"She will never accept audience with thee after all the crimes thou hath committed!" Luna growled, walking semi-awkwardly next to the floating Discord, her chains rattling and clinking together against her legs and hooves. The draconequus merely chuckled, spinning slightly in the air as the Solar Guards lining the hallway narrowed their eyes at him.

"Oh...I'm sure she'll come to listen in time." Discord hissed, snapping his fingers and causing the doors before him to open. Luna merely rolled her eyes, following the lord of chaos through the doorway and into a large rotunda that was lined with several buff and heavy looking royal guards. They wore full suits of yellowish armor, the Pegasus equipped with mounted blades on the front of their wings and a large metal contraption on their back. The machinery fixated to the back of their arm consisted of a large metal box with a six-cylinder barrel protruding from the left and right sides of it. It was the famed Dreadnought suit that the most elite of the royalty's guards wore, making any kind of attack on the princesses a sure suicide mission.

"Everything has gone according to how it should Luna...all this blood and madness could have been avoided you know." Discord went on, the gasps of a certain mare reaching his ears.

"Hello!?" Cried an elderly, motherly voice "Who is there...? Luna? Is that you dear sister?" Celestia shifted slightly in her restraining harness, the former princess trying to get comfortable. The white-furred mare was seated on a raised platform, a leather sort of harness securing her to it by a variety of belts. Upon her head she wore an odd sort of helmet that shielded her ears and eyes with a sort of visor, and completely covered her horn with a cylinder-shaped piece of metal. The horn part of the case pulsated steadily with yellow magic, the efforts of healing Celestia's horn clearly displayed to all who looked upon her. She had been savagely de-horned by Twilight Sparkle many months ago, back when the princess had lost all reason and determined that she would use the Ravage Virus to destroy the Griffon threat that even know, despite the prolonged time, remained a very real and very sinister danger to Equestria. "I can't see you Luna...tell me you are well! Tell me that brute Discord has not hurt you!"

Luna bit her bottom lip for a moment, looking up towards Discord. He wore a simple amused expression on his face, staring towards the former ruler of the sun and trying his best not to chuckle. "We...we are fine dearest!" Luna called to her sister in a raised voice so that she could hear "We were simply taking a stroll to stretch our wings!"

"Oh good..." Celestia breathed, a sigh of relief escaping her lips. "I was beginning to grow worried. Tell me, any news concerning Twilight?"

"She still lives..." Luna answered her, clanking her way up to her sister and sitting before her on the platform. "Despite the overwhelming power required by the Great Purge, Twilight Sparkle hath cheated death, and she remains at large."

Celestia smiled, dipping her head and sniffing slightly as a pair of tears rolled down her face from her eyes. "Thank the heavens..." she whispered happily "Perhaps we are not all truly lost. Tell me Luna, have you formulated a plan for destroying Discord yet?"

Luna grimaced slightly, looking past Celestia and towards Discord, the chaotic beast's smile widening considerably. She didn't say anything at first, but then

