My Little Pony 1. Chapter 1

"I almost forget sometimes how this all started. Funny how we get so wrapped up in what were doin' we forget why we're doin' it in the first place. The word friendship's eroded like an apple in the wind-or a dream only vaguely remembered." She stretched her body with a yawn, feeling the phantom nerves in her calf muscle tingle, despite her hind leg having been long removed. A burst of anger stirred within the pony. "Dash, can I be honest with ya?"

Rainbow Dash looked down from her perch with a half-smile. "I can't imagine you're capable of anything but."

"Twahling, Rarity, Spike...I want our old friends back more than all but one thing."

The powder-blue pegasus arched a brow of curiosity at the woman in the western hat. "You do plan on finishing that sentence, right?"

Applejack looked up to the goggle-wearing pony on high with a fire in her eyes as orange as her own coat. "To take from them everything they ever cared about-the gems that feeds their greed, the food that fills their bellies, the families that enable, the worshipers they walk on, and, above anything else, the lives that keep them a continuous pain in my flank."

Her blonde bangs wisped gently about as her friend swooped by. Rainbow Dash, the Aerial Assassin, landed promptly by the door to make an exit with a CLANK as her blades jostled to a still.. She peeked back over her shoulder for a short second.

"Ours."

"S'cuse me, Sugar?"

"Pain in _our_ flanks."

Applejack nodded. "We can't just will this war in our favor, though. They have the numbers."  
"For now, but not for long."

AJ drank in the silence after her friend's departure, staring at the war table that decorated like a chessboard representing army positions and battle strategies. In the desert town of Appleloosa there was a rearing white horse made of applewood encircled by larges, bison heads carved of sandstone. To the East was the World Capital, Equestria, with a ring of glitter playing the part of its magical dome shielding. Around and within, were dozens of bucking black horses, carved of coal. To the South lay Crimson Cove, once a docking back and refuge for the infamous Crimson Colt, a natorious pirate from centuries gone by.-and there sat a little carved ship.

Applejack took a heavy breath, resting her head on the table as she exhaled. Suddenly a brush of soft, warm fur tickled her cheek, treating her ears to the less-than-symphonic sound of wet panting. AJ let a laugh slip through as the giant timber wolf sat beside her. "We've got one shot at this, Wynonna. But it ain't straight shooting'."

* * *

It was nearly the end of Summer and the air was stewed with good smells of earth and rain. The clouds were ripening over the hills but the Queen saw to it the Pegasus kept the skies in her kingdom clear of unpleasantries, even if at the risk of their own lives. Just past the harp, she could hear the faint stomping of hooves as shimmering gold soldiers marched through the cobblestone courtyard in sync to a pounding drum, led by her older brother.

The years had been kind to Twilight, more pretty than plain anymore, with her adorning jewels and consistent pampering, and even kinder to Spike. In the fifteen year span, he grew from a sprout to more of a sturdy tree. Still a far cry from his more seasoned kin, but a sight to behold nonetheless. His chin was square and his scales a stunning metallic purple and thick as a shield. The ridges on his back were sharpened and his set of teeth like that of a shark's. By the young dragon's side was the woman of his choice, Rarity. The years did little but dull this once shining gem. While sewing was once a labor of love, she has since been pushed into designing and constructing armor for nearly twelve-thousand war horses. What was once a thoughtfully tampered mane was reduced to a tanged wave of purple and gray. Her position in the kingdom was high and her promise of payment even higher, and for this, she willfully slaved away despite all it cost her. Her love for sewing could be replaced. The mop of hair could be rather quickly and easily rejuvenated. There was one thing though that drove a stake in her pride, something she lost, or more appropriately, gained in excess.

"Is it hot in this room or is it just me?" Twilight said casually, overlooking her kingdom from her balcony throne.

The two guards by the door looked to each other and back at their Queen with little more to offer than blank stares and Umms.

"Hopeless, the lot of you. How is it the most powerful woman on the planet asks a simple of question only to be greeted with shifty and seemingly tongueless mouths agape?"

Finally a guard spoke up with a revealing meekness to his otherwise hearty voice. "I-we assumed it rhetorical, your Grace."

"Rarity, dear?" She called to the pony plopped on a throne-side cushion.

The mare looked up from her with sleep filled eyes. "Yes, your Grace?"

Twilight Sparkle adjusted her crown as if not a word had been uttered from her friend to the left. After a prolonged moment of still air, she looked down on the white pony and with a most ghastly expression. "My goodness, Rarity, what happened to you?"

"I beg pardon, your Grace?"

"You're unkept, your eyes have all but sunken in that circle you call a face, and good gracious are you pregnant? Spike, is she pregnant?" she asked the dragon lad, too busy counting coin to notice.

Rarity let her hair cover her eyes as she lowered her head. "No, you're grace."

"You probably have half the kingdom fooled." Send word to my brother that this war has done on enough. I want a full frontal assault on Appleloose and heads of each and every one of those Untouched traitors brought before me-with to without their bodies attached."

"What of their leaders, your Grace?"

"Jack and Dash? Keep them alive. I have been practicing a select number of spells discovered from the Grand Library. Spells not even Star Swirl the Bearded had dared attempt." Twilight waited a moment for Rarity to react, but the plump pony appeared to worn to do so. "I am speaking of the Book of theBranded."

Rarity's eyes widened suddenly, "you mean to torture them, then?"

"You sweet, belly-dragging simpleton. What you know of torture will seem to those wicked cunts a pillow fight compared to what I have in store for them."

"The price they'll pay for betraying you seems cheap even still, your Grace."

The purple-coated alicorn laughed at her like a child might a dancing monkey. "What you lack in brains you make up for in amusement. Well, that and a belly bigger than our former princesses."

"You did what you had to do to harvest their genes. Without their genes, what would the world become? You are wise beyond measure, your Grace."

"If I get my way, only the Alicorn will rule with the Unicorn by their side, and the Untouched can continue living right beneath our hooves."

"And you always get your way, your Grace." Rarity struggled to stand, breathing heavily as she regained composure, and walked toward the guarded archway.

"Oh, and when you see Shining Armor, ask him kindly to strip these guards of all rank and escort them and their families to the labor yards. Yes, that should do."

"Whatever my Queen asks of me, I shall abide."

"Of course you will. Be on your way then," said the proud woman, and not without a smirk.


