The shadows drew ever closer to Canterlot. Eventually, the steady shaking of the ground that made building card houses or elaborate domino setups impossible ceased abruptly.

The absence of the near-constant earthquakes got everypony’s attention, and they looked to the sky, to see the Tyrant looming over Canterlot like a giant.

“Sir,” a guard pony whispered to Shining Armor. “What’s... uh, procedure for dealing with something this big?”

“I honestly have no idea,” Shining whispered back.

Far above, a door opened in the hull of the Tyrant. Relatively speaking, it was tiny. But it was still large enough for five eight-foot-tall humanoid shapes to stand abreast and still have room to roll their shoulder joints with a faint buzz of motors.

As one, large turbines mounted on their backs activated, and flying in a V formation, the five humanoids left the hatch, and soared through the air with a scream of engines that was audible to the ponies far below.

Celestia saw them coming, and bade all the castle staff, guards included, leave the throne room, before turning to face the balcony. Cadance backed up Celestia, and ushered the reluctant guards out as requested, closing the door behind her and leaving just Luna and Celestia in the room.

As one, five sets of metal feet touched down with a clunk on the balcony outside, and the jetpacks shut off with a whine as the wearers stepped into the throne room. Uniformly tall and solidly built, they were suits of armor; smooth, contoured, and contained. Light glinted off faintly purple steel armor, and Celestia felt herself being regarded by the inscrutable gaze of the reflective, blue visors that were tucked deep into a crevice in the helmets.

“Who are you,” Celestia said, as Luna took her place just behind her, “To march into my throne room, armed for war?”

“We are the last of the humans,” declared the one in front, the leader. “I am Commander Tulip of the HLF, and I’m here to deliver a message.”

“What do you want?” Celestia asked. “If you wish to share Equestria, now that you can walk in our land without perishing, you are welcome. I do not think highly of a life lived in armor, though, and believe it would be a cruelty in the end.”

“Share?” Tulip asked, surprised. “Celestia, we do not wish to share. My message is this: Equestria is ours, and humans will take their rightful place as masters of this land.”

“You have quite the nerve to demand something like that,” Celestia said, coldly. “At least the Changelings offered a service in return.”

“You either capitulate now,” Tulip said, drawing a long, sleek weapon, “Or we’ll simply start our new empire on the wreckage of your old one.”

“You mean to exterminate Equestria?” Luna exclaimed, outraged.

“Why not?” Tulip said, raising the weapon to point at Celestia from across the room. “You did it to us.”

The weapon crackled with electricity as three rails extended to form a guide for the barrel. Small lights lit up along the length of the barrel, and Celestia began to get a headache. Luna grunted quietly in pain as she felt it, too, and let it slip through.

“Feel that?” Tulip asked. “Orichalcum bullet. Judging by the look on your face, even now, it affects you.” He raised the weapon, aiming for Celestia’s heart. “We considered leaving you for last, so you could see what happens to your precious ponies, but decided that was too cruel. We’re not barbarians, after all.”

The weapon snapped, and a bullet was launched forward, propelled by magnetic forces and electricity. Glittering and dark, the waves of two alicorn-powered grips of telekinesis just washed off of it in cascading waves of sun and moonlight. The magic-nullifying substance was dangerous, controlled. How they’d gotten a lump of it was beyond Celestia.

But here it was, and travelling quite fast enough to reduce her heart to mush. The nature of orichalcum would make the wound unhealable by magic, and her quite dead. Possibly why it was a controlled substance. Sure, her death wouldn’t instantly end Equestria; Luna, Cadance and now Chrysalis could easily lead as well as she; but it would be quite a devastating blow for morale. Not to mention a real shame for her, since she’d be dead.

And then, for the first time ever, Clockwork Spring surprised Celestia.

Time slowed to a crawl, and Celestia heared the ratcheting of cogs like a series of ponderous hammerstrikes. In the air in front of her, a pony slowly materialized and occupied the space between her and the gun.

The bullet didn’t care, and pushed easily through the uniformed pony’s chest, sparks showering as it penetrated. Clockwork was thrown backwards, and Celestia grunted as she was suddenly hit with a full-sized pony.

