The Blood Wars (Plot Post)

[Red Charge]

"Come down here you coward! Come down here and fight me!" Sharp barked at Starling, finally reeling from the shock. The Field Marshal however, never bothered a look at him. He and his partner, a very strangely different Chrysalis than Shining had remembered, stepped off the ridge, disappearing from view, not even giving the Warlord a second view. The Diamond dog growled aggressively.

"You think you've won?" He snapped at Luna, "He's already on his way there!" The warlord mocked smugly. "And when he returns you'll feel his wrath and we will have vengeance!" He clenched his fist in the air in front of his face dramatically, The Princess scowled.

"Forget about him, Princess." Shining said, smiling at the sudden advantage, "I can handle one little pooch. You get to the others, bring them back safe."

The Night Princess nodded, her wings starting to beat, "Be careful, Shining." At that she teleported off, likely as close to the griffon border as she could to save time.

Shining cracked his neck, as the Generals behind him sent their armies forth, rushing around himself and Sharp.

"You're not fighting him alone." A voice said, teleporting behind him, as the leader of the Yellow Flashes stepped forth to level side by side with him. "We'll do this together."

"You never told me you re-enlisted." Shining frowned.

"Didn't want to worry you. The whole crew is back." He gestured at the distance, where the pony armies were now flanking the Silverback forces, with the Changeling Diamond Dogs locking the Silverback forces from redeploying. Occasional flashes of bright yellow moved between the ranks, popping in and out of the fight.

"Guess being a Captain means I don't get called back, huh?" Shining Armor sighed.

"No, you didn't get called back because I was hoping I could keep you out of the fighting." The Yellow Flash said sadly.

"If you two are done bonding, we should get to the matter at hand." A third female voice said, Twilight adjusted her new battle harness.

"Twili?" Shining asked, "What are you doing?"

"I haven't been sitting on my butt this whole time. Let's say when applied, the same diligence I use to study magic can be used to study anything else. Can't lose the two most important stallions in my life, can I?"

The Yellow Flash sighed, "I'm proud of both of you, I want you to know that. You make me the happiest Dad in the world."

"Oh shut up already!" Sharp cried out charging forwards, gems spinning out of his belt and around his body as he leapt, a fire materializing just at the palms of his claws firing forwards in a devastating flamethrower.

The three vanished in a bright flash, and reappeared flanking the warlord from three separate directions, a beam of magical energy fired from each of them, targeting the massive Diamond Dog.

The Silverback Alpha smiled, giving his face paint a disturbing look before he too vanished out of the path of the beams. A large mushroom cloud rose over the site of impact of the beams, leaving great devastation, but no scorched Warlord. He was already upon Shining, bashing against a magical shield with his blood sword and cutting through, only to have his slash intercepted by the Yellow Flash's Falchion.

As he was power struggling (and easily dominating) the Yellow Flash, a large boulder came his way, the Warlord released the sword, which continued exerting the exact same pressure against the falchion, and turned to punch the incoming projectile. The boulder was smashed to pieces, colliding with the Diamond Dog's muscle and bone and succumbing to their magically enhanced tensile strength. But now behind him, Shining had manifested a sword of magical energy, planning to run him through, only to be blocked by the floating gem cluster and being tossed back, dragging his hooves on the ground to halt his momentum, the Royal Guard Captain barely had time to see the Warlord's claw upon him, easily cutting through the hasty shield he raised in his defense, when a second shield's strength joined his own, grinding the claw into a halt. Twilight has definitely improved in her shield spells.

Drawing both his claws back the Warlord slammed them into the shield, magical energy exploding from his palms and shattering the magical protection, but a rising hoof cut him short before he could reach the guard captain, colliding against the Warlord's chin, but with no strength to the blow. The father of the Sparkle house looked down at his hoof, as two tendrils held it firmly in place, coming out of Sharp's blood armor. He teleported away right before they set ablaze, only giving a second's thought to how he almost lost his leg.

This lasted for... a while. They couldn't tell exactly how long, as all of them, Sharp included had to give their full attention to the fight at all times to avoid being struck. The fight was so fast paced, that an observer would barely have time to register it. Sharp's vast and diverse amount of combat skills came into play as he easily blocked or deflected attacks using either his physical combat skills, his blood bearing, or his gem-tending. While the Sparkle family's coordination, speed, and magical power was coming into play as they never assaulted in one direction, constantly teleporting themselves and each other around the battle arena, shielding one another and attacking together or seperately to keep the Warlord under attack at all times.

Even as zeppelins began to crash around them the battle did not relent, to the contrary, the fight only became more intense, as Sharp climbed atop a fallen airship, gaining a height's advantage that nearly cost Shining's life as he attempted to assault him. Twilight only saw one choice, as the Warlord was bombarding her family members with magical fire, lightning and ice from his vantage. Channeling her magical powers, she telekinetically grabbed another falling airship and crashed it right into the one Sharp was on.

Taxed and needing a moment to recover, Twilight, rejoined by her family members, all panting, looked at the devestation.

"Wow Twili..." Shining gasped, "You shou..." Krakathow! A barrage of cannon balls immediately lay waste to where they were just standing. Sharp had used his gems to launch the balls at cannon velocity. The three however were all practiced with rapid teleportation and manage to avoid the initial barrage.

Sharp didn't stop there, firing cannonball after cannonball at them. The rapid teleportation was too taxing, they had to go to the offense. Adjusting his course the Yellow Flash, rather than teleport away, ducked beneath a cannon ball, allowing it to crash into the ground only a leg's length from him. "Missed me!" He taunted the Warlord, hoping to draw him out. He braced himself for another attack, instead however, his ear twitched at the sound of loud magical humming coming from the fallen cannonball near him, he was only afforded a second's glance to see the gem attached to the back of it before a great explosion took place.

For a moment, Twilight and Shining's dad thought he was dead, before he realised the blinding white light was not the ether, but rather a magical shield. He was only afforded a second's rest however before another explosion deafened him.

---

A massive shockwave was knocking down rows of soldiers, temporarily halting the battle. A massive mushroom cloud rose in the distance obscuring the battlefield with a large amount of... glittering dust?

Colonel Bitter grinned, at his men, as they picked themselves up fighting the flank of the Diamond Dogs. "That takes care of their gem cache then." He said through a mouthful of dust to his bodyguards.

More and more ships began crashing into the battlefield, or the forest proper, starting fires, claiming lives. He hoped Tesla's fleet could control the Drake situation soon. Otherwise they won't have any air support coming.

His men continued to pound at the Diamond Dog's flank, meeting with desperation from the Silverback forces. Unable to execute any of their plans of attack, they became ferocious as a cornered wildcat.

Then the large crescendo overhead stopped the fight. Tesla's fleet had just unleashed its full power and two massive shapes were falling out of the sky. Bitter's sharp eyes spotted Sylvia going down into the forest, limp and swore under his breath. "Tesla you reckless bastard!" But then he saw the Drake army retreating, and grinned. "Runner, tell Static to call in the Air Force!"

"Aye sir!" A lighter armored soldier called from the rear, taking off towards the forward command center.

"Just hang in there men, help is...!" Bitter stopped his sentence, spotting a magical flare in the distance, team Hydra. He rushed to the back of his forces, his bodyguards in tow, "Rear platoons with me!"

