Alex slowly blinked until his vision started to clear up.

His eyes widened once he saw who was currently defending him from Red Star troops.

"Ruby?!" Alex coughed, still bleeding profusely.

"Alex! Thank god you're okay!" She hugged him tightly.

Alex grit his teeth, the soul-constricting hug in tandem with his wounds left him in agony.

"Oh, right. Sorry." She apologized, wiping his blood off of her clothes.

"When did you get here?" Alex asked, pulling out .44 Scratch and helped her thin out the enemy forces.

"It wasn't easy. We had to convince the kingdoms to start-"

"I said when." Alex interrupted.

"About a half hour ago." Ruby replied.

"Listen... We need to get off this thing. Now!" Alex coughed.

"Why?" Ruby asked.

"Remember the EMP? Yeah, it's in the engine room on this thing and I have it rigged to burst any minute now." Alex said, showing her the remote.

"Gotcha covered, hold on!" She said, holding onto him as the two leaped off the Myriad, Alex screaming along the way.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!!!!" He shrieked, cringing once they were close to the ground.

Ruby fired Crescent Rose just before hitting the ground, slowing their fall and landing relatively safe.

Alex himself handed hard on his chest, Ruby had slipped about 5 feet above the ground and, while not ending up a red mark on the dust, it still hurt like crazy.

"Ow! Damn it!" Alex coughed.

"Listen, Blake and Kat are still up there getting whatever information they can, as soon as they're off, then you can trigger the EMP." Ruby instructed.

"Alex! Ruby!" Twilight seemed elated to see Ruby again, and even happier to find out Alex survived.

"Hey, Twilight." Alex coughed.

"Is he okay?!" She asked, checking his wounds.

"He fought Iron Talon on the ship!" Ruby replied.

"Motherf**ker ripped my armor into bits and almost killed me, thank god she came in with a ray gun!" Alex added.

"Ray gun, you said?" Twilight asked.

"Yep!" Ruby said, handing her the Ray Gun.

"Where did you even get a Ray Gun?" Alex spluttered, then he remembered when Vanoss's crew brought in the mystery box just before the embassy massacre.

"The box that your team brought in, remember?" Ruby asked, turning to him.

"Just did." Alex replied.

"This is remarkable! I didn't know your species had adapted into atomic cold cell research so well!" Twilight beamed, unloading the weapon.

"We didn't." Alex said.

"Anyways, I'll have to do some research on this to see if I can implement this technology into your own weapon, Ms. Rose!" Twilight promised.

"Thank you so much!" Ruby then proceeded to hug the lavender Alicorn.

"That's all well and good, but where's the rest of your team?" Alex asked.

"It's not just us anymore, Alex. Every Huntsman and Huntress available is working on this, every huntsman school across Remnant has students participating!" She smiled broadly.

Alex's jaw dropped to the ground.

"Are you mad?! Your comrades are in danger!!" Alex scolded. He cared about Ruby, and couldn't bear to see her encounter more loss than she might already have suffered.

"Ahem, anyways, Weiss is helping Evan's squad and the other Elements, Blake is with Kat stealing information from the ship, and Yang is still fighting off any Red Star infantry left." Ruby reported.

"Anyone else?" Alex asked.

"Jaune and Pyrrha are with Evan and Weiss, Nora's with Yang, and Ren's with Agent Mako." She replied.

"Thank god. They're still alive, yes?" He asked hopefully.

"I think so."

'Commander Anderson to Huntress Rose, we found an Electromagnetic Pulse device in the engine room, what do we do?' Kat asked through the radio.

Alex took the radio from Ruby.

"Kat, I need you to stay away from the EMP! I repeat, stay the hell away from that device!" Alex ordered.

'No! Stay away from there! N----' the radio went out.

"Kat?!" Alex shook the radio. They set it off and the ship was falling.

"No!" Twilight gasped.

"Retreat! Fall back!" Alex ordered.

Most of his allies in the battlefield ran away from the falling ship, for a moment, he saw Blake and Kat leaping out of the airship. Hopefully they'd make it. They had to!

Everyone kept running as fast as they could.

"Regroup at the Intersection! Move! Go go go!" Alex screamed as loud as he could to anyone who could hear.

They were going to make it.

Turning around, he saw the ship crash into the dust, two parachutes above and floating towards the horde.

The skip exploded in a giant fireball, the destroyer of Dodge Junction was brought down entirely, seemingly disintegrating in the flames.

