"It is not despair, for despair is only for those who see the end beyond all doubt. We do not."
-J.R.R. Tolkien

"No matter how long you train someone to be brave, you never know if they are or not until something real happens."
-Veronica Roth

Canterlot Castle

"It’s beautiful." Stephan whispered in awe as he watched the sunrise, Trixie snuggling up next to him on the bed as they looked out the balcony with a grand view of Equestria before them. It all looked fuller somehow as the sun rose over the land, as if the sun breathed new life into everything it touched with its light. A far cry from what their agents behind the Barrier described.

"It is, isn't it?" Trixie murmured as she nuzzled him affectionately. "It doesn't feel or look wrong, I don’t feel nausea or strangely cold when the sun comes up, it's exactly how I remembered Equestria used to be when I was younger... Too bad I never took the time to appreciate it."

"We don't appreciate the things we have until they’re gone," Stephan muttered, gently kissing Trixie on her cheek, rubbing her cutie mark with his free hand, causing a small blush to form on her cheek. "But I definitely appreciate you."

Trixie giggled as Stephan rolled over her and began to kiss her deeper, only for him to groan and flop over onto his back, holding his side. Trixie gave an amused sigh as she gave him a long look, her hoof to her cheek. "You know, if we went to the hospital or saw a medical unicorn, we can be having a little more fun than just enjoying each others presence."

"I'll get right on that." Stephan wheezed as he rolled to the edge of the bed and struggled to sit upright. "Besides, I have to start setting up training exercises for the troops coming here for training."

"There’s something else, you’ve been brooding over it all last night." Trixie draped herself onto his back, mindful of his injuries. She gently kissed his neck as he gave a soft groan as he reached up and rubbed her ear.

"Trixie..." he moaned as Trixie gave a small nip at his earlobe. "You tease a wounded man. You know how that riles me up."

"I know." Trixie murmured as she buried her face into his neck, taking in his musky scent with gusto as she continued her teasing. "All part of my charm. Still didn't answer my question though. Maybe I'll stop or maybe I'll continue. Depends on the answer you give me."

"Hm.."

Last night

It had only been a few hours since the group arrived in Equestria, and Luna's Night Guards had led the two hundred plus group to their quarters. So far, Stephan hadn't seen hide nor hair of this alternate world's Princess Celestia or the Elements.

"So, where are they?" Stephan asked as he limped behind Marcus.

"Hmm?" Marcus looked to him in confusion.

"Celestia. The Elements," Stephan clarified, groaning inwardly at the sight of the steps.

"Staying out of sight, and for good reason, too. They know how most of you would react,” Marcus said. It wasn’t accusatory, and Stephan suspected there was a story in that. “They’ll meet us later on. Right now, we have a lot to discuss about. Namely the reports I have been reading." Marcus stopped at the top of the stairs to wait for the wounded man. "You should really get those looked at."

"Later." Stephan grunted as he walked past him. Marcus only sighed as he closed his eyes and shrugged his shoulders.

"Your choice. The reports I read stated that we fended off the first attack, losses were at a minimum, and that we managed to stop the entire invasion force in its tracks." Marcus stated, the sheer amount of pride can be heard in his voice. "Then came the 'fake' Tyrant. While outclassed in sheer power, it showed that our weapons can still hurt her, and that she is becoming more nervous. She sent a clone, which means we already reached the point where we can physically harm her. After the beat down we gave her, it showed just how much progress we made in this war."

Stephan chuckled a bit, it was true. It was the first time they had ever turned away the Solar Tyrant's forces. "I only helped."

"Like hell you did! You punched the living shit out of her! Fuck, you cut her in half! That doesn't seem like just 'helping' to me, that’s kicking ass and taking names!" Marcus rounded on him, his eyes filled with hope and pride. "Hell, you helped train half of the PHL troops, we wouldn’t be anywhere near the shape we’re in without them. They were right there with us as we turned them away, we couldn't have done this without them. It was thanks to you and your team in training the first batch of PHL soldiers, and I need that now more than ever."

"Huh?" Stephan looked at him, utterly confused. Marcus didn't answer as he opened the door for him, leading him into Marcus' room. Stephan whistled at the room decor, taking in all the expensive items within. "Classy."

"You should have seen it when there were a bunch of knick knacks everywhere. Really put me out of my element for a bit until I tossed a every shiny and distracting items into a chest." Marcus groaned as he led Stephan to a paper strewn table. "We’ve known each other for almost three years now, Stephan. Hell, we pulled each other out of the fire more than once, and I need you to do something that I can only trust a few others to do." Marcus said as he walked over to large box that was given to him when the group first arrived, a care package that Vinyl and Spitfire made for him, smiling when he found what he was looking for in all the food and other items.

"What’s that?" Stephan took a seat, looking at the various scrolls with Marcus' handwritings all over them. 'A barrier device?' Stephan grabbed the scroll to see Marcus circling the words along with dozens of other thoughts.

'A barrier like the one we know is not possible with stand alone spell work, Celestia and Twilight said as much. Magical construct running off magic? Possibly, but the amount of magic it would take to cover a whole planet is too much for any unicorn or self-called goddess to bring up. Using Equestria as power source? Possible; explains the Dearth somewhat, at least for native ponies. Newfoals self-explanatory. Power source is something else, though, Discord's perhaps? I can't help but think that there is a missing piece... I need to think on it, but even if we don't figure it out, we need to take the device out of action.'

"As you can see, I have been busy on my own end. Talking with Celestia and Twilight, they both said the same thing about the barrier." Marcus sat down and passed him a Reissdorf Kölsch, no doubt that these few came from Marcus' stash in his private room in HQ.

Cheerilee's doing no doubt.

Both men snapped open their drinks and gently tapped one another in a mock toast. "That it doesn't run off a mere spellwork frame. The strain of even trying to shoulder that load would kill the Tyrant before it even reached a quarter mile from the original portal. Plus it would be far too complicated and needs multiple spells to work off one another just to work, so the spells need to be woven into something physical. Like Magic Crystals to stabilize the spells so they don't shatter under the load of magic."

"You mean..." Stephan eye's widened in surprise as he got the gist of what he was saying.

"That’s right," Marcus said as he smirked at him, raising his beer to him. "The barrier can be destroyed; not at the pink wall, but at its source."

Stephan leaned back, smiling at the man before him. "Damn, this entire time we were thinking it was some spell that the Tyrant cast and the only way to stop it was by killing her."

"Exactly. Only she would know, and we don’t have as many ponies well-versed in magic as we would like… fucking University Drafts,” Marcus sighed, placing his beer down. Both of them had heard the stories of how the Royal Guards had visited the top universities in Equestria, and immediately given the strongest and smartest unicorns jobs in the government, either in the Royal Guard or in more supporting roles. The few unicorns of great skill that they had were either escaped academics that were often easing themselves into semi-retirement, self-taught like Trixie, or less-than-entirely-patriotic students who had slipped out before the Tyrant could warp their brains. The bulk of their unicorns, however, were untrained laborers or civilians from towns like Ponyville or lower-income areas of cities such as Hoofington. “Anyway, most people and ponies probably think about it the same way, " he gave Stephan a long look. "And I need you to go in and destroy it."

"Why me?" Stephan asked in confusion.

"Because as a 'Knight', I need you to take Canterlot Castle for our kingdom," Marcus chuckled a bit, seeing the scowl forming on Stephan's face. "The Tyrant wants this device as close to her as possible, but still have it remain hidden from view."

Marcus stood up and opened his arms to declare his point. "This castle is a fortress, just getting in will be a hassle, and that's here. Lately though, I’ve read we managed to bypass a runic Bureau and ransack the place. This is the next step."

"I see... who shall I bring then? I'll feel comfortable with my own team, but I suspect you want others in as well," Stephan said before he took a swing of his beer.

"Of course. I'm attaching a group from the Asia front. The Dragons." Marcus chuckled at the look on Stephan's face.

"Shit... I know we need firepower, but that’s a bit much," Stephan muttered.

"If this war is to end and not sacrifice the lives of not only our world, but this one as well, we need to bring everything we got. We aren’t the HLF maniacs, we got where we are by using everything at our disposal," Marcus stated, clenching his fist.

"Well said, Colonel," a familiar voice responded behind Stephan. Stephan reacted without thinking, he jumped to his feet, bringing up his machete and transforming it on the swing.

Celestia made no move as the blade hovered at her neck, Stephan's eyes dilated as they took in the alicorn before him, anger and rage burning throughout his entire being. HER.

'KillherkillherkillherkillherKillherkillherkillherkillher!' Stephan struggled to move the blade, but was unable to. He look to his wrist, expecting a golden glow to hold it in place. Instead he found a hand wrapped tightly around it.

"Bauer! Stand down! God damn it, Celestia! Why didn't you knock?" Marcus' voice shattered the blood rage that took a hold of him. "I almost put you through a wall last time you did that!"

"My apologies." Celestia had the grace to look ashamed, as she looked towards Stephan. "Major Bauer, as you know, I am Princess Celestia. Behind me are the Elements of Harmony and-."

"And me!" Stephan blinked as he took in the mint green unicorn jumping up in front of him. Stephan knew exactly who this mare was, and that mare was dead. He shook his head, clearing the messy thoughts clouding his mind. 'Right, different Equestria. Different Lyra Heartstrings who’s probably never given a public speech. Different everything.'

"Lyra!" Twilight cried out in shock, watching as Lyra looked back to her, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Oops, sorry Princess." Lyra apologized to her leader. Celestia only gave a small light laughter at the interruption.

"Its alright, Ms. Heartstrings." Celestia laughed, "You and Waggoner were right after all. I know your great grandfather would be proud of you in believing in him."

"This is too fucking weird." Stephan muttered under his breath.

"Whatever. Next time I won't react quickly enough and then I have to explain to everyone why you are dead," Marcus growled out, before looking to Stephan. "You with me? Fully in control of yourself?"

"Ja," Stephan said, nodding his head to Marcus. Marcus gave him a long look, before his eyes trailed down to Stephan's sword, still glowing brightly at Celestia’s neck. Stephan blinked once before thumbing the button on his blade deactivating it. "I'm good."

"Good." Marcus said, taking the blade away from Stephan. Stephan eyes widen and was about to protest when Marcus raised his hand to him. "Hold on now, before you give me a bitchfest, I have to introduce you to your new troops."

"Huh?" Stephan gave him a questioning look.

"The Elements of Harmony and Ms Heartstrings. I want you to train them personally, and I need them to be as good as the Blue Spy."

Present

"He's lucky he took my blade before he told me, I would have used it on him the moment he said that,” Stephan grumbled. “I don't mind training ponies, but those six... I'm not sure.”

Nobody would have needed to ask why it was an unenviable task. Everyone in any military force that had been in any major engagement against Equestrian forces had either gone up against the Elements, or heard the stories from other soldiers about how, when the Elements came, you ran or fought like hell itself was coming at you. And now he had to be in the same room as them.

He was not looking forward to it. He understood the necessity, and yet...

