The surface of the moon was silent serene, except for the burning fields of green and black flames, and the grumpy wandering shape of Maleficus Victoria, the Alicorn of Terror and Courage. He had only just recently managed to calm down from his rage at Celestia's declaration of war. Things had not gone as anticipated, he was still stuck on the Moon, and would only be summoned down upon the Planet. Whenever a Red Sun rose and it would last for a month and then he would return to the Moon.

At least that was what he got from that messed up prophecy shit that the Elements of 'Do What We Want Or We Shock You' told him and Celestia after they gave him a seizure for refusing to play to their tune. But he could not just wrap his head around it, why do something so... overly complex? *This is just fucking weird. Would it not have made more sense to have me executed right away then bound to appear on the planet a specific time for a month? What is up with those freaky marbles?*

Looking up at the planet he let out a silent sigh, he would have to investigate this Red Sun that the elements mentioned. But he also needed to know what to do when confronting Celestia's troops. When he had made all those loud boasts he had been a bit...upset and had said things before thinking. While what he had said was technically true so had he never actually been in a proper war or battle outside of tabletop rpgs, tabletop minature games, strategy based video games or a small fist fight with a less then reasonable drunkard. *Oh man... I am so going to get my butt kicked if I don't figure something out.*

He thought and through, wandering in a big wide circle around the large dune where his Interface was located. As his hooves traced the sand below him he got an idea. It was not perfect but it would work if he could use what he remembered of the battle games, animes, cartoons, comics and tv shows in his old world and his magic, along with the Interface.

Galloping rapidly towards the Interface, Maleficus tried to remember as much as he could. The stances, the weapons, the armaments. Everything had to be modified for his new body, but if he could just interact with his memories into the Interface, he could at the very least make himself able to fight, even if only in the pure basics.

Once at the Interface the alicorn stallion began to move the different screens around. Effect, Cause, Intention, Process, Duration and Restoration. Those were the main components of his new Interface Pattern, he would use his memories of the different entertainment mediums and documentaries he enjoyed watching or reading, to train his body. He would not be able to use much, he had only a limited time, the Red Sun could come up within days if not hours if he was unlucky. Thus he had to prepare himself as much as he could.

*Let's see... I cannot use animated shows at the moment, they are not all that focused on the aspects of the how and there are not really any proper way to use the technique from them. Comics and tv shows are not that good to use either. If I used something from TV shows then ti would be limited to Documentaries and War Entertainment Shows, for the equipment I will use. But the actual fighting style i not something I can learn from that. I will need to use something that is relatively simple in context,yet complex enough to be useful in battle. And I know just the Game to pick.* With these thoughts in mind Maleficus touched the interface and focused on the character he intended to use as his first training module for the Interface. The Viking Raider of the game For Honor.

The interface worked with what it had, and it worked, a bit. He did not keep a one hundred percent complex transfer of the movements of the human warrior. Yet with some alterations and editions, by focusing more of his memories through his magic and into the interface, he managed to construct a three dimensional image of the Viking Raider out of moon sand crafted Hard Light. The image was just a three dimensional network at the moment, capable of moving in different ways and using the three different stances of For Honor.

Now came the difficult part. He would have to alter the image and make it more pony like. After that he would have to make the movements of the image fit with the new pony shape and from that point he would have to work on a way to temporarily link his body's movements with the image's and from there learn from automated movements on how to move and fight as a pony. Hopefully it would not be too difficult. He had already finished the first step. Only three more to go.

Celestia slammed up the doors leading to the war room. She was still wearing her armour and her mane and tail was still burning in golden flames of anger. All of the guard ponies were nervously eyeing her as she took a seat by the table and shouted out to the nearby guards. "Call Our Generals! We hath important matters to discuss!"

The room was emptied in a matter of seconds, leaving only dust clouds of the guards to fade as they zipped out of the room, leaving the furious princess alone in the chamber.

