A/N: Science detailed in this chapter is just the rambling of a mad author who is desperate to look cool..... AM I COOL YET!?!

“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men should do nothing.” -Edmund Burke

"All great things are simple, and many can be expressed in single words: Freedom, Justice, Honor, Duty, Mercy, Hope." - Winston Churchill

Golden red light reflected from the glass and steel towers that lay before her. The sounds of millions people moving through the city, either fleeing the barrier and just passing through or patrolling the city to ensure its safety.

Millions of souls depended on her to be strong and lead her forces for their safety.

New York. Oh great New York.

The massive city glowed in the darkened sky, its. A bright light managed to outshine the menacing pink glow to the east. It was one of humanity's largest cities in the world. A literal melting pot of culture, races, and lifestyles. It has seen it all, starting from its humble beginning in the year of 1624 as a simple trading post.

From the arrival of thousands of immigrants into its ports as they cross the sea for a new start in their lives...

To the death of thousands with attacks that not only forever shatter an iconic view of New York, but has made its citizens mourn the loss of those lives taken away.

It has seen much, experienced much, and the people that reside within itself have pushed through, both good and bad.

Now, instead of citizens and foreign travelers walking its streets, refugees and soldiers call it their home.

Many New Yorkers had remained behind when the military established themselves a year ago; opening their doors to soldiers and fleeing refugees, helping the city become something more defendable. Every building had anti-air defenses, every corner had a machine gun nest, every window was boarded and the streets were blocked off. The city was no longer a cultural melting pot...

It was fortress. A giant door leading to the rest of the country...

A door with so many barrels poking through it, one had to be a bloody fool to go knocking with wicked intentions at its door.

Cheerilee leaned against the barrier that prevented her from falling off the edge of Freedom Tower, sighing as she watched the glowing light from the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. So many thoughts filtered through her mind, and yet the one prevailing thought was based on a certain human.

"Where are you Marcus?" Cheerilee whispered, blinking away the tears that threatened to fall.

The sound of footsteps crunching on the rooftop gravel brought her out of her mental musing. She turned to see a young teen standing by, rifle in hand as he walked up to her. 'Maybe about sixteen... no... Fifteen. Too young to fight... but we are getting low on willing fighters.'

"Ma'am." The teen soldier nodded his head to her, his eyes glued on the scene before him.

"Yes?" She turned back to the city, the inner city glowed brightly, while the outskirts show soldiers and military vehicles moving about in their patrols.

"You're needed in the conference room, the meeting you called is about to begin. Captain Spitfire, Doctor Whooves and Ms. Scratch are waiting." The teen relayed to her. But one of the names cause Cheerilee blink in confusion.

"Doctor? But he is supposed to be resting, he was injured not even an hour ago." Cheerilee looked at the teen with confusion.

The teen only smiled and shrugged. "Don't know Ma'am, but he is waiting for you."

"Darn that stubborn stallion, how Derpy puts up with his antics I'll never know." Cheerilee muttered as she got up from her perch. The teen only smiled and followed her as they walked back inside.

As they reached the elevator, the teen gave a small cough before speaking. "Ma'am. Is there any sign of Commander Renee?"

Cheerilee only lowered her head, her ears flattening against her skull. The elevator doors opened and she stepped through before finally answering the young man's query. "No."

"Oh."

"I wish I had more to say." Cheerilee clarified, rubbing her head with her right hoof as the doors closed and the elevator began its descent. "At the moment, we should be thankful that Marcus is not in the Tyrant's disgusting hooves."

"Just MIA." The young man snorted, shaking his head. The elevator quietly rang a soft tune before the doors opened, allowing the two to continue on. "The latest reports-"

"I know what the reports say." Cheerilee cut him off with a terse reply, her voice sounding more like a disproving teacher than a commanding officer. It still ended up with the same results however, the teen froze up involuntarily. "I know that he went missing when the Elements attacked Commander Renee. Vinyl and Captain Spitfire were both there, and both saw with their own eyes that he vanished into a portal similar to the portals used by the Tyrant's Army. We have our own ponies looking for any sign of him on Equus."

For a moment, the two walked in silence before finally reaching their destination, a double door. Cheerilee reached up to push one of the doors open, but the next question caused her to pause.

"But will he still be alive... after all this time?" The teen lowered his head at his question. "We all have seen what happens when a human is introduced to an extremely magical environment. We start doing the Wicked Witch routine the moment we are in. Magic is fine to perform on us in small doses but... too much and we literally begin to melt."

Cheerilee said nothing, the only response was to flatten her ears against her skull. She was afraid that the teen was right, afraid at what the implications meant. Afraid that all they would find of him would be his liquefied remains.

The Runes protected him, allowing a large quantity of magic to reside safely within him, with no signs of discomfort or pain. However, she wasn't sure if they could protect him in an environment like Equus. No human wanted to test any theory that a pony could think up that could protect them from magic prevalent in Equus, and no pony had the heart to put them in such a position in case it failed.

Time was running out...

In more ways than one.

She turned back and looked at the teen before her, and all she saw was a young man struggling to breathe, ash covering his form as he reached out to her, his eyes begging her to save him.

"Ma'am?" Cheerilee shook her head, banishing the image from her mind.

"He's alive, I can feel it, but I don't think he wants us worrying about him right now. We need to focus on the Tyrant and her armies advancing." Cheerilee said with conviction. She turned and gave a big warm smile, causing the teen to give one in return.

"Yeah, of course you're right. Besides, those zombies don't have the ability to get reinforcements now. Every new foal killed is one that won't get replaced so easily now, not by a portal or by potion." The teen exclaimed happily. "We can stop this, I know we can."

