Author's Notes:

The theme for this chapter:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Mo4ytruyas

Enjoy

Earlier...

Princess Luna sat in her study, a mountain of parchment next to her and multiple quills enveloped in magic scratching away at papers on her desk. It was amazing how much administration went into hosting a collection of diplomats and warriors, especially when a good number of them were extraterrestrial.

She looked up when she heard the sound of horseshoes clicking together, the characteristic sound of guards snapping to attention, and knew somepony important was at the door. Not a moment later she heard a knock.

"Come in," she simply said without looking up from her work.

Her sister entered, a seriousness in her smile.

"They're all here," Celestia said, causing Luna's quills to fall to the desk, "Are you ready?"

"I am as ready as I shall be," the younger sister answered with a smile at first, but her amicability faded as a thought came to mind, and her eyes drifted out the window to the still empty courtyard, "but I fear, not all of this talk's parties are here."

Celestia looked out the window, the aliens' Phantom no longer in place, and the training yard empty.

"The Arbiter? And what of Prince Shining Armor?"

Luna nodded, explaining, "They left a little under an hour ago."

Celestia bit her lip, thinking.

"Did they say where they were going, or how long until they'd be back?" she asked, turning back to face her sister, who had risen from her seat, her elegant wings stretching as if liberated.

"They didn't tell me anything. They departed in quite a hurry. Shining Armor went with them. I know Cadence was looking forward to seeing him again," Luna said as she came to her sister's side.

Celestia hummed disappointment to herself, saying, "He would be influential in the conference's course if he were here. And most of the others were looking forward to meeting the Arbiter... I presume for the same reasons every reporter in Equestria has been literally begging to be allowed an audience with him."

The alabaster alicorn chortled before adding, "If only they knew just how grim they all are."

"They have their reasons, sister," Luna countered quickly, almost scolding, "Do not judge them. They have been through more than you and I had presumed."

Celestia shot a cock eyed glance at Luna.

"Have you been visiting dreams?"

The dark alicorn looked down and away for a moment as a foal who had been caught doing something she wasn't supposed to, but looked back at Celestia with her characteristic resolution. She nodded, and elaborated thereafter.

"And with them, their emotions, their pasts..." she hesitated as she brought them to memory, faltering a bit, "It does not do to dwell on it, but I find myself admiring them."

Celestia saw the concern in her sister's face, and Luna quickly went on to the business that had brought her sister to her study in the first place.

"Shall we go to the others?" she suggested, walking past her sister without waiting for an answer, "We can represent the Arbiter's interests as our own. We are an allegiance, after all."

Celestia nodded, admiring her sister's tact, and joined her.

A short walk through the palace's ivory halls, and the sisters came to the doors of the Council Chamber. Their horseshoes clicked as they came to a stop, and the posted guards opened the doors ceremoniously for the grand entrance.

Gathered around the chamber were the leaders and delegates from each of the nations and kingdoms across the world, each in a large chair seated at a round table with their names printed on a name tag in front of them for all to see; some were family, others were as close as such, and still others were far from familiar.

Princess Cadence sat next to the place with Celestia's and Luna's names, and her eyes lit up when she saw them come into the room. She was still as beautiful and bright as ever, her crown still light on her head.

However, she looked smaller now, perhaps because of the towering specimen sitting immediately to her left: Midas, War Chieftan of the Minotaurs, his face painted in traditional red and blue and the ancestral claymore of Tauren held in its scabbard between his gargantuan shoulders. His position as commander in chief of the vast armies and navies of Tauren was obvious by his wares. While he did not delight at the sight of his hosts, his gold tipped horns did descend in a respectful, though slight, bow; his banner bearers, behind him, did the same, their steel armor jangling against the bladed weapons strewn all across their bovine bodies.

The seating of Clan Leader MacShire, who was already small for a Shetland pony, next to Midas' girth looked almost comical. Midas' biceps extended over into the Islander's space; were he tall enough to place his front hooves on the table, he may have noticed. But, despite his size, MacShire held himself as no lesser than his most prestigious company, and the tassels on the plaid regal dress of his homeland bounced on his shaggy, blonde body as he too bowed in greeting to his Equestrian counterparts.

Next was yet another equine, a slender grey Arabian horse, also dressed in the traditional blue and white flowing garb of his homeland: Caliph Ayesha. His brown eyes mirrored the strength and wealth of his homeland, their pride bordering between arrogance and confidence. He did not bow when the Equestrians took their seats. He only nodded to them; in Saddle Arabia, the royal family was seen as sent from god. In the Arabians' belief, there was no need for prophets to pay respects; it was the other way around. As the patriarch of the Arabian royal family, he was the head of both church and state, making his presence the highest honor, at least within the borders he guarded.

Adjacent Ayesha was another sizeable figure. A classical cuirass shielded his scaly, muscular body, and an equally ornate gladius hung at his side. His attire was half ceremonial, half practical, as it was meant to be. He was Steelhide, representative of the races of dragons, and true to his name, those parts of him not covered in bronze shimmered, his grey scales polished to a sterling state. He was a Tarragon, a relatively small but intelligent species unlike most dragons, drakes and wyverns. He walked upright, and he stood among the tallest in the room. But, in other aspects, such as his crocodile like maw and his horns, like those of a gazelle, curling back from his scalp, he was very much like the creatures that had recently elected to follow him due to his control of the nesting grounds in the Badlands. His wings folded against his back like a cape, and though he was the newest member of the inner circle of the world's leaders, he didn't seem to take that into account. His chest inflated proudly when Celestia looked his way, and he bowed to both her and her sister.

Then there was High King Gilderoy, ruler of the Griffon Kingdoms. His avian features were light brown, the same plumage as a golden eagle, and the fur on his feline body was a dark red color. His beak was sharp, his talons sharper, and his broad wings furled against his shoulders. A crown studded with rubies and sapphires sat askew on his feathered head, but he wore no more clothes or armor, he was no larger than most of his kind, he carried no weapons, but something about his avian stare was intimidating. He commanded the love and loyalty of all ten of the Griffon Kingdoms under his rule, but still he smiled and bowed to Celestia and Luna, as all the others had.

The mare immediately to the right of the Royal Sisters' seats was the most outlandish appearing of the group. Her exotic dress, wild mane, and fierce eyes were fitting indicators of her untamed spirit. She was Cleo, High Priestess of the Zebra Tribes. As a shaman, she was a spiritual leader, but spirituality was the only authority all of the vastly different tribes could unite behind. Her intense stare scoured over the princess' bodies when they entered, but she quickly remembered to bow, her wild eyes quickly darting back up to scan the room some more.

Celestia cleared her throat as she and her sister took their place, and began the meeting with a simple greeting, saying ,"Thank you all for coming."

Before she could speak any further, Caliph Ayesha spoke, his smug nose turned up towards the empty chair in the room, the nametag before it reading Arbiter.

"Should we not wait for our company to be complete before we begin?" the Arabian asked.

"You'll have to forgive the Arbiter's absence," Luna made reply, giving her best cordial smile to her Middle Eastern counterpart, "His duties currently have him occupied, but I trust he would want us to continue. We will represent his interests."

Ayesha scoffed, and looked slowly to the others in the room.

"So this is our first impression of the fabled Angel of Equestria? An empty chair in the council chamber?"

"What could possibly have him so busy, that we become second?" High King Gilderoy asked.

"The Arbiter is, first and foremost, a warrior," Luna explained, her voice matching the authority of her sister, "Were he here, I believe he would say the same thing. And so, he is fighting the war, as are many Equestrians."

A hush came over the congregation. A moment passed, and the raspy, highland accent of the Shetlands broke the quiet.

"It's true then?" asked Clan Leader MacShire, rearing up in his chair to place his front hooves on the round table, "Equestria has declared war? On who?"

