> Legends of Equestria: The Long Road Back
>  by JimmyHook19
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Far from Home
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gathered friends,

I wish to welcome you to this, the newest volume of our collected tails. This is the fourth, and indeed, the greatest of all the works I have assembled and labored to bring to you all, as the world deserves to know the truth of the Great Calamity that occurred all those years ago. And it falls to me to tell this tale, being the only one still alive of the heroes who fought that day to save the world from the darkness.

I suppose it is only fair that we begin at the start of the tale, and for this I shall return you to the place where these tales all began. On a small island off the Coast of America lay a small town. In this small town, lay a small house, split into two flats by the owner who leased both bits out to different tenants. Within this small house lay a series of rooms, occupied by the one of whom I write today.

This man's name was James Thomas Hook, who was normally referred to by the shorthand of Jimmy for reasons best known to himself. If one were to enter the room in which he made his rest and worked for much of the day, one would have seen a series of mannequins on the edges of the room next to the back wall. One of them was human shaped, and had a magnificent blue dress sat upon it with a voluminous skirt so wide it took up much of the corner.

But the other two were of more interest. Both of these mannequins were shaped like horses, and one even had wings applied. The first of these had a white headdress positioned atop the head of the mannequin, and the body had a white, see through dress of a design familiar to anybody who had lived and worked in hot parts of the world. The light green necklace around the neck did little to dispel this notion of a being from Egypt were it not for the shape clearly being designed for the shape and form of a pony- a pegasus pony, admittedly, but a nonetheless.

The other mannequin was of a similar design, but the clothing that sat upon it was not. Instead of anything resembling that, it had a golden necklace sat around the neck, with several fabric bands around the head and ears. A bracelet, cast in bronze, sat upon the left foreleg, and some fabric around the upper chest too. Most notable of all was a green skirt with a cream band around the bottom, which extended over the faux tail attached to the mannequin toward the floor.

Both of these displays were reminders of past journeys, for they were the garments of Somnambula and Mage Meadowbrook, two of the greatest heroes that the world has ever known. The former had been seen more than a year before these events I recall, having faced down the mighty Sphinx in the California desert. The latter had been sent into the deepest swamps of Louisiana, and emerged alive and well on her long journey back north to civilization in the Outer Banks of North Carolina.

But let us turn our attention to Jimmy once more. Right now, oblivious to the presence of anybody else, he was reading about a recent discovery made in China of an ancient relic. A relic that threatened to change everything that had been ever known about China in the Liao Period.

The artifact in question was a flower, an impossibly ancient one that had been dated to the 11th Century, along with the inscriptions in the walls of the tomb in which it had been found. The inscriptions told of the story of a mighty sorceress, beloved by all for her kindness and incredible beauty. But when darkness fell upon the land and an evil warlord attempted to destroy her village, the sorceress sacrificed herself to defeat him and drive evil away from her home.

But the legend didn't end there. The sorceress had transferred a small fragment of her life essence into this flower, meaning that a piece of her lived on. This flower had been just found, in perfect condition despite being over 1,000 years old, as well as the embalmed remains of the sorceress. This was what had stunned the archeologists who found the remains.

The embalmed body was of a horse.

Jimmy looked back over his shoulder to the two sets of garments sitting there, and looked at the article again. "Looks like Equestria has been connected to our world for longer than we thought," he said. He had head a report of a pony with a giant beard being sighted in Vancouver, but had dismissed this as mere rumor. After all, he was the only shapeshifter apart from his small circle of friends, and they hadn't reported anything.

He was so intent on looking at the article, he didn't notice when it began to cloud over. The cloud levels increased in magnitude as he sat there, still looking intently at that flower on the screen. It eventually became so dark that he finally took notice of what was happening.

"What the?" he asked. "Where is this cloud coming from?"

Indeed, the cloud levels were so great now that the world was covered in a blanket of darkness, with thunder and lightning roaring outside.

"There's no storms forecast for today! How did this get he-"

A voice boomed outside, laughing loudly. "At last! I've got the final one!"

Jimmy had no time to ask who the voice belonged too before a black cloud appeared in his room and zapped him up. Moments later, he found himself falling down a black tunnel made entirely of cloud.

"SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

Lightning and storms shot past him as he continued to fall. Or was he climbing? There was no real sense of gravity in this place, which seemed to ignore the laws of physics in all senses of the word. Clouds and fire flashed onwards as his speed only seemed to increase with every passing second.

At long last, his speed seemed to slow, and he was spat out into a small courtyard. He got up from his feet, only to see the area still shrouded in fog and smoke. It was also very, very cold. "Hello?" he called. "Is anybody there?"

The area was completely empty. There was no trace of anybody, anywhere. Was this an abandoned place? He had absolutely no idea where in the world he was as he rubbed his arms up and down to try and generate some heat.

"HELLO! IS SOMEBODY OUT THERE! PLEASE ANSWER ME!"

Almost in response to his words, a fire suddenly started up in the distance. Jimmy wandered out of the industrial estate and towards the light, crossing over a snow drenched road and into what looked like a car park in front of a very shoddily built hotel made entirely of portable office buildings. As he closed in, the notice became readable. "Prudhoe Bay Hotel, Deadhorse, Ala..."

His heart skipped a beat. "How the fuck did I end up in Alaska?"

His attention was then drawn to the fire, and he sat down in front of it. It was then he saw a flower. It was in a grey pot, with green petals and a green stalk. The head of the flower was pink, with the inner parts being purple, and the center being red, with a white center to that and a white border.

"What the?" Jimmy asked, as he got closer. "That's the flower that was in the news article. What's it doing here, in sub zero temperatures?"

Suddenly, strange ethereal energies flowed off the flower, and floated in his general direction. The energies surrounded him, lifting him up high (though the fog still hung around), and a voice hung on the wind.

"One of suitable stock and noble build. He can continue the work I started, and stop the Evil One."

Jimmy had no chance to process what this meant as his entire body was consumed by raging agony.





The storm only seemed to intensify, the wind howling louder and louder as much of Jimmy's clothing was torn away. His shirt, however, was not the collar shifting downwards as a bow pattern appeared on the front. The sleeves shortened in length, becoming extremely short, and a belt like object attached itself to the bottom of the shirt, with a dark blue ribbon and light blue fabric panel on top of that.

The collar pattern and bow turned a light blue, with the rest of the shirt turning a dark blue, and the fabric under the belt turned an even darker blue. The fabric underneath the ribbon turned a light grey. Jimmy had little chance to process his change in attire following another energy surge. He screamed as his entire frame was compressed in length to a fraction of its former dimensions and untold amounts of muscle and fat sloughed off him, followed by his hips starting to ache.

"No! Not thaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!"

His former manhood was pulled into him, followed by a loud crack as his hip bones broke and reshaped to a wider stance, with the equivalent mare bits appearing behind. A tail popped out of her rear, a long, flowing, green mass as her legs snapped into a backwards stance.

Every bone in her feet shattered as they were compressed in length, becoming nothing more than messy stumps attached to the bottom of her legs. Hooves, maybe?

Her arms snapped into a backwards stance, with the discarded and breaking bone fragments causing Jimmy unspeakable agony. Her fingers were soon sucked into her hands, resulting in another pair of stumps.

Her neck began to randomly elongate, moving her point of vision higher and higher up like a giraffe as her hair came flying out in the gale.

"Whomever created this thing is a real sadist!"

The bones in her face shattered and broke apart before her mouth and nose stretched forward on her face, eventually merging into one another to form a pony muzzle. Another item then met its fate; a pair of red glasses fell off and were sucked into the storm. Her eyes grew in size and turned azure blue, followed by her ears vanishing into her skull and then regrowing on top. But these weren't normal pony ears. They looked more like rabbit ears.

A curved horn emerged from her forehead as a green mane erupted from her head, curving upwards atop the top of her head and then flowing backwards, giving her a very prominent fringe. Pink fur grew all over her body, the colour gradient down her legs lightening until the fur was basically white when it reached her hooves.

A symbol which looked like a cloud appeared on her flanks as the storm died down, and she was lowered back down to the ground. She looked about in confusion. "What- where is this? Hello? Is anypony there?"

Fortuitously, there was a puddle formed by some melting ice, so she trotted over to it and took a look in the puddle.





As she looked in the water at whatever this being was, a bolt of blue energy came once more from the flower, wrapping itself around her and feeding into her memory. She knew her name and her origin, but nothing else.

"I wish I could shake this headache," she groaned. She then lit her horn and decided to try a teleportation spell.

Nothing happened.

"What?" she asked. "Something's wrong with my magic!"

She tried casting a number of different spells, which ranged from trying to grow plants to even basic telekinesis and levitation. She was only able to use her telekinetic spells, although lifting anything heavier than a car proved to be exhausting.

She quickly checked her repository. Magic communications might have still been working, so she decided giving that a go was worth a try. She lit her horn, and suddenly a menu appeared in front of her.

YOU HAVE MAIL! said the display. Mistmane reached up with her hoof and touched the button, and moments later the message appeared before her.

The first thing to appear was a symbol of two wreaths held in place by a pegasus at the top, wings outstretched, with the letters IPNV in the center.

"Imperium Nubes Vallis," Mistmane whispered. "The seal of the Cloudsdale Empire."

The seal dropped away, to reveal the face of Flash Magnus, one of her friends. He had his helmet off, clearly revealing his face, and his skin was covered in scars. His fur was matted with dried blood, presumably his own, and he coughed repeatedly as he spoke.

There was just one problem. Mistmane couldn't understand what he was saying.

The transmission ended, with Mistmane only having understood select words, and then faded out. "Flash Magnus in trouble!" she said. "I have to find him! But I have no idea where I am, or where he is!"

She turned around, to see the flower still there. She gently levitated it up and looked closely.





"I suppose I should bring you with me, shouldn't I?" she said, and putting it away safely set off into a raging blizzard.

Little did she realize that a shadowy figure was watching her. "I'd better relay this to the Colonel," he said. "He won't be happy."
> An Unforbidding Land, a Familiar Face
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

In a bunker somewhere in the United States, a soldier entered a room where an officer was standing in front of a display. "Colonel Peterson, sir!" the soldier said.

"At ease, soldier," the Colonel replied. "What's the news?"

"Sir, one of our field agents reported seeing a pony in the Alaskan wilds near a flower, heading off towards North Pole, Alaska in the middle of a raging blizzard!"

Peterson looked surprised. "Travelling through a blizzard? Not a smart move, given how fierce Alaskan snowstorms can get. But this also means our units cannot intercept as RADAR and communication systems won't work. I'll need to inform high command. Dismissed."

The soldier saluted, and then left the room as the monitor in the center flickered into life. On it, appeared an image with the text AUDIO ONLY.

"Greetings, my lord," Peterson began. "I bring news for you."

"I expected good news from you," the voice continued. "And yet I hear news of a pony, one of the Pillars no less, on the move in the Alaskan bay. Which one?"

Peterson consulted his clipboard of information. "According to our preliminary scans and acquired data, they have a curved horn and appear to be carrying a flower."

"Mistmane," the voice said in disgust. "A unicorn who never understood when to stop interfering. I expect you are already on an intercept path."

"Our military equipment will be unable to operate in those weather conditions effectively," Peterson replied. "The storm is wreaking havoc with satellite communications and infrared tracking equipment. It would be too easy for our units to get lost in the storm."

"Then send in a unit that doesn't need your technological hocus pocus!" the voice said once more. "I imagine you understand the danger this situation puts us in. Remember the prophecy! 'Two shall become Six, and the Six shall Become One. Their might will become unstoppable, and their Victory shall Shake the Heavens!'"

"And now there are five," Peterson sighed. "Five that we know of, at least. What of our assets on the Desert theater?"

"They dispatched the issues with a few casualties, but that's about it. On the other hand, Mistmane must be stopped. The consequences if you fail will be dire. Am I understood?"

"Yes, my Lord," Peterson replied.

"Good. I await your report."

As the screen flickered out, Peterson reached for the radio. "Dispatch Taskforce EMPRESS," he said.





Mistmane continued to make her way along the blowy roads filled with snow and sleet. This storm didn't seem to be letting up, and the levels of snow and ice in fact helped to make navigation harder. Wind whirled around her like an angry demon of the night, and the ice and sleet, not to mention the snow, stung her eyes. Normally, she would have cast a shield spell or something to protect her eyes, but this was not possible. Her magic was weak, unfocused, and as a result there was little she could do to cast spells or much else, really. As she made her way down this road, unfamiliar with her terrain, she had to make a guess as to which way to go. She had taken a right just outside the hotel, and soon after encountered a junction where the road split into a Y shape. She decided to take the left fork, for some reason, and continued onwards, narrowly dodging an oil tanker pulling up into a layby for the night.

As the land slowly changed to red, hard baked earth, the road split once more. One road went to the right, and the other straight ahead. Unsure of which way to go, Mistmane decided to go right. There was a short kink in the road up ahead, so she took that and headed off in that direction. Another right was the next direction she took, with the road once more splitting into several different directions. The terrain wasn't all too different to her native Chineigh's northern regions, so there was that. It didn't help, however, that none of the road signs were written in a language she could understand.

After passing over a frozen river, the continued to follow the road, the landscape once more shifting from red earth to hard packed tundra. After a right turn through a town (again, Mistmane had no clue exactly where), she took a right and crossed another bridge, which passed over a pair or iron rails. Mistmane paused in fright when a great bellowing started up, and then a great iron monster passed underneath, taking several minutes to get clear.

Once she was certain the monster was gone, Mistmane continued on her way, passing by a quiet area where the road met another, no clue as to what was causing her to go this way. She figured it must have been her gut. Speaking of which, she could do with finding a way station or somewhere to rest. It was very tiring. She must have been on the road for hours, and her little legs made walking a stretch, which was why unicorns teleported so much. She took a slight left, and saw the road curve around in a spiral ahead of her upon a great viaduct.

"What makes these engineering marvels?" Mistmane asked. "Are they built by giants?"

She ducked under another road and went another way, before approaching a town with a giant statue of a jolly fat thing. Mistmane had no clue what this creature was meant to be, and she took several more turns before seeing a large building, painted all white, with red lining and markings upon it, as well as a roof and skylights drenched in the harsh snow. She went to the door and pushed it open.

The interior couldn't have been more of a contrast to the exterior. Inside was a warm, welcoming, gently decoured tavern, a welcome resting place for the weary traveler. As Mistmane closed the door behind her, she made her way past several tables of ponies enjoying cards and other games. Others were merrily swigging beer and other spirits while swapping stories of their adventures in the wilds.

Mistmane stopped at the bar, and the bartender turned to her. He spoke again, but once again in that strange language she couldn't understand. "Excuse me, but I'm not sure we speak the same language," she said.

The bartender looked equally confused. Then he said something she couldn't understand either.

"Let me help," said a familiar voice, in a deep, but regal and gruff voice. Mistmane turned her head to see none other than Starswirl the Bearded sitting there, at the bar! "What would you like?" he asked. His Chineighse was a bit rusty, but it would do.

"A warm drink would be nice," Mistmane replied. Starswirl nodded, and then turned back to the bartender before saying something in that other language.

After a few moments, a mug of something was passed to Mistmane, and she and Starswirl decamped to a table. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Starswirl took out his spellbook, and layed it upon the table before his horn flashed brightly, and he spoke again. This time, his Chineighse was perfect. "I cast the Balelius Translaticon. We can now speak to one another without difficulty, as the spell automatically translates what the other is saying."

Mistmane nodded. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I was conducting research with my followers, Sunburst and Starlight Glimmer, into strange magical phenomena that is happening across the world," Starswirl explained. "Strange events have been happening all across the world, and I believe it has some connection to this land's government."

"I came here on the trail of a message left by Flash Magnus," Mistmane replied. "My Magical Communications is one of my few spells that is still working properly, but I can only receive messages, not send them. Anyway, Flash sent a message that I couldn't understand. It was in Latin, which I seem to have lost the ability to understand, but the message was badly garbled."

"I'll take a look at it in the morning," Starswirl said. "Do you have your Glowpaz fragment on you?"

"Sorry?" Mistmane asked.

"Somnambula each gave us a piece of Glowpaz. One of its many properties is the power to instantly translate what another Glowpaz wearer is saying. It's how we talked to one another for, as you've probably picked up, none of us speak the same language."

All of this was a bit much in one go, and Mistmane's head sank onto the table, exhausted.

"I suggest we drink up, and then I'll look into hiring you a room for the night," Starswirl said, as he propped up the head of his exhausted friend. It was then he noticed something was off. Mistmane had her old and former beauty, which she had sacrificed to restore beauty to the world. "Does that have something to do with her magic being so weak?" the great wizard asked himself. "I guess such questions will have to wait until morning. In the meantime, some lively music please!"
> The Longest Day
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the sun rose over the small tavern and rest stop that Starswirl and Mistmane called their temporary home, the pair awoke as the light began to roll into the rooms they were using. Starswirl was the first to get onto his hooves, and he glanced over at Mistmane.

"Do you have the message that Flash Magnus sent?" he asked.

Mistmane, still only running at about half speed, stood up as best she could. "Yes. Here you go." Her horn lit up, and she navigated through the menus and screens to get to the message.

It then began to play. Flash Magnus was there on the screen, still injured and smeared in blood. "To all units receiving this transmission," he said, "I am in need of support. Somnambula and I were... able to survive her wrath, but now we're trapped. If you can't find us, you have to stop him and ensure he never finds the device, or he'll become unstoppable. I have no idea how long I have left. We were so close to finding the-"

Abruptly, the message cut off, and the seal of the Cloudsdale Empire appeared again. "This is most strange," said Starswirl. "Firstly, who is she, and then what is this device?"

"More importantly, where are Flash Magnus and Somnambula?" asked Mistmane. "If they're in trouble, we need to find them as soon as we can!"

"Agreed," Starswirl said. "The lives of our fellow Pillars are ultimately more important than garnering knowledge for the sake of knowledge. We must move out, and fast. I can see the storm is clearing, but for how long I don't know." And with such a declaration, the pair moved out of the room, gathering up various items into bags and storage objects, with Mistmane putting her flower into a bag for safety reasons, and Starswirl keeping his spellbook on hand. Or hoof, rather, given he didn't have hands in any way, shape, or form.





The duo, upon leaving the resting place, headed to the southeast. After trotting for a while, they took a sharp left, followed by a right. Starswirl was rather surprised that there were no vehicles out on the road (as it turned out they were called), but that made their job easier. Whilst trotting through a mountain pass, they encountered a sign that stated something hard to understand. Starswirl had an easier time understanding the odd language, but even then he stumbled over some words, such as 'Canada'. After several twists and turns, the pair stopped at a wild, desolate place next to a river for a short rest.

