Princess Cadence adjusted herself for what felt like the fiftieth time that day. She had quickly grown to wish the circumstances had allowed her to wear something a little more to the comfort of her considerable physical dimensions, but it turned out a suicide mission to an underground cavern demanded her to wear a shirt three sizes too small for her with one of the stiffest thermal coats she'd ever worn zipped over it along with thick, baggy trekking combat trousers that she was constantly tripping up on. This, however, was not entirely a bad thing, as it provided a useful distraction she desperately needed from all the worry the past couple of years had provided her with. She worried about the crystal ponies, her people who resided in the Crystal Empire. She worried about how weak they were getting, how lifeless they all seemed, it deeply reminded her of how they'd been when the Empire had returned from a thousand years of isolation, their coats dull and manes limply dripping over their exhausted faces.

She worried about the rest of Equestria, how much it had changed, and the bleak future that lie ahead of it. She could only grimly picture the image of Equestria in a decade, five decades, a century and even a millennia. The ponies growing less and less unique and independent as the years grind on, each one having his or her cutie mark assessed and then themselves assigned to a specific career they'd most likely do for the rest of themselves, the same day repeating itself over and over at a maddening degree until their near-meaningless life blurs together in a dull image of pure efficiency feeding an alien empire that saw them as nothing but fuel for their cause. Castles would be torn down and replaced with factories and space-docks, towns built so large and so tall that you could get lost in their cold, metallic mazes for hours with only numbers to guide you, farms would cover ten times the space they do now, and churn out a hundred times the product they currently managed, all automated and manned by unthinking, unfeeling machines. Even the wilderness of the world, although dangerous and unfit for pony habitation, was a wonder all of its own, but under alien supervision would be stripped of any hazardous aspects, predators species entirely wiped out, sharply cut paths and roads chewing through the completely docile, almost unliving forests.

She, admittedly, worried about herself. Celestia, Luna and Twilight also, but certainly herself too, and what the future would hold for them. Every day she felt weaker, and she knew the other alicorns felt the same way. Would she become just an empty, obsolete shell of a pony, living a life without reason or purpose, doomed to live forever as just an unnecessary excess of the world. Or, if her condition only ever got worse and worse until she had no more life into her, what would happen? Would she be stuck in some kind of coma, be paralysed or would she just die outright? Would Shiny still be alive by the time she finally died? She could never leave him like that, she couldn't bare the thought of leaving him in so much pain in such a bleak and lonely world.

Which lead to her next worry, her beloved husband, Shining Armour, captain of Equestria's Royal Guard. He was constantly dodging Federation military movement in the wilderness of the world, having spent the past year almost constantly on the move, walking over mountains and through forests, camping up in whatever valley or cave they came across. She'd seen so little of him in that time, but at least they'd made the time they did spend together especially intimate. Yet, this provided little comfort in the face of the possibility that one day the Federation might one day get the drop on him and his guard, capturing them for interrogation and imprisonment or just killing them all on the spot. Cadence had always known she would, inevitably, lose her dear husband some day, the most likely cause considered before the arrival of the aliens being old age. For as much as she loved Shining more than possibly measurable, love alone would not stop the finality that was death. And so after Shining had passed his two hundredth, perhaps two hundred and twentieth birthday, she would one day have to say goodbye to the love of her life. However, as painful of a reality as that was, Cadence knew deep down she'd would most likely survive such an occurrence, she would still have friends in her life, she'd still have her kingdom and her fellow princesses and most importantly, as her and her husband had planned, she would hopefully have a family to watch over and love. This brought up her final worry, one that made her feel far more sick than it normally did, a worry that caused her bones to feel frozen through and through.

Cadence was five weeks pregnant.

Though she was far from showing, she had seen to a doctor in complete secrecy and he had confirmed both the greatest joy and darkest fear of her life, that she was most certainly with child. She hadn't said anything to anypony else, not even the other princesses, as she felt it was too soon in the pregnancy for things to be absolutely sure everything was okay. The implications of this were terrible to think about, there were dozens of perils to consider at this point in time for not just her child but all Equestria. Would her worsening condition allow her to give birth correctly, or at all? If the child was born an alicorn, would it even survive past a few days? If it did, how would she keep it hidden from the Federation, and if she failed what would they do with her baby. Would they kill it, experiment on it, somehow detach it from it's alicorn abilities and just shovel it in with the rest of their dull, droning society? Or would they use the child as some form of political leverage, raising him or her to become the ultimate Federation patriot and use them to ensure order over the lands with the benefit of providing the public with a familiar, trustworthy face of an alicorn to follow. She couldn't allow any of this to happen, she wouldn't. She wanted nothing less than the perfect upbringing for her child, one where Equestria was as free and magical as it had always been, one with both her mother and fathers love in it.

