The C.A.S. Dominant Eye roared with the sounds of straining gas and magic as it tore through the cloud layer, shouts from the Caribou crew echoing in the light of the early twilight. The captain of a vessel, a grizzled silver-furred buck, snapped tersely at his scrambling crew, desperate to keep his own paranoia in check. This wasn’t right, not at all. First, it had been the utter radio silence of all the eastern forces. The garrison commander of Section 2, formerly the decadent pony name of Ponyville, had been supposed to send in a tithe of the minerals pulled from the ground, and a situation report, over a week ago. But it had been utterly silent, and all runners sent to check out the situation had gone missing as well.

And to make matters worse, now the siege commander of the Changeling Hive in Section 45 had gone dark as well. There was simply no way the Changelings had broken the siege… right? The ground was scorched. The skies were tamed. There could be nothing left in Equestria that could hold their own against the Caribou. Right?

“Where are we, Navoc Bronzeeye?” he snapped to the smaller buck beside him, glaring down past the goggles he wore to keep his failing vision in check.

The younger Caribou, wincing at the tone of his captain, quickly pulled out his charts, tail flicking nervously.

“We should be passing through the old Pegasi sky-sector, Captain,” he managed without stammering, a personal best for the buck.

Turning forward, the Captain smirked at the darkened, yet empty, clouds. Pegasi. A race of cowards, unwilling to even face his kind in glorious combat when not backed by their decadent unicorns and powerless earth pony allies. He glanced back at the twin Ferse-hoof guns, jutting off the side of the main gondola. He’d like to see pegasi take on his airship. Flying into a hail of bullets, the bird-brains would be red paste before they could even think about-

A crash of glass shattered the captain from his thoughts, and something warm trickled down past his eye. Spinning as fast as his large body would allow, he gaped down at the now headless body of the Navoc, blood fountaining onto his now-ruined charts.

“Evasive action!” the captain roared, “All hooves to battlestations, I want-”

With a roar of tearing cloth and whine of ricocheting bullets, the pressurized glass of the gondola erupted; tracer bullets ripped through the cabin, and blood fountained from the Caribou who had charged inside at their captain’s orders. Swiveling his head about frantically, he caught sight of the attackers for a brief second: a flight of pastel colors, and bright blue uniforms. Pegasi?

“That impossible,” he murmured, then scowled.

Perhaps they had found their spines after all! Standing up, the old captain hissed at the lightning bolt of pain that lanced through his side. He spared it only a glance; a through-and-through on his right rear leg. He’d manage. Hobbling as quickly as he could to the port gun, the old buck let out a challenging roar, magic arcing from his horns to grab a hold of the Ferse-hoof. Moisture-laced clouds bucked against the Eye, and the old captain had to squint his eyes to see- yes! A small group of pegasi were diving on his position.

Yanking the Ferse-hoof up as far as it would go, the old caribou roared again as rifle bullets sliced up at the decadent, cowardly ponies. He would show them how far his kind had come since their retreat from the war. He would die before letting his ship fall to their hooves. Blistering fire answered his Ferse-hoof, and the old buck hissed as they tore into his sides and neck.

“COME ON!”

The flock suddenly broke off, and it was only two ponies he was facing; a brilliant shock of rainbow mane, and a deep, fire-orange, both pressed together. He snarled in satisfaction as he saw the dark, stick-like shapes of their guns torn away, most likely from his bullets. But why hadn’t the ponies succumbed? As they grew closer, he could even see the bullets ripping through them, but all they left behind were odd glows of red, like molten blood. And what was the cone of light forming around them?

A line of magic lanced from his antlers at the diving pair, only for it to be batted aside like a stinging insect. But the potential power he sensed.

“No…”

Ferse-hoof still firing, the captain could only watch in horror as the two pegasi pulled up at the last second, ripped into his cabin… and detonated a tactical Rainboom in the confined space. Rainbow and flame erupted into an arc, obliterating the metal coffin and launching super-heated magic directly into the gas chambers above. Hydrogen caught fire within a millisecond, and the building pressure exceeded the bounds of the metal bindings that held the gas bag together. It erupted with all the grace and dignity of a bomb.

Rainbow Dash and Spitfire, holding each other tightly, pulled up from their dual Rainboom, panting heavily and glaring at the flaming wreckage as it sank into the clouds before. Both were fairly singed, and the red magic was only just receding, leaving the fur and skin back to its original state.

“Told ya I could do it too,” Spitfire finally managed, chuckling softly.

Rainbow Dash merely grinned, hugging her close to her barrel.
********************

Ditzy Do, captain of the Ponyville Air Scouts, whistled softly as she looked over at the war package the Ministry of Aesthetics ponies had delivered. Sparkler, having volunteered for the unicorn version of the Ponyville Scouts, gaped down at hers as well, while Dinky merely sat off to one side, smiling warmly at her family. Ditzy had to admit, it was somewhat odd to see her youngest now older in body than Sparkler, and nearly Ditzy’s age in appearance. But compared to the rest that had happened in the past twenty years, she was willing to let the weird slide. She was just glad to have her darling foal back, and alive.

