Maleficus looked up towards the planet from where he was sitting on the soft sand of the Moon's surface. He had been asleep for a long time, years had gone by before he even knew what had happened. He felt... lightened, relieved, when he had woken up. His mind felt clear and open, as if an invisible pressure that had been steadily growing had disappeared.

He had checked up on the Planet below after he woke up from his sleep. Luna had insisted he made a check up on Equestria and its inhabitants, she was especially insistent on checking up on her sister Celestia. He could understand why.

And what he had seen both made him relieved and worried for the ponies. The city of Canterlot had grown far larger then the last time he had seen it. The broken down area of the mountain side beneath the city, which had once made a cliff side to the river leading to Saddle Lake, was now being constructed into a harbour, already he could see small boats sailing across the river and the lake, gathering what he thought to be water plants and possibly some kind of pearl clams.

But the biggest change was the mountain that had once covered the back of the city like a large wall. It was being carved out into a new section of the city. It was all rather impressive. But what impressed him the most was not the new building projects or their mass escalation in producing crops and water based goods and vehicles, it was the ponies themselves.

Through out the courtyard of a large cathedral like building, he knew had not been by the park before, stood lines of ponies bearing bronze like armour, going through stances, doing exercises and sparring. This new group was something he wanted to know more about. But the Elements of Harmony denied him the right to send his mind through his shadowy miasma like he had done before the First Crusade. So he was limited to audio and visual signals from the planet through his crudely made satellites and the spells he used through the Interface.

And what he was seeing and barely hearing, he was rather impressed. Not to mention very proud and touched. Grand Music was the Grand Master of a Knightly Order named after his alter ego Golden Cross, had reclaimed lost knowledge, defended the innocent and with his sister had won four major victories since the Order was founded.

The pair had defeated an army of slave hunting dog creatures. Then they defeated two selfish barons laying siege to their newly made fortress, which he was destroyed an large group of bandits attempting to ambush one of their patrols and later destroyed said bandit's main hideout. It made him both proud, and sad.

The two of them had grown up to a fine pair of people. Endured various hardships and obstacles. Fought in battles and saved lives. He could not help but feel a rush of pride as well as a stinging sadness, for he had never wanted them to live through such things. But they had, and they had came through it stronger then they were before and had gained both prestige and recognition for it. They were by far greater then his false persona could ever be, and he was happy for that.

But there was bit of a snag in the whole thing.

*I bet Celestia is going to use the Order in the upcoming battle. And I will be forced to face those two among a sea of enemies... Gods... what do I do?* He thought to himself as he looked up at the planet. No one would wish to fight ones friends, let aloen those they consider their own children. And those two as well as their mother were the closest Maleficus had as a family while he was on the planet. And it made him anxious and afraid to even think of fighting them.

But then. He looked at his Interface and slowly he started considering... just what kind of fight could he got into with them? *What if I... intentionally got into a fight with them? Yes. That way I can control the situation and location of where that will occur. But it will have to be planned for it to work, I need to know the area where the fight will occur.*

Determination filled him as he walked over to the Interface and as he activated the construct of floating solid light screens he began to search through his memories as he began to scan the lands of Equestria. He could not plan where the Elements would toss him to, but he could very fucking well plan were the fight would occur. All he had to do, was find the best spot and to figure out the best tactic, or remember it, to use there.

And so the stallion shifted and moved screen after screen, scanning landscape after landscape all over Equestria and its surrounding regions for the ideal battlefield for his indirect meeting with his adopted family. He would keep them safe, even if he had to act harsh, even if he made them hate him, he would keep them safe.

There was just a few weeks left until the next Red Sun. He was going to have to make it count.

Equestria was an active nation and so its most active spot was Canterlot, it was not only expanding in size but in population as well. What had once been a city population of four thousand ponies had become twenty thousand within the past ten years with the expanded borders, new comers, expanded city construction and increased birth rates. But the largest growth was its military forces and the knightly order called the Order of the Golden Cross. Within less then ten years has this Order turned into the largest Order of Knights in Equestria, followed by the Sun Knights of the Sun Guard and the Equestrian Order of Chivalry.

The Order was currently numbering in a total of one thousand three hundred and fifty seven, with two hundred of them being the current year's recruits training to become knights of the Order.

After the great success of the Order of the Golden Cross had the nobles initiated their own project for a knightly order, but it was not as efficient since the noble's Order only accepted those of nobility or military prestige as members. And those things were something you were born with or earned through military service, not something a commoner could hope to achieve in their younger years.

Thus the Equestrian Order of Chivalry was more like a personal training ground for the children of Nobles and the few military veterans wishing to stand on equal grounds with the Nobles. While the Sun Knights were Sun Guards who had been in service of the Sun Guard for five years or achieved great accomplishments. And while they far outnumbered the Equestrian Order of Chivarly, were their numbers far lower then those of the Order of the Golden Cross. The title of Knight in the sun Guard was less of a rank and more of an achievement, it was a title in name only.

While the Order of the Golden Cross allowed all forms of applicants as long as they were willing And after a year of harsh training, education and tests would they graduate as knights, be allowed to try again next time, or be given leave from the Order. Thus far had only fifty applicants in the last eight years been rejected from the Order for being unfit of knighthood.

Ever since the Order of the Golden Cross completed their mission and liberated the Eastern Middle Coast of Equestria had the nations resources, knowledge and population skyrocketed within the last ten years. With the path to the mountain free, with the new milestone system and the constructed fortress of Blackstone Keep and the Hidden Temple of Sanctum beneath it, there was a whole lot more ground for the ponies to travel, explore and exploit.

Not to mention, the two towns of Baltimare and Fillydephia were both producing a lot of goods, and had opened possible sea routes for future trade along the coast, and in the future, the distant sea.

But the future was far away. And currently was a lot of thing happening within not only the Order but the Nation of Equestria itself was experiencing deep change.

On top of a staircase next to the courtyard of the Temple of Law stood a tall white pelted unicorn stallion with a crimson mane and tail, bearing a black robe with golden emblems and green gemstones. This was Grand Music, now 22 years old, the First Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Cross.

He was smiling proudly as the Recruits swung their training weapons, worked out and stretched. As he looked out at the field he was approached from behind by a grinning shadow that suddenly tackled him and made him face plant onto the top of the marble stairs leading down to the courtyard. "Hey there Music!"

It was a tall pegasus mare, easily one head taller then Grand Music, with a well toned body covered by cream white pelt with a wild mane and tail of lime green colour, wearing an armour of Sacred Bronze. Happy Meal, the daughter of Grand Music's adoptive mother, and one of the one hundred Master Knight ranked members of the Order. She was also the only member of the Order thus far to earn the title of Enlightened. While there were over two hundred Templars and fifty Grand Templars, one of which was Grand Music who had earned the title of Grand Templar by learning the ways of the Herald, the Keeper, the Crusader and the Warden, had Happy Meal been the first to master every aspect of the Order.

"Hey there Music!" She said with a grin as she looked down at the flustered face of Grand Music as he gave her an irritated look as she was pressing him down on his back with her armour covered body. The metal of the armour not even slowing her down.

"Hello Happy. Do you mind getting off of me?" He asked with a frustrated sigh.

The mare made a thoughtful look ant tapped her chin as she tapped the other hoof on his throat before grinning and standing up, lifting him up onto her back out of nowhere, he blinked in confusion. "Okay! Come on now! Mama wanted you to come over for lunch!"

Sighing with resignation the Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Cross just let the hyperactive mare carry him out of the Temple of Law, giving a nasty glare at the rest of the veteran knights of the order who were snickering at the sight. It was a common theme.

Grand Music's achievements as not only a knight but Grand Master had earned him a lot of fame, fortune and fans. Many ponies looked up to him and he had a lot of families offering brides or individual mares trying to seduce him. And he had to admit that if it had not been for Happy Meal keeping him safe with her antics, he might have been a father before he even became Grand Master.

But like him had Happy Meal many ponies looked up to her for this achievement, and many stallions sought her favour as well. He kept her safe from those vipers just like she was keeping him safe. Neither of them intended to settle down just yet, well at least Grand Music had no plans for it, he had no clue what Happy Meal wanted for the future, she never told him.

Though while neither of then had families yet had their found love a second time in her life. And apparently considering their three new sisters and two brothers, it was a very happy marriage.

Grand Feast had found a new stallion, as she was still young enough to have foals and a noble mare at that, was she rather sought after. And five years ago she had meet a fine, slightly younger stallion, by the name of Applejack, a member of a large family of earth ponies called the Apples who had been wandering the lands of Equestria since before the Age of Chaos. And still were wandering the lands, each member of the clan was apparently trying to find their ideal home, and since ideals could, and were, very different from one another would some of them settle down while the rest of them wandered on to other parts.

The ten years younger stallion was light blonde in pelt with a mane and tail of dark red with the cutie mark of an apple tree with a pair of axes behind it.

And Applejack's clan had arrived at Canterlot at that time and visited the large city and explored it with curiosity, having heard rumours about the city and journeyed to it after meeting the Order of the Golden Cross in the eastern Foal Mountains during the yearly march towards Blackstone Keep. The Order had told the clan about the City and the clan was more then eager to finally see the place were the new Pony Nation was being created.

When they had initially arrived had the stallion not intended to settle down there, let alone marry someone, he had originally just gone to one of Grand Feast's shops to eat some food of the city along with his relatives. And just like a certain old stallion from a long lost Order, was the thirty five years old stallion in love with the cooking of Grand Feast at first bite. He started coming regularly to the shops, visiting various ones to test their flavours, and finding that the shop in which Grand Feast worked in regularly was the one with the best flavour.

Grand Feast had not been paying attention to the younger pony until he one day tasted her apple pie and started asking about the apples she was using, and if she used certain kinds of apples. It had grown from a conversation about apple types, various flavours and cooking techniques with apples. The following winter would Applejack's clan remain at Canterlot and the stallion would visit her shop and talk about various topics, mostly apples and foods but other things as well.

Then as spring broke out and the snow started to melt, Applejack made a sudden move that would change everything. He carved out a heart of wood, painted it red, wrote the words 'The One Who Has This, Owns Applejack's Heart' on it in... less then elegant letters. And then in the middle of the shop as Grand Feast carrying out a plate of pies, Applejack strode in, carrying the heart, and in front of the whole store and its customers, gave her the heart.

At first Grand Feast was curious and looking at the wooden carving ,before she started reading the words, out, loud. At the end she was as red in her face as the heart and the entire store was silent as a nervous Applejack shuffled a bit with his forelegs. Then she sniffled with tears in her eyes before mumbling about how she was too old for him.

That's when Applejack decided to do something even more daring, and strode forward, and kissed the blushing and teary are on the mouth, not a tongue kiss, not a long kiss, but a gentle kiss with their muzzles touching softly. and then he pulled back, smiled at her wide eyes and blushing face and said with a smile. "No one is too old fer love darlin'."

Apparently the mare decided to retaliate, by pulling the stallion to her and dominating his lips, and making him blush like a tomato instead. This had the entire shop burst out into cheers and laughter at the sight of the mare dominating the stallion. The news spread like wild fire and the idea of giving heart shaped gifts to the one you liked appealed to the mares, as well as some stallions, and by the end of the week was there so many heart shaped gifts being spread around that Princess Celestia, declared that the day it all started would henceforth be called Heart's & Hooves Day and be celebrated every year, on the first month of spring, for all ponies to express their love to another.

Applejack and several of his clan decided to remain at Canterlot, the rest of their Clan left for the open road. And they proved their use rather quickly by becoming the prominent apple farmers of the apple tree fields near Canterlot. He and Grand Feast got married on the Summer Sun Celebration that year when it was confirmed Grand Feast was pregnant. And after five years had the happy couple received five foals, two twin colts, two twin fillies and one more filly, who was the older sister. The colts' names were Sour Green and Sweet Red, while the fillies were named Grand Harvest, Pink Lady and Grand Meal.

Both Happy Meal and Grand Music loved their new siblings and had been acting as caretakers when their mother and her new hubby were a bit busy with work. The Order of the Golden Cross had unofficially accepted the five siblings as their mascots, jokingly calling them the Quest Takers with how the little ones brought laughter and warmth to the temple whenever they visited and acted out their shenanigans to achieve their cutie marks.

But even if times had been wonderful and kind to not only the Order, the Ponies and the Nation of Equestria, were there still some who were not liking how things were going. In the corners of the alleys have new dark shapes been seen during the night and whispers of unrest have barely been heard in the dirtiest of taverns. Something was going on, but with the approaching storm that would be the Second Crusade against Maleficus Victoria, was there very few who worried about it.

Princess Celestia looked out over the various battle strategies, formations and gear her nation had prepared for the upcoming Crusade. It had been a long ten years and a lot had happened, but she was feeling confident that everything would turn out for the better. Sadly enough though had her five Generals retired during the lat couple of years. But together had those old veterans started acting as teachers for future promising soldiers and officers in the Bronze, Silver and Gold Armies.

Currently she had three new Generals, each one having experience from battles and raids with bandits and self proclaimed warlords in the Eastern Region were the fragmented armies of the Two Barons had spread out and claimed several smaller parts of the regions borders as their own kingdoms and established small forces to raid Equestrian soil. It had become not only a ground for much combat, but also a place were many fresh troops were sent to aid the Order of the Golden Cross to handle the various warlords on the borders.

Each of the three Generals were the leading officer of one of the Three Armies. There was Bloody Courage, grandson of Blood Gorger, a well mannered unicorn with a lot of tactical know how and cunning wit to use against his enemies. But he was not unwilling to brave the front for his troops. Bloody Courage had a blue pelt with white mane and tail, like his great-great-great-great-great-grand-uncle Starswirl the Bearded. Only without the beard. He was the commanding officer of the Gold Army and the youngest Pony General in known memory at the age of twenty.Bloody Courage was also the only member of the Generals to not have been part of the Siege of Canterlot, having been only twelve at the time.

The only mare of the trio was a pegasus by the name of Aerial Grace, she was a pink pelted mare with a white and red coloured mane and tail. Her cutie mark was in the shape of a coin shaped silver medal with a pair of wings stretched out from each side, with a green ribbon connected to the top of the medal. She was a survivor of the Siege of Canterlot and had personally lead a squad of pegasi against the flying forces of Rattenfänger, turning the tie of the aerial fight, she had ever since risen through the ranks until she . She was the General in control of the Silver Army.

General Rough Stock was a veteran earth pony soldier who had faced dangers of the Everfree Forest, the first Crusade and the Rattenfänger Invasion to name the tree most important events. His pelt was dark brown, his short cut mane was black as was his tail. His cutie mark was a slightly worn out officer's helmet made out of bronze. He was the one in control over the Bronze Army.

The Princess looked upon them and pointed at the newly made map of Equestria's regionpainted on the war table and spoke up. "We hath gathered thee here today for a most important matter. The Red Sun will soon rise and Maleficus Victoria will be freed from his imprisoment on the Moon once more. We hath to plan accordingly to what he may bring upon Us in this upcoming battle. Just as We hath been preparing, so hath he."

