He will lose them, either by their death, or they turn into jerks. There is no third way, not for him.

"You and I remember that day differently, that was what she said," Starla thought to herself as she floated in the dream world. Her mind did one of the only freedoms left to her, think for herself and she began to think about what has happened to her. "But, I wasn't there when Equestria fell, I was only told about it. What did she mean by "I remember it"? I remember being told about it in private by Grand Ruler when I asked..." she paused and shook her head, "No, he didn't. Did he brainwash me into believing his lies? Just so we could have a reason to fight? But, why? Why would he do it?" she asked herself.

For a few more moments, she floated in the world of dreams, just allowing her mind to ponder the hell that her life had become. After a few short minutes, she let out a groan at the feeling of pressure on her back, "Guess I have to wake up. Even though I don't want to-"

Starla slowly began to open her eyes, despite her best attempt to keep them closed and stay in the world of dreams. Letting out a slow breath of disgust, she opened her eyes as she felt the weight of her bed become a little light. Flinching, she let out a whimper at the touch of her bed mate, "You know Starla," Conquest chuckled as he moved his hand away from her back, "I have had many, many, many sex slaves in many worlds so far away and I have to say that out of all of them...you are number 23. But, hey, 23 is a very fun number, it means you are in the top quarter of victims. Maybe you would be higher, if you weren't such a weakling."

"I'm not weak," she objected, growling as she looked over her shoulder.

"Sure you're not. That is why you would have escaped by now. I wonder why you haven't yet? Maybe is just because you don't have Grand Ruler's D or your beloved Lighting's D pushing you on," laughed Conquest as he put on his pants.

Starla shook her head and shuddered, "No, that's not it at all! I am not fighting back or trying to escape because there is no point. You are stronger than I am, you would stop me."

"You know, the previous girls who were captured by me and put into your position knew about how strong I am, and guess what they would have done by now?" Dark Conquest said, a cruel smirk on his lips. "They would had made at least three escape attempts by now. Granted, they would have all failed, but at least they tried. You are just content to lay back and let me do what I want to you."

"That's because you are so strong, so fast, I'd have no chance against you. We in Starfleet have always been taught," Starla began, but was interrupted by a laugh from Conquest.

"Oh, I know what you have been taught. 'Obey Grand Ruler, stay with your superiors, and never try to beat someone stronger that you. Let the big boys with their big toys fight!' and what did that cost you? Oh yeah, Twilight Sparkle."

"She disobeyed a direct order, she should've stayed behind and-"

"Let the big strong Lighting do it. But you know what? At least she died fighting for something, at least she tried. What have you done? Oh yeah, take the worst that I have given you without a fight." Leaning in with a sneer, he tucked her chin and chuckled, "So...who is stronger?"

Starla said nothing as she turned her head away, wanting to get away from Conquest. As the black alicorn walked to the chamber door, he looked over his shoulder and said, "Oh! Today is going to be a special today. Do you know why?"

"Why?" asked Starla.

"Because today...I plan on having one of my men kill one of your Starfleet comrades," Conquest said, standing in front of the door as he waited for the white unicorn's scream.

"NO!" screamed Starla, her eyes filled with terror. "Please, i beg you, don't kill them. Spare them, please, don't kill my friends."

"Oh please," dismissed Conquest with a wave of his hand. "Like you give a flying fig about them. I mean, i bet you don't even know who they are anymore beyond Lighting. Now, I am going to go get the troops ready, TTFFN!"

As the door slammed behind him, Starla turned towards her pillow and laid her head in it. Curling up into a fetal position, the tears that threatened to burst from her eyes ran out and streamed down her cheeks in tiny rivers. Crying and whimpering, her heart began to ache as she realized on terrible truth.

Conquest was right.

Outside of the door, Conquest walked by an unicorn in a purple hood, "It's time. You are free to kill whoever you want, with the exception of Lighting."

Raven smiled, "Yes, sire."

---

"...and as you can see, your majesty, these graphs prove that I do not believe that this recent drain on magic is a disease at all. It is in fact, a plan crafted by some being bent on destroying the foundations of Equestria," the stallion finished, his horn turning off as he put away the chalk.

"But, how did you come to this conclusion, Golden Sight," Celestia asked, a finger on her chin as she listened to the blue unicorn talk.

Running his hand through his red mane, the unicorn continued, "Well, let's go over what we know. For a few weeks now, we have been getting small reports of ponies with bouts of weakness. Pegasi are having problems with the weather, earth ponies aren't as strong as before, and even unicorns are lacking in magic. Now, it could've been a disease, it has happened before."

"I was there during the magic crisis of 500 years ago, Golden, I know of that disease," Celestia said with a nod.

"True, but note how it has affected only Equestrians and not the Unicornicopians," Golden said, walking around the throne room, his lab coat lightly hitting his legs while he walked. "Now, while the transformation into these two legged forms have given us some unusual benefits and some new body parts, we and the Unicorpians are still biologically similar that we can share diseases. So, why are they not experiencing a magical drain like we are. Simple, because whatever it is, the spell is targeted only at those who are Equestrian."

"Supposing that this is a magical spell and not a disease, what do you suppose is the end result," Celestia asked.

"If my theory is correct, then we are looking to a magical drain on world wide proportions. Ponies will be drained of most of their inner magic and only Unicornicopians will have any power left," Golden said.

"I see," Celestia said, getting up from her throne. "Call Tw-I mean Applejack and the others, have them try and discover-"

"Celestia, we have more important things to worry about now," Grand Ruler interrupted, striding into the throne room with his cape billowing. "I just had a premonition that Conquest is going to attack Detrot and do something horrible thee. We must mobilize Starfleet."

"But the magic..." Celestia paused as she awaited another of Grand Ruler's diatribes.

"My uen, you can not expect me to believe that you are taking the word of this rube," Grand Ruler said, shaking his head. "For all he knows, this could be just a disease that we Unicornicopians will solve in just a day. Much like we always do, much like how we always will solve a problem within the day easily. Now, Golden, you are dismissed, and Celestia, we must get ready to intercept Conquest."

"Yes but what about-"

"Do you really want to waste our time on a hunch? Million of lives are at stake and for all you know this is a mistake. Besides, you Equestrians use magic frivolously. Magic should only be used for battle and healing after all," Celesto said as he walked out.

As Golden left the room, Celestia punched the wall with a growl, "Curse it!"

"Marital issues, dear Tia?" Luna asked, stepping out of the shadows.

"Not this time," Celestia said. "For once, he is right. As much as I am loathe to admit it, the magic drain could be just a disease and nothing more. I cannot send out Applejack and friends out on what could be a wild goose chase that might turn up nothing and leave Starfleet plus millions of ponies to their deaths!"

Luna nodded as she stood next to her sister, "You are correct. it seems that the only reason why any of Starfleet has survived this this long is because the bearers of the elements have been able to save them at the last second."

"At the same time," Celestia said, resting her head against the wall. "I cannot ignore this drain a moment longer. What if he is right and this is our only opening to stop it. I will be risking my ponies livelihoods because I didn't trust them."

"You fear of losing either way," Luna said, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed. Smiling, she uncrossed her arms and placed a hand onto her sister's shoulder, "This is where my team comes in. You have Applejack and the others handle this drain, and I will worry about Detrot."

"You will do that, for me?" Celestia asked, looking at her sister.

Nodding, Luna added, "What is the point of having a sister to help you, if you do not use her?"

"Oh Luna," Celestia chuckled lightly before putting her forehead to her sister's and rubbed her nose, "How did I survive one year without you by my side, much less a thousand."

Luna smiled at her older sibling, "Because, you are quite strong on your own, dear sister, but with me...you are better."

"Thank you," Celestia said, giving her sister a quick hug. "You go arrange your team, and I will gather mine."

---

Luna's rebellion base was a small two story home, located in a small part of thee Whitetail woods. It was secluded enough and warded enough that, unless one had a knowledge of the land and knew where to look, it was hard to find. Luckily, Discord was not one to obey rules as he teleported instantly into the base's command room where Shining Spark was waiting, "Here we go, everything that I have been watching for the past few days," Discord smiled as he dropped the three layer cake worth of notes in front of Shining Spark, watching with glee as she began to grab the notes in her magic and began to organize them, "You know, in a lot of ways, you are like her."

"Like who?" asked Shining as she began to fix the notes.

"Twilight," Discord said, sitting back and filing his eagle claw with a smile. "She'd like to file and sort books, documents and such all the long day too. Though, she would be a little more miffed that I'd make it into a disorganized cake."

Spark nodded, putting the new reports into their own piles, "There is no time to be worrying about being exact in our filing. I need to make sure that everything here is correct and we have the right information."

"Ah, there we go. There is the stuffy and precise Twilight," Discord chuckled, putting up a stuffed doll of Twilight Sparkle in front of Spark. "But you are still missing something. Now, what can that be? Her magic? No, you have that in spades. Your heart? Oh no," happily he placed a beating heart onto Shining's sleeve, "You wear that on your sleeves. Wait...thats it! Her logic and way of thinking. You are missing her logic."

"That is because, I am not Twilight Sparkle. I am just a mare who is devoted to the ideals of Equestria and wishes to see my home returned," Shining said, taking a small sip from her drink.

"A mare, who just randomly showed up on Luna's doorstep one night, a year ago, and has the third highest power of magic on record," Discord chuckled, looking down at her.

Shining raised an eyebrow at this, "And is that a problem?"

"No, just a curious thing. And my dear Shining," Discord said, turning into a deerstalker cap with eyes, "I love a good mystery. But I think we will talk later. Your friend is arriving."

As Discord popped out of existence, Trixie walked into the room, "The great and powerful Trixie has finished her rounds and reports an astonishing success!"

"Really?" Shining asked, smiling.

"Zebrica took a little talking to, but after some reassurances that Grand Ruler will be put on trial for his crimes, they will join us once the emperor has been dethroned," Trixie smiled. "Raindrops is currently returning after finding out where some of the reeducation camps are located. And-"

"You are bored," Shining said, almost giggling.

Trixie raised a finger to object, before lowering the digit and letting out a growl, "Yes! Trixie is bored out of her skull!" She threw her hands into the air before sitting back onto the chair and grumbled, "Here Trixie is, one of the most powerful magic users here and she has yet to have had a chance to show off what she can do!"

"You know we can't be acting too rashly Trixie," Shining said, putting away her pen and walking over to the blue unicorn. "We are only seven mares strong and we are trying to rebel against an entire nation. Gruella tactics are our only option until we find out who is in charge of the camps."

"Trixie knows," she grumbled, crossing her arms and looking out a window to the early morning sun. "It's just that, sometimes Trixie needs a chance to prove how powerful she is. To show what she has learned."

"You are starting to sound like that Dash girl," Spark said, drinking from her cup before sitting it down.

"Do not compare Trixie's ego and sense of worth to that suicidal mad mare!" Trixie growled.

Giggling, Shining gave a roll of the eyes and said, "No, your ego is way bigger!"

Trixie's response was to throw a pillow at that comment, "Funny, real funny, Spark."

"Thank you, I try," Spark said, before turning her face into a serious frown, "How are they? The others."

"As well as can be expected. We did drag them into this," Trixie sighed.

"They went willingly. Luna picked them because of who they are," Spark then looked down at the ground, "And what they had to lose."

"They were also the five most likely to never be missed in Starfleet's eyes," Trixie added. "Trixie hates that."

"You do?" Spark asked.

"Of course! Trixie is a performer and knows how important fans are, so thus she knows how to cherish each one. It's why she loathes that amulet, it made her forget that special part of her," Trixie said.

Spark nodded, "A great performer, if a little egotistical."

Trixie sighed and nodded, "Yes, a great performer. And Trixie hopes, a good friend."

Not too far from where Spark and Trixie were having their talk, Raindrops flew onto a balcony and gave her wings a good stretch. Hearing a soft sigh coming from behind her, the jasmine pegasus turned around to see Ditzy resting her arms on a railing, "Ditz? What's wrong?"

"She's out there, my little muffin," Ditzy sighed, lightly playing with a muffin. "She's out there, living with Sparkler and I am stuck here fighting for her. She's twelve years old, I'm missing out on my daughter's best years of her life, all to overthrow a despot."

"Hey, at least you're doing it for a good cause, right?" Raindrops asked, putting a hand onto the grey pegasus's back and rubbing it.

Some tears ran down the pegasus's cheek, causing her to blink her golden eyes to get them out, "But, what if i die out here? What if I die and she thinks I abandoned her?"

"Then i'll tell her the truth. That's what we have to trust each other to do for our loved ones if the worst was to happen," Raindrops said, looking down at the ground. Watching a few squirrels play in the forest made her sigh, "At least, that's what I hope you girls will do for me, if I die."

Ditzy raised her head and gasped, putting a hand to her mouth, "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry, here I am feeling bad for leaving Dinky behind and you have a brother that you are scared for."

"Hey, it's all right," Raindrops said, raising a hand. "We're all risking a lot out there. Livelihoods, family, our own lives. Lyra had to leave the love of her life behind remember?"

"How are they holding up?" Ditzy asked.

