Silence reigned in the office of Captain Winterlight, her hooves folded primly upon her desk. The desk itself was - for the first time since her return to the world - empty of all forms of paperwork or correspondence. There was no need for her to oversee the police forces in her city because there was no need for a police force. Intel was handled exclusively by the Queen’s personal entourage now, and she was no longer considered a part of that loop. The Shadow had made itself perfectly clear - her talents, such as they were, were not necessary until such time as a proper army could be summoned for her to lead.

That left her at loose ends, especially in a city that was now positively rife with sickeningly sweet devotion to the Shadow. Devotion that was most often expressed sexually between two creatures - regardless of race, gender, or social class. It was as though her entire world had been upended - there was literally no need for fear or psyops or any other skill she’d carefully honed under the direction of the Nightmare. All of the citizenry would already instantly obey any command she gave them, save for those that would result in their deaths or permanent harm. It was positively creepy how devoted they all were to Umbra and her agenda.

Under any other circumstances, Winterlight would have fled by this point. Things were getting far too beyond her ability to personally control for her tastes, and with Silent Moon dead and Shadow Dancer missing... Winterlight privately was sure they were both dead - murdered in some dark ritual by the Queen - and thus she had no direct subordinates to influence events except for….

Her eyes darted to look out the window, where a rainbow maned pegasus barked out orders and glared with a remarkable amount of power and menace as Shadowbolts flew in tight formation with one another. Tighter than they’d managed before, if Winterlight was being entirely honest with herself. Ribbon Bound was close by her as always - apparently having been personally tasked by the Queen to keep an eye on Rainbow after what had happened over Ponyville.

Not that Winterlight had any real idea about what had happened beyond Rainbow Dash getting the stuffing kicked out of her. Regardless, Dash was now the only truly effective subordinate Winterlight had under her direct command. Ribbon had been good, but she was obeying a different commander now. It was positively maddening that after all of the work she put into restoring the Shadowbolts, she was now effectively neutered from doing anything of importance.

So she sighed and kicked her desk and glared into the silent office. It wasn’t as though this was the first time this had happened - NIghtmare Moon had been known to cut her out of the chain of command from time to time just to remind Winterlight who was in charge. She’d learned to put up with it then, and so she would put up with it now. She just didn’t have to like it. Winterlight was actually quite tempted to pout, but decided against such a childish gesture. There were more constructive things to do with her time than sulk.

Winterlight shoved away from her desk and sank into the shadows of her chair. Travelling through the shadowed realm was the kind of experience that was hard to explain to someone who couldn’t do it. Winterlight really didn’t have the vocabulary for it either - it was almost like stepping into a world that was the opposite of the one they normally inhabited - all colors reversed, the hidden depths of ponies and other creatures shining through. The things they tried to hide from the outside world lay bare for anypony with the wit to see. But one could not tarry there - the few she’d been willing to sacrifice to try hadn’t returned. Winterlight supposed they’d either gone mad… or worse. Still, no real loss beyond a few bodies she could easily replace.

Moments later, she slipped out of the shadow next to the Ponyville Town Hall and strode into the main town square with her head held high. All around her, the wheels of conquest were already beginning to turn - blacksmiths forged steel heads for spears and arrows, the ‘corruption corps’ were carefully turning out Apple Family Cider to be improved with an injection of the shadow power later on, and supplies were being canned, bottled, and otherwise preserved for the inevitable march.

But even amidst the new atmosphere of production, life went on mostly as it always had in Ponyville. With most of the town’s produce now being consumed by Twilight Town, the loss of the Friendship Express was blessedly mitigated. The last thing Winterlight wanted to have to deal with was economic issues, and she just knew they’d get dumped on her lap. In fact, the only real problem she did have to deal with was… well, expansion.

