Princess Twilight Sparkle sat alone in the Map Room still lost within her own thoughts, it had been a couple of hours since he friends and the other Princesses left and the Alicorn’s thoughts had drifted back to the party and what the Commander, what a version that was almost exactly like her up to a certain point in time had done and she kept questioning herself and whether she could ever be that as it went against everything she had ever been taught and believed in.

The mare was drawn from her own mind when the door to the Map Room opened and the Commander walked in on two legs, her hands behind her back as seemed to be her custom. She stopped before the map and saluted. “Commander Twilight Sparkle reporting for duty to meet with the liaison for the Equestrian Government.” She said crisply and dropped the salute into what Twilight recognized as a “rest” stance.

Twilight blinked as she looked at the Commander, it wasn’t hard to see what Celestia had meant as the mare was as still as a statue, staring straight ahead, well Twilight assume, the other mare still wore her sunglasses so Twilight couldn’t see where her eyes. As Twilight looked she noticed the Commander’s uniform didn’t have a drop of blood on it. “You cleaned your uniform?” She asked.

“No ma’am, I changed into a spare I had with me.” The Commander answered promptly.

Twilight nodded. “Right pocket dimension spell.” She said and looked at the other her standing perfectly still, not moving in the slightest. “So…I’m not sure what to do here.” Twilight said, she didn’t know anything about being a liaison or how to treat her counterpart when she was like this.

“I would suggest we go over what is known about the Purifiers and go over possible weaknesses as well as our own strengths.” The commander suggested.

Twilight nodded. “Sounds good to me.” She said, still not entirely sure what to do. Luckily the commander solved that issue by walking up to the Map and placing her hands on the edges of it as she leaned over it to inspect it.

“What we know so far is that they are made up of earth ponies and unicorns, possible Pegasi but we have yet to see any so no confirmation. They prefer to use their amulets to attack; even the unicorns do and most likely know how to brew potions if the smoke bomb they used is any indication though it’s possible they know how to make that one type it would be safer to assume they can make other types.”

“Also I would assume that danger you were escaping when I ended up here was them and since it was a long range teleport and they knew exactly what town to go to they either have been among the counties citizen, most likely, or have some way to track teleportation, not as likely but still defiantly a possibility. We also know that their leadership is very calm under pressure as we witnesses that first hand at the party, I haven’t met many people who can witness what I did at the party and not even flinch which means he is extremely dangerous.” The commander said still looking over the map.

“The Princess also told me that back when they first arrived; when the Princess was close to capturing the original leader he used an amulet that created a powerful magic explosion that created the badland.” Twilight said.

The Commander looked up suddenly at that. “Are you sure?” She asked and Twilight nodded. “Damnit….they have access to WMDs.” She said and grimaced.

“WMD?” Twilight asked confused.

“Weapon of Mass Destruction, the version I know of are nuclear ICBM, or Inter Continental Ballistic Missiles. Weapons so powerful they can wipe a city the size of Manehatted from the face of the world in seconds leaving nothing left alive for miles around.” The commander explained and Twilight looked at her horrified.

“How could you create something so horrible?” Twilight asked.

The Commander looked at her. “I didn’t, but I know what they are and have seen pictures of what they can do, I want to protect my home but I have not been forced to create those yet, I will if I have to but so far what we have has been sufficient to keep everyone safe.” Twilight let out a sigh of relief knowing her counterpart hadn’t been driven to create such a weapons…yet. But it was still a somewhat comforting thought. “Anyways if they have the ability to create such a weapons then the Purifiers will be tricky to deal with as they will have to be dealt with before they get a chance to use them.”

Twilight nodded, she had to agree with her unicorn self on that. “How do you suggest we precede commander?” She asked.

“That’s easy, we do nothing.” She said simply.

“What?!” Twilight blurted and nearly fell out of her throne do to leaning forward so far. “We can’t do nothing, we have to stop them!”

“And we will Princess, but right now we have no idea where they are or how many of them they are. We have to wait till they try again and that is when we capture one of them and then we can learn what we need and then we go from there. Running off with such incomplete intelligence will just waste lives and I cannot stand wasting anything.” The commander said firmly.

Twilight blinked and sat back in her chair. “Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

The other Twilight nodded. “I am a professional soldier Princess; I know what I am doing.”

Twilight giggled sheepishly scratching the back of her head with a hoof. “Right, I know, sorry.”

The Commander nodded. “No need to apologize Princess, you aren’t used to dealing with people like me.” She said and a somewhat awkward silence fell between them as they just looked at each other, one at attention, the other uncomfortable.

