Despite the best efforts of Twilight and Fluttershy, Twilight’s extensive use of the limited magic of this new world and Fluttershy’s inexperience in battle began to take their tolls on them, forcing them to ground themselves and take hard labored breaths.

They, along with Riko and several other surviving Garrison soldiers watched helplessly as titans continued to walk to the stone, a couple of them eating dead soldiers along the way.

“Leader!” called a female Garrison soldier. “This is it! We’re the only ones left.”

Riko was seized with fear. With Eren’s titan still incapacitated, and their numbers plummeting, she knew there was one last course of action to take to protect Eren and the ponies that were helping her.

“Retreat towards the rock!” she ordered.

Riko and her remaining soldiers flew across the roofs to get back to Eren. Twilight and Fluttershy looked nervously at a soldier being eaten by a titan, wanting to him in every way possible. Twilight, however, knew full well that he was doom. With a wincing hiss, she made up her mind.

"Fluttershy!" she called. "Let's go!"

Twilight flew out to follow Riko and her team, with Fluttershy giving a regretful glance backwards before she took off as well.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Jean looked out at the 3D Manuever Gear equipped to the dead soldier outside the window. The titan was beginning to turn around and head back. Now was his only opportunity. He ran to the door and opened it, going outside with his eyes trained on the straps he'd need to detach from the soldier. He slid on his knees and began to work on the straps.

"I can't just sit around and wait for the titans to piss off," he said.

From the wall, Conny and Annie desperately watched him.

"Jean!" Conny shouted. "It must be his maneuver gear!"

"What?" shouted Marco as he ran towards Conny and Annie.

Jean continued to fidget with the straps, but the belts refused to come free from their buckles.

"C'mon, you bastard!" he grunted. "I'm in a hurry here!"

His noises and screaming alerted the titan that previously cornered him, walking closer and closer as Jean still couldn't manage the belts.

"Jean!" called Marco's voice. "Calm down!"

Jean turned to see the titan a mere few meters in front of him. However, Marco quickly swung in front of the titan's face, breaking its concentration.

"Marco!" shouted Jean. "What are you doing?"

Marco didn't answer, landing on the street and running back in the opposite direction. The titan gave chase to him, allowing Jean more time and space to replace his 3D Maneuver Gear. With mind now in further ease, it wasn't long before Jean pulled the device from the corpse's legs.

Conny and Annie swung down from the wall to run to their downed comrade.

"Jeez!" exclaimed Conny. "What a drag!"

Jean, now equipped with the functional 3D Maneuver Gear, ran towards a titan. As the titan tried to reach for him, Jean threw his body to the right, and with his gear, hurdled over the titan's left shoulder. As Jean tried to launch another hook to further elude the titan, he found that he couldn't push the trigger. With his timing off he swung down and fell onto the street.

"Crap," Jean gasped. "Why is the trigger so hard to pull?"

The same titan had turned back to get the prey that it almost lost. Jean could only continue lying down as the titan got closer.

"Jean!" Conny yelled, leaping down from a roof to Jean's right.

Conny swung into the titan's head, disorienting it. Conny pulled up to the next roof in front of him. Jean watched his comrade's actions with incredulity.

"What are you doing?" shouted Jean.

"That's my line!" Conny shouted back. "Fly away already!"

The titan took a reach for Conny, who quickly moved out of the way and back towards the wall to have the titan grab a mass of brick and wood from the building instead. Jean took Conny's words to heart, running as fast as his legs could carry him as the titan was distracted. As Jean shot out his hooks, the titan lunged out at him and dove. Jean lurched forwards with his device, the titan missing him by mere inches.

Jean took a quick sigh of relief before looking forwards. The sight in front of him left him gasping in horror. A titan was lunging straight at him, but Annie was already at its neck, slicing it off and killing it. With the next danger being to avoid collision, Jean latched onto the titan's stomach and swung underneath it as it fell. Jean managed to pass in between its legs just below the groin as he hooked onto the roofs and flew higher up.

Jean soared just over the buildings, the sheaths grinding against the roofs and spraying the clay shingles behind him. Jean hooked onto higher and higher buildings as he reached the wall. With a massive burst of gas from the exhaust of his machine, he soared up and towards the top of the wall, Conny, Annie, and Marco close behind.

