“The world changes, and all that once was strong now proves unsure. How shall any tower withstand such numbers and such reckless hate?”
Theoden, King of Rohan, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

Boston, Earth. November 5th 2024.

Checkpoint Delta.

“Remember, remember, the fifth of November…” David Elliot murmured under his breath.

Emma Taylor smirked at him, and he shrugged.

“I miss it,” was all he said. He was wiping down his sword – Emma didn’t think she’d seen him use it during the battle, but she didn’t know much about swords or their maintenance. Despite the proliferation of more advanced close-quarter weapons training in the time since the war had started, Emma still preferred a good old-fashioned gun.

Or is it new-fashioned, compared to swords? she wondered idly. Strange to think that older weapons and tactics had become more functional in this day and age than the ‘modern’ innovations that had changed civilisation for the last four centuries.

“Reckon they’re having it on the Fawklands?” Sam Lake asked after a moment. The blonde man was checking his rifle over.

“Would seem pretty in keeping with Wills and his preference for making everything carry on,” Elliot replied evenly, “even if nobody’s keeping particularly calm right now.”

He sighed, and looked up at the sky, looking wistful. Emma couldn’t blame him – she wasn’t exactly feeling homesick, but she was feeling a little bit of nostalgia. She could remember the fireworks like it was yesterday: the last November 5th before it had all gone to hell, her parents smiling…

All gone now.

“What do you miss most?” she asked Elliot.

He smiled. “Believe it or not, I miss Hull. I loved that city. Lots of history, lots of fun stuff…”

“Welly,” Lake put in, laughing. “Can’t remember much about that last night -”

“We didn’t do Welly, that last night, we did Piper,” Elliot countered. “Or… actually, might have been Pave.”

“Whatever we did, I wish we could have done more of it,” Lake chuckled.

“‘Welly’?” Emma repeated, smirking at them both. “That a pub?”

“Nightclub, actually,” Elliot said, smiling fondly. “Great place. Bit shitty. But it had good music.”

“Even had Vinyl Scratch DJing there,” Lake added, “the last night it was open. Wasn’t our last night there, mind, but…”

He trailed off, smiling. They all sat there, reminiscing for just a moment. But try as she might to think of positive memories of home, Emma found her thoughts returning to the mad scramble, to the terror… and to one last video call with an old man, who smiled as death came crashing down upon their cities, and begged her to wipe away her tears.

‘For while there’s life,’ he had told her, ‘there is hope.’

“So,” she said after a moment. “What do you think will happen now?”

Elliot shrugged. “I don’t know. They’ve got that… that clone thing, haven’t they?”

Lake snorted. “That’s batshit. Why’d she do that?”

“Makes sense, actually,” Emma said quietly. “Why risk your life, when you could send something almost as tough as you that’s expendable?”

“I heard Kraber say she could feel the thing’s pain,” Lake said. “That’s bordering on the fucking masochistic.”

“Well, nopony said that she was sane,” True Grit pointed out. Next to him, Steady Hoof nodded.

“Hey chommies!” a gregarious voice called.

“Ah, shit, Sam, speak of the devil and he will appear,” Elliot chuckled, standing up.

“Well, fok, isn’t that a fokkin’ welcome,” Viktor Kraber laughed, walking up to them.

The man was wearing the same battered set of Hardball armour that they’d seen him in last, complete with graffiti styled art – symbols like a syringe and a defaced Red Cross symbol adorned the armour. At his side he wore, among other things, a medical kit, and his gauntlets had reinforced knuckles. He also had a knife, a backup knife, a backup backup knife, and his helmet had an odd visor attachment that Emma recognised as having specialised infra-red tech inbuilt.

“I thought you guys would’ve been pleased to see me!” Kraber continued.

“I’d be more pleased, asswipe, if your group had been here when we needed support!” True Grit called, the harsh tone of his words belied by the grin on his face.

