“So what is that thing?” Dash asked no one in particular.

“Death,” Jaze whispered from his knees, so quietly that nopony could hear him.

“How’d ya find this again?” Applejack asked Twilight quietly.

“Like I said,” Twilight replied, “Dash and I were in the library and I was looking through my telescope and I happened to notice that the comet that we heard about today had changed course and was coming right at us.”

“Wait, why was Dash in the library?”

“That’s none of your business.” The cyan pegasus answered harshly.

“Why so defensive RD?” the farmer mocked.

“Fine, I’ll tell you! If you must know, I was trying to find a book a flying.”

“Really?”

“Yes, I came in to the library and saw Twilight looking through her telescope. We left to come over here shortly after I got there.”

Fluttershy was the first to notice Jaze’s position, “Jaze, are you okay?” she whispered in askance, breaking up what threatened to be an argument. Everypony turned their eyes from the sky to their friend in worry.

Fluttershy’s question brought the scarred soldier from his reverie, “Damn it,” he said as he ran back into the house for a second time.

“What’s eating him?” Dash said as she pointed to the departed soldier. Everypony, save Trixie, was baffled by his actions. Trixie had her suspicions that it might be the enemies that he had talked about, but why would a meteor cause him this much worry? It’s not like his enemies were from off this world.

Jaze was trying to unlock his closet door, but his shaking hands refused to work right at the moment. So he did the only logical thing, he lowered his shoulder and broke down the door. Inside was a small arsenal of all the weapons that had been stored in his Mule when he arrived. Working quickly, he geared himself for combat, grabbing all he would soon need to face the threat from another world. The first thing he donned was his light body armor, followed by the combat webbing needed to hold his weapons and ammo, and finally he attached a large assault rifle to the webbing. Jaze rolled his shoulders; he had forgotten how constricting the gear was. As he walked pass Sairugi, the soldier grabbed it and tied it to his belt. He had never failed to carry the sword into battle, and he had never failed to survive. He did not want to mess with a winning formula.

He knew that his mind was just throwing these factoids up in order to distract him from more pressing matters. The Cye were here, in Equestria. He did not want to believe it, but believe it or not it was happening and all he could do was try and stop them before they caused too much damage. There was, after all, only one ship and he doubted they had a troop carrier in orbit to provide reinforcements. He tore out of the house as fast as he could without running into the walls. He almost barreled into Trixie, who was coming in to check on him.

“Are you okay Jaze?” she asked worriedly, “What is all that? “What’s going on?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything.” He said as he brushed past, “And don’t follow me this time. You’ll only get hurt.” His mind was focused on what he had to. He had become cold and seemingly unfeeling. Trixie stared after her friend as he ran into the forest, moving so fast his feet never appeared to touch the ground. Everypony watched his mad dash into the forbidding trees.

“What is going on?” Rarity asked Trixie.

“Why ask me?” she quickly responded.

“‘Cause ya look like ya know sumthin’.” Applejack answered suspiciously.

“Well I…” Trixie sighed, “I do know something but I don’t want to say more in case I upset Jaze. I’m going to go after him. Please don’t follow me; it will only make him more upset.” The blue unicorn took off as fast as she could into the forest after Jaze, desperately hoping that she was wrong about the cause of his agitation.

Jaze was running through the forest; heedless of the branches slapping his face and arms. He had lost sight of the troopship when he entered the forest, though he knew exactly where the Cye soldiers would go first. He raced to beat them to it, the downed fighter. Or at least, the crater that it left over after it exploded. He arrived at the hole in the ground in record time and took up position underneath a bush that would hide him from anything approaching. He focused his attention in the direction of a clearing in the forest, counting on the ship setting down there to unleash the troops.

He had been waiting several minutes before the first of the Cye showed up. First one, then two, until a total of ten of the androids were grouped around the lip of the crater. The Cye were humanoid, with two arms and legs a piece with a head about where it was supposed to be. Jaze took a steadying breath and clicked the safety off his rifle. As he was about to squeeze a burst into their formation, a twig snapped on a path perpendicular to him and the Cye. The concealed soldier twisted as quietly as he could to see what was there as the Cye spun and raised their weapons.

