Pffft! You did WHAT? Laughter bubbled up inside me as I hunched over and held my gut. Across from me stood a warrior clad in armor that gleamed in the rising rays of the sun, joining in on the laughter as well.

It hadn’t taken us too terribly long to reach Ponyville thankfully, though the ponies regularly switched off who held Overlook on account of getting too tired. Eventually I just carried him myself. Once we made sure his bindings were secure, we threw him into Twilight’s basement. She has a lot of machinery down there, she claims she has a lie detector but I’m holding my belief until I see it for myself. I found it hard to believe ponies could make anything more than a few basic machines, magic seemed to do everything for them, and I imagined that it wasn’t easy building anything with hooves.

Afterwards the ponies headed off to tend to their respective homes, to make sure everything was in order. Twilight went to go write a letter to Sunbutt, and Luna said she needed to call in some ‘special friends.’ Bronze Mane said he had something he needed to attend to also, though he didn’t specify what.

Once I was alone, I headed up to the small hill overlooking ponyville and decided to thank Gilgamesh personally for the cassette player he had given me. I summoned him and it wasn’t long before we were deep in conversation. Sometimes having someone like yourself to talk to can make all the difference in the world. Right now Gilgamesh was telling me about how he and his student ‘Kat’ had decided to ‘spice up’ Hearth’s Warming Eve.

Once I had composed myself, I wiped a pretend tear from my eye. How did Sunbutt react?

“Well, after the weight joke I grabbed the instruments, burst through the wall, and the two of us ran away while Celly chased us down in a fire magic hissy-fit. It was all over the news the next day, and it was glorious.”

Bahahaha! That’s amazing! I drank a cup of Zebrafican Red Tea. Before I came to the hill I’d stopped by Zecora’s hut to get some of that liquid gold she was so good at making. I wanted Gilgamesh to get a taste, but imagine my surprise when he’d already had some! I suppose some things are just constants, even in other universes. Thank God Zebafrican Red Tea was one of them. You said Kat’s a gravity shifter though? I think I know what game that’s from, but I never played it myself. How did the rest of her training go?

"Well, she was doing pretty good until," he sighed and became unexpectedly somber. "Until the Ursa Major."

"Oh god. Is she-?"

"No no, she's still alive it's just... It turns out the reason she wanted all that combat training was because she wanted to tear the Princesses a new one. I've never seen such rage and pain in a single person before. She knows they were tricked into betraying her, knows it was because someone framed her, and she still intends to take her rage out on them. She promised me she won't kill them, and that she'll even protect them afterwards, but I will always see my inability to change her mind as my greatest failure. I just hope she gets help before it's too late."

I think I kind of know how she feels… I spoke, my mind wandering back to the Ellura facility incident back in Manehattan. When you feel like someone has hurt or wronged you that badly, you can’t do much more than think about how badly you want to be rid of them. I inhaled deeply, the image of the dying little filly entering my mind again. I wish I could say I’ve had similar good times Gilgamesh. What I saw in Manehattan, what Ellura did to those ponies...what I had to do to correct it. I clenched my fists, taking in steady breaths as I struggled to remain in control of my emotions. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget it. I remained silent for a moment before I spoke again. but at the same time, I need to try hard to not let it consume me. As I’ve experienced in the past, vengeance is like a wild fire. It destroys everything, even things that are close to it. I looked down into my now empty cup of tea with a sigh.

“Heh. Looks like you are wise man after all. It’s funny how many life lessons we can get from video games, huh?”

Amen. I was about to add more when the sound of trotting hooves reached my ears. A pony with a tan coat and a bronze colored mane came over the hill, his eyes set on me as he approached.

“Nemesis. I need to talk to you abou—” he went silent as he set eyes on Gilgamesh, looking the warrior up and down. “And...who’s this?”

Gilgamesh chuckled before standing upright. “Give me your name, and I shall give you mine.”

Bronze Mane nodded. “Bronze Mane, though you may refer to me as just Bronze. I had the pleasure of meeting Nemesis’ acquaintance when he rescued me from the Ellura facility in Manehattan. it’s a pleasure to meet you mr…?”

