Two months ago Equestria was visited by an evil dictatorship from the planet Earth calling itself the
Skull Empire. A member of this organisation stayed behind as a planned sleeper agent, however
when the empire returned this sleeper agent turned against them. With the Overseers help the
ponies of Equestria managed to destroy the Skull Empire’s invasion force, but its leader, The Grand
Master escaped...and he wasn’t finished yet. Little did the ponies realise but the Overseer – in a
comma – was infected with a strange, infectious power from the Grand Master’s cane. With the help
of the Cult of Iris – the Grand Master’s illuminate style masters – the Grand Master puts a new plan
into effect, a plan to spread the madness that now coursed through the Overseer’s mind to every
pony in Equestria. However Princess Celestia saw through the Grand Master’s plan and foiled it.

After two humiliating defeats the Grand Master must now face the full fury of his mentor, the Grand
Inquisitor. In Equestria the ponies have returned to a sense of normality; unaware that they are being
observed by the cloaked IRIS flagship ‘Fenrir’...and that the Grand Master has a diabolical new plan
that will make his previous attempts look like mere sideshows in comparison.

All of the higher members of the cult of IRIS are gathered in the Grand Inquisitors chamber, including
all 4 Grand Masters (The Council of 4). It was a large spacious room with a very high ceiling, large,
ceiling to floor, obelisk shaped windows running the length of the room provided the room with a
war golden glow. The only piece of furniture in the room was an ornate oak chair that stood on a
raised platform in the centre of the room, and sat in that chair was a very frail old man – he was 200
years old – clutching in his right hand a jet black staff with a sun symbol on the top.

“Blunderers, fools!” the Grand Inquisitor cries in an angry old man sort of way, “we possess
power greater than any on earth; yet our conquests are stripped from us on every front. Our most
dangerous enemy is not Celestia...but your collective incompetence”.

“Hogwash!” the Grand Master (Thomas Naythorpe) yells.

“What did you say” the Grand Inquisitor hisses.

“The fault most imperious Grand Inquisitor” the Grand Master says whilst approaching the Grand
Inquisitor’s chair, “lies not within us but within you!” he yells pointing an accusatory finger at the
Grand Inquisitor. “Your leadership has been pompous, pusillanimous, and pathetic!”

The others gathered in the chamber make a collective gasp of shock, and there are whispers
of “what did he say?” “He’s gone batty” and “that’s treason”.

“Yes” the Grand Inquisitor says rising from his chair whilst leaning heavily on his
staff. “Leadership is at the very heart of this matter, but it is not mine that is inadequate
Grand Master 02...it is yours, your ego driven stupidity has converted victory to catastrophe
for the last time!”

“Go ahead and make me the scape-goat, my loyal subordinates could testify to my superb
stewardship of the Skull Empire, but you don’t have the courage to let them speak!” The
Grand master challenges him.

“Wrong again” The Grand Inquisitor retaliates, “defend him if you can”.

“Indeed they shall” The Grand Master says proudly, “you first noble Grand Master 04”

Grand Master 04 steps forward and begins to speak, “Militarily speaking its only fair to say
that Grand Master 02 is a world class...buffoon”.

“WHAT!” Grand Master 02 screeches before turning to his fellow colleagues, “01, 03, you
won’t let 04’s slanderous assassination of my character go unchallenged will you?”

“Certainly not” Grand Master 01 steps forward “04 forgot to mention your frequent displays
of cowardice”.

Then the other begin yelling, Grand Master’s and subordinates alike yelling:

“And you botched our dessert campaign”

“We had won, but then you countermanded my order”

“Your meddling brought us defeat again and again and again”

“You’re not just a fool, you’re Iris’s curse”

The Grand Master then turns back to the Grand Inquisitor and says in a whining, pleading
manner, “Unsubstantiated fantasies, LIES! LIES! LIES!”

“SILENCE!” The Grand Inquisitor yells causing all in the room to immediately fall silent, then
to the others he says “leave us”. Everyone but the Grand Master then leaves the room.
Once the doors close the Grand Inquisitor punches the Grand Master in the jaw, “idiot” he
says, “I give you too many chances”.

“Sorry master” The Grand Master replies rather meekly.

“And I taught you better than THAT” he scolds his pupil, “remember your very first lesson,
Never show weakness...what am I going to do with you?” the old man says shaking his head.
He then walks back to his chair and sits down, “Now despite my better judgment, I’m going
to give you one last chance to capture Equestria for us...you may use any recourses that
you feel necessary to accomplish this goal, see how generous I am...Now go...and do not fail

With that the Grand Master turns and walks out of the room, gently massaging his aching
jaw.

The bridge of the Fenrir is packed with people manning control stations and walking around,
chatting and exchanging documents. The configuration of the bridge is a pyramid structure,
it moves up in steps with each level being more important than the one beneath it – like the
structure of the Cult – and at the very top is an ornate black leather chair in which the ship
commandant sits, since the Grand Master is not present the chair is unoccupied.

All of a sudden there is a huge commotion and the Grand Master strides onto the bridge, all
of the crew members that see him snap immediately to attention and salute, best to show
the proper respect lest they incur the wrath of their increasingly short tempered superior.
The Grand Master sits down in the chair, adjusts his cape over the sides of the chair and
yells for his second in command.

A tall, bald, broad shouldered man in a long black robe with a gold lining approaches the
Grand Masters chair and salutes.

