Rex swung at her twice in quick succession, his strikes swift and deadly, catching Celestia off guard with his unrelenting ferocity.

Backpedalling from his next outward swing, Celestia seized her window of opportunity and lunged forth, aiming directly for his exposed face.

Rex lurched sideways, barely avoiding the attack and growling as he once again swung his sword with deadly precision, this time towards the gap between Celestia's helmet and body armour.

Celestia registered the attempt and drew back her sword, whirling around with the assistance of her wings and intercepting his swing with an upwards slash of her own, causing a shower of sparks to fly from the point of collision as Rex's blade recoiled from the impact, along with its wielder.

Celestia cried out as she leapt forth and swung all her weight into a cleaving strike on her temporarily unbalanced opponent, "Monster!"

Rex roared like a wounded animal as he jumped away, rolling backwards through the air only a split second before the strike would have cleaved him in two. Landing on his hooves, he fixed her with a glare that almost fixed her to the spot, "You march forces into my city! You threaten the survival of my subjects; my loved ones! Your coalition abandons us to die in the dirt, like dogs, and I am the monster!?" With a burst of inequine speed, Rex was upon her, his weapon almost a blur as he swung ferociously, leaving no openings for a counterattack and forcing Celestia onto the defensive as each baleful, brutal strike almost buckled her guard.

Never before had Celestia been subjected to such brute force from a single pony alone. Even the strongest of earth ponies lacked the capacity to push her anywhere near as far as Rex had. Whatever curse had been placed upon him had truly transformed him into something else, something far more dangerous than almost any other evil she had faced, fuelled by hatred and spurred on and strengthened by rage and blood lust; for all intents and purposes a demon, wearing a pony's skin.

For the first time in many, many months, Celestia's confidence began to waver. Some of Rex's flurried blows were barely deflected, and began to scratch and dent her armour, causing her to cry out in pain and desperation as she gave more ground and came to a stark revelation.

In Rex's frenzied state, there would be no opening for her to exploit. Unless she took the initiative, she was as good as dead.

Panic set in. Celestia thought of everything she stood to lose. Her alliance, her forces, her friends, her life.

Luna.

'Luna.'

As quickly as her doubts arose, they disappeared. Her expression set, her sword ready, Celestia dug in her hooves and lurched towards Rex with a cry that shook the castle itself.

"LUNA!"

With a single, breakneck swing, enhanced by both alicorn strength and unmatched magical prowess, Celestia's blade collided with Rex's, sending the king spiralling back through the air as he attempted to maintain his grip. She advanced immediately, but Rex was on his hooves almost as soon as he landed. At the very least, the impact appeared to have knocked some of the fight out of him, the frenzied look in his eyes somewhat diminished as he set himself in an aggressive stance and grinned widely at her, "Better! I was beginning to lose trust in your abilities, Celestia!"

Though not surprised that Rex had blocked the attack, Celestia did wonder how his weapon had remained intact after being subjected to forces that would snap any normal blade in two.

She didn't have long to ponder as Rex charged her once more, "Let us make things interesting, then!" Though less frenzied and powerful than before, each strike was noticeably more precise and expertly delivered. She thought better of responding as she ducked a horizontal swing, for fear of enraging him once more.

She blocked his next swing as he attempted to sweep at her head from the side, and began charging a spell, aimed directly at him.

He smirked at her, and her attention was drawn by a strange clinking sound coming from her side.

White hot pain shot through her semi-armoured horn as it was caught by the swing of a chain, causing the spell's beam to fire through a nearby wall. Her sword clattered to the floor as she lost her magical grip on it.

Shocked, she forced the pain from her mind and backed away, only to see a short chain hanging from what had previously been the sword's hilt.

There could be no room for doubt now. Rex's weapon was changing of its own accord, somehow reforming itself to suit his needs.

He swung again, and this time she had no weapon with which to defend herself.

Unable to use her magic, Celestia ducked the swing, closing the distance between them quickly and slamming the inside of Rex's foreleg with a hoof, forcing the weapon away from her as she prepared to follow up.

A crushing blow to the side of her helmet staggered her, nearly throwing her off balance as the excruciating pain in her horn flared up once again. Her helmet somewhat lopsided from the force of the hit, and pain clouding her vision, Celestia knew she could not dodge another attack.

Instead, she threw herself forwards, crying out and bowling Rex over as she staggered past him.

She couldn't remove her helmet. Whatever had struck her had done so with such force that she could not dislodge it.

She heard Rex growl, presumably as he clambered to his hooves.

Every second counted.

Grimacing, Celestia forced her magic through the pain, channelling it into her helmet where the impact had dented it. With a cry of pain and effort, she split her helmet into two and quickly removed it.

Just in time to see Rex swinging his weapon - now in a sickle shape - towards her.

She threw herself backwards onto the ground, hurling the pieces of her helmet at him at speed. One caught his weapon and was deflected in a shower of sparks, the other skimmed his head, sending his crown sailing outside and over the balcony as he ducked reflexively and cried out in pain.

Frantically scanning her surroundings, Celestia caught sight of the large table they had earlier sat at - now on fire.

As Rex advanced, and his weapon formed into a spear, she grimaced once again, magically propelling the table into his side before he had time to react beyond shielding himself with a hoof. Its weakened state caused it to break around him, but it staggered him nonetheless.

Wasting no time, Celestia jumped to her hooves, span, reared up her hind legs, and delivered a brutal kick that sent him sprawling across the room.

By the time he had stopped skidding across the floor, he already began standing once again, seemingly laughing to himself as he did so, despite Celestia being sure she had broken his ribs.

She briefly took account of her own injuries, lifting her hoof to her head she found that it was bleeding from the earlier blow she had sustained, though not terribly. Her horn, while still aching, did not hurt to the extent that it had done previously, and she reached out to recover her weapon with her magic upon the realisation of such, though she winced slightly at the effort.

Rex, on the other hand, was in a considerably worse state. He was sweating and panting, no doubt from the heat and exertion that had little effect on Celestia herself. Blood seeped from the wound on his head, and his lopsided posture denoted that she had indeed inflicted a serious injury with her last attack.

