HEY! Holy Crap we're back?! AGAIN!? Yep! And THIS time I plan on staying (and like, for realsies this time. It was my resolution and everything). Also for those of you who missed it, Maze actually had herself another jaunt through the voids and was summoned to I Am Not a Charlatan! I Am Mysterio, Master of the Arcane Arts!, Issue 11 to be exact. It actually came out pretty dang good and it's just a fun story to boot so check it out! or don't, whatever.

Also yes, I know this chapter is kind of silly. I don't care. Anyway, enjoy!

Maze absently traced the scar on her chest as she watched the landscape pass by, the fingers of her new arm gliding smoothly over the rough flesh. Despite its rather obviously synthetic appearance, Lyra did a good job making it feel and move naturally. She hadn’t been able to recreate the complexity of her natural body what with it already being an unprecedented blending of organic and cybernetics, but had still managed for the most part to come up with a substitute capable of ‘keeping up with the rest of her’ and not stand out too much.

The others chatted over the low rumble of the transport as they had reached the edge of the Rock farm and the human was once again reminded how much more… she guessed one could say ‘sensibly complete’ this Equestria was compared to the show’s. Kind of how Canterlot actually sat in an actual mountain Range opposed to what seemed like a single peak, the ‘Rock farm’ was really more of a quarry near a number mines dug into a sharp incline on the opposite end of the expanse.

“So Mazey!” Pinkie pulled the cyborg from her thoughts “You haven’t told me what kind of cake you want!”

“I prefer the lighter cakes, like vanilla or white” the cyborg answered a little tiredly “But like I keep saying, a party’s really not necessar-”

“OF COURSE IT IS!” the party mare interrupted “You haven’t had a birthday in so long, I actually have to use numbered candles so they can all fit!”

“Maze doesn’t count her time locked away Ponk, remember?” Crystal answered from next to her, sparing Maze from once again repeating herself.

“So how old are you then anyway?” Dash asked as the truck started rumbling as the road proper ended and became a far more gravelly path.

“Thirty-Seven” Maisie answered plainly.

“No seriously” Rainbow laughed, until she she saw that the human’s expression didn’t waver “Seriously?”

“I was twenty eight when I first got here, it was another eight after that until I was sealed away and it’s been about a year since my release so yeah… although I don’t look it, I’m thirty seven” she finished with a sigh, mentally adding ‘fuck, am I really almost forty? When the hell did that happen?’

“...Wow” Dash muttered “Yeah, I don’t know much how humans age but I hadn’t figured you were that much older than us.”

“Jeez Dash, it’s not 'that' much” Maze chuckled “I mean Cryss here’s thirty two.”

“Thanks Maze…” the changeling offered dryly, earning some giggles from the girls. The conversation was cut short however when one of their threstral escorts called from the front.

“Coming up to the extraction point.”

Pinkie understandably grew even more excited, bouncing in her seat until they finally stopped and she bolted out the back. The rest could hear her already fawning over one of her sisters as they started to climb out themselves.

“Yeah, hey there Pinkie” Limestone delivered gruffly to the mare nearly crushing her, though not completely without warmth. Maze could see they placed several large boulders all along the extraction rune circles, creating a good layer of cover. Hopefully they wouldn’t need it.

“Marble!” the pink Pie latched herself onto her twin next, rambling off more information and questions than any of them could hope to keep up with.

“Mmhmm” the slightly younger sister simply hummed in response while Limestone rounded on the group.

“One changeling? Oh sure, we’re only recovering the sealed remains of a freaking demigod! That’s not important at all, right?!” she sneered, words positively dripping with sarcasm “The night princess really didn’t see fit to send any more mage support than this?”

“She wanted to keep our magic profile as low as possible,” the human countered “We’re already going to be setting off a pulse strong enough they’ll be able to pick it up in Griffonstone when we drop the matrix, so the longer ‘till they detect us and figure out what we’re doing, the better. That’s why they’re having the distraction mission up in Manehatten right now, to cover for us. Hell, if we’re lucky enough we’ll be gone before they can even form a response.”

“Yeah, leaving our home to be razed by an enraged alicorn… lucky fucking us” the gruff mare muttered nastily. Maze didn’t have a response, she knew they were asking a lot of the Pies. They may had of already agreed to hide away the statue in the first place but this certainly not what any of them expected at the time. Though at least Maze heard the small consolation Limestone sigh under her breath “At least we managed to hide away Holder’s boulder with the rest of our stuff…”

“Where’s the rest of Your support?” the siss-prea asked, trying to keep her tone neutral as she attempted to steer them back on track. The aggressive Pie threw a thumb over her shoulder toward what looked like a hastily made mine entrance not too far, but a notable distance from the circle nevertheless.

“Waiting for the go ahead. Mom and Pop know the quickest ways through the mines and Maud can move the statue faster than any of us,” she explained while slinging the light machine gun from her back and finishing “So it’s just Marble and me stuck with you until they’re topside, lucky us huh?”

