“I don’t know what it is you wanted me to do,” Checkmate muttered, half to himself, half to the white mare’s corpse in front of him. “I don’t understand why you gave me this power…”

Checkmate still stood over the corpses of the Royal Guard members and the white mare when a Caballerian KnightMare Frame crashed through the wall.

“What, what happened here? ” The pilot spotted Checkmate and his blood-soaked hooves. “Schoolcolt! What happened here?” The pilot shouted, her voice broadcasted by the KnightMare’s external loudspeaker.

Checkmate grinned, his Geass activating again. “I command you to come out of your KnightMare.”

“And who the hell do you think you are?” The KnightMare pilot seemed rather unimpressed. She fired her KnightMare’s shoulder-cannons over Checkmate’s head, blowing away the crates behind him. “Now identify yourself!”

Checkmate was confused. Maybe it only works with direct eye contact. Thinking quick, he raised his hooves and lied. “I’m the son of a diplomat. I can show you my credentials.”

The pilot knew enough to test Checkmate’s story rather than simply shoot or imprison him, lest she caused an international incident. Anyway, the highschooler could hardly pose a threat to a Caballerian knight, right? The pilot, a midnight black Unicorn, disengaged his KnightMare and dismounted. “Let’s see these credentials of yours then,” she said as she trotted toward Checkmate, gun floating at her side, ready in case of trouble.

Too easy. He activated his Geass, this time feeling it successfully take hold of his victim. The soldier froze, eyes glazed over with a red gleam, awaiting Checkmate’s order.

“Give me your KnightMare,” he repeated.

The Unicorn nodded passively and used her magic to give him the key to her Dartmoor unit. “There you go.”

Checkmate grabbed the key with his own magic. He walked past her, but then stopped. “I think I’ll take your gun too.” The Unicorn nodded again and allowed him to take her gun away.

He climbed into the KnightMare and activated it. Screens and lights came to life, displaying information and showering Checkmate with rainbows of colour. The FactSphere atop the KnightMare’s head opened, collected information on the surroundings, and covered the walls of the cockpit with it, giving Checkmate a normal view of the outside. More importantly, a screen in the center of the command interface showed the placement of every other one of Cabballeria’s KnightMares relative to his own.

Checkmate’s brained jumped into action. The beginnings of a plan was forming in his head. Time to give Caballeria the toughest fight it’s ever had, he thought as he drove the KnightMare out of the building. He stopped suddenly after something caught his eye, something infinitely valuable, lying next to a dead Nipponese Unicorn.

Once again, Checkmate found himself smiling with the glee of someone whose day kept getting better and better.

Forming a plan, but still unsure of certain important details, Checkmate decided to make a call. He took out his cell phone and selected Fluttershy from his contacts list. She was a completely innocent and unsuspecting source he could use, and she could also help resolve another matter of importance.

The call connected. “Um… hello, Checkmate?” She spoke with some kind of inhibitive emotion he couldn’t identify. Surprise? Timidity?

“Hi, Fluttershy. Could you do something for me? Are you near a TV right now?”

“Um, yes.” A curious moment of silence. “What channel?”

“The news.” Checkmate listened closely and heard her quietly ask to change the channel of the nearby TV. “Is there anything on there about the Tsushima ghetto?” he asked when she put the phone back to her ear.

“Um… no… sorry…” she apologized unnecessarily. “Um… why do ask? I don’t mean to be, um, nosy.”

“It’s nothing,” he said dismissively, not expecting any further inquiry from always-shy Fluttershy. “Thanks. Oh, and could you tell my little sister that I’m going to be late tonight? Thanks.”

“Sure. Um, bye,” she murmured just as he hung up the phone. Good thing I remembered to make sure Sansvoir knows I’m going to be late. I wouldn’t want a repeat of last week… He sighed aloud.

So the military is suppressing information? He thought, considering the situation. They’re going to manipulate the information after the fact to make it favourable to them. I’m guessing that mare’s existence was a closely-guarded secret, even among the military. Though, if they’re trying to control the situation in the media, they shouldn’t be able to bring in more reinforcements without drawing unwanted attention. So all the pieces are on the board now, I suppose.