Rough Stock was the first to response to her inquiry and pulled out some of the papers o nthe pile and spread them out on the table, pointed on each of the suggested battle plans. "Well yer highness. Ey doubt We can make as big a mess as last time. So ey suggest We make Our troops train how to change formation. We train em to stand in some base formations that should be simple enough to reform in accordance to da change in da fight. We need ta be able to alter dem formations nice an proper, which should take some practice, but be doable, thus ey suggest We make smaller spread out units, in accordance to what gear dem be using, an use sound and light signal to command dem how ta alter dem formations."

"Nay, nay. Small units makes far too weak to stand strong. We need to use Our numbers properly. At least medium sized formations, five hundred strong, for Our front line units. We should spread out the Support and Rear Guard into units of one hundred strong. With the Silver Units in Groups of ten to twenty." Bloody Courage stated as he pulled out his own suggestions out of the pile and spread them out.

Rolling her eyes Aerial Grace pulled out some sheets of her own and pointed at them as well. "You two need to consider the battlefield as well. We do not know where the battlefield will happen, and I seriously doubt we will be fighting Maleficus at the same spot he landed ten years ago. So yes, we need a flexible formation order and proper spread of our units. But until we know the terrain where we will fight we need to use scouts to properly get a hold of the terrain before making the final battle plan."

Celestia watched with a smile as the three Generals discussed their end game together. She kept silent and just watched them draw up plans, pointing out errors, possibly terrains, advantages, troop formations and time frames. It was an educated moment not only for them but her as well, as much as she did not like to admit it had Maleficus been right about her and her ponies, they were not properly prepared for fighting large scaled or long lasting battles, not yet.

And with her being forced to handle much of the politics of Court was her own education as a leading officer lacking, thus she spent most of the meetings with her officers watching and listening to their discussions, learning from ponies far more experienced in battle and warfare then she was herself.

She got a smirk growing on her lips as she felt confidence fill her. The ponies of Equestria were far more experienced and hardened then they were ten years ago. Maleficus Victoria would not find victory so easily, even if he had been preparing himself, was he still just one lone pony, and it would not be possible for him to have prepared to face her large army once they faced off.

Ten years ago, her troops had numbered up to a thousand strong. But now, she had ten thousand troops to spare for this confrontation. Not even counting the possible reinforcements from the various outposts across the nation and the large garrison of Blackstone Keep. This time she would avenge her sister and that monster would be punished for his crimes.

But then she realized something stated by Aerial Grace and moved over to look at the currently made map of the Nation and a frown formed across her brow. *This may be a problem for Us. We hath to make preparations in case We art unable to find a solution quickly.*

As her generals talked she signaled Solid Pink and handed her a pair of messages to deliver. Things were going to get hectic, rapidly. But it would still be her victory, she would make certain of it.

With a glance out of the window towards the horizon, she narrowed her eyes and her horn ignited with a golden aura as the sun started settling, and the moon slowly rose up, revealing the burning specter and the unicorn shaped mark on its surface. *We shalt have vengeance for thee sister. We promise thee.*

Luna was glaring at the large screen in front of her as her blue armoured soldier was suddenly run over by a large monstrous metal wagon with a large metal pipe firing fire and thunder as a weapon. She then glared at a grinning Maleficus as the screen shifted into a Victory/Defeat message, with the AI Red Team having won the match.

"I told you playing the Scorpion tank in an open valley makes for easy killing. But noooo you wanted to defeat your opponents without relying on vehicles. Not even bothering to destroy them to keep them from using them." The stallion said with a teasing grin on his muzzle as he laid on his stomach on a large sofa, eating chips and drinking soda, while watching her being creamed by the AIs of the Halo game.

"Shut your mouth Maleficus! We would have won had your lousy brain matter not been causing the game to lag!" She screamed out in frustration as she crossed her forelegs with a grumpy pout on her face.

"Hey, my 'lousy brain matter' as you called it, is supporting a certain Moon Princess who is taking up a lot of RAM and Processing Power with her over sized posterior." A pillow was thrown into his face, making him break out into laughter as the blushing Princess started flailing at him with a large cushion. This kept going for what felt like hours, but probably was less then fifteen minutes.

After the Princess settled down they just sat there and looked up at the screen, showing the dead moon planet the game match had been playing out on. The approaching moment making both of them solemn in thought. "So... tomorrow is the day right?", Maleficus finally asked as he looked at the screen.

Luna sighed and rested her head on her slightly flattened cushion before speaking out to her fellow prisoner. "Aye. Tomorrow will be the next Red Sun. And most likely will you no longer be able to dream of this realm after a day or two on the surface. Although I cannot explain why I can access your dreams while you cannot. But it is most likely some sort of mental lock down because my mind is not as closely connected to you as before, and thus the Curse holding me on the Moon cuts you off from your dreamscape while allowing me access... for some reason."

Sighing the alicorn stallion just nodded and stretched his neck back. "...Hah... Well that is not what I am most concerned about though... This coming fight will be tougher then the last one. I just hope this time I do not end up beating up Celestia like I did last time. I do not want to end up going all bloody crazy berserk mode on your sister, the rush is exciting but you feel awful afterwards. Freaking sucks to lose control like that. In the end you just feel like shit mentally."

Luna silently agreed and laid back down on her own seat and just decided to take a nap. The two alicorn just sat there in the silence, enjoying a good quiet rest, before the chaotic day would approach them both.

Then, as his vision started to darken and he could feel a powerful energy fill him, he knew the time had come, Maleficus sighed an closed his eyes, muttering a little as his body evaporated from the dream realm. "It's show time."

He woke up on the surface of the moon ad the light of the sun was flaring down upon him with a crimson glare. It reminded him of the first time he had been summoned. And just like last time, his body started floating up from the surface, the black and green flames began to swirl towards him and physically pushed him further and further away from the Moon's surface until the flames were less of a pus hand more of a powerful rocket booster.

A shield shimmered into existence around him, he was prepared for the rush of entering the atmosphere this time. Last time he had been forced to go through it with his body burning up ad regenerating constantly from the planetary reentry. He saw the approaching land bellow him and he saw that he was heading towards a different spot then the last time.

Rather then being fired towards the Everfree Forest, was he falling towards what was known as the Foal Mountains to the east of Canterlot. With a smirk he spread out his wings and began to try and forcefully change his course as he flew through the upper layer of clouds, tit was a bare inches of alteration, but those few inches were enough to alter his landing spot by several miles. And the location he was aiming for would let him get to the location he had found while on the Moon. his perfect battlefield.

The ground approached rapidly but he was not concerned and smirked even as his shielded body speared through a cloud layer and straight towards a mountainside. *Round Two is starting now Celestia. Let us see how well you do this time.*

He then struck the mountain, hard.

Princess Celestia stared up at the night sky as she started lowering the Moon, and as she did, she saw the swirling vortex starting to form out of the black flames and knew Maleficus was on his way. Before the moon even reached the horizon, the swirling mass of black and green fire flew down towards the land.

Her eyes widened in shock as the vile entity falling towards her country, altered course, and flew eastwards, further and further to the east. The fall burning monster streaked through a couple of clouds before disappearing beyond the peaks of the eastern mountains. *Curse him! Doest he attempt to escape Our reach!?*

Then a loud resounding bang was heard and a pillar of smoke rose from beyond the mountain peaks. Even if the smoke was seen could Celestia tell it was a great far distance away from her city. She needed to mobilize her forces to march and quickly to catch up with the fiend.

Snarling in frustration Celestia summoned her magic forth and raised the sun, the crimson glare shone upon the city. She then summoned the latest invention of her Mages. Ever since the foundation of the Battle Mage Training Ground and the workshop had enchanted goods skyrocketed in production and new magical gear was being invented, researched, rediscovered or tested almost every day.

The invention she was levitating was one she had requisitioned herself to the Order when she realized several issues about Maleficus possibly landing at another spot. Communication Sphere, or Far Speech Orbs, the name was a work in progress. It was a clear orb the size of a melon, it was made out of magically made crystal. The Sphere itself was not magic, but the runes upon its inner core, when enhanced with magic, would connect to another sphere. Thus was were there only a two way connection between two specific orbs, it had been finished just two days ago so it was just a prototype.

But it fulfilled its purpose, contacting the other region of Equestria. The other Sphere had been transported by pegasus flyers to Blackstone Keep to keep contact with the Order of the Golden Cross and the Garrison located there. Had Maleficus landed to the West, the South or the North, would Celestia had been forced to send out teams of scouts, so it was a blessing in disguise that he landed to the east.

"This be Princess Celestia calling Blackstone Keep, art thou able to hear Us?!" She spoke, loudly, into the Orb and watched as she soon saw an image appear on the orb's surface, an image of a unicorn dressed in Sacred Bronze armour, saluting her through the orb. As she marched down the hallways she heard the telltale signs of marching hooves, clinking armour, orders being shouted and moving wooden wheels.

"Princess Celestia, we hear you loud, and a bit unclear, but we hear you. This is Master Knight and Grand Templar Rock Steady, current Caretaker and Commander of Blackstone Keep." The pony's voice was a bit vibrating and twitching through the transition, the sounds of the prototype were not perfect, but they were efficient and worked for the while being.

With a frown on her face she started to shouted out commands at the orb, making the commander on the other side almost flinch at the sudden volume increase. "Maleficus Victoria hath returned to Equestria! He hath fallen into the Foal Mountains, We doest not know how far away from Canterlot he might be! Send out words and scouts all over the region, We need to know his location! The hunt for Maleficus' head starts now! The Equestrian Armies shalt march East!"

The knight rubbed his left ear a little to clear out the ringing before nodding to his ruler and saluted her. "As you command your highness. We shall call upon all available scouts, messengers and patrols to not only search for him but spread the word of his presence within the region. Ave Equestria."

The image disappeared and Celestia put the orb into the waiting hooves of Solid Pink, who was dressed in a less then conspicuous military outfit, who pocked the orb... somewhere. The duo exited the large gates to the courtyard, were several ranks of officers were standing ready, behind them, beyond the gilded gates of the castle walls, was a powerful event occurring.

Golden armoured, silver armoured and bronze armoured soldiers were marching together out, in an orderly fashion. Their hooves cracking against the ground in a steady rhythm. Lines of silver armoured pegasi flew over the roof tops and the sound of war horns being sounded echoed over the city. And among the ranks of Gold, Silver and Bronze, marched another group of units, dressed in Sacred Bronze Full Plate Armour, with its unmistakably reddish tone, these were the units of the Order of the Golden Cross. The knights and troops were marching out of the city in a steady phase, hundreds upon hundreds of armoured ponies, marching out to the cheers of the populous.

"Hear Us Ponies of Equestria! Maleficus Victoria hath once more returned to Our Lands! Now We Shalt Hunt For His Head! Let! Us! March! East!" A loud cheer erupted from the gathered officers, and the ponies as the voice of their princess rang out over them, their spirits soared, their hearts burned and their voices cheered.

And then, Princess Celestia walked down the marble stone decorated courtyard, her officers giving her a clear path through them, and then as she passed them all by, they all turned after her and marched after her.

As the Princess with her escorting Officers entered the march as well was the cheer more or less erupting over the city. And as the confident ponies and their princess marched out of the City of Canterlot, they started chanting a familiar song, one chanted before, during the First Crusade.

The chanting grew, louder and louder as the soldiers marched out of the city gates. Out on the open road, their massive number became less of a march and more like a moving tide, a shifting mass of various precious metals glittering in the red sun light. And a their song repeated and repeated itself, the Three armies marched Eastwards. Their goal, Maleficus Victoria.

On the mountain side of one of the larger peaks of the eastern Foal Mountains, was a certain Alicorn feeling a bit... 'miffed' at the moment to say the least. And for a three specific reasons.

His recently magical energy shield, which was built to handle the atmospheric reentry without burning him to a crisp, could NOT handle the sudden impact of the FUCKING LANDING.He had been buried a good ten meters into solid stone, with several more piles of stones landing on top of him after said impact.He had spent a good THIRTY MINUTES trying to dig out a fucking PEBBLE stuck inside one of his NOSTRILS!

So yeah, this landing was obviously worse then the first one. But he had finally managed to get that stupid rock out of his nostril after digging himself out of the rubble. And currently he was looked out from the mountain side and feeling slightly shivery as he got awful memories. As a human, he had been afraid of heights, and those fears had not disappeared completely.

Taking a deep breathe he slowly gathered his thoughts before looking left and right, to the left was the eastern region to the coastline. This he could tell from the fact that there was a glimpse of the ocean in the distance, mostly because of the great view he had at this high mountain peak he had hit. Although he could only make out a slight hint of the ocean was it good to know the way he had to go.

To the right was Equestria's central region, and Canterlot, but he could barely make out he mountain the city was located on. But he visibly flinched when he saw a small speck of glittering colours just beyond a small opening betweeen the peaks that let him see Canterlot's mountain. Those specks of glittering colours, were moving.

*Yup Celestia sure does not waste time.* He thought with a sigh before once more looking down. But he then noticed something as he looked down towards the ground, his body felt... far heavier then it had on the moon. That's when he noticed another thing, the trail of small cobweb like cracks forming on the ground beneath his hooves, next to the edge of the hole in the mountain side. His body was too heavy for the rock to support!

"Shit I have to-" A loud crack interrupted him and the Alicorn looked down with folded ears and pleading eyes as he saw the entire mountain side crumble beneath his heavy weight and he barely had the time to curse, before he started falling down with the rock slide.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!" He frantically lowered the weight of his bones and kicked against the mountain side. The force from that badly aimed one hoof kick launched himself a decent thirty meters away from the mountain. This let him gain momentum enough to straighten himself. The alicorn pressed his forelegs upwards int ohis torso and let his rear legs stick out straight rearwards, he then spread his wings and prayed to the Gods he managed to keep himself up in the air. Maleficus did not having a fucking clue how to properly glide on the surface of the planet, having only done so on the moon, so he tried to do as much as he could and lowered his body weight and filled his wings with magic to try and let his heavy body ride the winds.

Thankfully was he more or less able to stabilize himself and started gliding across the mountains and towards the eastern shore line. The wind was biting into his face but he was safe for the moment and was a decent height away from most mountain peaks and tree tops.

There was one little snag on the whole situation though. Maleficus, while being able to use basic gliding, at best, did not know how to properly fly. He could not control in which direction he was going.

"Shit! Fucking assholish misfortune! I fucking hate this!" Maleficus was experiencing a bit of a panic attack as he was not able to properly fly and could only glide in one direction. He had no clue how to anything but glide with the wind, and even then he did not know how to even turn. So he was without proper steering techniques ad just flew towards the eastern coastline. And through it all he could not bring himself to lock down at the ground as he did not want to freeze up and fall down, heck he could barely look at where he was heading with how the mountain peaks made him feel awfully uncomfortable as he passed them by.

