Time for a third chapter. I hope you'll enjoy. :)

---

This evening would last in Twilight's memory for some time.

Spike busted into her bedroom, all sweaty, as if he was sprinting for his life.

"...Ike, it's... night already..." She mumbled, turning to the other side. That didn't help. Actually, it worsened things by an order of magnitude: Teenage dragon quite literally jumped on her bed and started shaking her.

"Twilight, come on, wake up, Twilight!" He was nervous... No, terrified. What could scare him so much was the first question that crept into unicorn's mind. He surely wasn't afraid of the dark... "There's that bigflank guy in there, and he wants to speak with you and..."

"Spike... W-what? Have you eaten too much, fell asleep and got a nightmare?"

"I'm serious, Twilight! Come on, hurry up!"

"...I swear, if this is one of your and Rainbow's pranks..."

"Come on already!" Lavender unicorn groaned as she slowly made her way downstairs. That's when she saw him... it? She had never encountered something like that, neither in books nor in real life. It seemed like a cross between a pony and a human, but its spectral appearance... The menacing aura around it...

"I ASSUME YOU ARE THE ONE THEY CALL TWILIGHT SPARKLE, THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC?" The creature asked with a booming, distorted voice, further cementing Twilight's thought that this isn't just a prank. Spike stood by her side, unnerved by the monster as well.

"Y-yes... That would be me."

"I CAME HERE AS YOU ARE THE DIRECT LINK TO THE RULER OF THIS LAND, THE ONE KNOWN AS LUNA." Lavender unicorn totally didn't like where this conversation was going.

"Well... I'm in family, but..."

"I DEMAND YOU TO SHOW ME THE WAY TO CANTERLOT. THERE IS AN IMPORTANT MATTER I NEED TO ANNOUNCE TO YOUR RULER."

"Announcement? Of what kind...?" Despite looking vaguely pony-ish, the creature standing before mare wasn't from Equestria... Or this world. She could feel it.

"WAR." Twilight noticed that the monster said this one world with absolute piety, as if it was something most dear and beloved to him, which unnerved her even more. "THE WAR IS ABOUT TO ARRIVE TO THIS LAND. SHE WILL APPEAR ON WINGS OF CHAOS AND MISUNDERSTANDING, HARVESTING THE CROPS AND PLANTING HER OWN SEEDS OF VIOLENCE AND CONFLICT, NEVER CEASING TO EXIST. SHE WILL CONTINUE TO HAUNT THIS LAND UNTIL EVERY GRAIN OF SOIL TURNS RED FROM THE BLOOD OF HER VICTIMS." The spectral figure trotted steadily in place. "IT'S A COMPLETE VERSION OF MY MESSAGE."

"I... W-what?" They had a war before. It was only four years since the end of that one... And from what she had heard now, the one before them was worse. Much worse. "Who are you? Why are you...?"

"I AM THE SHADOW OF WAR. I HAVE MANY NAMES. HECARIM IS THE ONE I USE FREQUENTLY." Mysterious creature put its weapon, barbed lance, on its shoulder. "I AM NOT THE ONE TO START THE WAR, MIND YOU. I CAME HERE, HEARING PROMISES OF THE ONE WHO HAS NO NAME. THE ONE WHO SUMMONED ME TO THIS LAND."

"...Give me a second. Spike, you ready to write?"

"Don't tell me you're going to..."

"He's serious. Something is in the air." Twilight closed her eyes for a second in deep thought. "Mr. Hecarim, I suppose you don't mind waiting a few quarters?"

"AS LONG AS I WILL GET A CHANCE TO DELIVER THIS MESSAGE TO THE RULER OF THIS LAND, NO." Spectral figure nodded slightly. In the meantime Spike got a feather and paper to write. He nodded to Twilight, ready to rewrite her words.

"Dear Princess Celestia..." Lavender mare hesitated for a moment. "Forgive me such a late letter, but it is a case of the greatest importance. This evening I've been visited by the unusual guest who introduced himself as Hecarim, The Shadow of War. According to his claims, yet another war is about to raze Equestria. He also demands to see Princess Luna so he can deliver the message personally. I await your response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle."