“You called my master” He says in a deep growling voice

“What is our current situation?” The Grand Master asks him

“The ponies are unaware of the presence of this vessel, we have also made contact with the
remaining Skull Empire fleet under the command of Supreme commander Gauge, they are
en-route to our position and should arrive shortly.”

The Grand Master thanks him and he nods respectfully before returning to a control panel
that he was using before. The Grand Master then brings up an image of the planet Equestria
and says quietly to himself.

The Overseer is listening to loud rock music and typing complex designs into the main
computer. Mathis then appears in the middle of the room and the music quietens slightly,
he waits for the Overseer to notice him before saying.

“I have found something strange that I thought that you should know about”

“I have detected strange fluctuations of light over the Everfree Forrest and also a strong
electro-static energy signature. I have determined that there is only one thing that could
produce both of these readings simultaneously....A warship”

“What?” The Overseer asks turning from the console and facing Mathis, “Skull or UEFDC?”

“Unknown...the ships EM profile does not match any Skull Empire or United Earth
Federation Defence Coalition Warship...but judging from the size of these readings, it must
be massive” Mathis answers.

Kieron then walks past Mathis’s hologramatic form and onto a teleporter pad that links
directly to Canterlot Castle and vanished.

Kieron re-appears on the pad at the other end of the teleporter – in the main throne room
of the castle – directly in front of the table at which Princesses Celestia and Luna are eating
lunch.

Kieron bowes as Celestia and Luna stand to great him. Kieron then tells them that Mathis
has detected a signal that he believes was coming from a warship that is holding position
over the Everfree Forrest.

“A warship, do you think it’s the Grand Master?” Luna asks him

“I don’t know...Mathis tells me that the ship profile does not match any ship that either the
Skull Empire or the UEFDC possesses” Kieron tells them.

“So who does it belong to....you don’t think...he couldn’t be back...could he?” Luna asked

“I don’t know” Kieron said “Princess...do you remember that during the Grand Master’s last
invasion he mentioned something called IRIS”

“Well Princess....if the Grand Master has returned, and IF he’s brought the Cult of IRIS with
him then we are all in very real danger” Kieron finished in a foreboding manner.

(IRIS Warship Fenrir, Everfree Forrest)

The High Overseer approaches the Grand Master’s chair on the bridge and sinks to one
knee, bowing with respect until the Grand Master – with a simple flick of his wrist – gives
the High Overseer permission to rise.

“The Skull Empire ships have entered the system my lord, also the Grand Inquisitor has sent
additional fleets – under the command of Grand Master 03 - to help with our operation”
The High Overseer informs his master.

“Good” The Grand Master says, “When they arrive tell them to converge on the city of
Cloudsdale and await further instructions”.

“We are to take Cloudsdale again sir?” The High Overseer asks him.

“Yes...Cloudsdale is the centre of air power in Equestria, if we take that then our air force
will be able to operate without interference and I can put my real plan into effect” The
Grand Master says.

“Sir?” The High Overseer asks him, confused

“I’ll inform you in full later” The Grand Master says dismissing him with a wave of his hand
and turning his attention back to the main view screen of the ship, watching as the Skull
ships approach the planet.

Skull Empire warships are approaching Equestria with frightening speed; they are
surrounded by fighters, swarming like small fish around whales. Just behind the Skull fleet –
numbering about 150 vessels – another fleet with the markings of the Cult of IRIS come out
of a quantum jump. There are fewer of them but they are significantly larger than the Skull
Empire Ships.

As the ship begins to enter the atmosphere a Skull Empire Officer approaches another
officer standing in front of the large front window. He stops just short of the man and
salutes.

“A communication from the Grand Master sir” The smaller of the two officers says

The taller officer – his uniform more endowed with gold than his shorter counterpart – turns
and takes the single sheet of paper from the shorter officer, he quickly reads the document
and then tells the officer to prepare all ships for invasion protocols, and then in a more
sinister voice says, “and Commander...prepare for the fight of your life”. The shorter officer
stands to his full height, clicks his heels, salutes and then leaves.

With the shorter officer gone the taller man returns to staring out of the window where the
first glimpses of the landscape of Equestria can be seen, he stares around at the Skull ships
forming up on his ship and the fighter units that are moving in front of the fleet to begin an
attack run on Cloudsdale.

He draws his officer’s sabre and momentarily observes how it glistens in the artificial light of
the ship, he then sighs and says, “Here we go again”.

The streets of Ponyville are packed with ponies pointing into the sky, screaming and
panicking. Darkness falls across the town as the silhouettes of over a hundred warships blot
out the sun, their hulls glowing a bright fiery red as they ploughed through the atmosphere.

Kieron and Twilight were just leaving Sugarcube Corner when they noticed the congregation
of ponies and the sudden darkness, they look up to see what everypony is pointing at. “This
shouldn’t be like this, there is no eclipse planned for....” Twilights eyes widen as she sees the
warships, the first of which have passed through the atmosphere and are heading towards
Cloudsdale. “Oh no, it’s them isn’t it? Their back”.

In answer Kieron nods slowly, staring at the ships as they approach their intended
target...the city of Cloudsdale, fighters first and the larger warships following. Strangely
though they weren’t firing...yet.

“What do we do?” Twilight yells panicked knowing that the huge anti-ship guns that Kieron
had built to protect Equestria from attacks such as this had been dismantled on the orders
of Princess Celestia, meaning that they had no way to destroy the ships.

“Go and get Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow dash, Pinkie Pie and spike, we have to
get to Canterlot” Kieron tells her and as she runs off he again looks up into the sky and says
quietly to himself, “Here we go again”.