Pardus heard and saw what Panthera did as she relayed what was going on at that moment in Griffonstone.

"M'lord! Riots have broken out in the city and countryside. Word's gotten out!" the hen guard told Tail Feather as she handed him the rolled up newspaper. Panthera's eyes caught what was printed a fraction of a second before the griffon emperor did and Pardus instantly understood the implications, and he tensed as he turned to face the direction of the Griffon Empire.

"Celestia! Gustav! There's trouble!" he called out. Then glaring over his shoulder at Gustav, he added, "It's begun! Gustav needed no more explanation. Immediately, the ambassador took off for the Embassy.

"What sort of trouble, Pardus?" Celestia demanded after getting over the astonishment of Gustav's hasty departure.

"The very thing we were hoping to head off with the discussions Gustav and I were planning to have with you," Pardus told her. "Instead, we're too late! Word's gotten out that the griffons are about to become extinct! They're all about to commit racial suicide, only they're not going to go down without a fight!"

Celestia's eyes widened in comprehension, then she turned toward the press pool, who were all dumbfounded by the goings on.

"Apologies, my little ponies, but a national emergency has just erupted," she told them. "This press briefing is concluded. I hold you all to properly and responsibly inform the public, but I will not tolerate the fomenting of panic. Tell the public that the Guard is being mobilized and will deal with this emergency."

"What emergency, Your Highness?" one of the reporters asked.

"War has broken out with the Griffon Empire," she said to their astonishment. "Perhaps the last war that they will ever fight, but our nation is now under a state of emergency!"

"Trevar and Panthera are currently with Tail Feather at this moment," Pardus informed her after the press pool departed—although it was more like they had stampeded out of there.

"Can you tell me how Emperor Tail Feather is reacting to this?" she asked. Pardus sighed.

"It's—it's not looking good," he grimly replied.

"Work with me, Tail Feather! You don't need to do this!" Trevar shouted.

"Unfortunately, I must, My Lord," Tail Feather grimly told him as he finished up a quick note which he promptly rolled up and tucked into a underwing pocket in his royal vest.

To his elite guards, Tail Feather said, "Griffons! It has been an honor to serve with you. I regret that this will be the last day we will be together. I am sorry to tell you that you have one—final duty to perform: get me to one of the princesses. I would prefer it be Princess Celestia, but Princess Luna will do. Their guards will try to stop me, but you must get me through at all cost! After that—" He paused to nervously gulp.

"After that, withdraw—and—leave me to face—my fate," he continued, "and—and be free to seek your own demise. Good luck to us all."

"Tail Feather!" Trevar called out, but they left without acknowledging him.

"Hmm, I guess there is a limit to this 'Cat-lord' business, after all," Panthera muttered.

"Looks like it," Trevar grimly replied. "But maybe not the end of its usefulness."

As Celestia left to wake her sister, Pardus flew over to the Griffon Embassy and saw Gustav, Gilda, and several more Embassy staff griffons flying back toward the castle. By Pardus' count, it was the entire thirty griffon contingent.

"What are your intentions, Gustav?" Pardus sharply demanded. "Trevar and I don't want you to fight against the ponies!"

"We're not going to," Gustav replied. "We're fighting alongside Princess Celestia."

"You're not leaving anyone to remain?"

"After today, there won't be an Empire for there to be an embassy for," he grimly replied. Pardus sighed. At least he was spared the effort of intervening to prevent a bloodbath here in Canterlot.

Does this mean we'll deal with it all at their border? Pardus wondered.

"Will you have problems fighting your own?" Pardus inquired as he turned to join the ambassador.

"Be it to die by hoof or claw, it doesn't matter," Gustav replied. "At times like this, so long as death is delivered by a friend is all that counts. It may not be as glorious as fighting an enemy, but it is still an honorable way to die."

"Hmph! I can definitely see you and the Klingons becoming fast friends," Pardus grumbled, "after you've both finished shredding each other to pieces."

When she got up this morning, Lieutenant Scott noticed the activity in the field outside of town where yesterday's battle took place. After showering, getting dressed, and a quick breakfast, she departed her quarters, greeting her escorts and the guards stationed at Trevar's house before making her way toward the field.

Before she spotted any of the native creatures, she could see how nearly half an acre had been completely cleared out. The field consisting of numerous shallow craters of broken sod among the close cropped grass covering. Gone where all the apple trees that used to be there. Instead, what remained of them consisted of three huge, but ordered piles of debris: large trunks stacked neatly in a series of triangles consisting of fifteen trunks per stack, a massive accumulation of stumps and their roots still attached off to one end of the row along the road, and a large pile of branches, twigs, and leaves at the other end.

"Good morning, everyone," she called out as she got within hailing distance. The orange farm pony and her family were there, as were the blue and yellow pegasi, the pink regular horse, and the white unicorn who had caused her such trouble last week. They all looked to have recently finished some feast and were lying or sitting about in repose.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Scott," the purple princess returned the greeting. She and her friends all got up and approached. "Did you sleep well?"

I have to remember her name: Twilight Sparkle, Scott thought to herself. She is one of their royalty, after all. But such a hideous name! She inwardly shuddered.

"Other than a few nightmares after seeing what happened yesterday, yeah," she replied, grimacing.

"Oh!" the alicorn exclaimed. "I should ask Princess Luna to help you once Spike gets here."

"Oh, dear!" the white unicorn also exclaimed. "How dreadful!"

"Wait," Scott said. "She can do that? How? And—please—don't just say it's 'magic'."

"Well, it is," Twilight Sparkle replied. "But one of Luna's specialties is patrolling ponies' dreams to keep nightmares at bay."

"You mean, she can read people's minds?" Scott asked, horrified at the idea.

"Only when they sleep," the purple pony said. "Oh, I understand how you humans fear that sort of thing. But, believe me, nightmares are something to fear more. Nightmares are not just disturbing dreams," she explained. "In this world, they're real entities that can infect a sleeping pony—or person, in your case—and cause real, everlasting harm to your psyche."

"Really?" Scott skeptically asked. "That's a thing, here?"

"Seriously," the purple alicorn stated nodding. "There have been humans who visited us before, and they had similar reluctance to Princess Luna's intervention when it was needed. Captain Picard greatly regretted not heeding Luna's advice when he was warned. Only a few of those who ended up being affected by nightmares ever recovered. Two of his crew died and thirteen others were still completely insane when their ship departed. Unfortunately, I have no idea if they ever recovered when they returned to their home world."