“Ah, one who my intimidating friend has gained the friendship of? Then you are a friend of mine as well! Please, allow me a moment.” The warrior put down his teacup before posing. “GAZE UPON MY MAGNIFICENCE, MORTAL, FOR YOU BASK IN THE GLORY OF THE MIGHTIEST OF WARRIORS, THE MASTER OF WEAPONS, THE SEEKER OF BATTLE! MY FOOTPRINTS HAVE BEEN LEFT ALL OVER THE MULTIVERSE, AND WEAPONS HAVE BESTED GODS AND DEMONS ALIKE! CHERISH THIS MOMENT, TINY PONY, FOR YOU ARE NOW ALLIES WITH THE MIGHTY GILGAMESH!”

A strong breeze blew through the area just then, creating a blowing wind sound as Gilgamesh held his pose. For the briefest of moments, a tumbleweed rolled by as well.

“And right on cue, Tumbly makes his cameo.”

I snickered, but Bronze Mane could only stare in shocked silence before finally summoning the courage to speak. “I...see.” He cleared his throat. “I came up here at the request of a miss Twilight, she’s requested to see you Nemesis.”

Has she? I stood up from my sitting position and stretched, feeling several joints crack as I did. Well I guess I should probably humor her. Care to join me, Gilgy?

“Oh, so you’ve got even the Element of Magic on your side? Nice progress! Things are going pretty well for you after all!”

It only took them being imprisoned and nearly experimented on for her to see the light. I don’t hold anything against her, though. If only Sunbutt were as open minded as she is. I shrugged.

“Yeah, that’ll do it. And don’t forget about the rest of the Elements. And the Canterlot royalty’s more azure half.”

They softened up to me when their sisters came back unharmed. I owe a lot to Princess Luna though, she really drove the metaphorical nail in the coffin in convincing them that I wasn’t a ‘bad’ monster.

“Wait, what? How the hell do you have the Elements and Luna on your side but not Celestia? If anything, Luna would probably be less willing to trust you than her sister, not more.”

She was suspicious of Ellura since she came back, so she told me. When she dreamwalked she saw some things that made her suspicious, but when the Cutie Mark Crusaders got kidnapped, she realized what her sister was doing was wrong, and sought to help us out. Unfortunately, Sunbutt’s still set in her ways. I hope Luna went to go talk to her.

“You have got to be freaking kidding me. Celestia is the stubborn nose-to-grindstone fanatic one in this universe? How the hell did that happen?”

I really don’t know. I don’t know if I did something to her in some way that made her hate me this much, I certainly can’t remember anything. I sighed. Luna joining us should convince her, at least I hope.

Bronze Mane cleared his throat again. “I’m sorry to interrupt but miss Twilight told me it was rather urgent. We should get down there soon.”

Nemesis nodded. Right then, Gilgy you wanna meet the elements of harmony of another universe?

“Hey, done it once before, so why not? And it’ll be a pleasure seeing a fourth version of Princess Luna as well!”

Well, there’s your answer Bronze. Lead the way!

Bronze Mane led us down the hill back into Ponyville. On the way we earned quite a few incredulous and frightened stares from the majority of the populous. Ponies stared and backed away from us, and a few pegasi may have crashed into a few objects while in flight. Not our problem though, could we really help it if we looked so dashingly handsome?

Gilgamesh waved enthusiastically all the while, even at the ones who backed away and outright panicked at the sight of us. I chuckled. Geez, the way they’re acting you’d think these ponies have never seen a warrior in armor and a mutated virus monster from another dimension before.

“We’re still working on convincing them that you’re NOT going to eat them…” Bronze Mane mumbled, trotting in front of us still.

“Just like back in my home dimension I’m doing my best to convince them I’m just a big goofball who likes a good fight instead of a savage barbarian who wants to start a world war. I think I’m actually starting to make some headway with that,” Gilgamesh commented.

Yeah, they seem to react pretty harshly to anything that ISN’T a pony. Racists…

“I think the term is ‘speciesist’, although they did alright with Gilda until she was proven to be a jerk.”