Checkmate put his cell phone back in his pocket and picked up the rebel communicator he had found in the rubble earlier. Time to make some interesting calls…

“Retreat! Retreat!” Applejack yelled across the rebel’s closed radio channel. “Everypony fall to the subway station and we’ll make our escape.” The Nipponese rebels were being decimated. Not even Rainbow Dash’s arrival could turn the battle in their favour. The Caballerians vastly outnumbered the rebels, and whereas the rebels had one three-legged KnightMare, the Caballerians had deployed almost two hundred superior models.

“These Caballerians…” Rainbow muttered to herself as she got the jump on an enemy KnightMare. She crushed its head with her own KnightMare’s hooves – blinding it – and jumping off as the cockpit ejected. Unless we get a miracle, Rainbow thought, we’re all gonna die some pretty horrible deaths. She outmanoeuvred another KnightMare and smashed its cockpit in. Spitfire wouldn’t have got everypony in this mess. I’ve let down everypony down.

“RD, how’re things down on yer end?” Applejack asked. In the background Rainbow could hear screaming and the sound of rocket launchers bringing down helicopter gunships. “We might just be able to squeeze outta here.”

Rainbow grimaced. She looked at her KnightMare’s monitors and spotted no less than six Caballerian KnightMare Frames. “As hopeful as a three-legged horse,” she answered, referencing the lamentable state of her machine. She realized there was no way AJ and the rest of the rebels would be able to get away if these KnightMares got past her. “I’ll hold these guys off. You get everypony out.”

“Wha- what’re you sayin’?” Applejack sputtered. “Ah ain’t leaving nopony to die! You get yer behind back here with the rest of us!”

“You guys won’t make it if I keep these guys off you.” Rainbow reasoned, narrowly avoiding being shot. “You’ll have a hard time as it is without these punks on your backs.” She rushed at the KnightMare that had fired at her and took out one of its forelegs with a Slash Horseshoe. “Just let me do this. It’s what Spitfire would have done.”

Applejack whinnied in distress. “Yer sister was a great leader and all, but she got herself killed doing reckless stuff like this! Ah’m the leader now, so listen to me and come back here!”

“No can do, Applejack. Make sure everypony else is safe for me, kay?” Rainbow sped away deep into the ghetto, drawing all of the KnightMares to herself and far from her comrades.

“Rainbow, no!” Applejack shouted to no avail.

Rainbow didn’t make it far before she reacquainted herself with an old friend.

“Well isn’t it our Norfolk friend. You’ll pay for what you did to me, Eleven!” Iron Fealty declared, appearing along with two other Purebreds in their red-branded Dartmoors.

“Horseapples!” Rainbow swore. The newcomers fired on her, but she evaded their attack. She fired a Slash Horseshoe at Iron Fealty, but he launched his own, slicing through her Horseshoe’s tether. With the loss of one of her weapons, Rainbow Dash evaluated that it was about time for her to leave. She hopped away, narrowly avoiding her KnightMare’s destruction by the Caballerians.

The Caballerians followed, led by Iron Fealty and the other Purebreds. “There’s no escape for you, rebel!” Iron Fealty shouted.

“That’s what you said before, but it didn’t stop me before, did it!” Rainbow laughed over her shoulder. She turned around to taunt her pursuers, but quickly turned back after a shot nearly took off her KnightMare’s head.

“Looks like you need some assistance,” said an unknown voice over Rainbow’s radio.

“Who the hell are you?!” The rebels’ radios were set on a secured channel that was only accessible to these radios. “How did you get on this frequency?!”

“That’s irrelevant,” the voice not-so-answered. “Do you want to win?”

Rainbow almost stopped her KnightMare in surprise. Win?

“Win? I’d be happy if I could just get out of here alive!” Her point was punctuated by an explosion just behind her.

“Why not both?” the mysterious voice said. “Prepare to fight for your life.”

Rainbow scoffed. “What do you think I came out to do?” she said with an air of confidence.

“That’s just I wanted to hear,” the voice said.

“Stop running, Eleven!” Iron Fealty yelled behind her. The Purebreds were on the verge of catching up to her. “There’s no sport in hunting you if you don’t fight back!”

“They’re going to catch me!” Rainbow said to her radio in a panic. “What do I do?!” Rainbow was beginning to think she was going crazy. Why am I listening to some random voice?

“Don’t worry,” the voice reassured, “let them. Their orders are to capture and interrogate you. Allow them to circle you and get ready to fight.”