Once refreshed, they then resumed their journey, taking several rest stops along the way as they zigzagged back and forth across the border between one land and another. "I wonder what strange wonders we will find in this land called 'Canaada'," Starswirl said. "Mountains made of pure crystal, rocks so tall they scrape the skies, and rivers of pure gold!"

"I haven't seen anything like that," Mistmane replied. "All I've seen is buildings and endless snow around here. Not that I'm complaining, but it makes navigation that bit more difficult."

"Indeed," Starswirl said. "Speaking of which, how do you know where you're going?"

"Instinct," Mistmane told him. "Instinct and something else. I'm not really sure."

After crossing several rivers, the duo paused once again for a while to get strength back up, before continuing on their way and crossing several more rivers in the process. A large metal contraption passed under the bridge and made a horrible noise as it sailed off down the water. Maybe this was what this world's boats looked like? Such giant metal machines would never have been possible in Equestria, after all.

They took several rights through a town, keeping to a logical road layout, before crossing over another bridge and into another place. "Are we entering another country?" Starswirl asked. "The sign is taking us a place called 'Alberta'. How many countries are there here?"

Mistmane looked behind her. "And that one says... Bri... tish Columbia? Why are words around here so hard to pronounce?"

At long last, they were over the bridge, and after turning straight and left in another town, ascended a ramp and continued along a large road, several lanes wide. This time, they were forced to stay in the hard shoulder as vehicles whizzed up and down, none of them seeming to take any real notice of two anthropomorphic horses wandering along the side of the road anyways.

After they crossed another river, paused, and then crossed yet another river (why were there so many rivers here anyway?), they took some more turns and passed over another of those strange metal strips, where yet another set of iron monsters roared by, with many strange things attached to them that seemed to stretch on for miles and miles. They then twisted and turned through the streets of a small town, which Starswirl saw on a sign as being called 'Edmonton', weaving back and forth through tight, constrained alleyways and confusing streets, until they arrived finally at a large building.

"Is this our stop for tonight?" asked Starswirl. "The night is upon us, and we have been walking for many hours."

"Yes, this is our stop," Mistmane replied. "Time to take a break, I think..."





Mistmane and Starswirl crowded around a table in the tavern below, both enjoying a good drink after a long day out on the road. Both of them poured over their notes once more.

"I have been talking to some of the ponies in the area," Starswirl explained, "and they tell me that we have the geography of this area all wrong. It turns out that we are in fact passing through one big country called Canada, which has several different states within it, rather like how Equestria has Cloudsdale, Canterlot, and the Crystal Empire. We passed through two such bits today; British Columbia and Alberta."

"Interesting, we learn more about this place with every passing day," Mistmane replied, as she levitated a menu in front of her face. "Hmm. They have Chineighse here. I think I'll have that."

"I can sense you miss home," Starswirl said sagely. "I think I'll have a bean stew, my old favorite. I always looked forward to that after a long day in my tower, creating spells."

After they'd placed their order, the band suddenly struck up with a series of Avalonian hits suitable for dance. "It is rather difficult to keep still with such lively music!" Starswirl admitted.

Mistmane placed her menu down. "Come on then! It's been so long since we last took to the floor together."

"Not since the School of Magic's winter ball," Starswirl admitted, as they left their chairs and took to the floor.

Even amongst their mirth, they had no clue that an old foe was nearby. A lorry pulled up outside the hotel, and several figures got out. Each of them wore heavy body armor, and one adjusted his goggles and gas mask as another vehicle arrived. This, too, stopped.

"Scan complete," said the first. "Targets confirmed. "Mistmane and Starswirl."

"Await clearance to advance," said a female voice over the radio. "We'll jump them when they try to leave, or failing that, manipulate their heroic nature. Project 722 must succeed."
> Silent Night, Bloody Night
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mistmane and Starswirl awoke the next morning, feeling thoroughly refreshed from their long journey and ready to continue on their long journey to... somewhere.

"May I ask why we take the route we're taking?" Starswirl asked, as he got his hat on and adjusted the strap holding his cloak on. "Already we have been taking several hours to cross over this place, and we still have no idea where Flash Magnus or indeed anypony else is!"

"I'm certain this is the best route," Mistmane replied. "As we have no magic, we cannot teleport across the country and as such we are limited to long distance travel. However, I can check the magic messaging system for information if you'd like."

"No need, I'll do it," Starswirl replied, and brought up the menu with a quick flash of his horn. "Ah, here we are. There is one message here, and I shall play it for you."

One message suddenly appeared on the display, which once again had the seal of the Cloudsdale Empire. The message was identical to the one Mistmane had received, but the angle on the shot was different, which Starswirl noticed.

"Hang on a moment," he said, as the image suddenly changed. He stopped the recording and backed it up slightly. The angle on the camera had switched to briefly show Somnambula, and above her was part of a word. "Bom... Op... Ho... Clue in Ash..."

He noted this down in his journal, and played the rest of the recording to scour it for any more clues. But clues their came none, and he shut the video again. "It said something about their being a clue in a place called 'Ash', but I have no idea what that even means."

"That is interesting, and gets us a little closer to solving this mystery," Mistmane replied, bringing up her map. "I've charted today's route based on some information I've recovered. Somnambula is normally found in the desert, and from what I remember of her Flash Magnus was normally found nearby. So it makes sense to head towards the desert." She had marked a point. "This seems like a reasonable journey for today."

Suddenly, the pair heard a lot of noise outside, and went over to the window to see what was causing the commotion. Their jaws dropped in shock when they saw the scene before them'

Several columns of soldiers were marching through the streets towards the hotel, all proceeding forward in absolutely perfect step. Each column was six across and at least 20 deep, and each soldier was clad in thick, heavy body armor, black in color with many interlocking plates and tubes for breathing gear running up and down them. Each also wore arm plates with a glowing golden display on the left arm, shoulder guards, hip protectors, and leg and shin protectors and greaves. The final feature of their armor was a large, streamlined helmet, colored like the rest of the ensemble in grey and black, with a red connecting port for the breathing gear and glowing orange eyepieces. They had a variety of ranged weapons resting on their shoulders, the swing of their arms counterbalancing the weight of the firearm.

As these columns converged on the hotel, they all stopped to mark time in perfect synchronization. They then turned toward the hotel itself, their boots thundering up and down and causing the ground to shake, and once all were in position and formation, they stopped, the deathly silence suddenly replacing the massive noise that had once been.

"Where did they come from?" Mistmane asked, as another vehicle rolled to a stop in front of the hotel. It looked like a truck of some description, and out of it stepped... a pony? This pony was wearing armor plating of a similar design to the soldiers, only built for the dimensions of a pony, and a gap had been left for a horn.

The figure suddenly began to speak, in a voice that was oddly familiar. And also female. "Listen up, Starswirl and Mistmane!" she called. "You can make this easy and surrender now, or we can do this the hard way."

"Who are you?" Mistmane called, as she opened the window.

"Oh, apologies. This is Project 722, the military operation working to research Subject X."

Starswirl looked in shock at Mistmane. "We have to get out of here, now," he said. "Project 722 is extremely dangerous!"

"I've always believed in negotiating before turning to more drastic action," Mistmane replied, rebuffing him, before turning her attention back to the window. "What do you want?"

"For ponies like you to stop being so selfish and hoarding all the magic," the voice said again. "Everypony needs magic, and with it lives could be improved for the better and new advances made. Already we have made marvelous advances with pegasus magic, and much of the equipment you see here is powered by Equestrian magic. But of course the popular ones such as yourself can never share, can they? Everypony wanted your advice. Everypony loved you. Your magical prowess was the reason for that, and I suspect your looks helped as well."

Mistmane's eyes widened in realization. "No," she whispered. "It can't be!"

The pony removed their helmet, and both Starswirl and Mistmane gasped when they saw them. "I say!" Starswirl exclaimed. "Something went wrong there!"

The mare's fur was an off, broken cream color, with a curved horn similar to Mistmane. She had blue eyes, and a grey mane in two tones that was done up quite severely, presumably to fit within the narrow confines of the helmet.

"Remember me, Mistmane? I was once your friend, Sable Spirit. You pushed me to do this."

"Do what? I never did anything to anypony!"

Sable Spirit shook her head. "You never were a good listener, Mistmane. As you were loved so much for your beauty, I tried to enhance my own. You can see for yourself how well that went. Not only that, I took the throne by force. Working for Project 722 has given me limitless power, and a chance to achieve my dream of finally getting rid of you, my hated rival."

"I can't let you do that," Mistmane said.

"That's hardly a concern of mine," Sable Spirit replied. "When I want something, I take it. OPEN FIRE!"

With a single, synchronized act, the soldiers brought their weapons to bear and began firing on the hotel. Starswirl indicated to a fire escape door, and both ponies galloped towards it, bashing to door open and escaping with seconds to spare. Once down it, they headed south as fast as they could.





Continuing down the street, they moved as quickly as they could as the sounds of gunfire continued to echo down the streets. They took a right and sprinted over a bridge and cleared it as a helicopter flew into position and opened fire, barraging the bridge with missiles. The structure couldn't take the punishment and broke apart, the giant metal structure falling into the river with a splash and the groaning of damaged metal.

Following a series of desperate moves and tight turns, moving through the streets to dodge several roadblocks that had emerged, put up courtesy of Project 722. When they at last made their way onto a major highway, they slowed down as the soldiers no longer seemed to be following them. After a left turn and another bridge crossing (this time without the bridge collapsing) they took two left turns in rapid succession, followed by two separate exits in rapid succession. Even though Project 722 had seemingly lost them, they didn't slow, continuing as fast as they could as they kept right, then left, and then crossed over another river. After turning onto a road marked 'Blackfoot Trail', although neither Starswirl nor Mistmane knew what a 'blackfoot' was, they took several zigzag turns alternating between left and right before climbing an access ramp and merged onto another escape road. Following that, they merged onto another road and crossed another river. They kept to the left, and then turned and zigzagged left and right on the road.

At long last, certain that Project 722 had finally lost them, they slowed down as they passed through a place of extremely flat plains. At last, they stopped for a rest after having climbed into the foothills.

"I... think... we... lost... them!" Starswirl said, breathing heavily from all the running. "Remember I am no longer as young as I was!"

"I think we can take a slower pace in this section of our journey," Mistmane replied. "Let's go."

Owing to the nature of the road up ahead, the journey became increasingly stop start as they headed along. After surveying some viewpoints, they crossed into the British Columbia place again, stopped at a bridge, and then paused once more on a roadside next to a strange tunnel, where another of those iron monsters roared past, looping over itself as it did so. After crossing several more bridges and stopping for another rest, they followed along a river and a lake, through a place called Sorrento, and eventually reached the Trans-Canada Highway. Merging onto the road (although the car drivers took no notice of two unicorns walking along), they crossed another river, and then took several turns as the road bent about. Following another lake and another river, they stopped at several lakes to get their strength up and have something to eat (as they had not had breakfast, being forced to flee the hotel). Passing Whistler Mountain, which Starswirl recognized, they continued over several rivers, lakes, and bridges, before taking several turns in the built up area.

"This is Vancouver!" Starswirl said.

"How do you know that?" asked Mistmane.

"I'll tell you later," the wizard replied.

After a few more turns and another bridge, they navigated through several streets, entered into another hotel, and went straight to sleep without dinner.





"What do you mean you lost them?" Sable Spirit demanded.

"Hostile targets were last sighted on the High Level Bridge," the soldier replied. "One of our choppers flattened the structure, so there's no way they could have survived."

Sable Spirit smiled. "Mistmane may be clever, but intelligence doesn't make you able to dodge rockets," she said. "As for this town, they harbored those enemies of ours. Raze it to the ground. Kill anything that moves."

"Yes ma'am," the soldier replied. Sable Spirit looked on as her soldiers opened fire on anybody in the vicinity and armored vehicles began to flatten buildings.

"Heed my words," the Empress said. "If you harbor our enemies, this is the price you pay."
> Border crossing
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The very next morning, the sun opened its sleepy eye upon British Columbia, and the city of Vancouver began to awaken from its slumber, with people rising from their beds to go about their work and start their days. Indeed, this would also be the procedure followed by a pair whom we have been following on a long journey from Alaska, as the morning sun soon began to penetrate the room and flow onto the eyelids of Mistmane and Starswirl.

Starswirl was the first to awaken, getting off the bed and levitating his hat onto his head. "I do say," he said. "Is it really morning already? It feels like only a few moments since we went to bed."

"I think we both had a very long day," Mistmane replied, as she herself got up and looked in a mirror. "But at least we both got a good night's rest out of this day, so the day certainly counted for something."

"Indeed," Starswirl noted, as he searched the room for a coffee maker. "Have you seen a coffee machine anywhere? There does not seem to be one in this room."

"That's strange," Mistmane sighed. "Most of these places have a coffee machine somewhere, and I suspect we need it given how far we have to go today."

"How far are we going today?" Starswirl asked. "Ah! Found it at last!"

"A very long way, to a place where the rivers and land meet the ocean."

"Very cryptic," Starswirl replied as he switched the TV on. "You'd give Somnambula a run for her money."

Suddenly, CNN flickered to life on the screen. The image, a live feed, showed a large city burning with flames and smoke pouring into the air, as well as strange individuals walking around.

The news caption read BREAKING NEWS: EDMONTON ALBERTA DESTROYED BY UNKNOWN FORCE.

The newsreader began. "Footage sent to us has revealed that the town of Edmonton in Canada was destroyed by an unknown force yesterday. According to eyewitness accounts, strange paramilitary elements were seen in the city and were destroying anything in sight, as well as shooting anybody who got in their way. Who this group is and what their motivation for such an act is is unclear, but the scale of the destruction creates the impression of a foe who is not to be messed with. We turn to our domestic terrorism correspondent, James Whitley."

Starswirl turned the screen off as he glanced back to Mistmane. "I think we've seen enough of that," he said. "But that was my point. Project 722 will stop at nothing to contain us. As you can see there, they destroyed an entire town to ensure no news of us got out, and I suspect it was an act of retaliation as well."

"If they're fully prepared to destroy towns," Mistmane said quietly, "what would they do to us if they caught us?"

"Which is why they aren't going to catch us," Starswirl replied. "Let's have breakfast and then leave quietly. That way, we can be on the road before anypony sees us."

"Good idea," Mistmane replied. And so it was settled.





Once they had had their breakfast in the tavern that sat in the lobby of the hotel, frequented by both humans and ponies, the duo set off on their journey, starting by heading northwest, and then turning right and left several times as they navigated through the streets of Vancouver. A few more turns and twists (or twists and turns depending on which turn of phrase you prefer), and the pair crossed over a bridge and turned left afterwards. Large scale construction work threatened to slow their progress, so they passed by the roadworks on the sidewalk and crossed a river once again, before passing over some more of the iron rails and another river. At long last, the city was left behind them, and the pair found themselves trotting through rolling field and open farmland as far as the eye could see.

"This region would certainly seem to be the bread basket of British Columbia," Starswirl observed. "The land is flat, and certainly quite easy to cultivate thanks to the abundance of water, sun, and a temperate climate."

"Not to mention those strange whirling things as far as the eye can see," Mistmane pointed out. Large iron monsters patrolled up and down these fields, with strange whirling components that seemed to be sucking the plants up and taking them elsewhere. Precisely where Mistmane didn't know, but it ultimately didn't matter.

At long last, they left Canada behind and returned to the USA, and having successfully dodged border patrols (a task that was not easy given how many people had been assigned to guard an incredibly peaceful border), joined a road marked I5 and stayed on that. Keeping right, the pair crossed Dakota Creek and a river, before pausing in another town for a rest (their legs were tired from a very long walk today). Once more, the scenery began to change, the rolling plains giving way to unforgiving mountains and wild ranges, as they passed alongside a lake, a few more towns, as well as several rivers.

At long last, their great destination for the day loomed into sight before them, although a city that large would be a hard thing to miss, given how much light it seemed to put out each and every minute of the day. They crossed over a bay, taking a nearby exit, and merged onto another road on their way. They turned right, continued straight ahead, and then took several left turns before arriving at what Mistmane stated was their stop for the day. Their journey was done for the day, and the pair needed to rest, so they headed in, acquired their room keys for their rooms, and headed up into the hotel and found the rooms. Once inside, they made themselves comfortable, and dozed off to sleep after dinner several hours later, ready for whatever the world was to throw at them tomorrow.
> Sleepless in Seattle
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day dawned, as the day was needed to for the day to begin, and it was a lovely day to dawn into indeed as, despite the snow and frost, the sun shone and left everything looking beautiful. As the sun rose, so did our heroes, and as they sat up out of their beds and looked out into the light, it soon became clear to them they needed to start their day, even though it was very early.

"Mistmane," Starswirl commented, as he checked his spell repository, "I must again raise the question of Flash Magnus and Somnambula, as it seems they are trapped in the same place."

"Their appearance in that recording would suggest that," Mistmane replied. "And your recording has some additional clues that mine doesn't. And speaking of those clues, shall we try to analyse them again now that we don't have a nutcase with some soldiers chasing us?"

"Good idea," Starswirl said, and he brought up the message, which began to play as normal.

To all units receiving this transmission; I am in need of support. Somnambula and I were... able to survive her wrath, but now we're trapped."

This was the point where the recording stopped and the angle moved over to Somnambula. Starswirl slowed the footage down and noticed suddenly that Somnambula was mouthing something in addition to the confusing text that was already there. "42, 12, 46.9. 122, 43, 08.6."

Numbers?" Mistmane asked. "What does that mean?"

"Of course!" Starswirl said, as he jotted the numbers down. "These aren't just any old numbers! They're coordinates to somewhere! Perhaps the location of Somnambula's clue!"

He then floated a map into position, and converted the numbers into a grid reference. "42°12'46.9"N 122°43'08.6"W is somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, where we are now. 42 degrees north puts us a fair way south of our current location, and 122 degrees west moves us into the interior. Scan further down, and that puts us in..."

Mistmane trotted over to look at Starswirl feverishly plotting their position on the map. "Any closer?"

"Yes indeed!" Starswirl replied, as he drew an X on the map. "The location that Somnambula mentions in the recording is in a town in southern Oregon, which, if my checking is correct, is Ashland, Oregon."

"I wonder why she'd put a clue there?" Mistmane asked. "Such a green place seems really out of her comfort zone. She does like the desert, after all."

"We all need a change of scenery at times," Starswirl admitted. "Myself included. And getting to see the great outdoors has been a nice change from the towers and castles I normally call home. We need to continue our journey towards these coordinates to solve this mystery."

"Wait a moment," Mistmane interrupted. "We are both very tired, and have been travelling for a very long time, very long distances on all of these previous days. I suggest we slow down and take a day of resting. And this city certainly has plenty to see based on this magazine."