“Pick one random thing about the training,” Stephan said. “Any one thing, almost infinitesimal, and it’ll piss me off somehow. Or I’ll be so angry due to being in the same room as them that-”

“How about I telekinetically grab you when you’re getting too… into the fight?” Trixie asked.

“That’s a really good idea,” Stephan said. “Actually… having you in the training process would be invaluable!”

“And I can finally show up Twilight Sparkle!” Trixie gasped. “It’ll be-”

“Who’s going to have stop who from going too crazy?” Stephan asked. He paused. “Oh, God. Is this what it feels like being Aegis?”

“...I think it is. He must have such a hard time,” Trixie said before she gave a small laugh. "Still, it will be nice to see Sparkle's face when she sees me. If the year is anything to go by, none of them will be happy to see me."

"Why is... oh yeah..." Stephan gave a rueful smile to her. "I remember now, 'The Great and Powerful Trix-' Gah! Watch the ribs! Watch the ribs!"

Trixie scowled as she pulled him onto his back and held him down by the shoulders. She gave him a mock glare while looking down at him upside, while he gave her a large smile. "You’re such idiot sometimes," Trixie sighed, blowing her mane out of the way. But she gave a small sultry smile before leaning in close. "But you’re my idiot."

Stephan had no idea how long they made out in the strange position, but he made sure to keep it going for a long as possible. Whatever tension he had slowly melted away as he reached up and gently rubbed her neck, while Trixie gave a soft sigh at the touch.

There was a knock on the door.

Trixie groaned as she pulled up, giving the door the stink eye, attempting to pierce through and wither away whoever it was on the other side.

"Yeah, who is it?" Stephan muttered angrily as he struggled back to a sitting position. He held his side as the door open to reveal Princess Luna as she walked into the room.

Luna gave a pause, taking in the irritated look on Trixie's face. "Are We interrupting something?"

"Yes/No." Stephan gave Trixie a sidelong look while she pouted and crossed her forelegs, looking away from him. Stephan rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No."

"My apologies. However, I am informing you that the Elements are in the gardens, awaiting your presence," Luna said quietly to him, giving Trixie an apologetic smile for her interruption. "You requested that they show up in the morning to gauge their will to fight for the cause."

"Right. I'll be down in a moment," Stephan moaned as a stabbing sensation ran up his leg as he stood up, nearly causing him to fall back down.

Luna had turn to leave, looking back to him as he let out a pain filled groan. "You should see the healers for your wounds," Luna stated, Stephan slapped his face at the third time he heard someone tell him to see someone for his injuries. He simply waved his hand at her as he got ready.

"Yeah, as soon as I am done with the Elements," Stephan said as he reached for his shirt hanging off the table. Luna gave a single nod before leaving, allowing the two warriors to ready themselves to meet the Elements.

Palace Gardens

“Geez, why did we have to wake up this early?" Rainbow Dash yawned, rubbed her eyes to clear away the crust that gathered over night.

"You know why, Rainbow," Twilight gave Rainbow a long look, seeing the mare about to fall back asleep on her hooves. She sent a small spell at her flank, shocking her back awake.

"Hey!"

"Rainbow Dash, we all agreed that it’s best that we help out any way we can," Twilight reminded her sternly, the others listening to Twilight as she spoke. "If we want to succeed, we need training."

"Badly too, Ah reckon," Applejack said she rubbed her shoulder. "We always managed to scoot on by in the past, but this is a whole different tree we’re bucking against.”

“I agree,” Rarity said. “We simply can’t just shoot off a rainbow at everything that isn’t us, that won’t stop hordes of those… things-” she’d heard Marcus’ description of the newfoals, and felt almost physically sick at the thought of them.

“I don’t even know how that works!” Pinkie interrupted. “I always just assumed it worked when it was happily convenient!”

“...I rest my case,” Rarity sighed.

"I don't know..." Fluttershy murmured with anxiety. "I don't like fighting."

"Then consider yourself dead already," a voice called out from behind Fluttershy. Fluttershy froze up and fell over, stiff as a board, while the others jumped in shock, looking in all directions.

"Hey! Who’s there! Show yourself!" Rainbow scowled.

The air in front of them began to shimmer like it had been heated up, and from one moment to another Trixie appeared out of thin air and giving them a grim smile. “Surprise.”

Everyone, except Fluttershy, who still was recovering from the shock, let their jaws hit the ground. Twilight was the first one to speak up. “T-Trixie?”

“Hello, Twilight. Long time no see.” Trixie took a few steps forward but Rainbow stopped her by flying right in front of her, almost touching her nose with hers, giving Trixie a threatening look.

“What are YOU doing here, Trixie?” Rainbow growled out, her time spent with Trixie the first time was anything but pleasant.

“Well, I am here to teach you how to fight.”

Dash looked at her dumbfounded for a while before she burst in laughter, pointing a hoof at Trixie while holding her belly with the other, rolling on the ground by her answer. “Ooooh, my sides! That was a good joke.”

Trixie narrowed her eyes at Dash. “That wasn’t a joke.”

Dash stopped her laugh attack as suddenly as it began and gave Trixie a hard look. “Wait, you’re serious? For a moment, I thought you were-”

Twilight, who now got her head together again, realized it for herself now. “Rainbow Dash, wait! Maybe it’s the other Trixie from the other Equestria!”

“Even more reason not to trust her. Maybe she’s a spy!”

Trixie tilted her head slightly with a little grin on her face. “Matter of fact, yes, I am a spy.”

Dash stared at her for a few seconds before she looked to the others, holding out both forehooves at Trixie. “See?”

Trixie walked past Dash and gave her a whipping on her nose with the tail. “Don’t worry your little featherbrain about that, I work for the good side.”

“HEY!” Dash stroked her nose before she scowls at Trixie and blocks her again. “Where do you think you are going?” She crossed her forehooves over her chest and hovered in front of Trixie.

“Well, I just want to say hello to Twilight,” said Trixie as innocent as she could, although Twilight couldn’t help but swallow nervously at that proclamation.

“And you said hello to her,” Dash waved a hoof at her. “And now you can leave before you come with your Great and Powerful schapa laba, ding dong and cheap tricks again.”

Trixie’s eyes narrowed as her patience with the blue pegasus began to run low. “You really should stop that.”

Dash returned Trixie’s gaze with her own and poked her nose with a hoof. “What are you gonna do about it? Huh?”

There were a few things that could upset Trixie easily. One of them happened to be ponies who treated her like she was the same selfish magican like in the past-she’d heard every insult, every joke, enough that they’d stopped being even mildly amusing and crossed into taboo among Stephan’s unit. She pressed her hoof on Dash’s nose and pushed her back. “You don’t want to know, so don't press your luck with me.” she said icily.

Dash stroked her nose again. This time she eyed Trixie like a predator. “Oh, you wanna fight? LET’S FIGHT THEN!”

"Wait, Rainbow, stop!" Twilight had a bad feeling wash over her the moment Rainbow called Trixie out. This Trixie only gave Rainbow a condescending smirk and Twilight knew Rainbow was in trouble. She didn’t know 'their' own Trixie very well, but it became apparent that Rainbow had already decided that the Trixie before her was a pushover just like her, and was all set to to beat her to a pulp.

Trixie invited her with a wave of her hoof. “Since I am in a good mood, I will give you the first blow. Just try not to waste it.”

“I won’t!” Rainbow was off the ground and speeding towards her in a blink of an eye, all set to put the showmare in her place. She pulled back her hoof and shot it forward, intent on knocking her out cold.

The others watched as Rainbow threw her entire weight and speed behind the punch, waiting for the inevitable cry of pain from the self proclaimed spy, only to see Rainbow pass through her as if she was a ghost.

"Whoa, what the heck?!" Rainbow cried out she tumbled the air and barely managing to land on her hooves. She looked back to see Trixie's image waver and vanish, much to her shock.

'Wait! When did she-?!' Twilight stood there agape, stunned at the advanced spell work before her eyes. 'I couldn’t even sense the spell being cast!'

"Hello." Trixie melted back into view, slamming her hoof into Rainbow's face, cocking her head back from the blow. The blow brutally cemented into Rainbow's mind that this Trixie was playing for keeps. All this did was make Rainbow more than eager to show the mare what she can really do.

It didn’t take long for Rainbow to recover from Trixie’s first strike, not that it mattered much to the pegasus. She had been hit with far worse-you didn’t survive Cloudsdale flight school without taking a few hard knocks-and a blow like that was just a minor annoyance compared to flying face first into trees. She jumped in the air and out of the reach of Trixie, scowling down at her. “I knew it! Can't face me like a pony huh?! Again with your cheap tricks!”

“Says the mare flying out of reach at the first signs of a resisting force. You are a foal just learning to throw a punch compare to me, Rainbow Dash. Oh and trust me,” Trixie said as her horn began to glow and Twilight could feel the odd magic Trixie used. Odd, but familiar. “My ‘tricks’ are anything but cheap.” Rainbow blinked a few times as she witnessed how Trixie grew wings out of her back. After she was done, Trixie looked up at Rainbow with a little smirk, covering her effort with it. “Now we are even.” She gave her wings a few flaps to see if they worked properly.

Rainbow raised an eyebrow and began to laugh. "You have to be kidding me! You magic up some wings. Oooo. I better be careful unless I get caught by the fat blue fake trying to fly!"

Trixie's eye ticked at the word 'fat', a menacing look forming on her face before pushing off the ground, her wings catching air and rapidly closed the distance between her and her target. She slammed her hoof into Rainbow's gut, causing the mare to give out a choked gasp of air.

Twilight felt her eyebrow twitched at the scene. When she made Rarity's wings, they were light and fragile looking, barely able to carry the unicorn to where she needed to go. Trixie's wings were far superior to her own, made of flesh and feathers, powerful looking wings that rivaled Rainbow's. And yet, there was an odd tint to Trixie's spell, one that Twilight couldn’t help but ponder over.

Rainbow managed to shove Trixie away as she gasped for some air, her eyes narrowing at another cheap shot the showmare gave her. She flies backwards to get some distance between her and Trixie. “You wanna do it the hard way?!” Dash raised her forehooves like a boxer. “Let’s do it the hard way!”

‘How predictable’. Trixie prepared her next response as Rainbow lashed out and tried to tackle Trixie with her speed, but Trixie snapped her wings shut and plummeted down before punching upwards as Rainbow sped above her, catching the speedster in the gut once more, sending her spiraling out of control as she gagged. Trixie flaired her wings open as she flew after her, almost in a lazy manner.

"I'm still trying to see if the 'hard way' you speak of is going to start?" Trixie goaded out to her, shining her hoof against her chest in mock boredom. "Because I'm really beginning to doubt that you can."

"Ragh!" Rainbow growled as she bolted forward in response to this.

"She's being played like a fiddle." Applejack said quietly to Twilight, who nodded her head to Applejack's statement. The group watched as Trixie gracefully dodge blows and tackles with little trouble. "Still, Trixie's goading is going to bite her in the rear end if you asked me. Ah say let her have her just desserts once Rainbow gets her hooves on her."