"Pretty well, I think they're just waiting for that first mission to take their minds off of their loved ones," Carrot Top said, walking in and brushing her mane behind her head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"Hey, we're all letting ourselves hang out for a bit," smirked Raindrops, sitting herself on the balcony. "Come and join in."

"Well, I was just about to call you two in anyway," Carrot Top said. Looking over her shoulder at Lyra and Cheerilee, she said, "We have a mission."

Nodding, the two pegasi flew after the three mares and into a small console room in the back. After a few moments, the screen buzzed in with Luna's face. As they bowed, Luna waved them off, "Rest now, my ponies. It seems that we have the first real demonstration of what I picked you six for."

"What is it?" asked Lyra.

"I picked you six to assist in overthrowing Grand Ruler and reinstating my sister to the throne. However, I also picked you six to assist the bearers when they cannot fight themselves. That time is now," Luna said, lifting up a picture of Detrot, "Some of the reconnaissance have heard reports of some of Conquest's soldiers marching toward Detrot."

"So, Grand Ruler has finally figured it out?" Cheerilee asked. "That Conquest is a general and not some madman sending out monsters one at a time?"

"Most likely Grand Ruler just got lucky," Spark said with a roll of the eyes.

"Either way, I need you to go there and protect Starfleet," Luna said.

"Why us? Won't the bearers be-"

"The bearers will be busy solving a mystery. This is why you are needed," Luna said. "I will be sending them a message shortly that will tell them of the threat. However, since Starfleet's survival depends on those five, we need you to help."

Trixie was the first to step forward and then bowed, "We are at your service, Mistress."

"That is what I expected," Luna said, nodding. "Shining, I expect you to have been studying those teleportation spells I had given you?"

Spark nodded, "Yes, I should be able to teleport us just outside of the city."

"Good, this meeting is adjourned. Just one more thing," Luna said.

"Yes?" Lyra asked as Spark began to prepare the spell.

"Be safe," Luna said.

---

Rainbow Dash flew in behind Applejack as the earth pony mare opened the door, "So, what do you think they look like?"

"The armors? Ah have no idea sugarcube," Applejack said, walking into the boutique, "But, knowing Rarity like Ah do, they'll be nice looking."

"After waiting eight weeks, they better be! Though, I bet they're really frou frou and cutesy," Rainbow Dash chuckled, only to hear an annoyed scoff from the other side of the showroom.

"I'll have you know, that when I work on my designs, I make art, not frou frou," Rarity said, snapping her glasses together. Smiling as she tucked her glasses into her shirt, she walked in front of the stage, "Ahem, after eight weeks of wait and some...small interruptions," she chuckled, looking down at her maternity shirt, "I present-your armor!"

Applejack's eye's went wide as dinner plates as she looked at the new armors resting on the the mannequins, "Wow, Rarity, they're-"

"Awesome!" Dash said, flying over to looking at the bright colors that adorned the hard metal of each suit. Each suit of armor bared the color of their bearer, with holes on the back for the pegasi for the wings. The helmets also had small visors that seemed to help accentuate the eyes of the wearer.

"Yes, quite," Rarity said, walking to the armors, "The problem with our old ones were that they were all the same. No variations, and if I were to complain, so drab. There was no chance for each of us to show off our uniqueness. As if Grand Ruler wanted all to conform to one way of thinking, and not celebrate our own uniqueness. I also moved the cutie marks to our flanks where they belong."

"Nice Rarity," Applejack said, running her hand along the orange armor's breastplate.

"Each armor has also been made with each of you in mind," Rarity smiled, "Like, for instance, Applejack-Your armor has been built with your durability in mind. I know you have this tendency to let your opponent fight you so you can tire them out before striking back."

"Ah like to size em up before knocking them down," Applejack smirked.

"Yes, that is why the armor will be able to take a rampaging Boar," smiled Rarity. She then looked at Rainbow Dash, "I noticed that your armor weighed you down Rainbow, not good for your style."

"Tell me about it," Dash rolled her eyes.

Smiling, Rarity said, "That is why, I decreased the weight of your armor to help give you more speed and maneuverability. It's still durable, but you should be able to attain speeds as if you were naked. As for Fluttershy, well, watch."

The two mares stepped back as Rarity pressed a button and twin beams fired from jewels on the yellow gauntlets, forming a large shield, "Whoa." Dash said.

"A diamond hard shield capable of handling at least a dragon's fire. I gave my own suit a targeting visor to help improve my golem's vision," Rarity said.

"Is that what we're calling her? A golem?" applejack asked.

Nodding Rarity continued, "Considering Pinkie's...Pinkieness, it was hard for me to make her suit unique, but I did it."

Rainbow Dash looked at the waist of Pinkie's bright pink armor, "Pouches?"

"For her to put anything she wants in there. Pinkie Pie is at her best when she is free and does what she wants. To confine her to one style is hurting her in the end. Now, I have also offered my services to Starfleet, maybe..." Rarity began.

Applejack then looked at a suit of armor sitting in a dark corner of the boutique. Taking a few steps forward, she could feel the warm sting of tears coming to her eyes as she looked at the purple armor with wing holes. It hung limply against the mannequin, it's hollow shell looking for all the world as a lifeless statue waiting for somepony to claim her, "Rarity, did you make a suit for-"

"Yes, I did," Rarity interrupted with a sigh. "I figured if she couldn't wear it, I should at least make one for her in her memory. It didn't feel right, not making something for her when I made something for all of you."

Saying nothing, Applejack and rainbow Dash hugged Rarity closely. The embrace was captured in the armor's visor, reflecting the tight hug that they were giving each other. Sighing, Applejack wiped some of Rarity's tears, "So, tell us about it."

Sniffling, Rarity looked at the purple armor, "I made it with a magic user in mind. I consider it one of my finest accomplishments. See, each of these gems has additional mana inside of it, meant to act like a reservoir or a small boost. In the hands of a normal unicorn, it would make them exceedingly powerful, but in Twilight's hands it would've-"

"Made her super awesome?" Dash asked, high-fiving the armor, "Sweet!"

"You could say that," Rarity said. "Now, if I could-"

"Rarity, message!" Spike said. The green flames from the missive trailing off the scroll as he ran to Rarity. Holding it up, Spike said, "It's from Luna."

"Luna?" Applejack asked, stepping to Spike and taking the letter, "Let me check."

Dear Applejack,

As you may have noticed, there has been a significant magical drain on the ponies of Equestria. This is because of some mysterious force that is slowly draining your magic. You and your friends are to investigate the cause of this drain and stop it."

Signed, Princess Luna.

"Well, Ah think you are about to get to see that armor in action sooner than later, Rares," Applejack said, turning to walk out of the store, Rainbow Dash following close behind.

"Give me a second, " Rarity said, closing her eyes and activating the golem. Nodding, the golem began to follow the others out.

"So where are we headed?" Dash asked.

"To the library, Ah bet there might be a tracking spell or something that we can use," Applejack said.

Pinkie Pie popped out of the bush and smiled, "That is exactly what I was thinkin!"

"Pinkie! When did you get here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, sometime about twenty something years ago, just a few minutes before my little sister Marble," Pinkie giggled. Then getting to stand next to Applejack, she added, "But, I got here when I felt a tingling along my spine followed by a hair flop. Which could only mean that my friends were having a meeting and something really special was happening!"

Rainbow Dash was about to respond, but shook her head instead and began to fly into the library. As she flew in, she watched as Belle Amie began to put away another book, "Belle, we need a book for a spell."

"A spell, what for?" Belle asked, looking worried as she heard the mission that her friends were being sent on. Belle then smiled, "Well, I may not be able to cast anything beyond a telekinesis spell, but...I have been working on a device." With a wink, the grey unicorn went into the basement. After a few minutes of shuffling and machine work, Belle came out with a handled device, "Rainbow Dash, may I have a feather?"

"Sure," Rainbow Dash nodded, pulling out one of her feathers.

Taking one of the feathers, Belle put it onto the device. After a second, a bright flash appeared and then the device sounded "BEEP!", "Ah, and there we are."

"What is that device supposed to do?" Applejack asked, watched Belle walk to the door.

"It helps detect magical drain and trails from anywhere I am standing. It doesn't require magic, so anypony could use it. Hmmm," Belle hummed as she looked at the device, "According to this, Rainbow Dash's magic is flowing towards Canterlot."

As Belle Amie began to walk out the door, Applejack held onto the mare's shoulder, "Now, hold on. Where are you going?"

"Look, I don't know how much of a help I can be to you girls, but...you are my friends. I need to be there to help you stop whatever it is that is doing this," Belle said, looking at them.

Applejack looked into Belle's eyes and smiled softly, "Sure, let's go. After all, six simple mares saved the world with less than what you got."

As belle smiled, Rainbow Dash sighed, "Yeah, six..."

---

The city of Detrot, unlike its sister city of Manehattan, was a beacon of technology and magic. Within its towering factory and steel towers, machines and unicorns worked with Earth ponies to create unique inventions and new tools that would help a magician with any trick or to make a pony's life easier. It was here that the world's first airship was invented, and it was here that was destined to be a turning point in the war.

Not that the ponies who lived in the towering city knew of their fate, as they continued to their lives as well as they could. School, work, and home went about in the town without a care in the world. Such calm was not unnoticed by six mares as they rested in a small grove of trees that stood outside of the city limits. One of the observers was a purple mare with a grey mane, "It's like, Grand Ruler didn't even tell them that Conquest's army is on its way."

Cheerilee laid on her belly, reading a book title 'Our War Game', "He probably didn't. The only reason why he even knew of this attack in the first place was because a scout happened to catch sight of them."

"Probably hasn't even had Starfleet properly prepare them for battle," Lyra said, gently strumming along her lyre.

Trixie leaned against a tree, biting her lip hard with her arms crossed, "Oh, he prepared them all right. Trixie has heard they now have upgrades to their shields. A fat lot of good it will do for the civilians, they'll be broken in seconds."

"Why doesn't Grand Ruler like change?" Carrot Top asked, lightly playing with a flower.

Spark sighed, "He doesn't like change. He believes that we all have to be the same, have to keep to our own style of fighting, and never try to become something new. He is the type of stallion that hates the very idea of ponies changing for the better or doing something beyond the norm. Change scares him and he wants to make sure that we are all like him."

"The problem with that is, war means that we have to change," Cheerilee said, closing her book. "This goes for when our countries united, we both would've had to change and accept our differences."

"But...we didn't, we lost our identities the moment he gave us these hands and made us these two legged things," Ditzy said, and then she hugged herself giving out a small shudder, "When I think of how he had his guards try and throw me into a correctional facility just because of my eyes, or how he wanted to take Dinky away from me."

Carrot Top moved over to Ditzy and gave her teammate a hug. Lyra cally strummed on her Lyre and sighed, "Let's not forget how he keeps wanting us to make magic 'Only healing and battle use only. Don't use it for superfluous means!' Don't know about you, but I like using my magic in my shows, or when I play. But, he doesn't see it that way. 'It changes the way we in Unicornicopia did it. We must do it our way!' And look where that has gotten us so far! I bet if we just used a little more of the ponies strengths, this war would be going good for us!"

Trixie pt a thumb to her mouth and lightly bit it, "When is Raindrops supposed to get here? We sent her on a recon thirty minutes ago!"

"You rang?" Raindrops chuckled as her voice came from behind Lyra, causing the mint green unicorn to jump.

"Ah, Raindrops," Trixie said, taking the charm in her magic and pulling it into her hand. This caused Raindrops to turn visible once more, "Trixie sees that her charm worked."

"Brilliantly," smiled Raindrops. "Didn't even see me."

"So, where are they?" asked Spark as she put away her binoculars.

"Five hours away by foot," Raindrops said, looking over her friends. "They were busy discussing how to assault the city. They about a hundred strong with a few boars and minotaurs plus three Unicornicopians."

"What?" Ditzy gasped.

"The news never said anything-"

Lyra interrupted Carrot top, "No, it wouldn't. Think Grand Putz wants the world to know that his beloved Unicornicopians are infallible. They have to be perfect snowflakes."

"Generals?" Trixie asked.

"We lucked out, it seems to be mainly Dementia and a grey bat-pony with a golden horn," Raindrops said.

This description caused Trixie to growl and slam her fist into her palm, "Raven."

Spark held her chest for a brief moment as she got up, "That's the mare who killed Twilight, right?"

"Yes," Trixie growled. "Though Trixie has never seen her face or met her, she remembers the name of the nag who took her rival away from her. She was told by Luna the description of this ruffian."

"So, what's the plan?" asked Ditzy as she looked out into the city, "Do we evacuate them?"

"We can't evacuate close to a million ponies," Spark said. For a few moments, she stood there trying to calculate the number of ponies and the time it would take, "It would take, it would take...never mind. It would take a really long time."

"Then what other choice do we have? Tell them to prepare for death?" Cheerilee asked.

Trixie smiled as she raised a finger to the sky, "Trixie has a plan."