This of course lead to another bad situation as he came past the mountain range, and was suddenly without the powerful uplifting winds, and started to slowly glide down. Before he realized what was going on had he hit the side of a wooden structure, which collapsed in a shower of wooden fragments and stone as his body flew straight through it, groggy from the impact he was not able to recover before he struck dirt, face first, and ended up buried to the waste in the middle of a moist swamp.

The alicorn struggled out of the murky soup of muck and rot he slipped a bit but managed to pull his head out soon and sat in the middle of the swampy area, his entire front body covered in stinky swamp mud. As he wiped off a thick amount of mud off his face he glared at the sky and started walked off, spitting out and snorting out dirt from his mouth and nostrils. *I. Fucking. Hate. Heights.*

Heavy Storm was a proud pegasus Recruit of the Golden Cross Order, he was native to the region now called Eastern Equestria. His village was one of the coastal fishing ones located just a few days journey from the relatively freshly made town of Fillydelphia. The Barons had made a mess of the land back before the Order arrived, and though the ten years that followed the Barons' deaths were harsh to many, were the ponies of the East free and happy.

The young pegasus wanted to join the Order of his family's saviours and ha traveled to Canterlot five years ago on the yearly March back to Canterlot the Knights made. He spent many happy months there, learning new things he never could have considered possible before. And four years ago, he returned home to the region as a graduated Knight, and he had been happy to stay here rather then march back to the Temple of Law and learn further ways, he was content being a Peacekeeper.

His pelt was brown, his mane and tail pale blue with dark blue streaks, his cutie mark, the form of a cloud raining not rain drops, but black orbs. Heavy Storm earned his mark when he bravely handled a warlord war camp by taking worn out tent fabric, filled them with various heavy objects, before flying over the camp and dropping the heavy things from over two hundred meters up in the air. It had been crude but effective.

As he remembered that faithful day he smiled, and then frowned, as he heard a strange whistling sound. Walking over to the edge of the watchtower he looked out towards the location of the sound. He was currently located on the top of the watchtower located at the southern most outpost of Equestria before the southern area of the Eastern Coastline called the Hayseed Swamps, a large unexplored region of wetlands and bogs.

The whistling sound grew louder and the pegasus felt nervous and moved to signal his fellows about it. Then a sudden increase in the sound came before the entire tower erupted into a massive tremor shaking its very structure apart. Heavy Storm barely had time to leap off the tower as it collapsed down onto its foundation, he saw a streak of black fly into the swamps before a massive plume of muddy water and dirt exploded out from deep within the swamps.

Blinking in shook he flew up there for a moment trying to let everything that just happen settle down into his head, while the camp bellow was in total panic. And then he spotted it, out of the marshland came a lone black shape, a large pony. And it was walking, eastwards, towards the coast! And that was no ordinary pony, even from all the way over here, Heavy Storm could see it, the horn and the wings, it was the evil alicorn! Maleficus Victoria!

His head then decided that it was nap time and the poor pegasus knight fell down onto the ground, breaking both his wings from hitting a wooden beam jutting out of the pile of debris.

It would be a few hours until he was awake, and by then would Maleficus be long gone, but his direction was now known and messengers were sent to the Blackstone Keep, to send word to Celestia and the Three Armies approaching from the West.

The Foal Mountains were peaceful and quiet, normally. But today the serene aura was disturbed by the sound of marching hooves and creaking wagon wheels. Through the tree lines next to the main road leading through the mountains were the leaves and pines shivering as the ground vibrated. Then over a steep rising on the road, arrived the frontline units of the marching ponies, an after them came the main force of the Equestrian Army. Bronze, Silver, Gold and Sacred Bronze, each of these forces added their marching beat to the vibration of the earth.

Their tact and rhythm were steady and strong, giving them a decent speed to move over the road without slowing down. The power behind their beating march was enough to cause some of the rocks on the side of the mountain to loosen and fall down in small rock slides. Echoing through out the mountains their marching hooves signaled their approach, with the few villages and town in the mountains cheering them on as they marched past them.

It had been one day since the Three Armies had left Canterlot and they had already come halfway through the Foal Mountains. The restoration of the main road done by the Order of the Golden Cross was enough to speed things up, but it was more then that. For the Workshop and the Battle Mages had designed new gear for the army.

Upon their hooves were horseshoes, engraved with runes granting them more stamina and strength to carry heavier burden and wandering further. Upon the wagons and siege engines were spells and runic engravings enchanting them with a lower weight, making them far easier to carry then before. Ever since the first attempt of using weight reduction spells on siege weapons during the Battle with Rattenfänger, had the concept been researched and improved for the military, even their basic backpacks and armours had been given slighter versions of the enchantments and runic engravings.

But even with their improved gear and equipment was there still things that would halt their progress. And one of them was clear when the army reached a specific point in the central area of the Foal Mountains.

"Sooooo... Tell Us if we art wrong, but... this was not here last time right?" A scout asked her partner as she looked up ahead with glazed eyes.

"No it was not." Said the stallion as he too, stared ahead with glazed eyes.

"Okay then... Well... This be... bad right?" She asked him, as she just kept staring ahead.

"Indeed." He responded flatly, staring ahead just like her.

"...Princess Celestua will be furious once she hears."

"Clearly..."

"..."

"..."

"Not It!/Not it!" They shouted out together.

There was a moment of silence and then they turned and glared at one another and tried to mentally force the other to reconsider.

"...What?" Princess Celestia asked the two scouts who had just returned from their mission.

"There be a landslide up ahead Princess. One of the peaks of the mountains hath collapsed down onto the road." The stallion said with a resigned tone to his voice.

"It be blocking the sides of the road damn good too." The mare said with a sigh.

Princess Celestia rested her face in her left hoof and tried to think for a moment, then Solid Pink appeared next to her holding the Orb of Communications, yet still to be properly named. "Message from the Commander of Blackstone."

Sighing the Princess dismissed the two scouts, who left with relieved looks on their faces, before levitating the orb out of Solid Pink's hooves and in front of herself. "What news doest thou bring Us Commander Rock Steady?"

The Knight had a very serious and intense look on his face and Celestia almost dreaded, and hoped, that his report would involve her quarry. "We have words from one of Our outposts Princess. They were attacked by Maleficus, the outpost is in ruins, but no one was harmed.", came the damning words of the commander and Celestia had to restrain herself from gleefully smiling as she made a look of concern on her face.

"Where hath he been seen Commander?" She minced no words and got straight to the point, and then she got a bit nervous, when the commander coughed awkwardly into his hoof before he responded.

The Commander brought up a scroll and made a double check on the words written on it before continuing his report to the princess. "He was last seen at the South Eat Eastern Border, by the Boggy Mane Outpost. This outpost is located just north of the middle of then northern edge of Hayseed Swamps. He apparently slammed straight through the watchtower, flew into the swamp, then moved out of the swamp before heading towards the coastline. We lost track of him afterwards. We believe he intends to travel to the coastline to escape the country."

Her lips turned into an angry frown for a few seconds but she hook her head clear and spoke up to the Commander. "Though Maleficus may be a vile being, hath he not backed away from battle just yet. If he art not facing Us directly, then he must be planning something. We shalt make haste towards the South Eastern Border and hope Blackstone Keep shalt be able to aid Our endeavors."

"Of course your highness. We art at your command. We shalt report anything of interest that may occur." The knight stated with a salute before the orb stopped glowing and the image disappeared from its smooth surface.

Celestia handed the orb to Solid Pink before marching out of the large wagon she was using as a mobile home and exited through the doorway, greeted by a pair of Sun Guard Knights who saluted her as she exited. She looked towards the front of the still army and frowned at the massive pile of rock blocking the path. "Order Our troops to back away from the rock slide. We shalt handle it."

They both saluted and one of them wandered off to contact the Generals. Sighing Celestia pulled off her golden helmet and shook her mane a bit as her command was received by the troops. It was quite a sight.

Almost as one the troops turned 180 degrees and started marching away from the collapsed mountain path. Their marching hooves made the ground vibrated and leaves to shake. In just thirty minutes had the entire force of ten thousand ponies marched behind their Princess' wagon.

Said Princess, dressed in fine golden armour, with a longsword and shield strapped to her sides, walked towards the large pile of rock and stone. At one hundred meters distance she raised her head to the sky and then, a soft golden aura started to grow around her horn, her once prismatic cloud like mane and tail ignited into a golden aura of fire. The glowing of her horn grew more intense and then, as a sphere of light the size of a basket ball grew in the air above her, she opened her eyes.

A pair of glowing pink spheres of energy pulsed within her open eye sockets, and as the magical energy grew larger and denser, she could see through her eyes the magical energies of the world in front of her. She lowered her head and aimed her horn forward, the pulsating orb of energy floating in front of her horn, then she made a upwards aimed thrust with her neck, and released her spell as she did this.

Normally you would think such an act would release a powerful energy blade or shockwave of some kind. This was not one of those kinds of spells. As she thrust her neck upwards, she released the orb she had been maintaining ever since she materialized it above her horn's point. The sphere, flew upwards, around one hundred and fifty meters, before it slowly began to turn in an arc. It flew in a long half circle forward before tumbling down towards the hundred meters tall pile of rock and stone.

The glowing sphere struck the pile of rubble and then, all ponies watching had to avert their eyes as a brilliant flare of light emerged as an explosion of almost white fire and golden flames expanded out from the point of impact. The light came just a second before the sound of the explosion. A loud resounded crack filled the air followed by what sounded like a rapidly increasing sound of boiling tar.

Then an intense heat flooded the air and some almost felt like they could no longer breathe. The intense heat from the wave of air from the still expanding blast was enough to make the nearest plants burnt up, including trees. With a pulsing beat the sphere expanded and expanded, its burning mass pulsating with the sound of burning matter, it was less of a sound of boiling tar and more like the sound of fire and wind rushing through at hurricane strength.

The light was growing dimmer and the expanding sphere of plasma grew from its once brilliant white flare into a darker red. Then as the mass of heat had expanded to cover the valley from wall to wall, it stopped, before suddenly, in a rapidly increasing speed, shrinking down until dissipating with a loud snap.

As the expanding ball of plasma had disappeared it left behind not a pile of rocks blocking a mountain road, nor the comforting green forestry around said blockade. Instead it left behind nothing but a bubbling lake of lava and molten stone covering the valley from both sides, with a field of ash and burning trees up to two hundred meters way from the pool of molten earth.

Celestia ignited her horn once more and powerful jet stream of water erupted from her horn tip and struck the molten stone. An explosion of steam filled the area, but Celestia just kept on firing the water stream at the molten metal. Soon, as the mist lifted, it revealed a massive patch of land, melted and hardened into a lake of blackened stone and volcanic ash.

It had all taken less then five minutes, yet for the awed soldiers, knights and officers staring in shock at the sight, it had felt like hours.

Not even showing sign of exhaustion or even a hint of sweat, Celestia turned towards her awed subjects and barked out a single command. "WE MARCH!"

Needless to say, they obeyed.

Maleficus looked out over the area he had reached, since he was without the ability of flight, until he properly learned, he had spent a few days wandering east. It had taken him about three or so days after his little uncontrolled gliding that ended up with him having demolished a watch tower and then impacted a stinky marshlands.

But his efforts had not been for naught, he had reached the coast by day two. And then he had decided to speed things up a little and had a day later, he had found the spot he had been investigating during his final time on the moon. It was a rocky coastline with narrow rocks grounded smooth and sharp by the power of the sea.

The location had most of what he needed, a large mountain side with a long, wide and flat path leading between the sea and the mountain. It was mostly ideal, but there was a problem.

*There's no bottleneck path at the end of the path. There's not even a mountain blocking it.* He had not been able to view the area completely, his observation satellites and spells could only do so much with so little time. So now, he would have to make the final preparation himself.

Currently Maleficus stood at the end of the flat stone path. Beyond its end was an up going hillside which lead into the thicker part of marshland, the air from the south was far more hotter then it had originally been. This gave him all the information he needed, it would not be long before IT would happen. He had not much time to work with, so he would have to do what he did best, improvise.

Stretching his neck he took a deep breathe before slowly letting it out, relaxing his entire body, then he opened his eyes and a crimson aura surrounded his horn and the earth around him began to quiver and shake. As his magic grew in strength so did the tremors and as he narrowed his eyes he muttered out loud as he prepared to enact his spell. "Hope you are ready for a big workload Luna. For this is going to get magical. Very. Magical."

Then he reared back and slammed both his front hooves into the ground, the magic he contained within his horn flared up and traveled through his legs and into the soil, and then, the earth fractured and splintered as something began to move up through its rocky soil. Maleficus kept his body in the same position, focusing his magic through his forelegs and into the ground, controlling and shifting whatever he was doing within it through his connection to the ground.

The fractured earth slowly began to give away at two points, one on each side of him, one hundred meters away from him, two hundred meters away from each other. Then a pair of jagged and pointy rock spikes began to grow out of the ground, the sound of grinding stone filled the air as inch by inch, the rock spikes began to emerge from the hardened ground. it was a slow, almost snail like phase, but it was steady and unrelenting.

And in just one hour, had those pony sized stone spikes, grown to the size of hills, reaching fifty meters upwards, while growing steadily thicker as more and more of their forms were pulled out of the soil. The cliffs by the side of the two pillars were starting to fracture and split apart as the power of the two rising rock spikes began to push against the root of the mountain and the cliff formation by the sea.

The sound of grinding stone grew even louder. Maleficus himself was slowly being raised upwards, as the two stone pikes' thickness reached his hooves and began to pull him upwards in a wedge shaped made by the two connecting stone spikes, who were no more then a pair of spike shaped mountains, slowly growing into one bigger mountain.

As the third hour went by collapsed parts of the flattened rocky path and the large mountain side as the two stone pikes pushed even higher up into the sky. At this point had the points of both of the stone mountains reached the same height as the mountain side. But Maleficus was still making them grow larger.

Then as five hours had gone by and the moon was starting to rise, had the shaking stopped and the coastline was once more ruled by the sound of waves, wind and birds. Maleficus stood upon the large mountain he had made, it covered the entire paath, connected to the sea to the mountain side, a pair of jagged peaks were reaching fifty meters above the mountain side.

*Good, the mountains are well and done. Now for the more refined spellwork.* He thought to himself as he slid down the mountain side to the slightly less flattened ground at the base of the newly made mountain. His metal hooves made sparks fly as he slid down the hard rocky surface of the mountain and as he reached the base he made a short jump and landed with a loudly resounding clang as his two hooves impacted the ground.

His horn once more ignited with a crimson aura and he moved his head and shifted the segmented, claw like, horn's to aim it directly at the center of the mountain. Then he spread his legs, braced himself, and released his spellwork. What came from his magic was a massive beam of water, it was highly pressurized and fast in its momentum, it blasted into the base of the mountain, and a loud shrieking sound emerged as the water split through the rock with mere moments. Then, Maleficus slowly moved his horn upwards and after ten minutes, he had cut a path through the solid rock.

But he did not stop the spell, and for a good reason. *The passage is to narrow, it needs to be at least twenty meters across.*, And with that in mind, he kept firing the water, slicing off more of the mountain, now split in twain by his water beam, slowly and surely grinding the solid stone into a wide passage.