"The Covenant Remnant, is what they are called," answered Celestia, teaching the conference about their mutual enemy.

"How many are they?" asked Gilderoy.

Celestia hesitated before she made reply, admitting, "The Arbiter has assured us that they number in the tens of thousands... possibly more. But we don't know personally. We have yet to engage a force larger than a few dozen."

"We? You mean Equestria's soldiers and the Angels?" asked Midas, his mass leaning forward on his forearms, causing the table to bend his way.

Celestia looked down at her chest, where a circular scar was still sore; those seated right of her could see the pink scar tissue, and needed no further explanation as to the role the Royal Sisters had played in the war thus far.

Steelhide suddenly smiled a toothy grin, and his voice raised when he said, "You mean to tell me an army, a few dozen soldiers at a time, has caused this much havoc? So much, that news agencies on the far side of the world report of the destruction caused at Trottingham, and you convene an arms conference in reaction? All at the hand of this Covenant Remnant?"

Celestia wanted to elaborate on the Remnant's capabilities, but before she could, she was interrupted by an urgent question.

"Aunt... Princess Celestia," began Cadence, quick to remember the formality of the congregation, "where is this army, the Covenant Remnant?"

"Far above us," answered Luna in her sister's stead, "in vessels capable of leaving a planet's atmosphere."

"Ha!" laughed the Tarragon, crossing his arms while his wings fluttered, "You mean we are facing an army of aliens? Do they have green skin and large black eyes, and are these vessels little flying saucers?"

"No," came the stern response from MacShire, him and many of the others representing the eastern hemisphere glaring reprimand at the dragons' representative, "These vessels are miles long, so large they cast cities into shadow. They create winds strong enough to break the ice of the White Sea. Storms of lightning and thunder erupt at their arrival, and the howl they create goes on for miles."

The atmosphere in the room had changed now, and grave expressions adorned each face.

"Equestria is not the only place harboring these visitations," Gilderoy added, drumming his talons a bit nervously on the wood of the table, "These angels... demons... aliens... whatever they are to be called, made landfall in Griffonstone, the southernmost of the Griffon Kingdoms after passing over the Shetland Isles, as Clan Leader MacShire and I had already discussed prior to this assembly. They raided the Great Library of Griffonstone, dug a quarry a mile deep at the Doorstep in the country outside the city in a few hours, and then they went on south in their ships."

"Tauren saw it," added Midas, adding credibility to the claim, "There were three ships, one flagship and two escorts."

"As did Saddle Arabia," claimed Ayesha, his expression still noble and proud, "Some thought it the second coming. Most panicked. Our astronomers believe they observed them exiting our atmosphere somewhere over Zebrica that night."

"What night was this?" asked Cadence sincerely, her eyes wide but her poise not weakened.

"Three days ago," answered Cleo, the Zebra, the gold of her bracelets and necklaces jingling as she nodded affirmation.

"All of this on the same day?" asked Steelhide in disbelief, "This craft spanned the length of the globe, from north to south, in under one day?"

"Do not forget, it also created a hole in the ground so large, it caused earthquakes felt on the far side of my kingdom," Gilderoy added, driving home the awe his homeland was in at the sighting, "The might it takes to perform such a feat is beyond any of us."

"Any of us?" Steelhide quickly retorted, "You forget the power of my kin. All it takes is a roar of mine in defense of the nesting grounds, and all of the drakes and wyverns the world over will unite. We will see how mighty these aliens are when faced with an army of dragons."

Ayesha spoke next, and practically spat in the direction of the Tarragon, saying, "You seem confident in your power, Tarragon. None of us share the same confidence in you or your winged armies. You're rogue, hardly above animals. I doubt they will even answer your call."

"Says the fanatic," chided Midas, his horns turning to the Arabian and his fists balled; his banner bearers behind him mirrored his hatred for the horse, "Before you condemn Steelhide's forces, remember your own armies pillaged their way through Tauren's cities."

Ayesha remained unchanged, his cold stare returned to the minotaurs in the room, and he threatened to smile.

"Only in retaliation for the atrocities committed by Tauren's forces," Ayesha said, his elegant accent pervading while he justified rather than deny the accusations.

"The Crystal Empire will stand by Equestria," announced Cadence, interrupting the anger as she looked to her family.

"As will the Shetland Isles," declared MacShire, only for Gilderoy to chuckle.

"You can hardly support yourselves," the Griffon said belittlingly, "Your people live on the scraps of the Griffon Kingdoms' trade. And we will not ally ourselves with those who would steal what is ours."

MacShire did not react as if he'd been hurt, but he reacted in rage.

"The Dire Strait is not yours," he fumed, "No less than it is mine. How can one own the water?"

Gilderoy smiled.

"The same way I own all the wharfs, and every ounce of wealth that passes through that fold."

"Enough!" Celestia said over the quarrel, "This is not solving our problem! While we argue like foals on the playground an armada is searching our planet for an alien artifact, and once they find it, they will burn this planet to dust!"

There was a moment before Cleo spoke.

"So what would you have us do?" she asked.

"Join together," Luna replied quickly, fire in her dark eyes, "All of us. Only then may we have a chance."

Midas only grew angrier, and his fist pounded the table as he argued back, "I may as well piss on the graves of thousands of my soldiers as ally my armies with him," he said, pointing at the smirking Ayesha, "I will not make myself vulnerable while the lions' den of Arabia looms on my borders and the dragons run rampant through the mountains, burning crops and families in their homes! The line of Taurus will endure, but not by making peace with our real enemies."

Midas looked to Steelhide as he finished, blowing a snort of hot air out his nostrils.

"This has to all be a delusion," Cadence said quietly from Celestia's side as an argument broke out between Midas, Ayesha, Steelhide, Gilderoy and MacShire, "An anomaly. Maybe it was an asteroid, or some conjuring of magic."

"We know what we saw!" High Priestess Cleo yelled suddenly in her thick Zebrican accent, rising out of her chair and immediately silencing the others, "And we know what it brings. We have seen it in the sky. The wandering stars traverse the night, and the constellations speak in their silence. Malik, the warrior, and Ta'sha, the mother, have come together in the sky."

Some in the room seemed not to care, but others were gripped by the shaman's speech as she continued.

"A troubling time is nigh, a time of war and of rebirth, a time of death and life, a time of hate and love... a time of chaos. Zebrica will join you, Princesses of Equestria, for we will need to be strong together. Many days of discord are to come."

As she finished, a new voice came into the conversation, a voice without a body, as if the walls themselves were speaking.

"There's the invitation I was waiting for," the voice chimed, jovial almost, and the entity chuckled.

Celestia looked at Luna, and groaned.

"Tell me he isn't..." Celestia began.

"He is," Luna replied; no later had the words left her mouth when a sudden flash of light above the tables center pulsed, receding to reveal a levitating chimera, his arms spread theatrically open as if welcoming applause.

Celestia looked at Cleo with disdain.

"Couldn't you have used a word other than 'discord'?"

"Oh, come now Celestia," came Discord's chiding voice as he snaked through the air to her side, placing his head alongside hers and flirtatiously running a talon along her chin, "I am no longer such terrible company as you remember."

He quickly darted back away from the alicorn to avoid her aggravated reaction, once again opening his arms to the blessings and acceptance of the audience basking in his glory.

"I've been reformed, after all," he admitted before placing a hand over his heart, and giving a practiced airborne bow, "Now I live to serve. And I will serve you as best I can, so long as you introduce me to your outlandish new friends once they return."

A certain vein in Celestia's forehead was beginning to surface, and she seethed, "If you wish to serve me, you may do just that, and get out."

Discord seemed hurt, and his arms, one feline the other avian, fell at his sides as he alighted back down on the table, his smug grin gone and his eyes a bit saddened.

"Why would you say such a thing?" he asked, his out of place tooth seeming to droop as if he were a child who'd been scolded.