"She's tellin' ya the truth, sugarcube," the orange farm pony spoke up. "Nightmares ain't nothin' ta sneeze at."

"Oh, I see," Scott quietly replied, nervously gulping. "I—is—there anyway of determining if the dream is a real risk as opposed to just—well—disturbing? I mean, we humans have been dealing with bad dreams for all our lives, but we hardly ever have real problems from them. They're just dreams, after all. Heck, for some, they can be a source for inspiration, or even a source entertainment." The purple equine blinked at that.

"You humans can be entertained by something like that? How is that even possible?" the blue pegasus with the colorful mane and tail demanded. "You guys are weird!"

"So says the talking sky blue pegasus," Scott muttered.

"Say what?" the creature demanded.

"I understand her concerns, Rainbow," the purple pony cut in before the discussion could further be derailed. "Do be aware, Lieutenant. Nightmares are subtle. You might not notice you're in danger before it's too late to do anything about it."

"I—I guess so," she reluctantly acknowledged. "It was just, well, I'm not sure which is more horrifying. That Mr. Trevar was stabbed like that! Or that he that he is supposed to be dead but isn't! We humans have some real horrific stories and terrors about people who can't be killed by normal means."

"I guess it all depends on your perspective," Twilight finally replied with a shrug of her wings. "I mean, it could easily be disturbing to us ponies, too. But after some of the things we've lived through with Discord, magically cursed unicorns, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, and Nightmare Moon—encountering a virtually unkillable creature who fights to save lives is a rather nice change of pace."

Scott realized she couldn't really argue that point.

Right then, the bipedal reptile—or "dragon", Scott had to remind herself before she got into some EEO incident with these beings—came running from town, urgently shouting for the purple princess.

"Twilight! Twi-i-i-li-iight! Trouble in Canterlot!" the clearly winded creature yelled when he got closer. When he was near enough, she saw that the dragon was holding a rolled up scroll in his hands/paws/claws—whatever.

"Oh, no!" the purple pony exclaimed when she read the message handed to her. "The griffons have gone to war!"

"With whom?" Scott asked, astonished.

"With us!" Twilight Sparkle exclaimed.

But that means— Scott thought, but her mind was suddenly without words as she turned to stare at Trevar's house. The implications were clear. Trevar's guests, and quite probably his paramours, were now enemy combatants in the middle of a nation now at war!

That—idiot! she furiously railed in her thoughts. By taking those creatures as lovers, he's likely made himself, and quite probably, ME, too, as people who will be considered to be collaborators with The Enemy!

When she turned back to the ponies, Scott saw that the blue pegasus evidently was thinking the same thing as she was angrily glaring at Trevar's house. Before Scott could react, she had zipped through the air to the structure and started pounding upon the door.

"Come on, girls!" the purple one yelled as she galloped after the colorful winged equine and the others all followed. Fearful, Scott ran, too. It was then she noticed her escort hadn't moved until she did, meaning they took their duties very seriously. Scott could certainly admire that kind of dedication and professionalism, even if it ultimately meant she's not likely to be forgotten and have the chance to escape to run and hide in the event this emergency causes things to go south for her.

Fuck that bastard for causing this mess! she fumed.

A three-way argument had broken out by the time Scott returned to their houses. The blue pegasus was in a yelling match with the pony guards assigned there and the purple alicorn was arguing with both the guards and her pegasus friend. The door opened right then and it instantly became a four-way jumble of shouting when the three griffons there joined in the yelling match.

The noise only abated when the purple alicorn let out a shrill whistle that should have been utterly impossible to achieve by blowing over her hoof like that.

The sudden quiet lasted only long enough for the blue pegasus to regain her breath and start the argument once more with a clear yell at the griffons.

"Why're you griffons goin' to war with us!?" she shrieked.

"Rainbow!" Twilight Sparkle shouted.

But the damage was done. However, the expected angry reaction from the griffons didn't come. Instead, they looked at each other with abashed expressions and sat down.

"So," one of them muttered. "Word has finally gotten out."

"What 'word'?" the blue pegasus demanded. "Are you spies? Was it some code word for 'attack'?"

"Rainbow! That's not helping!" the purple pony admonished.

"What's going on, Blood Feather?" she kindly asked.

"Our end has arrived," the griffon admitted, but her reply only seemed to make matters less understood.

"What do you mean?" the princess pony asked again.

"We should go," the one called Blood Feather said. "We should go to die with the others."

"NO!" the other two griffons yelled at her, surprising not only Blood Feather but the ponies, as well.

"The Cat-Lord and the shadowcats ordered us to stay here and guard their home!" the griffon with the lion forepaws yelled, getting into Blood Feather's face.

"But we failed!" Blood Feather protested, looking distraught. "We've failed the Cat-Lord! We've failed the shadowcats! We've failed the Emperor and Ambassador Gustav! We've failed our species!"

"Not yet, we haven't!" the third griffon shouted with a determination to match her backwards comrade. "The Cat-Lord has entrusted us to stay alive!"

"He didn't entrust ME!" Blood Feather wailed mournfully.

"He will!" the griffon with the lion forepaws snarled, pushing further into Blood Feather's face. "HE WILL! He will return! We have to have faith! He's gone with Gilda to meet with the ambassador and the Emperor, and he'll be back for you! FOR ALL OF US!"

Whatever they were talking about seemed to have some effect on the one named Blood Feather. Her expression slowly changed from one of despair to determination before she turned toward the purple equine.

"Blood Feather?" the alicorn asked once more. "What's going on?"

"Princess—Princess Twilight Sparkle," Blood Feather said suddenly with a very grim tone of voice. "As our two nations are now at war, I fully understand your duty to protect Equestria. But please bear in mind we are here in a diplomatic capacity on behalf of Ambassador Gustav as liaison to and protectors of Allec Trevar, whom Princess Celestia had granted full diplomatic status in his own right as a representative of his species. I know it is within your power to deny this request, but I make it nonetheless: please inform our fellow griffons staying at your castle of the situation and allow them to come here so that we can all continue guarding Trevar's home during this crisis.

