“Okay,” Luna said, surveying the magic holding the seal together. “This should keep us hidden from the enemy. For the time being, at least.”

“Good,” Celestia sighed, unloading the man on her back and gasping with relief. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure that would work. I half expected that…thing back there to rip us apart long before we made it to the portal.”

“Yes, are we going to discuss that?” Discord asked with an eyebrow arched. “It’s obvious that our bipedal compatriot knows where that man came from, and probably why it’s so bloody powerful too.”

A sob interrupted them all. The three Equestrian-born beings turned to the Chinese man now choking back tears, trying to keep his shimmering-white clothing from being touched with mucus. “S-Swarm?” Luna asked fearfully. “Ist thou alright?”

“It’s all my fucking fault,” he moaned. “Everything, all the pain and suffering, all the battles fought on all the planets, all my fucking fault.” For a moment, a smile flickered across his face as he sat up. “It’s a bit funny, when I think about it. All this time I was trying to track down what was responsible for the breaches, you know? All this time trying to find the source for this war, for all the pain and suffering that has been wreaked. And really, I never had to look any further than the nearest mirror.”

A look of utter hopelessness crossed his face as he leaned against a non-existent wall, crafted of pure dark matter. The other beings in their small pocket dimension looked on helplessly, until Discord stepped forward and screamed: “Oh, for heaven’s sake, man! Pull yourself together! We…”

“DISCORD!” Celestia screamed, and to everyone’s surprise, the Lord of Chaos actually gave pause, not even fighting when she rested a hoof on his shoulder and pulled him back, giving him a gentle smile as she walked past him towards Swarm. The all-powerful being crying on the ground looked up at her in despair.

“I was just so lonely,” he whimpered. “I was so certain that…perhaps there was some sign I missed, that I didn’t want to see…”

“You know, in some faiths, some ponies believe that the first step towards forgiveness is in admitting the sin,” she offered a reassuring smile. “Perhaps in our case, that is our first step towards forgiving ourselves?”

The man sniffled, sighed, and nodded. With his voice quivering, he choked back his tears and began to tell his story.

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Ramirez strode into the town square with the ponies in his grasp: the foal in his hands, Shining Armor on his back. As he walked, a group of his fellow SEALs lowered their weapons and began applauding, standing in the burning pile of scrap metal that had once been The Ridchir’s main strongpoint. “I dunno how you did it, bro,” one of them grinned. “But you turned an antique from Vietnam into some close quarters artillery here!”

“Thank this guy,” Ramirez motioned to the unicorn across his back. “He’s the one with the magic juice that let me fire grenades from a couple blocks away!”

“You mean you were blocks away when you fired those shots!?” The other SEAL gasped. Ramirez smiled and nodded. “Damn, where can I get me one of those unicorns!?”

“O-only one p-per customer,” the bundle on Ramirez’s back said.

“The hell!? Shining!?”

“Y-you were expecting Prince Blueblood?” The unicorn asked, managing to lift his head up and smile.

“Aw hell,” Ramirez lowered his equine friend to the ground, careful to keep his grip on the foal in his arms. “I thought you were unconscious!”

“For a while, I was, now I’m not…” the unicorn tried to stand, but stumbled.

“Fer God’s sakes,” Ramirez turned to the SEALs nearby. “Where the hell’s that vet we brought along? This guy could use a check-up!”

“Nonononono, I’m fine!” Shining said indignantly, pushing himself from Ramirez’s grasp and limping towards his fellow ponies in the square, who huddled in a corner as far from the newcomers as possible. He stumbled once or twice, but Ramirez didn’t even move. He just watched Shining make his way to the villagers.

“That one’s a soldier,” he mumbled under his breath as he accepted a cigarette from the SEAL nearest to him. The SEAL just nodded in agreement and helped him light up before taking the foal from his arms, assuring Ramirez that it would be taken to the nearest nurse.

Shining stood before the other ponies, trying his best to look proud and tall, despite the fact that he wanted nothing more than to throw up on the cobblestone and collapse. One of the ponies walked up to him, quaking in fear. “Mr. Armor?” He asked. “What are these creatures? Why are they here?”

