Long ago, when the world of Equis was young and bountiful, an alicorn king and an alicorn queen struggled with the borders of their two realms. From these struggles erupted a war that threatened to destroy the world, until the goodhearted queen understood that the might of their heritage was a threat to all what was good and proper and sealed all but the youngest alicorns into stars.

But even half an eternity can not undo all evil.

It was never to resurface... And for a million years it never did. The secrets of the King's demonic machine for his final solution, the weapon to create all final weapons. But while nature did its best to conceal the ruins of the ancient evil that should remain buried, curiosity always found a way to unleash hell upon the world.

55 years ago...

A group of scientists gathered around the excavation dig's latest find: a large set of steel compound bulk heads. On their lab coats, they had the insignia of the Descendants of Tacitus imprinted.
“Professor Lab Rat! Look!”

The young unicorn professor looked up to the massive bulk heads. Massive beams of corroded steel were welded to the bulkheads, blocking further entrance.
“Amazing... What possessed them to seal these laboratories shut tight?" The bulk heads were welded open and upon opening them revealed a number of chambers, one of them surrounded by oval stone formations, barely visible in the dark.

Somewhere on Equis, on a chaotic plane of existence, today...

The darkness was silent as the fumes rested in the nothingness of the plane. Suddenly a white flash disturbed the tranquil of the plane and several lights were lit as a female Draconequis approached a bunch of young looking male Draconequii.
“♫Wake up! Wake up, you moronic fools! Rise and chaos!♫ It's a brand new eon and we have a new client...”

Stretching their limbs, the Draconequii yawned and slowly got up.
“Finally something happens...”

“It's about time...”

“Yeah... Nothing ever happened since big brother Discord left a few thousand years ago... And since the Alicorn War all we had left was to play with our thumbs.”

The female Draconequis now leaned over a blue orb,
“Just look at this: This orderly world... So tidy and harmonic. Ugh... How boring. Discord seems to be asleep as well...” But not a moment later, the female Draconequus inspected the world a bit closer. “Oh! Just a second...” With a chuckle, she knocked at the orb and the picture rearranged. “Hmhmhm... The picture wasn't up to date...” Her eyes widened with the depiction of the blue world shrouded in a cloud of darkness. “But what could be better than this? Two Princesses of Darkness threatening the entire world with their dark followers and a sun blocking cloud Megaspell, a damsel in distress, a fellowship of heroes on the run...” Looking up, she spotted two thin threads connecting Equis with another orb, another blue world “...and an entirely new world to toy with...” Grinning in anticipation, she shivered visibly. “Ooooh, this is gonna be so good...” Turning over to another of the Draconequi, she smiled and let his head rest in a bear paw and insectoid claw. “Cacophon! Little brother, be a dear and find us a way to these heroes.”

“Certainly, big sister Eris!”

As he dived in to the equestrian plane, Eris chuckled.
“Let the games begin...”

At the same time, on the Alisia, Captain Lily's eyes widened with awe at the black cloud above.
“Will? Do we still have the compass?

“No, Captain... It's damaged.”

This prompted Lily to sigh in frustration.
“Then setting course back to Equestria without the stars is going to be impossible. Good thing we already set course away from that armada and Maelstrom... Maintain course until land is spotted. One bat pony scout ahead for one mile, we will only pull, no sails. I won't capsize this ship by not seeing land in time. Take turns!” Flapping up to the bridge, she took over the rudder. “Let us hope that this will suff-”

But the crow's nest interrupted her.
“Captain! Icebergs!”

That exclamation took her by surprise.
“What? Impossible! Not in these warm waters!” But right in front of the Alisia a purple glowing iceberg of ice cream emerged from the water and towered high up as it passed the sailing ship. Lily just shook her head in disbelief before her new order was yelled over deck. “Belay that last order! Set all sails! Everypony pull her out of harms way! Let's get out of here!”

More and more glowing icebergs emerged and lit the way ahead. Will simply shook his head.
“Sunk by huge desserts? No one would believe that in the harbor!”

Lily gritted her teeth while steering her ship. More and more the waters began to glow from beneath.
“To think that I hoped for some light to find the way home a few seconds ago... Hang on!” The Alisia slid through a wave of ocean blue jelly and plowed right through, much to the dismay of the standing crew, who was shook by the sudden impact. But not halting, the Alisia gained altitude until it reached the other side of the wave and regained some of her momentum.

First Commander Will looked at the path of the jelly and icebergs and saw that they were leading away from the ship. Shaking his head, he looked over to the Captain.
“Jelly instead of ocean water, icebergs of ice cream... There's only one force on this planet capable of doing that.”

Lilly nodded.
“Last thing I heard was that he was reformed. So either he's using the oceans to wreak havoc outside of Equestria, or he broke loose at home and spreads his chaos beyond equestrian borders. In any way, this is bad.”

Looking at the orange horizon, Will and Lilly took some last glances at the fiery storm that still surrounded the Armada of war citadels.
“Captain? Do you think they're able to free her?”

Lily sighed and shook her head.
“I sure hope they free her before Princess Luna arrives on the battlefield. When alicorns fight, this might get messy...”