"We are working on it..."

~~~

"It's s..s..so cold..." whined a particular Pegasus, his wings shivering like mad. He shook like crazy, even though he wore a thick layer of padded wool under his elite Lunar Guard armor. His particular armor was a deep black color, unlike the usual light blue and purple that most of the other common rabble wore. His wings were fronted with a large, sharp blade latched into a harness that covered both wing fronts, his sides clasped with two belts of knives and a simple short sword tied to his back. On the side of his armor, a small name had been etched into the plate, just over an array of tally marks counting seventy in number. The name that was displayed upon the pony's armor was none other than-

"Sky-Driver, could you maybe stop your moping for at least a minute. JUST a minute, I'm begging you!" griped another Pegasus beside him. This particular Pegasus was geared in much of the same attire as Sky, but with a medium-sized, collapsible rifle slung across his back.

"Wind-Weaver, you complain more than any pony I know!" Sky countered, trying his best to keep his own shivering under control "If anything, I'm surprised YOU aren't constantly moaning about the chills!" The two of them were vastly different in their talents and personality, Sky being the engineer while Wind took his title as 'Ace Aerial-Combat Pilot' seriously. The one thing they DID have in common though was their hate for the cold and the fact that they were both in the same elite, well renown Shadow Squad.

The squad had been hoof-picked personally by the 'late', Legendary Captain Night-Mare many moons ago to be Princess Luna's royal and nigh unstoppable special forces group. They were the toughest of the tough, meanest of the mean, and the bravest of the br-

"ACHOO!" Wind sneezed, grumbling and hugging himself tighter with his two front legs. "Why Stalliongrad of all ruddy cities...?" He spat, trying to sniff a hanging thread of snot back up his nose "It's not even a strategically sound city! It's in the middle of nowhere, hours and hours away from Haven City and far away from the battle back at home!" He let out a yelp suddenly as the large, covered wagon they were hit a rock with one of its wheels, making the two of them bounce violently for a moment. "You can't even FLY there it's so cold!" He went on, motioning to his heavily blanket-padded wings "The battle's at home, with the re-infection and against Discord!!!"

Sky merely face-hoofed, letting out a groan and shouting "Yeah I get it Wind, you've only explained this EIGHT times over already! I'm not even surprised Moon-Lance wanted to ride up in the wagon up front!" The entire squad, minus General Shadow-Mane, had been requisitioned and ordered to the north by Princess Luna shortly before the re-infection hit Equestria, and no new orders to come back and fight had reached them yet. Why they were moving up there in a large, armed convoy of nearly a hundred military wagons with nearly a thousand other soldiers was a mystery to most of the group. Even Second-Lieutenant Nightfire, a freshly promoted officer and new direct field-leader of Shadow Squad (under General Shadow of course) was left in the dark, his only clue to their intentions being Luna's order to "Move north to Stalliongrad. Keep the borders, await further orders."

It was rumored that their convoy had enough firepower, munitions, rations, and other supplies to siege four major cities in a row without stopping. Most of the soldiers figured it was just a puff of the chest, a show of force and pride on Luna's behalf to scare away potential invaders. With the Ravage having destroyed most of Equestria and forcing most of the population to rebuild...most were even convinced that Equestria wasn't even worth invading anymore, let alone steal a passing glance at to even the most desperate of weary travelers.

So why Stalliongrad? That was the million bit question spread about among the others in 'Able-Wing Batallion', the designation of the thousand soldiers riding to the frozen city. The pool of betting was up to two thousand bits, each making a square bet against the other about the truth of their orders.

The wagons themselves weren't built to last, the wooden and metal frames struggling to hold together from the furious wind that whipped about outside, tearing at the thick cloth that was clasped down to it with heavy leather straps. It was a simple transport, holding around ten ponies each, with several Unicorns to each wagon to help pull it magically. It was much too dangerous to pull physically, what with the extreme weather. That didn't stop a few ponies from marching outside, one heavily armored pony in particular.

His armor was as black as the darkest midnight, with gold time edging the main body piece. On his back rested the large, double cylinder miniguns with the heavy silver box, his legs clasped with several throwing knives as ornate as the two long swords that were belted to his side. His helmet visor was down, thick clouds of vaporous breath steaming out from the mesh of metal. His mane was ruffled and messy but stiff from the cold, his eyes narrowed and staring towards the distant city that was nearly shrouded completely in the snowstorm.

His wings were heavily padded, his feathers radiating with trapped warm with brought some comfort to the weary soldier. He stood upon a high slope, his yellow eyes slowly moving from the distant city to his convoy. A lone Unicorn stood next to him in his regularly clad armor, his horn aglow with a white sort of magic. "No matter where I go..." he whispered, drawing a small heart in the snow with a careful hoof "Death and war...blood that never stops flowing." The Unicorn merely nodded in agreement, keeping his horn lit and continuing to monitor their perimeter. His concentration was slightly broken however, as the sudden shouts of another pony reached their ears.

"Lieutenant Nightfire! Sir!" called out one of his Lunar ponies, the poor Pegasus having trouble stomping up the snow towards him. Nightfire raised an eyebrow behind his visor, turning his head towards the soldier to give him his attention. When the guard finally reached him, he gave his officer a mighty salute which Nightfire returned before he spoke. "Our forward scouts have returned sir," He said, lowering his salute "But the city representatives that were supposed to meet us aren't there..."

