I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.
Frank Herbert, Dune.

Checkpoint Delta. November 4th, 2024.

Five minutes earlier.

Emma Taylor leant against the wall of the pre-fab, frowning behind her helmet, watching her Sergeant having an argument. Her S-HV Penetrator was slung over her shoulder, and her hands itched to bring it out.

“Say again, Checkpoint Bravo?” David Elliot said into his comm. “What’s this I’m hearing about Princess Luna and another Alicorn, over?”

None of the others looked happy about this: not Errant Flight, as he pretended to be reading a magazine with a pony posing suggestively on the front, nor Sam Lake, who was scowling, his helmet in his hands.

“This sounds like just the sort of crazy shit Kraber would get involved with,” True Grit said under his breath.

Steady Hoof nodded, tapping his hoof and looking pointedly around.

“Yeah, he’s probably off getting himself involved,” Grit said, nodding in turn, a grim smile moving onto his face.

“I don’t like the way this conversation sounds,” Errant Flight muttered.

“Shut up!” Elliot snapped at them. He sighed, before turning back to his comm. “Sorry, sir, not you. My team are being loud.”

“Oops,” Grit murmured.

Only John Constantine was silent. He had his arms folded as he watched David’s conversation, an inscrutable expression on his face. Emma had to wonder just what it was he knew that made him so nonchalant.

After a moment, Elliot sighed, before tapping his comm, scowling. He put his helmet on, motioning for Sam to do the same.

“Well?” Errant Flight said. “What’s up? What’s this about Luna and another Alicorn?”

“Gagnier’s team at Checkpoint Bravo have encountered a… well, I don’t bloody know what the hell you’d call it,” Elliot replied, folding his arms. “But the word is, yup, there is in fact an unknown Alicorn, another Alicorn that looks exactly like Princess Luna, and a thing we’re being told is – a discord?”

“Discord?” Grit repeated. “Wait, the Discord?”

“What the hell’s Discord?” Sam asked.

“A Draconequus,” Errant Flight said, Steady Hoof nodding vehemently. “He’s part of our history – and he… well, he supposedly had a reign of terror a millennia or two ago, but in recent history, Queen Celestia supposedly destroyed him.”

“So, a petrified mare, a dead Draconequus, and an impossibility,” Constantine put in, straightening up, a smirk on his face. “Today’s turning into one of those ones, innit?”

“You make it sound like this sort of thing happens a lot,” Emma said quietly.

“Weird stuff in general happens a lot,” Constantine said. “This ain’t like your old-fashioned wars.” He waved his hands. “S’all magic and monsters, love.”

“Any word on our reinforcements, Dave?” Sam asked.

“Kraber’s unit got held up en route to Checkpoint Delta, somewhere near Checkpoint Sigma,” Elliot replied, shaking his head. “Apparently there’s some HLF troops that just got brought in by HLS Challenger that’re being deployed through the city, but as usual, Command is being cagey about it and pretending they don’t exist as best they can.”

“Lyra’s mane, what’s with the bloody politics?” True Grit swore, scowling. “I’d take the bloody EHS if it meant we had more sodding guns on standby.”

“Things must be bad if we’re reminiscing about them,” Sam said quietly.

There was a momentary silence, and Emma found herself wondering about what these troops had been through.

Is this why I was meant to be here? she wondered. Because this unit has a habit of getting involved in these weird things?

That wasn’t exactly a comforting thought. But then, the whole feeling of needing to be somewhere, being meant to be somewhere, wasn’t exactly comforting either, especially when she didn’t know where it came from.

“But whether we get troops or not,” Elliot continued, “we’ve got to be ready for anything. Princess Luna being back? A new Alicorn?” He shook his head. “That’s a sign of interesting times.”

“And there’s always that old Chinese curse,” Constantine said nonchalantly, looking at his nails.

Elliot turned his head towards Constantine. “Did you know about this, John?”

“Me? Nah,” Constantine said, shaking his head. He was still smirking, though, which made his dismissal of the idea somewhat less than convincing.