Jean and Marco tumbled atop the wall and held themselves firm to their feet and knees to prevent falling over the other side. Annie and Conny landed gracefully beside them.

"You guys are insane!" Jean hissed.

"Again," shouted Conny, "that's my line! I think I just died three times over!"

Annie peered towards the south, the sight leaving a genuine look of surprise and shock on her face.

"Look at that!" she gasped.

Jean stood up to get a better look. Upon seeing it, he couldn't help but gasp as well.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Mikasa and Ian looked at the gate as more titans crawled into it and entered the city, several other Garrison soldiers having come to assist. Rarity, drenched with sweat, was already tiring out, her swings of her blades becoming more labored and less controlled.

As Pinkie Pie aimed her cannon at some more approaching titans, her entire body began to shudder. Once she stopped, she took a look behind her to see the pillar of steam with the boulder atop it.

“Oh look!” Pinkie Pie shouted while pointing. “Here comes Eren!”

Mikasa and Ian gasped, at Pinkie’s words, and as if by hoping for some miracle that Pinkie Pie was right, looked back in the same direction. They couldn’t believe what they saw. A titan, its body smoldering from the pressure of the large object that it held, carried the large boulder towards the gate. Mikasa, Ian, and Mitabi and Rarity, now seeing it, stood still with shocked expressions at the miracle that was taking place.

“Well that’s a doozy if I’ve ever seen one!” chirped Pinkie Pie.

Mikasa watched as Eren’s titan laboriously walked through the streets, crushing the brick surface under its feet. Mikasa’s eyes began to water and her smile widened.

“Eren!” she sobbed happily.

"Mikasa!" called Armin's voice.

Suddenly, Armin, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Spike, riding on Rainbow Dash’s back, flew up and landed on the roof with Mikasa, Ian, Mitabi, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. Spike dismounted the blue pegasus.

“Scores of titans closing in from behind!” called Armin, tears in his eyes as well.

“Armin!” cried Mikasa.

“Eren’s won. Now he’s doing his job. If we can get Eren to that gate, our victory is assured!”

Ian now seeing the possibility of the mission’s success skyrocket, he grit his teeth with sheer determination.

“Guard him with your lives!” he shouted. “We will protect Eren on his way to the gate, even if it’s the last thing we do!!”

“LET’S DO THIS!!” screamed Rainbow Dash, flying out in front of Eren.

The other soldiers went out in battle cries as well, leaping over the rooftops to get to the titans trying to intercept Eren as he tried to make it to the hole. Five titans in particular who had come from the breached gate walked straight at Eren.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Jean, now seeing the light of victory at the end of the tunnel, rallied his comrades.

"Keep them all out of the way!" he shouted. "We must support Eren!"

"The four of them leapt from the wall, ready to defend their friend with every ounce of their strength.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Ian turned back to Arming, Mikasa, and the ponies.

“All of you, go back to Eren!” he demanded.

The eight of them looked incredulously at Ian.

“Huh?” exclaimed Armin.

“That’s an order! Understand?”

“Yes, sir!” they all responded.

Ian then went to look out over his group when he saw three soldiers, one of them being Mitabi running on the ground, chasing the last round of titans that broke through. Ian’s eyes widened on the deadliness of their actions.

“Team Mitabi!” he yelled. “What the–”

Down on the ground, Mitabi and his men made chase, but couldn’t get the titans’ attention.

“Those titans aren’t attacking us!” shouted Mitabi. “We gotta' get up close to them so they can't ignore us!”

“Over here, dammit!” a soldier shouted at one.

“Over here," Mitabi goaded, "or I’ll shove my blade up your smelly ass and bleed you to death!”

The commotion caused the titans to turn their heads. The titans then turned around and begun to chase Mitabi and the others.

“Here they come!” shouted Mitabi, running back with his men.

“It worked,” cried a soldier.

“Run! To the buildings!”

“What?” shouted Armin. “Why did they get down to the ground? This is suicide! We can’t fight without horses or buildings around!”

“No,” Mitabi answered. “This was the only option.”

Ian and his men then rappelled down to the ground on their 3D Maneuver Gear, followed by Armin, Mikasa, and the ponies with Spike riding Applejack down.

“Proceed after Team Mitabi!” Ian called out. “Take them on directly if you have too! We’re making ourselves the targets!”