One without the Federation.

This last thought brought up a twinge of turbulent emotion, emotion that perhaps could better be described as feeling of vengeance. She wanted a happy future for her child, but to ensure that she had to want to destroy whatever Federation there was occupying Equestria, and for the sake of her child, she was more than willing to do whatever necessary to accomplish just that.

"Cadence, are you okay?" Asked Twilight softly as she placed a hand on the alicorn's shoulder, snapping Cadence out of her trance of concern.

"Oh! Yes, sorry, Twilight. Just thinking about...well, everything really." Cadence replied sadly.

"I can relate. In a way, all of this," Twilight gestured about to the interior of the gigantic spaceship they all stood in, the ponies choosing to wait for the marines in some kind of corridor junction that was beautifully, yet hauntingly decorated, "-only makes me worry more than ever. I mean, look at all this. These aliens, their armour, their weapons, this ship. It's like they've been at war for a thousand years. It's like they've been at war for a thousand years non-stop." The purple alicorn said tensely.

"I know. I mean, you have to hand it to them, they must have some truly artistic architects, but does every pillar and wall really need so many," Cadence gulped, "-skulls."

"I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, Cadence." Princess Celestia said as she approached the pair.

"What's makes you say that, Princess?" Twilight inquired.

"I remember, hundreds of years ago now, reading ancient text on some of the darker days of Equestria. There once existed a handful of warrior gatherings that instituted their own military function, choosing to remain separate from any nation or tribe. The mannerisms of these aliens reminds me very much of what I read in those dusty old books; The way they live, the way they fight, move and talk. Everything about these aliens leads me to believe them to be just like those ancient Equestrian warriors. It's very odd though, that such age-old organisations could ever be at all comparable to a species with the capacity to achieve space travel." Celestia mused.

"It's also strange that they are open to the concept of magic so casually. Not that I'm complaining, but I would have thought any alien species that has achieved such marvels of technology would simply dismiss the concept or practicality of magic outright." Added Twilight.

"To be honest, the only other alien race we have encountered is the Federation. For all we know they are the odd ones out and the rest of the universe has a solid understanding of magic and finds regular application for it." Celestia replied.

"Judging by what we've seen here..what we saw in...that ship, in the station, I have a feeling the rest of space is actually not that badder place to explore. That maybe most other alien species aren't as, well, passively hostile as the Feds are. Perhaps, hopefully when all this is over, we could get to know more about the space marines. Where they come from, what other alien species they've encountered, what their civilization is like. It's...well I don't want to jinx it, but it's really quite the exciting opportunity." Cadence said, her voice perking up a little bit.

"So, what do we think, Princesses? Do you think they'll help us out?" Rainbow Dash said as she had, most probably unintentionally, snuck up behind Celestia.

The alicorn, after a moment of surprise, looked at her fellow alicorns, then over to the group of ponies that waited nearby before turning to speak to Dash.

"I have faith in them, Rainbow Dash. They protected us in that crystal maze, and they brought us aboard their ship, I believe they will do the right thing."

Celestia looked up just as she finished to see the significant bulk of a space marine in his white and red armour striding towards the group of ponies. Although Celestia was fairly sure he came bearing no ill intent, it was difficult not to feel a small tug of fear looking upon the giant alien's armoured face, it's glowing eye lenses coupled with the helmets snarling design striking a true sense of dread into the princesses heart. It was strange watching the creature walk, for it was quite alien when compared to the casual stroll a pony would move with, or the graceful glide alicorns held. Instead it marched forward on great, powerful, thundering strides that shook the metal floor, it's speed always set so it would reach it's destination as fast as possible, meaning it always walked at the quickest pace it could, fooling the princess for a moment that he was about to crash right into her before he stopped suddenly.

"Our Captain has requested your presence once more. Follow me to the convening chamber." The alien said simply in its deep, growling voice that held the metallic reverberation its face grill granted it.

"Of course. Please, lead the way."

Celestia motioned her hand slightly for the others to follow, Cadence sticking close to the front of the group alongside Twilight. The journey back to the hall they had left was short, in all honesty they didn't really require the escort. They turned a corner and went through the doors and into the room with the large marble table and chairs, all marines that they had left seeing still in their original seats. Most looked towards the ponies, bright metallic eyes and strong features staring straight at them, blinking a slightly disturbing few times as they all returned to their seats. Once they had all sat down the alien leader, Captain Errithius, stood up to address all before him.

"My brothers and I have concluded that it would be in the best interest to aid you in your efforts of national reclamation as best as we can." The marine said.

"Yeah!"

Although everypony managed to retain their overall composure at least a little bit, it seemed beyond Dash's capacity to contain her excitement, although Cadence couldn't lie in saying she clench her hands together and allow herself a warm, hopeful grin at the good news.