Blood also poured from his split left forehoof, and Celestia's mouth nearly dropped open in shock as she realised that the instrument that had nearly caved in her helmet - and her head, for that matter - had been Rex's own bare hoof.

"Come, Celestia!" He called from across the room, "Your heart will be my greatest conquest; I shall mount it atop the ramparts for all to see!" He laughed maniacally for a brief moment before coughing and clutching his chest.

Celestia remained silent and took a step towards him.

Rex, in turn, began moving towards her, quickly picking up speed.

Something caught Celestia's hoof.

Snapping her head downwards, she saw one of the guards she had left alive grasping her foreleg, snarling at her as he attempted to drag her down.

Like lightning, she forced her sword through his eye socket, dispatching him and turning back to Rex instantly.

The king's weapon - now held in his mouth - sported a scythe-like blade, which he swung up from beneath him in a cleaving motion.

Celestia couldn't block the attack in time. Instead, she forced her wings to lift her in her heavy armour, just avoiding the blade and forcing smoke to billow across the room, obscuring Rex from her sight.

Something lashed at the unarmoured underside of her right wing, and she screamed as it was pierced and split around the injury. Her sword fell from her grip into the smoke below.

She tumbled to the ground, landing heavily and having the wind knocked out of her by the impact. She rolled onto her hooves and cried out as she sharply pulled the foreign object from her wing, her cry accompanied by a reverberating snap. Rex had thrown his weapon - now a spear with a chain attached, resembling a harpoon - at her. The barbed spear scraped along the floor he yanked the chain towards himself, and Celestia felt a small measure of relief that she had retracted the spear herself, before Rex had the opportunity to do so with her still attached.

Despite her breathlessness, Celestia cried out in anger, "ENOUGH!" She reached out with her magic, attempting to pick up Rex's entire body with it, only for the magic to be sucked into the gem inlaid into his weapon instantaneously.

Celestia growled under her breath, glaring at the weapon, 'Enchanted and anti-magic?'

Rex chuckled aloud, "Quite something, isn't it? Gifted to me by a stranger from a faraway land."

Without hesitation, Celestia instead blasted the floor beneath Rex's hooves, forcing him to somersault to the side as the section on which he had stood fell far to the floor beneath him. She traced him and fired again, only for him to leap almost impossibly high into the air, latching onto the chandelier above with a newly formed hook before releasing and landing before her. He cocked an eyebrow at her, then advanced.

Celestia did the same, moving towards him before abruptly stopping to swing her hoof as hard as she possibly could, despite not being in range.

Rex scowled, raising his weapon to attack, but his eyes widened as he realised her ploy.

She disappeared in a flash, only to re-materialise directly beside him.

Already in mid-swing, Rex could not hit her. He attempted to dive away from her, but her strike - also in mid-swing - caught him firmly in his side, audibly forcing the air from his lungs and causing several more bones to crack.

He slid some distance across the floor before coming to a halt next to the balcony doors.

For a moment, he remained still, and Celestia took a deep breath.

He rose again, and Celestia found herself almost nauseated by the sight of two ribs sticking out through his skin, and the fact that Rex seemed not to have noticed them. She took the opportunity to scan for her weapon, and retrieved it quickly upon finding it embedded in the remnants of a burning chair.

Rex smirked and taunted her once more, but as he did so, he lapsed into coughing fit, and blood trickled down his exposed ribs with each exhalation, leaving trails through the soot that had quickly greyed them, "So - pathetic, Celestia. - You cannot - even - defeat me. - What chance - do you have ag- ainst Fate?"

Unable to bear the sight of it any more, Celestia advanced, weapon ready, her resolve hardened. The pony before her was not her friend. As Rex had made clear, Reginald was gone. She would end his life here and now.

Rex backed out onto the balcony, gasping in gulps of fresh air as Celestia made her way towards him.

They stopped just beyond striking distance from one another, and Rex grasped his sceptre-turned-sword once more.

They began circling, but only for a second, as Rex took the opportunity to strike, lashing out and wheezing somewhat with effort as he swung for her.

Celestia parried the blow, ducked forwards, and barged against him with her shoulder, sending him sprawling back.

Rex attempted to use the momentum to swing again as he whirled around, but Celestia's subsequent swing greatly overpowered him as their blades clashed, nearly causing Rex's blade to become embedded in the floor beneath as it was deflected.

Rex scrambled backwards, barely avoiding a lunge made towards his throat.

He fell back against the balcony railings with his weapon still in-hoof, panting and audibly grunting in anger and pain with each breath.

Celestia fixed him with a cold stare, though she winced somewhat at the beginnings of a powerful spell forming around the tip of her horn, biting down upon the hilt of her sword as she placed it within her mouth, allowing her to concentrate fully on the spell.

As she levelled her horn at him, Rex cried out, charging at Celestia in an attempt to cancel her spell.

Anticipating this, Celestia weaved around his strike, her blade grazing his side as she span and took to the air just beyond the balcony.

Incredible pain shot through her injured wing as she remained aloft, just beyond Rex's reach from the balcony below. She fought the urge to scream and focused on her target. The spell was nearly finished.

One of Rex's forelegs buckled from the pain that seared through his side, and he stared up at her in an apparent state of awe. The setting sun on the horizon behind her, Rex saw her silhouette casting its shadow down upon him.

As visible light indicative of an imminent blast began to gather upon the tip of Celestia's horn, Rex forced himself up. With a defiant roar, he took off at speed towards Celestia.

He gathered incredible speed in the short distance he went, and Celestia felt a wave of panic overcome her as he reached the balcony's edge, 'Just a few more seconds!'

He launched himself from the railings, sword held in both hooves high above his head. He closed the distance between himself and Celestia rapidly as he sailed out across the open air to deliver what would almost certainly be his final attack.

He entered striking range, and swung with all his might, crying out at the top of his voice despite extreme protests from his lungs, "CELESTIA!"

He fixed her with a furious glare as his weapon sailed directly for her head.

And just inches from striking her, Celestia vanished in a flash of light.

Rex swung at nothing.

Celestia appeared on the balcony's edge and watched as Rex began to fall. As his swing failed to connect, he span in mid-air, and she saw the mixture of horror and rage upon his face.

