The call that the Mareitanians were moving came far too early for Twilight's tastes. She had recovered quite a bit since the previous night, but still wasn't one hundred percent, or even near enough to fight effectively. Her feathers were still a bit frazzled as well, so flying might even be an issue at this point.

Trixie had of course called her an idiot, which was more than justified considering how it ended, but Twilight had felt a little better for letting Celestia know about Sunset, which would be more than worth the burns it earned her. Sunset's journal hadn't disturbed her once all night.

Twilight struggled to her hooves. Her skin still felt too tight on her back, and lowering her wings made it feel worse. She squeezed her eyes shut in pain and soon gave up trying to stand as a agonised scream slipped through her lips. Perhaps she was nowhere near as healed as she thought she was.

"You should really not be moving," Trixie's voice informed her from the direction of the door. "Really, really not."

"How bad is it?"

"Second degree burns, which are hardly the worst, but do tend to hurt when covering most of your body. Luna says the magic from Solaris tends to mess with an alicorns' healing for a little bit, which is why it's not healing as quick as you'd like."

Twilight sighed as the pain in her back settled, "That's just great, and is exactly what I need. I suppose I should be thankful I slept okay through most of it."

"No spooky visions?"

"No, nothing like that. I don't even know what those were supposed to be."

Trixie walked around the hut to where Twilight could see her, and sat on the ground in front of her. "Have you considered the possibility that there might be more to what you're seeing?"

"Meaning?"

"Well, I checked the journal, and couldn't find any sign of anything, but that doesn't mean there isn't something going on. What if what you're seeing is actually real?"

"If that was true, why do the messages keep fading? And why am I the only one seeing them?"

"I don't know! I'm just saying this because you said you saw the same message about Sunset that you saw for me. What if there is actually something to that?"

Twilight exhaled harshly, thinking she knew where Trixie was going with this. If those creatures had Sunset, and she could come back, it stood to reason that Trixie could too. There was just one problem with that theory.

"Trixie, the message for you was carved into a solid oak table, and was not some 'blink and you miss it' thing that only I seem to be able to see. This is just my mind trying to come up with a way of saving Sunset, instead of accepting that she's dead. Look," Twilight picked the journal out of her bags and dumped it in front of Trixie on its last used page, "totally empty of spooky messages."

"I can see that. What I was going to get at was that you and Sunset have a connection through the Elements. What if that's why you're the only one that can see them?"

"Don't do this to me, Trixie. Don't start giving me false hope."

"But-"

"No, Trixie, don't. I don't need you to feed a delusion I'm currently feeding to myself. I know why you're asking, and the answer is irrelevant since I'm not letting you die."

"I didn't realise I was that transparent. You must see where I'm coming from though?"

Twilight nodded softly, "I do. I would also remind you that those things kept you alive, so you dying probably holds no benefit to them. They aren't going to get you if you die. Not that I'm letting that happen. Have you been practicing your shields?"

"I have." A pink shield popped up in front of Trixie, between herself and Twilight. "I'm still not sure I trust them though. That little voice in my head keeps telling me that my magic is weak in comparison to dark magic, so why use it? Why defend yourself when you could just turn your enemy into a puddle of goo?"

"Because that's not how this works."

"I know that, but... but... mnah."

"What about light magic?"

"I have to be in the right frame of mind for that, and even then it's extremely hit and miss." Trixie shrugged, "Thankfully I don't have a practical use for it, so I'm not too bothered."

"Alright, I'll give you that one, although I will suggest you practice it just to counter the effects of dark magic on you. The shields, however, are definitely going to be useful today. Or whenever it is that we end up fighting this battle."

"Probably." Trixie hesitated for a moment, then shrugged to herself. "Twilight, I have a question. How did Celestia kick your ass so easily?"

Twilight rolled her eyes, "I was wondering when I'd be asked that."

"Well yeah, of course you would. You beat Celestia into a draw at Nostralis-"

"Not that you were around to see it."

"-So how did she beat you so easily last night?"

"Because, one: I wasn't expecting it, and two: she was pissed, and when she's pissed, Solaris is, frankly, terrifying. Whoever gave Celestia the idea of tying that weapon to her emotions should've been slapped. Hard, and repeatedly."

"I see. I guess we're leaving Celestia to Luna then?"

"I was going to suggest Luna and myself, but you can certainly stay out of it if you wish. Just don't run away this time."

"I won't, unless I really have to." Trixie smiled at Twilight, keeping to herself that she knew why Twilight was so concerned about this. The thought of losing somepony else she cared about was never too far from any of their thoughts really. Trixie was just lucky enough to have a short list with more than one immortal on it. "By the way, I also have a jar of herby smelling goop I'm supposed to slather all over you."

"And you've been waiting until now to tell me because..?"

"I dunno, it just... didn't feel appropriate to walk in and start lubing you up, y'know?"

Twilight closed her eyes and grumbled to herself for a few seconds. "Are you going to get started?" she asked after she was done. Trixie answered by upending the jar over her.

