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Harmony Defended

by Starscribe

Chapter 27: Chapter 26: Father

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Applejack rested uneasily in one of the copilot seats of the Atlas, and not just because the chair had been designed for a human pilot. The engineers had already done their best to compensate for that, removing the seat-back and adding some extra padding. Even so, Applejack found the constant vibration of the Albatross made her underbelly sore. Somehow she doubted whoever had designed the pony version of the armor had any sense of how their anatomy actually worked.

That wasn't what made her uneasy, though. Even over the radio, there was nothing like the excitement there had been before their last mission. These humans weren't eager to quickly end a battle in which they rightly considered themselves the vastly superior force. Instead, they were coming up against an enemy of completely unknown ability, one that had decimated their allies and made everypony in Celestia's army far too nervous to speak of them except in hushed voices.

For as large as the Atlas Walker was, the cockpit was surprisingly small. Perhaps thirty square feet in total, with just enough room for three chairs and the controls mounted to every surface. Of course almost everything was done by mental control, which was good considering all she had were hooves to work with. Somehow she doubted the retractable gripping claws built into the armor on her forehooves would have the dexterity to manipulate the delicate touchscreens and holofield interfaces. No matter how good the claws proved to be, she couldn't have reached some of the highest controls if she tried.

The screens wrapped all the way around her, and indeed her chair could rotate to face any of them she wanted to see. On the other side of Makoto, Big Mac's chair did something similar. Even with all the extra space afforded by being a pony and not a human, Applejack felt claustrophobic. She couldn't even guess how a massive man like Cigaal could have fit inside here. Maybe only small humans could be Atlas pilots.

Cigaal had said that they didn't expect she would have many responsibilities during the battle, that she was here only as a safeguard against hardware and software failure. Even so, she couldn't get his other words out of her head. "Man should not wield such weapons as this." After all the awful destruction she had seen, it chilled her heart to think she was wielding a weapon so awful that the masters of destruction did not want to see it used.

"Can you bring up the battlefield?" she asked Washington over the radio. Not that any of them were wearing helmets in here. It was quite stuffy enough without them.

Washington complied without actually replying verbally, and Applejack found the nearest holographic display showing the battlefield from above. Using a combination of Equestria's few satellites and some 3D rendering, she could see everything as though she were a pegasus flying high above. The great storm Equestria's pegasi kept raging around the Crystal Empire fell short of the battlefield they were moving into, like the eye of a hurricane that didn't realize it ought to be in the center of the storm. With a gesture she zoomed in, first on the lines of ponies as they fired primitive cannons, then retreated and fired again.

It was hard to describe their target as an army, since every army she knew of had some commonalities uniting them. Even the Sons, who no longer could claim to all be members of the same species, had a great deal in common. Their armor was the same, their weapons the same, their tactics the same.

The assembly of the undead, taken from Equestria's most dangerous ponies throughout all of history, fought more like a mob than an army. There seemed to be little coordination between them, except that they were all clearly moving in the same direction and with a single purpose. Satellite cameras could capture little of the magical damage they did to the land, but Applejack could see the way the ground beneath melted snow had turned black, leached totally of life. It might be centuries before anything would grow. She could also see the corpses of ponies, by the hundreds and thousands and more, following the mob in a morbid procession of rot and decay. Many of them still wore the armor they had died in, with weapons still protruding from their bodies. Like all lesser undead creatures, they could not fight well in daylight. She didn't want to imagine what this battle would have been like at night. Naturally they had chosen the hours just after dawn for the strike, giving them an entire day to fight and win.

"Give me the plan again, so ah' don't forget."

This time Washington did speak, his voice quiet in her earpiece as he took back control of the holoscreen. "The assault begins with the retreat of the 301st Manehattan Brigade, already underway. Hypersonic escort craft will deploy anti-personnel airburst explosives along the main line of advance." Little explosions appeared in a straight line, decimating the crowd of zombies and making most of the undead mob fall to the ground in small pieces. "Heavy infantry airdrop, surrounding the mob on these three sides. They land almost immediately after the carpet bombs detonate. These infantry cover the deployment of artillery on this ridge, and the Atlas here, near present pony lines."

"Mission objective: to force the enemy units close enough that the entropic accelerator can effect simultaneous dissolution. Intelligence indicates that nothing other than absolute bodily destruction will permanently disable enemy troops. Mission critical equipment include Atlas Walker and Albatross Carrier C. Antimatter containment cell must not be allowed to fall into enemy hands."

"Why?" Applejack zoomed into the image of her mech on the simulation, looking it over. "Not that the gun ain't a big deal, but I didn't think anyone on Equestria would be able to make it work. It's not like dragons can repair computers 'er nothin'."