Rarity looked sadly as Ian and his men went on to bait the titans as they retreated into the town, the titans following them. However, as Eren’s titan passed by with the boulder, she envisioned an imaginary path behind Eren’s titan, running down the side, and then taking on the titans from behind.

“Idea!” Rarity squealed in a sing-song voice.

“Idea?” wondered Applejack. “What idea?”

“Just follow me!” she declared, already galloping behind Eren.

“Then let’s get ‘em!” shouted Applejack. “Come on, girls! Let’s go, Spike!”

With Spike still on Applejack’s back, the ponies ran behind and around Eren’s titan to get to the normal titans using Rarity’s plan. Armin and Mikasa took Rainbow Dash’s shift on the ground, allowing Eren to follow close behind while making sure no titans came close. Once the ponies passed Eren’s titan on the left, Rainbow Dash caught them.

“What are you guys doing?” she asked. “You’re gonna get yourselves killed!”

“Ian and Mitabi are going to get killed if we don’t do something about it,” answered Applejack. “Come help us take them down! Mikasa and Armin got it covered!”

Rainbow Dash sadly looked at Eren’s titan, not wanting to leave his side, but with her friends getting closer to the titans, she had to protect them first. With an angry grunt, she flew alongside Fluttershy and was ready to go.

Eren’s titan looked at Ian and his men as they lured the titans away.

I feel… thought Eren, …like my body’s… going to get crushed.

Looking down, he saw his two human friends watching him every step of the way.

Mikasa? he wondered. Armin? What are you doing? You can’t be around here. You’ll get eaten!

He then saw the ponies as they turned another right, the titans having their backs to them now.

Huh? Rainbow Dash! Applejack! What are you doing? You can’t possibly fight the titans!

Applejack and Spike stopped near the back of one as her friends went on.

“Ready to see if you can take some of these varmints down?” she asked him.

“Yeah!” he growled with a smile.

“Then hop on my back!” she ordered, Spike doing as he was told. “Now, when I’m ready to buck my legs, you jump on my back hooves and push off, you got it?”

“Got it!”

“On three! One, two, three!”

Applejack leaned forwards, her back legs lifting up as she tucked her back hooves in. Spike jumped on the bases and bent his knees. Just as he pushed off, Applejack’s buck shot him out towards a titan’s neck.

With his swords at the ready, Spike lifted his arms up as he got closer to the nape. At the right time, he gave a hard slash and cut the nape off. As the titan fell, Spike ran across the shoulder and jumped at another nearby titan, landing just at the tip of the shoulder with his foot claws, running to the center of the body and cutting another nape off.

As the second titan fell, Spike saw Rainbow Dash coming towards him as she slayed a titan with her swords. Spike jumped up and Rainbow Dash caught him, using the flat ends of her blades for Spike to land on.

Rarity slashed the tendons of the back of the fourth titan’s ankles with both blades, forcing the titan to fall forwards. Rainbow Dash and Spike, seeing this, shared a look and smile. Rainbow Dash, using her swords, pushed and flung Spike at the fallen titan, online with its neck. Ian and Mitabi both watched as the tiny dragon slashed at the titan’s neck, killing it.

Rainbow Dash saw Applejack loaded in Pinkie Pie’s cannon and flew down to her.

“You know,” Rainbow Dash said to Applejack, “Spike ain't too bad at this thing.”

“Could you hold that thought, Rainbow?” asked Applejack as Pinkie Pie aimed the cannon.

Pinkie Pie then then slammed the button down as Applejack was hurled into the air at the last titan’s neck. Applejack flipped forwards with her back hooves tucked in and aimed at the titan’s head. With perfect timing, she kicked the titan in the temple, knocking it over. Applejack fell with the titan, directing her body towards it.

Rarity galloped down, following the titan’s head as it fell closer to Earth. Once the titan landed on its stomach, Applejack fell on its back and rolled down to the ground, galloping back to her friends. Before the felled titan could reach at Ian, Mitabi, or the others, Rarity, her magic fueled with anger and fury, slashed down on the back of its neck, ceasing its movements.

To Ian’s, as well as the ponies’ surprise, not one of them had died. The ponies and Spike recouped back together and congratulated themselves on a job well done. With the road now clear for Eren’s titan to get to the gate, now only yards away, Eren remembered Armin’s words back at the boulder’s resting spot.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Tell me, Eren,” asked Armin. “What did you want to see the outside world for?”
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Eren was now sure of his answer, his goal’s near completion only making each word he spoke truer and truer.