"If you are agreeable, we shall consider ourselves to be under house arrest here until the end of hostilities and remain here without giving you any protest or trouble for our stay. Please honor this request in the same spirit of friendship that Princess Celestia had granted it before this emergency," Blood Feather finished with a deep bow to the purple princess.

Twilight Sparkle stared at her in astonishment.

"Don't do it, Twilight!" the blue pegasus warned.

"I'll-I'll take in under advisement," the alicorn replied. "To help me decide, I need to know some things. First, who is this 'Cat-Lord' you speak of?"

"You—you weren't supposed to hear that," the third griffon quietly muttered.

"Nonetheless, I did," Twilight snapped, not broking any argument.

"It's not like he likes being called that," the one with the lion forepaws said to Blood Feather. "He is Allec Trevar," she said to the princess when it looked like Blood Feather wasn't going to be forthcoming. "Allec Trevar is the Cat-Lord."

"I don't understand, Mittens," the purple pony complained. "Why do you call him that?"

"It's—it's hard to explain," Blood Feather finally spoke up. "When we—when we griffons hear his voice—we just know! We know he's the Cat-Lord!"

"But what is the Cat-Lord?" the princess asked.

"He's—he's—one of our progenitors," the one with the lion forepaws explained.

'Mittens'—that's what the alicorn addressed her as, Scott thought as she tried to commit the name to memory.

"A creation myth?" the purple pony inquired. "Is that what this is about?"

"NOT a myth!" the third griffon snapped. "LOOK AT US! We griffons literally ARE part feline, part bird of prey!"

"The Sky-Lord, as the Great Eagle, and the Cat-Lord mated in the ancient past, where not only we griffons, but the shadowcats, too, came from!" Mittens told her.

"But Allec Trevar can't be this Cat-Lord, you speak of!" the purple pony protested. "He's not from this world! He's not even remotely feline!"

"He is!" Blood Feather insisted. "We can hear him!"

"Okay—okay, setting that aside for now, why are you going to war with us?"

The griffons looked at each other nervously.

"It's a state-secret!" Blood Feather said.

"A secret that's obviously been blow wide open, if we're going to war like this," the third griffon countered.

"Yeah, the ponies are going to find it out soon enough. But it won't help them to know why they're dying," Mittens added.

Blood Feather nervously gulped and turned to the alicorn to respond.

"The secret is, that we're dying!" she said. "We griffons are dying as a species. The few of us who've know about it have been keeping the secret from the rest of the population to prevent this very thing from happening."

"But why go to war against us?" the princess cried.

"Because of what we are!" Blood Feather hissed. "We're fighters! We're warriors! But our past wars with Equestria cost us, cost us much more than territory, or our military might, or even our lives. Genetic collapse in inevitable. In a fistful of generations, we will end, one way or another. Our emperors have known this for several generations already. They've been desperately searching for a solution only to come up empty until now. That is, until the Cat-Lord showed up last week!"

"Oh, good God!" Scott exclaimed, finally understanding what has been going on. "That's why you've been fucking his brains out all this time?" Her hand went to cover her mouth.

"It's working," Mittens responded. "Pardus told us that several of us are pregnant from the Cat-Lord and him."

"But with word getting out, it's too late!" the third griffon exclaimed. "Not even the Cat-Lord can save us now!"

"But why go to war?" the blue pegasus yelled. "Why attack us?"

"If you learned your species was about to end," Blood Feather challenged her, "would you just sit back and wait to see the last of your kind be born, knowing there will be no more? Or would you go out fighting? Even knowing you won't possibly win against all those whom you attack? We know this, but at least we'll go out as warriors!"

"But why attack us?" Twilight cried. "We ponies—we're your friends!"

"What better way to die?" Blood Feather asked her, grinning. "We'll all die at your hooves. Hooves, claws, or spears, at least we'll have the honor of being slain in battle. While we have no enemies among our neighbors to fight to make our deaths glorious, we still can die an honorable death in battle with our friends. It's far—far better than—to die—from—that THING which is killing us as a species," she finished with what even Scott could see was a disgusted expression on her face.

Scott saw the ponies' pupils and irises all shrink, even the guard ponies, at this announcement. But the purple one's shrunk so much they were barely visible dots.

"Oh, no, no, no! No! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!" Twilight Sparkle cried out, her voice quickly rising to a scream as she suddenly back up in horror.

"Twilight?" the blue pegasus asked.

"What's up sugarcube?" the orange farm pony also inquired.

"Emperor Tail Feather!" she exclaimed, looking at her friends still with that horrific expression. "He considers Princess Celestia to be his CLOSEST FRIEND!"

"He'll go after her, personally!" Scott exclaimed, comprehending what was freaking out the pony princess. "To either die by her hoof, or kill her instead!"

"We—we have to go! NOW!" the princess yelled as her horn flared with an eldritch purple glow, and Scott instinctively backed up, bumping into something, and suddenly her entire world, everything, became purple.

Then green as her eyes tried to compensate for the brilliance of the flash. Only for her stomach to suddenly rebel and she quickly turned around before violently expelling this morning's breakfast.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Scott heard a pony scream at the same instant she heard another burst out laughing.

"Rainbow Dash! That is NOT funny!" Scott heard the voice of the white unicorn scream as her vision slowly recovered. She could just make out the white unicorn turning the corner as she left the room they were in. Or rather, the large cathedral-like chamber.

"Welcome, my little ponies," another voice chimed in. A voice that was unnervingly familiar, especially when it continued. "And Lieutenant Scott," the voice finished with a decidedly less-than-friendly tone. Scott looked about and saw the tall alicorn princess glaring at her. In that instant of looking about, her mind also noted that her escort was not present.

We—we teleported! she realized, nervously gulping.

"I'm—I'm going to get into trouble for this, aren't I?" Scott inquired.

"We shall see," Princess Celestia responded. "At the moment, I've more important matters to consider."

"I think that's why we're here," Scott muttered as Twilight spoke up.

"Princess Celestia!" she exclaimed in obvious panic, "I just found out from the griffons in Ponyville that Emperor Tail Feather will probably seek to fight you, personally!"

"Yes, I've already made her aware of this," the silky smooth voice of the male shadowcat said. Scott and the others turned to look and saw not only him, but a couple dozen griffons standing by, too. "Trevar and Panthera are currently at Griffonstone with Tail Feather."