"What?" Starswirl asked. "Time is of the essence! We can't just stop and gallivant around cities whilst our friends are in trouble?"

"What use are we to our friends if we're unable to help them because of tiredness?" Mistmane replied. "Traditional philosophy emphasizes the importance of balancing work and rest as a great virtue- you do two much of one or the other, and you fall ill."

"I suppose one day of breaks can't hurt," Starswirl admitted, defeated. "So, shall we go and get our breakfast?"





After the pair hand enjoyed a very nice breakfast, they went back to their rooms, collected the items they would need for their day out, and then headed downstairs and out of the hotel entirely. Mistmane glanced up at the signs and almost immediately figured out where to go. She took them to the west of their current position, and then took two right turns in rapid succession. After a left turn, followed by another pair of right turns, they found themselves at an elevated building with a strange concrete structure above them. Machines seemed to glide through the air on this mystical structure, and Mistmane led Starswirl up the ramp to the top of the building just as another strange machine rattled into the platform. Without a second thought, Mistmane boarded. Starswirl found such behaviour bizarre.

The machine rattled along through the sky past impossibly tall buildings and through the centre of winding streets towards its destination of... well, they didn't actually know. All they did know was that the journey didn't take very long, and they soon got off in another place, where a massive tower stretched before them.

"By Clover the Clever's Clogs!" Starswirl exclaimed. "How do they build structures so big? That tower is far taller than the Observatory Royal in Canterlot, and that is the tallest structure in all of Equestria- even with its mountaintop position factored out of the equation."

"The creatures of this world clearly have access to different materials than the ones we can use. There's a lot more metal in use in these buildings, I noticed," Mistmane replied, before they boarded a lift within this tower and went to the top. Having spent a while at the top, they came back down, and headed west once more, before a right turn and two lefts, and then arriving at a strange building which had more of those tracks running through it, alongside very odd architecture.

It was a museum devoted to popular culture, and so they went round it. Once done there, they headed south and turned right, before turning left and stopping in front of a pair of barriers in front of iron rails. It soon became clear why, as a set of those machines, coloured this time in orange, yellow, and black, rattled past with lots of things behind it. When it had cleared, another went the other way, this time with a machine painted red and silver with yellow lining on the front. Once it had gone, they crossed the road and found themselves on a giant wheel so big it almost reached the sky.

Their day done at last, the pair headed back to their hotel to rest. Starswirl spent some more of the night puzzling over the strange occurances and evidence he had found, but overall the day had been a much needed rest, for the pair had an exceptionally difficulty journey tomorrow.
> Slow Going
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was now a new morning once more, and the pair awoke from their sleep and headed downstairs after a shower. The shower, for all its worth, was quite refreshing, and the pair certainly enjoyed freshening up (one after the other, of course). Once all of that was done, they secured their items and headed down into the tavern for breakfast. Once down there, and whilst waiting for their food, Starswirl decided to raise his suspicions.

"Things have been oddly quiet," he said. "We have seen nothing of Sable Spirit or her supporters, nor any members of that blasted Project 722. If I knew worse, I would say they have lost interest in us. I know better than to say that. Our enemy is sneaky and not above using underhanded tactics to trail us along the lands and seas of the world."

Mistmane nodded as their plates arrived, delivered by the waiter. "We must keep our guard up, same as always. Or else we may lose out on our efforts. If we cannot win, who knows what fate the world will suffer?"

"Especially with the Evil One apparently still on the loose," Starswirl replied. "My research only turned up this on him." He opened his journal and began to read. "But it wasn't long before another grew envious of our powers, and sought to rob the world of light and hope. This being, the Evil One, was vanquished to the world beyond dark space, but returned for revenge– to extinguish the Pillars' light and rob the world of hope. To stop him, the Pillars and I must make a grave sacrifice. But we shall leave behind a seed in hopes that one day it will grow into a force to stand against the darkness for all time. We must now face the fiend with the only plan we have..."

"It's not exactly much to go on, if you don't mind me saying."

"I'm aware it isn't much to go on, so that's why I'm saying we either need to be careful or we need to collect more evidence. This is a very dangerous situation indeed, and we are all in potential danger."

Mistmane nodded, as she went on with her food. "They certainly know how to cook potato well here."

Starswirl nibbled at his, and nodded. "They certainly cook good food in these mystic lands of Wash Ington. Although it is slightly soggy for my taste. I find this sort of food is best when slightly crispy."

"What delights will we find in our next port of call?" Mistmane wondered. "In the land of Ore- gon."

"Probably a lot of ore," Starswirl replied. "Though the ore may have all run out, if the place is called Ore- gon!"





Now done with their food, the duo paid up and prepared to set off on their trip. They headed out of the door into the blazing Seattle Sun, and prepared to head east. Following a series of tight left and right turns, they moved into a left lane to secure the ramp.

"I must admit we've become quite good at navigating these strange things humans call roads!" Starswirl laughed. "They scarcely look like roads as I recall them. Where are all the cobblestones?"

They kept left, crossed a river, and then kept to the right as much as possible for several miles before crossing another river on a bridge. After passing over another town, living in the shadow of this elevated road, they came off at an exit and took another exit on top of that. Holding to the right once more, the road suddenly lurched to the left, followed by another pair of left turns of much smaller radius that looped through an industrial estate. They crossed over another river, crossed a river, and then passed by a large city that seemed to rise up from nowhere at all.

However, when they reached the first allocated rest zone, trouble was waiting for them. Standing in the lot were a group of warriors wearing heavy, segmented armour on their fronts, upper legs, and sides. Under that lay layers of cloth, and the legs were protected by greaves. Each wore a similar segmented helmet with a terrifying mask that had a scary face and yellow horns.

"Aha!" said the lead one, confirming a slight Chighneise accent similar to Mistmane. "Our opponent finally shows!"

"What is all this?" Mistmane asked in shock.

"We were sent direct by Sable Spirit herself," another warrior said. "Tell me, have you ever faced the greatest of Chighneise warriors?" Their horns suddenly glowed, circles of fire appearing around them, and several red dragon spirits appeared in the air.

"Looks like we're doing this the hard way," Mistmane sighed, as her horn lit up and a blue circle of fire surrounded her, revealing a blue dragon spirit.





The lead warrior shouted something in Chighneise, and the dragon spirits were launched forward into battle, breathing jets of fire. Starswirl counted with focused magic shots, although weaker than his normal shooting, and a few of the jets were knocked off course and crashed into a nearby field. Moments later, the spirits regrouped and attacked once more.

Mistmane moved hers into position and blasted a jet of flame at theirs, causing them to turn and break off. They formed up into a line. Perfect.

Turning hers to the left and then the right, Mistmane's dragon spirit accelerated forward at terrifying speed until it reached terminal velocity. Then, with a series of loud bangs and booms, the spirit smashed through and destroyed each of the opposing dragon spirits in an explosive cataclysm that caused each of the spirits to explode into fire.

Her work done, Mistmane brought her dragon spirit back into position, and the circle of flames surrounding her died down as she deactivated the spell.

The lead warrior removed his face mask and looked stunned, but soon regained his composure and bowed. "Truly you are a skilled opponent, Mistmane!" he said. "That was a truly honorable battle, and I bow to your superior skill as a sorceress."

Mistmane stayed silent for a few moments. "I can see that you are good ponies. But why are you fighting for Sable Spirit?"

The lead warrior answered. "When Sable Spirit took over as empress, she conscripted every male into the army on pain of death. It was the battlefield, where there was a chance of survival, or the sword. But now I see there is a better way. Evil will never triumph over good. Maybe it is time I turned away as well." He turned to the other warriors and said something to them. Then he turned back. "May the winds blow in your favor," he said.

"And may the sun shine softly upon you," Mistmane replied, recognizing the old Chighneise saying. She watched as the warriors headed off into the middle of nowhere.

"In all my years I have never witnessed a duel as intense as that!" Starswirl said. "Your culture continues to amaze me even to this day!"

"Hopefully, we have gained some new allies along the way," Mistmane replied. "Come. Let us go from this place."





The duo set off, crossing two more rivers and past another town where a strange whistling noise could be heard coming from some trees, and then over several more rivers before taking another, much more peaceful, rest stop. They navigated next to rivers so wide it seemed as though they could swallow a dragon whole, and then had to navigate the perilous streets of a very big town. Not long after that, they crossed another bridge and found themselves in the mythical land of Ore- gon, crossing over a river several times. They took another exit, and then took many lefts, to the point that the pair started to feel dizzy. They then crossed a place called Columbia Slough (come, friendly bombs, and fall on), accessed another road, and then once more weaved through tightly packed streets and narrow roads. They walked across a river on a bridge, before taking a slight left and a sudden right, then repeating the move on another road. They moved onto another road, weaved through some more streets, and eventually arrived at their stop for the night.





"WHAT?" Sable Spirit demanded, looking at the messenger pony before her. "How is this possible?"

"The warriors never reported back in," the messenger replied. "Mistmane must have defeated the-"

He never finished his sentence, as a bolt of magic slammed into him, went through him, and out the other side, killing him instantly. Everybody and everypony else stepped back in shock.

Sable Spirit looked at them with anger in her eyes. "That is the price of failure," she snarled. "If I ever find who is responsible for this outrageous display of incompetence, I shall have their head!"

The radio screen flashed into life, and Colonel Peterson's face flashed onto it. "Any luck?" he asked.

"No," Sable Spirit replied. "These idiots managed to lose them!"

"I would appreciate it if you didn't kill our assets," Peterson replied. "New orders from high up. We move onto Phase 2."

"Understood," Sable Spirit smirked. "The new weapons will make short work of those Pillars. But where to test them?"
> Focus anew
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Having arrived in a new state, they were closer to the sight of their next major stopping point, which was further into the state than their current location. As they relaxed over breakfast, today hopefully being an easier day in mileage and events occurring the them, Starswirl looked at the coordinates again. ""42°12'46.9"N 122°43'08.6"W. Now I just need to put this into my magic compass and find the location markings." As he did so, his horn glowed and energy flowed into it, lighting up the machinery and causing it to whirr into life. The needles spun and twitched back and forth, before eventually settling on the correct direction. "There we are."

"Are we ready to set out?" Mistmane said.

"Yes, we are," Starswirl replied. "Let's go."

Once they had finished, it was time to get back onto the road. The pair exited the stop point and stepped onto the cold, albeit brightly lit street, and began to set off on their way, heading north as they did so. After that move, they then took a left and then turned straight ahead after that, changes in direction being very common in their mode of travel. Not long after that the pair made not one but two left hand turns, then moved into the second lane (rather suddenly, and to the annoyance of a truck driver) and accessed a new road, with far higher speed limits than last time. They merged from one road onto another, and then crossed over yet another river, on yet another river. Starswirl consulted his telescope and looked forward and out into the skies, where the sun was still rising in the sky, a glowing golden ball of light.

"Does it remind you of home?" he asked Mistmane, who had paused as well.

"In a sense," she replied. "Though sunrise was very late back in my village due to how high up we were. Some days it was as up late as 8 in the morning. The entire country was one giant time zone rather than being broken down into several ones as it was in other lands. The Emperor before Sable Spirit said it was to do with 'fostering national spirit'. In reality it just made everybody very tired and sleepy."

"And I thought I had some early mornings," Starswirl sighed. "Oh well. We must continue on our way, and then we can find our destination and the clue that we seek."

And onwards they went, leaving the bridge deck and this city behind, but then walked through another city after several hours of walking, with towers that scraped the skies and buildings that seemed to shimmer. The last time Starswirl had seen buildings like this was his sojourn into the Crystal Empire, and that had been a long time ago. Perhaps this land had access to crystal as well? It was entirely feasible for this to be the case. Oh well. Such things were not the direct concern right now, and this meant that they had to proceed onwards.

After they had passed through two more towns on their route, they stepped another river, this time also on a bridge as fording the river would have been very awkward indeed, and then went up a mountain pass so high it seemed as though they would leave the ground, go straight through the roof of the world and out into space. After the pass and descending the other side (checking vehicle brakes on the way for heat), they followed along the river again, or at least they thought it was the same river, as it wasn't easy to ascertain which river was which. After leaving on exit 30, they turned right and then left as they approached somewhere. Suddenly, as they entered what seemed to be town limits, Mistmane and Starswirl's horns lit up as they received magic telegrams.

Mistmane opened hers first. "Start by heading to the following address," she read aloud. "362 Oxford Street, Ashland, Oregon, OR 97520. Here you will find the evidence."

Starswirl opened his. "Start by heading to the following address. 362 Oxford Street, Ashland, Oregon, OR 97520. Here you will find the evidence." He smiled. "Somnambula always thought of everything."

"One can always have hope in their heart, but at the same time preparing for all eventualities is wisest," Mistmane noted. "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." And onwards they went into the town, passing several building and intersections, including the town university with many students, mostly stuck inside their dorm rooms and not in lecture theatres. A most sensible decision, the pair thought.

After a pair of left turns, and then a right, the duo stopped outside a fairly nondescript home of the typical American style. "Ahh, Oxford Street," Starswirl said. "A good street name, unlike Fairmount Avenue, the most generic street name possible. Where is the clue?"

"Wait a second," Mistmane said. "There is psychic residue here. I should check it to be safe." Her horn lit up, and suddenly there was a bright flash as what appeared to be holographic projections appeared before and around them.

They stood to one side further down the street as a truck rolled to a stop outside the house, and an entire army of people appeared to help carry items inside, though mostly smaller ones such as boxes and personal items. After they were done, two individuals, a man and a woman got out of the truck and spent a moment looking at the house, presumably their new home. The man, who was complemented by an impressive beard, said something, and then the pair went indoors.

After that, time seemed to go into fast forward mode, showing various moments from the past. Quite suddenly, the number of people living there increased from two to three, and then to four, after brief periods where the woman was visibly pregnant. The last notable moment was the four of them outside together.

And just as suddenly as it had all started, it ended. The sequence stopped.

"What was that all about?" asked Starswirl.

"Maybe they used to live here," Mistmane suggested. She trotted over to a plantpot that had been left in place and picked it up, revealing a letter underneath, in Flash Magnus' mouth writing. It looked rather messy, but that was to expected, as he was clearly writing in a great hurry. "But we have our clue. Let's go."

Starswirl nodded, and the pair trotted away. He didn't spot a single tear roll out of Mistmane's eye.
> On to Sacramento!
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Our two heroes had, for some baffling reason, decided to rest in the Oxford Street municipal park overnight instead of finding somewhere to sleep. As they awoke the next morning, the sun streaming down from the sky and the air being cool and cloudless, Mistmane got to her feet and got out her letter from yesterday.

The letter was certainly from Flash Magnus. There was no doubt whatever about that. It had all his usual trademarks; sloppy mouth writing, incorrect paragraphing, some words that were spelt incorrectly, and some run on sentences. Mistmane resisted the urge to take out a quill and make corrections, and instead began to read the letter in its entirety, complete with the myriad errors in the text.

To whomever reads this,

I have no idea how Somnambula was able to get it to this Ash Land place, but you have to get us help. The Sphynx is back and she killed most of my unit and I am the only one left. The Sphinx (spelt wrong) is extremely dangerous and not to be trifled with.

"Why is he talking about desert in a letter like this?" Mistmane asked, before resuming reading the letter.

My current position is as follows. Grid coordinates are 33°20'58.8"N 115°43'47.3"W. Somnambula is here with me. Hurry. I have no idea how long we have

Then a completely new paragraph-

left. Please hurry. If you find this, you must stop Him and ensure he never finds the device.

Flash Magus

"The situation is extremely serious when he can't even spell his own name correctly," Mistmane mused.

"What's going on?" Starswirl asked, himself awakening from his slumber. "Did you read the letter?"

"I did," Mistmane sighed. "Apart from Flash's somewhat slapdash approach to spelling and sentence structure, it tells us where he is right now."

"Then, there is probably no time to waste," Starswirl replied, and the duo set off whilst the latter looked at the letter. "Ouch. How do you misspell 'especially' that badly?"





Upon having left the area and bidden the street goodbye, the duo headed out east. They turned left and right in alternating patterns for what seemed like several hours, before finally heading onto a road and turning left again, passing a very tall building with many hallmarks of Equestrian architecture. They had no time to stop though, and continued on when that road joined another, then took a slight left onto another road. They then turned right onto yet another road and began to head towards a range of ominous hills that, according to a local conversation, had been thick with black smoke recently. Perhaps a dragon used to live there? Anyways, the duo pressed on, passing up a very windy road that eventually looped over itself before turning left and merging onto a very big road. Then a new sign appeared ahead of them, telling them they were entering a new land.

"California," Starswirl said. "What a strange name. Then again, we did just leave the lands of Ore- gon and Wash Ington, so I suspect this is simply the convention in this part of the world."

They took an exit after a while, motorists only showing passing interest in the pair of unicorns (including one who pioneered the gravity defying mane), and headed down a quiet road, following a long river through what seemed like desert (and not dessert, yet another of Flash Magnus' Marvellous Typos). They then crossed another river (twice), and then proceeded through a town, a place that looked like a right dump based on the decaying signs and general veneer of neglect that hung over the place. Keen to leave as soon as they could, they took a right just outside the town and merged back into the big road. There were a lot of big roads in this part of the world, which was a drastic improvement over the roads in the snowy wastes further north. They took another exit, and soon after turned right and left before rolling onto another road, distinct in many regards to the previous road. They turned left and right again, before passing by two mountains, one snowcapped, the other less so. They crossed over a river, many, many times, to the point that Starswirl was certain that they were taking a wrong turn in at least one place. But alas it seemed as if Mistmane's sense of navigation was holding true that day, as after many crossings they finally found themselves going towards the other place. The pair crossed a creek, and then a river via a bridge, and then found themselves passing through a town called Reading. Starswirl thought it sounded like a lovely place, a town named after the act of reading. The duo then found themselves crossing the same river again, whilst a Pannier tank with a single coach steamed past, headed in the same direction (Middle of the Road jokes for the win). And then again. And once again, for the final time. They headed into a place that was very flat, through a town called Woodland (there were no trees, which made the name rather confusing), and then crossed that river once again, then once more for good measure. Then, at long last, they crossed a river that was entirely different, not least because of the fact it was in an entirely different place, but because the notice board said it had a completely different name. They then took an exit off this road that they had been following for a very, very long time (and their hooves were very, very sore), continued onto another street packed in amongst many many tall and oddly shaped buildings that were nonetheless pretty nice to look at, and then headed further onwards, taking a left hand turn into the waiting area of a large hotel complex that sat in the middle of several roads, a set of tall buildings housing many different things, and finally several shops, flyovers, and restaurants for people (or, in some cases from now on, ponies) to eat.
> We Get Around
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before long, it was another day in the world, with the sun in the sky, same as ever. Starswirl and Mistmane snored soundly in the hotel room, before being suddenly awoken by a very loud and very noisy alarm clock.