“Well, this idiot heard there was a Code Party Pooper and immediately went off on one,” came the voice of Aegis, Kraber’s best friend/romantic partner/partner in crime/enabler/all of the above (depending entirely on who you asked).

Emma Taylor had heard the stories, of course, but the fact that the stallion was nearly the size of a horse was still surprising. She half thought that she could probably ride the stallion like an actual horse, before she blushed and chided herself for the thought.

“Hey, was Sam Yarrow here?” Kraber asked for a moment, looking around.

“Yeah,” Elliot said. “But she went off, probably to talk to Galatea. She’s like the top representative of the HLF here at the moment.”

“True,” Kraber said, scratching the back of his neck. “I only ask because – well, I haven’t spoken to her since…”

He trailed off, and shook his head. Elliot’s mouth twisted into a strained but sympathetic smile.

“We’ve all lost people,” he said quietly. “Sam knows that. She’s tough.”

“Doesn’t mean I shouldn’t have called her about it,” Kraber retorted. He shook his head again, before looking at Emma. “This your newbie?”

“Emma Taylor, Operative, PHL,” Emma said, saluting.

Kraber smirked. “Operatives don’t salute grunts, kid. Hell, if anything I should salute you.” He looked at Elliot. “How’d this one end up with you fokkin’ scrubs?”

“She asked,” Elliot replied, chuckling.

“Fok, no,” Kraber laughed aloud. He turned to Emma. “Why’d you want to be with these fokkin’ scrubs?”

Emma smirked. “I dunno. A desire to live a quiet life?”

“You picked the wrong job, then, sister,” Aegis laughed. “Right now, you might be sitting with the two most unlucky squads in the whole of the PHL – hell, the whole of UNAC.”

“I dunno, this squad got saved by a goddamn Alicorn,” Emma retorted.

Aegis laughed. “Yeah, I’d heard about that.” He shook his head. “Anybody remember when this war was simple?”

Elliot snorted. “What, you mean besides Imperial Creed, Fairport, the Fillydelphia, the EHS, Hadley’s Hope…?”

“Okay, okay, I take it back,” Aegis laughed. “Still… this feels different. Like something’s changed.”

“Yeah, for once the weird shit is working in our favour,” Lake cut in.

They all laughed at that, even Emma, but she could almost feel the truth in what Aegis had said. Something was different. But what?

Was this why I had to be here?

Kraber frowned after a moment, looking thoughtful.

“What did you say the Alicorn’s name was?” he asked

“Galatea,” Emma supplied. “She’s the grey one.”

Kraber blinked. “Grey? Charcoal mane, says ‘mine’ a lot instead of ‘my’?”

“Yup,” Elliot said.

“She sounded a bit Irish,” John Constantine added helpfully.

Kraber blinked again.

“Son… of… a… motherfokking… bitch,” he finally said.

Emma frowned. “What is it?”

“We’ve met,” Kraber said shortly. “Though at the time, her name was ‘Phil’.”

Emma blinked. For a moment there were two warring thoughts – the first was that of course they had met, this was Viktor Kraber and if even a tenth of the stories currently making the rounds were true, he’d done more crazy shit than most people thought existed. The other thing, however, was the thought that this couldn’t be possible.

“I know what you’re thinking, kid,” Aegis supplied helpfully. “And the answer is, ‘it’s Kraber, don’t think about it. No, really, don’t think about it’.”

“It really is,” Elliot added, nodding sagely.

“I didn’t know she was a fokkin’ Alicorn,” Kraber hissed. “If I had…”

He trailed off.

“What?” Aegis asked. “You wouldn’t have shot her?”

“I don’t fokkin’ know, chommie, I was in a weird place at the time,” Kraber replied. “But it would have certainly changed a fok-ton of how I reacted, I’ll tell you that much.”

“Wait,” Elliot said, “so you’ve met her, and Sam Yarrow met her -”

“She fokkin’ did?!”