Cheerilee nodded her head before finally pushing the door open and proceeded inside. She stopped and turned back to smile at him again. "That's the spirit. Thank you for escorting me to the Conference Room..."

The teen smiled, snickering as Cheerilee struggled with the name on his coat, but given where her head was located near his waist, it nearly was impossible for her to read it unless she was several steps away. "Private Adrian Shepard, ma'am."

"Thank you Private Shepard. My that was embarrassing." Cheerilee flushed slightly, but she was happy to cause some level of joy in this bleak period of time.

"You’re welcome Ma'am." The teen saluted her, one that she gave in return before he turned and walked away. Cheerilee nodded her head before turning to enter the conference room.

The place was in average in appearance; ten chairs were neatly cleaned and organized, though the round table was filled with paperwork and reports from various foreign nation forces. The place was of great importance, since all information that was vital to the PHL is known to pass into this very room, before it was known by anypony else. Several large plasma TV were aligned in the length of the walls, two were dedicated to the Blue Force Tracker, or BFT in Military lingo, showing current movements of military personnels and enemy positions, along with various surviving news networks or information on the internet.

The room was empty, and that confused Cheerilee. It seemed that the information on the waiting time was a little exaggerated. But before she could fully show her displeasure at being forced to wait, a voice popped up from behind her, nearly scaring the fur off of her.

"No child should ever become a soldier," Doctor Whooves said quietly, watching the teen walk away before turning to her. "But desperate times call for desperate measures."

“You should be resting, you know that right?” Cheerilee spoke, a hoof in her chest as she made sure her heart was still in its position.

“Of course I do. Why do you think I’m doing this now? The faster this is done the more rest I’ll get when it’s all over.” The obnoxious pony replied as if it was the obvious conclusion. Cheerilee simply sighed.

"And does Derpy approve of this way of thinking?" Cheerilee asked, giving the Doctor a sidelong look.

"Of course she does! It’s how we’ve always done things." Doctor happily answered, his eyes showing nothing but mirth.

"So she approves of you being outside of a medical facility when you just recently got impaled by a spear?" Cheerilee couldn't help but feel a small amount of vindication when Doctor's ears folded themselves against his skull, a small glint of fear beginning to show in his eyes.

Doctor rubbed the back of his skull, chuckling nervously while he looked at everything but Cheerilee. "Ah...well, it’s a bit of a matter of perspective really-"

"Whatever Doc." Vinyl’s voice echoed out from behind him. The mare leaned against the door frame with a mischievous look on her face, her shades propped up on her horn. "You’re in trouble and you know it."

"I have to agree with her Doctor." Spitfire trotted up to them, giving him a slight poke on his wounded shoulder, causing him to wince in pain. "Derpy loves you with all of her heart, but she will bring Luna's wrath on your head once she finds you missing."

Doctor lowered his head, a feebly grin on his face, causing Cheerilee to roll her eyes as she made her way into the room. "I guess Tiger-lilly muffins would be a the best 'I'm sorry I am an Idiot' apology gift that would get me in the clear?"

The three mares looked at one another before answering. "Yes."

"With chocolates."

"And her favorite movie."

"And a hoof massage."

Doctor only hung his head as the mares gave a small scatter of giggles, but he was smiling at the small jabs being made at him. He limped his way to the table before sitting down and giving them a hurt look. "Ladies, you wound me so. Like right here, on the shoulder." The small joke was all the indication they needed that he’d be fine, causing them to all chuckle along with him.

"Oh, quiet you." Cheerilee laughed at him, enjoying the atmosphere before reality began its descent on to her mind. "I miss this." She whispered quietly after the laughter subsided, the positive air slowly dwindling away.

All the ponies heard her statement, but refused to make her clarify. They knew what she was talking about, and they felt the same thing.

The war had taken a lot from them.

Vinyl jumped onto her seat, spinning several times before finally stopping with a slam of the hooves on the table. "Alright, let's get this over with, I left a lot of my stuff in Boston and I don't want anypony touching it."

Cheerilee was more demurred in sitting in her chair, scoffing slightly at Vinyl’s urge to make haste. "Vinyl, you are the only pony that can use said gear. Part of me is glad you blew out your subwoofers to force you back to using the the proper weapons."

"Hey! All my speakers are awesome, you should've seen some of those humans fighting when my speakers are cranked up to 15!" Vinyl jab a hoof at Cheerilee, Spitfire only shook her head.

"Can we get back on track please?" Spitfire’s calm voice shattered the argument, causing the two ponies to look abashed at their conduct.

"Of course. Vinyl, how are ground forces? Anything I should be worried about?" Cheerilee adopted a calm and calculating look. It was the same look she had taken when she spoke out against Lyra's initial plan to have a sit down protest in Canterlot.

She has seen and experienced first hoof what the New Foals did to ponies who went against the Tyrant, and the few protests that began before Lyra's PHL group were nasty. It was thanks to her they protested in Fillydelphia instead, where the New Foal numbers were slim, and where production of airships was located at. It opened the eyes of many ponies to see the New Foals turned violent on them when they didn’t agree with the Tyrant and her policies..

Sadly, those protests dwindled to nothing when more and more ponies got hurt, if not by the New Foals, then by the corrupted guards. This gave rise to the PHL that everypony knew: A group dedicated in bringing down the Tyrant, freeing Luna from her unjust imprisonment, and protecting humanity from her deranged ideals.

