10 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 22 hours, 38 minutes and 21 seconds ago

Four Griffins in the black armor of Griffin Army Commandos, the Griffin Military Special Forces stood at the end of a hall behind what cover there was ready to engage their enemy. Many on the planet would be very hesitant to attack a single Griffin Commando much less four of them and if they did it would be the last action they ever took. However if one were observant they would notice that these commandos wore no insignias to say what company they were from or who commanded them or even to say they were part of the military at all. If one were to look closer they would also notice they griped their rifles tightly as they aimed down the hall and every once in a while they would shift uncomfortably.

Seeing this one would be understandably concerned with what could make four elite soldiers such as these nervous to the point of it being noticeable. One would merely have to wait a few more minutes to see as two figured rounded the far corner at the far end of the hall and cried out before they started to sweep towards the commando who wasted no time in opening fire on the two approaching figures. The hall echoed with the clatter of assault rifles on full auto and yet the approaching figures did not seek cover nor did they seem to notice the gunfire as they recklessly advanced on the commando who continued to fire with increasing desperation.

Then the two figures crashed into the four commandos who used their rifles as clubs to try and beat the two figures back as they slashed with claw and beak, tearing into the flesh of the commandos in a spray of crimson that coated the walls and floor of the hallways till the four commandos lay dead, their bodies missing large chunks of flesh.

If one were too look at the two figured who killed the commandos without a single care they would see that under the blood that matted their feathers and coated their armor that they wore the same black armor of Griffin Commandos though the armor was filled with many bullet holes for the four commandos had not missed their marks. Looking closely the observer would see that the two griffins eyes glowed with a sickly inner yellow light as they look around for more of the living to attack.

A few moments later a lavender unicorn who wore dark green armor and stood on two legs would step into the middle of the carnage and look around with a face distinctly lacking any trace of emotion as she seemed to not even be aware of the bodies that surrounded her.

The two undead griffins bowed their heads towards the mare who was their master as she made up her mind to add these recently dead commandos to her small army of the dead. Throughout the stone walls of the bunker echo of gunfire could be heard and the cries of other griffins as they desperately fought against her undead army who simply had orders to move through the halls and kill anything they found while she hunted for her prey. She wasn’t entirely sure what her prey was but she would know it when she found it and it would suffer punishment for what it had done. She also didn’t know what it had done but that was not important, all that mattered was that it received punishment when she found it and she would deliver. For she was judgement, she was punishment, she was justice, she was death, she was Reaper.

Dark tendrils extended from Reaper’s horn and touched the four bodies of the feathered creatures and their bodies spasmed a bit before their eyes opened to revel the same sickly yellow light of the ones who had killed them. Slowly they got to their feet and bowed before their master. “Go forth and kill any alive you find.” She told them in a voice completely devoid of emotion. The undead soldier raised their heads and split up, three going one way while the other three went the other way to seek out those that still yet lived, they would not use reason to find their pray for their master had no granted them the gift of intelligence, she had simply raised them from the dead with the most basic of motor function so that they could move and complete their task of killing all that stood between their master and her prey.

Reaper followed one of the three at random as she did not know where she was going, all she knew of this structure was where she had already been and there was nothing alive back there. She followed her soldiers as they found three of the feathered creatures behind a hastily constructed barricade in a room that held many tables and chairs. Her soldier saw the other three and gave half squawks, half growls before they surged towards the living who used the weapons they carried to fire on the advancing undead. The weapons were useless for it took more than they could do to kill one of her soldiers. These three seemed to realize it as they took the air in the room for it had a high enough ceiling for them to get out of reach of her undead soldiers and tried to make a break for another door to escape. Unfortunately for them her soldier were the same creatures as they were and her soldier took to the air to peruses causing the living to panic as they fired their weapons wildly.

Several of the shots went towards Reaper and harmlessly struck her shield and were destroyed. She watched as her soldier tackled the three fleeing creatures and drug them to the ground before they begin to tear into their flesh. Their claws and beaks tore large swaths of flesh and muscle from their struggling prey who cried out in pain as they tried to kill their attacks with anything they had. It was all pointless and soon they too joined her army and swept through the bunker to hunt the living.
Reaper made her way through the halls allowing her soldier to kill most of what they came across and only killing when it appeared one of the creatures would escape her soldiers. As she walked she eventually found herself outside a heavy wooden door and for some reason she knew her prey was beyond it. She left the half a dozen undead soldiers in the hall that lead to this door to watch the hall for any more of the living and she allowed them to feed on the dozen bodies that littered the floor while they waited.

She opened the door and there was a loud bang and something harmlessly stuck her shield. Inside was a single feathered creature behind a desk holding a revolver aimed at Reaper as she walked in and closed the door. When she looked at the creature her mind brought forth a name and information about it.

Colonel Razorwing, former high ranking member of the Griffin Military went rouge four months ago along with the commandos who were loyal to him.