“What?!” The voice sounded even crazier than her now. Oh hell, what do I have to lose? “Alright then, you better know what you’re doing.”

The Caballerian KnightMares caught up to Rainbow and circled around her. “Good choice, Eleven. Now come with us quietly and you might just make it back to these slums in one piece.” They’re looking for the capsule. I hope to every god there is that it’s lost forever, Rainbow thought spitefully.

“Uh, not to be a nag, but it would be kinda great if you did something right about now,” Rainbow said. “Just saying.”

“How about this?”

Suddenly, one of the KnightMares turned their gun on the Purebreds and opened fire. “What?!” the pilot yelled as his KnightMare was ripped apart. The Caballerian’s KnightMare exploded, burning its pilot to death along with it.

“What the– a terrorist?!” Iron Fealty sputtered. He shot at the rogue KnightMare, but it dodged the bullet and returned fire. Its horn lit up – magnifying its pilot’s magic – and emitted a burst of magic that sent Iron Fealty flying through a building, ejecting from his KnightMare as he exited the other side.

I think I just found where that voice is coming from. “Uh, that was awesome,” Rainbow said, stunned. “How’d you hijack one of those and sneak into the Purebreds?”

“You’d be surprised,” the voice replied, continuing its tradition of not answering her properly. “Another group of KnightMares is coming. Follow me.”

“Yes sir,” Rainbow said somewhat patronizingly, though only to hide her near-complete trust in her saviour. She closely followed behind the hijacked KnightMare as it approached the railroad. Sure enough, the predicted KnightMare squad came around the corner. Their path chasing Rainbow led them into a narrow alley where the rebels were waiting for them. Rainbow’s saviour shot out the corners of the roof at the far end, scattering rubble and preventing any retreat. Rainbow herself came at the four KnightMares at full speed, taking advantage of their temporary confusion at the rogue’s manoeuvre. She jumped over the closest one, landed, and bucked it into the air for her partner like a skeet shoot. The next two found their forelegs taken out by the combination of other legs and a Slash Horseshoe. They crashed head-first into the ground, and those heads were promptly crushed by Rainbow’s machine. While she ducked down to dispatch the two Caballerian Dartmoors, the rogue reached over her with his magic and grabbed the last enemy and swung him overhead. The Caballerian flew over the railroad and was promptly hit by a train. The KnightMare was destroyed in an instant, and the train slowed to a stop.

“Omigosh, omigosh, omigosh! We rock!” Rainbow cheered. She raised her KnightMare’s remaining foreleg for a brohoof. After a moment of hesitation, the voice’s KnightMare reciprocated and they bumped their mechanical hooves. “That was awesome! How did you know that train was coming?”

As usual, the voice refused to answer. It moved behind her in its captured Dartmoor and provided her with different information. “For your unfaltering faith, I give to you the tools for victory. If you still want to defeat the Holy Caballerian Empire, check the train and wait for further orders.”

Confused, Rainbow approached the train and pried open its cargo hold, revealing a load of weapons, munitions, and about a dozen KnightMares. “Huh?!” Rainbow looked back to where the captured Dartmoor had been standing before, but discovered that it had disappeared. “What’s going on?” she asked herself, not really expecting a response from anyone.

She got one, however, from another unsuspected arrival. “You get one of them radio messages?” Applejack asked as she walked up to the train with the rest of her resistance group. “He save your butt too?”

“Uh-huh,” Rainbow answered, squirming nervously thinking about the terms on which they had last spoken. “I totally could have made it out by myself though…”

Applejack shook her head and chuckled at Rainbow’s overconfidence. “So we gonna keep listening to this guy? He seems to know what he’s doing.”

Rainbow shrugged. “I suppose so. I think we might really have a chance of getting out of here and sticking it to Caballeria.”

A member of Applejack’s group – a brown-coated, red-maned Earth Pony named Hot Head – spoke up indignantly. “How do we know this isn’t all some kind of elaborate trap?”

“Caballeria’s got all the advantages here anyway,” Applejack said gravely, “they ain’t got a need for traps.”

Much to his surprise, Ace Fighter woke up.

“Looks like you’ve been having a bad day, hmm?”

Ace found himself lying down on a hospital bed in some place that was not a hospital. Leaning over him was an all-white, male Unicorn wearing a lab coat and a pair of large, round-lens glasses. The Unicorn closely observed him with his intelligent, blue eyes, as if collecting data on his every movement. Ace caught a glimpse of his cutie mark, a trio of screws.