After an hour he finally released his spell and grinned at the sight of the mountain path he had created. The moon was high in the night sky and he felt both mentally and physically tired and hungry, but he was done with it.

"Gonna get me some food now." He said with a grin before frowning, realizing something rather important.

He had no idea if there was anything edible in this region. "...Just what do I eat? I mean... I don't even know what there is to eat here."

Tapping his head with his left front hoof he sat down on a rock and tried to think, it would not work to just magically create something, he had not even the slightest idea how to even make food with magic, let alone transforming something into food.

Maleficus was in a bit of a pickle he was hungry, in the middle of nowhere, with no idea what there was to eat and he was very tired already from having been wandering for three days without food or water. But at least not cold since the warm air was keeping him from feeling chilly.

That's when he heard something, a splash. His ears perked up and he looked towards the sea, and his eyes widened as he saw a fish with wings, and by no means fins, but literal wings, leap out of the water and fly for a couple of meters before flying down into the sea again.

He stood up in joy and cheered out in his mind as drool began to pour down his chin at the sight of that big fish in the ocean. *Fish! That's right! I can still eat fish! ...But... I hate fish.*, an there was his cheer gone as he remembered just how awful fish tasted to him.

After five minutes of contemplating he narrowed his eyes and ignited a crimson aura around his horn before stomping forward, snarling out in frustration and hunger. "Fuck it! I am eating tonight! No matter how bad it might taste!"

A quiver came from the water as his hoof stomped down, and his eyes narrowed and his horn ignited, then out of the ocean blue, came a big blue fish that looked like a spherical tuna. It was held by the alicorn's telekinetic grip. With a victorious grin the stallion reared back the fish before slamming its head first against a rock, effortlessly killing it.

He put the fifty pound fish on the ground before he walked over to a big boulder, there he reared back and slammed his left foreleg's hoof into the rock, edge forward. There was a loud resounding crack as the rock was split apart by the force behind his punch. The black alicorn then grasped hold of one of the flat sides of the now split boulder, he focused his hoof's natural grip aura and expanded and intensified it like he had done to the marble boulders at canterlot. Then with his physical grip on it, he rotated his hoof, and with a loud crunch, he split off an almost perfectly round piece of flat stone, about the size of a wagon's wheel.

Putting down four round big rocks he put the big flat piece of rock on top of them, then he focused his magic upon the rocky ground beneath his makeshift stone table, and with a ray of focused energy, melted part of the ground into liquid lava. The intense heat of the molten stone made the flat stone table on top of it, heat up like a stove.

Once more Maleficus levitated the fish, first he magically sliced it open and removed the guts and washed out the inside. Then he peeled off the scales and skin, he cut off the head, removed the tail and the bones. Left was a pair of large almost round pieces of fish meat. He put both of them on top of the stone plate and grinned as the sound of sizzling meat began to fill the evening air. That made him think on something, he needed a bit of spice to the fish, but the only spice he had available, was the spice of the sea. Salt.

Maleficus reached out with his magic and summoned a large sphere of sea water into the air. From there he created a green square enchanted to filter out anything that was not water that passed through it. First though, he boiled the water with some applied air pressure, this would essentially kill any kind of bacteria in the water and thus the last.

Then he poured the boiling hot water through his filter screen and grinned as once the almost fifty galleon water bubble was gone, there was a nice handful, or hoofful in this case, of salt left upon the green screen. He touched some of it and tasted it, it was salty and he could not taste rock or anything else that could have come with it. The boiling had done its work.

Almost absentmindedly he flipped the two pieces of fish and applied the salt to the newly cooked sides, it was enough to put salt on both sides on both pieces of fish meat, so he was content with that. In fact he felt nostalgic, a happy nostalgic, as he stood there, cooking the fish by the ocean.

That's when a fragrant scent found his nostrils and he looked at the two sizzling pieces of fish, his eyes slowly widened and drool began to pour out of his mouth and down his chin. The scent was not that sharp stinky smell of fish. No, it had a... meaty... almost pork or beef like scent... the smell of the roasted fish meat and the simple saltiness in its fragrance was making him drool like crazy.

"Is this really fish?" He muttered as he levitated the big slap of meat over and stared at the golden roasted sizzling size that had just been finished. The scent, it was driving him insane with hunger, such a scent, he had not smelled anything like it since he was human. It was... like a long lost memory brought back to life.

Slowly he sliced off a piece of meat with his hoof, having created a small air blade at the edge of the tip of his hoof, he levitated it in front of him. The slice was sparkling and shining, like its meat sauce was made up of stars upon a golden roasted galaxy, it was almost too beautiful to eat.

Slowly he brought the slice to his mouth, opened his jaw and let out his tongue, and let the hot piece of meat land on his tongue. It was like a spark ran through his body as soon as the taste hit his mouth, his tongue darted into his mouth, taking the meat with with it and he began to chew it in a slow and steady pace.

The meat was so tender, sweet and fat that it was like he was eating meat flavoured butter. IT was melting into a liquid mush in his mouth as he ate it, even as drool kept pouring out of his mouth he kept chewing, he could not stop. And as he chewed, he remembered, those happier times.

Tears ran down his cheeks as he looked upon the meat as the memories ran through him. He smiled, a sad smile, and sliced another piece of meat off the fish before he started to eat it as well. The tears never seemed to stop, but he was glad, no matter how much it hurt, he was glad, to remember those wonderful times.

Looking up at the moon lit sea he smiled a bit as he chewed, thinking of happier times, as he ate the meat. Not even bothered by the tears sliding down his cheeks.

The morning sun rose and spread its light upon the lands of Equestria. Its warming rays enlightened the peaceful quiet atmosphere of the East Coast. There on the main road leading south from the mountain pass in the north, was the peaceful tranquility shattered by a loud rhythmic sound. Animals perked up their heads to look towards the sound, some ran while others looked with curiosity, as an army of ponies, marched down the main road, relentlessly moving without pausing.

It was the main force of the Equestrian Military Forces. Without rest had they been moving for the last two days, only eating and drinking on the move. Their quarry was far away and they needed to find him to avenge the many deaths and terrors he had caused to their people and nation.

Celestia was marching herself, she felt a need to move at the head of the troops, the very front, she wanted to show she was not just going to rest on a wagon, she would move through the dirt just as much as the soldiers. This show of humility and leadership had made her forces feel even more determined and eager to follow her.

*We art certain of it. We shalt reach Maleficus before the day hath ended. We can feel it!* The Princess thought with a vicious smile on her face as she imagined the terrified face of her hated opponent as her army reached whatever area he had moved to.

Her thoughts were broken by Solid Pink suddenly emerging from the marching troops, bearing the glowing orb once more. "Message from Commander Rock steady your highness.", She said with a salute while holding up the orb to her.

"Thank thee Solid Pink." Celestia said with a smile as she summoned the orb, Solid Pink bowed before disappearing to... somewhere. Looking upon the crystal ball Celestia cleared her throat before activating the link, what she got was the frantic face of Commander Rock teady, who was NOT looking good at the moment.

"Princess Celestia! We have a big problem! A massive earthquake shook the entire southern half of the coast last night! We have reports of several buildings, piers and stone towers being broken apart by this! No one has died yet, thank the gods, but we have severly injured ponies all over the east coast! We are mobilizing our forces to aid the common ponies across the region, but we shalt not be able to aid you during your Crusade until we have managed to handle the situation! Commander Rock Steady Out!" The orb then went silent after the old knight gave a short salute before deactivating it.

Celestia stared at the orb for several seconds, not even pausing in her marching, her troops who had heard the message, feeling rather awkward at her silence. Then she spoke up in a rather... profane manner. "Oh Maleficus thou glue sniffing piece of RANCID MANURE!"

Snarling in anger she put aside the orb and proceeded to keep marching south east, she did not need to look back to see her soldiers both nervous and determined. Their morale was not broken by the news, which spread like wild fire, but the fact that Maleficus had caused a massive earthquake for some nefarious purpose made them nervous, and determined to stop him.

They kept moving, for hours, never pausing, never resting. They had been moving at a steady pace since the day before yesterday and not taken a single moment's rest since they started their nonstop stride over the main road. Fields, woods and mountains passed them by as the sun glared down upon them ,many a soldiers were sore and tired from the constant walking, but many of them were used to it. A pony could endure a lot of physical endeavors even without much training, so for these hardened soldiers and knights was a two day march without sleep not outside of their regular training.

As the afternoon hours reached them they had reached the sandy shores and began to wander south. In mere hours the forward unit, along with Celestia, spotted something up ahead. A large patch of dry, rocky and flat coastline appeared up ahead, with a large smooth mountain side by its side creating a walled off piece of rocky coastline. And when they reached the rocky coastline they saw beyond its rough exterior the long flattened path. And beyond that path, laid a large mountain, with a single passage running through its center.

Celestia knew they had reached the spot. And for a rather obvious reason. For at the other end of the flat rocky landscape that made up the coastline, stood a single dot of black in front of the passage. It was without a doubt him. He was there, just on the other side of the coastline. Waiting for them.

Grand Music, the Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Cross, spoke to her as he looked upon the end of the path. "Princess. That mountain was not there when my Order scouted the Eastern Coastline, nor a year ago when our last batch of recruits returned from training. I think we now know the cause of the earthquake last night."

"Indeed, Maleficus must hath created that mountain to better defend himself. But it shalt be irrelevant. We art ready for battle." The white alicorn said with a smirk before turning to face her troops.

"Halt! Prepare camp! We hath found Our adversary! Rest and prepare!" She shouted out to her troops and a loud cheer erupted from their mouths. Both for the chance to rest and the knowledge that their long eluded foe had been found at last.

The Three Armies spread out and began to put up tents and provisions, they required much rest and food since their two hour march. For without rest would their fight with Maleficus just end up in failure. There was no need to rush at him, they had time to recover and prepare.

Or so they thought.

Maleficus put some roasted fish into his mouth and chewed as he watched the ponies prepare their camp. He had been waiting for them, and he had not spent the time just idly sitting. No. While it might not look like it, had he been preparing for this fight far more then one could assume.

"They should have attacked me instantly. Well it is too late now. It will soon be here, and then, Celestia's forces will have lost one third of its fighting capacity." He stated with a grin after swallowing his food. The black stallion looked out at the coastline and felt the hot and cold air strike him in the face and inhaled the scent of the salty breeze before slowly letting it out of his nostrils in a soft sigh.

"Haaah... Things are going to get nasty once the battle starts. I just hope Celestia and those two will be okay from all of this." With those words in mind he looked towards the preparing Equestrian forces and smiled a sad smile, wondering how things would go when he faced his two adoptive grandchildren once more.

"Fuck this is so messed up. But... At least I will be able give them something more out of this spectacle between me and Celestia and her forces. Although..." He took a glance behind him, into the shadows of the mountain pass, and smirked a little at the massive group of shadowy shapes hiding in the shade.

"This time I am not alone."

It had taken several hours but even as Princess Celestia took note of the hour and had to start lowering the sun, was the War Camp ready. It was built on the grassy area before the rocky path leading towards Maleficus and his mountain pass. Tents, a wooden Palisades and wagons had been positioned into a circle like pattern, to make it easy to assemble and dismantle.

The camp was being built by the non-combatant forces of the army while the troops had been sleeping like logs in their tents, which was the first to be put up. And with their lack of sleep from two days catching up to them, they would be properly rested once the night started and the moon rose to the sky.

Although it would not be seen, because of the dark clouds bellowing in from the coast. A strong warm wind was blowing in from the west and everyone of the ponies felt refreshed and relaxed by the warm breeze and the scent of he sea. They did not know of the approaching danger, even those native to the coastline had never been so far south, they did not know what was approaching.

The hour came at last and the horns of war were sounded. With rested bodies and hearty spirit the soldiers moved out of their tents to assemble. Their lines were starting to assemble to completion, when a powerful gust blew across them. The Pegasi' head turned with a snap towards the ocean as their attuned senses to the weather told that something big was coming.

And it came. Like the strike of a hammer.

It started with Celestia getting out her tent, when a pegasus of the Silver Army suddenly flew down and screamed out in utter panic. "Princess! Princess! Big! Really! Big! Something! Bad! Big! Bad! About!"

"Calm thou self soldier, what hath caused thou to panic?" She asked with concern, trying to calm down the pegasus who was taking deep breaths into her hooves to calm down.

"We felt something big approach from the sea Princess. It is... big. Powerful. We think it is some kind of storm. But it is the biggest storm we have ever felt before. None of us, us Pegasi I mean, want to leave the ground! Our instincts are screaming at us to take to the ground and seek shelter!" A loud rumble was suddenly heard from the sea and the pegasus mare let out a squeal of fear and disappeared beneath a wagon, shivering in utter terror. Several of her fellow winged ponies did similar actions.

Celestia was momentarily stunned by the actions of her Pegasi soldiers. She turned towards her advisers who had exited their own tents, General Aerial Grace was not with them. "Were art General Areal Grace?"

The two Generals looked at one another with frowns while the other advisers looked confused. Rough Stock then stepped forward, coughed into his hoof before speaking up. "She ehm... fainted in her tent yer majesty."

There was an awkward silence as Celestia and the other, non officer advisers, including Grand Master Grand Music, stared in shock at the two nervous Generals. Then an enormously loud crack resounded across the air and the wind picked up even more. Ponies had to cover their eyes as a stinging hard wave of rain drops joined the harsh wind. And then as their eyes adjusted to intense wind and rain, they looked out towards the sea and stared in horror at what was approaching.

But the one taking it the hardest was Celestia herself. The Princess of the Sun stared in shock at the enormous mass of dark lightning spewing clouds was blowing towards the mainlands, a dark blue veil of rain was pouring down from them, and the wind was picking up something fierce. As she stared came powerful wave and struck the coastline, a massive spray of salt water drenched several of her assembled troops.

What came next was utter chaos. The blackened clouds enshrouded the night sky and lightning bellowed all around the torrents of rain and wind as they sheared into the coastline. Several tents were torn up and tossed to the wind, parts of the palisade collapsed from the brute force of the wind's strength. And a lightning strike struck one of the flag poles holding the flag of Equestria, essentially burning the flag in the middle of a hurricane.

Celestia nor her troops had anticipated the approaching hurricane. They had no clue about the sudden shift in the sea's and winds' temperatures. It had not been discovered yet how hot and cold air currents flowing together could create powerful, and massive, storms. It was something unpredictable for a people who had never experienced such harsh weather in generations. Not to mention they had never experience natural weather because of the reign of Discord during the Age of Chaos, which lasted enough for the next generation of ponies to not know what natural weather even was.

For ponies, the weather was malleable bur mostly unpredictable with their current lack of knowledge and experience. Even for the born fliers of ponies, the pegasi, could not predict such a weather phenomena.

But there was someone who had predicted it. And exploited it.

Slowly it dawned to her. The long distance away from the landing area. His construction of the mountain. The waiting for her army, not even bothering to move. And as she realized that she had been played, she screamed out in utter anger into the thundering storm, her advisers and two conscious generals getting terrified looks on their faces as they realized what he meant. "He planned it... that bucking monster planned this to happen!"

