Chapter Twenty Nine: The Plan.

***

Leeds Royal Armouries, March 12th 2030.

David Elliot, still dressed in nothing but a dressing gown and hospital pyjamas, walked with renewed purpose, striding across the courtyard towards the Council connection room. Upon his face was a grin filled with hope and triumph. Behind him trailed the group of newcomer ponies and Hell Blazer, Twilight Sparkle at their head. For her part, the fact that Elliot was awake filled her with relief - and the fact that he said he had a plan intrigued her.

"What plan are you talking about?" she asked him.

"I'll explain when I get to the council chamber," Elliot replied shortly. "We don't have much time. Hell Blazer said they wanted to speak with me, after all."

"You could probably afford a minute to get some clothes on," Hell Blazer muttered under his breath."It's not like the war will be lost if you put a shirt on."

Elliot turned and winked at him, before marching on.

"Of course not," Hell Blazer said. "Because having a meeting with the most important two guys and a pony in the country in nothing but a set of pyjamas is the height of common sense. Silly me."

As they walked, soldiers passing the group stopped as they saw Elliot waking through, many of them looking surprised and most of them looking jubilant at the sight of their idol and hero.

"Commander Albion?" a pony soldier said quietly, looking at him in shock. "It's Commander Albion, he's awake!"

"Albion!" another soldier called out.

"Albion's awake! Albion's here!" another yelled. "It's Albion!"

Soon the cry was going up all over the base from ponies and humans alike, all of them ecstatic to see the symbol of their fight, the holder of their hopes, returned to them. Elliot, for his part, merely smiled the harder as he marched toward the council room.

***

When the group reached the doorway where Star Vigil was still standing guard, his eyes widened at the sight of Elliot.

"Commander Albion, sir!" he said quickly. "I wasn't expecting you!"

"I'm told we had trouble getting these ponies in to see the council yesterday," Elliot said quietly, his expression neutral. "My authorisation code is Albion Zero One Zero. I trust my own personal authorisation to see the council will cover these individuals?"

"Yes sir, of course, sir!" Vigil said eagerly, nodding to his gas masked colleague. "Greg, the door."

Greg, his own expression not visible behind a gas mask, opened the door mutely. Elliot gave the two of them a terse nod as he passed inside, and thankfully Star Vigil chose to remain silent this time as the Element bearers passed him.

The group once again found themselves in the room with the large screen and the dark haired technician, who also looked surprised to see Elliot.

"Bill!" Elliot said with a grin as the group entered. "Patch me through, would you?"

"Yes sir!" Bill snapped out, fiddling with his controls. "Right away."

A moment later, the screen flared into life, and the group found themselves facing Blueblood and Sato, sans Anderson. Sato and Blueblood looked surprised to see Elliot, but they recovered quickly.

"Major Elliot," Sato said quietly, looking pleased to see the man. "It is good to see you have recovered well from your incapacitation. I was admittedly under the impression that it would take longer."

"Councillor Sato, Prince Blueblood," Elliot replied, bowing slightly. "I've come to explain some of my intentions with regards the bearers of the Elements of Harmony. My understanding is that the council had some concerns with my plan."

"You might say that," Blueblood said dryly. "I believe the chief question being what your intention for their deployment was."

"I see," Elliot said, smiling still. "Ok. Simple. You send them to Plymouth."

Blueblood raised an eyebrow and exchanged a glance with Sato. For his part, the civilian representative looked somewhat neutral.

"Plymouth is an ongoing campaign," Sato said, "and it is projected that completely clearing the city of converted, the PER remnant and other hostile presences would take far too long and far too many resources. I'm afraid I do not see…"

"Plymouth's been an 'ongoing campaign' for the past five years," Elliot replied, sounding slightly less sanguine for the first time in the conversation. "You know as well as I do that the Equestrian forces keep sending reserves into the city: at this point, they're doing it just to keep troops busy, keep them from being used on other fronts. It's an attrition front." He paused, then smiled again. "I believe these ponies are the best bet we have to break that stalemate."

"Indeed?" Sato said, raising an eyebrow. "And how do you come by that conclusion? Is it perhaps your intention to utilise the Elements' power as a weapon?"

Elliot leaned back slightly, looking thoughtful. "I had in fact considered that possibility, honourable councillor, but the truth of the matter is that the Elements wielded by these ponies..."

"Aren't here," Twilight interrupted, frowning.

"Their power resides within you," Elliot told her idly. "I've see the Element bearers of this world summon the power without the baubles."