“You’ve missed a chance to go to the next world, Private Ace Fighter,” the Unicorn said. Ace suddenly noticed the pressure from a slew of bandages wrapped around his chest. He sat up and felt a slight pain in his side as he extended his wings.

Another Unicorn stepped around the white Unicorn. This mare had a short, purple mane and a pale orange coat, and her cutie mark depicted an incandescent bulb with glow around it, like the classical image of an idea. She wore a darker orange uniform, which Ace inferred to be of Caballerian military issue, but Ace – though part of the military – couldn’t identify the division the uniform represented. She brought an object forward with her magic, an antique pocket watch wrapped in a white cloth. The watch’s face was shattered from some sort of impact, and the hands were stuck in place.

“This deflected the bullet,” she said as he accepted the watch and looked at it in a daze. “Thank goodness you had it there under your uniform.”

“What happened to Check–” Wait. I’ll find out about him and the mare later when I can. “What’s the situation in the ghetto?” he asked.

“The terrorists released the stolen bio-weapon, resulting in massive Eleven casualties,” the stallion replied. There was an uneasy tension in the air, giving Ace the impression that they all knew what was really going on.

Ace was struck with a sudden burst of curiosity. “Where am I right now?”

The mare smiled at him. “Right now we’re near the G1-Stable. We’re close to Prince Duffer, which is probably the safest place to be.”

The male Unicorn grinned and spread his forelegs out. “Welcome to the Special Corps, the brilliant scientific minds behind the latest in pony-killing technology!” The mare sighed and facehoofed. “I’m the chief researcher, Screwdriver.” He waved a hoof at the mare. “And this is my head assistant, the darling Light Bulb. We’re in charge of making all kinds of weapons and machines. Speaking of which,” he added, his grin widening, “how well can you pilot a KnightMare Frame?”

“But only a knight can pilot a KnightMare Frame!” Ace was half trotting, half limping behind Screwdriver, leaning up against a very supportive Light Bulb. The group had left the truck Ace had woken up in and were now going to some sort of modified KnightMare dispatch trailer.

“You said you received top scoring on all of your simulator tests. You’re a natural!” Screwdriver said, elated and excited. He pulled out an electronic device that opened the back door of the trailer. It slid up slowly, showing a tall KnightMare Frame covered in a heavy, black tarp.

“Nopony will let an Eleven like me pilot a KnightMare!” Ace objected again.

“Well you’re in luck, because we’re nopony in the military’s eyes!” Screwdriver retorted. “And we don’t want somepony like you, we want you!”

Ace sighed in resignation. “I guess there’s no changing your mind.” Light Bulb turned her head, but Ace could still see her roll her eyes at that remark.

“Congratulations!” Screwdriver exclaimed. He stood in front of the cloaked KnightMare, flamboyantly bouncing on his hooves. “When you take control of this bad girl, everything will change, you and your world!”

“Whether you want it too or not,” Light Bulb chimed in.

Ace mulled over the context of these remarks and the situation in general. Change? For better or for worse? Ace thought, considering the last time KnightMare Frames changed his life, seven long years ago…

Aboard the G1-Stable, Prince Duffer watched over the battle. He sat in a throne-like chair as his officers analyzed the situation on a screen embedded in the top of a table, showing a simplified layout of the ghetto, the Caballerian perimeter, and a blue dot representing each of their many KnightMares. General Forte and his supporting officers directed the troops while Duffer announced their strategies.

“The terrorists are putting up a minor resistance,” Forte informed the prince. “We’ve lost a few KnightMares, but our superior army will crush them in no time.”

“The loss of a few paltry KnightMares is irrelevant,” Duffer said. “My only concern is containing the situation. The media has been handled, right?”

“Yes, my lord.”

“What about the mare? The Gleipnir capsule…”

“We’ll find her, my lord,” Forte assured him. “Once we’ve wiped out the Elevens, we’ll do a thorough search.”

Duffer couldn’t help feeling anxious. He hadn’t had this much trouble since he coordinated capturing the mare in the first place. He felt that there was something monumental that he was missing, a feeling reminiscent of something he had felt often in his youth, but couldn’t quite remember where.