“They coming up through that one?” Maze asked, nodding toward the closest shaft dug into what could be called either a large hill or small mountain in the direction Limestone had pointed in and not a little concerned by the distance and lack of cover.

“Nah that’s something Maud was working on, they’re coming up from right there” the miner pointed at a camouflaged hole only visible now that it was pointed out. It wasn’t right next to the extraction circle but it was much better than the one she thought “That’s as close as we could get it without compromising this teleporting nonsense you had us carve out here.”

Maze nodded and took in the situation one last time before they started things up. Both Marble and Limestone were donned in fairly standard tactical gear, the former also holding a rifle almost as long as she was tall. Dash hovered above, squinting towards the Canterlot range as the thestral pair appraised their cover, grumbling that it would only help so much against an air assault. Other than the circle and the other open shaft it was a mostly flat expanse with the occasional boulder; good for them, bad for any attackers. All things considered, it really wan't a bad set up so long as they didn't have to abandon the circle.

“No…” Dash suddenly grew rigid for a moment before her wings caught her again. She immediately drew her blades as she called down “We need to get started! We’ve got company inbound!”

As they all ran for the boulders as Limestone started yelling into a handset, the group’s flyers hovering above and bracing for the assault. Maze followed the pegasus’s gaze, her zoom having to catch what the pegasus had already seen. She really didn’t want to believe it but felt her heart drop a bit when her HUD confirmed it: a mass of flying infantry moving in at speed.

“Cyrss! Get airborne! They’re gonna need you more than us!” Maze called out to the next boulder. The siss-prea shot her a less than happy look but didn’t argue as she took to the air. She’d lose a number of her advantages off the ground but could still do a lot more up there than the rest of them could. She stayed lower than the others who had risen to divide the assault’s focus, her tentacles summoned to help cover any gaps between the two defending groups.

Four signatures suddenly broke off from the approaching group, closing at an incredible speed. Rainbow barely raised her defense when a streak of flame slammed into her and tried to carry her from the group. The flames dispersed to reveal a fiery maned mare with a yellow coat struggling with Dash as several more distinct trails struck at the flying half of the group.

“The Wonderbolts… perfect” Maze muttered dejectedly. To make matters worse she could now see the troops that hung back dropping large pods at the edge of the property. As the first struck it blossomed into a fount of arcane magic and began releasing ground troops and I.G. at regular intervals. Even a pair of RAYs stepped forth when several pods burnt themselves out to form portals large enough.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me…” Limestone cursed as she took in the overwhelming force before a magical pulse shook the circle beneath them,. Thankfully it seemed this was finally something in their favor as the runes illuminated their only chance of escape “Alright! The seal’s broken! We just gotta hold out ‘till they get that rock topside and your mages can port us out of here!”

‘Okay, so maybe this isn’t That bad-’ Maze’s thought was cut off as her HUD suddenly blinked a warning

A warning of a massive heat source coming in fast, straight from Canterlot.

“So that ‘hell’ thing Maze uses as a curse is like Tartarus then?” Twilight asked her former classmate.

“From what I’ve gathered yeah, sort of” Lyra answered as she prepared the radio. They were to maintain radio silence with the statue team until the seal was broken and wait for instruction for the teleportation team to cast the extraction spell. “It’s an afterlife for bad humans that some of them believe in.”

“Hmmmm” the lavender unicorn hummed thoughtfully. Lyra smiled at the fact that after so long and all she’d been through, Twilight hadn’t lost any of the curiosity she had back in school. While Lyra was admittedly enthralled by the technology from Maze’s world, even the simple things like grammar and idioms managed to fascinate the bookworm.

“We should keep our attention on the circle, Sparkle!” Trixie scolded from her point along the runes outside the town hall, the other casters near her simply ignoring her tone. They’d long grown used to the show magician’s attitude toward the princess’s pupil.

“It was just a question Trixie. Beside we have plenty of time-” the target zone abruptly flared to life in front of them, cutting her off. “Oh no, they’re way ahead of schedule. Princess Luna! Something’s wrong!”

As Twilight called back to the hall, Lyra immediately hit the radio… and received nothing but dead air. Luna burst for the hall doors and quickly made her way to her position forming a triangle between her, Twilight and Trixie, forming the foundation of the spell.

“We’re being jammed” the unicorn informed from behind her, eliciting a sigh from the lunar alicorn.

“Alright everypony” she quickly addressed the mages and gathering recovery team with calm authority “Evidently our schedule has been accelerated, but our response is the same; once they activate the signal rune we need to be prepared for immediate extraction. Understood?!”

A chorus of affirmatives met her as they all began feeding the spell.

‘Now we just have to trust they can hold out long enough to use it’ Luna left unspoken.

“Marble!” the shy mare jumped as she was lining up a shot, returning a worried look to the cyborg “Load your hardest hitting rounds concentrate all your fire on the Princess! Focus on her wings and hooves! We can’t let her close!”

“Hmmm?!” the Pie hummed worryingly, gesturing all around her with her expression and eyes.