This was news to Twilight, whose eyes widened in shock at that tidbit. The idea that she and her friends could use the power of the Elements of Harmony without having access to the Elements themselves was interesting, though she couldn't be certain it was true and not just something these Elements had been capable of.

"In any case," Elliot continued, seemingly oblivious to the bombshell he had just dropped, "the moment I realised their Elements were called the Elements of Harmony, I reasoned that they would most likely not be able to use them in the same offensive manner that their counterparts did."

"Is there a reason for the discrepancy that we're aware of?" Blueblood asked, raising an eyebrow thoughtfully.

"Well, unless you know whether there was a deliberate shift between the Elements of Harmony and Order in Equestria..." Elliot began. Blueblood shook his head.

"Before the crisis I didn't know much about them, and after the crisis began they were already the Elements of Order," the Prince said. "I don't know the difference, and most of the ponies who do are part of Twilight's Archmagi now."

"It is apparent that, until such time as we know the truth of the matter, we can only assume it to be a natural discrepancy," Sato said smoothly.

"That's a pretty big discrepancy," Twilight said with a frown. "There's no reason I know of why the name would change…"

"This is a different world to your own," Blueblood pointed out.

"Which doesn't change the fact that they couldn't just… be different," Twilight said with a frustrated sigh. "Nothing else so radical has been changed.

"Returning us to the point that Elements of Harmony aren't going to be much use in a battle," Elliot said. He turned to look at Twilight. "I take it they aren't capable of..."

"We've already discussed the capabilities of the Elements with the council," Rarity cut in, looking irritated. "They don't do any of the things that have been described."

"No disintegration, no explosions, no damage," Twilight confirmed with a nod.

"Which returns us to the question of precisely what good these ponies will be able to do," Blueblood said. "Well trained as I'm sure they've become, they're inexperienced and there are only nine of them."

"Let me ask you a question, Prince Blueblood," Elliot said softly. "Do you know anything about the battle of Hull?"

The Prince frowned slightly. "I know of it, but I'm somewhat lacking on the details - it was before my defection, after all."

"Alright, then let me fill you in," Elliot said. He paused, before looking at the Element bearers. "This was fairly early in the war. The Elements were all present, and were used twice in that battle. They blew up a defensive position, and they incinerated a platoon in hiding. I remember both instances very well. In case you're not aware, Prince Blueblood, we held Hull because - despite the Elements' combined power - they couldn't stop trained, desperate soldiers fighting for their homeland." He paused. "Now: think back to Whitby, a few months later." He started pacing in front of the screen. "Only Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy present, no chance of utilising the power of the Elements, and yet our forces, though comparable to the forces defending Hull, took worse casualties, proportionally speaking, and we only just held. Whitby was all but ruined by that battle." He looked up at Blueblood. "You wanna know the difference?"

"Please, enlighten me," Blueblood said quietly.

"Rainbow Dash grew a brain," Elliot said sharply. The Rainbow Dash stood behind him looked indignant, but said nothing as he continued. "Between Hull and Whitby, she and the others had training and did research. They learned, sir, and once they'd learned, they weren't just better, they were downright deadly. They were deadly commanders, and they were deadlier in person."

"Your point, Major Elliot?" Sato asked.

"My point, Councillor Sato," Elliot said patiently, "is that these ponies, like their counterparts, have the potential to become some of the deadliest fighters on the field. That is why I brought them here. That is why I wanted them trained for battle. With their potential as soldiers - now hopefully realised by their training - they could well be the tipping force for the war."

"I see," Sato said softly. He looked at Blueblood, who shrugged.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's speaking from a position of greater military authority than either of us," he said simply. "He killed them all, remember."

"A valid point," Sato replied. The Japanese politician sighed, and looked back at Elliot. "I would be remiss if I did not make the point General Anderson would - nine ponies may not change the outcome of this conflict considerably at all."

"The good General thinks it takes whole armies to change outcomes," Elliot said simply. "He doesn't think individuals can affect change. I disagree."

Sato sighed. "Very well. You have permission to take additional forces from Leeds to Plymouth, including these nine, at your discretion. We shall expect a report on your progress, Major."

"And you shall have it, Councillor," Elliot replied simply, bowing slightly.

With that, the communication link fizzled out, and Elliot turned around and smiled at the group.

"That went well," he said quietly.

***

At dinner in the canteen, Elliot was seemingly inclined to make up for a month and a half of intravenous nutrition. As he ate, he explained a few things to Twilight and the others.