Shining just smiled and said: “They’re humans, kid, and they’re here to help.”

“I…I don’t know about that,” he said, eyeing the SEALs fearfully.

“Don’t worry about it. Look, ponies, all you need to know is that the worst is over, alright? The fighting is ending, and those other humans should be surrendering sometime soon. Now, has anypony seen my wife?”

The kid just looked upwards at one of the rooftops surrounding the square. Shining followed his gaze, and his eyes widened in terror. Cadence was standing atop a balcony near the top of one of the buildings, surrounded by enemy soldiers. “Oh Celestia, no!” He screamed. Ramirez looked over at him, followed his gaze, and instinctively whipped out his Uzi, the cigarette dropping from his lips. The other men followed suit, not even needing to look up to know something bad was staring down at them.

“Hey, isn’t that the Princess?” One of the ponies asked.

“Why’s that pony look different?” The SEAL next to Ramirez wondered aloud, still clenching his assault rifle.

“Didn’t you pay attention in the briefing?” Ramirez hissed. “She’s an Alicorn! Royalty!”

“Aw shit, you mean they got one of their royals hostage?”

“CADENCE!” Shining Armor screamed. The little pink Alicorn couldn’t even bring herself to look at him, keeping her eyes low as tears drifted from them.

“Shit fuck, this just got real bad,” Ramirez added under his breath.

“What’s up?”

“That’s his wife up there. Whole reason he’s been fighting with us.”

“Shit.”

As everyone watched, Cadence was dragged away from the edge of the rooftop and out of view while one of the soldiers stepped up to the balcony with a megaphone. With an obvious look of disdain in his eyes, he raised the megaphone to his lips and spoke, his mild accent obvious as his voice boomed throughout the village: “Now that we have your undivided attention, we wish to announce that we have one of your own. We know she is royalty in this land. All that we ask in return for her safety is for all American and Equestrian forces in and around this village to lay down their arms and surrender.”

One of the SEALs walked out in front of the rest, lowering his weapon. “This is Lieutenant Miller with the American Expeditionary Forces in Equestria,” he shouted. “I’m here to tell you that’s not going to happen. It is the official policy of the United States’ government not to negotiate with terrorists.”

The soldier gazed down at him and replied: “That may be your policy, American, but what of the Equestrians?”

“I think they share my sentiment when I tell you to kiss my ass!” Miller screamed, his middle finger waving in the air. His SEALs let out a cheer around him.

“Oh, really?” The enemy soldier grinned wide enough for everyone to see it. “I would not be so sure of that.”

Confused, Miller spun around and surveyed his men, his eyes eventually settling on one white unicorn, trotting out in front of everyone else towards the enemy-occupied building. “Hey, hey!” He screamed. “What’s he think he’s doing!?”

“Wha-Shining!” Ramirez screamed and ran after him. “What’re you doin’, man!?”

Shining turned to the SEAL, a look of sheer hopelessness on his face. “They’ve got her. What do you think I’m doing? I’m surrendering.”

“Bu-but, you can’t!” He followed the unicorn into the building: an inn with the candles darkened and the staff eerily absent. He darted to the stairwell to ensure it was clear. Nobody shot at him. Yet.

Shining trotted past him. “And why is that? I know my duty. As a husband and a soldier, I need to protect Cadence at all costs.”

“That’s suicide, man!” Ramirez hissed out the corner of his mouth, keeping his weapon leveled on the stairwell. “The moment they find out you’re a Royal Guard, they’ll kill you just to make an example to all the ponies gathered below!”

“I know my duty, as certainly as you know yours.” Shining repeated.

“Shining, man,” Ramirez let one hand slip free of the Uzi and rest on the unicorn’s shoulder. “I can’t letcha do this.”

“And you’re gonna stop me?”