"If you insist," she said with a cheeky smile.

An entire half hour after what had felt to be some overly and uncomfortably sensual massaging, Twilight had been able to stand. Shortly after that she was able to walk. As soon as that was possible she decided that while the sky was traditionally the limit, it could wait for now. Walking was fine so long as it allowed her to maintain a little distance between herself and Trixie.

"I don't know what you're so upset about. I didn't go that low, and I was told to cover as much of you as possible."

Twilight glared sharply at Trixie. She knew the unicorn had only been putting on a show of enjoying it, but being told her flanks were so well toned while they were being massaged by none other than Trixie Lulamoon, who had settled on speaking in a hammy impression of the spa twins for some reason, was more than she needed in her life at any moment, let alone this one.

"You should take it as a compliment."

"Not another word," Twilight growled. She packed her things away, and flipped the still open journal shut, and almost screamed as the voice of Sunset screamed at her in despair. She only just managed to bite her tongue, but the way Trixie was looking at her suggested she wasn't entirely successful in hiding the rest of her reaction, like the wide eyes, or the heavy breathing...

"What is it, Twilight?"

"It's nothing. I just-" Twilight shook her head, "Forget it."

"The journal did something, didn't it?"

"I said forget it!" Twilight half shouted. She didn't mean to, but with Trixie being so insistent, and her heart pounding, it was hard not to.

"Alright, alright," Trixie said, figuratively and literally backing off. "Are you hungry? Or would you rather head out and see what's going on?"

"If the Mareitanians really are making their move, I really feel like I should be appraised of the situation." Twilight picked up the journal and grunted under her breath as it hovered in her magic, totally inert. She shoved it into her bags and staggered outside, her skin feeling a little more pliable with each step she took.

The zebras were working at a fevered pace, packing up everything they could in preparation to move out. The only ones not moving were Luna and Autumn as they stood next to a cart, while Rainbow was nowhere to be seen. Over the hustle and bustle, a faint rumble could be heard. To Twilight it sounded far too much like the aftershocks of a certain mountain exploding, driving her stomach to tie itself in knots. Knowing it was really the sound of an army on the march did little to help.

"Mobile once again I see," Luna commented as she saw Twilight slowly walk towards her. "In fair time too. As you might have noticed, the Mareitanians are on the move."

"Are they going where you thought they would?"

"Indeed they are, which bodes well I feel. However, there is one small setback in that there is little chance of us being able to fly east without being spotted, so they will know we've been watching them."

"Fly east?" Twilight looked around at the twenty or so zebras that were rushing around in their preparations. "You can't mean that you're going to fly all of these zebras to the ambush, surely?"

"No, only you, I, Trixie, and Autumn will be flying anywhere. Rainbow has already gone ahead to warn the others. The zebras here will be sabotaging what remains of the Mareitanians' camp so they have nothing to retreat to. Then they will head down the coast to Zanzebra, using a shorter yet more perilous route better suited to smaller groups. They have a task, Twilight, just as we do."

"Right, sorry, I just thought every hoof was needed on the battlefield."

"Ideally, but we can't neglect other things for the sake of the battle alone. If the Mareitanians find whatever supplies remaining in their camp destroyed, with no chance to resupply, it makes them more likely to surrender should they attempt to retreat back here."

"So this is war planning Luna style," Trixie said with a smile. "Seeing as how out of the two of you, Twilight managed to take a country starting with nothing but hopes, and you lost a country with nothing but your army and superior resources, maybe you should consider Twilight's concerns, if and when she has them?"

Luna narrowed her eyes at Trixie, "Had anypony other than you said that, Trixie Lulamoon, I may have thrown them off the hill. As it stands, the only reason I haven't is because Twilight is standing right there."

"Twilight is the best safety net."

"Quite. Now, Twilight, unless you do have some actual concerns, can I assume you're onboard with this plan?"

"I barely know what the plan is, but sure."

"Excellent. In that case we should probably be away. Goodness knows what the others will get up to if they see the Mareitanians coming and panic. Get in the cart, and we'll be on our way."

Twilight complied, gingerly climbing into the cart with Autumn as Trixie ran back to grab their belongings. She couldn't explain it, but Twilight's chest ached with worry over what was to come, and it wasn't just because she had no real idea what was coming. Whatever it was, she knew it was going to be bad.

Those thoughts only seemed to grow once they took off, and they could all see the marching Mareitanians stretching out below them. Twelve thousand ponies and yaks, against sparse and scattered zebra tribes. Logically there could be only one way the battle could go, but here they were attempting to defy that.

"Did anyone keep track of the kirin?" Twilight asked after a couple of minutes of observing. "I'm only asking because they could still potentially be a threat to us. No offence, Autumn."

"Some taken," Autumn sighed back. "I'm hoping they've at least decided that the Mareitanians aren't worth fighting for. Considering how things went with them though, you should probably ignore what I think."

"Could they still attack us?"