We we're born, all of us are free, he thought, looking out at his friends as they prepared for another batch of titans if they came through.

Childhood memories torrented through his mind as he remembered all that he fought for.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

With the trafficker’s knife set to kill him, Eren, using a broom handle with a dagger tied to the end, stabbed him, ending his life.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

If anyone tries to take that away from us, it’s not going to matter how strong they are.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Eren and Armin looked at a book filled with the wonders that awaited beyond the walls they were confined to.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Flaming water, icy landscapes, cities of clouds, or whatever, whoever gets to see those things are the freest people in the entire world.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

“Fight!” Eren shouted at Mikasa as he was strangled by the last trafficker.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Who could value their life over something like that? However terrifying the world may be, it doesn't matter. matter. However cruel the world may be, it doesn't matter. Just fight! Fight! FIGHT!!

Jean, Marco, Conny, and Annie finally made it to the south gate, all shocked at how close Eren was. Eren’s titan continued for the hole as Armin and Mikasa escorted him. However, another titan was crawling out of the hole and was going straight for the two humans. Mikasa seethed at thinking that after all of this, the plan could just fail.

However, a soldier swung down from the wall and landed on the titan’s face, gouging and slashing its eye out with her blades.

"OUT OF THE WAY!" she screamed.

The grey hair and glasses were unmistakable. It was Riko. The titan, now wounded, sunk to its knees, allowing a purple blur to whiz behind its neck, leaving a bloody splatter over her and the ground.

“Twilight!” shouted Armin.

The alicorn landed, the blood on her coat and floating swords evaporating off in steam as she panted heavily. Riko began to fall off of the titan and to the ground, but was caught by under her arms by Fluttershy, who without her swords, caught her in both hooves and lowered her down. With there now no longer being anymore titans to deal with, Eren’s titan turned left, heading straight for the hole, only ten meters or so away.

“G…” grunted Armin, his tears choking his words.

Twilight and Armid looked as Eren’s titan was about to seal the hole. Ian, Mitabi, the soldiers, and the other ponies, along with Spike, were watching history in the making.

“GO, EREN!! GO!!!” screamed Armin, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash.

FIGHT!! Eren urged to himself as his titan shouted out, squatted down and leaned its body forwards, pushing the boulder into the hole.

With a mighty bang, the rock had stuck itself inside. What followed was a vast void of silence as everyone close to the gate saw with disbelieving eyes and agape mouths as the hole was finally closed. The titans had been stopped. For once in the war between humans and titans, the humans arose from the battle as the victors.

"We..." stammered Rainbow Dash. "We... did it."

Fluttershy flew at Rainbow Dash and hugged her mid-flight, twirling her around.

"YAHAAAH!" Fluttershy screamed. "We won!"

The ponies and Spike dropped their swords and cheered, hugging each other over the success of their mission. The nearby humans cheered as well, hugging each other for their survival and success. Jean and Marco were still too stunned at what they saw to do anything. However, Conny came in between them and wrapped one arm around each of their abdomens and picking them up, shocking and surprising the two of them.

"We did it!" he shouted. "We made it!"

While Marco accepted Conny's enthusiasm with a smile, Jean's grimace made it clear that he wanted to be put back down as soon as possible.

Riko fell to her knees and began to sob as she reached for a yellow smoke-pistol round.

"Everyone..." she wept, "didn't die in vain."

Putting her left hand over her left ear and covering her right ear with her arm as she aimed the pistol up, she pulled the trigger. The pillar of yellow extended into the air for Pixis and the others on Wall Rose to see.

"Today," she stated, "for the first time, mankind triumphed over the titans."
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Pixis and the other captains saw the smoke rise from the gate.

"Yellow smoke-flare confirmed," said the woman with the telescope. "The operation was a success."

Everyone nearby began gasping and murmuring loudly, excited by the prospect of their first victory.

"Send in reinforcements now!" called Pixis. "Rescue the elite troops!"
_________________________________________________________________________________________

From outside the gate, titans tried to push the stone, but it was stuck firmly inside. Not one titan could get through and not one ever would.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

From outside, Eren's titan finally succumbed to exhaustion, laying upon the boulder, lifeless and immobile. Armin cut away at the skin on Eren's titan's neck hoping to free him as quickly as possible. From up north, the titans were coming.