"We got a dozen injuries." Vinyl scowled as she reported to Cheerilee. "Many of them won't be walking, but it could've been a lot worse if we didn't have the enchanted and runic armor."

PHL wasn't a group just for ponies either...

"What about Iron Will and his group?" Cheerilee closed her eyes, saddened by the injuries, but pushed on. She needed to be strong. For Lyra's memories, her strength, her passion in defending humanity, and true pony ideals.

"Lyra! This is insane! We need you here with us!"

"What we need is a distraction, and right now all those New Foals have a hard on for me. I'm taking this ship, sailing it into the pegasi made storm, and I'm going to be that distraction. You get my stuff, all my ideas for the runes, and you get everyone outta of here Cheerilee! We already have this entire island ready to go up in flames, but we weren't expecting this attack. I did the best I could for the refugee ships and so far its working like a charm, but now is the time for action, I need to be out there.

"Not alone you’re not."

"Sorry Captain, but you need to get all the sailors-"

"I'm sorry Miss Heartstring, but I follow His Royal Majesty’s orders, not yours. I will not allow HMS Thunder Child, the most advance Frigate in His Majesty's Navy, be under control of a unicorn. No. She will sail with human hands, and she will let loose the dogs of war before she falls. You need a distraction and you need my ship. You get us and the ship is yours."

"Lyra..."

"Take care of them Cheerilee, take care of them and make sure we win. They won't break me if they capture me and Marcus will lead his own people to victory if we help out."

"Lyra!"

"Come on Captain, we have ship to sail and a statement to make!"

Cheerilee focused herself back on the present. She hated it when found herself thinking of the past, it often led to bad and hurtful memories.

"Will says he and his group are ready to go at anytime. He also received news that another group of soldiers managed to sneak through the portal and are on their way to Boston, straight from the Griffon Kingdom. Tsumerai at that." Vinyl said with a rather feral grin.

The rest of the room blink in shock. Tsumerai were essentially the Delta Force or Spetsnaz of the Griffon military. The translation literally meant 'Talon Warriors' and was no joke in terms of their abilites. They not only defended the current ruler, but faced off against Greed or rogue Dragons on a monthly basis (though not anymore due to the Dragon Purge led by the Tyrant), due to how close they were to dragon territory. To have a single Tsumerai in their ranks would be a huge boon to not only the Iron Will's group, but to the PHL as a whole.

They're heavily armored, armed to the beak, and extremely skilled in both magical and physical combat. Their swords, the Katana, were their main weapons, forged by the best and trained by the best in utilizing them. However, their numbers were small due to the high death tolls, both by the grueling training and by battle. They also utilized many other weapons as well, such as magic for those gifted with the skill of using them.

The Tsumerai were so gifted in combat that they opened a fighting arena so they could find more talent to bolster their ranks with.

The Dragon Tourney was open to all and cemented itself as a world class arena in a few short years of it being introduced. The tournament became extremely popular due to the dozens of spells fitted in the arena itself to insure the combatants survival while still maintaining the freedom of the fighters.

After all, there was no sense in killing off soldiers and talented fighters.

It was a place for all species to test their mettle against one another. The best of the Tourney then faced off against a Tsumerai warrior, with a chance to win their prized blades.

The last winner was over a decade ago, a unicorn with the stage name 'Five Blade Fancy'. The only unicorn to use magic and physical skills to win. He was also the only pony to actually use five separate blades of various styles and make, not swinging like a madpony, but with actual skill and tactics.

Hence the name Five Blade and how graceful he was in utilizing them.

Cheerilee shook her head for the random info-memory, a light blush on her face as she remembered her younger years in wanting to know the dashing unicorn.

There were a few reasons for a Tsumerai, or apparently a group of them, to come now.

The Griffon Kingdom was suing for war was one of them.

With the Queen's mysterious death five years earlier, Equestria cutting off trade and bringing weather ponies back from the Kingdom, it has all but left the griffons floundering down a river without a boat. A thousand years of peaceful but vital trade and weather control had left the Griffon Kingdom without the means to take care of themselves. Lyra had suspected that the Tyrant had done something to Queen Hedwig, to destabilize the kingdom and gone further by cutting off trade that griffons relied on. Due to the mountainous region they inhabited, it was impossible to farm regularly, and so they depended on outside trade for food.

Gilda, Iron Will's second in command, described it as a slowly crumbling society on the verge of complete anarchy. Chicks were going hungry, even when older griffons were sacrificing their meals, only eating once a day or even a bite at all, anything for their future generations. There was simply too many beaks to feed and so little food to go around.

She also reported the first of many deaths due to starvation, many of the chicks no older than the fillies and colts in Cheerilee's former school teacher days.

King Tobias was struggling to keep his people together to survive this dark period last time Gilda been in her country, almost two years ago last time she checked, getting news from the Griffon Kingdom has all but been impossible to obtain since then.

"Well..." Doctor couldn't help but chuckle a bit, looking somewhat off at the info present. "There’s little doubt in my mind they're going to cut down anyone who gets in their way. Better let the pegasi patrol group know, Captain. We don't want a misunderstanding to happen." Spitfire nodded her head and pressed the collar on her neck, speaking softly so she will not interrupt the meeting. "Should also let the Navy know as well, no doubt they will cut them down with their anti-air."

"How many?" Cheerilee asked, willing to try and get some Tsumerai into the main fighting force, maybe train a few in human weaponry.

"Heh…” Vinyl suddenly looked very excited, which caused Cheerilee to look at her with confusion.

"Vinyl?"

"All of them." Vinyl quickly responded. Doctor's eyes open wide at the information with a flabbergasted look.