“Well, she acted like they’d met,” Emma put in.

Kraber frowned. “Who the fok is this mare?”

“Well, right about now,” Elliot said, making a show of looking at a nonexistent watch, “I think the higher ups are finding out.”

Checkpoint Beta

“Alright, so how is this going to work?”

Princess Luna smiled at Stephan Bauer, the same sort of smile she used to give to small children. The human was clad in a fresh set of armour. Durant Gagnier was waiting next to him, arms folded and a frown seemingly stuck on his face.

Discord, meanwhile, was standing next to the portal in question, looking for all the world as though he were bored of everything.

“The portal is safe for you to travel through,” Luna said to the two humans. “It will take us directly to Canterlot.”

“Doesn’t have much in the way of legroom, though,” Discord added blithely. “So try not to stretch out too much.”

Luna rolled her eyes. “Yes, thank you Discord.”

“My pleasure, Lulu,” he said, giving her a mock salute.

Luna turned back to the two human officers. “When we are in Equestria, I must speak with my sister,” she made a point of not saying the name ‘Celestia’, “in order to let her know what has been happening.”

“And Colonel Reiner is there, is he?” Gagnier asked. “This isn’t going to lead us face first into a potion cloud?”

Luna rolled her eyes. “I will presume you are being deliberately exaggeratedly pessimistic rather than asking a serious question.”

“Forgive me, madame,” Gagnier said, smirking. “I’ve a habit of looking gift horses – no offence – square in the mouth. Said habit’s become so ingrained that I could become an equine dentist.”

“I can totally see you ripping teeth out for a living, Durant,” Bauer chuckled. He looked back at Luna. “I understand why you need to report back, but… look, you know we need to send some reports back to my superiors, too, right?”

Luna raised an eyebrow, and turned to look at where Galatea was standing. The other Alicorn was conversing with several humans, including a stern, grey-haired, moustached man in formal-looking military attire, and a scruffy looking man in a battered robe. A mare in an armoured vest that looked like the schoolteacher Cheerilee from Ponyville was also there – in fact, Luna realised with a blink, she was Cheerilee, her expression sterner and more tired than the Cheerilee that she knew.

Has nothing been spared? she thought, but she dismissed it. As ever in war, horrific as it was, the question of rebuilding could only be asked after the destroying was done, and they had time to take stock.

“I suspect Galatea can answer most of your leaders’ initial questions,” she said to Bauer after a moment. She chuckled. “I should hope without causing offence – she can be… blunt.”

“I’m sure General Merrick has heard far worse, ma’am,” Bauer said quietly. “And… that?”

Luna blinked, frowning at four Unicorn soldiers who were waiting patiently, and the catatonic figure they were carting along on a secured Alicorn-sized stretcher.

“That, we will remand to our custody,” she said quietly. “I fear we will be the only ones who can truly understand it. And perhaps it will be able to reveal our enemy’s secrets.”

“Maybe?” Bauer said doubtfully. “Personally think you should just kill it while you have the chance.”

“We’re taking it back to Equestria,” Luna pointed out. “Where the real Princess Celestia will be present, ready to step in and combat this threat – if it is truly a threat, and not merely a vegetable.”

Or a potential asset, she added silently.

“If you say so, ma’am,” Bauer said.

“Look, can we hurry this up?” Discord asked from where he was standing. “I don’t know about you two, but I’d rather not do this all day.”

Gagnier chuckled. “Be thankful, Monsieur Discord. There are worse things you could do all day.” He looked at the portal and took a breath. “Shall we?”

“Indeed,” Luna said, eager to get this done. “Follow me, gentlemen.”

Galatea watched as Luna, together with the two human officers and the small band of Unicorns (and, to her consternation, the unconscious Mirror Pool copy of her sister’s corrupt alternate) marched through the portal. She let out a small, nigh-on imperceptible sigh of relief.

Things are going better than expected, she thought.

