The Scorned Mare’s new nacelle was a thing of beauty. The griffons had accomplished much and now the final touches were being put in place. It still needed enchantment aplenty. It was long, sleek, and made from silvery, shiny aluminium. It was almost blade like to slice through the skies for maximum forwards speed. The Scorned Mare’s body hung from semi rigid struts below the nacelle.

For Bucky, it looked too much like The Scorned Mare in the dream, the horrible dream of the battle where the alicorn of war was fated to die. Bucky supposed that it was one more piece of the future put into place. His mind thought of a bloodied Spitfire as he had seen her in the dream. He also thought of the battle and his suicide run with The Scorned Mare.

In just a few days, he and The Scorned Mare would be off to The Badlands, to join up with Queen Chrysalis, and together, they would strike back against the Night Stallion. His heart grew heavier and heavier as the day drew nearer and nearer. He had the support of his wives. He had the support of those he loved. He even had the support of Twilight Sparkle, even though she hated what was being done.

Only a few more days until Bucky did what many felt was the most atrocious act of war he had ever conceived. He took no comfort in the fact that this is what he was born to do. He was War. Every time he bumped into little Cadance, she reminded him to be a good pony and then gave him the most hopeful smile. And every time she did that, he felt a little more ashamed, his heart grew a little heavier, and he hated himself a little bit more.

His stewing self hatred was condensing into self loathing—Cadance was coming with him for the invasion, and there, she would serve many roles. Powering up the changelings, being there to support for him, and if necessary, a weapon to take him down if something went wrong.

There were two things he was completely powerless to resist or combat. One of them was Cadance and her love taps, the other was Fluttershy and her ‘boops of kindness.’ One touch could lay him low and he had no means of defense. It had been discovered by accident one day during meditation practice. Boop. Bucky had been in a bad mood, was a little too sarcastic for his own good, had refused to calm down… and boop. Down he had went, right down to the floor, helpless as a newborn foal. There was much speculation about what had happened, but for Bucky, it was pretty cut and dry. As War, he was vulnerable to Love and Kindness. It was an anathema to him. A bane. Cadance was weaponised Love and Fluttershy was pure, concentrated, weaponised Kindness of the draconequus variety.

Bucky had even tried pitting his talent against her, thinking of some way to counteract her, and he had come up with nothing, which scared him a great deal for some reason, but he could not explain why.

So much to do, so much to do, so much to plan for and do…

“Dearest Buckminster…”

He was quite surprised to see Princess Celestia, of that, there could be no doubt. But the sight of her was panic inducing. She was grinning in the most alarming way. He hadn’t been expecting to meet her. Something was going on at the school, and Bucky now guessed it was her arrival that had thrown everything into a tizzy. Lots of students and parents were here on the school grounds and there was quite a commotion.

“My dearest, sweetest, most lovable little Buckminster Beauregard Bitters…”

Uh oh! Bucky’s instincts told him to run from his Auntie. Run run run, and not look back. But running from a pegasus or a part-pegasus was to invite disaster. His mouth went dry as he looked at her. Celestia was a pony that he could defeat in theory, but he had no desire to do so. He loved her, for good or for ill, he loved her, he adored her, and would do anything for her.

“Before you go on… vacation…” Princess Celestia said the word with as much grace and aplomb she could muster, “there is one little matter that we must attend to, you dirty, no good, foul mouthed little clever pony.”

Bucky whined as he assumed a more submissive posture. His long, somewhat distorted spine slumped, his ears drooped, and he tucked his tail between his legs. He backed away from the door to his office within the school, where he had found Princess Celestia after detecting her distinctive magical signature. He had come expecting pranks.

“Sunset Shimmer would very much like a rematch with you, and I have come to see that said rematch happens in a fair way, without cheating.” Saying nothing else, Princess Celestia snatched Bucky up in her magic and then took off with him, striding through the hallways, whistling a cheerful tune as she hauled her nephew to his doom.

“There will always be consequences for cheating,” Princess Celestia said in a booming, magically amplified voice. “While your beloved Headmaster might encourage clever thinking, and while he might be teaching you how to fight to win, I am here to show you that if you are unfair to your fellow ponies in a civilised contest, there will be consequences.”

The gathered crowd cheered.

“I am so glad that so many of you could show up on such short notice. Thank you, Twilight Sparkle, and thank you, Elements of Harmony for rounding up such a lively crowd.” Celestia paused for a moment to allow for the cheering to die down. “The first time this fight happened, our dearest and most beloved Buckminster here used the duel to teach a lesson. I am here to do the same. Fights in the dueling league will be honourable and that rule will be strictly enforced… by me if necessary, or, stars help you, by Luna.”