----

Once everyone finally got to the intersecting train tracks, Alex was tired, more tired than he had ever been in his life.

He staggered to the ground, coughing profusely and spitting blood. His wounds remained untended.

"Is everyone okay?" Alex asked.

"I've been better, man." Vanoss huffed.

"Good thing I read up on long-distance running." Twilight panted.

"Meh, I've had hangovers worse than this." Vinyl replied.

"No serious injuries in our squad." Ember said.

"I'm good, Lex." Mako added.

"We're okay, Alex." Ruby gasped for breath.

"We're all fine." Blake said, for she had just arrived, with Kat in tow.

Alex rolled onto his back, still wounded badly.

"Thank god." Alex's vision started to flutter.

A medic walked up to him, she looked like she was from Remnant.

"Sir, I think you're the only one with untended wounds, we need to clean these. Now." She said.

"Sure..." Alex groaned.

As the medic continued patching him up, he looked around. Everyone who was originally a part of Team Unity was now here, as well as some new additions. The sting of the disinfectant was pretty much the only thing keeping him awake, Weiss had fallen asleep on arrival, and Vanoss and some of the other Scratchbolts were beginning to get some shut-eye.

"There you go, sir. I'd advise not doing anything too crazy the next couple days. But you should be fine." She said after she finished applying bandages.

"Thank you." He said, collapsing onto the ground in exhaustion, blood loss, and the like.

Someone had sat down next to him and pat him on the shoulder blade.

"I haven't seen you in a while, Alex. What's up?" Alex just realized that Yang was laying next to him.

"Oh, hey Yang. I just helped take down a huge carrier ship and probably killed most of the crew, fought my old doppelgänger and won, and got torn apart by a bird-lion thing before your sister got to him." Alex replied blankly.

"So, just like old times?" She asked.

"Yeah, you could say that." He chuckled a bit.

Alex just sat there, blinking away blissful slumber for the next couple of minutes.

He saw a small light from the other side of the tracks, a train? Here? now?

"Who's that?" Alex asked.

"I'm not sure. Let's find out." Yang said, picking him up.

Walking towards the train, Alex and Yang saw the train slowly come to a halt before him, the door opened, revealing Princesses Celestia, Luna, and...

"Professor Ozpin?" Alex asked.

"Hello, Mr. Walker. Glad to finally see you again after so long." Ozpin replied, no emotion in his voice.

"Eh. I figured you might have something to do with the dozens of huntsmen being here." Alex shrugged blankly.

"Miss Xiao Long, may we have a moment?" The Professor asked, turning to the girl.

"Gotcha. See you around, kid." Yang waved.

Alex was led inside the train, sitting in a booth to Luna's right side, Ozpin and Celestial facing him.

"I assume you know I'm not here to antagonize you." The headmaster tilted his head slightly.

"It'd explain why you aren't attacking me, especially since I took off to an alternate dimension with some of your best huntresses." Alex replied rather bluntly.

"Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long both explained at length why they went with you." Ozpin said.

"And that's why we want to assist you in your efforts, the Inquisition is a scourge." Celestia added.

"Well, thank you." Alex blinked, still tired.

"It's not just us, Mr. Walker. The Inquisitors hurt a lot of the wrong people. You are familiar with the prophecies, are you not?" Luna asked.

"Yes, I am. Beta's even going as far as calling me a 'Catalyst'." Alex replied.

"And for good reason. You are the one who will change everything in this universe. You, Alexander, are the key to our collective future." Celestia said.

"It's a pain. It really is." Alex sighed.

"True. But no burden is without reward. Needless to say, after this, you shall never be in the same situation you once were ever again." Luna said.

"I understand." Alex said, this time, he meant what he said.

"I would like to offer you a deal, Commander." Ozpin offered.

"I'm listening, Professor." Alex nodded, interested.

"Full control of Equestria's and Remnant's fleet, led by our best ship, which is outfitted with dimensional gateway technology, and more soldiers than you can count, with your team leading the charge. You'll have a chance at revenge for your lost comrade, life, and freedom, all you have to do is find the Inquisitor's Capital, and kill the Alpha." Celestia said.

"Gee, you make it sound much easier than it actually is, but I may need a tiny bit more than that." Alex said.

"Huntsman training beforehand?" Ozpin added.

"Eeeeehhh." Alex groaned.

"Full access to Remnant, Equestrian, and Earth weapons?" Celestia asked.

"Little bit more..." Alex offered.

"Magic enhancements? Super-Weapons?!" Luna added on.

