, she turned her aim at the sergeant, who frantically waved his forehooves around.

“W-What?! Me too?! But why?”

“’Why’? Did you forget that you are trespassing as well?” Mystic asked rethorically, before charging up her horn again.

“W-Wait, wait, don’t blast me! I’m cooperating!!” The sergeant shouted.

Mystic let the energy in her horn dissipate and gave a satisfied smile towards the sergeant. “Smart colt. Makes me wonder who should actually be the captain here. Now take these wannabe-elites to the cells. I`m dealing with them later.” Mystic ordered to the formation behind her, before turning around.

Everypony in the formation was watching with varying looks, but most of them looked more offended than unsettled and Mystic decided to use that to her advantage.

“You hear that? They think that we could never get to their level, no matter how hard we try and you know what? I think they’re right. We will never be equal to them, because we will SURPASS them in every single aspect! Back into formation, Charlie! We are gonna show them, how actual soldiers do things!” Mystic shouted, after which the whole Charlie Company responded with a loud “OOO-RAH!”

The rest of the exercise went almost flawless. No further collisions and no other accidents throughout the remainder of the day. By the end of it, Charlie had reached a point, where they could at least safely follow one another around a pre-determined course without breaking formation, which was the least they had to learn.

Seeing the results, Mystic smiled to herself.

“I’ve gotta give them that: these douchebags are very good material for motivating my troops.” She thought to herself, before finishing up her last bits of paperwork and going home for the day.

Author's Notes:

Yes, the Title reads 'N.I.C.E.', you saw that right.

CH70: Wargame: Equestria

The Central Plaza in Canterlot was filled to the brim with ponies, waiting and cheering for the parade that was soon to begin. Twilight and her friends, minus Mystic, Pinkie and Spike were standing in the royal lounge, minus the royals who were currently busy preparing and later leading their respective special units.

Twilight was the only one who didn’t have a guard unit of her own, which she was entirely okay with. In truth, her biggest fear when she became a princess was that she would have to command her own guard, so when she heard that that was entirely optional, she really had a weight lifted off her chest.

Still, she was looking through the protective glass with a very melancholic look, something that her friends – Rainbow in particular – quickly picked up on.

“Twi, what’s wrong? You look so… sad, in a way.” Rainbow asked.

Twilight turned to her herdmate and gave a strained smile, before looking back out. “Sad is… not entirely correct, Rainbow. It’s more that… Recently I’ve noticed that ever since Markus came here, Equestria has undergone a subtle but consistent change.”

“Well, duh! I mean, we are his herdmates now and are mothers. Not to mention that he became a prince and has his own guard now.” Rainbow stated.

“Exactly. He is a prince, with his own guard. How do you think he managed to recruit ponies into it? Obviously, there is Mystic and the company he has led, back in the Gryphon War, but what about the other three companies? Ponies just came flocking to him when recruitment for Bravo and Charlie was opened and Delta just… appeared out of nowhere.” Twilight recounted.

“There`s a fourth company? Where did that come from?” Rainbow asked.

“Delta is a secret company for spy stuff that’s doing things that are so secret that not even the reader knows about it and that Twilight only found out about because Mystic slipped up.” Pinkie suddenly blabbered after appearing out of nowhere.

“Wait, Pinkie?! Aren’t you supposed to be in the balloon with Spike? And what was that about a reader? Oh, why do I even ask, it’s just Pinkie-stuff, am I right?” Rainbow answered her own question.

“Yeppers. :3”

“So anyways, Markus seems to be very popular, what’s wrong about that?” Rarity asked Twilight.

“Would this have been possible before Markus? Really, if you think about it, the Royal Guard only managed to exist because all of Equestria loves our Princesses and wants to protect them, which they achieve by being benevolent rulers that make every day in Equestria better than the day before – or at least they try to. Meanwhile, Markus has gained popularity because he is a war hero and thus the ponies that gather under his banner do so because they actually want to fight. At least, that’s what I think.” Twilight said.

“So? Darling, as much as I understand you, don’t you think that a guardspony that doesn`t want to fight has picked the wrong job?” Rarity pointed out.

“Yes, but that’s not what I meant. Look outside. All these ponies have gathered here to watch this parade. Don’t get me wrong, I know that there have been parades in the past, it’s just that all those times the focus has been on the princesses. This time, the focus sits on the guard itself. I don’t know what you think about this, but I get the feeling that ever since Markus came here, Equestria has become more and more militaristic and I find myself asking the question: is this really still the Equestria that I lived in and loved for all these years?” Twilight asked rethorically, while still looking through the glass.

“Aww, come on, Twi, don’t start with these ‘what if’s. That’s even more futile than trying to understand Pinkie Pie. We don’t know what would’ve happened if he hadn’t come here and we will never know. Well, except for one thing:” Rainbow said.

“What?”

“If he hadn’t come here, you would still be single.” Rainbow jabbed.

“You and me both, if I may remind you. Also, if he hadn’t come here, I’d have probably never seen the day when you use the word ‘futile’.” Twilight said back with just the traces of a forming smile.

“Awawawawa” Spectral Flash joined in from Rainbow’s back.

“And we wouldn’t have these two.” Rainbow added.

“And ya ain’t flyin around all th’ time anymore. Somethin’ that ah’m really glad ‘bout ‘cause yer constant flappin’ was makin’ me wanna swat ya like a fly sometimes.” Applejack added.

“EY!” Rainbow shouted in mock offence, eliciting a round of laughter from the gathered mares.

…Which was promptly interrupted when Pinkie’s voice started blaring from the speakers. “HEEEELLLOOOOO Equestria!!! Welcome to the first annual Equestrian Guards Competition! I am Pinkie Pie!”

“And I am Spike the Dragon and we will be your Commentors for the Competition, which should actually start any second now.”

“Yes, but before that, let’s have a word about our sponsor: Rai—“

Before Pinkie could finish her sentence, a spell catapulted her out of the balloon and a male voice off in the distance shouts: “NO!”

Spike twitches back when Pinkie is hit and watches her flight path for a moment, until she is out of sight.

“Ah.” He said. “Well, anyways, here they come! The first unit to march by is of course our beloved Royal Guard!”

“Yep!” Pinkie agrees, scaring Spike and making him almost drop his Microphone. “And listen how in-sync their clops are! They must’ve trained a lot for this!”

“Pinkie? Where do you come from? I thought you were just kicked all the way to Vanhoover!”

“Oh, I was, but I have teleporters stashed all over Equestria, in case of a teleporter emergency.” Pinkie answered.

“Teleporters? Isn`t that a little dangerous?” Spike asked.

“Oh, yeah, it is. I got them from a Stick figure that was half-way stuck in the ground, after all!”

Spike was more than just slightly disturbed by this and thus quitckly decided to change the subject.

“Well, yeah, anyways. Ahem. As I was saying, first comes the Royal Guard, led by none other than Captain Shining Armor! Pretty impressive how they manage to almost all look the same.”

“Yeah, but you can still see who the officers are. I mean, duh, they’re marching alone in between the formations.” Pinkie said.

“Yep and speaking of formations: I think that there is the last one for the Royal Guard. Next up are actually a few guests from the north that wanted to join in: the Crystal Guard! Led by none other than the Princess of Love herself: Princess mi Amore Cadenza.”

Cadence was marching in front of her Crystal Guard with her wings stretched to the sides and her chin held high. She had put on some extra make-up just for today.

“Ooooh, shiny.” Pinkie commented. “but in terms of formations, they almost look like the Royal Guard.”

“They also sound almost the same. Well, I mean given that they’re basically the Royal Guard of the Crystal Empire, that doesn’t really surprise me.” Spike said.

“Back in the war, they managed to hold the Empire almost on their own though.”

“Oh really? Well yeah, their bodies are literally made of crystal, so that doesn’t really surprise me either.”

“But they’re also far fewer in numbers. Look, they’re almost completely through!” Pinkie pointed out.

“Yeah, like I said: their crystal bodies really give them an advantage.”

“Yep. Probably also helped a lot that half the Gryphons in the north froze to death.”

Spike shuddered as Pinkie mentioned that.

“Alright, moving quickly on we have none other than the princess of the sun herself: Princess Celestia!”

“And right behind her is the Solar Guard and… oooh, do you hear that?”

Pinkie flattens her ears against her head when she hears the completely out-of-sync marching of the Solar Guard.

“Well, I mean they are Special Forces. I’m pretty sure parading isn’t usually on their duty roster.” Spike tried to excuse.

“I know, but they could at least try to be in sync!” Pinkie complained.

“Actually, Mark—ahem Prince Markus told me that marching in sync is done when detection is inevitable and all that’s left is masking your actual numbers. Meanwhile, when trying to sneak around, stepping in sync would make all your individual quiet steps add up to one really loud step, so they’re avoiding that on purpose.” Spike explained.

“Still, couldn’t they just learn to march for this?” Pinkie asked.

“Like I said, parading is likely usually not on their duty roster and parade marching is actually a lot harder than it sounds.” Spike said, before looking around with a slight look of panic. “N-Not that I tried it or anything, it’s just... you know… I heard stuff.”

“Well, at least their marching is very quiet.” Pinkie commented.

“Yes, like I said that’s because they don’t march in sync.“

“And because there are only so few of them. Look, we’re at the Lunar Guard already!” Pinkie chirps.

“What, really?!” Spike shouts, just as Luna passes by their balloon. “Uh, euh, sorry, uhm, now you see Princess Luna and her Lunar Guard!”

“A nice dark grey coat and purple armor, what a blessing for the eyes after all that shiny white and gold!” Pinkie said.

“Well, I mean the Crystals were all kinds of colours and their armor is pink.” Spike pointed out.

“But they’re still shiny!” Pinkie whined. “The Lunar Guards, however, know how to hide in the dark. Really, apart from the armor, there’s nothing on them that could reflect light and do you hear that?”

Spike and Pinkie both held their breath, as they listened to the slight rhythm the Lunar Guard was marching to.

“HA! I told you!” Pinkie shouted triumphantly.

“Yeah, so they squeezed a bit of marching practice in, so? Doesn’t change that it’s normally not what they do.” Spike pouted.

The Lunar Guard went past just as quickly as the Solar Guard did and then, there was silence.

“Wait, is the parade over already? Shouldn’t there be one more?” Pinkie asked in confusion.

“Let me check.” Spike said, picking up a list from the basket’s floor. “Yes, here it says ‘Shadow Guard’ as the last entry, so where—“

Just as he was about to ask, they could feel the basket start to shake and the sound of marching slowly became audible, before Markus rounded the corner.

“Wow, that’s intense! I can feel them marching and I’m in a balloon! I really pity you guys down there.” Pinkie said.

Spike meanwhile had a hard time standing upright, so he had to steady himself on the basket’s rim.

“Woah, uhm, and here you see our last formation: The Shadow Guard, led by Prince Markus!”

“Wow, something totally different! They’ve ditched the armor completely in favour of these green uniforms and masks! It feels like I’m looking into a forest!” Pinkie shouted excitedly. “Also, their formations are different: Up in front, directly behind Markus, we have Mystic and the officers of the Alpha Company marching in a triangle in front of the rest!”

“Wait, only the officers? I see six ponies down there, but there should only be Mystic and three officers. Who are the other two?” Spike asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe Alpha got larger, so they needed more officers?” Pinkie offered.

“Maybe.” Spike said, before he got momentarily drowned out by the increasing volume of their marching.

“Wow, that’s really loud. They must be stomping their hooves quite a lot for that.” He commented.

“Doesn’t that hurt? I mean I know what stomping feels like and I don’t like doing it for too long.” Pinkie asked.

“Eh, I’m pretty sure they’re used to it by now. Mystic told me ever since the competition was announced, she put only formal duty into the roster.”

---

Meanwhile at the front of the formation:

“Ow, I think I just chipped my hoof!” Octavia whined. “And this uniform sits really tight around my mare parts.”

“Good thing you’re also wearing this mask, so if anypony sees anything they don’t know whose they’ve seen.” Vynil snickered.

“You both should be glad that I can’t chew you out here and now. I’m sorry that I only had these two uniforms left, but this really isn’t the time to complain. Now hush, you’re losing your step!” Mystic chastised.

---

“Hey look, there comes Bravo!” Pinkie shouted, just as another group of officers rounded the corner. “And they only have four officers! Really, who are the other two?”

“I don’t know, but Bravo also doesn’t wear masks, so maybe they’re just that different?” Spike offered.

“Maybe, but—WHOA!!” Pinkie shouted when the last of Bravo had rounded the corner and the first of Markus’s new toys started rolling in. “So Prince Markus really is building new stuff. What are those?”

“I heard Mystic call them ‘Trucks’ before, but I have no clue how they work. I just know what I see and I see that they’re moving but there’s nopony pulling or pushing them.” Spike said.

“But I see somepony sitting in there, so maybe they`re pedaling?”

“Nope, they’re sitting too still for that.”

As Pinkie and Spike wonder about the new machines, the formation passes by, actually ending the parade this time around.

“Well, whatever these things are, they’re certainly new. What do you think, Pinkie, does the Shadow guard have more bangers like these up their sleeves?”

“If I were to guess, yes they do, but there’s only one way to find out: Watch the upcoming matches!”

“Yep and up first, it will be a 2v2v2v2v2 in an open area during daytime. Let’s see how that goes!”

---

The battle in an open area was a mess, to say the least. Every team started within earshot from the others, to allow for a bit of tactical maneuvering. However, the only ‘tactical maneuvering’ that was done was to sprint with full speed into one massive brawl at the center of the combat area.

The first to go were the Lunar Guard. They were just not used to combat during daytime, less so in an open area and while the Solar Guard was well used to the day, it had the same last problem, going down immediately afterwards.

The Royal and Crystal Guard clearly had the upper hoof in this matchup, as they were specifically trained to fight in an open area and were thus very capable one-on-one fighters. However, the shadow guard, while not focusing as much in the physical abilities of its soldiers, also had an ace up its sleeve. Sometime during the brawl, the shadow team slipped out and hid in the tall grass, utilizing the fact that they were the only ones with camouflaged uniforms to their full advantage.

The last ones to brawl it out were two extremely buff-looking Royal and Crystal Guards. The Crystal Guard won in the end, simply due to being more resilient towards physical attacks. The stallion looked around, wondering why the victory signal hadn’t been sounded yet, even though he was clearly the last pony standing.

Then, the two shadow guards jumped out of their hiding spot and tackled him, almost immediately taking him out.

Next up was combat in the forest and one could immediately see that the Royal and Crystal Guard were very nervous in such enclosed environment. So nervous in fact that the Crystal Guard didn’t even notice that the Lunar Guard was right behind them, resulting in a very early defeat on their side. The Solar Guard then quickly overwhelmed the Lunar Guard and went searching for their remaining opponents.