“We’ll take care of the infantry Marble!” Limestone called from her other side between the booms of Pinkie’s bazooka “but she's right! Our chances will plummet if the princess reaches us and you're the only one of us geared for range!”

“Don’t worry Marb! You can do this!” Pinkie cheered and launched another volley of airbursts, relieving some of the pressure on their own aerial support. Mable nodded to her sisters, gaining a more determined look as she caught the alicorn in her sights.

Celestia grinned as she dove down between the RAYs, the dust they kicked up swirling around her as she glided over her troops towards the rock formation. She had prepared the response team and nearly sent them toward the disturbance in Manehatten when she received word of the transport headed toward the Pie's rock farm and immediately redirected them. She had no idea what the resistance hoped to accomplish with Discord other than some desperate threat of mutually assured destruction, but she knew she couldn’t allow it. And now with Maze here, she could eliminate the two threats at once.

A glint at her destination caught her eye followed by a small flash. The next thing she knew she was tumbling across the ground covered in her golden sheen, her wing stopping dead in mid-flight as if it crashed into a solid wall. A fenrir unit moved to cover her as she pushed herself up, only to virtually shatter as her hand was swept out beneath her. She sprang back up with a barrier surrounding her… for her hoof to be be swept out from under her all the same. This was going to be annoying.

“Where the hell did you get Dark Stone?!” Crystal shouted from above. Dark Stone was an incredibly rare mineral basically giving an incredible advantage against any magic user. To be able to mine it alone was one thing but to shape it into bullets without completely losing its potency was beyond her.

“It’s a Rock Farm.” Limestone pointed out with an irritated sneer before she turned back to continue covering her sister’s front, leaving any flanking troops to Maze and Pinkie. They all had to duck back however as twin beams from the RAYs swept over their position.

The fliers above avoided the brunt of the assault, some waves of heat the lone threat from the RAYs unless they decided to start risking their own forces. Rainbow swept back into the formation with Spitfire hot on her tail, the other Wonderbolts occupied with the thestrals and Crystal’s weaving tentacles. Dash noticed the rest of the enemy pegasi seemed to be keeping their distance and only taking pot shots when they had a clear line of fire.

‘She’s still trying to capture us’ Dash thought bitterly, the notion of forced betrayal of her friends making her blood boil. Spitfire returned to press the attack against the colorful mare, sparks flying as each of the pairs own armor breakers crashed against each other. Rainbow held a speed advantage over the Wonderbolt, but the captain’s superior training and experience was more than enough to strain her defenses. It wouldn't be long until Dash wouldn’t be able to outpace her ’I can’t win this with speed alone…”

A curse sounded from behind and below her that signaled Crystal wasn’t having any better luck. Pushing off the Wonderbolt, Dash flourished her next strike with a quick spin to catch a glimpse of the others. The Thestals were busy with what looked like Soren supported by the standard aerial troops. While their superior augments and forms offered them an advantage, the Wonderbolt was still one of Equestria’s elite. Crystal meanwhile was struggling against the remaining two, her weaving appendages wrapped in her magic’s red aura the few things keeping her from being overwhelmed. The familiar sight however sparked an idea under the pegasus’ rainbow locks.

“What’s a matter Spitfire? Your the Wonderbolt captain! Can’t you hit me directly?!” Dash called out loudly, a small scowl reaching the military pegasus “What are you? SLOW?!”

Spitfire redoubled her assault but when their blades stressed against one another Rainbow coiled her knees up and kicked her hooves out against her opponent, creating not only a second of breathing room but propelling Dash downward. With but a spread of her wing Spitfire halted mid air and the following beat snapped her right back at the element of loyalty, a small trail of flame in her wake as she spun into her next attack.

Which stopped dead against a pair of metal tendrils suddenly bursting from an inky, black cloud that enveloped her target. A gasp was all she managed when a third burst out and latched onto her face. She felt her neck strain as her attacker pivoted in the air before hurling her to down to the dirt below with a quick roll. The Wonderbolt captain growled as she pushed herself up, standing to see Crystal join Dash in her defense against her subordinates. She scowled deeped and braced into a squat with her winged spread.

“It’ll take more than that to ge-GEH!” Spitfire jerked back up as the tasered backside of a blade slammed into her, convulsing until the blade withdrew. Maze was already turning back to her own fight when the elite pegasus fell back to the ground with a groan.

They were holding well enough though she knew it wouldn’t last much longer. The RAYs were still intentionally holding distance, choosing to continue swiping their position with fire over risking themselves against the well known threat Maze posed up close. For as hasty as this counter attack seemed, there was some competence in their deployment yet. Though it seemed like they hadn’t accounted for the possibility that Celestia could actually be stalled, but Maze knew Marble’s dark stone rounds couldn’t be endless. She was frankly amazed she had this much at all.

A deep rumble began beneath their feet, giving the cyborg a brief hope the others would be joining them soon until her heart fell with the sound that rolled over them.

