Chapter 3

“Zee Captain?” Luna looked at the masked pony with a puzzled expression. “Never heard of you. Where are you guys from?”

Captain leaned back in his chair the purple lenses of his gas mask sparking in the dim light. “A wondrous land of adventure and fun!”

“Also known as the war torn wastelands of East Stalliongrad!” The blue masked sentry yelled from outside.

Luna turned to the other two ponies. One had a green gas mask and a tight biosuit, while the other was orange and wore a soft, furry coat. “Who are you two?”

The green masked pony spoke first. “I’m Pilot! Commander of Captains Air force!”

Luna couldn’t help but smile at Pilots enthusiasm. Discord thought the same.

“How about you?” Luna asked the other.

The orange masked pony sighed. “I’m Engie. I carry Captain’s damn shoes.”

“That’s, uh, important. I guess.”

‘I love these guys!’ Discord cheered. ‘Enlist them now. Make them your advisors and rule the world!’

“And that sad fellow you saw outside is Snippy. He is the crazy one of my minions.” Captain took a sip from his mug with his straw and somehow through his mask. “Snippy, I require a new beverage!”

The blue masked and white cloaked pony entered the room. “Why can’t you make Pilot do it? He's your favorite by the way?”

Captain didn’t answer but continued to stare at Snippy. After a full two minutes the white cloaked pony sighed.

“Fine.”

“Why are you all dressed like that?” Luna asked Zee Captain. “With gas masks and everything?”

“To survive in our surroundings no matter the amount of radiation!” Captain stood to show himself/herself off to the visitors. “Don’t I look simply stunning in this coat and scarf?”

“Very stunning,” she replied flatly.

Captain sat back down,”So I hear that you are at war with the griffons.”

“That is top secret! How do you know about-”

“Do not question Captain’s ways!” Pilot jumped up and stood, ready to attack. “Or you’s gets the scalding!”

“Settle down Pilot,” Captain chided the green masked pony. “Celestia told me about your terrible predicament.”

“If my sister told you then, very well. Yes I do need your help.” Luna let herself calm down as well. “I don’t know why I am asking this, or how you could possibly make a difference, but will you help us?”

“Well are you worthy to be of my services?”

Luna looked confused. “Are we worthy of being under you? What does that mean? I’m Princess Luna, one of the two highest positioned ponies in Equestria! Your country is asking for your help!”

“Well, Loony, how about you fill out this resume and I’ll consider it.” Captain leaned back on his seat.

“Loony? Don’t call me that- wait, never mind! Why would I fill out a resume? We’re employing you, not the other way around!”

“He used to work under me. Now look at what’s happened,” the pony named Engie spoke.

Luna was getting a headache. It wasn’t even from Discord, who was surprisingly quiet at the moment. It was from the randomness that was occurring that she couldn’t process, as well as maybe the cold air of the region. And maybe from the strange tingling sensation in the air. Whatever the case, maybe she could get somewhere by looking at the questionnaire.

“20 pages?! You must be joking!”

“And please use a #2 pencil.”

Discord finally spoke from the inner reaches of Luna’s mind. 'Okay, you know what? Can we get out of here? Even I don’t get it. And didn’t ‘zee Captain’ say something about radiation? Because I think it’s getting to your head, Loony-'

‘Don’t call me that!’

Discord chuckled. 'Anyways, I think it might be getting to your head. And it hurts. So can we leave?'

‘Perhaps if I stay here long enough, the radiation can purge you from my mind. But because that would involve frying my own mind, I will go.’

Luna turned to her sister. “Celestia, may we return to Canterlot now? I will...” the night alicorn glanced at Captain, “... consider his abilities.”

“But your interview is not yet over,” Captain stated.

Princess Luna slammed her hoof on the table. “I couldn’t give a BUCK about your interview, you imbecile! Celestia, we are leaving! NOW!”

Luna briskly walked out the front door of the house, with Celestia following behind.