The fact she knew who this creature was told Reaper it was her prey for she only knew her prey. She prepared to deliver punishment when the Colonel spoke. “Damn you and your miserable excuse of an army!” He spat and Reaper paused. “Why couldn’t you ponies just accept the status quo and be the peaceful sods you always were, that was how things are supposed to be.” He said and Reaper tilted her head, she had no idea what it was talking about as she didn’t know what a pony was. “But no, you had to decide you wanted to become just as powerful as the Empire.” He said and glared. “I know you ponies want our land and if that fool of a king is too blind to see it then I’ll just have to protect the Kingdoms starting with ending you!” He said and raised his revolver and fired the remaining shots at Reaper, they were destroyed by her shield and she tilted her head back to where it normally was.

The Colonel threw the pistol at her and it was destroyed by her shield as well. “Gah, you ponies think you are better than everyone else! Yet you—“ Whatever he had been going to say was cut off as Reaper seized him in her magic, she was tired of listing to him and it was time for his punishment. The colonel struggled as Reaper started to feed magic into his body. She watched as he struggled and she fed more and more magic into his body and soon it started to swell in her magic as he struggled in pain now and fear as he relied what she was doing. It was pointless for he would not escape punishment. She kept increasing the flow of magic more and more as his body swelled larger and larger till all at once his body exploded as the magic forces its way out of his body. The sudden release of magic resulted in the destruction of the furniture in the room as splattered his blood on the ceiling, walls and floor. The only thing that kept Reaper from being covered in it was her shield was still up as she never dropped it.

She reabsorbed her magic and listened, she could hear no more gunfire which meant all the living within the bunker were dead and her task was complete once she returned her soldier back to lifeless corpses then she would wait till it was time to deliver punishment once more.

10 months, 2 weeks, 4 days, 20 hours, 09 minutes and 18 seconds ago

Commander Twilight Sparkle stood by the open door of an EDF Gunship as it flew through the sky past the many mountains ranged of the Griffin Kingdoms. She held the edge of the door to keep herself stable as the gunship flew rapidly and she could see a dozen other gunships flying in a loose formation with the one she was in. Behind the mare strapped into their seats was a rifle team of EDF soldiers.

Twilight watched the mountains rush pass as the gunships flew rapidly past them. After a few minutes she activated her radio and broadcast to all the EDF soldiers in the other gunships. “Alright we are five minutes out from the LZ; we are expecting heavy resistance so this is going to be a rapid insertion. Our objective is to clear the LZ of all resistance so the main force can land safely. The LZ will be hot so as soon as we touch down get your asses to cover!” She said as she waited till she got acknowledgments from the squad leaders in the other gunships.

“Alright, know that the EDF is leading this operation, we are the sword while the Griffin Army will be running support and ensuring none of the bastards escape, they are the shield.” She said. “Equestria has been through a lot but today we get some well-deserved payback and I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this has been a long time coming.” Twilight said and heard shouts of agreement over the radio from all the soldiers. “Today we make Colonel Razorwing and his followers pay for every drop of Equestrian blood they have spilled. For Equestria!” She shouted and got the same shout in response from every EDF soldiers both pony and changeling.

“Get ready; we are expecting them to have AA batteries set up.” Twilight said over the radio to the pilots and got acknowledgments. She tightened her grip on the door frame as a minute later the sky was filled with small explosions and smoke trails as the Griffin Separatists opened fired on the approaching gunships with the anti-air guns. The Gunships began to pop flares and take evasive maneuvers as they game within range of the AA Cannons the streams of 30mm rounds joined the lock on missiles and altitude bombs.

Twilight watched as one gunship dodged an incoming stream of AA cannons and ended up right in the path of an altitude bomb. When the bomb detonated the gunships right engine was engulfed in a fire ball and the gunship start to spin as there was nothing to counter the one surviving engine. The Gunship spiraled out of control as Twilight radio came to life.

“Mayday, mayday, we are hit, attempting emergency landing!” The pilots of the disabled gunship said over the radio. Twilight could tell they were spinning to fast and that there was nothing the pilots could do and based on the fear in the pilots voice they knew it to. She could only watch as the doomed gunship crashed into the side of a mountain and became a fireball along the side of it.

“Holy shit, Goose Three is down, Goose Three is down!” The pilot of another gunship yelled over the radio as he witnessed the fate of Goose Three.

“Gods help them.” Another pilot said solemnly. They all knew there was no way either of the two pilots or the eight soldiers on board survived the crash. As they neared their chosen LZ the anti-air fire grew thick and it was only through a combination of remaining gunship pilot’s skill and luck that no one else was hit.

The gunship rapidly drop altitude as they came in for a hot insertion and when they were just a few feet from the ground Twilight unslung her rifle and leapt from the gunship, allowing her Cybernetics to absorb the impact as she took aim at the nearest AA-gunner she saw and put a three round burst through his head. A few moment later the gunships landed and the rest of the soldiers poured out and sought cover as the gunships quickly took back off as they were massive targets when landed, two of them ran out of luck and took direct hits from lock on missiles and became massed of flaming mettle plummeting back towards the ground but the remaining managed to get clear, some even firing off some missile of their own back at the AA-batteries that claimed three of their own.