“ENOUGH!” Celestia’s Canterlot voice roared across the field, a sphere of pure solar flame surrounding her as she stood. The following round from Marble merely vaporized in the fire’s corona, even the dark stone proving to be nothing against that kind of power. The defenders blanched as Celestia then crossed her arms and wings in front of her and the ball of flame condensed.

With a furious scream she snapped the appendages wide, causing the miniature sun to explode into countless flares. Massive ribbons of flames cut great gouges in the landscape as they raced toward the rings of stone, burning though some of the guard’s own forces that were unfortunate enough to stand between her and her pray.

The first ribbon crashed against the defenses and a sharp scream rung out as the flare blinded them in its passing. After the second burned over them the human heard something fall near her with a grunt. As the final flare passed and and her vision returned she could see Crystal taking a knee within the circle while clutching her arm. A trail of blood streamed down from a smoking cut in her shoulder as a severely burnt wing hung open and limp on her back, now missing the pair of metal appendages on the same side.

“Ah shit…” the Changeling muttered as her gaze focused on something behind the cyborg.

“MARBLE!” Maze turned to see Limestone scramble over to her prone sister, a deep gash smoldering across the youngest Pie's chest. The mare's rifle and the very cover she had hid behind cut clean through by the devastating assault. The elder sister ripped the pack from her back and began frantically digging out her medical supplies as she screamed to the last sibling, tears starting to well in her eyes “PINKIE! COVER!”

As the party mare moved to stand over the pair another tremor shook the farm. The gruff mare glanced up from her sister and froze at the sight of Celestia hooves kick off from the ground as she prepared to resume her earlier charge. A silhouette however, suddenly stood between her and the building light.

Stepping outside the circle, Maze held her blade ready as the princess exploded towards them. It took everything she had to not tremble and stand her ground; There’d be no barrier to hide in this time, no power core to boost her abilities and no repaired exosuit to soften the blows.

A small gust hit her as Rainbow moved to hover beside her. The pair shot each other a quick, uneasy glance before looking back ahead. The crazed ruler halved the distance in that brief moment, her aura of fire growing ever hotter.

The two resolved themselves with a grimace and braced for the alicorn when the ground between the two forces erupted and all the defenders could see is Celestia’s flames splash out in all directions like a wave crashing against the cliff side. The only sight besides the wall of light was a lone statue of a armored knight holding the princess at bay, forcing but a single, confused thought into the human’s head as the her music began to play.

‘That’s not from Metal Gear...’

Celestia returned a furious glare at the unmoving, stone figure as her mind boggling at how a mere statue could have stopped her momentum so completely, her golden fist having left nary a scratch on its raised shield.

‘No matter!’ she thought as she leap to the side to bypass the impossible obstacle when it abruptly shifted, lifting a massive curved club against her ‘IT’S ALIVE?!’

Further thoughts were cut short when as ground actually cratered slightly when the princess's face suddenly met the dirt for a third time in as many moments. Kicking away as she stood and summoned her weapons, she immediately retaliated with a vicious swing of her war hammer. Which once again stopped dead against the stone knight’s heavy shield.

“THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE!” Celestia roared at her opponent and continuing to press her assault, yet vaguely aware of the near forgotten sensation now tingling on the side of her face. Her eyes bulged when it slowly but surely began pushing her back and then actually threw off the attack. The monarch deflected the armor’s follow up with her great sword while using the momentum to thrust out the head of her hammer into its belly, catching the opening the attack provided. Even as the the figure stumbled back with bits of it’s now cracked outer armor Celestia pressed her advantage, her foe could match her strength but she still had speed and millennia of experience at her disposal.

“I WILL NOT BE BESTED BY A MERE SET OF ARMOR!” she declared, spinning with her molten hot blade to melt a gash deep into her target’s shield. Stumbling under the force, the defender had no chance to stop the wide swing of the blazing warhammer as it struck and shattered the whole side of its helmet. Celestia smirked triumphantly as she search the opening for the desperate look of her opponent’s face, merely to find the almost bored gaze of a mare staring blankly back. “...a simple earth pony?!”

Celestia flinched when the remains of the hemlet slammed into her muzzle, permitting the pony to prepare another swing. Easily catching it, Celestia's brow furrowed as the hit struck loose and the club began to fall. The reason immediately clear as a gauntlet of stone gripped the collar of her chest plate.

“You hurt my sister.” Was all Celestia heard in an unsettlingly neutral tone as the world turned upside down and the circle was quickly shrinking into the distance. She tried to slow but all she accomplished was her wings snapping to her sides before she felt something collapse in her path and was engulfed in darkness. With wooden barrier finally slowing her enough to halt her flight she touched down against the cold stone of the shaft, glaring back out at the only light from the entrance. She stalked toward the opening wondering what the point of it was until a cascading series of detonations sounded from deep in the mines. Detonations that rapidly grew louder and closer.

“...Oh.”

Maud watched passively as the small mountain collapsed into itself and then calmly turned to retrieve her club, the others simply staring on with wide eyes. The princess’s troops quickly moved in, having retreated to avoid the crossfire of enraged alicorn's furious assault. Maze and Rainbow retreated to the circle to help Pinkie guard her sisters, forming a tight circle among the little remaining cover though it soon become clear who the primary target was.