For just a moment, she was reminded of the young stallion she had met many years ago. Reginald, not Rex.

Grimacing, she reminded herself of what he had become and steeled herself, fixing him with a hollow but firm stare as she trained her horn on him. In the back of her mind, Celestia knew that failure to do her duty would have severe repercussions for the future she wished to create. It would not be enough to simply execute him cleanly; he had already pushed her to her limit in single combat and shaken her confidence when even dragons had failed to faze her. If he were to somehow survive the fall and drag himself away to some isolated corner of the world, she had no doubt in her mind that he would return with an army, more powerful than ever.

He was far too dangerous to leave him any margin for survival, however slim. She had to erase him.

A small semblance of sadness crossed her face, "Farewell, Reginald."

She unleashed the spell.

With a flash of blinding light, a wave of incinerating heat exploded outwards from her horn in a beam focused on Rex.

A deafening roar followed it, drowning out all sound within Hollow Shades - and indeed, for many miles in any direction - in a manner akin to an elongated, continuous lightning strike.

From within the beam, a blue glow emitted, and for a moment the spell faltered, the beam becoming narrow. Then, with another pulse of effort from Celestia, the glow faded, and Rex's sceptre shot out into the air, glowing white hot, before tumbling to the city below.

The heat was beyond belief. The surrounding castle towers, and many buildings beneath the spell were instantly set ablaze, as was a long swathe of the forest beyond Hollow Shades' walls, stretching off into the distance. The city walls themselves had instantaneously melted into slag within the vicinity of the beam.

Those unfortunate enough to be standing in its blast radius were instantly vaporised.

Celestia cut off her spell, and nearly slumped forwards onto the railings before realising that they were glowing white hot.

Instead, she fell back onto her haunches, scrunching her eyes closed as her horn throbbed in time with her torn wing. Both were extremely painful alone, and agonising together.

Cheers could be heard from below, though only briefly. The sounds of combat - which had, for a second, abated as those below were almost deafened - quickly returned.

She took a deep, hissing breath and opened her eyes, scanning across the city. Apart from the swathe that she had incinerated, several smaller fires had broken out. The huge iron gates stood open now, and she saw huge masses of screaming ponies fleeing through them.

Throughout the city, sounds of combat could be heard, which served to provide both relief and cause for concern.

"At least they are still alive..." She turned her head towards the room in which she and Rex had fought, though it was now almost completely shrouded in smoke. Somewhere, in the hallway just beyond it, laid the bodies of Gravus and Liandra, two of the most dependable soldiers at her command. The least she could do was recover their corpses.

Celestia solemnly shook her head and turned away, facing towards the city below, "The living, first. The dead are in no hurry." She stood, and took a deep breath.

Suddenly, the castle heaved beneath her, and the sound of a huge explosion could be heard, though it was a whisper in comparison to Celestia's previous spell.

Still, she was thrown onto her side, barely avoiding putting her weight onto her wounded wing by rolling onto her back, then her hooves, quickly.

Chunks of stone and masonry flew out from the lowest levels of the castle, and Celestia promptly forced herself upright.

Quickly, she scanned across the city, settling on the largest group of combatants, protecting themselves with numerous magical shields, though these were crumbling almost as quickly as they were erected under the ceaseless barrage of magic, projectiles, and steel colliding against them, as were the soldiers unfortunate enough to be caught by multiple attacks during the intermittent windows of vulnerability this allowed for.

Gritting her teeth around her weapon once more, Celestia spread her wings and prepared to enter the fray, a smaller - but nonetheless deadly - version of her earlier spell already forming on her horn.

She leapt from the balcony, gliding directly towards her target area as steadily as she could manage.

And once she had differentiated her allies from her enemies?

Hollow Shades, and those who still dared to defend it, burned.

What followed was a blur. Every moment somehow elongated by rage and adrenaline, yet irrevocably snatched away before full comprehension was possible.

A split-second rendezvous with Tychus.

A cheer of hope and victory from those behind him.

Relief at the knowledge that a good number of her forces - her friends - were still alive.

A hail of arrows, blades, and magic from the enemy.

An inferno, conjured by herself.

The screams of a thousand ponies set alight.

A battlecry. Her battlecry, amplified so that all could hear.

All could fear.

The charge.

The pounding of her heart.

The breaking of enemy ranks.

Death after death as her sword whirled at full strength.

Blast after blast of powerful magic from her horn.

The confusion and disorientation the combination of these sewed.

The scrambling of the enemy; some towards her, some away. Both equally desperate.

The complete collapse of the enemy's confidence in spite of superior numbers.

The rout of a defeated foe.

They had fought soldiers, mercenaries, madmen, and everything in between.

But they had never fought anything like her.

She knew.

They knew it too, too late.

"PUSH ON! FOR THE FALLEN!"

The cheers of her troops.

The inevitable massacre of retreating foes.

And the bitter, metallic taste of victory...

It always made her sick to her stomach.

Celestia trotted warily down an empty street, burning buildings all around. Her mane and armour splotched with congealed blood, she moved alone, eyes peeled for any potential attackers or allies.

She stepped past the corpses of several locals, many still clutching the everyday tools of their trade. The vast majority of those Tychus had fought against wielded such tools as opposed to suitable weapons, contributing at least in part to the survival of her troops, along with the individual prowess her cohort displayed, and Tychus' decision to hold off against the masses in a bottle-necked area within the outer market district, close to the castle.

She spotted the prone, motionless, armour-clad figure of one of her soldiers in the middle of the street, and made a beeline towards it.

Tychus hadn't been able to save everyone, of course. Not that she could have reasonably expected such, given the circumstances. Some were simply cut down too quickly in the chaos, others were cut off from the rest and forced to seek defensive positions elsewhere.

This one hadn't made it. Celestia steeled herself and removed the pony's helmet, revealing the unmistakably scarred, deep blue muzzle beneath, "Plias..."

Yet another friend claimed by the torments of war. His blank stare gazed off into the smoky heavens, where dark storm clouds were now beginning to form.

She remained there for a second, then reached out with her magic, closing the pony's eyes gently before moving on.

Though Celestia had managed to save most of those who had held out against the odds and the masses until her arrival, many of the smaller pockets of resistance were slaughtered before she could reach them.