The big white alicorn paused for a moment to allow her words to sink in. The other Headmistress of the Royal Pony Sisters’ School for Gifted Unicorns was known to have a rather spirited defense of her school.

Standing near Princess Celestia, Sunset Shimmer had a terrible grin upon her muzzle. Beside her, Trixie stood, and on Trixie’s back sat Bartleby the griffon, who was busy brushing Trixie’s mane in a public display of affection, his bright toucan beak looking resplendent beneath Celestia’s sun.

Shining Armor, Witching Hour, and Tiddlywinks were setting up the dueling grounds, making certain that everything was safe for witnesses and bystanders. Bucky, still suspended in Celestia’s magic, watched them work. He wasn’t sure what to do… part of him wanted to throw the fight and give Sunset an easy victory, but she would be insulted by that. He had to fight back, but he wasn’t in the mood to fight. He was in the mood to love… to woo… spring was in the air and there was a kelpie that was blossoming. There was a griffoness that would run from him if he yowled the right way and gave chase. There were earth ponies to squeeze, a unicorn to make jokes with, and a grey pegasus to grope.

It was too nice a day for combat.

“This time, we are going to see a representative example of what to expect when two young foals duel one another. With exceptions, most foals do not know much in the way of fancy flash bang combat magic.” Princess Celestia looked over at Dinky, who was watching with wide eyes. Beside her, there was a colt named Limelight who Princess Celestia had brought down with her from Canterlot. “The last time, Bucky and Sunset faced each other as powerful type fours… fearsome combat casters, the absolute peak of unicorn capability.”

As Princess Celestia spoke, Sunset Shimmer was lifted in a golden glow and the startled mare let out a fearful squeak. Princess Celestia held aloft her niece and her nephew over her head so that the crowd could see them.

Sunset Shimmer glanced at Bucky, and he could see something in her gaze: Regret.

A shudder went through the crowd as powerful deep magic filled the air. Bucky let out a worried squeak when he felt the magic seize his body. He was all too familiar with this sensation. Not again. He let out a sigh of resignation as he began shrinking. He felt his powerful magic fleeing him. He was becoming smaller, his body was shrinking, and by extension, so was his thaumaturgic system. Beside him, Sunset Shimmer was also shrinking, becoming an adorable foal, while he became something else, something not quite as adorable and of questionable equine origins.

This was gonna suck…

There was a loud, excited squeal from an excited grey pegasus in the crowd. Bucky sighed in resignation. Yep, this was gonna suck. Derpy absolutely adored him as a foal and she was going to hug the stuffing out of him later, of that there could be no doubt.

Equestria’s newest alicorn was sitting, surrounded by his friends, and Bucky waved hello to his son. It was strange, seeing a bat winged alicorn with a tiny, stubby blue horn. While Sentinel had a horn, he didn’t have regular magic. Sentinel only had umbral magic, shadow magic, and that was it. The horn merely acted as a focus, making his shadow magic potent. Bucky took a moment to pause and reflect upon the fact that Sentinel had a blue horn, but did not have a blue pelt. Sentinel’s pelt was a sooty brown colour, and so, it stood to reason that his horn should be the same colour as his pelt, as it was for unicorns and alicorns. But Sentinel had blue leathery wings, a dark, dingy blue. It was a mystery to Bucky and he pondered it while the crowd cheered.

There were a few last minute checks for safety and Bucky felt his hooves and his now tiny talons touch the grass. Sunset Shimmer was about the same age as him, but she was bigger. Far bigger. She was downright intimidating. But they were about the same age, Bucky knew that Celestia was being fair.

Bucky realised that being this small, he would maybe get a couple of good discharges, followed by a few intermediate spells. He began to ponder if he should spend his good discharges on offense or defense. He wondered what sort of shield he might muster in this tiny body. Sunset Shimmer, known as The Obliterator, would probably open with a real doozy of a spell. Bucky, who was falling back on his cunning, because he had nothing else, began to think of the different ways he might counter her opener.

“Oh Master,” Sunset said in a squeaky, fillyish voice, “this has gone horribly wrong.”

“Minion, do what you must. I brought this upon the both of us,” Bucky replied in a shrill, coltish voice. “I order you to give them a good show. Respect my wishes.”

“Very well, Master.” Sunset bowed her head and a sly smile spread over her tiny muzzle.