"Applejack..." Twilight shook her head before looking up to see Trixie's horn glow with magic before the area around her was filled with gray smoke.
Trixie gave a smirk before flying deeper into the cloud of dense smoke, with Dash losing eye contact with her target.

Twilight strained her eyes to see through the smoke that covered the area Trixie was in. She gave Rainbow a concerned look as the mare flew one end of the smoke screen to the other. "Rainbow! Please stop this fighting! I don’t think you understand what you are going against!"

"All her little attacks mean nothing, Twilight!" Rainbow called back to her. "At best they caught me by surprise, I’ve had far worse injuries than those love taps."

Rainbow looked back to the smoke, a smirk forming on her face as she raced towards it, spinning around the smoke cloud as fast as possible. The smoke quickly dissipated within the swirling tornado, before she pulled up and hovered in the air. "You're in my Element now, Trixie, and nothing you can...Dad?!"

Fluttershy stared at the male pegasus with surprise. "Mr. Flash? What are you doing here?"

"Who now?" Applejack asked in confusion, many others thinking along the same line of thoughts.

"Um... His name is Prism Flash. Rainbow Dash’s father," Fluttershy answered quietly.

"Oh my, he does look quite fetching don't you think?" Rarity said as she examined the elder pony. "I could make a line of suits for my male customers, he does have the build for it."

"Oooo! How come you never told us about your dad huh?!" Pinkie called up to Rainbow. "I can see the resemblance now! Its uncanny!"

"Psh. Its not my old man!" Rainbow waved at the pony before her. She floated up next to him. "It is probably another trick of Trixie's. See!"

Rainbow proceed to lightly touch the male pegasus in the chest, only to find resistance the moment her hoof touched him. Rainbow’s eyes widened as she continue to tap the pegasus several times.

“Dash, could you please stop that?” the pegasus rumbled out, a small annoyed look that Rainbow Dash grew familiar with over the years.

Rainbow gasped, jumping away from the pegasus. “Ohmygoshohmygosh, I'm sorry Dad!”

The old stallion gave her a smile as he strokes some dust off his body. “I see that you haven’t changed at all, my little Dashy.”

"Dad... not in front of my friends." Rainbow muttered with a small blush. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“I thought I surprise you and your friends. May I ask you what you are doing out here? I thought you would be inside with the Princess.”

Dash rubbed her head with one hoof and looks away awkwardly. “I… I was uum… Training! Yes, training!”

Dash’s dad, gave her the 'father' stare. Just like the stare from Fluttershy, but the version only parents can give their children when they did something bad and don’t want to tell the truth. She groaned and surrendered. “Okay, okay… I was fighting a very annoying mare.”

Flash gave a sigh and shakes his head. “Oh, Dashy, Dashy. Don’t you remember what we taught you about fighting?”

“...To not attack other ponies, and talk about the problem?”

“And what are you doing right now?”

“...attacking another pony… and not talking.”

Flash shook his head. “What would your mother think about it if she would be here.”

“But Dad, Trixie totally had it coming! She totally provoked it and I just…”

Flash held a hoof up and Dash became quiet. “I hoped that your Mother and I taught you better, Dashy. You could have avoided it, but knowing you, you provoked it as well. Didn’t you?”

“Yes…” Dash let her head drop in guilt, avoiding eye contact with her father.

“Dash, you know that we love you. Even when you quit Flight School, we stood at your side, and let’s not start with your work ethic.”

Dash’s head rose up again to defend herself, but Flash was faster.

“Sleeping at work does not give you a good reputation. Especial not when you are an Element.” He flew closer towards his daughter. “It is nice to see that fillies look up to you. And it should give you a good reason to be a good example to them. Don’t you think so ,too?”

Rainbow Dash sniffled a few tears back and nodded, “Yes Dad.”

Flash gave her a small smile. “You know that I only tell you that because I love you, right?”

Dash nodded again and replied, “Of course.”

She looked up to see her father sitting in front of her with outstretched hooves. “Then why don’t you give your old daddy a big hug?”

Dash hesitated for a moment before she jumped in the hug, nuzzling him under his chin.

She felt his hooves stroking her back to comfort her. “Now, now. Don’t cry my little filly.”

“Sorry Dad.” Dash wiped her tears away.

“No, don’t be. I should be sorry.”

Dash was about to ask him why as she noticed a green flash around her. And in the next moment she was hugging Trixie instead of her father. “I'm sorry for underestimating your stupidity.”

Dash was too shocked to react as Trixie's horn glowed, blades appearing in her magical grasp. The blades spun around, aiming with the handles instead of the cold sharp steel, and hit Rainbow between the joints of her wings to have them seize up. Rainbow remained frozen as her wings locked up and she fell from Trixie's grasp. Rainbow hit the ground with a thud, still in shock at what happened, while Trixie flew down ontop of her. She pinned her down on her back and summoned at least a dozen knives, two of those pierced the ground through her wings, barely grazing her primaries and flesh. Trixie was careful to not actually cause serious injuries to Rainbow, but it was enough to show her to not try anything stupid.

Twilight was floored by what she was seeing here. She knew that this alternate Trixie would probably be different from the one she and her friends knew, but never to this extent. The magic this Trixie used was different, and much more powerful than before. Twilight could feel Trixie’s magic was almost as powerful as hers, but what worried her more was the fact that she just saw how Trixie used Changeling magic. A field she still tried to wrap her head around and failed to understand. ‘She is... She is using magic that I can barely make sense of. Every spell she does, she does so with the grace of a master. What has she gone through...’

Rainbow felt her rage building up as she realized what just happened. “How… HOW DARE YOU!”

Trixie moved one of the blades close to Rainbow’s throat which makes the pegasus mare stop breathing for moment. “Now, don’t scream like that. What would your father think.”

“I WILL BEAT YOU UP YOU… YOU PLOTFACE!”

Trixie only smiled at Rainbow's insults. “Tsk, tsk. Looks like I have to teach you to be quiet when someone holds a knife at your throat.”

“That's enough!” Twilight yelled out to her when she saw the danger Rainbow found herself in. The others, sans Fluttershy who simply hid behind her hooves, tensed up and readied to intervene

Trixie didn't even grace the mare with a look as several more blades appeared the others. Twilight froze as she felt the sharp edge against her neck, she looked to the others and found themselves in the same state. Pinkie more so as she had over a dozen float against her body, causing the normally bubbly mare to be still as a statue.

"Let this be a lesson to you all," Trixie growled out, her eyes burning with hatred. "I could have easily killed every one of you without so much effort on my part. I have more blood on my hooves than some of the more experienced griffon soldiers. I have killed hundreds of newfoals and equal amount of normal ponies; by hoof, blade, and magic, and it will only be a matter of time before I would be sent to kill your counterparts. I have committed crimes that this Equestria doesn’t have words for yet. I reached the point of being called a master assassin and for good reason. I was to know each and everyone of you, inside and out. Your families, your habits, your hobbies. It is my job as a spy and assassin to deal with ponies under a disguise and take them out when the time is right."

“Das reicht jetzt, Trixie! I believe they learned their lesson.” a human called out as he limped to them. Trixie straightened herself up, a single nod to the man as she got off Rainbow.

"And that lesson is?" Twilight swallowed as she watched the blades floated back to Trixie, vanishing from view. 'Invisibility spells... she was armed the entire time. She could have used them against Rainbow... This was a test... One that we most likely failed'

“That none of you are ready to face the reality of war,” the man said as he circled them with a little hobble. He took his time to look at each Element individually and took mental notes on them. The urge to simply give in and beating the crap out of them was suppressed as well as he could. He had to admit that watching them fight gave him a little relief but he felt ashamed about it as well.

He looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment before he spoke.

“Rainbow Dash, you attacked Trixie without even thinking for a moment that she probably was not the mare you know from before. Hell, I bet you didn’t even think at all. No strategy, no variety in your attacks, nothing.”

Dash opened her mouth to say something but closed it again, looking away when she realized he was right.

Stephan looked at the rest of the group and gave them a disappointed look. “And the rest of you. Every single one of you didn’t even move a muscle to jump in and help Rainbow Dash. And you call yourself the Elements of Harmony? Don’t make me laugh.”

“Now wait a darn minute!” Applejack began to protest.

“Let me finish! I can understand that you probably believed that she could handle it by herself, but even as you saw that Trixie was not the same as you all thought, saw how she was mocking Rainbow’s efforts, you still didn’t move in to help her. Why?”

Twilight thought about a fitting response, but words failed her. Why did they just stand by and watch them fight? Because they thought that Rainbow could handle it by herself?

“Teamwork is only one part of a good unit, but a very important one, and after I saw what just happened here, I can tell for sure that you will not even survive the first five minutes of a real conflict!”

The six mares hung their heads in shame and embarrassment; they each knew on some level that he was right. Sure, they’d done plenty of dangerous stuff before, but this war on Earth with their alternate selves was in a class all of its own.

"War is ugly, and you will lose a part of yourselves if you are to go to war." The man stood next to Trixie, giving her a small look. "You must be ready to take a life; there is no question of if, but when it will happen. You have to be sure that the one on your side who is marching with you is able to take a life to save you, and that you are able to do the same."

Fluttershy’s eyes widened, and she trembled ever so slightly.

He waited for them to take in his words. He could see how they gnawed on his them. He knew it would take a while for them to accept it. The first batch of ponies he trained were still in his head, how they had second thoughts about it all. It wouldn’t be different with them.

And like that, it all felt easier.

“You’re not soldiers,” Stephan said. “I understand that. You never dreamed of what would happen next... But! You are the Elements of Harmony! We need you, and nothing you say can outweigh humanity’s need for you. All of you!” his gaze swept over the Elements. “I won’t guilt you into this; Marcus has told you enough about what world we have come from. I will expect nothing less than 110% from all of you! Are we clear?!”

The six mares nodded after a moment of thinking. Stephan could still feel how they still fought with themselves. He only knew the stories of them Trixie and the other members of the PHL told him. How the six Elements used to be before Celestia had placed those… those things in their minds. War was really not their strength; they’d expected nothing other than to be mares that were exceptional at their respective talents, as opposed to say, genocide. And he wasn’t so sure that those six mares could handle it when they get blood for the first time on their hooves.

“Just think of it like training to be a wonderbolt,” Pinkie said out loud, putting a foreleg around Rainbow’s neck. Only to swallow nervously as Stephan glared at her. “No, no! It’s fine, she wants to be a Wonderbolt more than almost anything, so-”

Stephan silenced her with a glare. "Don’t interrupt me. I will handle the physical aspects of your training." Stephan limped before them. "I will make sure that you go to bed at the end of the day with sore muscles and utter spite of my person. You will be trained to fight by people or ponies in whatever I feel best suited for you. Trixie here stepped up and look at her now. I crafted a master spy and assassin with a washed out magician."

"Ahem..." Trixie levelled a glare at Stephan, who only gave a level stare back, but was internally begging Trixie for forgiveness. Stephan heard slight giggling from Rainbow, who yelped out as Stephan marched up and placed his face near her own.