	2. Chapter 2- The Black and White

**Chapter Two: Black and White**

**Ten Years Ago**

The rain came down hard as a hailstorm as the ponies gathered beneath the refuge of the Orchard. Braeburn and Big Macintosh braved the weather, lowering the casket into the soggy soil through a pulley system fashioned out of rope and some modified wagon wheels-compliments of the CM Crusaders. The plot was beneath the Ol' Green. This particular tree was dear to the Apple family as it was the first one ever planted in Sweet Apple Acres. Winona, the ever-loyal work dog, licked AJ's hoof which was currently lifted to dry the first and only tear the pony allowed.

"You sweet girl," replied Applejack as she took a moment to run a hoof through Winona's fluffy coat. Her pet was getting up in age, lacking the endless bouncing energy she was known for as a pup. Older or not, the dog's heart was still just as big as the day she arrived.

Most of Ponyville was in attendance, wearing black cowls, veils, dresses, shawls, hats, and the like. Applejack forced one such shawl on her reluctant little sister, Applebloom, who, to AJ's vast disappointment, had already put an irreverent spin on it. The rain slowed to a light but steady drizzle. The head of a friend came to rest on Applejack's shoulder, then came the feeling of something awkward and squishy.

"I am so sorry, Applejack," same a voice nearly too soft to hear over the pitter-pat of rain. "My friends and I put together a bowl of trail mix for the reception."

AJ turned over to her good friend, Fluttershy, with a warm smile. And then, "whoa Nellie!" That squishy feeling? The horde of lime green tree-frogs clinging to the pink-haired pony like the warts they were rumored to spread. "What in tarnation, Fluttershy? About game me a damned heart attack!"

There was horror in her meadow-green eyes, as the timid pony feared she had offended her friend on the worst possible day she could have. "Oh goodness, I am even more sorry now than I was before. Please forgive me, Applejack. I'll go now…" She became seized by the tail during an attempt to flee.

"Sugarcube, I didn't aim to startle you. Yer frogs-er-friends just made my heart jump a tad is all. Reckon they're enjoying the weather at any rate. Glad someone is."

"Oh yes, they are really quite fond of rainy days. But these little guys know not to be disrespectful, isn't that right, my little cuties?"

_Ribbit_.

When it dawned on Applejack that these were the 'friends' lending to that trail mix, her appetite gittied up and rode elsewhere. A fall of water continued past her eyed as it rolled off the slope of her chocolate stetson hat. She had already spoken what words she could to the congregation and the boys were wrapping up the burial. The passing of Granny Smith weighed on the heart of all Ponyville. Be that as it may, now everyone was in attendance.

The barn, aka the reception venue, was bustling with the towns people, offering words of comfort, dishes, and condolences beyond counting. Mrs. Cake delivered several hand-made treats and Pinky Pie took her role as chief decorator as serious as a hawk hunting prey, and to be fair, she nailed it. Rainbow Dash played her role as crowd-controller more like that of a drill servant, steering the crowds from point A to point B as well as keeping the sympathetic citizens from sufficating the Apple family. She zipped and zagged like a maniac, shooing people here and shoving people there. The good-hearted Pegasus startled AJ, flying in on from behind with swift landing.

"Everything okay? These people aren't bothering you are they?"

"Heh, no-no they're fine." Her expression was anything but fine. It were as if gravity around her had doubled the way she slumped.

"Applejack, talk to me. Just give a name and their ass is grass." RD meant it, too, judging by the crazy look in her eye.

"It ain't that. These are good, sweet people and it means the world to me that they're here for support."

"But."

"But…well, I just haven't seen or heard a word from Twah or Rarity. I thought of all people…"

Dash places her hoof on her friend's. "You're right, it isn't like them. Not at all, actually."

"You haven't seen them either? Heard from them even?"

"No, not since I left Twilight's birthday party. Something must have happened."

Out from an abrupt poof of confetti popped Pinkie. "Party? I know I heard the word party. Did I over do it? _Under_ do it? To many black balloons, isn't it? Good gravy, Pinkie-Pie, I _TOLD_ you not to overdo it on balloons! Applejack I'm so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-so-SOOOOOOO sorry I failed you!" Tears gushed from her eye sockets like a fire-hoses.

"Get a grip, girl!" Dash said with a punch to Pinkie's shoulder. "You decorated the place just fine."

"More than fine. Ya did great," added AJ.

"Oh. What about a party then? If you weren't talking about this one, I mean?"

Rainbow and Apple eyed one another. The latter finally spoke up. "It's just that we haven't seen Rarity, Spike, or Twahlight since her birthday party. That was a week ago."

"A week and three days, four hours, and twenty-three seconds, but who's counting?" The bubbly balloon-flanked girl scratched her curl mane. "You know, now you mention it, neither have I. Weird, huh? You'd think they'd be here for this. For you, I mean," she said looking at AJ.

"Yea, you'd think."

Pinkie bit her lip. "Do you think maybe Twilight and Rarity are still mad over your argument during her party?"

"Argument? You mean over that silly black magic book? That'd be an awful petty reason to ignore a funeral."

The pink pony was uncomfortable standing in a smile-less situation and improvised. "I'm sure they're both just running late or were called by Celestia or something, am I right, Rainbow-Daaaaaaand she's gone." And just like that, the two ponies looked to where Rainbow Dash was standing only to find empty space.

Attention was called to the front of the room where the reception was treated abruptly to a surprise memorial show put on by the the youngest of the Apple family and her two best friends. The curtains to the barn stage withdrew as Sweetie Belle focused the candle and mirror spotlight she had rigged up earlier.

"Ahem," coughed the pink and orange Scootaloo. "We are the Cutie Mark Crusaders, and." There was whispering from behind the curtain. "And…on wait, what? Ooooh, you want _me_ go ahead with the-" The audience was perplexed as the tiny Pegasus scrambled off stage. Applebloom trotted out to take her place with a black shaw draped over her back like a cape with a skull and cutlasses painted on it in hot pink.

"Right. We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders and we 'ssembled a little somethin' to honor my believed-I mean, beloved Granny Smith. Hit it, Sweetie Belle!" There was a squeak to her voice as she yelled at her friend.

A projector began to flash still shots of Granny Smith as a child. One of her sitting on the wrap-around porch with her mom and pop. One of her in a white-horned Unicorn mask with a star on the forehead, presumably on Halloween, one of the siblings at the swimming hole, etc. The audience shared some laughs and aws seeing Granny as a budding, spry young pony. By the end of the video, the three Crusaders huddled together to sing one of Granny's favorite hymns; Sweetie tried her hand at the banjo while the other two did their best to harmonize-much to the crowd's dismay. And before the song was over, the girls found a fourth person taking the stage; Appleblooms big sister. The moment was killed.