The problem was fundamentally one of numbers. Between the Royal Guard and the Cloudsdale Legions, there was no way to slip any agents out of the dragnet that infernal Princess Cadence had draped around them without expending resources Winterlight frankly didn’t have to spare. The fact was that the EIS was almost absurdly informed as to the number and nature of the ponies under her control, and nopony short of a Shadowbolt was going to get out of town… and Winterlight wasn’t prepared to sacrifice what little command she still had remaining to some cockamamie plan. So all she could do was keep sending out raiders and pilgrimage missions filled with those she could easily live with losing. The only thing she cared about was restoring the mind of Nightmare Moon. Everything else was a secondary priority at best.

Winterlight’s hoof steps took her past the cider distillery that had once been someplace called “Barnyard Bargains” - apparently the business place of that stupid merchant pony who’d tried to rise above his station. Now his bitch of a wife was part of the labor force under the watchful eye of Granny Smith Apple and her granddaughter, Applejack, as they produced vast amounts of Cider from the Sweet Apple Acre’s apples.

Personally, Winterlight still didn’t trust Applejack - no matter how much she’d been assured of her loyalty. The Apple Family’s stubborn willpower had already been legendary one thousand years ago when Nightmare Moon had fallen. The Apples simply didn’t know the meaning of the word ‘quit’, and Winterlight had no doubts in her mind that the legendary bullheadedness of their clan hadn’t diluted one iota. So she kept a close eye on the Apples, much as she kept a close eye on the rest of the earth pony clans in town.

Her steps quickly took her further down the street where the Ponyville Spa had become… well, honestly it was still really just a spa. The fact that a lot of other naughty activities took place there was sort of ancillary to things. The place’s primary business was still their pampering and preening, and if Aloe and Lotus were perhaps a bit more… enthusiastic about their erotic activities, they still hadn’t forgotten the hospitality of their service.

Winterlight looked up to the roof to see the quiet yellow form of Fluttershy - her name now even more appropriate than it had ever been before. She did that a lot now - perch upon the roof ledge when she wasn’t working at the Spa and flick her beautiful and hypnotic wings back and forth as she stared out over Ponyville, her eyes masking some kind of inner sadness that Winterlight could never bucking figure out. Rarity usually seemed to ground her pretty well - and Rainbow Dash could be counted on to cheer her up a little - but no matter how often they pulled her out of her morose moods, she would always revert back to them.

It was like she was… waiting for something.

Something that no matter how often Winterlight tried to dismiss it, sent a thrill of stark terror into her heart. She had no name for that stark terror - only a sense of looming dread - like there was a boulder perched just above her head and all it would take was the tiniest push to make it fall…

Princess Mi Amore Cadenza was having what she could honestly describe as the strangest meeting in her entire life. Given that she’d had meetings which had ended with her being trapped in the crystal caverns, with her becoming an Alicorn Princess, with her meeting the love of her life and a very precious little filly; and a meeting in which a creature more than one thousand years old had taunted them about the darkness he had unleashed upon the world, that was saying something. Of course, none of those meetings had included the pony… or creature - Cadence really wasn’t sure which to call him now - that went by the name of Discord.

The nomenclatural issues were a problem - because for the past two weeks, he hadn’t changed out of his pony form. That brown coated, salt-and-pepper bearded, academic-looking unicorn wearing the snappy suit. All of his usual pranks and antics had come to an almost absurd halt, and even the long suffering maids of Canterlot Castle were beginning to express concern for his mental well being. For Faust’s sake, some of the castle staff had been trying to set up low-hanging fruit for his pranks, and he hadn’t bitten at a single one of them!

It was, perhaps, a sign of how the castle staff had become used to him in spite of his odd behavior. Sure, he was devious and tricksy and occasionally a little mean spirited, but… well, frustrated at him or not, there was little doubt that Discord livened up the otherwise stuffy castle atmosphere. And there was even less doubt that the staff missed his antics and zany jokes. So Mi Amore Cadenza, having long been raised with the knowledge that there was no greater threat to Ponykind than Discord, found herself sitting with him at her luncheon table. A pile of scrolls from EIS and the Royal Guard sat awaiting her seal, but they could continue to sit there for a while longer.