“Remember the rules. Fight fairly. Be good sports. Be gracious winners and good losers. Set an example for your students.” Princess Celestia scooted the two foals into the makeshift combat arena. “Also, Sunset Shimmer, I am counting on you to win. I have a wager against my sister, Luna—”

“What?” Bucky asked in a high pitched squeak.

“Oh come now, Buckminster, Luna and I are as different as night and day. To get things accomplished without bickering, we place wagers. You and Sunset are playing an unwitting part of the peace process. Be glad!” Using her hoof, Celestia gave Bucky a nudge on his backside.

“We are good to go,” Shining Armor reported as he sat down next to Cadance.

“Well then,” Celestia replied, “begin!”

Knowing that Sunset Shimmer would try to toast him, Bucky made ready his defenses. He began to cast a defensive shield, but his effort fizzled. He was too small, too little. A shower of sparks spurted from Sunset’s horn and he could see the confused look upon her face.

Bucky, a quick, cunning sort, resorted to pure simplicity. He let go of the most powerful zap spell he could muster. A blue bolt of electricity arced to Sunset, her body convulsed as her mane stood on end and her tail fluffed out in all directions. Harper could let go with a better zap, but Bucky was pretty proud of his effort.

Sunset Shimmer staggered away, knowing that zap spells had limited range. As she made a hasty retreat, she raised a simple shield spell, something that would protect against the most simple of spells and cantrips, and not much else.

Bucky, realising that he could probably deal with whatever it was that Sunset could dish out, didn’t bother with a shield spell, but saved his energy for offensive spells. All he had to do was make her cry for mercy and that seemed easy enough.

He advanced, his lips curled away from his teeny, tiny fangs, and his horn, which was still quite large for his size, had a menacing glow. As anticipated, Sunset fired a spell at him. Bucky laughed as he shrugged it off, nothing happened. His own natural magical resistance had saved him, or so he thought.

There was a devious grin on Sunset’s muzzle as Bucky began to dance in the grass. He let out a squeaky stream of profanity that sounded just awful coming from a foal as the hot hoof spell took hold. He danced about on three legs and waved his talons around as he tried to cool them off. The painful prank had left him vulnerable.

Sunset Shimmer moved in for the kill, her horn glowing, but nothing happened. She gave it all she had, but all that came out were sparks. This was bad, so very bad, and she knew it. Bucky would get her back for the hot hoof spell once he recovered.

Much to Sunset’s horror, she sensed the spell that Bucky was now trying to cast as his horn glowed with a brilliant intensity. The dreaded and much feared Turd Typhoon Three Thousand! She recoiled in terror and let out a frightened squeak as Bucky tried to let go with one of his signature spells.

Sunset felt her guts began to gurgle and she quailed in panic. Bucky was a horrible, horrible pony. She wondered if her Auntie Celery would save her from this somehow, or if she could even be saved. This was going to be embarrassing in the worst possible way.

Sunset was just about out of magic and she wasn’t sure if she could keep casting anyway, considering the nightmare that was about to happen. She saw Bucky try to cast something else and his horn fizzled. She came to the slow realisation that he had expended himself.

As she reached this realisation, she farted, a wet sounding woosher, but there was no leakage. The horrible, no good, awful Turd Typhoon Three Thousand had just given her wicked terrific flatulence. Sunset Shimmer, who had learned many dreadful lessons from Bucky, now had a plan… a horrible plan.

Much to Bucky’s surprise, Sunset Shimmer launched herself at him. His signature spell hadn’t had much effect, much to Bucky’s disappointment. He tried to brace himself as Sunset flew at him. She was bigger than him, and then, much to Bucky’s terror, he gave thought to what he had done to her. As she soared through the air, she farted again.

“Oh feck me,” Bucky mumbled, mere seconds before Sunset slammed into him.

He tried to scramble away, but Sunset wasn’t just bigger than him, she was also stronger. She had him in a headlock in no time. His smaller, lithe body wiggled as he tried to squirm free, and as he wiggled against her, pressing against her stomach, she farted again.

“Ugh!” Bucky grunted as Sunset redoubled her grip.

“Cry mercy!” Sunset demanded as she applied pressure.

“Never, Sunset Shitter!”

“That’s it, you die now!” Sunset, incensed, did the worst thing she could think of. She stuck out her tongue and jammed it down inside of Bucky’s ear, shuddering as she tasted bitter ear wax. She felt Bucky come to life in her embrace, kicking, fighting, and more importantly, she heard him squeal, it was one of the most satisfying sounds she had ever listened to in her whole life.