"All of them?! That's over one hundred trained warriors that make the Royal Army look like foals playing make believe! Why in the world- Oh!" The sudden stop cause all the mares to look at the eccentric stallion in confusion. The look of realization plastered on his face grew before it morphed into one of utter disbelief and sadness.

"Doctor?" Spitfire leaned towards him, about to shake him. "What is it?"

"They're here for Gilda." He said slowly. "Oh no, the poor girl. She’s going to be devastated."

"Wait, hold on!" Cheerilee snapped at him. "What are you talking about? Why are they here for Gilda?"

"Cause she’s the new Queen of the Griffon Kingdom. She is the youngest of the Stormwing Clan and a rightful heir to the throne." Doctor explained, his eyes full of sorrow. "And her entire family is dead."

"What!?" The three mares cried out in shock.

"What are you talking about Doc?" Vinyl exclaimed. "How do you know about this anyways?"

"I met Queen Hedwig when I accidently took Derpy and the girls to Stormwing Castle. I was shooting for Windy Heights but the old Tardis took us there instead. " Doctor explain, with a small sad smile as he thought back on the memory. "The next thing I know, she is boarding the Tardis along with her youngest granddaughter Gilda and two very confused Tsumerai guards. She hadn’t been to Windy Heights in a long while and wanted to spend time with her youngest grandchild."

Doctor sighed, rubbing his face with his hoof. "She explained to me that her duties kept her from enjoying family experiences, and teach Gilda as much as she can to enjoy her freedom, so much so that she was willing to send her to Equestria and be far away from the Royal Courts. While Gilda is not in any shape or form to be the next Queen, she is still Royalty, and many would make a pass at her for the chance to have it." Doctor remembered Hedwig staring into the distant mountains as she explained why she wanted be there, a young Gilda playing with Dinky and Sparkler in the background with Derpy and the two Tsmerai guards watching them.

"Poor Gilda." Spitfire whispered quietly. "All the others are excited to hear that so many Tsumerai are heading this way, and all she sees is bad news about to hit her in the beak."

"Vinyl, I want you to check up on her when the meeting is over." Cheerilee ordered, her eyes set on Vinyl who nodded her head. "I can't even begin to guess what she is thinking right now, but it can't be pretty. You and Will keep an eye her."

"Got it Cheer." Vinyl accepted the order and gave a small nod. Cheerilee sighed before turning to Doctor.

"Doctor, before you were injured, did you manage to get the latest numbers of our allies heavy machinery and vehicles?" Cheerilee watched as the Doctor closed his eyes, his good hoof gently tapping his skull.

"Ninety percent of all grounded military vehicles are runically enhanced, Fifty six of all air units are runical enhanced as well and all Naval units aside from the submarines are done. Those that are finished and ready are loaded up and heading to Boston." Doctor reported in a slightly monotone voice. It was no secret that he hated what was happening, but for the life of her, she never understood why. He almost never fought. True, he went into battle to help, but never really to fight. He was the puzzle nopony except Derpy could figure out.

He detested weapons of all sorts, even if said weapon saved his life. He was an oddity in the current day and age, and yet he had a body count higher than all of them combined. After all...

He brought down an entire prison filled with guards to their end after they captured Derpy and hurt her.

"The losses in Boston were minor at best. Both in machine and manpower. The Royal Army couldn't hurt any of the UN’s air units, so there was no loss there, but we had to dig out several of our tanks that were trapped within some holes that the Royal Army managed to dig out to trap them. We lost several light armor units, but those are easily replaced for the time being." Doctor finished his report, nodding to Cheerilee.

"Alright, Captain, how's our flying aces?" Cheerilee turned to the former stunt flier. She knew she was going to receive some bad news with the way Spitfire looked.

"As of this moment, I have ten ponies in the field hospital, minor injuries ranging from clipped wings to broken ribs." Spitfire closed her eyes and shooked her head, which caused Cheerilee to hold her breath. "One of them is in critical condition. They're not sure she's going to make it through the night."

"Who?" Cheerilee ask quietly, causing Spitfire to hesitate in answering. Cheerilee had a sinking feeling that she knew the pony, and Spitfire knew it too.

"Cloudchaser." Cheerilee felt like she was bucked in the gut by Applejack. She remembered when Cloudchaser, her sister Flitter, and several others had joined up with them. They all looked like they were badly roughed up when they turned themselves into the nearest human military. They, along with a large population of Ponyville, confronted Twilight and the others when they returned. News of the barrier had begun to spread and information began to leak into Equestria about what the Tyrant was doing.

While Twilight was able to calm most of the citizens and send them home, many of them didn't believe her, which included Cloudchaser. Cloudchaser demanded to know what right that Celestia had to force her will on another species.

“The humans are a disorganized mess, they’ve damaged their planet with how reckless they’ve been with their industrialization and technology. They need Queen Celestia’s help to guide them back on the proper path. After all, they don’t have any idea how to work in harmony with nature, they just recklessly destroy it whenever they encounter it.” Twilight gently chided the group of ponies before her, her friends smiling at her answer as if it was the perfect one.

"That doesn't give Queen Celestia the right to change them." Cloudchaser argued, glaring daggers at Twilight. Snowflake nod his head, agreeing with his marefriend, alongside her sister and Thunderlane. "I met humans, Twilight. I know they aren't perfect, but no pony is."

