The battle in the void had taken an unexpectedly sharp turn for the worse. The three equestrian-based, semi-omnipotent beings could only watch as their companion was suddenly and brutally assaulted, a great cheer rising up from the crowd gathered around him with each blow the newcomer landed.

“Mars, please! Let’s…” a fist smashed against Swarm’s head, followed by a rising knee kick to his nose. “What has happened to you!? Talk to me!” The man in silken clothing gasped as the newcomer grabbed him by his shirt collar and threw him into the air with all his might.

The newcomer just kept on with that insane, terrible grin as he leapt high into the air and slammed into Swarm’s chest, bringing the soles of his black leather boots down as hard as he possibly could. “Please, Marsy! Just say something!” Swarm hacked, his chest wracked with pain.

“Oh, I’m through with that, daddy-dearest!” Mars replied, bringing the heel of his boot down on Swarm’s face. “I’m done being the obedient son! It’s time for me to write my own destiny!”

“Is that what this is about!?” Swarm screamed, grasping Mars’ boot and flipping him on his back to regain some footing. “A cry for independence!?”

“Oh, this is so much more than that, father,” Mars leapt to his feet, grabbed Swarm by the throat, and slammed him against the ground, a cheer rising as the air around them seemed to ripple from the sheer force of the blow.

“Then what is it about, Mars?” Swarm rasped, his throat ravaged by the blow.

“It’s about taking our rightful place in creation,” Mars replied, standing over Swarm and raising his fists to the crowd. “It’s about ruling over a universe populated with the right species, the ones who deserve to live!”

Another cheer rose up from the crowd as he continued: “It’s about allowing the one true law of nature to retake its rightful precedence in reality.”

“And what would that be, Mars?” Swarm asked, dreading the answer.

“Might versus right, of course,” Mars straightened up again to address the crowd: “If the weak were truly meant to survive, then why were they made to be weak!?”

“Here, here!” A man screamed from the crowd, which roared its approval.

“Why should the strong devote themselves to protecting the weak!?” Mars continued. “Is that not a massive waste of resources? Of time better spent progressing the species further and extending its dominion?”

“YES!” The crowd bellowed.

“AND IS NOT THE DEATH OF THE WEAK THE ONLY THING WHICH ALLOWS FOR EVOLUTION TO TAKE HOLD!? IS THAT NOT THE DEFINITION OF NATURAL SELECTION!?”

Once again, the crowd roared. Mars spread his hands out and gazed down at Swarm. “You see? They understand. They get it. That’s why I’ve chosen them to act as my starting point. It’s because they understand that they will win.”

“Win what, Mars?” A frantic look entered Swarm’s tired, beaten eyes. “What have you done?”

“Only what you should’ve done all those years ago, when you first discovered what you were,” Mars said accusingly. “I’m building an empire, one which will stand for eternity, spanning millions of Earths and thousands of Equestrias and billions of little worlds in between, all populated by only the strongest, the brightest, and the very best. An entire empire of super-beings, ruled by a god.”

“That you honestly believe such a thing could exist, and that it would be good, tells me just how far gone you are. And…” he paused, tears welling in his eyes, “…and how badly I’ve failed you.”

Mars looked down at Swarm with a flicker of pity in his eyes. “You could’ve been so much more,” he grimaced, raising his hand to deal a finishing blow. “It truly is a shame that all your power must now go to waste. But either you’re for this, or you’re…”

“…Steadfastly against it!” Celestia finished as she streaked overhead, horn blasting. Mars buckled under the magical assault as Discord raised a wall made of porcupines covered in sharpened pencils to block off the crowd of soldiers, giving Luna the chance to swoop in and grab Swarm. Then the trio took off with their humanoid companion, dashing into a pocket dimension which they zipped shut behind them.