Celestia stomped around the large oval shaped table, her teeth clenched and her nostrils flaring as she snorted out gusts of air in an angry fashion that would remind most people of a bull then a pony. In her mind she was focusing all of her thoughts into how to best face the incoming threat. The creature that called himself Maleficus had not the speech of a great scholar or noble, in fact his mannerism and speech was more befitting a commoner. Yet he held astounding intelligence and cunning even if he acted crudely. He was dangerous and her quest to avenge her sister would not be without a challenge, this much she knew.

She would have to improve the guard even further, increase the amount of troops, more gear and most importantly, build up new weapons. The ballistaes her ponies had built in their old home had been powerful, but they would need to improve the strength of the projectiles. Other forms of large scale weapons would be needed to face the foul fiends this creature would bring forth to combat her and her ponies.

Raising her gaze up towards the ceiling of clear glass Celestia glared at the burning phantom upon its surface, the constant reminder of her foe's crimes. "We shalt hath to work with haste. The Red Sun shalt come within the next Fall. We hath but four moons to spare." She muttered to herself before hearing the approaching hooves of her officers. Times would start to get rough for her guards, but it was all for justice, her sister would be avenged.

The number of generals in Equestria was very limited, for there had been no major battle or achievements by the Sun or Moon Guards since the Fall of the Green Star. Currently there were only five Generals who were actual Generals and not nobles who were just given a rank to be made important. These were her only trustworthy military leaders and they would be her hammers to nail in the nails for Maleficus' coffin.

Of the five generals were only two capable of speech however. The oldest of the five was a one hundred and twenty years old unicorn named Blood Gorger, his coat was dull blue and his mane a pale grey, he was mute from taking a spear to the throat during a bandit raid. A young Earth Pony with black coat and blue mane with the name Clever Ploy had never spoken a word his entire life, apparently he was just unable to speak from birth. And Fearless Charge was a pegasus who was paralyzed from having been exposed to the fire of the Stallion of Torment when Starswirl tried to kill it. She had to be pushed on a wheel chair, but her knowledge of tactics made her far too valuable to retire, not that she'd want to anyway.

Of course, even if those three did not have any way to speak in the regular fashion had they overcome these handicaps through different manners. Blood Gorger used a magical necklace that let him speak, it was only able to let him speak short sentences but it was enough to get the point across, when not using the necklace he communicated through written text. Clever Ploy was able to communicate through facial expression and body movements in such a way it was as if you could hear him talk to you. While Fearless Charge used an unicorn assistant who would transmit his speech by communicating with him through telepathy.

All of the ponies, except for Fearless Charge, used Hoof Code for communications as well, a form of sound based code system using short or long scraps with ones hooves. One could use loud or low taps as well but it would be difficult ot understand if you were not trained to understand it.

The two that could talk were the younger members of the Generals. A Unicorn with red coat and yellow mane by the name of Scorched Retreat, a logical and arrogant unicorn like most nobles, only he had the skills to back it up. While the last one was a recently appointed General by the name of Certain Victory, a green coated and black maned Earth Pony who made huge leaps in the military ranks when he raided abandoned forts and towns housing bandits in their new land. The bandits were surprisingly enough ponies and other sentient creatures, all low lives seeking to survive on the work of others through murder and theft.

The first of the Generals to speak was of course Certain Victory, one of the more blunt officers in the army. "Princess Celestia why hath thou summoned us?"

"We art at War."

The five Generals blinked at the blunt and clear statement of the princess. Then they looked at one another and thought at the same time, *What the buck?*, clearly this had not been what they had expected to hear when the Princess of the Sun had called them to an emergency meeting.

Maleficus stared at the figure standing in front of him. It had originally been the image of a Viking Raider, but now it had been changed into the form of a pony. And... he had to say that the result was far more impressive then he'd expected it to. Sure it was a pony dressed as a viking raider but... the image was still impressive. Since the image had to be the same size as himself for him to learn how to use the movements had he not realized just how big he was. But seeing a pony the same size of himself and then comparing the figure to what he knew of the regular ponies below, it made a clear picture of just how much larger then your average pony he was.