Checkmate switched his radio back on and commenced the execution of his plans. He had already gone over preliminary strategy with the Nipponese resistance group, getting them into position within the ghetto and designating each member with a codename.

“B1,” he said, addressing the group’s leader, a familiar-sounding mare with a Haykkaido accent. Another mystery, he thought, brooding over the appearance of another familiar mare. “Is everypony in position?”

“Yessiree,” she answered. “But seriously, why can’t you just tell us who you are? Even just your name? ‘K1’ is just kinda obscure, y’know?”

“I can’t risk it,” he said. “What if these transmissions are being intercepted?” Checkmate was pretty sure that the transmissions were safe, but there was no way he’d let them know who he is.

“Q1,” he said, shifting his attention to the mare in the Norfolk, “you’ll be running decoy. We need you to draw out their KnightMares. Your energy filler is full, right?”

“Uh-huh,” Q1 quickly responded. The train had only enough Dartmoors to accommodate the rest of the group, but she had outfitted her Norfolk with spare parts for the better models. Her KnightMare was even better than back to full operating capacity; the Dartmoor forelegs were stronger and faster, and she had a shoulder-mounted gun to replace her lost Slash Horseshoe. She was ready and raring to go ruin some Caballerians.

“P5, is your group ready?” Checkmate asked another one of the Elevens.

“Yeah, sure,” he replied irritably. “But quit calling me that!”

Checkmate breathed, collecting his thoughts. He surveyed the screen in front of him, keeping track of the enemy KnightMares. He had removed the IFF locaters from the machines he had delivered to the rebels, so they were invisible to the Caballerians. This also meant that Checkmate couldn’t see them digitally, but he could see their current location from his lookout point atop a skyscraper. He watched the screen and saw a group of four Dartmoors approaching the area where the rebels were. Alert and prepared, he spoke into the radio.

“B1, get your group to fire through the wall in front of you when I give you my signal.”

“Uh, you sure?” B1 asked uncertainly.

“Absolutely. Fire in three… two… one… now!”

Spiting her conflictions, B1 blasted the wall with her KnightMare’s shoulder guns. The rest of her group followed suit, reducing the concrete wall to dust and perforating the four enemy KnightMares. The Dartmoors exploded and left columns of smoke that all combined into one dark grey pillar.

“Yee-haw!” B1 cheered. Though Checkmate was quite unaware, this triumph had confirmed his legitimacy as a leader to the rebels. “Take that, ya Caballerian yahoos! Y’all will think twice about pickin’ a fight with Nippon again!”

Checkmate smiled. These rebels might just be able to get me out of here. Duffer won’t know what hit him.

Back in the G1, the officers were sweating over the loss of four more KnightMares.

“There- there must have been some kind of ambush!” one of them stuttered.

“No matter,” Forte said, though he was also fearing the princes wrath for these continued losses. “We’ll have them soon enough.”

Then a report of an enemy sighting came in via radio. Duffer listened and gave his response to Forte. “A Norfolk, eh? Their pedestrian little feint will have no effect. Have Sir Thunder and Dame Spark hunt it down.” The orders went out, but they soon saw the knights’ respective lights blink out of the screen’s display.

“What?!” the officers said collectively.

Duffer scowled. There was something going very, very wrong here. The uncomfortable feeling from earlier was getting stronger, and he still had no idea what was causing it.

“P1, P2, P4, P7, move a hundred meters to the right and fire your Slash Horseshoes toward 3 o’ clock.”

“You heard him!” B1 said, urging on her terrorist group. “Do what the voice says!” She tried to ignore how crazy that sounded.

Far away, the group fired their Slash Horseshoes according to Checkmate’s orders. The metal arches hammered through another group of Caballerian KnightMare Frames, smashing them to bits.

“R1,” Checkmate said, “take down that gunship.” In reply, the terrorist fired a Slash Horseshoe at the helicopter and dragged it down into a building.

“B2, use anti-tank ordinance.” A tank was then incinerated by a magic rifle, its outer armour melting like warm chocolate.

“Q1, bring in that group of Dartmoors, and watch for the one around the corner.”

“By watch, do you mean smash?” The Norfolk rounded the corner and – instead of avoiding the KnightMare – delivered a surprise knockout punch to the Dartmoor, shattering its FactSphere and bowling it over.

Checkmate grinned. Everything was going according to plan. “P5, continue your group’s advance.”