"Sure they could. I just don't want them to." Autumn gave a tiny shrug, "Maybe they're stuck wondering how they're going to get home more than anything else. I don't know. Maybe through some small miracle they'll swap allegiances and help us, although that sounds incredibly naïve, even to my incredibly naïve ears."

"That would be absolutely wonderful," Trixie snickered, "but yeah, let's be realistic and assume that we'll be attacked by a tiny horde of kirin at some point."

"A tiny horde of flaming kirin," Autumn corrected.

"Sounds like a party."

"You guys must have some weird parties in Equestria."

Just over an hour's worth of flight brought them to the short canyon where the attempt to slow the Mareitanians would happen. Therefore it was of considerable concern when they found nothing and nopony there. That concern only grew the longer they went on seeing nothing.

"I already regret putting Nightmare in charge," Luna sighed. "There's supposed to be an army here, and an ambush, and other things that might slow the Mareitanians down just a hair. Instead I'm left with nothing but a sinking feeling."

"Perhaps there's more to this than you think," said Twilight. "Fly down through the valley."

"You suspect something?" Luna asked as she started their descent.

"No, but if they aren't in the valley, they might be at the other end of it."

"But the point was to stop them getting into the valley! Not to try to stop them at the other end!"

"Luna," Twilight said softly, "have a little faith."

"Ugh, fine, but the plan better be brilliant for me to accept it."

They flew through the canyon, keeping low. It was only a short canyon through a range of hills that could be circumvented, but only by adding a lot of extra distance. Seeing as how the Mareitanians probably considered the zebras to be savages, it only made a certain kind of sense that they would take the direct route to Zanzebra, rather than be cautious. Of course that wasn't saying they wouldn't go the long way, but that's all they really had to go on.

At the end of the canyon, on the once again open plain beyond it, they found their army standing around doing very little. Luna growled under her breath at the sight, and dove a little too sharply to land quicker, almost tipping the others out of the cart. She pulled up short as she found a pink alicorn there, instead of who she expected.

"Cadence? What are you doing here?"

"Oh, well, I was hoping I could negotiate with the Mareitanians, and maybe we could all braid each others manes, and tell each other stories around the campfire, and really try to make friends with them. Try to make an understanding between us. Then if that didn't work, I plan to kill them all."

Luna nodded as understanding dawned, "Wearing the guise of the most innocent amongst us, are we?"

"I thought it would save confusion when two Luna's, or Twilight's end up on the battlefield." Nightmare smirked in a very un-Cadence like manner, "Presenting Celestia with herself would be an interesting mindfuck for her though."

"Cadence," Luna said firmly, "Why are all your forces stood around here? Why aren't you preparing for the arrival of the Mareitanians?"

"Because your plan was terrible, no offense." Nightmare waved a hoof towards the far end of the canyon, "If I was marching an army towards Zanzebra right now, the far end of this canyon is exactly where I would expect to be held off. Since I know there's another way around, I'd be going 'golly-gee, that looks like a terrible way to go, what with all those zebras defending it! Maybe we should try a different route with less pinch points?' And then I'd do just that, and reach Zanzebra."

Luna sighed inwardly, then outwardly, then inwardly again. "What's your plan then?"

Nightmare pointed a hoof at the army of zebras behind her, "This army here? It's not real. Not all of it at least. Most of the real army is setting up ambushes on the longer route around."

Luna raised a hoof to her eyes and hid behind it for a few seconds, "I never realised I was such an idiot, in so many ways. Do you really think the Mareitanians are going to take the longer route because they see the main bulk of the zebra forces here? A force considerably smaller than their own? They would attack!"

"I know!" Nightmare's smile turned nasty, "I'm counting on it."

"I don't know what this plan is," Trixie said, "but for some reason I am loving it."

"I suppose it's too much to hope that you would tell us what this plan is?" Luna asked Nightmare.

"And ruin the fun? You'll find out in good time."

"Give it a chance," Twilight said to Luna. "I also have a good feeling about this."

"You're all insane," Luna muttered. "Very well, it seems I shall have to settle for piecing the plan together through observation."

"You do that," Nightmare said with a smile, giving Luna a wave as she stalked off grumbling. The smile turned sympathetic as she turned it onto Twilight, "Rainbow told us about Sunset. That... a shame."

"None of the traditional sympathy then?"

Nightmare shook her head, her smile growing again, "Not my style. Anyway, now that grumps is gone, do you want to know the plan?"

Poor aerial reconnaissance. That was a large part of Nightmare's plan. A very large part. It wasn't a bad part either, because if Celestia didn't do it, none of the Mareitanians would, simply because they couldn't. Even then Celestia would probably keep her distance enough to not notice the zebra army was actually an illusion.

The only problem was that they were there, Twilight, Luna, and 'Cadence.' It was a problem because alicorns tended to be quite the deterrent. They doubted that the entire Mareitanian army would divert to the long route because of them, but it was still a risk. Hopefully the chance of crushing the zebra army here and now would be too good a temptation to avoid doing, even if it meant fighting through the canyon. Mareitanians had experience fighting those kinds of battles after all.