"-dent, Twilight Sparkle. Got it." Spike nodded, sealing the letter and breathing at it with his magical fire. The message burned almost immediately into thin dust and went through the window.

"This may take a while. Um... I'm afraid you'll need to wait..."

"I DO NOT WORRY, TWILIGHT SPARKLE, THE ELEMENT OF MAGIC." Hecarim responded, nodding again. "HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE?"

"Given that the letter has been written so late, I suppose up to an hour... Spike, go for girls... Get Hier too. Tell them it's an important matter."

"Yeah... Anything to just get away from that guy." He whispered in response, bolting out of library and leaving Twilight alone with the spectral centaur.

"So... Um, do you drink any tea?"

---

Meanwhile, in Canterlot Royal Palace...

"I want an explanation, Flintlock." Celestia said firmly, looking at the human skeleton which somehow was moving and thinking, like a living creature. "Who brought you back?"

"I'm not gonna hide the fact that I do not know, Beloved Mistress." Flintlock responded. "The being that raised me from dead introduced itself as Abyss, but didn't tell me more about itself."

"So it wasn't done by pony's hoof." Former ruler of Equestria placed her hoof on lips, thinking intensively. "Is there a chance that it was Discord who raised you?"

"Spirit of Chaos? Isn't he sealed in Royal Garden?" Undead asked, surprised.

"He is... His conscience, however, is still free. While he doesn't have an access to full array of his powers, raising dead shouldn't be much of a problem for him."

"Oh dear Celestia, you're too kind." Third voice echoed in minds of both alicorn and skeleton, chuckling mockingly. "Don't you know undead are passe?"

"Mr. Discord...? I suppose I should say "charmed" or "pleasure to meet you" at this point." Flintlock responded quietly.

"What do you want this time, Discord?" Celestia asked again, her eyes shrank.

"Thought I may come by and enjoy the conversation. And Mr. Knight, don't call me per "Mr.". Makes me feel older." Spirit of Chaos' voice chuckled.

"Cut to the chase."

"Like I said, I'm here to enjoy the conversation. Abyss has been silent for a long time, so anything she may come up with is worth attention. And before you ask, I didn't do it."

"Continuing... It didn't say what is its... her? I'm pretty sure I've heard a masculine voice. Never mind that, going on. Ahem..." A short pause. "According to this... Abyss, I can prove useful for its plans. It didn't specified them though."

"And it allowed you to tell it just like that?"

"Well, yes. Despite its name, it didn't really seem malevolent. Perhaps it's just fooling me." Flintlock allowed himself a small chuckle. "It said that it will give me another tasks to fulfill and after completing them, it would give me back my body, portion after portion.

"Discord. You know this Abyss."

"Not telling, Celly." The voice chuckled. "It won't be fun if we spoil the beans that fast."

"This is not a child's play, Discord! Not even your chaos! This is serious!" Flintlock had never recalled seeing Beloved Mistress that angry. Then again, he had never seen her angry. Out of nowhere, a sealed scroll flew through the window. Undead knew those scrolls: Those were the ones Twilight Sparkle was sending to His Mistress from Ponyville.

"Huh? That late?" Celestia raised an eyebrow, unsealing the scroll and starting reading it. The more she read, the wider her eyes became which was noticed by Flintlock.

"Is... Is something the matter?" He asked. Alicorn nodded slowly.

"We will talk later. Make yourself comfortable here, Flintlock. I will be back soon." With those words former sole ruler of Equestria left her royal apartment, heading to the throne room and bumping into Luna on her way.

"How the talk went, Tia?" Princess of Night asked almost immediately after composing herself.

"It's not important right now. We have an emergency."

---

Hier had never was a fan of sudden wake-ups in the middle of a night, especially when it came with some grievous message. Words Spike told to him and Flutters were... even worse than he expected. At first he thought it's but a bad prank, but seeing how agitated and nervous Twilight's assistant was, both he and Fluttershy agreed to go to the library. Everypony was already there... Everypony and something else. Remington's eyes shrank when he saw the creature standing before him. A centaur, a spectral centaur with barbed lance.

"Twilight, can you please explain what in Equestria is going on?" Rarity repeated her question.

"I'm a bit confused as well, Rarity... I'm still awaiting the response from Princess."

