Barely twenty minutes had passed since Behemoth's vaguely prophetic declaration at the window, and in that time the others had slowly begun to stir. Shade and Derpy, displaying impressively good timing, emerged from the kitchen with copious amounts of black tea and strong coffee just as AJ and Mac, ever the early risers, were sitting up. AJ was rubbing the sleep from her eyes with a long, satisfied yawn. She took the mug that Derpy offered her with a thankful grumble of not quite words.

"Cube...ya'll...sugar....tootin..."

As the young Guard corporal and the mailmare made their rounds through the library, Behemoth and Luna lurked at the foot of the stairs, enjoying the spreading warmth of the beverages that Luna had magically liberated from the two as they passed. As consciousness was regained, and the memories of last evening swam into minds no longer clouded by aphrodisiac poison, the Guard Captain and the Princess watched with mingled curiosity and amusement at the widely varied responses from the motley crew of civilians.

AJ and Twilight glanced at each other furtively, flashing one another a smile as they each blushed a bit with their memories. Rainbow stretched and preened, grinning proudly, but moving a little gingerly, obviously a little sore after her evening with Fluttershy and Macintosh. Fluttershy was showing no such discomfort, as she leaned back against Mac's chest and smiled up at him. The two shared a gentle kiss and snuggled down together. Rarity seemed nervous, wrong hoofed, but coping, until, in the reflection of her tea, she caught sight of the tangled rats nest that last nights exertions had made of her mane. With a dramatic gasp and swoon, she charged out of the room, making a B line towards Twilight's restroom and the mane style rescuing refuge of her shower. Spike followed her a few steps, but was easily outpaced as she fled. He looked crestfallen for a moment, the loyal little fellow deflating a little as his amorous partner fled in such haste...a look that quickly changed to surprise as Pinkie bounced past, humming a happy tune and snatching up the little dragon by his tail, hopping off in Rarities wake.

Luna watched all of this with a contented, relaxed smile enhancing her beauty. She spoke as she watched. her voice low enough that there was no danger of being overheard.

"So, you are still convinced that this is not over."

It was a statement, not a question. She knew his thoughts, gliding through his mind without even trying. The undercurrent of unease, anticipation, was, to her, as clear as her own thoughts.

"Yes. There's something...I can't put my hoof on it, but something just doesn't add up...something about this whole series of events just doesn't make sense."

"The Hive is sundered, it's garrison annihilated to the last, their...amorous concoction destroyed and their plans along with it."

"That's just the thing, what WAS the grand plan? If it was just to feed, to harvest as much 'love' as possible, they would've chosen a larger city. Canterlot, Cloudsdale, hell, Manehattan alone would yield four or five hundred times as much. Why Ponyville?"

"Well, larger populations translates into a larger chance of being discovered, and those other metropolis' do not have such a large and conveniently close at hoof hiding place as the Everfree Forest."

"Hmm...maybe, but Canterlot has the caverns stretching under the city...those were rediscovered when the Changelings attacked, so they definitely know about them. If tales are to be believed, there are dozens, maybe hundreds of miles of old, abandoned service tunnels under Manehatten, you could hide a Hive down there easily."

Luna's happy smile finally faded as she considered such a possibility. It was not a pleasant thought, so she steered the conversation in a different direction.

"Perhaps there is something unique to Ponyville. Something that drew them to this particular geography. Something...or someone. The wretched little worm, the green eyed one that you...worked on, he mentioned that they, the cult, were after you all along, correct? And he mentioned that they served a Queen?"

Behemoth's countenance of troubled pondering was gone so fast it might as well have been slapped away. His eyes widened as the answer he was seeking was pulled effortlessly from his own memory.

"He did. Holy hell, he did!! How did I miss that?"

"Well, your mind has been somewhat...troubled over the last day or so, I think we can forgive that one lapse. Queen is a rare term this century. I may be mistaken, but to my knowledge, there is only one Queen we've encountered these last few decades."

An inadvertent shiver ran up Behemoth's spine. So intent was he upon this line of thought that his normally impressive perception failed to register the library door opening and three new faces joining the assembled mass.

"Chrysalis."

"Indeed. Which means-"

"Which means,"

The voice was unexpected, but familiar, even accented as it was with weariness and suppressed anger.