It had taken him a week to remake the image into a pony and now he was ready to try and use the Synchronized Movement spell he had been developing. The spell would link his body with the image and then the image would activate and go through the different stances, attacks and movements of the Viking Raider in a pony body.

Taking a deep breathe, well there was no air but the motion helped him relax, Maleficus summoned four screens of the Interface and aligned them with the image of the Viking and himself. Then he focused his magic and cast the spell. *Okay lets get this show on the road. Initiate Contact. Establishing Link. Activating Motion Synchronization. Setting Time Limit. Link Established. Motion Synchronization Activated. Time Limit Set. Contact Initiated. All Systems Go.*

The first thing that came apparent was that the spell was a success. That was the good news. The bad part was. The spell was a success. Maleficus had been stretching and exercising his body several times to soften up and prepare for the stress the training would cause. But the problem was that the movements of a veteran warrior in an untrained physically fit body, is not something one can simply do.

He stood up on his hind legs. His spine protesting painfully at the unnatural movement, he gripped the staff he had been preparing and began to swing it, his legs moving in odd angles and uncertain movements that caused his muscles, bones and joints to scream in pain. He charged, jumped, rolled, swung left, right, up, down and so on. The Alicorn grit his teeth together as his body moved around in a painful manner, it was most definitely way too stressful for his body.

Thankfully his time limit had-... Wait. Had it not already gone past the time limit? He was certain he had made the time limit five minutes! He would have to check the data stream from the Interface monitors he had made. His horn lit up as he focused his magic and managed after a few minutes of movements to get a reading from the Interface monitors and the result made him pale. *You have got to be kidding me! The input got multiplied!?*

Yes as a result of the magnifying effect of the Interface monitor had the time limit been extended by five, and then that value had been increased by five and so it had been increased, a total of 5 times. The original time limit had been Five Minutes. But instead it became much higher. 5 times 5 = 25, 5 x 25 = 125, 5 x 125 = 625, 5 x 625 = 3125 and 5 x 3125 = 15625 and split that with 60.... That was around 260 hours. That would mean he would not be able to stop moving like this for eleven days!

The Alicorn had not made a fail safe to end the spell, so he would have to physically move through the stances, attacks, moves and reactions of the Synchronization Spell for eleven freaking days! *Oooooh my Gods!! Stop it! I can't keep moving like this! This is just too much!* He mentally called out as he jumped off a dune and made a downward strike before leaping back before bull rushing across the sand. The Interface monitors and the image of the Viking Warrior floating behind him, following him as to help him maintain his movements.

This was not how he had intended to learn how to fight with his new body. And if there had been anyone around to tell him that it would all be worth it after all the pain and agony he would have shut down that train of thought with a crude but efficiently clear statement. "NOTHING Is Worth This!"

The Ponies of Canterlot were hard at work. Not only was their new home in need of supplies and work, but now a declaration had caused many ponies to fear the future.

On the main square before the gates to the main castle of Canterlot, had a crier spoken out a message to the masses from the Princess.

"Equestria is at war."

The once active and sound filled square had turned dead silent at the the first words of the message. The messenger continued to read the message, using the silence of the crowd to make his voice heard across the entire square.

"As of last night hath Equestria declared war upon the Phantom of the Moon. The Phantom of the Moon be a creature going by the name of Maleficus Victoria who hath committed great sins upon our great nation. He is the source of the Pain and Death we hath suffered during the Fall of the Green Star and the cause of the fall of Princess Luna. He shalt be brought to justice. Upon the Eve of the Red Sun he shalt be brought down from his prison on the Moon and face the might of Equestria's Guards.