"The remaining titans are coming!" shouted Riko. "We have to climb the wall!"

"I'll withdraw as soon as we've recovered Eren!" answered Mikasa.

"That goes for us too!" shouted Rainbow Dash as she flew towards Eren.

The other ponies galloped as fast as their fatigued bodies could allow. Even Rainbow Dash found that using her wings was becoming strenuous work, but she reached Armin on Eren's titan. Mikasa ran out as well. Ian and Mitabi gave each other a nod before they went to ascend the wall.

"Armin!" she called. "How's Eren?"

"He's feverish from the immense heat in there!" he responded as he tried pulling Eren's body from the neck. "We need to get him over the wall right away!"

As hard as Armin tugged, the titan's muscle was still grafted to Eren's arms, keeping him anchored inside. Even Eren's face was scarred on both sides from both the steam burns and the few layers of skin having been pulled from his face. Mikasa ran to assist Armin as the other ponies came too.

"Part of his body is still fused with the titan!" he stated. "I can't pull him out."

"Well, be careful!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "We don't want to hurt him anymore!"

"We'll have to cut it," Twilight said with a regretful tinge.

She flew up with a single sword in her magical hold and cut the flesh still anchoring Eren to his titan. Eren and Armin began to fall, but were caught by Rainbow Dash and Armin.

"Whoa, there!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash as she and Twilight set them down.

Suddenly, a shadow was cast over Eren, Mikasa, Armin, and the ponies. They looked up to see two titans hungrily looking at them and awaiting to feast upon them. Armin and Mikasa looked at them with fear and horror, knowing that they couldn't take out both titans by themselves.

"Eren!" shouted Mikasa. "Armin!"

Eren opened his eyes to see them gazing upon him and his friends. The ponies tensed up, ready to defend Eren with their lives as one of the titans reached out for them.

However, a green-cloaked soldier flew down from the wall in between the two giants and slashed the nape of the titan to his left. With seemingly impossible speed, the soldier swung from under and over the titan and spun towards the last titan, his blades spinning with him. He quickly slashed its nape off, causing both titans to fall to the ground.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash, as well as the other ponies, looked with sheer awe at the act they had witnessed, wondering who could have been so swift to effortlessly kill both of those titans. Their answer came as the soldier landed upon one of the titans' corpses and stared off into the north. On the black of his green cloak was a crest similar to that of the Garrison's roses or the cadets' swords. However, this crest was comprised of a large blue wing flared out to the left while a similarly-styled white wing overlapped it as it flared out to the right.

"Mikasa," muttered Armin.

"That's..." she responded.

Eren looked upon the crest with wonder and hope.

"...The wings of freedom," he whispered.

"The Scouting Legion..." finished Armin.

The man turned around, revealing more features of himself. His jacket was adorned with the same winged-crest on the left pocket. His spotless white collared-shirt had an equally white cravat tied around the neck. His back hair was styled into a pointy and uneven bowl cut, but left a small part in the center of his forehead. The back of his head and neck was buzzed, leaving a patch of fuzz there.

"Hey, kiddos," he spoke to them, "What has happened here?"
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Throughout the rest of the day and the following day, members of the Garrison and the Scouting Legion did their best to kill the remaining titans. Many of the members of the Garrison blew the titans that had gathered at the corner of the town to bits with their cannons and explosive rounds. Titans that survived were killed by the Scouting Legion.

Several Garrison soldiers were successful in restraining two titans: one seven-meter class and one four-meter class. There were countless ropes tied around their necks that restricted any torso or head movements. The soldiers took more precautions by hammering spikes through the titans legs into the ground, completely keeping their bodies from moving.

Mikasa and the other cadets were made to watch the carnage and cleanup down below. However, much to the nervousness and apprehension of Mikasa and Armin, Eren and the ponies were not allowed to join them...
_________________________________________________________________________________________

The next afternoon, ashes blew through the streets of Trost. The cadets were made to recover the dead bodies of their fallen comrades or the occasional citizen who lost their life in the struggle. Each soldier had a cloth tied around their mouths to prevent the inhalation of the ash or any contaminants that would form from the corpses. They also wore thick gloves that they could use to pick up corpses and line them in the streets for retrieval.