She ran towards the edge leading down towards the flat stone path and glared through the rain and wind towards the large mountain on the other end of the path. and she screamed out in rage at her opponent. "Thou think thou hath won Maleficus!? Hear Us now! Thou art mistaken! We shalt not let this stop Us! This is far from over!"

"There is far more to war then troops, strategy and gear Celestia. The environment and the weather plays just as important a role as any of those earlier parts. And this storm is something you have not experienced before I wager." Maleficus said to himself as he looked out towards the panicking forces, their flickering torches, fires and spells dancing around as the hurricane strong winds tore into their War Camp.

He sat there by the coastline, the wind of the storm tossing out his black mane and tail as the rain struck at his black pelt. It did not bother him, the sensation of rain, the sound of thunder and the hard wind, it felt familiar to him. Even if he had once been one to get into cover and hide away from it when he was human, had he missed this sensation so much, that he did not want it to end.

The ponies were struggling to keep their camp safe as rain, wind, lightning and waves struck out at them. It was a scene of utter chaos. And it only made it clear that his plan had worked. The pegasi were unable to take flight in this weather and thus, he had essentially grounded Celestia's entire areal force without doing a thing.

"I am born of a coastline town. In a nation that got hit regularly by decent sized storms. I know just how dangerous a storm of this magnitude can be. But you and your forces, do not." Smirking a little he levitated a cold piece of roasted fish into his mouth and ate it as the rain and wind kept blowing upon him. His horn then lit up in a crimson aura and the shrouded figures beneath the shade of the mountain path, raised their heads as crimson eyes behind face guards, lit up like torches within the mountain pass.

"Soon she will act. And when she does. We will be there to face her and her forces." He stated with a sad smile before standing up from his seated position and began to move forward. Behind him, began large groups of shadowy figures, shrouded by the darkened sky, to march out after him.

The forces of Maleficus Victoria, were getting ready for battle.

Princess Celestia grit her teeth in frustration as she looked into the distant horizon. The storm looked like it had no end, even as the clock used to help her maintain the order of the night and day, did little to help her keep track of the daily hours. Her pegasi were all unable to act, their bodies were frozen up and still, their natural instincts to seek cover in the wake of the storm overruling their minds.

One third of her force was out of the game and the battle had not even started. But the storm was not a fierce as it had been a during the night, and the camp was properly secured and reinforced to handle the winds now. The pegasi would be left behind sadly enough, they were too deeply in shock or instinctive fer to be of any use in the battle. And even if they were not frozen by fear, did she doubt they could fly safely in the harsh winds.

She looked upon her assembled troops, they were wet and tired but determined, the night's harsh weather had not driven them to admit defeat just yet. And she felt proud of them for it, but she needed to show them that she was just as determined, if even more so. She spread out hr wings and pointed out at her forces and spoke out to them, her voice overpowering the wind and thunder. "Listen to Us! The fiend Maleficus hath driven Us into a corner with his vile plans! But We art not defeated! We shalt not admit defeat just yet! To Arms and prepare for Battle! Ave Equestria!"

"Ave Equestria!" Cried out her soldiers and she smiled with pride as they began to march down the flat rocky path towards their intended target. She could not follow them properly, she needed to allow her Generals to lead the three armies. But one of the armies did not have a General. With General Aerial Grace out of the battle already, was she giving command of the Silver Army to a young Captain by the name of Weak Guts of the Bronze Army, who was an experienced officer.

She looked over at the remaining forces in the camp, half of the the Order of the Golden Cross and the incapacitated pegasus soldiers. Grand Master Grand Music and Master Knight Happy Meal were both marching at the read of the Three Armies, acting as a vanguard. Their other senior members of the Order were standing at the ready along with the other advisers and Heralds to give support to her campaign.

Half of the Order was held back for an obvious reason, they were an already hardened elite force of knights but they were not officially part of the Equestrian Armies. In the eyes of many older officers, they were an outside force that offered support to the Kingdom. Thus they were not given an big active role in the earlier stage of the battle. Personally Celestia thought it was just some of the nobles and military officers trying to get some glory for themselves by denying the already prestigious Order of the Golden Cross more fame by claiming the front line and reducing the Order to half strength at the rear.

Politics were always a hassle, especially when it concerned nobility and military factions during a state of war. But she had no time for politics when the cursed fiend who harmed her sister and her nation was within reach. And thus let them play their meaningless games while she concentrated on more important matters.

*Like this coming battle.* She thought to herself as she turned her gaze toward the coastline, the harsh rain was making it hard to see anything but the glittering armours of her forces made it easy to discern their positions. And short range communication had been established by couriers and signal horns, no complex light signals could be used because of the weather. Now, she needed to watch and get ready to act in accordance to Maleficus' actions.

General Rough Stock liked to call himself a veteran, a hardened and enduring soul of the battlefield. But this was the first time he had been forced to march through rain, thunder and waves to even reach a fight. The old earth pony looked backwards towards the silver army where Captain Weak Guts would be trying to keep command of the ranged soldiers, with the pegasi down would the Silver army's ranged support be most important.

"Hope da young ones be ready. This fight shalt be messy." He muttered a bit before turning his head forward and glared through the rain towards the large peak being illuminated by the lightning. They were about halfway across the stone path and he thanked the Gods and the Princess that their gear had been improved since the last Crusade and the Siege of Canterlot, it had made things for more easier. Plus he did not have to feel water trickling down between his armour plate and chain mail, bloody annoying.

Water poured over his visor and almost reached his eyes but the enchanted armour blocked the rain from hitting his face and just let the liquid wash off him. His entire vision was blurry by the mass of rain drops striking at the field protecting his eyes but he could still see far more clearer then if he had not had it.

Up ahead were his forces marching in spread out formations of three units side by side, given the limited space of the flattened rock path, each of those unit were one hundred soldiers strong. And there was a total of thirty of those units in the Bronze Army. Making for a long trail of ponies marching forward across the stone path.

Behind the Bronze army was a similar numbering of Silver Soldiers only they were put up into two blocks of five hundred strong units, this was made in accordance to the lose of two thousand pegasus troops. And further back was the golden units with the siege engines and support lines. they were marching in ten groups of two hundred strong, lacking one thousand pegasus troops.

And further back behind the Golden Army was the five hundred strong unit of the Order of the Golden Cross, who were split off in accordance to the battle plan, which Rough Stock personally did not approve of but was outvoted by the other Generals and advisers. Even if the Order also had lost two hundred Pegasus units were they still an elite force that the General would gladly have fighting by his side in the coming clash against the monster known as Maleficus.

The only army not affected by the lose of Pegasus Units was the Bronze Army, mostly because there were no active Pegasus Units in the Bronze Army, since they were mostly made up by front line fighters and few Pegasus units could hold their own in melee like an Earth Pony or Unicorn.

But the biggest difference from the First Crusade and the current one was a major one, Officers. The Sun Guard was not given the privilege of commanding the armies. Instead had properly educated, experienced and deserving officers been promoted to respective ranks. The command structure was not perfect but it was far more unified then the last time and that was what Rough Stock considered a most important factor to the coming fight.

Beyond the old General's thoughts there was a loud resounding rumbling of lightning, but soon a different sound broke through the constant flashing cracks in the sky and a pony ahead in the front lines screamed out a message to the rest of the troops.

"The path is getting wider up ahead!" At those words perked General Rough Stock up his head and smirked, with more ground to cover he could properly align his troops' formations to that of the other forces. Turning towards one of his Captains he whistled at him, getting the unicorn's attention.

"Make sure da spread da word, align yerselves into a wider line, ye need ta cover da area properly!" It took less then ten minutes for the Order to circulate through the Bronze Army and as they reached the wider area of the path. The troops swiftly began to march into their new formations. In just moments the three thousand army went from three ten unit long lines of century units in line to six lines of five century units instead.

Nodding with a proud smile on his muzzle Rough Stock marched forward and noticed how the Silver Army spread out into a pair of units behind his Bronze Army's formation, and the Golden Army and the Order of the Golden Cross were moving around a bit themselves.

Then as the mountain loomed above them as they approached the large gap at its front, one of his soldiers arrived from the front. "Sir! Private Green Horn sir! We hath spotted a blackened figure standing upon a pillar in front of the Mountain Pass! The figure hath been confirmed to be Maleficus Victoria, Sir!"

"Excellent work there lad! Ye hear dat ye lot!? Our target be close by! We shalt give dat dere monster a bloody welcome aye!?" His soldiers cheered and their tempo seemed to increase, he was glad they were feeling enthustiastic, cause he was feeling all kinds of nervous. He knew just how powerful and dangerous Maleficus was and he knew that if the black alicorn got serious would none of his fellows return home alive, he could only hope things did not escalate to bloody mayhem and pointless deaths.

Then a group of messengers arrived, a flustered Silver Soldier, a nervous Gold Soldier, a frantic Bronze Soldier and a confused Knight of the Golden Cross Order. "Sir!" Screamed the Bronze Soldier before the other messengers could speak.

"Aye? What be da problem lads?" He asked as he looked at the group of wet and weirdly behaving soldiers.

"It be Malefiucs Sir, he... he sent message to Us and the other Armies. Telling thee and the other Officers and Generals... to... meet and speak to him before battle... under parley..." The other soldiers gave similar messages and General Rough Stock stared at them for a long awkward silence.

Then he spoke up, in a voice of disbelief. "...Whut?"

"That is what General Bloody Courage, Grand Master Grand Music and Captain Weak Guts said as well Sir."

Grand Music had always wondered what his first confrontation with the Great Enemy of Equestria. He had imagined insulting taunts, silent treatments, feral growls, illogical arrogance and other such meetings in the heat of battle and so on. He had NOT in his wildest dreams ever imagined THIS. "...Just... What am I looking at here?"

What he and the other Generals and Officers of the Three Armies and the Order of the Golden Cross were looking at, was a fifteen meters long and three meters wide solid stone table, covered with plates of fruits, berries, vegetables and... fish? And at the end of the table, sat a large black figure, dressed in an armour of solid iron, waking familiar memories to those who remember the First Crusade. And behind him, on a solid pole of metal, hung a white flag, marking the parley.

"A bloody banquet... with Us being da freaking guests... hosted by da bucking Stallion of Torment... We be imagining this right? This be too insane to be real. Or art We dreaming right now?" Muttered General Rough Stock in shock and confusion as he tried to make sense of this sight.

Nervously looking at one another the ponies wondered what to do before Grand Music decided to just go with it and took seat, prompting the others to do so as well, as far away from Maleficus as possible. That's when they noticed something strange. At the moment they sat down, they could no longer feel the wind or the rain striking at them.

Well they could not earlier either but at lest they saw the rain drops strike at their visors and hit the ground around them. But even as lightning flared up in the sky above them, there was not a single sound.

And then... Maleficus stood up from his seat and began to speak.

Maleficus looked upon the officers of the army, he knew he would have meet Grand Music and Happy Meal again today. He feared he would miss them, not recognize them as adults, even though he had watched them for a while from the Moon. But those worries were needles as when he saw the crowd of ponies approach, he spotted a pair of two knights. One unicorn and one earth pony, each bearing a high ranking insignia of the Order of the Golden Cross.

Even should they have been old and wrinkled, he would have recognized them. Those joyful and curious eyes he remember seeing when reading stories to them. Even among a crowd of ponies, he could make them out, his two precious grandchildren.

And as Grand music took the initiative to take a seat, the alicorn smiled behind his helmet's visor, proud of the boy for taking the initiative. The table, plates and food had been prepared by him and his... hidden assets, it was nothing fancy, except for the fish. Most of it he had taken from the wildlife after recognizing them. It was all for one purpose, to make an impression. And with Grand Music taking the initiative, he needed to act before the ponies took the the first move of the parley.

He stood up on his hind legs and took a look at the ponies gathered at his table, the enchantments protecting them from the wind and the rain allowing his voice to travel out towards them even from fifteen meters away.

"I welcome you all to this battlefield Soldiers of Equestria. I see you have grown strong in my absence, and I am very happy to see that." Maleficus spoke in a polite and gentle voice, even smiling in a little to put them at ease. He ate some of the fruit on his own plate, the few pears and apples he had found were both sweet and sours in flavour, but he was content with it.

"Here I wish to speak to you all about the upcoming fight between my forces and the forces of Celestia." The confused and concerned ponies looked upon one another and he would have been amused, had he not been so focused looking at the two ponies chewing on some of the food. Or rather Happy Meal eating while putting food into Grand Music's gaping mouth, making him unconsciously chew it.

"Thou wish to converse with Us? Why?" One of the old looking higher ranking officers asked with a critical tone in his voice, Maleficus could practically feel the unease, fear and barely restrained anger beneath the old pony's voice.

The black alicorn nodded to the old pony's inquiry. "Yes, I wish to make you an offer. But pardon me, I forgot to offer you something to drink, please, allow me."

He raised his right hoof and slowly pressed it onto the table, the table began to vibrate a little before settling. Then, out of the solid stone of the table, were slowly but surely cylinder shaped cups being shaped out of the stone. As the mugs were being shaped were fruits and berries suddenly levitating out of their bowls and swirling around in the rain above the table, being crushed and mixed into various juices, before being poured into the cups.

With his display done, an his audience properly awed, Maleficus continued to speak now that he had rectified his error. "I will offer you all this, let us put aside our weapons and wait out the weather. I do not think anyone wish to come to harm fighting in a storm."

Grand Music's voice was the one to break the stunned silence that followed after those words. "Wait... you want US to not attack you until the weather clears up. Is that all that what you want?"

Happy Meal just blew a raspberry at him, making him smile behind his visor as her carefree and bubbly personality was still strong and bright, even after ten years. It made him glad to hear her speak up, even if it was to speak down at him. "Well ye can forget it ye old goat! We shall never back down! Right Grand Music?"

The unicorn stallion had apparently been surprised by Happy Meal's sudden intervention in the conversation but he swiftly recovered and gave her a smile before turning towards Maleficus with a serious look on his face ,along with a slight smile. The sight made his heart warm up and his own lips to split into a happy grin beneath the visor. "Indeed Happy Meal, neither of us would want Grandpa to be ashamed of us."

Straightening himself he kept control over his voice as to not give away his pride and spoke to them, with concern and caution, asking them something most important. "Are you sure young ones? Once you have made your decision, you must be committed to it, least you do something you regret."

The other ponies seemed to have grown confident and relaxed, some even eating more of the food around them. And at his inquiry, the atmosphere got tense once more, until Happy Meal stood up and pointed at him with her left foreleg and shouted out with a wide grin on her face. "Yeah! Bring it on! We shall take ye on and show our strength!"

His hidden smile grew, the warmth in his heart also so, while his eyes began to grow teary as pride and happiness spread through his body for those two wonderful children.

And his smile grew to an almost strained limit when Grand Music, stood up next to her and joined in her confident attitude and gave his own, rousing speech. "Indeed! We shall never back down! Not now! Not ever! Even if I only have a little strength, as long as I can swing my weapon then I will do so!"