Thus a Call for any able body pony to join the newly established Equestrian Army hath been announced. Production of Arms and Supplies hath been started. We hath Four Moons to build up our forces. Four Moons to prepare, to train and to work. We Shalt Be Ready. And We Shalt Have Justice!

These are Mine words and hear them Mine subjects.

We Art Princess Celestia, We Hath Spoken!"

The message resounded across the square and within mere minutes was the town stunned in complete shock. It would take a few hours but the ponies would soon realize what the message meant as they processed the information. And soon, the ranks of the Equestrian Army began to swell as ponies of all ages and profession joined. While others, not keen for fighting, began to work earnest to support the growing war machine of their nation.

Blacksmiths hammered metal. Carpenters carved wood. Tanners made leather. Bakers baked bread. Tailors made bandages. Brewers made alcohol. Enchanters of various kinds began to enchant Gear.

Recruits were lining up, being armed in gold, silver and bronze armours pending on their military purposes. Each of the armours were enchanted with the latest Military Grade Protection Runes, ten times as efficient as the protective runes first developed by Starswirl and the Princesses. Each of the newly recruited Soldiers would be trained by a Veteran Sun Guard, put through a rapid and hellish basic training before placed in their respective groups of type of soldiers.

The Bronze Soldiers would be the Foot Soldiers, armed with Bronze Splint Mail Armour and Melee Weapons. Silver Soldiers would be the Archers and Spell Casters, acting as the Ranged Attackers with either Ranged Weapons or Magic while dressed in Silver Chain Mail. While Gold Soldiers would be the Support Soldiers, handlers of Supplies, Medicine and War Machines, they would be the life line of the army and be the ones to use the newly made War Machines. The Gold Soldiers were in fact the least armoured soldiers, dressed in Padded Clothes with Helmets and Leg Guards of Gold.

While the Officers of the Army would be the Sun Guards, in their own Gold Enchanted Full Plate Armours were they the far better equipped soldiers. There would also be a separate unit of purely Sun Guards to act as an Elite Unit and personal Guard of the Generals and the Princess during the battle.

All of Canterlot was amassed in a frenzy of work. Near the training grounds of the Sun Guard stood a newly constructed wooden hangar the size of a small fort. The wooden structure was called the Workshop and in it were scholars and craftponies working on the war machines Celestia wanted built. With their spirits burning with desire of revenge, justice, glory, hatred or other emotions, they went beyond just constructing the war machines. They improved them, and even began to designing even more dangerous constructions with even more bloody purposes.

And the Mages, Unicorns whose magical skills were refined for the purpose of different purposes pending on their special talents, were working on creating a school for Unicorns, to teach and train new Mages, or Battle Mages in this case. For the training of offensive magic would have to be done by a skilled Mage and not a Sun Guard, thus would most of the Unicorns of the Bronze, Silver and Gold Soldiers be taught by the mages at the place were the school was to be built. Thus when not training their bodies they were training their magic.

The location of the Battle Mage Training Ground would later become the foundation of the first Magical Academy of Equestria. Yet its purpose was not born out of the necessity or joy to teach, to learn, to develop or to research. It was born from a desire for vengeance with one clear purpose, War.

And thus it began. The shifting nature of the ponies would change everything. Equestria would change from a newly born nation of peaceful pony refuges, into a battle eager nation of vengeful pony warriors.

Upon the surface of the moon was an odd sight playing out. A black alicorn was rushing across the sand without stopping, his body was standing on hind legs most of the time except when stimulating falling and getting back up. The black fur of the pony was glistering with pouring sweat. His eyes were bloodshot and his fatigue was clear, his entire body was shaking like a leaf even as it moved through the battle motions.

*How... much... longer?* He whimpered to himself as his screaming muscles just kept moving. Even as he performed a wide swing, his arms felt numb and heavy yet he could not stop moving them. He had lost the feeling of his body six times already and had actually fallen asleep four times even as his body kept moving. Never had he ached like this before, not even when he broke his arm during his first year of High school had he been hurting so much. And it never seemed to end!