The rear platoons rushed towards the flank, intercepting Team Hydra along the way. "Dangit!" He said, hearing the news, "Get them back to the rear, tend their wounds! You're all getting medals, leave the rest to us." He assured them.

The Core Hounds however, were a different story than the Silverbacks. Their army's coordination was far beyond anything Bitter had ever seen. His forces were quickly forced on the defensive, even with the assistance of the Griffons breaking away from the Drake Pursuit to provide air support. The Core hounds ignored any wound inflicted on them. No arrow, sword, or spell seemed to affect the unstoppable mass of soldiers, and the tide was constantly growing.

Bitter's forces were being beaten back quickly, forced to give more and more ground and having no idea how to even attempt to stop the oncoming tsunami of soldiers. The Core hounds were even able to take down the Griffon ships assisting them. Bitter was desperate, of course. Why did they not do any research on them? If they only knew how to kill them, they could at least attempt a game plan. He quickly notified HQ to brace, he had no choice but to retreat, at least until they could figure this out.

"Bitter!" Static called over the communicator mediator's magic, "I've got Percheron Razorwing here, he says destroy the armor, they're made like Blackmane, only spectral, destroy as much of the armor as you can!"

"Worth a shot," He said under his breath, "Soldiers, Extinction Formation! Target the armor, not the dogs!"

Immediately a massive movement was made, moving the heaviest troops to the front, followed by the offensive spellcasters, with Bitter and his bodyguards at the front. Results were immediate. With enough of the armor destroyed, the spectral hounds inside dispersed. They were bound to the armor, just like Blackmane. With a howl of renewed morale, Bitter and his men charged forwards. His bodyguards tearing through individual guards with their massive sledgehammers. The front and rear of the core hounds were cut off by the unicorns' barrage of massive devestation spells.

But even so, the Core Hounds were very well trained, very capable and Bitter had lost a lot of men until now. Their advance continued, though not as rapidly, as they actually began to practice preservation in their ranks, rather than just marching forwards carelessly.

But it didn't matter how much they fought, more always appeared from the fog, more and more and more. What small morale they had regained in learning how to beat back the Core Hounds, they now lost again.

---

Meanwhile, the Sparkle Family were still trying to hold back the Warlord's fury. They were tiring quickly and he was not. Somewhere in the distance, Shining saw a tornado of purple air rising, indicating one of the strike teams managed to disable the Diamond Dogs' knockout powder supplies. but in the meanwhile, the Core Hound fog began to roll into the main fighting area.

This was bad.

[Red Charge]

Cadence's whole body was tensed as the ground shook beneath her hooves, the shadow now looming over them as the massive dragon drew up to his full height was nearly pitch black, considering it was the middle of the day. Behind her, Bowie, Gilda and Trixie all started a back-paddle in awe and one would daresay fear of this horrendous threat. There's one thing to hear about it and another thing entirely to face it.

To her left, Red Charge let out a long breath, almost sounding like relief. She turned to look back at him, for just a single moment her mind flared with the possibility of betrayal, a dozen scenarios running at once about having to face both of them at once, but then the unicorn said.

"That's not The Adversary." A simple statement, but one that carried weight.

"What?" She asked, unbelieving.

The stallion scoffed at the dragon. "The Adversary was a prismatic dragon, with brilliant purple scales. He has red scales. I can sense power, but nothing close to a prismatic dragon."

Cadence looked back at the towering reptile, easily shaming most dragons with his size. His body covered by thick, but dull, red scales. His eyes a tainted yellow, surveying the beings in front of him, seeming somewhat bestial despite his obvious sentience.

Tendrils of smoke rolled out of his nostrils swaying back and forth with the wind. The dragon's composure was seemingly calm, but with every breath he took ripples of rage were apparent in his frame.

He opened his mouth to speak, but was halted when a bright flash in the ponies' midst drew his attention, Princess Luna had arrived, teleporting next to Cadence.

"Back Cadence, protect the artifacts." She said, Cadence did not need to be told twice, brave and skilled though she was, this was beyond her. Better let the powerhouses deal with this.
"Ah, it has been so long since we've met, Princess." The dragon finally said, his voice a booming slow bass, if it wasn't so intimidating it might have even been soothing.

Despite his confidence, Red's breath was taken away, so was Luna's.

"No..." The night princess said. "That voice... no... How?"

The dragon's maw spread into a terrifying grin full of sharp teeth.

The only pony seeming undisturbed by whatever had both Red Charge and Luna out of breath was Iron Shoes.

"What, what's going on?" Cadence asked him tentatively, ushering the griffon, pony, dragonling and Diamond Dog back.

"They learned the horrible truth of the Prism Wars." Iron Shoes, "There was no adversary."

"No adversary?" Trixie asked, "Then who is ..." And then it struck her, "The Guardian?"

"Yes." Iron Shoes confirmed, "There was never an Adversary, all a clever scheme to deceive us so that he may destroy Equestria from within even as his armies besieged us. Breaking our defenses from within, allowing the enemy to enter... and placing a sinister curse upon the land."

The dragon cackled maliciously, "Indeed." he said, but before he could continue an audible crack could be heard as both Red Charge and Iron Shoe leapt at once from their position, striking the winged reptile in his chest, their combined strength sending the creature flying through the air a great distance from them.

"You bastard!" Red Charge screamed, "They were your friends!" He unleashed a devastating magical attack from his horn, drawing so much ether from the surrounding area that the air grew cold and the grass beneath his hooves wilted as he landed. Gilda recognized this performance, several massive orbs of energy, splitting into more and more, all bearing down on the Dragon's body, exploding brilliantly.

The Field Marshal did not stay behind, immediately he bounded forwards, each leap throwing him further and further towards the smoke column that was where the Adversary was. With his last leap he managed an impressive height, landing a decisive hit on the adversary's unseen form.

The group stared in tense silence at the smoke column, when Iron Shoe's body came hurtling out of it, landing into a tumble right at their feet. He gave out a short cough but sprang quickly to his feet. "You'll have to do better than that, filth." He said, as the dragon reemerged from the smoke, his scales cracked... but not in the way a scale would, it was strangely ... clay like?

"Blood armor?" Red Charge asked, slightly out of breath from exerting himself at the last attack.

"Of course... this is why you want the artifacts... You used your Astral Wings..." The royal advisor stated, the Dragon seemed surprised at the mention of the name.

"Astral Wings?" Asked Luna.

"Prismatic Dragons have the power to warp reality as they see fit. Their prismatic breath allows them one true glimpse at Entropy's powers... but after that they forever lose their breath. Squandering their gift of dragon magic. That's how you survived..."

"Yes, you stupid little equine, that's how I survived, bereft of the one thing which made me special, the one thing that made me truly dragon." The reptile hissed.

"Fortunately, with that last act I was also able to tear down your whole nation, collapse it into the ground and curse the land to turn it into a cursed forest, forever irreclaimable by pony magic!"

"You made Everfree Forest?" Spike asked, breathless at the revelation.

"We rebuilt." Princess Luna said through her teeth holding a hoof up towards the dragon, "You failed!"

"And now you will be destroyed again, permanently. No pony shall be spared, not after what you've done."