“Absolutely,” without warning, Ramirez twisted around and cracked his Uzi’s extended stock against the back of Shining Armor’s head. The unicorn went down instantly, dazed. “I’m sorry, but if everybody down below sees your body getting thrown off that balcony, they’ll panic! We could lose the whole city!” He bent over to pick the unicorn up, and suddenly Shining’s hooves lashed back in a buck that would’ve made Applejack proud, right into Ramirez’s gut. Grimacing, the SEAL managed to stay on his boots and keep from hunching over, lessening the blow when Shining followed up with a head-butt.

As he stumbled back, Shining glowered at Ramirez from the staircase. “I don’t want to fight you, but if you keep me from Cadence, I won’t hesitate!”

With a determined glare, Ramirez tucked the Uzi back into his shoulder holster and raised his fists. Shining Armor backed away up the stairs, his eyes never leaving the SEAL as he followed. Slowly, they made their way towards the first landing in the stairwell, neither leaving their battle-ready stance for a second. Then they reached the landing, and Ramirez struck. With his superior height, Ramirez gained the upper ground the moment his boots touched the landing, and he promptly used it to lunge forward, hands aimed for Armor’s neck. The unicorn bucked his head to the side once Ramirez made contact, crushing the SEAL’s fingers against the hardwood wall in a move that would have had any other man on the ground, screaming in pain. As it was, Ramirez only grunted before slamming Shining’s head to the floor and following up with a devastating stomp to his face. With Shining dazed, the SEAL lashed out with a punch from his good hand, but Shining easily rolled to the side just enough in the confined space to dodge, letting Ramrez’s blow land on the hardwood floor. Both warriors were beaten and bloody: Shining with his head still spinning from Ramirez’s kick, and Ramirez with his hands throbbing from Shining’s attacks. They kicked away from each other, Ramirez rolling off his shoulder and leaping to his feet with his pistol in hand. Shining regarded it with a dark grimace.

“You would shoot me to keep me from seeing Cadence?” He growled as Ramirez advanced.

“No,” the SEAL replied as he approached. “This is just to distract you from THIS!” Suddenly, his other hand lashed out, clenching a previously-concealed blackjack despite the pain still throbbing through his fingers. It smashed across Armor’s face, slamming his head against the wall with a blow that resounded throughout the building. The unicorn slumped, apparently defeated, to the floor. Ramirez sighed and scooped him up, throwing him over his shoulder.

“I’m sorry, Shining, God knows I really am,” he said, carrying the unicorn back down to the lobby. “But we can’t lose you now. Just know that I understand what you’re going through. Hell, this is probably how I'd react if someone I knew was taken. And what I just did is exactly how my teammates would react to keep me from getting killed: they’d do whatever it takes to save me, even from myself.”

He walked along a few more steps before something whispered in his ear: “Same here, but MY team isn’t around.”

“Wha-“ Ramirez managed to choke out before a hoof smashed against the back of his skull. Reeling from the blow, he had no time to react before Shining’s body wrapped around his neck in a perfect choke hold. His hands still injured, he didn’t have the strength to fight the hold directly, so he quickly opted to try attacking Shining indirectly: smashing himself against tables and walls to try and loosen the hold on his neck. The world grew dark as he approached the bar, throwing himself against the bottles on the shelves along the back wall in hopes of hurting the unicorn just enough to weaken his grip. It was all for nothing. The hold remained as strong as ever, and his efforts to claw it away slowly grew weaker and weaker. He just wasn’t trained to fight a horse, for pity’s sake!

As the world finally slipped away into darkness, the SEAL heard Shining whisper: “I’m sorry.”

And then everything faded away.

Shining kept his hold on Ramirez for a few extra seconds before releasing it. Amidst the broken glass and spilled drinks behind the bar, he leaned in and perked an ear over Ramirez’s mouth. Satisfied that the SEAL was still breathing, the unicorn laid him out flat on the ground, resting his head on a dirty rag from the bar. “Sorry, it’s all I got,” he said with a weak smile. He sighed and turned to head back up the stairs, but not before adding: “You’re a good man, Ramirez. Celestia knows I could probably take on the world with a squad of ponies like you. But you have your duty, and I have mine.”

And then he was gone, trotting up the stairs towards his beloved Cadence.