Those words sent chills down his spine, it made him fearful for Grand Music and Happy Meal's safety, and yet, he had never been so proud as he was right now. And he made a short bow to the pair and spoke up in a warm and happy voice, unable to stop his tears from sliding down his cheeks as he spoke to them, hidden by his visor. "Those are fine words you two. And I like the fire you have in your hearts, it burns strong and yet controlled. You make for great Knights. Please, tell me your names."

The pair looked at him with surprise, before grinning and pressed their right hooves over their chests, speaking out their names to him together, with pride and confidence.

"I am Grand Music, Adoptive Grandson of Golden Cross the Lawbringer!"

"I be Happy Meal! Adopted Granddaugher of Golden Cross the Lawbinger!"

His eyes glittered flowing tears and pride and he spoke to the proud pair of knights he loved like his own children. His voice warm, kind and sad at the same time. "I will remember them, even if one day death comes for you, even if the world forget you. Know this. I will still remember you."

This startled the ponies and Happy Meal and Grand Music almost gaped in shock at his words, a heavy silence struck the table and then, Maleficus Victoria, stood up from his seat. And then he spoke out to his guests, ending the parley. "Farewell little ponies. We shall meet again soon, this time, on the battlefield."

*I am so proud of you both right now, I just wish I could tell you.* He thought with a sad smile as he walked away from the table, not looking back at the ponies. Not wanting them to notice the tears dripping down from his chin. Unable to stop them from shedding as his heart beat with pride, happiness and love for those two little ones, who had grown up so big and strong in his absence.

As Maleficus left the table, were the other officers and advisers of the army staring with awe at the two young Knights who had spoken out so brazenly to the most feared of enemies of ponykind. And yet ,even a they stared at the pair, they did not seem to notice their reactions, instead looking after Maleficus as he slowly began to disappear into the rain and wind.

"Say Music... am I imagining things or did he... remind ye of grandpa a little?" Happy Meal asked with a confused voice to Grand Music who was looking just as confuse as she was.

"A bit... I guess it... it was his voice, his way to speak. It was very alike and yet... different. His voice holds a lot of warmth and yet... sadness. Just like Grandpa Cross' voice did." The Grand Master of the Order of the Golden Cross muttered, with confusion and concern clear in his voice. He had never meet a pony so similar to his honourary grandfather. It was clearly impossible and yet... it had been such a likeness in behaviour and speech it gave him chills.

The pair looked out after the long since lost figure of Maleficus Victoria even as the other ponies by the table started to grow uneasy sitting at the table in the middle of a silent, but still active, storm.

Soon enough the ponies gathered up and left for their own area of the future battlefield, taking with them the food, leaving behind the plates and cups on the table, since they could not remove them for some strange reason.

As the ponies disappeared from view, something happened. The stone table, the plates and the cups, melted down into a glowing hot mass of liquid stone. Once the mass of melted stone settled flatly upon the ground, it hardened into a slightly uneven but smooth layer of blackened stone.

Just mere moments after the parley ended, was the strong winds of the storm starting to let up. The ponies felt relieved that the wind had slowed down, allowing them a clearer vision. But as they started to move forward once more towards the mountains, a horn was heard in the distance ahead of them, a horn, not of Equestrian make.

"Hear My Words Soldiers of Equestria!" Rang out the voice of Maleficus Victoria, tearing through the wind and thunder as if they were only ambient sounds. The forces of Equestria straightened up and took into tighter formations as the voice was heard. While the Bronze Army linked up their shields prepared the Silver Army and the Gold Army their ranged weaponry, while the Order of the Golden Cross tightened their own formation in the rear as to not allow for a rear attack.

"I face you NOT as a lone warrior this time! This time I face you as a Warlord! I face you as a General! I face you as an Opposing Leader! And as anyone knows! You are neither of those things! Without! An Army!" Even several hundreds of meters away from the mountain they could hear his voice as it cried out across the dark landscape. And what he said, gave them chills.

Then, after the echoes of his words died down, they heard something else. A familiar sound they had grown familiar with for over ten years now, the sound of marching hooves. And as the sound grew louder, they felt something. The earth beneath their hooves, vibrating.

"Buck! Fuck! Shit! "Grand Music swore as he and Happy Meal rushed towards the front line along with some of their more elite order members as music began to fill the air. They reached a large flat rock where they saw the Generals gathered on the top staring ahead.

A purple aura surrounded them and Grand Music lifted them all up onto the large rock. The music was growing louder and the marching of hooves was by now echoing through out the area, with the ground almost shaking from it. "Generals! We are here!"

"Good timing lads an' lasses, but We be in quite da pickle." Rough Stock said with a frown as he looked ahead, the Knights followed his and General Bloody Charge's gaze and almost flinched at what they saw.

They were marching out of the shadow of the mountain, large, heavily armed and covered from hoof to head in plates of black iron. They were like earth ponies, but far larger, even larger then Golden Cross had been. If anything, were these ponies equal in size to alicorns, if only slightly smaller.

And as their marching came closer, they started to chant out together. Their voices cracked through the sky like thunder, as their marching hooves stomped in tact with the rising volume of the music.

They stomped down, hard, the earth seemed to vibrate.

Rain started to fall down in a far heavier force then before.

They did not care about the rain, the wind or the thunder, their bodies marched across the flattened wasteland of rock and stone without pause.

Grand Music stared in awe at the sight, it was like an army of knights like the Lawbringers. Their nature almost felt equal to that of his late Grandfather. It was giving him chills to consider even fighting such a force.

Thunder cracked across the sky and the Generals and the Knights swore under their breaths as the light illuminated the marching forces of Maleficus Victoria, it was like a horde of metal giants marching towards them.

The force of the weather increased, yet the enemy was not deterred, they kept marching and by now, the ponies could see the figures of siege engines at the rear of the large army.

The soldiers raised their weapons and into the air and let out a unison chant of a gutsy cry.

Their numbers felt almost endless, and yet Grand Music knew they numbered far less then the forces of Equestria. but that did not make the unease he was feeling disappear. *Quantity is a Quality all by its own, that is true. But there is a reason for why Quality sometimes triumphs Quantity, Grandpa proved that.*

And once more, the soldiers raised their weapons, but this time, they slammed them onto their shields or armour, and chanted out once more their gutsy cry while clanging their weapons.

"Whores? No.. Horses? Wait... We hath heard about these... horses... be them not... Our ancestors? Father spoke of them... they were lost before the Tribal Wars." Bloody charge stated with a look of confusion on his face, while the rest of the military leaders of Equestria grew looks of awe and horror on their faces.

They were not just facing some kind of army of doped ponies or forceful recruits. This... this was an army of the Ancients!

Maleficus Victoria had brought an army of their ancestors through time itself to fight them! Or worse! Had he tampered with the bones of their ancestors to build an army of defiled corpses brought to a false mockery of life!? Either case was just as bad! How far does his depravity go!?

The front line soldiers flinched at those words, it was as if they could feel the battle lust and restrained madness within the army itself. A force of destruction before the Age of Chaos, brought to life to face against their own kin. This was beyond cruel.

Lightning flared and the entire army of the Ancient Ones stood proud and tall before the awed and terrified ponies, a force of over a thousand strong, armed to the teeth. All covered in the black iron plates while bearing white banners bearing the cutie mark of Maleicus Victoria.

The army stopped, one hundred meters before the Bronze Army of the Front Line, they stomped down their hooves and their weapons and their banners into the ground, making the earth tremble by their might. And then, they declared out the final words of their War Chant.

"Well... this be a ripe bucket of bucking glue." Rough Stock said with a sigh, while those around him just gave him flat stares.

"Oi! Quit yer freaking staring. Ye be Knights an' Soldiers of Equestria, quit acting like freshly made rookies ya little punks!" Assuming part of his inner Drill Sergeant spirit, Rough Stock barked out at the staring ponies who went rigid and into salute by sheer reflex by the voice and shouted out together.

Not only the officers, every single soldier within hearing distance reacted the same. Rough Stock had truly earned his nickname as General of Sergeants. He still made an effort to instill discipline into not only soldiers but officers well after all.

"Sir! Yes! Sir!"

"That be what we thought. Now go an' prepare yer bucking forces! We got a War ta fight!" They scrambled off like frightened rabbits and Rough Stock shook his head in resignation at the sight. The younger generation had a far way to go before they were able to properly take over from the old generation.

The Ancient Ones were not in fact the original Horses, they were all created artificially by Maleficus while he was on the moon. They were Flesh Golems, shaped after the body of a horse, the largest and most physically strong of all Equines before their race died out in ages past.

They were strong, they were tough and they were totally obedient. But they were not very innovative, Maleficus had to work for a year with Luna on how to make them able to move and obey orders. It had taken Luna a lot of time to refine the progress while he recovered from his mental breakdown. But they were efficient and creepily alive that it made Maleficus curious if it was possible to create totally sentient beings through magic alone.

Luna had told him it was something no pony had ever tried, the closest was the art of Necromancy but that art had disappeared from the world and was only spoken of in myths.

But the ponies had no knowledge about the true nature of Maleicus' army and thus, spread their theories about Time Travel and Necromancy from the lowest grunt to Princess Celestia herself, in less then twenty minutes. Her reaction... was rather spectacular.

"Bluh!?" It took the willpower of the ponies present to not laugh or even twitch into a smile at the dumbfound look on Celestia's face when the message about Maleficus having an Army of Ancient Ones, one of the lost tribes of pony kind.

They did NOT have enough willpower to stop themselves from flinching as her mane and tail caught fire and her screamed out in utter fury. "WHEN SHALT ENOUGH BE ENOUGH WITH THAT MONSTER!?"

She glared at the messenger, who was proud to say she had NOT soiled her armour, she had not been wearing her cod piece so all she did was soil the ground. And her thighs.

"Give the Generals their orders. Destroy the enemy forces! Release Our tormented ancestors!"

Needless to say, the messenger was off in a streak of blue and yellow. Which was odd since her pelt was purple, her mane blue and she was wearing Silver Armour.

The front line troops of the Bronze Army were armed with a well developed combat gear. Large shield, spear, shortsword, hoof axe and full body plate mail made out of reinforced bronze. There were other troops of Bronze soldiers with more focused or mixed gear. But the majority of them were equipped to handle most situations from defence, offence, retreat and maneuvers.

So when the command from Celestia came and was given, they acted as they had been trained, and armed themselves for a frontal assault upon the enemy forces. Of course, they could not rush forward on their hind legs, only veteran members of the Army and the Knightly Orders had developed their spines and legs strong enough to handle such a straining endeavor.

Thus the absolute front line troops of the Bronze Army, strapped their shields onto their backs, while letting parts of the shield rest on the top of their helmets. They holstered their spears and pulled out their short swords, and bit down on the handle. They then hunched their front down, while raising their rears. Almost making it look like they were offering the troops behind them to 'mount' them. Then, the front lines rushed forward as one wave of bronze armoured battering rams.

Behind the wave of rushing soldiers were the rest of the army following, not moving ass quickly with their shields and spears, but moving enough to not leave much of a gap between them and the first wave.

Then a loud voice rang out through the stormy weather and gave the Ancient Ones, a command. "Prepare For Battle! Engage Defencive Positions!"

"ORA!" With a gutsy cry the horses suddenly shifted in their formation, holes began to appear within their rear lines, not that the ponies could see them because of the weather and lack of pegasus scouts.

The first row of soldier hunkered down and pushed down their large shields to the ground. In a domino effect of blackened metal striking stone emerged a row of massive black round shields of iron. The shields were pressed into the ground, and then a few seconds later came a second row of shields and was put on top the first line of shields. Long spears with a crossguards just at the bottom of the spear tips emerged out of the gaps of the shields.

This tactic, was known as the Joint Defence. It was an old tactic used in China during the 500 Year War. There was a row of soldiers acting as defenders and attackers, while behind them, in pillar like structures, were soldiers who physically supported the front lines with their bodies and shields, acting like physical support for the front line soldiers.

The Bronze Assaulters rushed forward and with powerful leaps, tried to physically stomp down on the shields and stab at the gaps. Their hooves struck iron and loud resounding clangs rang out over the battlefield as they tried to bend or dent the shields and hurt their wielders.

Neither of which happened.

One of the soldiers leaped up and slammed his hooves into the thick iron shield. But the Ancient One he was attacking absorbed the impact with ease and even as he tried to jam his shortsword into the gap between the shields, all he struck was iron. The opponents were far too well armoured to be properly struck down by such tactics.

Then the Ancient Ones retaliated, their spears struck out and just as the tips pierced through Bronze Plate, a powerful shock struck those who got hit in the flesh, and their bodies suddenly went limp as the enchantment upon the weapon knocked them out cold.

Just as Maleficus had promised, he would not kill anyone of Celestia's loyal subjects. Instead he had enchanted the weapons of his army to render anyone who was struck by them with a powerful sleep enchantment that would knock them out cold for at least a day. Unless the had some sort of resistance or immunity to mental magic or sleep effects. Each weapon had been made to made as little damage as possible to those who to hit by it.

As over half of the First Wave fell unconscious to the ground the second wave, the main force of the Bronze Army, struck at the shield wall of the Ancient Ones. The Ancient Ones braced themselves and absorbed the impact, before starting to, in an almost machine like rhythm, lash out with their spears.

Chaos erupted and the two forces struck out at one another. Ponies were rendered unconscious by the blows of the Ancient Ones' enchanted weapons. But the ponies had no such effects on their weapons. And the few times an Ancient One was struck by them, they bleed and died just as well as any other mortal foe.

But even as dozens of Ancient Ones got cut, stabbed, crushed or even choked to death, were the rate of ponies falling to their spears far more in numbers.

In less then an hour had the Bronze Army lost one fourth of its numbers before the ponies started to evade, parry, block or in some rare cases, break or steal, the weapons of the ancient Ones.

But even as they struggled to get the upper hoof, would the Ancient Ones not even tire from the constant attacks upon their shield walls. Content in defending and retaliating whenever they were assaulted by the ponies.

Then the Silver Army and the Gold Army enacted their part of the battleplan. Lines of spell casters marched to the rear of the Bronze Army, and from there, they were given the locations to attack and they started firing off dense magical attacks able to pierce through the strong winds.

Their horns lit up in auras of various colours, then a series of zapping or zooming sounds emerged as rows of large ice spikes, boulders, lightning bolts and other forms of dense elemental magics, flew towards the enemy forces.

Then Maleficus' voice cried out once more.

"Engage Formation Change! Fight In The Shade!" And his soldiers were quick to react, shouting out their gutsy war cry once more.

"ORA!"

Then suddenly the once spread out supportive formation altered itself, all of the soldiers went into a massive block, and raised up their shields above their heads or out on their sides, essentially blocking off all sides with their shields. This had a side effect of creating an almost bread loaf like shape out of their joined round shields.

The magical attacks struck at the shields. All of the attacks did some damage, but the jointed shields protected the soldiers far more then them allowing the attack to just hit them directly.