Luna seemed enraged, "After what we've done? You helped us win the Dragon Wars! You helped us kill the Matriarch!"

The dragon frowned. "My poor sister might have been blood lusted, but had I known back then what you've done... I would have gladly helped her!"
"What are you talking about?!" Luna asked, while Cadence hurried to get Spike, Gilda, Bowie and Trixie out of harm's way.
As Cadence drew the group of heroes as far as possible while keeping the exchange in sight, Spike spoke, his tone alarmed and concerned. "He's here for the artifacts! This is a nightmare, we brought them right to him!"

"Ugh, just chill for a second you dweeb, let me think!" Gilda squawked angrily, "They wanted us to take the artifacts! They wanted us to do something with them!"

Bowie stuck his sword in the ground with frustration. "What can we do with them? None of us is as strong as our ancestors were."
"You can speak for yourself, Bowie, but I am the Great and Powerful Trixie and Trixie does NOT sit around wallowing in self pity! Those days are over!" The sorceress replied with a glare.

"Please, all of you!" Cadence interjected, "You can't start bickering now. This isn't how we win. Put your heads together, surely, surely your ancestors had something in mind, didn't they?"

"Destrier did." Gilda said suddenly, all eyes turned to her, "He's the only one who didn't bite the bucket."

Several mouths fell agape when she had finished speaking, but it was the dragonling who reacted first. "What?"
"He survived the fight, with the Adversary, I saw it." The mean streaked griffon tapped the side of her head with the magical eye, indicating the obvious visions she's been having.

"So... what, you're saying he knew the Adversary got away?" Bowie asked, "He just let his friends die in vain?"

"How the squawk should I know? He's done a lot of nasty things you know, all of them did. They all knew each other before the squawking Dragon Wars, they were just pretending not to!"

This bomb left everyone fidgeting uncomfortably, this wasn't just a minor detail, this was the complete rewriting of everything they knew about their ancestors.

"I... Gilda what are you saying?" The Diamond Dog warrior asked, "That they lied to everyone that... they were in on something?" That couldn't be true. Not Silverback. He built his whole life on his example. Something had to be wrong.

Gilda groaned impatiently, won't they get the point? "I'm saying they were all Equiterian, well, affiliated with them. Your ancestor was some kind of Diamond Dog warlord in the Equiterian Army, mine was fighting alongside him, even Destrier was on for the ride. They were all part of the Equiterian Empire."

A very powerful silence filled the air between them, with only the dragon's roars in the background breaking it.
The dragon was once more beaten back by Iron Shoes, he stumbled back on the red grass, his legs tearing it up as he regained balance. "Such fools you are." He uttered, as his cracked blood armor began to crumble around his body.

"I have spent millenia perfecting the art of blood bearing." He said, as patches of purple scales revealed more and more under his crumbling armor. "And I have become like unto a God." At that the rest of the armor crumbled to dust, as if by command. The dragon reared back its true form, hidden underneath the dragon shell.

Growing significantly taller, the creature had made its body impressively bipedal, fielding two powerful legs and a long, thick tail for balance. Instead of front legs, its elongated, buff, torso bore two pairs of arms, muscular and powerful each, ending with long lethal looking claws. Its wings stretched a massive wingspan, enough so to bring a gale in their wake and its neck, thick and muscled, but elongated and flexible ended with a powerful set of jaws and many spines growing out of a draconic head with positively glowing yellow eyes. The dragon rears back his head and roars loud enough to shake the earth itself and as he does, his whole body flexes. Unlike most dragons, whose bodies are fat and husky, this form was made with practicality in mind, every sinew and muscle was thick and honed, this wasn't just a new, evolved form of dragon, this was a new evolved form of dragon on steroids.

Even Iron Shoes had to back up as the Dragon's form now towered over them, each of its hands now engulfed in powerful blood fire. "Come then, defenders of Equestria! Let us test your might!"

"... and we're boned." Spike said, looking at the new development evenly.

[Red Charge]

Iron Shoes landed heavily on the ground, rolling across it for a short distance before jumping back to his feet, after having being swatted away by one of the Adversary's four arms. It was difficult to get past the dragons guard; he clearly knew what he was doing when he made that body.

Red Charge and Luna were not faring any better, nursing their own bruises. Fighting to stay up as the towering behemoth of a dragon struck again and again. "My magic... it doesn't work..." Luna said, panting.

"His blood magic… too strong, he's developed resistances... we need something ... Hightower!" Red Charge called for the Field Marshal, who nodded knowingly, picking up on what he was thinking.

With his considerable strength, the Iron Shoes stomped the ground, tearing two large chunks of it and tossing them in the air and were telekinetically snatched by both the Princess and the Royal Advisor, respectfully.

Red Charge concentrated hard on the rock as the rock began to tear apart, almost as though a thousand sculptors were working on it. Within mere moments what was once a flat boulder was now a spinning, lethal saw-blade. On Luna's end, on the other hand, the boulder had turned into a cone-shaped stake. Perhaps their magic couldn't hurt the Adversary directly... but that doesn't mean they couldn't use it.

The rock saw-blade launched forth, spinning loudly and cutting through the air, the adversary moved to try and grab it, but that was exactly what Red Charge was hoping for, with his mastery over telekinesis, he turned the blade, slicing off the Dragon's two left arms, leaving his torso exposed. The dragon roared in pain, but the roar was short lived, as his torso was soon impaled by Luna's very own rock javelin.

The Adversary, formerly known as the Guardian, stumbled back, eyes wide in disbelief. He was still able to cough up some blood before falling to his knees.

"You left us no choice..." Red Charge said, his mane growing grey from the magical effort he invested. "I hope you can at least find peace in the ether."

The Dragon stared at him with eyes alight with fury. But then he smiled. "Got you didn't I?" He asked smugly. With nothing other than muscle control, the rock javelin embedded in him crumbled, the pieces pushed out by a rapidly closing wound even as his arms regrew out of their sockets, as though nothing had happened. The two fallen arms slowly drained of his blood, returning it to its owner as they dried up into dust, leaving no trace of the combined attack.

With his fatal wound completely healed and his arms regrown, the adversary smashed his two right fists into his left palms. "I had told you, I am a god. How can you kill a god? What a grand and intoxicating innocence. How can you be so naive? There is no victory or escape, come, lay down your arms, it is not too late for my mercy."

"The same mercy you afforded my parents?" Luna asked through gritted teeth.

Cadence stared wide-eyed as their protectors gave way, inch by inch to the rampaging, invincible dragon.

"Come on! Stupid eye, I can't shut you up when I want, but NOW you won't work?" Gilda squawked loudly slapping the side of her head as though trying to repair a broken radio.

Bowie's hand rested on his chin in nervous contemplation, "It's no use, whatever we're supposed to know here, we're supposed to learn it by ourselves." He stated, wracking his mind for any clue to what the solution might be.

Trixie blew her mane out of her eyes, "Are you sure we're not just supposed to use our incredible new magical power to just smash that cretin?"

"Did you not just see him go whoosh and completely not give a rats behind?" Spike asked, pointing at the battlefield slowly drawing near them. "Just... let me think for a second..."

"Well you better think quick Spike..." Cadence said, stumbling at another massive tremor as the Adversary landed his clawed foot forwards, a red glow engulfing it for but a moment.