Don’t think I know a Gilda. Starting to wish I had watched the show before I ended up here. I mumbled.

“Griffon, Rainbow’s old friend from Flight School. The two were pretty tight until it was revealed that Gilda thought pretty much every pony except Dash was beneath her. Quickest way to make anyone here be thought of as the bad guy is to make Fluttershy cry. Even Pinkie drew the line there.”

The Griffons eh? Haven’t dealt with them for a few thousand years, not since the Griffons were running Pegasi out of the sky because their emperor was hungry. I rolled my eye. Different dimension or not, aside from Ellura things considered ‘bad’ here were outright ridiculous sometimes.

”Hail, Comrades!” I flinched and put my hands over my ears as a voice echoed from the sky. A blue Alicorn descended from the heavens, floating down gently to touch the ground in front of us. Around her, ponies colored in armor similar to the color of her fur touched down. I suppose ‘ponies’ would be an inaccurate term, they had long leathery wings, fangs poking from their muzzles, tufts of fur protruding from the tips of their ears, and intense slitted eyes.

Luna! Are these your uh...’special friends?’

”Rightly so, fair Nemesis!” I flinched again. ”Though we fear that something more ominous may be approaching. We tried to gain access to Canterlot to talk to our sister, but we were shot at as soon as we came close! Our own ponies shot arrows and magic at us! We saw something on the way, it appeared as though they were gathering forces to begin a march. We took what members of our guard that we could and flew back here post haste.” She gestured back to the bat ponies, who stood more erect at their mention.

What? I facepalmed. Sunbutt’s shooting at her own sister now?! What’s gotten into her…

“I’m sorry, I think I heard something that couldn’t POSSIBLY be true. I thought I heard that Celestia’s own guard attacked her sister,” Gilgamesh began in a jovial tone that was thinly veiling his rage. “PLEASE tell me that Ellura has somehow taken over Canterlot and its forces, because the only other explanation is that CELESTIA attacked her OWN SISTER, which may be the DUMBEST thing I have ever heard. Heh heh.”

Everyone looked to Gilgamesh and could practically see the anger burning in his eyes.
Luna spoke first. “We wish it were a lit sir…” She looked over at me for help.

Gilgamesh. I offered.

“Sir Gilgamesh. We truly wish we were engaging in humorous storytelling, but we are still trying to get over it ourselves. Whatever has happened in Canterlot, it is clear to me that Celestia is no longer in control of what is happening anymore.”

“Ok then. That’s… slightly less aggravating. At least we can assume that Celestia is somehow kept out of the loop on this.”

Luna nodded. “It still worries us greatly. if she is no longer directing our citizens, we wonder what Ellura has done to her.” Just then, a midnight blue bat pony with metal blades in place of his wings approached the Princess.

“Princess Luna.” The stallion’s voice was gruff.

“Ah, Lieutenant Shadow Streak. Have you something to report?”

Shadow Streak bowed his head. “Our scouts have returned from their patrol as you requested, there is some activity off in the Everfree and surrounding diameter of Ponyville, about ten miles out. We tried to get close to investigate, but we were shot at and had to make a retreat. I fear that something may be coming, something big.”

Before Princess Luna could respond, there was a bright purple flash and six more ponies appeared nearby. “Thank goodness you’re all here!” Twilight’s voice made itself known as she rushed to the center of our little group. “I have something I need to tell you all. I tried to send a letter to the princess, but when I sent it, all I got back was…” She unfurled the parchment of paper she was levitating. Instead of a letter, it was in fact a wanted poster, depicting all of the mane six, princess Luna, and myself.

...Well shit. There goes convincing Celestia. I commented.

Gilgamesh snatched the poster out of Twilight’s magical grip and brought it to his face. Everypony took a step back, ready for the warrior to explode.

“You. Have. Got. To. Be. FUCKING! SHITTING ME!” he shouted before vaporizing most of the paper with a blast of his heat vision. He then threw the smoldering remains on the ground before stomping on it. “HOW THE FUCK CAN SHE TRUST THOSE DAMN CORPORATE BASTARDS OVER HER PERSONAL STUDENT AND HER OWN SISTER!? WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH HER!? THAT LITTLE PIECE OF-!” He stopped himself short, suppressing his rage with a growl before taking in a deep breath. “I’mma need a minute,” he said simply before stomping a few yards away and sitting down, taking a meditative position and breathing deeply. “Be like water,” he muttered.