However, while the Solar Guard had to search for a moment, the Shadow Guard didn’t.

“Hello mister ‘please kill me’. These guys are really standing out in the open in the middle of a clearing.” Corporal Jackknife snickered.

“Not too bad of a decision, considering the forest gives us ample opportunity to hide and ambush. Speaking of ambush, I think we’ve got other guests.” Sergeant Firebrand cautioned.

Indeed, by now the Solar Guard had found the two poor Royal Guards standing alone in the middle of a clearing and were preying on them, just like the Shadow Guards did.

“Do you think they found us yet?” Jackknife asked.

“I don’t know. I’ll just do something really stupid and try earsigns.” The sergeant answered.

He signalled them a simple greeting and, surprisingly, a few moments later they answered with the same greeting.

“Wow, they really answered! Hey, ask them who’s gonna get these guys.” Jackknife hurried.

The two Solar Guards shared a short look and then signalled back: ‘Let’s do Hooves-Horn-Wings. Winner gets the prey.’

Now, the corporal and sergeant shared a short look, before aggreeing.

Both sides counted to three and then they both showed their symbols. The Solars showed wings, the Shadows showed hooves.

“Blast, they won! Now they’re gonna get the kill.” Jackknife whined, as the two Solar Guards dove down upon the unfortunate Royal Guards.

“That may be, corporal, but now they are in the open.” The sergeant pointed out.

The corporal looked over to his sergeant and then back to the two Solar Guards, who had just now realized this as well.

“Oooooohhh…”

The Shadow Guard won that match as well.

The last day match was in urban environment. The Crystal and Royal Guard managed to take down the still severely hindered Lunar Guard, but ultimately found themselves outmatched by the Shadow and Solar Guards. By this point everypony expected the Shadow Guard to win this match as well, but then they made a grave mistake and stepped right into a trap laid by the Solar Guard.

This time, the Solar Guard won.

Nighttime rolled around and with it, the night matches. First up was the urban environment, in which the Lunar Guard would now show their true potential for the first time.

They slipped through the alleys like shadows. The Crystal and Royal Guards were the first to be taken out, closely followed by the solar guard. The only saving grace for the Shadow Guard was that they were originally a recon company, which operated mostly during the night. However, the Lunar Guard had special helmets that were enchanted with night vision spells

Firebrand and Jackknife did their best to somehow turn the tide, but in the end, they couldn’t win against a foe that was entirely within his element.

The forest match went much alike, except this time, Firebrand opted to stay out of the fight as long as they could and try to somehow sneak up on the Lunar Guard, which was inevitably going to win again. Thus, they found themselves hiding beneath a large oak tree, trying to locate their opponents, when Firebrand suddenly felt a hoof tapping against his shoulder.

He looked up and saw that the two Lunar Guards were already right on top of them – literally.

“How the--?! Forget it, I’m gonna punch you into—“ Jackknife shouted, but Firebrand held him back.

“No, Corporal. We surrender. It’s better for us if we save our energy for the last match.” The sergeant ordered, earning him a silent glare from the corporal.

Thus, the last match was upon them: night combat in the open. At first it seemed that it would go down in a similar way as during the day. However, then the Lunar Guard suddenly burst through the tall grass and ambushed the Shadow Guard. Turns out they recognized them as their most capable opponent, so they eliminated them first.

Thus, the Lunar Guard won their third match in a row.

---

The next day, everypony gathered again, as the last discipline was up: VIP Protection. At least it should have been, but there were some slight difficulties. Namely that, during the first match, the ‘rescue carriage’ broke down under Celestia’s weight and since all the reserve carts were of the exact same type, Markus concluded that it would be better for Princess Celestia’s image and the seriousness of the competition to just skip that last discipline this year.

Thus, the winners were nominated, going by points. Every victory gave four points, every second place gave three, third gave two, fourth gave one and fifth none.

First place was made by the Shadow Guard, with a total of 17 points. The Lunar Guard ranked 2^nd with 13 points and the third place is shared by the Solar and Crystal Guard, who both reached 11 points. Cadence was especially proud of that and would hold into Shining’s face for the next year.

The fourth and last place went to the Royal Guard with 8 points, which barely anypony was surprised by, yet what Shining Armor desperately tried to somehow excuse before Twilight and Cadence – the latter more than the former.

“Not really surprising, given that they’re meant to be more like a military police than actual military. I’m pretty certain we would’ve gotten quite a different result if we hadn’t skipped VIP protection.” Markus commented.

“Maybe, but I doubt it would’ve changed that we won.” Mystic chirped.

“Quite so and I am very proud of that. Tell your ponies that they may take the next week off as a reward.”

Mystic beamed and quickly gave a salute. “Will do, sir!” She shouted, before quickly running off to spread the news.

However, just as Mystic had left, a messenger ran up to Markus, panting and completely out of breath.

“Sir! I bring urgent message from the Diamond Dogs! Something... something big is coming, sir.”

CH71: The ancient Monstrocity

The day after the competition, all members of royalty were gathered in the war room in the Royal Palace. The news of trouble had thus far not been made public and all ponies involved agreed that this matter should be dealt with before the press inevitably caught wind of it.

“Firstly, we will need concrete information on whatever ‘something big’ is supposed to mean.” Celestia pointed out. “Markus, I don’t suppose that messenger gave you any details?”

Markus raised an eyebrow at the princess and answered with a hint of offense. “Princess, with all due respect, my Soldiers are by no means inept. Of course the messenger brought details.” He started. “The creature in question appears to be what Diamond Dogs refer to as ‘the great earth hound’. According to Diamond Dog mythology, it is one of the ‘Elder Dogs’, more precisely the Dog of the end.” Markus explained.

“Dog of the end? What’s that supposed to mean?” Cadence asked.

“The Dog of the End is, as the name might imply, the one dog to finally bring the world to an end, after the reign of his brothers – the dog of creation, the dog of evolution and the dog of stagnation – has ended.”

“I see. So basically, it is a threat to the world as a whole and not just Equestria.” Luna commented.

“I wouldn’t think so. I’ve allowed myself to take a short stroll into the archives and looked up their mythology. As egocentrical as this may sound, the ‘Dog of Evolution’ seems to resemble me quite a lot. He is described as having his whole body stained red from the blood of the unworthy and seems to be the mediating piece between life and death. He also introduces the world to a whole mass of new technologies…” Martin says.

“So what do you think we are facing here?” Luna asks.

“The best I could come up with is that during the age of Discord, a rodent experienced a surge of chaotic energy, which caused it to grow a thousandfold. It then went to sleep for a few thousand years and has awoken now, either due to outside factors or simply because its dormant period has ended. What actually worries me more than the beast itself is that it apparently has somehow either produced offspring or it wasn’t the only rodent affected, as there is a whole army of similar creatures following it, only far smaller in size.” Markus described.

“So, basically all we have to do is use the Elements of Harmony on that beast and cleanse all the chaos magic from it. With the mother gone, the smaller beasts should scatter. This can be handled by us.” Twilight said.

“Agreed, although I would like to assign Bravo as a protective element to you.” Markus said.

“Why Bravo and not Alpha? I’d expect you to assign a combat proven elite company rather than an untested one.” Shining Armor commented.

“It is because they are untested that I would like them to go. In all honesty, this seems to me like only a minor threat so it would be an excellent exercise for them. I am quite certain that Twilight and her friends will be able to handle this.” Markus said.

In response, everypony present was now looking at him with mild shock.

“Euh, Markus? I think they expected you to be overprotective of me, instead of just saying that I’ll be fine.” Twilight pointed out.

“That seems to be the case, yes. However, as much as I would like to shield you from every possible danger, it would be highly unwise to do so. Even I cannot be everywhere at the same time and I would thus very much like that you further your skills in combat and leadership.”

“Wait, Leadership? Heh, I don’t really consider myself the ‘Leader’ of us Element Bearers, you know? I just… happen to have the best Ideas most of the time.” Twilight said sheepishly.

“I didn’t refer to the Element Bearers, dear Twilight. I will be placing Bravo under your command.”

Twilight’s head snapped around to Markus and her mouth opened and closed repeatedly like a fish out of the water.

“Uhh, M-Markus, uh, I feel honoured, but I-I don’t really want to lead a Guard Company.” Twilight declined.

“I know. Yet, it is necessary that you at least try to do so once, just to get a feel for it.” Markus dictated.

“But why? I’ve got you, I’ve got Shining, my friends, the princesses...”

“Yet you cannot always hide behind our backs, young Twilight. I agree with Markus that you might need this lesson.” Luna chimed in.

“I also agree. My attempts at having you lead a Guard Section may have been unsuccessful, but maybe Markus has more luck than me.” Celestia agreed as well.

“But… But… ugh, fine. I will try it.” Twilight gave in. “But don’t blame me if this all goes to Tartarus, okay?”

“It is settled then. Twilight, the Element Bearers and the Bravo Company of the Shadow Guard shall take on this threat.” Celestia summarized.

“Don’t forget Markus.” Twilight added in.

“Unfortunately, I will not be attending this mission.” Markus said.

“WHAT?! Why?”

“Because of the same reason Alpha cannot attend. I’m sorry, Twilight, but it would only hinder your progress if I were to interfere.” Markus reasoned.

To say that Twilight was unsettled by this would be an understatement. She had hoped that at least Markus would be there to help her. However, instead of making her uncertainty known, she instead gulped it down and looked at Celestia with a determined expression.

“Alright, I will do this.” She said.

“Great. Then, I wish you a safe trip, dear Twilight. This meeting is concluded.” Celestia said and upon that, everypony stood up and left the War Room.

When Markus left the room, Mystic intercepted him. “Sooo, does this mean operation ‘Turtle Shell’ is a go?” She asked hopefully.

As an answer, Markus smirked and gave a pretty accurate impression of Big Mac.

“Eeeyup.”

---

“Uhmmmm….” Twilight remarks intelligently, as she eyes the Company in front of her.

Of course she knew that Bravo had 120 Ponies in it and was thus twice as large as Alpha. However, what exactly ‘double’ really meant only hit her now that she was standing in front of them.

“Uhhhh, hello everypony, umm, I’m Twilight Sparkle… uhh, nice to meet you?” She stammers, earning her a few raised eyebrows from the gathered soldiers.

Captain Loyal Pawn – the leader of Bravo Company – sees this and takes her aside for a moment.

“Princess, with all due respect, you are not addressing a crowd of foals. You are addressing a company of soldiers! They don’t want a weak greeting, they want orders.” He chastises.

Twilight sighs once and then nods to the Captain. “Alright. I’ll try this again.”

She steadies herself, before turning to the Company once again.

“S-Soldiers of the Shadow Guard! Today, we will be marching against an enemy which nopony has ever faced before. Th-this is your first mission and I know that, but do not worry! I know we can do this. Now, onward towards the Diamond Dogs!!” Twilight shouts.

Loyal Pawn gives a short nod of satisfaction and then shouts: “Company! FORWARD MARCH!”

Twilight sighed in relief as the company started its march. Her friends came over to her to comfort her.

“Darling, you did great. Really, that was a terrific display.” Rarity complimented.

“Thanks, Rarity. It’s just… pretty exhausting to talk to so many ponies at the same time and still keep your cool. To think that Markus does this regularly…” She trailed off.

“Uh, guys? I know, Twilight’s a brave mare and such, but could you hurry up? They’re going without us!” Rainbow cut in, pointing at the marching coloumn.

“Oh Tartarus! Well, let’s get going girls!” Twilight said and the other mares agreed, galloping off to catch up with the company, bound for the Diamond Dogs.

---

The march to the Diamond Dog territory was rather short, since it lay almost in direct neighbourhood to Ponyville. The locals were still not really friendly towards the ponies, but at least they were aware of the situation and thus tolerated them. Twilight was about to strike up a small deal with the leader of the Diamond dog military, when a roar could be heard… it was close by.

“AAAAH, The Great Earthhound!”

“Run for your lives!”

“Please, my welps! My welps!!”

The Diamond Dogs scattered in terror at the sound and even the General got a bit weak in his knees, but otherwise remained calm…-ish.

Rainbow Dash however, did not. She was loathing a good adventure ever since her pregnancy had ended and she was far more excited about finally getting some action than anypony could’ve bargained for.

“Haha, there it is! Alright everypony, last one’s a pile of dog poop!” She shouted while zooming off.

“Rainbow, wait!! Oh for the love of Celestia. EVERYPONY, we need to follow her!” Twilight shouted.

Loyal Pawn nodded and shouted to the Company: “You heard the mare. Company! FOLLOW THAT PEGASUS!”

The whole company and the remaining Element Bearers rushed off behind Rainbow.

After a few hundred meters in full gallop, they literally ran into Rainbow Dash, who was suddenly fleeing and screaming in fear.

“WAAAAAH, that thing is HUUUGE!”

Behind her, a gigantic rodent-like beast was running towards them and following it were thousands of smaller rodents of the same species.

“Everypony, open fire!!” Captain Loyal Pawn shouted. “Princess, we’re going to keep the small game from you. I wish you good luck with that monster!”

“You too, Captain! Alright girls, let’s go!” Twilight shouted, before she and the girls charged in to get into range for their ‘Friendship Lazer’ as Markus had called it.

“Twilight, wait! You’re running right at the Monster!” Rainbow shouts after them, however they do not seem to hear or listen.

She pondered her options for a moment, but eventually, she just groaned and says to herself: “Oh, for the love of Celestia…” and rushed over to the rest.

As soon as she reached them, Twilight cast the spell to fire the beam and they all started glowing and rising into the air.

While bullets flew above their heads, the six mares magically bound together and fired a mighty beam against the beast. A bright flash blinded them for a moment and a loud, pained roar was heard.

When the light subsided, all the smaller rodents had vanished.

“Ha! We did it!” Rainbow shouts, barely before a loud roar throws them off of their hooves.

The Element Bearers are flung backwards and land on their sides. They slowly look back up and see that the mother had survived.

“WHAT?!” Six surprised voices squeaked, as the mother brings down her claw, which they barely managed to evade.

“Quick, new plan!” Twilight shouted.

“Which would be?!” Rainbow shouted back.

“Uhh, I don’t know, hit it with everything you have!” Twilight panicked, shooting a purple magic beam at it.

Rarity did the same, while Rainbow and Applejack went in for melee attacks. Pinkie had somehow pulled her party cannon out of her mane and Fluttershy was trying to somehow calm the beast down. However, their efforts yielded little to no results.

The beast swung its mighty paw at them and sent them all flying for a few meters, before hitting the ground.

They immediately scrambled to get up again, but they were too slow, as the beast was instantly upon them again and sent a paw smashing down onto them.