After rallying her forces, she had again placed Tychus in command, leaving him in charge of evacuating the wounded to the agreed point by the city gates, where they could be treated without the interference of the choking black smoke that intermittently swept through the streets, or the risk of further ambushes. She had, however, ordered those seemingly in the best shape to group up and begin searching for survivors, be they friendly or not, and deal with them appropriately.

Celestia wandered alone, not out of confidence, but out of the fear of catching her troops in a crossfire. Disposing of a force consisting almost exclusively of earth ponies and unicorns was most easily done with a few powerful spells, removing the need to get too close.

Hollow Shades held an eeriness to it now. A sense of quiet, despite that fact that the air was filled with the crackling and hissing of fires in every direction.

A loud groan of collapsing masonry could be heard over the inferno as what was once a tavern completely collapsed under its own weight on her right side, sending thousands of embers soaring into the hot air, drifting across the street.

Her ears pricked up.

Another sound.

Rapid hoofsteps, from behind.

She span, catching sight of a young mare charging at her with a pitchfork held in her mouth; her mane the same as the rest.

Immediately, Celestia enveloped the mare in her magic, holding her aloft and removing the pitchfork from her mouth as she trotted towards her.

The earth pony struggled and swore, but could not escape Celestia's magical grip.

The moment the young mare stopped writhing, Celestia twisted her head upwards and backwards at speed, audibly breaking her neck.

'Painless.'

She levitated the corpse back down and left it by the roadside, a solemn look on her face as she continued on, moving back towards the remnants of the castle.

The next ten minutes were relatively uneventful, save for a brief skirmish where a pair of city militia had attempted to plunge upon her from a nearby rooftop, only to end up skewered by her magic and immediately decapitated.

As she approached the outer edge of what remained of the castle courtyard, a haunting sound intermingled itself with the roaring of flames and the anguished groans of failing masonry.

The wailing of a foal.

She turned towards the sound, and her heart sank at the sight before her.

A young earth pony, cowering behind a smouldering merchant's wagon, tears streaking his face.

She scanned her surroundings carefully before placing her sword into its scabbard, satisfied that she would not be ambushed as she made her approach. She attempted to wipe away some of the blood that had spattered her face, but her armoured forehooves proved prohibitive.

As the foal realised Celestia had seen him, and was approaching him specifically, his cries grew louder and more hysterical with every passing step.

Celestia stopped a few steps from the wagon and spoke in as soothing a tone as she could muster, "Little One?"

The foal clung tightly to the wheel he had scrambled behind, but said nothing. As Celestia crouched down towards him, his wails were replaced by deep, laboured breathing, terror evident in his wide eyes as she closed the last of the distance between them.

After a moment's deliberation, Celestia reached out and gently laid a hoof upon the colt's shoulder, again speaking in a motherly tone, "It is not safe for you out here, Young One... Are you alone?"

The foal, seemingly beside himself with fear and confusion, stared at her in awe for several seconds before her question fully sank in. When it did, his eyes welled up with tears once again, and he nodded his head, though he cried quietly this time, sobbing to himself and grasping his head with his hooves.

Celestia looked away briefly, steeling herself and offering him a hoof before turning back to him with her best attempt at a smile, "Come with me, Little One. I will protect you." She caught his frightened eyes darting around the burning streets that surrounded them, and he jumped reflexively when one building's second floor gave way to the flames, the resulting cacophony of noise clearly startling him. Celestia tenderly took his hoof and caught his attention, looking him in the eye once more, "It is going to be alright. You will be safe with me."

Slowly, the colt grasped her armoured hoof, nodding his head slowly and giving her a strained smile as he allowed himself to be pulled from his hiding spot. Before she could stand, however, the colt jerked his head towards the opposite end of the street, a hollow look in his eye as he spoke quietly, "What... is that?"

Celestia followed his gaze, but couldn't see anything of any real concern, "Wh-"

Blazing pain shot through Celestia's muzzle as she was struck by some sort of blunt object. She flinched and cried out, and was rewarded with another strike directly to the end of her nose, causing it to bleed. She immediately rolled onto her hooves, but not before sustaining another painful blow to the side of her muzzle, causing her to stagger as she rose.

She whirled around, pain and fury evident on her face as she turned to her assailant, though her anger quickly gave way to anguish. The foal stood, a large, bloody rock in his hoof, and a look of pure hatred on his face. What truly caused Celestia distress, however, was his mane, and the way that it hung just low enough to obscure his eyes from her, and remained there, despite being neatly swept to the side beforehand.

Celestia felt tears welling in her already watery eyes as her situation dawned upon her, "No... Even the foals?"

The foal before her charged, flailing the rock madly in the air before him, screaming all the while with a murderous look in his eyes. Though Celestia was easily able to keep him in place with her magic, the fervour with which he swung and shrieked did not deteriorate at all.

She shook her head in disbelief, "Please, stop this..."

The foal only doubled his efforts, and after another whole minute of nothing but tireless, insanity-induced violence from the foal, Celestia had seen enough, "Forgive m-me."

Swallowing the lump in her throat, she lowered the foal to his hooves but kept him immobilised in her magic as she trotted behind him, out of his line of sight.

For a moment, she trembled at the thought of what she was about to do. What she had to do. She overcame it quickly; every passing moment only added to the foal's torment.

As quietly as she could, Commander Celestia drew her sword up high...

Celestia approached the rapidly decaying structure of the castle with a hollow look in her eyes. She had slain more foes than she could count in the past hour alone, but was certain that none of those she had fought and killed were foals, with one evident exception.

Then again, the rush of close combat made it difficult to discern small details at the best of times.

She shook her head and trudged into the castle courtyard, now strewn with stone and masonry from the prior series of explosions, and the collapsing structure above, making navigation difficult in places. She cautiously approached the remains of the castle entrance, weapon raised, and scanned around the courtyard and behind her before calling out, "Is anyone here!?"

Movement within.

A single figure stepped out from behind a large chunk of stone, approaching the gaping hole that was once the threshold, staring at Celestia with a baleful glare. An earth pony. Her coat was a bright shade of pink, her mane a somewhat darker shade, though both were marred by ash and soot. The clean streaks that cut through the greyness clinging to her face made it clear that she had been crying, and she held an object in her hoof that Celestia couldn't quite make out.

