Everfree Forest, Equestria
10:26am

The Everfree Forest, a forest that holds many lost secrets, mysteries and threats to those outside. The forest itself is inhabitated by fearsome creatures and mysterious plant life that seems almost alien to everyone except for the Princesses. One such forgotten piece of Equestrian history is the Everfree Rail-line, an old project that was meant to connect Ponyville to Trottingham to cut travel time by fifteen hours and to spare everyday commuters from constantly having to switch trains at Canterlot to travel to the major town in the southern half of Equestria. The project would be abandoned many months later due to loss of life from the dangers of the forest. What would've been the greatest technological undertaking in Equestrian history is now forgotten to the world, slowly being reclaimed by the forest.

Not far from where the old tracks lay a pack of Timberwolves who were sheltered in a nearby cave, a female nursing her newly born pups while the Alpha scouted out the now empty line searching for prey. The alpha male finds a lone rabbit a ways down the track as it readies himself to chase down his prey when the surrounding area was engulfed in a blinding flash of light for a few seconds. The Alpha was temporary blinded for a brief moment before his sight was restored as his hearing was suddenly drowned in a thunderous like rumble. Looking behind him the last thing he will ever see as he looks is the plow of the "4-8-8-4" as the war-train slams into him, drowning the Timberwolf into eternal darkness instantaneously.

The "4-8-8-4" accelerates uncontrollably at it's new maximum speed of 120 Mph down the old line, vaporizing any natural debris that have grown over the tracks. The newly fitted Maglev Wheels fitted to the entire train kept the "4-8-8-4" glued to the tracks as the powerful magnets work hard to prevent the train from derailing. In the Observation car at the rear of the train, Captain Ryan Homer was still unconscious from the anomaly.

A new feminine voice with a received pronunciation English accent spoke to her superior from thin air. "Captain? Captain, can you hear me!"

No response came the young officer, much to the disappointment of the female voice.

"Dammit! Okay, Initiating automation protocols and... I have control of the train, all systems still green across the board which is always good."

With the train now under control, the "4-8-8-4"s A.I runs a full diagnostics check on the train, all key equipment and the crew. As expected the entire crew was unconscious based on the return feedback of everyone's neural diagnostic chips implanted on the cerebral cortex that links the brain to the spinal cord. Another full systems check shows the locomotive, the whole consist, all equipment and weapons are still intact and fully functional.

"Right, now to get this train stopped." The A.I thought loudly as she relays automated commands to the locomotive's autopilot computer. "Reducing atomic boiler pressure, idling turbines and applying brake pressure to 30%."

As soon as the commands were sent the train immediately begins to low down as the brakes were applied on the locomotive and several other railcars. The steam pressure built up in the boiler was vented out through the "4-8-8-4"s funnel as the noise of the turbines was reduced from the high pitched whine to a low rumble by the time the train came to a complete stop.

As the train's newest secret weapon the A.I is a highly sophisticated, self aware computer possessing a level of intelligence that supersedes the most powerful combat computers in the U.S Robotics Division. Being the only train outfitted with this artificial intelligence she is the latest hardware edition to the "4-8-8-4", replacing the outdated autopilot control systems and improving the hardware system output by 5x what it was and was given an additional one hundred thousand terabytes of data that makes up A.I's memory core which is fitted out within the war room in the observation car. Since the Dallas incident involving Chinese Hackers attempted to take control of the "4-8-8-4"s weapons platforms, the addition of a renewed firewall software makes it almost impossible to hack into the "4-8-8-4"s mainframe. Luckily, Holland was able to locate the hackers and plant a tomahawk on their heads before they were successful.

"Okay, Motion Trackers active, close range defences coming online." The A.I spoke to herself again as her avatar materializes on one of the many hologram projectors positioned throughout the train.

The small figure stood twelve inches tall and has the appearance of a long tall slender female with long black hair and her attire resembles a lab coat. The crew named her Serina, after the first female crewmember to embark on the war train who died saving her fellow crewmates during the Battle of Baltimore five years ago.

"Now then, time to play the waiting game..." Seina's hologram turns to her unconscious captain who was still unconscious up to this point.

Canterlot Castle Medical Wing
Canterlot, Equestria
1:34pm

in the last couple of hours since the gryphon crash landed in the gardens last night she had undergone an emergency Mage-Operation which is an Equestrian alternative to open cut surgery to stop the internal bleeding inflicted by her internal injuries. The operation was a success thanks to the handling of the procedure by some of Equestria's best Mage-Surgeons the female gryphon is now in a more stable condition but she has a long ways to recover before she's back on paws/claws. Having just transferred to the recovery ward a few hours ago the gryphon begins to regain consciousness where the first thing her flickering eyes would lay upon is an eagerly waiting Princess Luna sitting beside her bed.

"Welcome back to reality." Luna greeted the Gryphon. "I am absolutely astounded you have survived that crash last night, many of us didn't think you were going to live."

The gryphon who was still waking up gave a relieving smile to Luna as seeing the princess of the night was a Faust-send.

"Princess Luna? I'm surprised to see you." The Gryphon's voice crackled for the first time since she last spoke for days since the start of her journey.

"As is the rest of us Miss... What's your name by the way?" " Luna asked.

"Nightingale, Nightingale of the Monarch Duke of North Alophden." The Gryphon named Nightingale replied, her voice revealing the famed north Gryphonian accent.