The ponies of Detrot were unassuming of the plan that the blue unicorn was making, and thus were shocked the moment when Trixie's face appeared on the window of every building in the city. She also appeared on the the front of some mirrors and the reflective water of some baths. Foals even jumped back in surprise when they saw he on the back of their cereal spoons, "Fillies and gentlecolts, Mares and stallions of all ages, and all races under the blessed sun. You are about to see the greatest show in all of Equestria! Brought out by the Great and Powerful Trixie! What is this show you may ask? Why a simple magic trick. A magic trick that will be the most important of your very lives!"

The ponies looked at her each other, some were curious, others were shrugging and tried to ignore her, "You may want to ignore Trixie, neigh, you may want to regarde her tricks a just flash without substance. But, trust her, his trick will blow your mind! How is this possible you may ask? Well, to perform this trick, the Great and Powerful Trixie will need help from all of you out there," she said, pointing towards the ponies of the city. "She wants you to look straight at her and look at her body. It shouldn't be too hard, for Trixie is in every reflective surface in your city. That's right, every mirror, every glass, and every water drop, you will see Trixie's marvelous visage. Now, keep a close eyes on Trixie. That's right, focus on her. Now when she says the magic word, the greatest trick that will appear before your eyes will happen. Ready? Abra Cadabra!"

---

For the army of Dark Conquest, the noon day sun brought with it the smell of bloodlust and battle. The group marched in a disjointed fashion, flowing forward with step after step with a desire to see the looming city covered in blood. The boars joked with the Minotaurs about their soon to be kills and how many ponies they have already slain in their previous skirmishes. Up ahead, three Unicornicopians marched with their heads hung low, their eyes narrowed in determination. At the head of the small army, the two generals marched ahead, leading the pack. Dementia took a look ahead of the battalion and to the city, and began to think over her plan. This train of thought was interrupted by Raven, "Finally, I get a chance to demonstrate my power to the world."

"Quiet! I am trying to rethink our battle plan," said Dementia.

Raven brushed a claw past her purple hair and shook her head, "Look sweetie, we don't need a plan for a raid. We storm in and strike, then I kill one of bastards."

"We still need to make it look like we have a plan or it will become obvious that this is only a trick," Dementia said.

"Pfft, whatever," snorted Raven as her golden horn shined in the light.

Dementia growled, "This is no time to be stuck up on yourself, Raven! We were told by Conquest to only kill and murder until Starfleet arrives, and then we fight them one-on-one. This means we conserve power and our strength."

"You need to conserve," chuckled Raven. "I possess the Uniforce, the most powerful energy on the planet. As long as I don't spend it all at once, I am almost a god."

"Gods don't get cocky," Dementia growled.

Raven stamped a foot forward and pressed her nose against Dementia, putting a finger against her chest, "You know, you have been on my case ever since we arrived. Why? Oh, I get it," Raven chuckled as she straightened her purple cloak, "You are angry over the fact that I killed Twilight Sparkle, while you haven't managed one kill during your assault. That's why you are ticked at me."

Dementia pointed a finger at Raven, "No, what I am mad about is that the leader has put me with you. A pony who has one of the worst reason for fighting I had ever seen, a pony who wouldn't even be here if he desire for revenge wasn't just so pointless."

Raven shrugged her shoulders, "At least I have a warrior's edge...unlike you."

"What did you say?" Dementia glared daggers at her fellow general.

Raven walked slowly around the white unicorn, smirking as she flicked a piece of red hair, "Fine. You and your friends lack a warrior's edge."

"Take back what you said about my friends!" Dementia growled, grabbing the neck of Raven's leotard.

Raven shrugged, no fear on her face as she commented, "I am just pointing out the obvious. That it seems that you and your friends have some skewed priorities when it comes to this war. Don't think I haven't heard what Mysterious did a few days ago," Raven smirked as she was let go.

Mysterious turned to hear a small child's cry. Stepping over the rubble, he saw two brothers trying to help each other out of a broken building. Breathing silently, he stepped to the broken debris and moved it with his magic. the two brothers looked up at the cloaked stallion and smiled before running away.

"And then there was Rep, who I must say feels out of place in a band full of thieves, murderers, and rapists," Raven remarked.

The stallion licked his lips lecherously as he looked at the trapped mare, "Ok, Unicornicopian slut, you think your species is strong, but when you are facing a real fight, you are just crying your eyes out. How about I give you a chance to see what real-Urrk!"

Rep glared eyes at the soldier, his tail tightening its grip around his neck, "None of that. I will have no one in my company rape any mares around here." as he let the soldier run off, the lizard like stallion bowed his head, "After you my dear."

"And there's you, or do I need to remind you of your fixation of keeping the poor children safe?" chuckled Rave.

Dementia stared down at the ground for a moment, "That's because...we..."

"Add that to the fact that throughout your whole entire battle experience, you three have not ONCE taken a life, and we must wonder if you really have the stomach for murder," Raven said, hands in the air as she walked away. With a quick shake of her head, she followed her fellow general into the city limits.

With a loud roar, the army swarmed into the city, the bloodlust in their eyes. However, one unicorn stepped to a pony and put his hand to the standing mare, "Commander, we have a problem!"

Dementia walked to the blue unicorn, "What is it?"

"Look," the unicorn said, waving his hand through the still pony, the hand going through the neck and leaving a faint buzz.

"A hologram, but how!?" exclaimed Dementia as a laugh was heard. Looking around the city, the white unicorn gasped in shock as the city's once lovely facade was turned into a broken down collection of ruins, and the ponies all faded from existence.

"How did this hologram came to be you may ask? Why it was I, The Great and Powerful TRIXIE!" shouted the blue unicorn as an illusion of herself appeared before the army. " The ponies and buildings that you saw before you were just an elaborate illusion created by Trixie, using the reflections of all of the ponies watching her. The real Detrot is several miles away!"

Raven let out a gasp of shock,before growling in anger, "How is able to pull a spell like this off? No unicorn-"

"Such a unicorn like Trixie could!," Trixie laughed, tipping her hat and furling back her cape, showing the wand and stars cutie mark, "Trixie's special talent is illusion casting. Which means, that she can master any illusion, no matter how big or small."

"Then how did we-"

Trixie interrupted Dementia's question with a pointed finger, "The next words out of your mouth are 'How did we wind up here!' "

"Wind up here?" Dementia then growled at the showmare's illusion.

"Simple," Tixie said, smirking, "When you passed by the city outskirts one hour ago, what you passed through was perception filter, making you miss your mark. Then, it was easy enough for Trixie to manipulate your eyesight to make it look like you were walking for a shorter amount of time than you were. You had instead been walking away for hours!"

"That wench!" growled Raven.

"The real Detrot hasn't moved since you got here...the problem is that Trixie may have given the hint to Starfleet where you are are currently standing. They should be there in a hour, it will take you four to reach Detrot...do the math.," Trixie laughed. "You can either kill Starfleet, or waste time and energy rushing back to your original target. The choice is up to you."

Raven growled and dug her fingers into her palms, drawing blood, "I'll kill her!

"Save it," ordered Dementia. "We have bigger problems. Starfleet is on its way and we need to be ready for a fight."

Raven smiled as she looked at twenty five soldiers, "Why not both? You lot," she said, writing down a set of coordinates, "Head to this locations and kill this 'Trixie'"

"Yes ma'am!" they shouted as they raced off.

"That leaves us...with the fun part," chuckled Raven as she turned to face the road leading out of the ruins, licking her fangs.

---

"Yes! Nice one Trixie," cheered Raindrops.

Carrot Top smiled, "Maybe we should try that more often."

"No," disagreed Spark. "They now know what she did, they'll be more careful now."

Cheerilee nodded, "Still, let's rendezvous with Starfleet and save-Trixie!" the mulberry pony shouted as she watched Trixie sway back and forth before falling to the ground.

Spark ran over to Trixie, and began to look over the blue unicorns sweat drenched body, "Temperature rising," she said, looking down as Trixie's breaths began to come out in short pants, "shortness of breath, and tiredness. Oh no, she's overchanneling."

"What's overchanneling?" asked Ditzy, looking down at her friend, worried.

Lyra looked down, letting out a defeated sigh, "It's when a unicorn uses so much magic that they drain themselves dry. It's like if you gave up too much blood in a transfusion. If we don't do something soon, she'll fall into a coma that she might take days, weeks, or even years to wake up from."

"We need mana potions," Cheerilee said, looking down at Trixie.

"Uggh..." Trixie moaned, her breathing slowing down, "Trixie's wagon, not too far...top shelf." she moaned out before finally passing out. Her breathing slowed down to a calm normal.

"Right, we need to get going soon if we-"

Cheerilee interrupted Spark, "Wait, did you hear that? Raindrops could you-"

Without waiting for her friend to finish, Raindrops flew off from the group. A few minutes later, she came back, panting and looking scared, "Guys, we got problems. A few of our friends from the other side are coming and they ain't too happy."

"We can't move like this, they might attack while we move Trixie," Spark said, before looking at Ditzy. "Ditzy, you are faster than us, you go and grab the potions from Trixie's wagon and bring them here. You are looking for a blue potion with a star symbol on it."

Ditzy said nothing, but nearly nodded and flew off, and as she did, Star looked to the others, "I'll need the rest of you to stay here and watch over me and Trixie.'

"Why? Can't you defend yourself?" asked Raindrops.

"I could," Spark nodded, before looking back down at Trixie, "But I need to maintain a shield spell around Trixie and if they manage to break my concentration, then the spell fades and they'll have Trixie at their mercy."

As the girls nodded in response, Cheerilee looked at the assembled ponies and said, "Carrot Top and I will try and lure some of them away. Raindrops, you and Lyra will have to pick up the slack."

As Cheerilee and Carrot Top ran off, Trixie let out a little moan, "N-no, don't do this. T-T-I'm not worth it."

"You are," said Spark softly as she erected a shield around her and her friend.

---

With every crack and snap of the branches, the small group of twenty five soldier made their way through the brush. The minotaurs led the way, using their arms to push through the limbs while the boars kept an eye to the sides. Slowly they made their way through the forest, only to stop when they hear a soft voice spoke, "Oh no!" Turning their eyes to the sound, they saw Cheerilee with her arms crossed above her head and her chest thrusted out. "A bunch of bad guys have found innocent little me. What am I going to do?" she asked in a sultry voice, her blouse unbuttoned enough to show just a hint of areola on both breasts.

This caused a few of the males and females to howl and wolf whistle. One of the soldiers turned to their leader, "R&R boss? You can handle a little unicorn."

The captain nodded, "Just be gentle with her, ok? I might want a piece of that tail too."

Smiling, eight of the soldiers turned and raced towards Cheerilee. Not wasting a second, the mulberry earth mare began to run through the woods, letting the soldier chase her. As she neared a clearing, she shouted, "Now Carrot Top!"

Nodding, the yellow earth pony pulled down on a rope that released a blue powder upon the small group. After spending a few minutes coughing, they growled at the two mares and made their way towards them. Only to stop when their bodies began to change and warp into different shapes. Some turned into plants, others into their mothers, or others into each other. The confusion became too much for them as they all began to run into each other and finally pass out from fright. Cheerilee looked on the scene in shock, "Carrot, what was that?"

"A variation of Poison Joke that I found out about in Neighpon, called Killing Joke," Carrot Top said. "It's effects are similar, but a lot quicker."

"Clever," smiled Cheerilee. "Now come on, the others are going to need us."

---

As the group of soldiers came ever closer, Raindrops and Lyra got into a fighting stance," Damn," muttered Lyra under her breath. "Looks like Cheerilee only got eight of them. There's seventeen left. How many can you take?"

"Six," Raindrops said, cracking her knuckles.

"That leaves me with three, and that is being kind," Lyra said, gettting her lyre out. "Bet I could take out more if we weren't missing our magic users."

Raindrops could only nod in response as she watched three boars charging straight at them. Before they could get up to their proper speed, however, a large tree root emerged from the ground and tripped the three boars. Turning to look behind them, they saw Spark smiling as she held one hand out, glowing green, while her other hand was above her head to keep the shield going. Turning her head back to the charging soldiers, Raindrops charged elbow first into the gut of a minotaur and followed up with an uppercut to the jaw. While in mid flight, she grabbed the horns and threw the bovine into a tree.

As Raindrops landed, she did not notice the other minotaur coming behind with a large club, ready to bash her head in. As he held his weapon above his horned head, his eyes began to droop and he slowly fell to sleep. Looking her head to the reason why the minotaur had a bout of unconsciousness, the jasmine pegasus smiled when she saw Lyra playing on her stringed instrument. She spared a thumbs up, before she had to duck and weave out of the way of two sword strikes from some of the pony soldiers.

As Lyra prepared another song to play on her lyre, three earth pony mares wielding sickles slashed at Lyra. Taking a step back and moving to the right to jump out of the way from the slashes, LYra strummed a little tune on her instrument to cause two of the mares to stumble back in pain. The third managed to get a cut onto Lyra's arm, causing the unicorn to drop her instrument to the ground. Holding her arm in pain, Lyra ducked beneath the slash of the sickle and used a light spell to temporarily blind her opponent. As the third mare swayed dizzily from the spell, Lyra picked up her lyre and played an ear splitting screech that caused the mares to collapse from the pain.