Most alarmingly, her mane clung to her face in a telltale fashion that Celestia had become all too familiar with, and she promptly raised her sword, poising defensively, waiting for the mare's first move.

It never came. Unlike the others she had encountered, the pink mare simply stood, staring her down with hatred in her eyes. Just as Celestia was about to challenge her intentions, however, the mare spoke, barely audible over the crackling of flames, "So this is it..." Her voice shook with malice, but despair was plainly evident in both her tone and upon her face, "This is what becomes of my sanctuary. My city. My subjects..."

Celestia's mouth parted slightly as she realised just whom the mare standing within the burning, crumbling ruins really was, and slowly lowered her weapon.

"My husband!" The mare shrieked and tossed the object in her hoof towards Celestia. It bounced against the fallen chunks of stone a few times before coming to a stop a few steps away from Celestia with a metallic clunk.

Curious, but wary, Celestia picked up the object to find a warped, half-melted piece of circular metal that had once been a crown. Reginald's.

The mare was crying quietly to herself, but even so, her murderous glare never faltered, "Everything... Everyone... It all burns..."

Pity once again graced Celestia's features, though she now knew better than to let down her guard, "I had heard Reginald had married shortly after my last visit. I am truly, truly sorry."

She bared her teeth at Celestia, "Are you!?"

Celestia let out a sigh, "Reginald was a dear friend of mine, and had been for many years, but the pony that I killed, the pony that attacked his allies and lured me and my soldiers here to be ambushed and killed, he was a shell of his former self, not the pony I had befriended all those years ago."

The mare said nothing.

Celestia stepped forwards, carefully advancing into the crumbling structure, though the mare matched her and took equal steps back, retreating further into the heat and smoke within. Realising such, Celestia stopped, "Please! Queen..."

"Rosea, Queen of Ashes." She spat the last part mockingly, but promptly choked on a passing cloud of smoke, coughing and spluttering for breath until it passed.

"Queen Rosea, we can still fix this. We can put a stop to this madness together!"

"After everything you have done today!?" She roared as loud as her shortness of breath would allow.

Celestia slammed a hoof into the slab of stone before her, splitting it in two,"I was given no choice!"

The vibrations caused a large piece of lumber to crash to the ground on Celestia's right, and for a moment the structure shuddered before going still once more.

A brief second of relative silence lapsed, then Rosea spoke once again, "Every fibre of my being is telling me that I must kill you."

Celestia assumed a defensive stance.

"And I wish to. I wish to kill you so desperately. I wish to tear you to bloody shreds, Celestia, for what you have done." The perpetual glare she had given Celestia since her arrival finally vanished, replaced by a forlorn look of loss, pain, and grieving acceptance, "But I cannot. I have seen what became of those that had tried. My subjects, my finest warriors... My husband. It would be foolish of me to think I could stand against you in combat when even they could not, even with Fate's gift."

Celestia's eyes widened, and she growled under her breath at the suggestion that anything about Discord's intervention was 'helpful', "He warped your minds and twisted your subjects to insanity, Queen Rosea! What was bestowed upon you was no gift, it was a curse!"

Rosea looked down at her hooves and gave a dry, elongated chuckle, "Perhaps it is wiser to be mad in a world that has gone insane..."

Celestia took a step forwards, but once again Rosea mirrored it and retreated a step. The display simultaneously concerned and confused Celestia, "How, Queen Rosea? How is it that you seem capable of caution, dare I say restraint, when all others afflicted by his despicable curse would attack me at the first given opportunity?"

The queen stared her down for several seconds, "I long to. Oh how I long to... But there is something besides Fate's gift that grows within me. Something that makes me... more; stronger, more powerful than any magic even Fate could weave." She smiled sadly to herself.

Celestia ground her teeth at the suggestion, her magical grip on her weapon tightening reflexively, "What!?"

Slowly, Rosea lowered a hoof to her stomach, resting it against a barely noticeable, rounded bump, "My foal, and my desire to protect it from you."

Celestia hesitated as the reasoning behind Rosea's actions became clear, dropping her weapon after a moment's hesitation. It bounced once then became embedded in a pile of ash and burning timber. She advanced towards the mare, who retreated further in turn. An inexplicable chill ran up her spine as she called after her."Queen Rosea, please!"

As Rosea's figure faded into the smoke within, an unholy tremble shook the castle, and Celestia was barely able to dodge in time as tonnes of rubble crashed down onto the area in which the two of them had stood only moments ago.

Celestia cried out as her only means of negotiating a peaceful end to the day's bloodshed - and a mother to be - vanished beneath a veritable wall of rubble and debris, "Rosea!"

Her horn shone immediately as she began tearing through the rubble. Tossing huge sections of stone aside as she dug through the blockage in search of the mare. Cursing her injured wing for her inability to fly, Celestia forced her way through the last of the rubble and dashed on, seeing no signs of her target until she unexpectedly emerged through a hole in the wall, previously obscured by smoke. Now outside the castle, Celestia could see a lone figure charging away into the distance, already beyond the city walls after traversing through one of the gaps Celestia had melted into it.

Celestia shot after her, but was ultimately unable to gain ground. By the time she had approached the ruins of the wall, Rosea already stood at the edge of the clearing, "Queen Rosea, please!"

The Queen span, and fixed Celestia with a look that pinned her to the spot. The pain, the rage, the hatred. It mirrored the exact look that Reginald had worn moments before his demise. She held it for a brief moment, then bolted, darting into the forest behind her, and out of Celestia's sight in seconds.

Exhausted, injured, and unsettled, Celestia did not give further chase. Shaking her head to herself, Celestia trudged back to retrieve her weapon before venturing into the city for the final time.

Though the dancing flames all around her occasionally cast darting silhouettes of other ponies onto the buildings that remained intact, no more combatants made any attempts to sneak up on her. After finding nothing but the scattered corpses of more of her soldiers, and unceremoniously dispatching numerous groups of enemies that were unfortunate enough to back themselves into inescapable dead ends, Celestia resigned herself to the truth of her situation.