"I don't think we have a lot of time left..." The pink princess stepped back as skeletal hooves and claws tore up through the earth.

"Defiler!" Iron Shoes called, stepping back to avoid the reach of a long dead Diamond Dog.

"He's using his blood... to control them... they're not undead, they're just puppets!" Red Charge encouraged.

******************

Sharp swatted away The Yellow Flash, tearing through his cowl, dissolving the magic hiding his face.

"You grow tired!" He snarled victoriously, moving so fast he was but a blur and knocking Shining Armor off of his feet.

By now the Silver Core had long since spread into the valley, indiscriminately destroying Diamond Dogs, ponies and Griffons alike. There was no stopping the relentless horde, not when for every foe fallen three more took their place.

"This is what you want?" Twilight asked, barely dodging a jet of fire from Sharp's palm. "Look around you Sharp, your people are dying."

Sharp turned his attention on her, "Shut up." He said, firing his flaming blood at her, eating through her conjured shield.

"The people YOU swore to protect, didn't you?" Shining asked, getting back to his hooves, "You might as well have let the Blood Fangs kill them all. Who are you going to blame now Sharp? These are your master's puppets killing your pack now, not us."

"Shut up! You see nothing; He will bring us prosperity, power! We will never be threatened again!"

"You idiot, do you think he's going to let you survive this battle? Look, your people are being slaughtered, who will threaten a dead pack Sharp?" Shining continued, Sharp bared his teeth at him and snarled wildly.

"You are killing your own people in HIS name, just... just like he did, Silverback... you wanted to show you were just as strong as he was... he didn't have a choice but to serve... you just let it happen."

"SHUT UP!" Sharp said, throwing a barrage of gems to silence the Guard Captain, leaving him completely open. The blood spray that came next from him was not intentional, but the result of the dagger that slit his side open.

Shining's taunting had worked, in its way. Sharp left himself exposed. But if there was ever a chance to talk to him, it was lost. His blood armor exploded brilliantly, burning everything around him in a wide circle. None of the three family members were able to avoid getting burned, nor could they avoid the rest of his floating gems exploding around them. They were left battered, burned and injured against a naked Warg, Sharp.

He let out a loud roar, corrupted to the last bone of his body and was about to charge, tear through the ponies.

Twilight could do nothing more than close her eyes in the face of the approaching horror and hope it would at least be quick about it. She braced herself for the blow, but it never came. Was it over already? No, she could feel the throbbing pain all over her body... then why was it so quiet all of the sudden?

Daring to open an eye, the violet mare stared at the Warg, now standing in place, shaking, whether with effort, fury, or sorrow it was unclear. Holding him in place was a much smaller diamond dog, a dirty looking female in tattered robes, malnourished and matted.

"Please Sharp..." She pleaded to him.

"That's General Malachite..." Shining said, limping over next to Twilight, their father in tow.

"She survived all that time, in the forest? Alone?" He asked.

"I know you're angry..." The Diamond Dog general said, hugging the warg to the best of her ability. "But it's over... it's over, I can't let you get hurt anymore... Please... let's go..."

The Warg growled, struggling.

"Ssshhh..." Malachite shushed him; "You once pulled me out of danger, saved my life... I'm going to return the favor, come brother... let's go home..." She said.

Watching the warg's ears droop was one of the saddest moments Shining could recall, Malachite and Sharp... their bond as siblings... Even after all he's done Shining had to stop hating him, if only for that moment. He wasn't a warlord, or a killer; he was just someone's big brother, who lost his way.

And like that, the warg relented... allowing Malachite to lead him away. Sharp was no longer a warlord, nor was he a threat any longer. Shining knew as he looked at him get dragged sadly by his little sister, it was never about vengeance, or power... he just wanted his family to be safe and the adversary used that to twist him all along, make him into this tool of war he wanted to unleash on them. If a war hero like Silverback could be controlled, a lost, scared child would be a piece of cake.

Twilight seemed to share these sentiments, even with Ponyville and Canterlot destroyed, she couldn't hate the Diamond Dogs. They were just as much victims of the situation as the ponies were. Just poor souls caught in a horrible creature's web of lies and manipulation. She was happy to see him leave, maybe, if he was able to get over it... there would be a chance at rebuilding the relationship between the nations again...

And then the arrows hit, two at once, straight to Sharp's heart, dropping the Warg like a heavy rock to the ground.

"No!" Malachite cried, falling to her knees and desperately trying to tend to her fallen brother.

Twilight and Shining's father pointed their gaze at a far off tree, where a single cloaked figure stood on a branch, holding a bow.

"The Dragon Emissary." He whispered to his children, as the emissary faded into the darkness of the forest.

In the end, the decisive blow was struck not by Equestria, but the Dragon Council. The very same beings Sharp had hoped to enlist in his favor, had found his crimes punishable by death. Perhaps, there was another sister to Entropy and Harmony, and her name was Irony.

They stood there, the three of them with a weeping diamond dog, the Equestrian forces now making a perimeter around them, falling back against the endless tides of the Silver Core.

"We can't hold them..." The exhausted Colonel Bitter said, now just holding on to his shield for dear life.

Shining Armor shook away his fatigue and immediately the Silver Cores were pushed back from the battlefield by the manifestation of a massive shield. Though his head was screaming in pain, Shining braved through, until his shield covered every single pony, changeling and diamond dog in the Valley.

The Diamond Dogs and Changelings had long abandoned fighting each other to defend against the new foe of the Silver Core, now they stood, confused, protected by Shining's shield.

"Don't just stand there!" Twilight's voice boomed throughout, "Move as close as you can to our position, the bigger the shield, the harder it is for Shining to hold it!"
********************************


Princess Luna stood, panting, as Red Charge and Iron Shoes were finally subdued by the dragon, they were thrown back a short distance behind her. By now there was no more falling back. They were pressed against the rock wall of the mountain, unable to flee.

"Any time Spike!" Trixie called fearfully, having witnessed the power of the Dragon as he gravely wounded two of the most powerful ponies she's ever met.

The night Princess looked back to Red Charge, he already reverted to the point where he was too old to keep fighting, without help, he was soon to perish.

Iron Shoes himself was also beyond grave injuries, his body was practically broken. Both of them needed urgent medical care. Cadence could only do so much.

The Dragon continued to advance.

"What now Princess? What magic can you summon to stop me now?"

"You've already killed so many I care about... no more." The Princess said, standing her ground fiercely in the face of the dragon.

The sinister beast laughed as nothing happened, "Is that all of your strength Princess? Such conviction in your voice, but you're all whinny and no buck... what the?" He asked.

***********

"Dad...." Twilight asked, looking into the Horizon, "What is that?"

Her father had no words, only a quivering lip, "Impossible..."

"Not... not even Celestia can..." Shining uttered fearfully.

Twilight gasped, "Is... is that what I think it is?"

***********

The clouds above them had spiraled out of the way, revealing the black night's sky, littered with stars. Princess Cadence herself had to stop to look up into the sky. At first she did not understand, had Luna turned day to night? But then, as the brilliant surface of Saturn appeared, the dime dropped.

"No way..." was the only response Cadence managed to let out.