Twilight open her mouth to argue her point, but Cloudchaser talk over her. "Yeah, they haven't really taken care of their world, but they're trying to fix it. I seen many of their documentaries in ways in fixing their mistakes. They don't have magic, their world is one giant EverFree Forest, but look at them. Really look at them! They’ve done more than ponykind has ever accomplished! In less than ten years of saying it, they managed to land a human on the moon! With technology only somewhat more advanced than ours at the time! What really got me wondering though, is why you aren’t going gaga over it? You love this kind of stuff, Twilight!”

"Human technology is what led us to the mess of a planet called Earth." A young voice called out from behind Twilight and the others. A dark navy blue unicorn, his voice filled with false cheer as he voiced his opinion. Didn't take long for Cloudchaser to figure out he was a New Foal.

"Exactly. How can humanity hope to survive without Queen Celestina's guidance?" Twilight gave Stalwart Heart a large smile. "Perhaps you were so ensorcelled by the pretty pictures the human-made science threw out, that you failed to see the damage it was causing. Maybe I can teach you a thing or two about 'real' science, I'll even use pretty pictures to make a- Argh!"

Cloudchaser made her answer known by bucking Twilight in the face.

The fight was short, but brutal as the native Equestrians were jumped by New Foals, being led by none other than Stalwart Heart himself. Formerly known as Marcus's kid brother, Secret Service Agent Jacob Renee.

Only thanks to Snowflake's rather brutish strength did they escape and made their way back to Earth.

"Flitter and Snowflake?" Cheerilee wearily asked about Cloudchaser's sister and her coltfriend.

"Flitter cried herself to sleep. Snowflake hasn't said a word and been by her side the entire time. No one has been able to move him and I don't think anyone can, short of his little brother Featherweight that’s for sure."

"We can't risk sending Doctor to pick him up in Ponyville, not so soon after what Blue Spy did to the Tyrant and her prison for Spike. No doubt she has increased the spell area into locating the Tardis whenever it arrives. I'm not going to risk my former students' lives." Cheerilee shot the plan down quickly. Featherweight, Applebloom, and a few others of her former students were the eyes and ears in Ponyville.

Applebloom found it hard to accept the fact that her sister had all but changed into a monster, but with Cheerilee and Lyra showing images and videos of her sister 'helping' the humans, Applebloom finally believed them. It also helped that Big Macintosh side with them as well, giving Applebloom support she needed to face her sister everyday without giving themselves away. The fact that Applejack still trust her sister and brother had been instrumental in defending key areas due to Applejack running her mouth whenever Applebloom or Big Mac ask a question about what was going on in the castle or on Earth.

At least Applejack hasn't change that much, and the PHL were milking that source for all its worth.

"What happened?" Cheerilee eyes fully focused on Spitfire, steeling herself for the answer.

"I don't have the full details. Thunderlane was leading Bravo Team to Fenway Park to give the arriving resupply helicopters some cover." Spitfire grimaced as she remembered Thunderlane's hooves covered in Cloudchaser's blood as he reported directly to her on what had happened. "They were jumped by surviving Royal Pegasi Guards. Several spears were thrown at Snowflake, but Cloudchaser jumped in the way."

"Cloudchaser will pull through." Vinyl voice was confident in her proclamation. "She's too stubborn to die like that, and she won't leave Snowflake behind."

"Snowflake has gotten better at managing his anger thanks to Cloudchaser. I fear that her death might push him over the edge. Whether into mind numbing rage or crippling depression is unknown." Doctor muttered out loud.

Cheerilee nodded her head at his assessment. "Keep Flitter and Snowflake near Cloudchaser. I don't want her to be alone, she is going to need all the care we can give her and taking away her support is not an option. Bring up the reserves to replace our lost number, Captain."

"Already done, Cheerilee." Spitfire answered.

"Is the meeting over now?" Vinyl was about to jump off her chair, but Cheerilee's glare left her flank in place. "So, that's a no?"

Cheerilee nod her head before taking a deep breath before speaking. "Right. As of now, the barrier is stopped, for how long is anypony’s guess. The trench spell Zecora and Princess Cadance casted on the Miskatonic Leyline has held up the barrier, a first for all of us, but we can't be sure if it will hold. Zecora says... ugh... how did it go again? Ah! The ground and sky unite, Earth will hold with all her might, but her strength wanes to and fro, the barrier's strength will surely grow."

"Oh that’s not ominous at all." Doctor shook his head, muttering under his breath. "And I gave her that Rosetta Stone packet to help with her speech. She's fine speaking Swahili, but when it comes to English, she has to rhyme, and she makes it sound like you are going on a ultimate quest when asking for directions to the local grocery store."

"That didn't tell us how much time we have." Spitfire grimaced, looking to Cheerilee for any additional information.

"Yeah, I asked for how much time we had before it starts moving again." Cheerilee rubbed her head, attempting to sooth the growing headache. "We have two weeks, more or less."

There was a moment of silence. After some time the Doctor finally broke it.

"New York is going to have to be evacuated." Doctor said quietly.

"That's not going to happen." Vinyl growled in anger, looking at all of them. "These people are going to fight tooth and nail to keep this city from falling, and even when the barrier is wiping it out, they are going to become more fatalistic in the process. This city is one of the few places in the world that don't have any remaining PER and its people are damn proud of themselves. Hell, the Sleepy Hollow Bureau may still around, but with that many guns pointed right at it, it might as well be a prison."

"They're New Yorkers." Doctor gave a dry chuckle as he added his two bits. "These people have survived too many threats, both against themselves and abroad. They would die defending this city."

"They're not going to leave, Cheerilee. Neither the people or the soldiers. If this city falls, it’s opening the floodgates to the rest of the country and South America." Spitfire closed her eyes, folding her forelegs across her chest.