"That whatever no doubt colorful and exciting levels of bullshit you've gone an stirred up now, kid, I'm pretty damn sure I can one up you."

Behemoth couldn't help but grin at the colorful invective of his once superior, once subordinate, and always friend.

"Glad you decided to show up, Dusk. Sure took your sweet time, didn't you?"

Behemoth gently intercepted Twilight, turning her from her path as she was on a direct course towards the fully armored Lunar Guard Captain, a look of surprise and more then a little annoyance twisting her features.

"It's alright, Miss Sparkle, I asked him to come here."

"Well, that's fine, but it is polite to knock, you don't just come barging in like that."

His attention drawn to her, Dusk frowned, the eyebrow over his left eye cocking in a subconscious gesture committed to muscle memory from years of seeing that particular response on the face of Behemoth.

"Knock? Why? This is a friggin public library, why in the blue hell would I knock before entering a government owned building?"

"Well, because. I happen to live in this 'government owned building'."

Dusk gave the interior a quick once over, taking mental note of the attached kitchen, the bedroom upstairs, and a dozen other little features that his well trained eyes picked out that suggested that this structure was the domicile of more then literature.

"Huh. Alright then. Good to know."

Dusk Shields focus turned back to Behemoth. Twilight bristled a little at being so unsubtly brushed off, but her ever inquisitive nature won out, replacing annoyance with curiosity as Luna stepped forward to join the conversation.

"You look...troubled, Captain. A state I've not often seen you in. What has happened?"

Dusk nodded with a heavy sigh, his carefully developed mask of perpetual, smug disdain that had been the mocking bane of so many recruits over the years slipped, just for a second, and just for a second Behemoth caught a rare glimpse of just how old, how tired the seemingly endlessly vibrant and tenacious stallion actually was. Behemoth didn't resist when his steaming hot cup of tea was magicked out of his grip, and Dusk downed the entire molten drink in a single gulp. By the time the mug was empty, the exhausted and aged visage had once again disappeared. Behemoth, and truth be told, Luna as well, were disturbed by that momentary slip. Neither decided to comment on it, hoping that none other had seen. When Dusk spoke, his voice carried the fatigue his face refused to show. It was no longer the ageless, commanding drawl that had echoed across training fields for more years then Behemoth had been alive. Behemoth had only ever heard his old friends voice like this twice before. It sent a chill up his spine to hear it again.

"Just after dawn yesterday, mass rioting broke out in almost every settlement across the Empire, apparently simultaneously. Local law enforcement was hit hard, entirely engaged, and last I heard, are damn near over run in half a dozen districts. In some cases, they've been forced back into their stations and precinct houses and are under sustained, constant siege. Hundreds, probably thousands have died in the last twenty four hours. Fires are raging unchecked in, at last count, four separate cities, the mob attacks any uniform on sight, so firefighters can't even try to contain the blazes. It's impossible to get any sort of accurate estimation of losses, they're even attacking EMT's. As of sixteen hundred hours yesterday, the entire strength of the Celestial Guard has been committed to try and restore order. They are failing."

Behemoth and Luna stared at the Captain in stunned silence, trying to process what he'd just said. Behemoth turned away, his eyes closing. He'd known better then to hope. Better than to hope he was wrong, then to pray he was wrong. He knew better. He had an eye for this, he knew better than to hope that they had somehow seen the end of the madness. That now, maybe, after so many more valiantly sacrificed lives, after so many more brave acts that would never be acknowledged, never be documented, that maybe, just maybe some semblance of peace had been won out in the end.

He'd known better, he'd said as much, as if speaking his doubt would somehow ward off the truth. Even his own words, his own vocal doubt, couldn't tarnish, couldn't kill his last, stubborn hope for a better life. For peace, family, and love.

That hope died now.

Luna could feel all this, could sense it building in him through the connection they shared. It wasn't the madness, the clinging, barely restrained psychosis that had been such a constant presence in his mind until it had been banished yesterday, this was hate. A cold, seething fury rising behind his eyes at the realization that the battle he'd hoped to contain had metastasized into a war, and that far from being over, it was just beginning. In silence he recognized the task a war would etch for him, and without hesitation or reservation, he accepted it. The madness had left his mind. The darkness, the cold, calculating shadow across his mind was gone, but his anger, his passion and fury remained. There would be no exorcising that demon, it was him.