Boulders crushed several dozens beneath their own shields and weapons. Icicles pierced iron plate and sometimes stuck vital areas, causing them to either bleed out or die from shock. The lightning spells were ineffective as the lightning went into the ground rather then their bodies as their iron plate armours were engraved with shock insulating effects to prevent lightning strikes.

Around one hundred died from the first strike of magical bombardments. Then, the Gold Army's siege engines fired off as well.

Loud resounding echoes of groaning wood and pulled rope being released was heard as siege engines of various kinds fired off their powerful loads towards the enemies. But since the winds were so strong could none of the ballistaes be used in the weather as it was. Nor could the Energy Rods be use either, since they needed high elevation to not hit their own soldiers. But the catapults and the redeveloped trebuchets, taken from the remnants of the Rattenfänger army, were able to fire in the weather.

This time however, the Ancient Ones did not hunker down. As Maleficus gave out his command. "Engage Anti-Artillery Protocol!"

"ORA!"

With yet another gutsy cry the Ancient Ones at the farthest rear of the army engaged their own siege engines. There were several pangs sounded from the shadow of the mountain before suddenly a swarm of crimson lights flew out of the shadow and flew straight towards the approaching boulders of the Equestrian Siege Engines. And as the lights impacted the boulders they detonated into bright flares of white light.

Once the light died down, was there nothing left of the boulders or the mysterious projectiles, or possibly magic. And then Maleficus gave yet another command to his forces. "Engage Combat Priority! Shield and Spear!"

"ORA!"

Now the Ancient Ones altered their attack formation and began to move forward, they utilized their shields like physical weapons to force back or knock out their opponents, slowly marching forward. They held up their shields in front of them to block attacks, while stabbing their spears forward.

The spears had a farther reach then most of the polearms and spears used by Equestria and thus they were far more effective at hitting. Not to mention the Ancient Ones were moving forward in groups of five moving forward in a V formation, this was done in a wave of a thousand strong, essentially creating zigzag patterned wave of spears.

Several ponies tried to charged past the spears and attack their wielders. But the secondary spear wielders in the formation made it almost impossible. Then came the most damning factor, the shields. With a brutal back hoof the Ancient Ones used their shields like large burl weapons, the force behind the strikes were enough to break bones. The Ancient Ones were pushing back the Bronze Army bit by bit, as their spears relentlessly stabbed at their weaker cousins.

By now had half of the Bronze Army's strength been lost and things were looking rather grim.

Grand Music frowned at the progress of the battle, the Bronze Army was barely holding on and the attacks of the Silver Army and the gold Army were both too inefficient to effect the battle in the long term. He tried to figure out what to do, he had studied tactics, he had lead expeditions, he had engaged in sieges and defended in sieges.

He needed a deciding factor, something to turn the tide. Then as he tapped his hoof against his chin, he realized something, he looked upon the rune engraved horseshoe on his hoof and then towards the West, toward the mountain side blocking off the mainland to the west.

"Say Happy Meal." Said mare turned to him, chewing on a mouthful of apples she had gotten from the banquet table.

"Hmm whut yu wunt?" Looking at her with a raised eyebrow the mare blushed a little before swallowing and rubbed the back of her head with an awkward smile. "Ehehee sorry, what ye want?"

"You remember how these horseshoes of ours work?" He asked her with a sigh.

She made a struggling look on her face before having an 'eureka' moment. "Yeah they be making us lighter an' stronger or sumethin."

Grand Music gave her a flat stare again before he rubbed his forehead. "...Not a perfect recollection but good enough. How many Keepers do we have at the moment?"

"Eeeeeh... about one hundred?" Happy Meal stated after about two minutes of mental counting.

Nodding he pointed at her and gave her, her orders. "Good. Tell them to com here quickly. I want them to help me with something."

"Sure thing Music!" She said with a grin before bouncing off.

Four hours since the battle had started and the situation for the ponies was turning very grim. The Bronze army as down to their rear lines, the rest were either unconscious or too injured to be of any use in the battle. Rough Stock was shouting out orders and asking for support from the Silver and Gold Armies. He had received it, but things did not improve.

Princess Celestia had sent in the remnants of the Order of the Golden Cross at the sight of the battle turning to the worse along with the reports from her messengers. She would enter the battle herself soon if things did not turn out for the better soon, and Rough Stock along with Weak Guts, did NOT look forward to it. Remembering the last time she went hoof to hoof with Maleficus.

The General of the Bronze Army was now standing side by side with Weak Guts, wielding their respective weapons against the frontal units of the Ancient Ones. The large equines were tough and their relentless attacks were wearing them own quickly. Even with the Golden Army and the silver Army joining up at the front were they barely holding off the increasing assault of the army of Maleficus, who had yet to fall to even half strength.

"Where be da Order!? We need some bucking support and now!?" Rough Stock shouted out as he dodged a spear tip aimed at his chest and deftly jammed the tip of his spear into the slit of his opponent's helm, killing him.

"They told Us ta hang in tight Sar- We mean General! They be making preparations fer some kind of retaliation." Weak Guts said as he blocked a row of spears before breaking them off by the middle with his sword, leaving them open for his Silver Soldiers to attack.

"Well when da buckin' hell would those darn foals be ready!? Before or aft'r ey get-" The frustrated cry of the General was interrupted by the sound of horns, pony horns.

The fighting was brought to a halt as the two fighting forces stopped to look towards the West, only to face the massive stone wall that made up the mountain side cutting off the coastline from the mainland. Their gazes turned upwards until they reached the top of the mountain, were the entire Order of the Golden Cross stood, at the very edge of the mountain, bearign their banners high and proud.

"Well if that ain't da craz'est shit ey've ever seen." General Rough Stock stated in a dumbfound voice as he stared at the spectacle for a force of knights, who somehow climbed a sheer, smooth, stone, wall over fifty meter tall. And was now, preparing to charge DOWN said SHEER and SMOOTH mountain wall.

"How in the blazing pits of Tartarus did they even get up there!?" General Bloody Charge shouted out in dismay as he tried to figure out just how the entire Order had managed to climb up the mountain at such a short amount of time.

Grand Music smirked down at the staring forces of both Equestria and Maleficus, he had originally only intended to send himself and an elite unit up. But Happy Meal had been more then willing to convince the rest of the Order to 'join in on the fun' as she called it.

It had been a rather simple idea. He had the Keepers alter their horseshoes runic engravings. It removed their endurance boosts, and instead added a physical grip that allowed their hooves to grip any kind of surface and stick to it. Like the smooth rock wall of a mountain side by the coast. It had only taken them ten minutes to walk up the entire thing and then move past the battle lines and reach the western most flank of the enemy.

The time of removing the horsehoes, altering their runic arrays and putting the horseshoes back on had taken the most of their time. But with around one hundred keepers had it taken less then thirty minutes to prepare their entire force of eight hundred strong.

Grand Music drew his greatsword, a beautiful weapon of sacred bronze, and pointed down at the center of the enemy forces, the area he could see Maleficus, standing like a dark beacon in an open circle within the horde. He then spoke out to his comrades. "Brothers and sisters! Let us breach the darkness! With Our Duty as Our Light! Let Our Courage be Our Sword! Let Our Valour be Our Shield! Ave Princess Celestia! Ave Equestria! Amen!"

"Ave Celestia! Ave Equestria! Amen!" Their resounding shouts echoed over the battlefield, even as te rain struck at their armour, even as the wind slashed at their faces. They stood proud and ready, to breach the darkness.

And then, Grand Master Grand Music sheathed his sword and shouted out to his Order, "Charge!", before he charged down the cliff, running on it as if gravity was tilted.

"Urrrraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

They came like a rumbling storm cloud down the cliffside, the Ancient Ones were apparently dumbfound because they did not alter their formation to block their charge. And thus, as they reached the bottom of the cliff, Grand Music unsheathed his Greatsword and leaped off the cliff and towards the bare flank of the iron plated horses.

With a powerful swing he cleaved two soldiers in half, and then in a burst of purple energy he blasted several of them apart, creating a breach. Then his fellow knights joined him, and widened the breach, but focusing at one area, like a charging stream of knives cutting through a single area of thick slice of meat.

Grand Music cut through two Ancient Ones, their Iron Armour unable to stop the piercing power of his Sacred Bronze sword. As their torsos flew into the air, a wall of shields and spears moved to face them.

Happy Meal charged past him and with a swing of her poleaxe cut apart the iron spears and then with a second swing brutally stuck at their shields. The impact and strength of the blow was enough to allow her to force five horses into each other before essentially making them fall over, where the rest of the Order's knights could kill them off.

Four Master Knights rushed forward with their respective weapons. One pierced through two enemy soldiers. A pair cut down four together and the fourth brutally crushed the skulls of three.

Happy Meal used the hammerhead of her poleaxe to buckle the shield of one of the Ancient Ones before Grand Music finished him off by stabbing him through the visor with his greatsword.

The Order of the Golden Cross charged through the sea of black iron, their weapons and armour superior to the black iron of the Ancient Ones. They moved forward, in an arrow like line, sharply wedged at the tip ,before following a straight line. And they could spread out to fill up the area whenever the Ancient Ones tried to fill up the gaps or cut parts of their unit off from one another.

It was impossible to tell just how deep into the horde of Ancient Ones they had cut through. But they knew they had not been slowing down, they had been fighting and running nonstop since their charge into the enemy lines. Even if they were outnumbered, did they know there was a limit to the enemy's numbers and they could not be far from reaching their intended goal.

Grand Music leaped forward, cutting through one of the Ancient Ones, splitting apart the horse's head from the neck to skull in an upward going swing. His weapon leaved through flesh iron and bone like a knife through paper.

Happy Meal slammed the pommel of her poleaxe into the throat of one of the Ancient Ones. The horse seemed to shrug off the blow, but he faltered from the impact . This gave her enough time to swing up her weapon and slam it down on his skull, crushing hi helmet and skull into a bloody mess.

A group of ten shield wielding knights rushed into a line of Ancient Ones wielding their own shields, once the shields was against one another, the knights drew back their long swords and stabbed through the iron armors' joints and cut down several of their foes before they kept moving forward.

Grand Music slammed his sword's crossguard into the skull of one of his foes, the sharpened point of the blade piercing through the eye-socket and through the skull. He then pulled it back before splitting open another Ancient One, from the waist to chest in a wild upward swing.

Happy Meal rushed forward and slammed several Ancient Ones over onto their sides by tackling their shields, making them collapse on one another. Following behind her were the other knights, using stabbing and slashing weapons to take out the downed enemies.

By now was the Order of the Golden Cross covered in blood and gore from their fallen enemies.

Happy Meal and Grand Music pierced through soldier after soldier, their weapons cutting up the very tip of the road they were making towards their goal. Behind them their fellow knights were following, by now had they lost several of their numbers, but they were not faltering in the least as they followed the two strongest knights of their order.

Then with a final cry of triumph, Grand Music cut through the last line of troops, cleaving five ancient Ones' heads apart. he made a physical effort to struggle past their bodies, before there was no longer anything keeping him back. An open area within the sea of ancient warriors was revealed to him. There, in the center of the open area, was the calmly sitting form of Maleficus Victoria, looking at him, just around a dozen meters or so out of his reach.

With a proud smile on his lips Maleficus watched as the Order of the Golden Cross suddenly appeared from the top of the vast mountain side, utilizing magic to rush down its steep side before ramming themselves into the western side of the front lines. The Bronze Soldiers in the western area of the fight had started to falter and lost their formations, thus had his own soldiers gotten a lot farther into the enemy lines an thus left themselves far more exposed to a flanking maneuver.

It was an insane move but it worked. Knights rammed straight forward like a spear through leather and decimated his forces. And now they were forcing back his central forces, straight towards his location. *Impressive. They managed to get back the momentum from the battle with that move. Reminds me a bit about the final battle of Helm's Deep in the second movie of the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Man I want to watch them again when I return to my minds cape in a month.*

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of battle cries and clashing metal. Up ahead he could see them tearing through his forces, straight towards his location. Their alloyed armour, made out of the same metal he himself had worn as Golden Cross, bearing banners of Purple with a golden cross. It was flattering.

Normally a Military Leader would move, retreat or give orders, he did none of those things. He did not even bother to stand as he sat there, waiting for those precious children. This was something he felt needed to be done. No matter how much he may wish to avoid hit, did he need to do it. *I hope you do not scold me too much for what I am about to do Luna. But... I cannot stand it. It is tearing me up. It is something I need to do.*

"Maleficus Victoria! In accordance to the rules of warfare! I challenge you!" Maleficus turned towards the voice shouting at him and his heart clenched at the sight of a grinning Grand Music pointing his greatsword at him.

"Very well. However, you alone will not be enough. You may let your mare friend join us. I can tell, you two are the strongest in these forces." Grand Music blinked in confusion at the alicorn, but then he remembered just how powerful the black stallion was and he narrowed his eyes. Also, he got a slight blush on the marefriend comment, uncertain on how to react to that.

*This is not good, he knows we are not strong enough to defeat him so he intends to defeat both me and Happy Meal to destroy the morale of our troops! If I alone was defeated then Happy Meal could at least rally them. I need to-* But he did not have time to decline when a certain mare, spoke for herself.

"Gladly! I want da chance ta give ye a good beatin!" Grand Music facehoofed and stared at his adoptive sister with a flat look on his face, said mare ignored him, being more focused on staring at the large alicorn with a smirk.

Said alicorn returned her smirk with a smile and a soft chuckle, then he stood up on his hind legs and waved his right foreleg while holding his great sword with his left, and shouted out to his forces.

"All Units! Cease Fighting!"

The Ancient Ones stopped in the middle of their battle and suddenly started moving back into their proper formations, while the ponies stared in confusion as the army of giant stopped attacking them.

"Alter Formations! For Honour!"

Maleficus' words created another reaction from the army and they raised their weapons into the air and let out their gutsy cry.

"ORA!"

Then the middle section of their forces started to retract from the battlefield, forming a half moon shaped open space between them and the enemy lines, with Maleficus left alone in the center. A single officer of the Ancients moved forward, bearing the standard bearing the flag and banner of Maleficus, and rammed it into the middle of the field, before retreating to the battle lines. Maleficus stood there, along with his now silent and unmoving army, waiting for the ponies' approach.

And the ponies acted as well. Well, one of them did.

Grand Music turned towards his fellow knights and started barking orders at them. "Tell one of our Order's standard bearers to come here and place our banner next to the enemy's!" He then turned towards the Bronze Army, who were now able to see just how far in the Order had reached with their insane charging maneuver. The Grand Master took a deep breath before he gave them instructions as well.

"Get this message to General Rough Stock! Move back your central forces and make a similar formation as the enemy forces! Grand Master Grand Music and Master Knight Happy Meal of the Order of the Golden Cross shall enter an honourable duel with Maleficus Victoria!" Grand Music shouted out towards the Bronze Army.

There was a slight pause but soon the confused Bronze soldiers moved back as well, making the circle complete. Then out of the lines of bronze came a standard bearer of the Order of the Golden Cross, bearing the banner of the Order as well as the flag of Equestria hanging above said banner.