"Alright folks, hate to cut this short, but it's been a long day for all of us. On behalf of the Apple family, it was wonderful to have so many loving and kind faces here tonight showing support and lifting our spirits in darkest times. Again, we thank you all." She looked to her sister and lowered her voice. "I appreciate the show but it's time to hit the hay, sprout. Scoot, Sweetie Belle, thanks for the effort but Applebloom needs to stay in tonight. It's been an exhausting day."

"No I don't. I'm fine," replied the fiery little sister.

"Ya think you're fine, but ya ain't. Come along now. I'll pour you some warm cider and tuck you in."

"I ain't a kid no more, Applejack!"

"Look at ya. Then look at me. Consider our differences in age, height, muscle, and all the what-have-yas. Think real hard before telling me you ain't a kid again."

"I'm not coming in. It's too early."

"This ain't the time, Applebloom. Granny Smith is gone and I-"

"Right, YOU. You need to rest, so rest. Granny's dead. People die, Applejack. All the time, they die, and each of have to just deal with things our _own_ way. I ain't the type to just sleep things off, you know that!"

That was not what the cowgirl cared to hear, especially not in the heat of things. "Now you listen to me, little sis. You are to march right through that front door, right up them stairs, brush yer teeth, and hop right into that bed that Granny made for ya by _hand_."

There was defiance stirring in the eyes of the youngling. The big bow-wearing pony broke into a sprint right off the stage and out of the barn, leaving her sister too taken aback to catch her. The Crusader companions followed suit. During the ordeal, most attendees of the funeral had made their departure, leaving Applejack alone in the barn. Well, almost. A old friend heaved herself up the stairs and onto the stage panting loudly.

"Winona, you won't ever leave, will ya girl," she asked rhetorically, sinking face-first into the dog's fur.

* * *

The rain had not let up for hours and the sun was well on its way to slumber. "That book you got me for my birthday…it is incredible. Where exactly did you find it, Rarity?" Twilight Sparkle fingering page after page of an ancient, leather-bound collection with a spine made of scalped pony fur. The title simple read, "Fester" in ink that more resembled dried blood.

"That dusty old book? I was cleaning Royal Court Couture when I came across it. It threw off the entire feng shui of my shop so I had to do _something_ with it. It was dated quite old and seemed to be in perfect condition. It was held on to for over a week with no clients arriving to claim it. It appeared a perfect gift for a perfect friend." She smiled. "Tell me you don't like it more than the dress I design for you. I labored tirelessly for weeks to get every stitch just right. It would not have been such a big deal had you not put on extra weight since last I fit you."

There came a devious twinkle in the purple girl's eyes following the slight about her weight. Discretely, she aimed her horn at the bowl of truffles by her side and spoke under her breath a passage from the book in front of her. "Aw, thank you, Rarity. I can always count on you to be by my side through thin and... _thick_." The glow of the candlelight flickered off her large black pupils, dancing as if suddenly coming forth with life of its own. "Be a dear and help me finish off these truffles before the flies have their way with them."

"Oh, but I really am trying to watch my figure." The overly theatrical pout on Twilight's face made Rarity roll her eyes with a smile. "Very well, just only one." She lifted a chocolate ball from the dish and flew it into her mouth. Her her face seemed to rejoice at first chew. "Perhaps I could stand for another one. Wouldn't want them going to spoils, after all."

There was something malicious in the way Twilight grinned. "Good girl, take the whole bowl." And she did. And she ate it in its entirety before a minute could pass.

Rarity bared a look of concern as she spoke through a mouth over-stocked with creamy, milky candies. "Should we not attend the funeral? It is getting late. What if this doesn't work?"

"What's not to work? If I perfect this particular spell, then I can grant the whole Apple family the greatest gift of all, the ultimate comfort. I can literally bring Granny Smith back from the spirit world. Applejack can have a direct and permanent communication link to her departed grandmother."

The ivory pony stuck out her tongue with disgust. "A bit morbid for my taste."

"I know what is _more_ to your taste. There is still half a tray of cake left over from my party in the fridge." She looked to the two open doors at the purple and green dragon doing pull-ups off the tree house balcony. "Hey Spike?"

"Yea, Twilight?" The little dragon wasn't so little any more. He had grown a full three feet during the past five years and started lifting weights. Beginning a year prior, he even began paying visits to Cloudsdale for flight lessons.

"Fetch this lovely lady some cake."

"A slice of it?"

"_All_ of it. Just set it on the table downstairs and be sure not to place it by any of my books. Oh, and don't bother with a cake-cutter, she will not be needing one." By her last word, he zipped into action. She noticed a great increase to his speed now that he braved flying. She turned her attention back to Rarity. "This book is a special gift you gave me, and with it I can give a special gift to the Apples."

Spike called from downstairs, assuring the ponies that the cake was set out and good to go.

"Well, Rarity, go watch your figure." She winked.

"But I must insist on not over-eat-" her stomach rumbled wildly, hollowed with a bottomless craving. She ran down stairs in haste, wasting no time devouring the dense red velvet with the rich, inch-thick cream cheese topping.

Finally alone, Twilight blew out all but one candle. She walked over to her full-bodied mirror and closed her eyes where she began chanting, "Fester Fester hear my call. Take my flesh and doom them all. Fester Fester hear my call…"

The candle flame morphed from amber to jade. Twilight opened her eyes to find a different reflection unlike her regular self. Her horn and eyes were solid black, dark as obsidian. Her ears had sharpened points and she was thin as a plague victim. Her once tame and straightened hair seemed to move and coil like a bed of snakes, each one hissing the very chant that awakened them. Twilight smiled.

"We are alone, my master," she said.

"Soon enough I will be not your master, but one with your flessssh," her twisted reflection replied.

"Should it please you, the deed is done. The last of the White Sisters has fallen, thanks in part to your book of spells. These spells are unlike anything I've tried. They act by their own will, as if I am but a vessel for a living thing to expel from."

"Spoken with wisdom beyond my farthest assumption. You are impressive, Twilight Sparkle. Your magical aura is the greatest in centuries, and likely greater still. I have been waiting for a pony like you, Twilight."

"Well, here I stand. Tell me your bidding, and you shall see it done."