"No." The Adversary said, as if the statement could undo what was happening. "No!" He attempted to rush towards the Princess and close the distance between them, but before he could take the first step he disappeared in a fiery blast. A mushroom cloud had engulfed him entirely as an asteroid crashed right into him, pulled into the world's gravity.

So mighty was the explosion that pieces of the rock wall were blown out of place and the grass around them burned in all directions. In fact, if it weren’t for the Shield Cadence was able to rise at the last second, they would all be wiped out by the shockwave.

"Such power!" She marveled. Was this the power of the fabled Meteor Storm spell?

No. Not at all. She soon came to realize how the stories did this spell no justice.

Another explosion rocked the Red Plains, and another, and another. Within several moments, dozens of asteroids had crashed down atop the adversary's head, each one akin to the force of a nuclear bomb. The vivid blasts could be seen far enough that even Equestria could feel its power and witness the ever-rising columns of smoke.

Again and again, explosion after explosion, shockwave after shockwave crashed against Cadence's shield. The red plains had become all but a burning crater now... with Ironsides mountain sliding over on its other side in massive avalanches due to the repeated shockwaves against it.

To witness such a spell was to witness a force of nature unlike any other. At this point Cadence had no idea how her shield lasted against the onslaught, but it did. Even when all around them was nothing but a wasteland, a massive, burning crater full of burning space rocks.

The tear in the sky above them began to fade, replacing the starlit sky around Saturn back with the sordid grey storm clouds that were there before. A thunder struck the heavens and the rain began to pour.

"You did it..." Cadence said, letting down her shield, as Luna's legs failed her and she fell to the ground. "It's over..."

"No!" The adversary's voice boomed, now but a charred croak, as a skeletal hand clawed its way up to the surface. "Nothing is over!" The charred, half skeletal dragon continued to climb, regenerating as he did.

Luna did some damage on him, just not enough.

[Red Charge]

That was it, there was no one left to protect them. The three champions took a step back against the rock wall as the Adversary' regenerated form towered above them again. By now, his skeleton was beginning to cover in sinew and muscle again. "You thought you could slay me so easily?" He roared triumphantly through raspy vocal chords, "I will have the artifacts, I will have my breath back and then nothing will stand in my way. Not you, not the council, not even Ouroboros!"

Cadence's shield crumbled around them, her adrenaline was pumping. If the Princess, the Royal Advisor and the Field Marshal were hopeless to resist this beast, what could she possibly hope to do against him?

"Your breath?"Spike asked no one in particular, "Your breath! That's it! Trixie take off your armor!"

Trixie looked at him as if he was completely out of it, "Uh, what? Take off my armor, now?"

"Yeah you picked a bad time to look at some pony butt, kid."Gilda said in a snide as she took to the air, ready to take off if things got too hairy.

"Your medallion, Gilda, give them here! Trust me!" Spike called out desperately.

Gilda frowned, "Now I know you're off your rocker, lizard brat, I'm not giving you squawk."

"Do what he says!"
Cadence pleaded, "We're dead with them and we're dead without them, not like we have a choice."

"No, listen, he wants his breath powers back, the breath power he used to make these artifacts! If we destroy them, that's it, his plan is foiled! We'll have saved Equestria!"

"DESTROY them?! No way you twerp, this medallion is my ticket to the fast and easy, ain't no way I'm letting you destroy it in some hairball scheme!" She said, holding her medallion protectively.

"Besides I don't - SQUAWK!" She cried as Bowie leapt up and grabbed her leg, slamming her against the ground and pinning her there.

"Take the dang medallion, Spike!" The Diamond Dog called, the dragon hastened to comply, taking it off of Gilda's neck, being careful to avoid her sharp beak.

"Why you no good two timing mutt! I'll kick your tail all the way back to the Silver City you little...!"

"Shut up! You'd rather we all die here?!" Bowie barked in her ear.

"Ow, say it don't spray it, garbage breath!"

"Trixie, off with that armor, now!" Cadence commanded cracking her hoof joint, "I'll wrestle you out of it piece by piece if I have to."

"Fine, but let it be put on the record that this NOBLE sacrifice is made because the Great and Powerful Trixie does NOT need a piece of fancy metal to feel secure about her powers! AND it is made under heavy protest!”

"Which is it?" Spike asked, "You're making a noble sacrifice because you don't need it, or is it under protest?"

Trixie seemed confused for a moment, "No, it is under protest because of uh... the historical and cultural value of it, that's it! Trixie is always concerned with preserving our nation's history and cu..."

"Hello?! There's a giant dragon about to eat us?!" Gilda squawked, "Can you get on with your pony puppet show and do whatever it is you were planning?!"

Cadence rushed to the edge of the crater the Adversary was climbing and used the last of her magic energy to collapse the edge, sending the adversary slipping back a few meters. Not much, but better than nothing. That shield really took the wind out of her, even if she was too awestruck to feel it at the time.

Trixie in the meanwhile was taking off the armor piece by piece, throwing them in a heap as she fumbled and tumbled with it. "Why does it have so many straps?!" She questioned, yanking at one with her mouth.

"Oh just give it here!" Gilda said, knocking Bowie off of her and rushing over to assist with her more dexterous claws. "Get working on the other side, butt-sniff."

Bowie rolled his eyes and went to work on the other side.

"Hurry, hurry!" Spike called, as the adversary continued climbing.

Cadence kicked up some dirt into his exposed eye sockets, forcing him to use one arm to cover his still regenerating face. "Rargh, filthy beast! I will delight in tearing you apart! You and the rest of your damned species!"

"Yeah just stay down there already!" Cadence called, hopping gracefully out of the way as one of the Adversary's claws smashed blindly at where she was.

Princess Luna in the meanwhile was all but out of it, she felt powerless to move, powerless to help. She was at someone else's mercy again. She was weak. She looked to her sides, on one, her Royal Advisor, aged to the point of near death by expending his magical energies, on the other side, her Field Marshal, his body grainy, every small gust of wind blowing off a layer of his being away into the wind. They were both dying...

They were both dying and she was too weak to do anything about it.

No.

Her irises thinned, becoming slit-like, reptilian. She could hear it, the music... how it gave her comfort right now.

She looked up, SHE was towering above her.

"I won't let you disgrace me, Luna. Get up. You're better than that. Show some sense of dignity, you are the Princess of the Night! Or are you really as weak as the girl who was trapped on the moon still?"

Luna growled. No, she wouldn't give up, she would get up... if only to spite HER. She would not be weak, and nor would she succumb to her influence.

"I can do this on my own!" She muttered defiantly under her breath. SHE bent down and looked her in the eyes, the eyes they both shared.

"Can you? Were you able to stop Blackmane on your own, or did you call upon me to do it for you? Were you able to cast Meteor Storm on your own, or perhaps maybe you borrowed some of my energy for the spell?" SHE looked at Luna significantly, "Were you able to stop yourself on your own?" SHE asked quietly, a tragic smile on her lips.

"No, shut up! *I* stopped Eclipse! *I* saved Equestria destruction time and time again in this war! I don't need you! I never did need you! The only reason you're even here is because..."

"Because you were afraid." SHE answered.

Luna's lip quivered.