* * * * *

Meanwhile, in the throne room of Nagohod, Princess Celestia tried to find a better understanding for the whereabouts and motivations of Lamira. 'He who understands an opponent can defeat an opponent.'
“Why are you doing all this? This is not destruction for the sole purpose of destruction. No, you're not that stupid!”

Arching her brows in dismay, Lamira looked at Celestia like someone couldn't see the sky was blue.
“Why? Because you Alicorns of Light deserve it! Thousands were killed in the Alicorn War! But each on a personal level! Pony against pony, alicorn against alicorn. But while father was wise not planning for total destruction, Queen Faust brought onto us a curse, eliminating our divine race!”

Searching for words, Celestia shook her head
“Lamira! The... the Abarasion Spell was the only way to spare Equis from-”

“SILENCE!!!” Lamira boomed and the space between her and Celestia rippled, “HOW DARE YOU TO CALL IT A SPELL?!?” Nagohod gained altitude and reached the upper side of Black Omen, revealing the night sky. Looking outside, Lamira's face showed eons of bitterness. “Just look at it! This is not a spell! It is a holocaust! The utter destruction of all alicorn order! Alicorn corpses burning in the skies, sprinkled and splattered all over the firmament! No more discipline! No virtue! Only chaos!”

This angered Celestia. She and Luna had faced chaos, real chaos by ending the Discordian Age.
“Life and prosperity are not equal to chaos! I suppose next you'll tell me the Alicorns of Darkness had a better solution than this?”

“Certainly.” Asira replied without hesitation. “There was a grand project father started in the last days of the war.. Named after the one daughter father sired directly after Luna and you. Her name was Chrysalia.”

Celestia gasped in shock, tears of sorrow glittering in her eyes.
“No!”

Closing her eyes, Lamira nodded in confirmation.
“Yes... Our half sister first lost her mind and then, recently, her life at the hands of a shadow pony. The transformation she had to endure left her eternal lifespan untouched, but her chitin plates were a poor exchange for our almost indestructible alicorn hides, a hide that can withstand everything except alicorn horn. Chrysalia was an alicorn deep within. It hurt to use her like this, but she was beyond help after the first few thousand years. We monitored her swarm over the ages, ensuring she was well and ready for usage. And in the meantime we trained our capabilities. Carefully, our might as well as our half sister and her swarm grew. Until recently when we finally found father's secret facility in an archeological excavation dig.”

* * * * *

It was never to resurface... But after a million years, it did. And with it, the Alicorn War was ignited once again.

Under normal circumstances it would have been dusk when the Changeling wax crafts reached the beach. Now, under Black Omen, they only became visible at the shine of the many torches and lights turned at the sea. It was a sight that made the entrenched Descendants gulp in fear. Three dozen crafts, each the size of an airships, reached the sand and opened their hatches. The inside of the crafts was completely pitch black, until one pair of green glowing eyes prompted the Descendants to take a step back from one of them.
“It's her!”

“Subject Two!”

Thousands of pupil-less blue eyes now opened and a heavy humming sound was emitting from the inside of the crafts within seconds the swarm filled the sky of the entire beach. Outnumbering the guards in the thousands, all guarding posts were swept aside, there was no defense against the storm. And whosoever wasn't captured, was executed on the spot. Trotting over the field of battle, the Changeling Queen had her eyes kept on target, the inner research facilities. Although these ruins were still in good shape despite the ages they have seen, the Descendants had supported the corridors they deemed vital for their archeological research with trusses and beams of steel.

A strange feeling of nostalgia filled Shiria as she stepped through these halls and corridors. Although she'd never been here before, this place seemed familiar, known. There were moments when she felt a mixture of dread and security at the same time. Yet all of a sudden there were flashes of rapid movement and death. Someone or somepony was killing her children in the dozens. Entering a large hall behind some bulkheads her Changelings broke open, she entered a dark storage hall. There they lied on the ground, her dead children, swiftly killed by an unknown force. Anger began to boil up in the queen when she looked up and searched the dark with her eyes.
“Face me, Descendants! It's over!”

An unknown voice spoke up in the dark, a mixture of male and female.
“It is only beginning. Tacitus whispered of this from the stars. He told us of his return.”

Clenching her teeth, Shiria began to growl. Whosoever was behind this slaughter would pay dearly for each dead Changeling.
“Your king is long dead! And his return would only bring utter destruction.”

Now an all too familiar voice now rose up. A voice that let Shiria's blood freeze.
“Is that what you really think?”

When Shiria whirled around with bare fangs and charged horn, her movement died in an instant, when she saw who stood in front of her. Her eyes went wide open and her jaw dropped slightly at the sight in front of her.
“No... Can't be...”

In front of her stood Tyler Jones, a human who swore to fight the Descendants where he would find them. And now his eyes looked at her, disappointed, worried.
“Shiria...” The Changeling Queen didn't understand. 'What is he doing here? Why...? How...?'After a moment of her hesitating, a dark smirk came on his face as his eyes began to glow red. In the next moment, a large pile of trusses and rubble buried the Changeling Queen underneath it. But not two seconds later, there was a fierce green glow coming from the inside of this pile before it began to melt and finally detonated, revealing a shield that had held the rubble at a safe distance. The detonation wave was strong enough to sweep this fake Tyler away from her and slammed him into a pillar of stone. Embedded into the pillar, he coughed blood.