"This is none of your business, Discord," Luna replied, giving him a look only slightly more aggravated than Celestia's.

"I beg to differ," Discord countered, suddenly jovial once again as he waved his finger at her, "I am an inhabitant of this world the same as you. And, with you trying to decide the fate of the world and all, I'd argue that I have just as much of a say in how it shall be handled as the lot of you. I have just as much to lose, after all."

As he finished, he disappeared with a snap of his talons, rematerializing in what was supposed to be the Arbiter's seat, only the name tag in front of his place at the table was now fabulously bejeweled with gemstones and glitter, and in pink letters it read Discord.

As he adjusted his marker so it was straight, he happily remarked, "I'll just take this empty chair here," before looking expectantly, his talons folded against his paw, to the others in the room.

"This situation is far too fragile for you to be meddling in it," continued Celestia, trying to subtly nod towards the Arabian and the Taurens, who were still glaring at one another.

"Too fragile, eh?" the snake-like jester said, once again weaving through the air like a serpent through water before flamboyantly placing a hand on his hip and gesturing towards War Chief Midas and his body guards, "Is that why you brought the bulls into this china shop?"

Midas reached for a dagger as he rose from the table, and grabbed Discord to hold the blade to his throat as he bellowed, "Does he offer us insult?!"

Discord, a smug smile still on his outlandish face, simply reached out and touched the tip of the blade, turning it instantaneously into a rose. He then accepted the favor from his bovine assailant and feigned a blush, smelling it with a deep inhale before eagerly tossing it into his mouth and eating it.

"Not at all sweetheart," he said, his mouth full as he pat the bull on the forehead, "If you had the capacity to understand metaphors, you would know that already."

A snap of his fingers and Discord was on the other side of the room, picking his teeth in the glossy reflection of himself in Gilderoy's crown; the griffon seemed irked, but far from angry.

"Celestia, I thought you and your sister had turned this demon to stone. Why release him?" asked the Griffon King, gesturing with a talon to the creature hovering off his right shoulder.

"Because I am far too pretty to be kept up in granite," he replied as another flash produced new attire for himself, a Victorian era pink dress and umbrella; he admired his reflection further in Gilderoy's headpiece, then turned his attention to the craftsmanship of the crown itself, "I remember when your thirty-seven greats grandfather wore that same crown, your highness. Forgive me if I imply it looked better on him."

With a clap this time he disappeared in a flash of light, and was his normal abnormal self again. He took a quick gander at the room from his stage on the round table, his hands on his hips and his fluffy eyebrows cocked.

"You really did invite everyone here but me, didn't you?"

"Because we didn't need you," came Celestia's quick reply, only to have Discord doubtingly look her way, "We can handle the situation."

"The same way you handled Trottingham?" he asked, drawing a surprised look from Luna; no sooner had the expression registered than the god of chaos was at her side, petting her head and saying, "Oh don't look so hurt. As soon as you introduce me to your new alien best friends, I can be on my way."

He phased away again, darting around the room as was his habit, only now he was in a hammock strung between the walls.

"But they're not here, are they?" he said sarcastically again before putting his pretty pink sunglasses on and reclining in his new bed, "Oh well, I'll just have to wait until they get back."

While the hammock swayed above their heads, Ayesha felt the need to speak his mind about their newest guest.

"If he is going to make a rabble of this council any further, the Saddle Arabian military will return his inhospitality."

Discord's paw appeared above the brim of his hammock, a toe in the air as if he were about to make a point.

"So, the one who conquers in the name of God doesn't like having a god in his presence?" a flash put Discord, minus his paw which was still gesturing away above the hammock, in Ayesha's ear, and he whispered, "How hospitable is that, if I may ask Caliph, praise be unto ye?"

His snakelike tongue darted inside the horse's ear suddenly, and when the Caliph went to shoo him away, Discord was already back on the table center. The first time Ayesha had broken his poise was enough to spark a condescending laugh from Steelhide, his toothy maw chuckling away at the horse's enraged expression.

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you," Discord reprimanded, singling out the Tarragon, "I'm trying to help you. You have something worth far more than golden hordes to fight for now."

The dragon didn't think it was funny anymore, and looked to Celestia as angry as the others.

"I've had enough of his insults," Steelhide said, but Discord only rolled his eyes.

Celestia, sounding almost maternal now, beckoned Discord's attention.

"Discord, I won't say this again. We have the situation under control."

Waving a finger at her, Discord once again twirled through the air, his tail following his body like the tail of a kite.

"That's where you're wrong," he said as his smile slowly dissipated, "If there's one thing I've learned, it's that control is an illusion. There is a flotilla of angry space invaders up there, and they do not like any of us, least of all, you and the Arbiter's friends. I've seen them; a little stroll through the stratosphere yielded a sight the likes of which I have never seen before."

Princess Cadence leaned forward, and asked him, "What did you learn?"

Discord clapped, and his seat was replaced with a chair made of hundreds of swords molded into a throne, and as he leaned forward on a sword of his own, his newly adorned beard and fur cloak flowing in some nonexistent wind, he said, "That the Winter Contingency is coming."

The others in the chamber looked around bewildered, but before any of them could speak, Discord was center stage on the table once more.

"When the Arbiter rode down here on his ball of flame, he set a off course of events that will shake this world to the core. I can't control it any more than you can, and if you're as smart as I remember you being, that scares you. So do yourself a favor, and stop trying to control this whole thing. In trying to keep our fate at bay, you just may bring it closer."

Clan Leader Angus MacShire suddenly stood up in his chair, and pointed a tense forelimb in Discord's direction.

"I grow tired of this prattle!" he shouted, his voice far too large for his body, "I'm warning you demon!"

"And I'm warning you, laddie!" Discord shot back mocking his accent, "The zebra was right. A time of great chaos is upon us, and I should know. None of us can control it, and as tempted as I am to sit back with some popcorn and watch you all run around trying to fix the sky as it falls down around you, for once I don't want to. I want to help, seeing as I quite like this world and my life in it, and the most valuable thing I can bring to the table is this: Our only hope is to fight back, and we have the best hope of making it through this if we fight together."

There was silence for a moment, before Ayesha beckoned with a question.

"What proof do you..." he began, only for Discord to interrupt him.

"What proof do I need? You all know who I am , what I stand for. If I would trade order for chaos, do you think it would be for the sake of a joke, or because it was what needed to be done?"

He spiraled upwards, taking a hovering perch near the ceiling of the Council Chamber.

"So," he began, crossing his arms, "what say you?"

The gathered diplomats were struck silent, and seemed to be truly considering the offer of an alliance for the first time since the meeting had began. Discord smiled a proud grin, and he once again fluttered down to Celestia's side, and putting a paw on her shoulder, whispered, "How's that for diplomacy?"

Later...

The normally quiet atmosphere of Canterlot library was bustling as six mares and a dragon hurried about the shelves, acquiring books and scrolls from the great wealth of knowledge of Equestria's largest archive. While Dash, Applejack, Pinkie and Spike scoured the book stacks, the others read what they found in the middle of the seal on the floor.

The light from the evening sun rushed in through the stained glass, warming the room and painting it colors just as warm. The light that reflected off the tiles on the floor were mirrored on the ceiling, and streaks of pink and blue added to the rainbow of the library.

"This is amazing," Twilight remarked as she looked up from the book, of many that were orbiting her in her magic's grip, she had previously been buried in, "What the Arbiter was thinking just might have been right!"

Rarity and Fluttershy dropped their texts, and looked to the lavender mare excitedly.

"You really think so?" Fluttershy asked, intrigued, and Twilight furiously nodded.

"Look at this book Pinkie found," she said as she opened to the page in question, flipping the book so the others could read it; the text, titled Digs of Zebrica showed drawings of etchings in a wall, presumably from an archaeological excursion, "Ancient civilizations, the oldest forms of writing. The best translation we have of these hieroglyphics speak of the gods coming from the sky, and gifting them with civilization."