Spark tried to watch her two friends fight against the opposing forces, but had to focus on the two minotaurs that began to slam against her shield. Growling, the mare made the shield crackle with electricity and shocked the two attacking soldiers. Shaking his head, one of the minotaurs slid his fist back in preparation to hit the shield again. But, this action was stopped when a pair of mulberry hands grabbed his arm and threw him into a tree. Carrot Top stood in shock as Cheerilee kicked the other minotaur hard enough in the testicles to make him collapse in pain, "How on earth?"

"My twin sister taught me some moves. Said a pretty and sexy thing like myself shouldn't be defenseless," giggled Cheerilee and she jumped away from a side-kick from a unicorn.

Carrot Top smiled and jumped away from a pegasus wielding wing blades. Looking down at one of the scythes dropped on the ground, the yellow earth pony picked it up and began to duel with the pegasus. However, it was all she could do to keep up as the pegasus began to move quickly and lightly through the air and swipe at the orange maned pony.

The fighting would've continued, had there not been a shout of ,"Look out!" coming from the heavens. Turning their eyes skyward, all of the players on the field opened their eyes wide in shock as a grey and yellow blur came crashing into the battlefield. Spark smiled as she opened the shield to allow the rolling pegasus tumble in. Shaking her head, the grey mare stood up and saluted, "Your potions delivery ma'am!"

"Thank you," Spark said with a nod before taking the blue vials from the grey pegasus. Forcing open Trixie's mouth open, the mare lightly poured the blue liquid into Trixie, "Come on, just enough to get you blood pumping again."

As the light blue liquid trickled down Trixie's throat, her body glowed blue for a brief moment. After the inner glow faded, Trixie's eye shot up and she sat back up. Then began to promptly spit out the residue in disgust, "Great Celestia, Trixie' hates mana potions! They taste horrible!"

"If you like, I could probably help give you some mana potion recipes that help with the taste," Ditzy said. "I had to find some to help with little Dinky when she was starting to learn magic."

"Trixie will take you up on that offer," smiled the blue unicorn as she stood up.

Spark looked at the battle as she dropped the shield, "Know of any good offensive spells?"

"Trixie is only an expert in illusion magic, and nothing more. She never wanted to learn an offensive spell," Trixie said, before adjusting her hat of her eyes and grind, "However, Trixie's illusions tend to be really good."

Before Spark could inquire further, she watched as Trixie's hands began to glow bright with crackling blue magic. As the blue magician raised her hands, her irises faded into white nothingness. Pointing her raised hands at the fighting army, the crackling blue energy flew from her hand and onto the opposing sides. Dropping her hands, her eyes slowly returned to normal before she snapped her fingers. As the sound of the snap faded, the opposing side all began to fall to their knees, their eyes frozen in an expression of horror and madness. As the screamed, they could be heard screaming of unseen spiders and snakes, "What did you do?" asked Raindrops, watching the writhing mass of bodies in amazement.

Trixie smiled, "Trixie put a fear spell into their minds. They are now seeing the animals that they fear the most crawling over and attacking them. It'll wear off in an hour, and should give us plenty of time to get to where Starfleet is in the middle of its fight."

Cheerilee nodded, "We should hurry. If we don't make it in time, then..."

"We won't let it happen." Carrot Top smiled at her friend as they ran away from the screaming pile of bodies.

---

Though the enemy's numbers were cut by a quarter, the fight was not going well for the members of Starfleet. Buddy Rose found himself swamped by two boars and a minotaur. When he tried to summon his vine whip, the minotaur would strike at his back side with a strike from his warhammer. This would cause him to be thrown into the hand of a Boar who would then slam his head into the ground. Once on the ground, the other boar kicked him to the side of a broken building. Struggling to get up, he let out a painful moan while holding the side of his limp arm.

Artie tried to rush in to assist his friend, but a swipe of blades from two pegasi wing blades halted his charge. Taking a jump back, he quickly brought out his staff and spun it in a circle in front of him. Clicking his right molar, he rushed at the two pegasi, each of whom blocked his jabs and swipes with the hard metal of the wing blades. To counter his strikes and attacks with his staff, the winged ponies slashed and tweaked around the alicorn, keeping his mind split. Everytime he could find an opening to strike at one of the opponents, the other pegasi would quickly strike back at him to distract him.

Joining up as one, the two pegasi lifted up their wing blades together and slashed down at the staff, making Artie block the two blades with his staff in a horizontal position. As blade and staff grinded against each other, creating sparks, a unicorn with a glowing blade leapt from behind and slashed the center of the staff, cutting it in half. This caused Artie to back up, holding the broken halves in two hands. Growling, the alicorn held his two sticks, ready to fight.

Rhymey barely had a chance to get his sword up in time to block the attack of Dementia's twin daggers, "What is with this act? Why have you come back?"

"Why, Rhymey? Simple, because it's a chance to kill all of you, and to devastate everything Grand Ruler has stood for," Dementia sid, lunging out with her right arm.

Rhymey jumped away from the strike and flapped his wings, "Dril- ARG!"

There was a cruel sneer that came across her snowy lips as Dementia watched her dagger find it's mark in Rhymey's wing. As the yellow alicorn got up, Dementia wasted no time in delivering two quick blows in his stomach, and then a crescent kick into his neck, "You know Rhymey, the only thing that stops this from being any more fun is...I don't really know you."

"W-what do you mean?" Rhymey asked, slowly getting to his feet while blood trailed the corner of his chin. "I am all that you've seen!"

"That's my point," Dementia said, slashing down at Rhymey, making him block with his sword. Dementia huddled her dagger close to the blade, the sparks flying from the weapon's grinding, "You rhyme, so what? You do it poorly for one, and another, you are as flat as cardboard. Do you even care about them?"

"That accusation is not fair...I do indeed care," said Rhymey, the last part of his words barely coming out as a whisper.

"Then why," asked Dementia, slashing with twin daggers before charging a red fireball in her hand, "Are you fighting me alone?" before he could answer, Dementia fired her magical attack and sent Rhymey flying back, his front smoking from the burns.

Indeed, it seemed that the only one who had any luck in his fight was Lightning, whose eyes widened from the pain in his stomach as a Unicornicopian struck him hard. The second Unicornicopian roundhoused his skull and sent Lightning into a mall fountain. Getting up, Lightning looked through the blood trickling over his eye from the cut on his head, "W-why?" he moaned out.

"Why? He asks us why we are doing this?" said one of the unicornicopians, a blue one with a red mane, "I'll tell you why! For the longest time, I thought Starfleet were the heroes, that they stood for what was right and whoever fought them was wrong. I had believed that our invasion of Equestria was just, and that we were doing them a favor by making them submit to our beliefs. But then...Horn Kong. "

"H-Horn Kong?" asked Lightning, raising his forearm to block an incoming punch, but was left open to a roundhouse kick from one of the other unicornicopians.

The blue and red pony nodded, "When I saw Conquest began to invade and attack my home, that was when I started to get a feel for the truth. Then when I was brought to the slave pens, did I suddenly realize how we are the true monsters."

Lightning shook his head as he ducked under one of the kicks and tried to strike back with one of his own, only to get the leg sweeped, "But, we aren't the monsters! They are!"

"What kind of heroes imprison innocent ponies, or put them there for the smallest of crimes?! We brainwashed them, we forced them to bow to our beliefs, and we made them do what we thought was right. How can we call ourselves heroes?! At least this way...I know what side I'm fighting for," the unicornicopian said, raising his knee to hit Lightning in the jaw.

"But...but," Lightning pleaded, his tears streaming down his face. There was an ache in his heart as he watched the people of his second home turn against him like this.

The green unicornicopian smiled, "Hey, that isn't the same for all of us. I just wanted my name to become big, something that would never happen if I just stayed under Grand Ruler's flag. Oh no, he would have me as a coward and have me run and hide. At least now I can fight like a warrior!" he growled as he began to rain blows upon Lightning. The white alicorn could barely fight the three ponies he used to call his own people, his eyes began to flow with tears.

As Artie collapsed to his knees from the exhaustion of fighting three experience swordsponies, he winced in anticipation of the final blow. However, a strong gust of wind, and a strike from a pair of jasmine hooves managed to take the three out. When Artie opened his eyes, he smiled and nodded a thanks to the pegasus, "Got Artie, how are you girls doing?"Raindrops asked, finger pressed against an earring.

Carrot Top managed a grunt as she pulled a passed out Buddy Rose away from distracted boars, "Got mine, Spark and Ditzy, what about you?"

Ditzy looked at Spark as Lightning backed up in pain, trying to recover from the blows. Magic charging in her hands, she sent a wave of light at the three alicorns, causing them to back up in surprise, "Lightning's safe."

"Good," muttered Trixie, "That leaves two."

"But what about Rhymey?" asked Cheerilee.

A smirk came across Trixie's lips as she began to make her hands glow. In a flash she stood with Rhymey as he struggled to stand, "Halt Dementia! Before you strike down this noble stallion, know that you are messing with the friend of someone who has mastered one of the most powerful of destructive magics."

"And that would be?" asked Dementia, arching an eyebrow.

"Watch," Trixie said, holding her hands in front of her, "Darkness beyond Twilight, Brimstone beyond blood that flows, Buried in the stream of time is where your power flows."

"No, you can't mean," Dementia said, trembling as Trixie began her incantation. In fear the white unicorn began to back away.

I pledge myself to conquer all foes who stand, before the mighty gift bestowed into my unworthy hand, Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed, by the power you and I posses," Trixie smirked as she held her hands back, one upping the other. "DRAGON SLAVE!"

Dementia let out a scream of horror as she crouched in a vain attempt to get out of the way of the magical attack. After a few minutes of bright lights and a dull heat from a bright light, she got up to look on in shock at the absence of not only destruction, but of her two opponents. In their place, were two little plush dolls and two suckers. Growling, Dementia burned them.

As Trixie ran away, holding Rhymey's hand, the yellow alicorn smiled, "Thanks whoever you are. But what is Dragon Slave and do you really know it?"

"Trixie is a master of illusion spells, attacks like Dragon Slave are out of her great repository," Trixie said, running to a small broken house.

"Thanks by the way," Rhymey said, smiling.

Trixie said nothing, running to the base where her friends waited in the shadows. After guiding Rhymey into the house, Trixie ran to where her friends were hiding, "Ok, so where are the twins?

"I don't know, I tried to-"

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" Announced Dark Conquest as a large screen appeared in the sky. "You are probably wondering where the two stereotypes are at this moment, well... they are on the top of this building here! As a matter of fact, the fight with Raven is about to begin in earnest. Let's watch!"

With a snap of his fingers, the screen's vision turned to show the top of a building where Raven stood staring down at Dyno and Myte. The two brothers looked at one another before running towards her at top speed before jumped away at opposite sides, "Boom-

"-Boom Rockets!" called out each brother.

Raven let out a chuckle as she leapt away from the incoming twin fireballs, and as she floated, she rammed a forearm into Dyno's throat. Moving her hand to the back of his head, she dug in her claws and slammed his head into the concrete, "You know, shouting your attacks when the opponent is capable of fighting back and is close by is not a good strategy."

Myte charged at her and punched at her head, but she was able to dodge the blow in time. Myte then threw three punches at the grey demon, all of which she swiftly side-stepped out of the way. When Myte delivered a round-house kick, Raven blocked it with a raised knee, and then crescent kicked his shoulder. As he staggered from the blow, Raven clawed at his chest and stomach and chest. Then, with a quick spin, she delivered a back kick into Myte's body that sent him flying backwards.

AS he got back up, he watched in horror as Raven sashayed towards him, an air of confidence in her eyes. Growling the brown alicorn tried to punch at her, but Raven grabbed the fist and pulled it towards her, "But, that has always been a problem with you Starfleet twits, hasn't it? You go for the spectacle when you are fighting a horde of enemies, praying that your special moves will wow the bad guys. Then you let Lightning handle the monster of the day, hoping you had weakened him enough for him to do your dirty work. Even the greatest of warriors know," raising her arm above her head, she drove her elbow into Myte's arm, breaking it with a loud crack, "to put distance between you and your opponent before yelling your attacks." she then grabbed his broken arm and threw him to the ground.

Spinning around, she smiled at Myte as he struggled to get up, "Here, let me show you how to properly call out your attack in the middle of a fight." she chuckled as she blocked a series of punches and kicks from Dyno. On one of her blocks,. she dragged her claws across both sides of his face, cutting him deeply and drawing blood. As he screamed in pain, Reaven delivered five jabs into his body followed by a long slash across his chest. Then, digging her claws into his chest, she smiled and said, "Lightning Ball!"

Dyno's body exploded for a few seconds in a blast of white lightning that coursed along his body. Pulling her claw away,she drove a roundhouse kick into his side and sent him flying into the ground. Dyno moaned as he struggled to rise, his body spasming and his lungs coughing up blood. Raven's shadow loomed over his body as she raised her leg high and drove it into his back with a loud crack, "Aww," Raven chuckled, "I think I broke a rib, or two, or three," she said raising her leg again to drive her heel into his back again. Her ears twitched when she heard a shout.