The simulation zoomed in further, straight through the side of the Atlas and into the machinery in its back, with a container perhaps the size of a pitcher or insulated thermos. Cables of various kinds ran into one end, and its clear surface was marked with more safety warnings than she knew how to count. The simulation zoomed in through the walls of the container, where dense coils of cable around the outside seemed to contain a miniature silvery sandstorm, wrapping around and around the inside of the container like somepony skating an endless figure-eight.

"This cell contains 5.73 pounds of pressurized antihydrogen gas. If its containment were to fail, the resultant explosion would annihilate all life within ten kilometers, and the radioactive fallout would likely be much larger. As no antimatter containment failure on this scale has ever taken place, it is impossible to provide an accurate damage assessment. However, as the crystal empire is presently only three kilometers away, and this enemy is known to be willing to utilize nuclear weapons..."

Applejack brushed a hoof through the simulation, banishing it. "I get it." Now she understood why Cigaal had said this entropic accelerator was only meant to be used in space.

She watched the beginnings of the battle from satellite cameras. Just as Washington had explained, their escort ships dropped a long line of explosives, lighting up as tiny pinpricks on the satellite image. Then came the heavy infantry, dropping like precisely-aimed bullets even as she felt the acceleration of their Albatross as it prepared for a landing. Applejack turned from the images of the battle as she was forced to watch her station, integrating with the targeting controls on the arm she was set to control. "Does this walker have a cloak?" she asked, pressing herself into the seat as the whole thing started to shake.

Makoto shook her head. "Only works when the reactor isn't working; puts out too much heat otherwise! Wouldn't be much point to cloak something as heavy and noisy as an Atlas in motion. We've got better; only subcapital unit in the Federation with a shield."

Applejack strained her memory, but nothing Washington had taught her helped her identify the technology. So she turned to her pony knowledge instead. "Like a glowing bubble that stops stuff?"

"I wish. That's science fiction. Do ponies have science fiction?"

Applejack didn't get to respond, because a voice came in over the radio, the distorted squawk of the pilot. "Blue one, deployment distance in fifteen seconds. Prepare for disconnect."

Makoto's smile vanished. She brushed her short black hair away from her face, then reached into the holofields with both arms, her expression grimly determined. "Roger, Red-Six. Washington, how's our bandwidth?"

"Optimal."

Then the pilot. "You're clear, drop drop drop!"

For the second time in the recent past, Applejack felt as though she were lifting away from her stomach as she abruptly began to fall. Only this time she was tightly restrained, and instead of rising up and away from the craft, the Atlas dragged her down right along with it. There was a roar from somewhere beneath her, as rockets slowed the Atlas in its fall and burned a dark black streak into the ground. Three seconds later, the Atlas slammed into the ground with all the grace of a barn falling from the sky. Hydraulic fluids wooshed, and the cockpit dropped several feet before springing back into its original position. At once all the dormant displays flickered to life, with internal readings and troop readouts and battle projections.

If Applejack had thought the last battle moved slowly, she had no idea what was in store for her now. "Cover the artillery while we get them onto those hills, Makoto!" Cigaal's voice was harsh, not nearly as calm as he had sounded during the last battle. "Something took out Escort-3! Get me incendiary on those bastards!"

Soldiers shouted back and forth over the general frequency, far too fast for Applejack to keep them all straight. Instead she focused on the cameras, looking out on the army that had so many Equestrians in fear. She felt it before she saw it, a distinct wrongness in her gut. It was a little like the Everfree, magic not just free of pony influence, but outright hostile to it. The Sons had picked a strategically optimal position to make their stand, the hills granting perhaps a fifty-meter height advantage on the enemy troops.

Not that they had firearms. It was hard to make out anything in the center of the mob, but she could see those closest to her. Even as she watched, something like an earth pony rose to its hooves, apparently not noticing the way the anti-personnel bombs had torn the flesh from its extremities. It turned on the nearest heavy infantry, narrowed its eyes, and charged with all its might. The soldier opened with a blast of napalm and did not miss, but the charging pony seemed not to notice. It stopped just shy of the infantry, but instead of striking him reared up and struck the ground with enormous force. Even at her distance, even with the cushioning of the shocks she felt a little of the vibration as the earth opened and swallowed the soldier whole. Worst of all, the pony continued to burn, roaring in fury as it turned to the next of the heavy infantry.

There had been eight in all, and she watched the battlefield summary as each of the tags went dark, one after another. Still, their duty had been accomplished, and if any of the evil ponies could feel pain then surely all of them were. Several were now missing limbs, or had been separated into multiple pieces by the heavy accelerators and their ultradense tungsten rounds.

"Green-1 deployed Captain, on your orders!"

"Wait for Two, Green-1! Two, anyday now!'

"Something's got us!" came a female voice, harsh and clipped. "We're… f-floating, sir. C-can't breathe!"