"A pleasure to meet you, Nightingale." Luna bowed her head in acknowledgment. "Welcome to Canterlot. What brings you here in such a terrible way?"

"Well..." Nightingale began with a depressed sigh. "It's a long story, but I'll spare you the details due to the urgency of the matter. I was sent here by the King himself."

"The king?" Luna repeated with worry. "Does this have something to do with the civil war?"

"Yes." Nightingale confirmed Luna's fears. "The Grand Khans have taken the capital, the Monarchy has collapsed and the Sturm-Gryphons have been wiped out."

Luna's jaw became slack and her eyes expressed sorrow and shock. Now it was Luna's turn to make sure she wasn't experiencing a bad dream. "T-The Khans have won? They now have control of the entire kingdom? What's going to happen next now that they are in absolute power!"

"Yes, the Khans have won..." Nightingale replied with defeat in her voice. "And what they plan to do next is why I'm here, Princess Luna. King Ravenclaw has sent me here to seek an emergency audience with Princess Celestia, to warn her about the Khan's next move."

"An emergency meeting with Tia!" Luna now spoke in a hushed voice as she leaned closer to Nightingale. "What is the Khan's next move? What at they going to do?"

"The Great Khan, the profound leader of the legion has ordered his entire army South to the Equestrian boarder."

Luna gasped, if there was a whole army moving to the boarders it could only mean one thing. "What your saying, Nightingale is that they... They are..."

"The Khan's are going to invade Equestria. Not only that, The Great Khan has also rallied the support of the Tundra and Arctic Draconian Clans to attack the Crystal Empire."

The revelation left Luna slack jawed. "B-But why!? Why does the Grand Khans want to seek war with us? What have we done to them!"

"It's not what you've done, Its what you'll do to stop him from taking over the continent." Nightingale clarified.

"He's planning to conqueror the entire continent?" Luna repeated.

"Yes, with the kingdom under his control he now has control of three large armies. The first is the Khan's loyalist forces, comprised entirely of the gryphonians whom have sworn loyalty to the Khan himself. Their numbers are well into the hundreds of thousands and they are trained to be swift, merciless and those who prove to be the most ruthless to their enemies are rewarded dearly." Nightingale explains.

"So the mighty Gryphon Monarchist Forces have been utterly degraded to become utter savages that want to relive the barbaric days of old? Is this what Gryphon society has become?" Luna shook her head in disbelief.

"I'm afraid so..." Nightingale agreed in shame before continuing. "The second army is comprised mostly of slaves for-"

"Slaves!? They have an army of slaves, that is absolutely unacceptable!" Luna unintentionally interrupted the Gryphon with a stomp of her hoof with such force that she almost broke her horseshoe.

"...As I was saying, all the slaves are entirely made up of non-Gryphons, former migrants that traveled to the kingdom from every corner of the world to seek a better life within the Monarchy. Minotaur's, Zebafrican's, Juvenile Draconians, and Equestrians." Nightingale finishes.

Luna rubs her face in her hooves as the anxiety begins to build. "Do you know how many Equestrians have been enslaved?"

"Several thousand at least, we don't know the exact numbers. But before the kingdom fell we were able to evacuate three times as many by the time I left the capital. Now that I am here with the time it took for me to get here the first refugees should be crossing into Equestria as we speak." Nightingale reassures the younger princess.

"Well, that is great news. Now that we know what we are going up against, I must inform my sister of this grim revelation of what has become of our northern neighbour and begin mobilizing what forces we have available. We must also warn the Crystal Empire of what's coming." Luna stood to leave the bed-stricken Gryphon.

"Of course, Princess. Thank you for your time, but before you go. There's one more thing you must know." Nightingale spoke somberly.

Luna turns to Nightingale to listen to what she has to say as she spoke. "The Khan himself is a being that expresses disgust and moral hatred to those who can use magic in our world. If you were an alchemist, entertainer, or a witch doctor, you were publicly executed for your knowledge and practices. If you were a Unicorn however, you will subjected to the worst treatment under Khan rule."

"What happened to all the Unicorns that were captured, Nightingale?" Luna asked, her voice hinted with growing anger.

"The Unicorns that refused to leave were subjected to genocidal acts, sent to work in death camps, mass killings with their remains harvested as food for the Northern Draconian Clans to ensure their loyalty to the Great Khan." Nightingale replied truthfully.

Luna was horrified, thousands of Equestrians enslaved and forced to work for this 'Great Khan' against their will. Every Unicorn in and out of Equestria were in danger of facing genocide by the Grand Khans, Luna couldn't imagine what would happen to her, Celestia and Cadence should they be captured. What would happen to Twilight and her friends if they were captured. If the Great Khan weaponized the Elements of Harmony, It will mean the end of the free world as she knew it. The Great Khan must be stopped, no matter the cost of war as it is now unavoidable.

"Nightingale, with the Monarchy gone and you and what remaining forces still loyal to the former king in exile. Where will you place your loyalty?"

Nightingale faces Princess Luna, her eyes squarely locked onto the Princess's. "My loyalty is still with the former king, the Monarchy, and to my Equestrian Comrades. Once I'm outta here, I'm taking the war straight the Khan myself."

"Then you can count on Equestria's full support, if it's war the Great Khan seeks with us, then I will be more than happy to meet him at the gates of Tartarus." Luna spoke with full determination as she leaves the hospital wing to find her sister.

Nightingale was by herself once more, she knew Equestria stood little chance against the Grand Khans. It's going to take more than a miracle to save them.

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