"Are you laughing at her prior choice of career, Rainbow Dash? Because as far as I am concern, the washed out magician made you look like a chump in that fight earlier." Stephan growled, causing Rainbow to swallow nervously. "All of you, all six of you..."

‘Wait a minute… only six... shouldn't be there someone else here too?’ It took a while before he remembered who was missing.

“Does anyone knows where Lyra Heartstrings is?”

Meanwhile, in one of Canterlot Castle’s bedrooms

Lyra blinked with sleepy eyes as the rising sun shone through the windows. She pulled her covers over the head and muttered insults. She was no morning pony, a characteristic that annoyed BonBon from time to time. Lyra smiled as she thought about her lover Bon-Bon, all the fun times they’d had together, the times they’d woken up in the morning to… to…. what was she missing? And slowly, her brain began to work. A memory gnawed its way up, something very important. About Stephan. And the Elements...

It didn’t took long before Lyra jumped up with a shocked expression on her face. “BY THE SUN, I’M LATE!”

’The most irritating thing about it, she thought as she scrambled out of the covers, only to hit the ground as her legs got caught in them, is that I used to tell Mom that it’s not the end of the world if I oversleep! But nooo...’

Back in the garden

The six Elements steadily grew more worried as Stephan’s mood changed. “Where the hell is that mare? I hate it when people are late!” He pointed a finger at the mares. “I will not tolerate laziness! You six are going to see what happens when someone is late.”

Trixie smirked at Stephan’s statement. She knew him well enough to figure out what he is going to do with Lyra.

“I guess she just overslept. She’s a really, really heavy sleeper!” Pinkie explained. “There was that one time, where I threw that super birthday party at their neighbours, with a chocolate cake, a pinata and we played a lot of fun games, like pin the tail and…”

“I got it Pinkie,” Stephan said with his usual commanding voice. “But I want to know why none of you had the idea to go and get her before you get down here.”

“Oh, that was actually Dashie’s job since she sleeps in the room next to hers,” Pinkie chimed and Dash looked at her like she just signed her death sentence.

'Pinkie...why?' Rainbow whimpered silently as pink mare betrayed her at a drop of a hat.

‘Ooh, this is going to be fun.’ Trixie thought with a evil grin.

Stephan paused for a moment, before his head turned like the turret of a Leopard tank aiming at a new target. The term ‘iron sights’ had never seemed more literal. Rainbow smiled awkwardly in return. “Heh, heh… well, you see…”

“Don’t you even start, Rainbow Dash! This is exactly what I meant when I talked about teamwork. Your country has not faced a serious land war in-” he paused for a moment, resisting the temptation to mention the Crystal War, “Several centuries. Our world has, on and off for the last several decades, and we’ve all learned by now that for the common infantryman, everything depends on his squadmates. Even the freedom of sentience itself, now, and I will make sure that you will learn that, no matter what.” He kept his eyes on Rainbow who looked away. “I’m not your friend. You are my recruits and I will treat you as such. The training will be hard. It will be brutal. Merciless. Horrifying. I can assure you that you will hate me for the way I treat you, but you will also learn that it is necessary for what will soon come.”

Stephan paused again to let the six process his words. They remained silent. He didn’t expect anything else by now.

He was about to say some more before an explosion echoed through the gardens. Everyone turned their heads to the source. Stephan didn’t need long to see the smoke from one of the castle towers. Even Trixie was surprised by that turn of events. “Wha…”

‘Aw, come on! Really universe? Really?!’ Stephan thought as he turned to the others and told them to follow him. He hoped that his worst fear didn’t became real and the Tyrant was ahead of them.

Twilight looked scared, in that particular way that makes one look more terrified the more they try to hide it. “I know for a fact that can’t be good,” she shivered, looking up at Stephan. “Will you be okay with being teleported?”

“Yes. I don’t like the look of that, but it does require our immediate attention. Let’s go!”

East Tower

Marcus ran up the tower steps, easily overtaking several guards as they rushed towards the scene.

Marcus was busy setting up his people, getting them to set up for the next several months in their stay, when his runes had gone haywire and several unicorns had fell to the floor, groaning from the heavy magic in the air. He had little doubt that even one with lower-than-average, practically anemic magical awareness could feel its pressure in the air.

'The hell is going on?' Marcus reached the floor, smoke billowing from the breached doors. Two guards laid on their sides, one unconscious and the other struggling to his hooves. Marcus rushed up to the struggling guard, gently helping him away from the door.

"Hold on now. Stay still." Marcus dragged him to the wall, holding his side from a deep cut. The sounds of rushing hooves gained his attention, turning to see several guards making their way towards him. "You two! Get the other guard away from the door. Get someone with medical training here now!"

Marcus looked back to the guard, taking note of his drooping eyes-he looked shellshocked. "Hey! Stay with me! Don't you fall asleep on me now. What happened?"

"I..." the guard mumbled out, blinking as Marcus lightly slapped him across the cheek. "The Princesses were discussing something...I... I heard Princess Celestia give a cry. Sergeant Diamond and myself tried to open the door to see what the matter was... And then... The screaming..."

Marcus watched as the stallion give a small shudder as he looked up to him. "The pure rage I heard... I never thought I could hear such a thing from Princess Celestia. It was the saddest, most heart-wrenching sound I’ve ever heard in my life."

Marcus looked towards the smoking room, a frown on his face as several nurses from the hospital wing reached them.

A purple flash took his attention away from the room, and as he turned his head, he saw a group of seven ponies and one human standing in the hall behind him. “Stephan? What are you doing here?”

Stephan hobbled his way over to Marcus. “I just thought I come by and say hello, take in the sights, wonder why the hell do you think I’m here for?” He pointed at the smoke.

Marcus rolled his eyes at Stephan. “I want to clear the smoke and go in. Think you can move well enough with that limp?”

Stephan nodded and turned his head to the Elements and Trixie. “Help the Guards,” he told them as he pulled out his HK USP in one hand and his machete in the other. “Marcus and I will take care of the rest.” Stephan gave Marcus a nod and aimed his weapon at the entrance.

Marcus nodded back before standing up, both men taking either side of the broken doorway. Marcus held up a single arm, glowing with magic and giving a single nod to Stephan before pushing out his magic, shunting the smoke out of the hole in the castle wall and stepped inside, pistol drawn and ready.

The guards lined up behind them, watching as the smoke was pushed away, clearing the room. Marcus’ face was impassive as he stepped inside, his Colt in hand as he cleared the room. Stephan followed quickly after him.

A deep scorch mark laid in the middle of the room, melted stone sat in a small crater. The entire room's contents, likely priceless artifacts that would have whipped Equestria’s antiquarians and collectors into a frenzy of betting, were shoved towards the walls, some still in flames from extreme heat. Marcus lowered his weapon when he examined the large hole in the wall.

Stephan whistled impressed. “Meine Fresse, looks like a bomb hit this place.”

"Discord!" Marcus called out, and a loud pop was heard behind him. Marcus turned to the Draconequus as he looked at the room. "You have any idea what happened here?"

"Hm... I'm pretty sure Luna told her what happened to Elements of Harmony and Spike. That's what she was going to do this morning." Discord mused out loud, the answer causing Marcus to wince at the thought.

"Shit... take me to her." Marcus looked towards Discord, seeing him frown at this demand.

"Why?"

"Because she’s going to lash out," Marcus muttered, as he readied himself. "And I get the feeling Luna needs all the help she can get."

“I’m going with you.” Stephan moved at Marcus side.

Marcus eyed him for a moment before he shook his head. “Stephan, you are in no condition to-”

“Don’t you even start with that. Besides, I suffered worse than this before, and that didn’t stop me.”

Marcus wanted to say more but he gave it up. There is no point in arguing with the German. “Alright, just… let me handle Celestia, okay? You look like you are about to collapse on me.”

Stephan nodded and turned to the door. “I'll be fine, I can keep up. Trixie, take care of the Elements! I will be back in a few minutes!”

Trixie poked her head through the door and yelled, “Oh, no you don’t! Don’t you dare-!” And like that, he was gone.

Frigid North, several miles from the former Crystal Empire.

"Sister, please!" Luna cried out as Celestia blasted another powerful spell at the innocent mountain.

Celestia refused to listen, her mane was aflame with unbridled rage. It was as if her mane had the heat of the sun itself coursing through them.

Long story short, she hadn’t taken the news well.

"I WILL NOT ALLOW HER TO DO THE SAME TO OURS! I WILL STRIKE HER DOWN AND MAKE HER BEG FOR FORGIVENESS BEFORE I CAST WHAT’S LEFT OF HER TO HER VICTIMS!" Celestia roared as her horn glowed with power. She was not the first to make such a vow, and certainly wouldn’t be the last. Luna sat by helplessly, watching as her sister descended into blind rage. Luna had tried to break it to her easy, but Celestia demanded her to show her what she had seen, mind-to mind. She’d said she could take it after what she’d seen in Marcus' memories, the small bits that she could remember.

She wasn't ready. Not with what she saw.

Luna watched as the mountain, nameless and forgettable among the dozens of others that surrounded it, suffered another attack. Melted stones glowing brightly under the dark cloudy skies, snow whipping around her as it raged in the early morning.

"How is the Burning Sun doing?" Luna jerked at Discord's voice, seeing him floating next her, strangely enough with Marcus and Stephan as well, standing on a floating carpet.

"Damn, she goes all the way when she gets angry," Marcus muttered as Celestia began the task of reducing a mountain into a puddle of molten stone. "Shit! She's losing it!"

"We tried to tell her lightly of the situation, but her love for Twilight, Spike, and all the Elements..." Luna watched as Celestia blasted the tip of the mountain off, the magic punching through and slamming into another mountain, causing record-setting avalanches and rockslides. "It was too much. Her mind was already frayed by your memories. Seeing the victims of the Tyrant first hoof... it simply broke the mental barriers Discord erected. She is suffering and she feels helpless to stop it. I’m legitimately worried she might turn into something like Nightmare Moon!"

“Is that even possible?” Marcus asked.

“I wouldn’t rule it out,” Luna said, desperately trying to look away from her companions, as the memory of becoming Nightmare Moon once more in Boston overcame her. She’d only barely managed to keep herself under control, most likely due to the target that had forced her to change

"Wait... Your memories?" Stephan looked to Marcus in confusion.

"First greetings gone wrong. I’ll explain later." Marcus said to him, his eyes focused on Celestia.

Stephan sighed but agreed that they had more pressing concerns. "So, what’s the plan?”

Marcus frowned while he watched Celestia’s rampage before he looked towards Discord. "I'm going to do something stupid and I’ll need your help to pull it off," he said, looking at Stephan who had his sidearm and machete ready. “You are my backup. I doubt I need it, but better to safe than sorry. Plus, you’re not looking too hot in the mobile department. So, stay behind on standby.”

Stephan looked at the molten mountains for a second and gave Marcus a nod.

"Fortunately for you, I like stupid!" Discord said with a grin after a short moment of thought.