"Gah!" Starswirl cried, before landing on the floor. "That accursed thing is incredibly loud!"

"It did the job of getting us up though, didn't it?" Mistmane replied. "We've had some very long days recently, and the internal body clocks we have are somehow less reliable than before."

"I think that has something to do with tiredness," Starswirl sighed, rubbing his eyes and consulting his journal. "I wonder if there's an anti sleep spell in here."

"That's a bad idea," Mistmane told him. "A sorcerer back home once experimented with magic like that, casting a spell that rendered the test subjects unable to sleep. Each of them went mad and had to be put down lest they become a threat to others."

"OK, so maybe I won't," Starswirl replied. He flicked through his journal to another page. "Though I think this may be more useful. We need to unpick the newest set of coordinates that Flash Magnus gave us. May I see the letter?"

Mistmane nodded, opened the bag she had, which was next to the flower which she still had on her, and levitated the letter over to Starswirl, who then began to read it.

To whomever reads this,

I have no idea how Somnambula was able to get it to this Ash Land place, but you have to get us help. The Sphynx is back and she killed most of my unit and I am the only one left. The Sphinx (spelt wrong) is extrermely dangerous and not to be trifled with.

My current position is as follows. Grid coordinates are 33°20'58.8"N 115°43'47.3"W. Somnambula is here with me. Hury. I have no idea how long we have

left. Please hurry. If you find this, you must stop Him and ensure he never finds the device.

Flash Magus

"You were right," Starswirl sighed. "The writing is very sloppy and full of mistakes. He must have been in a great hurry when writing it. But what is rather more important is that it tells us where he is." He activated the map spell, and then fed in the coordinates, which he hoped would tell them where they were.

After some whining and whirring, the spell eventually spat out a location, and Starswirl studied the map in confusion. "33°20'58.8"N 115°43'47.3"W is in the middle of nowhere, next to a large lake, in a small town with mostly small buildings according to streetview mode. What is he doing there?"

"Maybe it's something to do with the Sphynx in the letter," Mistmane suggested. "Though what I don't understand is how he manages to spell 'Sphynx' correctly in one sentence, and then in the next spells it wrong."

"Maybe it's not our place to question such matters," Starswirl admitted. "How far are we travelling today?"

"Oh, a very long way. But first, I suggest we do some sightseeing and take our mind off things for a while."

"Really?" Starswirl was incredulous indeed at this news. "We are wasting valuable time with these endless sightseeing stops. We have no clue what's happening here or indeed where to go, and you want to look at things?"

Mistmane gently put a hoof on his face. "If there's one thing that's important to learn, it's to appreciate the smaller things in life," she said. "The ultimate destination doesn't matter. It's how you got there that counts."

Starswirl sighed. "All right. But we do need to keep an eye on our clocks."





After another nourishing meal in the morning, the duo set off on their next sightseeing run, which saw them head north and then take two lefts whilst travelling down a street marked with a 12 miles per hour speed limit, which they found very odd indeed. Then again, that was the point. It stuck in their memory, so mission accomplished, I guess.

They then spent several hours looking around the California State Railroad Museum, which confused Starswirl as he had absolutely no idea what these machines were or what they did. It did, at least, explain the iron monsters they had been seeing throughout the trip, but safe to say he wasn't sure why Mistmane had picked this one out given the lack of such technology back home. After a day which had included travelling over a nearby set of iron rails, they were ready to head out on their journey once more. They started their journey by heading to the East, before taking a left turn and then a right. Before them the road constantly wiggled back and forth between left and right, leaving the pair very dizzy and confused.

"Why is the route so wiggly?" Starswirl asked. "Why can't they build wavy streets like normal ponies?"

"They seem to like straight lines around here," Mistmane replied. "It's all rather confusing really."

They then joined a bridge that towered of the city, which then ran over a river (and not a rother), before rattling over the same river again, before taking a slight left turn and continuing onto another road. Several roads, as a matter of fact. After another left turn, they merged onto another road and stayed on it for quite a long time. Eventually, after travelling through large amounts of nothing, they passed over a creek, and then through a town. They crossed two bridges on their way through even more nothing that was occasionally punctuated by the odd body of water.

"This scenery is horribly dull," Starswirl sighed. "It's so flat, and there's so much sand! It reminds me of Saddle Arabia."

"This may seem hard to believe, but I actually miss the mountains and snow earlier in the trip," Mistmane sighed. "It reminded me of the mountains back home."

"I remember how you reacted when it snowed at the School of Magic. You were certainly very happy those few days, even if a lot of the scholars were not."

"Snow brings back happy memories of growing up," Mistmane noted. "This heat is quite oppressive though!"

"At least it's not humid here, unlike at Hayseed," Starswirl grumbled. "I was thankful that Meadowbrook had installed air conditioning."

As the duo walked on, the terrain suddenly became more interesting, and after two right turns the road surface began to climb into the air. The duo found themselves walking along a giant grey bridge, seemingly held aloft in the sky with naught but pieces of iron cable. It was also very long indeed, which was a very long way for two tired unicorns to walk, but they reached an island and went into a tunnel.

"This bridge goes on?" Starswirl asked, as they emerged from the tunnel and saw the bridge continue on ahead of them.

"This seems to be two bridges in one," Mistmane noted, as they joined the next span and began to cross it. This also took an incredibly long time, and they finally entered the city before them. After seeing a giant red robot fly by, they took lots of winding turns through the streets of this city, joining and leaving several roads in the process before winding through some twists and turns. After some final turns through a tight set of roads, they arrived at a place to rest.

As they entered the hotel, neither realised a figure in armour was watching them through binoculars from a nearby building. "Targets sighted," he said over a radio. "Mistmane and Starswirl confirmed, over?"

"Roger that," replied another voice over a radio. "Strategy confirmed. Lock down the city."
> Trottin' on the Dock of the Bay
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was another morning in the world. Mistmane and Starswirl, having slept like logs for the entirety of the night owing to their long journeys, had settled the previous evening on slowing down and looking around this most strange and unusual city built seemingly on the sea. The place it reminded Starswirl of directly was Vanhoover, although that was built on a river and this city opened up into the sea. He'd also heard (or, rather, overheard) people discussing earthquakes, although thankfully most buildings here were earthquake proofed, so there probably wasn't any worries surrounding that or indeed anything else for that matter.

So, they set off into the harsh sun of this new land to look around the sights of the city. They exited the hotel where they had stayed the night and headed off, starting by proceeding north. They then took a left, and this left was shortly followed by a right. They stopped at a building that advertised itself as a cable car museum, though this left Mistmane a little confused. She couldn't see any overheard pylons or cables, or even winding drums, so quite how this place displayed cable cars was rather confusing. It transpired it was a rather broad use of the word 'cable car', as these were vehicles that ran on rails that were pulled along by cables connected to winding engines. Once they had finished looking around that, they set off for Chinatown, dodging along the way a rather unusual looking oriental woman muttering something about fanfiction. But Mistmane and Starswirl just ignored it, instead going to the south and turning left. Then, after having completed the great turn to the left, they turned right, and then left.

And then they were in Chinatown! Much to their disappointment, nobody was kung fu fighting. However, they had no doubt that the local kids were fast as lightning, were possibly slightly frightening, and fought with expert timing.

"I suggest we see the pyramid next," Mistmane suggested, whilst carrying a bowl of noodles. It was now lunchtime, and that was the food she had gone for. It reminded her of her native culture.

"I thought pyramids were more Somnambula's forte," Starswirl replied, finishing a mug of something or other before setting it back down again. "But I must admit, this is good. Where is this pyramid, and how do we get to it, oh great navigator?"

"We go this way," Mistmane said, and then the duo set off. They went east, and before long they saw it rising into the sky. This mighty structure was so tall it seemed to scrape the very heavens themselves, and its power and majesty was undeniable. Very tall and very thin for a pyramid, it glowed in the light with the sun reflecting off the metal and windows.

"The residents of this world are fine architects," Starswirl noted. "Maybe we can build similarly large and magnificent buildings in Equestria when we return there."

"I'm not too sold on the two blobs at the top," Mistmane admitted. "It does rather ruin the symmetry. Not the choice I would have made, but then again I'm not the architect."

"I imagine that whatever you come up with will be magnificent," Starswirl smiled, and with those words the pair set off again into the city, as they had a new place to go. They saw another big tower, and then continued again. They headed west, followed by a pair of right turns, and then onto a hill. And then stood in front of a tower for a bit and it was very nice indeed. Very, very nice indeed.

Once more finding themselves heading to the south, or possibly the southeast, the pair passed through some more streets, turning right and then left again as they proceeded on their way. They turned right and left again as they arrived on another street, followed by two more right turns and then a left. After following another road for a brief period, they stopped at a view point to point at the view, I suppose, and then it was time to continue on their way towards their next destination, which Mistmane was yet to disclose and thus kept quiet on the entire thing.

After stopping at a ferry point and watching a big red boat steam past, they now needed to get to another point to get a boat. They set off on their way, joining a busy road and then proceeding over a giant red bridge to an island in the sea, where islands are generally found. They went through a tunnel, and sneezed through their- sorry, that's the wrong story. They took an exit and suddenly turned around, followed by two right turns which took them to another right turn and back across the red bridge. Keeping left next, they suddenly found themselves weaving back down a street they'd already been down, turning left and right constantly before making a U turn. They arrived at the ferry arrival point and embarked, heading out to a very sinister looking island that sat nearby. They got off, and then proceeded to look around the prison that was on the island, before returning to the boat dock and heading back over to the mainland once more, having had enough of islands for one day today. Turning to the northwest, they turned left and right several times once more before suddenly stopping in front of the hotel.

Mistmane turned to indicate the sun, which was starting to set in the sky over the city. "That is certainly a beautiful sight," she said. "I can't think of many other places with such wondrous sunsets."

"Neither can I," Starswirl replied, and the duo went into the hotel for the night.

On the outskirts of the city, a man was talking over the radio with somebody else. "Yes, Mister Mayor, I appreciate you are concerned, but this is for your citizen's own good. The increased number of coronavirus cases requires this action."

"Alright," said a defeated voice on the other end. "Seal off the city."

The man removed the radio from his mouth. "All Project 722 units, this is Colonel Peterson," he said. "Assemble the blockades and seal off San Francisco."
> Lockdown
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another morning arrived, and Starswirl and Mistmane awoke to a cacophony of noise outside. Sirens were blaring and the noise of vehicles rolling around outside was clearly audible. Vehicle engines are not known for being silent, after all, and as the duo trotted over to the window and opened it, they could clearly see who it was.

"Well, it looks as though our friends from Edmonton are paying us a visit again," Starswirl mused. "Though how are they all the way over here?"

"I suspect their reach is far greater than any of us could have anticipated." Mistmane shook her head. "Now then, we need to get out of here, before they find us or anybody."

"ALERT: THIS IS A CATEGORY FOUR LOCKDOWN. CASES OF COVID 19 ARE RISING IN THIS SECTOR. ALL CITIZENS ARE TO REMAIN INDOORS AND AWAIT SCANNING BY MEDICAL AUTHORITIES AND US GOVERNMENT AGENTS. THOSE FOUND TO BE INFECTED WILL BE TAKEN TO TREATMENT CENTRES. STAY CALM AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS. ONLY BY WORKING TOGETHER CAN WE DEFEAT COVID 19." The warning message played again as Mistmane looked out across the bay. Jeeps and armored trucks were rolling about the streets, alongside soldiers who were marching along in perfect step, going along, and knocking on doors as they went, presumably to test those inside.

"ALERT: THIS IS A CATEGORY FOUR LOCKDOWN. CASES OF COVID 19 ARE RISING IN THIS SECTOR. ALL CITIZENS ARE TO REMAIN INDOORS AND AWAIT SCANNING BY MEDICAL AUTHORITIES AND US GOVERNMENT AGENTS. THOSE FOUND TO BE INFECTED WILL BE TAKEN TO TREATMENT CENTRES. STAY CALM AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS. ONLY BY WORKING TOGETHER CAN WE DEFEAT COVID 19."

Starswirl looked through his telescope, and gasped. "The harbor has been locked down too! Look!" He indicated toward the edge of the harbor, and indicated what was sitting there.

A destroyer was blocking the port exit, and its guns were trained on the city and the port.

"They are deadly serious about preventing anybody from leaving." Mistmane hoped she was wrong, but her hopes were dashed when she saw a boat make a dash for the harbor exit. The destroyer trained its guns on the boat, and fired a single grappling hook that locked into the dock chains, before the winding gear reeled the boat in and further of those soldiers jumped onto the vessel in preparation for boarding.

"The city is crawling with Project 722 goons!" Starswirl exclaimed. "I can't think of any way in which we can escape!"

"And Meadowbrook forgot to supply us with any disguise potions, so disguising ourselves as humans is out of the option," Mistmane said quietly. "But I think there is a backup available. A one shot card." She found a piece of paper in a folder in her satchel, and gave it a read. "One use teleport, perfected by Merlos the Mad. This spell allows a user to teleport themselves and one other over a great distance to relative safety. However, it can only be used once every 24 hours. The maximum range is 40 miles."

"That should get us clear of the city!" Starswirl exclaimed. "Let's give it a try!"

"ALERT: THIS IS A CATEGORY FOUR LOCKDOWN. CASES OF COVID 19 ARE RISING IN THIS SECTOR. ALL CITIZENS ARE TO REMAIN INDOORS AND AWAIT SCANNING BY MEDICAL AUTHORITIES AND US GOVERNMENT AGENTS. THOSE FOUND TO BE INFECTED WILL BE TAKEN TO TREATMENT CENTRES. STAY CALM AND FOLLOW INSTRUCTIONS. ONLY BY WORKING TOGETHER CAN WE DEFEAT COVID 19."

Mistmane nodded, and lit her horn. In a flash of light, the duo were teleported out of the city and ended up somewhere else.

"We're safe!" said Starswirl.

"For now," Mistmane replied. "Come on, let's go." And they set off into the harbor area. They started by heading south and then took a right, before continuing down a long road. Once they had travelled down this long road, further warnings warning people not to enter the city, they joined a road named the Great Highway (for some reason). For the next few miles, they took a series of left and right turns, before they merged onto another road that ran in a completely different direction to the one in which they had started. As they proceed down this road, heading in what Mistmane believed to be south (something weird was happening to her compass), a great big blue body of water opened up on their right, and they continued alongside this mighty body of water for several miles as they walked, noting vehicles breaching the lockdown and driving away from the city. Presumably they were from sectors of the city that hadn't been combed by Project 722 yet, and they could count themselves lucky. Or unlucky, if they had the virus and would end up spreading it to somepony else, in which case fleeing was exceptionally dumb.

They entered into another town and turned left, before enjoying a slight right and then joining another road, before another series of turns that weaved back and forth, left and right, which once more left our heroes slightly dizzy as the road whipped around like a snake. They rejoined one of the roads from earlier, and once more found themselves following the vast body of water which seemed to stretch into infinity. They continued along for a while, before realising that they were getting rather tired and hungry, and so needed to stop, even if only for a while. After crossing a bridge and finding themselves going over a creek, they paused to overlook the mighty body of water.

"Do you think we have found the emerald sea?" Starswirl asked. "The legendary body of water said to have incredibly healing properties?"

"I think we have," Mistmane Said. "Although the water is blue, not green."

"Maybe it looks emerald in the light of different parts of the day?" Starswirl suggested, then stopped as a biker pulled up in the layby to have a rest. He also switched his radio on, and a news channel began playing.

"San Francisco went into lockdown earlier today following a surge in the number of cases in the city," the news reporter said. "Reports of soldiers in uniforms' were- can we fix the autocue, please?- were seen patrolling around hthe city to enforce the lockdown and keep citizens safe. Those who are found to have the virus are being taken to treatment centers across the country to facilitate their swift recovery. It remains to see whether other cities in California will follow suit."

"Project 722 must be more powerful than we anticipated if they can freely lock down cities," Starswirl said. "How high does this go?"

"Only one way to find out," Mistmane said, fishing out some food. "Shall we eat here?"





After a short rest, they turned right, and then merged onto another road before leaving it again. They snaked about, left and right, before arriving in a valley, and rejoining another road from earlier. They turned left and merged onto a road before turning right, and right again, and then left, before ascending through the mountains and eventually stopping at the summit (walking uphill is tiring). Descending the other side, they found themselves once more following the great body of water and passing a beach with KEEP OUT signs all over it. They switched to another road, and kept left before going back again to the previous one, passing two beaches in the process. After many hours of walking and the sun beating down upon them, they arrived in a built up place near a pier, and came off the road. They wove their way through the streets of this place, not noticing the interested looks from all of the townsfolk, until they switched to yet another road. Once upon this road, they kept right, merged onto two different roads, continued straight for a bit, and then took an exit off before trotting into their final stop for the night.





"All units, this is Colonel Peterson," Peterson said over the radio. "Any sign of Sorcerer or Gravity?"

"Negative sir," replied an officer on the radio. "Sector clear."

"Sector empty."

"No trace of them, sir."

"Section clear."

"Sector clear of hostiles."

"Nothing to report, over."

Peterson sighed. "Any infected?" he asked.

"We've rounded up about 1,000 across the city so far," the first officer continued. "Doctors are still completing their sweep of the area, so expect the number to increase."

Peterson suddenly heard the unit behind him start up. He turned around to look at the screen, and saw the familiar AUDIO ONLY text flicker on. "Have you found them?" the voice asked.

"No sir," Peterson replied. "It appears they were never in San Francisco."

THIS IS UNNACEPTABLE!" the voice replied. "The Pillars must be found! Two are already in captivity, and there is no sign of Meadowbrook or Rockhoof. These two must be captured or else my entire plan is derailed. Did you find any infected?"

"Yes, sir," Peterson replied. "They're already being processed to treatment centers as we speak."

"Sir? I've got something!" an aide called, and showed Peterson the screen of an iPad. On it was a special trace. "This is the trail left behind from a spell. It shows us where the caster went."

Peterson nodded. "Sir, we have a trace on their location. They're in Los Angeles."

"Well? What are you waiting for? GET THEM!"

The radio flickered out as Peterson switched channels. "Skyhammer, move to orbiting position and await clearance."
> A Very Short Journey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Another day proceeded to dawn in the sky, as days are known to do from time to time, and our brave duo awoke in their beds and sat up. Almost immediately after getting up, they headed downstairs and into the downstairs area of the hotel in which they were staying, which was very nice. As their food was taken to them alongside hearty morning doses of coffee (coffee is apparently served in doses now), Starswirl looked in concern at Mistmane.