“So, just to sum up, then,” General Anthony Merrick said evenly, drawing Galatea’s attention back to the small collection of officers she was speaking to. “You come from a parallel universe. Your counterpart from our universe contacted you through magic hitherto unheard of, and asked for your help. Your other self also involved the Mystics…”

And here he trailed off to look at the scruffily-dressed Jim, who was smiling happily at the whole affair. In shabby robes and comfortable shoes with no socks, Jim couldn’t have looked more out-of-place in a war zone had he dyed his hair lime green and started dancing to Motown. At Merrick’s look, he waved.

“The result of this,” Merrick continued without acknowledging this, “being that Colonel Alexander Reiner, currently head of the PHL’s military branch, was sent to an Equestria with a divergent history from the one we’ve dealt with, ostensibly to elicit military aid from a version of Queen – forgive me, Princess – Celestia. And you, as well as your compatriots – Princess Luna and… Discord?” He looked at Lieutenant-Colonel Cheerilee, who nodded. “You came here to make contact with us?”

Galatea has stayed silent throughout the General’s summarising, not even nodding, merely staring at him with her impassive blue eyes.

“That,” she said after a moment, “is an accurate summary.”

Merrick blinked once. His upper lip twitched, his thick moustache twitching slightly.

“Well,” he finally said. “I’m glad we’ve reached that accommodation… Princess?”

“Merely Galatea,” Galatea said. “I was not granted the title.”

“Aren’t all Alicorns and near-Alicorn Royalty?” Cheerilee asked, raising an eyebrow. At Galatea’s questioning look, she continued. “That was the rumour, back when ponies thought Cadance was… I guess, supposed to become an Alicorn. However that’s supposed to work.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Galatea said, keeping her tone neutral. She knew full well that her sister had indeed made such a plan, specifically such a plan to be used for Twilight Sparkle as well as for Cadance (though Cadance has of course already earned the title ‘Princess’ by virtue of her relation to the family), but there was no sense revealing that to this Cheerilee. “In any case, I am no Princess. Merely a… traveller, of sorts.”

“Is that so,” Cheerilee said with a small smirk. “Not many travellers with wings and a horn, ma’am. Still less who claim to be the sister of the former diarchs.”

“Got ya there, ma’am,” Jim put in, speaking for the first time. Galatea glanced at him, and he shrugged. “Tell me I’m wrong.”

“I cannot,” Galatea replied, inclining her head. “That much is true, there are few Alicorns. But as I am sure you will all agree, claiming a title would make anonymity so much harder to keep.”

Cheerilee snorted. “True enough.”

“I dunno, might make finding places to sleep easier,” Jim said with a chuckle. “‘Hey man, open up, I wanna sleep here – bill it to the Royal Fam, I’m their sister. Long backpacking trip’.”

He chuckled again at his own joke, and Merrick made what looked like a very visible effort not to say something.

“I’m curious,” the General finally said, his arms folded. “What made you decide to help us?”

Galatea turned to look at him again. “Is there some reason I should not, General?”

Merrick raised his chin slightly, meeting her eyes. “Practicality would suggest that involving yourself in a war you have no business in is… well, impractical.”

“Practicality serves well,” Galatea replied evenly, “but duty, honour, obligation – these things are the bedrock that separates civilisation from anarchy, that turns survival into life. On this, mine sisters and I agree.”

“Duty, honour, obligation… one would argue you had none of these for us,” Merrick said.

“Mine obligation is to oversee Celestia and Luna,” Galatea retorted, “and in this mine other self’s call for help was to me as a cry from mine very soul. If I could not aid her against the madness that consumed her Celestia, what use was I to mine own Celestia?” She gave a cold smile. “And, regardless, I am not so lacking in empathy as to turn aside a cry for help. Especially from one so close to me, one whose hoof-steps I might have walked in but for the grace of fate.”

“And your sister?” Merrick said. “It’s been a long time since anyone, or indeed any being, accused Celestia of empathy.”