Kneeling on the ground, the Changeling Queen stemmed herself up with an angered stomp to the ground. 'I was careless! Damn you for this trickery!' Looking up, her face showed fierce rage.
“No! You're not him... or human for that matter!” Galloping over to the 'human' in rage, Shiria took flight as a gargantuan Brute Changeling broke through the ground and rammed the pillar the fake Tyler was slammed into down with the full momentum of its weight. The human was then slammed to the ground mere moments before Shiria landed on top of him and began to pummel his face with her perforated hooves without any mercy. “You are not Tyler! YOU ARE NOTHING COMPARED TO HIM!! HOW DARE YOU TO USE HIS IMAGE!!!”

The last punch broke the spell and a white unicorn mare with red mane beneath the human disguise merely grinned, blood running from her muzzle.
“I'm everything you never had...” Shiria looked down in shock. How could a mere unicorn have so much power to withstand her own? But in the next moment that same unicorn kicked her off from her and high into the air, before she blasted a ray of magic through her torso, causing Shiria to shriek in pain and slump to the floor. “...and I'm everything you'll never gain.” Shiria gasped in pain. This last shot barely missed her heart. She would live, but first she had to survive this fight. This was no ordinary unicorn and she had to find a way to dispose her. Time was of the essence. Seeing the dead Changelings behind the mare gave her just about the right idea she needed now. As her horn began to glow, the mare sneered down to her. “A magic attack? You can barely stand, left alone fry my face!”

This prompted Shiria to grin widely, her dark chuckles echoing through the hall.
“I'm not aiming at your face...” The mare cocked her head in wonder with an arched brow until her eyes shot wide open at the sound of penetrated flesh and bones. Crimson blood ran down her snow white hooves and her body swayed moments before she collapsed to the ground, several broken off Changeling horns stabbed into her back, crushing her spine and ribcage and perforating her inner organs. Shiria gave it a sigh before she let the healing magic flow through her wound.

* * * * *

The door opened and Shiria, escorted by her Changeling warriors, stepped into the laboratory. Pony scientist were kneeling in front of her, her Changelings flanking them. Giving the scientists a harsh glare she trotted over to a Changeling serving her proper water. “I will spare you scientists... If and only if you explain to me how a mere unicorn could take on me. And you will explain Project Chrysalia to me.”

The scientists exchanged some glances, until a seasoned stallion stepped forth. His once blue mane was beginning to turn white and wrinkles marked his face.
“My name is Professor Lab Rat. If we talk to you, our lives among the Descendants are over. If we tell you everything you want to know, can you guarantee our safety?”

Shiria glared at him and slowly his ears dropped, regretting the question in fear of angering her to the point where the opposite outcome might be the case. But the Changeling Queen slowly shook her head, her voice still calm.
“I am currently in a very bad mood, pony... And that state is nothing you should trifle with. If you want safety, I will not host you in my hive in any other form than food. However... This doesn't mean you are meant to die. I will order a squadron to take you on a wax float and bring you to Equestria. You can face justice there. Now speak!”

The scientists exchanged another series of glances and nods, until the very same stallion turned to Shiria once more.
“The mare you faced earlier was probably specimen Sun Float, a unicorn who was charged with another...”

“Another what?” Shiria interrupted him.

“Form of Energy...”

Shiria then arched a brow and turned to the scientists.
“Show me!”

Big and durable bulkheads opened and revealed a hall wide and high. Several chambers were housed in the hall, one of them looked as if a Changeling had cocooned something in there and something hatched from the cocoon. A pile of stones looking like hatched Changeling eggs surrounded this peculiar chamber. Several notes and measurement papers were around that, obviously to study the whereabouts of these fossils. With a measure of fear in his frail voice, the pony scientist began his explanation.
“When we were brought here, Princess Lamira and Princess Asira wanted this project continued. The data banks showed many failures and only one successful attempt to use this machine. The Machina Infernum was the apex of Alicorn technology back in the days. Its complexity exceeds our understanding by far.”

“Even after fifty five years of research we merely understand its basic functions. Professor Lab Rat is one of the last remaining scientists working on this excavation project since its beginning. A lifework!” added a second scientist.

Shiria could only roll her eyes in annoyance. 'Ponies...'
“I take it this one successful attempt was this one chamber with the strange fossils around. So why is this machine called the 'Machina Infernum'?”

When several dozen lamps activated upon the turn of a switch, the light revealed that this hall was merely the entrance to a big round and open elevator to store specimen that were stored in a seemingly bottomless pit 150 meters wide.
“The purpose of this machine was to transform ponies into superweapons. A unicorn able to face a Changeling Queen, an alicorn filly transformed to a Change-” He suddenly stopped and held his hooves in front of his mouth.

But Shiria showed no sign of anger whatsoever. The Changeling Queen simply twitched an eyebrow at the revelation.
“So... That's how it is... Tacitus used his own daughter to create the queen I knew as my mother. A disposable weapon...The purpose of this machine is wrong in all ways imaginable. A doomsday machine for the sole purpose of breeding death incarnated. They created an entire race of weapons to bring misery to others.” As she touched the fossilized cocoon, memories of her mother came to her mind in a chain of flashbacks. For once, the genetic memory of a changeling queen became a curse for Shiria. This wasn’t something she wanted to see.