"There's something that is concerning me greatly," he said, as the band struck up another block of peppy tunes. "Project 722 seemed to know where we were with alarming levels of accuracy. How did they manage that, I wonder?"

"I'm not entirely sure," Mistmane admitted. "But they seem to have very advanced technology and a lot of support to back them up. Just who runs them?"

"I've got you covered for that piece of information," Starswirl replied. "According to research that I conducted alongside Sunburst and Starlight, Project 722 was set up in the aftermath of the sighting of Somnambula and a giant cat thing. If that isn't fishy, I have absolutely no idea what is. The government created it as a special division of Military Intelligence, and based on their activities gave them a blank check to act as they saw fit out in the world, including the authority to impose lockdowns on cities as they saw fit."

"I still wonder what the device that Flash Magnus referred to is," Mistmane sighed, as she went back to her coffee, something she urgently needed as she was very tired and drowsy. "Oof. These long days are doing a number on me. How much coffee did I get through today?"

"You're still on your first mug," Starswirl replied. "Look, I know this seems relatively out of character for me, but it would seem that you need a rest from taking a long journey today and yesterday. To this end, I have noticed on this map that there is a very popular tourist spot not far from here, which has short lines owing to a current situation."

"I'd been wondering how that works with us," Mistmane said, as she finished her plate and it was whisked away just as suddenly as it had appeared. "What about ponies?"

"The ponies here, as well as ourselves, are transformed humans. And the strange energies that do this render the subject immune to the effects of the virus. I'm still not entirely sure how this process works, but I can tell you for sure that it has benefitted us greatly."

"And seemingly can't protect us from injuries," Mistmane said, noting Flash Magnus' rather beat up appearance.

"We're not Mary Sues," Starswirl rebutted. "Let us start our journey when we have finished our food. Adventure awaits us, and I know the only place to do it. Let us enjoy a day of magic at the Happiest Place on Earth!"

Mistmane's eyes widened when she heard that. "How long will this take?" she asked. "I think I can feel the caffeine kicking in."

"It's only a short stroll," Starswirl said, as he slammed his mug down. "Come! Let us go!"





Drinking all of that caffeine rapidly proved to be a mistake on both their parts. When they exited outside, having finished eating their food and drinking their drink, they abruptly set off at very high speed. To try and simulate how fast they were going, the next sentence will contain no commas.

They began outside the hotel and then they headed south and then they turned right and then they turned left. As you can see, the sentence is intended to be read very quickly. And as the California heat was only just starting to permeate through the sky, moving so quickly wasn't so bad an idea at the moment.

They once more turned right, and then to the left, and then took two more right turns. They then kept to the right, and following that act of keeping to the right, they suddenly kept left as the road junctions splintered and tried to confuse them on their way. Mind you, their brains were working on overdrive, so that was hardly a surprise that as they whizzed along, crowds of confused people looking at them.

"Whoa, dude," said one guy, a green skinned dude with two tone blue hair. "Are there ponies over there?" He sounded rather stoned.

"That's grooooovy, man," said another, a green skinned woman with red hair in dreadlocks. "This pot is seriously good."

"Causing us to see horses," the first replied. "Next I'll be quoting the Grateful Dead."

Our heroes went on their way, oblivious to all the nonsense going on, and merged onto a road. After they had merged onto a road, they then went on their way as they walked along, following this road. And then this road turned into another big road, which was big like the sky. They whizzed over a river with the speed of a thousand thundering gazelles, which is a silly simile, if you think about it, as one thousand gazelles running together would all run at the exact same speed, thereby making this comparison utter nonsense. But it was with this onwards that they went and kept to one right (and no other rights), as this allowed them to hold the right three lanes (and not the wrong three lanes). Whilst holding the right three lanes, and not the wrong three lanes, they merged into yet another big road, they took another exit, and then turned right, followed by a left, and another left, and then kept left before they arrived outside a big set of signs with the legend DISNEYLAND: THE HAPPIEST PLACE ON EARTH. The two ponies, quite happy at having finally arrived at such a marvellous place, went inwards through the gates and proceeded to have a fun filled day filled with fun, oblivious to the great danger that hung over their heads.
> Another very short journey
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Later that very same day, the scene began to shift quite drastically. Mistmane and Starswirl had decided to spend but half a day at the Happiest Place on Earth TM, and as such needed to find somewhere else to go for the rest of the day. One of the oldest social divides that exists in the suburb of Anaheim, part of the conurbation of Los Angeles, is that between Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm. The more affluent people who occupied the area would traditionally go to Disneyland, owing to its more upmarket nature and superior social standing. On the other hand, people of a lesser economic standing, to put it politely, would go to Knott's Berry Farm, a nearby theme park that had been built on top of a berry selling stand in the 1940s and 50s, and was continuing to expand even to this day. Amongst their more notable items included some authentic locomotives and rolling stock from the narrow gauge empires of Colorado, as well as original equipment from the region and time period (mostly 1880s through to the 1950s). In fact, it was said that if you lined your camera up carefully and took your shot at the right time on the railroad, you could fool somebody into thinking you'd taken them in the 1960s!

So, after completing the time at Disneyland, it was the time appointed for Mistmane and Starswirl to set off into the mysterious lands of this fine city. They started by heading forth to the southwest as one normally does, and this would take them in the direction of even more exotic lands. During this process of heading southeast, they joined the right hand lane and in doing so maintained their plan of keeping to the right. Keeping to the right was very important at this point, as keeping right would allow them to make a very important maneuver. Steel Rain.

No, not Steel Rain. This trick which they had so marvelously executed was to enable them to turn to the right, followed by another right, and then another right, which soon had them going so far right they would go flying off the spectrum (yay, politics jokes). After turning right, they would then proceed to turn left, and then a slight left would naturally follow them. After staying there for a while, it was time to exit this road and go onto another one. They took an exit, and then turned to the right on a road, before following this up with another left turn, and then another left turn, before arriving at this place which Mistmane had mentioned. Whilst they have fun there, let's check in with two other characters.





Sable Spirit had taken up her position on the podium at the control station for the Skyhammer satellite. Skyhammer was a relatively recent addition to the arsenal of Project 722, and was the first in a new generation of weapons. Following the creation of the United States Space Force in 2019, Project 722 had been assigned, amongst other things, the duty of researching weaponry in outer space. This had included reviving the long dormant Strategic Defense Initiative project, but making a number of changes to the design in order to make it work more efficiently. These changes included replacing the laser batteries with particle accelerators, as those would function more efficiently in Earth's atmosphere than lasers. The station was still under construction, but in the meantime the Skyhammer project had been greenlit.

Skyhammer had been developed from research carried out into Starswirl's journal, and comprised a magic fueled core linked into a targeting grid and several focusing chambers. The result was believed to be the most potent weapon ever developed, and it was almost totally invisible too.

"Is the satellite in position?" she asked, impatient.

"Satellite is passing over the West Coast of the United States... now." The screen lit up to indicate the satellite approaching its target. "We will be in position to fire in 24 hours."

"Why is this taking so long?" Sable Spirit demanded.

"The satellite passes over many different points during its orbital flight, and doesn't anchor to a set location," the soldier explained, adjusting his tracking gear. "It's passing over the West Coast, but the wrong part. And orders from high up said to target California, not Oregon."

Sable Spirit held back from lashing out. After all, Colonel Peterson hadn't been entirely pleased at her killing one of her men in her anger. After all, once this weapon was fully operational, there was very little the hated Mistmane could do. It would be as if everything stood completely still in one place at all times.

She laughed to herself. Mistmane had been a thorn in her side for far too long. And now, that thorn was going to be plucked... one way or another.





After quite a happy afternoon just having fun at Knott's Berry Farm, it was time for Mistmane and Starswirl to return home to their hotel in which they stayed, for staying there would enable them to stay in this place for no fear of being booted out. So, they began their return trip. They proceeded to the south of the park, and then made a U turn, before heading in another direction by turning to the right. They then turned left, and merged onto another road entirely. They then merged onto it again. After a short while, they merged onto another road, and then found themselves passing a large building with the legend UNION PACIFIC on it. Neither of them had any idea what that meant, so went on their way and took an exit. Then they took another exit, and found themselves going up an entirely different street, which was by its nature entirely different, and then they found themselves back at the hotel. It was a nice hotel, with all the amenities a pony could want after a long day at work. So they went in, and rested for the night, not knowing what was coming.
> The Day the Earth Froze
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a fairly normal morning, by all accounts. The city of Los Angeles woke up as normal, and people went to work and lived their lives. But overhead, none of them realised that there was a grave threat hanging over their heads. How could they? After all, nobody knew of Project 722's existence. Although Edmonton in Canada had been destroyed, most people assumed that had been the handiwork of a terrorist group rather than a government agency. As they set about their day, it was then that all went into motion.

Sable Spirit looked at the tracker screen and looked on with a grin as the satellite floated into position. "How long until firing can commence?" she asked.

"We'll be in position in T Minus four minutes," one of the operators replied. "All units, ready the charges, prepare for payload release. Target coming onto monitors now."

Sable Spirit rubbed her hooves in glee as the satellite closed in on Los Angeles. Not only did she have a chance to test project 722's newest and most powerful weapon, she had a chance to get rid of her hated rivals who had plagued her existence for years.

"Satellite is now over the target. Core one is cycling for payload release. All equipment is functioning. We await your order."

Sable Spirit wasted no time in issuing that order. "FIRE!"

"Roger that. Payload released."

Up in outer space, the satellite glowed briefly, before a lock released and what looked like a missile began to fall toward Earth. It flew through the atmosphere, easily surviving re- entry, and roared toward the ground at frightening speed. When it was a mile above its target, the warhead detonated.

But it was not an explosion that followed. Instead, the entire area was covered in ice and cold liquid that soon hardened into ice. It was as if the entire area had been caught inside a snow globe. But Project 722 had just demonstrated the true function of Skyhammer. The satellite used cryoshot warheads, developed from Starswirl's magical energies and Crystal pony magic, to quite literally freeze anything that Project 722 wanted.

And today, that meant the hotel and block where Starswirl and Mistmane were.





Mistmane and Starswirl were suddenly awakened by a loud bang and what sounded like ice shattering. They got out of bed and went over to the window, opening the curtains as they did so, and gasped at once.

Everything before them was covered in thick sheets of ice that didn't look natural. For one, it was incredibly thick. For another, it was a bright sunny day, and the thermometer was well above freezing. "Giant greats!" said Starswirl. "Where did all this ice come from?"

"You can ask that again," Mistmane replied.

"Where did all this ic-"

"Not literally. The ice appears to run all the way to the door, and over it, and even onto the roof of this building. We need to find a way to cut ourselves out without compromising the structural integrity of the building, or else it may be crushed under the weight of all this ice."

"Why not try melting some of it?" Starswirl suggested. "If we and a few other unicorns cast a heat spell, we can melt the ice in stages, ensuring that the load never gets too heavy on one side of the building and that the weight of the ice is distributed evenly."

"Excellent idea!" Mistmane said. "Let's give it a shot!"

And so, they rounded up every unicorn staying there and, after using heat magic to cut a tunnel to the outside world, they started the process of melting the ice surrounding the hotel.

It took them several minutes to finish melting all the ice, but by the time they were done the giant pools of icy cold water were the only evidence of such an incident having occurred. But the question that was on everypony's mind was what had caused this to happen? Such a mystery could be solved at a later date, but for now Starswirl and Mistmane had places to be and things to go and do. So, having collected their supplies, and got themselves ready for another long journey, they set off on their way. It was time, after all, for them to head to the coordinates that Flash Magnus had supplied. And it was set to be a long journey too.

The duo passed underneath another of the interesting ice sculptures that had appeared on the route they had taken, and went south, before taking a right turn on the road they were on and following that right turn up with another right turn, which led them onto another critical road for their journey, a large, multiple lane road that stretched infinitely into the horizon and beyond. To infinity and beyond, you could say.

Sensibly, they held to the left on this road (although Starswirl grumbled about the humans driving on the wrong side of the road), as they had a turning to take off this road, and eventually arrived on a road so huge and marvellous it put the previous road to shame. They passed another place full of those strange iron monsters humans used to move things about, and before long, with the winter sun of California coming down upon the land before them and slowly warming the day up. Onwards they went, climbing a great hill, and going over it, and down the other side. At long last, they found themselves wandering through a desert. Mistmane indicated they should stay on the right, and so the duo did, passing through a handful of abandoned ghost towns as they did so before taking a slight left off the road, following it with a proper left turn. They proceeded onto another street, apparently named after a car, before taking an abrupt right turn. Here, a body of water that was blue opened up before them and stretched for miles out into nothingness, before the road following it took the duo to a right turn, followed quite suddenly by a left.

Moments later, they found themselves standing outside a blue building. The doors were padlocked and the place completely deserted. "Are you sure this is the right place?" Starswirl asked.

"You had the map!" Mistmane replied, stepping towards the door. Her horn illuminated and the lock slowly undid itself. "That was suspiciously easy." The lock off the door, she opened the door and stepped inside, looking for any sign of life.

They had stepped through a lobby, and pushed open another door, into a room that was full of seats and an odd stage. On that stage were two figures. One was lying, still quite badly hurt, and the other, who was pink, was pacing about in concern.

"Somnambula?" Starswirl called.

The pink pony looked up, and said something to him. But he couldn't understand. Somnambula then began waving a piece of Glowpaz at him and beckoning for him to come over. The duo did, and then she handed them both pieces of Glowpaz, which they put onto their persons.

With that act, they could all understand each other. "You have to help!" Somnambula said. "Flash is badly injured. I've done my best to treat his injuries, but there's only so much I can do! Do you have any spells that can help?"

"Just leave me and go on without me!" Flash said. "I'll only slow you down!"

"We would never give up on a friend," Mistmane replied. "Starswirl, can you cast the spell of healing?"

"Given all the magic interference, we'll both need to cast it together," Starswirl replied. Both unicorns lit their horns, and the energy began to flow through the room and into Flash Magnus. In fairness, he looked a lot better before the spell was cast than he had in the message, but the spell of healing clearly worked succesfully, as his wounds were cleaned up and vanished as if they'd never been there.

Once they were done, Flash shakily got to his hooves. "Well, that was something," he said, moving one of his wings. "Yeesh. Wings still feel a little ropey, so I'll need to be careful with those."

"How did you get here?" Starswirl asked.

"The Sphynx imprisoned us in this place," Somnambula replied, "and we have been trapped for some time. Flash was wounded trying to stop her killing his fellow soldiers."

"Not much use that was," Flash replied, bitterly. "They're all dead."

"Who was the he you referred to in the message?" Mistmane asked.

"I have reason to believe that it's the Pony of Shadows," Flash replied.

Suddenly, a new message flashed up on the Magical Communications device, which Mistmane and Starswirl both opened. On the message was the face of Mage Meadowbrook.

"Ta all receivin' this transmission'," she began, "We are all in serious danger. Project 722 is makin' its move on the world. As Ah speak, Lafayette burns in flames. Please hurry. The Pony of Shadows has returned and is stoppin' at nothin' to take control. He will kill anybody who gets in his way. He tried ta take control o' Stygian and killed Colonel Peterson. Ah have no idea when he'll come fer either me or Rockhoof."

"We shouldn't waste any time," Flash said grimly. "Let's go."
> The More, the Merrier
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The four heroes, as they were now, gathered together outside the building, which Starswirl noticed bore the legend BOMBAY BEACH OPERA HOUSE, and began to make their plan. "We need to continue heading east," Starswirl urged. "If my research is anything to consider about this situation, we should find Mage Meadowbrook in the place the humans call Lousie Annie. Quite why she is lousy is unclear, but that's besides the point. We need to plot a new route to get there, and along the way discuss tactics."

"Agreed," Somnambula noted. "I can take to the sky and provide aerial reconnaissance. What about you, Flash?"

"This may sound unlike me, but I'm sticking to the ground," Flash replied. "My wings still feel a bit wonky. No harm meant to either of you, but I pretty beat up in that fight."

"I think I have a suggestion of a route to take," Mistmane interjected, and showed them a map. This map routed them through all sorts of interesting places and brought them out in some strange place far away from here.

"OK," Starswirl smiled. "Let's give that route a try and see what happens. Off we go!"

And indeed they did. Upon checking rations were correctly secured, and supplies were in storage, ready for movement, they set off upon their way. Leaving this place behind, they started by heading north (as Starswirl's compass told them so), and not long after heading to the north, they turned left, and then to the right, after which they walked for quite a long time and then turned to the right once again. Or rather they merged into a road that was already there and this merging process happened to take them to the right, but such nitpicking is a pointless exercise in most cases. The team then passed through an area of land that had apparently been scorched by fire, much of the sand and ground still blackened by fire.

Flash took one look at it and closed his eyes, walking onwards as best he could. Seeing a place scorched like this was bringing back unpleasant memories. Thankfully, Somnambula took some time to comfort him, which was fortuitous as they headed into a place that sounded Neighiptian in name, but didn't look it in any way, shape, or form. They continued on the road, before turning right. Then they turned left, and continued onto another road. Then they continued straight for a while, merged onto another road, and then took the last remaining miles through this state. Less than a mile before the border, they stopped, Flash wanting to speak to them.

"Have you been encountering ponies along the way?" he asked.

"Yes," Starswirl said. "We have. However, we were able to evade capture in Edmonton by Project 722 forces, who then levelled the town in retaliation, and avoided capture by several samurai, who Mistmane bested in a dual. Our most recent effort was defrosting a hotel caught in ice. That was shortly before we came here."

"What did you do with them? When we encounter that Sphynx again I want only one thing; its death."

"There is reason to be cautious," Mistmane told him. "The Sphynx may not be acting of its own free will."

"It seemed to be having a ball when it tore through the Legion," Flash replied bitterly. "You really have no idea what Project 722 have been up to, do you? They've been testing tech designed to be used against us, and equipment based on pony magic and technology, on humans. They don't deserve redemption. They only thing they deserve is a quick death."

Mistmane lit her horn. "I would advise against such foolishness," she warned. "There is always more to a situation than meets the eye."

Flash smiled, and raised his shield, Invictus. "I'm ready for you, unicorn. Any day, any time. I know that forgiveness is a wonderful thing, but apologies if I lack any sympathy for the people who BUTCHERED MY ENTIRE FUCKING UNIT!"

Starswirl stepped in before things turned nasty. "I would suggest that we stop fighting one another and focus on facing this threat. Our strength comes from working together, not pulling apart, and our enemies still surround us!"

Flash looked over, and lowered his shield. "Noted. But don't be surprised if I feel little sympathy for any of them."

Mistmane switched her horn off. "I suggest we proceed."