However, it never reached them.

Twilight had closed her eyes, when she saw the paw coming, but when no impact followed, she tentatively opened her eyes again.

She spotted two ponies in black uniforms and with masks, who were erecting a black hexagon-pattern shield around her and her friends. The same shield that Markus used, when she fired a spell at him at the wedding.

“W-Wha—who are you?” Twilight asked.

“No time for that! Night, go get them outta here!” One of them shouted.

“On it!” The one called ‘Night’ answered.

He ran over to the still downed mares and used a weird method of teleporting them away. So weird in fact that it almost spilled Twilight’s stomach contents.

“Eugh... wha… what was that?” Twilight heaved.

“That was a method of teleportation that Prince Markus taught us.” The second pony answered, as he appeared in front of them through the same method.

“M-Markus? What is that supposed to mean?” Twilight stammered.

“We are… his disciples of sorts. He sent us here to keep an eye on you lot and get him if needed.” He answered.

“Ah… and where is he now?”

“Oh, he’s right… there…” He trailed off, looking at the figure of a red alicorn, that was slowly dissolving.

“Oh horseapples, he’s mad! Quick, Night, get the shield back up!” He called, before both of them concentrated on shielding the element Bearers.

---

Markus was pissed. He just witnessed how his marefriends were flung around like a tennis ball by this monstrocity right before him. It had commited a grave sin. One that could not simply just be forgiven.

He lost control over his form, his rage shaping it into a dark blue mist, in the middle of which a vaguely humanoid figure looked through with yellow glowing eyes.

He stretched an arm out towards the beast and then just stood there. At first, nothing seemed to be happening, but then one could see its tail being pushed aside by something invisible.

From the front, something also seemed to push in, as well as from the sides. It looked like the rodent was pressing itself against a glass panel that slowly pushed back.

The ‘chamber’ got smaller and smaller, slowly reaching the structural limit of the rodent’s body. Bones could be heard cracking, skin and flesh tearing and during all this, the beast was screaming in agony… until it could no more.

The compression continued on and on, reducing the once several dozen meters high rodent to only a small cube of mashed flesh and bones.

When seemingly no further compression could be made, Markus held out his hand again and the flesh of the rodent faded away and its essence joined Markus in trail of black smoke.

After the whole ordeal was over, Markus regained his form and, after a moment of wondering went back to the girls, who were all looking at him with various degrees of shock.

“M-Markus… what was that?” Rainbow asked with a tremble in her voice.

Markus looked back for a moment, before shrugging and shaking his head. “I don’t know. I think I simply got… mad, if you so will. The thought that you were hurt had enraged me so much that, for a moment, I lost control over my body. I am sorry, if I have scared you.”

Twilight and Rainbow sighed in relief and got back up.

“Eh, you know... we’ve already seen you do worse things than this…” Rainbow shrugged.

“What do you mean?”

“Your suicide bombing?” Twilight and Rainbow said in unison.

“Oh, right, that…”

“Yeah, whatever. Beast is dead, world is saved, let’s get back to Ponyville. I get the feeling that Spectral Flash is renovating the castle again.” Rainbow sighed.

“Agreed. We should probably head back home.” Markus agreed.

They regrouped with Bravo Company, who by now had all injuries covered and treated and were ready to go home as well.

However, before they could, a third masked pony in black uniform appeared before Markus, completely out of breath.

“Prince Markus, I-I bring terrible news!” The mare wheezed.

“What is it, Darkness?” Markus asked.

“Sir, it’s Princess Luna, she… she…”

“Easy there, Darkness. Breathe, in and out.” Markus said.

The mare took a few deep breaths and calmed down enough, to at least form a coherent sentence without wheezing.

“S-sir, it is Nightmare Moon, she… she’s back!”

Author's Notes:

Twilight's little difficulties when speaking to a company were a reference to former german minister of defence, Ursula von der Leyen's arrival speech in Mali.

"[translated] ♫Hello dear soldiers!♫"
"♫Hello miss Von der Leyen!♫"

Granted, she was the minister of family and education before the defence post and in all honesty, I really think she should've left it at that...

But enough about politics. One last thing: Markus is indeed part of the Diamond Dog mythology. However, he is not, as he thinks, the Dog of Evolution, but the Dog of Creation.
Is this important info? no. Will this info blow your mind if you can keep it long enough? Yes.

CH72: Equestria at War

While all eyes were on the ancient monster in the lands of the Diamond Dogs, a large group of ponies gathered in a secret spot deep in the whitetail woods.

The remnants of the Bloodmoon cult – merely a hundred ponies in total – had come together in this ancient refuge, hidden deep within the smaller and lesser-known brother of the Everfree. The cultists looked around at each other, some looking rather upset that their numbers had dwindled so dramatically, while others had only a single word branded into their expressions: Revenge.

When finally, the last of their ranks had arrived, the eldest still living member of the cult stepped forward into their midst. It was an elderly mare that looked old enough to be one of the founding members of the cult.

“Silence!” She ordered and when the last bits of chatter died down, she spoke again. “Brothers and sisters that have sworn their lives to our nocturnal queen, I thank you for heeding my call. As you all have likely already realized, our once mighty brotherhood has now been reduced to a mere shadow of its former self.”

The mare paused for a short moment and looked around at her fellow cultists before continuing. “Our brethren were sought out, cornered and slaughtered by the henchponies of the daemonic sun. Only we lucky few managed to survive the massacre.” She said, regretfully lowering and shaking her head.

“HOWEVER!” She then suddenly shouted. “Our survival has not been by accident! No matter which means you have survived by, it was the great Nightmare’s wish that has brought you here! The last one hundred cultists that can still bring about the return of our great mistress, Nightmare Moon!”

“And how are we gonna do that?” One of the cultists asked. “We may be one hundred ponies here, but I doubt that we can do much without our great headmasters.”

“Oh, trust me, young brother. There is still a way. A spell, to be exact, one that only us elders have been entrusted with. This spell will bring forth the immediate awakening of our mistress, however it comes at a cost…” The mare stated.

“And what cost would that be?” the same cultist asked, when the elder didn’t continue.

“The spell needs to be cast by every living cultist at the same time in order to work. If it works, it will then choose the hundred most faithful of its ranks and take their souls as a sacrifice.” The mare concluded.

“Wait… a hundred—that’s every one of us!”

“Indeed, the great Nightmare has chosen exactly one hundred of us to live in order to perform this spell and awaken our mistress. This will be the ultimate sacrifice, but also the perfect revenge for our fallen brethren.” The elder spoke. “We have let our mistress wait far too long, today shall be the day where she finally awakens! FOR THE NIGHT ETERNAL!” The elder shouted, igniting her horn and painting a brightly glowing magic ornament onto the ground.

“For the night eternal!” A few voices from within the crowd could be heard, before the cirle grew a little.

“For the night eternal!” Another group shouted and the circle grew again.

“For the night eternal!” finally the entire rest shouted and the circle grew to cover the whole group.

“Very good, my dear brethren. I am certain that the great Nightmare already holds special places by her side open for us! Now, chant with me!” The elder shouted again, before chanting in an ancient equestrian accent.

When they were done, a bright flash suddenly illuminated the entire forest and when it subsided, where once there were a hundred ponies chanting a spell, only a pile of corpses remained.

---

From the Royal Palace, one could see a bright flash erupt in the distance. Nopony knew what had happened, until suddenly, loud screams and shouts could be heard from Princess Luna’s bedroom.

Celestia immediately rushed to her sister’s aid. She ran through the palace like a one-mare stampede and slammed through the door to Luna’s bedchambers.

However, the mare that now stood before her no longer was her sister.

Nightmare Moon had just finished her transformation and her slitted pupils were now mustering Celestia like a predator does its prey.

“Hello, dear sister of mine.” Nightmare Moon said in a tone that let the greeting sound more like a ‘Hello, my meal.’

“You’re not my sister!” Celestia hissed. “You’re a monster who wants to take my sister away again! But this time, I’m not going to let that happen!” She shouted, charging her horn for a preemptive attack. However, centuries of promoting peace had left her fighting skills rather lacking.

“You’ve become rather slow, sister of mine.” Nightmare Moon snarked, suddenly popping up right before Celestia and kicking her through the open door and into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway. She tried to get up again, but quickly found a dark purple hoof pressing down on her chest.

“… yes, so it would seem.” Celestia admitted, while fighting back the pain. “So I guess you are going to kill me now, aren’t you?”

Celestia looked at the Nightmare and challenged her to strike the final blow. However, Nightmare Moon only chuckled.

“What’s so funny, you overgrown leech?!” Celestia tried to shout, but due to the hoof on her chest, it came out more as a wheeze.

“Oh, dear sister, do you really think that, after you’ve imprisoned me on the moon for a thousand years, I would grant you the mercy of a quick death? No. I want you to suffer and I know that even the premise of a torturous and mind-bending death would not even scratch your soul. There is however one thing that has been a weakness of yours, ever since we both were born into this world and which I failed to utilize the last time I walked this plane.”

The Nightmare lifted her hoof off of Celestia’s chest and walked over to a window that gave her a beautiful panorama look over Canterlot.

“You know, the ponies of this age have become so fragile and weak. Surely a courtesy of your pacifist policy. However, I think I know how to awaken the blood of their ancestors within them.” Nightmare Moon said, an evil smile forming in her face.

“W-wait, you don’t mean—No. No, you can’t!” Celestia shouted, stumbling forward and trying to hold her sister back. However, there was very little she could do, as the Nightmare suddenly burst through the window and hovered before it.

“This time, I won’t make the same mistake of battleing you again! This time, I shall throw you into misery and conquer Equestria and nopony will stop me!” She shouted and then zoomed off into the distance while laughing madly.

“Noo! Luna, wait! I know you’re still in there! Please! Please hear me!” Celestia shouted, but Nightmare Moon was long out of earshot.

“This is all your fault, you know?” the voice from within her spoke up again. “I could’ve dealt with her, but you didn’t want to unleash my powers.”

“No, I could never set you free! I will never set you free! I –Hnngg!” Celestia suddenly started convulsing on the ground. Her entire body felt like something was terribly wrong, as if there was something foreign writhing in her intestines and eating through her innards.

“Oh, my dear Celestia, you seem to gravely misunderstand your situation… You know, I’m really grateful for that gift that Nightmare made me. You are too weak to fight back. Stop it. It’ll only be more painful that way.”

“No, I will never- AAAAAH!” Celestia screamed in pain, as the transformation began. She felt how her own consciousness faded more and more into the background, as if she was pushed into the back seat by another consciousness, which had been living inside of her for a long time now.

“Aaaah, finally I can actually feel the air passing through my lungs. It really is very uncomfortable to be breathing without feeling it, as you should be experiencing right about now.” Daybreaker chuckled, before looking to her flowing mane, which was now gradually changing from a multicolour pattern into a hissing flame, although only very slowly.

“Sadly, it seems like my transformation doesn’t kick off as quickly as hers did. Though, I suppose that is harldy surprising, given that she had a virtual ton of Energy to feed off, while I have to make do with the bare minimum.” Daybreaker mumbled to herself. “Still, I am quite thankful for that little energy boost she gave me… although for once we agree on one thing: I cannot allow her to conquer Equestria. I am the one who will rule this land and therefore, Nightmare Moon will have to perish.”

Suddenly, a vortex of black smoke formed in front of Daybreaker and before she could make any further move, two Ponies appeared from it. Although one seemed to be stumbling more than actually walking.

Twilight still wasn’t used to Markus’ method of transport yet, but that didn’t matter now as she really only had one thing in mind:

“Princess Celestia, are you—WHOA!” She exclaimed, as she saw Princess Celestia stand before her, though with a few strange discolourations, which seemed to be slowly growing.

“P-Princess? Are you… Are you alright?” Twilight asked tentatively.

“Ah, you must be Twilight Sparkle. Yes, thank you, I am indeed feeling rather well now, although I am not Princess Celestia anymore.” Daybreaker chuckled, causing Twilight to jump a few feet back and adop a defensive stance.

“What did you do to the Princess, you monster?!” She spat.

“Me? Oh, I did barely anything, I assure you and my name is not ‘Monster’. You may call me Daybreaker, If you’d like.”

“I don’t care what your name is! Give Princess Celestia her body back or I will personally rip you to shreds!” Twilight shouted, either not noticing or ignoring that the transformation had now completed and every last trace of Clestia’s former appearance were now gone.

“Twilight, I strongly suggest you tone down a bit. This whole situation gives me a bad feeling and I fully trust my gut.” Markus cautioned from behind Twilight, while keeping his eyes fixed on Daybreaker.

“Tone it down?! This monster has done who knows what to the princess and you tell me to tone it down?! That’s it, I’m going to fight this beast right here and now. Prepare yourself, daemon! I won’t even leave a trace of you when I’m done!” Twilight roared, before charging horn-first towards Daybreaker.

However, Daybreaker seemed very well prepared, as she moved to intercept. Markus was luckily prepared and immediately stepped in and teleported Twilight and himself away, just before Daybreaker unleashed a pre-charged spell that ripped away the part of the Hallway where Twilight and Markus were standing in, as well as half of mount Canterhorn.

They both reappeared on the balcony of Twilight’s Castle, where Twilight immediately went into a tantrum.

“Markus, why did you do this?! I was about to hit her! Why did you teleport us away?!”

“Because of that.” Markus said simply and pointed to Mount Canterhorn in the distance. Twilight looked over and gaped in shock, as she saw a giant, fiery red beam impact the mountain and just melt the top half of it.

“B-But… But…” She stammered, tears collecting in her eyes. “But what now? Princess Luna is Nightmare Moon again and Princess Celestia seems to be corrupted as well…” She sniffled.

“I don’t know. I only know that panicking now doesn’t help in any way. We must stay calm and try to find a way to defeat both of them. We have enough assets here to work with. We have the Everfree, we have Ponyville and we have the Shadow Guard. Don’t worry, Twilight, we will save the princesses.” Markus stated.

Twilight looked up at Markus hopefully and smiled at him through tear-filled eyes. “You know… when you are telling me this, I might just believe it.” She said, before rearing up and giving him a short peck on the lips. “You know, today was really a big mess. I think I’m going to turn in early today.” Twilight said.

“Do that. I think I’m going to stay outside a while longer and wait fro Rainbow to come back.” Markus said.

“Alright, but please don’t stay up too long. I’m sure you’re at least as tired as I am. Good night!” Twilight said, before vanishing into the Castle.

‘Yeah, well I should probably tell her that I don’t need sleep anymore… but first, I’ll have to figure out, how to deal with this mess.’ Markus thought, while he leaned onto the railing and looked to the melted mount Canterhorn. He knew that things were very soon going to become far more complicated than they are now and he knew that he had to take every possible step to prepare for the incoming Hellstorm…

Author's Notes:

And so, the Equestrian Civil War began.