“Lulu, I really think you should have been a little less hasty with your decision. We really could have-” Luna immediately spun around and cut her off with her own torrent of yelling.

“Less hasty? That colt is a moron! Did you read his stack of papers? E-mails? Phone numbers? Salsa dancing?! He’s somepony I wouldn’t trust with a butter knife, let alone a military operation, and I will back-hoof you across the snout if you even consider him for filling my role!”

Celestia was about to answer back, but she saw a unicorn on a distant hill. The unicorn was using a pair of binoculars, but behind them she could see a pair of glowing pink eyepieces.

“Um, Captain?” shouted Celestia, “There’s somepony on the far hill. You know him?”

Captain immediately jumped out of his seat, mug still in his hoof. “What does he look like!?”

“About the same as all of you, but with pink lenses on his mask.”

“That’s Mr. Stalky! Snippy! After him!”

Snippy could be heard grumbling under his breath as he started to gallop after ‘Mr. Stalky.’ Celestia and Luna took off and left the war-torn and irradiated ruins of Eastern Stalliongrad behind them. After they had flown for a few minutes in silence, Luna decided to ask Celestia a question.

“Tia, do you know of anypony else that could take my place in the war room?”

“I think I know of somepony else, but I’m not one hundred percent sure. Follow me.”

With that said, Celestia and Luna took a hard turn and left the insane ponies and teleported to The Mild West.

~

Meanwhile in the War Room...

"Do we even have rules on what to do without the Princesses around?" Stonewall asked the other generals in confusion. "There's probably something that says technically we're not allowed to be here right now."

Storm shrugged. "Celestia left a note with one of the guards. They're both off on important royal business looking for somepony. Wouldn't say where they went, though. Ah well, can't argue with alicorns." He glanced at the map of the battlefield, which was currently clear of pieces. "But Luna didn't finish making the plans that we were supposed to make yesterday. So there's a war on... and we officially haven't got a strategy yet."

"Princess or no princess, we have to do something. We can't just STALL. Which seems to be what we're doing right now," Anchor said. He reached under the table for a battleship piece and placed it on the board. "So if nopony else wants to fight this war, I will."

"And what exactly gives you the authority to do that?" Spear bucked the piece out of Anchor's hooves. "We all rank the same, and none of us voted for your plan."

Each intent on getting their own personal strategy put to use, none of the generals pointed out that this was exactly why a princess had to be present at their meetings.

Several hours, hundreds of games of hoof-wrestling, three actual fights, two black eyes, and one accidental unicorn horn stabbing later, they hadn't come to an agreement. They also hadn't noticed the uniformed pony standing at the door of the war room with a letter in his mouth, though he hadn't been there quite that long.

"Report from the front, sir," he explained. "Luna may have crippled most of the griffins' forces, but they are by no means harmless. Our failure to immediately capitalize on the surprise of the moon drop has given them time to attack some of the pony settlements near the border. Trottingham is under siege, and they can't hold out for much longer without reinforcements."

"Oh bucking hell," Storm said. "We'll send them right away. And another mission, soldier. Find out where the Princesses went, and what could possibly be more important to them than the war going on."

"There were reports of unusual activity near Stalliongrad. Might be a good place to start," Stonewall added.

"Yes, sir." The soldier left the war room.

Given focus by the news from the front, over the next hours the generals worked out a combined strategy that they had to admit, without being the slightest bit narcissistic, was absolutely brilliant and flawless. But as they exchanged hoofbumps in celebration, another report arrived, from the first pegasi to reach Trottingham.

Nothing had been happening there at all. In fact, the previous report had been an outright fabrication.

Stonewall facehoofed. "Great work everypony. We've got a spy to deal with now."

<<+>>

Back in Stalliongrad...

Zee Captain was standing outside the old east Stalliongrad train station as he watched Snippy and Engie carry enormous packs. None of this bothered him as he took a sip of his tea.

“Captain, we are ready!” Pilot shouted out from inside the station.