In that acceptance, and the speed of it's arrival, Luna held a glimmer of hope. Even twenty four hours ago, such a twist, such a drastic turn for the worse would've tormented him, tearing at him with guilt over not being able to single hoofedly prevent such a thing from taking place. No longer was he so self destructively attacking himself.

Although he had taken no effort to project his voice across the room, all of those present had heard what Dusk had said. All other conversations in the room died away, their voices trailing off to stunned silence. All attention was turned to the Captain as those present closed in around him to hear more clearly. He continued.

"The Empire is tearing itself apart as we speak, and even with the entire might of the Sun Guard, we are barely hanging on. Our society is crumbling, and there is apparently damn little that we can do to stop it."

The silence was long and heavy, dragging across the room like a wet wool blanket, suffocating and cold with the myriad implications of such terrible news. Before any of those present could find their voice, another interruption arrived in the form of a quick triple knock at the door. Repeated impatiently a few seconds later. Her mind running a thousand miles a second, Twilight moved on auto pilot towards the door, her mind moving in one direction while her body moved on another track. A third knock was sounding as the door swung open.

Sunlight caught on gleaming gold, although it wasn't gleaming as much as it should. Much of the polish and traditional grandeur buried by the scuffs and dents that hadn't been seen on Celestial armor in more years than bore counting. The face of the stallion wearing the armor of a Celestial Guard Captain was a portrait of weary frustration, anger, pain and fatigue in such a quantity that even coming face to face with his beloved little sister couldn't brighten Shining Armors visage. His voice was as dull, as flat as his abused golden plate.

"Hey there Twily, great to see you again."

He strode past her without waiting for a response, two more Celestial Guard following him in, a dozen or so others glimpsed through the door as it swung shut in their wake, along with seemingly the entire strength of the Lunar Guard, just over a hundred all told, forming up in the town center. Dusk had come in strength. Outside, the morning was bright and clear, chirping birds and the low, rolling thrum that was the background noise of a town starting another productive day was starkly at odds with the severity of the discussion going on within the library. Almost as though Ponyville was, somehow, a bastion of peace in a world of madness.

Shining Armors gaze swept the room, stopping when it met Behemoths. There was no love lost in that met stare. Shining moved to the large circular reading table that filled the center of the room, removing his helmet as Behemoth and Dusk Shade approached from the other side. It was Shining Armor who spoke first, his voice almost as dull as Dusk's had been, but tinged with an undercurrent of annoyance, or maybe anger to flavor the dead pan.

"I hope you have a suitably good reason for invoking Protocol Seventeen and dragging me out here in the middle of a Celestia damned civil war, Behemoth. You may be comfortably retired, but I have an Empire to try and save, and that isn't getting done while I'm wasting my time out here in the boondocks."

Behemoth registered, then promptly ignored the insult laced through Shining's words. There were larger issues at hoof then an officers lack of parade ground decorum.

"Given the escalating nature of the situation, I'll give you two the abbreviated version. Yesterday morning, just before dawn, me, the Princess, and the Forth Platoon of the Lunar Guard, along with the civilians in this room, discovered, engaged, and destroyed a tertiary Changeling Hive approximately four and a half miles into the Everfree Forest, situated at the headwaters of the river that runs through Ponyville. The river that provides everything from drinking water to crop irrigation for the entire town."

It was Dusk's and Shining's turn to be struck silent by this unexpected development. The civilians crowded around the table, listening intently, even though this was a tale they knew, having lived it first hoof. Behemoth continued.

"From that position, they were pumping some...aphrodisiac poison into the water supply. The specific details of which are still being investigated, but it seems they were either preparing the town for a massive harvesting, or were siphoning off the resulting abundance of 'love', through some so far unidentified method."

"Wait, what? Are you-"

Behemoth continued to speak, talking over Shining Armors outburst, his one golden eye locking with the younger Captain's, discouraging him, brave as he was, from further interruptions. Something in that one eye, in that simple stare conveyed what a hundred words of warning wouldn't.