Before anyone else points it out: The pacing on this chapter feels a bit rushed. That is because it is actually far easier to read than it was to write, which caused my sense of pace to suggest me that the chapter was actually way longer than it came out to be.

Still, I hope it was enjoyable and I see you on the next one.

Ch73: War in Heaven

The war of the immortals had left Equestria in shambles. Few actually knew the reason for the war, but everypony saw the destruction it had brought.

It all had started relatively tame. The loyalists of both sides fought over dominance everywhere they were present, without any actually existing borders. Then, when dominance was established, those of the winning party tried to establish contact with the surrounding villages, to see where their friends and foes were.

Mostly, they met allied forces, as Equestria always had a strong west-east divide regarding their preferred patronage and those few that had the bad luck of finding themselves alone amongst enemies didn’t last long.

Most of the ponies chose to stay neutral, out of fear of conflict and because they didn’t want to choose a patron alike. However, this wasn’t acceptable to their overlord and many of them were either pressed or brainwashed into following their deity into battle. Those few who were lucky enough to not be chosen, were either forced to work the war machine or managed to escape somehow.

The Solar and Lunar Guard joined their respective patron’s side, with only very few acknowledging the corrupted state they were in and defecting to seek a cure for the disease or joining one of the neutral parties. However, there were also those who chose to fight, even though they saw that something was wrong, as the risk of defection was high. Only very few that did were ever even heard of again, as the princesses were personally hunting them down.

The Royal Guard was split into three camps. Half of it remained neutral and tried to uphold order, while a quarter each joined one of the corrupted princesses. However, the position of the neutral camp was quickly crumbling, as they found themselves sandwiched between two warmongering giants whose power grew with every day that passed and while Daybreaker, formerly princess Celestia, and Nightmare Moon, formerly princess Luna, had declared that they shall not attack any guardsponies that chose to remain neutral, the guards quickly learned that that promise only applied to the alicorns personally. Thus, the remaining neutral guardsponies found themselves faced with three choices: join one of the extremist parties and participate in the war, join one of the neutral parties and try to survive or make a glorious last stand, trying to uphold the order they once swore to protect. Most chose the second option, while the remaining few chose the first. Only a hoofful of lunatics chose the third option.

While there were actually quite a few places that managed to remain neutral – mostly larger cities or regions that had very little to do with the princesses anyways, like Cloudsdale or Appleloosa – those who fled had two prime targets: The Crystal empire, as a sovereign nation, had the political grounds, as well as the defensive capabilities to remain stable in the throes of civil war. In fact, Shining Armor, the prince of the Empire, led a good portion of the neutral guard there, while the others scattered all over Equestria.

The second biggest target was Ponyville and the surrounding smaller settlements. Of course, they also had a big skirmish there, as the ponyvillians tended to be quite extremist. However, since they had their own pair of alicorns there, most of the extremists were actually followers of Markus and Twilight and thus quickly got rid of most of the rioters. It also helped that the Shadow Guard didn’t split up, since they already had their own patron to rally behind.

That being said, they weren’t over the hill just yet. Even if their internal problems had been solved rather quickly, they still found themselves poised against overwhelming numbers on two fronts at the same time. The fact that Delta hadn’t shown itself since the parade and that Alpha was mysteriously occupied with some secret mission, didn’t make things easier, as that meant that it stayed solely with Bravo and Charlie to defend Ponyville and its surroundings. Something that was not an easy task as, while they were the strongest in ponypower among the other companies, they were also the least combat experienced.

Charlie in particular had a big problem at first, since being a motorized company, their training up until now was mostly focused on mobile warfare and even these lessons couldn’t be finished before the war started.

However, other than crumbling defenses, the refugees also had another problem on their hooves: both parties were hunting down and killing those who tried to flee, sometimes slaughtering entire villages that were travelling together.

One of these cases happened right in front of Markus’s eyes, when a trek of a few hundred ponies came into sight, tightly followed by a few solar loyalists. Of course the shadow guard stepped in, however they only managed to save about half of the refugees.

Markus grit his teeth, as he watched the survivors mourn their dead. He wanted to save those poor, innocent lives so desperately, yet his hands were bound. Ponyville was simply not powerful enough to launch a counter-offensive. Sure, they had the Shadow Guard, but who would defend their homes while they were on the assault?

For the umpteenth time since this war began, Twilight found Markus looming over the strategic map he had put over the CutieMap, likely about to spend another sleepless night trying to find a way out of this hopeless situation.

“Markus, please, you can’t keep doing this to yourself.” Twilight said softly, as she entered the room and stood beside him.

“You keep telling me that and yet, I see innocent civillians get slaughtered every day and there are many more that I don’t see. If there was at least a way to save them, this would all be a lot easier.”

“Then why don’t you just do that first? I’m sure you can come up with some sort of plan like back in Gryphonia.” Twilight offered.

“Gryphonia was different. Back then there only was a single target and we only had a single front line to worry about. This time, we have two front lines and thousands of Villages, some of which likely aren’t even on the map.” He ranted.

“Then… have you ever thought about a non-military solution?”

“…Come again?” Markus asked, dumbfounded.

“I mean, why do we need to fight to assure those ponies are safe? Wouldn’t a non-violent solution be more appropriate, given what we are trying to accomplish?” Twilight argued.

“Maybe… but seeing as we are only dealing with untrustworthy figures, I doubt that the diplomatic approach will work…” Markus dismissed.

“Maybe the daemons that possess them aren’t, but I believe that somewhere in there, they are still there. We only need to appeal to their good side.” Twilight offered.

“’We’?”

“Yes. If you like it or not, I’ll be coming with you.” Twilight said firmly.

“Ah, alright. Actually, that’s a good idea since you have a way better relation to Celestia than I have.” Markus said.

Twilight stood still for a moment and blinked a few times, before staring at Markus, which made him visibly uncomfortable.

“Uhhh, Twilight? What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Hmm? Oh, uh, nothing, it’s just… I’m still getting used to you not stopping me when I want to take action.”

“TAKE ACTION?! Count me in!” Rainbow suddenly screamed while barging into the room.

“Alright, you can join Twilight.” Markus quickly said.

“And don’t you even try talking me—wait, what?” Rainbow stopped, when she noticed what Markus had actually said.

“Yeah, that was almost my reaction when he said that.” Twilight commented to that.

“Wow, I… I really need to get used to you not stopping us anymore.”

“Yeah, I said something similar as well…” Twilight commented again.

“So, anyways, what’s the plan? I know I already said that I’m in, but… would be good to know anyways.” Rainbow said sheepishly, to which Markus and Twilight rolled their eyes in amusement.

“Yeah, well, the short version is that we are going to talk to both, Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker and try to get them to give the refugees free passage.”

“Wait, so we’re going to them directly? Like face-to-face, in one room, together?” Rainbow asked.

“Uhh, yes, that’s mostly how talking works, why?” Twilight answered.

“Then why don’t we just blast both of them with the elements and be done with it? This just looks like it would be adding extra steps!”

“I also considered that at first, but there is a problem: We only have one set of elements, but two evil goddesses in two different locations. The moment one is taken out, the forces of the other will likely win the upper hoof and push back the other, which would not only make the remaining one likely win the war, but it would also hurt the civillians on the losing side quite a lot.” Markus explained.

Twilight and Rainbow looked at each other for a moment, silently asking the other if they understood what Markus had meant.

“Uhh, why? I mean sure, I saw the gryphons destroy whole villages, but why do you think ponies would do that to other ponies?” Rainbow finally asked.

“Because they think different. They follow a different ideology and therefore must be eliminated.”

“But they didn’t choose to do that! Most of them don’t even want to fight in the first place!” Rainbow argued.

“So? That doesn’t make a difference to the attacker. As an analogy, let’s say a bug – or better yet, a Changeling flew into your room, completely by accident. Would you care that it was by accident?” Markus asked pointingly.

“Well… if it was one of the new ones, I would.” Twilight answered, while looking away.

“Of course, but I’m talking about the old ones.” Markus pressed.

Twilight looked around the room, tying to avoid eye contact, before finally dropping her head and sighing.

“Yeah, I guess you got me there. So, first we get everypony into safety and then we can finally cure the princesses.”

“Yep. Also, speaking about changelings: I was wondering, why Thorax hasn’t intervened in these past weeks, or taken up communications with us at least. Do you know something?” Markus asked, to which Twilight suddenly appeared to grow quite red.

“Uhh, yeah, uhh… well, it would seem that most of the reformed Changelings, apart from Thorax and Pharynx, were female, so… they have been kinda busy, ahem, ‘repopulating’ their species.” Twilight answered, her blush growing deeper with every spoken word.

Now, it was Markus’s turn to look at Twilight like a deer in the headlights, while sporadically blinking and moving his mouth like a fish out of the water.

“Ah…”

---

Nightmare Moon looked over the vast landscapes that formed north-east Equestria, when a swathe of black smoke landed next to her, swirled upwards and formed a red alicorn stallion. Without looking over, she greeted the newcomer.

“Welcome, prince Markus. I had already asked myself, when you would come to surrender.”

“I greet you as well, Nightmare Moon. Although, sadly I have to tell you that I have not come to surrender.” Markus said.

Nightmare chuckled at his reply and looked over to him. She mustered him from top to bottom while she spoke.

“Oh dear, what a shock. I really thought you were the most intelligent of them all.” She snarked.

“Intelligence means to be able to assess a situation. I have assessed that if we were to surrender, you would likely not spell mercy upon us.” Markus replied.

“Very well. So what is it that you have come here for?” Nightmare asked with another chuckle.

“I have come to propose you a deal. A treaty, if you so will.”

“Oh? Well, what might this be? Are you trying to wiggle yourself out of my grasp with some cheap bureaucracy? Nice try, but that isn’t going to work.” Nightmare hissed.

“Oh, dear Nightmare, please stay calm for the moment and just listen to what I have to say.”

Nightmare Moon eyed Markus distrustingly for a moment, before she sat down and motioned with her hoof. “Very well, go on. But don’t get your hopes too high.”

“Good to see that you are open for negotiations.” Markus commented with a short smirk. “So: as you might now, the war you are currently fighting is not only fought by you yourself, but mainly by soldiers, who have joined your cause.”

“Yes?” Nightmare interrupted with a raised eyebrow.

“As such, it isn’t always within your control what your soldiers do, which sadly happens to be quite atrocious.”

“Oh, you mean the headhunting and such? That was my personal order. What? Did you think I would let these foolish little traitors escape?!” Nightmare hissed threateningly.

“No, I did not. However, it would be the wiser choice.”

“And why would that be?”

“Because no pony rules alone. Not even you. For a country to work, you need a workforce, beaurocrats, diplomats, all that and much more and you can’t just fill all these roles on your own. You need subjects. However, the current war is taking a toll not only on your soldiers, but on the civillians as well.” Markus pointed out.

“And so I take it, you came here to propose a solution to that problem?” Nightmare asked, still very distrustingly.

“Indeed. If you were to let them escape to Ponyville, I would take care of them until this war is over and they can return to their homes. I myself, as well as Twilight, the element bearers and Ponyville will then join the winner, which, by my assessment, will be you.” Markus said.

“Ohohohoh.” Nightmare chuckled. “You truly have a keen eye and a sharp mind, I’ll give you that.” She said, before mumbling to herself.

“Hmm, having one front less to worry about would indeed be good. It would also lower the chance of revolts… Very well, I shall accept the treaty… on one condition.”

“Which would be?”

“After I have won the war, you shall become my husband.” Nightmare said neutrally.

“Oh my, I did not know you were holding such feelings towards me.” Markus chuckled.

And likewise did Nightmare. “Of course not. However, having the power to control death itself permanently bound to my side would be a boon I would be truly foolish to let slip.” She explained.

“I see. Very well, I accept your terms. Now, let us sign the treaty.” Markus said, before producing an empty roll of parchment and a quill and starting to write.

We, the delegates of Ponyville and the Lunar Republic, with the powers granted upon us, hereby commonly agree to the terms written within this treaty.
Thus, the Lunar Republic shall henceforth allow their citizens to seek refuge within the borders of the neutral territory of Ponyville. In exchange, Ponyville will be annexed by the winning side of the war, once said war has concluded. Additionally, upon Lunar victory, the delegate of Ponyville, Prince Markus Becker shall be bound to the delegate of the Lunar Republic, Nightmare Moon, in political marriage.

Both sides read over this a few times and once both were satisfied, both signed the treaty. Markus gave a short bow, before dissolving into a cloud of black smoke and returning back to Ponyville.

There, he was greeted by Rainbow and Twilight, who had also just returned from their trip to Canterlot.

“So, did everything work out on your end?” Markus asked them.

“Yep, zero problemo! Really, why were you even worried in the first place?” Rainbow bragged.

“Very good.” Markus said, ignoring Rainbow’s brag. “Then, I shall now commence phase B.” He said, before taking a small piece of parchment, writing on it and sending it away in a small, black flame.

“Uhhh, what was that?” Twilight asked.

“That? Oh, that was something similar to Spike’s message spell. Just now, I sent a message to the leader of Delta, who is going to relay it to all the agents spread out over Equestria. We will be receiving the first few refugees soon enough.” Markus explained.

“Ah… so now we just… sit here and wait?” Rainbow asked.

“Yes, we do indeed. Now, how about some tea?”

“Oh yes, tea is good. I’ll go and boil up some water!” Twilight chimed, before trotting ahead.

Markus smirked down at Rainbow for a moment, before she gave in and said: “Okay, fine, I guess tea sounds good. I’ll go get some fresh tea leaves from the market.” She said, before zooming off as well.

---

I the north-east of Equestria, deep within Lunar territory, lay the rebuilt town of ‘Hoovesville’. Within said town, there was a small house, within which a young stallion and his marefriend were eating breakfast.

“You know what, honey?” the mare asked.

“What, my love?”

“I think you make the best sandwiches in all of Equ-Woah!” She exclaimed, when suddenly, a green flame erupted on eye-level with the stallion and a small note floated down from it.

‘Abandon cover, commence operation ‘Homecoming’’ it read and judging by his look, the stallion knew exactly what this meant.

“D-Darling? What is this? What does it mean?” the mare asked confusedly and the stallion gently put his hoof over hers.

“Honey, you know that I love you, right?” He asked gently.

“Wh-Y-yes, I do.” The mare answered, while frantically nodding.

“And you know that I would never betray you, no matter what happens, right?” He asked further.

“Sneak? I-I really don’t like where this is going.”

