Sunset glanced at the large number of new opponents now trained on her. Gripping her blades tight, she awaited any and all humans and ponies that would come her way, but refused to budge in response to their steadfastness.

“Oy,” Levi said. “You should probably cut her down before she thinks of escaping.”

Hannes looked back to the stern and calm Scouting Legion soldier and nodded.

“Garrison!” he ordered. “Attack her!”

At once, Ian, Riko, Mitabi, and the rest of the Garrison forces charged at her with triumphant shouts, Levi effortlessly weaving his way around them and to the front.

“My soldiers,” Nile cried, “spread out and drive the black pieces of shit out!”

Like cockroaches, the Military Police soldiers leapt up via their Maneuver Gears and went off in multiple directions.

“Everyone else,” Erwin shouted back to the rest behind him, “stand your ground here and protect the princesses!”

“Sir!” they all shouted back.

The first of the Garrison soldiers came at Sunset, who leapt back and only managed to dodge and deflect any swings and jabs at her, unable to make an attack of her own. Just then, Ian and Riko both came at her from the sides, with Levi sprinting down the center at her. With their blades out, they created a formation that even Sunset knew she couldn’t avoid. Regardless, she let out a scream and prepared her own blades.

Just then, a green aura surrounded her and she was plucked from the ground, the blades of the three soldiers just grazing the bottoms of the tips of her boots. Looking about her surprised, yet slightly vexed, she saw as the yellow-winged changeling and four others flying up into the air with their horns charged.

“What are you doing?” she shouted.

“The queen has been injured,” the yellow-winged changeling responded. “She has called for a retreat.”

Opening her mouth to object, she suddenly felt the urge to look back down. She saw as the Military Police continued to spread out through the ruined town, the Garrison soon joining them. As they passed over the area, changelings with many-colored wings flew out from the streets and back towards the two airships. Looking further down, she managed to spot Levi, and the two exchanged vengeful looks, their eyes filled with desire to finish one each other off once and for all.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

At the town hall, Hanji, Petra, Sasha, Rarity, Shining Armor, and his guards continued to fend off sporadic waves of changelings that still attempted to enter inside. Suddenly, many colored-winged changelings flew to the small groups that awaited their turn to attempt their sieges. As the commanders explained the situation, the shouts of soldiers roared over the rooftops.

Many of the groups, understanding their impending predicament, flew up into the sky and back towards the airships to safety. Those too slow to respond were met with fatal blows by the Military Police as they came over the rooftops of the buildings surrounding the town hall.

As one changeling commander and his group began to ascend, a blade shot straight out from a rooftop and sliced the commander’s wing off. As the screeching changeling fell and bounced to the ground, the blade continued its flight until its end pierced through another changeling’s chest, sending it down and pinning it to the ground. Hanji, stunned by the sight, looked to the direction of the blade’s origin, watching as the familiar red-haired soldier ran towards her battalion with his hand at his left sheath before he pulled it away, revealing a fresh blade attached to his operational device.

“Woo,” he huffed. “This is one way to spend a nice summer’s day.”

“Kirill!” Hanji excitedly shouted.

As many other soldiers approached, the changelings nearby had all gone, allowing Hanji and Kirill to safely embrace. Hitch walked over to the writhing changeling commander and pointed her blade at it.

“Hmm,” she playfully chortled with evident vindication, “I wonder what these things feel like to cut.”

Winding her arm in as the changeling winced and accepted his fate, several of her companions watched with great anticipation.

“NO!” barked Lyra’s voice, freezing Hitch’s body stiff.

All eyes turned to the shout’s source, finding Lyra and Derpy Hooves, still equipped, with slight confusion and disappointment as they approached Hitch and the wounded changeling commander.

“If he’s one of Chrysalis’s commanders,” Derpy said, “and he’s still alive, we can interrogate them, so put your blade away, ma’am.”

Hitch stared at Derpy Hooves, transfixed by her intensely serious glare with her lopsided eyes. Puckering her lips to stifle her chuckles, her lips finally parted and howled with laughter, making Derpy’s face all the more angered.