"Boom -Boom flare!" Myte shouted, his body wining from his broken arm which hung limply at his side.

Raven shook her head as she held up her hand to block each shot of fire. Looking down at Dyno, there was a cruel smile on her lips as she ran at Myte. In desperation, Myte tried to roundhouse kick the grey demoncorn. With one hand, she grabbed the leg in mid-kick, while she raised her other arm into the air. With a crazed smile, she ran her elbow hard into his leg, breaking it with a loud crack. Myte looked down at his leg and saw with horror that a part of the femur was sticking out, the white of the bone covered in red blood. Myte let out an ear piercing scream as the shock from the compound fracture wore off and the pain finally set in.

Letting go of his leg, Raven struck twice with her forearm into Myte's stomach. Then, following a claw strike to his neck, she crescent kicked his neck, sending him to the ground. Dyno watched this beatdown with utter horror and shook his head. Struggling to stand he reached out with a hand, "N-no please. Not Myte, please, not my brother!"

"You know," Raven said, as she walked to the fallen Starfleet member and picked him up by his throat, and stared into the struggling Myte's eyes. "For the longest time, I began to think about how I was going to kill you. I first thought, why not do it at the same time, but no. Suffering is far more enjoyable when there is at least someone alive isn't it?"

"Please, don't kill me," whimpered Myte. "P-p-please. don't."

"Begging? You beg for your life?" Raven asked, disbelieving, "Twilight Sparkle showed far more bravery than you when she died."

"No, not my brother," whispered Dyno as he watched in frozen horror.

Raven smiled as moved her hand from his neck to Myte's chin. Then she placed her other hand onto the back of his head and with a quick twist of her hands, spun Myte's head with a loud snap, turning his head until it faced his back. As he fell to the ground, the light faded from his eyes as he hit the ground in a lifeless heap.

While Dyno looked on his lifeless and unmoving brother, tears began to roll down his cheeks uncontrollably as he screamed in silent terror at the loss of his brother. Down below, the rest of Starfleet watched in shock as their teammate was killed before their eyes. Artie stepped back, shaking as he shook his head in disbelief, in contrast to Buddy who fell down to his knees, trying his best to not to cry. Rhymey began to punch the ground in a futile rage, and Lightning stood there, stoic and emotionless. It seemed that the only one who watched the events that did not have a feeling of sadness or anger was Dark Conquest. "Ha, haha, AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"" he laughed uncontrollably, "Beautiful, wasn't it boys and girls. The death of an ally, and the loss of a loved one. But, I don't see why you're upset, you barely knew him. He was just that guy who had a fire power. I'm surprised that you're able to bring up enough memories to cry at all."

"You bastard!" Screamed Lightning.

"Yes, my mom raped my dad in order to have me, so you are right that I am in fact...a bastard. But then again, I'm not the one who taught these guys to only rely on you," chuckled Conquest. "But, hey, I'm not all bad. Raven, give our dear friends the corpse."

Raven nodded and teleported the body of Myte to the rest of Starfleet, just as Dyno was about to touch his brother's body. Raven then kicked Dyno in the ribs and sent him rolling to the side in pain. Nodding in content, Conquest teleported his men away, "And we are done here. And in case you are wondering, yes...this was my plan all along. To kill one of you, and yes...I was going to kill billions of men women, and children just to kill one of your team. It was kind of a fun hobby of mine. Now before I go, I have a message for Trixie Lulamoon," Conquest's eyes then narrowed, all mirth gone from their red haze, "Nice trick with the city, I'll remember it next time. But, if you ever try that again, I will find your family and kill one of them in front of you slowly. As for the rest of you, I have no idea who you are, but I will find out and when I do, you better pray for your families. Tata."

As his image disappeared, Trixie collapsed to her knees, her eyes looking on in shock as the results of her failure washed over her.

---

Let us leave this theater of war, for now, and instead join a calmer scene in New Canterlot. Where a train slowly rode and passed into a station, and five mares walked out. The first to step out was Belle Amie, and she quickly brought out a small device from her shorts' pocket. Following her out of the train were her four friends, each dressed in their casual attire for the Summer. Applejack stretched a little, her white t-shirt matching her curves, "So Belle, where is that device of yours saying where to head to next?"

Belle looked down at her tracking device, "According to this, the source of the magical drain is located underneath us."

"Underneath us? How is that possible?" Dash asked, taking to the air, her vest flapping in the breeze as she hovered above them.

Rarity let out a gasp, "The crystal caves. You remember, the ones that Twilight was strapped in during the wedding."

"That's right! From what Twilight said, you could hide an entire orchard in that place and nopony would find it," Applejack said.

Belle smiled, "I have been meaning to look at those caves since I read about them in a book. This will be quite interesting."

"Heh, that sounds like Twilight," Applejack chuckled as she walked next to Belle.

"It does?"

"Yeppers!" Pinkie said, bouncing just behind the group in her sundress. "Twilight would read about something and would want to explore it as soon as she could."

"Well, I am glad she and I have such similar pursuits. I have been finding out so much about her for the past few months that it's almost like I've met her," Belle said, smiling softly.

Patting Belle on the back of her shoulders, Dash remarked, "Hey, she would've loved to have met you. And don't start comparing yourself to her either, you're you and that's that."

Belle said nothing, but nodded in enthusiasm as she led the group through the streets of New Canterlot.

It was a both happy and uncomfortable feeling for the group as they made their way through on the streets. On the one hand, the group had a calm and relaxed feel about them now that their armor was safely tucked away in a small device, allowing for them to walk through the city in casualwear and enjoy the sights. However, now that they were in just their more casual attire, the Unicornicopians now treated them with the same disdain and disgust that they treated the Equestrians. Applejack put her hands into her jeans pockets as she could feel the leers and the snorts of disgust that came her way. Inside, she always knew that they were only tolerated because of their rank and not because of who they were as ponies.

Rarity too, felt this uncomfortable feeling as she looked at the way some of the nobel ponies would react when they were near a Unicornicopian. Who were once the top of society were quickly reduced to the ranks of commoners whenever a 'superior' Unicornicopian would pass their way. She even turned her head away in disgust when she saw a few Unicornicopians bully or treat their fellow civilians like slaves due to their lower rank. One Unicornicopian pushed a nobel to the ground and smirked. She tried to step forward and help, like a lady would. But a hand on her shoulder stopped her, "Don't, it's not right for a lady to get into a fight with a pony beneath her status."

Rarity turned to face the pony who stopped her and smiled when she saw the all to familiar face of, "Fancy Pants!"

"Ah miss Rarity, it is good to see you and your friends again," Fancy pants said, adjusting his monocle. Beside him a white unicorn mare held onto his arm.

"What brings you out here?" Fleur asked, smiling softly at the mare.

"Important business with my friends," Rarity said, noticing that the others had stopped and were waiting for her. "I am glad to see you and your wife out and about."

"Yes, I decided that me and the missus need some air. Far too long stuck up in our home and trying to help the Canterlot ponies," Fancy said, looking to the sight of an Equestrian bowing to an Unicorpian, and timidly walking away from him. "Disgusting is it not?"

"I agree," Rarity said, watching the scene. "They think that just because they have the superior power and training, that it gives them the right to force their ways up on us like we are children. As if they need to pull us savages out of the dark ages."

"And at the same time, they ignore our own beauty and culture," sighed Fleur. "It's like they think we were savages before they came along and had no idea how to live without them. That their way is the only way."

"IT is even harder on those who do not want the training," Fancy Pants said, pointing to a blue-green unicorn with an orange mane. "Her name is Sassy Saddles and she has problems trying out some of the training that Grand Ruler forces upon us. Thus, she is deemed unfit for work or desirable for a job. She can't fulfill her dream of working for a boutique like that. Now, I would help her, but I am awfully busy you see. However, if a mare, who I just found out is expecting and will need an assistant around her workplace..."

"My dear Fancy Pants, are you suggesting something to me. Was this meeting just an excuse to tell me bout her?" Rarity asked, smiling.

Fancy Pants chuckled, "Well, no. It was Fleur's."

The white unicorn smiled softly and took Rarity by the hand, "I heard about your expecting arrival and I thought it would be nice to do something for the mare who designed my wedding dress."

"You didn't need to go through all of this," Rarity smiled and hugged the fellow unicorn. "I would've done it if you had told me about her. Now, I need to rejoin my friends," the white unicorn took out a piece of paper and handed it to Fancy, "just let the mare know she can start working tomorrow."

Fancy Pants took Rarity by the hand and kissed it, smiling, "Dearest Rarity, you are truly a noble at heart."

Rarity blushed and walked back to where her friends had already began to walk away. As they walked, the only pony who seemed to be unaffected by the feeling of discomfort was Pinkie Pie. On the outside, at least. Down inside, she felt bad for the Unicornicopians who could not open up and just have fun rather than be so cold hearted to others. She would smile when she saw fillies and colts of both races playing with each other, and would make a move to play with them. She then quickly shook her head and continued to follow her friends out of the city proper and to the side of the mountain.

At the side of the mountain, the cave that led to the crystal cave opened before them like a maw ready to swallow them up. Belle felt a twitch of nerves causing her to shiver, but she quickly shook them off as she began to take a few steps forward, the others following close behind.

As they walked through the large cavern, the gems providing musical echoing to their footsteps, the mares looked at all of the crystals that reflected their images. The gems, in a weird way, helped to illuminate the cavern and made it easier for the mares to see where they were walking. Belle kept her eyes on the screen of her device, only to look up when she would hear a gasp from Rarity or a giggle from Pinkie Pie.

Applejack heard a sigh shiver from Rainbow Dash, "You ok Sugarcube?"

'Y-yeah, I'm fine." Rainbow Dash said, shaking off her friend's worry.

"You don't sound it," Applejack said, looking at Rainbow's shaking wings.

"Can't help it, it's just this cave, you know-"

"Claustrophobia," Belle said.

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash said, her eyes narrowed in anger, "I thought you guys were ok with me being bi!"

"Oh, no, not that," blushed Belle. "I mean that you have a fear of small places."

"Do not!" Dash argued, before crossing her arms and turning her head, "I just prefer to be out in the open is all."

This caused the group to giggle a little, and to help them ease their way through the dark cavern of gems. Pinkie, kept her mind busy with other subjects, "Hmmm, G-rare, Grarity, Charity-"

"What are you thinking about Pinkie?" asked the Rarity golem.

Pinkie put a finger to her chin, "What to call you. I mean, you are Rarity, but you aren't. I is kind of weird to call you both Rarity when the real one is back home."

"I think, Rarity would do just fine, my dear," Rarity's homunculus said with a warm smile. "But, um, thank you for thinking of me."

"Hey, everypony is my friend and I mean everypony," Pinkie said with a smile.

Belle smiled as she walked ahead, "Now, according to the radar there should be someth-oooooh," a light moan escaped her lips as she began to wave back and forth before falling to her knees.

Applejack made a few steps towards Belle, her fear making her forge caution. however, as she neared her friend, she too collapsed to the ground, "B-b-belllle," she droned, feeling weak in her legs.

"Applejack!" screamed Dash as she flew to be by her friend's side, only to fall down next. After she crashed, she struggled to get up, feeling the energy leave her body.

"Girls," Pinkie said, trying to make a step, but was stopped by Rarity's arm.

"Wait," she said, looking at her friends, "If you go then they might, oooooh," she then held her stomach.

"Rarity! what's wrong? Is it-"

"N-no, the baby's fine. But, it's something in this area that is affecting m-ahhhhh!" Rarity screeched,feeling a stomach pain wrack through her.

Pinkie Pie began to move and tried to help the other up, but soon she too collapsed, "Oh, so...hungry."

From all around them, three separate voices began to sing in unison. Their voices haunting and whispering, coming in on a low hiss upon the wind

Now you see us

Now you feed us

You can't stop this now

---

Fluttershy flew as fast as her wings could take her, pushing her body to the limit. Taking to the skies over Canterlot, she began to think to herself, "I know you locked and tried to ar me in my own home, Rhymey, but I won't let that stop me. You can't expect me to stay behind while my friends are in danger. And they are in danger, I know it!" Thought Fluttershy as she soared over the heads of the ponies below. She didn't know where the weighted feeling in her heart had come from, but she had felt it before.

On the day Twilight had died.

The moment she had felt this weight in her chest, she quickly had her animal friend break her out of her house and flew as fast as she could to Canterlot. Quickly her eyes began to scan the streets, the teal orbs looking down in a desperate attempt to find any sign of her wayward friends. Her face began to show signs of worry as she saw no sign of her friends.

Her flight took her to the side of Mount Canterlot, and the cave that led to the Crystal caves. Looking at the giant maw as if it would eat her, the buttery-yellow pegasus could feel her knees begin to shake and her legs start to buckle. Grasping at her suit's breastplate, she felt a strong desire to run away and go back home. Turning her head to look back over her shoulder, the feeling of wanting to run hit her harder. Then she shook her head, and looked back at the cave with her eyes narrowed in determination, "I can't leave them alone, no matter what. They need me, I can't be scared now." she whispered before taking flight and flying down the cave's labyrinth tunnels.