Somnambula landed to talk to Flash. "I know you're hurting inside," she said, "but you need to let go of all this anger. It's not good for you, and anger only destroys everypony you know and love, and including yourself."

"They still don't get it, do they?" Flash asked. "They have no idea how much danger we're in!"

"And they may learn it the hard way," Somnambula noted. "We must continue on our way."

Flash nodded as Somnambula took off once more, and he himself continued to walk slowly towards the big sign with a symbol of a yellow and red sun on it. After crossing over a river on a bridge (which was not over the river Kwai), the sign loudly proclaimed WELCOME TO ARIZONA. They crossed the sign boundary and found themselves in a new state, a state of being, if you will. They passed through a place, and ascended over a mountain pass. Before long, they found themselves walking through a large, featureless desert characterized by sand, flat things, and the odd saguaro.

"It's hot down here," Starswirl sighed. "I could do with some water, to be honest."

"Your beard would make a good water catcher, when it does rain," Somnambula joked.

After taking two stops to fill up and replenish water supplies, as well as a quick shot of a Cloudsdale military substance called 'Gatorade' (nopony had any idea why), they continued on their dour way. They took an exit and went down a street, before joining another road and taking a turning, and crossing a river. After this river crossing was completed, they turned right and merged onto another road. As they approached a set of glimmering lights in the fading sun, the desert slowly gave way to concrete buildings and small plots as they took a series of exits, and merged onto another road before two left turns. They had at last arrived where they were staying, and went indoors, Flash having to remove most of his equipment to avoid setting off the metal detector.

Little did they realize that a being had been watching them. A massive creature that had purple fur and inner fur in a stripe that was of a lighter shade. Attached to the right foreleg was a purple amulet, and on the left a golden one. It wore an elaborate golden headdress, a gold and black collar around its neck, and golden earrings in its ears. Its bronze eyes glared down menacingly. It also had the face of a humanoid, the legs and many features of a cat, and a purple tail that swished about.

It laughed. "So, they managed to escape the Opera House, eh?" it said. "Well, tomorrow won't be quite so easy. They shall fear the power of the Sphynx."
> Valley of the Dead
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next morning, the four heroes, for as you'll recall our numbers have increased to four, awoke from their slumber and headed out of their hotel rooms. Flash had decided to leave his armour off until they set off for their journey as he was worried he would alarm patrons otherwise. Having made their way downstairs, the four took a table and ordered some oats for breakfast, whilst the band continued to play jolly tunes in the background.

"I think it's been a very long time since I last saw your mane," Mistmane said. "Flash, you should go about in your armour less."

"Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't really have a choice for the most part," Flash explained. "Being in the military requires me to keep my gear on at most times. Having said that, I don't seem quite as connected to my kit as that being over there." He indicated to a black pony like thing that seemed to be stroking her helmet. "Besides, coming in fully equipped would probably cause a lot of alarm."

"He makes a fair point," Somnambula noted. "He also removes it at night. Normal, really?"

"Who sleeps fully kitted out?" Flash retorted.

"I think we've rather lost the thread of where we're meant to be going," Starswirl interrupted. "We need to establish where Meadowbrook, Rockhoof, and Stygian are. After all, it seems they are in danger from the Pony of Shadows."

"I think the Piece of Shit is a more accurate moniker," Flash snorted. When the others looked shocked at his vulgarity, he shrugged. "What?"

Mistmane produced a map from her bag. "Based on my research," she said, "Meadowbrook should be somewhere near the city of New Orleans, in Louisiana. This is somewhere here." She pointed. "I already know our fastest route, so it makes sense to simply continue along the lines we already follow. Sound good?"

"That it does," Flash said. "Starswirl, what else do we know about the threat?"

"It would appear that the Pony of Shadows and the Evil One are the same entity, and he's been here manipulating things for a very long time." Starswirl sighed. "We need to proceed carefully, as we lack most of our magic, and our opponent had virtually unlimited resources at his disposal."

Once they had finished with their eating, they collected their equipment (with Flash getting his armour on), the four headed outside, only to discover something horrifying. The street before them was filled wall to wall with skeletons, mummies, strange jackal headed monsters, and large hordes of zombies. "Where did they come from?" Somnambula asked.

"The ground!" shouted a voice, sarcastically. The heroes looked up to see none other than the Sphynx trotting along the rooftops of this city. "The dead sleep no more around here, and these zombies are quite a useful addition to my forces."

"How can she raise the dead?" Mistmane asked.

"Ancient Sphynx have the power to bring the dead to life once more for a short period, usually for their own nefarious purposes," Somnambula quickly explained. "But I had no idea that they could raise so many so easily."

"You have Meadowbrook to thank for that," the Sphynx laughed. "Her magical healing elixir has the power to create zombies when messed about with enough. Quite a handy feature, eh?"

"There's going to be no pussyfooting about this time," Flash growled. "This time, you will die."

The Sphynx laughed again. "Nice try at a pun, soldier boy. But you're all out of luck. Besides, to get to me, you'll have to get through them." Suddenly, the skeletons charged.

Flash brought his shield up as the first wave crashed into them, drawing his spear and gutting several of the zombies. His stabs and swings caused several of them to fall to bits in the streets as piles of bones. One got too close for comfort, and he bashed it with his shield, slamming it into a horde of more zombies, causing the monsters to fall to pieces in a rather bizarre version of ten pin bowling. As he kept the fight up on the ground, Somnambula was spotting from the air as best she could, firing and blazing away with the Glowpaz necklace, incinerating as many as she could. But these creatures seemed very adept at either replacing their losses, or simply fitting themselves back together when demolished and reduced to a pile of bones.

In the background, Mistmane and Starswirl kept up the fire, acting as magical artillery as best they could (as most of their shooting spells were still blocked for some reason). The heroes were holding their ground, but not making any forward progress on the battlefield. Both sides were stuck in a deadlock in that street.

Suddenly, a drone whizzed overhead, flying over the buildings and vanishing from sight. "What was that?" Flash asked. "That didn't look like anything I've ever seen before!"

Suddenly, Somnambula's communicator buzzed. "Who is this?" she asked.

"Pillars, this is Raider 2. We're going to take some of the heat off you. Shield yourselves and stand by."

"Understood," Somnambula replied. "Starswirl, Mistmane, can you produce a shield? A US Army tank unit has just arrived and they'll be 'taking some of the heat off, whatever that means'."

"US Army?" Flash said, confused. "I thought they were the ones we were fighting against!"

Somnambula pulled Flash back, and Mistmane and Starswirl lit their horns producing a shield. Seconds later, the street erupted with machine gun fire as five Abrams tanks rolled down the streets, both pintle mounted and turret mounted machine guns firing on the targets. The zombies and skeletons and monsters could do little against the advance of these armored giants, their claws merely scratching the paintwork the tanks advanced, the foe either getting ripped apart by sustained machine gun fire or crushed under their treads. The tanks rolled forward, never giving an inch, when they finally reached the Pillars and stopped.

The Sphynx screeched loudly. "THIS ISN'T THE LAST YOU'VE SEEN OF ME!" she cried, and flew off before anybody could get a target lock.

Mistmane looked at Somnambula. "You know these humans?" she asked.

"They helped fight the Sphynx off at the Battle of the Pyramid," Somnambula explained. "I owe my life to their bravery."

The tank's megaphone started up. "Can you four hear me?" a voice asked, presumably the commander of Raider 2.

"Yes," Starswirl replied. "What I'm not quite understanding is why I can understand you."

"Looted Project 722 technology based on Glowpaz," the commander replied. "That is not important. You four have been designated of vital national importance by the President himself, and are hereby ordered to proceed to Maxwell Air Force Base near Montgomery, Alabama. We're heading that way as well, alongside any units currently not engaged against Project 722. See you there."

With that, the tanks started to reverse up the street and back the way they came. "We're of national importance?" Somnambula said.

"Clearly, the President- who is it these days?- sees us as being of great value," Mistmane said. "Now let us go. We still need to find Meadowbrook, Rockhoof, and Stygian, and I believe we will need their help in the coming battle."





Once that was decided, it was time to go. They started their trek by heading north, and then turned to the right, before they found themselves on another big road.

"Where do all these big roads come from?" asked Flash Magnus. "We never had any of these out in the desert."

"That was because we were in a place where most humans saw nothing of value," Somnambula explained. "Of course, that's why Project 722 put their base in that place, as no human would ever think to look there."

Flash seemed to be seething with anger at the very mention of Project 722. "They will pay," he growled through gritted teeth.

Somnambula rested a hoof on his shoulder. "We will avenge their deaths," she said. "But we must also celebrate their lives."

"That we will," Flash replied, before looking to the road ahead. "Urgh, my wings still feel a mess."

"We will find a doctor somewhere," Somnambula said. "Maybe Meadowbrook can patch you up?"

"There's no disease she can't cure," Starswirl said. "Maybe she can cure this 'Covid' thing people have been mentioning."

"I wouldn't be surprised if she could," Mistmane said. "Now we need to watch carefully as we pass through this town. We want to avoid the wrong turning."

"Lead the way!" Flash called.

As they passed through the town, the desert continued to stretch out before them. They stopped at a rest place to have something to drink, the heat changing from the dryer heat of earlier to a much muggier heat. They then left Arizona behind and travelled into New Mexico, upon which the clocks immediately jumped forward an hour. After getting very confused about having suddenly travelled forwards in time. They made two more stops on their way along through the Alien State, and passed through two towns before crossing another border into a new state together. A place name they struggled to pronounce. There was a split on whether to stress the first syllable or the second syllable, but they ultimately compromised on the first. They continued on their way, passing through a town with a heavily fortified border. However, several military units were on the road and on the move East. A news broadcast warned the area of suspected hostile activity, so the Pillars wasted no time in moving fast away from that place. They took a new exit, and merged onto a new road. After taking a slight left and a left turn, followed by a right, they then turned left and stopped at a hotel, where they went in to rest for the night.





"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST THEM?!" the Pony of Shadows roared.

The Sphynx shook slightly. "Some tanks rolled in and thwarted my efforts to catch them!"

"I am surrounded by idiots, and the loss of that puppet in the election certainly didn't help," the Pony of Shadows growled. "Trust democracy to screw everything up. Oh well, I have the equipment I need to defeat them. Pull yourself and your forces back to The Gate. Do not screw up again, or you may end up like Colonel Peterson."

"Understood, sir," the Sphynx replied, and set off towards her destination.
> Desert Travel
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Once our heroes had finished with sleep, eating, raving, and repeating, and collecting their various items that they needed for their next big journey, they set out from the hotel in this town and toward the highway. And without giving too much away, this journey was set to be a very long one, not least because the route they took would take them right through a desert with many dangers and a lot of sand to get everywhere.

After they had exited the hotel, they took a turning to the left, and after having completed such a turning turned to the right, followed by another left. This left was followed by another left, and then two right turns, and then another left. After another while of walking, they joined a ramp and found themselves going uphill, before arriving on the big road from yesterday. Moving along it proved to be a big challenge, however, as the road was jammed full of military vehicles and other traffic. These vehicles were mostly heading east, but there was a fair amount of vehicles going west and north too. The Pillars, or rather four of them, kept going along the hard shoulder as best they could, but travel proved to be very hard, not least because of the large amounts of dust being thrown up.

"All this sand makes it hard to see," Flash commented, moving his visor. "I can barely see a thing."

They had merged onto the road, and were now travelling along a road through flat desert terrain with the oppressive Texas heat beating down upon them as they travelled. Thankfully, the military traffic had died down, but they could hear explosions and sounds of gunfire in the distance as they went along. They then came to a checkpoint for the border between the US and Mexico. Upon proving that all was in order (with Mistmane's screen now updated to show the Seal of the President of the United States following the special status he conferred upon them), they crossed through the checkpoint and went along the road ever further via a desolate pass and an almost empty town, passing through another town that seemed to solely consist of motels, laundry buildings, and diners. It was a town that mostly served truck drivers, and it showed, as most parking spaces were full of trailers and people were getting hard wearing clothes washed for a dime a go. Not long after that, our heroes decided to keep moving owing to the increased tension in the area. Most people seemed to be on edge, as there had been reports of strange goings on in various places.

That town left behind, and the open road stretching before them, They continued as best they could along the road, staying to the right as required and doing their best to let military vehicles through. This seemed to be the largest mobilization in American history since WW2, and in order to let some traffic clear Mistmane, Starswirl, Flash Magnus and Somnambula paused at a rest station to let the vehicles through. The road was thick with smoke from road vehicles, and it appeared as though a dust storm was brewing in the area, so they waited it out. Once the storm had passed by, they decided to get on their way once more, stopping again soon after as Mistmane needed to relieve herself (she had forgotten to do so at the previous place). With that rather critical of pony bodily functions resolved, she and her friends set on their way to their destination. Passing by a place that sounded like another military establishment, they stopped at a point that was marked as a 'stagecoach stop'.

"Why are we stopped here?" Flash asked. "This is a stone sign with metal attached to it, covered in letters that we can't read anyway."

"Mistmane and I can," Starswirl replied. "It says that this was apparently a stop of a stagecoach route, a very old stagecoach route that is no longer in use."

"What are stagecoaches?" Somnambula asked.

"Road vehicles pulled by horses or ponies," Mistmane explained. "Sable Spirit uses one to get about."

"Oh," Somnambula replied. "As interesting as this all is, shall we continue? We have a place to get to, after all."

They agreed to that sentiment, and soon enough the four were on their way once more. They crossed a river, and went through a town, dodging past a traffic jam of many vehicles, and through a town which looked oddly familiar, name wise at least. They crossed over a river, and over a fork, before stopping to refill on food and drink, which they needed in this heat. Somnambula in the air to provide aerial recon, they set off and passed over a scenic point, not pausing as they had not time to waste. They stopped somewhere else to cool off, and then went on their way, passing through two towers towns on their merry way. Or was it their pippin way? One of the two. They kept to the left in another place as they entered heavily built up suburbs, and then continued straight on along those roads until they reached a section of road requiring them to continue straight ahead. This they did, and then they went off to an exit, after which they turned left and left again, before pausing in front of their stop for the night. The sun was now setting in the sky, and some of them were drenched in sweat.

"I could do with a dunk in the pool," Flash sighed, removing his helmet. "I sweat several buckets today."

"I could also do with a rest," Somnambula said. "And a nice drink whilst we're at it."

"I imagine that the tavern is well stocked," Starswirl noted. "They seem to be around here, which indicates a considerable flow of traffic. Mistmane, how much further do we have to travel?"

"About 830 miles, roads permitting," Mistmane replied. "But I could do with a rest too. These long journeys are rather tiring in the legs."

"Last one to the bar buys the drinks!" Flash shouted, and they all zipped indoors as fast as lightning.





Mistmane didn't sleep especially well that night. She tossed and turned in her bed as her mind processed what was going on.

She was standing in the middle of a vast, snowy wasteland, the wind whistling all around, and the snow in every single object and place. "Where am I?" she asked. "What's happening?"

Suddenly, ominous organ music started up, and she jumped in fright. She turned around to see a giant organ appear out of the fog, being played by a creature that was seemingly made of black, grey, and lighter grey fog. His muzzle was a maw with incredibly sharp teeth, and his wings were sharper than razor blades, his eyes glowing with white malice. He had a curved horn that jutted backwards upon his head.

"So, Mistmane, we meet at last!" he boomed.

"Who are you?" Mistmane asked.

"So rude, not wishing me a good day or anything like that. Still, I shall entertain you. I... am the Pony of Shadows, the one who has been orchestrating all of this. I planned it all after you banished me to this world. I engineered the chaos in this world. I saw to it that the Glowpaz necklace was in the vicinity of the pyramid, and I created the storm that brought down Southwest Airlines Flight 405. I oversaw the creation of Project 722, and before that got my puppet into office."

Mistmane gasped. "You oversaw the election of Donald Trump?"

"It was a perfect alliance of conveniance," the Pony of Shadows smiled. "He caused so much chaos nobody noticed what I or Project 722 were up to. After all, the Americans were hardly going to ally against me when they were so busy fighting each other over the most trivial of things. His defeat in the recent election had somewhat derailed this, but no matter. I will be victorious! The darkness will not be stopped, and I will do what I must to protect it!"

"We cannot let that happen," Mistmane said firmly.

"Oh really?" the Pony of Shadows laughed. "From your actions, all I can see is that you and your fellow Pillars are cowards! Lowly lickspittles! You must be emulating those wastes of flesh you call Princesses, for you are as feeble and useless as them! I am ripping this world asunder, and you do nothing! I see you hiding in your hotel, weak and pathetic. I am here, in this world. FACE ME, IF YOU DARE!"

With that, Mistmane awoke, her body on one side, and dripping sweat. She looked about the room in a panic, hoping she hadn't woken anypony up. But she processed all she had seen, and it was clear now. They had to rally the rest of the Pillars, and stop the Pony of Shadows... no matter the cost.
> Farewell to the West
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mistmane hadn't slept at all well, truth be told. After what she was convinced had been some sort of psychic communion with the Pony of Shadows, her worries and concerns had kept her up most of the night. She had spent much of it trying to unravel many of the clues that existed within what the Pony of Shadows had said to her, and not all of it made sense. She knew he was somewhere in this world, but that didn't really help her or her friends a great deal. Later on, she did finally get some sleep, but it was short before the alarm clock went off.

She awoke tired and groggy, with enormous bags under her eyes. That morning, down in the tavern at breakfast, the others took notice of this. "Are you feeling alright?" Somnambula asked. "I have never seen you drink so much coffee before."

"Have I been drinking a lot?" Mistmane asked.

"That's your third cup," Flash pointed out. "You're gonna have a horrendous crash later on."

"She didn't sleep very well," Starswirl explained. "I heard her saying something about the Pony of Shadows in her sleep."

Mistmane looked at him in surprise. "Do you have any information that could help on locating him?" she asked.

Starswirl pulled his book up to his face and began flipping through the pages. "Pal... Pil... Pomegranate... Pony... Pony of Shadows! 'The best elements within us can spread light and virtue, and I know ponies who represent them all– strength, bravery, healing, beauty, hope, and sorcery. Myself and these Pillars of Equestria were gathered together by another to maintain and share the light of these powerful ideals. But it wasn't long before another grew envious of our powers, and sought to rob the world of light and hope. This being, the Evil One, was vanquished to the world beyond dark space, but returned for revenge– to extinguish the Pillars' light and rob the world of hope. To stop him, the Pillars and I must make a grave sacrifice. But we shall leave behind a seed in hopes that one day it will grow into a force to stand against the darkness for all time. We must now face the fiend with the only plan we have...'" He looked at the others. "That's all there is. Not hugely helpful, I know, but it's all I have."