“Good! Soon we will be on our way.” Zee Captain replied.

Soon they made their way onto the closest train. The train was broken and in major disrepair, other than the metal frame the train would not even budge an inch. He decided to sit down next to a fine looking skeleton. Their conversation was going well before his other two minions entered the train.

“I’m telling you Luna was never banished to the moon!” Zee Captain said as his other two minions slowly began filing in.

“Isn’t it obvious? What do you mean the evidence says otherwise?! You are a boob to believe  in such nonsense!” He continued his conversation as Snippy and Engie just watched where they stood.

“What did you just call me?! I’LL KILL YOU!” Zee Captain shouted out as he lunged for the neck of the skeleton.

On impact the Skeleton fell to pieces inside the clothing it wore. Zee Captain dusted himself off before returning to his seat.

“Captain, you know this train is never going to move again. Ever. Where would we go anyways?” Snippy said as he stood by Zee Captain.

“Nonsense, I had Pilot find some old prototype engines and rigged them to the train. Public transit will never be late again! As Loony had said before, there is a war happening and you know what that means.”

“Dear Celestia, this thing is actually moving! We have enough problems already with the radiation and the cold!” Snippy replied as the train began increasing in speed as they neared some unknown destination.

“Yes, we're moving off to the lands of new adventure! Hopefully they left some war for us when we get there.”

“Where is there?!” Engie shouted over the engines as the landscape around them began to blur.

“Why, Canterlot of course!” Zee Captain replied before taking a sip of his tea through his mask.

The train flew through the frozen tundra with four unique engines strapped to the hull of the train. With the minions trying to obtain some sort of hoofhold, Zee Captain sat there drinking his tea and softly singing a tune he remembered from days gone by.

“...With Germane horde uncounted, With forces of the night...”

<<+>>

‘Ah, the mild west,’ Discord sighed happily as they walked towards a small hut in the middle of the desert. ‘Did you know this use to be a lush forest many thousands of years ago?'

‘Until you destroyed it.’ Luna tried to ignore the spirit and focus on the unassuming house.

‘I improved it, made it more fun!’ An image of Discord leaning in a hammock, sipping a imaginary lemonade from an upside down glass played in her mind as he continued. ‘From what I remember, you and your sister did most of the destroying when you fought me here on one of my many vacations.’

Luna rolled her eyes, then a question suddenly formed in her mind. ‘Why don’t you just leave my head? I freed you from the statue? Why stay with me?’

‘Oh, my little Lulu-’

‘Don’t call me that...’

‘You should know why I don’t leave you.‘ The draconequus laughed. ‘You have basically become my new prison. The spell holding me captive has just transferred over to you along with me.’

“I think I’m going to be sick.” Luna said out loud.

“What?” Celestia turned to face her. “Are you alright sister?”

“Uh, oh, yes.” Luna scrambled for an excuse. “Just the heat getting to me.”

“Alright,” Celestia smiled. “We have arrived.”

Luna looked up at the unhinged and broken door.

“Who could possibly live here that would be of any help to us?”

“Go on in and find out.” Celestia stepped back and motioned for her sister to enter. “He doesn’t like more than one visitor at once though. I will wait out here.”

Luna sighed nervously and walked through the door. As her eyes became accustomed to the darkness the rare click of a minotaur-made revolver and a stallion’s quiet yet dangerous voice sounded from somewhere ahead of her.

“What do you want?” He growled.

“We need your help fighting a war.” Luna replied strongly. “My sister and I are creating a group of skilled military leaders to fight alongside Equestria.”

‘So that is what you are doing?’ Discord interjected. ‘I just thought you guys were walking around abandoned parts of the world looking for crazy ponies!’

“Do you have money?”

“I have enough money to last you for the rest of your life.”

The sound of the gun being put away filled the air.

“Sounds tempting but I don’t fight in wars anymore.”

Luna was about to dismiss this shadowy pony but decided to press onwards. It was probably the fact that he had aimed a gun at her that was causing her determination.