“John,” Sam cut in, “if you know something about this, about any of this -”

“The Mystics I knew talked sometimes about having a powerful magical backer,” Constantine said, giving Sam a more genuine smile. “I know fuck all about it apart from that – might have been this mystery Alicorn, or Discord, or this might be something else.”

Emma frowned behind her helmet. “That’s not really that reassuring, Mr Constantine.”

“If the Mystics were working with an Alicorn, why wouldn’t they tell us?” Errant Flight asked.

“The Mystics have their own mission,” Elliot said quietly. “They’ve proved that before – Fairport, Hadley’s Hope, all that stuff with Cairn and Sharon…” He trailed off, scowling at Constantine. “We’ve trusted you for years, John. Tell me this isn’t something that’ll fuck us up the arse, and I’ll believe you.”

“I don’t know enough to say,” Constantine replied, “but the Mystics are on our side of the war, always have been. If this is something they’ve been doing -”

There was a blare of static from all the comms at once. Elliot flinched, holding a hand up to his helmet, even as Sam and Emma did the same.

What the hell? Emma thought, tapping her helmet.

“The hell is that?!” Sam yelled, echoing her thoughts. “Some sort of interference?!”

Elliot lowered his arms, before slinging his VK-12 Vollmer Shotgun from his shoulders and racking it.

“Positions!” he said, moving to one of the sandbag emplacements and taking aim down the street.

At once, Errant Flight moved to his own emplacement, where a modified turret waited. Sam Lake moved next to him, aiming his G2A2 rifle, and Emma unslung her Penetrator, unlocking the safety and bringing it up.

“What’re we waiting for?” True Grit asked quietly. He had his horn glowing, the soft green of his magic field enveloping Steady Hoof’s P220a minigun.

“Like Sam said,” Elliot said shortly. “Interference. That might be the Empire making its move.” He moved one hand slowly up to his helmet, tapping his comm. “This is Checkpoint Delta to command, come in please.”

There was a pause, some static, but no reply. Elliot let out a muttered curse under his breath that made Emma blush.

“I say again,” he continued through gritted teeth. “Checkpoint Delta to command, come in please. Over.”

The static continued on their channel for a long moment, before finally a voice came through – none Emma recognised, but the identity of the voice became irrelevant ten seconds after it started speaking.

“This is Command to all units,” it said, sounding calm but strained. “Boston has Code Royal. I say again. Code Royal. Stand by for orders, hold your checkpoints. Command out.”

There was a pause as this registered. Emma almost dropped her Penetrator from shock, but forced herself to grip it tighter instead, calming herself as best she could. None of the others spoke, but none of them had to. She could see the same shock on their faces… and the same fear.

Code Royal, she thought. Queen Celestia.

Checkpoint Bravo.

“So,” Queen Celestia said, looking from one to the other. “Cat got your tongue?”

Galatea’s shield had not faltered, and she kept herself in a ready stance as the alabaster Alicorn stood before them. Luna steadied herself, adjusting her own stance in readiness. She noted that Stephan Bauer had drawn his sword, clicking some sort of switch on it. It lit up with powerful, blazing energy. Behind him, Durant Gagnier’s machine aimed both its weapons at Celestia, and Discord…

… Discord looked furious. His eyes were wide, and both his paw and claw were clenched into fists, so tightly that Luna could swear droplets of blood were coming from his claw.

“Oh, come now,” Queen Celestia said, smiling slowly. “I am your greatest enemy -” and here she looked at Bauer and Gagnier. “Surely you must have something to say to me.”

“Only that if this fucking shield wasn’t in the way I’d fuck your face, bitch,” Gagnier’s voice came from his machine. He raised his weapons for emphasis. “I got half a million bullets with your name on them.”

“It must have taken a very long time to carve them all,” Queen Celestia said, still smiling. “I congratulate you on your perseverance.”