"Myself, those civilians present here and the forth platoon of the Lunar Guard assaulted and breached the Hive, killed the three hundred and eighteen drones and the commanding Guard within, and razed the structure to the ground."

"Wait a minute, wait just a damned minute, you took civilians, took my SISTER, into a damned Changeling Hive, are you out of your fucking mind?!"

It had taken a second mention of that fact for Shining to pick up on it, tired as he was. The sudden fury in the young Captain was clear, his voice and the set of his features changing sharply from minor annoyance to consuming rage left no doubt about that. He put a hoof up on the reading table, leaning forward over it. Behemoth read his intent. Shining Armor was a few short seconds away from throwing himself over the table in a rage. Although Behemoth was easily the more experienced of the two, and more than confident in his abilities, he had to admit that Shining had youth, fury, and a full set of armor to his advantage. Along with depth perception. And Magic. It would be an interesting exchange. Lucky for one or the other, or perhaps both, Twilight chose that exact moment to intervene.

"Shiny, it's ok, I'm alright, we all are."

She stepped up in front of her brother, squeezing herself between him and the table, interjecting herself into the sight line between him and Behemoth.

"He...it was...he did the right thing. We had to see it, we had to know what was going on, and...never would've believed it if we hadn't seen it."

His anger tempered a little, his fury deflating his form just slightly as it dissipated.

"Y-yeah, but-"

"No. We are the Elements of Harmony, we have an obligation. We aren't Guard, but...we have a duty to help the Empire whenever and however we can. He was right to take us in, to show us what we were up against."

His fury softened a bit, a trend that continued as Rarity stepped up to the table, adding her own voice to the discussion.

"While I was not, perhaps...enthusiastic, at the thought of such an endeavor, I too must admit that there was some purpose to Behemoth dragging us along. The greater knowledge gleaned will certainly be useful...I just wish that obtaining such knowledge didn't always have to be so...sticky."

As effective as these attempts to diffuse hostility were, they were soundly and swiftly defeated by Pinkie Pie, following her distinctive, patented giggle-snort.

"Yeah, Big Buddy B took care of us out there, got us all home safe 'n sound, an he took REALLY good care of Twilight when we got back, had her moaning and screamin like a wildebeest ALL. NIGHT. LOOOOONG!!"

As Pinkie reared up onto her rear legs and punctuated her words with a series of wildly suggestive hip thrusts and gyrations, Behemoth sighed heavily, eyes closing as he leaned forward to rest his forehead against a raised hoof as if to rub away a sudden migraine. He didn't need to see to know that the just faded glare of death had returned, enhanced to new and wondrous heights by this latest revelation. His voice was dead pan as he spoke.

"Thanks for that, Pinkie. That'll help. I'm sure it won't motivate brutal and sudden attempted murder or anything..."

"Oh, you're TOTALLY welcome big guy, glad I could help!"

With a considerable display of restraint, Shining Armor ground his teeth, speaking through a clenched jaw as he glared daggers at Behemoth. Twilight pursed her lips, saying not a word, but turning an impressive, darker then normal shade of purple. She mimicked her brothers glare, directing hers at Pinkie.

"At this moment...we have more important issues to deal with...when this is over, however, you and I will have a...chat, Behemoth."

Behemoth nodded dispassionately and took a new mug of tea from his sister, who had sidled in next to him. Having ignored the trivialities, his mind working on the big picture, Dusk was the first to find his voice, ignoring the previous bit of pointless drama. He still looked worn, tired, but the new information, a new sense of clarity and a greater scope of the enemy they faced had put the fire back into his eyes.

"Well hell. That answers one question we've been wondering at the last few months..."

The eyebrow over Behemoth's good eye cocked inquisitively, and Dusk carried on to answer the unasked question.

"There've been reports from...hell, all over the damn Empire over the last several months, some stretching back about a year. Public indecency, lewd acts, hell, rutting in the middle of the street is rampant, a regular thing these days. Sex crimes up by a huge margin too. Last estimate out of Manehatten I saw was something like a six hundred percent increase over this time two years ago...guess we know whats been causing all of those uncontrolled horny buggers now..."

A pit opened up in Behemoth's stomach as the implications of those statistics dawned on him. It was a realization he was not alone in reaching.

"It wasn't the only Hive...dear gods...how many cities are reporting numbers like that, sir?"