“Please, my love, just stay calm. Nothing is wrong and when all of this is over, we can go back to just being a couple. Right now though, I have a few things to do.” He said, before getting up and walking over to a wall.

“After what is over? Sneak? Sneak, what—“ She stopped, when Sneak pushed a button on the wall and the entire section flipped over, to reveal a black uniform that she had already seen once.

“Wait, a-are you an… are you an agent?” She asked wth a hint of fear lingering within her emotions.

“Yes, I am. I am a member of the Delta Company of the Shadow Guard.” He said, while slipping into his uniform. He then went over to her again, to which she flinched back at first, and held her hoof.

“But dear, I assure you that my love to you is real and that, whatever will happen, I will come back to you.” He said, before planting a loving kiss onto her lips and putting on his helmet and mask.

He went over to the door, behind which there was another stallion apparently waiting for him to come out.

“Hey, Sneaky Step, wha—OH MY!! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?!” He immediately shouted, though Sneaky Step remained calm.

“Don’t worry, Dawn, everything will be okay.” He said, while pushing past his friend.

“Hey, come back here!” Dawn said, but didn’t follow. Instead, he looked into the house and saw the mare come towards the door and sorrowfully look after the weird pony that just left.

“Wait, wait, was that…” He started and trailed off. The mare nodded in reply, just as she watched, how her beloved Sneaky Step was joined by two other uniformed ponies, with whom he then went to the town hall.

“Citizens of Hoovesville!” He shouted, getting the attention of the crowd.

The mare didn’t understand the rest, as she was too busy contemplating her own feelings. Despite having just found out that her coltfriend likely wasn’t her real coltfriend, she still felt deeply attracted to him. She still loved him from the core of her heart and that confused her even more. And so, when Sneak appeared to be done with his announcement and came back, she couldn’t help but wonder aloud:

“Oh Sneaky, what’s this all supposed to mean?”

Author's Notes:

The first line of this chapter is taken from the intro of the 2008 Strategy game 'Lost Empire: Immortals', for anyone, who was wondering.

Also, I've put my other project on hold until this one is finished. Yay, more frequent chapters!

CH74: All is allowed in love and war

Two days after the treaties with Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon were signed, the first refugees arrived. They were guided by the agents of Delta Company, who had been hiding amongst them and only now revealed themselves.

Markus looked over the balcony of Friendship Castle, as another trek was currently being examined by members of Bravo. After all, they couldn’t risk letting their guard down, even if they had treaties signed.

Behind him, he heard hoofsteps slowly approach from within the castle. They stopped for a moment, probably when their source spotted Markus leaning on the railing, and came over.

“Isn’t it nice to see so many ponies get to safety? It really was a good idea to go for the diplomatic approach.” Twilight praised herself, while she was leaning against Markus and looked down onto the arriving trek.

“It is indeed good to see that it worked. We really have to thank you for talking me into diplomacy, otherwise this wouldn`t have been possible.” Markus admitted, eliciting a proud hum from Twilight. “However, I am still doubtful of the permanence of this treaty. Even if it is, our goal is not to maintain the war, but to end it. Thus, eventually we will have to intervene.” He then pointed out.

“Yes, sadly. If only they weren’t possessed, then we could just try to talk them out of it.” Twilight lamented.

“If they weren’t possessed then this entire war would’ve never happened. Really, there is no use in lamenting over alternate timelines, Twilight. We are here, now, in our Timeline and we will have to make the best of it.”

“Yes… so what do you have in mind?” Twilight asked.

Markus looked over to her for a moment and stroked his mustache, before looking back down. “Well, the basic plan would be to blast both of them at the same time with the elements. That would require them to be at the same location and us close enough to hit them. Luckily, as far as I assess this conflict, one will end up challenging the other in their capitol sooner or later and that’s when and where we will strike as well. Preferably it would be Nightmare attacking Daybreaker, as Canterlot is already a somewhat familiar Battleground. At least it’s a city where all of us have been at least once.” Markus explained.

“Also it would be very close to us, so we would have enough time to react.” Twilight added. “Well, here goes hoping that that will happen.”

“Hoping will do very little to aid us. There are more active means we can influence the outcome.”

“Really? How? The treaties we signed poised us as a neutral power, didn’t they? How could we intervene without breaking those treaties and risking retaliation? Not to mention the refugees.” Twilight asked.

“I didn’t mean an outright intervention. I meant a more… covert approach. Delta is currently tasked with escorting the refugees from all across Equestria, which means that they already have fake identities that they can use to infiltrate Daybreaker’s army and sabotage it. That way, we can shift the balance of powers in Nightmare’s favour and make sure that Daybreaker is pushed back.”

“And all that without either of them knowing that we’re involved… well, not the most chivalrous way of dealing with it, but I must confess I had a similar thing in mind.” Twilight admitted. “Now, all that remains would be actually getting to Canterlot on time.”

“Indeed, which is why I’ve already commissioned a new type of equipment. Which reminds me: the training prototype will be delivered in a few minutes and I wanted to come to the base for that. Do you want to come as well? Yes, you too, Rainbow, I know you’ve been eavesdropping from behind the door.”

As he said that, a mildly embarrassed looking Pegasus mare stepped forth from behind the wall, while rubbing the back of her head and smiling abashedly.

“Ehehe, yeah, I was just, umm, you know… kinda passing by when I heard you two talk and… stuff…”

“Yes, of course you were.” Twilight rolled her eyes, albeit smiling meanwhile.

The three went downstairs, out of the castle and towards Ponyville. Although, even though their target was the base, they took a minor detour to Sweet Apple Acres, the southern orchard of which had now become a refugee camp. Everypony who didn’t fit into the spare barracks of the base anymore was given shelter here, although since there were no solid structures as of yet, said ‘shelter’ consisted only of a few hundred tents and a few scattered firepits.

Markus regularly checked up on the refugee camp and looked if anything was amiss. He didn’t promise them any luxuries like solid structures or an allowance or anything, as it was meant to be very clear that this all was temporary. However, he provided them with plenty food and water, given out in rations by Applejack herself, as she provided most of it.

When he was certain that everything in the refugee camp was in order, they finally made their way to the base, where Bravo and Charlie were already fully assembled and waiting. However, they were not waiting for him – even if they didn’t know that.

When Markus arrived, the gates of the factory opened as well and Flim and Flam came out… together with a large, tracked vehicle that had a wedge front and a large, rectangular back. On top of it there was what seemed like a larger version of the earthponies’s 37mm gun, mounted in an armored turret.

“And what… is that exactly, your Highness?” Captain Loyal Pawn asked uncertainly, when the vehicle was parked in front of the formation.

“This, dear captain, is your new equipment. Well, at least the training prototype of it. Sadly, because of the war we don’t have enough resources to build all the equipment we need at once, so we will have to slowly get them out one at a time.” Markus answered.

“Ah. Very good sir and… may I ask how it is used? I mean, don`t get me wrong, it is quite obvious – even to me – that this is some kind of transporting equipment, similar to Charlie’s, but… what exactly is it?”

“A good question and one I am of course here to answer: this is an Infanty Fighting Vehicle, or IFV for short. It is armored well enough to withstand spellfire and hoof-held weaponry, but might be weak against Catapults. I don’t actually know, this hasn’t been tested. Though, in the event that it is vulnerable to them, it is still mobile enough to evade the projectile. Its crew consists of three ponies - one driver, one gunner and the commander, who doubles as assistant gunner. In the back, there’s enough space to fit a squad of ponies, who can then be transported wherever they’re needed. Additionally, it can provide fire support with its 37mm Autocannon.” Markus described, while pointing to the corresponding parts of the vehicle.

“From today onwards, you will be trained on this vehicle, some specifically as its crew and the rest as mechanized infantry ponies. I will teach you how to properly disembark, how to quickly get moving again and so on. Flim and Flam will also teach an train a few mechanics to specifically repair this type of vehicle. All the ponypower needed for this will come from Bravo company, with additional recruitment if necessary, though it would be best if that was avoided. Captain, I want you to assign the proper roles to your ponies. Remember: three crew and one squad between five and ten ponies per vehicle. You will be equipped with the necessary amount of vehicles after you’ve completed your reassignment.”

“Yes, sir.” The captain confirmed. “Just one question, sir… are we really going to start training with only one vehicle available?”

“Yes. I know it isn’t easy to do, but it is doable and we are running on a potentially very tight time limit.” Markus pointed out.

“Yes sir. Of course sir.” Loyal Pawn agreed, before muttering under his breath. “Alpha’s lucky they don’t have to do this as well…”

---

Meanwhile in the Everfree Forest, in a clearing that made nostalgia spring up in Mystic’s heart, the Alpha company stood in front of a true metal beast. It was a large, tracked vehicle that had a large turret with a big gun mounted on top. The barrel of the gun was large enough to comfortably fit a hoof inside and the overall size was higher than even the larger earth ponies, like Big Mac, would ever grow. It’s turret was almost completely round and it had only two hatches on top for the crew to get in.

Mystic whistled in astonishment as she took in the sight. A true beast, she could easily tell. However, sadly that wasn’t entirely a good thing, as she was tasked with taming said beast with only a manual to help her.

“Oh well, that is certainly going to get interesting.” Mystic said to herself.

“Yeah, no kidding. Are we really supposed to learn how to use this thing with only a single training vehicle and a manual? This isn’t going to get easy.” Shadow remarked from beside her.

“That’s the level of expectations that comes with being the elite. Don’t worry, I’m very positive that we can do this. At least it’s better than the wooden mockup we had until yesterday.”

“Heh, true. Makes me wonder though, what he wants to accomplish with such a thing. Could it be that we’re in trouble again?” Shadow asked more to himself than to Mystic.

“Honestly, I should be asking you and not the other way around. After all, you can just teleport to the prince anytime you want, while I only have the info we had when we left, plus what we’ve all seen – that laser that fried half of Mount Canterhorn. I hope the princesses are okay.”

“They’re probably fine. Really, they’re alicorns! If Prince Markus was already so hard to kill when he wasn’t immortal yet, what do you think must happen for the princesses to even suffer a scratch?” Shadow asked rethorically.

“True…”

“Also, Markus ordered us specifically to ignore all outside signals except his own and concentrate fully on our mission.” He reminded her.

“Yes, you’re right. I should really stop worrying so much, I have a company to train. Thanks, nam—euh, Shadow, for getting me focused again.” Mystic thanked.

“No problem, that’s what your second-in-command is there for.”

“Hehe, well, not exactly, but that’s not important. What’s important is that we get this thing running.”

“Yep, well then: Horrido Joho!” Shadow shouted, making Mystic raise her eyebrow.

“Horri… what? What was that supposed to mean?” She asked confusedly.

“The prince taught me this. He said it’s the battlecry of the infantry where he is from.” Shadow answered.

“Really now? Sounds more like something Pinkie would suddenly say in the middle of a conversation.” Mystic joked.

“Hahaha, very funny. Seriously, you should try it. It somehow feels really awesome to say that.” Shadow encouraged.

Mystic looked at him with a little smirk and rolled her eyes.

“Come on…”

She looked at him, with her smirk slowly growing into a small smile.

“Horrido Joho, come on, say it!”

Her smile grew a little more, before she chuckled and shook her head in defeat.

“Horrido Joho!”

CH75: Dawn Patrol

“Vinyl? Vinyl, how long did you plan on blocking the bathroom? Vinyl, please, I really have to go for little fillies! Vinyl?!”

It was early in the morning, in a small thatch-roofed hut in the outskirts of Ponyville. The inside of said hut was exactly split into two very different halves. One side was set up like a modern studio, while the other looked more akin to a stage in an operahouse.

“Vinyl, I’m coming in now!”

Of course, only the entrance and main living area were decorated that way. The other areas of the house shared their design – mostly. There were, of course, a few key differences in the respective ‘turfs’ of the two inhabitants, but only wherever it made sense. The more ‘standard’ facilities were left untouched. Like the bathroom, which a rather distressed mare was currently tentatively opening the door of.

“Vinyl? Vinyl, are you here? Ugh, dear Celestia, if I’d known that, I would’ve gone in hours ago!” Octavia cursed to herself, as she entered and placed herself on the throne. However, just when she was about to start her business, she spotted a small bat hanging from the ceiling and staring at her.

She sighed. “Vinyl, you do realize that peeping is utterly pointless, as we are always naked anyways?”

“I know, but doing it still feels kinda scandalous.” The bat replied.

“If you like scandals then you should’ve probably become a journalist and not a DJ.” Octavia pointed out.

“Eh, I don’t know. As a DJ, I got to see more than enough scandals. Granted, I caused most of them, but hey, still counts. As for the journalist… while I might be always the first on the scene, overall there isn’t really much journalism to be done at night, so…”

“Speaking of which, why have you volunteered for the dawn patrol together with me? I thought you would want to take the night shift, with your vampirism and such.” Octavia asked.

“Truth be told, it would most likely be easier for me, but… I did promise you to finally adapt my sleep schedule to match yours, so this would probably be a good start. That and I can’t really pass up an opportunity like this to spend a whole morning just with you.”

“Hmm, you do realize that it would’ve been easier if I had just dropped out, as then we could’ve spent the morning together here at home, do you?” Octavia chuckled. “Still, that is very sweet of you, Vinyl, thank you. Now, come on, let’s get going. I think we are already a bit behind our schedule.”

As she said that, Octavia flushed and got up, making her way to the bathroom’s exit.

“W-w-wait, what? You’re done already? How did that work?” The baffled Vinyl-bat stammered.

“Heh, it would seem my distraction worked. Now, come on~. We need to get going.” Octavia chirped.

Vinyl-bat groaned in frustration, before turning back into her pony form and following Octavia out of the house.

Outside, one could see the artificial sun slowly creep up on the horizon. The real sun had probably never set, as well as the moon. Sadly, the two warring alicorns were both unwilling to lower their respective celestial body, so Twilight put up a gigantic dome-like shield around their controlled territory, which emulated the day-night-cycle as good as it could. Sadly, magic isn’t 100% light-proof, even if you paint it like the sky, so the nights weren’t really dark anymore. It was still better than nothing, though.

One thing that Twilight sadly couldn’t emulate was seasons. The pegasi were all busy either fighting in the war or trying to not get killed between the fronts and the few weatherponies that were stationed in Ponyville couldn’t do much, without resources from the weather factory in Cloudsdale. There had been attempts to harness the rampant energies from the Everfree Forest, but that only sufficed for minor snowfall that dissipated after only a few minutes. The snow that fell didn’t stay anyways, as the ground was still too warm.

Thus, it had been late summer to early fall for half a year now. A very off-putting predicament, especially since heat-season was coming up soon and nopony – especially nomare - knew if their bodies would just follow their internal clocks or if they would orient themselves more on outside influences.