“Queen Celestia,” Bauer said, before Gagnier could do anything else, “I am authorised by the UNAC and PHL to accept your surrender.”

At this, the Queen let out a melodious laugh.

“Is that what they call ‘gallows humour’?” she asked. “It does sound like it. Or perhaps it is bravado?” Her laugh subsided, but she was still smiling. “But I am not here to surrender, and let us both be honest, you know that I am here, if anything, to accept yours. I am more than happy to convey you to one of our local ponification checkpoints.” She clicked her tongue. “Nowhere near as clean as a Bureau, but we must make do in difficult times.”

“I’d rather die,” Bauer said at once.

The Queen’s face fell into a bored expression. “Of course. That does seem to be the usual answer from your people.” She sighed. “I suppose I can accommodate that, if you really want, but I hardly ever get a challenge from your kind -”

Even as she said it, Discord moved. In a flash, he had left the protection of Galatea’s shield, a giant warhammer appearing in his mismatched hands. With a roar of rage so guttural and furious that Luna could scarcely believe it came from him, he swung it downwards at the Queen’s head – only for it to bounce off a sudden, skintight golden shield that surrounded her body.

Blinking, he floated backwards for a moment in shock, even as Celestia’s head turned to look at him, a smirk on her face.

“Ah, hello, Discord,” she said. “Nice to see you’ve not changed.”

Her horn flashed, and Discord was propelled backwards, smashing through ruined cars and walls and disappearing beyond view.

“Stay within the shield,” Galatea murmured, quietly enough that only Luna and Bauer could hear, “until I give you the sign.”

“How will we know what that is?” Bauer hissed back, but she didn’t answer, and then Celestia was looking at them again.

“So,” she said, “to return to the business at hand.” She looked at Luna. “Which in this case would appear to be the return of my sisters.”

“Sisters?” Bauer repeated, looking at Galatea, who still said nothing.

“It’s, admittedly, very surprising to see you both,” Celestia continued, almost nonchalantly. “Most especially you Luna, since I seem to recall saying good bye to your statue in the palace grounds right before I left Canterlot.”

Luna growled.

“But regardless of the how, it is still so wonderful to see you looking so… animated, again,” the Queen continued, a wolfish grin breaking out across her lips. “One wonders, however… are you going to continue the streak of rebelliousness that got you petrified, or have you come here to turn over a new leaf?”

Luna looked at Galatea, who looked back at her. There was a momentary pause, and then Galatea smiled.

Suddenly, the shield she had put up flashed, and Bauer held up a hand, blocking the light from his view. Luna grinned, her wings spreading as she flew upward. Queen Celestia flinched, her expression becoming one of annoyance as she moved a wing to shield her own eyes.

“Oh, come on,” she said. “Is that really all you can do?”

The light faded and she lowered the wing, looking up at Luna, who was hovering in front of her.

“I think I will take a leaf from Alexander Reiner’s book,” Luna said, her wings flaring outward. “And in his words – ‘Queen Celestia can go fuck herself’!”

Her horn flared with power, and a single bolt of magic lashed out, smashing into Celestia, who was taken by surprise by the force of it. She flew through the air for a moment, before stopping dead, her wings spread outward to stabilise her. She lowered her head, glaring at Luna and Galatea.

“Fine,” she said. “So you have chosen death, have you? That is fine by -”

There was a sound like a machine whirring, and a hail of small projectiles flew past Luna and Galatea, smashing into Queen Celestia with enough force to blow her backwards. She landed on the ground in a heap, the projectiles continuing to smash into her for a moment, before suddenly another golden shield appeared, this time in front of her. She looked up, one eye a bloody ruin, her wings dripping with blood, and a snarl on her face.

Durant Gagnier’s machine was aiming both weapons at her.

“Like I said, madame,” his voice spoke, echoing out. “Without that shield, I would fuck your face.” There was an amused snort from the machine. “Your face looks pretty fucked to me.”

“That… vile word…” Celestia wheezed, slowly standing up, “is your colloquialism for the act of sexual intercourse, correct?” She chuckled. “Alas, monsieur… it would seem you are impotent.”