That battle was still a while off as yet, giving them time to relax a bit. Twilight and Trixie spent it practicing Trixie's magic, although Twilight was a bit distracted at times with her skin peeling off in chunks. It was beyond ugly, but it did at least feel a lot better.

"Don't wear yourself out too much," Twilight warned Trixie. "You know what'll happen if you do."

"Yeah-yeah, I know. Hit me."

Twilight fired a blast of magic at Trixie that the unicorn blocked with a shield, just as she did every blast that followed, feeling more confident about her shields with every blow taken. She shrank the shield down to a smaller disc, and attempted to deflect the blasts back towards Twilight. That had less success, but it was something she could work on.

"Magic armour, magic shields... all I need is a magic sword and I'm good to go."

"Swordy still has notches from your attempts to use him before you gave him to me."

"And? I just want to look cool, not actually fight with it."

Twilight rolled her eyes with a smile. Truthfully though, she was thankful to Trixie for providing such a good distraction, from the impending battle, Sunset, and her peeling. She wished it could go on for longer, but in her mind she could feel the Mareitanians getting closer. The time was coming for the first battle to keep Zebrica free.

"How about, once the war is over," Twilight said as she peeled a particularly large piece of skin off her side, "we go to a country purely to relax and enjoy the culture? I'm kinda annoyed that all our travelling is necessitated by stopping Faust. I'd quite like to go to a country and not end up in a fight."

"And I'm sure you'd spend half your time being paranoid that nothing had gone wrong yet."

"At first, maybe," Twilight said defensively. "I'm sure I'd get used to it... after a month or two."

"A month or two? How long are you planning on going?"

Twilight hesitated to answer, because she wanted to say 'long enough,' but that sounded to her exactly how it probably would've sounded to Trixie, like she didn't plan on going back to Equestria at all. That wasn't true, and yet...

"Twilight?"

"Sorry, I'm just thinking. Once the war's over, and we can rebuild Equestria, I can get the ball rolling on how Equestria is governed. If Equestria votes to be ruled by democracy, I'll suddenly have so much free time."

"And in the far more likely event, to me at least, that Equestria votes to keep the princesses? No offence."

"Then I abdicate, and still end up with free time."

"Oh good," Trixie laughed bitterly, "lots of time for you to dwell on everything."

Twilight sighed a laugh, "You're not wrong, but I would have to get professional help. Considering the amount of ponies affected by all that's happened, therapy is going to be in high demand for a while. The main point is that I would have the time to travel, and do things I never could as a princess."

"And what about certain promises you made to the Sultan?"

"Oh, yeah. Good job you reminded me."

"Then there's the Storm King, which is kinda the same thing, and then there's the whole... me thing."

"And I'm sure there's probably going to be some other kind of crisis after that, and then another, and another, and I'll have to help because I don't feel like I can refuse, because I can make a difference, and I know it. That's my life now. I'm merely a solver of problems, big and small." Twilight smiled as Trixie snickered, "What about you? What do you want?"

"Me? And here I thought I'd be helping you with all of that, because that's my life now. I've gone from being the star of the show to being the beautiful assistant, and I'm actually okay with that. The only thing I'd be happy to get rid of is this feeling I have now, waiting on the edge of a battle that's coming. I'd rather we just get on with it, y'know?"

"That shouldn't be a problem for much longer."

"No, but it will definitely put a damper on that reunion with Seeker."

"I'm pretty sure Zebrica being invaded is the main damper here. I'd also like to point out that I'm not the star of the show, and you are not my beautiful assistant. I'd say we're probably more of a double act."

Trixie nodded slowly and smiled, "Yeah, that works for me." Trixie stopped nodding and squinted upwards as she noticed something in the sky, "Either that's one heck of a big bird, or Celestia is giving us a good eyeing up."

Twilight followed Trixie's gaze upwards to what she was looking at, seeing the same winged being hanging in the sky in the distance. "Hopefully this flimsy illusion of an army works then."

"I think it being flimsy is part of it. Currently it looks like we're trying to scare them into taking the long route, while in reality making it seem like we don't actually have an army, thus drawing the Mareitanians this way."

Twilight blinked once, then twice. "Oh. I was under the impression this was meant to seem genuine." Twilight looked over to where 'Cadence' was quickly discussing something with some zebras, "I suppose being devious is in her nature."

"Like wheels within wheels. Whichever reason the Mareitanians choose to come through here for, the point is that they do. I suppose us hiding until they went through anyway would have the same effect, but... meh," Trixie shrugged.

"I don't know. Seeing nothing at the most obvious place to stop my invasion would make me suspicious enough to be very careful." Twilight glanced over at the empty canyon, "Celestia would probably do something to test whether the canyon was really empty if she had reason to suspect it was a trap. Instead she can see us here in plain view, where she can let overconfidence overrule her rationality a little."

"So the point is to never be an enemy of Nightmare?"

"My biggest curveballs are when I do something straightforward," Nightmare said as she sauntered up to them. "The Mareitanians are a few miles out, so you might want to get yourselves ready. That means stop pulling your skin off. You're just costing yourself that tiny bit of extra protection."