Nevertheless, Vinyl and Octavia were starting their dawn patrol with good morale and a smile on their muzzles. This only mildly too bright morning was bound to be a good one, after all!

Their first waypoint was the southern orchard of Sweet Apple Acres. There, most of the refugees had found shelter. The overall mood in the camp was tolerable. Sure, they weren’t in a terrily good mood, but who would be, after they had to leave everything behind? Still, some of them were more than willing to fight to end this war, funnily enough. Especially, when taking into account that most of them fled to avoid being drafted in the first place.

Octavia and Vinyl went through the rows of tents and small sheds that had been built from spare building materials that Applejack and a few others had donated. It wasn’t much, but at least it created a few small safe spots to store supplies for the refugees, or even construct a more robust shelter for a few of them.

After ensuring that there were no major fights between the refugees or other bad things going on, the two continued their patrol. Their second waypoint was Sweet Apple Acres itself, where Applejack was currently busy tending to her trees.

The non-changing seasons had probably hit Applejack the hardest. Since it had been early fall this whole time, her trees had all shed their leaves and were now all waiting for spring to hit, to regrow them. This would, however, only happen, once the war had been resolved and the alicorns rid of their nightmares, which could very well take up to another year, if not more. As such, Markus had already suggested to Applejack that she should try to grow a few of the apples she had into saplings, so she at least had a headstart, should the unthinkable happen. Of course, he had also promised her financial aid, once all was back to normal, however he also made it clear that there were other orchards throughout Equestria that were already in worse shape than hers would be.

Still, despite these grim outlooks, Applejack cared lovingly for her trees. So much so that she almost didn’t notice Octavia and Vinyl waving at her and needed a branch to hit her on the head to even get her to look at them for a moment.

She quickly waved at them, but didn’t interact further. Instead she almost immediately focused on her trees again and continued her work. Octavia and Vinyl shrugged once at each other and decided that it was probably for the best if they continued their patrol.

Their next waypoint was the main plaza with the town hall. On the way there, they passed by Carousel Boutique, which was currently closed, as Rarity was currently more than busy with a major order that filled a top priority spot on her list.

They reached the marketplace and the town hall and circled a few times around the large pavilion-shaped building. It was still rather early in the morning, so barely any market stalls were open. Only the true early birds were already up and preparing their shops, although with the very limited supply lines, very little was actually for sale. Food was rationed, as were most essential goods, thus leaving rather little for the merchants to sell. As such, the flower girls and Filthy Rich were largely the only shopowners to be open. There were a few smaller market stalls and shops, but nothing worth of note, really. Even Sugarcube Corner had to close for the duration of the war, as the rationing Markus put in place was very strict.

“It is sad though.” Vinyl pointed out. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I know that it`s necessary, but… It seems like he’s overreacting a bit.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Conserving every little bit of food that’s not needed immediately may be necessary from time to time in our situation, but really conserving everything is a bit harsh… thank goodness he has freed all closed shops from taxes for the duration of the war. Else, Sugarcube Corner would probably soon be bankrupt.” Octavia thought out loud.

“Yeah. Good thing water isn’t rationed. That would be a true pain in the bum, if we had to count the seconds we spent in the shower and stuff like that.” Vinyl said.

“Yes, it truly is a blessing that there is a river running through the town. We would very likely have a very hard time without it.”

The two continued on their patrol to the guard base. They didn’t enter though, as their patrol route only led past it. They did however catch a glimpse behind the gates, where the remnants of the lunar, solar and royal guards that fled here were currently training those refugees that wanted to fight into a militia, with uniforms that were of course provided by Rarity. Although these uniforms in particular were not of as high a quality as the regular Shadow Guard Uniforms were, in order to save material and work time.

The training the refugees received wasn’t on par with that of the proper guardsponies. Given that they weren’t supposed to be frontline fighters anyways, they received only enough training to properly handle their weapons and know how to act in a few basic situations.

Speaking of weapons, of course they weren’t fitted with the same weapons as the shadow guard either. Mostly because they were considered too valuable to risk damaging them during exercises, but also because the guardsponies that were training the militia didn’t have any qualifications on those weapons themselves. As such, the milita was only fitted with the standard guard spears and armor that Markus had kept in stock by order of Princess Celestia.

Vinyl and Octavia continued their patrol around the base and got to the rear entrance, which was apparently reserved for the large factory that was uncharacteristically placed within the base. From here, they could see Mystic talk to two very familiar-looking Captains, one of the solar and one of the lunar guard, respectively.

She and the remaining Alpha Company had been tasked with some sort of special mission in the Everfree Forest, though what exactly this mission was is only known to Alpha, the prince and apparently also Flim and Flam. Although, there have been unconfirmed rumours that there were regular transports of large equipment into the Everfree during nighttime.

Vinyl and Octavia finished their round around the base and continued onwards towards the castle, where they found Markus and Twilight talking on the balcony. They tried shouting up and greeting them, though whatever they were talking about seemed to absorb them so thoroughly that they either ignored or just didn’t notice them.

After their short visit to the castle, they finally came to their last waypoint, which was their own home. They filled out their patrol reports, which they had already prepared and placed on a table behind the door, so that they could do that the moment they entered.

“I just wish I could join the fight, you know? Like, go to Canterlot together with the prince, beat some butts and save Equestria.” Vinyl lamented.

“Vinyl, you know I would like that too, but you also know why we can’t.” Octavia replied.

“Yeah, I know. The lunar guard and I are our aces in the hole, in case Nightmare tries to attack us at night and the same goes for you and the solar guard during the day.” Vinyl Mumbled.

“And?”

“… and we don’t know if whatever state we find Canterlot in might trigger some unwanted memories.” Vinyl finished.

“Exactly. To be honest, I probably like it just as much as you do, but… in all honesty, I don’t know if I could kill a pony… again.”

“Octy, that was an accident and you know it! Don’t start to feel guilty for your parents again. They were total buttfaces anyways.” Vinyl huffed.

“Buttfaces? Heh, really Vinyl, sometimes you come up with the most hilarious insults.” Octavia giggled.

“Hey, as long as it cheers you up, I will do whatever you need.” Vinyl assured.

“And I am really thankful for that, Vinyl. Though, for now… let’s just lean back and relax a little, okay? After all you really deserve it after getting up so early just for me.”

Octavia gave Vinyl a loving kiss on the cheek, before both walked over and laid down onto the couch, where they spent the next few hours cuddling and enjoying each other’s warmth.

CH76: The beginning of the End

While Vinyl and Octavia were patrolling around Ponyville, there were three ponies standing near the factory’s entrance of the base. Mystic and the two captains that were with her were currently discussing the upcoming operations and which part who was going to play.

“So the plan is basically to let the remaining guards and the militia defend Ponyville, while you shadows just… rush in and hope for the best? Do I have to point out, how idiotic that is?” The solar captain pointed out.

“If you leave out the important bits like that, yes it sounds idiotic. However, if you add in that we have intel that both princesses are in Canterlot AND that we have a few new toys to play with, then it already looks like a mildly decent plan.” Mystic defended.

“Yes, but ‘mildly decent’ isn’t perfect by a long shot, you know?” the solar captain countered.

“You’re just miffed because you don’t get to fight on the front lines. I think ‘mildly decent’ is all we need.” The lunar captain spoke up.

“You’re just trying to get on her good side in hopes of getting to the front yourself.” The solar captain deadpanned.

As a response, the lunar captain shrugged. “It was worth a try. In the end, serving on the homefront shouldn’t be too bad. After all, it is very likely that both parties will retaliate against us.”

“Which is exactly, why you two are staying back, to make sure that we have a line to fall back to, in case something goes wrong.” Mystic clarified.

“A plan as important as this one shouldn’t be able to go wrong.” The solar captain muttered.

“A completely failsafe plan would require a lot of time to be laid out and time is a luxury that we don’t have. You both have your orders, now dismissed.”

---

Twilight was nervous. VERY nervous. Just a few hours ago the news came that Nightmare Moon had started her assault on Canterlot, which meant that their assault would soon follow. Not only would that mean setting everything on this one chance, but she would also have to leave Dawnbreaker and Spectral Flash behind with only Scootaloo watching them.

Not that she didn`t trust the filly to do such things, especially since she now had a hoof in her education herself. It was just that Spectral Flash and Dawnbreaker were Alicorn Foals, which tended to be a bit more… stressful.

Despite this, Scootaloo ensured both of them that she was no little filly anymore and that she could handle the two of them. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle would certainly help her if she needed it.

“Although I get the feeling that that would only make the ensuing chaos a lot bigger.” Twilight said to Rainbow, as they ascended the stairs into one of the Castle’s spires.

“Yeah. Let’s just hope she manages to sit them on her own.” Rainbow said, while rubbing her neck.

“I’m sure she’ll be fine. Right now we should focus on what lies ahead of us.” Twilight reminded, just as they reached the top of the staircase. They took a turn to the right and found themselves in a small hallway, in which one door led to the main balcony, where Markus stood near the railing and looked through his binoculars towards Canterlot.

The two mares joined him, Twilight on his left, closer to the railing and Rainbow on his right, towards the middle of the platform.

In the distance, one could hear and see spellfire. Distant shouts rang through the air, as a skirmish close by became more and more heated and the fighters more and more desperate.

Several of these skirmishes dotted the path between Ponyville and Canterlot, as the final frontline between the two warring parties ran exactly along that line. Not exactly an ideal situation for Markus, but it would have to suffice.

The biggest battle however, took place immediately around Canterlot. Nightmare Moon’s troops were currently besieging the ancient Unicorn City and Markus was watching with interest.

“So, how’re things looking?” Rainbow asked.

“Thus far, very little has changed. They’re still trying to get through the gate and judging by what it took last time, I doubt that they will get past it in a timely manner.” Markus assessed.

“But… that means that we can’t carry out your plan, doesn’t it?” Twilight worried.

“It would probably, if anyone apart from me had made this plan. Of course I already ordered an Infiltrator to be posted in their defensive lines and destroy the gate. Our attack will begin tomorrow at 0900, so make sure you are ready for that.” Markus explained, without taking the binoculars down.

“Oh, okay then… I guess we should… make ourselves ready.” Twilight said slowly, before retreating. After all she knew Markus long enough to know that once he was in his ‘zone’, there was very little that could bring him to do anything else.

---

I-666 ‘Zeta’ was a very experienced infiltrator drone. The fact that she was allowed to carry a name attested to that, as it was a right only given to the elite of the elite.

Everyling always wondered how Thorax managed to get one, but noling ever dared – or cared - to ask.

Zeta’s task was simple: Infiltrate the solar troops in Canterlot and plant a bomb on the gate’s mechanics to allow the lunar troops to enter. A simple task, really. Especially given that she had already infiltrated the troops guarding Canterlot months ago and had even made a few ‘friends’ within it. Thus, she found it fairly easy to enter the gatehouse, especially since they were currently under siege and everypony’s attention was elsewhere.

Inside the Gatehouse, there were two large pedestals on either side of the gate, upon which sat two crystals. These two crystals were the core of the magical wards that protected the gate and surrounding structures by using magical resonances to create a strong anti-magic field around the Gate which was even strong enough to deflect larger physical objects. Smaller and/or faster ones may get through though, although there are very few objects that small and fast that deal enough damage to also get through the several hundred armor spells that are embedded withing each of the gate’s wings.

Luckily, Zeta didn’t have to get through them, as the structure had one fatal flaw: as soon as either one of the crystals fell out of alignment, the whole anti-magic field would collapse, leaving the gate vulnerable to attacks. In addition to that, the magic-removing effect of the crystals made it impossible to magically reinforce the gatehouse, so it had to be physically armored up. The problem with that was that it was only armored up on the outside. On the inside, however, it was still very voulnerable.

A well-placed explosive charge could dislodge the Crystal and make part of the interior walls crumble, starting a chain reaction which would (hopefully) eventually lead to the tower falling in on itself. The Gates, in return, would then just fall over, as no magical ward in Equestria could change the fact that such massive doors need hinges to hang on.

Zeta was just about done with setting up the bomb, when the unthinkable happened. At first, she only heard faint hoofsteps from behind. Then more. And then even more.

“So, you were a traitor after all, huh?” A familiar voice asked, more like a statement.

Zeta turned around as calmly as she could and looked onto the newcomer with feigned confusion.

“What, me? No! What makes you think that?” She asked.

“Oh, don’t try to feign innocence, I know you just tried to rig the crystal with something!” The guardspony pushed.

He was one of those earlier mentioned ‘friends’ that Zeta had made, although something seemed fishy about him from the start and Zeta was now slowly realizing what.

“What? Oh, no, no, you’ve got it all wrong. I was just checking if the crystals were still safe. Those last few hits were pretty hard, after all.” Zeta tried to defend.

“Hahaha, nice try. Unfortunately for you, Princess Daybreaker already told me that you might be a traitor from the start.” The Guard chuckled, while a few others came in and blocked all the exit paths.

“Heh, so you really were a counter-spy. Never thought you guys had one.”

“Oh please, did you really think the most powerful princess in Equestria wouldn’t notice if a few very curious accidents crippled half of her troops? You must’ve been really stupid to think that would work. Now, cease your actions and surrender, lunar scum!”

A short smile flew over Zeta’s features. If they really thought she was a lunar spy, then she might still have a chance.

“I will never surrender to you traitors! For Nightmare Moon!” She shouted, before launching forwards… into an already erected barrier.

“Ha! As if I wouldn’t see that coming! You lunars really are stupid!” The guard laughed, while Zeta was flung back behind the crystal.

“Now surrender. Nightmare Moon will lose this war anyways, so there’s nothing for you to hope for!” The guard demanded.

“Heh, Queen Nightmare Moon is strangely close to Canterlot for a defeat, don’t you think?” Zeta snarked as she got up, sitting halfway behind the Crystal’s pedestal.

“That’s only a temporary setback. Nightmare Moon may be near Canterlot, be she will never be in Canterlot. We will make sure she won’t.”

“Pff, a bunch of golden-armoured idiots trying to hold off a goddess? Good luck with that.” Zeta provoked, adding a drawn-out laugh on the end, for good measure.

“I wouldn’t take my muzzle too full if I were you. Now, enough chit chat, surrender! Now!” the guard demanded again.

“I will never surrender!”

“Then you will die!”

The guard suddenly flew forwards with his spear aimed directly at Zeta. The metal tip pierced through her armor and came out on the other side, ripping a wide hole into Zeta’s barrel.

“You lost, scum.” The guard whispered aggressively towards Zeta. The dying changeling barely managed to keep up her disguise, but yet managed a smile.