Her wings flared out, the ragged holes Gagnier’s bullets had torn disappearing. Her destroyed eye glowed, before the glow faded, revealing a perfect pink eyeball in place of the bloodied socket.

“So,” the Queen said, “as nice as this has been so far…”

Her horn glowed, and before Gagnier or Galatea could react, another flash of light shot out, a ball of energy smashing into Gagnier’s machine and blasting it backwards a dozen or more metres into the wall of a building… and then through the wall. Dust and debris flew everywhere, and a dread silence fell for a moment.

“Aurevoir, monsieur,” Celestia said with a mocking curtsy.

Growling, Luna summoned a ball of destructive force, the blue magic crackling as she sent it hurtling towards her corrupted sister. Queen Celestia’s horn flared, another golden spell appearing and smashing into Luna’s magic. There was a bright flash, and then an explosion that sent debris flying everywhere. Bauer ducked behind what scant cover he could find. All three Alicorns raised shields as the city’s already battered infrastructure began crumbling under the power of the two spells colliding.

And then the magic dissipated, leaving Celestia and Luna alone. Of Galatea, there was no sign.

“Your allies seem to have abandoned you, Little Moon,” Queen Celestia said, letting out a breath. “So sad. But then, you’re used to loneliness, aren’t you? This can’t be much different than a millennia on the moon.”

“Your mockery won’t work on me,” Luna retorted, her horn already glowing. “I don’t know what madness possessed you in this place, but I swear, I will end that madness, and you.”

“Funny,” Celestia replied, still smiling. “You said the same thing before.” She let out a small, malicious chuckle. “It’s funny how similar you are to my real sister. Wherever mother dearest’s watchmare sent that accursed little ape, Reiner, it can’t have been that far in the multiversal scale of things.”

At Luna’s stricken expression, Queen Celestia laughed.

“Oh, I’m sorry, did you expect that I did not know?” she asked. “Please. I sent one of my soldiers after that accursed little ape. I know he was sent to another Equestria to get ‘help’.” She raised a wing and shook the top mockingly at Luna. “Tut tut, Little Moon. I’m no fool, after all. You should have known that.”

Luna said nothing, but adjusted her stance, thinking through her options.

Where is Galatea? she thought. She could tell this was not a fight she could win alone.

“Well, Little Moon, as fun as this has been,” Celestia continued, looking at the tips of her wing feathers idly, “I have been thinking about getting a matching statue for the sister I have standing about in the palace gardens.”

She truly is insane, Luna thought.

The Queen grinned, a vile leer that seemed almost too wide. “Strike a really good pose for me, Little Moon.”

Her horn glowed, and Luna gritted her teeth, hoping that she could withstand this assault -

Only for a figure to come hurtling out of nowhere, swinging a hammer and sending the Queen flying through the air and into a building's wall, where she disappeared into a ragged hole in the masonry.

Discord, breathing heavily, blood streaming from one injured ear, was scowling at the direction the Queen had gone.

“Never… assume… I’m out for the count…” he wheezed. Despite his wounds, he gave a cackle. “I would have thought… you knew this about me, Celly!”

He cackled for a moment longer, but then his laughter died on his lips as the building he had knocked Celestia into exploded. A golden beam of energy lashed out towards him like an arrow. He disappeared in a flash, the beam passing through the space he had just occupied and obliterating one of the buildings opposite. He reappeared next to Luna, breathing heavily.

“Where in all the hells is Galway Girl?!” he hissed.

“I don’t know,” Luna said quietly. “But without her, we must hold the line.”

“If you say so,” Discord said, holding out his paw. The warhammer he had summoned before reappeared, this time covered in coruscating energy. “Just so you know, though, this is a terrible idea.”

“I know,” Luna said, steeling herself as Celestia, encased in light, emerged from the ruins of the destroyed building. “But we have no choice, now.”