Standing there, a horrified look on her face, was Trixie. Jaze’s breath stuck in his chest and his heart skipped several beats. What is she doing here?, he asked himself silently, she was supposed to stay in Ponyville! He wanted to shout out, tell her to run. But he knew that would probably only get her and himself killed. He had to rely on the fact that the typical Cye soldier was stupid and that they did not know that she was intelligent.

The lead machine suddenly spoke in a synthesized voice, “Quadruped creature had contact with target. Quadruped reclassified as ‘target’. Mission directive zero-zero-one, ‘terminate all targets’.” That little speech over, they all leveled their weapons at the terrified blue unicorn.

In the moments before Jaze knew that they would open fire, his memories of Trixie flooded his mind. He saw her laughter, her tears, her fears, her hopes and dreams. He saw her smile and he knew. He knew that somehow, he had fallen for this little pony.

His mind balked at what his heart was telling him, he refused to believe it. Believe it or not, the feelings were there and they were real. “Dammit all,” he whispered as he broke from cover to throw himself in front of Trixie. As he looked into the “eyes” of the androids, he knew he was moments from death. “Run Trixie! Get the hell away from here!” He shouted as he closed his eyes and spread his arms; trying to cover as wide an area as he could. All his anger, his sorrow would soon be over. Just let me be a shield for her, he thought desperately, “Tell Celestia…”

“Primary target identified. Mission directive zero-zero-one, ‘terminate all targets’. Open fire on primary target.” Jaze heard the click of several rifles going to metallic shoulders as the trained their guns on him. Trixie had not moved, her terror had her riveted in place.

“Run, damn you, run.” He yelled as the deafening roar of gunfire filled the forest. For several seconds Jaze thought that they were toying with him as no bullet had so much as grazed him. But the Cye didn’t play, they just killed. And after half a minute of bullets failing to hit him, Jaze opened his eyes.

He figured he must have already been hit and his mind was trying to comfort him. Before him, shimmering in the light filtering down through the trees, was a magical shield of bright blue-silver. He was dumbfounded by the sight and twisted to look at his unicorn friend.

“Are you doing this?!” He screamed over the sound of weapons fire. Trixie only shook her head and pointed to his hands. They were glowing the same blue-silver color as the shield, “I’m doing this? How, I don’t have magic?” Jaze looked through the translucent shield to see the Cye still firing the weapons ineffectually at him and Trixie. He did not know how long he could sustain his new magical talent. Who was he kidding; he didn’t know anything about it. He also didn’t care, he was just thankful that it had showed up when it did.

A small plume of dirt was kicked up next to his foot. The shield was breaking down, “Trixie, when I say ‘now’ dive behind a tree and stay there until this is over. Can you do that?” She gave a shaky nod, “Don’t worry I’ve done this kind of thing before.” He gave a sudden feral growl of pain as bullet slammed into his hip.

It was now or never, “NOW!” the soldier shouted as his shield fizzled out and Trixie jumped behind a tree to the best of her abilities while Jaze dove the other way, spraying his rifle on full auto at the Cye to draw their attention to him. He landed behind a tree and could hear the bullets crashing into the tree as he checked the wound on his hip. Deeming it non-life threatening, he decided to mop up the machines trying to kill him before fully tending to himself. He came around the tree and fired a tight burst into the “chest” of one of the Cye troopers. It fell with a thud that put a smile of satisfaction on the soldier’s face. Despite not holding a rifle for several months he was still a crack shot. Old habits really do die hard, he thought, glad that he did not have to teach himself to shoot again in the middle of a battle.

Jaze had to make a dash for another tree; the one he was hiding behind was starting to look a little to ragged to continue protecting him for much longer. He sprinted from cover to cover; firing the last rounds from his clip in one long spray to cut down three more of the robots. As the Cye soldiers reacquired his location and began pounding his tree with more fire, Jaze slapped his last magazine into the receiver in the butt of his gun.