Jean walked through the street towards one corpse in particular, looking at his blood-stained gloves with disdain. Upon getting a look at the corpse, his feelings of horror and shock skyrocketed.

The right half of the corpse's body from the waist all the way up was mangled and bloodied. The remaining half of its face was petrified in a seemingly tired state, its teeth bared. However, Jean could identify the body through its hairstyle and freckles on its face.

"Is that you..." he whispered, "...Marco?"

Jean looked back at his hands, which were now trembling with sadness as he felt it creeping throughout the rest of his body.

"Cadet," called a grey-haired nurse in a white gown, holding a clipboard and pen. "Do you know his name?"

"I wasn't going to look," muttered Jean, still overcome with grief, "but I can't believe it. Not him. Marco, what happened?" he wondered, turning away from the nurse. "Someone must have seen his last moments."

"Who is he?" the nurse asked again, getting Jean to turn back. "If you know, tell me now. Don't you understand, Cadet? Two days have passed since the gate was blocked, yet we're still collecting corpses. There's a risk of an epidemic breaking out. We must prevent a secondary catastrophe. We don't have time to mourn our fallen comrades just yet. Do you understand?"

Jean looked back to the decimated Marco as he gave her his information.

"The 104th Training Corps," he accounted. "Leader of Squad 19: Marco Bott."

"Marco, huh?" she said, jotting the information down. "Glad we know his name. Let's move on"

The nurse began to walk away, leaving Jean alone again. Jean continued to look at his fallen friend with gradually watering eyes. It was at that moment that Jean wished for a pair of fuzzy, yellow arms to comfort him in his grief.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Sasha and several other Garrison soldiers looked at an orange crystal stuck to the side of a building with horror and disgust. The crystal held fast to the wall through a sticky saliva-like substance. Inside the crystal were the bodies of several soldiers either screaming in agony or peacefully floating inside.

"What..." stammered Sasha, "is that?"

"A titan puked it up," said a Garrison soldier with an ice pick in his hand. "They have no digestive organs, so once they get their fill of humans, they throw up like that."

"No way..."

The experience was clearly traumatizing for Sasha as she stared at the hard-rock mass with wide, fearful eyes.

"Shit," the Garrison soldier said. "We'll never be able to identify anyone like this."

The Garrison soldier went with another of his squadron to try and pick the crystal apart and free them.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

"I'm sorry," Annie tearfully said to a corpse upon the ground. "I'm... sorry."

Reiner and Bertolt approached her with corpses in their grasp.

"Apologizing won't fix anything," Reiner said. "Let's hurry and put them to rest."

The three of them picked up their corpses and dragged them to a large fire in the southern end of the town where the boulder once stood. The fire was filled with the numerous corpses of the fallen soldiers who didn't live to see Trost's revival. Annie, Reiner, and Bertolt tossed their corpses to the pyre and walked back to retrieve more.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside a dim, torchlit dungeon, Eren lied asleep in a bed inside of a prison cell. Accompanying him inside were Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike. They all slept sullenly inside as they were bound by their right arms in chains. Rainbow Dash in particular lied atop Eren's stomach, hoping for him to awake soon. Eren's face and arms had now healed, looking about as healthy as he could be.

Observing them on a wooden chair was a broad-faced man with dapper, combed blonde hair. He was dressed in soldier's attire with a jacket that sported the winged crest. Standing against the wall to his left was the soldier who had saved him and his friends from the two titans after he had plugged the gate. His face was stuck in a grimace. Outside the passageway, several more similarly dressed soldiers stood guard outside.

Suddenly, Eren shot up and opened his eyes, shocking Rainbow Dash and bringing her other pony friends to his attention. As Eren's visibility became less fuzzy he looked into Rainbow Dash's eyes. Once he fully came to, Rainbow Dash wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank goodness you're okay!" she said.

"You," called the black-haired soldier, "rainbow pony. Get off him now. It's our turn to talk."

Rainbow Dash slid off Eren's stomach as she and her friends glared at the two soldiers watching them.

Eren was shocked to see these two soldier before him.

"Commander Erwin," he said, looking at the blonde soldier, "the top leader of the Scouting Legion. And Captain Levi," he gasped as he looked at the black-haired soldier. "Um... where... am I?"

"As you can see," Erwin answered, "you and your friends are in an underground dungeon. You're all currently in the custody of the Military Police, but we finally got permission to see you all a little while ago."