Applejack saw it, several unicorns on the left all advancing towards the hill with their horns alight with dark magic. Beyond them, the soldiers and their equipment were lifting into the air, at least a dozen that Applejack could see. Before she knew what she was doing she screamed over the main channel. "It's the unicorns on the left! They're doin' it!" Were these humans stupid? Couldn't they tell magic when they saw it? Applejack suddenly wondered if humans could see the glow of magic at all.

Cigaal's voice replied immediately. "Makoto, get a tankbuster on those targets!" There was a groan from behind them and the roar of a rocket engine, accelerating so fast it was difficult to see. Seconds later, the unicorns had been transformed almost magically into a blackened crater, and their soldiers dropped from the air.

"Sir, they see us! Targets advancing!" That was Green-1 again, voice buring with emotion. "Orders?"

"Full bombardment, all guns! Keep firing until they reach you!" With the harsh screams of high-caliber cannons, the carefully-constructed plan descended into chaos. Applejack found herself unable to keep all the voices straight, particularly when screams of agony found their way onto the channel. She switched her radio to the Blue-1 frequency, but Makoto didn't, and was listening so loudly to the general channel that Applejack could still hear it almost as clearly as before.

"Applejack, I need a target! Who looks the most dangerous?" The guns were firing constantly. The mob was saturated with machine-gun fire, though this seemed to have little impact unless a lucky shot managed to sever a limb. No locations seemed any more effective than others, and even direct headshots did little but shower the ground in necrotic fluid.

Applejack scanned the group, though she didn't have to look far. "How about this one?" She indicated a thickly-armored unicorn with a wicked-looking horn. Supernatural flames danced from his many wounds, as though within he were a fire and not a pony. Bullets pinged off the air around him, and as she watched a mortar landed almost directly atop him. The grass ripped itself apart at his feet, yet somehow none touched him. His horn grew brighter with every step, unmistakably preparing a spell.

"He's gonna hit us!" Applejack winced as she saw the spell leave the pony's horn, though of course she was no unicorn and had no idea what it might be. Still, as fast as the spell was, Washington's reaction time was faster. Though neither human nor sensor could see it, she felt the whir as the reactor kicked into high gear, and saw from the display that their shields had switched to full power.

A second before it struck the spell manifested as a charring cloud of dark plasma, the kind that seared metal into molten pools. The Atlas didn't have a drop of magic, and yet the spell bent around the walker and continued onward behind them, slowly dissipating. Red flashing lights started blinking all over the cockpit, and a mechanical voice blared, "Connection to controlling intelligence disrupted; switching to local pilot.”

"Damn radiation; disrupts highband." Makoto leaned forward, and the targeting sensors focused on the unicorn.

"Entropic field stabilized," came the mechanical voice, followed by a flash of vibrant blue. The pony, like them, had a shield. His was magic, and Applejack watched as the lance of blue light struck it. For a second it seemed as though the shield might have worked, energy spreading along its surface and crackling like something hungry and alive. Then the dark shield began to flicker. Makoto leaned into the controls, her face going hard. A second later the shield splintered with a deafening crack, and the pony inside crumbled to nothing.

Until now the dark army had responded to their attacks with something like amusement. The mob was more like a swarm of piranhas than an army, annoyed but not dissuaded. That changed the instant they struck the unicorn. Every dark pony froze, turning to watch. They completely ignored the humans swarming all around them, who took the opportunity to thoroughly dismember several. Then as one they abandoned their targets, and began to converge on the Atlas.

"Applejack, I need you to pull us back! They're coming on too fast!"

She hardly knew this vehicle, yet the internal computer was responsive and obeyed Applejack's instructions. She barely saw her brother take over her cannons along with his own, shooting several rotting pegasi out of the air before they could close too quickly.

Makoto's attention seemed completely glued to the cannon controls. There was another flash, and this time a whole group of the enemy vanished in a blast of angry light.

"Protect the Atlas!" Cigaal's voice came through stretched and clipped and blaring with static, but it came through. Did that mean they would have Washington back soon?

Little explosions swept over the crowd, none doing permanent damage but some flinging ponies into the air in spectacular arcs. The dark army ignored everything that wasn't the Atlas, and seemed not to notice or care that more of their number were being ripped apart or squished to paste. Yet they also were not stupid. It seemed to take only one shot for them to learn that standing too close together invited reprisal, because they spread into a wide semicircle, ensuring that no shot could dispatch more than a few at once.

Bolts of magic struck their shield with far more regular intensity, and Applejack felt the Atlas begin to shake under the strain. Some of the flames made it through, and sirens started to scream in protest.

Applejack didn't see the unicorn until the spell had already struck them. She felt suddenly as though a gigantic hoof were crushing down on her, crushing the air from her lungs. Metal screamed in protest, and hydraulic lines whined and burst in the overpressure. She screamed as the Atlas went toppling sideways, crashing to the ground like a dying god.

She could hear the shouting outside, the gunfire and the screams. Her vision went red, and she choked. Strapped into the chair, it seemed the whole world was sideways. "M-Mac," she croaked, but that was it. She was going to die here.