Sunset wrestled Bucky down into the grass, trying to pin him down, but he was small, long of body, and surprisingly slippery. She felt another bowel shuddering bout of crepitation go whooshing out of her, and Bucky squealed again. Sunset had a plan, the most horrible plan ever, a plan worthy of her terrible warlock master.

“Cry mercy, or I’ll sit on your head and fart!” Sunset cried.

“You wouldn’t dare!” Bucky shouted as he struggled to get free. He managed to fire off a weak zap spell, and once more, Sunset’s mane stood on end. He groaned when her convulsions caused another ripping sound to come from her backside.

To take the fight out of Bucky, Sunset reared up and suplexed him, a move that she had watched Ripple do a thousand times. His long, supple body flexed in a most unnatural way and Bucky let out a pained cry. Sunset felt bad, she knew his ribs were still tender, but she was in this to win. She pounced again and threw herself on top of Bucky to pin him.

“I’ll light your fart on fire!” Bucky said, threatening Sunset Shimmer.

“Fine then, you’ll burn in the fires of my ass!” Sunset replied.

“Dirty pool, Minion!” Bucky bucked and wiggled as he tried to break free.

“Cry mercy!” Sunset demanded as she tried to get a better grip on Bucky. She felt another whooshy goosher rip free from her backside. The smell was horrendous. She felt Bucky’s talons get ahold of her mane and give it a tug. “Oh, you dirty little mane puller! What sort of lesson are you trying to teach your foals!”

“How to win at any cost!” Bucky cried as he gave another good hard yank.

Sunset squealed in pain, but did not let go, determined to give the wretched mane puller a good lesson. She got Bucky up into the air again and then piledrived him into the grass, another move she had watched Ripple do a thousand times. The force of the blow caused yet another fart to slip free from her convulsing sphincter. At least Bucky had let go of her mane.

Seeing that Bucky had no compunction against fighting dirty, Sunset clamped her teeth down upon his ear, giving him a good nip, knowing full well that he would never bite her back with his sharp teeth, confident in her master’s love for her.

Much to her shock, she felt something brush up against her stomach, which startled her, and then she felt one of her teats being pinched between two scaly fingers. There was a painful squeeze followed by a twist.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!” Sunset’s cry could be heard far and wide.

Standing near the arena, Princess Celestia clucked her tongue and shook her head in disapproval. There was dirty pool and then there was dirty pool. She intended to have a quiet word with Bucky later. There were just some things that one should not do.

Sunset, gritting her teeth, snatched up Bucky in her forelegs, rose up on her hind legs, and then with much effort, she got him into a full nelson, another move she had watched Ripple do. She smashed him face down into the grass, held him, and waited for the fight to boil out of him.

Sunset did not ask for mercy. She was not in the mood for quarter. She suplexed Bucky again, then grabbed his limp form. She flung him around a bit, wearing him out further, and when she was confident that he was done for, she threw him down one last time as she felt the pressure in her guts bubbling into a crescendo.

Her lip curled back in a snarl, Sunset Shimmer plopped her plot crack down upon Bucky’s head, sitting on his cheek and his ear. Grunting, straining, Sunset let rip, shooting the nightmarish wind right down Bucky’s ear. She heard a disgusted cry from Bucky.

“Mercy…” Bucky tapped the grass three times with his talons.

Not content, not after the teaty twister, Sunset let go again, and she felt Bucky writhe beneath her. She felt a growing feeling of triumph. She had given Bucky a good thrashing for once. She had won. She had laid her master low, something that every student must do at some point. Even better, she had done it in public of all places, and there were witnesses of her triumphant moment.

“I surrender,” Bucky whined from beneath Sunset’s armed and loaded backside, “you have defeated me. Minion, I am proud of you.”

Sunset reveled in her moment of victory, having just heard the sweetest words she would ever know, and as she bounced up and down with ecstatic glee, her convulsing innards let go another cannon blast.

Rising up, grinning, Sunset, deciding to be a good sport about this, helped Bucky get up to his hooves. After getting him up, she threw her forelegs around his neck and hugged him. Much to her relief, she felt him hugging her back, and she let out a fillyish giggle.

Princess Celestia strode out into the arena towards the two foals, who were hugging one another after what was, without a doubt, one of the most vicious battles between two foals that also had a heartwarming ending. “Well, that’s not quite the duel I had in mind, but that is the sort of victory I like to see…”

Author's Notes:

I regret nothing...