Down on the battlefield, P5’s group of six KnightMares rushed a Caballerian four-pony group. The Caballerians haphazardly fired while retreating in reverse, but their pot shots had no effect and the Nipponese rebels took them out.

“This failure is unacceptable!” Prince Duffer cried out as yet another team was lost. Almost half of their KnightMares were gone now. “Bring in Cloud Team to close off the breach. Use more of the units guarding me.”

“But my lord, that will break the perimeter!” Forte objected.

“Irrelevant!” Duffer yelled, his temper rising. “We need to crush these pigs now!”

Checkmate observed the follow-through of Duffer’s orders and chuckled. An array of blue dots began to surround the area around the rebels.

“Q1, do you have a map of the old city?” he asked.

“Yeah, but it doesn’t have any current landmarks on it. Is that okay?”

“It’ll do. I can see everything else I need from up here.”

Q1 nodded, shaking her rainbow mane. She wondered what their guardian in the sky had planned for them. She could see enemy KnightMares beginning to circle them and hoped the plan involved getting the rebels out safe and sound.

Checkmate watched the Caballerian Dartmoors clump together around a red dot on the screen. The dot indicated where they had last seen a rebel. Q1 had deliberately let herself be seen at the top of a bent and decaying skyscraper so that they’d all come together at this one place. Checkmate could almost hear their surprise as they ascended the full height of the tower and found nothing. He grinned, imagining the look on Duffer’s face.

That’s what you get for such an idiotic manoeuvre, he thought. It’s time to show you exactly what you’re up against.

“Everypony, resurface and convene at point A,” he commanded. To escape the Caballerian encirclement, the rebels had all escaped into the tunnels underground the Tsushima ghetto, and now they were re-emerging at strategic points far away from the tower.

“Q1, detonate the explosives now.”

“Roger that, K1!” she said excitedly. She slammed her hoof on the detonator. Above the ground, the base of the rusted skyscraper disappeared in a flash of ignited C4.

The crux of Checkmate’s strategy was unfolding exactly as planned. The tower began to sink in a semi-controlled demolition, bringing the Caballerians down with it. The building shattered and about fifty KnightMare Frames were flattened almost instantly.

Checkmate laughed as the mass of blue dots vanished from his screen, leaving only a corona of KnightMares around this area of the Tsushima ghetto. Check. Your move, Duffer.

Duffer stepped back from the display screen. Fifty KnightMares had disappeared into thin air without a trace. Who in the hell is leading those rebels? He’s even better than Shining Warrior! His anxiety from before was on the rise, and now it was mixed with a much more recognizable feeling: fear.

Forte and the other officers were scrambling and shouting orders to the remaining knights. Just then, a wall-mounted monitor lit up, initiating a video conference call. The pony on the other side was Screwdriver, head of the R&D team.

“Why hello there, your majesty? Everything alright?”

“It most certainly is not!” Duffer shouted through the cloud of noise his officers were making. He silenced them with a wave of his hoof. “I don’t have time for you and your games?”

“If not games, do you have time for a toy at least?” Screwdriver said unabashed at his prince’s anger. “I believe we’ve spoken about the specs on this new model.”

Duffer sighed and turned around, his hoof pressed against his face. “He have a pilot now, you know,” Screwdriver said, taking opportunity from the prince’s silence. Duffer turned back with another sigh. “Can that thing of yours win?”

“Absolutely, your Highness!” Screwdriver said with that signature screwy grin of his. “Oh, and won’t you be as kind as to call it by it’s name. The Llamrei will solve all these problems for you, you know.”

Gleeful from the prince’s authorization of the Llamrei, Screwdriver spun around and grasped Ace Fighter with his forelegs.

“It’s your time to shine, my boy. Now let’s see what you and the Llamrei can do!”

“Z0-1 Llamrei, standby for activation,” Light Bulb said. She released the KnightMare from the trailer and the tarp was removed. Ace stared at the revolutionary KnightMare Frame; it was unlike anything he had ever seen. The Llamrei was taller than the average KnightMare, but it was sleeker, more streamlined. Its armour plating was white and gold, and its head actually looked like a pony’s head, unlike the bulky ones other models had to accommodate their FactSpheres. The Llamrei had discreet FactSpheres at various points all over it. The forelegs were equipped with shield-like plates that the Llamrei’s manual had said contained a new shield-projection system. Though the KnightMare was unarmed, it had large, bladed wings that protruded from the shoulders, and its armour was reinforced for extended close-combat. It was faster and stronger than any other KnightMare before it; it was the world’s first seventh-generation KnightMare Frame.