Bauer crawled out from under the ruin of one of the many cars lying about the battlefield, grimacing. His sword was nearby, the weapon looking scuffed but otherwise intact.

Probably cracked a rib, he thought. Fucking great.

He hadn’t expected this. Fuck, but he really hadn’t expected this. He had thought it would be difficult, fighting Queen Celestia. How could he not? He’d seen anomalous Newfoals, he’d seen regular Unicorns in action, he’d even seen the Element Bearers in action. But this…

We are so over our damn heads.

“This is Bauer to all units,” he said, “reporting Code Royal still active. Any units, acknowledge.”

“Sir, this is Kraber,” came the familiar voice of the Afrikaner. “I diverted my squad from Checkpoint Delta, we’re heading for your position now.”

“It won’t be enough,” Bauer said, wincing. “She’s… it’s insane.”

He turned his head, watching the Queen as she fought Luna and Discord. His eyes widened – Discord had swung his hammer again, and she was just blocking it with magic, not even really moving. Luna was throwing spells as well, but every spell was deflected by a shimmering golden shield.

“Kraber,” Bauer whispered, “please for the love of Gott in himmel, tell me you have your minigun with you.”

“Wouldn’t be fokkin’ parted with it, sir,” Kraber replied, sounding eager. “What’s the call?”

“We… we need to find an opening,” Bauer said. “Try and… try and get a shot in with the anti-Alicorn rounds.”

“Understood,” Kraber said, still sounding excited. “Hey, Major – we’re going to fokkin’ nail the bitch to the wall today.”

“Hope you’re right, Kraber,” Bauer said quietly, his hand finding the hilt of his sword and activating it again. “I’m going to try and intervene in the fight.”

“What fight, sir?” Kraber asked, sounding confused.

Bauer gave a grim, mirthless laugh. “The fight of the century, Kraber. Bauer out.”

He lowered his sword – Discord was still swinging his hammer, and Luna’s horn, glowing, had summoned a glowing blue blade of magic that she was now slashing at Celestia. The Queen was finally being pushed back, her shields still blocking strike after strike, that smile still on her face.

“Verdammt noch mal,” Bauer swore. He looked around, trying to see the best angle of approach, when his comms crackled.

“Did somebody get ze name of zat putain…” a voice said.

“Durant?” Bauer said, tapping his comms. “You alive?”

“Mech’s in self-repair mode,” Gagnier’s voice said, “but yes, I’m alive. For a given value. Merde, that bitch packs a punch.”

“Ja,” Bauer replied. “I think that’s probably something we shouldn’t be surprised by. Where are you?”

“In one of the buildings, ground floor, looking at…” Gagnier’s voice trailed off. “Forgive me for sounding like a cliche, but zut alors, have you seen this?”

Bauer looked at the fighting Alicorns (and – Draconequis? Draconekus? How did you spell that?), and let out a short laugh. “Ja, I’ve seen it. Kind of wish I hadn’t. Kind of really wish I hadn’t.”

“Starting to think maybe you and I should go in ze other direction, mon ami,” Gagnier said quietly.

Bauer chuckled to himself: Gagnier’s English was normally good enough that his accent didn’t slip, but under stress, his ‘ze’s came out in full force.

“Starting to think you’re right,” he said, “but we’ve got a job to do. How long ‘til your mech’s self-repair finishes?”

“Hang on,” Gagnier said. There was a pause, presumably as he checked his mech. “She’s on eighty two percent. But against the bitch, I don’t see ‘er doing that well. She just shrugged it off, before.”

“I know,” Bauer said, his tone resigned, “but we can’t just sit here.”

“Stephan, maybe that’s all we can do,” Gagnier countered. “Looks like Luna and Discord are barely doing that well.”

That much was true. Even as Bauer watched, Discord had apparently been blasted away: the Dracon… he was lying on the ground, stirring feebly, injured. Luna was alone against the Queen, and had summoned a second blade, both of which were spinning and twirling, hitting out at the alabaster Alicorn almost faster than Bauer could see. And yet her shields held, and though she was still backing gently away, giving ground, she had yet to drop her smirk.