"Great," Flash said, rolling his eyes as he dug into his food. "Not only are we fighting against a foe without our magic, tying a hoof behind our backs, but also we have no idea where the fiend is. Brilliant."

"You try decoding this then!" Starswirl replied.

"What do you mean? You wrote it!" Flash retorted.

"Can we please stop fighting?" Somnambula asked. "We have a bigger task at hand."

"That we do," Mistmane said. She placed her mug or tankard down. "Now then, once we are done here, I suggest we prepare to head out for our next destination, which is a fair distance."

"I've done long route marches before," Flash smirked. "Piece of cake."





After finishing their food and collecting their personal items, the four friends exited the hotel and got off on their way. They started their journey by heading to the north east, and then turned to the left before once more turning to the left.

"How many times have we turned left on this journey?" Starswirl asked. "We seemed to have turned left more than we have turned right! And I haven't seen a single roundabout on this journey either."

"Perhaps the people here can't cope with right turns," Flash joked. "I saw one of their race tracks once, and it had no right turns. Weird, eh?"

"Certainly odd," Mistmane mused, as she checked the next turning. "Ah! Here we are! We need to take the ramp." That they most certainly did do, and merged onto another of the big roads. Getting into the lane and the hard shoulder proved to be a challenge, as the road was once more filled to the brim with military traffic. Mistmane hadn't seen this many soldiers since the Unification Wars. The sky was thick with diesel fumes as tanks, trucks, and other vehicles rolled along, the combined noise of their engines threatening to deafen the travelers. Eventually, they took an exit off of this road, and walked across a bridge that went over a lake. It was after this lake that they took a rest to replenish water supplies and sort out equipment haulage for the rest of the trip. Later on, they paused at another rest area for food and drink, which was certainly in need and supply for them, before they crossed another river. They then crossed another river via a bridge, and then another river after that, but that was also on a bridge, the world area they were in being very short of ferries. They held to the right in another place, and shortly after that turned to a slight left, as opposed to an intense left. This was what they did not want. After turning to the slight left, they then made an exit via an exit road, followed by another exit, and then followed along another street for a bit, before turning right and ending up in the place where they were staying for the night.

That evening, as they were preparing for bed, Mistmane saw Starswirl at it again. "What are you looking at?" she asked the wizard.

"I am trying to find any clues as to where the Pony of Shadows may be," Starswirl mused. "'At the Temple of Ponhenge, we kept going towards the base of Foal Mountain, where we will make our final Stand. However, there is every possibility that we may not make it back, and others will need to continue the struggle against the Evil One when we are expired from this Earth. To this end, these artefacts will carry a fragment of our power, for that will allow others to stand against the Darkness.' The only problem is that gives us no idea where he is."

"The tank commander did say to go to Maxwell," Mistmane said, looking at the map. "That's on the outskirts of Montgomery, Alabama."

"A long way from here," Starswirl mused. "Well, I must rest. Good night, and see you upon the morrow."
> I See Fire
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The very next morning, the sun would rise once more, but with it also came a thick cloud of Louisiana fog that blanketed and controlled everything that was in the ground and on the sky. Sorry, that's not quite right. The very next morning, the sun would rise once more, but with it also came a thick cloud of Louisiana fog that blanketed and controlled everything that was on the ground and in the sky. There. Much, much better, good sir. Or Madame. Or whatever you self identify as these days.

It was most certainly time for them to awaken, and Mistmane rolled out of bed with a grumble and looked over to the door, to see Starswirl looking out of the window.

"What are you looking at?" Mistmane asked.

"There is a cloud bank closing in," Starswirl noted. "And that normally means rain is closing in on our position. And based in my research, the rain storms in this part of the world are especially fierce and will drown practically anything in a mass of water."

"We had best make sure we're not outdoors when that happens, then," Mistmane sighed, and headed for the shower. Starswirl, on the other hand, got his cloak on and headed out of the door, looking to his right and seeing Flash Magnus already up and fully armored.

"You're up early," Starswirl said. "And in full armour too! Expecting an altercation?"

"We haven't seen anything of our old foes. The Sphynx was last seen running off, and based on what Mistmane was saying she hasn't seen anything of Sable Spirit either. That is very suspicious."

"Maybe they're busy," Starswirl suggested.

"Military training has taught me otherwise," Flash replied. "When the enemy falls quiet, you're about to fall straight into an ambush. And I've been through enough of those."

Somnambula emerged from the same room, also fully equipped. "Good morning," she said, glancing up and down the corridor. "I wonder what we shall see in this 'Lousie Annie'."

"They don't like people called Annie around there," Flash joked.

"Louisiana," Starswirl corrected them. "It was originally settled by the French, and they named it after their King, Louis. Mistmane should be ready soon, so we can go eat pretty soon. That sound good?"

"We certainly need plenty of food and water if it's as hot today as it was yesterday," Flash sighed. "This muggy air is very different to the dry heat of the desert."

"And not the dessert," Somnambula said quickly.

Mistmane was the last to emerge from the rooms, and seemed ready to go. "Have we got all of our items with us?" she asked. "Flower, check."

"Spellbook, check," Starswirl added.

"Shield, check," Flash said.

"I have a blindfold on me, but I sincerely think that will not be much help," Somnambula finished.

"Then let us go!" Starswirl called, and our four heroes headed off downstairs to have their breakfast.





After eating and having their first taste of Cajun music, it was time at last to set off for the next destination. The first stage of their journey took them to the north west, after which they turned right and passed over a bayou on a bridge, where a buffalo was busy lecturing others about how this land was his and saying this was also true 'for his father before him. And his father before him. And his father before him. And his father before him'. They were all rather tired, and so went on their way through this town. They took a slight right next, and then went onto another of these ramps, before merging onto the road it connected to. They crossed another bayou, this time with a group of alligators making ticking noises, and then crossed another river. Not long after that, they passed over a river. According to the notice, it was the Lost river, which does rather raise the question of who misplaced it in the first place. They then crossed yet another river, before a massive rainstorm hit the area, and the quad took shelter at a rest zone inside the big building there as the rain splattered down for what seemed like hours, but in reality was only a few minutes. But it was the heaviest rain that any of them had ever seen, and based on the warden's comments, rain of this ferocity was very common, sometimes happening several times a day.

Following the rain stopping and the area becoming much nicer to walk through, they set off on their journey once again. They held to the left to stay on the correct road, and then crossed over another river. This part of the world loved its rivers. Flash had removed most of his armour and had stowed it as it was so hot that he was sweating ocean of sweat. They passed over another river, and found themselves in the mythical land of Louisiana, a land of alligators and nice music, not to mention great food and even greater hospitality. They stopped at the welcome centre, amazed at how green everything was around here, and then they were on their way. They passed over another river on a long bridge, before taking an exit and merging onto another road.

"That's not a good sign," Flash said, pointing up ahead. "See that trail of smoke? It's where we're heading."

"Good grief!" Starswirl explained. "There's a lot of smoke and fire over there!"

"What happened?" Somnambula asked.

"I fear that may be our destination," Mistmane said, worry in her voice. "Let us continue. We shall find out more when we arrive there."

They turned right, and then right again, before a left turn and found themselves in the middle of a burning hellscape. Everywhere they looked, something was smoldering. Mountains of rubble had spilled over the roads and fallen into the river, and the few buildings that still stood were charred and hollow, their interiors having long since collapsed into rubble. It was a vision of Tartarus itself.

"What happened?" Mistmane asked, seeing a pony nearby.

"Torch happened," the pony replied bitterly. "He burned the entire town to the ground, and now we're trying to clean up the mess. If you see Rockhoof, tell him thanks for failing to save us." He then walked away.

"Rockhoof?" asked Flash. "He tried to stop this?"

"That tells us that he is near!" said Starswirl.

"But reports of this 'Torch' concern me greatly. Is this another being allied to Project 722? And if he can inflict such devastation on this town on his own, what chance do we have against him?"

Mistmane shook her head. "We can worry about that later," she said. "For now, we will assist with the rescue effort."
> There's an Inn of old Renown...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

After assisting with the rescue effort for the badly damaged Lafayette, it was time for our heroes to move on with their journey. After all, even though they wanted to stay and help, there was no time. For they had to find the others, and there was limited time in which to do so. So, with heavy hearts and sad eyes, they set off on their way. They started by turning right onto a road, as people or ponies tend to do when joining roads where they drive on the right. After that, they turned left, followed by another right turn, after which they crossed on a bridge over more of the iron rails they had followed their entire journey. As they went on their way, the oppressive heat continuing to beat down upon them, they joined another road under a lot of trees, and following that endeavor, they continued straight along that road. Those iron rails appeared next to them, and they continued to follow them, alongside at least, until they crossed over a bridge. Crossing over a bridge was something the iron rails did too, and another iron machine, this time painted black, roared past with an assortment of things.

They then crossed over another river, the name of which none of them could pronounce even with practice, before passing over another bridge which ran over an island. They trotted over another Bayou.

"Why are there so many swamps around here?" Flash asked. "They seem to like swamps and bayous around here."

"I think it has something to do with the terrain," Starswirl noted. "The terrain around here is very flat, and swampy, and as a result water tends to collect in large basins and get stuck rather than flow out into the sea. The locals calls them 'bayous', which derives from a word that means 'small stream'."

"Crocodiles also live in them," Somnambula said. "They are very big, and quite scary."

"Crocodiles live in salt water," Mistmane pointed out. "Alligators are found in bayous because they live in freshwater, which is much better suited to their temperament. The water may be still, but it's fresh from my research."

They crossed over a canal as a boat steamed underneath, and then went left onto another road, but this transpired to be the exact same road they had joined earlier, and crossed over a river far wider than any they had ever seen before. The bridge had a name, but it didn't sound like a name any of them had ever heard. What sort of name was 'Huey', anyway?

They had little time to deliberate on any of this as they now had to take the right lane to access another road, followed by holding to the right hand lane for a while and continuing down the road. As steam rose into the air from the incredibly hot swamps and the extremely muggy day, they suddenly found themselves on the left hand side of the road, followed by three right turns which brought them to the edge of a giant lake.

"Well, where are they?" Flash asked, looking around. "I thought Meadowbrook, Rockhoof, and Stygian would be here?"

Suddenly, they saw a group of Cajun ponies trotting past, talking about something in a language they couldn't understand. Moments later, they spotted a blue one waving to them. They had found Mage Meadowbrook, at the very least.





Meadowbrook quickly galloped over to the others. "What are you guys doin' on this side of the lake?" she asked. "We're set up on the other side."

"Your message didn't give us any coordinates," Flash replied. "How were we supposed to know where to go when we weren't given a destination? We only figured out where Hayseed Swamp is from context."

"Not too loud!" Meadowbrook said. "Ya never knew who's listenin'."

"Wait a second," Starswirl said. "I haven't given you a please of Glowpaz or cast the Balelicus Translation. How can we understand you?"

"Ah took a potion that allows anypony to communicate with anypony else. It seems ta be a little more stable than a few of the others."

"Is there anything you can't achieve with potions?" Mistmane asked.

"This is Meadowbrook we're talking about," Somnambula sighed. "If you plan to outwit her when it comes to potions and healing, you might as well give up."

"Aww, thanks," Meadowbrook replied. "Now then, Ah got a boat on a pulley over by the side of the bay. If we can get over ta it, we can go back across the lake and into the Swamp."

They hopped into the boat, which was closer in nature to a raft linked to a system of pulleys and ropes. Constructing it must have been a pretty impressive endeavor, and the now five ponies hopped onto the raft. With some pulling from their hooves, they made their way across the river.

"How did you build this? The engineering and logistics is stupendous!" Starswirl noted.

"Rockhoof rigged this all up," Meadowbrook replied. "He's a great engineer. He built the defense system that surrounds our little village."

At long last, they arrived at the other side, and found their way through very swampy land. "It's hot down here!" Starswirl sighed. "All the sweat from my forehead is catching in my hat, which admittedly had a nice cooling effect, but much of the rest of it is dribbling down my face and into my beard."

"Ah have some swamp pop in my cooler if ya need a drink," Meadowbrook replied. "The gaters around here can't get enough of the stuff!"

After wandering through some extremely swampy terrain, filled with stagnant green water and lots of lillypads, they arrived in a village of wooden houses built on stilts to lift them free of the bayou. Each of these houses was connected to the others by a network of rickety walkways, also made of wood. The central structure was the tree, which seemed to have a door.

"What's the tree?" asked Somnambula.

"That's mah home," Meadowbrook replied, as she led them indoors. "Don't ya worry none about the heat. We salvaged some air conditionin' units from N'awlins when they were demolishin' a tower. Nearly squashed Stygian flat!"

Flash closed the door behind them, and they all breathed a sigh of relief as the air conditioning came on.

"Is that you, Meadowbrook?" called a Scottish voice. As they looked over, they saw another blue pony trot closer.

Rockhoof himself, still bearing his shovel. He seemed to be very hot. "As I live and breathe," he said. "Hello lads! How are you all?"

"Let me guess; magic translation potion," Flash said.

"Safe to say I've been using them a lot around here, as none of these ponies speak old Horse. Just came back from digging them a new drainage ditch to draw water away from the dam, which will increase the water flow and power the electricity here. Saves money on buying glow worms!"

"Rockhoof, they got our message," Meadowbrook explained. "They know about the Pony of Shadows, and Torch."

Rockhoof's face darkened. "Those bastards are going to pay," he growled. "Torch killed thousands of innocent people, and for what?"

"We helped to clean that mess up," Mistmane said quickly. "But we think we know where they are going. We have been told to travel to Maxwell Air Force Base, which is in the place the humans call Alabama."

"I passed through there on my way to Hayseed Swamp," Rockhoof said. "But there was nothing odd at the time."

"We also have this clue," Mistmane continued. "A psychic imprint from a dream."

She hit play on the interface, and the message played back.

"From your actions, all I can see is that you and your fellow Pillars are cowards! Lowly lickspittles! You must be emulating those wastes of flesh you call Princesses, for you are as feeble and useless as them! I am ripping this world asunder, and you do nothing! I see you hiding in your hotel, weak and pathetic. I am here, in this world. FACE ME, IF YOU DARE!"

"That's the Pony of Shadows, alright," Meadowbrook said. "Now all we need ta do is get Stygian. He's currently performing at the Hayseed Bar and Smokehouse, and boy is he popular."

"He always was quite the talented bard and writer," Starswirl smiled. "Without him, we'd be an amorphous mess, but his strategic thinking and logic skills got us out of many tough spots. Let's go!"

The journey to the smokehouse was fairly short, and the atmosphere inside was pleasant and welcoming. Many ponies sat at the tables, cheering and drinking and eating various local things- a lot of fish, which was hardly surprising given the location. Up on stage was a small band of four or five ponies. Two guitarists, one playing percussion of some description, an accordion player, and a fiddler- Stygian himself. He was in the middle of one of his songs, about an old legend of even more ancient Equestria.

"Mare from off the dresser pranced, found a colt and gaily danced!
Ponies neighed and champed their bits, for Emperor Hurricane had lost his wits!
Well, cow jumped over, dog barked wild;
Panzy lay prone and sweetly smiled!
Puddinghead cried 'Play faster, Pat!'
Because we all want to dance like that!"

"Gambol and totter till you're hotter than a hatter, and you spin all akimbo like a windmill flailing!
Whirl with a clatter till you scatter every cotter, and the strings start a-pinging as the world goes sailing!"

"Downsides go up- hey! Outsides go wide!
You can clatter with your platter, but Hurricane slept till Sonnabend!
Upsides go west- hey! Broadsides go boom
With a batter and a clatter You can shatter every platter, But Hurricane slept till Sonnabend!"

It was just then Stygian noticed the entrance of the Pillars, but his composure changed not. "Ladies and Gentlecolts," he called, "Please give it up for the Pillars of Old Equestria!"

They turned and cheered, suddenly joining in an elaborate call and response sequence with the band! The tables were cleared from the centre of the floor to let the Pillars into the centre.

"Fi- fo- fiddle- diddle!
Fi- fo- fiddle- diddle!
Hey- yey- yey- yey- oh- ho!
Hey- yey- yey- yey- oh- ho!
Hey- hey- din- gen- do!
Hey- hey- din- geli- do!
Hoo- rye- and- hott- a- cott- a ho!
Hoo- rye- and- hott- a-c ott- a ho ho!
Hott- a- cott- a- hotta- ko!
Hott- a- cott- a- ko- cott- a- ko- ho!
Fi- fo- fiddle- diddle -hi- ho!
Fi- fo- fiddle- diddle- hi- ho!
Ho fiddlee- ding- galli- do!
Ho fiddlee- ding- galli- do
Hoo- rye- hoo- rye oops- oops- ay!
Hoo- rye- hoo- rye oops- oops- ay!
Hotta- cotta- hotta- cotta- mi- fo- fo!
Hotta- cotta- hotta- cotta- mi- fo- fo!
Hotta- cotta- hotta- cotta- hotta- cotta- hotta- cotta- hotta- cotta- hotta- cotta- mi- fo- fo!!"

Stygian called out in the break. "Come on and dance, everybody! Let's raise the roof!"

The Pillars looked to their respective partners. "Let's do this," Rockhoof said to Meadowbrook.

"I hope I can keep up with you," Flash joked.

"Mistmane, may I have this dance?" asked Starswirl.

"You may!" the unicorn replied.

"Lock forelegs!" Stygian called.

The six did as instructed, and circled in the centre, brushing close but not coming close to hitting one another.

"Downsides go up- hey! Outsides go wide
With a twiddle on the fiddle in the middle by the griddle
but Hurricane slept till Sonnabend!
Upsides go west- hey! Broadsides go boom With a batter and a clatter
You can shatter every platter but Hurricane slept till Sonnabend!"

The crowd cheered and clapped. "Give it up for our six visitors!" Stygian called. He hopped off the stage, and went over to them. "It's so good to see you all again! Meadowbrook has been most kind allowing me to stay in her spare room, and Rockhoof helped me in collecting more information on this area."

"Stygian, I wish we were reunited under better circumstances," Starswirl said, "but the times are dire. The Pony of Shadows has returned, and the entire world is in danger."

"I should know well," Stygian said sadly. "I was possessed by him due to their experimental technology. We need to stop him and his human lackeys. I heard he had a card causing chaos in a big house."

"Oh! You mean Donald Trump!" Somnambula suddenly realised.