Celestia seethed as she readied another spell, only to feel the familiar magic of Discord grow before her. She looked up when a portal opened, stunning her long enough for Marcus to jump through and punch her across the face as hard as he could.

Celestia felt something break, the entire left side of her face lit up in blinding pain as she fell down to the ground from the blow, her body slamming down in the snow covered ground and tumbled end over end across the tundra before finally skidding to a halt.

Marcus fell from the sky, capping down on the growing panic as he fell. He gave a small sigh of relief as the carpet caught him in mid fall, before gently directing the the flying rug towards the fallen alicorn.

Marcus jumped off as he neared her, pulling his Colt out from his back holster. Though it had been loaded with new bullets from the munitions his taskforce had brought to Equestria, it somehow felt insufficient. He wished he’d taken that Mossberg shotgun, but he couldn’t have guessed he’d need it now.

Marcus steadily made his way to the down Celestia, his frown growing as he saw Celestia struggle to her hooves. "Sorry about that, but I need you to stay down for a moment. I need you to calm down."

Celestia gave small whimper as her jaw slowly healed itself, the rage that she felt before now took a step back from the blinding pain of her face. Marcus watched as Celestia gave a single groan before laying back down, a pool of water forming around her body from the intense heat she gave off just a few moments ago.

Marcus lowered his pistol, watching as Celestia gave a soft sob as she broke down. Marcus knew Celestia had been put through the ringer these last two weeks, and he was surprised she hadn't gone insane yet. Oh, the horrors he’d forced her to witness...

"Sister..." Luna landed next to them, Discord and Stephan appearing in a flash of light with Stephan holding his weapon pointing at Celestia, while Discord gave Celestia a long look.

"Look at me..." Celestia said between choked sobs. "Do you believe I am a ruler? I never once led an army to battle. The few wars we had after our war with Sombra, if you even called them so, I simply showed up and threw magic around till the very enemies that threatened pony kind left us alone or I banished them to some remote location. Discord was right! I coddled them too much and now I am sending each and every one of them to their deaths!"

Discord looked away, rubbing his head filled with shame. "Ah... Shoot. Celestia... I was wrong-" Discord was about to explain his actions, that his trip through the multiverse showed him the error of his past decisions. But the sobbing solar alicorn cut him off.

"No! You were right! I give them everything and allowed them to frolic unheeding of the world around them! Every other species fought for their place in the world and yet I did nothing for them!" Celestia stood up, jabbing her hoof at him. "I'm a monster of a different take! I keep them on the ground and bind their wings, not letting them fly at their own pace! I should - *SLAP*"

Celestia held her cheek, looking at Discord with complete shock. Discord himself frowned, shaking his head after a moment or so. "Please, I'm trying to speak here."

Discord gave a quiet sigh before he he explained, "I was wrong. It takes a big man to face his mistakes, and I stuck my head in the sand when the blame was being cast in my direction. When I did my duties, I became lax in my efforts. I never sat back to watch what I did, just snapped my claw and it was done. I pushed you into this role, and when Scribble demanded that I take you away after you established yourself, I did nothing but cause havoc across Equestria. All in the name of kicking you on your rear, in a huge childish tantrum. Not once did I consider the pain and damage I caused with my own carelessness, some of which was likely outside of her plan as well; I was angry at you for throwing away everything Mother planned for the people of this world. In some ways, you were right."

"I was wrong too," Celestia whispered, looking up to him. "Scribe told me of your place in this world and I refused to believe her. That you were a fundamental part that ensured that everything worked. When you demanded that Luna and I step down, I was so angry at you. So angry that I went to Scribe herself to find a way to stop you. She refused and I barreled through her for Mother’s notes to find the Elements. The moment you were gone... the whole world turned against us. Sombra... Nightmare... dragons... griffons... It was as if I opened the floodgates that you kept at bay. After Sombra’s war against us... I refused to let my ponies face the trials of war again; I instead went and took care of it myself. Now? Now I send many ponies to certain death, the last conflict we had was centuries ago, with war being a strange term for most ponies. Some of them just look at as a legend, or so I’m told."

Discord gave a laugh "We really are just a bunch of messed up ancients, aren’t we?"

Celestia gave a small giggle and nodded her head. "Indeed... I'm sorry...Discord."

Discord rubbed his head before giving a tired sigh. "Yeah... me too. It’s not like I can just snap my claw and make everything better."

*snap*

Discord snapped his claws as if to prove a point, only for a loud sound similar to glass breaking echo throughout the tundra.

Canterlot

Cadence gave a weak smile as her magic worked its way into the furious blue unicorn before her. Pinkie Pie found her and dragged her before Trixie, hoping that her power could sooth the irate mare.

All it did was seemingly make it worse.

"If that man thinks he can come back in our bedroom with a coy smile, sexy body, and delicious Peanut butter and crackers, he has another thing coming! He will rue the day he ignored me for the last time-" Trixie's voice petered off in Cadence's mind as she felt something within her. It felt so similar to how she first ascended to her alicorn state, but much more subtle.

"Cadence?" Twilight turned to see her former foalsitter stare off to the north, her eyes glowing a soft blue from her magic. Twilight yelped as Cadence spread her wings and took flight, knocking everyone off their hooves from the displaced air. "Cadence!?"

Frigid North

"Huh..." was all Discord could respond with as he watched a massive amount of land reappear. A large crystal castle, a town, and countless fields of farmland appeared before them. Discord looked to his claw and snapped again. He looked around excitedly for a moment before he deflated. "Aw..."

"What were you trying to do?" Marcus turned away from the land, his mind labelling this event as normal and not think too hard until more information was given.

"I was trying to summon up the Bushwoolies," Discord said sadly, wiping away a fake tear. "Such helpful little guys. Agreed to everything you asked them to do. Even put itching powder on themselves and go around hugging everyone."

Stephan stared at Discord before looking away, muttering under his breath at the apparent insanity these 'Bushwoolies' had. Marcus had other worries to deal with, namely the arrival of the Crystal Kingdom. The Crystal War had been infamous among guardsponies in the early days of the War, a bloody slaughterhouse that had birthed a newer, more dangerous breed of Royal Guard in the blood of their fellows. And Discord was going to just arbitrarily bring it out?

"What did you do?" Marcus turned to stare at the Draconequus, but Discord only shrugged his shoulders.

"I didn't do anything! I didn't even use my magic!" Discord defended himself, though the growing look of concern on Marcus’ face indicated that this was no laughing matter.

"That is the Crystal Kingdom. And if history is anything to go by..." Marcus started off, only for Celestia to finish for him.

"Then Sombra is not far behind with his own arrival," Celestia groaned as she stood up. "We have a few hours to prepare before he does show up. The Crystal Kingdom will be in his sights, and he will do anything to get his hooves on the Crystal Heart and reestablish his power and rule."

"Sister, if we can gather the Elements-" Luna started, only to get cut off by Stephan.

"No! That is the absolute worst thing to do! I've read the history of the Crystal War, Trixie herself has seen the results of Sombra’s magic. Those girls come out with the Elements and they will be struck down before they can even link up!" Stephan countered, while Marcus nodded his head in agreement. "We have to settle this ourselves before it gets out of hand."

"First thing is to get everypony to the castle," Celestia stood up, her wings flaring open. "And we need to find the Crystal Heart as soon as possible, it’s the only item that can keep Sombra out for good."

"Agreed." Stephan muttered as he readied his weapon.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Luna sighed.

“You and me both,” Marcus wearily agreed.

En route to the Crystal Castle

It had been almost eerie, walking from the icy mountainous wastes of the Frigid North into the verdant Crystal Kingdom.

They made a strange group as they walked through ancient farms, past ponies who threw their windows shut whenever the five of them came near. Luna supposed she couldn’t blame them. Two alicorns, which were the subject of extreme superstition in most places in their early years of rule, two heavily clothed and unfamiliar bipeds holding what were obviously weapons of some kind, and the dreaded Lord of Chaos himself, Discord. There were many things that Sombra could have told them about alicorns or draconequi, all of which would certainly encourage widespread panic.

“What happened to them?” Stephan asked, pointing towards one farmhouse, where he had clearly just seen a scared-looking farmer drag her foals inside.

“Sombra had some sort of mental hold on them,” Celestia explained. “I was never sure of the specifics, but-”

“Like the Tyrant?” Marcus suggested out loud as he watched as one groggy-looking stallion took one look at them and bolted for town.

“No, it’s…” Celestia started before a look of contemplation slowly appeared on her face as she ran it through her mind. “Huh. I suppose it is. Though-”

“He was never anywhere near as bad as the Tyrant,” Luna interrupted.

“Exactly,” Celestia nodded, shivering from the memory of what had happened to the other version of her precious student, and what that implied for the other Elements. Oh, it would either be a miracle or an unparalleled cruelty if their true personalities resurfaced completely sane! She struggled not to think about their adjustment back into society, if-no no, there was no if, there had to be a when-they managed to free them from her dark self’s interests. She foresaw mass suicide, insanity-

“You don’t look so well,” Discord observed, blessedly derailing that train of thought.

“I’ll get better once we’ve won,” Celestia said. “Everything else is secondary.”

There was a slight pause at that. Whatever emotions had been in Celestia’s voice there, they were certainly not indicators of mental stability.

“So,” Luna said, desperately trying to redirect the conversation, “What do the two of you know about Sombra?”

“He was a unicorn tyrant… though there are a great many people and ponies who believe he would have been an improvement over the Tyrant Sun,” Marcus said, shaking his head. "His magic is linked to shadow crystals and causes despair and fear. He was able to rule with an iron fist for several years before you two banished him, but not before your ponies fought against his slave army for several years before you finally broke through his magic barrier that kept you and Celestia from interfering, but he linked the city to his banishment and it disappeared from this world."

"There is more to it," Luna said quietly as the neared the city proper. "Sombra was my student and one of the ponies in charge in finding a means to stopping Discord. So he has magic unseen to everypony else, even me."

Stephan winced as he saw the haunted look on Luna's face. "So this must be hard for you then, huh, Luna?"

"It is." Luna stopped and lowered her head somewhat. "It’s worse than that; this all started because of his desire to wed with me."

Marcus leaned back to Stephan, a grimace on his face as he mouthed the word 'awkward' to the German. Stephan closed his eyes and moved forward, gently patting Luna's back to keep her moving.

"So Sombrero was in charge of figuring how to take me down." Discord rolled his goatee between his claw. "Last time I even saw him, he was just a colt barely getting into Stallionhood."

"He was as studious as Twilight and he loved me deeply," Luna gave a small sigh as she looked to the castle. "I sent him to the Crystal Kingdom to be a retainer and an Advisor for my great grandson after our... fight with you and peace began to reign over Equestria. Look how well that decision turned out."

"No need to beat around the bush, Lulu," Discord waved off her tact. "I knew I messed up-"

"We," Celestia corrected quietly as she looked down the rows of homes made of crystals.

"We messed up," Discord amended with a slight smile. "Our little spat may have pushed the ponies, but not for the right reasons. Either way, it’s in the past."