“Which is where honour comes in,” Galatea replied. “Mine sister is no warrior – indeed, I doubt she has ever killed a being in anger, despite what wars she has led Equestria in during the long years of her reign.” She sniffed. “But to know that another version of her was responsible for such suffering? No, she could not bear that. Not if she wished to be true to herself. True to her true self, not the aberration you face.”

“I see,” Merrick said. He sighed heavily, and Galatea pondered briefly at whether the human was old or merely tired. “Alright, then I’m forced to ask the next question – what help should we expect?”

“That, we must wait for the Concordat to decide,” Galatea replied evenly. “And that, I’m afraid, is dependent entirely on your officer’s ability to convince them.”

“We’ve sent Stephan Bauer,” Cheerilee said with a smile. “Man’s not a diplomat, but he’ll get it done.”

“We also sent Gagnier,” Merrick pointed out. “That man’s the dictionary definition of not a diplomat.”

“He’s abrasive, not stupid,” Cheerilee said, rolling her eyes. “You think he’d have made Armacham’s list for Harbinger otherwise?”

Merrick looked unimpressed. “The same list that Kraber was on?”

Cheerilee blanched. “A point. But I suspect Stephan will be able to keep him in check.”

“I’d still rather we sent someone else,” Merrick said. “Lord knows we have enough diplomats. What about Richter?”

“What, ‘half the drinks cabinet’ Richter?” Jim cut in. Merrick scowled at him but he pressed on. “That guy’s crazy.”

Merrick pursed his lips. “I believe there’s a saying about pots and kettles, ‘Jim’.”

Galatea raised an eyebrow. “I trust you will not begrudge me the observation, but this bickering seems… counterproductive.”

Cheerilee sighed. “A reality of the situation.” She smiled. “Even when the world’s ending, you have to tread lightly.”

“Indeed,” Merrick said. “The political realities of aid coming are…” He sighed, shaking his head. “They are not even merely ‘immense’. There is much we have to decide.”

“Excuse me?” a voice interrupted.

The group turned: a black Pegasus with a silver mane and a pink Unicorn mare with a purple mane were standing nearby. The latter was staring at Galatea with wide eyes, and the former was looking between her and Cheerilee as though trying to decide which was more terrifying to him.

“Sparkler, Blackjack,” Cheerilee said evenly. “What’s the problem?”

“Uh, can we… speak to you in private, ma’am?” the Pegasus asked. “It’s… a delicate matter.”

Cheerilee let out a deep breath, before smiling apologetically at Galatea and the others. “My apologies, all. I’ll be back presently.”

“Of course,” Galatea said, inclining her head. “I suspect we shall still be here.”

“You suspect?” Merrick repeated, raising an eyebrow at her.

Galatea shrugged, giving him a small, wry smile. “I cannot say anything for certain, General Merrick. We live in interesting times.”

“There’s probably a reason that’s a curse in Chinese,” Jim said blandly.

Cheerilee followed Blackjack and Sparkler away from Merrick, Jim and the Alicorn. Truthfully, she found herself more than a little happy that she

“Alright,” she said, “what’s the problem?”

Sparkler wasn’t answering, her eyes still focused on Galatea. Cheerilee couldn’t really blame her – the whole situation was unprecedented. Blackjack, on the other hoof, was simply blinking stupidly at her. He was lower ranked, and Cheerilee knew she occasionally put forward an air of authority that could be overwhelming… but this really wasn’t the time for it.

“Well?” she said after a moment.

“Colonel, we, uh thought you ought to know,” the Pegasus finally said, “that we’ve got Twilight Sparkle currently held in one of our secure areas.

“Twilight Sparkle,” Cheerilee repeated.

“Yes ma’am,” Blackjack said. “She’s, uh, awake, but she’s being… obstinate.”

Cheerilee snorted. “No surprises there, Blackjack.”