She didn't, though. A second later the pressure vanished, and she gulped huge swallows of air. Makoto was a little slower to recover, but spidery fingers danced through flickering controls and the Atlas started to groan beneath them, making sickly noises as it rocked back and forth onto its legs. One seemed broken, but the other three were able to keep them standing, albeit at a somewhat tilted angle. Applejack blinked until she could focus on the exterior cameras, searching for the unicorn.

What she found was Cigaal himself, a gigantic sword in his hands. Applejack recognized the sword, for she had seen it several times before. It was Princess Luna's ancient blade, Achelois. The sword had cleaved the monster down the middle, and unlike many of the other injuries she had seen inflicted, the fallen dark pony showed no sign of rising.

Together, the surviving Sons of Barsoom made sure the rest of the undead soon followed their comrade into the void.

* * *

There was no mistaking the awful shaking of the shield for anything other than what it was. Magic darker than midnight coursed along it, forming an intricate pattern along several of the points of greatest stress. Even Twilight did not recognize the patterns, though it was easy enough to guess what was going on. The shield did not belong to her brother, not anymore. Celestia had wrought this last defense with the last of her reserves, and it was summer sunlight that began to crack and crumble in the sky.

The armies had been stopped. For no reason anypony knew, all the goblins everywhere had thrown down their arms. The Steel Tower were sweeping across the southern front like an unrelenting tide. It was true the situation in the north was still dire, yet pony troops were far from exhausted. True to Applejack's recommendation, the Sons of Barsoom had collapsed the bulge and utterly destroyed the forces of the undead. Less than half of them had returned, but they had returned in victory.

It was no surprise that the Dragons themselves led this last and greatest of assaults, ignoring all other troops and flying straight for the Crystal Empire. Of the dragons, only the greatest had been given the honor of participating. Twilight Sparkle could see about a dozen of the greatest and most ancient of the wyverns hovering in the air outside the shield. These were no whelps, wasting the strength of their flames on the shield before it fell. Each conserved their energy, waiting as the largest and greatest of them worked the spell that would unmake the shield.

For a defense Equestria had only those forces that were already here. That meant the Sons of Barsoom, at what strength remained, along with plenty of frightened civilians and recently-transformed humans with little knowledge of how to be a pony. Cadence had ordered her citizens to shelter in whatever basements and cellars could be found, and the upper stories of the tallest buildings were occupied now by ponies wielding cannons.

For Twilight Sparkle, all that was very far away. Pinkie Pie and Applejack were below, coordinating with the human defenses Twilight's apprentice and her friends had installed in the Crystal Empire only eight months earlier. The Sons' escort ships flew in gentle circles over the tops of the buildings, at least the few that had returned.

Princess Luna hovered not far away, along with half a dozen of the Lunar Guard. Her magical grip on Achelois showed no sign of faltering, and her armor glinted red in the light of evening. Their enemy outside seemed to be timing this attack precisely with sundown, when Celestia's power and the shield would be weakest. It was working. Even though Celestia had not actually lowered the sun, the world knew better. It would take the greater part of her magical might whether she consented or not. And she would consent, in the end. At least with the moon in the sky one of them would be at full strength.

Twilight's sister-in-law was not with them in the sky. Cadence knew little of violence, and so remained with her ponies. Celestia was there, flanked by two-dozen of the Solar Guard with glittering armor and sharp spears.

Even in the fading sunlight, even as her spell came away in the air above the castle, Princess Celestia seemed far more god than mortal. Her mane burned more than it glowed. She spoke in the air, spoke to all the ponies in the empire. Perhaps to all the ponies in the world. It was not a loud voice, neither was it a harsh voice. All who heard would later agree that it pierced them to the center.

"Ponies of Equestria!" Celestia seemed not to shout, yet the earth shook beneath her. Everything, from the rushing of the wind to the roars of the dragons outside, became suddenly muted. Less important. "We have all sacrificed much in this war, and lost more. I am proud of each of you, and have seen many rise to accomplish incredible feats."

"Yet I know many might look up now and feel fear. Do not be ashamed of your fear. Yet hear my promise! We will not fall! As sunset falls, so will the sun rise all the brighter. This war will end tonight! Have courage, and know that I am satisfied with what you have done. Now, make Equestria proud one last time! Stand proudly beside us! Our friends are with us, and victory is before us!"

Even knowing exactly what Celestia was up to Twilight still felt a little of the fear vanish from her mind. There was no room for uncertainty when a voice like that spoke comfort. Twilight drew a little closer in the air to her old mentor, nodding her appreciation and support.

Celestia nodded back, the gold of her regalia glowing furiously on, even as the sun passed over the horizon and soft moonlight took its place. Twilight had never seen the moon shine so brightly before, brighter than the largest and most spectacular harvest moon. The stars too seemed to be outdoing themselves, giving every ounce of light to the ponies below as they could.

