Celestia blearily opened her eyes, wincing softly at the brilliant light of her sun, lifting a hoof to shade her eyes.

Oh… oops. It should be night-time. But Luna should have covered for her… right?

A shadow blocked the light, and a relieved sigh bubbled out of her chest.

“T-thank you,” she whispered.

A girlish chuckle answered her, and a talon slowly stroked the silky fur of Celestia’s muzzle.

“You’re quite welcome, Celly dearest.”

Blinking slowly, the Princess carefully rose to her side. Discord- no, Eris now- was coiled up comfortably in front of Celestia, a playful smile etched across her feline features. Celestia had known Eris for a very long time, and even with this body change, she could see the signs of incredible strain around her eyes. Her skin, fur, and scales were dull, and while she had used to practically thrum with chaos magic, now she barely gleamed with it. Frowning slightly, and feeling fairly weak herself, Celestia glanced down at herself.

Her mane and tail were no longer the breezy, shimmering rainbow it had once been, and had reverted to the soft pink of her youth. Her body had shrunk down a good few feet, now more around the size of Twilight after her transformation. Peeking up, she spotted Luna; she too, was missing her night sky mane and tail, and was the same size as Celestia. Filthy and ratty-furred foals practically covered her, snuggling firmly against the Matron of Orphans as they all slept. Celestia’s eyes teared up a bit. Her ponies…

The last she had seen of her ponies before that ghastly ritual had been of yards and yards of impaled ponies, screaming in horrific agony, and pleading to be saved. For Celestia, whose divine spark had always been brightest amongst the Sisters, the prayers had been overwhelming, and the sense of death… Turning, Celestia violently retched, sobbing in between each gut-wrenching movement. She felt weaker than she had in eons. What she and Luna had done in the capital… power had flowed directly from their sparks and, while incredibly powerful, it was also incredibly taxing on their bodies. Celestia would be surprised if she could levitate a cup for more than minute, at that moment. Movement shimmered around her peripheral, and Celestia blinked in surprise as nuzzles surrounded her, warm bodies pressing against her, and gentle voices attempting to soothe their diarch.

Hundreds of ponies surrounded their diarchs; most were thin, and all obviously abused and beaten, but the shining hope in their eyes were enough to lift a small smile out of Celestia.

“Not a single one left,” Eris told her, chuckling softly, “Even after I told them they were free.”

“W-we had to make sure y-you both were alright,” a mare whispered, trembling a bit.

Celestia looked her over curiously. She recognized this pony; though, she tended to remember most ponies in her kingdom, with her eidetic memory. Roseluck. Florist out of Ponyville. A friend of Twilight, who had gotten Celestia to use the young Earth Pony as one of the decorators for Cadence’s wedding. The poor pony had… aged well, actually. Frowning, Celestia scanned over each of them. Few looked much older; even those she remembered as foals and fillies seemed… stunted. And the background magic suffusing them… she would have to check this back in… Canterlot.

Sighing softly, Celestia leaned down to give the Earth Pony a gentle nuzzle along her ear, frowning at her shorn mane.

“Let that grow back out, dear,” she suggested with a warm smile, “You looked better with it.”

Roseluck blinked, pink suffusing her cheeks as she smiled up at her Princess, “I-I think I just might.”

Grunting softly, Celestia slowly rose to her hooves, wincing faintly before waving off her ponies when they raced over to help her. She needed to see where they were. The mass teleport had definitely taken them out of the heart of the Caribou Nation, that she was sure of. They had re-appeared on a ledge, protected from the elements by an overhang of rock. A trail led down from the ledge to a thick forest, and to the north was…

“The Crystal Empire,” Celestia breathed, her eyes widening.

Smoke rose all around the great purple shield that had formed around the ancient city-state. As she watched, something exploded, to little effect, atop the dome. Her niece was under siege. At least she had survived…

“Oh Twilight,” Celestia whispered, closing her eyes.

The fate of her precious student, to see all of her subjects so debased and massacred… And then… Celestia blinked, frowning as her memory warred with her logic. Twilight had been locked in a cage, atop the cloud-choked Canterlot skyline, last she had seen. Had the Caribou left her there? Surely they would have killed her. ...wouldn’t they? Scowling slowly, Celestia’s wings extended. Weak as she felt, she had to know. Celestia had to see if the one second most precious to her had-

“Princess?”