Twilight wasn’t sure what to say and it seemed the Commander was done speaking, they had a plan and both were on the same page all that was left to do was wait. How do you pass the time with the mare you had witnessed kill almost two dozen ponies with ruthless efficiency and was basically you to a certain extent?

“You are uncomfortable around me.” The Commander said suddenly after a time causing Twilight to jump and open her mouth to apologize. “You don’t need to apologize, I get it, I am so far beyond anything you are used to and how I do my job is something you had never imagined before.” She said and reached up and removed her sunglasses to rub the bridge of her muzzle before looking back at her without her glazes. “I don’t pretend to be a hero, hell I don’t think of myself as such. I know I am no hero, what I am is a professional.”

“I do my job and I will do it in the most efficient way possible, and that usually means people die around me, usually enemies, sometimes friends and allies. While I don’t care about the enemies I can assure you I am not happy about losing allies but I can assure you I will do whatever is necessary to complete my objective with the best possible outcome, that may mean killing or that may mean spending the lives of soldiers under my command, but I can assure you with 100% certainty I will see my objective through to the end or I will die trying.” The Commander said with professionalism. “I can assure you I will do all it takes to keep you all safe and that is a promise Princess.”

Twilight wasn’t sure why but hearing the other mare explain herself helped put her own mind more at ease and Twilight had to agree with Celestia, if the Purifiers were even half as dangerous as they were in the past then they didn’t need a hero, they needed a professional.

Commander Twilight Sparkle sat with the Princess, Spike and a terrified Starlight glimmer at the table. It was dinner time and the two mares had been rescued from the awkward silence by Spike coming to get them when dinner was nearly done.

Twilight calmly watched Starlight sit stone still watching Twilight; she looked like a rabbit that had been coroner by a hungry wolf. Twilight found this fact very enjoyable as she didn’t think the Princess would be best to toy with right now, maybe later but for now the mare was still dealing with what happened early today and Twilight liked the Alicorn so didn’t want to push her too much. Starlight on the other hand was completely fair game to be screwed with as much as Twilight wanted as she didn’t care if she broke, though the Princess would probably be upset if she broke her “friend” and student so Twilight would have to be very methodical in her play.

“So I didn’t see you at the party earlier today.” Twilight said in a casual voice.

Starlight stiffened even more. “Oh…um…yes…I...I…I paned to come, r-really I did….uh….but….but I was busy studying….and…I lost track of the time……” Starlight stammered out.

Twilight nodded as the Princess looked at the pink mare with concern. “It’s alright; I was just wondering as you missed all the fun, there was good music, good dancing, good drink and even a brawl. Everything a great party needs. “She said with a smile, she knew that last bit would affect the Princess but it would be minor and easily forgotten. Starlight on the other hand it would affect exactly as Twilight predicted.

The other mare’s eyes widened slight and she started to shake under the unwavering stare of the military mare. “Oh….um…sorry I…missed it….I’ll be sure….to be at the next one.” Starlight said not taking her eyes from the other unicorn as if she expected herself to launch herself over the table at her like she did a few hours ago. Twilight was debating doing that just for the laughs though she decided she didn’t want to deal with another lecture from the Princess.

Twilight nodded once more. “I bet you will.” Twilight smiled as friendly as she could and watched the shiver run down Starlight’s body. Twilight had to suppress her own shiver as her pleasure grew with in her. She had to be careful as she did not exactly have an outlet for dealing with pleasure if it got to a certain point without the Major being here.

“So Commander, I forgot to ask how did you sleep last night.” The Princess asked either out of honest curiosity or rescuing Starlight from Twilight’s stare.

Twilight looked at the Alicorn with a neutral smile. “I slept fine, the castle is a bit strange to sleep in, what with the walls being made of crystal and such but overall I slept fine. “She said, she wasn’t lying, thought had had relived one of, if not her greatest fears she was used to the nightmares so even with that one she slept soundly.

The Princess nodded and smiled. “That’s good, I wasn’t sure how well you’d sleep in such an unfamiliar place and bed, I know I have issues with beds that aren’t my own.”

Twilight shrugged. “I got used to sleeping wherever I am, whether it’s a bed or a random field to a cold ally in Canterlot I can sleep soundly.” Twilight said. “You get used to catching sleep when you can when in the field.”

The Princess nodded after a few moments. “I see, I guess that makes sense” With that the room fell into silence as neither of the gathered mares knew what to say, well two didn’t know what to say, one was to terrified to speak unless spoken too.