The intricate spellwork wrought by the Father of Dragons sunk deeper into the barrier. Great cracks spread suddenly along it, as though the whole spell were a single chunk of ice dropped into a gigantic glass.

Celestia didn't wait for it to fall away and crush the city below. Instead, she dismissed the spell in a single golden flash.

"Remember to use the target acquisition system. With such limited resources, we can't afford to waste ammunition, or risk friendly fire." That was the voice of Washington, the Sons’ own OMICRON core and the one that had coordinated everything since Truth returned to Earth. Twilight, like Luna and Celestia, could not wear the Federation-made armor that depended on Nanophage integration. She could wear a little glass eyepiece and headset, stuck to the side of her head with temporary glue.

The barrier down, the enormous dragons began moving, each at least as large as the bigger structures in the city. As she watched, little red targets appeared to follow them through the air, along with the name and location of the pony or human targeting them. The Solar and Lunar Guard dispersed to join the fray, forming corkscrews of clouds and blasting little bolts of lightning. Of the princesses none moved, nor did any of the dragons seem to be targeting them.

This was an old code, far older than Twilight, yet she recognized immediately what was happening. The glory of slaying the rulers of Equestria would go to the Father of Dragons; even his oldest servants didn't dare interfere. So long as they didn't fight anyone else, Twilight was fairly certain the other dragons would leave them alone. Dragon combat customs were quite rigid.

So she put everything else from her mind; let the sounds of gunfire fade, the roars and blasts of fire. Ignored the sound of shattering crystal and the screams of ponies below. It would take all three of them to defeat this enemy, and she would be a very poor ally if she were distracted.

Twilight spared one last thought for her daughter, wondering when she might be making her way back from Earth. She had gone to bring the ship Aegis and to end the war. Twilight wished she could tell her how proud she was, how happy she was to have such a loyal and talented filly for a daughter. She couldn't though, and had to content herself with the knowledge that wherever Chance was, it had to be safer than here.

"What's the plan?" Twilight asked over the radio. Other than the other Alicorns, only Washington would be able to hear her. "How'd you beat this dragon last time?"

Luna chuckled. "There is no checklist, Twilight Sparkle. Even if we had one, it would do us no good. The last time we fought this dragon, we lost."

"O-oh."

She felt him before she saw him, like a patch of darker night drawing in moonlight. Scales of ebony had no reflection in the sky, and when he roared it was the voice of death.

Celestia seemed not to notice the great roar. Her voice sounded for all the world as though Twilight were still a filly and she was teaching one of her early magic lessons. "Have you studied anything about the way dragons duel, Princess Twilight?"

The dark shape was gaining speed. Celestia and Luna began to separate in the air. Twilight did likewise, even as she spoke. "I have, Princess. Like a dance and a debate at the same time, right?"

"Exactly right," Celestia said. "If we hold strictly to the pattern of the duel, he will spare his wrath from our ponies below and focus on us. Move and countermove, with each able to end the duel and surrender at any moment. Whoever surrenders must accept the terms of the opponent without objection. For this reason, we cannot surrender. Since we fight together, the duel only ends if all three of us are killed or surrender. He will focus on me, I am certain. Don't let my death distract you from victory."

The Father of Dragons had claws as long as Twilight's whole body, with eyes like the blackness between stars and teeth the only part of him that reflected any light.

Fire lit the sky, a fire made from blackness and magic unmade. Twilight was not the target, but even so she found herself flying furiously to avoid it. Rainbow Dash would've been proud of her sudden acceleration and the smoothness in her handling. She only wished Rainbow was here with her now. Would rainbow magic work on the Father of Dragons?

Celestia avoided the flames only barely, though as she did Luna brought Achelois in a wide slash through the air. Silver fire like hammered moonlight lashed out at the dragon, and he was far too slow to avoid it. There was a sound of shattering glass, and his scales rang out in protest. Yet aside from his roar, there seemed no immediate effect. No sign of a lasting injury, anyway. Twilight accelerated again, this time heading straight for him. She had no swords and no armor, but in her mind prepared a spell of hardened gravity.

She never got to strike. The dragon saw her coming, and the sky filled with crackling black death. Twilight avoided with a smooth teleport, appearing above the dragon as flames licked harmlessly at nothing.

The dragon laughed, his voice so deep it was hard to tell if she were really hearing words, and not the grinding of tectonic plates. "It comes to this, Celestia? Your kind were always feeble, but never this feeble. Has so much of the old strength been lost? If I had suspected, I might have come immediately and spared the investment of a war."

Celestia answered with magic, a spell so bright she had to look away. For a second, and only a second, it seemed as though the sun had returned. Twilight felt the warmth on her coat, and even looking away it seemed as though Celestia had hurled the sun itself at their airborne assailant.