"Not there?" Nightfire asked, his eyes widening in confusion "That's not right, the mayor of Stalliongrad was given VERY specific instructions. What about city hall? Did our scouts complete our secondary objectives?"

The soldier merely gulped, drawing nervously in the snow as he muttered "There...wasn't anypony there." He looked up to his Lieutenant with a grim expression and said "There's nopony. The whole city has been abandoned."

Nightfire stood rooted to the spot, his irises shrinking slightly. "The whole city...gone," Nightfire stated, his soldier nodding in confirmation. "How can the whole city be gone?!" He shouted, turning back towards the city "Are you sure there's nopony? You searched the buildings, the streets, basements, everything?!"

"Yes sir..." replied the Pegasus "With the storm slowing down our march so much, we've had plenty of time to search the city. Everypony's just...vanished."

"Was it the infection?" Nightfire asked curiously, trying to piece this sudden mystery together.

His soldier merely shook his head, however, pointing towards the sky and saying "Not from what we could tell. There's no signs of fighting, no panic, nothing. No blood or bodies, not even a feather."

The Lieutenant bit his chapped bottom lip and looked back towards the city. A population of several hundred thousand...gone? How was it possible? If it was the infection there would surely be signs. Maybe the population finally got tired of the harsh weather and decided to skip town. If that was the case...where did they all go? There would have been some kind of news or reports of such a vast migration...even more troubling was the fact that there were was only one real solid way in and out of the city, what with it being surrounded by vast mountain ranges. If the ponies of Stalliongrad had in fact left...Able-Wing Battalion would have run into them, or vice-versa.

For the whole city to just be...

"Double the efforts to push us into the city" Nightfire barked, turning his head to the soldier "Since there is no worry of disturbing the populace or the peace, we will take the city and set up immediate headquarters in City Hall." The scout gave a quick salute followed by a "Right away sir!" before trudging away. Nightfire took a moment to steal another glance at the city before directing his next orders to his Unicorn companion. "Initiate occupation order Zeta-Aurora," Nightfire said, pointing his hoof towards the city "We will have our positions set up by the night. Tell them that the faster we get dug in, the faster we can get some heat back in our bones."

The Unicorn gave a firm salute before running off to complete Nightfire's orders. The officer was left alone upon the hill to ponder his thoughts as the convoy gave a mighty lurch forward, its speed increasing significantly. With a tight grimace, Nightfire made his way off of the hill and towards one of the many wagons in line. A few quiet moments and a slightly warmer place away from the wind would do his poor bones good. He could only hope the rest of the world was in a much better state than he and his soldiers.

"To the Princess goes the gold, to the devils go our souls, one by one and ten by ten, we'll march into the griffon's den! Heads up high, rifles true, bleed those buzzards run em' through! For our sun and for our moon, a griffon's life we plague with doom! For the country they would not dare, to take our lands or our fine mares!"

Moon-Lance and Wind-Weaver clung to each other, laughing and singing loudly and badly off key as the seven empty bottles of cheap vodka twinkled in the fire light around them. Sky-Driver merely rolled his eyes, doing his best to work out a kink in one of Nightfire's miniguns, the six-barreled cylinder slightly disassembled at his hooves. Nightfire himself was seated on a small rock, a much larger rock resting in front of him that served as a makeshift desk.

It turned out, there was one odd thing about the city at first glance after all. One of the buildings, a bar, had a caved in roof. There was no signs of explosives or foul-play, but it suited Nightfire just find as a private barracks for him and Shadow Squad. He let the rest of his soldiers have run of the apartment complexes, being sure to facilitate the sentries and guards needed to keep the massive perimeter.

He was still amazed at his only hoof-work, being able to coordinate the full setting up and structure of a complete defensive occupation of Stalliongrad in just a matter of hours. He rubbed at his temples roughly, drawing a deep sigh out of his snout. He cast his eyes down upon his large rock-table, the slab clustered with paperwork and a few broken pencils. His headache was not doing much to help with his current (in his opinion, 'pointless') assignment. He was starting to wonder if giving Moon and Wind alcohol to leave him alone and to stop them from badgering him with questions was such a good idea.

"Will you two act your AGE for once!?" Cried Sky, his hoof slightly slipping on one of the screws on Nightfire's minigun "Honestly you two are the biggest bird brains I've ever had the misfortune of ever meeting!"

At this, Moon merely giggled like a school-filly, flopping down on his stomach in front of the annoyed Pegasus and fanning out his wings lazily. "Aww come off it Sky!" He wheezed drunkenly, his tongue lolling out of his mouth "Think of it like a vacasshhion! All the boosh ya want for free!"

"Have you forgotten we're on assignment?!" Sky barked angrily, fastening the minigun to the left side of the metal box that made up the Dreadnought weapon. He gave it a quick spin to ensure it spooled up correctly before stopping it with his hoof. He crossed his left front leg over his right front one, assuming a comfortable position before rambling on "Honestly I don't know how you two were even picked for Shadow Squad! It was a miracle Shadow even gave you two a passing glance!"

"Oh leave them alone Sky," Nightfire said in a bored tone, shuffling his papers together and looking over towards his two drunken squad mates. They looked like they were playing patty-cake, tapping their hooves together and giggling like idiots. "We never catch a break these days anyway, and the heat from that alcohol will keep them healthy for a little while."