"However there are conditions you must be aware of. The first being that we are little over sixty space marines, and our enemy numbers in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps more. They have dozens of ships, we have just one. We are outrageously outnumbered, and therefore are in no condition to go to war with anyone. However, as much as full-scale conflict is a tactical impossibility, we do have the upper hand in terms of initiating precision strikes in key locations across your country. This means we will require information from you on the Federation, their active facilities, their function and their defenses. We'll need any files on their command staff if you have them, and we'll need complete cooperation coming from any of your nations own armed forces. Now even if we succeed in all these regards, I still cannot promise that we'll permanently sack Federation forces from your country, we can at least make it extremely difficult for them to operate at a functional capacity. Finally, princesses, I need you to understand a single important fact. The Federation may be driven to such a state of desperation that they choose to sever their ties to Equestria, and I have a feeling they're not just going to leave you unscathed. I fear they will seek to destroy as much of your nation as possible if they are forced to leave this system permanently. So in conclusion our mission from this point is enemy preoccupation; We disable what we can, when we can. We develop whatever strongholds we can and keep the Federation engaged and blind to our primary mission, which will be contacting the Imperium at large. Even if we succeed, the best outcome is that another rapid-response force is nearby and available to provide reinforcements, but the worst is that the Army and Fleet will have to amass a response force, and this could take weeks." Errithius informed, ensuring his words were steady and clear.

"So...that sounds like a lot of 'ifs' and 'buts'." Dash said with wide, desperate eyes.

"We knew this was a long-shot, Rainbow Dash. But this is the best hope we've had in three years, and I think it's worth taking the chance." Cadence said confidently, nopony noticing her lightly touch her lower stomach.

"My company has yet to fail it's mission in any campaign we have taken part in. I can promise you all that we'll do everything within our power to save your country, and if we do fail, we'll evacuate as many of you as we can into this craft. The very least we can do is ensure that this world doesn't become your tomb."

"Let's hope it never comes to that, Captain. I believe we already have plenty of information on the Federations facilities in the country, and I think we will have a way to get the rest of the information you need relatively quickly." Celestia said as she looked over to Rainbow Dash.

"I'm on it, Princess! Flitter and Cloudchaser will know how many troops go in and out of half the Fed bases in Equestria, and I know a few ponies who can fill in the rest." Dash replied enthusiastically.

"We'll sweep the ship to the edge of your nations region, but we'd rather not attract unwanted attention, so from there you'll be on your own. How much time will you require?" Errithius said, addressing the young pegasus.

"Gimme two days, I'll get the goods no sweat."

"Very well. We'll drop you off via gunship deployment, and after forty eight hours we'll have a scout squadron to rally with you at your original insertion point to radio in for extraction when you're done."

"Got it. Airship it in, scoop up the intel and meet up with your colt-scouts. And when I get back?" Dash asked, brow raised.

"Then we draw up battle plans."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Wake up, Luna

Luna woke as if she'd just been drowned. Her back arched and chest threw itself upwards as she gasped desperately for air, feeling almost as if somepony had just kicked her awake. A moment after waking her eyes, wide with fear grew sore, he whole head soon following. She felt as if she'd just been in a fight, like some villain had just thrown her around a castle hall and bruised every part of her body in the process. Her neck and limbs protested to any form of movement with a terrible aching pain, causing her to groan weakly. All she could do for now was weakly look about herself and at her surroundings. Her sore, throbbing eyes took a moment to adjust to the bright ambient light her environment seemed to emit, soon seeing around her what appeared to be some strange, advanced form of medical room. It was like a patient room one would find in a hospital only its pristine white walls were dotted with several computer consoles each, each console was wired to or attached to some form of machine, some holding vials of fluids of various colours, other displaying some form of readings like those seen on a heart monitor. In fact, there was a heart monitor, its screen however also displayed various other readings coming from other organs the princess could only guess the identity of. Luna's heart raced as she saw a table near her, atop it sat a neat row of medical equipment, ranging from simple cutting tools, drills, clamps, levers and syringes. Her eyes snapped down painfully fast to check on her body, which she found to thankfully be unscathed by any of the frightening medical equipment, the fur she could see showing no signs of being shaven or cut into. She found it strange that she was wearing some for of bandage and robing over her torso and across her hips, covering her in a decent manner, however looking more like sparring attire than a medical robe. She was laying down, laying in a bed that was, admittedly very comfortable, the cushiony surface made of an elastic, pure white fabric of sorts.