The pink-maned goddess winced, wings slowly lowering as she looked back at the uncertain gazes of her ponies. No. She had a duty to the survivors of her race, first and foremost. Twilight would know that. Eris slowly floated over, yellow eyes radiating an understanding Celestia rarely saw in her chaotic counterpart.

“Eris… what’s been going on, while we… slept?” Celestia asked softly, slowly sinking down to her haunches.

It felt better to sit, for the time being. And the way Eris was sighing…

“Alot has, Celly. I’m sorry to say that I had little to do with it. Gathering chaos with so much death about is… difficult.”

She shuddered, the draconequus wrapped her mismatched arms around herself, “So much blasted Order from it all, I was practically powerless. I had to make due with playing the perfect slave pony for those buffoons.”

Celestia bit her lip, glancing around. She counted maybe three hundred ponies in total, in this group.

“A-are these all the ponies who’ve survived?” she whispered, dreading the answer.

“Not… quite, Celestia,” Eris replied softly, “But survived is not quite the word I’d use for most of the ponies out there today.”

Frowning in confusion, Celestia tilted her head, “Then what word would you use?”

“They’ve returned, I’d say.”
********************

Twilight Sparkle’s smile hadn’t died since the Sun and Moon gone back into cycle, though a few times so far they had been somewhat late. It hadn’t died when she received word from Canterlot that her pet project was working fantastically, and would be on the next train to Fillydelphia. It hadn’t died when Spitfire and Rainbow Dash had returned in triumph, announcing that the train tracks and highway up into the Crystal Empire was still fully intact. And it certainly did not die as her army grew around the train station.

The Countesses Scratch had remained in Trotsylvania and Manehatten, leaving only a garrison force of living ponies, while their undead army had marched back to join Twilight’s growing force, along with the three Cloud Cruisers that had worked so well in the assault on the metropolis. Casualties among the living had remained fairly low, though the garrison commander had been wily enough to hold a reserve force of Caribou in the city’s subway, and had sicked them on the Countesses’ living forces during their storming of the city. But Twilight had been delighted to hear of the intervention of over two thousand still living bat ponies from the colony of Screech, who had quickly turned the tide back in favor of the ponies, and had driven the Caribou completely out of Manehatten.

With their industrial bases and farmlands along the coast recaptured, Los Pegasus had been able to send almost its entire living military to join the corps in Fillydelphia: ten thousand pegasi troops, armed with a mix of the new weapons and the old breech-loading rifles. From the deep south, twenty thousand living and unliving Changeling drones and a few of their queens had flown up to bulk Twilight’s army. Their organic weaponry and magic were welcome additions, and Twilight was more than happy to promise love as payment to her newfound allies. Indeed, most ponies were quite willing to forgive the race, now that they were helping to free their homeland. And with this last supply train…

“Get the half-tracks unloaded and down to the depot for fuel-up,” Rarity was shouting firmly from her place aboard the train; a purple and white-painted car that was absolutely filled with designs for everything from new armor to uniforms to buildings.

Rarity had really let her creative side show, and Twilight adored her for it. Behind that car came Fluttershy’s medical cars, packed to the brim with supplies she, the nation’s zebra population, and all the doctors they could raise, had put together over the last few months. Her well-trained medics, dressed in white and red barding, raced out to their squad placements, toting large medical bags on their backs. Looking remarkably more self-assured than she ever had before, Fluttershy flitted over to Twilight’s side, smiling warmly around at her friends.

Applejack was grinning brightly as she rode one of the half-tracks over to the command tent, whooping excitedly. They had been her idea, based on Caribou truck designs, and the old designs of the Equestrian tank. Twilight had been hoping to have proper tanks for the assault on the Caribou siege force around the Crystal Empire, but the proper training and the needed parts for a proper tank company would have taken far too long. Instead, they had built the half-tracks, with the versatility to roll over any terrain they came across, and could keep up with the battle train. With a sloping, armored forehead, and a circular standing point in the back, open-skied so the troops inside could see what was going around outside, and even fire out of it, it could top the Caribou battlewagons in speed several times over. And with armor twice as thick… it was going to steamroll the Caribou ground forces.

“Nice, AJ!” Rainbow Dash called out, smiling brightly.

Spitfire had given her marefriend a skin-tight version of the Wonderbolts uniform, with captain’s bars on the chest, and armor plating down the back. Twilight was pleased to see a line of razor-blades along the edge of Rainbow’s wings. She hated how defenseless the wings could be, and had been thinking of something along the same line for her own.