Backstep, side swing, down swing, block, parry, jump, charge, jab, punch, kick, headbutt, stomp, and more and more. His body never seemed to stop moving, it kept repeating the motions without stopping. He had actually cried several times through the training, the fur of his cheeks stained with dried salty streaks. Yet the time was almost up, soon his torment would be over and he could rest.

And then it came. As if an invisible puppeteer was finally bored with his puppet's performance the alicorn suddenly stopped moving and just went limp before collapsing into the sand beneath him. His entire body was twitching and cramping as he just laid there. Smiling in relief the alicorn just laid there and hugged the ground, he fell asleep within seconds, his fatigue making it impossible to keep himself awake for any longer.

As he slept his body started recovering, the unnatural physique of the alicorn's body began to restore the muscles, the tendons, the joints, the bones and so on. The recovery he was going through was not only helping his recover, it was also strengthening his body, the level of fatigue he had gone through was enough to harden and improve even the strong muscles of his alicorn body.

He slept and slept, his body laying still as all his parts were put back into their proper order, now far stronger and flexible then they had been eleven days earlier. His body recovered as he slumbered, a week passed by as the exhausted Alicorn recovered from his physical endeavor, his body barely moving as it laid there upon the sand of the moon.

As he slept the world beneath him was growing tense and harsher as the ponies were preparing for war. The actions of Maleficus would cause changes beyond foreseen by anyone, be it mortal or immortal. Even the oracles and deities of the realm could not foresee the fate of the world, it was not like the pure randomness of the Lord of Chaos. No, this shift was an act of fate being broken and tossed to the wind. There was no clear line anymore, the future that once could have been would most likely be lost or heavily changed.

Once the black alicorn woke up from his slumber he would spend most of the time stretching and taking it easy. His experience with the linked Synchronization Spell Matrix through the Interface had not left a good impression. He knew he would have to use it again, but it would not be for a long time. For now he would have to rely on his own intuition and the harsh eleven day training regime he went through.

One thing was clear though, the training had results, very, very large results. He could stand up right without feeling pain in his spine, he cloud move around faster, jump higher and he felt far stronger and lighter then he had been before. also, he noticed how his chin and jawline was starting to get even farrier, his fur was black ,as was his mane and it was most likely that he was growing a beard, but it was hard to see that since his beard was apparently just as black as his fur.

He knew that he could not take it easy for too long, while he had the skills, he was missing two things. Armour and Weapon. It would be possible to gather materials through the Interface with some Teleportation Arrays, but how to build and craft them would be the challenge, especially since he was no craftsman, er craftspony. He would have to investigate the ponies in their work, or failing that, just gather materials and try to shape them with his magic to make what he wanted with his imagination.

Maleficus had a feeling it would be latter one of those two options that would be picked no matter what he decided. So for now he needed to find some materials to make his armour and weapon. And he would probably have to do so by checking out the planet below.

Wandering over to the Interface he activated the Telescope function and tried to find a proper source of metal ore to start with. Shifting some sensor arrays into the Interface Monitors let him scan for materials, sure it took five minutes to scan a ten by ten mile radius at a time, but by focusing his search on mountains he was positive he would get results quickly.

The Interface scanned place after place on the planet. He found several rich deposits of various metals, yet for some reasons was there a very big lack of iron around the mountains of the Ponies' homeland. In fact the ratio of metals were out of whack, there was an overabundance of gold, silver, copper, platinum, tin and various other valuable metals, yet almost no iron, mercury, flourite, bauxite or even cobalt. The ratio of metals was just... weird.

Soon enough he found his iron supply, a large ore deposit laid upon a mountain range bordering the southern edge of a frozen wasteland. Tracing the metals with the aid of the Interface he began to drain out the iron of the mountain. Well it was less of a drain and more of a replace. He replaced the ore deposit of iron with moon rock and moon sand, it would probably cause a collapse in the mountain structure but hopefully there would be no issue with it. He had not seen anything alive except for a few birds and wild animals on the mountain where the iron was located.