“And what makes you think that it isn’t you, who lost?” She wheezed, while slowly turning her gaze to where her hoof had been pressing a big, red button on the bomb. The guard followed and his eyes went wide, when he saw the timer quickly count down.

3…

2…

1…

---

Applejack was almost done with her fieldwork – at least she would’ve been, if she did it for work’s sake. Sadly, the reason was something - or rather, somepony else, who also just happened to be currently trotting up to her.

“Hey, sis.” Big Mac greeted, clad in an olive-green uniform with a few pouches on it and a green-painted spear hanging on his side.

“H-Hey, Mac.” Applejack answered, not daring to look at her brother.

“You know, why ah had ta choose this way, sis. Ah have tah protect our family.” Big Mac stated, but before he could say any more, Applejack suddenly spun around.

“But that’s the thing! Ya don’t! Ah’m already goin’ out there tah end th’ war! Ya don’t have ta throw yer life away!”

“But yer always out there an’ ahm sittin’ here an’ doin’ nothing but wait for ya and yer friends ta save Equestria again! This is different. This time, ah wanna help ya, even if it’s jus’ keeping the back line safe so ya have somethin’ to come home to.” Mac shot back.

“There’s plenty others already doin’ that, Mac! Please, Ah don’t wanna come home an’ hear yer dead!” Applejack pleaded.

“One pony might make the difference between victory an’ defeat, sis. Ah can’t jus’ leave everypony else hangin’ b’cause ya can’t stand me takin’ a risk!”

“Ah can’t stand ya riskin’ that Apple Bloom might lose both her siblings!” Applejack shouted.

“An how’re you doin`anything different?” Big Mac shouted back.

“Well, ah’m gonna be protected by Markus an’ the Shadow Guard, while yer goin’ ta be directly on the front lines on yer own!”

“Ah’m not gonna be alone! There’s plenty a guards left with us and then there`s the rest o’ tha milita! B’sides, yer gonna be facin’ both princesses directly at th` same time, while ah only have ta worry about some idiots from one side.” Mac countered.

“Ah know, but…” Applejack paused, trying to come up with another argument. However, no matter how much she tried to come up with one, she couldn’t find another and when she finally realized this, she sat down and started to cry.

Big Mac went over to her and took her into a brotherly embrace. “Sorry, sis. Ah’ve made mah decision.” He said softly.

“But ya can still turn back! Please, Mac! Please!” Applejack pleaded.

At that moment, an ear-shattering explosion thundered through the air and in the distance, one could see one of the gate spires in Canterlot crumble down and the gate fall.

“Ah’m afraid, it’s already too later fer that.”

Author's Notes:

The end draws near! Will Markus's plan work out? Will Big Mac survive? Well, I guess you'll have to wait for the next chapter to find out.

FINALE Ch77: The end of two Empires

A tense mood filled the air at noon the same day, when the Bravo and Charlie Company of the Shadow Guard stood assembled a few miles off the border to the lunar empire. Their plan was to break through the minimal defences placed there, go around the very active front line between the two warring parties and reach Canterlot within hopefully just half an hour.

The only reason they hadn’t started their assault yet, was because they were still waiting for Alpha to arrive. Something that even made Markus a little nervous, seeing as Mystic had thus far never been tardy.

“Markus?” Twilight hesitantly asked from behind him. “Are you alright?”

Markus looked back at her and answered in a completely calm voice: “Yes, everything is in order. What makes you think it isn’t?” He asked.

“Your hand is shaking.” Twilight pointed out.

Markus lifted his shaking hand up to his face and looked at it with a wondrous gaze, before grabbing it with his other hand and stopping the shaking. He then sighed and smiled apologetically at Twilight.

“Well, it seems my body is a bit more genuine than I am. Truth be told, Mystic has thus far never been tardy, so the fact that she chose this exact day as her first time is making me rather nervous.” He admitted.

“That’s not at all something you have to be ashamed of. We all are nervous and it’s only natural, given what we’re about to do.” Twilight assured.

“Yeah, she’s right.” Rainbow agreed. “Heck, even I am nervous and that’s really something new.”

“But you two are expected to be nervous. I have half a thousand ponies looking up to me as an idol. When they look at me, they want to see a calm and collected leader and if I don’t hold up to these expectations then it will in turn make them even more nervous.” Markus explained, looking around at the ponies around him and actually making eye contact with a few of them.

“Well, ah knew that, but ah din’t know that y’all could actually be nervous.” Applejack pointed out jokingly, trying to lighten up the mood at least a little.

“Heh, I was really playing my role well then. Believe it or not, even I get nervous, just like anyone else.” Markus chuckled. “Like, do you remember back in the empire, when we had our little mountain hike? From the moment I made my position known to Chrysalis, I was on the verge of shitting my pants.”

“Wait, only from then on?” Rainbow suddenly blurted out, drawing the looks of her friends, Markus and a few silent listeners. Rainbow noticed this, nervously looked around and then quickly tried to explain herself.

“Uhh, I-I mean, uhh, you were nervous? Hehehe, I totally wasn’t nervous, like, never. Not even one bit. Yup, that’s me, the fearl - HIIIIIII!” Rainbow suddenly screamed, when Applejack suddenly planted her cold hoof on Rainbow’s haunch.

“Yeah, todally not nervous at all. Totally wasn’t ya either, who was huggin’ me tight when that avalanche hit, right?” Applejack teased smugly.

“What? Uhh, uh, yeah, that was… I just… I thought you were too close to the entrance. Yeah, that’s it! I tried to pull you away, ‘cause I thought you might get hit by the snow and stuff…” Rainbow trailed off, her face having adobted a very slight, reddish tint.

“Yeah, ‘course ya did. Not like we were the furthest ones into the cave or somethin’.” Applejack teased further.

Rainbow’s face got redder with every spoken word and she started stammering slightly. She also became very frantic with her gestures and was flailing her hooves while she tried to make up excuses. In short: she was properly embarrassed.

“N-Now, you see, uhh, I-I have bad eyesight. Yeah! I—Like, I uhh, I usually wear contact lenses, but at home, there I, uhh, I have these super cool wonderbolts glasses, yeah, yeah, umm…”

“But, umm, Rainbow? I thought at your wonderbolts entrance exam, your measured eyesight was 120%?” Fluttershy meekly added. Rainbow shot her a glare at that, to which she ‘eep’-ed and hid behind her hair.

“120%? That’s actually less than I thought. My own eyesight is something around 115% as well and I always got the impression that Rainbow’s eyesight is way sharper than mine.” Markus mused.

“120% in Pegasus standards, Markus.” Twilight clarified.

“… Oh…”

At that moment, a low, rumbling noise reverberated around them, coming from the Everfree. It sounded like there was a giant monster that hadn’t eaten in years. Then, the noise grew louder and what sounded like only one beast before slowly sounded more and more like an entire herd of monsters!

When they heard the sound, everypony quickly stood up and grabbed their weapons. The IFVs turned their turrets towards the source of the sound and everypony seemed ready to fight. Everypony, except Markus.

“Aah, finally.” He commented, before fifteen steel monstrocities broke through the foliage and went straight for the waiting troops. The ponies were on the verge of opening up on these strange things, but Markus raised a hand to them, signalling them to hold fire.

As they came closer, one could see that these metal beasts had markings on them. One large Marking on either side of the Turret, showing Twilight’s Cutie Mark, as well as a diamond shape on the front and sides of the hull, in which three had a ‘C’ written and the rest had ‘1’, ‘2’ or ‘3’ in it. Out of these apparent groups, one each additionally had a small crown painted on top of their letter/number, which apparently marked the leader of the respective group.

After they had left the forest in a single coloumn, each group formed up into a small arrowhead formation, with the respective crowned individuals taking the point. The formations then arranged themselves so that they together formed a bigger arrowhead. For this, the ‘C’-Group drove in front, while the numbered groups formed a line behind them.

Most of the objects drove past Bravo and Charlie, placing themselves in front of the standing formation. The crowned ‘C’ and ‘1’, however, drove straight towards Prince Markus. They stopped right in front of him and then a hatch opened on top of both of them, where two ponies climbed out. One of which was none other than Mystic Gem and the other seemed to be her second-in-command, codenamed ‘Shadow’.

“You chose a very bad day to be tardy, you know?” Markus shouted over the noise of the engine, though in a joking tone.

“I know, I’m sorry! We had some navigational complications!” Mystic shouted back.

“I told you we had to go left back there, but noooo, you didn’t listen to me!” Shadow shouted from his tank behind her, making Mystic glare at him in annoyance.

“Yes, I know, stop rubbing it into my face!” She shouted back.

“Hey, I’m your second! It’s my job!” Shadow joked. Mystic shook her head at that, though a slight smile still crept across her features.

“So, anyways, are we starting now? We’re all ready and longing for some crunchin’!” Mystic shouted back to Markus.

“Yeah, the faster we move, the better! Everypony, get into your vehicles! Twilight, you and the Elements get into the lead vehicle of Charlie! Alpha, you take point, Bravo will split up and cover the flanks and Charlie will be in the middle. They are the least armored and carry all the extra ammo, as well as medical and repair tools. If one of your tanks needs a field stop then Charlie will take care of it! Tank group three will take the rear. Once we are in Canterlot, they will be staying behind to block off the reinforcements while we are in there.” Markus shouted.

Charlie and Bravo quickly took their positions and helped the Element Bearers board the lead truck of Charlie, while Alpha’s third platoon moved to the back of the formation and one and two relocated to either side of the command group.

“Sir, aren’t you getting in with them?” Mystic asked when Markus didn’t move to join them.

“No, I’ll be leading from the front. I’m coming with you!” He replied.

“Uhh, sir, with all due respect, I don’t think we can accommodate another pony in here!” Mystic shouted back.

“That’s not a problem, I don’t need a seat!” Markus then said, before jumping onto the back of the tank, only holding himself on the handle of the Loader’s hatch. “Alright, enough chit chat, get into position!” He then commanded to Mystic, who was still looking out of her hatch at him.

“Sir, isn’t that a bit dangerous?” She asked.

“Not any more dangerous than causing an avalanche or running through crossfire without cover!” Markus replied, drawing a smile from Mystic.

“Understood, sir! Driver, get us into formation!” She then commanded over the intercom and a moment afterwards, the tank rolled into position, with Shadow’s tank following close behind, before he split away and took the point of his formation.

Now at the front of the entire battalion, Markus looked over the assembled troops once, before raising his hand, swinging it forward and shouting: “Everyone: ATTACK!”

The entire formation set into motion as one and rapidly closed in on the lunar border troops.

“All tanks, load HE!” He shouted and Mystic relayed the order to the other crews.

The reasons for choosing the path through the lunar empire were, for one, that they had already surrounded Canterlot and thus, Markus would’ve had to advance through lunar territory anyways, but also because that the railwaytracks led through it, which in turn were built through a vast plain – the perfect terrain for an armored assault. The only obstacle on the entire route was a large hill a few hundred meters before the border that blocked the border troops from looking into the ponyvillian territory, just as much as it prevented the ponyvillians from looking outwards – at least on that particular spot.

Markus used that hill to his advantage as much as he could. He, of course, didn’t have any illusions about the noise level of his troops, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have the element of surprise! He ordered his tanks to form up in a line on the hilltop, while the rest took cover behind it. Then, he scanned the area and spotted six smaller encampments, which only really consisted of a firepit and a few tents around them, and a larger wooden fort a few hundered meters inside lunar territory.

“Alright, contact! Enemy encampments sighted! Target designations from left to right: first group, the first two, second group the next two, third group the last. Command will open fire on the fort! Try to hit inside the fort for greater effect and everypony remember to also use your machine guns for suppressive fire!” Markus shouted and Mystic again relayed his orders.

The Turrets of the tanks slowly swung around, as the gunners sought out their targets and when all turrets had stopped spinning and the guns were aimed, Markus gave the command:

“FIRE!”

A glowing barrage of large tank shells was flung over the border and into the encampments, erupting explosions where they hit. The wooden structures of the fort caught fire almost immediately, while the tents were too destroyed for a fire to form. Many bodies were seen being flung back by the shockwaves, although most seemingly survived. Some Pegasi even tried to flee and probably get reinforcements from other camps, however that was when the machineguns opened up and in the ensuing rain of metal, everypony that had not found cover or was lucky enough to have landed in an impact crater was quickly eliminated.

Seeing that the enemy was properly suppressed, Markus then ordered his troops to advance while laying suppressive fire on the fort. Bravo also joined in when they cleared the hill, laying deadly 37mm fire on the camps that still had movement in them, while a second barrage from all tanks turned the fort into a burning pile of wood.

Once the fort was passed, the third platoon retook its position as rear guard and the formation pushed on towards Canterlot. The way there was luckily largely eventless, seeing as the Nightmare’s troops hadn’t yet been informed about the attack and those few that saw it happen were too slow to catch up.

They reached Canterlot about 45 minutes after they crossed the border and were, of course, immediately greeted by the lunar rear guard, which was quickly gunned down, before they could even react.

The formation drove up to the gate and while the Shadow Guard was busy getting ready for the assault, Markus stood before the destroyed gate and looked at it, seemingly lost in thought.

“Really takes you back to the Gryphon War, huh?” Mystic commented, as she trotted up from behind him. Markus briefly looked at her over his shoulder and then turned back to looking at the gate.

“Yeah, kinda. Although, this time around we have some heavy machinery, as well as more ponypower. However, we also have two separate warring parties in there which are both likely going to open fire as soon as we are in range.” Markus mused.

“Yeah. So, what’s the battleplan?”

Markus turned around to Mystic and knelt down. He then signalled to Bravo and Charlie, as well as to Twilight that they would hold a quick strategy meeting and when everypony was present, he began drawing a rough map of Canterlot on the ground.

“Alright, we are here.” He pointed on a gap in the outer circle he drew, representing the wall. “I want the area directly behind the gate – here - set up to be a small base of operations. Charlie, that’s your job. Let the engineers and medics set up and leave a small garrison, just in case. The rest of you is going with Alpha. I want each street to either be covered by an IFV with its infantry following on hoof, or a tank with an element from Charlie behind it. Mystic, Alpha Command, 1 and 2 are going to lead Charlie to the zones that are likely more defended. Namely the train station, the local guard post, the royal academy and the palace itself and I want you to personally take care of Canterlot Central. Alpha 3 will be left behind to hold off incoming reinforcements together with two squads from Bravo. Charlie, your engineers are going to help them dig in, once they`re done with their own setup. The rest of Bravo will sweep the remaining city and take out every bit of resistance they may encounter, while the Element Bearers and I will take the princesses on personally. Any questions?”

Charlie’s leader raised his hoof.

“What about the trucks, sir? Are we taking them with us?”

“No, leave them here. They have no fighting capabilities themselves and are an easy target. Any more questions?”