“And why should I listen to you?” Hitch roared, making Petra, Hanji, Sasha, and the other ponies groan with the world of hurt they saw Hitch jovially stepping into. “You look like a retard with those eyes! Now, I’m sure that this big ol’ bug can do plenty of begging in Hel–”

Her words were cut off as Derpy’s back hoof kicked Hitch in the stomach, sending her doubling over and clutching her waist. Before Hitch could cry out, Derpy spun up and around, striking the same hoof into the back of her head, knocking her unconscious. The unfamiliar soldiers of the Military Police, Kirill included, had their eyes widened and their mouths closed in fear. Seeing this obedient sight, Derpy redirected her attention to the changeling, who peered through the squints of his eyes to see Derpy and Lyra still over him.

“Don’t speak,” Lyra said. “Your next words will be for Princess Celestia and Luna. Choose them carefully.”

The changeling nervously hissed, unsure of what fate would come to him now.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Changelings poured over the sides of the stationed ships’ banisters from below and stood onto the deck. One of the last groups to arrive was Sunset and the changelings who rescued her. Running to the stern and taking the wheel, she looked over to the other ship, just able to faintly see Chrysalis’s cracked horn as she made her way to the wheel.

Hissing through her teeth, Sunset Shimmer threw the wheel to the left and pushed the lever beside it up, allowing the ship to rotate and accelerate forwards. Once her dirigible was pointed back towards Canterlot, Chrysalis’s own ship began to move, turning back in Sunset’s likewise direction. With a glare starved of satisfaction, Sunset kept her eyes on the palace on the mountainside as she, Chrysalis and their armies retreated.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside the Ponyville Hospital, a building miraculously and relatively unscathed by the battle, chaos still managed to fill the air in its hallways and crowded rooms. The rich scent of blood was thickest above all else as nurses and doctors struggled frantically to save those wounded and hanging onto life by the skin of their teeth. Screams and wails of mares, stallions, and foals alike sounded off one by one in the wake of the grim announcement that their loved ones would not come through.

The sounds of misery and despair continued to dampen the spirits of Conny and Pinkie Pie as they stood, waiting outside a busy sounding room, not a moment passing when the hallway was empty from doctors, patrons, or patients going through.

“Why haven’t they told us anything yet?” Pinkie Pie whined, her eyes occasionally pouring tears from both eyes. “If they’re okay, they would have said something by n-how…”

“Pinkie,” Connie cooed with a hoarse, half-honest whisper, “the babies were crying when we pulled them out of there. If they could withstand the smoke then… surely they could too.”

His words did little to suppress the pink mare’s sobs, leading Conny to slide down the wall on his back and sit beside Pinkie, sighing in exhausted defeat. As Pinkie Pie sat down beside her friend, he put his arm around her lower back and pulled her closer, resting his face just below her shoulder.

“It’s going to be alright, Pinkie,” Connie cooed with more control and assuredness. “It will be al–”

Just then, the door beside them swung open, alerting both Pinkie Pie and Conny so that they stood attentively for the doctor, a pale-coated earth stallion, exiting to face them. They stared grimly into his eyes, awaiting whatever horrible news that could come to them as soon as he opened his mouth.

“Mr. Cake is awake and well,” he began, “but his wife–”

Pinkie Pie’s loud gasp overpowered the doctor’s words, and before she could possibly hear more, both she and Conny darted around him and went into the room. Mr. Cake, sitting up in his bed with sooty and, in places, singed fur, could barely register as both Pinkie Pie and Conny came at him from both sides, smothering him with hugs.

“Sir!” the doctor shouted, re-entering the room. “Ma’am! Get off of him!”

Mr. Cake didn’t seem to respond, his face stuck in an abysmally depressed frown and tears running like waterfalls.

“Please!” the doctor called once again. “He still needs to recover.”

As instructed, Conny and Pinkie Pie gently brought themselves off of him, much to his dismay.

“No, please,” he begged. “I need…”

“And there you are!” exclaimed Pinkie, running towards two incubators in the room’s corner where Pumpkin and Pound Cake were kept. “Thank Celestia you made it out.”