As the spells lanced down towards the planet there was a flare upon the patch of moon he was using to replace the Iron with. A large chunk of moon rock and sand disappeared for a few seconds, only to be replaced by a thick slab of solid black iron ore. Apparently the spell removed all the impurities in the metal when summoning as he had specifically made to extract the Iron and nothing else, thus the iron was pure metal with not as much as a grain of dirt in it. As time went by the patch of land got replaced more and more with iron and soon enough he had made a ten by ten kilometers large rough circle of iron about thirty meters deep.

He was pretty certain the mountain would collapse once heavy rain hit it. Perhaps he had taken too much of the iron but he would rather have it and not need it, rather then not have it and need it.

But now he would have to start the trickiest part. Molding the iron into a properly fitting armour and a decent weapon. He had a little idea how to mold and fold the metal with magic, he had even read books and watched shows showing the forging techniques of antique weapons. But the knowledge was not fresh and he had never actually considered making something like this on his own. Sure he might have been interested in LARP but he had never actually ever done anything like it, he had been allowed to wear an actual metal helmet and try some of the gauntlets of people who made real metal armour, but that was all.

To actually make the armour he would have to figure out the design, how to fit it to his body without restricting or putting strain upon his body. And the only thing that would let him do that, was time and effort. And he had just spent 25 days developing and using a training simulation spell. The first seven days was to develop the spell while eleven of those days had become a miscalculated force training experience. While another seven was to just recover from almost two week long training period.

He was just glad he had installed a watch and day counter into the bloody Interface or he would have lost the time entirely, even if he had no clue what year it was according the pony calendar.

Stretching his entire body from hooves to hind legs by arching and turning his entire body like a snake he felt his bones pop right back into proper place, to almost made h m grow a boner from the sweet release of the tension in his body being put straight. Using his magic he grabbed a good chunk of iron and began to try and mold it into a proper shape. He surrounded the chunk of iron in an aura of magical energy and began to squeeze the metal while raising the temperature of the magic holding it, efficiently creating a magical furnace effect contained to the metal he wanted to mold.

It was not very fast or energy efficient but it would be the best course of action to make sure each part of the armour and weapons would be made properly. Plus, he had a darn good reason for not wanting to use the Interface too much.

He would still use the Interface but it would not be a priority for this project. For he did not want another mistake to occur like it had with the Synchronized Motion spell and intended to not use it except if he had to. He would probably return to his old way of using the Interface as a training tool, but he would need to recover a bit not only physically but mentally before he intended to use it as much as before.

So he would be putting a more, hooves on approach, to making his gear. It would help him focus and it would most certainly be less boring the just training and sleeping like he had done since getting stuck on the bloody moon. Besides, the sight of the ore melting into a flowing mass of glowing metal with the stars and the void surrounding it causing it to stand out even further with its crimson illuminating glow. Maleficus had never actually known that melting metal and shaping it like this would cause such a beautiful sight. It almost made him feel like he was molding a new life form or even a planet with how the flowing blob of molten metal shifted and turned at his mental commands.

It was rather soothing actually.

The molten metal would bend and shift at his will like a clay. It reminded him of his lessons in high school. He had enjoyed molding and shaping clay, to create something out of the mold able material. This was almost like that, only far more dangerous, and not done by physical contact.

*Twist... a spiral like motion, this will create the core, a drill like shape will be the center of the weapon from pommel to tip, this way it will not break so easily.* swirling like a vortex the blob of molten iron was reshaped, a long spiral shaped rod was shaped out of the tip of the swirling vortex. At a sufficient length Maleficus began to cover the spiral in a lahyer of fluid metal, to give it a round shape, he then reshaped the soft shape of the handle by making the upper layer shift into a scale like pattern.