Hollow Shades was little more than a glorified crematorium. If any more of her troops had survived, they would undoubtedly have sought shelter outside the city's walls, away from the blistering heat and toxic fumes.

She briefly considered flying towards the rally point she had set, but decided against it upon flexing her injured wing, the pain having risen to such excruciating levels as to preclude flight entirely. In the apparent absence of any more enemies, the adrenaline that had intermittently coursed through her veins for the best part of the last hour was now conspicuously ebbing away, giving even her most negligible injuries the freedom to distract her as her dented, charred armour rubbed against her skin.

A large cloud of black smoke swept over her from behind, causing her to stagger as she coughed and spluttered, her injuries protesting all the while, "Damn it all..." As her airways and vision became clear once again, Celestia noted the colour of the sky beyond the billowing plumes of smoke and the dark storm clouds gathering of their own accord above what remained of the city. She groaned to herself at the realisation that the sun now sat impatiently on the horizon.

She could have left it for Luna to handle, of course, but the fear of worrying her younger sister with the implications of the sun sitting idly couldn't be ignored.

Celestia took as deep a breath as she could manage, aimed her horn appropriately, and grimaced with effort as the sun slowly sank away, allowing the flames all around her to cast crisper, longer shadows that somehow seemed more haunting than before, though she noted that her path to the city's gates remained relatively well illuminated regardless.

A few droplets of rain dripped onto her muzzle as she set off towards the gates once more, though they were noticeably lukewarm, courtesy of the city-sized furnace she had helped create. More followed, and the drizzle quickly escalated into a cascade that pattered against her armour, but did little to quench the all-encompassing flames that surrounded her.

After a moment, she breathed a sigh of relief, "At least it is not raining acid again..."

"Commander!"

The comparatively clear air outside the city gates promptly filled with the sound of armoured ponies standing and saluting, though this only briefly masked the groaning and gasping of the injured. The lightly wounded and the exhausted were strewn around the clearing, whilst those with more grievous injuries were propped against the trees along the clearing's edge, sheltered somewhat from the heavy rainfall.

The surviving medics of the Solar Cohort were doing whatever they could, but it quickly became apparent to Celestia that their supplies were running thin, if the sparing use of resources on all but the gravest of injuries was any indication. Celestia glanced at one of the more seriously wounded, currently drinking deeply from a flask handed to her by a medic before nodding fearfully, prompting two grim-faced soldiers to restrain her. A blood-curdling scream rang out as the badly bleeding wound on her side was cauterised via a red hot metal rod by the unicorn medic. She passed out mid-scream, allowing the sickening sizzling of cooking flesh to be heard for a second before the medic withdrew the instrument. Satisfied that the wound was sealed, the medic nodded, prompting those holding her to release their grip and attempt to wake the mare as the medic applied what little salve he could spare and covered the wound.

Barely thirty able bodied soldiers stood before her, with nearly as many wounded strewn about the clearing. Tychus spoke again, drawing her attention, "I believe this may be all of us, Commander. We have not received any more of the dispatched patrols or friendly survivors for nearly half an hour."

Celestia nodded, "The city has fallen to flame. To send anypony else to search for survivors would be needlessly reckless, and I lack the stamina to search further myself at present. Best that we tend to the wounded and move on, lest we be mired down by the rain."

Tychus glanced up to the skies, squinting as rain splashed through his visor, "I would agree. It is unsafe here, and Perculum is not too great a march away, provided the roads and mountain pass may still be traversed."

Celestia hummed in agreement and scanned around once more, "None of those that fled came forth to seek treatment or refuge?"

Tychus shook his head, "No, Commander. Those with no intention of attacking us gave us a wide berth and escaped into the forest. A few asked for medical supplies, but would not remain here for treatment. It would seem they were eager to follow those who fled as the hostilities began."

"And?"

"We parted with what we could spare, Commander, but the resources we have to hoof are scarce at present. Many packs of supplies were abandoned or stolen in the initial ambush."

Celestia hummed in agreement, closing her eyes as she thought of the families of curse-free innocents that she had witnessed fleeing the city gates as the fighting raged, "It would be b-"

"Archer on the wall! Above! Archer on the wall!"

An arrow embedded itself into the mud just beside Celestia with a faint squelch.

All present, barring the injured, scrambled into defensive positions. A number of magical shields were immediately erected as a few retaliatory spells and arrows were fired up at the battlements in a blind attempt to dissuade the assailant from attacking again.

Another arrow sailed down, though it split against Tychus' raised shield and ricocheted away.

Try as they might, none of the Cohort were able to make out the archer through the lashing rain, Celestia included. She fired a powerful beam of magic, dragging it several meters along the battlements where she suspected the last arrow had been fired from, but could not ascertain whether she had hit her mark.

A few chunks of destroyed parapet thudded to earth, and everything went still. For a moment, only laboured breathing and the pattering of the rain could be heard, until the tension forced some to speak their concerns.

"Is he slain!?"

"Is that movement?"

"I cannot see anything up there!"

A third arrow sailed down, though Celestia saw this one and caught it in her magic before it could strike an unarmoured, unconscious soldier.

A unicorn cried out, "I see him!" A thick burst of purple magic rocketed up into the ramparts above, illuminating an earth pony archer as the blast dislodged him from his position and threw him from the battlements towards the earth below. He screamed aloud as he fell, but fell silent as he hit the mud with a dull thud.

Only a second passed before somepony spoke up, "The earth has gone soft. Make sure he is dead."

Immediately, one of the soldiers nearest Celestia approached the motionless archer, drew his mace, and proceeded to ensure the assailant's death by way of several hefty strikes to the head, caving in his helmet and the skull beneath within seconds. With a grunt, the soldier stood, wiping his weapon clean on a patch of wet grass as he returned to his position, "Most assuredly dead, Korthus."

One or two grim chuckles could be heard, but for the most part those present remained silent. Despite being largely desensitised to the horrors of war and no strangers to dark humour, the majority of the remaining Cohort soldiers appeared either too exhausted or too disheartened by the day's events to be in any mood for joviality, especially given the circumstances.