"You were afraid, so you made mistakes, you did things that you regretted." SHE nods towards Iron Shoes. "You hurt him, you hurt your sister... you hurt everyone."

"No, YOU did those things! I tried to resist you!" Luna spat.

"Luna..." SHE said, shaking her head slowly. "When will you learn to accept, that I am a part of you?" SHE extended a hoof to her, "We are two sides of the same coin, two halves of the same whole. That's why you see me when you look at your reflection."

Luna looked up at her sadly, for so long she had denied the ultimate truth. She convinced herself that something was influencing her, that there was a reason for everything that's happened. She had treated HER as a separate entity... Some sort of demon possessing her... but she knew underneath it was not true. She always saw her in the mirror, but she never looked anything like the murals, only like herself.

She and Nightmare moon were one and the same.

"Now wake up, our subjects need us."

******************************************

"Hurry up, if we don't destroy these, Equestria is doomed, and we’ll all be doomed!" Spike cried, waving his little arms frantically over Gilda's shoulders.

"I can't get it loose!" Gilda screeched desperately, tugging on one of the straps of Trixie's armor.

Then the strap undid itself, "Oh, uh never mind that, Bowie."

All of the straps then undid themselves, and the armor stacked neatly piece over piece on the ground, with Gilda's medallion on top.

"Princess!" Spike called, as the Princess of the Night limped forwards.

"Do it Bowie, use your sword. Let those cursed artifacts destroy each other."

[Red Charge]

Colonel Bitter breathed a sigh of relief, standing at the edge of the shield, recovering his energy, watching as the Silver Core pounded against it fruitlessly. They were safe, for now. Hopefully this would buy The Princess and the others enough time to enact their plan, stop the Adversary, whatever it is they were doing. At worst case? It would give him and his men enough time to recover to put up a last stand.

Malt and Hop were both leaning on the handles of their war hammers, exhausted. They did their fair share of fighting today, taken down scores of Diamond Dogs and Core Hounds alike, and bore the scars to prove it.

He looked around him, how ironic, Diamond Dogs, Changelings and Ponies, all huddling under the same shield dome, together, ready to fight to the last one alongside each other against an external threat. Pony medics were tending to Changeling and Diamond Dog wounded, Diamond Dog Gem Tenders helping unicorns recharge their magical energies from their gems, ponies thanking and acknowledging Changelings for their efforts on their behalf... If Princess Celestia hadn't betrayed them, she'd probably lecture them about how this should be a lesson on something or other...

And then he heard it...
Sharp's eyes flew open, he straightened up and rose, his feral warg appearance along with his blood fang tattoos making his appearance perhaps one of the most terrified seen on Equestrian soil.
Note after note... the organ music... the same music he hadn't been able to get out of his head since he was kidnapped. Malt and Hop looked at him, they heard it too. But it wasn't just them either. All under the shield dome heard it. They didn't understand, they didn't know what it was, they were looking around for the source, and not realizing it is within them.

Bitter did know, however, he could also sense the source. Climbing on Malt's back, he looked over the heads of the cramped diamond dogs and changeling diamond dog lookalikes. He saw the Warg across the shield dome, making his way towards the center. The Diamond Dogs and Ponies around him turning to watch as he advanced.

"STOP HIM!" Bitter called, hopping off of Malt as if in slow motion. "STOP HIM!" His voice trailed as he struggled to break through the ranks of the armies gathered under the shield dome.

Sharp was making a beeline directly to the center of the shield dome, where Shining Armor was. Malachite hopelessly tried to tug on his arm, but he pushed her away. Diamond Dogs, Ponies and Changelings alike, who heard Bitter's cries and realized Shining Armor was the one thing standing between them and certain doom began to block his way.

The Warg showed no mercy, nothing stood before his wrath, not even his own pack-members. All were shredded under his claws, as he continued his rapid advance. From the other side Bitter kept trying to make his way, pushing between the chokingly overcrowded groups. "STOP HIM!" He kept calling, again and again.

Now everyone was charging at the unstoppable warg, stabbing at his back, trying to block his path, trying to hold him back, to no avail. The Warg was too strong, healed too fast. His furious swipes sent whole groups in the air at a time, clearing his path.

"SOMEONE STOP HIM PLEASE! GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Bitter screamed frantically, using his shield to bash the others, still unaware of what was going on out of his way.

He was about to erupt into the center when the blood sprayed over the whole line in front of him, as well as his own helmet.

"NO!" His scream echoed in the fallen Royal Guard's sister and father, as the shield flickered around them and died.

Sharp was pulled off of Shining Armor's body, thrown to the ground by a hundred hooves and claws. Stabbed repeatedly by a hundred blades. But it was too late. The shield was gone.

The ponies and diamond dogs surrounding Sharp were knocked back as an expulsion of kinetic force pushed against them. Sharp's rapidly regenerating body was lifted into the air by the very gems embedded in it as part of his Blood Fang heritage, as though he were a marionette. He let out one last, unearthly howl as his whole body was immolated into ash as the energy from those gems was released in full, bursting him into a brilliant corrupted flame.

Malachite stood in the circle now, tears streaming from her eyes, her hand hovering in the air in a position that to the gem tenders in the crowd was obvious, she had done the deed.

Bitter had gotten before Shining's body protectively, hearing his family's screams and calls for a healer. He wouldn't dare say it, but he already knew that there was no healer, in the battlefield or even Equestria that could save the Guard Captain.

He could only pray as the Silver Core advanced forwards, that their last fight would be a good one.

Malt and Hop stood steadfast hammers ready to swing as the first line of Core Hounds stood before them. But they did not advance, why would they? They had a line of archers right behind them, about to take them all out from a safe distance.

The twins exchanged one long look and then braced themselves for their inevitable demise.

Where the twang of bowstrings should have been heard however, an ear rocking explosion came instead, blowing the Silver Core lines into scorched bits. Blurred shapes moved in their line of sight, becoming mere silhouettes as the ground around the huddled armies exploded into brilliant flames, becoming wall of fire between them and the dogs.

More and more explosions, in rapidly expanding circles around them, leaving firewalls in the wake of their flight pattern.

"Buccaneer Blaze maneuver successful!" Rainbow Dash called from the air above them, "Now keep them off our friends!"
The entire air force, now free of the Drake threat to Cloudsdale had finally arrived on the battlefield, scores of pegasi, fresh and ready for battle now flew over Whitetail Valley, ready to engage the enemy.

"Air Force, divide to sectors!"Vakyrie Razorwing, now second in command of the Equestrian Air Force called out. Immediately the massive cluster of pegasi separated into squads, too spread out to be taken out with a concentrated arrow barrage. They began descending upon different groups of Core Hounds, aiming for archers first, bombarding them with weather power even as a whole other group of Pegasi began blowing in mist and fog to obscure the Core Hounds' vision. They can't shoot what they can't see.

Bitter almost collapsed of relief as he watched the battle around them, tornados forming spontaneously, drawing whole squads of spectral dogs into them and tossing them away from the battle, lightning storms arcing through the metallic armors, decimating them, explosive Buccaneer Blaze blasts plowing through the enemy ranks.

And yet even so, more kept coming and Bitter knew, that even the entire Equestrian Air Force, along with Tesla's fleet were not enough. Already the Core Hounds were preparing their counter attack, it won't be long before the pegasi will start to drop out of the sky. But it was another minute, another minute in which the Adversary could be defeated.