Then the head of the weapon began to take shape, a thick sharp axe head was shaped out of the remaining tip of the molten metal, it was shaped, thinned, sharpened and remade into the head of a battleaxe from the game of Skyrim ,the Elven Battleaxe. The reason for this design was because it reminded Maleficus of the old Dane Axes of the Vikings, one of his favoured warrior types since he himself was Scandinavian.

This specific battleaxe was not an exact copy of the Elven Battleaxe however, normally the scales would be in the shape of feathers and there would be a eagle shaped crow's bill sticking out of the back. Instead the scales were shaped like that of a serpent, the head that of a dragon. And the axe head itself has five Norse runes carved into the side of the blade. The runes were lined from top to bottom as following, the Rune of Death, the Rune of War, the Rune of Thunder, the Rune of Love and finally the Rune of Protection. Each of these runes were made after his four favourite Norse gods and the main symbol of the Asgardian Faith. Odin, Tyr, Thor, Freya and the World Tree, Yggdrasil.

Cooling down the metal Maleficus smiled as he looked at the weapon, it looked fine and he was certain it was sharp.

Spinning the axe around he maneuvered it through the air, making it look like some kind of buzzsaw as he moved it around rapidly. Satisfied with the design he decided to test its endurance and toughness. Summoning a block of iron he swung the axe at full strength with his front legs.

The axe sank into the metal, and then the handle snapped and the axe head cracked apart. It managed to cut about three inches into the metal block, then it broke apart. It was way too fragile. He would have to work out a proper process in working the metal to not leave it brittle. Hopefully he would finish the procedure before the Red Sun event happened. all he could do was try and finish as soon as possible.

Someone might have said once that there are no such thing as an aggressive pony but that was something said about the ponies of a future now long lost. The current ponies of Equestria were burning with a hunger for vengeance and glory in battle against a most hated foe.

Upon the fields outside Canterlot's walls were lines of soldiers standing in formations. Over two thousand soldiers had been gathered and Celestia had decreed that no more volunteers would be allowed, for in the case that the foul beast betrayed his words and killed her soldiers, then the ponies would lose even if they defeated him. The ponies' numbers were limited because of the Everfree Forest limiting their living conditions. now that they had more space then they could handle, they needed to repopulate and spread out. Thus they could not carelessly attack Maleficus with their entire strength.

Even Celestia in her own unrelenting anger and desire for vengeance knew this. And thus she had made the decision to limit the number of soldiers to the bare maximum she could spare without risking the future of her ponies.

Thus the forces would be gathered up in several blocks, each lead by a specific trained officer who would be in charge of his or her group. A group of these blocks would be part of a squadron, lead by a higher ranking officer, who would in turn be lead b the Generals.

The amount of experienced or competent officers were uneven and the ponies had difficulties handling this new war like way. Yet their spirits and fury seemed to help them pull through. Even as officers were demoted and privates promoted, to fill the ranks with competent leaders, the Generals were working on their strategies on how to handle the creature calling itself Maleficus.

They would develop a mass attack and solid defense tactic against this foe. To keep him suppressed with magic and projectiles, to keep him off guard with lines of shields and spears, while weakening him bit by bit until the princess could deal the final blow. The strategy was far more advanced then that in truth but that was the basic structure of the strategy, weaken the Phantom of the Moon with bug bites while keeping him from running away.

Both of the Warlords preparing for battle would complete their hasty preparations in good time. Both Celestia and Maleficus would be ready, the question remained, who would be the victor? The result would be unexpected.

The Red Sun rose upon the land of Equestria, a solar eclipse when the sun is aligned with the red planet called Estrus, the planet symbolizing War and Love. It was once believed that the Red Sun symbolized a war between the Gods, thus the Rise of the Red Sun is also called the Dawn of War. While also symbolizing the coming of the Mating Season of the Ancient Ponies before Tribe Wars.