Celestia cleared her throat, "We must leave for Perculum as soon as possible if we are to recuperate and properly treat the wounded. Make your preparations quickly. Carry those unable to stand... Leave the dead, for now." She caught the dismayed expressions that crossed the faces of some before her and resisted the urge to mirror them, "We will return for them on the morrow, we are dangerously exposed the longer we remain here in the dark."

Those assembled chanted back, though the weariness in their voices was clear, "Aye."

Tychus spoke from beside her, "Commander?"

"Yes?"

"I understand the need for mobility, but what of the necromancers in the woods? They will surely come here seeking corpses upon learning of the battle." He seemed to struggle to find his words for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps if we cannot carry the dead we should... render their corpses unusable."

Celestia met his eyes with a sad look, "I have memorised the wishes of every member of this unit, should they perish. Those who wished to be cremated upon death have been set alight by my own horn. Those who wish to return to the earth with their bodies intact will be allowed to do so; they all knew the potential for necromancer involvement and accepted it. It is their right to rest in whatever state they see fit, regardless if such may prove tactically impractical."

Tychus' voice seemed flat as he responded, "Of course, Commander."

Celestia raised an eyebrow curiously, "Tychus, I was under the impression you yourself wished to be buried, should the worst occur?"

He nodded, but a scowl crossed his features as he did so, "That is correct, Commander, but I would rather be reduced to ash than be turned against my own brothers and sisters in death, if such were a real possibility."

Celestia closed her eyes and nodded once, "Noted." By the treeline, Celestia noticed a unicorn levitate the limp corpse of a soldier away from the medics and reverently lower it to the ground beside two others, "I will examine our dead. Speak with the medics. The moment the last soldier is patched together is the moment we must leave."

"Yes, Commander." Tychus saluted and made his way over to the nearest medic immediately.

Celestia simply pursed her lips as she prepared to put names to faces.

The trudge from Hollow Shades to Perculum was by no means easy with so many wounded in tow, the difficulties of such only exacerbated by the lashing rain that showed no signs of ceasing. Though this proved to be of little hindrance where the paths were protected by the canopy of the woods surrounding Hollow Shades, the roads just beyond the trees were waterlogged and barely navigable, making even a flat stretch exhausting to traverse, especially in the heavy armour that most present still wore. More than once, soldiers had to be pulled from the mud via magic, having become completely stuck. The entire trek was a logistical nightmare, and Celestia only found solace in the fact that the storm appeared to have dissuaded any would be attackers from venturing too far from their strongholds.

Their warm, dry strongholds.

As the Cohort made their way through a mountain pass, Celestia marched up and down her procession of warriors with all the confidence and poise she could muster, despite her body screaming protest upon protest at such. Her armour was battered and dented, her face bruised and bleeding, nose broken, and right wing visibly bent. Her mane, despite flowing as majestically as it always had, was filthy, sodden, and marred by blood, dirt, and ash; her coat had fared no better, appearing almost grey with white streaks, owing to the torrential rain.

And yet, despite all these injuries and blemishes providing all the confirmation her soldiers needed that she could be wounded and killed as easily as any other pony, her presence still inspired those around her. She carried herself with pride and grace, showing no pain on her face, or in her stride as she marched. She held her head high, allowing the icy rain to lash away at her features with nary a grimace, seemingly oblivious to the biting cold.

When fear and fatigue wormed its way into the hearts of the weary, she stood by, stalwart and immovable, inspiring courage and vigilance in even the most tired of souls.

When those who could no longer march collapsed into the mud, she was beside them, hoisting them to their hooves, carrying them on her shoulder if necessary.

When those too gravely wounded to go on passed the point of no return, she sheltered them from the rain and sat, and spoke, and smiled with them as the end came.

She was everything they aspired to be. Everything required to change the world, and bring Fate to its knees.

The perfect leader.

A shout rang out from the front of the procession and was relayed down the line by several others, snapping Celestia to full alertness, "Caution at the front!"

Celestia waved over a soldier to prop up the injured mare she had been supporting, then vanished in a flash, reappearing beside Tychus, who had been leading the procession in her stead, "What is it?"

Tychus pointed to a ledge above them, a good minute's march away and barely visible through the rain, "Movement ahead, Commander. I am unsure as to whether it was a pony or something else, but a silhouette certainly moved between those two rocks."

"Understood." Celestia held up her hoof, signalling those behind her to stop.

She advanced slowly with Tychus by her side, scoping out the immediate area before directing a pair of pegasi to investigate the elevated ridge, "Exercise caution, both of you."

The two nodded and took to the air, initially struggling somewhat against the weight of their wet wings before moving towards the outcrop. They flew high, giving the area as wide a berth as they could manage in the confines of the pass, fading into little more than silhouettes behind the curtain of the downpour.

Celestia regarded her surroundings carefully as she waved those behind her to move forwards, speaking to no one in particular, "We should hurry. Even in the fortunate absence of bandits, the cold and rain may prove just as deadly to the injured."

Before anyone could reply, a sparking, magical green glow was seen flying through the rain, followed by the sound of falling stones, and a cry that Celestia could not make out. Immediately, she drew her weapon and advanced quickly, now able to make out the figure of one of the pegasi she had sent forth, though the rain and noise drowned out her speech, "What is happening!?" She span and addressed her troops as she moved, "Ready for battle!"

Weapons were drawn by all able to wield them, and by a few who were too hopelessly injured to manage more than a few swings, at best.

"h! Th- -d us!"

Celestia took to a gallop, closing the distance between herself and the pegasus rapidly, "Where is B-"

An armoured pony stepped out directly into Celestia's path, bearing the crest of Hollow Shades, his mane indicative of Fate's curse. Already in mid-gallop, Celestia's eyes widened as she attempted to halt herself, reaching swiftly for her weapon and barking out to those behind her as she went, "Amb-".

She felt a great warmth spreading through her neck, along with a terrible stinging pain as she came to an abrupt halt. Glancing downwards, then back up at the pony before her with wide eyes, Celestia struggled to come to terms with the fact that the lower half of his sword now protruded from her throat.

The stallion seemed equally shocked for a moment before fixing her with a sickeningly wide smirk as he forced the blade another inch through her neck, causing her to choke and her knees to buckle beneath her. Her magic sputtered, then faltered completely. Her sword, held only an inch from his neck, fell harmlessly into the mud. Red flashed in the stallion's eyes at such, and for only a second, Celestia stared into the pitiless gaze of Fate as the stallion whispered into her ear, "For the King, you whore."