"Plymouth," he was saying, "was one of the cities attacked in late 2025. Initially, our forces were repelled from the city, though the Blockade thankfully prevented the enemy from using the port to much effect. In early 2026, we sent a counter-attack in to try and retake the city, but they were bogged down by hostile forces. Since then, both sides have been pouring forces into the city: us to try and push the Equestrian forces from their foothold and them to keep our troops busy."

"So it's a stalemate?" True Grit asked politely.

"Very much so," Elliot replied. "I would have seen to it sooner myself, but I'm only one man and we quickly learned the limitations - or should I say the previous limitations - of Albion's power vis a vis my body very, very quickly."

"Previous limitations?" Rarity repeated. "Do you mean to say you've overcome your - what did Discord call it - magic burnout?"

"I mean to say I've figured out how to keep myself from killing myself with the power for now," Elliot clarified with a slightly sour smile. "My lifespan's already massively compromised, and I might have only mitigated it. I'll have to consult with the Doctor about whether I've completely stopped the rate of damage."

"You mean Doctor Clock Smith?" Ditzy asked, her eyes wide.

"Doctor who?" Elliot asked with a slight frown.

"Doctor Clock Smith, the old pony in the leather coat?" Ditzy clarified. Elliot blinked, realising that the Doctor must have used 'Clock Smith' as a pseudonym to give to Ditzy. "Never mind," she added, before he could say anthing to her question, her eyebrows furrowing thoughtfully.

"So," Hell Blazer said after a moment, taking a drag from a cigarette. "Wanna explain how you managed to go from coughing every time you so much as used the power of Albion to that display in the hospital room?"

"It's a long story," Elliot replied, eager to get away from Ditzy's question about the Doctor. "Basically, I communed with the source of the power, and I was taught to better regulate it."

"How does that work?" Twilight asked, frowning at him.

"The regulation or the source?" Elliot asked.

"Try for both, sugarcube," Applejack said with a frown, interrupting the conversation with a faintly bemused face. "Just cos Twilight understands your fancy magic stuff don't mean we all do."

"I have to admit, some of it's even going over my head," Rarity said, sounding slightly sheepish for admitting to that.

"And mine," Lyra added, shrugging.

"I'm just enjoying the food," Pinkie commented nonchalantly. Since she was eating what appeared to be cake, nopony questioned that comment.

"Well," Hell Blazer said with a sigh, "the source is where the power comes from."

"That isn't very explanatory," Rarity said pointedly, raising an eyebrow at the yellow Earth Pony.

"That would be because - believe it or not - I don't have all the answers," Hell Blazer said.

"I can believe it," Rarity said sarcastically.

"The source, far as we know, is the magical core of this world," Hell Blazer clarified, looking slightly annoyed at her. "Equestria will have one as well, probably a little bit more prevalent. Essentially, it's… well, the source of magic."

"That source has two sides," Elliot added, as though worried Hell Blazer would miss out that point. "The light, and the dark."

"More like everything has those two sides: it's an intrinsic part of the way the world is," Hell Blazer corrected, giving Elliot a sidelong glance. "But magic has them too. The light - the same thing that created the myths of the Lady of the Lake, Arthur and Excalibur - and the dark."

"Which was Morgana le Fay and Mordred, Arthur's nemesis," Elliot finished with a grin. "John called upon the light to create the Avatar."

"To summon the Avatar," Hell Blazer corrected again, snorting slightly at his friend's error. "The power has always existed in the depths of the world, it just needs a channelling force. That's you."

Elliot shrugged with a hapless grin of his own. "Even after two years, I'm not altogether 'up' on this."

"That much is obvious," Hell Blazer said with a sly smirk.

"So what about the regulation you mentioned?" Twilight asked Elliot, eager to know what insights he had gained.

"I… guess I communed with the source," Elliot explained. "And I learned - in theory - how to regulate the energy flow. In effect, I learned how to control the power, instead of just how to channel it."

"How so?" Twilight asked, not entirely certain how such a 'communion' would happen.

Rather than responding with words, Elliot simply blinked, looked down at an empty cup, and blinked again. The cup disintegrated in a flash, leaving nothing but a charred table.

"Somebody's gonna be pissed off with you wrecking the crockery round here," Hell Blazer muttered with an exasperated sigh and a shake of the head.

"I can control the flow," Elliot said, ignoring his friend. "It doesn't overwhelm me any more, because now I know that it can, and now I know I can control it. Now, I know to not let it control me."

He smiled softly, apparently very pleased with himself.

