Hello, my fellow reader. It is I, The Doctor. I hope you enjoyed the true story of Nightmare Moon and what part I had to play in it - no, was bound to play.

Now I am going to present you another story - the story I entitled 'The Traitor'. Before I let the Narrator begin, I would like to say a few words about war.

Be you a pacifist or a militarist, you cannot deny the fact that war takes many ponies' lives, at the same time breaking the future of their families and loved ones. I'm not going to be a preacher, trying to assure you that wars must not be thought, that war is always huge trouble, that it is bad etc, etc. You know it already.

Moreover, I know that wars exist and will exist. Being a Time Lord, I see the whole Time-Space continuum at once, and I know that awful and dirty wars are happening all around the Universe. What is worse, for me they are all happening at the same time. (Recurring puns for the win, huh?) I see the deaths of innocents - and I can't help them. Those wars are fixed in Time. They are history. And who am I to change history? And even if I wanted to and actually did, I would just create another parallel Universe, without changing anything, remember? What point in saving ponies' lifes when they die all the same?! ...But I'm wandering from the subject.

There are many types of war, from local ones to world wars with nuclear weapons destroying the whole cities. Now, I would like to show you a short period of a war you, of course, must know. The second Griffin War, as you ponies call it, or The second Holy Crusade, as the Griffins named it.  

I will let the Narrator enlighten you with the details. And please, keep in mind that this will not be a story of war. It will be a story of how I affected it. How I was affected by it. How I participated in it, one may say. This is my story, and the story of one brave pony, whom I miss very much... Probably more than anypony else. He is labeled 'The Traitor' among all equines, both in the Empire and the Republic. I will show you the true role he played during that devastating conflict.

All my life, the pain in my heart have stopped me from retrieving those memories from the worn sack of my mind. Now I must confess.

That courageous pony not only got this story entitled in his honour, but also made me do something I had thought I would have never done. I wrote a song about him, the first song I have ever written and the last song I will ever write. Forgive me for bothering you, but I will put it here, right before the Narrator takes the lead.

The Traitor

Everything is silent.

Everypony's quiet.

Who can be so violent

To ruin this sacred night?

Through the war - with knive at hand,

Through the war - he goes unseen,

Through the war - that has no end,

He runs towards his King.

The traitor...

He arrived at last,

Like a ship to a shore.

All the guards have passed.

He went through the door...

He left his King in silence.

The King had swiftly ceased.

He was against his alliance,

But he killed the King for peace.

The traitor?

***

The small barrack was dark and dirty. Its metal walls were thin and rusty. The desert surrounding it was hot even at night, protecting the inhabitants of the weak building from desert snakes and other dangerous creatures. Ill wind was blowing through the desert, making the four ponies inside the barrack shiver - not from fear, but from a bad premonition.

A green earth pony, who was lying on a pile of hay in the corner, lazily raised his weary head. He was a fine stallion with quite a strong body and light green mane. His eyes were brown. His cutie mark resembled a four-leaf clover.

"Cap'n, what the hay? Seems like a good ol' Griffin patrol will be here t'morrow, eh?" He said, stretching his legs.

A muscular grey earth pony, who had a steely shield as his cutie mark, shook his head irritatingly.

"Private Leaf, how long will I have to listen to your superstitious mumbling? The scouts reported the Griffins to be miles away!" He replied angrily.

The green soldier closed his mouth that was ready for a witty reply.

The only room was dark, with only one candle lighted, whose flame trembled and seemed to be ready to die any instant. On another hay pile lay a black earth pony, whose look carried disdain and natural wit. His eyes were red; so was his mane. A flaming torch sat on his flank, and it seemed as though that cutie mark very much resembled his temperament. In the middle of the room, just near the grey stallion, who was addressed as the 'Captain', slept a young colt - a white earth pony with a feather as his cutie mark. His mane was cyan, his eyes were golden - they shined so bright that they could be visible even through his almost transparent eyelids.

"I'm with you here, Clover Leaf. Old Shieldy can't tell a superstition from a premonition. Need a dictionary, Shieldy?" The black earth pony asked, grinning widely.

The grey stallion gritted his teeth.

"You are forgetting yourself, Fire Coat. One does not address a captain in such a way! Apologise immediately or I will make you!" He hissed angrily.

The black pony, however, parried the verbal assault with ease.

"I am a volunteer, not a soldier, Captain Silver Shield. Mind it when you try to order me to do something. And what will you do if I don't apologise, Shieldy?" He grinned. "I'm aching for a good fight, and I'm not sure if I can avoid it..."

The green earth pony, who, as it was getting obvious, bore his name 'Clover Leaf' not for being lucky, stood between the two angry stallions, trying to reason them.