As she kissed the glass covers, the foals still wailing inside of them, Conny looked to the bed beside Mr. Cake, seeing the unmistakable shape of his wife veiled by a white sheet, the mare inside them lying completely still.

“No…” hushed Conny, his ears suddenly tuning in to Mr. Cake’s hoarse sobs.

Two unicorn nurses gently lifted both the late Mrs. Cake and the sheet off the bed and onto a gurney.

“No,” Conny quietly protested out of disbelief. “Stop.”

Having not heard him, the nurses continued their work as they began to wheel the gurney towards the room’s exit.

“I said stop!” Conny now shouted, throwing himself at one of the nurses and checking her to the floor.

The other nurse yelped and forced herself to the corner, frightened as Conny got up and threw the sheet off of Mrs. Cake, revealing her far larger burns on her body.

“Sir!” the doctor shouted with full anger.

“This is my friend’s mom!” he cried as the doctor tried to herd him towards the door. “Pinkie!”

Pinkie Pie, her attention turned to the gurney, finally spotted Mrs. Cake with Conny now out of her line of sight. Realizing what this meant, she let out a shrill wail and galloped to her. Conny quickly forced the doctor back and managed to catch Pinkie Pie before she could get any closer, holding her back as she bawled uncontrollably.

“No,” she screamed. “You said… you said, they’d be alright! You said they’d be alright!!”

“Pinkie!” Conny yelled, his voice choking himself.

Forcing himself to his knees, he pulled down Pinkie Pie to the floor with him, allowing Pinkie Pie to turn to him and wrap her arms and legs around Conny’s body, holding him as close and tight as her strength would allow. Both the nurses and the doctor, stood still and disheartened, watching as the Element of Laughter herself crumpled down to the floor in a mess of tears, Conny gripping her mane and back as firmly as he could.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

“No, Applejack!” screeched Apple Bloom in a single violent cough. “We can’t!”

Both Applejack and Mikasa gave a final heave as they loaded Big Macintosh’s corpse into the back of a wooden cart behind the barn.

“We should at least give him a proper funeral!” Sweetie Belle pleaded.

“That’s not an option either!” Mikasa snapped, wiping her nose with a short sniffle. “We need to get back to town and regroup with the others. The airships Sunset Shimmer and Chrysalis used to get here are gone. Now that they’ve retreated, we need to formulate a counter-attack before they have another chance to hit us again.”

“What?!” Apple Bloom cried. “You can’t go back there! Big Mac needs us!”

“Apple Bloom,” relented Applejack, “I really hate to say this, but Mikasa’s absolutely right. If we don’t find a way to take them on, they’ll take this town again without a fight. We need to go now if the rest of you have any chance of living through this.”

“We don’t even know what’s happening!” Scootaloo blubbered loudly. “Why did that thing kill Big Mac? Why is Ponyville under attack?”

Applejack winced as she struggled to produce an answer, almost feeling as time was beginning to sink her like quicksand.

“Applejack,” Mikasa’s voice softly spoke, breaking the desperate clutch on her mind, “stay here and tend to you family. I’ll go to Ponyville and relay everything I can back to you.”

“Mikasa,” Applejack responded, approaching her slowly, “are you sure?”

“Tell the girls. They deserve to know. I must be off now.”

Applejack, her face hardening with understanding, gave her partner a nod and a trustful glance.

“I’ll be back soon!” Mikasa shouted, running off in the direction of the town.

Grabbing the swords from her sheaths and hopping up, she flew higher above the ground with a click of the triggers on the handles, soaring over the hill and back to the town. Applejack, seeing her finally having gone, turned to face the confused and still sniveling fillies before her. Granny Smith too approached her, her face ravaged with redness and soaked with her tears.

“Okay,” Applejack said with a gulp, “this is what’s happening…”
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Mikasa quickly descended towards the grass before the town hall, quickly seeing the carnage of slain changeling corpses and a few fallen guards. Landing on the grass and tumbling to break the fall, she slid back to her feet and briskly walked to the front, the doors shut. She gave three hard bangs on the left side of the right door and stood still.

“It’s Mikasa,” she said. “It’s safe. Nothing else is out there.”