"But what about Pixis?" asked Twilight.

"Yeah!" Rainbow Dash yelled. "I thought he gave us protection and stuff!"

"Again," answered Erwin, "your imprisonment has been commissioned by a power that goes even beyond Pixis. Please understand that they only wish to take cautious measures."

Rainbow Dash grit her teeth in anger.

"Rainbow Dash," cooed Twilight with a sigh, "calm down. I'm sure everything will be sorted out. We just have to continue doing as they say and not cause any waves and we should be fine."

"You should listen to your friend," Levi instructed, "or I won't have any qualms in slaughtering you like the animals that you are."

Fluttershy squeaked in fear and hid behind Pinkie Pie. Twilight was now hushed by the severity of Levi's threat as Rainbow Dash backed off with an angry pout. Erwin then pulled a key from his jacket pocket and held it up for everyone in the cell to see.

"That key!" Eren exclaimed.

"It's yours, I know," answered Erwin. "I'll give it back later. The basement of your house, Dr. Jaeger's house in Shiganshina, holds the secrets of the titans. Am I right?"

"Yes. Probably. That's what my father said."

"You have amnesia and your father's gone missing," said Levi. "Awfully convenient, don't you think?"

"Levi," spoke Erwin, "we've already concluded that he has no reason to lie. As well, these ponies don't seem all that dangerous to me. Reports from soldiers at Trost stated that the horned ones can use some form of magic. Is that correct, Jaeger?"

"Yes," he answered. "Yes it is."

"In fact," Twilight said, "let me show you."

"Erwin," warned Levi.

"Let her," Erwin responded. "If she makes a move, she's yours to do as you please."

Levi huffed affirmatively. Twilight charged her horn and the key began to glow purple. Erwin let go to see the key suspended in midair. Levi looked at the key with slightly wider eyes while Erwin was slightly mystified by it all. Twilight floated the key towards Erwin's hand, allowing him to grasp it as she stopped her spell, nodding proudly.

"Since this is the case, I assume one of you would have made some form of an attempt to break them, yet you sit here obediently and docilely. However, there is still much more that we don't know, but for right now, I think the most important thing to inquire about are your intentions."

"My..." Eren wondered, taken aback, "intentions?"

"To return to your house," Erwin answered, "we must retake the Shiganshina district of Wall Maria. It would take drastic measures to seal the broken gate. We will need your titan strength. Our fate rides on a titan, it seems. The Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan are probably just like you. Your intentions, however, are key here. The key to freeing mankind from this despair," he concluded, holding the key up again.

Eren gasped, knowing exactly what he would do.

"I'll..." he began to answer.

All memories of his past entered his mind, from his family, to the loss of his mother, to his father's injection.
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"Exterminate them," his younger self declared. "I'm going to kill them all!"
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"Answer the man, scum," Levi ordered. "What do you want to do?"

Eren shuddered with excitement, knowing that his dream would soon become a reality.

"I want to join the Scouting Legion," he said, his voice and eyes hungry for blood, "and kill as many titans as I can, sir."

"And what say you, ponies?" Erwin asked.

"We go where Eren goes," Rainbow Dash confirmed with a proud smile. "Right, girls?"

Each of the ponies, including Spike, nodded in agreement.

"Captain Erwin," Twilight vouched, "we volunteer to join the Scouting Legion with Eren!"

"Oh?" exclaimed Levi, his expression not changing. "Not bad. I would normally be wary of letting common beasts of burden such as yourselves join the Scouting Legion... except as nothing more than steeds for our soldiers..."

Levi's blunt words received hostile looks from the ponies, but Levi ignored them.

"...however, you display human intelligence that shouldn't be ignored. And if you creatures can master such abilities as magic or flight, there's no telling what value you could serve to the Legion. Erwin," he said, standing up straight and walking to the cell, "I'll take responsibility for them. Tell that to the higher-ups.

"Don't get me wrong," he said, looking to the caged human, dragon, and ponies, "it's not like I trust any of them. If they betray us or he goes berserk, I'll put him and them down without hesitation."

Eren and the ponies gasped, scared by Levi's icy, but honest, glare.

"Upstairs shouldn't have a problem with that. No one except for me is suited for the job. I'll accept your applications to the Scouting Legion."

Eren and the ponies looked determinedly at each other, knowing that their fights were far from over and the real battles were about to begin.