The LZ echoed with the sound of gun fire as EDF forces fought with the Griffin Separatist for control of the Landing Zone. Twilight moved from cover to cover as she made her way to the nearby AA emplacements and wiped out the griffins manning them with ruthless efficiency.

After what felt like an eternity but was most likely just twenty minutes the AA batteries were down and the EDF was mopping up the resistance around the LZ as Twilight watched as dozens of other gunships came into view, having begun their journey as soon as the advance force had touched down, counting on them to clear the air before they arrive as most of them wouldn’t be able to maneuver as they were carrying equipment creates or on a few cases EDF MBTs under nether them by long cables. The Gunships could still fly at the same speed but they couldn’t maneuver as their cargo would swing and throw the gunship off balance and risk dragging it from the sky.

The Gunships came in low and when they neared small charges set where the cables attached to the gunship detonated and detached the cargo, allowing it to drop the last couple of feet to the ground. As soon as the tanks hit the ground the engine roared to life as the crews inside prepared to act as battering rams for the main force as the gunships landed and the soldiers inside disembarked rapidly and the gunships took to the air to retreat as the griffins most likely had shoulder mounted AA-rockets.

“Form up behind the tanks!” Twilight shouted over the radio as the EDF forces gathered behind the tanks to sue as cover as they advance don the makeshift village ahead of them. The village’s building looked as if they had been thrown together from whatever the separatists could get their talons on to serve as basic shelters though Twilight was sure some of them were sturdier then they appeared and could be used to defend the village form attack.

As they advanced she saw as griffins took the air and flew to meet the advancing EDF and the EDF Sharpshooters took to the air to intercept them and the sky was filled with the crack of DMRs and the burst of assault rifles as the two groups fought for control of the air as the ground forces continues to advance.

Shortly after the air battle began the first shots at the ground forces began and the EDF scattered for cover if they couldn’t stay behind the tanks well enough. The tanks for their part began to fire mixes of high explosive shells or canister shot, which was a shell that acted much like a shot gun from the tank cannon and could hit many targets at once.

The Tanks rolled into the village with all the subtly of thunder and the EDF began to sweep through the village to clear it of the separatists resistances. Twilight moved from building to building, kicking in the doors and tossing frag grenades into them and once they detonated she swept the room with gunfire to make sure nothing was alive, the mare wasn’t interested in taking prisoners and as far as she was concern anyone in this village had forfeit their lives by joining up with the separatists.

She only broke off her sweep when EDF soldiers were having trouble clearing a building, she would arrive and simply use her magic to level the building, burying anyone inside alive in the rubble. The EDF swept through the village like water through the cracks in the ground, destroying anyone who would resist their advance for this day, mercy was not a word in their vocabulary, not for the separatists, none would escape the wrath of the soldiers.

Over an hour of heavy fighting that cost the EDF several tanks and many soldiers they had finally cleared the village and what remained of the Separatists had retreated into a bunker built into the side of the mountain. These would be the separatist’s elite soldiers, the Griffin Commandos. And they would know the bunker well so the EDF would lose many soldiers trying to take the bunker.

Twilight stood with the EDF soldier as they prepared to assault the bunker and end this. As she looked at the bunker entrance she knew Colonel Razorwing would be in there and she wanted that son of a bitch’s blood, he deserved to die painfully. She swayed on her feet and shook her head, something was wrong with her helmet, it didn’t feel right. She tried to adjust it but that just seemed to make it worse. The helmet was distracting her so she removed her and dropped it to the ground, much better. Her head still swam though and it was as if a fog was spreading over her mind and nothing she did would clear it.

After a minute she stopped swaying and looked at the bunker entrance. “Take up defensive positions and shoot anyone who tries to leave the bunker that isn’t me.” She said without emotion. The soldier blinked and looked at her.

“Ma’am?” One of them asked in confusion.

“Do not question me, just follow orders.” She said not looking back at them. The soldier looked at each other and moved to obey. Once they were in position she walked towards the entrance of the bunker. Before she entered Reaper raised her shield and stepped into the bunker that would become her hunting ground.

11 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 13 hours, 10 minutes and 43 seconds ago

Sunny Days trotted down the sidewalk of Manehatten, it was the mare’s day off from her work in the offices she worked in and she couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day to have a day off. The sun warmed her dark blue coat and she had only partly brushed her green and pink mane today so it was out of her eyes.

The earth pony had thought about taking a cab to the market but she had decided it was such a beautiful day she would walk as it was only about thirty minutes from her apartment by hoof. The mare neared the market and she could already hear the noise of the other ponies as they went from stand to stands as today was when small vendors set up shop along one of the Manehatten side streets and some of the things sold could only be bought from those small vendors.

Sunny rounded the corner and saw that even at this hour the street was packed with ponies who browsed the stands and Sunny didn’t hesitate to join the crowd. She looked over each stand’s wares and bought a few things that interested her. As she walked she noticed the crowd grew thicker near one stall and as she neared she saw it was because many ponies were giving it a wide berth. Out of curiosity she pushed through the crowd till she got to the clearing and saw the reason why. The shop had a changeling behind the counter.