Dash returned from her most recent lap of the library, and dropped her newfound books in the growing pile of sources as Twilight finished.

"But those are just legends," the blue pegasus said matter-of-factly, but instead of flying off again, she stuck around to hear Twilight's retort.

"Ancient writers only wrote down things that were historically important," she said, "Too few were actually literate, so scribes weren't wasted on things that weren't essential to the society."

There was a lull before Rarity grew excited, albeit still a bit confused, and turned her book towards Twilight, saying, "In this one, the writer says that scientifically, unicorns and alicorns are able to harness much more powerful magic in certain parts of the world."

Twilight looked down at the text with some familiarity, as if she'd read it before or was at least read in the subject. She nodded as she read where Rarity had directed her attention, the others awaiting her verdict with bated breath.

"Yeah, they're called manna pools," Twilight said, referencing the places Rarity had brought up, "They used to be holy sites. Now they're places of extensive study."

The others were bewildered, but Twilight looked at them expectantly nonetheless. It took a while before Applejack played along with Twilight's lesson, and asked, "Where are some of these... manna pools?"

"The Tree of Harmony is one, there are some places in the crystal fields up north... but this book talks a lot about the theories around Everfree Forest."

A.J. pushed her hat back, and ran a hoof through her mane in thought as she too stared down at the book Twilight had been studying. As the others processed the thought, Spike, who had been listening quietly and continuing his chore of rounding up books up to this time, recognized Twilight's professor-like mood; for her lecture to continue to go over as productively and as theatrically as she'd like, she would require a question.

"What kinds of theories?" he asked dryly; by Twilight's expression, he'd just given her a birthday present.

"Everfree has plenty of legends around it, most of them dealing with magic... old gods, fairies... things like what the first Equestrians to come over from the East believed in. But, there are some that think Everfree is rich in manna pools. Some believe the ambient magic of the forest gets stronger the farther into the woods you go. The only problem is, nopony's ever successfully explored the forest. Every party that's gone in never came back out."

The others looked to Twilight with concern.

"Why not?" asked Rarity, one eyebrow rising as she spoke.

"They probably got lost," Dash answered, shrugging at the obvious disappointment while Fluttershy seemed to tuck behind her mane.

"That place is haunted," the yellow pegasus said quietly, putting a cap on the subject for the time being.

It wasn't long before Pinkie Pie once again perked up, exclaiming, "All these theories about gods and magic... maybe they're connected!"

"Exactly!" Twilight responded, her eyes growing wider in excitement as she began to flip back through her reference material, "Some of these sites coincide."

Her hoof pointed out a map in a book titled A Study of Ancient Religions as she said, "This ancient place, called 'God's Doorstep,' outside of Griffonstone's capital, was the holiest site of the ancient Griffons. It's also the highest recorded point of magic fluctuation that's been discovered so far East of the Sea of Amore. And this..."

She paused suddenly as a new sound became audible over her own voice. It droned off in the distance, and was growing louder with each moment. After about a minute, the books on the bookshelves began quaking with the sound's pitch. Just as they realized it was the whine of the Swords of Sanghelios' drop ship, Pinkie ran to the window.

"They're coming back!" she yelled out excitedly, and in a pink blur, she darted for the courtyard.

Twilight snapped her books shut and left them in a pile on the floor.

"Come on, let's go tell them!" she beckoned as she beat the others to the door behind Pinkie, "Maybe we found what the Arbiter's been looking for, and he'll want us to investigate it more."

Spike groaned as she finished, knowing that such a thing would require far more work no less exciting than what they had already done. The soft patter of his feet hitting the tile was slow to chase after the sound of hooves doing the same down the hallway.

They reached the courtyard just as the Phantom was setting down, and saw the princesses, Cadence as well as the Royal Sisters, already there. Twilight smiled when her sister-in-law met her eyes, and Cadence's sparkling expression was reciprocated. The two turned to face one another, but as they went to meet, the wind from the jets of the Phantom kicked up a wind in the walled off courtyard that blew up dust and manes; those on the ground were buffeted back, and shielded their eyes from the sting of the heavy wind.

When the craft touched ground in its usual docking space, the ventral doors slowly opened. Twilight looked to Cadence once again, only her focus was now on the ship, looking to see the aliens or her husband... most likely both. So, Twilight decided their reunion would come later, and turned to watch as well.

But, as the doors slowly opened, she began to notice something was wrong. The Elites' height should have put their faces in view by the time the doors were halfway open, but they were three quarters of the way down now and Twilight saw nothing. When she began to see Equestrian Guards within, but still no Elites, she knew something was wrong.

The doors locked open, and the Equestrians began stepping out onto the lawn. Twilight counted them in her head as they hit the grass.

"One, two, three... four, five, six... seven... eight, nine...

She stopped suddenly when her eye recognized the final Equestrian out of the cabin. It was her brother; his armor gave him away, and she saw Cadence take a slow step towards him, her expression frozen in terrified suspense. As Shining Armor came closer to them, they noticed the limp in his gate, and eventually, the blood on his face.

"Shining!" Cadence yelled, and she ran to his side, holding him up in place of his weak leg.

Twilight was quick to follow, and they helped him towards the palace where he took a seat on the ground. Behind them, the other Elements were doing the same with the other wounded and injured Equestrian Guards while the Royal Sisters did so as well. She didn't see the state of the others, but Shining seemed to be in bad condition. His armor was burned and blackened in some places, and he had cuts and gashes in his forelimbs and neck. His fur was hardly recognizable as white, stained instead black and red, and his eyes seemed swollen shut.

It seemed like it was a short eternity of checking for other wounds and monitoring the breath of her brother before Twilight looked back to see the Arbiter shakily stepping down from the cabin, followed quickly by the Shipmaster.

Shining coughed a wet cough, drawing Twilight back to him, and Cadence, mortified at the state of her husband, whispered, "What happened?"

The last of the Equestrians sat in the grass, nursing their wounds with what bandages, improvised and otherwise, they could scrounge up. The Arbiter was still shambling across the courtyard when Shining hoarsely whimpered an answer.

"It was a trap," he coughed, "We went after a signal, a transmission that the Remnant leader was going to make landfall, and that they had found the relic they were looking for. We went to get them, to stop them. They lured us in around a farm house, and detonated a plasma cache in the buildings. Most of the Swords were caught in the explosion. We were at the fringe of the blast radius. They knew we were coming."

"How?" asked Twilight, somewhere between angry, afraid, and confused.

"We cannot be sure," came the voice of the Shipmaster in answer, the only one of the group who was unhurt, "Are you sure of the loyalty of everyone in the castle?"

Twilight looked back disgusted that the Shipmaster was even considering that this might have been act of Equestrian treason, but she couldn't stay mad for long. The Arbiter, since the first time she'd seen him, was slouched over, holding his ribcage as he walked and he winced with each step despite the effort he was showing to hide his pain. The Shipmaster walked beside him, but the Arbiter refused help, his breathing shallow but still proud. There was indigo blood around his mandibles, and more on his hands, arms, and armor.

"Even if there were a traitor in the midst, how would they contact the Remnant?" the Arbiter said back to the Shipmaster, standing up like his normal, authoritative self when he noticed Equestrian eyes were on him, "The only link we have to their communication systems is a listening device."

"Tell that to my men!" roared 'Vadum, pointing north, but the Arbiter's hand only fell on his shoulder, pulling him closer.

The Arbiter stifled a bloody cough and hid a convulsion as he leaned into 'Vadum's ear.

"They were my men too," he said.

The Shipmaster's head bowed, and he shrugged the Arbiter's hand off his shoulder. As his hand fell, the bloody Elite beckoned his friend's attention.