Luna clenched her eyes shut as a wave of pain washed over her head, the throbbing ache lasting a couple seconds before passing. She waited a moment and took a moment to try and remember what had happened, a million questions spiraling in her head. Where was she? Where was her sister? Where was everypony else? What had happened after they'd gone down into that cave beneath that store in the Crystal Empire? Had she been captured by the Federation? The last question seemed to cause another wave of pain to buzz through her head, this time lasting a little longer. Another question hit her in the back of the head after the pain passed.

Had I heard somepony wake me?

Luna carefully looked around again, this time beyond the medical equipment and the computer consoles. She looked at the walls surrounding her, the bright, well lit ceiling, the dark metal that composed what was some kind of mechanical door at the far end of the room to her left. She looked ahead and realized the darkness that had been ahead of her was actually the darkness beyond a pair of giant observation windows as some spots of glare revealed. Luna let out a soft sigh as she finally felt comfortable that she was alone.

Oh dear Luna, you've never been alone

"Wh-...Who said that?" Luna asked the air around her weakly.

I'll let you figure that out for yourself, Princess

"Where are you? Who are you?" Luna asked desperately, fear beginning to grip her as no sign of anyone else could be seen in the room she was laying in.

Okay, first: Stop talking. You must look insane just blubbering at an empty room. Second: You don't need to understand what's happening, not for what I have planned for you.

The voice began at first somewhat toneless, one could describe it as 'blurry', but now it had gained an unmistakable sinister quality. Luna recognized it as her own voice, only it held a slight hiss and growl to its quality. It held a constant tone of a pony who was utterly sure of themselves, to the point of being arrogant, and was almost assaulting in nature to it that made Luna feel like the voice was 'staring' at her.

I'm just exhausted. I'm hurt, exhausted and confused, and I just need to rest

Yes, rest. That will make this a lot easier

With that another wave of pain shot through Luna, this one so bad that it caused her to writhe slightly as the pain now travelled through the back of her neck and into her very heart.

What is this?! Who in Tartarus are you?!

Okay, at this point I am downright INSULTED!

As the voice growled at her another wave of pain soared through her, this one causing her to yell out in pain and convulse her so much she actually rolled off the medical bed, falling in a messy heap on the floor.

What are you doing to me?!

Taking over! I'm going to do what you and that foal, Celestia, should have done years ago!

Luna's eyes shot upon after hearing one word, a single word the sinister voice uttered. She'd only ever heard one pony call anypony else a 'foal'. Herself. A long time ago.

No. The Elements destroyed you

Even the power of the Elements could never destroy a part of yourself, Luna. They simply stripped me of power. Power I've taken far too long in replenishing. Power I will now use to save Equestria

Luna struggled on shaky arms and legs to right herself, getting to all fours after a series of grunts and groans of pained effort.

Save Equestria? What would you know about saving Equestria? You wanted to plunge the whole world in eternal night!

I still plan to, and it has nothing to do with saving MY nation. Eternal night is simply the deliverance of the aesthetic change Equestria deserves to be graced with. Living under the endless harmony of my beautiful night is something I know my subjects will warm to quickly, but there's one factor that is threatening my ultimate dream of claiming the nation I deserve

You have no hope of defeating the Elements, nor can you hope to stand against three other alicorns!

Oh dear, you are quite ignorant aren't you? You think I'm concerned with you and the little school club you've become a part of? I have my sights set on bigger fish, more specifically the fish you've spent three years tip-toeing around. And where you've failed time and again, I shall succeed, and all of Equestria will recognize me for the benevolent leader I am

Benevolent?! You're a wicked mare of darkness! And I won't let you hurt my friends!

When all of Equestria sees my for the princess I am, I won't have to. Could you really fight your former subjects to dethrone me? Just exactly how far are you willing to go to get Equestria back to the way it used to be? How many are you going to sacrifice? Me? I'll sacrifice nopony, destroy every trace of alien scum in the land and do it all myself

Not even you're that powerful, you can't destroy an entire army!

As always, everypony loves to underestimate me. It doesn't matter either way, I only need one last thing. I'll be taking my body back now, thank you very much

Another pain shot through Luna, all the way through her in fact. It felt like she was being filled up with liquid, like she was being pumped full of lava as her muscles burnt and her bones felt like they were about to break. She screamed out in pain, doubling over and curling in on herself in some vain effort to contain the agony breaking her apart from inside. A jolt of what felt like lightning shot through her spine, the convulsion of her body flinging her across the smooth, shiny floor beneath and nearer the door to her left. Suddenly a strange feeling came over Luna, for as much as she hurt all over, she felt almost recharged, refilled with the magic she'd long been missing. She found the strength to, albeit unsteadily, get to her feet while clutching at her throbbing head. She groaned as she tried slowly walking forward, utterly unsure of what was happening or what to do. Another jolt sent her flying to one knee, the muscles in her back tensing up as she fell. To steady her stumbling advance she attempted she clumsily threw a hand out to the nearest surface to her, which happened to be the observation window to her right. Her hand slapped against the smooth surface, only for a painfully sharp cracking noise to reply to her action.