While many had accepted the changelings being part of Equestria there were still many who resented them and avoided them. Sunny had been one of them till Tirek had attacked the city and it was only because of a changeling she had made it to an evacuation point as she had become trapped in her apartment when the building had been hit by a magical blast, resulting in debris blocking her door. She had thought she was going to die till a changeling had arrived and dug her out, he had sensed her fear and panic as she was the only still in the building. The channeling had escorted her most of the way to the evacuation point till she felt safe enough to make her own way.

After that Sunny Days had seen the changelings in a much different light and had joined the growing acceptance movement. Which was why she approached the stall without hesitation and looked over what the changeling was selling, she was happy to find he was a food vendor as it was nearing lunch time.

The Changeling behind the counter smiled as friendly as he could; avoiding showing the fact his teeth were razor sharp as the fangs were bad enough. “Welcome madam; is there anything I can help you with?” He asked in that slight hiss that all changelings had do to how their mouths were shaped but he was completely understandable.

Sunny looked over the fruit kabobs and bowls of fruit salad that he sold. “Yes I was wondering if you could give me two of the kabobs?” She asked presently.

The Changeling lite up and Sunny realized this was probably his first sale all day. “Certainly madam!” She said cheerily and quickly moved to get her a couple of the kabobs and placed them in a paper back so she could carry them with ease. “Here you go madam that will be three bits.” He held it out and with a nod of thanks she took it after she placed the bits on the counter and the changeling swept them into a lock box.

Sunny pulled one of the kabobs from the bag and took a bite both because she was hungry and because she wanted the ling to know she was actually going to eat it. It tasted very good and she could tell he had added a minor blend of spices to make the flavor of the fruit more pronounced. “This is very good, did you make this yourself?” She asked.

The ling nodded. “Yes madam made them this morning.”

She nodded. “I thought all changelings were in the army?” She asked.

“Most of us are madam but some of us wanted to try and pursue other jobs and the Queen allowed us to.” He said with reverence for his queen. That was one thing Sunny still found odd about the changelings, they could be both independent yet worked as a single being as well.

“Well I think you have talent for food preparation.” Sunny said between bites.

The ling lite up. “You really think so madam?” He asked and she nodded. The changeling was practically jumping up and down but he was able to keep his reaction down to just his wings buzzing on his back in excitement. “I always had an interest in how ponies prepared food and decided to try my hoof at it.” He told her with a large smile, forgetting about his teeth. He quickly realized his error and his mood was dampened as he dropped his smile. “Sorry madam if I frightened you.”

Sunny shook her head. “You didn’t, I have a lot of respect for the changelings.” She said with a smile. This improved the changeling’s mood.

“Really?” He asked hopefully and Sunny got the distinct impression that the ling had only heard and felt negativity towards himself and his kind.

Sunny nodded and smile. “Absolutely, a changeling saved my life when I was trapped in my apartment when Tirek attacked the city.” She said. “If not for them I’d have either had my magic stolen or worse as I found out later the building had collapsed.” She said and shivered as she thought how close she had been to death. “He then stayed with me as I made my way to an evacuation point when he didn’t have to.” She said.

The Changeling vendor nodded. “We try our best to do what’s right just like the Queen and Commander Sparkle want us to do.” He said with pride and Sunny noticed the ling spoke of the EDF Commander with almost the same level of reverence as the Queen.

“You have a lot of respect for the Commander, don’t you?” She asked.

The ling nodded his head vigorously. “Yes I do, it’s because of her my hive has more food and safety then it has had since before many could remember and we have Commander Sparkle to thank for that.” He said proudly.

Sunny Days nodded. “That makes a lot of sense, I’ve heard of the lengths she has gone for your hive.” She said and the ling nodded again. Sunny Days chatted with the ling as she had her lunch and once she was finished she bought some of his fruit salad to take home for dinner and said she looked forward to seeing him next market day causing the ling to brighten once more, she had to admit it was adorable to see that such simple compliments could brighten somepony’s day so much.

She browsed more stalls and noticed one was empty which was extremely odd as market day was a very big deal for small vendors and it was always a long list of vendors for what few stalls there were. Somepony must not have been able to make it which was unfortunate as they wouldn’t be able to make back the fee they had to pay to rent the space for the day.

Sunny Days checked the time shortly after seeing the empty stall and saw it was getting close to late evening and if she wanted to beat rush hour she would need to leave the market now. She had bought several things and she already had dinner for the night and she decided to buy more kabobs from the changeling to have for breakfast and she started to make her way through the crowd back towards the stand.

She wasn’t sure what happened next as one moment she was walking through the crowd and the next she was sailing through the air for a moment. She had enough time to realize she was flying sort of and then she came crashing to the ground.

Shakenly Sunny Days got to her hooves and looked around, the market was in chaos as ponies ran in every direction screaming and many ponies just lay on the ground holding bleeding wounds while screaming for help as other tried to help the injured.