For the truth was simply horrid. As she stepped forth to the fossilized Changeling egg shells she relived the horror, the agony her mother once went through. Every second a new flash of pictures raced through her mind, another wave of helplessness passed by and struck her down. How they took her mother from her own mother as a child, put her into this machinery and transformed her. The memories were engulfed in flames as the little alicorn suffered in the transformation chamber. Damned her and all her descendants to a struggle with no hope for happiness. And deep within her the hatred for the Alicorns of Darkness grew.

No, this was far worse than she could ever hope to imagine. Not even the Changelings in their parasitic ways could have plotted something of that magnitude of malice. There was cleverness, there was trickiness, even malice as a way to handle things as a Changeling. But never would they ever resort to such a final solution.. This was wrong. All of it was plainly wrong. While her mother was dead, it couldn’t be corrected for her. But she… Yes, maybe she could return to her former form. And if she would, she would take the crusade to the rest of the Alicorns of Darkness. She would kill every last one of them.

Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes to find her composure again. Anger, even more so blind anger wouldn't help her now. Behind her, one of the scientists spoke up.
“Ummm... Sun Float wasn't the only experiment the Darkness Sisters were performing.”

Turning around, Shiria shot the stallion a glance.
“How so? Who else was receiving a dosage of energy?”

“Oh, there were a lot of experiments, but none of them were performed here. This place was meant to remain untouched except for the salvaged energy banks. But I overheard some talk about it. There was also that strange bipedal Changeling...”

Shiria's facial expression became dark at once.
“Mimesis! What sort of experiment?”

“Due to the logs we've salvaged and translated, Princess Chrysalia was exposed to a hefty amount of negative energy of the machine, making her the first Changeling Queen in history. Thus every Changeling is filled to some degree with the same negative energy. But Mimesis got yet another dose of negative energy.”

In an attempt to imagine the result, Shiria arched a brow.
“If an alicorn filly turns into a Changeling Queen with this... What would happen if a humanoid Changeling gets exposed to that same energy?”

Frowning at the odd question, the pony first looked to the ground, seemingly trying to piece the variables together. When the stallion looked up again, he shook his head.
“That I cannot say precisely. But I predict that the result would be monstrous in shape, form and size. Since Changelings are insectoid due to the negative energy of the machina, this might shine through even more in his body. Maybe multiple legs, gaining size...”

Looking back to the massive bulkheads, Shiria shook her head.
“And why didn't Sun Float turn into a Changeling or a monster?”

This obviously was a question the scientists seemed to have rather avoid, for their grimaces showed Shiria that it was an unpleasant one.
“Um... Sun Float was injected with positive energy. This form of energy doesn't tend to vile transformations, but talent alterations like enhanced magic.”

Turning to the scientists completely now, Shiria cocked her head. This was getting interesting.
“You keep talking about negative and positive energy. Can you tell me what's the difference?”

The question merely earned her a nod from the scientists.
“Certainly! The 'Machina Infernum' has two procedures: Harvest and Transformation or Alteration. The polarization of the energy depends on the type of blood the machina is fed with in her harvesting procedure. One drop of blood of an Alicorn of Light will fill 100 Energy banks with enough magical energy to keep the machine running with positive energy while a drop of blood from an Alicorn of Darkness will do the same amount for negative energy. It costs one energy bank for an alteration or transformation. Most of the canisters in the cargo halls in this facility were heavily damaged due to the age of this place. Only a few have made it through the ages undamaged, leaving us with about five banks of positive energy and 25 banks of negative energy. We think the positive ones were extracted during the Alicorn War from captive alicorns. That's at least one theory. Another, more propable theory would be the salvation of droplets of blood on the battlefield from horns.”

Another scientist continued.
“Once we understood that the Changelings were made here, we had no interest of creating new ones until all would have died. You and your swarm being stored in the CCF preserved you. However, the Princesses instructed us to bring results other than Changelings. Since negative energy only brought undesirable monstrosities even with the most minimal dosage, we switched to positive energy. But all Changelings we caught and exposed to positive energy died within a few days.”

This caused Shiria to nod.
“Because they were soulless drones without individual will. They have a hive mind. Without that connection, there is not much in them. Like a fish out of the water, they were deprived of what kept them alive. Sun Float on the other hoof was a pony mare with her own free will. This means only a Changeling Queen or princess could ever hope to survive the process with positive energy...”

Nodding at each other, the scientist unicorns agreed.
“That was our conclusion as well. But your arrival makes our last order fruitless.”

Looking down to the pony, Shiria arched her brows
“And what order is that?”

“Execute order sixty six.” the stallion answered. “To avoid misuse of the enemy, destroy all energy banks left in this facility. The Darkness sisters have brought many of these banks away already. One bank of negative energy was meant for Mimesis for further experimentation, one positive energy bank was used on Sun Float... And there's... only one energy bank of positive energy left.”

Shiria nodded and turned over to her Changelings.
“That's all I need to know. Let them explain to you how the machine works and don't fail me!” Looking over to the ponies, she arched a brow. “I suggest you work with them as best as you can. And remember: I hear and see, what my swarm hears and see! If you are planning to betray us, I will find out at once! As of right now, this facility is property of my hive and we will forge our own future now. No predetermined fate of some ancient forgotten king!”