"Not for these ponies." Marcus watched as many crystal ponies panicked at the sight of the Draconequus. "To them, it was probably less than a decade ago."

Discord frown at this before shrugging, "Eh, I'll clean up my image once we knock down the Sleeping Festive Hat. Eh! Eh! Get it?"

"That joke fell flatter than a two hour open Coke can," Marcus deadpanned, causing Discord to grumble under his breath, something about humans and their sodas. They reached the castle, standing underneath the impressive building. Marcus gave a small whistle, Stephan giving a small look of surprise at the architecture. Marcus looked to the others and popped his neck. "So, game plan?"

"We must find the Crystal Heart and place it back in its proper home," Luna started, pointing at the small pedestal. "Once we have it, the crystal ponies can use their love and happiness to keep Sombra out of the Kingdom. We can also use their crystal for those odd munitions of yours."

"Deny him a chance to enslave and forcibly recruit them for his armies, and we’ll gain a potential ally in the process..." Stephan muttered, Luna nodding her head to his assessment.

“Speaking of which, what happened to the Crystal Ponies in the other Equestria?” Luna asked.

“We don’t hear much from there,” Stephan admitted. “I think I can count on one hand the number of Crystal Ponies I’ve seen that escaped to Earth, though, and they’ve said it’s a virtual police state under complete media blackout, kept obedient out of fear of humans and forced to mine crystals day in and day out for the Tyrant. They haven’t even been told the Barrier is impassable.”

"Basically the North Korea of Equus..." Marcus muttered under his breath.

"I see... something to take note of for the future, then. We must be careful if we fail as the consequences will be dire for all of us. Sombra has dabbled in military procedures, however, he is used to older and outdated ways of fighting with armies. I know for a fact today's military would overtake him before he had a chance to adapt. Still, it wouldn't do to rely solely on the force of arms,” Celestia said.

"Got that right." Marcus crossed his arms, nodding with her plan. "The Tyrant's Royal Guards practically ran over them, as all his psychotically disturbed sadomasochists got cut down while they ran for the hills. The only reason they got so far was because the Guard wasn’t that experienced. Sombra had to summon crystal creatures just to try and buy time for himself.”

Celestia shuddered at that, the crystal creatures of Sombra's dealt death in droves of her armies in the past. Both Luna and herself had been hard pressed to save as many lives as they could when they came onto the field.

"Alright, Celestia and Luna will look for the Crystal Heart, since you two have seen the thing and know what it looks like." Marcus said after a moment of thought, looking to Stephan before nodding to himself. "Take Stephan with you."

"Hey!"

"Sorry Stephan, but you can barely walk, let alone fight. Nor do you have your armor on; it’s still being repaired," Marcus told him, clapping his hand on Stephan's shoulder, before awkwardly taking his hand off as Stephan hissed in pain. "See? Anyway, helping Celestia and Luna in the search can increase your likelihood of finding it quicker. Plus you can help out in case of traps the guy left behind."

Stephan gritted his teeth, but nodded his head at Marcus' assessment. "Damn, alright." Stephan straightened his battle belt and followed the two Alicorns. “Just don’t die while I’m gone. Let’s go, ladies.”

Marcus gave an apologetic smile before looking to Discord. "Think you can start rounding up the crystal ponies?"

"I can, doesn't mean that they will respond well," Discord commented as he fiddled with his bracer.

"Doesn’t matter. Their safety is top priority," Marcus looked to city, a frown on his face. "That leaves me to be the welcoming committee. Joy."

Outskirts of the Crystal Kingdom

Desire ran rampant through the shadow creature as it made its way to the Crystal Kingdom. Something new had happened! Two-no, three sources of magic, rivaling even it in power, had arrived!

They would be delicious. It had been so long since it’d touched real magic!

It could see them now. Perhaps "see" wasn’t quite the right term, given that it did not truly have eyes, only a sense of powerful magic. And, in a land as saturated in the stuff as the Crystal Kingdom, it was as good as sight.

It could make out two of the sources of magic now. Them! THEMTHEMTHEMTHEMTHEM! Those two! Wonderful. Absolutely wonderful! It couldn’t wait to taste their power. To feel it flowing through its veins-oh, to have sweet beautiful veins once more! To take its revenge on the ones that forced it into this hideous state! Even the fool of chaos was there, to take revenge for what he did to it would be an additional pleasure. The sun and the moon were here, and they would rise no m-

What was that?

What?

That. Between crystal pillars that led into ITS Empire, was an odd biped who radiated off magic. Strange. Old. Forbidden, from wings of the library that even it couldn’t touch. It traced his body like a second circulatory system, throbbing with magic as the Crystal Empire’s ambient magic passed through and collected within it.

HOW DARE THAT THING! ONLY IT COULD DO THAT! ONLY IT COULD SUBSIST OFF ITS BEAUTIFUL EMPIRE OF CRYSTAL!

Still, though. That magic that throbbed within him would be wonderful to taste.

And easy to control.

Yes.

A fine servant indeed for its new reign. A fine template for new crystal golems. A fine lab rat for the experiments that it had missed so very much.

It was at the gates, an easy target and we can-

Marcus swallowed as he saw the cloud of dark magic swell before him and rush forward like the dust storms of the Middle East. "Okay, Renee... What now?"

He looked behind him, faintly hearing the terrifying screams of the Crystal Ponies that Discord had yet to gather, rushing headlong to the castle.

"What the hell can I do stop a fucking cloud?!" Marcus growled as he tensed, the rolling magical clouds quickly taking up the remaining ground. "Fuck."

Marcus prepared himself, only for a pink blur to slam down in front of him, her horn glowing with power as she unleashed her spell. Marcus watched as a wall of magic sprang up, quickly surrounding the city to prevent the cloud's intrusion.

"Cadence?"

"Commander Renee!" Cadence looked back at him surprise, she didn't even notice him when she landed, preferring to keep out the ugly sickening cloud of magic from reaching the Crystal Kingdom. "Are Aunty Luna and Celestia here?"

"Yeah, back at..." Marcus trailed off, seeing menacing green and ruby eyes looking back at them. Normally, this would strike fear and despair at all who gazed on them.

To Marcus, it was just another target.

What was this?

WHAT WAS THIS??!

Another alicorn?! ANOTHER! There were only two! ONLY TWO, HOW DARE THEY SPITE IT SO!

Pink this time. Smaller; a shadow of the other two. Yet… the POWER! So much POWER!

It screamed at her, magic vibrating through the air in an impression of words, of want. Even it didn’t quite know what, though… the magic? Yes, that was a wonderful place to start.

Yet she stood and stared into it, determined.

It roared at her once more, rushed at her and touched her, tentati-

*BZZAAP*

OW! It had been hurt! It could be hurt?! It hadn’t known that was possible! WHY! Why did she stand before him, as if she could not fall? How dare she resist so!

Her fear would be her undoing! She would gaze upon its form and know despair-

*BANG*

Of all the things that had happened, it had not expected that. It was simply out of context, an utterly alien action.

What had it been hit with? How had it gone so fast?

Marcus grinned as the face that formed within the cloud dispersed easily enough. Ah, bless- he’d missed firing his old .45. He was aware that firing at smoke logically should have done nothing, and that it would probably reform, but it had just been so much more solid… and he couldn’t have known that the magic in the bullets would react with it so unpredictably, dispersing about half of it across the landscape. Not quite as viscerally satisfying, but still something. He turn to gave Cadence a look of concern as she gave a tired sigh."You okay?"

"In a moment," Cadence said quietly, watching as the rumbling cloud retreated some ways back. "I’ve never done a spell this large before. Shining trained me, but I was a little unprepared at the strain of casting."

"You think you can keep this up for a bit?" Marcus said, a hopeful smile on his. He can sit back and wait for the Crystal Heart to be found.

"Yes, for awhile anyways. As long as nothing-”

*SKRRREEEEEEE*

Cadence looked back to the frozen tundra, her eyes widening in shock as she saw figures slowly pulling themselves from the ground. Marcus bared his teeth in anger as he saw crystal monsters rising up from the clouds embrace and slowly make their way towards the magical shield.

"God damn it..."

That had been far too draining, summoning so many servitors. It had been so long since it summoned them, and it had underestimated just how little energy it had left in this form, after all this time.

The strange new alicorn and the unfamiliar biped stood in front of It, ignoring it. Perhaps the biped’s fear could nourish it?

It stared at the biped, attempting to feel the relish of negative emotions.

Nothing. If fear were leaves, the biped’s emotional landscape was like a forest that had been burnt until only the skeletal trunks of trees remained.

Anger was there, but it was righteous and positive, dedicated to destroying…. something. The biped had barely even considered it! How… HOW INFURIATING! HOW DARE IT IGNORE IT SO!

Wait.

There. Hidden beneath his bravado and cool demeanor.

Fear... hatred... despair.

It could feel it though, hidden below the ground. Buried and left to be forgotten. He was denying its existence, his fear and despair… those would be delicious. Left to grow like fine wines… behind a dam… yes, a floodgate of fine wine, aged and treated to perfection.

It needed to dig in and unleash it.

Marcus growled as he looked back to Cadence, waving his arm back to the castle. "Get back to the Castle, I'll try to keep them back. Help Discord get the Crystal Ponies to the castle. Once they are all there, shrink the shield so you don't strain yourself."

Marcus turned around, levelling his Colt M1911 pistol at the closest crystal monster, and let fly a single round. The round slammed directly between its eyes, the unstable magical coating sloughing onto the enchanted crystal, exploding and destroying the head fully. The round continued on and slammed into the one behind it, destroying half of its face.

Marcus unleashed several more bullets, the heavy rounds made to tear apart flesh shattering the crystal monsters into tiny pieces. Marcus cursed when he counted the influx of monsters. For every one he took down, three more took its place. Marcus scowled as he holstered his weapon, his runes flaring to life, bathing him in a low light. Shit, he never had enough bullets for these things!

Marcus roared as he rushed through the barrier to the nearest monster, which was nearly twice as tall as Marcus, jumping up to drop kick it with all his might.

The monster, once called Destroyers due to the havoc and death they unleashed, allowed itself to be hit, its intelligence simple enough that it believed it would weather the blow from the tiny biped.

It didn’t. Marcus’ boots broke half the monster’s chest into hundreds of shards, knocking it back what looked for all the world like thirty feet.

Crystal monsters standing behind it were crushed as the massive monster flew backwards like a great crystal cannonball, rolling over its brethren from the blow.

Marcus pushed off the monstrous crystal's chest, sending it flying. He used the monster as a pad to launch himself away from the growing group, landing on his feet before he was forced to roll aside to avoid a claw as it impaled the ground with ease. His roll took him the clutches of another monster, its many arms reaching out for the Marine to grab a hold of him. Marcus scowled as he grabbed one of the arms and began to spin, his runes brightly shining as it helped him lift the heavy crystal creation. The monster barely had time to react before its body was used to slam into the others, shattering pieces of itself before finally breaking apart.