"War? Another one?" Rainbow Dash groaned. "I've had enough of conflicts already."

"IT IS AN UNAVOIDABLE CHAIN OF EVENTS." Hecarim responded with his distorted voice, trotting in place. "I AM BUT A MESSENGER AND LATER ON, ALSO A CONTESTANT." Fluttershy whimpered quietly and shifted behind Hier who gave her a comforting look. "ARE YOU CERTAIN THIS MESSAGE WILL ACTUALLY MAKE ITS WAY TO THE RULER OF THIS LAND?" He asked impatiently, giving a sour look to Twilight.

"Like I've said, it's night already. Besides, such a message usually needs to be thought over a bit. After all, we had one conflict in Equestria not so long ago."

"And it wasn't pretty, ah'm telling ya." Applejack added, nodding.

"I SUPPOSE WE HAVE DIFFERENT APPROACHES TO WAR, BUT I CAN UNDERSTAND THAT. CIVILIANS USUALLY DO NOT APPRECIATE THE GLORY OF MY WIFE."

"...Wait, what?" Spike asked, confused.

"A METAPHORE. IT MEANS I REALLY ENJOY IT." There was a brief moment of silence in the room. Remington thought that being a "Shadow of War" kind of strips you out of street smarts.

"Pardon me my question, Sir Hecarim, but how can you enjoy such a thing? War brings nothing but suffering." Rarity said.

"IT IS MY PROFESSION. ONE COULD SAY I AM A SOLDIER OR A MERCENARY."

"Mercenary? What's that?" Twilight asked.

"A soldier of fortune, hired by those who pay the most." Hier responded in centaur's place, slightly frowning. "Such a job is rarely seen in Equestria, or at least in pony communities."

"They're not loyal to their ruler? Or commander?" Rainbow seemed bewildered. "What kind of soldiers are they?"

"That's the point. A mercenary is a shady individual. There are some who just enjoy a good fighting, but some of those want to kill, crush and destroy and enjoy every second of it." Remington sighed and turned his stare back to Hecarim.

"TRAMPLING THE BONES OF MY ENEMIES IS SATYSFING, BUT I AM SATIATED WITH A GOOD CHALLENGE." He replied almost immediately, making Fluttershy whimper even more.

"So, who's that meanie who summoned you here?" Pinkie asked out of nowhere.

"IT IS BY THE WORK OF AN ENTITY WITHOUT A NAME THAT I AM HERE."

"Oh... And did she mention how will this whole war start?" Hier took notice of how pink Earth Pony used a feminine pronoun. While this constantly cheerful mare was cuckoo at best and completely insane at worst... She had brief moments of serenity which never escaped Remington. For those four years, he'd realized that despite her words may come up as mangled and meaningless, there was still a secret meaning behind all of that... Or he was just too paranoid.

"SHE? I DO NOT KNOW ABOUT ENTITY'S GENDER, NOR DO I KNOW HOW WILL IT START A WAR."

"So you're here because something promised to you there will be war?" Twilight asked, unamused.

"I WOULD NOT BE HERE IF THE ENTITY IN QUESTION HAD NOT HAVE A POWER TO EXECUTE ITS CLAIMS." Hecarim responded slowly. "IT IS A POWERFUL BEING."

"...Could it be... Discord?" Fluttershy suggested timidly.

"No, I don't think so." Lavender unicorn responded, stroking her chin in deep thought. "War isn't chaos, or at least, not that kind of chaos he'd appreciate."

"Then... Who?"

"That is the question I ask myself." The voice of Princess Luna surprised all ponies in the library and Spike. Only Shadow of War stoically turned to look at slightly smaller Princess Of Night.

"I SUPPOSE YOU ARE THE ONE WHO RULES THIS LAND, CORRECT?"

---

Meanwhile, in town known as Stalliongrad...

Copper Hoof puffed a cloud of smoke from her cigar and coughed a little. She still hadn't got used to those, but currently tobacco was the only thing capable of calming her down. For a smoker with four years of experience she was quite a weak one.