Ace himself was dressed in a special suit that matched the colours of the Llamrei. He climbed into its cockpit and got comfortable in the seat. He placed his hooves over the controls. “I’m ready.”

“Good, now let’s begin the start-up procedure,” Screwdriver said, all business.

“Equipping energy filler,” Light Bulb said, listing of the different steps of the procedure “thirty seconds to reach critical voltage, Core Luminous shifting phase, Yggdrasil Drive initializing, confirming devicer-machine interface, all readings normal.”

The Llamrei hummed as it reached full activation. Cables detached from the back and the Landspinners hit the ground. “Llamrei, activate ME boost!” And the Llamrei accelerated off of its platform.

“Llamrei, launch!” Light Bulb said, and the Llamrei sped off into the ghetto like a bat out of hell.

Even knowing what to expect, Ace was amazed at the Llamrei’s speed. It took him less than half a minute to reach the center of the battleground. It’s way better than the manual made it sound. With this, I can stop this fight from getting any worse!

“Make sure you don’t do anything reckless,” Light Bulb advised. “The unit hasn’t been outfitted with an ejection mechanism yet, so be careful.”

“I will,” he said. He came across another KnightMare. He checked his digital map, but couldn’t see an ID signal in front of him. A rebel, then. He came at the Dartmoor at full-throttle, swiping at it with a mechanical hoof before it could even react. His strike split the KnightMare horizontally, and its pilot ejected unharmed. With more work to do, Ace continued into the ghetto. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find Checkmate and that mare before somepony else does.

Another blue light vanished from Checkmate’s screen. So few left. Soon Duffer will be exposed and out of options.

“Enemy spotted,” announced one of the rebels. “I think they’ve brought in reinforcements! We’ve lost all of P5’s group. They all ejected!”

Checkmate hadn’t expected them to bring in new units. “Very well, what are their numbers?”

“Just one! It must be some kind of new model! It- arrrgh!” The transmission was cut off as the pilot ejected.

Checkmate frowned. What’s this new development?

A pair of rebel Dartmoors had spotted the reported reinforcement unit. They described it to Checkmate as they attacked, immediately following with a report on its new energy shields.

“It deflects bullets?” Checkmate asked. He was about to receive an answer, but it was lost in the static as yet another unit ejected. Useless so-called-terrorists. With all the resources I’ve given them, they’re being beaten by a single unit?

The Llamrei cut through another rebel KnightMare, causing it to eject its pilot as well. This unit may be able to fix everything after all, Ace thought.

Not after long, a group of rebel Dartmoors surrounded him, clearly coordinating to pin him down in one place. They opened fire, but he jumped. A fired his Slash Horseshoes and crushed two of the KnightMares. He landed between the remaining two and smashed in their heads, leaving the cockpits undamaged.

He moved on, clotheslining one more KnightMare as he left the area. All I have to do is find the leader and capture them, then it’ll all be over. I’ll save Checkmate and that mare!

Checkmate was still in his eye-in-the-sky position on the skyscraper when the Llamrei came for him. It came up the side of the building and delivered a spin-kick, which Checkmate blocked with his KnightMare’s forelegs.

So this is the thing that’s been ruining my plans? He pushed the white KnightMare away, but it came back and slammed him into a wall. Nothing but a damn pilot?!

Checkmate’s impact against the wall caused the floor beneath the two KnightMares to crumble, sending them falling through the many floors until they hit ground level. The white KnightMare recovered before Checkmate’s Dartmoor, and it jumped in the air to strike him yet again.

Suddenly, the Norfolk appeared, intercepting the enemy. “I’m returning the favour, K1,” came Q1’s voice. “Get out of here.” Checkmate took her advice and sped off. Soon after he did, the newer Caballerian model overpowered the Norfolk, and Q1 ejected to safety.

I’ll need to remember that, Checkmate thought to himself as he made his escape. The most important element in battle is the pony one.