"What the hell is he doing there!?" Scott yelled. Then she saw a couple dozen griffons standing nearby. "And what the hell are they doing here!?"

"Ambassador Gustav!?" the purple princes exclaimed, at the same time the blue pegasus yelled out as she shot forward to engage one of the griffons, just as it rose eager to fight, too.

"SILENCE!" the panther suddenly roared as he jumped in between them, and the it looked to Scott as though both the blue pegasus and griffon each ran face first into invisible walls on either side of him before slowly sliding down whatever they hit back to the floor.

"Trevar is trying to calm things down over there," Pardus growled at Scott amid the stunned silence that filled the throne room. "And although he's without much success, he's evidently having far better luck than we are here!" His tractor beam might be on the fritz, but he still had his shields to keep Rainbow and Gilda from giving everyone a preview in miniature of what the two nations were about to do in macro.

Seeing the group of ponies and Scott suddenly pop into existence among them was surprising. Seeing Scott, who evidently had bumped into Rarity just prior to their teleport suddenly spin about and promptly barf all over the pristinely fashionable unicorn was hilarious. Holding himself back from bursting out in guffaws to join Rainbow Dash at the sight was almost painful, but the situation at hand was too serious to have let go of his control.

"Apologies, everyone," Pardus stated. "You were saying, Celestia?"

"I was about to ask Ambassador Gustav what we can expect," Celestia replied, turning her head to the griffon.

"You can expect the entire population to be coming," Gustav grimly told her. "This isn't going to be like any of the previous wars we've had with you, where the fighting was restricted to just professionally trained soldiers and reservists. This will be everygriff that can take wing, from the oldest of us to the smallest fledglings who can barely lift off the ground!"

"Panthera reports that only Tail Feather's guards are armored and armed," Pardus spoke up when she relayed what she was seeing. "No one else appears to be armed or armored."

"Hah!" Rainbow Dash crowed. "Our guards will cut them to pieces, then! There's no way the griffons are going to win!"

"That's exactly the point of all this," Gustav snapped at her. "We don't expect to win! We expect to die! But your forces will be facing odds of three hundred or more to one! Numbers alone will devastate your guard!" That announcement had the desired effect to make it sink in just how serious the situation should be taken as the pupils and irises of newly arrived ponies from Ponyville shrunk to dots.

"But—then—why are Emperor Tail Feather's guards armed?" Twilight Sparkle demanded.

"To make sure he gets to either Celestia or Luna," Pardus answered for Gustav, but kept his eyes on the diarchs. "Trevar and Panthera were there to hear him giving them their instructions. Once he gets to either of them, they are to withdraw and seek their own deaths—any of those who still live, that is."

"Oh, Good Lord!" Lieutenant Scott exclaimed. "It's like the kamikaze on steroids!" Pardus held himself back from agreeing with her. I'm not supposed to know that reference, he reminded himself.

"I knoweth I shouldst feeleth honor'd to has't been chosen," Luna spoke up amid the silence that followed the grim news. "I hast hath met Tail Feather and hath found him worthy of his position. We apace hath found fellowship in the ways of the warri'r. But cometh the end of this tomorrow, I shall beest erning f'r ending his life! I wish thither wast a way to stand ho this!"

Trevar and Panthera stepped outside the castle to see Tail Feather stoically perched upon the head of the large statue of some past griffon ruler, just waiting, facing just north of due west. Facing Equestria. Thousands of griffons were arrayed variously upon the ground or on some buildings or on the few branches that could support them on the remaining trees, all just watching him. Beyond the confines of the city, dark clouds made of innumerable griffons still flew and moved as griffons moved in graceful aerial melee; their collective screams of rage audible even this far away. But little by little, more and more of the inner sides of those clouds were settling to land and go silent, waiting for some signal.

They advanced on Tail Feather's position. His personal guard was uncertain. They had heard him arguing with Tail Feather for finding some way of stopping this and Tail Feather's refusal. Naturally, they had all reacted as expected to hearing his voice, but something in the griffons' psyche was exceeding even whatever command Trevar must have over them.

"Tail Feather! Please! Let me help you!" Trevar shouted up at him.

At hearing his voice, numerous other nearby griffons reacted, too. And the results were just what Trevar dreaded.

"The Cat-Lord!" one griffon yelled out.

"He's come! He finally come to see us die!" another shouted.

"We'll show the Cat-Lord how true griffons die!" cheered yet another and things only got worse from there. And with all the noise, Trevar's calls to Tail Feather were drowned out.

'Are you getting the feeling this sort of thing has happened before?' Panthera sent him when the volume of the shouting grew to painful levels. Mercifully, she raised a layer of shielding to block off the noise.

"Unfortunately, yes," Trevar replied with a sigh, looking behind him. Hordes of griffons were pumping fisted claws and shouting. Despite Panthera's shields, he could hear the collective chant, "Cat-Lord! Cat-Lord!" from them. Even if he was able to pull off some sort of miracle and stop their suicidal plunge, he was suspecting most of the population will still end up deaf after today.

"Remind me before the next time we end up going to some other planet," Trevar muttered, "make sure I watch 'The Man Who Would Be King' again."

"You do remember what happened to Richard Harris at the end, don't you?" she replied.

"Well, that was because he couldn't prove he was a god when they finally decided to challenge him," Trevar countered, turning back to stare forlornly at Tail Feather. "Between you, Pardus and the Gateway, I'm sure we can convince anyone we meet of my divine, or demonic, nature such as it is. No, I want to review how Harris so easily managed to convince them in the first place. Knowing what worked for him might come in handy someday."

"This is true," she grumbled. "Brace yourself. I'm adjusting the shields."

"Cat-Lord!"

"What!?" Tail Feather squawked, looking around startled by the change of volume.

"Hey, Tail Feather!" Trevar called up at him. "Even though I said I didn't know how to fix your problems, don't be so quick to count me out of being able to help you! I did, after all, just isolate us so we can continue our talk!"

"…" Tail Feather gaped at the two of them.

"Your people simply need to regain their hope," Trevar told him. "Give me the time to look for the cure! Let me ask the princesses to help us find it!"