"I'm sure looking like someone tried to flay me and stopped halfway is more protection than the skin would ever be."

"You do seem to be quite the horror show. Start screaming like a banshee, and none of this could possibly go wrong."

They could see the Mareitanians now, having taken the bait, hook, line, and sinker. They weren't rushing into the canyon like idiots, which was pretty easy to predict, but had instead stopped to reorganise their forces. It seemed they were taking the tried and tested 'advance slowly with shields' method, which was also easy to predict. The fact that Nightmare didn't seem bothered in the slightest by it showed that this was well within her expectations.

"How can they not see this is a trap?" Luna asked out loud, disbelief evident on her face and in her words. "Even if it deliberately doesn't look like one, it still so very obviously is."

Nightmare glanced sideways at Luna, then returned her gaze to straight forward, a faint smile on her lips. "Come on Celestia, do the thing. I know you want to."

"Do what thing?"

Nightmare didn't reply, not until after a wave of golden magic swept up the canyon, followed by several more. "That thing. She's scanned the canyon, discovered no magical traps, no explosives, or any hidden zebras, so she should be thinking that it's quite safe to come up here and attack now."

Now Twilight was worried, "You mean there isn't any explosives or spell traps set up in the canyon?"

"That is correct."

"Um..." Twilight shared a look with Luna and Trixie, "I don't want to sound like I'm doubting you, but you never said any of what's happening is part of your plan. I don't suppose you want to tell us what the plan actually is?"

"Hmm... nah, I want to keep it interesting for you. I will tell you a fun fact though. Did you know that dragon magic is nearly untraceable by magic, unless you're looking specifically for it? I certainly didn't until Ember and I worked it out. Neat, huh?"

"I'd love to see whatever process led to you discovering that," Trixie quipped.

"It is quite the amusing anecdote. The fact is that dragon magic works at a much lower thaumic frequency than most other magic, and you can't scan for it and other magic using the same spell."

"This still doesn't tell us what you have planned," Luna said slowly.

"But I've given you a clue, surely?"

Luna grunted, but said nothing more.

"Here they come," Nightmare said a few minutes later as the Mareitanians started to pass into the canyon. She was bouncing on the tips of her hooves, which looked far more appropriate when she was disguised as Cadence than if she looked like she normally did.

Luna pawed at the ground as Trixie jammed her helmet on her head, and Twilight summoned Swordy for her own preparation. Then tears sprung up in her eyes as she heard begging. Begging that sounded just like Sunset, and like she didn't want something to happen. Was it her subconscious begging her to not fight, and using Sunset's voice to give it a greater impact? It was a dick move if it was, and made no sense since this was hardly the first battle she'd been in. Far from it. Twilight rubbed her tears away and forced herself to focus on what was in front of her.

As expected, the Mareitanians were advancing slowly behind shields, fully ready to be attacked by either magic or arrows. A fair assumption on their part, but for those that didn't happen to be fully in the know, the sight was getting increasingly worrying.

"Adepts in front, then some yaks to take over once they reach us. These Mareitanians are almost pathetic in their predictability. Oh well. Keep your eyes on the skies, ladies."

As Nightmare spoke, a tortured whine reached their ears, like the air itself was screaming with the passage of something moving faster than it should. A distant spec in the sky was rapidly growing closer, and resolved into the shape of Ember as she dove straight for the canyon.

Two flaming orbs flew from Ember as she pulled up, impacting against the sides of the canyon at the far end. Flaming lines traced around a concentrated spot, before settling into a rumbling explosion that shook the ground as it tore the sides of the canyon down, right across the Mareitanian army. Two more orbs followed at the nearer end of the canyon, collapsing the sides to box a portion of the Mareitanian army in.

"Perfection," Nightmare purred as Ember came in to land, bending one knee to slam a fist into the ground. "Excellent work, Ember. Of course, that now means it's time for part two of my plan." Nightmare turned to Luna, "I have six hundred zebras armed with bows, ready to attack at my signal. Should I do it?"

"What? Why are you asking me?"

"Because this is going to be a massacre, and I know how this game works. If I order the attack, I get accused of slaughtering those ponies in a brutal attack. If you do it, it gets called war, and no one bats an eyelash. That's why the choice is entirely yours. You could not give the order and let the Mareitanians unblock the other end to get their comrades back, then take the long way to Zanzebra, or you can order the zebras to attack, massacring those ponies and yaks trapped in the canyon, and we really hurt them."

"You must be joking!" Luna looked back and forth between the canyon and Nightmare, "What kind of choice is this supposed to be?"

"Clock's ticking, Luna."

Luna stuttered with the agony of indecision, her fury at Nightmare growing along with a cold understanding of how her mind worked. The fact was that any attack like this was going to be a massacre, whoever ordered it, including herself. Nightmare's persecution complex was the only thing preventing her from making the choice herself.