Luna didn’t waste time, firing a bolt of magic at Tulip. The beam of moonlight splashed against his chestplate, and barely made him wobble as it ran off his armor like water.

“Well, that was unexpected,” he said, regarding the dying pony resting in front of Celestia. “I thought you’d destroyed our little clockwork pony. You know, since we programmed him to kill you.”

Celestia’s eyes hardened. “There are few creatures that I truly believe should die. And you are one of them.”

“Ooh,” Tulip taunted, feigning girlish terror. “I’m so scared, you’re going to blast me out of my armor with your mag- oh, wait,” he laughed. “You can’t.”

“I can do this,” Celestia said, and her horn glowed as she summoned her considerable telekinesis.

“It won’t work!” gloated Tulip, waving his arms. “Ponies are weak without their magic!”

“Look down,” Luna suggested drily.

The humans obliged, and saw a uniform, golden glow encompassing the floor of the throne room itself. Before they could say anything, the ground flicked up, and threw them unceremoniously out of the throne room.

“Luna,” Celestia said. “No turning back. The humans mean to exterminate us. Evacuate the civilians, inform everyone of our new footing.”

“Of course,” Luna said. “Will you be okay?”

“I will be fine,” Celestia said. “Just go.”

Luna bowed her head, and vanished in a flash of moonlight, as Celestia walked over to Clockwork Spring, who was lying very still, although his eye was still tracking Celestia.

“How bad is it?” Celestia asked.

“Pretty bad,” Clockwork muttered, pulling his shirt open with his hooves. A solid hole had been punched through his skin which was more like rubber on the inside, and a series of holes and dents had been gouged through metal framework, and twisted flywheels all the way to a shattered hole in a crystalline object that was like his heart. “They got my KinetoSpring.”

“...Will you die?” Celestia asked.

“As much as a dead pony can die, I suppose,” Clockwork said, getting up slowly. There was a loud grinding from his chest cavity, and a fragment of metal and a loose spring flew out. “I think I have enough spring left for one last job.”

Celestia blinked. “Are you sure?”

“Of course I am,” Clockwork reasserted himself, squaring his shoulders to an unhealthy clunking from his chest. “I wouldn’t offer otherwise.”

“A message, then,” Celestia said. “Make sure word gets to Blackstone, tell them that all prisoners are to be conscripted for the fight, and armed with their weapons of choice, by my order. No strings attached.”

“Very well,” Clockwork said, closing his eyes. When nothing happened, he frowned and reached inside his chest cavity with a hoof. There was a crunching noise, and he vanished like he always did, a few pieces of metal left behind the only trace he’d been.

Celestia turned around, and walked onto the balcony, where she saw the five humans hovering in the air before her, arms folded.

“We wanted to do this the easy way, Celestia,” Tulip spat. “And now look what you’ve gone and made us do. Your ponies will die, and it’s all your fault. Palladion!”

A booming voice ripped through the air from the Tyrant, coming from a massive array of speakers. “Yes, Commander?”

“Kill them all,” Tulip said, backing off and laughing as Celestia ripped the balcony free and swung it at him, to no effect. “How does it feel to know you’re going to lose, Princess?”

Celestia smiled. “We’re not going to lose. Your precious machine won’t shoot at Canterlot.”

“Why not?” Tulip asked.

“Because it would be shooting at humans.”

“Attempting to eliminate targets with precision instruments,” Palladion reported loudly. “Unable to engage high-yield explosives, humans in danger.”

“What?” Tulip’s smug sense of superiority evaporated.

“Perhaps you should keep a closer eye on your subordinates,” Celestia suggested, smugly.

The humans looked down at Canterlot, and even this high up, could see the distinct shape of armored humans identical to themselves, engaged in combat with the royal guard already.

“What the-” Tulip fumed, increasing his thrusters and turning to his subordinates as he pointed downwards. “Get down there, take out the doppelgangers!”

“Yessir!” the four other humans saluted, and cut their thrusters, falling like rocks down to the city below. Tulip turned to Celestia and pointed a finger. “Your tricks only delay the inevitable, Celestia,” he warned. “Equestria will be ours!”

Celestia rolled her eyes as the human flew away.

“Like you’re the first one to say that.”