Once Gilgamesh had sat down to meditate and grew quiet, Twilight leaned over to me. “...what does shit mean?”

...I’ll tell you later.

“Is he a...friend of yours?”

He is. He’s here to help us.

“Oh...good. I’d hate to be the one he’s angry at.”

Twilight, you and me both.

Before the conversation could carry on anymore, a siren could be heard wailing in the distance. Once it was over, a voice rang out loud and clear. ”Attention Ponyville Citizens. According to article 1.9.0.1.1 of the biohazard regulations, and in accordance with authorization from princess Celestia, your town has been infected with a dangerous contagion. Ponyville is therefore scheduled to undergo Quarantine. Please return to your homes, and remain there until we deem it safe to exit again.”

In the distance, I could see movement. Not just from one direction though, all around ponyville, ponies of all shapes and sizes were making a march straight for it. Many of them wore black overcoats with the Ellura corporation on them, more were outfitted with royal guard apparel. The only thing that mattered to me though was that there was a lot of them. Ponies around us began to panic and chatter in a frenzy, and stamping hooves overrode anything else that could make sound as the ponies dashed to and fro in a panic.

My eye narrowed. So that’s how it’s going to be, is it?

This was bad. Not only was Ellura making a full out assault, but they actually had Celestia’s damn authorization to go forward. To say I was pissed was an understatement. Hell, even livid was an understatement. I couldn’t fathom how Celestia, the kindest wisest pony in Equestria, could do something so ludicrous. I guess… something in me snapped, and suddenly I knew what to do.

“Princess Luna,” I called over the screaming ponies, catching her attention as I stood up. “Royal Canterlot Voice. Send the civies home.”

Princess Luna looked a bit unnerved at the sudden calmness of the warrior’s voice, but she nodded and ascended into the sky. ”Subjects, we implore you to return to your homes! We will deal with this to the best of our ability!” The ponies didn’t need to be told twice, they all made a mad dash for their respective homes, leaving nothing more than myself, Nemesis, Bronze Mane, the elements, Princess Luna, and her guard in the streets.

“Twilight Sparkle, we need to keep them out and keep them out for good. Ideas?”

Twilight was in full out panic mode, her mane was frayed and she was inhaling and exhaling deeply as she watched the line of ponies steadily advancing.

Twilight! Nemesis shouted. His voice seemed to snap her out of it, she looked back at us, still with panic in her eyes.

“Well...I don’t know! I mean, I could construct a barrier around Ponyville to keep them from getting in but, it would take a lot of time! They’d be here by then! My brother is better with shields than I am, ohhh I wish he were here…” She began to hyperventilate again.

“How far will it extend?” I asked firmly.

Presented with a problem, Twilight Sparkle seemed to calm down a bit. “If I can channel just the right amount of magic, excluding Starswirl’s law of relativity and—”

“Cut the magic mumbo jumbo Twilight!” Rainbow Dash spoke up, gesturing towards the approaching ponies. “We’re kind of on a schedule here!”

“Right well, I’d say about...half a mile? Maybe a mile?”

“Get to work on it. In the meantime, Rainbow Dash, you take Fluttershy, Nemesis and some of the Lunar Guard to the cottage to retrieve her animals, Zecora, and supplies you might need. Princess Luna, you, Rarity, and the rest of your Guard protect Twilight Sparkle while she prepares the spell. Applejack, you, Pinkie, and I are going to the farm to get your family and as much apples as we can get ahold of.”

“You will not take any of Our soldiers with you?” Luna asked.