Shade had reached the question first, and Dusk's eyes locked onto the faint glimmering sheen that marked the most conspicuous tell of the corporal's shadow form.

"All of them, Corporal, all of them. Manehatten, Baltimare, Cloudsdale, Las Pegasus, Appleloosa, Trottingham, Ponyville...Canterlot."

"Alright...well...are we assuming that the Hives that might be...that are probably scattered around the Empire....have something to do with these riots? The mobs, the attacks? We've received no reports of Changelings in the mobs, just ponies, just...just our own citizens."

Shining was less then convinced, the doubt clear to hear in his voice, but it made more sense than any other explanation he'd heard in the last day.

"Consider the timing."

All eyes tracked to Luna, as she spoke for the first time during this council. As regal, as beautiful as she was, many forgot that behind her lovely facade, there was a mind and spirit the veteran of untold centuries of conflict, a tactical mind unparalleled by any mortal.

"Yesterday morning the violence began, shortly after dawn. Right about the same time our attack on the Everfree Hive began in earnest. We've long suspected, and Behemoth and Dusk Shield, you've both theorized on the existence of some form of...collective consciousness, a 'Hive Mind'. These events are a telling confirmation of your theories. When the Hive realized that it had been discovered, that subterfuge was no longer a viable tactic, they came into the open, pushing their thralls into direct conflict, stirring our own citizens against each other with their damnable cunning and manipulation."

Her head pivoted slowly, meeting in turn each face that had turned to hers. A cold, dark fire back lit her eyes, the seething strength of her magic burning just behind those turquoise orbs. Her fury was silent, but no less obvious for her controlled and measured voice.

"The only question that remains, is what is their end game. What is their primary goal, their master target. Now that their Hive's have been discovered, that their deceit has been exposed and they have launched this assault, what purpose does it serve? What goal is fed by such rampant, wanton destruction, such death? "

The three Captains, two current and one former looked back and forth at each other in silence. It was the key, the only question whose answer might lead to some tactic, some route back from the consuming madness. Without knowing your enemies goal, what hope could you have of countering it. Such a blatant lack would doom them to an endless, fruitless stream of reactionary maneuvers, running from critical fight to critical fight, from emergency to last stand...such a route was doomed to inevitable and swift failure, no force could deploy in that fashion for any sustained time and survive.

"Wait a moment...so, just to be clear, Canterlot appears to be suffering from the same...loss of inhibition as the rest of the Empire, but, Dusk, you didn't mention any violence in the capital, or did I just miss that?"

It was Shining who answered.

"No. That's one of the only pieces of good news in the last two days. Canterlot is peaceful, if anything, even the normal under current of petty crime seems to have dropped off. A miracle, really. That peace is what allowed me to dispatch the Third Company to Manehatten, they should be arriving any time-"

"Wait, what?"

Behemoth whirled on the younger Captain, the intensity of his one eyed stare an almost physical force. Dusk was staring at Shining wide eyed, shaking his head in stunned silent dismay.

"Whoa whoa whoa, say that again, I couldn't of heard you right. For a second there, it sounded like you said you'd pulled the Third Company, the 'Canterlot Guard', the best defensive specialists, the Company that's defended Canterlot for over seven hundred years, the Company that's broken eight different sieges, the best urban fighters in the Empire...it sounded like you said you'd pulled them out of the CAPITAL."

Shining Armor met his scowl, and didn't back down.

"Yes. I did. It was a command decision, MY decision. Manehatten desperately needs support, and they were just sitting in the barracks-"

Behemoth shook his head, snorting in disgust.

"Who the hell is left defending Canterlot then? Did you leave ANY company in the fucking Capital?"

A deep blush was creeping up Shining armors neck, crawling up from under the lip of his armored chest piece. He was none too fond of being spoken to in such a disrespectful fashion.

"The First and the Tenth. They'll be more then enough to-"

"The parade Guard and the recruit Company. Pretty little colts in their spotless armor and the rookies. For fucks sake. Shade!!"

The shadow form colt responded like a flash, the tone of Behemoths voice allowing no delay.

"Sir?"

"Get to the hospital. Any of the walking wounded, if they can move, if they can hold a weapon, get them geared up and back here. You have twenty minutes, Corporal. Go, NOW."