As he usually did, Discord plucked at his food - he really didn’t need to eat, but confessed to her once Celestia had left on her mission that he still very much enjoyed doing so. Food was apparently one of those chaotically complex things that somehow defied the fine line between a science and art and that sort of dichotomy appealed to him in some odd way. Cadence had long ago stopped trying to explain anything Discord did, much in the same way that the citizens of Ponyville had once explained to her the Tao of Pinkie Pie - Don’t try, you’ll feel better about yourself.

Cadence sipped at her tea and stared at him.

Discord, the god of chaos, one of the most powerful sapient beings on the planet, was suffering from that oldest and cruelest of maladies - heartbreak.

What was worse, Cadence was one hundred percent sure of it. Her talent seemingly still applied even to a creature as powerful as Discord. She could see it in every line of his face, every seemingly inconsequential movement. It was like tasting the emotion on the very air. Cadence couldn't explain how she did it - no more than Shiny could explain his incredible talent with shields - or that Miss Inkwell somehow managed to anticipate Aunty Celestia’s needs without ever needing a word spoken about them. Cadence simply could see the strands and webs of love that connected everypony in the world.

Before today, she would have sworn up and down that Discord had no such connections - that he was simply incapable of forming them beyond a sort of friendly-enemy-admiration thing he had with Celestia. Yet here he was, with a pulsating and torn thread reaching out into the distance. But why? Certainly, Discord had been making close acquaintances with all of the Elements of Harmony as well as a few of the bolder townsfolk in Ponyville, and there was no doubt that the once antagonistic attitude he’d had with Celestia had mellowed considerably, but….

It was like one of those funny blacksmith puzzles. Rings that looked so utterly and perfectly attached to one another that unless you looked at it just right, you couldn’t see how on earth it could all come apart. “You know, when I first met Umbra I thought she’d be a great lot of fun.” Discord’s voice snapped her out of her reverie, and she stared at him in mute astonishment. His tone was musing - almost nostalgic. “She’d just started her first little try to take over the world you see,” he continued, turning to face Cadence with those slightly disturbing yellow and red eyes. “She gave me quite the fright, as you could imagine - a being with as much power as I had and the cunning to use it. I sized her up - the same way I sized everything up in those days - in terms of how a fight would work out between us.”

Discord gave off a harsh sort of laugh - but there was still an element of wry humor in there. “I’d never been quite so scared of another being before, and I wouldn’t be again until I butted horns with ol’ Sunbutt,” His humor slowly returning, he lifted his cup of tea and drained it - delicately replacing the fine dishware before continuing to speak.”Still, she seemed to be spreading no small amount of chaos all on her own. I didn’t see any reason to get into a tussle with her before I had my fun, so we cut a mutual arrangement.” Discord sighed deeply then, his mercurial mood setting him to stare moodily at his cupcake. “I should’ve seen something like this coming. She always was a bitch.”

Cadence shut her mouth with a snap, and took another sip of her tea to absorb all that information for a moment, before deciding that being candid was probably appropriate right now. “I’d have to agree with that,” she said with a sharp little dagger of anger. If Cadence had her way, she was going to show this Shadow bitch exactly what the power of Love could do. Now her own mildly pleasant mood was shot into irritability just by thinking about what that creature had already done to her beloved world. “You needn’t worry, Discord. This Umbra creature doesn’t know who she’s been messing with.” Her voice came out sharp and hard - like a crystaline shard digging into the skin. All she needed was Celestia to return, and they’d go and cleanse Ponyville of the taint that had infected it.

Discord gave off a slow, rueful chuckle - the first time she’d heard him genuinely laugh since this whole debacle had begun. “Looks like I underestimated you myself, Princess Lovebutt,” Discord teased at her, that sparkle of good humor returned to his eyes. “Still, don’t count your potatoes before they’ve hatched. We’ve got a long way to go before the big finale.” Discord turned his head away for a moment - once again staring into the middle distance as though something was occupying his thoughts. What - or more appropriately - who was he thinking about? “Things are going to get a lot worse before they get better,” he said in a soft voice, almost musingly.

For once, Cadence couldn’t have agreed with him more.