“I’m enough by myself. Which brings me to one final concern,” I began before turning to her. “Princess Luna, this may sound odd for you to hear, but I have great respect and admiration for you. I always have, no matter which reality I see you in. This isn’t my realm, so I need you to make the decision here. The Solar Guard will be spared no matter what, but there is the question of Ellura’s forces. I can defeat them, Princess. I can do it without ending a single one of their lives, I have that power. But the fact is, I don’t want to give them the courtesy. There is a part of me that is screaming for their heads. But this is your realm, your kingdom, and your ponies. If you ask me to show restraint, I shall. If you let me do as I wish, I cannot promise that there will be even bodies left to bury of those scum. Their lives are in your hooves, Princess Luna. What would you have me do?”

Everyone looked at me in utter shock, trying to process not only the intense amount of malice my words held but also that I had just put the Lunar Diarch on the spot.

Princess Luna regarded me with a wide eyed stare, the full effect of what I had just said to her taking its toll. She looked to the advancing wall of ponies, conflict rising in her eyes. She turned to me again. “As much as we would love to see them punished for what they have done, brave Gilgamesh, they cannot receive their punishment if they are no longer with us, can they?”

"True enough. I understand. Twilight, get to work. Applejack, Pinkie, get behind me. The rest of you, get ready to move on my count."

The less regimented members of the team hesitated but followed my orders. I approached the group of ponies blocking the path to Sweet Apple Acres.

"Halt! Surrender or you will be struck down!" the Ellura commander shouted. The Ellura agents readied their firearms, which looked about the level of Wild West weapons, repeater rifles and single action revolvers. The Solar Guard readied their crossbows and all the unicorns charged magic.

The two earth pony mares peeked out nervously from behind my legs.

"Hear me, ponies! I am Gilgamesh, mighty warrior who has bested dragons and entire armies! To the Solar Guard, I say return to your Princess and protect her from these vile deceivers! To the agents of Ellura, I warn you now, go back to your corporate masters, your contemptible foalnappers and murderers, or suffer my wrath!"

The solar guard looked back to the Ellura commander in confusion. The pony snorted. “Empty threats and lies. What are you going to do, 'mighty warrior?' All you have is your size and your spear! We have guns!”

Even in my tranquil fury it couldn't help but smirk at what he'd set me up with.

"No, what you have are bullets and the hope that when your guns are empty I’m no longer standing, because if I am, I'll have taken you down before you've reloaded."

The commander growled. "Put the freak down!"

I quickly cast Haste, Protect and Shell on myself before quickly unclipping my Naginata. As they all let loose with their weapons and magic I skillfully deflected their blasts with my weapon, the few that did hit me barely did a damn thing, bouncing off my enchanted form. After nearly half a minute of firing they stopped, the shock and fear in their eyes palpable.

"My turn."

I gripped my weapon and swung. Hard. They all went flying from a hurricane level gust of wind, barely having the chance to scream before they went crashing into the trees, each other, or just being sent off over the horizon.

"Sweet Celestia!" Applejack cried.

"Yowie zowie!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Now that's a show stopper!"

"Grab the weapons!" I shouted to the two mares, snapping them out of their stupor. "MOVE!" I ordered the others.

If there was one thing that Shadow Streak knew, it was his loyalty and pledge to the Princess. Never once had he questioned a decision that she had made, or thought an act of hers to be a false one.

“On your left!” Shadow streak turned, intercepting an arrow that had almost broken through their defenses. He sliced it to two pieces with one slash of his metallic wings, then turned to intercept another pony who was rushing towards Princess Luna from behind. Purple light lit up the battlefield, casting a strange glow on the coats of the ponies surrounding them. Stormclouds had gathered overhead, and thunder was beginning to boom as the magenta light came to a point far above them, then spread out and began to form a very large dome. The light emanated from a purple unicorn, who was at the center of their group. They had formed a circle around her, others taking to the sky and venturing out onto the battlefield to intercept soldiers before they reached their defense. The alabaster unicorn named Rarity was proving herself to be more than a simple dressmaker as well, spells zapped from her horn in rapid succession, pushing the Solar Guard and Ellura soldiers back or outright knocking them out cold.

No, not once had Shadow Streak questioned Princess Luna, but even now, at the back of his mind a question gnawed. He could see the craze in his enemy’s eyes, he could see their lack of hesitation and he knew that if he hesitated for a second, he may just be another unidentifiable corpse on the battlefield. He also knew that given the chance, the enemy would not let them live.