She felt something running down the side of her face and she reached up and wiped it away, he hoof came back bloody. “Oh…oh my that’s not good.” She said as she swayed a bit and the wave of pain from the gash on the side of her head hit her.

She looked around as he mind tried to make sense of what had happened but her mind was getting foggy, she saw the empty stall wasn’t there anymore and all of the stalls that had been next to it were now just bits of flaming debris, she wasn’t sure where the vendors who had been behind the counters a moment ago had gone to but they would be very upset to see their wares ruined when they got back.

“Ma’am are you ok?” A voice asked behind her and when Sunny Skies looked back she saw the gold armor of a Royal Guard pegasi. “Ma’am can you hear me?” He asked and she could see other members of the guard moving through the crowd, most of them pegasi as they could get here faster.

Sunny nodded her head. “Y-yes, I can hear you.” She said.

The Guard nodded “Ok good, you need to come with me ma’am and we will get that looked at.” He said looking at the gash on her head. She nodded and the Guard ushered here a few hundred feet from where the empty stall had been and placed her with several other injured ponies who were getting basic first aid. A guard bandaged her head and had her go wait with the rest explaining that the EDF Garrison had been alerted and they were on their way with emergency medical equipment.

Sunny nodded slowly as her head was so foggy it was hard to think. She found a place by one of the abandoned stalls and sat. Her mind wondered if the changeling food vendor was ok, she looked around and didn’t see him but the area was still very chaotic as ponies and guards moved everywhere and ponies still cried out for help.

She saw movement out of the corner of her eye and when she looked she saw carriages painted the color of the EDF coming in to land and ponies and changelings wearing armor that had little white bands on their should adorn with a red cross to inform everyone they were medics.

The Medics started to move through the crowd as they pulled out first aid kits as other supplies were unloaded from the carriages. A beep drew Sunny Skies attention to a duffle bag that sat beside her where it had probably been dropped by a panicking pony. There was a second beep and Sunny foggy mind couldn’t place the sound so she unzipped the bag and looked to see what it was. It was some sort of clock her mind told her, though something was wrong with it but she wasn’t sure what.

She tried to think through the fog but try as she might she couldn’t figure out what was wrong with the clock. “Remain calm.” An authoritative voice said and Sunny looked back as saw several medics making their way over towards the group of injured around her, taking out medkits to attend to them. That was good maybe they had something to help clear her mind so she could figure out what was wrong with the clock.

She looked back and watched the clock trying to figure it out what was wrong with it.
5…
4…
3…
2…
1…

1 year, 0 months, 3 weeks, 5 days, 3 hours, 49 minutes and 12 seconds ago

Twilight wiped the blood from her combat knife with a cloth she carried with her. She sheathed it and looked at the griffin who sat across from her. The griffin, once a soldier of the griffin military of the Commando branch was curled into a right ball trying to be as small as possible as he rocked back and forth in his chair mumbling to himself as his eyes saw nothing. She had broken him and scoured his mind for what she needed when he hadn’t spoken fast enough.

It was no less then what he deserved for what he had done and she only wished she could repair his mind so she could do it all over again, but all she could do was repair the wounds she made to his body to cover what had transpired the last hour. Idly she mused this Griffin Commando had been far easier to break then the Black Operation soldier she had worked on once, least that one had made things interesting by trying to end his own life to keep what he knew from her and had been far harder to break, thereby making her work far more entertaining. But alas she took very little enjoyment from her work this time as her emotions were barely contained so she had to try and make sure she didn’t kill the griffin before she learned what she needed.

She looked at the broke commando as he rocked a kept mumbling about how “it was all just a bad dream and he was going to wake up any second and it would all be ok”. Twilight couldn’t help chuckling at how pathetic the griffin was before she calmly drew her side arm and put two rounds in his chest.

She dropped the silence spell she had placed on the room as she holstered her weapons and walked out of the room. The two changelings on guard looked at her. “The prisoner attempted to escape and I had to put him down but he told me what we needed to know before he attacked me. “She lied and kept her emotions at just the right level to make it seem like she had been attacked and defended herself so the two guards wouldn’t question it. Though Twilight had taken the precaution of having Chrysalis give a Royal Decree to these two that they would not tell anyone exactly how long Twilight had been interrogating the griffin and the two of them had been shielded from the rest of the link so no other changelings would know.
The two lings looked in the room and saw the griffin was well and truly dead then nodded to Twilight. “We’ll put that in the report ma’am.” The one of highest rank said, they wouldn’t question what Twilight said as do to their Queen following her it meant she had their complete loyalty and trust, which was exactly why two changelings were on guard.

Twilight nodded and headed for the door that lead from the interrogation room of the Canterlot Garrison to the rest of the building, it had taken the mare a week to get the griffin transferred into EDF custody as she had to convince both the Royal Guard and the nobles that he fell under EDF jurisdiction as an enemy combatant. The Guard had only resisted slightly out of the rivalry with the EDF but they had relented after a couple of days, she suspected they had planned to turn the griffin over to the EDF from the start but were waiting a few days.