“You could be the advisor. No field action.”

The stallion chuckled. “Now you're baiting me with something boring!”

Luna decided to give up. She turned to leave but stopped, recognition of the pony hitting her like a pile of bricks. The fact that he was using a minotaur made revolver that was customised for a pony should have given it away! “What if I had a way to allow you to see your children again?” The unknown stallion visibly perked up, raising his ears to listen closely to Luna’s words. “I recently came across a new form of power that could break the curse preventing you from seeing her again after you betrayed Equestria and cost so many ponies their lives all those years ago. Serve once again, be the legend you used to be, and you can see her again.”

A match suddenly was lit, casting a dim light on the pony’s rough face. A black wide brimmed hat covered the stallions eyes as he lit a short cigar.

“Now that is an offer I can’t easily throw aside,” he muttered as he puffed smoke towards Luna. He looked up at her with calm, cold and sad eyes. “You win, I shall help you.”

Luna smiled. “Welcome back, General Black Apple.”

Manehattan Harbor, Naval Yard, HMS Honesty

“Good morning Captain Seasalt, how are you this fine morning?” Seasalt turned to face the cheerful voice, a near permanent scowl on his face.

“I would be fine, if we weren’t at war Mr. Capstan. I’d also be a lot happier if we were actually ready for a bucking war!”

Capstan visibly wilted at the the captain's reply, his once cheerful face now a mask of seriousness. Seasalt tended to have that effect on ponies. He wasn’t a mean pony, just abrasive in nature. Looking around the pilothouse thought, Capstan could see why the captain wasn’t too happy. HMS Honesty was one of the older ships in the navy’s inventory, in fact she was the oldest, by nearly ten years, and her age showed. Paint was peeling, and the once shiny brass was beginning to turn green from corrosion. Parts of the wooden deck were beginning to rot, and her engines were in desperate need of an overhaul, and if one looked real hard, you could see that the forward mast was leaning slightly to the left. All in all she was in terrible shape, before hostilities broke out, she had been slated for decommissioning. Thus, she was ill prepared for when the war broke out.

It also didn’t help that Seasalt had recently been informed that he was to make ready for sea in less than three days. As a result, his mood had taken a turn for the worst, and he had been taking it out on the crew. His ship wasn’t the only one caught flat hoofed. HMS Valiant, Steadfast, Fearless, and Loyalty were also struggling to get ready for sea. Of the five ships, only Valiant, Fearless, and Honesty, were fully crewed, Steadfast and Loyalty had only a skeleton crew aboard. However, they were also the only two who were fully supplied, and in the best shape. Of course the reason they were in such good shape was because they were the newest ships to come out of the building yards, and were the first to be completely powered by steam rather than a combination of sail and steam.

It had always mystified Capstan as to why the navy spent so much more money on building new ships, rather than maintaining their current ones. Shaking his head, he focused his attention back to the captain and asked, “Are there any special orders for the day Sir?”

Shaking his head Seasalt replied, “No, other than hurry yer flanks up! What is the status on the engines?”

“Still working on em Sir, Chief Grease Gun thinks he might be able to get them working by the day after tomorrow. No promises though.”

“Damn, at this rate, we won’t be able to sail with the rest of the fleet when it leaves! In fact, we’ll be lucky to sail at all!” He stomped a hoof in frustration, turning to look back over the harbor, he could see the many ships, coming and going, and it frustrated him that his ship was stuck in port with a bum engine! Giving a heavy sigh he asked, “What about the sails?”

“I’m afraid that they are unsound Sir, Mr. Canvas thinks that if we tried to hoist the sails that they would snap the spars.”

“So, we have no engine, no sails, and no supplies?”

“Pretty much Sir.”

“What a cluster buck this is turning out to be.”

Capstan simply nodded.