Marcus threw the arm aside, watching as the number of monsters stayed even, some of them even reforming before his eyes. His CQC doctrine made to deal with humans and ponies would be useless here. These things ignored pain and lost limbs and body parts far better than newfoals. Still, at least these crystal monsters didn’t have entrails, blood, or those horrible staring eyes, and they couldn’t speak, so it was marginally better than fighting them. The lack of nightmarish trauma was almost refreshing with to the current desperation he felt. Honestly, it almost felt like a game of some sort. A horribly deadly game, sure, but a game nonetheless.

Fortunately, Marcus was hardly helpless and was aware of other fighting styles he could use. He was going to need them now more than ever. He boxed for several years in highschool and was pretty decent at it. After he joined the Marines, he dabbled in other martial arts, taking a liking to Muay Thai and dabbled in Tai Chi for stretching and balance training. Marcus spent years perfecting his strange style, but never really had a chance to go all out, and the closest had been with Stephan, who had his own style of fighting that rivaled his own.

Marcus raised his arms, taking up a traditional boxing stance as the monsters rushed forward, a vicious smile appearing on his face as his body glowed with power.

"Let see you keep moving after this," Marcus whispered as he rushed forward, closing the gap between him and the leading monster. Marcus skidded in front of the creature, ducking underneath a swipe of its claws. He grabbed it by the arms and kneed it several times in the body, cracks growing with every blow before shoving it away, causing the monsters behind it to run into it and stumble about. Marcus cocked his right arm back and unloaded it at a monster that lept over the pile landed before him. The glowing runic arm not even pausing as it punched through with complete ease. Marcus’ smile grew as he opened his palm and unleashed his spell on the monsters behind his impromptu shield.

The Ravagers, Binders, even two Destroyers simply exploded in the wake of the crude blast of concussive force several meters before the biped.

It had such an excellent reservoir of magical power! And yet… its control was so terrible!

Something had to teach it. It was a shame to let that delicious ancient magic go to waste. Yes, it could use the biped’s magic so much more efficiently…

It had to have the biped!

Marcus stood back, a smirk on his face as the booted a growling skull away from him. He pulled out his pistol and loaded another magazine, watching as some of the crystals struggle to reform themselves, others made no movement at all

Marcus frowned as he watched the cloud of shadows reform a few meters before him, the same green and ruby eyes forming before an equine head took shape. At least, it looked vaguely equine-the lines were too harsh, and fangs just looked bizarre on them. "Well, I have to admit I was worried for a moment, but I guess it was unfounded. I'll be on my way then, you can try again if you want."

The shadow figure smiled brightly, sharpen teeth making his smile even more demonic in appearance.

"DESPAIR!" It roared as it shot forward, Marcus jumped to the side, his pistol barking out once and dispersing the shadow clouds as it impacted the area he was in seconds earlier.

“Oh, you call that despair?!” Marcus yelled. “You call that trying to break me?! I’VE STARED DOWN EXPERTS AT THAT!”

A dark chuckle echoed around him, Marcus finally taking note of the surrounding clouds, he fired several more rounds, but amounted to nothing.

Marcus looked about once more before he grimaced and said one word. "Fuck." Why did his gun feel so outclassed all the time? Then again, it was only a pistol, an extremely powerful one, but still just a pistol. He needed a much bigger weapon... a sword like Stephan's came to mind. Or a dual pistols.

The clouds swirled around him, Marcus struggling to push out with his magic and keep it away, but it ignored everything he did to it. His runes glowed an angrily bright red, reacting the same way they would react if he was dosed in potion. Marcus hissed in pain, looking down at his arm, his eyes frozen in growing shock as the runes began to glow a sickly black, slowly trailing up his arm. The pain was agonizing, the clouds slowly forcing themselves into his crystal runes and trailing up his body. “What the fuck?!” he yelled as he tried push the strange magic off of him.

Marcus growled as he struggled before it simply stopped. He blinked as he look down at his arms in confusion, seeing the poisonous dark magic no longer present. He looked up to see he wasn't even outside anymore, but in the Oval Office.

"Ready!" Marcus blinked as he walked up to the window, seeing the White House front lawn in his view and his jaw dropped to see his family outside standing there. They stood between two groups, Dallas PD and Military personnel on one side, ponies and PER agents on the other.

"Uncle Danny... Aunt Molly?" Marcus whispered, watching as his uncle and aunt stood there waving at him, their husband and wife along with their respective children at their sides. Completely ignoring the groups at their sides.

"Take aim!" An Army officer barked out, the joint civilian and military units shouldering their weapons.

"Spread the light of Celestia!" Came the squeaky voice of a mare, the group pulling their arms back with potion in hand or hoof.

"No! Get out of there!" Marcus yelled at his family stood there uncaring of the world around them. He pounded the window to get them to snap out of it but they remained calm under his protests.

"Fire/Join the light!"

Marcus watched in horror as his family was torn apart before his eyes. They shifted and changed while the bullets tore them to shreds.

"No!" Marcus screamed as he watched his family die before his very eyes.

"You always believe you can save everyone." Marcus turned to see a young private marine standing next to him, looking at the carnage with a dead look in his eyes. Marcus opened his mouth to retort, before the marine turned to him and revealed a gaping bullet wound taking out half of his skull. "Why wasn't I saved?"

"How come you shot me mister soldier?" A young voice popped up behind him. Marcus whirled around to see a young afghan girl, her torso shredded apart from a heavy weapon.

"You failed to keep us alive!" Another marine, part of his old unit that was nearly wasted by a surprise attack in an area that would later be called 'RPG Valley'

"You left us to die." A french soldier, a Chasseurs Alpins, his body warped beyond the norm due to the potion.

"I trusted you." A pony nurse, Sutra Cross, her body eviscerate and tortured. Somehow talking perfectly normal without teeth or tongue.

"You led us to an early grave!" Lyra scowled at him. Her body fractured and pieced together like a jigsaw puzzle.

Marcus spun around in place, lashing out to keep the corpses of people and ponies surrounding him away. "No! I did the best I could!"

"I looked up to you, Marcus." said a familiar voice rose above the rest, silencing the others. Marcus looked on in horror as his brother limped into view. Half of his body was ponified while the other remain human. "And you killed me anyways... for a pony."

"I... I did it because..." Marcus heaved, falling to his knees.

"You let your brother die..." Marcus whimpered as he saw his mother standing before him. Her formerly sunkiss blond hair now gray and aged, her blue eyes held nothing but contempt for him. "He followed your path and it lead him to an early grave. This is your fault!"

"Son..." Marcus looked up to his father, wearing his uniform he last saw him in. "No... you’re no son of mine. You let our entire family die when I trusted you to keep them alive. How can you save our world when you can't even keep family alive."

His eyes flickered in color, his normally dark brown eyes gaining a ruby tint while his sclera changed to a sickly green that seemed to seep through the veins in his eyes. Tears slowly trailed down his cheeks as he fell to his knees.

Marcus gripped his skull in painful agony as he began to scream.

Yes… How delicious he was!

While the magic sealed into the biped’s skin was delicious, and it would love to try this sometime, it was like a giant hole leading straight into him, wide open for the right type of being.

It crawled up the biped’s right appendage… an arm? Was that what it was called? An arm? Yes, like the biped bulls to the west.

As it crawled up the arm, along the latticework of magic that traced the biped, it sowed negative emotions within him. Hatred, oh, such hatred! Hatred of Celestia, curious given that it had been close in the vicinity of her. There was something different about the Celestia in his memories… such an impression of power that she had!

If only It could taste the source of that power! It had proven to be near limitless, enough that dimensional barriers, the mightiest armies, they meant nothing before such power!

Despair, such exquisite despair! It could never dream of causing anything like what the biped had seen. It had created wonderful oppression in its own Crystal Empire, but this biped had witnessed an entire world be destroyed! Its people twisted into ponies - wait, what was even the point of that? - with no free will, into little more than automatons, no better than his crystal creations. The soldiers he had faced, that once were bipeds, now seemingly endless, waves of ponies comparable to tin soldiers. There was no end, of course. There could never be any end. How could the biped win? Unless he let It in, let it channel power through his runes. How could he think he could stop it the way he is now?

And… Oh, what was that? Something in its chest near what it knew to be the heart.

The power that laid behind it.

Familiar, but why…?

His soul. The wondrous power of his soul.

Pure.

An unlimited wellspring of magic and power. It’d never tapped into a soul before… only it's own. His would be exquisite to play and manipulate with.

He would learn to enjoy his new place within its empire once it was done with him.

Crystal Castle

“Any idea where we should start looking?” Stephan asked the princesses, watching the city landscape through an open balcony.

“The throne room would be a good start,” Celestia said. “If it’s not there, then maybe we can find at least a clue where it could be.”

Stephan gave her a silent nod and followed them a few feet behind. Celestia didn’t need to ask why he stayed behind them, his weapons always ready. She could tell that he still didn’t fully trust them. She could understand it, of course; it was only a day ago that he killed the fake Tyrant in his world, believing that he fought the real one, and now he was in Equestria, in the company of two Alicorns, one of whom he wanted to kill and another one he only heard stories about.

Stephan almost killed Celestia just from hearing her talk and he would have been successful if Marcus didn’t stop him. She caught herself more than once looking over her shoulder to keep a watchful eye on him. Even Luna seemed worried. Partly because they worried for their own lives, but mostly because of his mental health. She witnessed Marcus’ breakdown, and with no doubt it wouldn’t be any different with him.

She wondered what horrors Stephan had to live through during the war against the Tyrant and her armies. There was still so much Marcus hadn’t told her about him. Celestia closed her eyes and tried to find Marcus’ memories, specifically those about Stephan.

She could now see through Marcus’ eyes, as he and Stephan walked out of a half-destroyed building in… Boston. Yes, that was the name of the city. A powerful missile had been fired at the air force of the Newfoals. His eyes looked down at a pegasus who had a mane that looked like fire. She knew her. Spitfire. The leader of the Wonderbolts. She pointed at a storm of fire and light that sucked the airships and pegasi in, crushing and burning everything in reach. And if it was not within reach, the winds it produced ensured that anything airborne will not be there for long. His eyes jumped over to Stephan who fired with his weapon at some Newfoals who jumped out of a building in which an airship had crashed. Stephan closed the distance and switched over to his machete, transforming it into a claymore and cutting the Newfoals down. His moves were smooth and well aimed. He killed them without hesitation. Like a well oiled machine. Cold. Without mercy. And every time she saw his eyes, there was only…

“Sister?”

Celestia shook her head. As she opened her eyes again, she saw Luna giving her a worried look. “Sorry, Luna. Just… a memory of Marcus’.”

Luna kept her eyes on him for a while before she turned her attention back to the floor they are walking through. “Is it about Stephan?” Luna whispered.

Celestia hoped that Stephan was too distracted with something else so that he didn’t heard them. Who was she kidding? He would have his eyes and ears everywhere, thus she only gave her sister a nod.

'A sense of high respect, of budding rivalry, and trust. These are the things Marcus feels at the mention of Stephan. He would lay his life in the man's hand in a heartbeat.'