“Well, she still needs to be ‘seen to’, as Dad would put it,” Sparkler said quietly. She had finally torn her eyes from Galatea, and was looking at Cheerilee with a grim expression that all-but broke Cheerilee’s heart. Once upon a time Sparkler had been the most innocent of them.

What happened to us? she thought.

“We have Becker on hoof, he usually takes over interrogations,” she said out loud, keeping her voice even. “Hell, the man seems to relish them.”

She had long since learned to hide the distress that she felt when thinking about the old days, about what they’d lost. If you kept thinking about it, you might never stop.

“Uh,” Blackjack hesitated. “Lieutenant Kellman thought you might want to, uh, deal with her yourself.”

“Translation: the good Lieutenant’s tried his hand at interrogating her and gotten nowhere,” Sparkler said, the barest hint of gallows humour.

“I see,” Cheerilee said, frowning. She looked at Sparkler. “You realise that this situation requires me somewhat more than even interrogating Twilight Sparkle?”

Sparkler looked at Galatea again, before looking back at Cheerilee with pursed lips.

“No. It doesn’t,” she said quietly. “The grey mare there isn’t going anywhere, but Sparkle’s secrets have a shelf life.”

Cheerilee sighed. “Fine. Let me go explain myself, then.”

Sparkler nodded.

“Blackjack, come with me,” Cheerilee said.

Dutifully, Blackjack fell into step behind a Cheerilee as she walked back over to where the grey Alicorn was speaking with Jim and Merrick.

“My apologies again,” Cheerilee said to them all. “Twilight Sparkle was captured during the battle. This… will require my personal attention.”

“I understand,” Galatea said quietly. “You will find her… unwilling to reply.”

“That’s right, you were the one who captured her,” Merrick said, frowning at her.

“I have to ask,” Cheerilee said. “Did you learn anything of use?”

Galatea pursed her lips, apparently thinking something through.

“Only that what you perceive to be Twilight Sparkle is not,” she finally said. “She is… partitioned, within her mind.”

“Partitioned?” Merrick repeated. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Blackjack,” Cheerilee said after a moment, turning back to the Pegasus, who was still standing nearby. “Stay with… with Ms Galatea.” She looked to Merrick. “Anthony, do you want to join me?”

“And be in the same room as Twilight Sparkle? No thank you,” Merrick laughed easily.

Cheerilee nodded, not feeling the mirth her colleague did.

“Alright,” she said. “If you need anything…”

“Go,” Jim said easily. “We’ve got this crisis covered, Colonel Cheery.”

“It’s ‘Cherry’,” Cheerilee said, rolling her eyes.

“Cheery Cherry,” Jim said, winking at her. “We got this. I promise.”

“Well, now that Jim is on the case…” Merrick said, folding his arms and giving Cheerilee a wide-eyed, bemused look.

“We’re in safe hands,” Cheerilee finished, inclining her head. “I will be back soon, I hope.”

She turned and trotted off back to Sparkler. Taking a deep breath, she steered herself.

This is not going to be fun.

Galatea watched Cheerilee walk off with a small, tired smile on her face.

“Well,” Merrick said after a moment, taking a deep breath. “Given everything, you’ll forgive me if I ask what you feel the next step should be?”

“That, I fear, is again a case of waiting,” Galatea said evenly.

“I see,” Merrick said, sighing. “Well, forgive me then if I must attend to other business while we ‘wait’.”

“Of course,” Galatea replied. “I am the same, I fear. I must begin my researches into various matters that mine other self left to my care.”

“Take it that’s where we come in, right?” Jim put in, smiling at her.

“Indeed,” Galatea said. “I would speak with more of your group.”

“Well, we’ve got Hiro and John in town right now,” Jim said. “I can go get them, so they can tell you what they know.” He paused. “You don’t know what she wanted with us?”

“I know what little she could tell me,” Galatea replied, “and our communication was not… perfect.”