Scootaloo carefully brought the spyglass up to her eye and tracked the caravan travelling up the wide stone road that wound its way about the hills that surrounded and led to the Ghastly Gorge. They looked like any other trade caravan that trundled up and down the road - several large carts and covered wagons, a number of house-carts, and plenty of ponies driving, pulling, or otherwise walking alongside them. Just to make the scene almost sickeningly pastoral, a dozen or so fillies and colts - including a couple of griffon fledglings - were bouncing about the caravan playing with one another to the amusement of the adults.

Of course, Scootaloo had learned that looks could be deceiving. The telltale mark of Apple Family Cider barrels was clear as day for anypony to see - a sight that once, Scootaloo would have greeted with an almost drooling anticipation. Now she knew those barrels for what they were - an advance force, a tainted payload of Shadow power that all by itself could start the seed of any town’s destruction. Worse still, she even recognized a few of the ponies in the carts - one of the flower sisters was down there, as was what looked like Davenport from Sofas and Quills.

She lowered the spyglass and handed the valuable artifact back over to Skandranon, and slowly creeped back behind the crest of the hill. Once fully out of sight, she turned to face the compatriots she’d brought along the way - Snowflake, Thunderlane, and a half dozen other pegasi that comprised Thunderlane’s ‘Wrecking Crew’; a dozen burly looking earth ponies clad in heavy chain and leather armor and bearing wicked looking pinning spears, with their heavy and wide cross brace that Scoots had been told was specifically used to get a pony out of the fight without killing him; Skandranon and one other griffon who looked like he was pretty good in a fight; and Trixie of course still in her star and moon spangled gear and a slightly grim look on her face.

Of all the ponies who had reasons to be here, Scootaloo still couldn’t understand Trixie. All she would say on the subject - while having the most angered and hurt look on her face that Scoots had ever seen - was that she knew what it was like to be in the grip of a power you couldn’t control and couldn’t stop - and that she had a debt to repay. Scootaloo didn’t quite get all of that, but Trixie’s illusions had been invaluable to their work so far so she wasn’t about to complain.

“Okay, I counted eight covered wagons, six house carts, and four regular carts,” Scootaloo said in a soft voice, pitching it low so as to reduce the chance that an echo would betray them. “Two earth ponies pulling each cart, one on the driver’s seat. A dozen or so other ponies walking alongside the carts, not including the kids.” She eyeballed Skandranon, who had an amused sort of grin. She was getting to learn how griffons conveyed body language, odd as it was for most ponies. He’s testing me with that grin, trying to see if I’ve been paying attention. So Scootaloo grinned back at him. “Figure at least sixty or so ponies, if we presume there’s more adults inside the wagons that we can’t see.”

Skandranon nodded his approval. “Given the cargo, I’d concur. This is the largest such party they’ve sent out so far - and I would be willing to bet they’re trying to sneak one through to Appleloosa. Hm. That leaves out plan A then,” he grumbled. Skandranon was eager to find out if a frontal assault could be effective against their foes, but Scootaloo had put her hoof down at four-to-one odds. “So we turn to plan B. Miss Trixie, is all in readiness?” His voice rumbled gravel-like as he turned to the unicorn mare.

She nodded shortly. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is quite ready. Vinyl and her colleagues are already set up on the first ridge, and Trixie simply awaits the word to set her illusions.” She turned a beady eye toward Scootaloo, slightly arrogant and narrowed as always. “Assuming our vaunted Crusader here can lead a proper charge, we ought to have a clean victory.”

Scootaloo gave a grunt and felt a sour mood wash over her for a moment before putting on her best confidant grin. “Go get in place, Trixie. You know the plan,” Scootaloo spoke in her very best commanding voice - it sounded weird coming out of a squeaky little filly, but Trixie gave her a surprising nod of respect before quickly cantering down the hill and off to the ambush point. Scoots gave a look to the rest of her team before nodding slowly. “Okay, so here’s what we’re going to do…”

Scootaloo hunched down, grabbing her trusty stick before scratching the rough plan into the dirt. It was simple as pie - wait until the wagons got in front of the first ridge where Vinyl had said she could focus her sonic assault upon the wagons. Trixie would conjure up illusions of a massive rockfall blocking the path and trapping the caravan on the narrow cliffisde road - at which point Scootaloo and the rest of the crew would hit them from behind and do everything in their power to destroy the cargo.