<<+>>

Canterlot Castle

It was just nearing sunset when the two princesses returned to the castle. During the trip back, Luna had trapped Discord again, silencing him for yet another unknown length of time. The difficulty of locking him away varied, but it was always easier when her temper was raised by the spirit. The cause of the rage this time was some... remarks made against the general they had just hired back into service, partly due to the fact that he was the father of another pony Discord did not particularly like. Luna would not take these insults, even if she had mixed feelings about Black Apple.

Once landing at the castle, Luna first set to raising the moon, then went back to talk to her sister. “Celestia, are you sure Black Apple would be enough to help lead our forces in battle? I mean, do you think he is still fit for duty?”

“For one, I’m amazed I’m still involved in this. You are the one in charge of war affairs.” The two started walking towards the War Room to check on what had happened in their absence.

“Well you have more personal knowledge of the ponies that I must deal with. I was not here to know them well.”

“Of course. Now, about General Apple. You know his descendants as of now. They manage a large farm, all on their own, of which they are little in number. Their attitudes are filled with much vigor. Strong willed. Black Apple is no different. He knows what must be done in order to become victorious.”

“I’m aware. But I offered to break his curse. I fear that he may be under too much stress or too distracted to function. It was as if I had finally made the past catch up with him.”

“Yes, I understand. His past is not a pleasant one. But I know that he will pull through because it is his duty. Whether breaking his curse serves as a distraction or incentive is his choice to make.”

“Maybe we should continue finding additional ponies to help. I trust your judgement that he is a strong leader, but one pony can not do it alone. And I was foolish to think that it was possible for me to help orchestrate the war with the others.”

“You actually expected to be in the room with them planning strategies all the time? It’s not necessarily part of your job, you know. You only have to keep watch and be involved in major decisions. Nopony ever said you had to be in there working with them all the time.”

“I know. But it feels right that I should help in it. I have put much thought in the matter,” declared Luna. However, she knew that the statement wasn’t necessarily true, with the spirit of Chaos trapped in her head. Fortunately, it was possible to get breaks from him every now and then, but there was no telling when he might come back. “Though I still feel that there is a need for more minds of great strategy. Perhaps with enough, I can even relinquish the position I had put myself in.”

“You can already relinquish your position. Nopony can stop you,” Celestia stated.

“I will not. I have resolved to do as much as I can, and if that means I must stay in this position, I will stay.” Luna paused to think about her feelings. ”And I feel that I will only give up the position when I meet the greatest mind we can find.”

“The greatest mind?! What makes you think we can find the greatest warmonger general here in Equestria?! Anywhere but our country!”

“Exactly. I just won’t step down from my position then.”

“What do you want me to do?! Teleport in a replacement from another universe?!”

“Don’t start getting ridiculous with me, Celestia. As much as I appreciate jokes, this is serious business for me, and I’m not in the mood for jokes.”

“Luna, if you’d like, we can keep rooting through the files to look for the few remaining retired generals. Fly around Equestria reinstating them. Yes, many of them are veterans of some uprising or conflict. But what about the current generals in the War Room?”

“They are good, but the more there are, the more the plans are processed thoroughly. Yes, it runs the risk of more conflict between the ponies, but they are disciplined, high ranking leaders. They would know better.” As Luna said this, they arrived in front of familiar large wooden doors. Luna opened it, and saw the four generals... and got the impression that all did not go peacefully while they were gone.

Celestia leaned closer to Luna. “Yes, it seems like they know better.”

Luna approached the generals. “What happened here while my sister and I were away?”

The four stallions looked towards their superior. “...Disagreements,” answered Anchor Weight.

“It sure looks like more than that,” Luna deadpanned. “I would have trusted that as high ranking officers, this would never had happened.”

“We’ve got more important matters than what has happened in this room,” Stonewall said. “We had just gotten a report earlier that was false. We may be dealing with spies.”

“Where did you two go?” Storm Thumper asked.

Luna answered quickly. “Currently classified information. I will discuss it at a later time.”

“As you wish...” As the general finished speaking, a pegasus messenger arrived outside the door.