After a few minutes of silence Spike pushed a cart into the room from the kitchen with three bowls of vegetable and when Twilight got her bowl a quick inspection proved her theory true once more, not a single trace of meat anywhere in the soup. She really needed to get her hands on some before she went crazier.

Somewhere far from the town of Ponyville three dark yellow robe wearing ponies walked into a camp of similarly dressed ponies all going about their business. One of the other ponies looked up at the three as they entered the camp proper. “Hail! Our Leader had returned!” The mare called and all activity within the camp ceased as the Purified rushed to meet their Leader. They all raised their right hoof in salute.

“Glory be to Order and those who stand for it!” The gathered ponies all said in unison, save the three who had just entered the camp. The two that flanked the leader dropped their hoods, reveling the one on the left to be a unicorn mare with a grey coat and bright blue mane while the one on the right was a stallion earth pony with a purple coat and light green and yellow mane. The one in the middle kept his hood up. He raised a hoof to return the salute and the other ponies all dropped there and stood in silence.

“My brothers and sister in the war against chaos, today is a sad day for we have lost some of our own.” There was a ripple through the gathered Purifiers of shock and concern.

“It was the abomination! It has claimed our brothers and sisters!” A shout came from the back and more shouted agreement.

The leader raised his hoof to quiet the crowd. “Nay by brothers and sisters, twas not the abominations who took our brothers and sisters from us. While the abominations and those she has corrupted the minds of and controls were ready to fight it was another who took them from us.” He said loudly for the crowd to hear.

“This pony moves and acts like nothing we have ever seen nor encountered before, nor is there mention of such a being in our ancient texts. The mare moves with speed and precision like nothing before and she kills without mercy nor care. “This cause another ripple of shock through the crowd. “This mare is truly an Agent of Chaos more so then the abominations themselves are.”

This caused looks of horror on the faces of the gathered Purifiers and the leader could hear murmurs as they processed the idea of something worse than the abominations. “This Agent is dangers and she is protecting the abomination and I fear she will begin to hunt for us as the only ponies who can stand against the chaos she no doubts desires to bring upon this land. We will need to be ready to face this Agent and purify her of the chaos she represents. For this I will have Cloudy Dreamer use his talents to enter this mare’s mind and learn of her weakness so that we may be able to defeat her when she comes for us.”

This calmed the crowd and they all visibly relaxed. Cloudy Dreamer was one of the best unicorn mages the Purifier’s had and specialized in creating amulet and talismans specialized for the mind. The leader planned to ask him to use his amulets to enhance his talent and enter the dreamscape when the mare sleeps and gleam what he can from her dreams and if possible disrupt them. The biggest danger to this would be the dark abomination who patrol the dream scape and infects innocent ponies dream with her tainted chaotic presents and drive them to the other abominations.

The Leader looked up at the sky, the sun had set a few hours ago so more likely the mare slumbered even now, it would be just a matter of Cloudy Dreamer finding her dream and entering it before she awoke. And then they would know what they needed to purify this Agent of Chaos from the land.

Cloudy Dreamer watched as the Dreamscape came into focus around him. The white stallion with a dark yellow mane wore his robes still even in this place for eh was not technically asleep in the waking world. No he sat in mediation with several talismans and amulets upon his body to allow him to enter this place. When the Leader had asked him if he would risk entering an Agent of Chaos’ dreams to gather info on it Cloudy Dreamer had not hesitated to agree in the name of bringing order. He had heard what this creature had done to their brothers and he could not allow one such as it to go without being purified.

The many stars moved around him as he followed an amulet around his neck that pulled him towards that which he sought and soon a star much like the others came into view and the amulet tugged him towards it. Once he neared it the amulet dropped down around his neck and he paused to look at the dream. It looked like all the others but yet, he did not know why he had the strangest feeling of finality to it, like a pony signing away all their possessions and handing the contract back to a businesspony so that they could never take it back.

Brushing the feeling aside the stallion moved towards the dream after making sure the dark abomination was nowhere around, seeing it was not the stallion carefully entered the Agent of Chaos’ dream.

The dark void and stars faded away and slowly the world faded in. the Stallion blinked as he looked around at the strange place he found himself standing in. He was in what looked like a part of some sort just outside of the great castle of Canterlot. There was a path that lead from the street and cut through the grass and flower. The stallion began to follow it as he stood on the street. The path lead to a raised platform that had the twisted remains of some sort of machine on it. The machine was some sort of box with a smaller box on top of it and from the smaller box and a twisted pipe jutted out towards the street, what the machine was for or had been Cloudy Dream had no clue. As he neared it he saw words carved into the front of it.