Maze started to call out when a mastiff leap at Maud as the earth pony bent down to pick up her weapon. The words died in her throat when its arm completely shattered on impact, sending it spiraling to the ground without a scratch on it opponent to show for it. Without batting an eye Maud casually stepped on the I.G., its entire torso completely crumpling under the weight of her armor. With only a slightly raised shield to cover the exposed portion of her face, the aspiring petrologist paid no mind to the relentless onslaught of IGs and gunfire pouring harmlessly over her as she turned toward the bigger threat.

Another beam struck out from the RAYs, striking against the mare’s stone barrier while the second Gear charged forward with the machines’ signature call. As soon as the beam cut the point of the Gear’s pointed head speared down at its target, the full momentum of the charging behemoth management to push the adversary back. About a whole ten feet.

“What the hell is that armor made of?!” Maze exclaimed.

“ROCKS!” Pinkie happily called back over her shoulder with a giggle.

A clang reverberated across the field as the crouched Maud snapped up, throwing the war machine off and swinging her club in a vicious arc. A small ‘eep’ escaped Dash as a metal tendril snatched her from below, pulling her down just in time to avoid the RAY tumbling over them and crashing mere feet from their position. Laying half within the runes and blocking any further advance from flanking troops, the Gear’s head hung limp with a torn of mandible and a massive crack through its neural matrix.

“Pinkamena!” a stern voice drew their attention to the Pie parents emerging from their mine, dragging the reason they were all there in the first place. Maze quickly closed the distance and helped push the pedestal of the sealed demi-god, easily doubling their pace. As soon as they crossed the outer circle the entire countryside shuttered as a new volcano was born, and standing in the middle of the falling ash and molten rock was the pony princess, bathed in black and purple flame.

“YOU INSOLENT PEASANT! I WILL MELT THIS FARM TO GLASS AND FLAY YOUR ENTIRE FAMILY ALIVE AS YOU WATCH!!!” The earth itself burned away beneath as the miniature black star that was the possessed Celestia streaked forward. A cold sweat washed over the cyborg and she could actually see as the chill ran up Crystal’s spine. The human followed her gaze and was shocked to see it didn't land on the alicorn.

The small gap in the side of her helmet showed wide eyes with pin-prick pupils under a furious brow… Maud actually looked Mad.

Unfazed or ignorant to the meaning of such a simple expression on the mare, Celestia continued immolating everything in her path until the very air seemed to burn in her wake. A malicious grin spread across her face as she saw her enemy drop their shield, assuming she knew that she couldn’t possibly escape the wrath bearing down upon her. An expression that shattered as the mare did the unthinkable when the flames approached.

The possessed monarch reeled as she tried to stop when the armored mare abruptly stepped Into the flames with her club griped in both hands, already in full swing against the princess’s nonexistent defense. Celestia’s currently slitted pupils nearly disappeared as her red and green eyes found those of bright turquoise, her blood freezing as the owners monotone breached the fire.

“You will not.”

The weapon exploded as it struck and sent Celestia soaring straight away from the circle, colliding with enough force to topple the remaining RAY as she struck. The Gear quickly righted itself and stooped protectively over the prone ruler. Maze and Pinkie moved to help Maud as she stumbled erringly to the circle over the shattered remains of her club, all collapsing to a knee as soon as they crossed.

“WE'RE IN!” the human called and the circle flared as Crystal’s horn sparked the final component of the spell, signalling their comrades on the other end. Maze turned to watch as the remaining troops retreated to secure their princess now trying to stand.

Maze froze in awe at the last sight before the spell completed; a stumbling Celestia pulling a blood soaked hand away from a crooked muzzle, her once more magenta eyes rolling back as she collapsed back to the ground.

The flash of light began to fade and Maze could already hear the rapid shouts and movements of the response ponies directing each other and calling out medics. Blinking away the spots she saw the Eclipse mages quickly moving aside for the doctors and nurses as they tried to make their way around the disabled RAY that somehow got dragged along in their escape.

She found he had to quickly leap back when Maud’s armor released a hiss of steam and opened from the back. The earth pony struggled out to hit the ground hard, clutching her face. Blackened and raw skin showed around what the hand couldn’t cover as even more, less serious burns peaked though still smoldering holes all along her side. Medic ponies quickly moved to assist only to find themselves waved off or shoved away.

“N-noo… Marble f-fir” was all she could manage, tears running freely from her good eye as her face contorted in pain.

“Maudy they’re already with her! Let them help you!” Pinkie begged from the mare’s other side. Relenting, the eldest sister allowed the healers to roll her onto the stretcher. Maze’s gaze followed them as they met up with other teams quickly rushing Marble, Crystal and one of the thestrals toward the hospital.

‘Oh shit, I didn’t even notice he was hurt’ Maze lamented, only taking solace in the thought of just how crazy things got towards the end.