Shade threw a hasty salute, and was gone in a flash of discharged magic. Behemoth had already turned to Dusk, the two moving together towards the door.

"How many did you bring?"

"All of them, the entire company, hundred and four all told. How many from your crew are ready?"

"Had thirty four, ten dead or incapacitated in the Hive, so twenty four more. I'd have liked a few more weeks with them, but that ain't gonna happen. They're either ready now, or they'll die."

Dusk nodded, speaking a bare second after Behemoth had stopped.

"No, it's all hooves on deck for this one...that gives us...one hundred and thirty one, counting you, me an the kid."

"You see, this is why I built the company without pogues, all of them will fight. No staffers, no rear echelon. Get em armored, get em armed...we'll need a way to Canterlot..."

Shining Armor had had enough, his face flushing red to match Mac's. He stormed around the table.

"That's enough, you two. The capital is safe, if anywhere, you should take your ragtag band to Cloudsdale-"

Behemoth had had enough of being tactful. His voice was sharp with scorn, and he didn't even bother turning to face Shining Armor as he spoke.

"Oh just shut the fuck up, kid, we're trying to clean up the mess you've made. You let yourself get baited, and now the whole damn Capital City is on the hook. Twilight."

Behemoth turned to face her, spinning on her fast enough that she took a startled step back, blinking quickly, trying to follow the events that were transpiring so quickly. The blazing look in his eye was one she'd only caught a glimpse of in the Hive. This was Behemoth in his element, animated and taking charge, retirement be damned.

"Y-yes?"

"You know military history?"

"Yes. Well, some of it, I didn't really-"

"The siege and fall of Colthage, educate your brother, please."

Behemoth turned back to Dusk as the two of them reached the door. Behind them, Twilight launched into a descriptive account of the destruction of an ancient city to her fuming brother.

"Looks like the 'Captain' brought two squads of the First with him, bare minimum for a Protocol Seventeen."

"Less then a hundred and a half all told, and maybe two hundred more left in the city, if we're damn lucky."

Dusk nodded assent, continuing along Behemoth's line of thought. The two had worked together through such trying times, for so long, they knew where the others mind was going before the words were even spoken.

"And those two hundred will have zero combat experience, hell, the tenth company are three weeks away from even being done with basic..."

Dusk turned to face Behemoth, his voice dropping in volume so that the nearby civilians wouldn't over hear.

"Three hundred and fifty veterans would be hard pressed to hold a city the size of Canterlot, with a mixed bag of rookies and a glorified marching band..."

Behemoth nodded, sighing heavily and responding at the same volume. He spoke quickly as he noticed Big Mac approaching, with a more then slightly hesitant looking Fluttershy at his side.

"Not enough. A far cry from enough."

Dusk turned as Behemoths gaze moved to his monumental, old crimson friend.

"Mac, sorry, all of this...escalated quickly..."

"That's...that's alright, Behemoth, we just..."

Mac glanced back at Fluttershy. As their eyes met, she swallowed, and gave him a little nod and a faint smile. She looked terrified, but resolute. It was the support Mac needed.

"We don know exactly what's goin on, but it's sounds like you've got a helluva mess on yer hooves. Tell us how we can help."

It took Behemoth a few seconds to process what Mac had said. His mind struggling to interpret just how brave, just how selfless a question that was from his oldest friend. At a loss for words, he noticed as the others, Twilight and Spike, Rarity, Dash, AJ, and even Pinkie, wearing quite possibly the most serious look Behemoth had ever seen on her face, moved up to join Flutters and Mac. They were all in this. Even Derpy, standing amidst the group, eyes grim, set, and unwavering, locked on her brothers.

Courage, this level of bravery, knowing what they were in store for was rare even among battle hardened soldiers, but here, among farmers, tailors, bakers and librarians...it was unheard of. They all looked to him for direction, afraid, terrified, really, but ready and willing to do whatever they could. To take it upon themselves to save their nation. Even Shining Armor, swallowing his pride, stepped up next to his baby sister. She looked up at him, and he down at her, and they shared a faint, determined smile.