"I want all the magic of Equestria."

"Then all shall be yours."

* * *

The warmth of the dog's body and cushion of her fur felt as soothing a pillow, and that was precisely what she was being used as. The rooster crowed and Applejack's eyes fought to open, as reluctant towards the sunlight as a vampire might be. Winona just laid there beneath her weight, panting as usual. The thought of drifting back to sleep was all too tempting for the pony, and she very nearly did just that. It wasn't until she felt a set of eyes on her. A stir in the shadows. A breeze through the otherwise stagnant air. When she looked up, she found the eyes of Rainbow Dash peering down at her.

"The hay, Rainbow Dash? And where were you off too so early last night?"

She smirked. "Just getting to the bottom of something seriously _sinister_."

"I could do without the alliteration."

"The what?"

"Nevermind, just elaborate for me."

"Sure. You recall when our two best friends were M.I.A. at a funeral? A very _personal_ funeral? Well, I was stricken with a sudden case of deja vu."

Curious, Applejack sat up from the barn floor. "Why? It ain't like you frequent funerals on the weekends."

"You're right, funerals are downers and if there is anything a high-flyer hates, it's a downer. But no, I thought about where or why such an oddly specific situation felt so familiar, so _personal_ and then it hit me! I read it in _Daring Do and the Singe of the Silver Star._"

"Again with the alliterations. _Daring Do and the_…Hey, ain't that from the book series Twilight hooked ya on?"

"Well yea, but you're missing the point. Daring Do's mother dies, the closest person in her entire life. She expected, of course, for all of her friends to be her funeral but they weren't!"

"And just where did her friends end up?"

Rainbow Dash had a suddenly serious look to her. "Conjuring."

"The heck does that even mean?"

"Conjuring? Basically they recited magical incantations to summon otherworldly critters meant to serve out their bidding. The death of her mother wasn't an accident, it was staged. It was all a plan to resurrect Scar the Stag. There was a list of requirements and sacrifice was one of them. You see, the silver star ends up actually being a _good_ symbol that-" she paused.

It took all Applejack had to hold back the tears. "Of all my friends, you are the last one I'd expect to do me this way. I know we've had our differences in the past, Dash, but this…I don't even know what to say to you right now." She turned to leave the barn, still treating the sunlight as if it were some leeching parasite.

"No, don't go! I mean it, AJ! Twilight were up to something, I saw it!"

"Just stop!" she cried. "How much more pain do you want me to endure? Do you want me to cry? Do you want me to _scream_? What is it you want?"

"I am your best friend, fiercest competitor, and a sister Element of Harmony."

"I know that."

"And what's my element, AJ?"

It took her a moment to decide her course of action. She started with a deep breath. Then another. Finally, Applejack turned to face her friend. "Loyalty."

"_Loyalty_. And what would a _loyal_ friend do if she found out something this dreadful happening behind a friend's back?"

"Tell her-tell _me_. Coincidence to a best-selling fictional book series ain't evidence enough for such a tall claim though. Tell me what you saw, who was there, and where exactly you saw it."

"Just take a leap of faith and trust me here. You're in for some sick nasty stuff."

"I'm waintin' for the part where my dead Granny had any reason to be on Sparkle's supernatural hit list."

"I'm getting to that…"

"I'm listenin'."

The Pegasus bit her lip trying to find the right words. After a a minute or so, she was confident enough. "I mentioned the need for sacrifice, but there is more to it. In the book, Scar was a black-antlered demon held at bay by the White Sisters for centuries. They were a secret sorority of good witches, adorned in white-antlered masks enchanted with silver stars and other ancient marking to keep evil away. They were kinds bad asses."

AJ was not sold by the idea as expressed by her openly worn skepticism. "You've gone and dropped off the deep-end with stone-floaties, Dash. Whatever gave you the idea that my sweet, innocent Granny Smith was some witch prancing around her golden years in a white-horned…." She froze for a moment. "_Mask_. That mask." Her eyelids flew open as she sprinted to the back loft were sat the old projector. "Dash, stay put!"

"That's kinda a tall order."

"Just," she fiddled around to warm up the machine when finally it cast a glow. "Just watch. Wait for it." She scrolled slide after slide of youthful pictures of a girl hardly reminiscent of her old Granny. "Wait for it." There flashed the picture of she and her brother licking iced cider-pops on a hot summer day. One of her on the wrap-around porch with her mom and pop. And there it was. "Right there! Look, I just figured it a old Halloween picture," she said, referencing the picture of Granny in the ivory-horned unicorn mask with a star one the forehead. She adjusted the focus on the projector for clarity.

"Whoa, check it out! Looks like there are more inscriptions on the mask than just the star. Evidence enough for you?"

No reply.

"Well, do you believe me now or what?"

"I believe you, Rainbow Dash, but look closely. It's a night-shot so it's hard to tell, but look way yonder in the background. It's a barn she's standing in front of. It's _this_ barn. And it looks like there're more girls in them masks peepin' at us by from the blackness of the barn-loft window." She realized those girls in the grim, haunting masks were standing in the very spot she was. Only the loft window behind her was closed.

"Things just got creepier. Like, _twenty-percent_ creepier. This wasn't Halloween, AJ," called the flyer in a shaken voice.

"Hell've a lot more than twenty, and yes. This was some kind of meetin'. A _coven_." Her voice got smaller as she spoke. The vacant, nightmarish stares of the masks in the black and white picture plagued her mind with horror, an image which could never be unseen. "Granny," she began to say. Then she here eyes were dawn to something else. "Look there in the smoke. I ain't imaginin' words, am I?"

Rainbow stared in disbelief. "No, no I don't think you are. They are definitely letters, but what the heck are they supposed to spell?"

Applejack squinted her eyes, trying to process the consonant-heavy gibberish into something more coherent. Nothing was coming to her as her friend just waited in silence. "Jahlorpus g'hal Verrill…es. Verrileshah?" At that moment a square of planks in the stage floor dropped, revealing a trap door. The screech of a rusty henge scratched like nails on a chalkboard as the hidden door swung below them.

"Didn't know there was a secret door in your barn, I'll take it."

The orange pony shook her head. "Nuh-uh. No one did."

"Heh, I think _someone_ did."

"Granny," AJ said to the open air. "What were you up too?" She peered over the edge of the four-cornered abyss and shrugged. "Can't tell if I'm feeling brave or dumb, but here goes nothin'." She hopped into the center of black and disappeared.