Peeling back the paper wrapping, Ditzy carefully held the uniform to the light. It was a dark, mottled grey barding, designed to wrap tightly to the wearer and obscure them in the thick grey clouds that hung over Ponyville at all times. They needed to re-water the ground; twenty years without rain had done it no favours, after all. Next to that was a grey muzzle wrap, and a coal-scuttle helmet. Due to her rating for the new ‘machine guns’ being produced in Cloudsdale’s booming gun factories, Ditzy’s helmet had a triple bronze piping along the side of her helmet, and her barding was cut to allow the stashing of machine gun clips. Sparkler’s uniform was a greener color, but still mottled with grey. Some plants had begun to grow back, but only the hardiest of shrubs and grasses at the moment. Enough to feed the living ponies who had come back to their home, but only just.

Sparkler had been rated as a markspony by her tests for the scouts, which gave her a rifle-outline stamped onto the sides of her helmet. Her barding was sleeker, cut down to avoid any unnecessary catching in thick brush. The young unicorn smiled sheepishly at her mother, though she couldn’t help but be somewhat proud of herself.

“You’re gonna look pretty snazzy in that, love,” Ditzy told her lovingly, grinning as her daughter’s face scrunched.

“Ugh, mom, nopony says snazzy, anymore.”

“Mmmhmm.”

Dinky giggled from off to the side, “You guys can say whatever you want, nopony is gonna judge you. Trust me.”

Dinky had been settled into the uniform of the Royal Magic Corps; a dark set of leather barding, armor plates covering her sides, but leaving Dinky plenty of room to spin and twirl the bladed staff across her back, or levitate the twin pistols from her belt. Both weapons were brand new, and from Canterlot, but Twilight’s Imperial Knights had got first pick of all new technology the factories sprung out. A proud smile split across Ditzy’s muzzle as she looked her daughter over, and thought of how close she was to the Empress. Getting Twilight to agree to be her teacher, all those years ago, had been scary… but so worth it. It had given her family such a wonderful friend, and now…

“When you head back to Canterlot, love, give the Empress my best,” she told Dinky softly, blushing a bit.

Sparkler nodded immediately as well, opening her mouth to reply when Dinky held up a hoof to forestall her, a warm smile on her face.

“Twilight wanted me to tell you both… you’re welcome in the palace anytime. And you’re her friends, mom. Sparkler. It’ll always be Twilight to my family.”

Ditzy chuckled softly, nodding, “Alright then.”

Sucking in a breath, she scooped up her uniform, turning a determined eye to Sparker, “Let’s get dressed, love. We have to be ready to present to Applejack in an hour.”

“Right!”
**********************

Applejack, Countess of Ponyville and the surrounding farmlands, let out a soft, nervous breath as she stared in the mirror. The young farmpony had never, not in a million years, thought that she might be brought up to nobility. Hay, she never thought she might hold what was practically a hegemony on all of Ponyville! Maybe an apple monopoly, but…

“Enough doubts, Applejack,” she whispered to her reflection, “You got a duty now.”

Hay, she always had duties. How was this any different? ...okay, it was different. She held hundreds, maybe even thousands, of lives in her hooves. But she wasn’t alone. Not even a little, really. Big Macintosh was her right hoof in all this, and it had been his quiet support that had kept Applejack sturdy. It was sad, not having Granny Smith around anymore, but Applejack could always feel her presence in the old farmhouse. Just like…

“I’ll make ya proud, ma, pa,” she whispered again, steeling herself before turning to shove the double windows open, peering out.

Cheers greeted her in an instant. The ponies of Ponyville had needed something to cheer about, and Pinkie Pie and her Ministry of Laughter had been damn sure to make this an event to cheer on. Streamers and pennants waved on the stalks of her re-growing apple orchard, and her barn and farmhouse had been re-painted back to their former glory. Beneath Applejack’s windows, standing at attention, was the glorious sight of Ponyville’s standing militia. Rarity’s Ministry had definitely given it their all, and then some.

The first three lines of twenty ponies each were outfitted in brilliantly polished, blackened steel armor, with crests of purple running down their full helms. All of them undead ponies like herself, they wielded an assortment of heavy halberds, hammers, and swordpoles. Behind them, in five lines of fifty, stood the mix of living and unliving ponies, dressed in their dark barding and cloaks, all wielding new Cloudsdale rifles and machine guns either across their backs or on their battle saddles, the masks for their muzzles tugged up to complete the image. And finally, behind them stood the Imperial Knights assigned to the town. Applebloom stood tall at their front, and Applejack’s heart soared in pride at the sight her little sis showed. Dressed in shining red armor, the young Apple had an axe across her back, the haft molded to fit easily into her mouth with just a turn of her head. Behind her stood Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, both fairly close to each other. Scootaloo’s armor was slimmer than Applebloom’s, criss-crossed with rainbows and the new Imperial crest emblazoned on her chest. Two hoof-blades gleamed on her forelegs, and a machine gun was bolted carefully to her battle saddle. Sweetie Belle wore the Magic Corps armor of tight barding and slim armor plates, a small smirk gracing her beautiful visage. She wielded no weapon. None but her voice…

Despite the glorious feeling the image provoked, Applejack couldn’t help but mourn the innocence of her Ponyville neighbors. War was in their blood now. Or whatever passed as blood, until the day Twilight could restore them all to true life. And even when they were cured, weapons and armor would always have a place in the Equestrian home, more so than their tools and art once had. Maybe someday, the war would fade from their minds. Applejack sure hoped so. And perhaps, the more she did for her Empire, the sooner that day would come.

And to that thought, Applejack raised her hoof, and smiled at the roar it brought from her friends and neighbors. Ponyville was reborn.