The Nobles had been a different story and it took a lot of maneuvering and pressure from several of her allies to get them to relent, it also helped that Twilight has switched into combat mode without notice the last time she met with them on this. Seems a unicorn with glowing red eyes was very unnerving to many of them. It was good they had relented as she had been close to drawing he side arm and removing her obstacles and damn the consequences.

She still had to do a couple of days of “interrogations” before she could do the real one as the griffin dying the next day after being transferred would cause people to ask questions and she couldn’t risk that. Twilight made her way out of the Garrison and trotted through the Canterlot streets, making her way to the castle. She moved with such purpose that most ponies stepped aside for her, the others she merely shoved past as she wasn’t really paying attention as her mind was completely focused on her task so as to keep herself under control.

She entered the castle and made her way to the section of the castle that acted as the public command center of the EDF, well civilians weren’t allow in the section just like most of the castle but it was where the public knew the EDF HQ was located. In actuality EDF High Command was located deep within the crystal caverns within the mountain under Canterlot where it was secure as if someone wanted to destroy it they would need to level the entire mountain to do so. It would also act as a shelter for key government officials such as the Princesses so they could be protected while not drawing enemies towards other secure locations that housed civilians.

The EDF High Command had been built after the Tirek incident as he had gained the power of the Princesses as they would not evacuate do to endangering the civilians, a noble choice but a dangerous one as if they lost the Princesses the country would fall into chaos as others tried to seize power and it could lead to civil war. So Twilight had come up with using the caverns as a hidden EDF base that the Princesses could evac to and would allow them to be protected while also keeping enemies from being lead to civilians. Twilight had been very glad when Celestia and Luna had agreed to the arrangement and the base had been built.

However the public HQ still did function much like the actual High Command in that orders were issues from it and reports files and troops organized and housed many of the EDF Command Staff for the sake of appearances. And that was exactly why Twilight made her way to her office that was in the HQ, she didn’t register the salutes she received or was only vaguely aware of the Major when she fell in beside her.

“Did you get what you needed?” Chrysalis asked.

“I always get what I need.” Twilight answered simply.

“Twilight are you sure you should be working on this? I can easily lead while you take—“Chrysalis started but was cut off by Twilight.

“Your concern is noted and appreciated but is unneeded and I can assure you I am fine and there is no way in hell I am sitting this one out.” Twilight said firmly as she glared at her second in command.

The Major flinched back. “Yes, sorry I didn’t mean to offend, it’s just I was there when news reached the EDF…”

“So was I and I am fit to lead and no one is going to tell me otherwise, not you, not Cadence nor the Royal Sisters themselves, nothing is pulling me off of this and I will see it through to the end.” She said as they reached her office and she practically slammed the door open and wasted no time rounding her desk. She took a seat and grabbed a piece of paper from a small stack that was rarely used and events rarely called for this order.

She quickly wrote on the paper and when she finished signing her name she handed it to the Major to read over and sigh. She quickly read over the paper before signing it then she saluted the mare behind the desk. “I’ll see to it the order is sent out imminently.” She said and Twilight nodded.

With that the Changeling Queen left the room and Twilight turned her chair to look out the window of her office, she had an excellent view of the Canterlot Castle Garden though that was not what she was looking at, no her sight was for the horizon and the Griffin Kingdoms that lay beyond it. “So you want to take me on do you? Well then Colonel I can assure you that this is one game you will lose.” She said as she thought about what the paper she and the Queen had signed said.

BY ORDER OF EQUESTRIAN DEFENSE FORCE HIGH COMMAND A HUNTER/KILL ORDER HAS BEEN ISSUED FOR COLONEL RAZORWING OF THE GRIFFIN MILITARY EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.

ALL EQUESTRIAN DEFENSE FORCES ARE TO BE ON ALERT FOR ANY INTEL ON THE WHEREABOUTS OF THE TARGET
SIGNED COMMANDER TWILIGHT SPARKLE AND MAJOR CHRYSALIS

1 year, 1 months, 0 weeks, 3 days, 12 hours, 09 minutes and 32 seconds ago

Shinning Armor and his wife Cadence walked through the market district of the Crystal Empire looking through the shops. They had four of the Crystal Guard around them as they looked through the window of a shop. “You think she would like something from here?” Cadence asked Shinning as they looked over the many crystal vases the shop sold.

“I don’t think she is that interested in vases dear.” Shinning said with a chuckle, Cadence had asked that at every shop they looked at the last three hours.

“I suppose you are right. “She said and then huffed. “Your sister is one of the hardest ponies to buy a gift for these days.”

Shinning chuckled. “Well I know for a fact that Twilly has two major interests, reading and those “guns” of hers.” he said the second one slightly differently than the first. Even though she had been home for three years he was still getting used to all of the changes in his little sister, the biggest thing being her new major interest being the weapons she had brought back with her. Twilly could talk for hours about the different attachments for them, the types of ammo they used, muzzle velocity, how to counter recoil and many other things Shinning didn’t understand but he still smiled and nodded when his sister spoke of the weapons as she went on with the same level of excitement as she showed for new books.