As she left, one mare looked at the stallion who explained all to the Changeling Queen.
“You think this was safe, Lab Rat? You're sure she will let us live until we are in Equestria?”

The old stallion looked over to her and sighed.
“At least we have her word on this.”

“Tsk! Only her word! And what is the word of a Changeling worth?

“Shut up before her drones report us!”

Shiria was trotting through the facility, not minding the worried whispers behind her. Her mind was racing considering other things. 'So an alicorn filly was transformed into a Changeling Queen. That didn't turn out satisfying enough for them, so they waited until I came to be. I created Mimesis and thus, without knowing it myself, gave them a whole new way of thinking... Their entire project with a being capable of so much more fighting spirit than any pony or any Changeling could muster. They repaired his body which was cut to pieces and exposed it to the same amount as mother... The result must be horrendous... But always negative energy... What would happen, if a Changeling Queen would be exposed with positive energy? Would I turn into a monster as well? Would the damage done to mother be repaired? But without my control, what would happen to this hive of mine?' A single drone, escorted by two Changeling warriors brought her the Changeling Princess Leilia and her prince to be, Symbios. Still fragile and small, both the shadow pony colt as well as the Changeling Princess were slumbering peacefully.

Nuzzling her daughter, Shiria was close to tears. This feeling... It was sickening. 'I have to leave my hive in jeopardy and my daughter alone while under undergoing this procedure...' Looking over to Symbios, Shiria gently smiled. 'Even if my hive perishes with me, he will have enough love to sustain her. I just hope they will live up to his name and find a way of symbiotic relationship... Until I find a way to aid her as well. I could ask for help, but I doubt Celestia would ever give her blood for a Changeling's sake... Not after what happened...'

* * * * *

In the meantime, in the throne room of the fortress of Nagohod, the held captive Princess Celestia had problems of her own. The latest revelation was enraging her beyond her limits.
“YOU caused the utter destruction of Shadowgate?!? An entire capitol leveled and thousands murdered just to make a point?”

But Lamira simply sneered.
“It served them right for abandoning their rightful lords and mistresses.”

Clenching her teeth, Celestia shook her head in anger. The inhibitor over her horn was trembling more with each passing moment.
“You would kill thousands just for progress and prosperity instead of living in the past like you do?”

Turning around to Celestia, Lamira barked at her, angered.
“They've grown like a cancer, not only did they abandon us, their leaders, but also their way of life! Their heritage! As soon as we are done with Equestria, we will 're-educate' these traitorous dogs for the mere attempt to break free from us. While we lead the armada to war for the total annihilation of Equestria, the Descendants left there have order to stomp out enough gulags and camps for this 'educational procedure'. And then these ponies will have strict birth control...”

It was in this moment that the magic inhibitor on Celestia's horn finally snapped and broke apart with a loud and high tone. The shattered pieces of the ring flew off and Asira saw that they began floating, like defying gravity. The scent of static filled the air as large amounts of magic were accumulated. Gritting her teeth, the younger of the Darkness Sisters turned to Celestia, only to draw her jaw.
“What in darkness' name...?”

Celestia's body shined almost blindingly bright and the magic billowed over her entire form including mane and tail.
“I took an oath that I would never harm a redeemable pony, no matter what horrid crime he or she would commit! But after seeing what you did with Nagohod and what you are planning, you leave me no choice! Princess Lamira! Princess Asira! Sisters! You are evil! But it is not my horn that will destroy your mighty armada... It will do so by itself!”

Taking a step back, Princess Lamira and Asira looked at Celestia, aghast.
“What?”

But before they could subdue her anew, Celestia unleashed a powerful beam of light from her horn, colliding against the stone of one of the closed eye in the throne room. It looked as if the beam was only hindered for a second, as the molten stone on the edges of the beam began to run down the hole. Three long seconds the beam endured, before it faded away. Fatigued, the Princess of the Sun shook her head in order not to fall unconscious. However, the strain was strong enough to force her to the floor.
“I guess I should have trained Megaspells a bit more over the ages...” But while the threat in the throne room was seemingly over, the real damage was yet to come. The beam of pure light shot through the cloud of Black Omen and soon these otherwise pitch black clouds began to shine brightly in front of the citadel armada. Rays of light shined down to the ocean as thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of tiny orbs of light slowly glided from the now brightened sky. As the first citadel came in contact with these orbs, they simply went through the thick stone armor and came in contact with the crew. Once struck by the orb in either their torso, head or limbs, several of the Descendants began to halt in their movement and seemed out of focus for a moment. Disorientated, they shook their heads for a bit before they began to chuckle and murder one another in whatever way was available at that time. Not very long after this, the first few citadels of the armada gave up the fire shield spell surrounding the armada and began shooting down one another. A chain reaction followed in which shot down citadels crashed into unaffected ones while others were infected by the orbs as they as well entered its area of effect. Even shields were of no use against these orbs.

Watching the spectacle in utter disbelief, Lamira shook her head in shock.
“What is this trickery...?”

Giving a smirk, Celestia regained some of her strength and stood up.
“It is the Light of Justice! No armor or force field can shield you from this. Whosoever is kissed by it and is unjust in his heart, will turn on other unjust hearts. One by one the citadels struck by this divine light will destroy one another. Only he who is just in his heart can ever hope to withstand the magic of this spell!”