He stepped out from cover and fired three short bursts, killing two more and knocking a third down, which he put another burst into to finish it off before dropping back into cover. That makes three left, he thought determinedly, steeling himself for the last push, let’s do this. He jumped out and used the spray and pray method of target acquisition, counting on the fact that they were still grouped out in the open.

Two more fell, with the third taking a few minor hits to non-vital areas. It was drawing a bead on Jaze even as the soldier brought his gun up to deliver a killing shot. He squeezed the trigger, but was only greeted with a muted click as the pin dropped on an empty chamber. With a curse, he dove behind a fallen log. The air was filled with slugs zooming over the log and drilling into it. Jaze knew he could not stay where he was for long; the log was already beginning to break apart. From where he was, the soldier could just see Trixie’s hiding place. He watched in horror as she stepped out and started yelling at the android, trying to call it off her soldier friend.

As it spun and peppered her area with rounds, Jaze vaulted over the log and made for the Cye trooper in a rush. It spun back to him just in time to get a shoulder in its chest. The enraged soldier’s momentum carried them both in to a tree. Jaze felt a ripping pain in his shoulder as the robot’s chest was crushed around it. Heedless of the pain, he drew back his left hand and delivered a literally crushing blow to the thing’s head. Head in tatters, the final Cye trooper fell to the forest floor and twitched a little as it shut down. Jaze looked at his left hand; it had been severely injured by the blow he delivered. His shoulder was also bleeding profusely; some stray piece of metal had apparently cut him when he had rammed that last machine. He did not care; all his opponents were dead and he was alive. He could worry about healing later.

Jaze stood next to the crater, panting and feeling a flushed excitement flowing throughout his body. He had forgotten the rush he got from combat. He hated that he had actually enjoyed the fight on any level but he could not help but glare with satisfaction at the Cye bodies littering the ground around him. Suddenly remembering that he was not alone, the soldier rushed over to where Trixie had been hiding from her first taste of war. He came around the tree to find Trixie lying on the ground, shaking violently with a glazed look in her eyes.

“Are you alright? Are you hit?” asked the soldier as he gave her a quick check over. He could not see anything physically wrong with her so he just held the shaking unicorn in his arms to try and calm her down. Slowly she stopped shaking and her eyes cleared.

“WHAT WAS THAT?” she suddenly yelled at Jaze.

Still holding her he replied, “That is why I did not want anypony to know about war. About me.”

“And what the hay were those things?”

“I’ll explain when we get back to Ponyville.” he assured her.

“For real? No lies?” she asked with suspicion creeping into her voice.

“Yes, I’ll tell you and the others everything. I’m tired of lying. But first I have to tell Princess Celestia and Princess Luna what happened.”

“Leaving so soon, boy?” A cold, deadly voice asked from the trees above.

Jaze looked up to see an older man with light brown hair that was just beginning to turn gray and eyes so dark they were almost black sitting in the branches of a nearby tree. The young soldier could not tell why, but he immediately felt an intense dislike for this man. Everything about him seemed wrong, from his cold smile to the look in his eyes as he surveyed the scene before him.

“Who are you?” Jaze asked cautiously.

“I thought you might have recognized me. No?” He sighed, “Oh well, I know who you are and that’s all that matters.”

“What do you mean that I should recognize you? And what do you mean you know who I am?” Jaze was well and truly confused.

“I mean I know what you were before, back when you still lived in the shadows.” The man wore a smile of contempt, “You are the ‘Twin Winds’, you and that sword of yours.”

“How do you know that name?!” Jaze yelled as he stood to face the man in the tree.

He dropped down to the forest floor, “Simple, I saw you eight years ago on one of your ‘jobs’. That execution was simply beautiful. That was some wonderful swordsmanship, simply wonderful.”

A look of understanding crossed Jaze’s face, “You know that I was…”

“An assassin? Yes I know very well.” He gave another cold smile, “In fact you could say you even inspired me to take up the sword myself. I could not believe that a child could be so powerful.”

“That is how you know me, but how do I know you?”