Cadence pouted. “I know she loves books but that’s what everyone gets her, I want our gift to have more meaning.” She said. “It’s Twilight’s twenty-sixth birthday in a few days; you only get one of those so it has to be special.”

“Well we could also see about picking her up another gun” Shinning said and Cadence just looked at him.

“You realize Twilight controls the factories that produce those right? So any new models she will have before they are ever mass produced.” Cadence said. “Besides I’m still not completely comfortable around them, I know Twilight loves them but I just can’t see the appeal of something only meant to kill.”

“You know if Twilly were here she’d say they are designed to do whatever the one wielding it wants it to do just like a sword or spear.” Shinning said.

Cadence sighed. “Yes I know but still, what they can do to a pony just seems so much more….brutal then a sword or spear.” Shinning had to nod in agreement at that, he had been there when Twilly had demonstrated what her weapons could do, it had been against training dummies just like the Royal Guard used and they had been destroyed with ease, it had been a bit unnerving to see how happy firing them had made his sister but he had grown used to most of his sisters new quirks.

“Tell you what dear, we will look for another hour and if we can’t find anything we get her a book on Crystal Empire structural engineering, sound good?” Shinning suggested.

Cadence sighed but agreed and the couple continues their search, it had been very strange and surprising as well as disturbing when during a family and friends get together to celebrate her return their parents had gotten her one of the latest book on animal biology by one of the leading doctors in the field and a pony Twilight had looked up to, it was a first edition and autographed as well and had many new breakthroughs and theory about biology of animals as well as details on experiments conducted to get the new breakthroughs.

Twilly had unwrapped it and stared at it without a word, Shinning had expected her to start jumping up and down with excitement before diving into reading it. Instead she had just stared at it for a long while till everypony had started to become concerned, when their mother had asked if she was ok his sister had started to shake and her ears pressed tightly to the side of her head. She was like for a few minutes before she suddenly stopped and growled and to the shock of the gathered pony started to tear the book to pieces till it was just a pile of shredded paper on the floor. She then used a spell to burn the pieces to ash and proceeded to stomp on the ashes, grinding them into the floor.

After that she had collapsed on the floor and pulled her legs close to her body and shook as she hugged herself and just kept repeating “No no no” over and over again for a long while. Nothing anyone said or did would get her to calm and after a couple of hours she had calmed down enough to get up and speak.

When their parents had asked what was wrong all she said was that biological experiments and studies were not something she was interested and then listed off other scientific subjects she was not interested in, it had been most of what she used to love and only left engineering and medical science, which was a new interest of hers. When asked why she had simply said things changed and she was now a medic and engineer and those were the only fields she would study. After that the party mood had been thoroughly killed and Twilight had excused herself, telling them all to enjoy the party while she proceeded to lock herself in her old room.

Shinning still didn’t know what had happened but he had learned not to bring it up as it usually resulted in Twilly either being cold towards him and not speaking to him for a few days or she started to shake and completely shut down again.

She had seemed to be getting better over the years which Shinning was thankful for but he had figured out his sister would never been how she used to be before she vanished years ago.

“Oh what about that?” Cadence asked drawing Shinning back to the task at hoof as she pointed at a painting of a solitary snow covered mountain.

“Hmm….she may like that.” Shinning said and out of the corner of his eye she noticed four griffins walking through the crowd of crystal ponies, this drew his attention as griffins this far north were rare and when he looked at them he saw they carried various packages from the shops in the city and wore caps and looked at all the shops, in short they were tourists but something about the way they moved seemed off to Shinning but he couldn’t place why.

“Hmm…now that I think about it is a bit depressing.” Cadence said as she eyed the painting and Shinning looked back to her.

“Well if you aren’t sure we can keep looking.” He said gently, he knew better then to try to rush his wife. The Sound of something dropping on the road caused his ears to swivel back towards where he had seen the griffin and what he saw caught him off guard.

The Griffins were pulling rifles from the packages and raising them to aim at Cadence who had her back to them, she was just started to turn to see what he was looking at when the griffin in the middle yelled out. “For Griffonia!” As they four leveled their rifles at Cadence.

There wasn’t time to cast a shield so he did the only thing he had time for. The market echoed with the crack of the rifles which caused the other market goers to scream in fear.

Shinning gasped as pain exploded in his chest and he collapsed as the four Crystal Guards rushed the griffins, drawing their own weapons for though Somber was a tyrant, he knew how to train his soldiers well. Shinning could see the guard fight with the griffins and managed to kill three of them before three of them wrestled the fourth to the ground and pinned him.

A moment later his vision was filled with the worried face of his wife. “Shinning!” She said and looked around franticly. “Somepony, call a doctor or something!” She called out and looked back at him. “It’s going to be ok Shinning. Don’t worry.” She said and placed her hooves over the four bullet holes in his chest making him wince in pain but he knew it was the basic first aid Twilly had shown them all.

He coughed and spat red onto the street under him and knew if Twilight were there she’d probably tell him how stupid he was for jumping in front of a gun before she’d flick his forehead with the fingers she had as she was usually on two legs. He looked back up at Cadence who face was streaked with tears and filled with worry. “Are you ok?” She managed to asked, it was getting hard to breath and his vision was starting to grow dark.