When he screamed, Twilight had to shield herself to protect her ears. In that scream was the grinding of glaciers on continents, scraping them clean and dumping the excess into the sea.

Celestia was not fast enough to avoid the dragon's response, a wave of darker flames and a flash of night-black claws. She vanished into the flames with a flickering of magic about her.

Twilight couldn't help herself; she screamed, unleashing a gravity-spell so potent it drove the Father of Dragons tumbling to earth under his own weight. She didn't see Celestia alight on a nearby building with her mane scorched far shorter than it ought to be. Evidently Luna hadn't either, because she too roared and descended on the dragon like a falling star.

One of the great beast's wings seemed to have broken in the fall, yet he rose to four monumental legs as though he could not feel the pain. "I've got more like that!" Twilight bellowed, without any of the grace Celestia had managed when speaking to her ponies. "That was Jupiter! Surrender right now, or I'll show you what gravity is like inside a star!"

The dragon only laughed. "A draught of the old wine!" His eyes looking up at her were hungry now. "Your cause is vain, pony! Order will wait no longer. You should be relieved; the future I bring will be free of conflict forever. Free of pain, free of life. How else can you cure every soul of pain but to extinguish them? In oblivion there is no desire unfulfilled!"

At that moment Princess Luna struck like a bullet, with enough force to send them both tumbling. Twilight saw only the flash of armor and glint of scales. By the time she had drawn near enough to see what was happening, she saw Luna going flying through the air. Her sword flew past Twilight's head, where it stuck into the bare stone down to the hilt.

"Luna!" she gasped, though there was nothing she could do to catch the princess before she landed, digging a deep divot in the earth before she came to a stop.

"Your rulers are weak, just as your life is weak." He rose to his full height, head towering above her. It was like flying past Canterlot Castle, only the castle was the thing she was at war with. It was like battling Tirek, only she didn't have the Alicorn magic of all of Equestria in her this time. There were burns on his scales, and a few missing, though there was no blood and he didn't seem to limp. "Life is suffering, once-mortal Twilight Sparkle. You shall feel that suffering before the end, before We bring it to all you love."

Twilight didn't stop to question how the Dragon had come to learn her name. Instead she turned all her fear and fury into fuel for her spell. True to her word, it was a gravity spell, save that it had nearly enough intensity to crush whatever it struck into a singularity.

The spell didn't even close half the distance. The energy was enough to nearly drop her from the air, yet as it moved the dragon worked a spell of its own. With words of far blighted wastelands the spell fizzled away. What had already began to tear the topsoil from the ground couldn't even stir a leaf by the time it struck. Yet the dragon didn't seem angry, only amused. "Such strength! Yet a fool's strength is vain, and the works of the mighty turn to dust!" It advanced on her. "We are entropy! We are the end and the beginning!" His mouth still open, dark fire crackled and leapt at her through the air. She teleported again, yet this time she found the energy following her, flames gliding after her like a great wave possessed. The sound of laughter followed her as she teleported several times, as far away from the dragon as she dared. The energy seemed to be gaining speed with each jump, as though feeding on the spells themselves.

She wasn't the only one who could teleport, either. Suddenly Luna was before her, sword in her grip and light glinting on her armor. She dug her hooves into the ground and extended her sword into the flames. Words of ancient power coursed through her, and the awful spell was grounded into the earth. A pool of something like tar opened where Luna's sword touched the earth, the liquid within reaching up at them like something alive.

Again the dragon roared, and the battle was on again. Twilight felt as she had when Pinkie Pie had taught her how to ice-skate, nowhere near as graceful as Luna and without half the power of the dragon. Every failed spell and every dodge sapped the strength from her, yet it seemed no blow caused anything more than an annoyance for the dragon.

Twilight couldn't have said if it had been minutes or hours, but it felt as though she had been in the air for days. The next thing she knew, she could barely keep herself aloft anymore. All her training and all her spells meant nothing in the face of such an adversary. Only one blow seemed to have made a difference, the very first that had driven him to the ground. Either that, or the dragon chose not to fly again simply because it suited him. It was hard to say for sure.

Yet even as she panted, even as she thought the next blow he sent her way would be the last it would take, because she was far too weak to resist anymore, she saw something she never imagined she would see again.

Princess Celestia, only slightly charred and with most of her strength intact, flying down so quickly she could've easily been mistaken for a comet. Her spell did not make the same mistake that Twilight and Luna both had so persistently made, however. It did not target the dragon at all, but the ground he was standing on. In the heat of a thousand July afternoons came the words written on the world, words that cracked the world open and let the outside in.

Only this time, the outside wasn't coming in. The Father of Dragons clawed and scraped at the ground, struggling for purchase as its hindquarters were dragged inexorably downward toward the madness at the center of creation. Claws dug grooves deep enough for ponies to use as trenches as they struggled, and fire blasted from his mouth in one mad, constant curtain. Everything it touched, be it tree or structure or living pony, crumbled to nothing without ever catching fire.