"Just a little bit more..."

"By dust! What is it you want from us?!" Ozpin yelled.

"All of the above, plus an extra-something special.." Alex said.

Celestia's eyebrows shot straight upwards.

"Jesus! Not like that, you pervert! I mean as in materials. The strongest possible materials in your possession for armor building, because I swear to god, if I lose one more set of armor, I'm gonna be pissed!" Alex shook.

"Oh. Good. I noticed you've been using Equestrian Steel to reinforce your armor. There is another metal comparable to that." Luna said.

"I hear you..." Alex said.

"Invictium is one of the most durable, lightweight metals known to Equestria, aside from Equestrian steel." Celestia explained.

"The strongest metals in Remnant have been used extensively in Huntsman and Huntress weapons and armor, there would be no problem outfitting some to fit your standard." Ozpin added.

Alex smiled.

"You have yourself a deal. I just need all of those metals melted into an alloy and made into sheets. Two meters by two meters, about three centimeters thick. About... Seven, if it's at all possible." Alex instructed.

"We'll be right on it, Mr. Walker. Just make sure Alpha is dead once you get to him." Ozpin ordered.

"And Alex." Celestia said before Alex exited the train.

"What would you like the name of your flagship to be?" She asked.

Alex thought for a moment, his memory hearkening back to 8th Grade English Class for an unknown reason.

"The Iliad." Alex said in reply.

----

Alex sat in the train, looking over every member of the enhanced Team Unity.

Writing their names down on a list, he looked over them all admirably.

List of Current Team Unity Members (As of October 29, 2016)

Alex Walker

Katherine 'Kat' Anderson

Mako Cerise

Twilight Sparkle

Rainbow Dash

Rarity

Applejack

Pinkie Pie

Fluttershy

Vanoss

Delirious

Wildcat

Lui

Mini

Basically

Terroriser

Droidd

Moo

Nogla

Ruby Rose

Weiss Schnee

Blake Belladonna

Yang Xiao Long

Jaune Arc

Pyrrha Nikos

Nora Valkyrie

Lie Ren

Vinyl Scratch

Cloudchaser

Flitter

Winter Frost

Pitch Black

Burning Ember

Blast Radius

Haunting Horseshoe

Skirmish Sentinel

Looking at the list again, he gaped. The group count had jumped from 22 to 36?! What the actual f**k?!

"Something wrong, Admiral Walker?" Skirmish asked.

Alex forgot to note. He ranked up given his position in the Equestrian-Remnantian Coalition. As well as everyone else.

"What rank am I again?" Vanoss asked.

"Master Chief Petty Officer. Same as Kat, Mako, Ruby, Jaune, and Rainbow." Alex replied.

"Haha! Suck it, Delirious! I'm the Master Chief!" Vanoss yelled, shooting Delirious in the chest.

"NOOOOOO!" He screamed, running away.

"Get back here...uh..." Vanoss seemed lost for words.

'Commodore.' Alex mouthed.

"GET BACK HERE COMMODORE DELIRIOUS!" Vanoss charged at the Hockey-Masked man.

"Wait, what am I again, Alex?" Yang asked.

Alex sighed.

"'All huntsmen and huntressess not designated as leader are enlisted at the rank of 'Lieutenant Colonel'. Leaders of huntsmen/huntress teams are enlisted at the rank of 'Master Chief Petty Officer.''" Alex replied, repeating what he read from the syllabus.

"Oh." Blast nodded.

"So I'm..." Blake said.

"Lieutenant Colonel Belladonna. Yes." Alex replied.

"That puts me right over Adam's old rank." Blake said, more or less to herself.

"Which was?" Alex asked. He hadn't heard much about Blake's time in the White Fang, but then, not many people knew exact details.

"Major." She replied.

Alex made sure to keep this in mind before looking outside to his right.

"There she is, team," Alex said, admiring the large form in the Eastern Equestrian coast, directly between Fillydelphia and Manehattan.

"Woah." Vanoss gaped.

"Fine ship you got there. What's it called?" Applejack asked.

"That's our new home for the foreseeable future, until we find the Lion's Den that is the Inquisitor's Capital City. I present the E.R.C Iliad."

Author's Notes:

And so ends the second act of the story. It brings tears in my eyes.

Thank you all for enduring the six hours or so it took reading this story. When, even to this day, I didn't bother to include cover art. I may have to start asking at this point.

I'm not going to ask your opinion on the story this time, so leave it of your own accord.

Until next time,
- The Destoyer