"I know... which is why I have worse news to give out." Cheerilee began, giving each of them a forlorn look before picking up a datapad from the table with her magic. "We need to stop that barrier permanently... or the consequences will be dire."

"What is that? What's on it?" Doctor look closely at the floating pad with scrutiny.

"Project AshStorm. I wanted to tell you, but this information was given to Marcus and a few leaders just before the invasion." Cheerilee explained, her face was filled with disgust at the datapad.

"Let me take a look." Doctor fish out his glasses as Cheerilee practically threw the pad, no longer wanting to see or touch it.

"As far as I know, this... this horrible plan was pushed to President Davis, and he caved in to the plan." Cheerilee face was filled with fury as she remembered the utterly blank look on President Jack Davis’ face as he explained the plan to the leaders of various military outfits. "The plan consists of blowing up the Yellowstone Caldera, to take out both themselves and the Tyrant's New Foals."

"Were there any other options on the table?" Spitfire asked, giving the Doctor a rather long look as he grumble under his breath as he continue his reading. From where she is sitting, she can see various plans and blueprints on the pad.

"The only other options were surrendering to the Tyrant, allowing the barrier to consume them while fighting off hordes of New Foals, unleashing their entire nuclear arsenal upon the barrier, pray that somehow break the barrier and hope that a nuclear winter is not made in the process, or try and build a feasible space ship and somehow survive with limited sources and atmosphere, all with a prayer that there isn't any intervention from the New Foals in the process." Cheerilee hung her head, options were limited and anything they thought lead to completely dead ends in every sense of the word.

"Of course they choose the option to take everyone with them." Doctor mutter quietly, but did not raise his eyes from the pad, but a small glint of shock was in his eyes.

"So, that's it? They're giving up?" Vinyl gave them a second to understand what she said before she slammed her hooves on the table. "I call bullshit!"

"Vinyl!"

"Stick it up your tail hole, Cheerilee! If we lose Boston, they're just blowing everything up and killing everyone just to make sure that Tyrant doesn't get any more humans?" Vinyl yelled at her, angry beyond belief.

"Yes."

All the mares slowly turned at the Doctor. He was slowly placed his glasses away as he continued. "'Better even to die free, than to live as a slave' Frederick Douglass; March 2 ,1864. Right here in New York city during the American Civil War when the call to arms was directed to the colored people of the North. This saying has been passed down, and became a hallmark saying for many. Now it’s being put to the ultimate test, one I believe they will succeed if push came to shove."

"Well, how come they don't just throw their missiles at the Barrier?" Vinyl seethed in anger, not willing to believe that they would just throw their lives away.

"Vinyl, before all this, if you had asked me if it was possible to breach a dimensional wall separating all of reality from each other, I would've said no. Even after the fluke I went through to get to Equestria, I still would've still said no." Doctor’s voice was filled with despair. "Believe me when I say that if could, I would've done it in a heartbeat to save a friend trapped in another world in a different dimension. It took the power of a supernova to just send a message. And that was with a small gap in the dimensional wall that was closing on me."

Vinyl and the others stare at the Doctor in shock as he explained a small part of his mysterious past.

"Whatever the Tyrant is using to power the Portals and the Barrier is many times more powerful. No amount of Nuclear Holocaust is going to breach that. And even then, it wouldn't work." Doctor gritted his teeth in displeasure. "She has been planning this for ages, or at least a few years. Because as well thought out the ‘Yellowstone’ plan is, the Barrier is something else entirely, perhaps a small extension of her will in a roundabout way."

"How do you know?" Cheerilee looked at Doctor with questioning eyes.

"Look what's happening to Earth." Doctor growled, his eyes harden as he quickly made his way to one of the plasma screens, pulling out his 'sonic screwdriver' and began to pull up multiple pictures of converted lands. "Really look. What do you see?"

"A color I’m beginning to hate a lot lately." Vinyl mutter under breath.

"Look, really look at it. The barrier managed to wipe away entire cities almost down to the trees and animals. Entire cities filled with tons of metal, stone, plastics, and process wood. Gone." Doctor pace before the screen before standing on his hindlegs. "Where did it go?"

Cheerilee blinked before looking back at the pictures of the 'cleanse' land. Her jaw clench and mind strained as she tried to figure out where it all went to.

"I don't know Doc, why does it matter? The barrier dissolves anything that isn't natural." Vinyl shrugged, uncaring of where he is going with the idea.

"No, if it was dissolving, then there should be dunes of sand, metals, and wood. Along with whatever the plastic was once made of. Especially for major cities, but there’s nothing there. " Doctor stopped and stared at the screen. "No, another is the fact the case, even though she stated that anything unnatural like refine iron or cement was to be wiped away. The Pyramid of Giza, which is nothing more that giant stone blocks made of natural limestone, was destroyed."

"Doctor, why is this bothering you more than the suicide plan?" Spitfire couldn't help to be put off with how focused the stallion was on the barrier rather than the plan to kill billions.

"Cause it is on par with humanity. Nothing changed there." Doctor waved his hoof.

"Maybe its Discord's power?" Cheerilee offered, giving Doctor a long look. "After all, he has the ability to change reality on a whim from old reports. And we did learn that Tyrant did something to him before we made contact with Earth, so maybe she is using his chaos powers with the barrier and portals?"

"Well that's just....ahhh hmm... you know, I never checked the dimension walls when I first got here, maybe the walls are weaker here in this section of the multiverse? Connecting the two worlds would be easier than in my old one. Discord's abilities were known to be reality breaking, so maybe that has something to do with it?" Doctor frowned as he thought back on his past. "Maybe his powers are also connected to the barrier as well, I better get some tests done on the barrier when I have time."