Jim nodded. “Gotcha. I’ll go get ‘em then.” He turned to Merrick and slapped him on the back. “See ya around, man.”

Merrick rolled his eyes, before nodding to Galatea and walking off, leaving her alone.

“Hey, Galway Girl,” Discord said from by the portal. “I can drop this, right?”

“Not yet,” Galatea said evenly. “We must wait for word from Luna and Celestia.”

“Of course we must,” Discord grumbled. “Do you have any idea how draining this thing is?”

“Draining enough, no doubt,” Galatea replied, smiling coldly at him. “You’ll survive, Discord. Stop complaining.”

Discord grunted, mumbling something under his breath, but Galatea had already stopped paying attention to him.

“Why do you let him call you that?” a voice asked from behind her.

“What?” Galatea said, blinking in confusion. She turned, to see the Pegasus soldier – Blackjack, Cheerilee called him – staring at her.

“‘Galway Girl’,” he said. “Seems a bit… y’know.”

“No, I don’t know,” Galatea said, frowning at him. “What does it seem to you, Blackjack?”

“Disrespectful?” the pony ventured, apparently unfazed by her using his name. “I mean… you’re an Alicorn.”

Galatea blinked at the simple, almost foalish logic.

“Does being an Alicorn grant me some special protection from Discord’s disrespect?” she asked him, smirking. “I would have thought a stallion serving with those fighting Queen Celestia would have no such prejudices.”

“It’s not that!” Blackjack said, almost hurriedly. “It’s just… well, it’s just, I’d expect you to stop him.”

Galatea smiled properly. She glanced around for a moment, before leaning in conspiratorially.

“I enjoy it,” she whispered.

“Really?” Blackjack said, eyes widening in shock.

“I have never had a nickname before,” Galatea explained to him. “For all the new experiences I am having that I do not enjoy in all this, it is nice to have one that I do, even one as… potentially demeaning as this.”

She winked, before straightening.

“But that is enough on that topic, I fear,” she said. “There’s a great deal we must still do.”

“I’m certain the Lieutenant Colonel won’t be too long,” Blackjack said.

“I am sure I agree,” Galatea said, “but she may take as long as she wishes with Twilight Sparkle for mine reckoning.” She frowned. “There is a concern. One of many.”

“How do you mean?” Blackjack asked.

Galatea smiled at him. “I told Cheerilee as much, little pony. Twilight Sparkle’s mind is partitioned. But that is magic beyond the reckoning of any I have seen.” She sighed. “Which means whatever did it is more powerful than anything I have ever seen.”

Blackjack swallowed. “I’m… not sure what to say to that, ma’am.”

“There is little you can say, little pony,” Galatea said quietly. “Now, I fear, it is the time for action.”

Canterlot Palace, Equestria-Imperator. November 5th, Year 13 Anno Imperator.

Equestria was at war, but to look at Canterlot, you would never have believed it. The city’s gleaming walls and pristine streets were, if anything, even more beautiful than they had been at the dawn of the Anno Imperator. The streets were a tad busier, and there were a few more buildings than there had been a decade ago, but Equestria’s capital city was still, for all intents and purposes, the crown jewel of Equestria.

Like so much beauty, however, it was marred the moment you scratched the skin. Posters with Twilight Sparkle, Queen Celestia, and generic Royal Guardsponies all seemed to surround the city, dotted on every wall, every pillar. There were also more Guardsponies in the city than there had been in a century, as well as Kirin, Zebras and Griffons in the armour of the Foreign Legions.

The city was a fortress, a bastion built to hold off assault from even the most determined enemy. Though nopony admitted it, Canterlot had gone from being a shining example of friendship to a shining pillar of strength, specifically the strength of arms and weapons. Where once Celestia had espoused peace, now she was a mistress of battle.

The palace was no exception to this: walls now reinforced with ‘appropriated’ mythril, gates and battlements guarded by a full battalion of soldiers… the palace was the heart of Canterlot, and it was a heart of steel.