"I—I do wish I could, Lord Tevar!" Tail Feather sighed. "But there's simply no time to tell them. I don't have a voice that will reach everygriff at once! I'm sorry!" he cried as he launched. Or tried to, only to smack beak first into Panthera's shield. But the damage was done. The instant he lifted, all the other griffons launched.

"Let him go," Trevar sighed, face palming.

"Time for planning's over, Princesses!" Pardus shouted. "Shitstorm's a'coming!"

"PARDUS! Such language! And in front of the Princesses!" Rarity yelled as she was just returned from cleaning up.

"Pardon me, but bitch about it later, Princess Rarity!" Pardus snarled at her, taking wing. "The griffons have all risen! They'll be at your borders in a matter of hours and they're not stopping for immigration! If you don't want to be late for the bloodbath, move your tails now!" The griffons from the Embassy also rose, alongside what pegasus guards were in the throne room.

"We'll meet you there, Celestia. Good luck to us all!" Pardus called back to her and Luna before he led the force out the windows.

Once outside, he activated his shields to create a platform for all of them to stand on.

"Everyone close in on me and relax," he called to the pegasi and griffons once they were outside. "I'm going to use my—magic—to slipstream us there."

"Uh—what do you mean?" one of the pegasus guards asked.

"I've formed a disk for you to stand on and I'll carry all of you there."

"What disk?"

"There's a disk beneath me extending about seventy hands in all directions from me for you to stand on," Pardus told them. "It's just like standing on a cloud for you guys. Trust me."

"Uh—there's nothing there!" another pegasus complained, flapping a frustratingly full meter above the force field Pardus was projecting.

*sigh* This is going to take too long to explain to these guys, Pardus thought to himself.

"Fine!" Pardus grumbled, making the platform visible. "And here we were told you fuckers understood the concept of 'magic'!" he grumbled just loud enough to be heard by all.

"Hey! There's no need for that sort of language!" the sergeant called out.

"Will you idiots just land already? We could've been there by now!"

As soon as they all had landed, Pardus raised the upper portion of his shields, angling them for supersonic flight.

"You might want to hang onto something," he mercilessly sing-songed as he activated his inertial dampeners before ramping his speed up to Mach 5 in the space of ten seconds. And just to further mess with them, he removed the visible component from the lower platform, too. It was quite satisfying to see the pegasi and griffons all freaking out at the change in speed and reacting as though they should feel the inertia even there was none.

"How—how—how long until we reach there?" Gustav stammered after getting over the shock.

"About twenty minutes," Pardus replied.

"Tw—twenty minutes!?" Gustav exclaimed wide eyed. "Th-that's—that's at least five times the speed of sound!"

"So? I could get us there in less than half the time if I wasn't still hurting from that fight with Sombra," Pardus calmly replied.

"What will we do when we get there?" Gustav inquired.

"Unfortunately, not much," Pardus sighed. "Help them shore up their defenses and perhaps give some tactical advice. Celestia's able to contact them through writing and sending her scrolls back and forth, but without Panthera in Canterlot for me to speak with, neither Celestia nor the pony guard will be able to get real-time data. Not to mention any important shit that the pony guard might wish to conceal from Celestia if it will make them look bad.

"And unless she teleports to the border, at best we can expect them to arrive maybe a half hour before the griffons show up. There won't be much time to make adjustments when she arrives," Pardus finished.

"We don't have much to work with," Trevar grumbled as they returned to Tail Feather's throne room. "Pardus is with the ponies, but his tractor beams are offline and his flight speed is degraded. What is working with him?" he asked as he unwrapped his toga and tossed the former bed sheet onto a suit of griffon armor.

"His cloak, inertial dampeners, shields, holographic projectors…" Panthera listed out.

"But without his tractor beams, he can't make solid holograms," Trevar countered.

"He can create realistic visual and audible illusions," she replied, to which Trevar acknowledged with a grunt and a nod. "Plus, he can still do partially solid holograms as that involves a mix of shield and tractor beam applications. His sensors, and beam weapons are all still working, too," she finished listing.

Trevar tallied up what was available, and nodded. "Okay, there might be a way to pull off something, but there's going to need a lot of coordination and timing. I just hope we can figure something out by the time we all get to the border," he said, climbing aboard her back.

"You'd better set both your shields and body to cloak," he said as she spread her wings and lifted up. "You won't want to have to explain being there when I drop in on them."

Their image rippled into invisibility before Panthera's tractor beam forced the doors open as they flew out.

After the shadowcat led the griffons and pegasi away, Scott stared at the windows, her mind busy trying to fathom the potential tactical and strategic advantages to be had from military forces that could just take off like that. And she was quickly coming to the conclusion that whatever she could think of, she'd be falling far short of what someone with those advantages could truly accomplish.

"Hmph! The nerve of someponies!" the white unicorn complained.

"It's quite alright, Rarity," Princess Celestia serenely spoke up as she continued scribbling upon a series of scrolls. "What he may lack in couth, he makes up for in succinctness. Pardus is quite correct: the time for planning is over."

"Celestia," the purple princess spoke up, "before coming here, the griffons at Trevar's house requested permission to remain and continue to guard his home. They promised to not get involved in this conflict, since they, like Ambassador Gustav, were trying to head off this conflict."

Celestia nodded as she finished before rolling them up and sealing them with her unearthly power. "That is good to hear. I agree with letting them remain. As disastrous as this is quickly becoming, it's good to know there are some griffons not succumbing to this madness."

"Did somepony mention my one of my favorite words?" the gleeful voice of the eldritch monster suddenly called out as the chimeric creature popped into existence above them all.

"Art thou hither to add to our woes, Discord?" Luna asked, glaring at the creature.

"Moi?" the eldritch abomination exclaimed. "Since when have I ever given anypony misfortune?"

"Not even I can make a list that long, Discord," the purple alicorn muttered.

"Oh, the witty repartee," the creature merrily exclaimed. "How I missed it these past few days! Tell me, Twilight, what's been going on lately?"

"Oh, nothing much," the purple princess replied with dripping sarcasm. "Just the entire Griffon Empire has gone to war with us!"

"Really!?" the creature asked, either genuinely shocked or feigning it, Scott couldn't really tell. "So, Trevar and his shadowcat friends did choose to supplant Ol' Tail Feather, after all? I'm rather surprised that he really did that. I knew that he might, but for him to actually follow through…."