Luna looked over at her hand, slowly. Her whole arm looked strange, almost as if it was swollen with some kind of infection under her dark blue fur. Her tense muscle twitched with the thunder of her heavy heartbeat for a couple of second before an immense pressure began to build in the appendage. It began as if her fur was catching on fire, a smoke as dark as darkness could be swam from patches on her arm, the patches growing and growing in size until her whole arm was engulfed in black smoke. When the smoke cleared Luna witnessed, to her horror, the muscles in her arm were growing immensely larger, her biceps almost twice the size of the average stallions. Luna stared in speechless terror for a moment before blurting out a blood-curdling scream as the bones in her arm vibrated a moment before cracking apart, stretching longer and thicker as her whole limb grew several sizes too big for the rest of her body. The glass at her shaking hand, already having been cracked at the impact of her empowered arm, now developed a vast spiderweb of crack as the pressure from her ever-growing arm put the glass through hell. Luna fell to her left, away from the window as another jolt shot through her shoulders, sending her to the floor a moment before a chorus of pops and crunching sounds burst from her back and ribs, several of the bandage straps around her chest splitting and snapping as her torso became swollen, the same black smoke peeling off from patches all over her body.

Luna's senses blurred, her perception of time seemed to black out, yet also simply slow down. She heard every bone pop, every muscle swell, the almost silent hiss of the ethereal smoke coming off from her now almost completely black fur which rippled with the changes occurring beneath it. Luna's mane drifted into sight, yet was vastly different from the gently drifting locks she'd known as her own, but were instead wild, held a more purple tinge in their colour and had grown vastly longer, her mane's now immense length waving, swirling and flicking all about her head and torso. Something began to tug at the back of her mind, a strange and hauntingly familiar mix of emotions seeping into her brain like poison soaking into a sponge. Her deep, raspy breaths gained a feral, rumbling quality much like the growling of a beast from the wilderness of Equestria. As her hands clenched at the floor, sharp talons stretched out from her once graceful fingers, scarring the pristine floor beneath her. Luna, now barely Luna at all, stood slowly, bandage and robe tearing around her still growing frame, every muscle in her body tensed as if a titanic rage was building within her. As if dying, falling from a great height to her death, Luna let out a cry, tears streaming from her eyes that now seemed further away from her by the second, like she was falling out of her own body. Luna closed her eyes, afraid of what awaited her in whatever deep, dark place she was headed before the sinking feeling in her heart stopped suddenly alongside all the aches and pains that had accompanied her terrifying transformation. Luna shot her eyes open to find herself suspended in almost complete darkness, unable to move anything but her eyes. However she did not feel bound or trapped, but utterly limbless, formless even, the only identity she held still was that of perception. She looked ahead and could soon make out a vision that developed before her, like she was watching a film of some sorts. But this was no film, it was her, it was what she was seeing, only it...wasn't her.

It was her.

Luna looked on helplessly as the conscious that had gripped her body and reshaped it as her own now observed itself in the cracked glass before her. Her reflection could be clearly seen, an immensely tall, deeply dark figure of terrifying proportions standing looking at its own reflection with a almighty sense of satisfaction. She was easily eight feet tall, taller than even Celestia, and was built like a warrior god from some ancient religion based on warfare and violence. Her arms were as thick as a pony, each, and ended in strong hands bearing razor sharp, diamond hard claws. Her legs were equally as muscular, perhaps even more so considering her still incredibly, and surprisingly, feminine form. Her stomach was rippling with muscle, her shoulders like blocks of pure power and her neck a thick pillar on which her smirking, wild eyed head sat upon. Her features were sharper than Luna's, stronger too, like a more threatening version of her sisters own features. Her eyes were no longer those of a pony, but instead glowing teal orbs with a single draconic scar of black running down each one vertically. Her mane was a fierce ocean of night sky given form, like a raging storm of stars and purple tinged darkness. Her coat of fur was black as the darkest shadow the universe could dream up of, so black in almost absorbed the very light in the room. Her wings, once avian and bearing beautiful feather, were now a twisted combination of avian from their base out until about half way down each 'finger' that now protruded out, leathery skin connecting each talon-tipped appendage much like the wings of a bat. Although this alicorn was built like a tanks welded atop another tank, her waist was still thin, her hips generously flared and her bust generously generous, giving her an unmistakably feminine form, just one built for combat and dominance through raw power