"Ok," Applejack said slowly, as if working something complicated out in her head. "Does that mean you'll be able to kill Solamina like you're supposed to, without collapsing again?"

At that, Elliot's smile faded somewhat. "I don't know. I know I can contain the power more effectively, but I don't know if it means I can become much more powerful, and there's a lot of other variables too. It's not an exact science."

"It's not a science full stop," Hell Blazer said with a snort. "If it were, it'd be bloody easy to deal with. There'd be consistent bloody rules that meant X equalled X, not guesswork, hopes and prayers - literally in some cases!"

"So… you still don't know if you can beat Solamina?" Twilight summarised, feeling somewhat downhearted.

"No," Elliot said quietly. "I don't. I can hope, I can train, but there's no certainty"

There was a long pause. Everypony looked at each other, none of them very happy with this admission: if Elliot couldn't beat Solamina, even now when he supposedly had better control of his powers, then what could?

"So," Rarity said, as though trying not to think about the monumental task that still lay before them. "This city, Plymouth. What exactly do you want us to do there?"

"Oh, well that's easy," Elliot said, a smile returning to his face. "I'm going to take you all down there and we're gonna liberate it: most of you are part of an infantry group, right?"

"Um, no," Twilight said, smiling awkwardly. "We were assigned to 'Spec Ops'."

"The council's idea," Hell Blazer said quietly to Elliot by way of explanation. "They thought it'd be prudent, since you brought them here."

"What does 'Spec Ops' mean, sir?" True Grit asked. "I know it refers to Special Operations of some kind, but what kind could they want us for?"

"Well, these days Spec Ops is the codename they use for my personal team," Elliot said thoughtfully, almost speaking to himself. "That was what Hell Blazer, Lyra and True Grit were in the day…"

"Good times," Hell Blazer commented with a rueful smile at the two newcomer-versions of his old friends.

"No, having you listed as my team doesn't quite work," Elliot said after a moment. He looked at Twilight. "I'll get back to you on the arrangement of your team for Plymouth. In the meantime..." He stood up, flexing his muscles as he did so. "I believe now might be a good time to see how good you've all become."

Twilight and the others shared a glance.

***

In a training room, Elliot stood, now dressed in his battered combat-pants, his t-shirt and his boots. He held a Bokken roughly the length of a longsword in his hand, and was smiling. Opposite him stood the nine newcomer ponies, each of them wielding Bokken of their own - the infantry with dagger-Bokken and the Pegasi with their wrist-blade Bokken. They all looked prepared for a fight. Off the the side, Hell Blazer was watching with a grin.

"Same rules as last time," Elliot said idly. "You fight me until I 'kill' you or you 'kill' me. I figure that's clear enough." Everypony nodded slowly, clear on his instructions. Twilight threw looks at her infantry group - everypony nodded back: they'd follow her lead on this one. Dash, meanwhile, exchanged glances with Ditzy and Fluttershy, both of whom nodded, looking more than a little apprehensive.

"We're ready," Dash said.

"Same," Twilight added.

Elliot grinned. "Good," he said. He looked to Hell Blazer, who flicked a switch on a small device. Suddenly, music began playing, filling the little training room. He struck a fighting stance at once, looking suddenly energised. "Now then. Begin."

Immediately, Ditzy, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash charged at him, Bokken flipped out. They swept past him, lashing out as they did so, but he blocked their strikes. None of his return strikes managed to strike them, however, and they doubled back, striking again. He kept blocking, but again, none of his strikes hit them in return.

Twilight, Rarity, Lyra and True Grit, meanwhile, moved into flanking positions, each of them trying to get a different side of him. Applejack and Pinkie Pie were waiting for Twilight's signal: she looked with a tense expression at the Pegasi flying around Elliot, still lashing out and managing to dodge any of his strikes.

"Dash! Move!" Twilight called out to her friend. At that, Dash and the other Pegasi moved out of the way - and the four unicorns threw spells at Elliot all at once, green, blue, purple and turquoise bolts lashing out towards the man. Moving preternaturally fast, he began spinning his Bokken, and amazingly his sword intercepted every spell as they approached him. Still, the unicorns kept throwing spells.

"Applejack!" Twilight yelled after a moment. "Now!"

As the spells flew, Applejack and Pinkie charged at Elliot. At the last second, the spells eased off - just as the two Earth Ponies began throwing kicks, knife attacks and punches in Elliot's direction. He blocked all of them, moving faster and faster, but he couldn't get a strike in edgeways.