"By all accounts, Discord," Celestia spoke up as she continued her work preparing the scrolls for delivery, "they've been trying to head off this war! But it must not have been easy for them, seeing as how King Sombra showed up to try and kill them."

"What? Trevar? Head off a disaster before it happens? Why, that's not like him at all!" the creature countered.

"And what would you know of Mr. Trevar?" Scott heard someone demand, only to blink when everyone—and everything—in the room turned to stare at her.

OH SHIT! Did I say that out loud? she suddenly thought.

"Oh! The human!" the hovering abomination exclaimed as it flew at her and began circling her as it looked her over. "My favorite species in all the universe and here I'd completely forgotten about you being here!

"Unfortunately, I can't stay to play with you, as much as I would like to," the creature said before pulling back into airspace that made Scott feel safer. "This matter with Trevar has so much of my attention of late."

With a final burst of magic from her horn, the tall alabaster princess sent the scrolls on to their intended recipients.

"There! All the available pegasi and unicorns between here and the border will meet us at the front lines," she told the assembled audience. "Pegasi and unicorns to the west will move up to fill in those positions vacated from Canterlot and points eastward to engage any griffons that break through the border. It's the best we can do in the time we have," she finished as she and Princess Luna rose from their seats.

"All UNICORN GUARDS MUSTER AT THE CHARIOTS!" Luna roared in a voice that was unexpectantly loud, making Scott flinch.

"What of us, Princess Celestia?" the purple princess inquired.

"Old habits are hard to break, aren't they, Twilight?" Princess Celestia teased. "Unfortunately, I regret that I request you and your friends to come along. Although you no longer have the Elements of Harmony to wield against our foes, your insights can still be valuable."

'Elements of Harmony'? Scott wondered. Was that some sort of secret weapon?

"May I come?" Scott nervously spoke up as she glared at the creature hovering over everyone. Celestia turned to look at her. "I know this isn't my world," Scott quickly said, "but I'd like to help. I am a soldier in my world. Beside, with my radiation poisoning, I'm going to die here anyway. That at least gives me an understanding of what the griffons are going through, and how they might move to attack."

"Your insights would be most welcome, Lieutenant Scott," the tall princess replied, nodding.

"Just tryeth not to blow up the planet, this time," Princess Luna added with a smile.

They're never going to let me live that down! Scott thought scowling.

"Huh! So they can teleport that distance," Pardus muttered as he and his passengers decelerated at the border, just seeing them arrive in two large chariots that landed on a fortress wall made of clouds extending for miles in either direction.

God! I HATE pretending to walk on these fucking clouds! the shadowcat thought to himself. Glancing at the creatures he was ferrying, he sighed. At least I don't have to make allowances for these fellows, seeing that they can all walk on that shit just fine.

When Pardus maneuvered to land on the cloudbank near Celestia, Luna, and all the others they brought with them, several guardsponies moved to intercept them, but a word from the princesses belayed that action before he set down.

"You made good time, Pardus," Celestia complimented him.

"Unfortunately, Princess, due to my injuries, I could've done far better," Pardus bitterly replied. Glaring at the draconequus that accompanied them, "Speaking of my injuries, I'd like to have a word with you, Mister Discord. That word is 'Sombra'," he said, powering up his eyebeams to the highest levels.

The creature, however, didn't seem to be concerned as it turned to face the shadowcat.

"I bethink we've all did get moo than enow to worry about with just one war coming, we needeth not another!" Luna shouted at them.

"Oh, I don't mind us taking this discussion to the next valley over," Pardus growled, his hackled raised as he stalked toward the creature. "And the shit I'm about to unleash on this turd just might give the griffons reason to pause."

"Anytime, anyplace, I'm happy to oblige," Discord countered, glaring back at him.

"ENOUGH!" Luna roared, jumping between them.

Trevar and Panthera need me to work with them when they get here, but they didn't expect this bastard to be here to interfere, Pardus considered.

"Fine," Pardus growled, turning to the side, still glaring at Discord. The creature tuned his head and humphed in annoyance. But my beams stay ready, and I'm just getting their energizers warmed up. Along with my shields, he silently plotted. First wrong move from this asshole, I'm ripping him a new one! At least the longer I've got to prepare for it, the worse I can make it hurt!

"Great! We're going to have to fight that creature, too?" Trevar whispered to Panthera as they invisibly flew above the horde of griffons heading for the pony lands.

"We'll see," she quietly replied. "I've never felt Pardus this pissed before, but it looks like that's being put on hold for now. We should stand ready, just in case," she finished as she began powering up her own set of eyebeams, tractor beams, and shields to levels matching her twin.

Those two really seem to have issues, Lieutenant Scott thought as she fearfully watched the shadowcat and the eldritch abomination square off from where she stood in Luna's chariot.

It took both shadowcats, plus whatever secrets Trevar possessed to defeat that Sombra creature, she considered. I wonder if this Discord creature is anything approaching that level of power. But neither one seems to be intimidated by a potential fight. I know one thing, though: I don't want to be there when they go at it!

"You can step out of the chariot, Lieutenant." Princess Celestia's voice snapped her out of her focus on the two antagonists.

"It's perfectly safe. It's just like Cloudsdale," she added.

"Yeah, I remember," Scott nervously replied with a chuckle. "It was only fifty percent effective, if I recall." It did have the effect of making the tall equine blanch.

"But at least that fifty percent worked with you," Celestia shot back with a grin. Scott sighed.

"There's no getting out of testing it, is there?" she asked, to which the alicorn shook her head.

"Well, here goes—" she said, first sitting on the chariot floor to test the cloud with one foot as she fearfully gripped the chariot frame with her hands. But at least her foot held firm into the substance, just like the last time. Gingerly, she scooted off to bring her other leg down and got the same results. After a minute of standing there and not falling through, she finally let go of the chariot.

"I hope you appreciate how terrifying it is for us humans to do this," Scott grumbled.

"You'll get used to it," Celestia replied.

"Not before I'm dead," Scott shot back with a smirk.

"Well, you've got me there," Celestia replied with a sad chuckle. "I know it's little consolation, but I do not wish you any harm or distress. While you may have unintentionally evaded the guards assigned to you, technically, you are still under escort. Try not to get hurt when the griffons get here. It won't be easy for me to keep an eye on you. In fact, if might be best if to take cover back here at the chariots."