"C'mon, you two! We're stuck in this desert with each other, and we have to deal with it! Besides, you'll wake up and startle poor White Feather!"

At the mention of the white earth pony's name, Captain Silver Shield took a step back, lowering his head.

Fire Coat counted it as a victory. He huffed and raised his head in an impulse of arrogance.

"What do you two find in that white shadow of a pony? Private White Feather... Ha! He's a colt, not even a mature stallion!" The black pony said almost indulgently.

"Now you shut up!" Silver Shield and Clover Leaf shouted in unison, waking the young white stallion.

"Huh?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. "You gonna go to sleep or what?" And with that, fell asleep again instantly.

The black pony chuckled.

"But he is cute, I must admit," he said, fires of mockery dancing in his eyes.

Before either the grey captain or the green private could answer, the door of the barrack sweeped open and a figure of an earth pony appeared in the doorway. The moonlight fell on him, his brown coat and mane shining, his cutie mark, which resembled an hourglass, glowing. He wore a smile and looked completely harmless. Despite it, the captain took a step forth, taking up a gun.

The brown earth pony approached them, not afraid of the firing machine. On the other hoof, he was obviously interested in it. The stranger took the gun from the shocked captain so fast that the poor grey pony couldn't believe it had happened in the first place.

"Aha! Fantastic! So this device is used to simplify the process of holding it using the mouth, this trigger's to fire... Amazing!" The brown pony grinned, looking at the three shocked soldiers, then at the white stallion, who was still sleeping in the middle of the room.

Silence endured.

"By the way, the Griffins will be here tomorow. You were right, Clover Leaf," he said simply.

"Just how the hay do you know?" The green pony asked suspiciously.

"Mind reading," the brown earth pony said so honesty that all soldiers somehow believed him, still not fully understanding the concept.

"And... who are you?" Silver Shield asked, still in his defensive state.

The stranger smiled again.

"I'm The Doctor. And I am here to help you."

The three ponies reacted quite differently.

"A Doctor is always helpful," the captain mumbled under his breath.

Clover Leaf just shrugged.

Fire Coat chuckled, then sent a curious yet hating glare towards the Time Lord.

"Then welcome to Hell, Doctor!" The black pony said and then laughed sickly, almost maniacally, his laughter turning into fervent coughing, which ceased after tears began to stream from his eyes.

***

The morning came unexpectedly. The whole night was spent in ardent discussions about The Doctor, his identity and his special talent - Time control. After everything was explained, re-explained and then explained once more, the three soldiers came to terms with the existence of alien life and the fact that an alien was actually standing right before them, despite looking as a mere earth pony. (Practicing my Time Stop technique on White Feather was the heaviest proof, I presume. The captain was scared to death when the white stallion stopped moving or breathing! - T.L.) Hours passed; so passed the night.

That's why everypony was surprised when White Feather woke up with a loud yawn, looking at the ponies with sleepy eyes.

"You guys up already?" He asked, yawning again in a childish manner. Then, upon seeing The Doctor, his eyes went wide.

"Now who is that, Captain?" He asked, a bit frigtened, a bit shy, a bit surprised.

The three soldiers sighed in unison.

After a good hour of explaining, re-explaining and proof of The Doctor's abilities (The Captain was kind enough to let himself be my target - T.L.) the white pony simply decided to believe his older comrades and not question the stranger by any means.

Silence endured for a while.

The sun woke up suddenly; so did all the inhabitants of the desert. Scorpions were crawling across lifeless dunes, hiding their deadly weapons beneath the sands. Hares were jumping to and fro, looking around after every step, afraid to be devoured on such a fine day. And the day was fine indeed. It was unusually cool for a desert; so cool that even the desert manticores left their sand caves to hunt down their prey, only to lose track of joyful hares and remain hungry for the rest of the day. Yellow wolves, deadly assassins, concealed themselves in the ways only familiar to their tribe, to strike fast and kill with one blow. Desert eagles were hovering over the desert lazily, bathing in their superiority. They were the kings of the desert, able to see everything from above and remain hidden from the earth creatures all the time.

"So... The Griffins will be here today, eh?" Clover Leaf asked, turning to face The Doctor.

The Time Lord simply nodded.

"How many of them?" The Captain asked, jumping straight to business.

"Forty-two and two machines... I'm not sure how they're called," The brown earth pony replied, looking into Silver Shield's eyes. They were grey, even... dusty, and old, but very wise and caring. One could drown in the sea of wisdom and pain that was splashing its waves in the old captain's eyes.

But there was no fear in them.

"Then today we die," the grey stallion said simply, rising and walking towards the door, opening it. The sunlight immediately entered the lopsided building, making everypony except The Doctor and Fire Coat screw up their eyes.

"No you don't," the Time Lord said, trotting towards the captain and putting a comforting hoof on his shoulder. "I'm here to help you."