“Where’s Pinkie?” AJ asked curiously… then yelped as the pink bundle of doom launched out of the back of the half-track, landing nimbly on all four hooves, “How… nevermind.”

“New artillery is good to go, Empress!” she reported cheerfully, a mad glint in her eyes, “It’s gonna scare the Caribou good!”

“That was the plan,” Twilight replied smugly, tail flicking.

Diverting away from the old adage of ‘bigger is better,’ Twilight had opted to go with a more portable form of artillery for her soldiers. The SA-1’s could be crewed by two ponies, but the average squad numbered four, for sighting and protection. They would follow ground troops in closely, supporting them at both long and short range. The Ducks were great at piercing battlewagons, but Twilight was not about to let them be the only weapon her ponies had against Caribou armor.

Turning her gaze back to the plans, Twilight nodded slowly. Simple, easy, and organized. The undead would ride in the battle train, which would be followed by the three Cloud Cruisers, and one Sky Carrier. On the west side of the train, the half-tracks would follow in precise order, packed with the living pony forces. The battle train would drive straight into the heart of the Caribou forces- they had armored the engine car for this purpose- and unload the berserker force, who would disrupt their lines. Cloud Cruiser artillery would target the Caribou ground pieces, while the mechanized division would plow into the Caribou lines with all the speed and power they could manage. This would be the finest hour of the new Equestrian Empire.

Letting out a breath, Twilight closed her eyes. It wasn’t the battle that she feared. Even with her friends by her side… it was facing Cadence, with all she had done. She wasn’t sure what Cadence would do, especially when she asked for the Crystal Heart. And Twilight wasn’t quite sure what she would do if Cadence said no…
*****************

High Priest Felgam was an old Caribou, which is a feat in and of itself. Caribou death tended to be either on the battlefield, or in the dueling grounds, so to make it past forty was an achievement. Felgam was in his late sixties- practically an ancient among his people. And this new stress was not doing his old heart any favours. Ash’ei had driven him awake with horrific nightmares of fiery death in the dead of night, and the voice of the spirit in his mind had driven him to act with a fire the old Caribou had not seen since the Bombardment of Equestria. His cracked throat had screamed and screeched all throughout the Temple-City of Ash’ei, rousing his soldiers and followers. They had loaded up their airships with every weapon, battlewagon, and cannon they could scrounge up, while Felgam and his priests had carefully loaded the avatar onto Felgam’s personal airship, the Will of Those On High. Several had been burned and eaten during the transfer, but Felgam had paid it little mind. He could not, for Ash’ei was nearly overshadowing in its might.

They had been above the southern mountains when the magical explosions tore through sky, sending many of the ships rolling and several bucks over the sides. Felgam had gaped back in horror as his capital burned with the wrath of the escaping goddess, and his hooves torn up lengths of wood as he charged down into the holding cell of the avatar, holding up a torch. The feeble light didn’t do much to show the massive creature, but he could hear the slither of scales on the rough wood.

“WHY!?” he roared out to the darkness, angrily stomping a hoof, “You knew this would happen! Why did you not warn me? Everything is ruined now! EVERYTHING!”

A low hiss rumbled out from the shadows, and the priest winced faintly at the smell of rotting flesh and sulphur.

Your containment was meant to fail, priest. They are weak now. They will gather in one place.

“Our nation cannot survive without the capital!” Felgam shot back, though his voice was losing much of its bluster as the shadows gathered around.

Your nation will be restored upon our emergence, as per our deal, mortal. You will follow my instructions till then. Stay the course.

“There will be barely any Caribou left,” Felgam managed, voice dying with a faint squeak as the scales scraped loudly, drawing closer.

A reptillian head, scales a deep purple and green, leaned out of the darkness, his eyes the endless black of a deep, horrific abyss. The dragon’s mouth opened slowly, and the half-eaten body of a Caribou fell limply into the shadows.

If you do not follow our bargain, and my instructions, to the letter… then I will be sure to make sure nothing of your species remains. This is the Word of the Ash’ei. Obey me.

“Yes… y-yes, my lord Ash’ei. Of… of course.”

And for the first time in his life, Felgam turned tail and ran, scrambling up the steps and hoping his heart would hold out till he could reach the false safety of his cabin. And for the first time since his first meeting with the Ash’ei, in the darkness of the temple, he questioned just what he had sold to gain his power.