Rainbow Dash let a moment go by. As the moment grew, so did her fears. The thought of her friend suffering a leg-injury turned into a thoughts of a snapped neck, which then turned into thoughts of black magic bringing her plausibly dead friend back in the form of a tooth-gnashing zombie. Wind broke past the shutters of the barn windows with a howl and a _CLACK_, causing the flying wonder to shoot fifteen-feet up into the wagon-wheel chandelier and crash back down with a pounding headache and blanket of debris. A voice echoed in her head as she lay prone and in a fit of shock.

"RaaaAaaainbow! RaaaaAAaaainbow DaaaassHhhhHHH. I'mm coming fooor yoooouuuuu!" There was a set of hooves climbing along the floorboards, creaking and groaning. The howl of the wind never ceased.

The Pegasus felt pressure in the floor behind her. Someone or some_thing_ was coming for her. Mustering every remaining ounce of energy, she rolled to her feet, tackling into the phantom, taking them both across the room and into a hay-filled stable. "You won't take me alive!"

"The heck, Rainbow Dash?!" It was a familiar voice. In fact, the only real voice she'd heard all day.

"Holy shit, it's you!" She cried gleefully.

"The hell else would it be?" Applejack whipped her head around just to make sure they were along. "I came back up to get lanterns and saw you fly straight up into Pop Pop's old wagon wheel. He put a lot of work into that fixture, yanno?"

"Well excuse me, but I wasn't the one talking in weird, haunting inflections like some kind of ghost." The reply from her friend was not what RD had expected. At first it was not even in the form of words, just a quizzical stare and arched brow.

"I…I didn't say anything to you, Dash. Just came climbed up the ladder back into the barn is all."

"I heard you call my name. Twice."

"I hear yer conviction and all, but I'm telling' ya I didn't say a cotton-pickin' thing." AJ shrugged. "What I came up for was a light source. Lanterns are scattered all over here. Grab one, will ya? It's black as night down there."

The two ponies rounded up a pair of lanterns and climbed into the bowels of the old barn. Much to their surprise, it sank a good ten feet deep, much deeper than the simple crawl-space originally imagined. The room stretched the entire length of the barn and completely white washed-roof, floor, and all. There was what appeared to be an alter where the duo were greeted with the same soulless stares they saw in the old picture. The sight of the masks nearly paralyzed the two. They were just sitting there, six in all. Three to one side of a framed painting and the remaining six on the other. Candles, frozen while they bled, sat behind the masks and frame. Curiously, while the entire room wore a thick coat of dust and cobwebs, the painting looked fresh as the day it was painted.

"Who is that," Dash asked.

"Beats me. Never seen her before."

The picture in question was of a white unicorn lady, beautiful to look upon standing amidst the clouds. The clouds became darkened and more and more rigid as they descended below, forming into black stone. Within this stone was a chiseled outline of a bucking black horse, making cracks in the rock as he stirred.

"What happened to that bottom horse? Why is that the only spot in the painting without paint?"

"Beats me," the cowgirl replied.

The girls' lanterns spread a thin glow over the items before them. The girls heard someone creeping behind them. The steps were faint but the groan of the wooden floor was unforgiving. In that same moment, the flames of both their lanterns blew out, despite an absence of wind. They heard the chanting of a female voice, just shy of a whisper. The pitch black surrounding them began to withdraw like a receding tide, lowing from the ceiling and letting light slowly anchor in. Where the darkness went, they were unsure, and, for that matter, were equally stunned as to the source of the incoming light. There were no lanterns lit. No flames or flashlights. As the veil of darkness withdrew, they saw the peak of a hat. A witch's hat. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and Applejack looked away, peeking through a squint in one eye. It was not until the girls felt each others' trembling that they realized they were instinctively budded up side-by-side.

When they saw her face, they were speechless.


	3. Chapter 3- Battle for Appleloosa

Chapter 3: Battle of Appleoosa

"The residence of Appleloosa have disappeared, presumably funneled into the fort for save housing. Fort Ginger Gold is well defended, your Grace. The Earth ponies know more than any of us how to build and fortify. Strength is their trade. What they lack is numbers."

Twilight Sparkle was equal parts agitated and amused. "But Applejack has acquired the aid of Thunderhooves."

"Thunderhooves is a relic. His tribe of buffalo has no real magic, no industrial minds, and still are without steal weaponry much less anything of a higher caliber. Canterlot has the numbers. Canterlot has the money. Canterlot has the minds."

Twilight, even with a mind overly saturated with an infection of black magic, still knew that if there ever was an expert on battle tactics, it was her brother, Shining Armor. She paid him a satisfied nod. "You say no REAL magic. I am unsure of what you mean by this."

"Heh, they worship ancestral spirits by dancing around bonfires and chanting a bunch of primitive nonsense."

"It seems you have assessed the enemy well enough then. I trust you will not fail me, my cause, and my realm."

"The odds are nothing if not in our favor."

"Favor, you say. I want better. I want PROMISE. I rest my faith and trust in you. It would greatly behoove you not to disappoint."

He smiled. "I promise with my life."

"Not good enough."

His smile faded. "I promise with my life and that of those I dearest love." These words were pleasingly absorbed by his younger sister.

"I like that promise. Cadence only evaded the same fate of Celestia because of my love for you, big brother."

He bowed his head. "And your act of grace, even at the sake of the manufacturing the perfect race, is one that shall not soon be forgotten by she nor I."

Sparkle's eyelids lowered, reveling the turning of sinister clockwork in her head. "Or your son."

Armor froze. "You-you know?"

"Hah, you think that, between a mind so brilliant as mine and a frame so petite as hers, that it would be a secret for long? Why, brother? Why bother sheltering secrets beyond my knowing? Surely you are smarter than that. Then again, it was always said that you got father's strength while I inherited mother's smarts. Well, inherited and improved upon, for the sake of accuracy."

"Sister-"

"You're GRACE."

"A thousand apologies, your Grace. I was not meaning to keep it from you long, only until I knew the baby would last. You know we have been trying for years to conceive, only to have our hopes ripped from us at all stages."

"A pity, truly it is. I accept this excuse, but be aware of just how tight your leash is becoming. The safety net has been pulled. See to it you do not fall."

She shooed him with a motion of the neck. Shining Armor dismissed himself promptly.