“Alright,” Bauer said. “I’m going to see if I can help Discord. I need you to get on the horn, see if you can do good anywhere else.”

“Why?” Gagnier asked.

“Because I get the feeling this isn’t all we’re getting today,” Bauer said grimly, gripping the hilt of his sword tighter. “Just -”

Another crackle of static came through his comm, and he winced.

“This is Checkpoint Upsilon!” a nervy man’s voice came through. “Hostiles inbound! I say again, we are under attack!”

“Checkpoint Gamma, contacts!” another voice called.

“Verdammt,” Bauer muttered. “Gagnier -”

“I’m going,” he said. “But you realise we don’t have enough people.”

“I know,” Bauer said. “Get going. Bauer out.”

He stood, before crouch-walking over to where Discord lay, being careful to stay as low as he could. Celestia and Luna’s fight – if it was really a fight and not just Celestia humouring her sister’s attacks – was far enough away that he didn’t feel immediately threatened, but that was no reason to take chances.

“All units, be advised!” the comms crackled. “Imperial troops are on the ground. I say again, Imperial troops are on the ground!”

Emma kept her grip on her Penetrator, and double checked the safety. There was, of course, no reason to double check the safety, but it was worth it if it helped with her nerves. The others seemed just as nervous, apart from John Constantine, who had – at Elliot’s ‘suggestion’ – gone to hide himself in a box room in the pre-fab.

“How many combat ops have you done, Operative?” True Grit asked quietly from next to her.

“Um…” Emma replied. “Thirteen simulations, one post-combat cleanup, and I was present for the last Fairport skirmish.”

“Right,” Grit said, nodding. Emma didn’t look at him, but she could guess his expression was a little dubious. “This’ll be… a bit worse than that.”

“You’ll be fine, Operative,” Elliot cut in. “Just stick with us and you’ll get through this.”

“Yes, sir,” Emma said, nodding reflexively.

There was nothing coming down their street, at least not yet, but she knew that stuff had to be coming soon: the enemy’s positions were largely contained on the other side of the Harvard bridge, but if they overran Checkpoint Theta on the bridge then it was a clean sweep for them to attack Beacon Street Station, as well as Checkpoint Delta.

“Our fallback position is Fenway,” Elliot said after a moment, “but we shouldn’t need it unless Theta is overrun.”

“Should we… should we check on Theta?” Sam asked.

Elliot didn’t say anything for a moment, before he shook his head. “We’ll hear from command if -”

“All units, Checkpoint Theta is breached!” the voice of Command came through, sounding panicked. “Say again, Theta is breached!”

“Ah,” Sam said quietly. “They’re playing our song.”

Emma took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, but before anyone could say anything else, another voice came through – female and British. Emma could have sworn she had heard it before.

“UNAC Command, this is Odinson Zero – we’ve troops bottlenecking the assault: some spillover is heading Checkpoint Delta’s way, but we’re sending support.”

“Who is that?” Command’s operator asked. “We don’t have you on our books.”

“Just trust me,” ‘Odinson Zero’ said. “We’re inbound now. ETA to Delta five minutes.”

“I…” The poor operator didn’t sound too happy, bless her. “Checkpoint Delta, are you receiving?”

Elliot let out a laugh. “Command, this is Checkpoint Delta, we’ll welcome any help we can get.”

It was a moment before the operator replied. “… understood. Be careful, Delta. Command out.”

“Who’s ‘Odinson Zero’?” Emma asked quietly.

“That’s Sam Yarrow’s callsign, HLF unit nought-nought-three,” True Grit replied. Something in his voice didn’t sound entirely enthusiastic. “We’ve… got history with her.”

“You mean we got her dad killed,” Errant Flight said dolefully.

Emma blinked. Sam Yarrow? But she…

“Head’s up!” Elliot snapped. “Incoming!”