Suddenly, he spun his blade and stabbed the tip into the ground. A shock wave of golden magical energy flew outwards, knocking the two ponies back. He spun his blade and charged at True Grit, who fired spell after spell to try and slow him down, before sweeping his own training knife up to block Elliot's strike.

As Elliot charged, Twilight - throwing a look at the other unicorns - charged at him from behind, the others right behind her. Even as True Grit began exchanging blows with him, they were on him from behind, and Elliot was having to block blow after blow, looking increasingly frustrated as he did so. Again he stabbed his blade into the ground, and again a shock wave was released, sending everypony flying backwards. They recovered quickly - only for Elliot to be on top of them.

Rarity found his Bokken at her throat, a feral smile on his face.

"Dead," he said, grinning. He spun around and blocked a knife blow from Pinkie Pie, who had managed to recover, before kicking out and sending her reeling. He reversed his grip and brought his blade down in a powerful hacking motion that forced her to block, but her block failed and the knife was sent tumbling away.

"Dead," he added. Before he could capitalise on his momentum, however, the Pegasi were once again on his, lashing out with their wrist blades. Cursing, he unleashed a third shock wave, but it was noticeably smaller than the previous two, and he was panting slightly. Sensing possible victory, the Pegasi closed in.

Suddenly, he grinned, and lashed out faster than any of them could see, his blade contacting Rainbow Dash's side and sending her spinning into a wall, where she lay, stirring feebly. He blocked strikes from Ditzy and Fluttershy, and span his blade back into a ready stance.

"Now then," he said, sounding measurably more confident. "Come at me."

Twilight and True Grit launched a series of stunning spells at him, but he dodged and blocked them almost effortlessly. Snarling in frustration, Applejack charged at him, spinning and bucking. Suddenly, Elliot caught her legs and threw her, but even as he did so Lyra launched another stunning spell that smacked into his head.

"Ha!" she exclaimed triumphantly, but the jubilation vanished a moment later, when he looked at her and smiled. Suddenly he raised a hand and a bolt of golden energy hit her square in the forehead - doing nothing.

"Dead!" Elliot called over to her with a grin.

Ditzy and Fluttershy went around for another pass, but with less incoming strikes he managed to lash out catching them both and sending them into walls.

"Dead and dead," he said, before spinning his blade and facing the remaining combatants: Grit, Twilight and Applejack.

"Plan?" Applejack asked quietly.

"We'll suppress him with spells, you charge and try to take him off balance, then we'll come in to support you," Twilight hissed back, charging an attack spell.

"Gotcha," Applejack said.

At once, Twilight and True Grit launched their attack spells. Elliot blocked them, and Applejack charged the other two right behind her. A moment later, the three ponies became a flurry of blades and limbs, lashing out at the man. Against any normal opponent, it would have been a matter of moments before they were overwhelmed, and as it was even Elliot was having a hard time blocking their blows.

He spun his blade faster than their eyes could see, blocking every blow they tried to land. His blade lashed out, disarming both Applejack and True Grit, who were sent feeling by the force of the blow.

"Dead and dead!" he yelled, sounding less confident now as Twilight continued to strike at him, frustration gripping her. Her blade, held in a magical grip, moved faster and faster, probing at every weak spot he had, but he kept blocking it. Finally, anger surging through her, she threw the blade with her magic, before launching three stunning spells in a row, and jumping straight after them.

Elliot smacked the blade aside, and blocked the three spells with his hand, but when Twilight bowled into him he was knocked to the ground, the angry unicorn on top of him, fury in her face.

For a moment, he stared in shock at her, as she glared down at him, fire in her eyes. Then, to her immense surprise, he started laughing.

"I guess I'm dead," he said with a grin. "Oh, it's been a long time since anyone knocked me down like that!"

"Wait, so we won?" Applejack asked, eyes wide as she winced slightly from a bruise.

"Buck - fuck me five ways from Sunday," Hell Blazer said quietly. "How'd they do that?"

"The Elements were always good fighters," Elliot said to him, grinning. "I told you: these ponies have the potential to be just as good."

"So... we beat you?" Lyra asked, looking incredulous.

"In a spar," Elliot pointed out. "I wasn't trying to kill you. If I had been, I imagine you would have been dead. But you managed to keep me on my toes... and against Solamina's troops, you'll do much, much better than that, I'm sure."

He looked at each of them, a grin on his face.

"You're ready to help end this war," he declared.

***

Author's Notes:

This chapter was edited 29th July 2015.