"Perhaps they became aware of our ear," the Arbiter suggested, "We can no longer trust the console."

The Shipmaster turned away, and looked at the Equestrians all around them, growling, "Or our hosts."

With that, he snorted, and his fists balled, he strode back into the palace leaving the rest behind. The princesses looked to the Arbiter, concerned, both for him, their wounded, and the Shipmaster's words.

"Forgive him," the Arbiter muttered, looking down solemnly.

The Royal Sisters didn't respond, but they watched as the white-armored silhouette of Rtas 'Vadum disappeared within the palace. Once he was gone, Luna went to one of the wounded Royal Guards, and knelt by his side. She wrapped the cleft of her hoof around his forelimb, and her horn sparked an incandescent glow, the magical aura of her healing spell sparkling in the setting sun's light. Once again, the Arbiter witnessed the singular power of alicorn magic with mystified awe as the stallion's wounds were sealed, his broken bones mended, and his bloody fur was cleansed. Then, she went on to the next one.

Meanwhile, Celestia approached the Arbiter, the coughs and groans of the wounded behind her growing sparser as Luna helped them.

"Can you bear any good news on this solemn evening?" the Arbiter asked her, visibly trying to hide his wounds; Celestia pretended not to notice.

"The armies of the world are with us," she said with a half-hearted smile, "They left to mobilize their respective armies, and will remain in contact as we organize a global defense. An old... friend of mine... helped convince them to join us under one condition. That I introduce him to you."

A sudden flash, followed by a sound like a confetti popper and a half hearted hooray, marked Discord's sudden appearance, and he wove through the air to take the Arbiter's hand, not minding the blood in the slightest.

"Good evening, Mr. Arbiter sir," he said in jest as he gave the Arbiter's hand a good shake before placing the same hand over his heart theatrically, "I am Discord. Might I say you are much taller and less green than I imagined you. It is an honor to meet your acquaintance. I am a great admirer of the chaos you've been sewing since your arrival."

The Arbiter's hand fell back to his side limply, and he dryly responded, "Forgive me if I do not return your rejoice. I lost my family today."

Discord's grin left as soon as the Arbiter finished, and he sincerely seemed sympathetic.

"Oh," he said, bringing a talon up to his over-bitten fang, "I am so sorry to hear that."

The Arbiter nodded, and then pushed past Discord and Celestia, presumably to clean himself up inside the palace. As he left he spoke over his shoulder.

"I shall need all the wood you can spare," the alien bid.

"What for?" Celestia asked after him.

The Arbiter turned, the light of the setting sun seeming to fall in his golden eyes. His armor did not shine; it was far too dirty and stained. He emitted a sound like a growl and a groan at the same time when he answered.

"A funeral."

The pyre was big, no less than seven feet tall. But, there were no bodies atop the wood as the hosts of Canterlot gathered around the unlit bonfire in the courtyard. This ceremony was a custom rather than a practicality. Their company seemed empty without the two Hunters, and the ten Elites that had been lost, but nowhere was that emptiness greater than in the eyes of the Arbiter.

The night was far from dark; Luna gave them a clear sky and a full moon, a fitting funeral gift for those that had come from the stars above. The moon gave them enough light that only one torch, lit in the hands of the Arbiter, was among the congregation.

None spoke as Shipmaster 'Vadum and the Arbiter, both still in their armor but clean now, approached the empty pyre. The Arbiter did his best to hide his limp and hold his head high, but it was still obvious he was in pain; he'd refused healing spells and medication altogether thus far.

When they reached the pyre, the Shipmaster and the Arbiter both reached out a hand and touched the wood. Their heads bowed in prayer, and then the Arbiter put the flame to the base of the woodpile. They stepped back as the flames began to dance, and in a few moments, the courtyard was lit up yellow by the fire, the smoke disappearing into the stars' embrace.

The Shipmaster stood at the Arbiter's side, both of their eyes glossy as they watched the wood cinder and turn to ash. Still, no one spoke, but the gesture of the princesses and the Elements, as well as each of the Guards that had fought alongside them gathered around the pyre said enough.

As the fire started to wane, Luna and Celestia came up alongside the still transfixed aliens with the Elements of Harmony and Discord close behind. The Sangheili did not look away from the pyre, but the Arbiter, his normally strong voice quiet, nodded to them.

"Would it seem curious if I told you why we burn our dead one alien planets, but not on Sanghelios?" the silver Elite asked.

He didn't wait for an answer, nor did he look away when the others looked to him for an answer, the fire flicking shadows over their features.

"On Sanghelios and on High Charity, the dead were kept in crypts, mausoleums. When we light the pyre, whether with flame or plasma from orbit, the dead turn to ash. The smoke rises back into the sky, that what once was a son of Sanghelios may one day return home."

Twilight understood the thought, and looked down as she recalled the concepts of infinite time and conservation of matter; if given enough time, the Arbiter's thought would eventually prove true. The thought seemed dull though, compared to the emotion of the courtyard; it was too grim a time of day to be enamored by science.

"They died here," the Arbiter said further, the torch in his hand going out and darkening his face a bit, "far from home, because of my lack of foresight."

"He shook his head as he looked down and muttered, "They should have died old on Sanghelios."

Celestia tried to feel his pain, but knew her consolation was futile when she extended a wing to the Arbiter's shoulder, and said, "It isn't your fault."

"Who else's then?" the Arbiter growled as he shrugged away from her, glaring down at her with the fire of the funeral in his eyes, "I was their leader, their brother. They followed me, I led them into a trap. And now they're dead."

"Ten more casualties of this war," growled 'Vadum from the side as he kicked the dirt.

"This war was what claimed them," argued Celestia, trying to comfort them from themselves to no avail, "Not you."

The Arbiter shook his head as it hung lower, and the Shipmaster's only response was to spit and growl something about the Remnant. The fire eventually ran out, and the Equestrians began to turn to go. One by one they filtered back into the palace, until only a few, those few at the side of the Arbiter, remained. The Elements left first, each of them stopping to pay respect to the Arbiter and Shipmaster before going back inside; it was Spike who actually reached up to take the Arbiter's hand in what was supposed to be a comforting embrace. Then Celestia left, not even trying to console any further, leaving the Elites, Discord, Luna and the ghosts of the fallen in the courtyard.

The chimera was the first to speak as he came to the Arbiter's side, shamelessly leaning on the alien's shoulder pauldron.

"I know this is a bad time," Discord began, causing the sulking Arbiter to look at his from the corner of his eye, "But it seems to be the running theme of the day that some things can't be controlled. As the eldest living thing on this planet, I can say with confidence that war is one of them. I may not be a warrior, but I know war is chaos."

The Arbiter growled, causing Discord to retract like a child a dog had snapped at.

"They took everything from me tonight," he said.

"Not everything," corrected Discord, gesturing back to the Elements and the princesses, "You'd be amazed what a couple friends, such as these, can do. Take it from me."

The Arbiter looked at them, then at Discord's smug grin.

"I shall be seeing you, Arbiter, no doubt," the God of Chaos said as he waved a finger at the Arbiter's nose, and then in a flash of light, he was gone.

It was the Shipmaster who left next, but not before clapping the Arbiter on the shoulder, looking into his eyes, and giving him a nod to remind him that they still had each other. Now, only Luna and the Arbiter had the courtyard. The dark mare approached him as the remains of the funeral pyre crackled and spit out sparks.

She looked up at him with some degree of admiration, and a smaller degree of pity; she knew he didn't want her pity, so instead of trying to console him as her sister had, she gave a simple offer.

"If you need anything..." she said quietly.

"How would that help?" the Arbiter snapped back, forgetting his glum demeanor in a moment.

Luna kept her composure, the moonlight mixing in her eyes like a reflection in a pool.