Sadly to say would it not be Love but War that would hold the biggest purpose of the coming Red Sun. And it would all unveil as two events would occur that would mark the Dawn of a New Age.

First as the Red Sun rose and the moon lowered itself, something happened. The Phantom of the Moon, the burning black specter upon the surface of the moon itself, started to twist and shift, altered its shape.

It started as the first crimson rays of the sun broke the horizon. The black and green flames began to twist and convulse as if in pain. The once grinning jagged mouth of the specter seemed to drop into a look of utter despair.

Then the eyes and mouth of the specter disappeared, closing up as if clutching itself in pain. As if rolling around in agony the burning shape began to twist and turn, black and green flames swaying and turning in rapid wild uncontrolled ferocity.

The inhabitants of the planet were staring in fear at the uncontrolled flame twisting and turning upon the surface of the moon. And that fear turned into utter horror as the flames suddenly began to swirl and turn like a massive vortex. Before suddenly a bright flash black and green erupted upon the moon and a burning black and green fire ball flew down towards the planet like a falling star.

As if mocking the horrors of the survivors of the Green Star, the black and green fire ball struck the ground in front of the Everfree Forest in the distance behind the mountain range between Canterlot and their old home. To the ponies, it was as if a second star had fallen upon their old home.

Standing on the battlement of her new castle Princess Celestia physically flinched as she saw the star fall down behind the mountain range. Her eyes narrowed in anger at the audacity of the creature for mocking her like this. She would make his end a most painful one.

And as the Phantom of the Moon struck the land the second event occurred.

The large wooden gates of the city wall were made out of solid oak, over thirty meter tall they are connected to the sixty meter tall Gate House that is connected by a stone bridge to the road leading down towards the plains beneath the mountain. And normally these gates were closed or slightly ajar to let ponies enter and leave the city. Now however, things were different.

Two groups of ten earth ponies moved over to a pair of turn wheels at the base floor of each of the two sides of the gatehouse. There they attached the latches and reins to their bodies and began to move. Even with the strength of ten adult earth ponies was it slow to get a momentum, but soon enough the wheels began to rotate.

And as the wheels began to move, the massive wooden gates did so as well. The wooden structures groaned as they were pulled open, as if a massive giant was waking up from a deep slumber. Five minutes went by as the massive gates pulled open and then as their wooden shapes slammed into the stone of the walls of the passage inside the gatehouse, a horn was sounded. And the sound of metal striking ground in a steady rhythm could be heard.

And out of the shadows of the gatehouse and into the red glare of the Red Sun, the armed forces of Equestria, moved out for war. Their hooves moving steady and repetitive, causing the very earth to shake and shiver as over two thousand pony soldiers, marched out of Canterlot. A song reaching out from their ranks, a song that work mark the birth of a new age. An Age of Crusades.

Everything would change and nothing would be the same. For now the Ponies have gone to war, and they would keep doing so for a long time. For once the thirst for battle has been ignited... there is little one can do to quench it.

Author's Notes:

Staadnauthursil: Well it was a little late but here it is. The next chapter of the Maleficus Tome. The Dawn of a New Age. Following up this little event of preparations and anxiety is the first battle between Celestia and Maleficus. It will be interesting, that much I can guarantee.

Pinkie: Wohooo! Great work Staady! When is the next one?

Staadnauthursil: I am actually about one fourth done with the Sixth Chapter already. But it might take me until August to have it ready if I do not get enough spare time. But until them. Enjoy this chapter everyone. Do not forget to review and subscribe if you enjoyed it or want to offer any kind of efficient advice.

Pinkie: Hey Staady! Do not forget!

Staadnauthursil: Oh yes, and one last thing. If anyone has any suggestions for how to properly prepare a Song Lyric please give me a suggestion or a link to a group who can help me. I need to work on some more lyrics, the marsh song I made for the final part of the chapter took em a week to finish.