Sure enough, at the end of the street, there was definitely movement. A portable shield had been thrown up by one of their specialists, covering the positioning of a handful of Unicorn marksponies. Emma counted at least thirty.

“Humans!” one of them called out, her voice magically amplified. “This is your only warning! Surrender to your salvation, or we will regretfully terminate you!”

Wait, I know that voice, don’t I? Emma thought, frowning.

“‘Regretfully terminate’, huh?” Sam said quietly. “Is that their term for it, now?”

Elliot growled. “If we had a laser, we could break that fucking shield, get the drop on them.”

Emma took a breath. “We might not have a laser, sir, but I can try the Penetrator.

“Those are high-power rounds,” Sam said, “but not shieldbreakers.”

Emma pulled the clip from her weapon, and loaded in a different one, smirking beneath her helmet.

“These are,” she said. “Thaumic energy shot – minute amounts of crystal baked into the pins.”

“You have twenty seconds!” the voice across the way called.

Elliot growled. “Do it.” Emma nodded, taking aim, even as Elliot turned to Grit and Steady Hoof. “If it breaks, fire. Everything we’ve got.”

Steady Hoof nodded, tapping his hoof against the ground with a grim expression.

Emma narrowed her eyes at the shield, trying to pick the best spot.

When breaking a Unicorn shield, look for the shatterpoint, one of her instructors had told her once. They will always have a point where the strain is worst for them.

“Ten seconds, humans!” the voice called from the Imp position.

There, Emma thought, and her finger squeezed the trigger. A hail of projectiles lashed out, smashing into the shield. The disruptive effects triggered a breakdown in the shield, the thing fizzling out in a flash.

“Attack!” the voice from before bellowed.

“Fire!” Elliot yelled at the same time, and Grit and Hoof’s P220a let rip, the rotary minigun flaring with light as high-power rounds lashed across the street, smashing into a handful of the enemy’s troops. Blood spurted from their wounds and they dropped like stones.

At the same time, a hail of spells flew their way. One impacted near Elliot’s hand, and he ducked behind cover. Emma blinked, watching the point of impact turn from sandbag to a scorched, ashy hole. She fired her Penetrator, the pin smashing into another of the ponies and throwing him backwards, before pinning him to a wall where he hung, limply.

“Grit, can you do a shield?!” Elliot yelled.

“Too busy steadying the minigun!” Grit replied. His horn was glowing green, the field of magic still holding onto Hoof’s minigun, keeping the recoil from getting too bad.

Elliot cursed, before grabbing a grenade.

“Frag out!” he yelled, throwing it down the street, where it landed among the ponies. Elliot ducked his head again, and Emma followed suit.

There was a deafening roar of an explosion. After a moment, Emma popped her head up to see the result… and her heart sank into her toes.

A purple shield was up, protecting the majority of the Imperial troops from the grenade’s force. One soldier had apparently been caugh, bits of gold-armour body strewn everywhere, but the rest were fine. And the Unicorn who had put the shield up…

… purple coat, narrowed purple eyes, a deep blue mane with streaks of purple, grey and pink, and a grimace of concentration and anger on her face.

“Shit,” Elliot said from along the barricade. He tapped his comm. “This is Elliot at Checkpoint Delta. Code Backstabber. Say again, Code Backstabber.”

“Did you say ‘Backstabber’, Sergeant?” the operator at Command said.

“Confirmed, ma’am,” Elliot said grimly. “Twilight Sparkle is here.”

Watching this exchange from the shadows, invisible as ever, a silent observer watched as Elliot’s group readied themselves for a fight, even as Twilight Sparkle, the Element of Magic, the Archmage of the Solar Empire, directed her troops into position to advance.

Ah, thought this observer with a small smile, even as Elliot’s group opened fire again, their rounds impacting uselessly on Sparkle’s shields. Finally. Now it’s time to get to the bottom of all of this.

Much as I've been planning for this fight since 2017, this is all new writing. I've been looking forward to this: I only hope that it lives even a fraction up to your expectations.