The banner was placed directly next to Maleficus' an the standard bearer retreated from the empty circle.

A moment of silence hung in the air, but it was soon broken a the Army of Maleficus, reared back their weapons, and started banging them into their shields. A loud resounding rhythm of metal striking metal started to echo across the landscape through the wind and the rain. Grand Music and Happy Meal both stood up on their hind legs and drew their weapons, standing just five meters away from him. The three combatants started to slowly circle around.

*Come now you two. Let this old fool give you one final lesson.* He thought to himself as he stood there, the rain pouring down upon his form. The large empty space made by the two armies was large and the clanging of weapons striking shields was echoing over the storm.

Yet neither of the three took any heed or notice of this, their weapons were drawn and their stances were tense. Their constant circling almost seemed to rotate with the clouds of the storm above them. But then, as a soft melody began to ring across the air, the fight started.

"I am here again."

Grand Music and Happy Meal were both startled by the voice singing into the wind, it was the voice neither of them could ever forget. It was the voice of Golden Cross!

"Before your eyes."

Maleficus rushed forward through the rain and swiped hi blade at their shocked forms, they barely had time to leap back as his massive two hoofed greatsword cleaved the rain drops in the air.

"A ghost within a dream."

As they leaped back Maleficus stood there, resting the tip of his blade against the ground, looking at them, as if waiting. Neither of them liked this, the fight felt less of a duel, and more like... a mock battle between a master and students.

"Things that I wanted to do and say."

Even with the ghostly voice of their Grandfather singing in the wind they rushed forward. Happy Meal struck out with her Poleaxe in a sideways going slash from the right while Grand Music made a downward going diagonal slash from the left to the right.

"Just kill me every time."

A loud resounding clang erupted as Maleficus blocked both of their attacks with his greatsword. The large alicorn then lifted his right hind leg up before kicking forward, into Happy Meal's breastplate. With a loud clang she was thrown on her back and rolled a decent five meters away from the fight. Grand Music had no time to react before Maleficus used his superior strength physically push him backwards, making him fall on his back from the force.

"Is this how, how it will stay."

Maleficus started to circle the two downed knights, tracing the ground with the tip of his greatsword, which he held with only one hoof. The pair struggled up from the ground and grasped their weapons.

"By the sea I walk and wander on."

This tie Grand Music charged forward while Happy Meal attacked him from the right. Both of them seeking to pincer him between their weapons.

"I'm an old warrior on a journey all alone."

He stepped backwards and evade Grand Music's slash before lazily shifting his greatsword to parry the strike from Happy Meal. Essentially making her tumble into Grand Music by pulling her by the bearded part of her poleaxe.

"Will you let me show you the way once more?"

They got up once more and this time Happy Meal went alongside Grand Music, both of them charging side by side towards Maleficus.

"Always yours, ghost in the rain."

Maleficus parried Grand Music's stab, he sidestepped Happy Meal's slash. Then he reared back his sword and swung it towards them, even with the two of them blocking the blow, they fell on their rears from the strength of the strike.

"I wish I could undo."

He shook his head at them and rested his blade onto his shoulder pauldron before motioning at them to try again. The two knights were feeling rather humiliated by this. But they grit their teeth and stood up once more.

"My greatest mistake."

Nodding at their determination Maleficus got into a stance, gripping his blade with both hooves, he then made some lazy light swings and rotated his shoulders, before he suddenly leaped upwards and made a downward strike towards them.

"And say the words unsaid."

The two knights separated and got a hoof each in their side, Grand music got a foreleg in his side and Happy Meal got a hind leg in her stomach. They both ended up on the ground once more, feeling like they had just been hit by a battering ram.

"Obsession grows like flames."

Maleficus rushed towards Grand Music and made a downward swing, the unicorn rolled out of the way as the sword cleaved the ground, leaving a deep jagged cut in the solid stone.

"Time only makes it worse."

Pulling out his sword Maleficus gave a nod at Grand Music, who felt confused. Then Happy Meal tried to attack Maleficus from behind, only to end up buck kicked in the gut.

"It hurts yet I'll be strong."

The Mare clutched her stomach but did not let go of her weapon, glaring at the alicorn who nodded to her. She then had to roll out of the way as his sword nearly cut her in half.

"By the sea I walk and wander on."

With their bodies sore and bruised the pair of knights started to rapidly slash and stab at Maleficus' intend on swarming him with blows.

"I'm an old warrior dreaming of lost hope."

He blocked, parried and evaded. The way he used both of his hooves to grip his weapon was what frustrated them the most. Maleficus was holding his sword by the handle and the middle, letting him gain an easier way of moving his weapon to block theirs.

"Will you let me open the door for you once more?"

They swung together at his his neck, he blocked them again. But this time, he retaliated.

"Always yours, ghost in the rain."

He slid his blade down along the pole and blade of their respective weapon. Happy Meal had to let go of hers as the blade closed up to her hooves. When the crossguard of Grand Music's greatword was struck was the resounding impact enough to shake his grip on his weapon and force him to drop it as the pain in his hooves came too strong and sudden for him to maintain his hold.

"The wind will bring a gentle storm."

They reared back before attempting to retrieve their weapons. But before they could were the weapons suddenly surrounded by a crimson glow. They suddenly flew up into the air an levitated next to Maleficus who gave them another motion to try again.

"Under the pain for more."

Looking at one another the two ponies wondered what to do. Then Grand Music noticed something and signaled at Happy Meal with his left hoof, which was hidden from Maleficus' view.

"Facing my fear!"

Once more they attacked, but this time, they did something different. Grand Music ignited his horn and fired off a flare of light straight into Maleficus' visor. The alicorn was temporarily blinded by the sudden light and covered his eyes with his left hoof.

"A neverending despair!"

Happy Meal leaped forward, grabbed hold of both her own and Grand Music's floating weapons, and made a down ward intersecting slash at Maleficus' head.

"For you to be safe in life!"

A loud clang and crack was heard as the sword struck Maleficus' hoof, and did nothing to it, not even a scratch. While the poleaxe split open the left visor and part of his helmet, baring his red eye and black fur to the world, undamaged though.

"By the sea I walk and wander on!"

Maleficus kicked her back while touching his damaged helmet, and a strange look came into his eyes, a look that made both of the knights feel a strange sense of deja vu. They had seen a similar look before, but did not remember where or when.

"I'm a grandfather on a journey all alone!"

Deciding to put the matter away for now the pair charged at him once more. Their weapons swung at him from left and right.

"Will you let me show you the way once more?!"

He slammed his hoof into the ground and a stone spike erupted up on his right, blocking Grand Music's strike. Then he grabbed Happy Meal's weapon by the handle in her mid swing, then he pulled her towards him and head butted her, his claw like horn tearing up part of her helmet.

"Always yours, ghost in the rain!"

Happy Meal reared back, clutching a bleeding nose, her helmet was torn in half by the front, revealing half of her bruised face.

"By the sea I walk and wander on!"

Grand Music charged forward with a angry battle cry, only to end up roundhouse kicked in the ribs for his efforts.

"I'm a grandfather dreaming of lost hope!"

As Grand Music clutched his side Maleficus grabbed him by the shoulder and tossed him into Happy Meal.

"Will you let me open the door for you once more?!"

The two got up once more and glared at him, but then their glares turned into surprise when he embedded his sword into the ground and got into a familiar looking stance before he motioned at them to come again.

"Always yours, ghost in the rain!"

They charged forward, more confident this time to take him out. But then he raised his right foreleg and pressed it into Grand Music's breastplate. Then with a sudden twist with his hoof and rotation with his entire shoulder, the breast plate twisted and was essentially twisted apart like tinfoil.

Then with a forward push he sent Grand Music flying five meters, with two broken ribs. The young unicorn stumbled for a decent four meters before he stopped rolling, he did not seem to be able to get up from the blow he had just been struck.

"In the raaaaain!"

Happy Meal stared in shock and gaped at the sight of what the alicorn had just done. She did not move as Maleficus moved towards her and just gaped in shock. What she had just seen, was something that only on pony should be able to do. None of the Order. none of the Army. Buck, even Celestia herself was not able to do what Maleficus had just done, at least not without tearing apart whatever was inside as well. Only one other pony had been able to do what he just did.

"Like a ghost in the rain."

Maleficus stood in front of her and got into his stance, and slowly pressed his hoof against her breastplate, but she did not move. She knew what she was thinking was insane, but she needed to know, she HAD to know.

"G-Grandpa Cross?"

Maleficus froze for a second, and hesitated. That was all the clues the young mare needed. Then came the final proof, as Golden Cross' voice, was heard not from the air around her, but from Maleficus himself. And those words were the final words of the song, as well as the end of their duel.

"You call my name."

With a twist of his hoof and shoulder he shredded her armour and with a push sent Happy Meal into Grand Music, making the pair fall into a pile on the ground, both of them with two broken ribs. Slowly he walked back to his sword, and pulled it out of the ground.

The duel was over.

Silently Maleficus just stands there, watching the two as they laid there on their sides, staring at him in utter shock, their tired, sore and exhausted bodies unable to stand. His eyes shines with unshed tears. But he stood proud before them, proud, not of himself, but of them. His strong and beautiful grand children, whom he loved like his own. He smiles at them beneath his visor, closing his bared eye into an eye smile before he slowly turns and walk away.

His voice... no Golden Cross' voice, rang out through the wind once more as he walked away, leaving his final message to the two. "No matter what. Stay true to yourselves and live life to its fullest. And know this, I will always be proud of you, and I will always love you like my own. No matter how much you may come to despise me."

The two ponies did not know how to react, they did not know how to handle this revelation. They clutched each other and fell into blissful unconsciousness as the heavy hoofsteps of Maleficus Victoria, the true identity of Golden Cross, walked away from the sight of the duel between himself and his own adopted grandchildren.

There was no victor in this fight. There never was.

The battle between the forces of Equestria and Maleficus was brought to a halt as the Grand Master and one of the Master Knights, Happy Meal, had been defeated in a duel between them and Maleficus himself. Neither of the powerful knights would be fighting for a while, but they were going to recover.

But this meant that the stalemate they had brought would not remain as the Ancient Ones started to regain their strengths as the Order of the Golden Cross could no longer properly handle them without Grand Music's leadership and Happy Meal's ability to keep up morale.

Princess Celestia, who had received the news by the time the duel was well and over, grit her teeth in frustration before she stood up and pointed at Solid Pink. "Solid Pink."

Said mare saluted her Princess and spoke up in a no nonsense fashion. "Yes Your Highness!"

"Order Our forces to retreat away from the battlefield. We art taking the field now. Thou art in command until We return."

"As thou wish!" Solid Pink said with a sharp nod before moving away to do her duty.

Soon a sphere of light was sent up into the sky above the War Camp were it exploded into brilliant signal flare. They needed to get the message out clear and swiftly. It would not do to let their own troops be caught in the crossfire between their Princess and the monster known as Malefiucs. Thus the, by now, recovered pegasus units of Equestria, moved out to offer support to the retreating armies to not let them be caught up in the coming fight.

Celestia looked out towards the battlefield with a furious glare on her muzzle. Her mane and tail started to smoke and spark, until they ignited into flames. Then, she spread her wings, and let out a wordless battlecry before she flew off like a lightning bolt towards the last known location of Maleficus Victoria.

The fighting was going strong, the ponies of Equestria were struggling to stay their ground against the Ancient Ones. Even though the Order of the Golden Cross had managed to bring them time to recover were they in no doubt that they were too outnumbered and outmatched to handle the Ancient Ones without Grand Music's command over his Order.

Then a golden flare erupted from the War Camp and all of the armies gave sighs of relief, they were ordered to pull back. And they made no hesitation to pull back.

But before they could even reach the war camp, a golden bolt of light streaked out from the war camp and flew like a screeching war bird towards the Enemy Forces, who were not moving after the ponies.

The streak of light struck the core of the army and a bright light flared up and engulfed the coastline, blinding not only the Ancient Ones but the ponies as well. A rush of heat and force made many fall over as pillar of intense fire erupted upwards into the sky, dissolving the clouds into a cloudless afternoon sky.

But the storm was still going strong and the hole was rapidly being filled up. But as the flames dies down, the ponies witnessed the burning form of their Princess, standing before the black form of Maleficus Victoria. And those who had seen this before, knew that the shit had just hit the haystack.

Maleficus had been expecting Celestia to act, but he had not been expecting a sudden Air Strike like this. But it had mattered little. As when the flames dispatched and the rain regained dominion over the sky, he calmly walked forward. He knew his army had lost over half of its original strength with that strike, thus he had given them the order to retreat.

This was a fight between him and Celestia, just like last time. Only, hopefully not as bloody.

The black cloud of smoke and ash dispatched by the rain and he calmly emerged from the smoke like a phantom out of a nightmare. Celestia stood a bit to the right , glaring straight forward towards the remnant of the smoke and ash, having expected his survival. But had not spotted him just yet.

"Just as ill tempered as the last time we fought. But you have grown stronger, Celestia." While speaking, Maleficus slowly turned around towards her. His entire armour was covered in scorch marks and ash, yet he was unharmed from the intense flames she had fired at him.

Princess Celestia turned around as well and glared upon him, her mane and tail a pair of flowing masses of fire, her horn ablaze with golden energy while her pink eyes seemed to burn with crimson energy. "We hath prepared for this moment, Monster.", Her voice was like burning fire and exploding volcanoes, a vocal embodiment of her rage.

Maleficus Victoria turned his neck left and right, straightening his muscles and popping his bones into their proper place.

Then he grasped his greatsword from the ground, stood up, and rested his right foreleg on the pommel while pressing the tip of his blade into the ground.

And then he spoke to her, his own voice rumbling like thunder as his eyes and horn began to glow with crimson light.

"So you say, but let me tell you something."

Wisps of black smoke began to emerge from his tail and mane and Celestia glared even more, as the black hair of his mane and tail, erupted into black smoke, which soon gave away to green, poison green, flames.

His mane was now a large mass of green flowing, roaring, flames. As was his tail, standing out even more on his darkened fur.

Next the thick fur on the back of his hooves ignites as well, creating a sinister effect of making green flames scorch the ground were his hooves directly touched it, leaving horseshoe shaped marks of green fire.

And then the same happened to his unruly beard, igniting a line of green flames from his sideburns to the tip of his jaw.

Even his eyebrows erupted into green fire. Then as his transformation was complete, he looked at her and with his crimson glowing eyes, glared into hers and spoke, his thunderous voice letting out three words.

Author's Notes:

Staadnauthursil: Whelp! That's that ,a bit later but here's Chapter Thirteen, hope you all enjoy it. I personally feel it was bit lacking. But I think so about a lot of my works.

Pinkie: Wohooo! Another chapter! But why does it have to be so saaaaaaaaaaad!

Staadnauthursil: ...Have a cupcake and try not to think about it.

Pinkie: Yay!

Staadnauthrusil: On another note, I have now reached over 200k words in this story and I say it feels. Awesome.