"I suggest we rest in preparation for the battles ahead," Starswirl said. And with that it was settled. An uneasy calm settled over Hayseed Swamp, for nopony knew what was coming.
> A Legend of the Field
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been many years since James Mattis had retired from the military, and he had honestly expected things to be fairly quiet. The highly respected general had gone into civilian work eventually, and had later been recruited as Secretary of Defense for the Trump Administration, which had mostly consisted of keeping Trump's more crazy suggestions under control and trying to keep things sane, instead of 'crazytown', as his colleague John Kelly had described it. He had eventually resigned from his post, tired of the mayhem in the White House, and had watched in horror as the country collapsed into chaos- chaos that Trump had helped to ferment and spread.

He looked out of his window. It had been a tough few years, but things in America could finally get back on track with Joe Biden in charge. Whilst not a part of the transition process himself, he knew of people who could help.

He was suddenly distracted by a knock at the door, and went to it. On the other side was a US Marines Officer. "General Mattis?" he asked.

"The same," Mattis replied. "I wasn't expecting to see a Marine outside my door."

"I bring a message from the President," the officer replied, handing him a letter. "A hostile force has taken over Montgomery, Alabama, and the President has requested that you come out of retirement to lead the Marines."

"What would he want with an old war horse like me?" Mattis asked. "I retired years ago."

"Sir, your experience and skill in command are second to none," the officer replied. "The letter will give you further details on the situation at hand. Good day, sir."

Mattis nodded, and quickly read the letter. It brought him up to speed on the situation at hand, and it was upon reading of the dire threat that he made his decision.

He picked up his phone, and dialed the White House number.

"1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Oval Office, to whom am I speaking?"

"Mr. President, this is Mad Dog. I accept your offer and am proceeding to Maxwell Air Force Base as ordered, over."

There was a pause. "It's good to have you back, Mattis."





Elsewhere, in another part of the country, several weary travelers awoke in Hayseed Swamp, with much groaning and yawning as they did so.

"What time is it?" asked Stygian, the first to awaken as the others slowly got to their feet.

"I can only assume it's fairly early, based on the furious accordion playing out there," Rockhoof sighed. "I'm fairly used to that sound, you know. I've woken up to it most days since I arrived here."

"Don't forget the fiddle!" called Stygian. "A crucial instrument in any group of the type."

"Did ya know we built our own accordions durin' the war?" Meadowbrook commented. "Parts dried up from overseas, so we figured out how ta build our own. We still make some in that buildin' on the opposite side of the swamp."

"Whilst this is all very interesting," Starswirl groaned, rubbing his forehead," this is also giving me a headache. Music is nice, but constant music making is quite a racket."

"Reminds me of the time when somepony started playing the yovidaphone," Rockhoof groaned. "Give me bagpipes any day."

"What is this yovidaphone?" asked Somnambula.

"You're better off not knowing," Mistmane replied. "I've had enough run ins with that blasted instrument to last me a lifetime."

Flash collected up his armour, seemingly the only one who wasn't tired. "Who's ready to go?" he asked.

"Ah've got somethin' ta give ya first, apart from breakfast," Meadowbrook said, and she handed a vile of some strange green liquid. "Take this. It should help with yer wings."

Flash popped the cork off and eyed the liquid with suspicion, before drinking it. A moment of glowing and shuddering later, and his wings suddenly flared out, good and proper. "This did help! Thanks, Meadowbrook!"

"Ah figured you'd need them fer the battle ahead. After all, a pegasus is at his weakest when on the ground," Meadowbrook pointed out.

"It looks ready to me!" Stygian called, and they decamped to the table where they started handing food around. "What is this?" Starswirl asked.

"Morning grits with a dash of lemon and some cheese," Rockhoof replied. "Trust me, it really gets you going in the morning. I'd also get you muffaletas if we had the time, but sadly, we don't."

Once they were done eating and had collected their things, it was time for them to head on their way.





They started their long journey with Meadowbrook leading them to the northwest (passing a sign with a rather amusing typo that declared they were leaving 'New Orlneas' in the process), through even more swamp. None of them minded, however, and after long enough they were turned in a direction that faced towards the right. Not long after exiting the swamp and being on surprisingly flat and solid ground, they turned left, followed by another left and then a right. They continued straight until they joined a road somewhere, and then took a right on this road. After another while of walking, they took a slight left.

Stygian wandered along at the back, struggling to keep up. "Remind me never to complain about walking long distances again!" he said. "You must be all incredibly fit if you have been doing this for the last few weeks!"

They joined another road, and walked past a yard full of more of the metal things. A pair of the blue creatures rattled out on their way, making strange shouts as they did so. Onwards they went, crossing a swing bridge as they did so, and as they left the boundaries of this city behind them, they continued on their way, passing over a river three times before passing a new marker board to find themselves somewhere else.

"Ah'll admit it's been a while since Ah last crossed into Mississippi," Meadowbrook said. "Though it's pretty quiet, from what Ah remember."

"The road up ahead would suggest otherwise!" Rockhoof said. Up ahead was a large convoy of military traffic on the move. "Do you think they're going to Maxwell too?"

"It wouldn't surprise me if they were," Flash commented. "Everypony and their dog is going there right now."

"We also missed our turning," Mistmane said. "Stop and back up!"

They backed up and turned right, before crossing a bridge over a bay and heading onwards until they continued along the side of a beach, which was very sandy and quite quiet. Not a typo to be found, either. The crew stopped at the side of a lighthouse that suddenly popped into existence before them and decided to have lunch there, as it was a relatively nice spot to eat. After enjoying something that Meadowbrook had prepared, they set off on their way once more across this hot, humid land, and crossed another mighty bridge. Rockhoof couldn't help but complement the incredible engineering that humans were capable of, and after crossing another river stopped at a lighthouse once more. From there, they continued on their way and crossed into another place, Alabama.

"It's not far now," Starswirl said. "Be ready, friends. The Evil One could be anywhere."

They crossed another river, and turned left. As they stopped in front of their resting place for the night, they could hear what sounded like thunder in the distance. The chains of explosions suggested otherwise.

"Project 722 is brazenly shelling anything that gets in its way," Mistmane said grimly. "This is why we must stop them and their lackeys."

"I'm with you on that," Flash growled, holding his spear. "They all deserve to die."

"But should we rest first?" Somnambula asked. "There is no point in recklessly charging into battle with no plan."

"And I can't even draw up a plan without even knowing what sort of hostilities to expect," Stygian admitted.

"And we have work to do tomorrow," Mistmane added. "Come, let us rest."
> We got a Battleship...
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"What are you doing now, Stygian?" Rockhoof grumbled, as he hauled himself out into the sunlight.

"I thought it would be worth it, given the historical significance of this area, to keep both an image and historical record of this place," Stygian replied, manipulating a quill using his magic. "I may even go and write a song about this area, if the inspiration comes to me."

"What gives you the idea for a song?" Somnambula asked. "Although you have been our strategist and bard for a very long time, I have never asked you what your process is."

"It's rather funny, really," Stygian said. "I sometimes get inspiration in the strangest of places. That song you heard when you arrived at Hayseed Swamp? I had the idea for that one in the bath. Writing down my ideas before I forgot them was quite challenging!"

"I don't write anywhere near as fast," Starswirl admitted, "but I will say right now that recording lots of information over a short period is quite difficult." He illuminated his journal and gave it a look. "This has been a work in progress for several years."

"Anyway," Flash interrupted, looking at the sun. "What are we doing today? Continuing our journey to this Maxwell place? That seems like a sensible place to go. After all, it's where we were told to go."

Mistmane turned and looked at them. "Seeing as this could be our last chance," she said, "before... well, I have a feeling-"

"That tonight's going to be a good night?" Stygian said quickly.

"-That this could be our last chance to socialize before whatever struggle faces us." Mistmane's face was deadly serious. "To this end, I suggest we spend a day looking around this place."

Stygian's face lit up. "A chance to collect information across the area? This sounds perfect! Count me in, Mistmane."

Meadowbrook looked confused. "If they were constantly pausin' ta look at stuff, no longer it took so long fer them ta get here."

"Aye," Rockhoof sighed. "I, for one, have a score to settle with the Pony of Shadows."

"I think we all do," Starswirl told them. "He has taken something from each of us. But at the same time it would not be unwise to take a break. To this end, I fully support Mistmane's endeavor. Lead the way, O Eastern Mage, and let us go into new lands afar! What did you say this strange place was called?"

"Mobile."

"As in the portable communications device humans use?" Somnambula asked.

"Yes, but pronounced 'Mow- beel'," Mistmane explained.

"Pronounced 'Mow- beel'," Stygian noted, writing it down in his book for future reference.

"Shall we proceed on our way?" Starswirl asked. "There is not a moment to waste, and I fear this day will not get any cooler, I'll wager."

There was much nodding in agreement, and at long last our seven heroes set off into the distance, with much to do and say as they went on their merry way.





They had started outside the place they were staying in this strange town, and then began to head towards the south, being the place that they intended to go to in all intents and purposes. After heading south for a while, they turned to the right, followed by a left, and then a left, and then another left (lots of left turns in this place, eh?), before suddenly entering a tunnel (but not squeaking through any funnels as that would be silly, for they didn't have funnels and thus squeaking through a funnel would make absolutely no sense at all). They soon emerged from the other side of the tunnel, and then turned to a slight right in the road, before keeping left. They then joined an old road, very old indeed, before taking another right and finding themselves in front of a very old and very big boat, that was painted grey and floating in a drydock.

"A very large grey thing," Stygian noted. "What is this object? Do humans use it for things?"

"Yes, normally to blow things up," Rockhoof noted. "Imagine being on the receiving end of that!"

"Scarcely bears thinking about," Flash said. "And trust me, having flown through heavy flak fire, I should know."

The seven boarded the vessel and began to look around. There were many decks and lots of things to look at. But partway through, whilst looking at a monitor, a strange grey shape manifested itself on it, and began to project until the very visage of the Pony of Shadows himself was formed.

"Pillars, hear me!" he said. "I am the Pony of Shadows, the Lord of Chaos, the Lash of the Primordial Darkness! You and your fellow Pillars are cowards! Lowly lickspittles! You must be emulating those wastes of flesh you call Princesses, for you are as feeble and useless as them! I am ripping this world asunder, and yet you do nothing! I see you hiding in this world inside this cozy exhibit, weak and pathetic. I am here, in this world. FACE ME, IF YOU DARE!"

Just as suddenly as the image had appeared, it vanished, and the radar screen was back. "Did any of you see what I just saw?" Rockhoof asked. "Because I'm pretty certain I just saw the Pony of Shadows projecting onto a screen inside an ancient object."

"You're not the only one who sees it," Starswirl said grimly. "Make no mistake, his evil has worked its way into the entire world through his villainous influence. And it will take all our power to stop him, given his strong he is now."

Stygian shuddered. "If that possession was him in a severely weakened state, and he flattened most of Hayseed Swamp whilst controlling me, how powerful must he be now?"

"ATTENTION ALL GUESTS," said the ship's intercom, or rather the person operating it. "THE USS ALABAMA WILL NOW BE CLOSING FOR CONFIDENTIAL REASONS. PLEASE VACATE THE SHIP AS SOON AND QUICKLY AS YOU CAN."

As the Pillars left, they saw a group of sailors heading towards the ship, many of whom seemed to have tools and other equipment. Another was a lorry loaded with fuel oil, according to the notice on the side. What was going on?
> Back Through Streets
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As the Pillars made their way through streets, it rapidly became apparent that something of great importance was happening. As they trotted along, vehicles and heavy armour rolled through the streets, heading on their way towards some place or another. In the distance, the constant drumroll of artillery fire opened up again, indicating another settlement that Project 722 was destroying as somebody had clearly learned too much. And thusly deserved to be destroyed in fire and flames as they carried on.

Rockhoof listened on in concern. "I worry for the poor townsfolk," he said. "That barrage is one of the heaviest I've ever heard. Not even the siege of Lafayette was that intense!"

"Ah would hope thin's were OK," Meadowbrook said, "but that's false hope, Ah fear."

"We will defeat this evil and take these beings down," Somnambula told them. "Our bravery, sorcery, strength, beauty, hope, and healing shall see to that."

"We are only strong as a united force in this struggle," Stygian pointed out to them. "According to my research, some strange magical miasma currently surrounds us in the world. This miasma prevents us from accessing most of our magic, except when that magic is innate to our being, such as Rockhoof's strength or Mistmane's healing- neither of which are tied to casting spells."

"You can add flying to that list," Flash pointed out, shaking his wings off. "I can still do that, barring a period of serious injury. Besides, even we don't really get how magic works around here."

"This world is a strange and confusing place," Starswirl mused.

"You can say that again," Flash replied.

"This world is a strange and con-"

"Not literally! It's just a figure of speech."

"We appear to be picking up their speech patterns too," Starswirl noted, scribbling something in his journal.

"You may want to consider writing that again," Stygian said. "That will be illegible to anypony else."

"I can always rewrite it later," Starswirl replied. "Besides, these are notes for use in the field. "You, on the other hand, record all of this for posterity, so your work needs to be readable."

Stygian nodded, as Mistmane seemed to be deep in thought. "This confirms one thing, though," she said, as they headed northwest, followed by a series of left turns, passing through the same tunnel they came through on the outbound trip, and then some more left turns. "The Pony of Shadows can transmit messages instantly to anywhere in the world, to anypony they choose. That message was identical to the one in my dream."

"We saw the playback," Rockhoof replied. "We are fully aware of the danger of the threat."

"But no matter what," Meadowbrook said, "we face this threat together, as one. There's no challenge teamwork can't overcome!"

"I will need additional time to devise a strategy with which to defeat this fiend," Stygian said. "To this end, I suggest we retire to do our own things for a bit, then reunite for dinner."

There were murmurs of agreement, and they set off to do just that.
> Onwards to Maxwell
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You know," Rockhoof grumbled, "for a town called Mobile, it's remarkably stationary. This town accepts and sends telephone calls, perhaps?"

"It's pronounced 'mo- beeel', according to my book," Stygian sighed, as he read the text. "I honestly thought we'd been over this, everybody."

"Do remember Rockhoof finds some stuff hard to pronounce due to his accent," Flash joked, snickering as he did so.

"Hey, are you making fun of my accent?"

"How is pointing out pronunciation challenges making fun of anything?" Flash retorted. "It's never bad to admit you have faults. I can be rather reckless, for one."

"Rather reckless?" Starswirl enquired. "From what I can remember, you were always the first to fly into combat."

"There's no point in having your tank at the back where he can't soak up fire, is there?" Flash pointed out.

"Indeed," said Stygian. "Offensive firepower should be positioned in such a way that it able to fire and yet is protected by considerable amounts of shielding. Otherwise, you have your military formation backwards."

"Don't forget decoy units," Meadowbrook pointed out. "Or, failin' that, healers."

Stygian looked at another page of his, and crossed something out. "'Randomly fly and/or run at the giant red creature and hope for the best'. Who thought that plan was a good idea?"

Mistmane spoke up. "We have only one day's travel left to our destination, so we need to get moving. We shall eat downstairs together for the last time, and then we shall be on our way."

"Good idea," Starswirl said. "After all, there is no guarantee we shall emerge from this unscathed, if an intact unit of such a sort."

"I'm certain we will," Flash said. "We've been in tougher spots before, haven't we?"

"True, but that's no excuse for recklessness," Rockhoof cautioned. "You be careful out there, everypony."





After a breakfast, which succeeded in indeed breaking their fast, it was time to get on their way, and this was conducted with confidence, yet worry, as this could be their last time travelling together. They began their journey by heading south across the lands, and then went to the right, followed by another left turn through the city. There was another left turn, and then Mistmane indicated they needed to stay left as another load of military vehicles rolled past the crew, presumably on their way to Maxwell. They passed under the Mobile river once more (which, as Rockhoof noted, was at least moving), took a slight right, and then joined another road. Taking a pair of left turns followed by a slight right, they then passed by the location where the USS Alabama had been yesterday, only for there to be one slight difference.

It was no longer there.

"Is the ship invisible, or has it moved?" Somnambula asked. "Given what we've seen, both are equally plausible."

"They probably moved it," Flash said. "Wouldn't want the Pony of Shadows controlling that, eh?"

After ducking under another road that faced them, they crossed over a river on a bridge, as roads are known to do given the challenges and difficulties inherent in building and maintaining causeways. This was soon followed by another river, arriving onto another road, and taking a right turn. They immediately followed this right turn with another right turn onto another road, and then found themselves on the go once more, passing through the wonderfully named towns of Atmore, Flomater (not to be confused with an anthropomorphic tow truck), and Escambia, before detouring off that route and finding themselves taking a slight left. They had to, as the road up ahead had a big sign. This big sign read; THIS ROAD FOR MILITARY TRAFFIC ONLY. PLEASE TAKE THE DETOUR TO THE LEFT. THANK YOU.

"How many military vehicles are there going about here that they have to designate entire roads for them?" Rockhoof wandered aloud.

"You've seen the roads the last few days," Flash pointed out. "These roads are jam packed with military traffic, which means lots of roads are in use for the military only." He finished his sentence as helicopters roared overhead, flying in tight formation of five across and three back, with engines thundering.

But they had no time to ponder any longer on this state of affairs, and onwards they went on their extremely long journey. They went through the towns of Castleberry and Evergreen before turning to turning left and turning left again. Passing by a nearby place called MacKenzie, they turned left and went through Georgiana (which was presumably lost as this was Alabama, not Georgia) and Greenville (which at the moment was Muddy Brownville based on all the rain), and Hope Hull (which had a rather crazy person outside, based on their waving arms). They changed from one road to another, and then turned left before turning onto a street, and then another. And they were there.

The guard at the entrance to Maxwell Air Force Base looked down. "The Pillars, I take it? The Base Commander is awaiting your arrival," he said. He opened the gate. "The gate sensor will scan you on the way through."

Through they went and into the base. Everywhere something was happening. There were Humvees sitting idle, with large numbers of technicians working on them, and on the other side helicopters were either dusting off or reloading. Set up on the centre courtyard were many, many tanks, the machines of Raider 2 amongst them, also being tended to by their crews.

But when they turned the next bend, their jaws dropped. Lined up in their barrack slots were their old units. First in the line were warriors of the Mighty Helm, their armour polished to perfection and glinting in the sunlight. Next to them was the entire 3rd Legion, freshly resupplied and equipped for duty. Next to them were the soldiers of the Hayseed Swamp Native Guard, their heavy muskets slung back across their backs ready for use. Following along the line, the next unit was an entire dojo of samurai, including the examples who had dueled with Mistmane. Following them were several war chariots of the Neighiptian Royal Legion, again polished and cleaned to perfection. Last, but not least, a formation of the finest wizards and sorcerers that Equestria had ever seen, amongst them Sunburst and Starswirl.

An officer sprinted over to them. "Your presence is requested in the briefing tent," he said. "Right this way, please."

The Pillars had no chance to object as they were led to a large building near the centre of the base. And in through the door they went, unsure of what they would find.