Ace followed the rebel leader, quickly catching up with it. The enemy fired at him as it went, but the pilot’s inexperienced shooting was no match for Ace’s skill and the Llamrei’s manoeuvrability. He easily dodged the bullets, but when his first attacks did nothing, the rebel leader instead shot at the buildings nearby, sending shrapnel and rubble flying toward him. Ace dodged to concrete too, flying through the clouds of dust and persevering in his pursuit.

All this needless destruction, Ace thought as he jumped over another falling structure. Then he saw a Nipponese mare falling from one of the destabilized buildings, a mother holding a foal. Ace aborted the chase and leapt through the air and caught the ponies. He safely let them down on the ground, and the mother quickly galloped away afterward.

“Ace, are you getting tired?” Light Bulb asked via video messaging. “We can stop now if you want. We suspect the threat has been neutralized.”

“No, it’s okay. I’ll help wrap up the operation.” Now let’s see if I can find Checkmate and that mystery mare the military was searching for.

Saving somepony in the middle of battle? Admirable. Checkmate thought to himself as he observed the white KnightMare. I’ll concede your tactical victory here. It won’t happen again. He ejected himself from his damaged KnightMare, disappearing into the ghetto. I’ve fought this battle to a stalemate, but I still have one more move to make for the endgame.

Checkmate trotted up toward the G1-Stable. He was disguised in a standard military uniform, hiding his wings. He walked up to a Unicorn soldier, who immediately raised his gun and addressed him.

“Halt! Show me your ID. This is Prince Duffer’s personal transport.”

“Ah, the checkpoint at last, and barely guarded, as I planned?” Checkmate said as he came closer.

“You what?” the soldier asked.

“You don’t need to see my identification,” Checkmate said, employing his Geass.

“You’re right, sir. Understood.”

Back in the recesses of the ghetto, Rainbow Dash ran past fires and piles of debris, searching for the rest of the rebels. Applejack found her first and led her off to a warehouse their comrades were hiding.

The rebels were mixed in with the other Nipponese who had survived the Caballerians’ purge. The ponies were cowering in fear and panic, wondering when the Caballerians would come for them too.

“This is what happens when you oppose Caballeria!” one of the ponies said.

“Shut up, you coward!” Hot Head shouted at him.

“How many ponies are dead because of this?” screamed another.

“Do you know how many of us were killed or captured?” Hot Head yelled back.

“Any idea who that voice was?” Rainbow asked Applejack over the crying of dozens of ponies.

“Damned if I know,” Applejack said with a shrug. She sat down, exhausted. “He doesn’t answer when I call him, so maybe he’s dead…”

Rainbow’s ear twitched. She heard the sound of an approaching tank. Maybe if I… But it was too late to do anything. The warehouse doors were blown apart and a battalion of infantry filed in.

“So this is where you vermin scurried off to,” said the unit’s commander from the tank’s hatch. “Prepare to fire!”

Before a single trigger was pulled, a message from Prince Duffer filled the airwaves. “Attention all forces, cease fire at once! I, Prince Duffer, Viceroy of Area 11, command you to cease all hostilities at once! You will also cease destruction of any buildings and property! All casualties, whether Caballerian or Eleven, will be treated equally and without prejudice! In the name of Duffer la Caballeria, I hereby command you to cease fire! I will have no further fighting!”

The message confused both Caballerians and Elevens. Nevertheless, the Caballerians lowered their weapons.

What in the hell is going on here? Rainbow thought.

“Are you satisfied?” Prince Duffer asked as the lights in the G1-Stable went out.

“Very,” Checkmate answered, standing in the shadows, keeping a gun levelled at Duffer’s head. “Well done.”

“And what shall we do now? Sing a few songs? Or perhaps a game of chess?” Duffer really had idea what was going to happen to him. Keeping his gun pointed at him, Checkmate stood forward.

“Now that has a familiar ring.” Duffer didn’t respond. Checkmate removed his helmet and let it drop to the ground. “Don’t you remember? We used to play chess all the time when we were colts. I always won, of course.”

“Huh?”

“Remember? At the Aries Villa?”

“Who- who are you?”

“It’s been a long time, cousin,” Checkmate said as he stepped out of the dark. He unfurled his wings for the second time that day, making recognition easier for Duffer. “Checkmate vi Caballeria, Eleventh Prince of the Royal Family, at your service,” he said ironically with a matching bow.

“Checkmate? I thought you were dead.” Duffer articulated with some difficulty.

“I have returned, and I’ve come back to change everything.”