Everywhere she flew along the dimly lit tunnels, her ears would perk for the sounds of her friends. A tingly feeling went down her spine as her mind began to play with her fears. The idea of being lost in the caves and the fact that she could be wrong about her friends in danger danced through her. She shook those fears away, only wanting to find her friends.

It was a weak moan that attracted her attention and she quickly flew down the path. Heading down the long cavern, she hear the faint moans getting louder and louder until she reached a sigh that filled her with dread. Gasping in horror, she saw her friends laying on the sides of the caves walls, "Oh my!" she whispered as she flew to each mare, "Sunken eyes, tent skin," she said, looking at each body in turn. At one point she lifted up one of their arms to see how was so skeletal like, "You girls look like you've been starving."

Belle whimpered out in a soft voice, "Fluttershy,. be careful. They're Preta, a type of ghost that has been known to take away your fat and stomach, draining you dry."

Fluttershy looked to the grey unicorn with a scared look in her eyes, "What should I do?"

"No, Fluttershy," Rainbow Dash groaned. "Just go home and leave. Don't worry about us."

Fluttershy took a deep breath as she calmly said, "I will never do that. You know that Rainbow Dash. I just can'leave an injured pony behind."

Rainbow Dash was about to say more, but then smiled with confidence before leaning back, "Then what are you waiting for Flutters? Save us."

Fluttershy smiled, and turned to look for the ghosts as she heard Belle mutter, "If we had a gem, I could teach you an incantation to make it a soul gem and catch the ghosts."

A tinkling of a gem landing near Fluttershy alerted the girls, and Rarity smiled, as she moaned out, "I-I-I was planning on taking it home to use on some dresses. Thought it looked nice."

"It's perfect," Belle said, before looking to Fluttershy. "It's an old unicorn spell for when they needed to enchant ancient artifact. You need to find where the spirits are tethered and then slam the gem there. You need to yell out Anima Tantum when you do."

Fluttershy calmly nodded and picked the gem up in her hand, walking away from the group and deeper into the cave. She did her best to hide the shakiness in her legs, or let them see the sunkenness of her eyes. Walking alone through the cave, a sharp constant pain began to rack through her stomach. The pain seemed to increase as she made her way further and further down the cave's path. As she did, three haunting voices rang through her ear

Now you heed us

Come and feed us

You can't stop this now

For a few moments, Fluttershy stumbled and fell to her knees, her legs buckling under her weakness. With a trembling hand, she struggled to get back up and stand on her own two feet. Turning her head down at her hand, she let out a gasp of shock when she saw how much fat had been eaten away by the ghosts, now leaving behind loose skin and a skeletal looking hand. Turning her head away, she continued to walk forward. Only stopping when the pain at her side increased and she almost fell to her knees from the pain.

Why do you carry on

When so meak

Can't you see that you're weak?

Fluttershy panted a little as she got up and began to walk on, not noticing that her ribs were starting to show through her yellow flesh. For a few moments she had felt sick as she continued her journey.

Why do you try at all

Why can't you fall

Just go away!

"Because they need me," Fluttershy said with all the determination that her meek voice could muster. Taking several deep breaths, she pushed on, despite the pain in her side increasing to unimaginable levels. Every step she took, with every footfall, her body and side would be racked with pain. Again she stumbled and fell, her face hitting the cold cave floor beneath her. Somewhere, she could hear the faint echoing of laughter coming from the ghosts as the mocked her. Shaking, she lifted her head up to see the three ghosts looking down upon her with malice.

Her arm shaking, she struggled to use it to push herself up, much to the shock of the three ghosts before her. As she rose, she could feel the ghosts draining her, trying to suck her dry and make her waste away. If they had said anything more to her, she could not hear it, either because she was too weak to hear them or her mind forced the voices out, she did not know. Her eyes began to gare that the ghost's tether and slowly, she lifted up the gem with a quivering hand. Closing her eyes, she yelled out, "Anima Tantum!" and then there was a flash of bright light as she fell to the ground once more.

---

"Girls, I think she's waking up," Pinkie Pie said, her face inches away from Fluttershy's.

Wearily, Fluttershy smiled at Pinkie. "P-Pinkie, you're all right."

"Eeyup, thanks to you Fluttershy," Applejack smirked.

Rainbow Dash wiped some white frosting off her lips as she pumped the air, "Heck yeah, always count on Fluttershy to pull through when you need her."

As Belle helped Fluttershy up, the yellow pegasus shook her head, "No, it was nothing, really."

A white hoof came onto Fluttershy's shoulder as Rarity spoke to the blushing mare, "Fluttershy, you almost gave your life for us, That is a brave thing you did, no matter what you may say."

"T-thank you," it was then Fluttershy noticed the white frosting on the girl's lips. "Why do you h-have"

A cupcake in her hand interrupted her train of thought as Applejack chuckled, "Pinkie Pie figured we might be a little hungry, so she decided to feed us."

"But Pinkie, when did you find time to bake all of these?" Fluttershy asked as she lightly nibbled her treat.

"It's Pinkie...do you really have to ask?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No, I guess no," Fluttershy said with a shake of her head. Taking a quick look at Rarity, Fluttershy asked, "Is the-"

"Don't worry, even an energy drain like we were experiencing will just translate to magical feedback on Rarity's part. She just knows that I was feeling hungry and you were all saved by Fluttershy," Rarity smiled.

"Good, I just wanted to be sure that you were ok too," Fluttershy said.

"Me? But, I am just a golem," Rarity said, looking confused.

Fluttershy put a hand onto the golem's shoulder, "You're also a part of Rarity, that makes you just as much a friend to me."

"Um, excuse me. As much as I would love to have a conversation of what constitutes a living being, we still have a country to save," Belle said, walking ahead of the group an down the tunnel. The other five ponies nodded and followed close behind.

As they walked down the tunnel, past the many crystalline walls and spikes, the journey itself seemed to take on a much lighter tone now that the six were together. The crystals themselves seemed to be a little brighter, and the cave's feeling of dread seemed to be less than it was earlier. While the six still knew of the dangers that lay ahead of them, it did not seem to be on the forefront of their minds.

Rainbow Dash alternated between flying to stay with Belle to scout ahead of the group and then flying back to Fluttershy to talk with her for a bit. Fluttershy smiled when Dash would fly back to talk to her, and would also talk to Rarity. Rarity, for her part, would allow herself to become enamoured with the sights of the crystals that surrounded her. Pinkie Pie, in between her skips, would giggle when she passed by a crystal that would reflect her image in a strange way, or make her face look unusual. Applejack kept walking close behind Belle, being ever vigilant for another trap or attack. However, she would occasionally sigh in a contented manner, feeling a warm feeling her in her heart.

Rainbow Dash spotted a round room to the left of the tunnel ,"Hey Applejack., can we rest for a few secs? I am still feeling a little woozy after that drain."

Applejack saw the room and walked in, "Ah think we can spare a few seconds to rest. Come on," she said, leading the group into the room and leaned against the wall with her lead lowered.

Fluttershy took Dash by the hand a she led her friend into the room, "It's ok Rainbow Dash. You don't have to hide your claustrophobia from us."

Dash growled, "I am not afraid of small spaces! It's just that I am a pegasus and need the wide open sky above me. I just don't feel comfortable in closed caves like this."

Fluttershy sat Rainbow Dash down beside her, holding the cyan mare's hand, "Dashie...it's ok."

Rainbow Dash looked into the green eyes of her friend and sighed, "Ok, I'll admit it, I am a little afraid to be stuck down here. I've always felt a little nervous when I can't see the sky outside or have a place where I can fly free.."

"It's ok, Dashie," Pinkie said, witting with her legs stretched out and her back against the wall. "We can all be afraid sometimes. Like me, I'm afraid of Furbobs, they just creep me out."

Rainbow Dash chuckled, and then turned to look at Fluttershy, "Hey, Flutters, sorry for trying to get you to leave. I was just-"

Fluttershy interrupted with a finger to her friend's lips, "Shhh, it's alright. You were just worried about me.I'd rather have you girls be worried for me than to treat me like some fragile doll."

"We would never think that of you dear. Why you are one of the strongest ponies we know, even more so than Dash," Rarity said, and watched as Rainbow Dash nodded in agreement.

Fluttershy blushed as she and hid behind her mane, "Oh, I don't think that I am-"

"Yah,, those Starfleet sillies don't know what they're talking about when they say that you're a weak scaredy crybaby who runs away from a fight all of the time," Pinkie Pie said, waving her hand. "They didn't see you when you did something worse than kill a dragon, you made him run home crying to his mommy."

Rarity giggled, "Quite, and let's not forget going into the forest on your own to save the Crusaders from that basilisk."

"And wrasslin' a bear," Applejack said with a tip of her hat.

"And let's not forget, being the only one who believed that she could redeem Discord when we all told her no. Standing up to us and staying strong in your beliefs...that takes more courage than anything you can imagine. Pretty cool in my book," Rainbow Dash said, winking at her longtime friend. "Those Starfleet morons act like they only knew you from one meeting and used that one time to let their whole idea about you cloud their minds. They only pick one part of you to judge you. They don't know about your strength, your kindness, or any of your better qualities. The ones that make you a great pony."

"Y-y-you, really think that about me?" Fluttershy asked, looking at all of them. To which, they nodded, and this Fluttershy to hid behind her mane, blushing a little at the compliments, "Um, thank you. You guys are-"

"You don't need to say it, we know," Rainbow Dash smiled and was the first to hug the yellow pegasus, followed by Rarity and Pinkie Pie.

Belle coughed, "Um excuse me, but I must interrupt this embracing segment with an announcement," she said, keeping a book open. I think I may have discovered what is causing this. It's called the orb of famine, an ancient object made back when the three tribes were separate."

"Orb of famine?" Applejack asked, raising her hat a little to look at Belle.

"Yes," belle began, "Long ago, back when the three tribes were separate, Earth pony Alchemist and technicians made this orb to help with unicorn and pegasi population issues. Just in case they ever went to war with the other two tribes. They take a bit of unicorn or pegasus dna, place with within the orb, and activate it in a town or city. It then begins to feed upon the food and bodies of the town, sucking them dry. It starts with the strongest of the town, and works it way to the weakest of the members. It's slower on the weaker ponies, and by the time that the strongest dies, it leaves behind the weaker ponies with no food and a host of dead ponies behind in it's wake."

"Then they could take over the unicorn town at their leisure," Rainbow Dash said.

Rarity gasped, "Can earth ponies really create such a thing?"

"It' s possible, "Applejack said, "Never underestimate earth pony ingenuity and skill."

Pinkie Pie decided to change the subject and look up at the crystal stalactites above their heads, the crystals shining and twinkling, "It's nice...isn't it?"

"Yeah," Applejack said, forgetting about the orb for a second, "Like the night sky."

"Not that, silly willy. This, all of us, sitting together," Pinkie smiled. "Going off, finding some threat that is troubling Equestria, fighting some meanie, it's like old times," Pinkie said, smiling softly.

Applejack sighed and looked up at the roof, smiling contently, "Yeah, Ah guess it kind of is. No monster of the week bothering us, no having to let Lightning fight a battle for us, and none of that other crud. Just the six of us traveling to a far off part of the world to save the day."

"Yeah! We never really needed all of that stuff. The transformations, armor, and the constant fighting," Rainbow Dash said, getting back up and walking across the floor, kicking a small pebble, "We just needed each other and a smell adventure to keep us going. Heck, it didn't even need to be a big monster to be awesome, sometimes it could be just us having a problem and solving it. Heck, all of those big adventures made the small ones all the more fun."

"But, when you faced those big adventures, weren't you scared that you might die?" Fluttershy asked.

Dash shrugged, "Hey, it's always a fear, right. But, as long as it was with the girls I cared the most about and I had a good time, I couldn't care less."

"Life doesn't need to be constant battles against a big meanie to be fun and exciting," Pinkie said. "I think it's just as exciting to spend the day laughing with my best friends."

Applejack nodded and moved away from the wall, "And if we are going to continue to have adventures with each other, we better get moving." she said, walking away. The others nodded in agreement, and Belle was the first to take point as she left the team away from the room. As she continued to walk, her mind began to think, "It attacks the strongest first. It probably attacked me first because I was the first one to walk within those ghosts range. I mean, technically I am the weakest of the group."

A groan came from Rainbow Dash that interrupted the thought process of Belle, "What's the point of going any further. We're just going to get lost. Girls' I'm sorry I'm just a bonehead!"

Applejack collapsed to her knees, "No, it's all mah fault. Ah should've just sent two of yo ahead and kept the rest as back up. Ah'm such a loser!"

"What are you talking about App-no, you're wrong. It's me," Belle said, falling to the side of the cave.

Fluttershy said nothing, instead choosing to collapse to the ground and whimper. Rarity turned her head away and began to cry, "I'm just a golem. Go and leave me."