"Order the attack," Luna snarled. "Twilight, with me. We're going to keep Celestia busy while Nightmare, Trixie, and Ember do their best to keep the Mareitanians from putting shields up. Move!"

The three alicorns tore into the air, Nightmare screaming "Mgomo! Mgomo!" as loud as she could, signalling the zebras to attack, although the didn't immediately since they were further from the edges of the canyon than Twilight would've thought they'd be. It was probably to avoid Celestia spotting or detecting them.

The Mareitanians were still in chaos as they flew upwards, and had yet to come across a sensible plan of action. The barriers at both ends of the short canyon were too high to climb over without difficulty, and the Mareitanians on the other side could do little to help bar remove the obstacles, which would be far too late to help.

In other words it was a decently thought out attack. Too bad it was ending in a slaughter, but they had relatively little choice if they didn't want those trapped getting freed again.

"There!" Luna said, pointing a hoof at Celestia as she powered up into the air. Luna fired a single blast of magic that Celestia easily dodged, but was never meant to do more than get her attention. The white alicorn seemed positively pissed at what had happened, which was fair, but it was also putting a very ugly expression on Celestia's face that would never have been there before Faust did whatever she done to her.

No words were exchanged before the three alicorns clashed. Solaris flashed through the air, a burning streak of white heat that you felt before you saw. That weapon alone proved more of a danger than Celestia herself. One lucky strike, and either one of them could end up as little more than a puff of ashes, drifting in the wind.

"Not even a hello for your little sister?" Luna asked, her voice hard with emotion. The lack of words seemed to be affecting her more than it did Twilight, but that was understandable. The idea that they weren't even worth Celestia's scorn might've upset Twilight too, had the previous night not taught her that Celestia was no longer interested in speaking.

Twilight caught Solaris with Swordy as the blazing spear cut through the air in a strike that would've bisected Luna if she hadn't stopped it. Luna was too close to Celestia, seeming to want to engage her hoof to hoof. If she'd still had her glaives that might've worked, but without them it was suicide. Twilight pushed Solaris back, and dragged Luna away.

"Don't be an idiot, Luna!"

"She's cracking," Luna said, waving a hoof at Celestia as the alicorn in question charged an attack on her horn, firing right at them, but hitting nothing as they dodged. "She isn't even Celestia any more."

"Maybe, maybe not, but getting yourself killed isn't going to prove anything!" Twilight fired a bolt of magic at Celestia, that she batted aside with Solaris. "Come on, we need to push her back."

"Very well. Together then."

Both Twilight and Luna fired a beam of magic at Celestia, which she was forced to shield herself from. That alone was a struggle for her. There was no way she could fight off both Luna and Twilight, and all of them knew it. That didn't stop her from trying though.

Trixie poured her magic into the Mareitanians shield, not even caring at this point that said magic was more of the dark variety. Even with both Nightmare and Ember pounding on the shield with magic and dragon fire, they weren't getting through.

"Damn it!" Trixie screamed, her frustration spilling into her magic with a surge of power that was still proved to be fruitless. The zebra were in position now, but were unable to attack with the shield up. Something needed to happen soon, or this was all for nothing.

Trixie stopped casting, and assessed the situation, her bottom lip jutting out in thought. The shield was being cast in sections, as it always was, maintained by a number of Adepts. Take some of those adepts out and the shield grew holes, and as a result of that it destabilised. But the only way to remove some of those Adepts was to be inside the shield...

"Oh... fuck me, I can't believe I'm about to do this."

Trixie took a deep breath, her mind racing over the lessons Twilight had given. She'd never successfully done what she was about to attempt, but if there was to be a first time for it, it might as well be now, doing something incredibly stupid.
The ponies were in the shield were watching her when she opened her eyes again, and she was actually thankful that they hadn't attacked her since she was stood on top of the barrier blocking them in, unmoving, with her eyes closed. She literally couldn't have been an easier target. Maybe what stopped them was that many of them knew who she was, and knew firsthoof what she'd done during the Mareitanian civil war. She wouldn't want to risk an opening and letting her in if she could help it either. Unfortunately for them she wasn't going to give them that choice.

Trixie winked at her observers, then cast the spell she'd been letting build on her horn. In the blink of an eye, and a flash, she moved from just outside the shield, to just inside it.

"Hah! It worked!" Trixie cried in jubilation. She only just got a shield up before the first arrow hit her. She fired her magic in a straight beam, blasting back an Adept, then another, hiding behind her shield whenever she could as the slow realisation crept up on her that she was naked. Her armour hadn't come with her.

"Fuck! Fuck-fuck-fuck-fuuuuck!" Trixie screamed, blasting wildly as the Mareitanians came around to the idea of attacking her as one. She summoned her helmet, smacking it across the side of the head of a pony that got too close, and jamming it on her head.

More bits of armour appeared, being used as impromptu weapons as Trixie desperately tried to hold back the soldiers attacking her. She'd barely gotten half of it on when a glancing blow sliced a bloody line across her midsection. Trixie fell, her magic instinctively cocooning her in a shell of dark crystals.