Almost instantly, the door creaked open just enough for Mikasa to slip through, which she did with an odd grace but great speed. Inside, the floors of both the first floor and the balcony above and around were filled to the brim with ponies and humans alike. Upon turning to see Mikasa behind them, the ponies and humans standing before her parted a way towards a small open circle where Celestia, Luna, Lyra, Hanji, Mayor Mare, and Levi were standing comfortably inside. A toolbox with bloodied shears, pliers, and scalpels were set beside Hanji, a wrench in her hand.

Mikasa jogged through the path and inside the circle, able to make out the faces of her friends both Earthly and Equestrian, including many of the former who she had not seen in a year, including that of Hannes. Gasping in surprise to see him, she was suddenly brought to the attention of the wounded, mortified changeling commander who lied weakly on the floor.

“Mikasa!” whispered Armin’s voice.

Shooting up to the bottom left side, of the inside of the group, she saw as Armin and Eren motioned for her to join them, seeing Twilight, Spike and Rainbow Dash both by their sides. She then slowly walked to them and positioned herself between her human companions, her eyes staring straight at Luna’s prisoner.

“Hey,” Eren piped up just barely above a whisper, “where’s Applejack?”

“She’s at home with her family,” breathed Mikasa. “Chrysalis attacked the farm and killed Big Mac.”

“What was that?!” he suddenly shouted.

Turning to face Eren with a slight look of fury, she softened her expression upon seeing Mikasa next to him, her face barely able to hold in her own rage. Meanwhile, both Rainbow Dash and Twilight looked up to Mikasa, unsure of what she could have said to get such a reaction out of him.

“Mikasa,” she instructed, “good to see you have finally come. Please do keep Eren quiet for us.”

“My apologies,” Mikasa replied with vengeful anticipation, “Please… continue.”

“No,” Hanji said with a possessed and seemingly apathetic voice. “Please, I’d like to know what you just told him.”

Mikasa gasped as every pony and human eye turned to her, making her doubly uncomfortable with the information she’d have to reveal. Looking down and Rainbow Dash and Twilight, who looked more inquisitive of all, Mikasa gulped with increased reluctance.

“Ma’am,” Mikasa muttered. “I–”

“Spit it out!” Hanji said, her eyes widened to their peaks.

With a loud squeal, Mikasa bit her lip and closed her eyes.

“Chrysalis attacked Sweet Apple Acres and killed Big Macintosh!”

Twilight and Rainbow Dash were first to react, gasping and taking a reactive step back, their lips and eyes quivering. Only mere moments passed before the rest of the ponies in the room were in uproar with both fury and grief, the cacophony of it all welling water in Mikasa’s eyes. Each of those in Garrison and Military Police attire were only marginally emotional, while those within Scouting Legion jackets sported looks of shame and sadness.

“Enough!” Hanji cried, throwing her hand up.

The room went silent, surprising Mikasa as she looked around. The pain of fear and death was still evident on their faces, but they stood perfectly still and quiet, their only noticeable movements being the blinking of their eyes.

“I suppose that is why Applejack is not present with you?” Hanji asked.

“Yes, ma’am,” Mikasa answered.

Focusing back on the changeling commander, Hanji pointed her wrench at his face.

“You hear that, monster?” she said quietly. “Not only have you killed countless innocent stallions, mares, and foals, but one of them just happens to be the brother of a dear friend of mine.”
The changeling glanced at the ponies among the crowd, seeing their miserable, desperate expressions along with spite aimed directly at him.

“The ponies in this town are all like family,” she continued. “When one of them dies, they mourn them as if they were their own brother or sister. Now tell me,” she finished, lifting her wrench up. “Would your queen and the others mourn you too?”

Instantly contorting her face into that of sadistic hatred, she reached into his mouth with the wrench, and wrapped the head around the bottom right fang. With a hard jerk up on the wrist and a quick crack and spurt, the changeling’s tooth was torn out from the jaw, his screams shortly muted as blood filled his mouth.