It was a simple plan as things went, but Skandranon insisted that simple was best. Something about ‘the best laid plans never survive first contact with the enemy’ or something like that. Skandranon said it basically amounted to ‘plan to be flexible’, and Scootaloo could get on board with that - it wasn’t terribly different from how she’d done things when Crusading not so long ago.

Once her muscle was in on the plan, they quickly made their way to the ridge where they’d be making their attack. It would be a little while before the carts were in position, so Scootaloo took the time to unpack her newly made steel scooter properly and make sure all the wheels and the like were tight. She tightened her cloak and pulled the hood over her head, obscuring her mane and face from the world in a sea of red silk. Her shield was carefully positioned and wedged in front of the scooter’s handlebars so that as she mounted the scooter, she could see the names in shaky black paint scrawled upon the back: as clear as daylight.

Remember Applebloom.

Remember Sweetie Belle.

A reminder, and a promise.

Her eyes came up as she felt that blazing fire in her heart, unaware of the tears that streamed helplessly down her face. Her sorrow was drowned in anger and rage - in a single-minded devotion to her one goal above all else. The moments passed far faster than she could have imagined as the caravan pulled into the pass. Her teeth grabbed onto the bound hilt of the magical blade strapped to her back as an insanely loud sound caused the very ground to rumble and vibrate beneath her hooves - and she gave out a muffled, but still audible cry before plunging down the hill.

“FOR THE CRUSADE!”

The Rubicon river flowed mighty and strong before her as Twilight Shadow slowly strode up to the riverbank. Before her, the Eternal City of Roam stood proud and defiant. Its walls were carved out of a seemingly solid piece of white granite. Tall and proud spires rose up out of the city festooned with defensive weaponry - catapults and ballistae and a frightening array of other magic based devices. At the center of the city rose the mighty Hawkwing Tower - once the very heart of all Griffondom. Built by the Second Ceasar of Roam, in honor of his reuniting of the Griffon Empire.

And though the history books did not say so, in honor of his defeat of the dark creature they called Darksun. Umbra. As if the thought of her summoned her to being, Umbra strode up to the riverbank to stare across it at The City. For it was The City - in capital letters - to any with intelligence and wit. No other city - save, some would argue, Canterlot - had endured so long and so much over its history. Umbra’s eyes traveled to the grand central tower, and her voice was soft. “It seems so long ago, now,” she said softly, her voice echoing in Twilight’s ears. “I so badly underestimated that griffon. I foolishly believed in the words of my Shade at the time, who said that Hawkwing Arthur could never be a threat to us. A simple general, and nothing more.”

Umbra’s smile turned bitter for a moment, and Twilight quickly moved over to her side to kiss her cheek and nuzzle against it for a moment. The bitterness vanished under the gentle intimacy, and Umbra’s smile was bright again. “But you were once a simple librarian and student. And Ahleha was nothing more than a village shaman. I suppose I have finally learned not to dismiss the simple creature - for within the hearts of all, there lies the spark to become something greater than themselves.”

Twilight Shadow chuckled deeply and reached up her hoof to pull Umbra’s head closer to her - she kissed those sweet lips, so beautiful and perfect - drawing her tightly into a passionate kiss that seemed to go on forever. “We shall not make the same mistake, beloved,” Twilight whispered softly, then turned to the river before her. With a single thought of power, her horn blazed to life and a massive and wide bridge of shadow energy emerged slowly from one bank of the river and slowly traversed it to the other bank. Her hooves began to carry her across it, step by step.

Behind her - the flapping of thousands of wings and the stomps of thousands of hooves rumbled the earth. The Shadow desired the Eternal City, and that was exactly what the Shadow was going to get.

And oh, the fun they would soon have….