“General Thumper, a message has arrived for you,” the courier announced. “It’s from the Cloudsdale Airship Division.”

“Very well. Bring it here.” The pegasus walked over, gave the message, and left. The general opened it, and seemed pleased with the message. “Well, it seems that the new zeppelin model has just underwent its first successful test run.”

“Well, that’s some damn good news, right there!” Anchor yelled to Storm.

“Indeed, Thumper,” said Luna “that is very good to hear. Now, if you boys would please regain some semblance of professionalism, I must talk to you about something important.” Almost on cue, the four generals snapped a salute and raced to their positions around the table. Each one looked like they would collapse any second, but they stood strong and held onto consciousness. “Celestia, if you could close the door on your way out, that would be splendid.”

“Very well, sister.” said Celestia. “I shall see you in the morning. Oh, and please try not to overexert yourself. We all know what happened last time.” Celestia gave a slight smirk as she closed the door, leaving Luna with the four generals.

Luna made a face at Celestia behind her back, then turned to her subordinates. “Gentlecolts, I’m about to tell you something that may upset you, but I implore you to trust my judgement.” All four generals gave a quick nod. Luna looked at each of them, apprehensive about what she was about to say. “I have employed the help of some... outside forces.”

“Excuse me, princess?” Yelled Stonewall. The other three generals were taken aback by this outburst against their ruler. “Why would you do something like that? Do you not have confidence in our ponies’ abilities?”

“It’s nothing like that!” retorted Luna, “This colt knows war inside and out and will be a great asset to our operations!”

Spear Edge looked surprised. “Wait, you only got one pony? Who could possibly be so skilled that they would be the only one you hired?”

“Oh you might know his name, Spear.” said Luna. “It’s Black Apple.”

All four generals gasped at this revelation and stared at the princess with a horrified expression.

“Black Apple? Black Apple!?” Spear yelled. “You mean that foal of a bitch who pretty much ran the rebellion 20 years back!? You would bring HIM into this!? He had thousands of innocent ponies killed! He was the one who-”

Luna cut him off. “I know what he did! The fact of the matter is that he will be helping us with this war, and that is FINAL!” On the last word, she slipped into The Royal Canterlot Voice, a relic of the olden days she thought she had cast off long ago.

“Princess, with all due respect,” inquired Anchor, “How do you even know he’ll actually keep his word?”

“Simple. I have something he wants. Something he lost, something he holds very dear, and something that he would sacrifice everything to get back.”

“And what would that be, exactly?” Anchor was confused as to what would be so important to a washed up general.

“His daughter.”

“He has a daughter?! A stallion like him has a daughter?!” Anchor said. “Who?”

“Just think about it for a second. His family name is ‘Apple.’”

All four generals pondered for a moment. Who could they think of that had the family name of ‘Apple?’ Only one family came to mind; a certain farming family in a small town not far from Canterlot. Four pairs of eyes widened at the realization.

Stonewall was the first to speak up. “Wait...you don’t mean-”

“That’s right, Stonewall.” Luna replied. “The Element of Honesty herself. Applejack.”

After a long, awkward silence engulfed the group, Spear quirked up a single, questioning eyebrow, “So are we gonna kill her, or...?”

“What!?” NO!” Luna screamed, the last word slamming him into the wall.

Anchor rolled his eyes as Stonewall sighed, “What are you, stupid?”

“So now that we’re all in agreement about our new ‘friend’ Black Apple, why don’t you lot brainstorm a few ideas in my absence?” Luna asked/told them as she start to walk out.

Anchor’s eyes went wide, “Wait! You’re leaving us already, Princess? You just got here!”

“There are certain...emotional matters that I have to attend to,” she added, still walking, “I’m sure you all understand.”

“Y-yes Princess...of course,” Anchor replied, still confused.

Once the Princess had left, Stonewall turned to Spear and glared, “Kill her? What were you- Oh, he’s unconscious.”

Anchor and Stonewall shared a sigh, “We’re probably going to lose this war...”