****************************

The Adversary had almost completely climbed out of the crater by now. He was just an arm's reach from them. It was now or never.
Bowie took a deep breath, holding his sword over the piled armor and medallion, "I was proud to have fought alongside you all. If this is where I die, I go -" But Gilda had leapt on his sword and thrust it down, "Save your emotional drivel for when we're not about to be killed!"

The sword pierced the medallion and the armor, releasing a tremendous amount of magical energy in the form of a massive pillar of multicolored flames.

"No!" The Adversary called, "No, no, no!" He reached forwards, trying to touch the flame. "My breath!"

Spike tried interjecting him, jumping in his hand's path and getting knocked right back into the flame pillar.

"Spike!” Cadence, Luna and even Trixie called in unison.

The flame pillar exploded into something else entirely, engulfing the closest of the group to it, which were Trixie, Gilda and Bowie themselves. It began spinning around rapidly, it became something... different.

"Wow..."Cadence found herself saying again, as the flames lit in colors she could never imagine, lighting the whole sky like a prism of light, coloring the crater that was once the Red Plains with every color in the visible spectrum, spinning around in a brilliant formation. It was something beyond mortality... she could feel the incredible, chaotic power... a force of nature in its own right... she could understand now, what they meant when they said it was like to stare into the face of Entropy herself.

"Look!" Luna drew her attention to the middle of the pillar, where four figures were floating.

Luna could almost swear she could see them, for just one moment, Silverback, Destrier, Dreadwing... staring down at her from the column of prismatic fire. Spike was between them, his eyes glowing...

Then Spike, Spike was also...?

Even the Adversary was mesmerized, staring in awe at the swirling flames.

[Red Charge]

Then as suddenly as it appeared, the entire pillar was sucked into his tiny dragon body. Erupting in a brilliant pair of wings off his back, easily surpassing the Adversary's in wingspan. Within the wings was reflected... everything. The whole cosmos, stars, supernovas, galaxies, black holes... It was a glimpse at the view from a Goddess' eye.

"Astral Wings..." Luna whispered, awestruck.
"No!" The Adversary cried helplessly as Spike's small hand pointed to him and his wings drew back and flapped once.

"No!" He tried stepping backwards, retreating, but as the Astral wings flapped they turned back into flames and shot right at him, engulfing him, screaming the whole time in their magical power.

**********************

And then the Silver Core fell.

As if swept by the shockwave of a massive blast, every single Core Hounds' armor burst into brilliant flames, self-destructing in a brilliant display, leaving nothing but ashes of what was once an army threatening to sweep over the world.

It was so sudden, so surreal that at first, no one had realized what happened. How the valley, previously chock full of Core Hounds suddenly completely emptied in the blink of an eye.

"We... we won..." Bitter muttered in disbelief, falling on his shield even as around him cries of victory exploded. Everyone was so happy to be alive, Diamond Dog, Pony and Changeling alike hugged and cried together.

But to Malachite, or the Sparkle family, it would never be a true victory. Where the others felt one strong, momentary connection from their survival, Twilight and Malachite would always share a connection of loss. Their siblings, died due to the actions of one cursed dragon. Maybe they would blame each other, escalate the feelings they already felt towards one another. Maybe... All he knew for sure, is while around him all were celebrating, those two were mourning.

*********************************************

Spike's eyes lost their glow, and he stood woozily, rubbing his eyes.

"Spike, you did it!"Cadence called happily, about to run over and hug the baby dragon.

"No..." Luna muttered behind her, causing her to turn.

As the flames died, the Adversary was still there, shielding himself with his wings and arms against the fire. None more surprise at his survival than he himself.

He slowly unfurled himself from his protective position, now fully healed.

"Fool! You had just one chance, one chance to rid the world of me for good and you could not even go that far." He said, smirking triumphantly, raising his arm to strike them down, but then freezing.

"What... what is this..." He asked, "What... what did you do to me?"

Spike looked his ancestor straight in the eye, "I made you sorry."

The dragon blinked at him for a moment, then raised his hand once again, finding he was unable to land a blow, literally paralyzed by guilt and sorrow at what he's done.

"You think you're clever?" The Adversary cried, "You should have destroyed me when you had the chance, whelp." He opened his mouth, perhaps to spit some flaming blood, perhaps to curse them, but they would never know, because once again he froze.

"You may be unable to strike at us, Dragon." Bowie said, "But we can still strike you."

"Yeah, take a hike buster, before we put the pain on you. Hear?" Gilda asked, cracking her talons.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie thinks you should leave while we still leave you a chance."

The Dragon looked between them, growling in growing frustration as he found himself unable to do any harm. Finally he roared and took off in rage, heading towards the mountain ranges.

Cadence felt her heart suddenly sink. Something was wrong, very, very wrong... She felt something tugging hard at her heartstrings... something horrible had happened.

"Oh, no, Princess something is wrong, I ... I have to go!"[/font]She said, galloping away and taking off before Luna could stop her. On some level, Cadence could already feel what transpired in the valley, soon, she would know it.

Luna stared after her for a moment, everything was happening so fast... this is not the ending she had hoped for... not at all...

"Princess!” Trixie called, "Princess help!"

She was standing above Red Charge and Iron Shoes. Both were dying - rapidly. Luna hadn't the magical energies to help both and Trixie did not know how to heal.

"I can't..." The Princess said, "I can't save both of them..."

The two dying stallions looked at her.

"Save Hightower..." Red Charge whispered. "You know what will be unleashed if he dies... please..."

But it was already decided as soon as Princess Luna looked into Iron Shoes' eyes.

"Old friend, it's time to release you from your torment." She said, leaning down and kissing the Field Marshal's forehead. Then turning to treat Red Charge instead.

The Field Marshal continued to breathe a while longer, looking at Luna peacefully as she stabilized her Royal Advisor.

Gilda's eye was able to show her one more vision in that time. How Iron Shoes had come back to the castle, to protect a child Luna in the Prism Wars. A child Luna who only wanted her sister's safety.

In the safety of the palace, he kept her as the Adversary raged outside, while Princess Celestia was out fighting, in danger... Luna demanded over and over that she didn't need a guard, which he had to go fight instead, to no avail. Until finally, she just couldn't bear it anymore. She looked at him with rage and hate and approached him, whispering a single word in his ear. Something in Draconic... Gilda couldn't make it out. Whatever it was, it drove the Field Marshal insane... corrupted him... turned him into Iron Shoes... She watched as he burst out of the palace, fighting whatever came across his path.

Luna knew even then that she had done something horrible, she held her hooves over her mouth and stared tearfully at her once stalwart guardian descend into madness.

So many years of suffering... caused by one word... By a misguided child with good intentions...

Iron Shoes took his last breath that moment and the sense of relief when he let it out made it obvious that Luna had done the right thing. The ashen outer layer of the pony's fur peeled off, revealing Hightower's true form, a white earth pony with a cobalt blue mane, for just a moment before it too turned to dust and dispersed with the wind.

No one that day had cared enough to see the Four Horses gallop across the sky, leaving a trail of decay and devastation in their wake, finally released from their long slumber. Now they could only focus on their victory. Costly though it may have been.