Looking up from a screen, Asira shook her head in a panic.
“Lamira! The losses are tremendous! We are losing citadels left and right! About 60 percent of the fleet are down!”

Gritting her teeth in anger, Lamira barked her orders to her sister.
“Order the armada a full stop and retreat from the light!Ascend Nagohod over the clouds! We have no choice but to take a longer detour around it...” When she shot Celestia a glare, it didn't last long before a smirk returned on her face. “A Megaspell... Interesting... I thought this was a knowledge long forgotten?”

“Black Omen is a Megaspell as well.” Celestia retorted flatly. “You cannot expect me to sit idly by while you hurt my subjects as well as our allies.”

“True...” Eying Celestia thoroughly, Lamira gave her best to contain her anger. “That was well played, Celestia... I don't know what is greater right now. My hatred towards you for decimating my armada like this or the admiration for such a brilliant move.” Coming closer to the force field, Lamira stared into Celestia's eyes. “You can not imagine how much I want to shove my horn into your heart right now... I know that once I will, it will be so satisfying... and heart breaking as well, since I can only do it once.”

Celestia shook her head, her face showing both determination against and pity for Lamira.
“No dictator, no invader can hold an imprisoned population by force of arms forever. There is no greater power in existence than the need for freedom, peace and harmony. Against that power governments and tyrants and armies cannot stand. The equestrian ponies learned this lesson once with Discord. With the help of the Harmony Rangers, Elements of Harmony and their allies they will teach Equis this lesson once more. And if it takes them a thousand years... They will overcome you!”

While the remaining citadels began their evasive maneuver to escape the Light of Justice on the sides and Nagohod ascended into the clouds to evade above of the spell, one of the many light drops swirled across the skies and down towards the seas in the northwest of the Megaspell. Landing and sinking into the chest of Queen Sheeris, it lost its glow within seconds, emanating a comfortable warmth in her heart. Looking down to her chest, Sheeris cherished the warmth in this cold and unnatural night. A fond and gentle warmth like that of a lair mate resting at her side. Looking up, her eyes showed determination.
“Princess Celestia is captured, but not yet defeated. In this time of darkness, she's giving us Masar more than we could hope to ask for. A light, my brethren, of hope. A light of freedom! Rays of justice...” A gentle breeze went through her mane, as a steady growl emitted from her throat as she was surrounded by her fellow Masar. “A beacon towards just vengeance! Let us repay the princess who gives us the warmth of the sun with all the wildness our clans can muster to battle this darkness! Hunt them down! You know no fear, you know no pain! Tonight we'll feast upon the sweet flesh of the followers of an ancient king! But where is their king now?” Raising her right paw straight and high up into the sky, the black sails of her battleship, the Tiger's Claw, were set to full force and her mighty navy followed her, the roars of tens of thousands telegraphing its fierce approach. Fire rose high up into the sky as their artillery barrages and air shamans pierced the sky already reaching the outermost citadels of the weakened Descendant armada in the west.

In the northeast, one of the Griffin generals held a looking glass in his claws to enhance his already good eyesight.
“The Pony Fleets of Equestria and the Crystal Empire are approaching from the north and will arrive on the battlefield in a couple of minutes. The Masar are already engaging the enemy, my liege.”

The seasoned Griffin behind the generals nodded as he looked up from his seat, his chin resting on the clenched eagle claw. Standing up, he came up to the front and looked at the spectacle. Already the first hits of the Masar artillery was hitting. Thundering detonations were lightening the otherwise darkened sky.
“And so shall we! Princess Celestia does not stand alone. All of my kingdom's states stand united with her. Adelph, Phobos, Damasio, Korotia and our war keep of Korros. For preserving the peace and good relations between the pony and griffin nations for over a thousand years, we stand with the ponies against our common enemy who took sons from their rightful places. For our allies and for my son Griffith... Attack!”

A nod was given and a flare pistol was fired into the night. Upon spotting the flare, dozens of weapon officers gave the signal to light the armaments. Five seconds later, thousands of crude rockets of hundreds of air ships swarmed the skies as the Royal Griffin Armada opened fire and brought heavy losses to the Descendants as their lethal payload hit the lit openings of the citadels. Although hundreds of rockets missed their target and merely scratched the stone armor, the ones that did hit brought a swift demise to the victims. But after the first volley of rockets, the Descendants regained their ground by raising magical shields on these strategic weak-points. Meanwhile King Gifford's generals were plotting their strategies.
“Against flying stone fortresses like this, the ground troops of the Masar navy are of little use if they can't enter the citadels. So on this battlefield the fight for air supremacy is of primary importance! Establish the sky-trenches with our Equestrian allies as soon as possible and hold them for our troops as well as the Equestrian Pegasi! The Masar may have mostly ground personnel, but their artillery batteries can breach these stone walls with ease. If they don't shoot directly at you, see that you hold the skies above them clear. Like that they can breach the stone armor and open the opportunity for our and other troops to board the citadels. And of course, the breached walls are a welcome target for all cannons.”