The dark alicorn smiled, gleaming white teeth with a carnivorous sharpness gleaming in her dark silhouette as she pumped the muscles in her back with power, her wings flaring out in a spectacle. The dark creature then pivoted on her hooves that now drew nearer one another, swiveling her whole form so that she could better observe the more un-observable portions of her body, her eyes gliding happily across her own back and rear which now bore a cutie mark picturing a light blue half-moon surrounded by violet mist. Putting a clawed hand on her wide hip, the alicorn swiveled back and looked dead into her own cat-like eyes, grinning victoriously as she placed one hoof before they other, her form bearing a degree of grace from the pose. Luna could only watch, trapped as an observer in the mind of a body that used to be hers, the medical bandages and robes still clinging tightly to her exaggerated frame, still managing to keep her decent. Luna looked at the reflection of the mare before her, staring in horror into the eyes she'd thought nopony would ever have to see again as the alicorn of darkness, Nightmare Moon, spoke.

"It's good to be back."

-----------------------------------------------------------

"A servitor will have a travelling pack ready for you in the hangar. It should contain all the essentials we can currently provide for two days travel, we've also included a sequence tuner, a universal digital access tool used by Imperial citizens and military personnel to directly access local software." Errithius said as himself and the ponies her escorted walked down a well-lit corridor towards one of the frigate's hangars.

"Cool. How does it work?" Rainbow Dash asked as she quickly checked through what supplies she had on her.

"The controls tend to be seen as quite intuitive, I'm sure you'll quickly learn to adapt to them through the devices walkthrough protocols." The marine replied.

"An' just are the rest of us supposed t' do while Dash runs her two day errand?" The farmer girl asked.

"Unfortunately all any of us can really do for now is wait to retrieve the information we require, I'm not overly fond of the idea of deploying brother marines into a facility I know nothing about. After your companion has returned, we shall draw battle plans and prepare to organize force deployment."

It appeared to the captain that Celestia was about to say something as they walked on before the rapid thundering of bootsteps hammered down the corridor towards them from behind, Errithius snapping his head around to witness what was approaching them. Brother Priest Nitheleon, who had gone to check over the medical condition of his fellow marines in the ship barracks sprinted passed the group, turning to the captain as he flew by.

"Captain, medical center, now!" Nitheleon blurted as he passed by, continuing on to soar down the corridor ahead.

"What is it?" Errithius asked concernedly as he too broke into a sprint after his brother, hearing the ponies behind him also quicken their pace but find themselves not fast enough to keep up with the Astartes.

"Princess Luna's vital reading just flat-lined after reporting a series of distressing readings." Nitheleon said in a hushed tone, one Errithius doubted the ponies could hear.

"She's dead?" Asked Errithius in deep confusion.

"I don't know. It would seem a highly unlikely occurrence seeing as she had remained stable for so long in such a contained environment. And her brain waves...before she went off line her neural readings went berserk in a series of waves, almost like a series of miniature seizures."

"What do you think is happening?"

"I think she's in trouble, one way or another. I'm hoping she's just fallen out of her observation bed. I suppose we're about to find out either way."

After a few more seconds of the pair turning corners, sprinting down hallways and hastening open blast doors they arrived at the medical deck, passing a handful of observation and containment rooms before reaching where the Princess had been held. They stared through the glass no longer than half a second, wasting no time after seeing the princess was absent of the room to enter the scene to assess what had happened. Errithius immediately took note of the access door, which looked like it had been pulled open by force, the top edge which held the door slab was dripping with hydraulic fluid and leaking softly with thin smoke. Inside, directly before their feet leading in a path halfway to Luna's bed lay a number of dark blue feathers, ones Errithius knew belonged to the princess, along with a few shreds of the medical attire she had been dressed in. More disturbing and incredibly perplexing was the large impact point that was smashing into one of the nearby windows, windows reinforce to withstand bullets and grenade blasts, and second to that were the deep scratch marks that where carved into the solid floor beneath them. Yet the answers to what had happened would have to wait, as either the rooms security footage would reveal what had happened, or they would have to get answers by finding the princess first. Celestia and the other ponies turned the corner, hurrying through the doors before coming to a fearful halt at the sight before them, Celestia herself cupping a hand over her own mouth in shock.

"What happened here? Was...was Luna being kept here?" Princess Twilight asked sheepishly.

"Was. I'll set up a shipwide alert to have everyone keep an eyes out for her, I'm sure the ships systems can track her down soon." Errithius assured as he turned to head back out the door.

"Captain. Where is my sister?" Celestia asked in a stern tone, yet her voice shaking almost uncontrollably.

"Princess, she's probably gotten herself lost. She's woken up in a place she's entirely unfamiliar to and probably went searching for all of you. I'm sure she's fine." Errithius said calmly before Nitheleon put a hand on his pauldron.