Pinkie ood there, watching in curiosity at her friends, "What is wrong with you girls? Oh, I get it! We're playing at depressing feelings. Ok, Um, I want to roll over and just be a toaster!"

"They are not playing,": said a deep low voice from the shadows, his words coming out at a slow tempo. "They are feeling the effect of me."

"And who are you?" Pinkie Pie asked, looking at the slitted eyes within the shadows.

"I am a spirit of depression," the ghostly being said, bowing before the pink mare. "Now answer me this," a wispy hand pulled itself from within the shadows and ran its claws through Pinkie's mane, lightly touching her face, "Why are you not succumbing like your friends."

Pinkie Pie giggled, "Because I'm not really depressed, silly. I don't see the point in it."

"Then you are a fool, a naive fool," the ghost whispered, "Surely you must see the darkness of the world, how sad and miserable things are, and how bleak life is."

"Well of course I know about the bad stuff, I'm not stupid," Pinkie Pie said, shaking her head. "But, I don't think life is ever really as bleak as ponies may think it is. I think the world can be a wonderful place if you know where to look."

"How? With so much pain and darkness in this world, how can you think everything will be a bright and sunny day," the spirit asked.

"Simple," Pinkie said, sitting down with her legs outstretched, "I just find the happiness in the small things; a bright sunny day, a tasty cupcake, a filly's laughter, a hug from my sisters, and a wink from my pet alligator."

The spirit grumbled, "And that makes you think that the world can be a wonderful place? No, you are wrong! There are some things that you can never change, ponies cannot change, and to do will only get you broken in the end. The reality is that this world is a horrible place, and you should give up."

Pinkie blew a raspberry and waved her hoof, "That's not reality, that is only what you think reality is. The truth is that the world can be a lot more fun if you let it. Like me! I believe that you can find a little bit of hope in the worst of times. It's why I am so happy, so I can give my friends that kind of hope."

"I wouldn't know,. I never had any friends," the host said.

Pinkie Pie let out a gasp, "Wait a second," turning around, she ran to Rarity's side and brought out the soul gem carrying the three hunger ghosts. Running back, she gave the spirit the gem. "These guys are trapped inside of this gem, but if you hold it tight, you can talk to them. I bet you never did when you were in the orb."

"Well, no but I-"

"Well, then there you have it, four new friends," Pinkie said, smiling.

"Four?" the spirit asked, and then smiled softly a s Pinkie put a hoof onto his hand.

"Me," Pinkie said. "I am your friend."

"B-but, if you stop the orb, I will be sealed away. Then I will be lonely again," the spirit said.

Pinkie Pie smiled, "Then I will find you and visit you. Then we can talk and play together. I could even tell you more about how great the world is."

"You would do that for me?" the spirit asked, as the other mares got up.

"Yep! Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," Pinkie Pie aid, doing the motions before winking at the ghost.

The ghost then stepped to the side, "Then go, the orb is just down this path."

Nodding, the girls went past the large black being. As they passed and made their way out of earshot, the girls all broke out in cheers and hugs, all directed towards Pinkie Pie, "And that girls, is why we bring her along!" Applejack said, patting Pinkie on the back.

"Heck yeah," Rainbow Dash said, high-fiving the pink earth pony.

"Indeed," Rarity smiled as she hugged Pinkie. "I knew if we had faith in her, we would be ok."

Belle cocked her head to one side, "so, you never felt the ghost's effects, not for one second. Do you now know what depression is?"

"Well, sure," Pinkie shrugged, "But then...I remember that getting upset and depressed doesn't really do anything in the end."

"Besides, you can never really be down if we're around, right?" Fluttershy said, smiling at her friend

As Pinkie Pie shook her head, Applejack leaned in to whisper to Belle, "Ah've only seen Pinkie really depressed when Twilight died. Since then, she's been really good at hiding it and holding it in. She like to make everypony happy, even when she can't."

Belle nodded in understanding and began to walk forward, noticing that a faint magical trail began to flow off the bodies of the bearers of the elements. As she walked away, the energy began to become more clear and more present. Once they had stepped into the final room, they could see the orb floating in mid-air hovering as it took into the magical energy of the five mares "Who are you!?"

The six mares turned to the source of the voice as she stepped out into the bright light of room, seeing a cream colored unicorn with a two toned red and blue mane walking before them, "We're-" Applejack began but was interrupted by the mare's soft voice.

"Wait, I know you. You're her friend, Twilight's friends," the unicorn said, adjusting her broken glasses.

"Yeah, we are, and you are?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

Pinkie Pie gasped and pointed at the unicorn, "You're Moondancer!"

"Moondancer?" asked Rarity.

"Minuette told me about her. She was one of Twilight's old classmates, back when she was a little grump and didn't like making friends. She-"

"I was convinced by Minuette to have a party in order to extend my hoof in friendship,and make some friends. However, the one mare that I wanted to come, the mare that I thought was actually my friend...abandoned me," Moondancer said, lowering her head and turning away, tears welling up in her eyes. "I thought she, of all ponies would come to my party, but she instead went off to save the world. So, I figured if friendship just led to more heartbreak that I would just shield myself away and never try again. But had hope, maybe I could see her again."

"Then you found out Twilight had died," Belle whispered.

The tears, which Moondancer held back, began to flow more, "I broke when the news came. All of the hate just seemed to leave me and I hid myself away even more. I didn't eat, sleep, or do anything else., even going to the library felt empty then. Then someone in a black cloak came to me about two months ago. He gave me the orb and said that I could use it to bring back Twilight Sparkle."

"Did this guy give you a name?" Applejack asked.

Moondancer shook her head, "No, he just said that he was a friend that wanted to see Twilight return as much as I did."

"Wait, so how was this orb supposed to bring back a pony from the dead?" Rainbow Dash asked, disbelief in her voice.

"According to him, it would use the combined magic from the elements to call her soul back from the Elysium fields. Then, the rest of the magic would cast a new body for her, like a golem," Moondancer said, looking as the orb continued to glow as it stood on a pedestal.

Rarity shook her head, "While it is possible to put a captured soul into a glem, using that as a way to resurrect a pony seems impossible."

"I...I know that now," sighed Moondancer," But the chance to bring back Twilight, to see her again, and say I'm sorry for ever hating her was too tempting. So, I gathered the DNA of the six bearers of the elements to activate the orb."

"Wait, how did you-"

Moondancer interrupted Applejack, "It wasn't hard to get the DNA of the six, five of you did give blood two months ago. As for Twilight, I found a brush of hers in her old tower. See, the orb uses the DNA of the ponies you want to target as a way to identify what you want to drain, and that is what I used."

"But, it was modified wasn't it?" Belle asked, "Whoever gave you the orb, made it so it would drain magic instead of our bodies".

Moondancer nodded solemnly, "I didn't realize until just a while ago what it was doing to the ponies of Equestria. I...I...I tried to stop it, but no matter what I did, I couldn't break the spell or the orb!" the cream-colored unicorn then collapsed to the ground, crying hard. "This isn't what I wanted!. I just wanted to see her again!"

"Why can't you break it?" asked Applejack.

"it can only be broken by the pony who DNA is serving as a catalyst. That means one of you will have to break it. There is a catch, however."

""What kind of catch," Rarity asked.

"If you break it, it will release all of the trapped magic back to the ponies of Equestria, but since it's your magic that is serving as a catalyst, it will end up destroying you Valkarie modes n the process."

"How?" Applejack asked.

Belle stepped forward, a finger on her chin, "Your magic is what is holding that orb together right now. It is the power of the Valkyrie that is keeping the orb's power in place right now. So, in order to destroy the orb and unleash the trapped magic, you have to-"

"Destroy the source"! Rainbow Dash said.

As they looked at the orb in shock, Applejack was the first to speak, "So, we have a choice, we can either get-" before she could finish her sentence, a loud crash was heard. Turning towards the sound, Applejack saw Pinkie Pie standing next to the destroyed orb with a large hammer, "Pinkie! You didn't even let me give y'all a choice!"

"Aw, you had already made your decision already," Pinkie said, twirling her hammer for a second and resting it on her shoulders, "That Valkyrie mode was pointless and useless anyway."

"Yeah, but Ah at least wanted us to pretend we cared about that mode first, Applejack chuckled as the magic flowed from the orb and back into er. "Ah feel stronger already!"

Rainbow Dash watched as the magic continued to flow out from the broken orb, flowing out from the cave and into the wider world of Equestria,. Dash pumped the air as she felt a jolt of energy, "Aw, yeah! Rainbow Dash is back to full power!"

As the girls watched in awe at the slowly returning magic, they could hear the sobs of the young unicorn to their right. Turning around, they watched as Moondancer held her head low and her arms extended, "I realize what I did was horrible, that I could probably never be forgiven for almost destroying the foundations of United Equestria. I am ready to accept whatever punishment that you may have for me."

"Ok girls, huddle!" Applejack ordered, bringing the six ponies around in a circle. "We aint about to let Grand Ruler get his grubby little mitts on her. This is Equestria business, and we take care of our own."

"Besides, if we let that monster take her, he'll kill her before she is given a fair trial. Or worse, end up like Ace Ray, or imprisoned without a chance to redeem herself. We can't let that happen."

"Yes, but we cannot forget that she almost destroyed the magic of all Equestrians," Belle said, looking at each mare in return.

Pinkie Pie looked back at Moondancer before looking back into the circle with a frown, "But, she did it to bring back Twilight."

"And if we were given a chance, wouldn't we risk anything to bring her back?" Fluttershy asked. In response, nopony said nothing, just giving a silent nod and letting the silence linger between them.

Rainbow Dash was the first to speak up, "So, what should we do?"

"What would Twilight do?" asked Belle.

Applejack sighed, "She would try and be like Celestia, kind and just."

"She would look at all sides of the issue, and try to figure out the best way to handle it," Pinkie Pie smiled.

Rarity nodded, a soft smile on her lips, "She would think about the possibilities and think about what is the best on."

"She would listen to her heart, because she has learned to trust it," Fluttershy said with a soft smile.

"And then, find a way to make it so we all came out of this happier," Dash smiled.

"Ah think we have a plan." Applejack said, before whispering to the others, who all nodded in agreement. Applejack then turned to face Moondancer, "Moondancer, you have been found guilty of trying to destroy United Equestria fro your own goals. And we can't let this go unpunished. So, we have decided to pass sentence upon you."

"I'm ready," Moondancer odded and waited.

"You are being exiled to the Crystal Empire, where you are being put under advisory watch. You will be put under house arrest and will work under the eye of Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor. You will work in the Empire's library where you will help the army by looking up every single piece of information you can find on Dark Conquest. You will look for lore, legends, and anything you can find. "

Pinkie Pie leapt in, "And to make sure you will follow your punishment, we will assign somepony to watch over you on a weekly basis. Will have Minuette, Lemon hearts, and Twinkleshine to watch you and to make sure you are on the straight and narrow path."

"And under no circumstances are you to leave the empire, but you can stay in the capital until which time we deem you ready to come back," Rainbow Dash finished.

As the circumstances of Moondancer's punishment came over her, she began to smile wide in amazement at what she was going to sentenced to and tears of happiness began to flow from her eyes. Whimpering and smiling, the cream-colored unicorn ran and gave Applejack a hug, "Oh thank you, thank you! I...I didn't deserve-"

"Pinkie Pie joined in the hug, followed by Rarity. Fluttershy put a hoof onto Moondancer's shoulder, "You were misguided, but what you did...you did because of a dear friend. We, would've done the same. Twilight is a dear friend to all of us. I know I would've given up my life for her."

"We all would've, "Rainbow Dash said, hugging Moondancer. "And anymare that Twilight would've considered a friend, is a friend to us."

"You guys...I can see why Twilight would've considered you her dearest friends," Moondancer said, wiping a tear from her eyes.

Belle took a tentative step forward, but was immediately grabbed by Pinkie Pie and taken into the hug.

---

It took a few hours for the bearers, Belle, and Moondancer to exit the Crystal caves. Then Fluttershy quietly lead Moondancer to a waiting train that would take them to the Crystal Empire. The bearers and Belle smiled at each other as they watched their two friends walk away and began making their way back to the city of Canterlot. They then stopped when they saw the members of Starfleet march sullenly by them towards the castle, "Hey, what's up with them?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"Ah don't know, it looks like somepony died," Applejack said, trying her best to get a look at the marching group. "Come on, let's follow them. the others nodded in agreement.

From within a nearby tower, Luna watched the procession with a frown, "Spark, report."

Spark frowned and shook her head as she bowed, "While I can confirmed that we saved all of Detrot from destruction...we have sustained one casualty. Myte died in the battle afterwards."

Luna's face remained stoic as she watched the team walk into the courtyard, "I see, and why is it you that is giving the report and not Trixie?"

"She did not take the failure well," Spark said. "The moment we reached headquarters she locked herself into her room and has not come out since."

"Give her a day, and f she is not yet recovered, try and talk to her," Luna said with a sigh.

"Yes your majesty," Spark said. "May I ask, are you worried for Trixie?"