Stallions and mares alike turned away, mothers and fathers shielding the eyes of their nearby foals as disgusted wretches and groans filled the air. The humans did their hardest to keep a brave face, uncomfortable with sharing as remote a pleasure with the changeling’s suffering as Hanji was.

“Hanji, no!” barked Luna, an aura quickly coming over both her horn her fellow interrogator.

Landing only one punch to the creature’s already mangled face, Hanji was swiftly lifted up, flailing at her prisoner with reckless abandon.

“Let go of me!” she demanded. “Let fucking go of me, right now!”

“You’ve done enough damage!” Luna exclaimed. “Now let the prisoner talk before he dies of blood loss!”

Setting Hanji back on her feet beside Erwin at the front of the ring, but not freeing her from the aura’s grasp, she could only watch with an animalistic scowl as Lyra approached the commander, an empty glass cup in her aura before her.

“Here,” she said, presenting the glass. “Spit.”

Breathing in through his nose, the changeling hawked a slimy mixture of blood and spit into Lyra’s face, making her hop back and rub what she could from her eyes. As she continued to grunt and moan, Derpy Hooves stepped forwards and grabbed the cup with her bared teeth, the tightness of her grip making the glass crackle on her teeth. With a wind of her neck, she swung the cup into his face, knocking him to the floor with shards stuck in his cheek and eyelids. Before she could continue watching him writhe, she felt her mane grabbed and pulled hard, sending her up and landing on the ground beside Hanji.

“What did I just say!?” Luna howled.

Derpy Hooves looked angrier than ever, but with a glance of respect and approval from Hanji, which she returned in kind, their scowls were far less violent and more controlled. Luna turned to Lyra, whose face was still covered in grime, but whose eyes were open. The on looking ponies, slower and slower, were finding it easier to stomach the violence being inflicted upon the changeling.

“Now,” Lyra said, stepping back up, “where were we?”

Setting herself on her shins, Lyra looked the changeling into his one good eye, her stare ordering him to not spit at her again.

“So,” she said, “Big Mac is dead, and Chrysalis killed him herself. Tell me, you say that you were sparing any and all ponies that would make good slave labor, correct?”

Looking at Lyra’s blood-coated face, the changeling remained silent with his lips closed and his jaw slightly open.

“I bet you think I really look silly with your blood all over me, don’t you?” she asked. “Let me tell you something. Once this interrogation’s over, I’ll get to wash my face and I’m good as new. Well, sure, I’ll have a little stain, but it certainly beats having glass caught in my eye, so don’t think for a second that you have an upper hand here.”

With a rasp, the changeling did something that unnerved Lyra and even Luna: he chuckled.

“You may have captured me,” the changeling said, “but I’m a drop in the bucket compared to what we have on our side.”

“You don’t need to remind us of the evils that she has released,” Celestia snapped back. “Tell us what they are planning next.”

“And why do you think I’ll do that?”

“Just look at you!” Luna responded. “You’re in enough pain and damage as it is. Tell us that much, and we’ll not just spare your life, but we will work towards healing you back to normal.”

“Right… because your word means absolutely everything. How else have you helped others? You cast your ambitious, loving student away in another world in an alien, scared, helpless, and betrayed–”

“She’s taken the lives of innocent ponies!” Celestia cried, tears forming. “We couldn’t rehabilitate her otherwise!”

“Rehabilitate. Interesting choice of words. And what exactly was it that you wanted to rehabilitate her from, exactly, because I know that it wasn’t for murder. You know that it wasn’t for murder.”

“You shut up,” growled Luna.

“Of course, I can’t speak for the beasties you’ve imprisoned in that book you had, but let’s be truly honest here. Sunset Shimmer’s banishment was never about her killing those ponies in the library fire, was it?”

Celestia opened her mouth to affirm, only to find the words stuck in her throat as the eyes of Ponyville’s citizens stared at their exchange.

“You two could have had something beautiful, massive even, but her level of growth scared you, didn’t it?”

“No…” Celestia moaned, closing her wet eyes.

“You were everything to her. All she wanted was to make you proud of her skills, and you instead saw it as some kind of ‘threat.’”

“Shut up,” Luna growled loudly over her sister’s sobs.