So why had Princess Luna allowed them to live? He cast a glance over at Princess Luna. She had produced a long spear, the blade of it curved into the shape of a crescent moon on the tip. Glowing arcane armor surrounded her, and she parried and pushed, slashed and swiped with an elegance that he had seen in no other.

A blow to his head snapped him from his daze, and he quickly retaliated with a slash across the attacking pony’s legs. The pony fell to his knees, and Shadow Streak rose into the air to deliver a strong kick to the side of the pony’s head, sending him flying several feet away. Unconscious, not dead. Shadow Streak resumed his defensive position and narrowed his eyes. He would just have to trust his Princess.

“Halt! By order of Princess Celest—”

“STAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARS!”

I charged straight through the group of ponies blocking our path through the Everfree, sending them flying in every direction. I didn’t slow down, I pumped my arms and continued to run. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy flew alongside me, and several Lunar Guards brought up the rear.
“Uhm...Mr. Nemesis do you think you could be a little more...gentle with them?”

I cast a glance over at Fluttershy. Sure. I’ll be certain to hit them a little softer next time. Right after I said this, I smashed through another group of guards. Fluttershy squeaked.

“It shouldn’t be much farther!” Rainbow Dash spoke shooting ahead of us. “Zecora’s hut isn’t too deep in, we just gotta grab her and go!” I nodded. We rushed into a clearing. On the far side of the clearing, I could see the glint of rifles as they took aim at me. At us.

Thinking quickly, I grabbed both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and turned, exposing my back to the weapons, and used my body to shield them.

“Eep!”

“What the—?!”

Pain flourished across my backside as I heard the guns discharge, all of them finding their mark. Shreds of my trenchcoat flew on either side of my field of vision. Ignoring the pain for now, I released the two pegasi in my grasp and turned as I raised my rocket launcher. The ponies shouted and tried to scatter just as I let a round fly. It found its mark dead in the center of their formation, a bright orange glow and an explosion echoed across the Everfree as the ponies went flying.

The Lunar Guard emerged out of the foliage behind us coming to a stop as they saw the condition I was in. I heard Fluttershy gasp.

“Nemesis! You’re hurt!” I glanced over my shoulder. I couldn’t see the injury, but judging by the blood on the ground around me my guess was that it didn’t look pretty.

I know you’re probably gonna find this hard to believe, but it’ll heal.

“Whaddya mean it’ll heal?! Injuries like that don’t heal so easily, we need to get you to a doc—” I cut Rainbow Dash off by holding up a hand.

There are a lot more important things to be worrying about right now than my injuries, let’s go get Zecora and then get to Fluttershy’s cottage. The ponies looked unsure but nodded.

Rainbow Dash was right, just past the tree line, Zecora’s hut came into view. Without hesitation, I opened the front door. Zecora! You in here?!

The Zebra galloped into view, her face a mask of uncertainty. “Friends! What has occurred? All of these sounds and fighting are of a nature most absurd!”

“Ellura’s trying to take Ponyville!” Rainbow Dash spoke. “We came here to get you; we need to go! Twilight’s putting up a barrier to protect us from them, but it won’t reach your hut! So you need to come with us!”

“Uhm...if you don’t mind that is.” Fluttershy added meekly, hiding behind her mane. Zecora smiled softly at Fluttershy before giving Rainbow Dash and I a hard look.

“I will gather what I can and meet you outside. By then hopefully some of this fighting will subside!” With that last rhyme, the Zebra disappeared back into her hut. I turned to the Lunar Guards.

Help her gather what she needs. The guards nodded and flew to help Zecora. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and myself went outside to wait.

“Halt! Surrender or you with be str—” The voices of guards from nearby was quickly cut off as they went sailing over our heads. I looked back to where they were to see Bronze Mane, his horn smoking as he glared at the fallen guards.

Bronze Mane? What are you doing here?

He tossed a crossbow at us, one which Rainbow Dash swooped down and caught in her hooves. Fluttershy meekly started backing away towards the tree line. “Saving your flanks, that’s what!” He called before gesturing in the direction he had come from. “Get ready, more of them are coming!”