* * *

Applejack had ever before been so happy to see a face as Rainbow Dash returned through the open window, and how grown up she had become in the years passing. Rainbow dash was cut but slender, short, but quick. She always wore the same skin-tight black suit, extremely light against heavy and even medium weapons but did not affect her flight speed or quickness with the blades. Her wings shined as the light reflected off of them. She and Spitfire had recruited a small, but potent handful of Pegasus before the army of Canterlot brought Cloudsdale to ruins, forcing the refugees into recruitment by way of, Dash suspected, magician brainwashing. The two flyers were the ones who developed the War Wings-a sprayed on feather adhesive that hardens into an extremely lightweight equivalent to razor-edges metal. This deadly addition had yet to see battle. Fact is, the Rebel Air Force was the trump card AJ was hoping to pull for a quick and unsuspected edge in the upcoming battle that had nowhere to go but to her own doorstep.

"Did we do it? Did we get her?" The cowgirl put her back to a thick red curtain behind her.

"She's with me, yea. Still not seeing the point in bringing her in though. She's just a shell of the girl we once knew." Dash walked to the door and opened it. A shadow spilt in as the sun behind the pony painted her black. Black turned pink as the door closed behind her.

"Pinkie!" AJ began to cry, but paused-she was taken aback by the pony's lost stare and light mumbling.

"43 days. 43 days. 43 days. 43 days." Pinkie Pie's head drooped with hair as straight and limp as soggy noodles. While most of her mane remained pink, the front strip of her bangs was solid white, and from what, Applejack could only speculate.

"Buck up, Pinkie. It's your old friend, Applejack."

"43 days. 43 days. 43 days. 43 days."

"Um, Rainbow Dash?"

She shrugged. "Don't look at me. This number is new. She was saying '152' all the way up until now."

"Hm."

Pinkie looked up. "Every year I did it. Every year I threw up streamers and baked three-tierd pink and perfect cakes. 152 days ago was Rainbow's. 43 days ago was yours." Never had the girls heard such genuine sadness in Pinkie's voice. It was raw. Naked. In RD's words, only a shell of the uppity, bubbly girl that once painted smiles across all of Ponyville. She was now deflated. Broken.

"Pinkie, look now. Our world is at war here and you are the key."

Dash chimed in. "Yea-wait, what? She's the _key_? What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"What I need from you is to plan us a party. The biggest party you've ever thrown!"

A tear gathered on the edge of Pinkie's eyelid, peering out as a the damsel in an ancient tragedy might look out her tower window before making up her mind to take the leap. And fall it did, curving toward her quivering chin and plunging to the floor. "I can't. I just can't do it anymore. You left me, Applejack. You all left me."

"We didn't leave you," AJ replied. "We all just grew up and moved on in different directions. I chose to lead an army of rebels with Dash at my side only because of our combination of strength and speed. War just weren't something I wanted to pull you into. You're just too darn innocent for that."

Pinkie sniffed. "What do you want with me now then?"

Dash took over. "We want our old Pinkie back. We need her to plan a big-ass, kick-ass party! …apparently."

"But to get old Pinkie, we need to give her something long overdue, right, Dash?" Apple replied. She gripped the pull cord by the curtain behind her and gave it a hard yank. As the curtain fell, a horde of faces, many familiar, many not, greeted Pinkie with a good, loud, SURPRISE! Pinkie's hair began to slowly curl in the back of her mane, crawling up to her bags as the procession continued.

"Today is YOUR day, Pinkie. A celebration of the ten years gone by without paying proper tribute to the best party-planner and best FRIEND a pony could ever wish for."

Confettie rained from the buckets above and party hats and noise-blowers were tossed around until the entire room more resembled Marti Gras than it did a war room. The party pony's hair inflated into a mass of gravity-defying frizzy pink hair, all but her bangs of bone, which remained as if flat ironed. The crowd began singing "Happy Birthday" as she suddenly began popping up and down as if riding an invisible pogo stick. Dash and AJ just watched merrily as they long lost friend was pumping the room up with all things warm and happy. It was a serious and warmly welcomed blast from the past.

Pinkie eyed the War Table strangely, as if she were working something out in her head. Before long, she had pounced straight into Applejack like a cat on a mouse, pinning her to the table and nearly knocking over every carefully placed representative figurine on the board. Her eyes narrowed as she stared into Applejack's big greens.

"You're out-gunned, girlfriend! Canterlot has the advantage in almost every corner so stop fighting fire with fire unless you plan on getting us all killed!"

"Fire with-what do you mean, Pinkie Pie?"

"You didn't bring me here to celebrate my Birthday, but that's okay. You brought be here for something even more fun. As much I love busting loose at parties, even MY parties, I more so enjoy planning parties for others. And a'planning I shall do, starting here." She pointed to Appleoosa. "Here is a great way to get killed. Just jumble ALL your troops together and sit around long enough for Twilight to lay siege to and, inevitably, murder you all. But that's actually genius."

Rainbow Dash looked as skeptical as ever. "Genius to set ourselves up for genocide? Applejack, are you sure you bet on the right pony?"

"Pretty sure. Maybe? Pinkie, just explain whatever it is you're trying to explain."

"Well, I told you what is going to happen, and it's going to happen soon. You picked a great stronghold, but when the numbers are as lop-sided as they are, we're just going to get encircled and starved, smoked, or magiced right out of the pan and into the fire."

"Magiced isn't a word, but whatever. So you're suggesting we move?"

"NO!" she screamed. "Well certainly yes, but definitely no. You see, they need to know we're here or else they won't attack. So "we" need to be here." She kept winking at Dash.

"Something in your eye?"

"No. But what we REALLY need to do is trample them while they're attacking. Take them by surprise"

"So make them think we're here but not actually be here? Okay, I got the concept but the execution…I just don't see how we can make enough scarecrow versions of our troops for them to buy it. They'll scout by air."

"Scarecrow troops? Puh-leez. Were do you live, under a rock?"

AJ was less than amused. "Last I hear it was YOU we retrieved from the rock farm."

"We need a little "magic" of our own." She flashed a cheshire grin. "And I know just who to call. There's an old traveling wagon not ten miles out from my farm were lives a poor, lost soul."

AJ and Dash looked at each other. "We know the place. it's been close to a decade since we last spoke though. Still on good terms, I reckon."

"Ya think?" Dash asked.

Applejack shrugged, "Mm."

"Save her like you did me. Give her a purpose, inject some ambition into those metaphorically weak veins of hers. Oh, and do it NOW, before we all die please?"