Pausing to allow his curiosity to get the better of him, it wasn’t everyday he entered the dreams of an Agent of Chaos dreams and this was the strangest he had ever seen, he read the words.

The stallion blinked at the names, he could tell the first one was a pony but the other two were beyond strange to him and the titles, for they were clearly title, made no sense either.

“Captain Fleetfoot, Stallion, serial number 084335, Sharpshooter, KIA Camp Mendez. Staff Sergeant Gyron, Male, serial number 549203, mortar team Delta-Foxtrot-Three-Niner-Eight KIA Fort Zandar. A voice said from the other side of the platform and the stallion moved around it. “Private Cloud Dancer, Mare, serial number 448712, Transport pilot, KIA outside of Camp Mendez along with 15 unidentified recruits”

Cloudy Dreamer rounded the platform and found a large obsidian wall polished to a bright shine at the far end of the path adorn with more words but that wasn’t what caught his attention. What caught his eye was the lavender unicorn mare show sat before the wall facing it. “Corporal Cloudy Dawn, Mare, serial number 487550, Flame Trooper, KIA Canterlot Castle Main Courtyard. “The mare said in a flat voice and the stallion realized she was reading names off the wall.

So this was the Agent of Chaos? Wasn’t quite what he expected and he wasn’t sure why she was listing names or what everything else she was alongside them meant, most likely those she had corrupted. No matter with her so distracted it would make his job easier. He started to approach the mare as she read another name from the wall. “Private First Class Runitys, Male, serial number 487208, Rifle Team Zulu-Oscar-six-seven-three, KIA Canterlot Castle Throne Room.”

The Stallion neared the mare and froze as she sensed something behind him. Spinning around he blinked in confusion as he saw the same mare that was by the wall only this one stood on two legs wearing some form of battered dark green armor and looked at him with an emotionless face. “You should not be here, you do not belong here creature, this is hallowed ground.” The mare said without a trace of emotion.

“Sergeant Bittersweet, Stallion, Serial Number 492008, Anti-Air Gunner. KIA Southern Canterlot Defense Bunkers.”

“Wh-what?” Cloudy Dreamer stammered out confused as to how he had been detected with his amulets in place.

“Lieutenant Sweet Treat, Mare, Serial number 649372, Rifle Team Echo-Juliet-Six-Eight-Niner, KIA Manehatten streets outside evacuation point Bravo-Two-Niner “Manehatten Hoofball Stadium”

The Agent tilted her head to the side. “You are not like the last creature to enter here, it was just curious….no….you wish harm.” She tilted her head back up and Cloudy Dreamer blinked.

Private First Class Gryntil, Male, serial number 540072, Anti-Tank Trooper, KIA Manehatten streets, Note: left cover in order to draw attention away from location of hidden civilians succeeded thirteen civilians escape and are successfully evacuated, Medal of Honor awarded posthumous.

The Agent looked at him and Cloudy Dreamer noticed the world was starting to fall away, no it wasn’t falling away, he was being moved. “You need to be punished.” The agent said in her emotionless voice as the stallion found himself standing on a platform surround by darkness. The Agent of Chaos stepped back into it and vanished.

The stallion quickly grabbed his amulets and tried to return to his body but nothing happened. He blinked and tried again. “Tell me creature.” The Agent’s voice sounded from all around Cloudy Dreamer and he saw dark tendrils start to reach from the darkness towards him. “Do you know the meaning of fear?”

The stallion was practically hitting the amulet to try and get it to work when the first tendril touched him.

In the waking world Cloudy Dream sat crossed legged with his forehoofs helping support him at his sides, upon his head sat three amulets on a gold chain and running along his body were talismans marked with powerful ruins, the room was silent as the other Purifiers watched as he worked.

The first indication anything was wrong was a slight twist of his left eye. A few moments later it happened again and then the stallion’s body jerked and he collapse, his body spasiming uncontrollably as some of the Purifiers rushed to aide their brother. By the time they reached him blood had begun to flow from his ears, eyes and mouth mixing with foam, staining it red as well. Despite their best efforts the stallion’s seizer only grew worse and worse till all at once he stopped. When the group all looked at each other before one cautiously approached the still stallion laying on the blood covered platform. The Purifier looked back at the others with a look of horror on his face. That was all was need to tell the Purifiers that Cloudy Dreamer was dead.

Author's Notes:

Well this chapter was interesting now wasn't it, got another appearance of a fan favorites character and got to watch her strike a blow against the Purifiers, even though she probably has no idea who they are, not that she will care in all honesty.