After Flintlock's demise, everything went downhill for this promising agent of Princess Celestia. At first she thought that there's a chance that despite her loyalty to this... now dead stallion, she will be understood and at least partially redeemed. No, she wasn't. In fact, everything that happened in a span of a next week since his death was a never-ending streak of misfortune and misery for young mare. The organization of Secret Agents has been dissolved by Princess Luna and all of its members frowned upon. She got hit with it the most as the direct underling of Flintlock Knight. She'd been stripped off her achievements and left to be forgotten. Her own parents turned her backs on her, leaving Copper Hoof completely broken and bitter.

Ever since she came up to this busy, dark city, she had wondered what went wrong. Why being loyal ended up as a bad thing? She didn't have much choice: She could obey or be killed. She still didn't keep her loyalty vow and spilled the beans which saved Hieronimus' life. And despite that, she was still kicked into trash can alongside other agents for being so much as the agent in question.

Stalliongrad wasn't a safe place. Being so close to militaristic Griffin Kingdom, it employed its own personal army, a sight uncommon for most places in Equestria. The town was also hiring numerous mercenaries of various races, varying from ponies through griffins, minotaurs to humans and even few changelings.

Cream-coated unicorn never was the one to brag, but she belonged to the best company in this region, Mortiferum. As a local shape-shifting specialist, she was usually tasked to do jobs such as a distraction or espionage. That being said, Agent's training did involve numerous kinds of weaponry to train with and physical exercises, so she was no slouch when it was coming down to getting her hooves dirty. Being versatile was important. Of course, some members of Mortiferum were better at certain activities and were striving to achieve near-perfection in those.

Copper's close friend, a griffon named Gilda, for example, was an expert with heavy weaponry. When merc team was in need of a heavy support, she would always come up as the first suggestion. True, she was brash, aggressive, had a twisted sense of humor and was as bitter as unicorn herself, if not even more. Having two prehensile limbs was a great thing.

Young mare puffed another cloud of smoke, this time managing to stop herself from coughing.

"Why all of it even happened?" She murmured to herself, looking at the family photo. Those were times when she was but a filly and her brother was still alive. Those four smiles seemed to her like a big fat lie now, but she couldn't just throw it all away like that. It was a strange, almost masochistic sentiment, but she liked to look at the photo from time to time, when she was feeling down in the dumps even more than usually.

She checked the watch on the wall. Soon she will be back from her mission in New Hope. She was hired by someone who wished to remain anonymous. Her only task was to cause as much chaos and death in this city near Ponyville... For reasons unknown.

Mortiferum received news fast. Triple murder, all of those were humans. All of them were killed in exactly same way: With their throats sliced and hands cut off. She surely delighted in senseless violence. Even Gilda herself – the toughest merc in company – was unnerved by her.

Well, she did have those immense magical abilities acquired through years of hellish training, unmatched in this region. Copper actually believed she could take on even Twilight Sparkle and emerge victorious, but that would be against Mortiferum's interests. Besides, it was the only reason that kept her in the company: Chairman said that he can arrange the duel of those two, but only under certain circumstances. Her obedience to Mortiferum was one of them.

Chairman was a strange pony who never showed himself to no one else, but Copper herself and her. According to him, both of them had connections with royalty, one way or another, and that they were vital in his future plans. For someone who looked so refined and so... girly, he surely was one ruthless bastard.

Copper Hoof finished her cigar and sighed. Time to get to work.

---

"Bethrezeen. Bethreezen has spoken to Zodd."

"Nonsense. He is locked in his prison."

"Listen to Zodd, stupid demon! He told Zodd that we can free him. We need to go to the land named Equestria."

"How would that benefit us? Those are but visions in your head."

"No. There's certain... insight in his words. He speaks the truth, even if it sounds farfetched and insane.

"Exactly. Ashkael smart for trusting Zodd."

"So... What do we do then, Capital's Guardian?"

"We would need to access this Equestria. I suppose it's somewhere far away."

"Yes, yes! Zodd has been told that it's an entirely different world!"

"If that's the case, we would need to open the portal and lead Legions through it. Zodd, Kazgah, you are responsible for preparations of Legions. Take Saemiel with you, he will prove useful."

"Bethrezeen is my Lord and God. It will be done."

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And with this oh-so-mysterious twist, another chapter is done. What do you think? Review and point out everything. :)