"It would do you good to talk to someone who would understand," she said tactfully, only for the Arbiter turn to face her; he seemed both bigger now as his chest inflated in irritation and his leg quivered as it supported his weight.

"How can you understand?" he snarled, glaring down at the Princess of the Night, "This war was started for a lie, a lie I believed in. My glory was won for evil, my power served corruption, and now, in the wake of all that I have done to bring harm to my brothers across the galaxy, I try to make what I have done right. I fight to make peace, I kill to try to save lives... I burn empty pyres in remembrance of warriors who are already embers!"

He turned to face her, the difference in their size almost comical if the Arbiter weren't enraged. But, concealed by his external anger, there was something truer and sadder underneath as his voice climbed with the smoke behind him.

"My mistakes and my blindness are what has kept this war alive, and this war is what caused them their deaths. I am haunted by what I have done, but more so because of all the pain I have caused, all the death. These ashes are all that is left of them and billions more because of me, and here I remain to wish I could put them back together again."

His voice was quiet now, and he looked down as he turned away from the alicorn.

"How would you understand? How would you know what it was like to fight for a lie, to hurt those closest to you, to be the catalyst of disaster? How could you know what it was like to realize that after all this time, you were fighting for the wrong side, and to try to pick up the pieces of the lives you shattered."

Luna looked up at him, the weight of memory in her eyes and her expression stern but gentle, and she quietly answered.

"Because I have."

The Arbiter turned to face her, his sad eyes growing a bit wider as he did. He didn't say anything, but the shock at Luna's revelation in his expression said enough. He still did not know what she had done, but the prospect of their similarity humbled him in a moment. One could see the exact moment his view of the princess changed.

"Like I said Arbiter," Luna continued as she gave a nod and turned to leave, "if you should need anything."

And with that, she left the Arbiter amidst the ashes.

It was a sleepless night for the Arbiter. The corner of the room he was accustomed to sleeping in was far less comfortable than it had been; perhaps he had some broken ribs adding to the discomfort. At least he was no longer bleeding, his wounds scabbed over. The pain would have been dispelled had he allowed the Equestrians to give him medical attention, but the honor of his people forbade it. Blood shed in battle was honor in its purest form; stifling its flow was deemed disgraceful.

His eyes wandered the room, lit up silver by the moon outside the window. The canvas bed, the nightstands, the floor; everything was the same, except the pie. The Arbiter had seen it adjacent the lamp on the nightstand when he'd come in, and read the note pinned to the crust with a toothpick: From Pinkie... and everypony else. Along with the pie had been a card with a picture of a kitten dangling from a branch on the front, the words 'Hang in There' within. The Arbiter almost laughed at the gesture, sweet though it was.

The pie was still untouched, despite the growling stomach of its intended.

The Arbiter's eyes were just beginning to feel heavy when he heard the report of a grandfather clock outside his room in the hall. It rang once, then twice, then three times before falling silent. In its wake, the castle seemed deathly silent, and the Arbiter's eyes finally closed. But, before sleep took him, he heard another sound, a subtle creak, and he shot awake.

He stood up, his spine tingling and his instincts telling him what his senses were not yet fully aware to.

"Who is there?" he asked as he took his sword hilt in his hand, his amber eyes scanning the room with a predatory focus.

There was no response save silence, but the Arbiter refused to relax. His eyes were persistent, scanning until finally, they saw something out of place. His blade erupted from the hilt, its glow lighting his face blue to add to the silver of the moonlight, and he growled.

"Step into the light, if you have any honor at all," he challenged, and again, no response came.

But then, a sound like boots rapped on the floor, and a single energy sword sparked from the shadows, its wielder coming uncloaked shortly after. A Sangheili Commander, armored blue and with the glyphs of the Silent Blade on the crest of his helm. The Arbiter blossomed his blade, and made ready for single combat with his foe, until the sound of more boots surprised his ears. Another glacier blue blade was struck in the far corner of the room, a second assailant coming forth from the darkness. Then a third blade started glowing.

Then another, and another, and another.

Twilight awoke to the sound of glass shattering. Second guessing her senses, she stayed in bed for a moment, looking around her quarters to see everything still in place. When she heard a reverberating crash, and a sound like wood splintering, she knew she had not been dreaming, and leapt from bed.

She threw open the door to the hallway, and saw her friends either already in the hall or just coming out of their rooms as well. None of them said anything, but their ears all twitched as they tried to pinpoint the disturbance's location. A third crash undoubtedly put the sound's origin near the Elites' quarters, and they all sprinted there.

As they arrived, it quickly became obvious the Arbiter's room was the where the sounds were coming from. Roars of pain and rage, coupled with the sounds of heavy things breaking and metallic clashes, emanated from within. It was unmistakably a fight going on inside, but when Twilight went to open the door she found it locked.

Applejack pushed past Twilight and tried to kick the door in, but it only bowed underneath her hooves. A deep voice inside screamed in pain, and Applejack went to kick again to no avail as the voice of the Shipmaster bounced down the hallway.

"What's happening?!" he asked as he came to them, a Plasma Rifle in one hand and a drawn sword in the other.

"The door is barred!" Twilight yelled, and the Shipmaster pushed past her.

"So break it down!" he yelled as he splintered the door inwards with a savage kick; the prospect of his friend being in danger gave him all the more strength.

The door opened in time for them to see the Arbiter, facing away from them, cut a hot gash through the chest of a Covenant Elite, the alien crumpling to the ground while the Arbiter's blade hissed against flesh. The Sangheili joined the bodies of six more of his kind on the floor, each one's hands clutching energy swords and each bearing precise wounds on their throats and chests. The glow of the swords and the moonlight lit up the Arbiter's armor like silver, and slowly, he turned towards them.

But as he turned, they found the front of his armor was stained purple. His eyes were fluttering, his breathing was shallow and slow, and blood coursed down his breastplate with each sputtering inhale he choked down. His knees began to quiver as he whispered to the Shipmaster and the Elements.

"Secure... the.... palace..." He said as he toppled over, his sword falling to the ground and his armor splashing into the bloody floor.

The others ran to his side, and rolled him so he would be able to breathe. They pried his chest plate from his sticky body, and saw that, in addition to the scabbed over wounds he had sustained earlier, he had been cut several times on his shoulders and abdomen, but the worst was a stab wound under his diaphragm. He was hemorrhaging blood, and they could practically feel his life leaving him.

"I'm going to stay with him!" yelled the Shipmaster as the Arbiter's leg began to kick against the pain, his hands weakly finding his wounds as he clutched at his injuries.

'Vadum put his hands over the Arbiter's wounds, trying to keep the blood in, and shouted over his shoulder to the shocked Elements.

"Go! Get the princesses, and the Captain! Sound the alarm; we've been infiltrated!"

"What if there's more of them?" questioned Rarity, blatant fear in her eyes.

The Shipmaster knew what she meant; the Elements were not warriors, and there were potentially more assassins in the palace.

"I shall go," he decided against his instincts, and as he got up to go, he pointed to the Elements, commanding them, "Do not leave his side! I will return shortly!"

The Shipmaster drew his sword in one hand took his Plasma Rifle in the other, and sprinted out the door. Huffing like a bear and moving like a leopard, he made his way through the pristine hallways, leaving bloody tracks with each footfall to stain the white floors indigo. In no time at all, he found himself before Celestia's quarters, the guards posted outside the door, on which a great sun was painted, leveling their spears at him as he approached.

"She's in danger!" he yelled, pointing at the guards challengingly, "Get her in armor, and call out the guard. I'll go for the dark one and the Captain."

"What's going on?" asked one of the guards.

"We are under attack!" 'Vadum yelled back, gesturing with an aggravated slash of his sword.