The man screamed and flew after them, slamming his fists against the space where the portal had been. Snarling with rage, he descended and strode up to the wreckage of one of the helicopters, his men clearing a path for him as he tore through the cockpit’s crumpled door. He tossed the body of the pilot aside to smash his fist through one of the screens on the dashboard. Soon, hundreds of characters began to appear, all displaying the millions of calculations running through his head. The wicked grin appeared on his face again. “Anywhere you can go, I will follow,” he mumbled.

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Uris’s head spun, his vision blinking in and out. The ground beneath him was rough, bumpy, like an unpaved street or something. He tried to push himself to his feet, only to collapse again as pain screamed up his leg. Something squeaked beneath him. Something warm, with long and flowing hair and this gentle little touch…

“Fluttershy,” he rasped. She clung to him, hooves on his shoulders, shivering in fear. Darkness still surrounded them. His vision was blurry, but his other senses and memories were returning. The attack on the cottage, the desperate run through the forest, Twilight’s final spell. An orange blob stumbled into view, obviously as disoriented as he was. “Applejack,” he whispered, pushing himself to his knees and reaching out to her while still holding Fluttershy in one arm. Fortunately, the Earth pony instinctively recognized him and limped closer. Good thing, too: if she’d bucked him he probably wouldn’t have had the strength to reach out again.

“It’s okay,” he said. His voice sounded far-off, echoing in his ears. Something was wrong. The teleportation must have wrecked his inner-ear, shit! How was he supposed to keep fighting if he couldn’t even keep his balance?

A few more shapes appeared in his view. Dark, tall, humanoid. Instinctively, he laid Fluttershy to the side and brushed AJ away, freeing his hands to reach for his pistol. He fired one shot, which went wide. The shapes looked around in a panic, obviously so disoriented that they couldn’t even see him right there in front of them. He fired two more times, and by some miracle two of the shapes dropped, leaving only one. He lined up the sights with the final shape and squeezed the trigger, and the click of an empty barrel resounded in his still-damaged ears. He squeezed again and again, only to get the same result. That was it then. He’d just used his last round of ammo. The pistol clattered uselessly to the ground as the humanoid walked right up to him, the fog eventually clearing to reveal an officer’s jacket on its body, a cap on its head, and a pistol clenched in its hand.

Ignoring the ponies, the figure limped towards him as quickly as it could and delivered a devastating kick to Uris’s ribs. The American went down, the wind knocked out of him as the heel of the officer’s boot stamped on his crotch. Uris groaned in pain.

“Do you really think you can win against us?” The officer said with a mild, implacable accent as he pressed the barrel of his weapon against Uris’s cheek. “We are The Ridchir. We are the very best, the epitome of humankind, filtered and hardened into perfection. What does your mongrel race think you can do against us with a few little ponies?”

“URIS!” Fluttershy screeched, once again dashing into his arms. This time, the American remained silent. He knew it was useless to tell her to run, and he just didn’t have the energy to spare. The Ridchir officer gazed down at them in disgust, his grip tightening on the pistol.

“Do you see now, American?” He said, leveling the weapon on Uris’s head. “Do you see how pointless your battle on behalf of these creatures is? I have allied myself with the strong, and look where it has gotten me. What has your sympathy for these weaklings gotten you?”

“Who you callin’ weak now!?” Rainbow Dash screeched suddenly, swooping into view. The officer snarled and fired a few shots, but in his unbalanced state she dodged easily before darting into the sky. As she disappeared, Applejack galloped up to the officer and bucked him right in the crotch before he could react. Howling in pain, the officer didn’t even have time to dodge as rocks rained down on him from the rooftops overhead, courtesy of Rarity and Twilight’s magic. As he was brought down to his knees, he couldn’t so much as raise a finger when Pinkie hopped right up to him, smiled, and promptly whipped out a tuba to boom a massive C-flat into his still-damaged ears. Collapsing, the officer kept his grip on his weapon, just barely finding the strength to lift his head, hatred blazing in his eyes. But all he could see was Fluttershy standing tall and proud over his body, a cold glare aimed at him.