Yet for all its strength, within the walls of the palace, there was strife. Down one of the many corridors, there marched a handful of ponies. A Unicorn with a white coat and deep purple mane streaked with grey and tied back into a stylish battle-tail, a Rainbow-maned cyan Pegasus in Wonderbolt light armour, and an orange Earth Pony with a cropped blonde mane and a hat marked by a pair of small, square patches.

“You need to calm your hooves, Rare,” this last mare said to the Unicorn.

“‘Calm my hooves’?” the Unicorn retorted. “Applejack, darling, I know you took one too many hits in the last fight -”

“Rarity, don’t you bucking start,” Applejack hissed. “Gettin’ upset won’t help nopony now.”

“They have her!” Rarity hissed. “Those apes have Twilight prisoner right now!”

“I know they have Twilight,” Applejack retorted. “I have read the reports, Rare. And despite what y’all think o’ me and reports, I know exactly what it means.”

“It means they have her and they’ll torture her, try to get our secrets out of her,” the cyan Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, snarled. “You know we have to do something, right?”

“And what would you suggest?” Rarity said, turning on her. “The assault at Boston failed. We lost hundreds of ponies! Even our Queen’s puppet didn’t -”

“Are you suggesting it’s Queen Celestia’s fault?!” Rainbow Dash said hotly.

“Of course not!” Rarity snapped in turn. “I’m suggesting that clearly these humans have more tenacity than we anticipated. And that’s leaving aside the rumours of Discord and Princess Luna being there -”

“Princess Luna can’t have been there,” Rainbow Dash shouted, waving a hoof at a nearby window, “because she’s out there, currently covered in bird sh-!”

“Enough!” Applejack snapped. The other two turned to her, frowning. “Rarity’s right about those rumours. Even if Luna – or somethin’ like Luna – wasn’t there, there’s still the grey Alicorn to contend with.”

“I read the reports on that,” Rainbow Dash said. “That thing’s dead, and they gave it to Asswipe Fire.”

“We don’t know that,” Applejack said. “Heck, we don’t know anythin’ about Alicorns. Not Luna, not this new one, not even our Queen. What they’re capable of, what they can be, or do.” She shook her head. “Anyway, this talkin’s useless.”

“Why?” Rainbow Dash asked.

Applejack looked up, meeting their eyes. “Because before Twilight left for Boston with Pinkie and Flutters, she told me that Operation Memoriam was going ahead.”

Rarity’s eyes widened. “That drastic?”

“About time if you ask me,” Rainbow Dash snorted, a smile on her face. “These humans have been pushing us for far too long. ‘Bout time we pushed back.”

“The Queen and Twilight argued about it, but eventually Twi agreed,” Applejack said quietly. “But no major ground ops are happenin’ while it’s going on.”

“Understandable,” Rarity said quietly. “We might get caught in it, if we were in the wrong place. Do we know the target?”

“We don’t,” Applejack shook her head, “but the Queen is aboard the zep now and she’s overseein’ final preparations personally. She’ll pick the target there.”

“I hope it’s Boston,” Rainbow Dash said with a gleeful smile. “We’ve lost a lot of good ponies there.”

“I hope that wherever they choose to do it, that Twilight isn’t there,” Rarity said softly. “It’ll be enough of a waste as is.”

“It’ll make a point,” Rainbow Dash retorted. “Which is all it needs to do.”

“As the Queen commands,” Applejack snorted.

“As the Queen commands,” the other two echoed. And that was that: as one they continued down the corridor, heading for their next tasks.

Jed: Well, this was fun. Originally, a lot of stuff with Celestia, Luna and Sint Erklass back on Prime Equestria was meant to happen in this chapter, but that was starting to make this a very stuffed entry compared to my usual fare, so I’ve split it up once more. The next chapter is well underway, so it shouldn’t be too long 🙂