"Oh, I'll be sure to do that!" Scott replied, following the pony princess.

Scott passively stood back to observe as Celestia met with the militia's commanders, a pegasus mare and a unicorn in the typical armor of the Solar Guard.

"How goes the preparations, Lieutenant Wind Rider?" Celestia inquired.

"Ballistae and crossbows are loaded and cocked in standby mode," Wind Rider began. "Catapults are all loaded with nets both up here and on the ground. "Lieutenant Straight Shooter's unicorns are fully ready with their spells and the pegasi up here have the cloudbank loaded with lightning. We'll do our best to limit fatalities, Princess Celestia, but I can't guarantee there won't be any."

"Unfortunately, given what we know of the situation with the griffons, fatalities are exactly what they're wanting," Celestia replied. "Mostly, they seek their own, but they'll be more than satisfied to settle with ours."

"Is it really that bad, Your Highness?" the unicorn asked.

"Word is their race is dying, whether they have this battle or not," Celestia explained. "They're choosing to racially suicide at our hooves rather than sit back and wait for their eventual extinction. As much as I'd prefer an option to help them somehow, I'm afraid we don't have the time to find it. Do your best to limit casualties to the griffons, but be certain it's not at the expense of your own lives."

Scott looked out to the lines manning the wall, five rows of troops preparing the siege weapons, each row going as far as she could see in both directions, large stacks of giant golden-tipped arrows carefully being assembled by each engine. And from what she understood, there stood a similar contingent on the ground below them.

What she wouldn't give to see each one of the catapults and ballista replaced with 20mm C-RAM units. At 4500 rounds per minute, such would make short work of any attacking force. But given the numbers the griffon ambassador told them, the bolts being stacked would be woefully inadequate to their defense. She mentioned that to the horses. The response she got forced her mind to reset.

"Wait, what do you mean by their 'non-lethal effectiveness'?" she demanded, blinking at them.

"Exactly what I said," Lieutenant Wind Rider said. "With luck, the concentration of griffons will allow the enchantments to apply their non-lethal effectiveness to more targets."

"These are telephone poles!" Scott protested wide-eyed, pointing at the stacks of bolts. "With steel or some other metal-tips! They're going to punch six-inch holes through whatever they hit! You can't get less 'lethal' than that! And what are these 'enchantments' you're speaking of?"

"Would you like to do the honors, Lieutenant?" Celestia asked in an obviously amused voice to Wind Rider.

"Yes, Your Majesty," she replied with a half-bow. "Lieutenant Scott, what you said would be true if these were merely inert objects. But the fact is, all of our crossbow, catapult and ballista bolts are enchanted to minimize casualties on an attacking force. Once launched, a proximity detection spell is initiated to cause detonation when it gets within a body-length of anything. This detonation causes its entire mass to be converted to a stun-blast a hundred and fifty trots wide for the large stuff, down to twenty-five trots for crossbow bolts. But to reduce casualties to flying creatures, the blasts aren't designed to cause unconsciousness. Rather, they cause the pony, or griffon, or even dragon, to be disoriented—very, very, very dizzy, to the point where they're forced to land.

"Of course, there's still a danger," Wind Rider went on. "Anypony hit with more than a few of these will fall unconscious before landing, which can cause injuries or death."

The news forced Scott's mind to entirely rethink the situation as she blinked in astonishment at how carefully the equines were handling the bolts. She had assumed they were doing so because they were heavy. But if they were as volatile as munitions…!

Instead, the ponies had somehow turned primitive siege weapons into non-lethal anti-aircraft flak guns!

"Did you think we were so bloodthirsty as to shoot down cocks, hens, and chicks by the thousands as they came over the border, Lieutenant?" Celestia inquired with a laugh.

"Actually—sorry, but actually, I did," she admitted, still having to completely rethink how this battle was going to play out.

"That's how we are quite different, Lieutenant," Celestia replied. "Now, do you see the reason I was so upset with you and your people's nuclear option? We try not to take life in our battles. Life is a gift that nopony has a right to arbitrarily take from another."

"Wow! Just—wow!" she stammered. "I'd still like to have all this stuff replaced with C-RAM units—but if you could do with their bullets like you say you've done with crossbow bolts—I can only imagine the implications."

"'Sea-Ram?'" Wind Rider inquired.

"It's—an—anti-missile system from my world," Scott explained. "It's a—an automated high speed Gattling gun that can fire 4500 rounds a minute with a range of several miles. A few seconds are all that's normally needed to shoot down clusters of incoming missiles."

Both Wind Rider's pupils and irises contracted to mere dots.

"Why in Celestia's name would you ever need something like that!?" he exclaimed in horror.

"Our wars tend to be a lot more lethal," Scott replied with a shrug.

Q pondered the approaching conflict. He wasn't worried for the P, as they were just as incorporeal as he was. Q wasn't even worried about Pardus, even though the creature was a device created by the D. At worst, the shadowcat would kill Discord, but more likely merely cause less-than-lethal injuries. But he had grown fond of their role-playing game, and he knew that the P had invested quite a lot of affection for their favored characters.

But Trevar's presence, along with those monitors created by the D to accompany him, now threatened the game. One wrong roll, and it would all end, resulting not only in his disappointment, but that of the P.

Not to mention the fact that a handful of mortal races were actually props in the game: griffons being chief among them. And the dragons, who had yet to reach the maturity needed to ascend to being D. Indeed, a handful of interested D sat nearby, watching and waiting for the day in which any of their infant kin might ascend.

But should the game be ended, there would be no support for the planet on which they lived, and the space in which the star system—or rather—the planetary system existed would collapse back into the nothingness from whence it came.

The P all played their game and worked hard to stay in character. The P who owned Celestia's character knew the risk Trevar posed to them, but Celestia did not! Q wished that the P would allow Celestia to get a clue, just this once.

The rules did not allow Q to know what Trevar and the shadowcats were doing when not in Discord's immediate sight. Of course, the D knew where and what they were doing, but they kept silent on what they saw. Q only knew that they were doing things that had the Ds' intense focus.