“Careful, she’s still under the effects of the upgrade” the remaining Thestral warned the nurse currently crouched over a stirring Spitfire. A gentle wave of purple washed over the Wonderbolt as Luna approached, the mare’s fidgeting stopped as a more peaceful sleep claimed her. Stepping up to the remaining defenders, the princess scanned the warped and melted side of the stone armor before surveying the statue of the sealed Discord and then finally turned her sight back to the team.

“I see things didn’t quite go to plan” she stated calmly, earning a scoff from the element bearer.

“You can sure as hay say that again...” Luna looked past Dash to the anxious Pie family, noting the constant glances in the direction the sisters had been taken.

“Please, go see to them. The debriefing can wait” relieved expressions of gratitude were returned at the princess’s words, the remaining rock farmers quickly running after the medic teams. Save for Limestone, who stopped to stare back at the human and Pegasus with a conflicted look on her soot covered face.

“...What?” Dash asked with an arched brow. The hint of a blush crept into the Pie’s cheeks as she broke her gaze and fidgeted as she looked to the ground.

“Uh… Thanks.” she finally managed after a few awkward moments and half glances. She immediately turned and sprinted away after the rest of her family, leaving the bewildered pair.

“What was she thanking us for? Maud saved the day. Heck, if anything by just being there it’s kind of our fault they were hurt in the first place.” Rainbow rambled, only receiving a shrug from the cyborg.

Luna called to have the area cleared while the mages moved to the Manehattan group’s extraction runes. Meanwhile Lyra examined the interior of Maud's armor, which now that it was open revealed it to actually be a sort of power armor. Not a simple exosuit under some rocks either, but rather impressive and advanced support system merged with the hardened stone.

“Oh, well that makes a little more sense” Maze muttered looking over the layers of synthetic muscle and reinforcement that allowed Maud to not only move the ridiculously heavy suit but readily match even an alicorn’s strength ‘and at least that’s sort of still in the vein of Metal Gear, I guess…”

Her focus was broken however when she heard Luna order the demigod's statue to the element vault beneath Twilight’s library.

“Wait, what? Why are we locking him away when we’re just gonna have to take him right back out when Pinkie gets back?” she interrupted and made her way over to the princess.

“Why would we be taking him back out?” Luna returned with equal bewilderment, at least until Twilight spoke up after realizing the actual intent

“Maze you can’t seriously be suggesting we release him!” the purple unicorn stared at the cyborg like she had lost her mind.

“Of course I am! That was the whole point of all this!” the human exclaimed when her engineer friend spoke up next.

“Maze we can’t let him out! Even sealed, his presence is causing distortions in the barrier!” Lyra pointed out as she gestured to the dome above. Sure enough they could see the faint colors beginning to swirl and strain slightly “If we let him out then it’ll totally collapse!”

“Then we’ll have him make a new one! Why do all this only to keep him locked up?!”

“For the threat of it! What possible reason could you have to think he ever would consider aiding us?” Luna asked, continuing to cut off Maze’s quick response “Other than ‘you just know’ or your ‘ninja magic’ nonsense.”

The words caught in her throat as the night bringer called her out. A growl of frustration escaping the cyborg as she fumbled with her gestures.

“Lulu-”

“No. We are not having this argument now. Especially not in front of the statue.” Luna finalized.

“But-”

“Maze,” a softer voice interrupted this time. Trixie stood with the other mages, looking back at her friend with a concerned, almost pleading expression “Stop.”

That’s when she could see the others, the gathered ponies all starting at the exchange. Their eyes darting between the cyborg, Princess and statue with looks ranging from slight unease to legitimate fear. Releasing a sigh, Maze relented and allowed the issue to drop as her shoulders slumped.

“We can discuss this later” the lunar alicorn offered in small consolation before returning to the clean up. Maze just rolled her eyes at the platitude as she felt a tug on her arm.

“Come on Maze, lets go check on Crystal” Lyra said as Maze allowed herself to be dragged from the scene. They walked in silence for a while, Lyra quietly staring to the ground as Maze brooded.

“This could all be over if they just trusted me…” the human grumbled.

“We do trust you Maze, but you have to understand they’re afraid. You weren’t here the last time Discord got out. As obvious as it may sound, it was literally chaos. Practically nothing made any sense. Ponies weren’t just afraid to leave their homes they were afraid to stay in them too. Afraid to do the simplest things like eat or sleep, because who knows what your bed might turn into or what your food would do to you?” Lyra explained “I trust you when you say you believe he’ll help us, and after so long seeing just how scary accurate your predictions can be I’m certainly not going to dismiss the possibility. But honestly? ...It’s just hard to see how a creature like that could ever be controlled.”

Maze’s expression softened as the words sank in. She had the benefit of having seen the show and given the safe perspective of Discord, not as some terrifying demi-god but of a playful if very disruptive being capable of being reformed. She could note the lesser extremes filtered through a cartoon world that showed Discord to be more of a neutral force than an evil one. The ponies didn’t have that though.