<<+>>

Ponyville

The lunar princess walked through her beautiful night, cloaked completely from head to hoof. She was used to Canterlot where the paparazzi would photograph every inch of her flank should she go out for one measly minute. Being a smaller town, though, Ponyville was quite different. Virtually nopony (Save the occasional drunk) was out and about at that hour. For once, Luna appreciated that nopony was embracing her night.

And then he spoke. Again.

‘Aaah...such a calm night out tonight, yes? Go into the middle of town and use that Royal Canterlot shout thing or whatever it’s called...’ Discord said nonchalantly. 'Oh, say Fus Roh Dah realy loud!'

She made no comment and continued walking.

She travelled down a dirt road leading away from Ponyville to a small farm. She knew what she was about to do was probably going to be difficult, but she also knew that it was necessary. Applejack had to know about her father.

Sweet Apple Acres isn't as close to Ponyville as it seems, Luna thought as the farmhouse came into view. Then again, the nighttime walk had given her ample time to admire her work. With all the tribulations of the monarchy, she hadn't been able to do enough of that since returning from the moon. Doubt crossed her mind: had all the stars had risen in the right place, or had Discord been toying with that too.

‘Oh yes, Ursa Minor Beta ought to be just a little more to the left,’ Discord thought in response. ‘Good job noticing that, though I wouldn't have liked you to realize my growing influence so early.’

'And what will that do exactly?' the princess responded.

‘According to my current estimates, I'll be able to use your powers directly in... about a week. Give or take six days in either direction to account for the fact that that number was based on hallucinated assumptions,’ Discord said. ‘Still plenty of time to check into the Canterlot insane asylum. But that's not important right now. You came to Ponyville for a reason.’

Luna nudged the door open with her hoof. "Anypony home?" she whispered, rather pointlessly. Quietly she walked up the stairs and opened the four doors of the second floor.

Granny Smith, asleep in her rocking chair.

Applebloom and the other Crusaders, apparently trying to get a slumber party cutie mark.

Big Mac whispering something to Smarty Pants - how cute - oblivious to her presence.

By process of elimination, it had to be...

"Applejack!" Luna said, entering the fourth door. "I have to tell you about your-"

Nopony was there, but it was obvious somepony had been.

Luna noticed the grey feathers caught in the window frame, and sighed with relief that at least there was SOMETHING to go on. Nothing had been going as planned, and it didn’t seem inclined to start doing that now.

---

Two guards stood at the East Canterlot Train Checkpoint and did what they usually did, they watched an empty train track. Since the fall of Stalliongrad trains rarely came through here. Either they would find a way around the broken down city or not go at all. Before Stalliongrad fell, the trains that passed through had some odd magical residue that nopony could really place a hoof on. Today started as usual, watching the sun rise and then begin their daily duty of watching a barren train track. Everything was going as normal until a small dot on the horizon. They passed up the idea that a train might be coming until the dot grew large enough to see that it was not apart of their imaginations. The train blew down the tracks as though it was breaking out of Tartarus. Hastily they crossed their long spears in front of the train to no avail. The train blew past as it seemed to be spewing fire.

Back in Canterlot the train from the east blew straight into the braces at the end of the tracks. Four strange cylinders flew out of their straps and spiraled through the air until they exploded on impact. The train seemed to be strained to its very physical limits. This was punctuated with on of the walls fell down and made into an impromptu ramp. Out of the cabin four heavily covered figures stepped out into the open. All of them wore mysterious masks that hid their faces. Guards began swarming down into the station until the Captian of the Guard, Shining Armor, came down to investigate.

“Oh dear Celestia, he’s back.” Was all that Shining Armor could say.

“Why hello Shinning, I am glad to meet you again. Are you here to escort me and my minions to the War Room?” Zee Captain replied oblivious to shock expertly displayed by Shining Armor

Next Chapter: Some crazy stuff happens! Estimated time remaining: 1 Hour, 6 Minutes