The truly frustrating thing was that neither Trevar, nor his monitors, even knew they were currently inhabiting a game board; they had no idea of what the rules of the game were. They were just three random elements, causing a level of chaos that Q knew that even Discord wouldn't cross. Three dice that were rolling themselves in the middle of the board … and any minute now, one or all of them were about to roll that Critical Fumble that Q was dreading….

The board was set. The pieces were all advancing. Everyone anxiously awaited Trevar's next move with the griffons.

"Here they come," Ambassador Gustav grimly announced as he looked toward his home nation.

"Confirmed!" yelled a pegasus lookout who was using a pair of military grade binoculars. "They're just spilling out from between the mountain peaks."

"YEAH! 'Bout time this show gets going! Letme see!" Scott heard the blue pegasus yell as she snatched a pair of binoculars away from the white unicorn.

"Rainbow Dash! Get your own!" the creature yelled in obvious frustration, and Scott couldn't help but smile.

"Woah—" Rainbow Dash groaned after a few seconds to locate the approaching figures. Scott, however, still couldn't make out anything so far off in the distance. "Tha--that—that's an awful lot of griffons!" Rainbow Dash finished with a nervous tremor in her voice.

"ARM UP! GET READY!" Wind Rider yelled out, and just as it would've been back home on Earth, Scott heard the yells of NCOs relaying orders to the rest of the troops down the line. Wind Rider's unicorn comrade vanished in a flash of his teleport, no doubt to get the troops on the ground ready. She watched as teams of pegasi began winding back the catapults and ballistae in final preparation for firing. Other pegasi who were lounging on the cloud bank now retrieved crossbows laying beside them and launched into flight in ordered formations, each cocking and loading their crossbows as they rose into the air. Then she turned to look out at the frontier.

At first, Scott thought there were clouds starting to form in front of the distant mountain peaks, which would further hamper her view of the approaching forces. But after a several minutes, she finally understood that those clouds were the approaching griffons! She recalled the movie "300" and the rain of arrows darkening the sky above the Spartan defenders, and she now had a new appreciation for that metaphor. And her building terror tuned out the continued shouts of the pegasi troops readying for battle.

"Lieutenant? I think it's time for you to retire to the chariots," Celestia spoke up to her, finally getting her attention back to her environment.

"I—I think you're right," Scott nervously agreed.

"I'll have the team ferry you down to the ground, if you'd like," the pony ruler offered. Wordlessly, Scott nodded as she slowly backed toward the waiting chariots.

"PREPARE TO FIRE!" Wind Rider yelled, and yells from his NCOs echoed down the lines. A pause, then, "MAKE READY…!"

Suddenly, a brilliant flash of light erupted in the space between the cloud fort wall and the dark mass of living death.

When she could make out the figure, Scott was astonished to see it was a dragon … a dragon that was standing on nothing … standing firm between the ponies' position and the approaching horde. Not only that, but she could see there was a visible shockwave that was expanding from its arrival.

"Oh, shit! It's HIM!" she heard the winged panther shout out. A shimmering wall appeared just before the wave front reached them. The shimmering wall was only a few dozen meters across, centered on the rulers and their immediate party. Something seemed to slam into the barrier and caused lightning to dance over its surface. Those ponies and equipment the shimmering wall didn't cover, including the Discord creature, suddenly got shoved back a couple feet, from Scott's perspective.

"SSTTOOOOPP! a booming roar bellowed.

"By all our ancestors! There's two of him!" Scott heard the griffon ambassador suddenly cry out.

Q was quite astonished by the dragon's arrival from out of nowhere. This was level of power that the immature creatures just should not be capable of demonstrating. Plus, he was standing in midair without needing to flap his wings, another indication that this was no ordinary dragon. Even that shockwave from his teleporting in was impressive! And for the life of him, Q couldn't tell from where this dragon had teleported in from.

Moreover, was the dragon's appearance: he was the striking image of the dragon his version of Allec Trevar had been transformed into back on the original Terran system. Q was quite intrigued.

If there is a way to get this one to help eliminate Trevar and those shadowcats, that would be the epitome of irony, he considered. And far more likely to succeed than relying upon Spike.

Well, that worked! Trevar thought with relief as he stood there just beyond the Equestrian's weapons range in his dragon form on the force field platforms Panthera was projecting. The griffons had all halted at his shout and were hovering, staring at him in shock. He threw a glance over his shoulder back at the cloud wall and the ponies lined up on and below it. Now the hard part, he considered looking again at the horde of griffons he was facing.

Having ridden on Panthera the entire way, he had planned for the revelation to play out just this way. Knowing of the equines' weapons from Pardus, he had waited until just the right time to jump off the winged panther and activated the Gateway the instant he had dropped outside her cloaking shield. And between the two shadowcats, they both projected the evident sonic shockwave, with Panthera providing the concussive force with her tractor beam rapidly punching every object in her view. Pardus reported that even the Discord creature had been affected, which came as a bit of a relief for them all. While Discord was no doubt a very powerful creature, it did indicate that he could be taken by surprise, which was very useful information.

He opened his mind and the flood of sensations were much as he had anticipated. The griffons, to a one, were in shock and awe, having recognized him as the "Cat-Lord" entity they keep insisting on believing, even as they were in complete confusion. They didn't see him as the same Cat-Lord, but rather a second version. The two older alicorns' minds were too disciplined to easily read, but their emotional state was clearly in shock. The rest of the ponies were completely surprised at seeing him appear and were quite worried as to just how his presence would affect the already tense situation. Discord's mind was very powerful and closed to his probe, which was no surprise to Trevar. But then, so was his.

Should make for some interesting chess matches, he considered before turning his full attention to the griffons once more.

But suddenly, he felt something dreadful happen at that moment.

Shit! he spat in disgust, taking another look back at the frantic activity going on with the beings near Pardus. Not good! his thought as the situation took a dark turn. But I've no time to spare for that, he decided, looking back at nearly the entire nation of griffons hovering there before him.

"My children," he called out, having decided to make full use of the Cat-Lord title they had fostered upon him. Surprisingly, he could tell it was working.

"This is not how I wish your lives to end," he sternly told them all as he reared up upon his hind legs. "I expect my children to be fighters. I expect my children to be intelligent. And you have an enemy to overcome.

"I EXPECT YOU TO FIGHT!" Trevar angrily roared, raising his fist high and spreading his wings wide.