Silver Shield chuckled. "Help us fight half a hundred Griffins? You are not so tough, son."

"Only forty-two. Besides, I am a Time Lord," The Doctor replied with a small smile.

"Touche," a voice came from the corner of the room. The black stallion smiled as he said it, for the first time without disdain  but with calm humility and a bit of curiosity. He rose from his place and came up to the two ponies, stepping through the doorway. "When do they arrive, Doctor?" He added.

"About... now!" The Doctor exclaimed, realising he had lost himself in the chatter and forgot to track the flow of time.

Silver Shield immediately took up his gun, tossing another one to Clover Leaf, who caught it as a professional juggler.

White Feather stood up, his legs trembling, and slowly took up a gun of his own.

To the deepest surprise of all other soldiers, Fire Coat silently approached the white stallion and gently fixed the gun so that it would lie on his shoulder lightly, not piercing into the skin. Then he took a strange machine which only barely resembled a gun and left the barrack.

As the five ponies walked across the desert towards the destination only Silver Shield and The Doctor knew, silence endured among them.

Silver Shield's steps were firm and solid, his head high.

Clover Leaf kept checking his gun.

White Feather looked down, shivering, as if he had a severe fever.

Fire Coat walked gracefully, but his thoughts seemed to be concealed in a thick haze.

The Doctor approached the black stallion, gently tapping him with a hoof.

"Say, Fire Coat, how long have you four been here?" He asked.

The black earth pony chuckled.

"Me, Shieldy and Clover have been here for seven years or so..." He began, while The Doctor's eyes widened in surprise. "...White Feather is a newbie - arrived here last week. Never held a gun before, that poor colt... They sent him here the same instant he turned eighteen, right from his birthday party... Just took the lad from his farm - never let him say goodbye to his kin..." He shook his head. "O tempora, o mores!" He finished with a disappointed sigh.

"You speak Latin?" The Doctor asked, surprised by the fact the soldiers spent entire seven years in that barrack, but even more by meeting a pony of that epoch who spoke Latin.

"Certis temporibus," Fire Colt nodded, smiling.

They continued walking in silence.

"Fire Coat..." The Time Lord began once more.

The black stallion silently turned his head in The Doctor's direction.

"You seem to have a strange gun - it's different from the others. May I take a look?" The brown pony asked.

Fire Coat shook his head.

"After the battle, Doctor. It's too hard to take the damned thing off. My invention - even if things get... shaky, the gun won't fall to the ground," he smiled with pride.

The Doctor approvingly nodded.

"Say, why do earth ponies carry guns anyway? Wouldn't it be easier for unicorns to operate such machines? I remember that during the first Civil War-" He began, but was cut short by the red-maned pony.

"-Hey, hold your horses, Doctor. I know you've seen things but nowadays unicorns don't fight. They sit in their cosy chairs, sipping wine and reading books while we earth ponies slave for them, fight for them and die for them," Fire Coat gritted through his teeth.

The Time Lord thought it to be a delicate matter so he decided not to press further yet.

After what seemed like an eternity (fifteen minutes and thirty-four seconds, in fact - T.L.), they saw shadows approaching from the invisible horizon of the desert. Nopony could see for sure, but they all knew: those were the Griffins. The shadows stopped in the distance, obviously preparing for the combat.

White Feather gulped.

Clover Leaf checked his gun once more.

Silver Shield shrugged.

Fire Coat grinned. "You wanted to see how this device works, Doctor? Now you have the opportunity," he said, before galloping towards the shadowy silhouettes.

The captain sighed. "A volunteer... Never listens to orders... EN GARDE!" He finally roared before leading his insignificant detachment towards the armada of Griffins.

The Doctor followed them, his face bland, expressionless.

***

Author's note.

Wow. The chapter took so long to write... Please comment if you like the new arc and comment even more if you don't. Criticism is always appreciated. But you already know that, right?

One more thing. I never do this but for the ease of reading, I'm presenting the 'colour-name' chart of all four soldiers. Now you will never confuse them.

Black coat, Red mane, Red eyes, Flaming torch for a cutie mark - Volunteer Fire Coat

Grey coat, Grey mane, Grey eyes, Shield for a cutie mark - Captain Silver Shield

Green coat, Light green mane, Brown eyes, Four-leaf clover for a cutie mark - Private Clover Leaf

White Coat, Cyan mane, Golden eyes, Feather for a cutie mark - Private White Feather

That should be it... Whew! And remember, kids - don't get lazy when creating names for your protagonists, like I did.

Please comment - your comments make my heart beat with excitement and my hooves... Erm... hands type twice as fast.

Now that I think about it, that author's note was huge. Well, a huge note for a huge chapter, then!

Peace.