Markus looked around through the group and when nopony asked any further questions, he nodded and stood up again.

“Alright, move out! If we make haste, we might take Canterlot till noon!” Markus shouted, as the first squads passed him and went into the city.

A few moments later Mystic’s tank also passed, together with a squad from Charlie and when everypony was inside, Markus and the Element Bearers went in as well.

“Colonel, may I ask a question?” Mystic’s gunner suddenly asked.

“Technically that’s already a question, but sure, go ahead.” Mystic joked.

Her gunner chuckled shortly and then asked his question. “Is there any particular reason, why the prince sent you personally to capture the hospital? I mean sure, it’s probably going to be well-defended, but the others could`ve dealt with it as well, couldn`t they?” He asked.

“Correct. The reason I was specifically sent there is not the hospital itself, but what’s adjacent to it.” Mystic answered cryptically, while scanning the buildings around them for ambushes.

“Adjacent? Wait, do you mean the home for wounded guards?”

“Yes.” She answered quickly.

“But isn’t that… OOOH! I think I get it! That’s the place where the lieutenant is now, isn’t he?”

“Also yes. Now keep those eyes on a swivel, we’re gonna be there soon.” Mystic cautioned.

“Understood. So we’re going to save Bulkhead, huh? Well then, let’s get a move on! We can’t leave an old comrade hanging!” The gunner hurried.

“Easy there. We might be fast, but the infantry has to keep up. You’re gonna have to wait a few moments more.”

The tank crept forwards through the empty streets. They caught a glimpse of a civilian or two that looked out of the windows once in a while, but nopony was on the streets. Not really surprising, considering that there was still a lot of fighting in the city.

“This is Alpha to Alpha 1 and 2. Large caliber fire is prohibited. There are still civillians in the buildings!” She sent over the radio and got responses from both platoons.

“I just hope they don’t use them as meatshields like last time.” The loader mused.

“Don’t jinx it and get ready, we’re almost there!”

The Hospital came into sight and with it a few ponies that were stationed there as a garrison. Mystic immediately ordered suppressive fire on them, while the squad behind them got into position and opened fire as well.

The lunar guards countered with spellfire, though they were quickly wiped out. That was the easy part, now the infantry squad had to clear the building itself, where surely more enemies were waiting. The tank sadly couldn’t help with that.

“Alright, housesweeping has begun. Can you hold the point without me for a moment?” Mystic asked her crew.

“No worries, go help the lieutenant, we will hold.” Her gunner encouraged, giving her the pony-equivalent of a ‘thumbs up’

“Thanks. I’ll be back in five!” Mystic shouted, before jumping out of the tank and running towards the small building beside the hospital.

Inside, she found that the whole building seemed eerily empty. No nurses were running around, no garrison was stationed there. There weren’t even bodies that might indicate a fight or something. In general, very little indicated a fight. Then again, there was very little there to be fought against.

Mystic rushed to the room Bulkhead was in, shouting out when she reached it.

“Bulkhead, are you there? Bulkhead?” No answer came. ”Bulkhead, I’m coming in!” She then shouted, before yanking the door open. She barely had time to evade the storm of needles and surgical equipment that came flying her way.

“Buck off, you damn fanatics! I may be paralyzed, but I still have!… Mystic?” Bulkhead asked, when he looked out and saw Mystic in the weird pose she had to adopt to avoid getting hit.

“Yes, it’s me… that was close, you know?” Mystic said, while she put all four hooves back on the ground and cracked a few joints. “Anyways, are you okay? Did they do anything to you? Where are all the…” Mystic quickly checked over her coltfriend and when she luckily found no injuries on him, she looked into his room and, to her great surprise, found a few staff members and several other inhabitants sitting there. “others…”

“Heh, well, you see, most of us may be cripples now, but we’re still trained guards. When Tartarus went loose around here, we quickly collected all the supplies we could and laid ambushes inside the rooms. Sorry about that by the way. I thought I heard gunfire earlier, but these outer walls have soundproofing spells on them, so wasn’t entirely sure.” Bulkhead apologized.

“Oh, no problem. What’s more important is that I get you out of here. Quick, exfil is already waiting!” Mystic hurried.

“Uhh, now wait there, Mystic.” Bulkhead stopped her. Mystic turned around again and looked at Bulkhead with confusion. “I can’t leave here. There are a few that can’t be brought anywhere and even if they could, we would just slow you down. I will guard this place and you can go on liberating Canterlot, okay?” Bulkhead offered.

“What?” Mystic replied after a short pause. “Oh, nonononono, you’re not pulling the hero thing on me again! Last time was bad enough!”

“Yeah well, last time I was in active service. Now I am an invalid and truth be told, apparently even these idiots have enough common sense to not raid a place like this. Don’t worry, I’ll still be here when you come back.” Bulkhead reassured.

“Do you promise?”

“Yes, I promise.”

“Alright. I love you.” Mystic said, before giving Bulkhead a quick kiss.

“I love you too. Now go and save Equestria, I’ll hold the back line.” He said, before Mystic ran back out and jumped back into her tank.

Meanwhile, In the Royal Palace, two corrupted alicorns were fighting a battle that would determine the fate of Equestria.

The grand hall lay completely in ruins and the throne room had definitely seen better days. The wall that had once separated these two rooms had long been torn down, creating one big arena for the two aspiring rulers to carry out their final battle.

“You will never overpower me, worthless sister of mine! Your attacks feel as if you fell asleep from your own night!” Daybreaker spat, while shooting a fire lance towards Nightmare Moon, who quickly evaded.

“Hah, is that all that you could come up with?! Maybe your sun has burned your brains away. You should definitely go on vacation. You know what? I’ll give you a free ticket!” Nightmare spat back, before launching her own magic, which Daybreaker deflected with a shield.

Both alicorns, despite trying to keep up looks, had quite obviously taken a heavy beating already. Both were bleeding in multiple spots and parts of their fur was burned. Both were also breathing very heavily as they circled each other, trying to find an opening.

They were just about to start again, when they felt a third presence nearby. A presence they both knew.

“My my, it would seem you two really went to town on eachother.” Markus commented, when he strode through the large doorframe that now stood without a wall around it.

“And what are you doing here?! I signed a treaty with you that you would be annexed by me, once I won this war!” Nightmare shouted angrily.

“What?! No, Twilight signed that treaty with me! Ponyville is mine!” Daybreaker hissed at her lunar counterpart, who mirrored her actions.

“You are both right… and wrong. You see: the treaty said that Ponyville would be annexed by the winner.” He said, as he slowly strode up to the two alicorns and stopped right between them.

“… And I have just decided that I would join in the action.”

Both alicorns looked at him, their face contorting into all kinds of grimaces, before both screamed out and blasted him with everything they had.

It had very little effect.

A shield, made out of black hexagons flickered to life briefly, catching the entire blast that was sent at him, leaving him completely unscathed.

“Oh my, I’m sure you can do more than that, right?” He taunted, eliciting another scream from Nightmare Moon, who decided that, if magic didn’t do the trick then physical assault should work. Markus, however, had different plans.

He evaded every punch, kick and hornstab they threw at him, making them use up their remaining energy. In the end, both alicorns were too exhausted to continue. Both distanced themselves as much from Markus as they could, which inadvertendly caused them to stand right beside each other. They looked at one another and in silent agreement, albeit with some gritted teeth, they recognized that they needed the other’s strength to overcome him.

“Alright, playtime is over! Now, we will show you our power!” Nightmare declared loudly, however Markus didn’t seem very impressed.

“Indeed, playtime is over. However not in the way you think.” He claimed, gaining him two rather doubtful looks. “What? Did you two really think that I remained passive solely for fun? No. I was playing for time. Time for the Elements to be charged up and blast you into hell!” He shouted, just as a bright flash of light illuminated the room.

Both alicorns tried to jump forward and out of the way of the beam, but found that a black force field was blocking their way.

“Ow, what the--?!” Was all they could bring out, before the beam hit.

Simultaneously, everywhere in the country, the fighting ceased. Ponies from both sides were looking at eachother and recognized their former fellow ponies. However, they also saw the carnage that the war had caused and the many ponies that had lost their lives and whose bodies were still decorating the fields, forests and streets they fought in.

“Did it work?” Twilight asked, as she came running over to the princesses.

“I don’t know. Their colouration is fine now, but I can’t say anything yet.” Markus replied, keeping an eye on both princesses, whose colouration has started to quickly reform back to their original self.

As soon as the last bits of fur and mane were corrected, both suddenly opened their eyes and gasped.

“Princess? Princess, are you alright?” Twilight asked to Celestia, who was frantically looking around while hyperventilating. However, seeing Twilight made her calm down… and the more she calmed down, the sleepier she felt.

“I... don’t know. I’m tired. I’m exhausted. I feel like I’ve just aged another thousand years.” Celestia whined. “My head hurts and… wait, what happened here?” she asked groggily. “Where did the throne room go? And the castle? And where is… where is…”

Then, suddenly, it seemed like it was all coming back to her. The possession, the fighting, the war, it all hit her like a brick. Her eyes went wide and she looked around in a panic.

“Luna! Luna, where are you?!”

Luna was at that moment experiencing the same thing. The memories were flooding her mind at a rapid pace, leaving her no time to adjust to the input.

“Aaaah no!!! No, it can’t-- Tia? Tia?! Are you alright?!” she shouted, before both saw each other and immediately went into a tight hug.

“Oh dear goddess, Luna, you’re okay!” Celestia cried in relief.

“Tia, I… we…” Luna cried, but Celestia hushed her.

“Shhh, I know Luna. I know.” She soothed, her voice cracking, as she was on the verge of tears herself.

Markus and the element bearers stood by them, silently watching as the two sisters comforted each other and enjoyed their second reunification. Then, when both finally broke their embrace, Twilight spoke up.

“Well, good that his whole thing is finally over, huh, Markus? Well, okay, not yet… we still have to clean up, but then everything can finally go back to normal.” She commented, while leaning onto him and receiving some ear scratches.

“I’m afraid not, dear Twilight.” Celestia suddenly said, drawing a shocked look from everypony present, save Luna.

“What? What do you mean with that?”

“Just what I said. As I mentioned earlier, I feel like I have aged another thousand years.” Celestia said.

“What my sister is trying to say is that the Nightmares apparently have robbed us of a significant portion of our power. We doubt that we will be able to continue our duties.” Luna clarified.

“WHAT?!” Everypony, save Markus, shouted. That isn’t to say that Markus wasn’t surprised, however.

“Nonono, that can’t be right. I mean, you’re just down with… with mana exhaustion, yeah, that’s it, you’re probably suffering from--“

“Twilight.” Celestia said firmly, stopping her former student’s rambling. “As much as it hurts, I sadly know exactly what mana exhaustion feels like and sadly… this isn’t.” Celestia said solemnly.

“But… but… but who’s going to rule Equestria if not you?! Who’s gonna raise the sun and the moon?!” Twilight panicked.

Celestia and Luna looked at each other for a moment and then smiled weakly, before looking back at Twilight.

“Twilight, I have a confession to make. From the point that you ascended, I was… underhoofedly training you to someday become my -- our successor. Sadly, I couldn’t finish teaching you everything, but nevertheless, I think that you are ready.”

“What? Wha… no, no, I-I can’t rule Equestria! I barely manage to watch my own foal, how do you expect me to watch an entire nation?!” Twilight stammered.

“You don’t need to do this alone, dear Twilight. I made that mistake long ago. You have friends around you. Friends that can and will help you with everything they can… and maybe even a little more.” Celestia assured.

Twilight looked at Celestia with her mouth agape. Then, slowly, her open mouth formed a smile that grew further into an excited grin.

“Yes, YES, of course, thanks princess!” She thanked, before turning around and looking up to Markus.

“Markus, I accept.” She stated.

Markus looked at her for a moment, before looking at the others, who seemed equally as clueless as he was.

“Uhhh, accept what?”

“Your proposal! I accept your marriage proposal!” Twilight said happily, before jumping up and kissing him.

Markus seemed taken aback at first, though slowly, his surprise morphed into a happy laughter.

“HAHA! Really?! That’s wonderful!”

“Hey, don’t leave me out of it! I’ll accept as well!” Rainbow whined, before jumping into the hug and kissing him as well.

“Uhhh, well, I mean… that’s not really what I meant…” Celestia said, before she received an elbow to the rips and a glare from her sister. “… buuut I guess she is the ruling princess now and can chose for herself…” She finished, earning a satisfied smile from Luna.

Suddenly, Pinkie emerged between the three lovers and drew in a deep gasp. “Do you know what this means?! SUPER-DUPER-VICTORY-WEDDING-PARTY!!!” She then drew in even more air in yet another sharp gasp and shouted. “I need to prepare!!!” and zoomed off towards ponyville.

“Uhhh… well, this ought to get interesting…” Markus said, as he watched Pinkie fly towards ponyville with mach 8.

Markus, Twilight and Rainbow ruled together as a triarchy. Twilight was popular among Celestia’s and Luna’s followers alike and thus had very little difficulty establishing herself as the face of the government. Whenever there were treaties to be signed or diplomatic meetings to be held, Twilight was usually taking care of it.

Rainbow devoted her remaining lifetime fully to properly raising Dawnbreaker and Spectral Flash. She had no interest in government work anyways and Pegasus maternal instincts were stronger than any mother could wish for, so she was pretty much predestined for that role.

Dawnbreaker and Spectral flash turned out to be absolute opposites from one another. Spectral Flash largely inherited her mother’s personality, though Twilight managed to also give her a very healthy eagerness to learn.
Dawnbreaker meanwhile didn`t enjoy learning at all. Mainly because he inherited the incredible combined intellect of his parents, which meant that learning meant for him to look into a book once and immediately memorize everything he read. Also, his personality came mostly from his father, meaning that he was stoic and calm, but also very stubborn. Overall, he came a lot after his father. His outward appearance, his personality, as well as his magic.

While Twilight did all the public work and Rainbow was raising the foals, Markus spent most of his time driving the development of Equestria. He always took great care to develop the civilian and the military sector equally, which meant that, for the first four to five years, he only developed the civilian one, as he had pushed the military quite enough.

During the rule of our heroes, Equestria went through a massive jump in development and into an era that was later called ‘The Equestrian Golden Age’, which forever placed it as the single most powerful nation in all of Equus.

La fin.

… or is it?

Author's Notes:

And so, a long journey finally comes to an end...
But what about the many questions that are left to be answered? Like, what actually is the magic that Markus uses?
If Markus is the Dog of Creation, then who are the dogs evolution and stagnation?
How come Markus appeared in Equestria and not somewhere else?

Well, I guess these questions will remain forever unanswered...

That or I write a sequel.