"Trixie is a strong mare, I believe she will recover in time," Luna said with a hand on her chin. "It is Starfleet that I am worried about. They care so little about Twilight's death because they care little about the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Going so far as to blame her for her own demise. But to suffer the death of one of their own, in such a fashion...I fear they may not be able to handle it."

Down in the courtyard, the bearers watched as the five remaining members of Starfleet walked to a small dias. Dyno walked up in front of the group and to the dias, laying his fallen brother down, "Oh no..." Applejack whispered as she saw the bloodied corpse of Myte. "Myte. Dyno Ah-"

But Applejack was interrupted by Lighting as he walked to the sobbing Dyno, placing a white hand onto the brown Unicornicopian's shoulder, "Dyno, I understand you pain but you mu-"

Dyno growled as he felt the hand on his back, and balled his hands up into fist, and began to shake his head in pure rage, "Would you just shut up!" he said, swatting Lighting's hand away. "What do you know about losing someone that is close to you? All you ever did was lose your whole planet, something that only hurts you when you feel like it should! This is my twin brother we're talking about, something far more precious to me than your stupid planet! I know what you are going to say," Dyno said, putting a finger to Lighting's chest and pushing him back, "That I will get over this one day, that it will be all right, or that this is somehow his fault! Well, guess what, you don't get over a death by pinning the blame on someone or with a few words, and you don't let it affect you just when it starts to hurt you or if it's for your sake. This is something that hurts forever."

"Dyno, please calm down.

Your mind is not sound." Rhymey said, holding up his hands.

"You stay out of this, all of you!" yelled Dyno, his tears unable to stop flowing, "This is all of your faults! ALL OF YOU! He...he didn't even want to be in Starfleet anymore, he just wanted to mess around with his chemicals and live a quiet life. But no, you thought because we saved your lives that one time, that we would be perfect to work with you! Well, we're not! You kept forcing us into your STUPID FIGHTS!"

"Dyno, this isn't-" Artie began, but was interrupted by Dyno.

"OH, look at this, one of the two idiots learn to speak. How does it feel to be in the background, both of you?" he asked, glaring daggers at Buddy Rose and Artie. " Neither of you really do much, you just sit back and let the brave and mighty Lightning Dawn take care of it all. And as for you, you controlling piece of shit," Dyno said, glaring at Rhymey, "You are so stupid, that you don't even know why people hate your rhyming so much! It isn't that you speak in rhymes, it's that all of us want you dead for have badly you suck at it! Heck, me and my brother made fun of you all of the time."

"Dyno, this is insubordination, you better," Lightning began, but was quickly punched in the face by a right hook from Dyno.

"I thought I told to shut up," Dyno said, his eyes red with a mix of tears and rage. "You, you are the worst of all of them. Always preaching about Grand Ruler's gospel like it is the most holy thing and we should always kowtow to it. 'Friendship is foolish', 'You can only rely on yourself' 'We are strong and right' 'The real power is in believing.' Well, believe in what? I believed in my love for my brother and in you to save both of us and where is he now? Dead..."

Dyno shuddered, the tears long since stopped, "...he's dead, my brother's dead and it's all your fault! Because you are such a lousy leader, teammate, and friend. No...we're not friends, we never were. Because if we were really friends, you would've done more."

"No, I couldn't. There was nothing I could do. Nobody knew just how strong Raven is and we had to stay away because of ho-"

"OH SPARE ME ALL OF YOUR BULL! You know what a true leader would've done? What a real hero would've done? He would've had the balls to go through hell and high water to rejoin me and my brother, and would've done ANYTHING to help us fight! But no, you did nothing, just like with Twilight Sparkle, you had all of that power and did nothing."

Looking over his shoulder, he smiled softly at the bearers of the elements, "You know, they have a right idea. Friendship, is truly a power. They would've gone through hell to join up with each other to fight down a monster that they knew was stronger than them. Then, together, they would fought together and stopped whoever was attacking."

"That's crazy," Lightning shook his head.

"Is it?" growled Dyno. "All we have done as a team is just attack the henchmen while you go around and wave your latest attack of the day to defeat the bad guy. We are just there to make you look good. Even when they are backing Twilight up, they know she is nothing without them. Without us, you are still Lightning. And that is just pathetic." looking at his Starfleet insignia, he ripped it off and began to walk away," I'm done."

"Done with what?" Lightning asked, getting back up.

"With all of this, I'm done with Starfleet, I'm done with this 'team', and I'm done with you," Dyno said, glowering over his shoulder at his now former captain. "Have fun guys, I hope you live through this war."

As he walked away, Lightning made a step forward, "Dyno? Dyno?! Dyno, you get back here! You can't leave Starfleet like this!"

As he stepped forward, Buddy Rose stopped Lightning with a vine whip, tying him up and pulling him back. Then he shook his head and said quietly, "No." Artie watched all of this and turned his head away, a single tear rolled down his cheek as he turned away.

Applejack stood in front of Dyno, "Dyno..."

"Don't try and say to me that it'll be alright, Applejack. Please I-" instead of a speech, he felt the orange mare's arms wrap around him in a tight embrace.

"Ah know what it's like to lose somepony you love, and how hard it is to deal with a family member's death. That's why Ah told myself Ah would never cry again after my parents died," Applejack said, her eyes the very image of seriousness, "But you don't have to. If you have anymore tears, let them out now Ah won't stop you, just cry."

Just when he thought that he had no more tears to cry, the warm embrace of his fellow pony convinced him to cry once more. His tears never stopping as he began to cry into Applejack's shoulder, his words broken up by frequent sobs, "I miss him Applejack. I want my brother alive again. I want him back."

"Ah know...Ah know, Applejack said calmly as she rubbed his back.

Pinkie Pie then hugged Dyno, "If you need somepony to talk to-"

"I...I know," said Dyno, sniffing and smiling. "Pinkie...no, Bearers of the Elements, never lose this." he then pointed out at Applejack's heart, "Never lose the bond of friendship that you have. It's stronger than you know." and with that, he walked away.

Applejack looked down at her heart and then back to Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Bell, "I don't think we ever did."

---

Within the dimension that Conquest had made his home, the black alicorn sat upon a throne made of broken ponies, holding a glass of wine in his hand, "And thus, one of Starfleet has fallen. Killed, by our lovely Raven and for all the world to see. Starfleet is now in mourning. It would be a real dick move if I were to attack right now," so," he then drank his wine slowly, "I won't."

He then jumped off the throne and onto a large stage where he faced his entire army, "I'll do the next best thing! Ladies and Gentlemen, One of the members of Starfleet is dead and another has run away! It's time now to celebrate! Beer, Pizza, and Drinks are all on me!" he said, throwing his hand up into the sky, causing the entire auditorium to become awash in bright lights while a dance tune began to play. "Tonight, let us party! Drink, eat, be merry, and make love with your significant other! For tonight, we have begun the fall of Starfleet!"

"Yeah!" cheered a changeling.'

"All hail Conquest!" shouted a minotaur.

A boar shook his head as he kissed his mate, "No, long live Conquest!

"All hail Conquest, long live Conquest!" came the cheers.

Dark Conquest smiled as he drank his wine and looked over his shoulder, "Oh, come o. You knew this was coming. It was just a question of who was going to die first."

Deep within the dungeons of Conquest's base, Starla sat in her bed, looking at the door, shuddering. She knew that he was coming for her, he told her that he was. She began to tremble as she heard footsteps coming closer, and she slowly backed away on the bed. Whimpering, she closed her eyes and turned away as the door opened, "Please, Celestia, Grand Ruler no. Don't come near me again. I'm sorry, please don't touch-"

"OH, shut up," rolled Dementia's eyes as she said this, before sitting on the bed. Carefully she sat down with Starla, "It ain't the leader. It's me. The big dork is too busy partying up there to even think about you tonight.

Starla breathed a sigh of relief as she sat on the bed," Thank goodness. What, are they partying about up there?" she asked, her voice now soft and calm, gone was her usual strength.

"That's what Dark Conquest wanted me to tell you," Dementia said looking down and sighing, "Your teammate, Myte, is dead."

Starla pulled back and gasped, shaking her head in disbelief. Then she began to feel her eyes fill with water, "N-n-no, it can't be. But you're right. you must be telling the truth, because that's why he would send you to tell me this news and himself. Because he...he knew I would never believe him, he would lie to me just to torture me. Oh, god...Myte." she then began to cry onto Dementia's shoulder.

Dementia was taken back by this sudden contact, and then calmly placed a hand onto Starla's back, hugging her former enemy gently, "Yeah, it was pretty gruesome. Be glad you didn't see it."

"He's right," sobbed Starla, he tears wetting Dementia's shoulder.

Dementia looked down, "Who is?"

"Dark Conquest," sniffled Starla. "He-he said I didn't care enough about my friends, to give a crap if one of them died, and he's right. I-I-I had to remind myself who Myte was just to actually care about him."

"Well, it's going to be ok kid, really-"

Another sob from Starla interrupted Dementia, "I can't remember them. I can't remember what my team looks like beyond Lightning. Oh god, he's going to kill my entire team, and I don't even know who they are."

"Kid, it can't be all that-

"I'm a monster! An unrepentant, horrible monster who can't remember her friends," Starla's sobs came uncontrolling now, flowing down her cheeks like rivers.

"Now wait, kid," Dementia said, looking down at the crying Starla, "You ain't a monster. We are working for a monster, but you are not a monster." A chuckle then escaped Dementia's lips, "You know, it's funny. Back when we first met, I hated you. I don't know why, I just did, I hated your guts. And when I came back, I was still in that state, and I like it. I hated your perfect little form, and your perfect features. I hated your perfect attitude and the way that you were basically Lighting's little toy, I hated it all and wanted you dead. I thought you were just a worthless little creature that needed to die. But now...

She paused and sighed as she looked at Starla, running her white hand through Starla's purple hair, "...Now, all I can see is a broken little girl who needs someone right now to protect her. That needs a comforting hand. I guess what I am saying is, I'm sorry. And I think, I'm starting to care for you, a little."

The only sound that came from Starla now, was a light snoring, "Cried herself to sleep. The poor thing, I guess living in hell does that to you," softly, Dementia got up from the bed and laid down the white unicornicopian. Gently, she tucked her in, lifted up the purple hair and kissed Starla's forehead, "Goodnight kid."

"Don't let me sleep alone," whimpered Starla in her sleep.

Dementia shook her head, her light red man waving in time with her movement, "Sure, you deserve at least one good night's sleep," and then she slipped quietly into Starla's bed and snuggled close to her old rival. Smiling a little, she wrapped her arms around Starla's body and held her body close. AS Starla began to sleep, Dementia smiled, "Sleep well kid."

Over the course of the war, Starla will forever say, that this was one of the greatest nights of sleep she had.

---

Gilda sat in the hut where Ace Ray rested, grumbling to herself, "Can you believe this? Rainbow Dash and Pinkie put me on watch duty because they had something to do! Don't they think I can help too?" she grumbled as she began to drink a can of soda. "I swear, it feels like I can't do anything to help my best friend. Do you know how annoying that is?"

Ace Ray said nothing, looking to Gilda, his head leaning on his shoulder.

"No, of course you wouldn't, Let's just say it's annoying. I just wish I could do something to help," growled Gilda.

"Gr-gr-griffon?" stuttered Ace Ray.

Gild looked shocked, "Hey, you can talk. But the name's not griffon. It's Gilda."

""Gilda? Gilda!" smiled Ace Ray.

Gild smiled and then held up her claw in a fist, "Yeah, the name's Gilda, and I'm a friend."

"Gilda," Ace Ray smiled, pumping his hafist to Gilda's "Friend."

"Yeah...that's right," Gilda smiled, "Friend."

Oh, this chapter...how much it changed from concept to finished product, and considering its length, you be surprised at what changed.

In the original draft, it was to be that Dyno and Myte were to die, killed by Demintia as she cuts them down for being sterotypes. Heck, Dyno was going to be cowardly and beg for his life after saying something about, "mi Hermano." But then I thought about something, I know a lot of people would be cheering for the death of Starfleet, that the deaths would be something ot look foraward to. Then, I got worried that when I did, nobody would care. And what is worse than a bad death? A death that no one cares about. So I decided to build it up a little and wok with these characters. Heck, it alos led to the villians getting some character development as well. Then I thought, "Wouldn't it make for a better story if Dyno was left as an only child. To really hurt Starfleet by killing one off and let the other one quit?" So, I did. this is why Myte didn't have any lines and didn't do much until now. I wanted to focus on the other twin instead.

As for how Moondancer came into play. I had found out something cool about Conquest, oh not the character, but about his idea. It was someting that some fellow writers brought up and I had to put it in. And, when I saw Amending Fences, I knew she just had to appear and get screen time. This also gave me a chance to show how much one death can affect people. Even if they aren't well known, a singe life can affect many over time. So, I put in moondancer to help push that idea through.

Other note, Dimentia is quickly becomeing my favorite general to write for.I just love giving her layers, showing off her personality, and giving her a chance to shine.

Other note, I didn't know if I was goign to haveFlutters here, but I decided she needed her moment of awesome in this chapter. As well as Pinkie Pie.