They moved on, Stephan following them like he was their shadows. Every now and then, he looked outside through one of the windows. He saw the dark cloud began to spread around the kingdom, the blue shield that appeared at random keeping it out. Luna explained that it was Cadence's magic, and that she has arrived at the Crystal Kingdom. Stephan was worried though. He couldn't hear the sounds of gunfire nor the screaming hisses of whatever monsters that Sombra brought with him.

They finally reached the throne room. Stephan was quite impressed by the sight. He was once in the Vatican and that was already a breathtaking sight. But this room was made out of crystals of different shapes and colors, and the room was flooded with light-it was just so beautiful. There was no shadow except those under his feet. “Alright. What are we looking for?”

Celestia let her eyes wander through the room and Luna did the same. “The Crystal Heart is not here,” she said with a disappointed tone.

“Go figure,” Stephan muttered under his breath.

“We have to keep looking. Maybe it is hidden,” Luna said, trying to give them some hope.

Stephan nodded in agreement before saying, “Okay, what does that Crystal Heart look like, by the way?”

“Like a heart made of crystal,” Luna said, looking somewhat confused at why he needed that explained to him.

"You mean a blood pumping heart?" Stephan ventured, a worried look on his face. 'That is both disturbing and fucking badass if that's true.'

"What?! No!?" Luna gave him an appalling look of disgust. "The symbol for 'love' kind of heart, which is what the Crystal Kingdom was known for. Spreading joy and love across the world."

Stephan gave her a long look before he sighed and began to search the room. Luna and Celestia searched in a different part of the room, but never far from Stephan’s visual range. ‘Dammit. Where would I hide an important artifact if I were an evil Tyrant…’ He resisted the urge to ask Celestia.

They searched every part of the room and didn’t let any stone left unturned. He then asked Celestia, “Why can’t you simply sense it with your magic and teleport them to us? That would make things much easier.”

Celestia explained, “Sadly I can’t. Something is blocking mine and Luna’s ability to do so.”

He already rounded the throne and looked in every possible hiding place. Celestia and Luna weren’t any luckier from the look of their faces. Again, he felt that urge to run to Celestia and cut her head off.

He shook his head. He had to keep a cool head. Going berserk now would not help anyone. Marcus clearly trusted them, so he had to trust them as well. Still, he felt a lot of anger in him after the battle with the Solar Tyrant’s duplicate. It was frustrating that it wasn’t the real one, and to be around Celestia (even if this one was from an alternate universe) changed his mood for the worse.

‘The longer I'm here... the less sense this place makes.’ He let his eyes wander over the throne room again. Beautiful crystal structures, bright lighting, and soothing colors. Something was off, and he believed that he knew now what it is. “Hey, Luna!”

The princess of the moon looked over to Stephan. “Yes?”

“Say… Sombra had this place under control for a long time before you were able to force him out, right?”

Luna nodded. “Yes, he ruled over the Empire for a long time. Why?”

Stephan stroked his chin between his fingers. “I… don’t know how to put this, but this place does not look like Sombra’s throne room.”

Luna and Celestia shared a short gaze. “There are no other throne rooms. This is the only one.”

Stephan shook his head. “No, I mean… look at it. Its… verflucht nochmal...”

Both princesses eyed him with a confused look as he struggled with what he was trying to point out.

Stephan gave a sigh. “How would Marcus say this? 'This shit looks wrong and its annoying me.' Its like I'm walking into an ambush and clues are right in front of me to warn me about it. It doesn't look like an evil overlord throne room. Its too... pretty and tame compare to what we know of Sombra.”

Celestia’s and Luna’s eyes lightened up as they realized what Stephan was trying to say.

“But of course!” Luna exclaimed. “How could we be so blind? Sombra’s magic would have changed this castle like it had changed the entire Empire. It would have warped to his desires.”

“That means we have to restore the original look of this room by using Sombra’s dark magic,” Celestia summarized.

“Can either one of you use that kind of magic?” Stephan asked.

Luna nodded. “We both have experience in that field. Although given what we know about and its origins, we must take care not to cast it about without caution.” She walked in front of the throne and eyed the giant crystal above it. “It has been a while but…” Her horn began to glow, dark purple and green sparks bubbled in it like a sickness that grew outwards.

Stephan observed the procedure. A beam of dark magic shot out of Luna’s horn and hit the crystal. It didn’t take long until a dark shadow crawled from the throne and over the stairs towards the floor. It revealed a hole in the ground. Unfortunately, Stephan stood in its way. He saw the hole getting closer and he jumped out of the way. He landed on his bad leg and with a short cry of pain he fell.

Celestia saw how Stephan cringed in pain and walked over to him to offer him her assistance to help him up by offering a wing to hold on. He looked at it before he pushed it away with a scowl. “I’m fine, I’m fine!”

Celestia looked hurt as he refused her help. He struggled to get back on his feet. He managed to do so, but she could still see the pain etched on his face.

Stephan walked to the beginning of the stairs and looked down into the hole. It was so dark that he didn’t even saw the ground. “What is it with villains and dark and mysterious looking holes…”

“Sounds like you have already some experience with evil lairs,” Luna mused.

Stephan waved a hand at her. “Something like that.” He opened a one of the bigger bags at his battle belt and pulled out one of his heavy glow sticks. A quick snap in the middle and a little shake was all what it took to make it glow.

Luna and Celestia watched it with interest, since they had never seen such a device.

Stephan let it fall into the hole and saw how the stick disappeared into the darkness. He lost it as the light got swallowed by the dark, and it took several more seconds before he heard it land on the ground. He whistled, impressed. “That is one deep hole.”

“Indeed, it is.” Celestia said. She was already on her way to go down as Stephan held out a hand in front of her to stop her.

“I’ll go first. Maybe there are traps which only go off by magical ponies like you,” Stephan explained.

Celestia turned her head to Luna for help, who nodded her head with Stephan's statement. “He is right, Sister. It is a possibility, since only magical creatures like us can use the magic that is necessary to open the way.”

"Once I'm through, I'll see if I can find any source of the magical traps and break them with my sword. The PHL taught us the means of detecting traps after the Royal Guards began to lace traps in occupied towns. My sword can react to magical traps thanks to Trixie, whom modified it to give me a warning. Besides, Runes and crystals react all the same once destroyed." Stephan added. "Useless. Without the means of powering said traps, they shut off, thus making it safe to pass."

Celestia gave a resigned sigh. “Alright, Major. We will wait for your call.”

Stephan nodded and flicked on his pistol’s flashlight. The light didn’t reach far, but it was enough to see where he was going. Each step was painful with his bad leg, but he did what he always did - grit his teeth together and keep going. ‘I could have been ordering the Elements around now, going to the doctor afterwards and then have a good night with Trixie, but noooo, I had to follow Marcus because he’s my friend and I must go on suicidally dangerous adventures with him… Now, on my epic journey of heroism I have to walk down some stupid flight of stairs into the killer friendly cellar… wait a minute…

“Hey, Luna, Celestia!” Stephan shouted up to them.

“Yes?” he heard Celestia say.

“Isn’t this castle built on legs with a lot of open air between the ground and bottom of the castle?”

There was a short pause before he heard her answer. “Yes, it is! Why?”

“Oh, nothing! I was just wondering how there would be stairs to a cellar when this castle is built over the ground!”

“That is not uncommon! A castle can have a lot of bigger rooms with the help of a pocket universe magic without making the castle bigger on the outside! Where do you think we kept all the soldiers that wouldn’t react well to Equestria in the castle?”

‘Great, this place fucks with time and space like the Tardis of the Doctor...’ Stephan thought. ‘It’s cool in some crazy way… not that I’ll ever tell him that.’

“I don’t understand why it had to be Canterlot Castle, though, or castles in general. ” Stephan yelled back.

“Ambient magic!” Celestia replied. "To help keep the spell running. Canterhorn is saturated with it due to being a major center for ley lines… though that may partly be our fault. As for the Crystal Castle, it used to be a magical learning center that Starswirl helped create. An experiment in runes laid in the foundation to form the Crystal Kingdom you see before you! Another example of our meddling, so to speak!”

After a long walk, which seemed to never end, he reached the bottom of the stairs. He paused and took a few deep breaths before he used the flashlight to look around. It was dark and for the exception of the stairs, there was not much to see. That was until he saw the door. ‘Bingo.’

He walked over it and was going to open door as it disappeared. “What the…?!”

He looked around and found the door behind him. “Okay…” He walked towards it and as he tried to open it a second time, it moved out of his reach. “...oh, you didn’t just…”

“Is everything alright?” He heard Luna call out from above. At least she wasn’t using the Voice yet.

“Yes! Just give me a minute!”

He tried it again and again but the result was the same, and Stephan was really not in the mood to play ‘Catch me if you can’.

He tighten the grip on his HK USP and waited for the door to fall still. He smirked as the door shook, apparently readying itself for another run around. Quickly taking in the door's appearance, he took note of the black crystal that pulsed weakly on top, making Stephan marking it as his target. Stephan pulled his weapon up and the door tried to move again, only for the magic-laced bullet hit the crystal above the door. It began to shine in a blue light. ‘Gotcha. Huh... strange that it didn't shatter.’ Stephan pulled his blade and checked the handle to his machete, gazing upon the crystal gem laid within. A steady dim light and not a single pulse to be given. 'Clear of traps then.'

"Are you alright! We heard your weapon go off!" Celestia called down to him.

"Just keeping something still. It's safe to come down now!" Stephan yelled up to them as he walked to the door and grabbed the handle. A hard pull later and the door was ajar. He smiled victorious as he gave the door a small chuckle. Had Stephan kept his hand on his blade, he would have taken note of the rapid pulses it was giving off. “Alright, I'm moving forward, try to catch up!”

He pulled the door open and was blinded by a white light. He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes and as he could see clear enough-

His breathing came still, blind panic building within. He looked around and something inside began to feel sick. ‘No… it can’t be…’

But it was.

He was in a school.

He was in the school.

Back in Paris.

He turned around to leave only to find himself alone in the hallway. The door was gone!

The floor was a mess; covered in clothes, shoes, paper, ammo casing, spilled potions, smears and splatter marks of blood. Tables and chairs that blocked doorways laid strewn about the hall, as if they were tossed aside by monsters attempting to get the prize within.

He could hear the screams of adults, and children in panic. Bombs exploding and gunfire chattering outside.

"N-no. Not here..." Stephan choked out as he gripped his weapon tightly.

Stephan felt the chills run up and down his spine when he heard it.

The sound of childrens' laughter. That horrifying laughter. The same laughter that followed him through his nightmares.

And it came closer.

"Venez nous joindre. C'est amusement étant un poney."

Author's Notes:

So here is one of two!

This one needed a bit of planning due to the lack of information on certain subjects. Hopefully I managed to fill in some stuff that were more or less skipped over.

It took awhile and I still relied on the others to fill in some gaps, but it was something that I feel comfortable posting about.

Next chapter sometime soon. ~Redskin122004