As he said he would do, the Shipmaster continued down the hallway, rounded a corner, and saw the second royal chamber, this one with a crescent moon on its doors. There were no guards posted outside, but a faint blood trail alluded to their fate. The Arbiter rushed in through the doors, weapons ready, and saw Princess Luna, armed with one of the Elite's swords but devoid of armor, standing over the bodies of two Sangheili swordsmen, the insignia of the Silent Blade on their helmet crests and gauntlets.

"I see you are already awake," Luna said in greeting, her breath a bit heavy as she dropped the Covenant sword, presumably wrested from her quarry, in her magic's grip and nudged one of her would be assassins, "The Remnant appears to have taken up residence with us."

"Then let us evict them," 'Vadum growled, and he and Luna sped outside side by side.

As they came into the hallway, they looked one way and saw Celestia approaching, armed and armored, and looked the other direction to see Shining Armor and Princess Cadence less formidably equipped galloping towards them. By the looks on their faces, they already knew what was going on, and needed no instruction to follow the Shipmaster as he ran back to the Arbiter's chamber.

As they rounded a corner, they saw an entire squad of Elites making moving down the hallway towards the Arbiter's room, at their lead, a crimson armored Zealot. The two groups saw one another at the same time, and both were equally quick to swap aggression The Remnant's first volley hit one of Celestia's body guards, sending the stallion down without so much as a twitch. The Covenant fared worse off, the combined firepower of the alicorns, Shining Armor and the Shipmaster putting three of them down as both sides took cover along the walls from the magic and plasma that was filling the hallway. Most of the Covenant hugged the walls, clinging to corners and firing from doorways while their leader, the Zealot, ran down the hallway towards where the Shipmaster had come from.

"They're going for the Arbiter!" yelled Shining Armor as he connected a combat spell with the chest of one of the Remnant Elites, causing it to topple over.

"And the champions!" yelled the Shipmaster as he traded shots with another foe, sending the Remnant Elite scurrying back to cover while he himself ducked a plasma bolt.

Without further hesitation, the Shipmaster broke cover and ran down the center of the hall, firing as he sprinted towards the remaining Remnant in the hall that stood between him and the Arbiter's room. He roared in a fit of rage, his sword's tip sparking as it contacted the floor or the walls as he ducked and dipped to avoid the Remnant's fire while his own Plasma Rifle sang a chorus of combat; the entire hall seemed to be lit up blue.

"Shipmaster!" Celestia called out after him, only to see that Shining Armor and Luna had gone after him, and that the Covenant were nearly routed from that part of the hallway.

As the last of the Covenant Elites fell, the Shipmaster continued his race to his friend, bounding over the bodies of the slain, and he yelled back to the others, "Get to the Arbiter!"

Earlier...

"This is not good!" Rainbow Dash yelled, the sound of her wings buzzing like those of a hummingbird as she tried to control the Arbiter's arm barely audible over his sputtering coughs, "This is so not good!"

All six of the Elements of Harmony were gathered around the Sangheili as he writhed on the floor; most of them simply trying to hold him down while Fluttershy did her best veterinary work on his wounds with Twilight's magic as an aide. Spike and Applejack had already removed the sheets and canopy from the bed to use as bandages, the linens already soaked through and stained purple with the Arbiter's blood. His eyes were rolling in his head, and he was groaning and trembling as if he had a tremendous fever.

"He's not lookin' so good," yelled Applejack as she wrestled the Arbiter's kicking leg back to the ground, his frantic struggles against his demise growing weaker by the moment, "We need to help him!"

"I can't stop the bleeding," Fluttershy, panic in her normally quiet voice, said; she was hurriedly dabbing at the Arbiter's chest and shoulders, clearing them of blood while simultaneously trying to plug the holes with the linens, "He's hurt really bad."

"Twilight, why isn't it working?!" yelled Rarity, over the Arbiter's gasps for breath.

"He's sustained massive trauma," Twilight replied, her voice loud and nervous, "I'm not the princess! My best healing spells take time to work completely! He's too far gone for me to bring him back quickly!"

Suddenly, the Arbiter wrested his arm, which was being held down, free, and grabbed Fluttershy, pulling her in close.

"Are they... contained?" he hissed, causing Fluttershy's already frightened eyes to go even wider; she nodded yes as a reason to get him to release her.

The Arbiter did just that, his head falling back and hitting the floor as he let go of Fluttershy. As the yellow pegasus began to go back to his wounds, he became reanimated, lifting his head up and pointing at Twilight, whose horn was practically turning red hot from all the effort she was putting into her healing spell.

"We need to... flank... call in reinforcements," he rambled, and as he finished, his head fell back with a dull thud once again.

"He's going into shock!" yelled Rarity, the arm she had been struggling to restrain going limp.

"Get him a blanket!" Twilight yelled back, trying to focus on her patient, "Keep him warm!"

Spike ran for the closet, looking for a spare comforter or anything big enough to cover the Arbiter's body. As he shifted through the closet, a sound like a wind outside followed by a tremendous explosion rattled in through the window, the whole room shaking.

"What was that?!" Dash yelled out, the quiet after the sudden thunder almost haunting, and Spike ran to the window.

"It's a ship," he answered, looking down and seeing a Covenant Phantom hovering over the gardens, its gun firing on their amassed equipment: the Ghosts, the console, their weapons and training yards, but strangely not their own drop ship, "They're destroying the courtyard!"

Spike watched as the attacking vessel's ventral doors opened, and scores of Elites jumped out; he lost sight of them as they rushed into the palace practically unhindered.

"What do we do?" Spike yelled, turning to the others as his voice cracked.

Each of their eyes looked to Twilight, and she swallowed hard.

"What the Shipmaster said," she answered, trying to keep her voice from quivering, "He's going to get help. We need to stay with the Arbiter."

She looked down as she finished, the Arbiter's arms and legs twitching as his chest convulsed, and right there she resolved that he would not die while she watched. Once again, her horn sparked a glow, and she enveloped the Arbiter's chest in the best healing spell she knew while Fluttershy kept on with the bandages. Outside, the sounds of screams, magic, and the high pitched hiss of plasma rang through the halls, and there was no question the palace was being stormed.

Twilight looked at her friends. Her heart was racing, and she realized she had never been so frightened in all her life. The look on her friends' faces matched her own, but at the same time, none of them even thought of doing anything other than what they were doing now; protecting the Arbiter, both from death and the Elites outside, until the Shipmaster returned with the princesses to help them.

It seemed like ages before a Sangheili silhouette came silently into the doorway, the light from the hall at his back pouring into the dark room around his sleek armor. Twilight and the others looked to the doorway expecting to see the Shipmaster, but when they saw four dots of blue light on his darkened helm, their hearts sank. The Elite drew his sword and its light illuminated his red armor, and they all knew help was far away.

"Stay back!" Twilight warned as the Elements rose from the ground, creating a wall of bodies between the Zealot and the Arbiter; their expressions were all terrified, but while some glared in determination and others hid their quickening breath, they all stood together.

The Covenant Zealot slowly stepped forward, not speaking as the tip of his sword dragged along the ground to create a line of sparks. The Elite took a moment to look around the room, seeing his dead comrades in pools of blood, and from behind his mask they heard a faint sigh. He approached the Elements slowly, and lifted his sword to light up whomever it was tat stood between him and his prey. When the light from his blade fell on the features of Spike, Twilight and Rainbow Dash, he snarled.

"The cretins from the mountains," he hissed, his voice higher than most Elites', "You saw to the death of two of my warriors by helping this traitor."

Twilight recalled the day the Swords had fell from the sky and landed in the mountains, how they had been ambushed by two Zealots, and how the Arbiter and the Shipmaster had gone off about how Zealots always come in threes; this must have been the third, the one they never found. Even from behind the helm that covered his face, Twilight could see the anger in the Zealot's eyes.

"We won't let you murder him!" she declared defiantly as the Zealot looked past her to the weak Arbiter.