Though the Adversary was still alive and well, Equestria lived and for many, that was all that really mattered.

[Red Charge]

Luna stood alone at the entrance to the hut, testing the magical shield around it with a prod of her hoof. It seemed solid enough and buzzed slightly to her touch. The wood and stone hut was hastily cobbled together from debris found in one of the abandoned mines and quarries on Ironside Mountain. Obviously made in a hurry, the focus of this residence was obviously the magical shield around it, shimmering in a golden hue when provoked.

"Leave me alone." A voice came from inside, simply reeking of desperation.

"No." Luna said, tapping the shield with a horn, it parted easily, seemed even for this, the resident had no real will to back up the magic. Luna's royal shoes trod upon the dirt leading up to the hut and opened the door regally, staring at the unfortunate denizen.

"Please... just leave me here..."

"No." Luna said again.

"I can't face it, Luna... I can't face them... Twilight... Cadence... my people..." The mare inside the hut said, now disguised under a spell to appear as a tan mare with long flowing bronze hair. But Luna was far beyond petty illusionary tricks like these, she could see her sister clear as day under the disguise.

Luna just stood there in contemplative silence.

"You don't understand... I came to him... I thought if we had a Prismatic Dragon..."

"That we'd have a shot?" Luna cut across her, "That with HIM protecting us we could somehow survive what's coming?"

The Princess of the sun nodded sadly.

"And then I just... I heard about the Cult, it made me so mad... The cultists were everywhere... HE told me he'd help... He'd help me take Equestria back... And then you made peace with them... I was sure Red Charge had somehow brainwashed you, took over..."

"Celestia, I am saddened that you see me as the type of person who would fall for petty words and malicious intent. Red Charge was not and still is not an enemy of Equestria. I don't know why you insisted that he was. Do you even know who he is?"

Celestia shook her head, "He survived the Labyrinth, that can only mean one thing... he's a murderer... The Equiterian told me... he told me he was going to try and take over and he did!"

The Princess of the Night gave out an angry snort, "Red Charge wasn't trying to take over he was trying to do the exact same thing YOU did! He thought if we had Eclipse under control..."

"That we'd be able to survive..." Celestia uttered slowly... staring off into space.

Luna nodded slowly, "In essence, both of you made the same mistake and nearly ended up destroying Equestria in the process."

At that Celestia just couldn't bear it anymore, she lowered her head in shame and just let the tears fall. "Shining... Hightower... All those ponies... were good people... If it wasn't for me..."

"Pony up sis!" Luna demanded, "You made a mistake, it happens! I made mistakes, I plunged the world into darkness, not once, but twice. I tried doing the same thing as you! Hiding, repressing! I even made this... alter ego so I'd have someone to blame! But you're better than that Celestia! Come, stand for your crimes! Show your people you still care!"

The larger mare lowered her head even more, "Does it ever go away Luna...? The music...?" she whispered helplessly.

An excruciating pang pulled on Luna's heartstrings... she could bear it no more, she took another step towards her sister and wrapped her hooves around her in a loving hug.

"No. It never will."


* * *

"Why...?" Spike asked, sniffing slightly. He had just heard the news, though probably not the way Twilight would have wanted him to hear. She wanted to tell him at her own pace, of course, she herself hadn't really digested it yet. Her and her family isolated themselves in the makeshift morgue erected at the bottom of Canterlot Mountain with Cadance and what used to be Shining Armor but was now merely a lifeless imitation.

"You knew... he's still alive now, still out there... I trusted you... But Shining's... WHY?" the baby dragon asked painfully.

Starling's armor was filthy, bloodied, dented and torn. The Field Marshal didn't look at him. He was fixing his hydraulic hoof purposefully. The silence was all Spike needed to hear.

"You knew... you knew exactly what would happen when you told me to make him sorry..." He said, crestfallen, "You planned to let him live the whole time."

"He can't harm us anymore. He'll try and try and try but we'll never even know, all of his plans will never make it past the very stage of planning. Eventually, with the one thing he's dedicated what empty shell of a life he has forever out of his reach, he will have no choice but to recognize his own fault. It'll break him." Starling said coldly, "The one downside of an un-killable body is that it works against your enemies, but also against yourself."

Spike didn't understand, of course he didn't, he was just a child, barely able to comprehend the notion of death, let alone that of suicide. His eyes darted from Starling's silvery eyes to the hoof piece he was fixing, tears welling up.

He closed them tightly, trying to hold back his tears, when he opened them again he found himself staring straight into Starling's eyes, a sense of dread came over him as Starling's face was level with his and close enough for Spike to feel the cold emanating off of him.

"You did good Spike. Better than you can understand. Never doubt that." Spike stared, almost hypnotized by the Field Marshal's eyes, before nodding slowly and stepping backwards.

"It's just what had to happen." Starling managed to say before Spike backed out of his tent and took off, terrified.

"Is it, dad?" A cold, female voice asked from behind him.

Starling sighed sadly.

"Cadance."

The mare approached, eyes still tear stricken, the dirty fur under her eyes were a very strong indicator of just how much she was crying recently.

"Did he have to die, dad?" She asked, "Was it just what 'had' to happen?" Her voice was dripping with venom at his statement.

Starling went back to fixing his hoof piece.

"You were there on the battlefield... why... why did you let it happen? How could you...? Is it because of what he said? Is that why you didn't come to help him?" The Princess of Love asked, somewhat terrified of his answer.

"I wasn't in the valley, I was in the forest with Chrysalis' hive, stopping the advance of the bulk of the Core Hounds." The Field Marshal stated dryly.


"Huh, just like you. Whenever I really need you, you're not there." The Princess said toxically, "Either you're off hunting undead in the Everfree, or consorting with Changelings, or off doing more important things than saving my husband's life."

Starling did not shift his gaze from the hydraulic hoof piece he was working on.

"I want to blame you so much..." The princess said, angrily and somewhat desperately. "I want to believe it's all your fault somehow... Because you drove off the Blood Fangs... that's what put Sharp in charge... if not for that... That you joined Chrysalis... that you didn't save him..."

"It's okay to blame me." The pony said, "I carry the albatross and the crown. I have all the power in Equestria I could need, but also all of the responsibility. I failed to protect us from this threat, maybe because doing the right thing meant killing a Princess, maybe because I saw something in this war that I thought was worth it." He said, counting through the scenarios where Cadance could blame him for her husband's death. The mare's lips quivered as he went on.

"Please stop..." She held her hooves over her ears, "I can't..."

"I just want what's best for everyone... what's best for you. I know sometime it's easy to doubt it, but you're my daughter and I love you." He said, still fixing his hoof piece intently, only finally stopping with Cadance's next words.

"I'm pregnant."

Starling closed his eyes wearily, then slowly turned and approached his daughter, wrapping a hoof around her silently and embracing her. It was a loving embrace, but freezing to the touch. Cadance could only lean her head on his neck and cry.

Spike, having been hiding in a corner, behind the rest of Starling's armor watched quietly. He felt uncomfortable, he was intruding. He crawled under the flap of the tent back whence he came. He had only intended to see if Starling would confide more in Cadance than he did in him, but he regretted sneaking back in.