Of course none of them was close enough for him to strike, not accurately. The Father of Dragons could do nothing but whimper in the end as he was drawn down into the long-benighted blackness, and the opening that sunshine cut closed with the clap of divine thunder.

The city was in ruins, yet of the mighty dragons that had descended on them there was no sign. Twilight heard the cheering of Equestria's ponies like a distant dream. She was too weak to stand, so she sat in the earth and stared at nothing and waited for nothing.

She hardly heard the ponies around her. Even Celestia's praise couldn't get through to her. Not until her friends were around her did she recover enough to really hear what they were saying. "You did it!" Pinkie Pie's armor was pockmarked and half-melted in places, yet for all of it she seemed unharmed. Applejack was limping, yet none of the others seemed the worse for wear. "That was the most amazing dragon fight I've ever seen!"

"Pinkie, I believe that was the only dragon fight you've ever seen." Rarity's voice hadn't changed in the least, and in that Twilight found some comfort. Even at the end of the world her fashionista of a friend was unflappable.

"Not true!" Pinkie argued from Twilight's other side, suddenly defensive. "That's the second dragon fight I've ever seen, and the most amazing by miles!"

"Good job, Twilight." Fluttershy's voice was easier to hear, and her embrace far softer. Soon all of her friends had joined in, along with Spike. There were only two missing from her life now, the two she longed for most of all. No victory would be complete until she saw them again.

* * *

"You don't have to come with me." Rainbow Dash wasn't exactly happy to be in a wheelchair. Charles wasn't sure there were words to accurately describe how uncomfortable she evidently was. Yet all of that had been mixed with a twinge of excitement. The doctors, human all, were absolutely uncompromising when it came to Rainbow not being ready to be on her own hooves yet. As a Technocratic Order surgeon had so gruesomely put it, her insides were basically tied together with twine and a bit of prayer, and if she jiggled them about they might come spilling out all over the floor.

Yet she had balked at the idea of her friends seeing her for the first time as an invalid laying passively in bed. "I ain't never taken life lying down, and I'm not gonna start now!"

This was the middle way. Rainbow could see her friends without seeming completely helpless, and the doctors could be satisfied that someone trustworthy would be there to make sure she didn't try to skimp on the rest of her treatment. "There are plenty of ponies who would push my wheelchair."

Charles had to take the handle out of his mouth to reply, though the wheelchair had enough momentum that it kept going along the grass for some distance yet. With so much of the city in ruin, much of the official function of Equestria had moved to the tents in the camps, where he spent almost all the time he didn't spend at Rainbow's bedside.

"Maybe I'm being selfish. The Federation has thousands of ponies now, but the Tower only has me. Getting to meet the Elements of Harmony would be a great way to jumpstart my new equine career. Isn't that what the Federation mare did, that green one?"

Rainbow winced. "You haven't heard?" She lowered her voice, twisting backward to whisper up into his ear. "She died. Probably shouldn't mention her. She was Twilight's daughter."

"Thanks for the heads-up." He started pushing again.

Rainbow went on. "I'm so glad your king-whatever let you stay a pony. It wouldn't have been fair to make you into a robot again now that you're finally alive."

Charles braced one of his hooves on the back of the wheelchair, pushing with that instead of his mouth. It worked, but only because the path had been carefully graded. "You're part machine now too, Rainbow Dash. With the Federation infrastructure destroyed the way it is, it will probably be years before you could go in for an organic organ replacement. By then, you might not want to." He looked away. "Just because you're sure of something at first doesn't mean you'll still feel that way when you really understand it."

Rainbow Dash humphed, but she didn't argue.

"So does that mean that offer of a flight teacher is still open? If I'm going to stay like this, I could really use some help with my technique."

"You could say that again!" Rainbow giggled. "You fly like a goat taught you!" Then, a little more seriously, "I might be able to find the time. Apparently there's going to be lots of something called physical therapy? It doesn't sound very awesome, but if you came then at least one part of it wouldn't be so lame."

"Just don't tell the goat that." He shivered all over. "I don't want remedial lessons from him."

The tent her friends were all sharing was one of the largest and grandest, more a tent in the Middle-Eastern sense of a home made from cloth than the Western understanding of an uncomfortable survival shelter. It was all lavender and lace, with the outer section serving as a heatrap and a second story supported by wooden beams. "I've never seen a tent this nice in my whole life."

"Oh, don't be so kind dear, it's nothing near my best work. Just a little something I whipped together a few years ago, so I could spend some quality time with my sister." A white mare was reclining in a chair outside, sipping at a glass of something she occasionally levitated to her mouth. Charles couldn't help it if the unicorn magic still made him a little uncomfortable.

"Oh, now you got her started." Rainbow's voice from the wheelchair was exasperated, but there was something like joy in it too, as though this were such a long-standing argument it had become something cherished. "She won't stop."