"Ah, fucking... stupid plan!" Trixie scolded herself as she pressed a hoof to the injury. It was bleeding quite heavily, if the blood running around her hoof was any sign. Weirdly, it didn't hurt as much as she thought it would, although adrenaline would probably be to blame for that.

"This used to be so easy back in Mareitania," Trixie grunted to herself as she summoned the rest of her armour and assembled it around her. "It was just earth ponies. Earth ponies didn't magic at you." Trixie folded her ears back and sighed as the ponies outside pounded on her shell. "But no, now we have to fight unicorns, and the only way to fight them is to magic back even harder." Trixie stood as her horn bubbled with dark magic, "Much harder."

The shell exploded into razor sharp shards that viciously cut down the ponies around her, giving her a wide space in which to start pushing forwards. Blasts of dark magic cut into the Mareitanian ranks, cutting down pony after pony. The shield above her started to destabilise as the number of Adepts supporting it shrank, and with one solid blast upwards, she was able to destroy a section of it altogether, giving the others an opening to get in. Not that it meant Trixie could stop.

The Mareitanians surged towards her, determined to stop her doing more damage, and rushed her faster than she could reasonably expect to stop them. She took down as many as she could, including a couple of yaks, but it was only seconds before they got to her, and it was game over.

"No!" Trixie cried, tears filling her eyes as the fear of death finally hit her. She was knocked over as a pony charged her from the side, her armour saving her from his weapon, but by the time she'd tossed him off, the rest had reached her.

Magic bloomed around her, but not her own. The ponies around her were pushed back as Nightmare, still disguised as Cadence, gracefully descended through the hole that Trixie had made. She came to a stop right above Trixie, looking every inch like a pink guardian angel, a gentle, peaceful smile upon her face, that was reflected in the blade of her battle-axe.

"Nice work, Trixie," Nightmare said, right before swinging the axe around in a stroke that decapitated two ponies, breaking the spell she seemed to have over them. A blue shape darted in through the hole behind her, and breathed a wave of flame down on the ponies and yaks. "Try not to die while we get the shield down."

"Sure thing," Trixie said weakly as Nightmare darted away, laughing happily as she swung her axe. Trixie tried to stand, but her back legs had no strength to them, so decided to stay where she was in the hopes that nothing killed her before she bled to death.

An audible pop and a rush of warm air from below signalled the fall of the shield. Twilight grinned unpleasantly as Celestia stared downwards, dumbstruck as the zebra archers on the sides of the canyon were finally able to start firing. Screams could be heard from below, echoing off the rocky walls.

"You're slaughtering them!" Celestia screeched, her eyes slightly wild from witnessing the carnage the zebras were unloading on the trapped ponies and yaks.

"You've presented us with little choice," Luna growled. "Faust presented us with little choice. Why can't you see she's the one propagating all these deaths? She's the one responsible for all of this!"

"You have no right to even say her name, you monster!"

A thin beam of white hot magic burst from Solaris, puncturing through Luna's hastily erected shield and gouging a chunk of flesh out of Luna's left cutie mark. Twilight caught Luna as she fell, and she could hear the wound sizzling for several seconds as Luna pulled herself back together enough to fly under her own power.

Celestia laughed at the show, a crazed edge to it that shouldn't be there. She stopped suddenly, and clasped a hoof over her left eye as she squeezed both eyes shut. Twilight wasn't sure what to make of it, a feeling that doubled when Celestia reopened her eyes. Her left one was completely normal, but her right, which she hadn't covered, was a darker purple and slitted. Celestia blinked again, and it was gone.

"This battle is over," Luna told her sister, her voice tight with pain. Her wound was still smoking. "Take your army and go."

Celestia snorted, stunning both Luna and Twilight as a wave of flame drifted down her mane and tail. "This isn't over until I say it is!"

Twilight and Luna split up as Celestia fired a beam of fiery magic at them. They both looped around to attack, and were both surprised to find Celestia wasn't where they thought she'd be. She was diving towards the canyon, or more specifically for the zebras.

"I think there's something wrong with your sister!" Twilight shouted at Luna as they both dove downwards after Celestia, who was leaving a trail of flame in her wake.

"You think? I'll stop her, you attack her from behind!"

"Got it!" Twilight kept flying as Luna teleported ahead of Celestia, shielding herself as she prevented her sister from incinerating the zebras. Twilight kept going, a spell ready to hit Celestia when she stopped dead in the air, a fiery aura of magic holding her in place.

"Don't think me so simple, Twilight Sparkle!" Celestia shouted. She pointed Solaris at Twilight, ready to end her, then got blasted sideways by the pink alicorn that flew onto the scene.

"Been waiting a while to do that," Nightmare said with a grin. She blasted Celestia again, hitting her down to the ground where Ember was waiting. Before Celestia could recover, Ember breathed a stream of flame onto her. Twilight had to hold Luna back as she instinctively went to help her sister.

"Stop!" she screamed. "Stop burning her!"