Two days had gone by of intense drills, planning, and prep. Twilight Sparkle watched her brother, Shining Armor, have his steal back plate assembled atop him. He looked like a god in his armor, shimmering like something holy and towering like a mighty giant. The scouts arrived back the day prior, alerting Shining Amor that the Rebellion was tightening their defenses. That they meant to fight. Such news was pleasing. Armor's Army was ready to march.

"Your Grace."

"Yes, big brother."

"Our time is now. We must embark before they realize they become self-aware of the sitting ducks they are." His grin was smug and inflated with assurance.

"Well then, see to it. Oh, and do not come back without a certain orange and blue ponies."

"Applejack and Rainbow Dash, you mean. Is this to say we are not to kill on sight?"

"Kill? Hah, am I _surrounded_ by knuckle-dragging hacks? It is with my sincerest wish that you stab, butcher, and/or burn every pony BESIDES Applejack and Dash. Keep them alive and well. Well, not TOO well, but well. I have a select collection of torturous spells I would be more than ecstatic to try out on our old treacherous chums."

"My men are in order and are prepared to march on my order."

She looked him up and down and kissed him on the cheek. "On MY order, you big, dumb, beautiful stallion. Take the Earth Ponies to the fight, they are our most expendable. Now go bring me some heads."

"As you wish, your Grace."

Not a moment beyond the exchange was spent before he executed his plan to march upon Appleoosa. He was to bring the enemy to their knees and not once since his own wedding day did Shining Armor smile so big. The courtyard roared with shouts and rumbled with the militant stamping of hooves. The gates of Canterlot opened and they marched onward. It took a single day as the army proceeded forward like a well-oiled machine. The land was flat and the air dry and thick with dust. A scout was sent to check out the fort ahead.

"Sir." The Pegasus said, standing at attention to his superior.

"At ease. I want a full report," Shining Armor replied.

"They are all bunkered down within the city walls. They appear to have set up cauldrons all around the rim and I could see catapults from the aerial surveillance."

"Did they spot you.?"

"I saw no indication that they did, sir. I was in cloud-cover."

"Suspicious. They should have their own Pegasus surveillance using the same clouds."

"It appeared their entire air force was grounded for the moment. I saw Rainbow Dash and Spitfire through the binoculars. It was a pretty great distance away, but they appeared to be giving last-minute briefing. They know we're coming."

Shining Armor smirked. "Good. Word on their three-legged would-be Sergeant?"

"Applejack? None."

"Disappointing, but all is still well." He reared in front of all of his men, stomping his hooves hard as they hammered the ground. "Soldiers! Today we are not fighting a battle, we are winning a WAR!" The men harooed. "This fortress is well armed, well built, and well manned. But today we will out-arm, out-muscle, and out-man the rebels. We will return not only as soldiers but as HEROES, blessed by our Queen and my beautiful sister, Twilight Sparkle." Again, the gave a _HAROO_.

He surveyed every man before him. "Soarin, take the Air Force and make the first strike on Fort Ginger Gold while their Air Force is grounded."

"Yes sir."

"NOW!"

The Wonderbolt took to the sky, carrying a heavy sack below her. The rest of the Air Force followed her. Within minutes, Twilight's Army were treated to the sounds and sights of an air-strike. Bombs quaked and shook, spewing dust and rock bits into the sky like rain. Shining Armor looked to his ground forces.

"I want the tanks out front," he barked. .A dozen long horn bulls walked to the front of the ranks, lowering their heads for the charge. "I want all of your horns aimed for that front gate. We're going to doze right through their front door while they're in panic. The rest of my ground units will follow your flanks. On my mark."

The blasts of the continuing aerial strike muted the screams of the assumed dying and wounded enemies, much to Armor's disliking. "Bulls, move out! I want to hear their wailing!"

The twelve long horns rush forward, snorting and snarling past the big brass nose rings adorning their nostrils. A half-mile trail of dusk followed behind them.

"Use the dust cloud to your advantage. Move behind the cover on my mark." He waited for a moment, waiting for the bulls to get more near to the gates. "MOVE OUT!" The rest of the armed forces rushed behind the bulls, picking up speed as the withdrew their swords and pinched double-sided spears between their teeth. Behind Shining Armor was a small group of men manning the catapults and gatling-bolts-the rapid-fire crossbows. "Alright men. Follow my lead." He pushed forward, toward the fort, but not matching the speed those before him. A sound like a tornado tore at their ears as the bulls crashed into the front gates, ripping through the heavy, steel-reinforced wooden gate. With the air strike coming to a close, his men poured in through the gates like a flash-floor of carnage.

"Men set up here," he said, stopping a half-mile out of the fort. "Aim at everyone and every_thing_ that exits this gate."

"What about our men?" asked one of the gatling-bolt operators.

Shining Armor withdrew his sword with his teeth and cut a fine red line between the doubting soldier's chest and head. Said soldier gasped for a moment, blood bubbling out of now gaping neck. After a minute or so of gurgling, he fell over to his side, weeping from his trachea. The rest of the men watched with blank expressions, suppressing the horror with a stoic front.

"Any further questions? No? Then take aim and fire when ready."

At first, nothing stirred by the front gate. Then something odd happened. A portcullis was released from above the front gate, sealing everyone in the fort behind iron bars. The tops of heads could bee seen dumping the wall-topped cauldrons, presumed filled with fiery liquid, only they weren't pouring it outside the walls, but within the fort itself.

"It was a trap." Shining Armor said. "Fuck. Fire at those heads! Stop them from dumping the cauldrons!" His men took aim at the enemy ponies manning the walls. Few took the bolts through the skull and neck, flopping lifelessly over the walls they were standing upon.

Above the fort, Armor's Air Force continued dropping what bombs remained as an enormous black cloud began to form above them. No more bombs were dropped. Shining Armor stayed focused on the sky in confusion. Then, ten or so Pegasus took flight, adorned with red apples on their uniforms.

"Sir, they are flying right at us!"

"Then see them dead!"

The whiz of bolts and whoosh of catapulted stone roared past the ears of all in close proximity. Not soon after did the flying ponies fall from the sky one by one, littering the plains as the hit the ground with ungraceful _thuds_. One Pegasus evaded the bolts, coming in head on for Shining himself. The Queen's brother, sword already in play, lunged at the incoming enemy, embedding the front of his longsword right through the foe's shoulder and into his spine. The defeated pony hit the ground gasping. Shining armor withdrew the goggles and leather helm only to see a familiar face. "Starshine?" It was one of his own men who was bombing not minutes prior. "Hold your fire," he shouted. "Retrieve the fallen men!"