"Your old one?" Cheerilee raised an eyebrow at his choice of words in the middle of the his ramble, but he simply waved her away.

"An old life I would rather have remain buried." Doctor turn and gave her small blank look before returning back to the television. His sonic screwdriver buzz once more before bring up a map of Yellowstone. "Back to the suicide plan. Personally speaking, I absolutely despise it. Scientifically it is both ingenious in its simplistic form and outright horrifying at how simple the setup is. So simple a deranged terrorist could set it up himself with enough time and resources."

His screwdriver hummed, dozens of green dots spreaded across the entire park, most clustered around the Caldera itself. Three points of interest blinked to the east of the park.

"Right, as simple as it is, it still takes a large amount of manpower to pull this off, but it appears that President Davis is not taking any chances. As of now, they are beginning to dig holes in the park in key locations and tossing the nukes in. Hence all the points you see scattered around the park." Doctor explained in layman terms for the mares. The look of utter shock on their faces as the realized what those points represents.

"There are several dozen points on the map Doc." Vinyl point out weakly, which Doctor only nod his head in confirmation.

"And they are going to need all of them if they want this to go off. Each nuke is buried deep enough to cause crack in the crust when it goes off, this many nukes is a sure fire way to make the Yellowstone Caldera to explode prematurely. Each location has a wire running down to the nuke with a receiver antenna on the ground. These antenna receive special codes from one of the three buildings east of the park. Each one is disguised as a power junction box." Doctor explained as the mares watched him highlight several areas and plans. A line with pink made its way across the map before touching the first box.

"The first box is constantly sending out a signal to the receivers, the moment the signal stops, the nukes are primed and ready." The first box vanish and all the green dots turn yellow. "The second box is the "safety" box, just in case the first box suffered from malfunction. This box can shut down all nukes if necessary, but requires a special voice pass code."

"What's the code?" Vinyl ask, and Doctor rolled his eyes.

"'Celestia is a cock loving whore.'" Doctor deadpanned, Vinyl paused for a brief second before she fell off her chair laughing.

"No New Foal would be able to say it!" Vinyl laughed out loud, "Genius."

"Crude, but smart." Doctor agreed before pressing on. "The final box is the 'Kill' box. This is the final safety net for the nukes. A signal is sent to disarm all the nukes in case of an emergency disarm or another viable plan has come up. It is also the 'Dead Man Switch'. The moment this last box is destroyed, the nukes are on a 1 minute countdown. There literally nothing on this world that can stop it."

The pink line moved an inch forward before the entire map turn red, a yellow warning box appeared indicating that the explosives payload went off. Cheerilee took note that the red also went beyond the barrier line, easily taking a portion of the already captured land.

"The nukes' radiation will no doubt be stopped by the barrier, but the blast, heat, and ash will pass through relatively unmolested. You may ask, ‘what of the explosion from the volcano?’ Well, let's just say that the barrier will not be an issue as it will no doubt erupt from within the barrier as well."

For an instant, none of the mares said a word. Cheerilee narrowed her eyes at the map with contempt. "There's more, isn't there."

Doctor whirled around, his sonic screwdriver buzzing loudly as the map shrunk to show all of Earth. "Yes. Much more, in fact something this big will have consequences of apocalyptic proportions."

The map focused on the Pacific, and the entire West coast of North America began to glow red. "The entire west coast, from Baja California Peninsula to Canadian Southern Region is in danger of completely erupting as well. Either by massive land mass sinking and being submerge in the Pacific, or erupting into dozens of new volcanoes."

Vinyl raised her eyebrows in surprise, shrinking a little in horror at what Doctor explain to them. Vinyl had visited the California coast before everything went downhill. She visited the sites and nightclubs, hundreds of cities lined the coast of California alone. Millions made it their home...

It'd be worse once humanity had been pushed to edge by the barrier.

"Its not over is it?" Vinyl's voice was nothing more than a whisper, but it might as well have been as loud as a crack of gunfire.

"Not even close.”Doctor said as he looked at the screen, watching as several of the blue lines slowly spread from various points across the Pacific Ocean. “With the entire west coast erupting or sinking, they would produce massive waves of water, sending them across the Pacific."

Cheerilee observed as the lines moved across ocean, dozens of small islands vanished as the blue lines distributed before finally impacting the mainland of China, the island of Japan, the Philippines, and Australia.

"Tsunamis up to size of a five story building, or maybe even bigger, is a guarantee." Doctor alleged as he inspected the screen, shaking his head at the scene. "Millions will die within the first few days, and that’s only within Pacific region. The other side of the world will have earthquakes, landslides, and scores of other problems. Let’s not forget, the once dormant volcanoes across the world will awaken and spew ash and fire once more."

Doctor gazed at the map of Earth, watching as the entire map quickly fill with dark grey clouds, either forming from the Americas, or from other regions of the world. The entire map bursting before it finally blackout, Doctor sighed already looking back to the mares.

"Ladies, we are expecting a Class four planetary extinction event. Everything bigger than a roach will die." Doctor lowered his head as he finished the Human's suicidal plan.

For a moment, none of the mares could say anything, Spitfire coughed and stood up, placing her hooves on the table.

"So what do we do?"

"We... run away~!" Doctor perked up, smiling as if it most obvious, and best, answer in the world.

"Huh?!" Almost completely caught off guard by the cheeky answer, Spitfire almost slipped from the table she was leaning against.