"Well we can't all be as tasteless as you are, dear," she said, with something like humor. "If anything, I'm surprised you brought someone along who has a modicum of good taste." She nodded demurely, and rose from her reclining position. "I'm Rarity, by the way. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." Charles shook her hoof, and in a way he shared Rarity's opinion. How the hell had Rainbow Dash become friends with a pony like this?

Rarity answered the question herself, for once she had politely shaken his hoof, she wrapped her hooves so tightly around Rainbow's neck that Charles feared the embrace might crush her larynx. The mare seemed to realize he was staring, because she immediately broke contact with Rainbow Dash, pushing herself away and clearing her throat. "Yes, well. I suppose we best head inside. I imagine everypony will be eager to see our guest of honor."

Rarity turned and vanished into the tent without another word, heading so quickly inside that Charles immediately felt nervous. It was exactly the sort of feeling he might have seconds before an ambush. "You sure these ponies are on the level?"

Rainbow shrugged. "I don't have a clue what that means. If you mean are they about to do something unexpected, no. You don't have the gun with you, right?"

The question made him wish he had a different answer. "No, uh... I didn't think I would need a gun as a politician."

"Good. Because if I know anything, it's that we're about to be surprised." She grinned. "Come on!"

Charles pushed Rainbow Dash through the flap, and managed not to jump when they were assaulted with confetti and sound. He just kept pushing until Rainbow Dash was in the center of the room.

Really, there weren't that many ponies. He counted five, along with a scaly creature not at all unlike a dragon. This one was smaller though, and the noisemaker he rotated hardly seemed threatening. "Welcome back, Rainbow!" Charles managed to jump out of the way as the ponies descended on her in a dogpile of truly momentous proportions. He was surprised he didn't hear the snapping from parts of the wheelchair unable to stand under the enormous strain.

In the end a purple mare was the last to break apart, the one that had both wings and a horn. Charles smiled his biggest, friendliest smile, before turning and going the way he had come. He had no place at this party. No matter how nice these ponies were, he didn't belong at their reunion.

Charles slipped almost silently from the tent and set off down the path at a trot, not really seeing where he went. The next thing he knew, there was a hand on his shoulder. "I was hoping I would find you here."

Charles looked up, then lowered his head into a bow. "Your Grace! If I had-"

"Relax, my boy." Richard smiled. He seemed to do more and more of that lately. "I just wanted a word. Will you walk with me?"

Charles nodded. "I live to serve, Your Grace." It took two steps to every one of Richard's enormous strides, but that hardly mattered.

They walked through the enormous pony sections of the camp, but not towards the Tower or even the Federation districts. "I have never had a servant more faithful or more true. The native woman with the bright mane apparently had quite the tale for her princess, of all your adventures."

He gulped. Charles had been exactly and completely honest in his own report, omitting nothing. He had not embellished the truth, or twisted anything to reflect better on him. But Richard wouldn't be meeting with him unless he had done something wrong, right? What was this about? "Nothing you did not expect, I hope." Charles found himself speaking louder to King Richard then he would to another pony.

"She had quite the talent for embellishment, from what Celestia tells me. To hear her tell it, you single-handedly ended the war, and all the battles we fought were mere accessories." They were slowing as they reached the crest of a hill, the last that separated the camps from the wilderness beyond where battles had been fought and won. Richard stopped before the crest, so Charles did also. He could hear something strange, like thousands of leaves rustling in the wind. "I think now perhaps you were understating your achievements, and it was the native who was frank with her monarch."

Charles shivered involuntarily. "I... I would not deceive you. In all the years I have been in your service, I have never failed to speak the truth."

Richard laughed, and loudly. Somehow Charles doubted the Equestrian princesses ever laughed like that, least of all in front of their servants. "And yet, someone evidently neglected to tell all of them you had been exaggerating." He gestured up over the hill. Of course, Richard was more than double Charles's height, so no doubt he could already see over the hill. Charles moved up to the edge, looking out over the wilderness.

There were so many goblins waiting Charles almost couldn't see the ground through them all. Tens or even hundreds of thousands. His eyes couldn't rapidly count things the way they could when they were silicon. The crowd, which had all been sitting patiently, rose immediately to their feet. They cheered. By the hundreds, by the thousands, and finally so loud that their cries drowned out the fierce arctic wind.

Where had they learned the word? How had they recognized him? Charles would never know. He would never forget the word though, twisted as it was by reptilian mouths. "GRAY! GRAY! GRAY!"

Author's Notes:

Still not over! I keep feeling like it should be, with all the ending stuff that's happening, but ignore that impression! I've got finals next week, but if I survive, I shall be posting the last chapter from sunny California. I think I've seen enough snow for one winter. :coolphoto:

Next Chapter: Epilogue Estimated time remaining: 50 Minutes
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