“She learns advanced spells, and she makes one single mistake and you instantly ruin her life. Haha, even when your own sister became–”

“I said shut up!!” Luna finally shrieked.

Stepping forwards, she struck the changeling hard in the face, knocking him back towards the ring of ponies and humans surrounding them, looking awestruck at this action. Quickly, Celestia pulled the changeling back towards her and Luna, who was suddenly blocked by Derpy Hooves and Lyra as her horn surged with aura and she panted vehemently, her eyes flickering with a catlike appearance.

“Ugh,” the changeling coughed, “that really hurt. But you and I both know that the truth always hurts the most.”

Luna slowly charged her horn down as Derpy and Lyra continued to restrain her, her eyes also becoming stable.

“Whether it be the library fire or your sister’s envy that led to…”

Luna glowered, silencing him.

“…in any case, you could have helped them both. Instead, you chose to cast them out of your lives over a little dissent. Your sister may have been ready to forgive you, but Sunset… she really loved you, you know. Now, you’re nothing but a target to her and her new friends, and they won’t stop until they take everything and everyone from you.”

“Talk, monster!” Luna barked. “Or do I need Hanji to remove another tooth!”

Hanji smirked as she clipped her pliers together in excitement.

“I think it’s clear we’re done talking,” the changeling responded, pulling himself up to sit. “Too bad. I was hoping to get to watch the bonfire.”

Just then, the changeling quickly reached for his head.

Luna gasped. “Wait, wha–”

“Farewell, Princess.”

With the left hoof on the right side of the jaw and the right on the left temple, the changeling pulled hard, the bones in his neck snapping as his face almost glanced perfectly behind him. The only sound left in the room was the limp tumble of the creature’s body as it fell to the floor.

Silence continued on from the crowd of ponies and humans, sharing looks of fear and anger as they awaited for the stillness to end. Eren trembled, feeling his fists close into balls and his teeth pushing together in an enraged scowl.

“You fucking bastard!” he screamed, charging from the group.

The ponies leaned forwards in shock as Eren slid down to the changeling and picked him up by his neck, its snout inches from Eren’s face. The others merely looked at him in pity at the futility of his acts.

“Talk, you monster!” he screamed, throwing its body in his grasp. “I won’t let you die without you talking!”

From up in the balcony, Gilda shut her eyes tight and trembled, struggling to block the tears forcing their way through her lids. Celestia looking up at this, charged her horn, its aura likewise forming around Eren’s body.

“Eren, stop!” she finally cried out, Eren’s hands letting go of the changeling as he was suddenly jerked backwards.

The voices of the Ponyville citizens suddenly began to rise, sounding hostile and enraged. At once, Mikasa, Armin, Jean, Conny, and Sasha slid their way to the front around Eren, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike close by. The surrounding human soldiers looked to their commanders for further orders.

“Steady,” Erwin grimly spoke to his men.

At once, his Scouting Legion soldiers grabbed their operational devices from their jackets and placed them beside their sheaths. The Garrison and Military Police were soon to follow suit.

“This is all your fault!” shouted a greyish-blue stallion standing over the crowd with a pointed hoof.

“My baby’s dead because of this!” cried a cream colored mare.

As the anger of the crowd rose, the individual curses and threats on Celestia were lost among all the others as the ponies began to encroach towards her. Instantly, the Eren and his friends spread out with their swords drawn, gently stepping inch by inch to repel the mob back.

“You humans are actually on her side!” on stallion called out from the back.

“Of course they are!” shouted another. “They’re human, just like that Sunset one!”

Mikasa hissed as the crowed appeared to look and act more violent and delusional. Armin glanced back at Twilight and her friends behind him, watching them stand snugly around Celestia and Luna. Turning back around, the crowd did not appear the least bit frightened by Eren and his friends’ wall, continuing to approach them, the horns of the unicorn stallions and mares beginning to glow.

At that moment, Armin hopped forwards with his arms hugged in and the magenta gems in his blades glowing bright. The crowd began to run backwards from Armin’s apparent assault, but once Armin swung his blades out, a similarly-colored ripple of light spread out along the inside of the room, phasing through each pony and human where it traveled. The other human soldiers stood lax and bewildered over what Armin had done, while the ponies instantly turned quiet out of fear.