When Shining looked back, and met Behemoths eye again, the anger and arrogant pride were still there, simmering, but had faded with his sisters education. The younger stallion was ready and willing to do whatever it took to save his Empire, but was obviously not particularly pleased as to the company such a task would force him to keep.

Behind them all, Luna was watching all of this with an odd mix of pride and dread. The mortal capacity for insane, illogical bravery was as inexplicable as it was impressive. They knew what they were facing, they'd seen it just the day before. They knew the death and fury that awaited them, and had to be aware of their own distinct lack of training and combat prowess...still, when the time came, they stood up to be counted amongst those who would fight to preserve the only world they'd ever known. She'd seen this before, over the centuries, and was then, as now, left with a feeling of jealousy that she'd never admit. To be so...mortal, and to risk everything for something so nebulous and fleeting...She never could quite understand it, though she secretly longed too.

Her musings were brought to a swift and sudden end, as an explosion of pain lit off behind her eyes. A bolt of white hot agony, unlike anything she had every encountered in all of her manifold years tore through her brain, burning like a spear of molten lead at the base of her horn. She was vaguely aware, seeing it through the prism of pain, through the tears that clouded her vision, that she was not alone in this sudden assault.

Shining Armor was stuck down, his legs giving out, folding under him as if he'd sustained a monstrous, invisible overhead blow. Next to him, Twilight was reeling, crying out in agony as an explosion of blood gushed from her nostrils as she fell, her body wracking in pain spasms as she collapsed on her side. Rarity shrieked a long, piercing howl, and fainted dead away. Dusk, as resolute as ever, was the only unicorn present who managed to stay on his hooves, but only just, his legs quaking like a newborns, blood trailing down his face from nose, ears and tear ducts.

Luna was struck nearly insensate, only passingly aware that the Pegasi and Earth ponies present were unaffected, reacting with shock and alarm to their inexplicably struck down companions, moving quickly through the shock to aid their fallen comrades. The Lunar Princess staggered toward the door, a reflex of magic arcing out of her without thought, blasting the door off its hinges, vaporizing the center of the heavy wood slab and jetting its hollow carcass out into the center of town.

As she looked, half conscious across the courtyard, the ground was littered with tumbled, disjointed bodies. Every single unicorn had been struck down simultaneously. Civilians, Lunar Guard, Shining Armors Honor Guard, they lay in heaps, some blissfully struck unconscious, others shrieking their agony into the sky, cries that Luna could barely hear over the roaring thunder of blood in her own head. Passingly she was aware of the warm, sticky wetness, the clinging coppery tang on her tongue as she hemorrhaged from nose and eye.

Behemoth charged out of the library in her wake. Their mental connection stabbed a diminished wave of her pain into his head, a sympathetic trickle of blood trailing across his face from the corner of his dead eye. In a twist of fate, it was his deadened nerves that allowed him to push past the pain and move to her aid.

"Luna, what in the name of...what is happening, what is...oh, gods...no..."

He skid to a stop before reaching her, his gaze traveling past her, fixated on something over her shoulder that buried his concern under a waterfall of dread. She turned sluggishly, following his gaze.

Over the tops of Ponyville's idyllic homes, above the softly rolling meadows and forests, the sky had been blasted clear. A perfect, concentric circle of displaced cloud ringed a massive, rainbow hued mushroom cloud that bloomed slowly higher and higher into the sky from the north east, its form billowing up into the sky from far past Canterlot. It's scale mind boggling given the distance.

"That's...northeast...that distance...that's from Manehatten...dear gods...it's..."

Luna spoke, choking words out past a tongue heavy with her own blood.

"Gone. The city...is gone...the magic...the detonation...so powerful...so...many lives..."

They stared together in horror, the townsfolk and slowly recovering Guard around them closing in, all staring to the north east. As a seeming after thought, a long, rolling tremor ran through the earth, and a hot wind, stinking disgustingly potent of ozone blew past. In the foreground, bright flashes of much smaller explosions, the yellow and orange of fire blossomed from Canterot. In complete silence, they watched as the highest tower of the Royal Palace, Luna's own observatory, was blasted from the mountain side. It's proud marble shape collapsing slowly, falling in almost slow motion, keeping its shape until it disappeared into the concealing streets below. Fat, chugging plumes of smoke carved straight up into the sky, no wind stirring them as they climbed higher and higher.