In the meantime, Queen Sheeris was surrounded by her advisors. Unsatisfied with the damage the artillery was doing so far, she shook her head.
“Order the tank ships beneath the citadels and let the air- and water shamans do their thing! Sea water mixed with our crude oil should do wonders.” Thick and heavy machinery on board of broad ships with thick armor plates were handled and hatches were opened. In a play of water and air the crude oil was lifted out of the huge tanks and shot directly at the citadels.

Splattered all over the firing balconies, the brown liquid halted the unicorns for a brief moment. It stank and dripped all over the place. More so, it blocked the view when splattered against magic shields and forced the Descendants to lower them again, what often caused the oil to splatter all over them.
“What is this stuff?”

“Ugh! It stinks!”

But as a barrage of blazing arrows approached from below, the idea came quickly. One unicorn managed to yell the order “BACK INSIDE!!!” before the balconies were set on fire, rendering several citadels weapon- and defenseless. Fire filled the skies and this time by Masar doing. Growling in anticipation and satisfaction, the Masar Queen bared her fangs and claws while turning to her personal guard.
“I am not here to merely witness! ONWARDS!!!” With a full squad of her best shamans, she stormed to the front of her ship before strong winds cast by her air shamans shot the squad and her up to the citadel above them.

And as they entered it from the west, Princess Cadance approached the very same war citadel from the north with several squadron of Wonderbolts, her husband Prince Shining Armor and their own Guard, which she levitated with her. Entering the citadel from a balcony heading northward, they made their fierce approach to the inside.
“Shining! Let us take the bridge! If we can claim this citadel or learn about it, maybe we can turn the tide more to our favor!”

While fighting alongside her, Shining nodded and fought always a few steps in front of Cadance in order to take the most fight from her. Cadance was weaker in pony to pony close combat, but her spells were much stronger than his. Like this, he was always a little dirtier than she was. Once he had a brief moment to spare, he raised his voice to yell over to her.
“By the sight and sound of it, we weren't the only ones thinking like that, honey!”

In a crossing section of two corridors it finally happened. Cadance and Shining came to a halt when they heard the growl from the left. Escorted by four of her shamans, Queen Sheeris approached the crossing of the corridors from their left side. Her coat and clothes were soaked in blood already, her claws still dripping from the blood of her last victim. Her fangs bare and her eyes fierce from the slaughter she already brought to the Descendants, the queen now was approaching the two of them. Behind her, the roars of slaughtering Masar warriors echoed through the corridors as they laid waste to the Descendants. From the right, the sound of swords, axes and daggers slicing through flesh telegraphed the approach of yet another ally. King Gifford and his entourage approached Shining and Cadance from the right, their cloaks and swords soaked in blood as well. It was in this moment, when all three united parties of this yet fragile alliance met, that the glances of Princess Cadance, Prince Shining Armor, Queen Sheeris and King Gifford met. No words were exchanged, only nods. There was no need for words, each one of them had a very good reason to be here. Facing the Descendants in front of them united in a straight line, the four of them began their fierce and bloody fight, each one determined to free who was taken from them or to protect what was dear. There was no question asked, the facts simply understood. Each and everyone of them was equal, there was no leader among them, no one of greater or lesser importance. And all of a sudden, this once fragile alliance became a force of nature, united and strong. This one citadel would be captured, an even harder slap into the face of the enemy armada.

While Shining Armor stood in front of Cadance all the time in fierce pony to pony combat with spear and sword, Cadance assisted him from behind with attack magic while the two of them were flanked by the Masar and Griffins. It quickly became noticeable that the Masar always had their backs turned to their queen, so she could unleash the full force of her Stare onto the enemies. Once petrified by this, the Descendants were nothing more than meat to be slain. Blood filled the air as mighty paws collided into pony flesh and skin was sliced open by razor sharp fangs and claws. The sound of ripping flesh was everywhere; either by claws or by the sharp blades wielded by the Griffins, who in their way of fighting and numbers of slain enemies were a worthy match to the Masar and their victims. When the first few rooms around the bridge were cleansed, the Masar queen nodded over to Shining and Cadance. By now Shining's once white coat was sprinkled in red and brown. The Princess of Love shook her head, her horn glowing from all the usage. This was against her nature, but the thought of preserving love back home by bringing utter defeat to the Descendants made her go on. The couple was a sight Sheeris could understand and respect.
“There is no greater glory for a couple than standing united while being surrounded by enemies. May your love be most fruitful.”

Shining wiped the sweat from the coat on his forehead as he replied with a smile.
“I think that's exactly what she has in mind.”

Giving a giggle, Cadance winked over to Sheeris.
“He's such a sweetie sometimes, taking me to the nicest battlefields.”

Suppressing the urge for a loud laughter, Sheeris tapped another Masar on the shoulder and nodded over to Shining and Cadance.
“Have an eye open for these two today and watch their backs. If they should inspire any glorious songs for the feasts, I don't want them to be sad ones.”

“It will be done, my queen!”

Together with united forces they took this first citadel. The unicorns in the engine room were no match for the attacking Masar, as they were too focused to keep the citadel up and running. Only too late they recognized the maws that would devour them alive. Within minutes, victory was at hand inside this citadel and King Gifford nodded at his messenger bringing him the news.
“The Descendants here in this citadel are all dead and the surrounding citadels are under heavy fire! We have taken control!”