“You assault my home, you threaten my friends, and you killed Mr. Uris’s brother. Yet despite all this, we still fight you. With the strength we find within ourselves and with each other, we fight you.” She said coldly, shaking her head. “Mister, haven’t you figured it out yet?”

With a scream of rage, the officer raised his pistol, only to be stopped short by a tight grip on his wrist. His gaze drifted upward to find Uris standing over him, one hand clenched around his wrist. “Friendship is magic,” the American bellowed, winding his other hand back in a fist, “Mother-bucker.”

Uris’s fist smashed into the officer’s jaw, sending a bit of blood flying from his mouth. The officer coughed once before collapsing to the ground, splaying out over the cobblestone. After waiting a few seconds to make sure the bastard was out cold, Uris limped over the officer’s body and pulled the pistol from his limp hand, sliding it into his own holster. The six friends joined him in the street as he looked around, trying to gather his bearings.

“Wooh!” Rainbow Dash squealed as she wheeled around in the sky overhead. “Didja all see that!? We kicked butt!”

“Rainbow, this is no time for celebration,” Twilight said sternly. “We still have no idea where we are.”

“And that was just one small squad,” Uris added. “Who knows how many more of those guys could be waiting for us out there?”

“Ugh,” Rainbow sighed, swooping down to join them on the ground. “Why do you guys have to always be such killjoys? We just won! Why can’t we just…”

“That’s why.” Fluttershy interrupted. Thrown off by such an uncharacteristic interjection, Rainbow looked to where her friend was pointing. The Ridchir officer was standing, blood flowing from his jaw and a razor-sharp knife in his hand. His cap lay on the ground behind him, revealing a sweat-covered, tangled mass of hair shadowing a pair of eyes that looked like some mad demon inhabited them.

With a scream that echoed through the streets, the officer charged at Uris, who readied his weapon and squeezed the trigger. The hammer fell on an empty barrel. “Oh, of course,” he grumbled, throwing the useless weapon at the madman. The ponies stood at his side, ready to defend their friend as the officer bore down on them with the knife raised, hardly even phased by his own sidearm bouncing harmlessly off his stomach. He took a few steps towards them, and instantly a barrage of rifle fire sounded. Uris winced and closed his eyes, figuring The Ridchir’s reinforcements had arrived to finish him off. Much to his surprise, a few minutes later when he opened them again, he was not only still on Terra Firma (as opposed to some weird, dark tunnel with a light at the end and his brother beckoning him forward) but still on his feet. What’s more, the officer was lying on the ground in a pool of his own blood. Sighing with relief, Uris dropped to his knees as the ground trembled. Eventually, a Bradley APC rumbled past, closely followed by a couple columns of men in wonderfully familiar uniforms. Something soft brushed against his hand, and he looked down to see Fluttershy huddled close to him, along with the other ponies. Even Rainbow Dash seemed to be slightly closer than usual, even if she still had that suspicious, defiant look in her eyes as she scanned the humans marching by with a glare that dared any of them to mess with her friends. Without thinking, he started stroking the incredibly soft, pink mane by his hand, still in shock, still unable to stand up and even talk to the Marines streaming past.

“Son, why aren’t you in line?” A voice asked behind him. Uris turned and immediately the owner of the voice, a tough-looking African-American with the paratrooper’s logo on his arm, dropped his jaw. “A-are you Uris? The chopper pilot?” He asked in shock.

In much more shock, Uris replied: “Y-yes, that’s me.”

“I’ll be damned,” the paratrooper’s face lit up, “I’ll be goddamned! We found ya!” Grabbing Uris by the hand, he started leading him towards the command vehicle at the center of the column. “Man, the commander’s gonna be happy to see you, we’ve been tearin’ up half the forest to…”

He drifted off as Uris wrenched free. The paratrooper looked at him, confused. “Wherever I go, they have to come, okay?” Uris said, pointing to the six ponies huddled together behind his boots.

“Fine,” the paratrooper sighed. “Just c’mon!”