True to his word, more Solar Guard and Ellura soldiers emerged from the treeline, weapons trained on us. I let out a roar and charged straight at them. They fired their weapons, but it didn’t slow me down. They dropped their weapons and tried to run as I smashed through them, grabbing a nearby pony and throwing him at his group of comrades nearby. They went tumbling to the ground. I felt something pressed up against the back of my head.

“Heh, what are you gonna do now big g—” There was a thump, and an Ellura soldier flew past me. Rainbow Dash shot overhead and shouted at him.

“That!” Before giving me a grin and rushing back towards Zecora’s hut.

I owe you for that one. I said to her, before making my way back to the hut as well. Several Lunar Guards had emerged from the hut and were battling with the advancing ponies, and Zecora had emerged as well with a full saddlebag. Judging by the amount of ponies though, there was no possible way we were going to get her out of here without going through one hell of a fight. Just then, a roar ripped through the battlefield, causing everyone in battle to freeze.

Fluttershy was cowering behind Zecora’s hut, trying to make herself seem as small and non-threatening as possible to avoid having to fight anypony. She was shaking. She hated fighting, why couldn’t everypony just get along?

Then she heard the sound of hooves, and looked up in fear to see an Ellura officer pointing a gun at her. “You can come quietly, or you can put up a fight.” He said, the gun making a clicking sound as he trained it on her.

“O-okay…” Fluttershy meekly replied and began to crawl forward to comply with the Ellura soldier’s demands, but then a loud roar ripped through the Everfree. Fluttershy’s ears perked up, while the Ellura soldier began to look around in a panic.

“What in the world was that?!” A Manticore charged from the forest, and the Ellura soldier could only scream as the beast lifted a paw and swatted the soldier away like he was a fly. Fluttershy looked up at the massive beast, who first roared, then gently purred as it stared down at her.

“Oh! It’s you!” Fluttershy hugged the massive beast’s head, who purred and licked her in response. “Is your paw feeling better?” The Manticore showed Fluttershy its paw, which looked to be healed. “Oh, good! My friends and I are trying to get our friends Zecora back to Ponyville, then we’re going to help the rest of my animals back at my cottage. Do you want to help us?” The Manticore picked Fluttershy up before placing her on its back, then let out a roar and charged into the fight.

“Retreat! Retreat!” the soldiers ran around in a panic as a massive Manticore burst onto the battlefield with a roar, swatting aside Ellura soldiers and Solar Guard alike as if they were made of paper. At first I was surprised, but then when I saw Fluttershy on its back I could only grin. Always the quiet ones. I thought. Alright, we got Zecora. Some of you guards escort her back to Ponyville, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and I are going for the cottage! With a nod, some of the Lunar Guard broke off with Zecora in tow. I gestured towards the cottage and myself, Rainbow, Fluttershy, and about three guards followed me. I could hear rain beginning to pelt the ground around me, and felt a few drops on my body. It wasn’t long before the drizzle turned to a drench, and a steady downpour began. Thunder boomed overhead, causing Fluttershy to squeak.

“Hey, what gives?!” I could hear Rainbow Dash shout over the rain. “It’s not scheduled to rain this morning!”

It’s the everfree, I spoke. It always does unpredictable things, though from the looks of it, it’s happening over Ponyville as well. Wonder if someone’s messing with the weather schedule. With a resounding boom and a flash of lightining to accompany my statement, I couldn’t help but wonder how Gilgamesh and the others were holding up…

Unaware to either party, back in the clearing in the Everfree where Nemesis had gotten shot, a lone pony wandered. He wore glasses and had an Ellura lab coat on. The pony approached the spot where Nemesis had gotten shot and produced a vial, scooping up some of the blood on the ground with it. He took off his glasses, revealing bright fiery red eyes. “Oh yes,” He spoke, a grin plastered over his features. “This will do nicely.” Lightning flashed and thunder boomed as the pony laughed.

Author's Notes:

This chapter and the next is a crossover with The Mighty Warrior of Epicness. It was a lot of fun to write. c: