Commander Twilight Sparkle sat in the carriage as it was pulled by two royal guard pegasi, she was sitting with the two squad leaders of her trainees, an earth pony and a Pegasus, the rest of the squads were in another carriage as were a contingent of normal royal guards in other carriages. Twilight wasn’t fool enough to think she could take on an entire camp of zealots with just ten semi-soldiers as backup. Even though the royal guard would not be willing to kill, at least not easily they at least has some basic fighting training so would be of use to prevent a retreated.

She didn’t speak to the two squad leaders as they had already gone over the plan before they left the castle, it was a simple plan, Twilight would be dropped off by herself at one point while each squad would be dropped off at other locations and then the royal guard would fill in the gaps. Twilight and her guards were leading the charge and the normal guards would sweep in just behind them to mop up anyone they missed. She was about 50/50 on whether her guards could kill or not but even if they couldn’t they would still cause chaos in the camp while Twilight cause mayhem.

She had even given the squad leaders two walkie talkies so she could stay in contact with them, shed have liked to have given them all proper radios and combat armor but she didn’t have the resources nor time to do so as this Equestria’s technology was sorely lacking, stupid lack of advancement. She so missed home where the military funded just about everything and pushed the advancement of technology.

As they neared the camp the carriage dipped down to just above the tree line and began looking for a clear area to land to drop off Twilight. “Alright ready up, we won’t have much time as you can’t move this many people without someone eventually noticing.” Twilight told the two squad leaders who nodded and readied their swords while Twilight made sure her armor were secured. It felt good to be back in armor and going into battle, it had been far too long since she had a good battle and she was sure the cultists would deliver to at least some degree.

The pegasi pilots eventually found a small clearing and began coming in to land as Twilight stood up and headed for the edge of the carriage. “Don’t worry about landing, just catch up to the rest of the squads.” Twilight told the pilots who looked at her confused a moment before she jumped from the carriage, she heard one of them yell out as she did and was annoyed that he would break her silence order.

A second later she landed in the clearing with a muffled thud as her legs absorbed the impact with ease. She looked up and waved at the two pilots and her squad leaders who were looking over the edge of the carriage. She waved them off and they carriage started to move off once they knew she was ok.

Twilight breathed in the air around her and sighed, she always loved the smell of the air before a battle, there was always something in the air, a charge of sorts like just before a coming storm, and only rather than rain this storm would bring death and destruction. Smiling she pulled an time out of her storage locker and began to strap it onto her back, shifting her shoulders to get it comfortable she nodded in satisfaction. She had been lucky to find everything she needed to finished this project last night while the Princess slept and that the she left before the Princess woke up and saw it.

While Twilight didn’t like just vanishing on the Princess, she knew the alicorn would ask a punch of question about what the object was and that could lead to a few issues that Twilight didn’t want to deal with at the time. Doing one last check on her armor and the straps of the object on her back to make sure they were secure the mare began the short hike towards the Purifiers’ camp, starting to hum a happy tune as she entered the forest. She would be the first to attack the camp and then one by one her squads would do the same from their direction and the purifiers would be caught in a three way pincher maneuver. A simple but effective plan.

In the Purifier camp an earth pony mare galloped through the camp coughing every few moment as smoke filled the air. She didn’t know what was going on except that the camp was filled with smoke as part of it burned and the air was filled with some of the most inequein screams she had ever heard in her life. She readied her amulet as she tried to search for who or what was attacking their camp. All she knew for sure was that it had to be a spawn of chaos based on the damage it was doing.

As she galloped down the path between the tents she missed seeing an over turned camp chair in the smoke and her front legs caught it and she went rolling. She stopped just a few feet from where she tripped and shook her head to clear it and looked the way she was going as she heard a whooshing noise that sounded a lot like an angry wind. Her eyes widened in horror as she saw two of her brothers gallop from a side path screaming as their robes burn around them and then they galloped out of view though she could still hear those horrible screams.

There was something else she could hear over the screams slowly coming closer from the direction of her two brothers had come from and she heard the whooshing against and saw the tents catch fire as she made out the second sound as a voice

“Breath the ashes, sweet and vile!” the voice sang somewhat muffled. “Flames of victory burning wild!” As the voice sang on a bipedal figure stepped out of the smoke ahead of the purifier and her eyes widened to the size of saucers as she took in the figure. Taller than a normal pony wearing dark green armor the mare had never seen before and some sort of mask and helmet. On its back was a tank of some sort with a hose coming off of it attached to a metal tube held in the things hands with a small flame at the end of it. With it backed by the flames of the burning camp the mare was sure she was staring at a monster from the deepest pits of Tartarus itself.

The mare recoiled as the creature turned to face her, the flames from the end of the tube in its hands reflecting in the eyes of the mask it wore and then it spoke to her. “You know why I love the smell of burning flesh?” It asked with glee and raised the object in its hand. “It smells like victory.” With that the mare’s vision was filled with a wall of flame from the tube and then all she knew was pain.

Twilight smiled behind her gasmask as she walked through the Purifier camp setting both tents and Cultists ablaze with her flamethrower as she hummed the song she had been singing since she launched her attack. She was sure that by now the other had attacked as well and with the chaos caused by the camp burning it would be like shooting fish in a barrel, or more like stabbing since her forces had swords and spears but same thing.

She continued to walk using short burst of the flamethrower to make sure her fuel ran out, it had been difficult for her to make it both in getting the chemicals needed and actually using the basic equipment she needed but in the end she was able to make enough to fill half the tank with fuel and it was working just as well as she thought it would as she watched Cultist flee before her, some screaming as they burned and other having the sense or the luck to run before she could set them ablaze as well.

As she walked she stopped mid-step as she felt electricity dance over her body and she shivered as the memories of the stun batons and Tasers was conjured up before she could banish them a moment later. She looked between some tents and saw a small group of Purifiers looking at her in shock as their stun attack failed, they were just out of range for her flamethrower but she had planned for that. Pulling one of the bottles she had strapped to the front of her armor she used her magic to lite the rag stuffed into the mouth of the bottle before throwing it at the robed ponies. As the Molotov hit the ground the wine bottle shatter and the kerosene house inside spread every half a second before the flaming rag set it alit at the hooves of the Cultists. Their robes started burning a moment later and they scrambled out of the flames trying to put themselves out or flee to safety. While g=the improvised explosive was more effective when using gas she didn’t exactly have any on hand so had to substitute it with kerosene.

With the small group now dispersed Twilight turned away and continued to walk towards the small mountain and the caves in it that was the main part of the Purifier’s base. She knew there is where the more heavily armed Purifiers would be and she would need to be careful as they most likely wouldn’t be wielding stun spells.

Still humming and leaving a path of death, destruction and fire behind her, enough to make her extremely happy to the point she’d need to find some privacy when she got back to the castle if she could, she reached the area near one of the cave entrances. It was there she saw something she had not been expecting to see. An earth pony stallion sitting in the clearing before the cave with a large sword besides him. His hood was down but he still wore the robes of the Purifiers.

“So then you are the Agent of Chaos, I must admit I had not agreed that you were and Agent but seeing what you have done to our camp in such a short amount of time I see now I was wrong.” The stallion said as he stood and removed his robe and drew the sword. “However here is where your path of destruction and chaos ends.”

Twilight smiled wider behind her gasmask. “Ok then, I was hoping for a good fight.” She said raising the flamethrower. “Bring it on.~~~” The swordspony slowly circled her as she kept her flamethrower trained on him, they were both limited by range, through Twilight was a unicorn with magic she didn’t exactly know what the Purifier was capable of and she had already underestimated her opponents once before in her life and she barely survived that even with her magic and augmentation, she wasn’t the type to make the same mistake twice.

Once they had completely circled each other and were back where they had started the Purifier made his move. Galloping forward Twilight pulled the trigger and sent a wave of fire at the charging stallion who side stepped. Twilight swept the flamethrower and chased the stallion setting more of the camp on fire as she tried to hit her opponent. Even with the large sword the stallion was fast and staying just ahead of her flames.

Suddenly the stallion dug in his hooves and kicked off lunging for Twilight. She cut off the flame and dove to the side narrowly dodging his slashes. Regaining her balance she brought the flamethrower up and smirked there was no way the off balance stallion would be able to dodge. “Gotcha~~~” She pulled the trigger, and nothing happened. Blinking she pulled a second time and once more nothing happened. She jumped back to put some distance from the stallion and looked at the flamethrower, there was no flame at the end. Following from the nozzle and along the rest of the flamethrower she found out why, the hose had been cut and the fuel was now just leaking out all over the ground.

“Hmm…no more of that.” The stallion said and took something out from behind his back and Twilight blinked recognizing flint and steel. What was he going to do with that?

The stallion struck the flint and steel together and produced a spark which landed on the small puddle of flamethrower fuel that had been left when the hose was cut. It then started to race along the train Twilight had left when she dodged the stallion straight towards the tank on her back. “Motherfucker!” She yelled and started to run as she began to unhook the bomb strapped to her back as the fuse chased her.

After a few moment she got the tank unhooked and gave it a throw as far from her as she could then turned and ran the other way. Another moment later there was an explosion as the flames reached the fuel tank and ignited what remained of the flamethrower’s fuel inside of it. Twilight glared at the stallion from behind her gasmask. “Clever bastard.” She said and then smiled as she removed her gasmask. She was going to enjoy this fight a lot.

The stallion stood where she had last seen him waiting for her to remove her mask and hook it onto her armor. “I see you truly are no ordinary adversary, most ponies would not have escaped that.” He said taking a fighting stance once more. “Before we continue may I ask your name Agent of Chaos? It is not often I meet one who does not fall within moment before me.”

Twilight smiled and gave a salute. “Commander Twilight Sparkle of the Equestrian Defense Force and I’m not your typical soldier.” She said and dropped the salute to gesture to the stallion. “And you are?”

“Blazing Sword.” The stallion said and nodded to her. “Remember the name as it will be the last you hear.” He said and then lunched forward. Twilight smiled and deployed her blades and charged to meet the stallion. Defiantly an interesting opponent.

The two met in the middle of their small battle field ringed by the burning camp with the clash of steel on steel as blade met blade. Twilight slipped her left blade free and shot it forward intent on plunging it into Blazing Sword’s heart but the stallion jerked his head and it shifted the blade he was still blocking with his sword which cased Twilight’s stance to shift ever so slight. Her strike barley grazed his side and produced a small amount of blood before he jumped back and swept his sword towards Twilight throat.

Twilight ducked the strike and lunged forward with her shoulder catching Blazing in the chest and powering him back before hooking her arms under his forelegs and heaving. She sent the stallion skyward for a few feet and readied to deliver her killing blow when he landed. However Blazing twisted in the air and came down landing on his hooves with a small smirk before he lunged forward once more this time thrusting his blade for the unicorn mare’s heart.

Twilight brought her blade up and parried the blow and slashed out with her second blade aiming for the stallion’s throat. Seeing this the Blazing followed the parry and allowed it to carry him out of striking distance before rolling along the ground and coming back up onto his hooves.

The two started to circle each other once more. “Have to admit Blazing Sword your name is fitting, not many can match me in a fight like this.” She said.

“Same to you Commander Sparkle, it is a shame we could not have met under better circumstances but the fates have chosen for one of us to die on this day.” The Stallion said as they circle.

“You clearly aren’t like the rest of the Purifiers, you actually seem sane so I have to know, why are you with them?” Twilight asked genuinely curious.

“Because I believe the same as they do that the land would be filled with more Harmony without the alicorns in power.” He said. “They rule over use and everypony just falls in line and looks to them anytime something goes wrong rather than facing their problems on their own four hooves.”

Twilight nodded thinking of the Nobles. “Have to agree with you a bit there but that does not make them abominations.”

“While I do think they were born of chaos I do not believe they are the same as Discord and do truly believe what they preach.” Blazing said. “However one born of chaos cannot bring about true Harmony and this is why I fight, to bring about true order to the world.”

Twilight nodded once more. “Well I have to say I agree with you, I wish we had met under better circumstances because despite everything I like you, but sadly you are an enemy and so you need to die.”

“We shall see which one of us falls here Commander Sparkle.” Blazing said before he lunged forward once more. Twilight blocked the attack and thrust with her second blade, but Blazing nocked her strike away with his hoof and then twisted his sword dragging Twilight other blade away. She was now completely exposed and the stallion took full advantage as he turned and bucked her square in the chest and drove the air from her lungs even through her armor. Stumbling back the mare gasped for air and Blazing pressed his attack.

Turning back he lunged for her once more, his blade aimed to bury in her chest. With no other options Twilight gave in to what her body wanted to do and her legs buckled under her and she dropped. Blazing Sword leapt over her and before she could move bucked her in the face and sent her rolling.

She came to a stop a few feet away clutching her face, she as sure her nose was broken or at least close to it, either way it was pouring blood. Wiping it away she stood back up and looked at the stallion one more, nose still bleeding. “Have to admit you are a hell of a fighter, only met two other people who gave me this much trouble before.” She said.

Blazing nodded “I thank you for the Compliment.”

“Out of respect I’ll let you know something when it comes to fighting me.” She said.

“And what is that?” The stallion asked.

Without warning Twilight lit her horn and lite one of the Molotovs on her armor, only one had survived the buck to her chest, and hurled it at the stallion. Blazing raised his hoof and caught it out of reflex. “I cheat.” Twilight said as she took aim with her side arm and shot the Molotov.

The improvised explosive exploded in the hoof of the stallion and doused him in flaming kerosene and he let out a scream as he tried to extinguish the flames. A moment later a second shot found his head and ended his pain before it could really start. Twilight walked over to the Purifier swordspony and used her magic to extinguish the flames before they did too much damage.

“Sorry Blazing but as I said you needed to die but on the bright side you are one of the few I ended quickly, consider that a gift for being probably the only decent pony in a group of nut-jobs.” Twilight aid before she holsters her sidearm and drew her SMG from her storage locker and headed for the entrance of the cave.

Outside the cave she found a small group of Purifiers who raised their amulets when they saw Twilight but before they could do anything the mare swept her SMG over them and they went down filled with a lot of new holes. Reloading Twilight made her way into the cave.

She only went about a hundred yards into the cave before stopping and pulling out an object from her storage locker, this being a brick she had acquired just last night and was already proving very useful. Arming the brick of plastic explosive Twilight jogged a little ways back out of the cave before stopping and planting a second brick. By the time she reached the outside against she had planted six explosive charges.

Raising a hoof to the side of her helmet Twilight clicked on her radio. “This is Commander Sparkle to Alpha Team and Bravo Team, my charges are planted, what’s your status?”

“This is Bravo Team, explosives set Commander.” The squad leader of Bravo Team reported.

“This is Alpha Team half the charges set, ran into a bit of trouble when we reached out target but we got a present all wrapped up and ready to go back to Canterlot.” Alpha Team leader said.

“Explain Alpha Lead, we weren’t supposed to bring anything back.” She said with a bit of annoyance.

“We managed to capture to Purifier’s Leader Commander.” Alpha Lead said and Twilight cursed to herself. She knew they wouldn’t be able to kill as necessary.

“Very well, I want him under heavy guard at all time, do you copy?” She said stiffly.

“You got it Commander.” Alpha Lead said. “Charges all set, getting clear now.”

“Affirmative Alpha lead, you got two minutes.” She said and ground her teeth. She wished she could have found the Leader herself and ended the bastard but this would have to do as there was no way she could get away with killing him with the Royal Guard around. She included her trainees in that as well as they clearly were still Royal Guard under the layer of training she had given them, two weeks wasn’t enough time to break them of that.

She started to jog for the extraction point and after exactly two minutes she stopped and looked back. Taking out a small device from her storage locker she looked back at the caves. “Mission accomplished.” She said with a smile as she depressed the detonator and the plastic explosive set in the three entrances to the cave system went off. The surrounding rock never stood a chance and it collapsed under its own weight sealing the entrances and trapping any purifiers who were still inside the system underground. Even if they had unicorns who knew how to teleport there was no way they would be strong enough to teleport through hundreds of feet of solid rock, even if they were they could only teleport themselves and she had arranged to leave a small contingent of Royal Guard behind to keep watch. Any unicorns popping in would be easily subdued as most of their magic would be drained.

Smiling and giving one last look at the destroyed camp the Soldier gave a nod before turning and heading for the extraction point.

Author's Notes:

Well the Purifier camp has been destroyed and Twilight actually met one of them she could respect and because of that she showed mercy to.