“Listen to yourselves!” Armin screamed. “Celestia would never forsake you like this! She has done everything she could to try and keep you people safe!”

“And look at how well that’s gone!” shouted a mare with a light pink coat.

“She may have been rash, but you have no idea what Celestia and Luna have gone through, what we’ve all gone through to ensure this country’s survival.”

“Armin!” called Luna, stepping through the scrum of Twilight and her friends. “You don’t need to–”

“No, sister,” Celestia interrupted with an arm barring her. “Armin. Go ahead.”

Without turning back, Armin kept his gaze out over the expectant ponies before him.

“Long ago,” Armin said, “Equestria was caught in a civil war over a lack of trust from their leaders. They saw Luna as an omen and wished to see her dead so Celestia could rule alone.”

The ponies’ expressions refused to change.

“Their parents, King Solar and Queen Aurora, sacrificed themselves to quell their hatred and to see that Luna would be accepted just like her sister! Luna had a dragon, just like Twilight has Spike, and he killed many ponies that posed even the smallest threat to them, even injuring others in the process! She banished him to our world as punishment and he’s the one who started the titan invasion”

Suddenly anger gave way to confusion and shock, the ponies loosening their stances as they glanced over at Armin, his friends, and Celestia, Luna, Twilight and her other friends behind him.

“Unbelievable,” a light-brown stallion huffed, “Celestia was who caused your titan invasion, and you expect us to trust her more after that?!”

“It was my decision!” Luna barked. “I never expected him to survive, and even if he did, I was certain the humans would take care of him.”

“Even if this were true, how come we were never told about this?”

“Because you didn’t deserve to!” Armin screamed back, his voice nearly cracking under the high-pitch.

The crowd fell silent once again, giving Armin the floor back.

“Celestia and Luna were traumatized by what happened then, and so were we; Luna’s dragon showed us. She didn’t want any of you to know that their rule was influenced in any way by bloodshed! That’s why Celestia was frightened enough to banish Sunset and even Luna when she became Nightmare Moon! She wanted to ensure with all her being that no pony under her rule would have to go through that same pain and misery ever again!

“And after it was discovered what had become of our world,” Armin continued, “she sent Twilight and her friends to put an end to it once and for all. Yes, because of them, they made our world hell. But without them, we would have all died long before now, and we wouldn’t have made the friends that we have, and for that, I’m forever grateful and loyal to them.”

“And what about whatever has taken over Canterlot?” shouted a young stallion in the back. “Do you and your friends think that it will be enough to stop them!”

Armin winced, preparing for the answer that could all but devastate them.

“No,” Armin finally let out, refusing to let his head down as the ponies began to clamor fearfully. “Not without your help, that is!”

The crowd once again stood mute and still.

“Even with the forces of Earth’s military, the Royal Guard, my Equestrian friends, and even the princesses themselves, what we stand against still pales in comparison to their power. That is why we need you to join us to take Equestria back!”

“What makes you think I’m going to fight for Celestia after what we’ve learned!” cried another raspy stallion.

“I never said to fight for her! Instead look around!”

The ponies, moved by Armin’s resolve, glanced beside them, friends, brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers; all locking eyes with one another. Pinkie Pie glanced up to Connie and pressed her face against his ribs, the corners of her eyes wet and streaming. Mikasa put her fist over her mouth, feeling her own eyes wavering with oncoming tears.

“Think of what you’ve lost just tonight,” continued Armin, “and now think about what you have left. This is what you need to fight for! We stay here and do nothing, you can enjoy whatever certain final moments you have with your friends and family. But if you want to promise them a tomorrow, even at the gamble of your own, I implore you, please fight alongside us.

“If you choose to stay behind and seek shelter, I won’t blame you. I understand if the thought of giving your lives right now frightens you, and believe me, I know what it’s like. I was a cadet fresh out of training when titans attacked our city, and I watched my friends die. I almost gave in and accepted my fate, but Eren, Mikasa, and these ponies beside us reminded me that I still had them to fight for.