“Well now I just feel like an ass again…”

“Eh, I sure Luna and at least some of the rest understand that you’re just trying to help.” Lyra consoled her spoken thought “And if it's any further consolation, I think you might be overestimating Discord's abilities. Celestia and Luna nearly beat him the last time he was free and had he not caught them by surprise they probably would have. Plus after they were defeated there were still ways to route him, ways not including the elements at that too. So it’s not like he could just snap his fingers and fix all this if we did manage to convince him to help us. It's not like the first time he showed up anymore.”

'Well shit… there goes that idea...'

“So how’d the recruiting go?” Maze asked the honey haired siss-prea sitting on the other side of Lyra. It’d been just over a week since they recovered Discord’s statue and the hospital was releasing both Crystal and Maud. Marble would have to stay a while longer but she was thankfully stable and steadily recovering, much to the joy of the pink pony bouncing impatiently next to Maze in the waiting room. The four of them where the only ones not currently involved in Eclipse efforts and free to meet the pair as they left the hospital.

“Oh, about as well as expected” Amber answered “Most of the hives themselves don’t want anything to do with us and the one besides ours that does still won’t do anything openly. But we did get the support of a decent number of individual changelings willing to act independently of their hives at least. So y’know, not great but not the worst either.”

“What about those colorful pastel ones? They seem pretty friendly with everyone” Lyra asked, glancing up from her tablet.

“Colorful pastel ones? Wh-oh, OH! Right… Them” Crystal’s twin finished rather unenthused “Yeah, we uh… we don’t really talk to them much… They’re weird.”

“Ooookaaay” Lyra returned perplexed but didn’t push the issue and returned to her work.

“Well anyway that was my week. How goes your efforts with Luna about Discord?” Amber perked back up and shot back at the human.

“About as well as expected too. Without a concrete reason, which I can’t give, she won’t risk it on faith alone. My only progress being the consolation that if the shit hits the fan, like “everything is so totally fucked it couldn’t make things any worse” levels of bad -My words, not hers obviously- then I’m allowed to release him.”

“Aww, that’s too bad.” Pinkie pouted on the cyborgs other side “I was really hoping for some more of that chocolate rain. I think Maud would really like it too!”

“Speaking of, I hear her and Crystal have become pretty buddy-buddy during their time here.” Maze changed the subject.

“Oh yeah! Crystal seems to totally get her!” Pinkie beamed “Not a lot ponies seemed to be able to do that.”

“It's probably a lot of help that she's empathic” Lyra muttered offhandedly. It took her a moment to catch up with her mouth though as Pinkie started looking hurt “Oh, OH! Oh no Pinkie I'm sorry, I really didn’t mean any offense by that. It just, er I mean… Maud’s pretty hard to get a read on is all.”

When Lyra finished trying to remove her foot from her mouth, Pinkie’s opened to offer a defense when her shoulders abruptly slumped in acceptance, her hair deflating a bit.

“Yeah, I know” Pinkie admitted solemnly “Maud’s always had a lot trouble expressing herself and while she really has gotten better in the past few years, she still has a lot trouble connecting with ponies. That’s why I always try to exaggerate my reactions to her reactions, so maybe ponies can start picking up on her subtleties. Because she really is a great mare once you get to know her. I don’t think she likes when I do it very much but I’m just trying to help. That’s why it’s so nice when she can actually get close to somepony on her own, like with Crystal.”

The group sat in a pensive silence for a moment until a small creak echoed from the hall, causing Pinkie’s hair to re-inflate as she barreled down the corridor.

“HEY!” the station nurse called after her.

“You said I only had to wait ‘till they left the room!” the party mare’s voice echoed back to the irritated worker.

“And I don’t care” Amber offered as she strolled past. Maze and Lyra on the other hand merely returned the nurses glare with a pair of smiles as they stayed in the waiting room, the cyborg watching the earth pony pounce on her sister.

“It’s so easy to forget there’s actually a rather intelligent mare under all that poofy hair and excitement.” the human commented.

“I know right?” Lyra agreed “We’ve worked together on tons of projects and I still forget after seeing it first-hand.”

“What, like building stuff together?”

“Oh yeah, she one of the militia's best engineers, and easily our top explosives expert.” Lyra praised before the pair rejoined them with the newly released patients in tow.

“Heya Cryss, how ya doing?” Maze asked the bandaged changeling.

“Hey Maze,” the red tinted changeling returned tiredly “I’ll survive. We changelings don’t scar easy and while I won’t be able to use this wing for a while I can always shape-shift another on top of it until it’s better.”

“You guys can really do that?” Lyra asked with a little awe showing through.

“Why do you think we have such a scary reputation?” the siss-prea twins both smirked at them. Not a little impressed herself Maze then turned to the other patient, half of her face covered in the militia's nano-gel soaked bandages.

“And how is our savior holding up?” Maze asked genuinely.