Cadance nodded.
“Then the timing couldn't be any better. I have the citadel under my spell. It should be easier for me to fly this citadel than our worn out unicorn soldiers.”

Shining gave her a caring smile.
“I'll raise a shield around this thing right now to get us some safety, honey. It should shield us long enough for any larger evasive maneuver to take place.”

Then, all of a sudden, when the dark clouds broke open with a deafening thunder, they revealed the massive body of Nagohod as it left the thick layer of cloud in its descent. A hellish shine emitted from thousands of torches as the mighty behemoth descended into the battlefield. In the throne room, a choir of unicorns began their chorus as the majestic citadel entered the battlefield to take an active role now.

“Nagohod must fly
Stone pinnacles tower above the foe
Victorious high up in the sky
As she brings the enemy glorious woe”

Thousands of jaws opened in shock and awe. Nagohod was so huge. Larger than any war citadel the equestrian ponies ever encountered and by far more deadlier. Fear grew like an airborne virus and spread fast among the ranks of the alliance. But their meanwhile hardened officers and generals, among them many Harmony Rangers and Shining Armor, shook them free of it and maintained their will to fight. Cadance only shook her head, a grin of pity on her lips.
“They must have the smallest horns in the universe...”

The eyes of Nagohod's pony bust opened anew and Lamira and Asira approached the openings.
“Load the main cannons and open fire!”

Asira leaned her head to the side, prompting her neck to crack a little.
“Time to squish some fleas...” Tossing several airships out of the way, Nagohod breached through the front of the enemy armada, mostly unharmed while a hand full of airships were obliterated by the Darkness Sisters directly in front of it, destroyed by powerful attack spells that penetrated even the sturdiest of shields.

With a grim growl Queen Sheeris stood on the bridge of the captured war citadel and pointed at Nagohod as several searchlights lit the monstrous war citadel from below.
“Give this order to every ship in my navy: Take position around this stone abomination and open fire at will!”

While several Masar made haste to execute her order, Shining turned over to Cadance.
“Now we will see what Tyler designed for us. I will give signal to the fleet to fire the Ranger artillery!”

Hundreds of Ships from the Crystal Empire opened fire between the already firing Masar ships and as the orbs of blood detonated in the skies, the explosions caused both Darkness sisters to arch their brows.
“What kind of weaponry is this?”

Shaking her head at the unknown data, Asira tried in vain to make sense of this.
“Whatever it is, it's even able to damage Nagohod's armor. It's like several hundred attack spells were focused into little bomblets!”

Despite her sister's worry, Lamira sneered at this new information.
“A little crack here and there. Nothing serious, our armor endures! We will break through; give the order for the fleet to follow us!” Within an hour the sky was filled with the flames of burning airships and citadels as well as thousands of Pegasi and Griffins, either fighting the Descendants head on or with rifles from afar. Up in the skies, each citadel and airship was an equivalent to a trench on the ground, delivering cover for the combatants with wings. The odor of sweat, smoke and blood was everywhere in those sky-trenches. One equestrian airship got caught in a volley fired fired from a citadel and the entire crew on deck was killed. Galloping up to deck, one explosion caused one of the younger unicorn stallions to halt before he stepped outside. Hot dust swirled into his face. Seeing his comrades shot dead all over the deck, he quickly manned one of the remaining cannons and aimed at the citadel in front of him with a fierce roar. They would pay for all the misery they brought. Time froze for him and he could see a bullet passing by.

The same bullet passed and hit several hundred meters below in the planks of a Masar raid ship, on which the flak was turned around and aimed high into the sky. Upon the fierce roar of the Masar commander, the flak fired its shell high into the air, prompting a detonation on the right side of a Descendant shuttle hunting a griffin. Machine guns opened their blazing fire, but none of the bullets hit the agile target. Heaving upwards, the Griffin escaped high into the clouds, the shuttle still in pursuit with the guns still blazing. A bullet missed the Griffin's head only for a few inches, but he knew all too well that these shuttles were piloted and levitated by unicorns and their feeble lungs couldn't take the thin air high in the skies. Any moment now they would surrender to nature. And truly, the shuttle began to turn and descended again as its crew went out of air to breath. Now it was the Griffin's turn to open fire. Turning around, he pulled out a rifle he got from his duty in the Ranger HQ in Equestria, he opened fire while he and the shuttle did a nose dive and perforated the wings of the target.

A bomb separated from the torn wings and fell into the sea, where it detonated between several warships of the Masar. Aiming their artillery barrels at the citadels, their bullets were engulfed in flames before they ejected out of the barrel to bring utter destruction. Penetrating the thick and heavy armor of the citadel above, these projectiles made way for a certain unicorn cannoneer to deliver his payload directly into the heart of the citadel, resulting in its utter destruction and fall from the sky. Due to the following blast, the unicorn stallion was swept away, but caught mid-air and carried away by Griffins mere seconds before his airship fell as well.

The four fleets brought great damage upon each other, but Nagohod simply pushed onwards, swatting each and every obstacle aside either by the malicious magic beams from the two alicorns or its sheer massive size. The blockade the three opposing fleets formed was almost crushed and although most of the citadel armada was gone, the main threat, Nagohod was still existent.

Author's Notes:

Not proofread yet. Any notification to correct something is welcome.