“If you do choose to fight with us, don’t fight for me, and don’t fight for Celestia, fight for Equestria and the future that you want to see your loved ones live in! Your mothers, fathers, children, friends. Fight to ensure their survival!”

No other sound was heard other than the mild echo quickly dissipating into nothingness. Armin kept his fierce face and darted his eyes around his audience, nervously looking for any signs that his words sunk in. Celestia also kept steadfast in her expression, not wanting to soil the integrity of Armin’s speech.

Please, Armin thought. At least one…

The muffled noises of a shuffling crowd began to draw near, and as Arming looked to the source, he saw as ponies parted the way to let Zecora, her staff hugged in her left arm, step forward and take Armin’s place.

“Armin,” she said, “your voice commands such power. I will fight with you in this darkest hour.”

She then looked back to Jean, and gave him a smiling nod, which caught him a little off guard, but he still managed to return the gesture with one of his own.

Flapping wings came down from the balcony, and no one needed to look up for long to see Gilda land beside Armin with a graceful pounce.

“Don’t sweat it, kid,” she told him, “I was joining you with or without that speech.”

Near the back, a white pegasus stallion’s ears drooped back as he closed his eyes tight, caught between two impossible decisions, making a royal-blue colt and light-pink filly behind him look up in uncertainty.

“Daddy?” the foal asked. “What’s wrong?”

Hearing her voice seemed to tip the scale. Opening his eyes, his ears still down, he sighed and knelt down to his children.

“Listen to me,” he said, “your mother will always be with you. I will make sure you get through this. I promise.”

“Dad?” The colt questioned, the hesitation in his voice already piecing together his dad’s intentions. “What are you–”

Withholding his tears as best he could, the stallion wrapped his arms around his foals and pressed them into his shoulders. The two tears his eyelids tried to hold back finally came out, running down the sides of his muzzle and onto his children’s backs.

“Honey,” he said to an approaching light-green earth mare, “please keep them safe.”

His wife, already knowing what he had decided, held her arm over her mouth with watery eyes. Then she fell towards her husband, and he caught her in a desperate embrace, much to the growing shock of their foals.

Around them, other stallions, unicorn, pegasus, and earth pony alike, passed through the crowds. The sobs of their children, brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, as well as friends, could be heard as they disappeared from their sight among the crowd and beside Armin and his friends.

Armin let out a sigh that trembled with both melancholic sympathy and relieved excitement. Hannes, watching Armin’s words in full effect, smirked slightly with a gentle huff through his nose.

“Well done, Armin,” he whispered, audible only to himself.

Within a few minutes, several dozen stallions, along with a handful of mares, stood around Armin along with his human friends, Twilight and her friends, Lyra, Derpy, Luna, and Celestia. Crying was still heard, in pockets of the crowd, but Armin, strengthened by the number of reinforcements, turned to Mayor Mare and walked to her.

“Mayor,” he said, “where can the others seek shelter?”

“There’s a bunker underground beneath the town hall. We’ll get everyone else down there on the princess’s word.”

“Okay.”

He then walked towards Erwin and Celestia, confident determination chiseled into his eyes.

“Sir,” Armin said, “I might have a plan. It’s impromptu at best, but I–”

“Armin,” Erwin said, unable to conceal a comforting smile, “you are a very bright young man, and I have full confidence that whatever you have in mind will be sufficient in these odds.”

“Alright. Celestia, how fast can you alert the ponies in the other cities across Equestria of what’s happening?”

“Instantly,” she said, “once I’ve written one, that is. What do you need it to say?”

“The same thing I told the ponies here.”

Armin looked out of a window on the balcony of the front of the city hall, nearly feeling the weight of all who lived in the direction that he gazed on his shoulders.

“We need more help,” he said, “in any form we can receive.”

Author's Notes:

I don't know, I guess I have little better to do than to go along with this. I mean, last weekend and this weekend at the movies is going to be dead, and I have little else going on. Like I said, I don't know how well this story will continue, but I'll leave it at incomplete for now.

So, yay?