“They say the nano-gel should keep the scarring to a minimum, and that even my hair should grow back fairly evenly so long as I’m vigilant with the treatments” Maud delivered in her usual monotone “Though they’re uncertain of I’ll ever get my sight back in the injured eye. They’re fairly certain that I might end up losing the whole eye anyway.”

The group collectively frowned, even the seemingly neutral tone failing to downplay the consequences of her fight.

“Well if that happens you can always come to me about a replacement” Lyra offered, trying to bring the mood back up “They work as well as anything else on the market and I’m pretty good at matching the pony’s natural pigment, if I do say so myself.”

“And if you let her put in one of her crazy prototypes, she’ll do it for free!” Crystal teased as she nudged the unicorn with her elbow.

“Oh you could get one that changes colors! Or projects holograms! Or has a built-in microscope to see all the minerals in your rock studies!” Pinkie listed off eagerly next to her sister.

“I’m not some mad scientist guys…” Lyra murmured in defense before returning to Maud with a more genuine tone “But seriously, anything you might need would be comped, either by the militia or just me if need be. It’s the least we can do.”

“Thank you Lyra, I’ll keep that in mind.” Maud droned while Amber’s watch went off.

“Ah damn, I thought I had more time. Sorry ladies, I’ve got a briefing” the younger twin apologised.

“I’ll go with, couldn’t hurt to have both of us there. Catch you guys later” Crystal added and set off with the other siss-prea.

“6 O’Clock!” Pinkie called after them.

“6 O’Clock” the pair confirmed without looking back. Pinkie then rounded on Maze with an accusatory finger and a stern look… or at least as stern a look as Pinkie could manage.

“SIX-OH-CLOCK!”

“Yeah Pinkie, I’ll be there. Calm down.” Maze consoled the mare “Though you sure you don’t wanna wait ‘till Marble-”

“No! No more delays! It’s been put off so much it’s celebrating six different things now! Besides, Marble really doesn’t do too well with big gatherings… she’s actually worse than Fluttershy… ” Pinkie trailed off, then refocused and re-aimed the finger “But You! You’re getting your dang party!”

“Okay I get it, I’ll be there. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Maze promised with the full gestures and everything “There, a bonafide Pinkie Promise.”

“Good!” Pinkie beamed, then squinted “And don’t be late!”

Maze was visually taken aback. With a huff she indignantly raised a had to her chest.

“A ninja is never late! Nor is she early! She always arrives precisely when she means to!” she delivered with a false dramatic flare that would have made both Trixie and Rarity proud.

“That’s Wizards.” Pinkie returned unfazed.

“Shit! I mean- wait, when did you see Lord of the Rings?” the human fumbled.

“Oh like three years ago, give or take” Pinkie waved off casually.

“Three? But how-”

“OH Maudy lookie! Limey got off early! LIIIIIIMMMMEEEEEEEYYYYYYY!!!” Pinkie dashed off without answering.

“Doesn’t feel so good being on the receiving end, huh?” Lyra taunted the bewildered Cyborg.

“...Whatever, it’s Pinkie.” Maze dismissed before seeing the mare gumply roll her eyes, trapped in Pinkie’s obligatory hug “I still don’t know why your sister thanked us...”

“Because you stood between them” Maud said plainly, elaborating further as she saw her confused look “When Marble was hurt, you and Rainbow stood between her and the princess as she took care of her.”

“Well, with how you showed up and all it’s not like it really matters right?”

“It does” Maud respond immediately, and while he expression remain as neutral as always they could still feel a kind of intensity behind that one exposed eye “You didn’t know I was there, and despite knowing you didn’t stand a chance and that any hindrance would be temporary at best, you and Rainbow held you ground to face Celestia’s assault to protect them… we won’t forget that.”

The pair simply stood there ambivalently as the earth pony finished, an almost imperceptible weight pressing from the statement.

“MAAAAAUUUD! Come on! We gotta get things finished up before the party!” Pinkie called from down the road. Maud glanced to her sisters a moment before turning back to give the pair a nod.

“Lyra, Maisie.” she offered simply and departed to join her family.

“So,” Maze finally said after a moment “Was there a lesson in all that for me?”

“What am I? Twilight?” Lyra joked “Come on, let’s go get ready.”

“Yeah…” Maze followed, but not after one last glance at the retreating Pie sisters “Yeah, sure.”

'Whatever, they're related to Pinkie'

Author's Notes:

IT'S AALLLIIIIIVVVEEEE! And holy crap did this chapter give me problems. This is like the fifth rewrite and I'm still a little iffy about it. You wanna know one of the biggest struggles I faced when trying to get back to these stories the past year? You just read it lol

ANYWAY- YEAH! We're back baby! And like I said, I really do mean it this time, I made it my new years resolution to finish my stories, for realisies . I already completed a new chapter of Locked Heart if you want to check that out and after the next chapter in that we'll get a new chapter of this! Probably, the order of things is subject to change. But now that those two assholes! of writer's block inducing chapters are finally done I should be able to flow through at least the next few much easier.

But until then, as always: Thanks for reading and hope to see you for the next chapter! Have a good one!