Sky grimaced, stealing a glance towards his old friend and superior. They locked eyes for a moment, the Lieutenant giving Sky a semi-pleading look before the corporal merely sighed and muttered "Fine..."

"Come now gents," Nightfire said, hopping from his rock and trotting over to his colts "Let's get some sleep, the night time is coming and it's going to get dreadfully cold. We're going on recon tomorrow, so try to get some sleep."

Moon and Wind gave sloppy, drunken salutes, falling over on one another and dozing off. Sky merely rolled his eyes at his fellow squad mates, lowering his head down on his legs and closing his eyes. "Night sir..." he mumbled sleepily, drawing a small smile out of the Lieutenant who took his own place next to Sky.

He sighed, burying his face in his legs and closing his eyes. "I hope Shadow's having a better time than I am right now..."

"Gone away...

"So far away...

"No frowns my dearest baaaby...."

Nightfire stirred slightly, his body feeling absolutely weightless and warm. What frightened him though...was the remembering of a certain time where he felt such a way before. "Am I dead..?" he muttered, the fur on his back tingling from the sensation of being touched. "W...who's there?" he called out, trying to open his eyes but finding himself to be unable.

"Ssshhh..." cooed a mare's voice. Her voice was much older than Nightfire's, with a tone of wisdom and friendship laced in her words. "You are safe little one," she whispered, the sensations of being rubbed continuing to spark up Nightfire's back.

The soldier gave an involuntary whimper, the tension in his muscles fading away slowly. "Who are you?" He whispered back to her, willing his body to move. Like his eyes however, they remained immobile. "Where am I?"

"Who and where aren't important my dearest Nightfire," cooed the voice yet again, the mare's voice echoing right into his ear, as if her lips were mere inches away from him "The question is...why?"

Nightfire frowned, his mind muddled with questions. "Ok then...why?" He asked the mare, his wings flapping involuntarily from the hoof being dragged up his spine smoothly.

"That's indeed the question isn't it?" The mare said, drawing a slightly frustrated growl out of Nightfire before she went on "Why has this happened, why is this happening to our ponies again. I tried to stop it, to ferry it as far away as I could before its terrible secrets were unlocked."

Nightfire turned his head towards the mare, his eyes still refusing to open as he asked "What do you mean, what did you carry? What secrets, I don't understand!"

"I was labeled a traitor and a murderer by Princess Celestia, all traces of my existence erased from the Lunar Archives," she went on, scratching a suddenly itchy spot behind Nightfire's ear "They simply labeled me missing in action, covering up all the work and effort I put into keeping Equestria safe." She paused to lower her voice, a tinge of sadness making its way into her tone. "We should have taken heed, we should have paid attention to the signs. But no...now we must pay for our crimes and our sins." She gently laid herself upon the soldier's back, giving him a firm hug as she whispered "My dearest Nightfire...oh how you've grown. Time is running short and it will not be long before Discord comes for what is his." She whispered quickly into his ear as a sudden rush of wind blew over his body "You must be strong Nightfire...if the Scales are to ever be rebalanced, all of the worlds at stake must be ready to fight against the very Chaos of Disharmony itself..."

"What do you mean?!" Nightfire cried, the presence of the mare fading away. "I don't understand! Twilight's dead, gone from the purge! What scales, what are you hiding!? What is Discord after?!?! ANSWER ME!!!"

He shouted and shouted, but no answer was given to him. Nightfire could only stare off into the darkness of his own eyelids as the screams of a distant pony began to ring out in his ears.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!!!!" Screamed a pony from outside, the furious shouts and frantic cries of several other ponies joining in the chorus of Chaos that stirred Nightfire form his sleep. He blinked rapidly, his eyes widening as Sky-Driver burst into the bar, panting heavily.

"Sir, we've come under bombardment from the sky!" he shouted, motioning towards the outside "The cloud cover is too thick to see who it is, and every scout we've sent up there has been shot down dead!"

Nightfire growled, rushing outside past Sky and into the cold, dreary dawn. "Assume defensive positions and quit panicking!" He roared as an air to ground artillery shell pounded the street to his left. "Take cover in the buildings and keep down!"

"SIR! LOOK!" Sky cried, pointing a hoof to the air. As Nightfire looked up, a terrifying fear gripped at his heart. It was a sight that he couldn't believe he was seeing, his hopes crushing down under the weight of what was coming down through the clouds. They had said it was inevitable, but no matter what, Nightfire refused to believe it. They should have stayed away, should have known Equestria was under attack by a ravenous infection. Why didn't they heed the signs, why didn't they stay away!?

"Everypony lock and load!" Nightfire screamed, spooling his miniguns up in preparations for a barrage of bullets to the sky "We've got company!" All around, the sounds of weapons clicking and loading were heard, the preparations for immediate battle sounding out. The artillery stopped shortly after, drawing a deep shiver out of the officer. Stopping an artillery bombardment meant only one thing.

Paving the way...for the invaders.

As the large, hulking, feathery beasts clad in heavy battle armor descended from the sky in swarms of hundreds, the underbelly of at least four different wooden hulls made themselves visible in the grey, cloudy sky. "What is it!? What's up there!??!" Sky cried, taking cover behind an old market stall where Nightfire joined him.

"It's what we've come to fear for a long time Sky..." Night grumbled, peeking out from the stall "They have come for us at last..."

Sky poked his own head out, peering at the large shapes that were descending quickly from the sky. "Who's up there?" he whispered in fear, his poor wings shaking.

"Griffons," Nightfire whispered, double-checking to make sure his miniguns were loaded "It's the Griffons, Equestria is being invaded."