Mortally wounded as she was, Celestia felt a surge of rage and growled, though it escaped as little more than a gurgle. In an instant, her magic returned to her as she forced the sword from her throat, snapped it in two, and embedded the two halves into the stallion's own exposed face, repeatedly. She was sure he had screamed as he fell, but the noises around her were disconcertingly blending together.

She felt incredibly fatigued as she turned, only to see dozens of ponies plunging down onto her vulnerable forces from the ridge above, all bearing Fate's curse.

She saw Tychus parry and decapitate a foe before making a beeline towards her, only for him to be tackled from the side, sending him and his assailant sprawling into the mud, both scrambling madly to retrieve the nearest weapon.

Celestia took a deep breath, but only found herself coughing blood into her mouth. A sensation of incredible thirst washed over her, even as she staggered towards Tychus.

She was somewhat aware of the word 'ambush' being shouted by many above the noise, but it was dampened by the rising ringing in her ears.

A cursed unicorn caught sight of her and began charging a spell. Celestia attempted to do the same, only for her vision to blur and her sense of balance to give out, sending her half-finished spell tearing into the mountainside above, and her body reeling into the mud below. From her position on the ground, Celestia saw one of her soldiers drive a spear through the unicorn's chest before he could finish his spell.

She noted the horrified expressions of her soldiers whose gazes she met, most of whom dashed towards her recklessly, cleaving through those who stood in their way, or being cut down themselves in the commotion.

Beneath her, Celestia registered the copious amount of blood pooling and mixing with the mud and water she laid in. Her blood. The sight of it brought a sense of clarity to her, even as the world around her became an ever-foggier blur of errant sensations.

'I am dying...'

With a great effort that she barely even registered, Celestia rolled over and gazed up into the dark, leaden sky. The rain stung her eyes and her gaping wound, but she didn't mind. The pain seemed very far away indeed.

A wave of watery mud washed over her as a deceased warrior spiralled to the ground beside her.

Through the shroud of the rain, Celestia could just make out the moon, glowing serenely in the sky above, far away from all the suffering and death she had surrounded herself with. She thought of Luna, and of the better, unified world she would never see for herself, but smiled at the knowledge that her sister would continue to fight for what they believed in, as they had promised one another all those years ago.

Celestia assumed she was crying, but it was hard to tell for the rain. Her throat felt a little more dry, though.

Very dry, in fact.

'What I would not give for a drink of water with my baby sister...'

Everything went dark.

'My... baby sister...'

Everything went quiet.

'L-u-n-a...'

Everything went still.

Peace, at last.

From his vantage point atop a high outcrop, Discord watched, incredulous, as Celestia expired. As her eyes glossed over and her mane went still, Discord folded his arms and frowned, "That is all, 'Commander' Celestia? You raise an army the likes of which the world has never seen. You turn your foes into your allies. You not only survive, but obliterate Rex. Between you and your sister, you wrest control of the very heavens from me, only to be skewered like a kebab and die in the mud like a dog at the hands of some... nopony!? And after everything you have endured..." He drummed the fingers of one hand against his arm, producing quite the rhythm, if he did say so himself, "How disappointing. And to think I had expected so much more..."

He began swinging his legs back and forth over the edge as he watched the remainder of the battle, only half-interested, "I suppose your sister does show promise, but I was sure you were special somehow." He took a bite out of a five-sided apple as a pony below had his leg severed at the knee; it appeared as if the remnants of the Solar Cohort would win the battle, enraged as they were by Celestia's death. He scanned around the combatants for any potentially interesting players that might fill in for Celestia, but shook his head at their lack of character, "Even her next in command is as bland as blank parchment in comparison. Feh."

He held up his paw and cleared his throat, "Let us see if a game of chance can liven things up!" With a snap of his fingers, the mountainside trembled, sending a few sizeable chunks of rock plummeting down to the battlefield below, "A tad to the left, my dear. A little more. And... Pancake!" He smirked at his good fortune but found himself unable to laugh, instead preoccupied by thoughts of the loss of two so interesting players as Celestia and Reginald.

He shook his head to himself before placing his chin into his paw, "The game goes on. Many players still remain, it would be childish to sulk over something so small. I have not checked on Sombra for a while now, perhaps he has made progress?" He scowled as his attempts to lessen his irritation failed, "Gah! She was so close to finally winning! It is not FAIR!" He hurled the remainder of his apple into the adjacent mountainside, where it detonated into a shower of particularly salty confectionery that rained downwards.

He scowled down at Celestia's corpse as he steadied his erratic breathing, observing as a nearby pony attempted to surrender, only to be blasted apart by the magic of a furious Cohort unicorn. He grinned to himself, reminded of the reason he had set the stage for this conflict in the first place.

"But the game does go on, Discord. The game will go on, forever, until a winner emerges..."

He snapped his fingers, and the earth trembled in fear. The winds howled like wolves, the heavens wept aloud, and forks and knives and runcible spoons of lightning streaked across the screaming sky as he threw his head back and chuckled, then cackled, then laughed.

And laughed.

And LAUGHED.

He looked down at Celestia's misfortune mirthfully now, a sickening grin distending across his features as the glowing red in his eyes danced gleefully. Her death meant nothing. Another outstanding specimen would eventually emerge, even if it took a decade, or a century, or a millennium.

And when they did? When they rose up and seized their rightful crown as ruler of Equestria? When they finally won?

"To the victor go the spoils."

Laughter.

Author's Notes:

So ends the first of a few key flashbacks that should provide insight into the occurrences of the Chaos Wars, as well as over a year's worth of chapter drought.

Hopefully I can reacquire my old habits and get back to posting more regularly.

Reckon I'll add the main cast's route to those maps I made too, in which case I'll add them to a blog post later. You'll be glad to hear we'll getting back to where (when?) Twilight and co. left off shortly.

As always, feel free to leave your thoughts below, I always appreciate them. (Oh, and do cram some more - relevant - tropes onto that page if you're so inclined, I'm addicted to reading those bloody things). :P

- Mike