"Obviously a complete ecological disaster is not beneficial to one's own health." Doctor clarified, his screwdriver buzzing rapidly as various images began to post on the TV, Vinyl opened her mouth to say something but Doctor beat her to it. "So we run as far away as possible."

"How and where?" Cheerilee grind her teeth together in growing ire at the Doctor, her runes glowing softly through her coat. If the Doctor was nervous of this development, he didn't show any signs of acknowledging it.

"Here."

The image transformed to show a world. A world filled with mountainous regions, expansive forests’ that spread across entire continents, and vast beautiful blue oceans. The northern section of the biosphere showed a stunning Aurora Borealis taking place, thousands of colors could be seen from space itself. Cheerilee could only wonder how fantastic it is see it from the ground.

It was absolutely breathtaking.

"Wh-..." Cheerilee lost her voice at seeing such a primeval world, it took a moment before she tried again. "Where is this?"

"Epsilon Eridani System." Doctor’s answer was soft, he too was admiring the planet. "A little more than ten light years from Earth. No name, uninhabited by any sentient creatures, and far away from Earth. I knew a part of me couldn't accept the death of billions when I could do something about it, so I went searching whenever I could. I found this jewel in the sea of stars, just waiting for someone to embrace her."

"Can your Tardis take us there?" Cheerilee’s appearance was full with renewed hope; hope that they could endure this awful moment in history; hope that they can safely hide away and rebuild their strength; hope that they just might find a new home far away from the hooves of the Solar Tyrant.

"Yes, but she’s still working out her kinks. Nor is she as fast as she used to be either." Doctor vanished the image, a map of Earth replacing the beautiful world. "Plus she is not as big as before the botched rescue attempt for Lyra. I could've fit over a hundred thousand souls in my old Tardis, but the new one can only fit a couple thousand now. It will be some time before she is back to her old self again."

"So what do we do then?" Vinyl tilted her head to the side with a questioning expression, letting her mane fall over her left eye.

Doctor's eyes converted into a much more serious tone, and a small glint in them caused the mares to shiver slightly.

They were so cold...

His screwdriver buzzed once, causing the map to focus in on New York region. Words popped up, indicating it was the Sleepy Hollow area.

"As we know, the remaining Royal forces are trapped between our forces and the Atlantic with their small piece of land of Nova Scotia. The barrier is the only thing left to protect them from the large military force waiting outside of it. Waiting them out would've worked but they're slowly being resupplied by the Sleepy Hollow Bureau, if the readings I am getting is any indications." Doctor growled as he glared at the runically enhanced building, one of a few in the world.

"Teleporting." Cheerilee mumbled as she scowled at the screen. "If the flashes at the we have sighted at the Jeffries-Point Airport are them, then they have been getting resupplied or evacuating."

"Why haven't they destroyed it yet?" Vinyl sneered at the map, the lone building with over one hundred and fifty yards of 'no pony land' surrounding it. Corpses laid across the double doors and several yards away from it, most of them old but there were some quite fresh.

"Because the runes laid within the building walls and roof keeping it from being destroyed, now that we have the means to overwhelm it, I request that they hold off on the attack and--” Doctor stopped speaking confusing the group, rotating quickly to face the exit and hurried up to the door he rapidly opens to reveal Derpy behind it. Her eyes of pure fury, straightened and glaring daggers at the stallion. "Hello Muffin."

"Doctor! I should-" Derpy's bombast was cut off as Doctor leaned in and gave her a rather deep kiss, causing the other mares to blush softly at the affectionate display before them. By the time he pulled away, Derpy's eyes reverted back to 'normal', a goofy smile on her face. She leaned in herself and nuzzle him, her cheeks burning at his public display he just performed.

"That's cheating." She murmured quietly, gently biting his ears. "Using your brain like that. I'm still mad at you. You're in so much trouble when this wears off."

"But of course." Doctor's smiling face showed no sign of worry, although the twitching of his tail may have given himself away. He turned back to the group, his eyes hardening as he looked at them. "The only way I see off this sinking rock is through a portal of our own. So we take the one in the Sleepy Hollow Bureau and study it and use it for ourselves."

Vinyl beamed at the news, while Spitfire only bowed her head momentarily in agreement. Cheerilee closed her eyes, gradually going over the information before opening them.

"Can we do it? Can we breach the walls of a runically enhanced building?" Cheerilee frowned as she gave Doctor a rather severe look.

The Doctor's smile became even more frosty, almost giving him a rather dangerous look. "My dear, give the humans a target which they hate with all their being, and they will do everything they possibly can to destroy them. Give them a challenge to overcome and they will do everything in their power to get it done. This is just a rather large gift wrapped present that they have been staring at longingly under the tree. Trust me..."

"That portal station is good as ours."

"I like it when you talk like that. Mmm... maybe I won't stay mad at you if you come to bed. I'll make you feel so much better."

"Not in front of other people, Muffin. Perhaps I should use this technique more often?"

Author's Notes:

Alright. I know few of you want to get the story going, but I felt that a quick look on what is going on the home front and their plans so far...

Even those that they are unaware of.

I had a much bigger chapter in mind to play out, but decided to break apart to show the difference between Earth and Canon Equestria.

Can you figure it out? ;)

Anyways, no doubt some of you figured out the small references within the story, one being more obvious than not, the other is something in the works for the future, but maybe a few of you will get it.

As for the the... "Tense" usage... I tried. Drawdex tried. Beyond got on board and tried. But if we still messed up...

That's too fucking bad then. Deal with it.

Other than that, review so I can shower my helpers with love and tolerance....with extreme cuddles...

With Hooter girls. XD