"Captain, that doors has been torn open, not sheepishly strolled through. For Throne's sake, the scratches in the floor, the glass. I'm starting to think perhaps Varadoch had a point."

"We assume nothing until we find the Princess." Errithius said back through clenched teeth.

"Alert! Blast door E-14 has suffered complete systems compromise. Alert! Blast door E-14 has been breached." The droning ships automated speaker system burped mechanically.

The occupants of the medical room wasted no time to find out what was happening, the marines taking the lead, leaving the ponies to soon fall behind them. After several more seconds of travel the company came to blast door numbered E-14, the marines slowling to observe the worrying sight before them. The two door slabs had been forced open, just like the one in the medical center, only these doors were much large, wide enough and tall enough to accommodate two side-by-side files of terminators walking through them. The edges sparked and whined as the motorized systems within their frames had been completely violated by brute force throwing them open.

"Captain, these doors would take a marine in full power armour to pry open." Nitheleon said in a desperate voice.

"Alert! Blast door E-19 has suff- Alert! Blast door E-19 has been breached." Blurted the ships systems once again.

"That leads to an airlock." Nitheleon said almost quietly to himself.

"She's trying to get outside." Errithius growled in frustration.

"Captain! What's happening?!" Celestia cried out from behind, desperately trying to keep up.

"Your sister's trying to get outside, she must believe we're holding her prisoner or something!" Errithius called out back to the princess.

"Are we just going to ignore how a princess just pulled open two Astarte-vessel blast doors?!" Nitheleon barked as he darted after the captain who'd once again broken into a sprint.

The marines headed to the second set of blast doors, finding them in a similar state to the first they'd encountered, then straight for the nearest airlock, Errithius making a point to properly assess every corridor he turned into, keeping his hearing and sense of smell well within mind so that he wouldn't suddenly stumble into the runaway princess. Another set of bootsteps was heard approaching before the bionically reconstructed Varadoch turned a corner behind both the captain and sanguinary priest and sought to quickly catch up with them.

"Alert! Airlock E-4 inner pressure doors breached."

"Captain! What's happening?!" Varadoch barked from behind Errithius.

"One of the princesses decided to get some fresh air!" The captain called back, his tone bearing the equivalent to a verbal shrug.

"Alert! Airlock E-4 breached. Hull security compromised!" The ship bleated, almost in a panicked tone.

Errithius turned a final corner, seeing the open door straight ahead of him, just a few dozen feet away, yet there was no sign of the rouge princess. The marines shot through, heads swiveling wildly as they looked about desperately to find their target. Errithius was forced to squint his eyes for a moment as the fierce, cold winds whipping about him combined with the bright setting sun well within his field of vision made his search slightly uncomfortable. His senses adjusted within the second, and he continued his search, steadily marching forward along one of the ships spinal access walkways, his armoured boots slamming loudly upon the metal beneath him. He soon heard the ponies that followed him begin to catch up, nearing the airlock he'd just sprinted through.

Errithius walked onward until he spotted an unfamiliar silhouette stood directly in front of the setting, orange sun ahead of him. He strode forward with the surety and precision he had always marched with, until something about the figure before him seemed a little too familiar. Wings, large wings much like those of a bat or fire drake spread from the creature ahead, each digit of the massive, webbed appendages tipped with a talon and the colour of the hellish things blacker than darkest night. Only the creatures he'd witness claw their way from the dread-relam of unreality bore such frightening features, creatures he and his whole species held a bottomless abhorrence towards. This familiarity caused Errithius' hand to shoot to his side, his palm placed firmly upon the grip of his bolt pistol locked to his hip. However his fingers did not clutch at the weapon at his side, instead simply floating around it as he moved cautiously forwards. As he drew closer, Errithius could make out more and more of the figure ahead; Powerful limbs, female frame, strong core muscles, clawed fingers, hair and tail almost alive with some strange otherworldly energy and fur a as dark as the flesh of a Salamander space marine. After Errithius had closed in to stand no further than twenty feet away from the strangely space marine-sized creature the other ponies had reached his location, the captain shooting an arm out to his side to prevent them from rushing any closer.

"Luna!" Celestia practically screamed, seeing what she must have thought was her sister standing firmly at the edge of the frigate's top deck, one hooved leg raised to stand atop one of the railings ahead of it.

Upon hearing the cry of the princess, the creatures tufted ears swiveled sharply, a second later its thick, muscular neck slowly turning to reveal its face. It was some strange sub-breed of native the captain had not seen before, one he doubtlessly could say was the largest he'd encountered so far, bearing both large wings and a single, long, slightly curved horn in the middle of its forehead. Its eyes were aglow with a vibrant teal light, its pupils feline slits running vertically down the bright orbs. It's face held a strange quality to it, as if grace and strength blended together perfectly to chisel its faultless features, features casually pulled into a gentle, yet confident smirk.