"Murder?" the Zealot snarled, his head snapping back to Twilight as he towered over the ponies before him, "I call it justice."

He extended his arm, and used his blade to point at the Arbiter's motionless body.

"I'll kill him for the glory of the gods, and the Covenant," the Zealot sneered, pointing then to the Elements, "But I will kill you for sport!"

With that he raised his sword, its electric hum like a far off breath, and the room erupted. Dash, in a flash of colorful light, pounced the Zealot, knocking him back as she buried her hooves in his chest. Failing to knock him off his feet, she pushed the Elite back, his boots sliding across the floor. He reached down, his fingers enclosing around the pegasus' neck, and threw her away, her wings still flailing as she impacted the wall with a crack.

The Zealot kept on coming forward, and Applejack rushed him, rearing up to kick at him. Her hooves hit the Zealot's knees, and no later had the metallic ring of the Elites' armor sounded than the Elites' hand had come down on the side of her face, knocking her hat off as she fell hard.

The Elite kept coming, and when Rarity fired a spell at him he moved with sudden grace and cunning, weaving his torso around the bolt of magic like a torrent. Rarity's surprise was obvious when she froze, and was thrown aside as Dash and Applejack had. Her body flew into the bed of the room, and broke through the bedposts causing the canopy to fall down over her like a shroud.

Twilight was quick to fire, the splinters of the bedposts shattering yet to hit the ground before her own magic leapt for the Zealot's throat. The Elite blossomed his blade, the magic striking the plasma to no avail. In a fluid motion the Zealot kept the sword coming, and Twilight leaned back just far enough for the blade to miss her face. It was a crimson boot that hit her in the forehead instead.

Pinkie rushed him, dashing past him and taking his leg out, knocking him off balance. When she came back around, moving like a rose colored blur, the Zealot timed her arrival with the same knee she was aiming for. Pinkie fell hard, crying out in pain as her hooves flew out from under her.

Last between the assassin and the Arbiter was Fluttershy, who gaped up at the Zealot with tears of fear in her eyes. The Elite only shoved her aside, and stood over the Arbiter with his sword raised. The Arbiter looked up at him, helpless for all his strength, and coughed up some of his own blood. The Zealot's arm flexed, and as the sword started moving down, a chair shattered against his backside.

The Zealot stumbled forward, tripping over the Arbiter's body, and began reeling towards the window. As he stumbled Spike, who had gone previously unnoticed, curled up in a ball at his feet, tripping him. The Zealot fell against the window, breaking it under his weight, and fell through it along with thousands of pieces of silver glass. His screams of disbelief and rage silenced when he hit the ground.

Just then, the Shipmaster burst into the room, the princesses and Shining Armor close behind. The first thing they saw was Fluttershy, the legs of a broken chair clutched in the clefts of her hooves as she hovered over the Arbiter's body, her eyes still wet with tears of fear. 'Vadum rushed past the Elements, five of them just beginning to struggle back to their feet with the bruises and cuts they had just sustained marking their faces, and knelt at the Arbiter's side.

"Is he alive?" asked Princess Celestia as Luna wasted no time clotting his wounds with her healing magic.

"Barely," replied the Shipmaster as he cradled his friend's head; the Arbiter's breathing came a bit easier now as Luna's magic subtly chimed around him.

"You saved him," The Shipmaster rose from the Arbiter's side as he turned to the Elements and Spike, "You have my eternal gratitude."

"Are any of you hurt?" Princess Cadence asked as she flitted around the room, inspecting her sister-in-law and her friends for injuries.

"We'll be fine? They stormed the castle..." Twilight winced, before she was cut off by the Shipmaster.

"Partially," he corrected as he helped Pinkie Pie to her feet, the Arbiter's strength coming back to him at the expense of Luna's magic, "They have been repelled, at great cost."

As the Shipmaster finished, Luna looked at his arm, an indigo stream crawling over his skin.

"You're bleeding," she observed, causing the Shipmaster to shrug.

"Indeed."

"Let me help you," Luna bid, the Arbiter no longer needing her immediate attention, but the Shipmaster stopped her.

Just then, a Royal Guard found them, darting into the room out of breath.

"Princess," he said, drawing the eyes of those in the room onto himself, "The library... it's empty. They took it... all of it."

"What!?" Twilight yelled in disbelief, and she ran into the hall to go and see for herself.

She came back a little while later, her eyes large and shocked to match the ones she'd left behind, and nodded affirmation that it was horribly true; the library was empty.

"How did this happen?" Princess Celestia gasped, looking around at the chaos that had been sewn in her home.

The Shipmaster, looked around the dormitory, seeing the many bodies of those that had tried to take the Arbiter's life. The wind blew in through the shattered window, billowing the canopies and curtains of the bedroom. And as he looked at the corpses, the still dazed Arbiter trying to no avail to take his feet again, he saw an armor configuration that was familiar and telling.

"Ossoona," he said, approaching the dead Remnant Elite, whose armor was marked by cameras and recording devices, as well as an active camouflage module, "A spy. Who knows how long he's been shadowing us."

'Vadum kicked the body of the Ossoona over, seeing the wound in his chest that had claimed him, and as he thought over the implications of such a well executed infiltration, he realized something.

"This was a far more elaborate plan than we realized," he said, turning to face the others in the room, "Everything... from Trottingham until now... has been meticulously orchestrated."

The Shipmaster's implication raised many eyebrows, but Shining Armor was the first to speak.

"Well if they had time to plan since Trottingham, why haven't they attacked until now?" The stallion asked, his tone skeptical.

"They didn't know where we were," answered the Shipmaster, "They were unable to track us to this castle when we first arrived or since. We've been flying under their scanners or walking everywhere; they could not have tracked us."

"So what changed?" asked Luna.

The Shipmaster thought for a moment.

"They must have learned that we were able to listen to their communications somehow," he concluded, "Maybe they've been aware this whole time. Perhaps the landing at Trottingham was in part to convince us that they were unaware of our possession of the console."

The Shipmaster and his company, were both unsure, but these seemed the best answers they could reach.

"That answers how they lured you to battle," Celestia made reply, "but how did the know we were using Canterlot as our base of operations?"

The Shipmaster thought for a moment, racking his brain for an answer. Only one came to mind.

"The dud..."

He immediately began striding outside, and Celestia and Shining Armor followed him while the others stayed behind. He hurried to the courtyard, still on fire from when the Covenant drop ship had razed it, but in between the scattered pockets of flame, the console and their own Phantom were both unharmed. The Ghosts were destroyed, as was their training yard and most of their equipment, but the Phantom and the console were fine.

The Shipmaster approached the Phantom he had grown accustomed to piloting, and crawled underneath its nose as a mechanic.

"On our sortie, we thought an Unggoy had stuck us with a defective plasma grenade," he explained as he pried something off the hull, producing a small pink disc with a blinking red light in its center, "It was, in fact, a tracking device."

The Shipmaster crawled out from underneath the ship, and began inspecting the homing device in his hands. He then continued with his hypothesis about how they came to be attacked.

"The Ossoona was likely a reconnaissance element; there are myriad ways he could have infiltrated the palace given the Covenant's capabilities."

Celestia nodded.

"And so, they meant to cripple us," she said, "Take out our leaders and raid our knowledge stores, just as they did in Trottingham and the Griffon Kingdoms. They're targeting libraries."

"Why not take out the Phantom, and the console too?" asked Shining.

"For the prospect of further traps, and so they could continue to track us in case we relocated," answered the Shipmaster as he crushed the homing device in his hands.

He then looked up, his expression somewhere between a glare and a disappointed scowl, and said what needed to be done.

"Have the Royal Guard clear the castle, and move the Arbiter to the Medical Wing. Tomorrow we will move."

With that he started back for the palace, and over his shoulder said what each of them knew but was regretting accepting.

"Canterlot has been compromised."