Ember complied, and the flames quickly died down to show that Celestia hiding within a shield, drawing the fire into Solaris. After a moment, she swung the spear at Ember, firing a miniature sun at the dragon, knocking her out of the sky. Ember just about caught herself on her wings before landing roughly.

"That's not possible," Twilight said dumbly. "That shouldn't be possible! That's dragon fire!"

"Apparently it's possible," Luna said, not believing it herself. "Attack her, now. She can't hope to beat all three of us."

All three alicorns attacked Celestia, who didn't try to fight it. Instead she teleported away, reappearing above the rest of her army as it started to move away, knowing this fight had been lost. It was heading north, taking the long route to Zanzebra.

Luna watched resolutely for a moment as her sister stared at them over the distance, and didn't break her gaze until Celestia did and flew down to the ground. Only then did Luna release a cry and almost fall to the ground. Both Twilight and Nightmare caught her and carried her down.

"This wound's still burning," Nightmare said of Luna's injury as they landed. It was still smoking, and inside it embers of incinerated flesh were glowing. It must've been pure agony, and she marvelled at Luna's ability to hide that pain, because she was pretty sure she couldn't.

"We need to cut the burning stuff out," Twilight told Nightmare. "Quickly, before it spreads too far and we have to take her leg off."

"I know, I can take care of it. Trixie's hurt down there, so you might want to go take care of her. You might want to check on Ember on your way."

Twilight gave Nightmare a quick nod, then flew away, leaving her and Luna alone. She quickly inspected the wound, and concluded Twilight was right. If that ember, or whatever it was, reached the bone, the entire leg would have to come off to stop it spreading all around her body. Or so she thought. It was anypony's guess what it would actually do, and she knew she could easily be wrong.

"Why'd you do it?" Luna asked, not bothering to look at Nightmare. "Why make me give the order?"

"I already told you. If you do it, it's perfectly fine if you give it because you're a princess, but if I do it, I'm just Nightmare Moon being a monster."

"The only ones here that know who you really are, are myself, Twilight, Trixie, Ember, and the kirin. For all others, you are Princess Cadence."

"That's not the point."

"Twilight, Trixie, and I have all done things in war, and given orders resulting in the deaths of many, so we are hardly going to judge you."

"That's still not the point!"

"Then what is? This was your plan, so even if I gave the order, it doesn't really absolve you of anything." Luna finally looked back and smiled weakly at Nightmare, "The fact that you're worried about being seen as a monster means you aren't one."

"I just-" Nightmare huffed, "I just know what ponies are going to see when they look at me, and... I don't want them to be right."

Luna nodded in understanding, "So it's about how you see yourself. You do remember the thing with the Tantabus, yes? How I tormented myself with nightmares to punish myself?"

"How could I forget?"

"Do you remember how wrong I was?"

"Oh I definitely remember that."

"Good, because that means that what I'm about to do will make more sense." Luna reached back and pulled Nightmare into a hug that the currently pink alicorn tried to wriggle out of. "I'm sorry for placing all these worries upon you, and I wish I could do something about it. Can you forgive me?"

Nightmare stopped struggling and sighed, "I suppose so."

"Thank you. Now can you do something about this wound? It hurts like you would not believe."

"Alright." Nightmare picked up her axe, Ebony, and cleaned the blade off before placing it on the edge of the wound. "I just want you to know I take no pleasure from this at all, and that it's going to hurt. A lot."

"I know, I-"

Twilight had left a bruised, battered, and frankly pissed off Ember sitting on a pile of dirt, nursing a stomach ache from eating too many fire rubies to boost her fire, when the second most agonised scream she'd heard from Luna that day echoed through the canyon.

"Oooh, that sounded bad," she muttered, before hurrying along to find Trixie. The zebras had moved into the canyon to round up the survivors, and to put down any that still had some fight in them. By Twilight's guess there were maybe four hundred still living, out of around two thousand. She didn't want to think about it too hard.

The ring of crystals at the one end of the canyon seemed like the best place to start, although finding that Trixie had once again resorted to dark magic for no reason when she could be using a shield did annoy her a little. She tapped a hoof on a crystal, "Trixie? Are you in there? The battle's over now."

The crystals sunk slowly into the ground, uncovering an injured Trixie that was still holding her midsection. The fact that she was laying in a puddle of her own blood was disconcerting to say the least, and Twilight sucked in a sharp breath of fear as Trixie wasn't moving. Then her eye rolled to look at Twilight.

"Hey."

"Oh thank goodness," Twilight breathed, "I thought-" Twilight shook her head, no longer wanting the thought anywhere near her. "How bad is it?"

"My nose itches, but I'm too weak to scratch it. It's the fucking worst."

"Okay, um, hold on while I-"

"Did we win?"

"This battle, yeah. It's far from over though, and I think Celestia might have lost her mind a little, so who knows how things will go from here?"

"Cool. Now patch me up so we can get to the next fight."

Author's Notes:

This was the chapter I was working on when I had my week off, and lost the thread a bit. I get the feeling it kinda shows. But battles, a crazy Celestia, and... other stuff. All good fun.