"You never really any good with names, were you, Celestia?"

The female pony's voice was strong, slightly deeper than those of the others he'd met and held a strange growling undertone to it, giving her a slightly unsettling quality.

"No...No...Please, Luna. Why are you doing this? What's happened? What's wrong?" Celestia stammered, eyes wide with fear, those around her stunned with complete shock.

"Luna?" Nitheleon blurted from behind in disbelief as he looked on at the creature ahead of him.

"If you value your life I wouldn't make a habit of calling me by a name that is in no way my own!" The large female barked at Nitheleon, her very body seeming to bristle with some form of entrapped energy that made the air around her crackle slightly.

"Princess, who is this?" Errithius said quickly, his discomfort at the situation before him doubling every second, his hand still rested on his sidearm.

"She's...she's..." Celestia stammered, seemingly chocked by what she was seeing.

"She's Nightmare Moon, mare of darkness, bringer of the night eternal." Twilight said fiercely, eyes locked with Nightmare Moon's, who gave a wide grin in response to hearing her own title.

"Why thank you, Princess Twilight Sparkle for such an embellished introduction." Nightmare Moon replied in an incredibly honest sounding appraisal.

"Interesting title." Murmured Errithius, though apparently not quite enough.

"Oh you'll soon see exactly how interesting I can be. I would love to wait for you to catch up and witness me liberate all of Equestria single handed, but I'm afraid my subjects are quickly running out of time, and I doubt they'd appreciate their future princess dawdling about in the face of their despair." The dark pony said theatrically as she lifted herself to stand atop the railing ahead of her, her whole form seeming to be utterly unaffected by the howling winds swirling about her as her wings stretched into a half-spread position.

"You can't do that! You can't fight the entire Federation just by yourself! You'll get yourself and Luna killed!" Twilight bellowed over the winds protesting.

"Your beloved Princess Luna had similar concerns, and I can assure you I've waited long enough, collected enough magic and finalized my plans for destroying those alien murderers long before your little resistance even held its first meeting. You see conquest is something of a past time of mine, and I have plans to grow increasingly efficient at it."

Before any more could be said, heavy foot falls rang out as Varadoch marched viciously forward and towards Nightmare Moon, bolter raised. Nightmare turned about, sharp teeth bared as she snarled in an almost feral manner, hands clenched and muscles tight with the anger that boiled within her in seeing such an insult.

"I don't care much for your plans, whoever you are. Dead or alive, you're coming with me." Varadoch growled, his face contorted with a burning anger of his own, the two locking eyes so fiercely Errithius could almost feel a heat blazing from between them.

"No! Please!" Celestia threw herself forward, both her arms wrapping around the middle of Varadoch's bolter, using all her strength to desperately throw off his aim, and failing greatly.

"Get off of me!" Varadoch roared, effortlessly throwing Celestia off his weapon, her wings and back slamming into the railing next to the marine.

This caused something within Nightmare Moon to apparently burst with rage as her whole form floated off from the railing, bat-like wings spread, eyes fierce, mane and tail flailing about wildly as if caught in a tornado. Lightning arched from her body, striking at the metal of the ship below her a second before a shockwave, similar to the one Princess Luna had incapacitated herself with, blasted from her body, rattling all around her. Errithius and Nitheleon where brought to a knee as their balance was shaken off, the ponies around them tumbling back as if being tackled into, however Varadoch remained upright, his boots grinding across the walkway floor as he skidded backwards several feet. He gave a deep grunt as it seemed the attack left him thoroughly shaken before looking up to his foe once more with burning hate.

"Okay then," Nightmare Moon began, gathering her confident composure once again, "So, while I go to save Equestria, you can all sit in your sky-ship and just...well, do nothing, really." The dark princess said with a toothy grin and deep chuckle.

Errithius looked up to see Varadoch take two steps forward before raising his weapon again, the Captain fearing this time it would be for taking a shot.

"Varadoch, don't!" The captain barked.

"Catch up whenever you're ready!" Nightmare Moon said gleefully as her wings stretched out high and wide before giving one titanic beat, catapulting her high into the dusk-lit sky above, her shrinking silhouette soaring towards the setting sun, vanishing with seconds of having taken off.

Varadoch lowered his weapon, his arms relaxing in defeat as his weapon fell shortly to be cradled before his chest. Errithius closed his eyes slowly and let out a sigh, one half composed of relief and half exasperation. His eyes did not open again for several seconds, instead the captain allowing himself a moment of peace, one he knew would be the last for quite a long while. He emptied his mind of all the madness that had consumed the past day, his concerns and stresses washing away under the whispering sound of the wind rushing by.