He merely smiled, “The name is Carn, by the way. Where are your manners?”

“Yeah, my name’s Jaze. Now answer the damn question.”

Carn’s smile only grew wider; he seemed to enjoy tugging the young man around, “After I saw you kill that man, I wanted to share that kind of power. So I quit my job as a merchant and began traveling the galaxy as a sword for hire. It was fun and I gained a taste of the power I wanted. But it wasn’t enough, I wanted, no I needed more. I did not want to be your equal; I wanted to be your better. So looked for a way to gain the kind of power you didn’t have. It did not take me long to find these pitiful machines on a backwater planet. I gave them a purpose and they gave me power.” He held his arms out wide, “I am like a god to these machines. I lifted them from obscurity and made them the fear of an entire race. Pretty good, isn’t it?”

“So you just unleashed these robots on humanity? For no reason?”

“No, not for no reason. The reason was simple: I was passing judgment on humanity. All humans are foul little monsters; they don’t deserve to continue their existence. So I started Armageddon.”

“You’re sick!” Trixie called as she climbed to her feet, “How can you pass judgment on everypony? What gives you that right?”

“That’s simple, my furry friend. I have the power, so I can make the rules. That is just how the universe works.” Carn said with a malicious grin to the disgusted unicorn.

Jaze unconsciously stepped between Carn and Trixie, “You still have not answered my question. How do I know you?”

“You know, I never made the connection between the young sword wielding soldier on Vaseti and the boy that inspired me to become what I am today. At least not until some months later. I’ve been looking for you since then and now I’ve finally found you. Nice moves there, by the way; you destroyed a lot of my Cye with that sword to get to me.”

Jaze finally understood, and his voice became as cold as Carn’s “You; you were the one that killed Evelyn, aren’t you?”

“If Evelyn was that pretty young woman who I put a bullet in her heart, then yes. Congrats boy, you win the grand prize.”

“I’M GOING TO KILLYOU!” Jaze roared as he lunged at Carn and drew Sairugi in one motion. Carn nimbly sidestepped, avoiding the killing blow by millimeters. Jaze was quick to recover and launched another assault on the older man.

Trixie watched in awe as Jaze tried to land a blow with his sword on the insane leader of the Cye. It seemed a losing battle, as the older human was able to avoid every blow with relative ease. The unicorn had never seen her friend like this; his eyes shone in unbridled fury as he tried with all his being to kill another being. For the first time since she first laid eyes on him, Trixie was afraid of Jaze.

“Enough.” said Carn calmly. As Jaze came in close for another swing, the older man stepped in under the sword and delivered a powerful blow to Jaze’s face. It sent him stumbling into a tree, where he fell down into a sitting position. Before he could regain his feet, a boot planted itself on his injured shoulder; causing him to cry out in pain.

“Move and I kill the pony.” Carn said as he pointed a pistol at Trixie. Jaze froze afraid to let someone else die because of him. “That’s better,” Carn said; then he saw the blood all over the man under his boot, “you fought me that well in that rough a shape. That’s pretty impressive, youngling. Tell you what, I’m going to leave this planet and let you get all better. Then I’m going to come back with all the Cye I can muster. You have two months to prepare, I suggest that you try to find some help between now and then.” He held up a warning finger, “But if you try to run away, I will kill every pony on this planet.” Jaze was glaring daggers at the man standing on him, “Is that understood?” The young soldier nodded, “Good, now I’m going to leave.” He removed his foot from Jaze’s shoulder, who slumped over in a pose of defeat.

As he was walking away, Carn paused, “Oh this is for you.” He tossed a small tube at Jaze, “It’s how I found you. You should keep it; it makes a pretty sweet picture.” With that parting shot, Carn soon disappeared into the forest.

Jaze did not want to look, but he did anyway. He popped open the tube and pulled out a small roll-able viewing screen. Turning on the power, the screen warmed to display a picture of him and Trixie on the roof of his house, his arm thrown over her to ward off the cold. A small tear rolled down Jaze’s cheek as he realized what he had done.

He had brought War to Equestria.