“I’m fine, don’t talk, one of the guards went to get a doctor, you’re going to be ok, don’t worry. “She said franticly.

Shinning coughed and he smiled. “I’ve gotten good at being able to tell when you aren’t telling me the truth.” He said and laughed but it just devolved into a coughing fit and he spat more red. He couldn’t get air into his lungs and everything was getting so dark and he could tell something vital had been hit.

“Shining?” Cadence said and he looked back up at her.

“Tell….tell Twilly I’m sorry but I don’t think I’ll…..be able to make it to her birthday this year….” He whispered as his vision faded and the pain faded away as did the feeling of the cold ground underneath him and his wife holding him. Probably won’t make it to next year’s either. He thought before that too faded.

“Shining!!”

1 hour after meeting Shinning Armor’s Counterpart

Commander Twilight Sparkle was in a small lounge room normally used for less formal meetings and had nice chairs as well as a coffee table and fireplace and several end tables and a couch against one wall. Twilight used none of these and sat on the floor between an end table and the unlit fireplace, her cap and sunglasses had fallen beside her and her uniform had a few creases do to how she sat against the wall and she held two items, one of which was her remaining bottle of whiskey, now missing a third of its contents and the other was her Datapad which let forth the most mood appropriate MUSIC she had on it as she looked at the image on the screen.

The image on the screen was taken at the gate of Camp Mendez and consisted of the recruits who had been assigned as instructors to train the next batch of recruits and the two rifle teams that would be acting as guards for the base all in uniform and saluting the camera. In front of them stood the two Princesses smiling serenely as well as Twilight’s fiends smiling in their various manners for the camera. Her parents were there as well as well as Cadence and Shining Armor in his old dress uniform from when he was Captain of the Guard.

And right in the middle, hands behind her back in her perfectly pressed uniform complete with trademarked sunglasses and wearing the proudest smile ever was Twilight. While Twilight had been training the first recruits at the base she had been the only staff member and that was only as a technicality, the picture had been taken the day Camp Mendez officially came online with an actual staff and it had been one of the proudest days of Twilight career as a soldier and her life in general, right up there with becoming Princess Celestia’s personal student and also saving Luna.

It was a day she had worked towards for months and was the day the Equestrian Defense Force became a reality. And was the day that sealed the fate of her brother. She had created the EDF to protect those she cared about and instead because of its very existences members of the Griffin Military broke off and waged a personal war against Equestria for rivaling the Griffin Kingdom in military might. And they had started that war by trying to assassinate Cadence, an attempted that was foiled by Shinning Armor stepping into the path of the bullets meant to kill his wife and dying in her place.

“It was just like you. You big idiot….”She whispered as she looked at the image of her brother smiling for the camera in front of his sister’s greatest accomplishment. Cadence blamed herself for Shinning’s death but in reality, had Twilight never created the EDF then the Separatists would have had no reason to break off from the Griffin Military and wage war with Equestria, and without that reason then they wouldn’t have tried to kill Cadence which means Shinning would have never had to protect her by taking the bullets meant for her and he never would have bled out in the streets of the Crystal Empire’s market district.

In short Twilight had gotten her brother killed and the whole reason the EDF existed was a failure and even though she had personally dealt with the separatists it didn’t fill the void in her life that used to be occupied by Shinning. If there was anything close to a regret in her life since she became a soldier, getting Shinning killed was the closest thing to a regret she had.

She hadn’t even gone to the funeral as she was too busy doing everything she could to make the separatist pay for what they did. In fact she had only been to his grave once and that was after the Separatists had been killed. She had stayed only a few minutes and that was long enough to tell Shinning that Justice had been served and that she was sorry. She had never gone back and probably never would again as she had no right to face him.

Twilight took another large drink of her whiskey, she didn’t care that it was her last bottle, she needed to drown the feelings of seeing Shinning Armor alive and well and she would use the entire bottle if need be. She hadn’t even thought of the fact Shinning most likely had a counterpart here just like everyone else Twilight knew so hearing his voice call out to her own counterpart with the pet name he always used for her had drawn up a lot of emotions she had not wanted to face, not yet. But it seems the universe was still punishing her by bringing them up now when she didn’t have Chrysalis around to talk to and help her so her only choice was to drown them all and hope she can get them under control.

Her ears perked up as she heard the door open and when she looked up from the picture she saw The Princess looking at her with wide eyes of shock and concern. “Oh….hey Princess, come to join me in a drink?” Twilight slurred as she sloshed the bottle of whiskey before taking another drink. “The whisky is just the thing for today. “She said and tried to ignore the fact that it seemed to have started raining in the room as she felt rain drops running down her face and everything was getting blurry.

Author's Notes:

I'm not sure why I decided to write this chapter in reverse chronological order or why I went down to the second on the times but it just felt right for what this interlude covers, this was rather emotionally draining to me to write but I felt it was something that belonged in the story as part of CTS past.