The result was as expected. All of the men flying at them were their own, with enemy uniforms stapled onto their bleeding bodies and mouths gagged shut. Amor's army had been duped.

The dying man fought for words. "We were surrounded. Their wings stung like swords, I haven't seen anything like it. He…he promised us freedom. To release us to you. Said that you were coming for us. I thought…I thought you would save me." The air slid past his lips as he exhaled his last breath. The smell of shit and piss came shortly after.

Shining Armor stared at the apple patch on the flank of the uniform. Raged filled his eyes. "I will kill, you Applejack," he yelled, knowing he had lost the day. "I will kill you myself."

"Doubtful," proclaimed a female voice from behind.

To their backs stood a one hundred-pony army, weapons drawn and aimed right at them.

"Most of the fort was abandoned. Our best soldiers were left in their to spring the traps and our Air Force took care of the rest."

Shining Armor didn't turn to face her. Instead he spoke through gritted teeth. "My scout assured me your entire army and air force were grounded and within those walls."

"It appeared that way, yes. What he saw was an illusion, Shining Armor, much like your aspirations. It was trick brought to life by, coincidentally enough, an old foe of mine... and yours. Funny though, all it took to win her over to my side was three words. _Defeat Twilight Sparkle_."

The dishonored stallion watched in horror as his dead men, including the long horns, were flung haplessly over the fort walls via catapult, flung through the air like rag dolls and bursting like over-ripened tomatoes on the outside carpet of brown grass. The commotion kicked up a low-flying cloud of dust, out of which emerged the shadow of a pony. A familiar pony. One he knew of. Her star-printed cloak and tall pointed hat seemed only a distant memory, a bar-tale until now.

"Trixie. You sad, stupid bitch," he screamed. "You could have had it all if you chose the side of the righteous."

Trixie had aged a bit since he last laid eyes on her, but there was a part of him that always found something about her alluring. Dedicated to Princess Cadence as he was, there was a part of Trixie's involvement that struck him at the heart. He truly wished for her to be on his side for reasons he could not explain.

"It's over, Shining Armor. You were so busy chasing after Twilight's illusion that you waltzed right into one of my own," She replied.

"What will you do with me?" he asked the three-legged soldier behind him, his armor feeling ten times heavier than when he first put it on. "Are you going to kill me?"

Applejack "Nah, sugarcube. I ain't so mean as to kill a man as pitiful as you."

"Heh, smart call." His only ace rested in his horn. A blue translucent barrier domed over him. "This magical wall would take a force a great deal stronger than your pathetic battalion of ponies to break through." He is legs began to move almost on their own acord due to his eagerness to retreat. Away he bolted, turning back to Applejack only yell one last retort. "You will pay for your crimes, Applejack. You shall see another leg off when next we meet!"

She just stared into the far distance right past him, unmoved by his words. This got him worried for a moment, then he felt it. A rumbling, a quake. As he whipped his head back in front, his eyes grew the size of cantaloups. A feather-capped woman was charging at him, but not just any woman-one fabled in the West. A savage warrior buffalo, Little Strongheart. He tried to bank but they were already on him, crashing into his shield like a hundred freight trains and shattering his magical shield into twinkling shards of fading light.

He bounced fifty feet across the hot prairie floor, ringing like a church bell as he ping-ponged within his metal suit. A trail of red spilt from his lips as he struggled to lift his aching head. The herd of bison took to charging once more right for him. It was not until he tried climbing to his feet that he realized his front ankle was snapped in two, the lower half dangling from the beneath an ejected bone. His only option left was to pull together another shield, but even a half-decent shield required a great deal more willpower than he had. All his energy was focused on his backside, in the path of the attack. Again came the freight trains, this time only worse than before. The shield may as well have been one of plastic for as little good it did.

His body was in shambles as he smacked into the ground like a withering meteorite. The impact snapped the skin keeping his leg together like an over-stretched rubberband. As his body lay still, his separated limb rolled before Applejack, who was more than appeased by the irony. "I can't say you ain't a man of your word, Shining Armor."

He spit at her, though there was more blood in the meek projectile than there was saliva.

She continued, "you promised I'd see another leg off, and whoo-doggy if that didn't take a hot minute to deliver."

"Fuck you, Applejack." He coughed up blood, no doubt from internal bleeding.

"Save yer energy, Sport. You'll need it to heal yourself what little magic you got left until we get you back home."

"Home? You mean, you…you aren't going to kill me?"

She smiled . "I'm only going to get you half way there."

A flash of terror appeared in his eyes, assuming "half-dead" was already his current state.

Spitfire flew overhead from the far black cloud with a bucket and let it drop on the armored warrior. His metal suit glistened even more than before. She zipped by him suddenly, scraping her metal War Wings against his metallic suit, causing a spark. Up the flames grew as the Unicorn warrior squealed and tried to roll through the sand to no avail. It mad no difference to the fire. His armored was becoming more pliable from the heat, melding onto his body. The former Wonderbolt returned, flying around him in a circle. Faster and faster he flew until the flames began to funnel upward. Before long all of the fire was entangled in a small, flaming tornado that lifted into the sky, eventually disappearing from view.

Shining Armor heaved like a hospitalized old man in his last hours. His face was red and black from the scorching with body now permanently affixed with a cooling coat of steal. A lasso choked his hind ankle, but he was too weak to shake it off. The ground felt like sandpaper against every part of his uncovered body. Much of the skin it touched scraped off as easy as any tender-roasted meat as Applejack reeled him in. His dying body was dragged past his soldiers, all of which were being pressed at the neck with the pointed edge of enemy swords. Not a one of them reacted as he dragged passed.

"Nice. A bit overkill, but nice." Trixie said looking over his carcass. "

"Overkill? Ya hear that, yells? She said overkill." AJ paid Trixie a wink as she spoke. Her men read it as a cue to impale the hostages, helpless now without melee weaponry or leader to guide them. As they bled out, spraying an exciting splash of red across the otherwise dull mid-western grass, each and every man had a hind leg lopped off from under them-all but one who was kept untouched, forced to witness the falling of his mentor and brethren. She looked at the only spared soldier of Armor's Army. "Send them back to Twilight Sparkle, along with my regards."

He nodded, shaking as if a naked babe in the snow. It took him a minute to build the courage to speak back. "But-but I can't possible carry all these men back on my own.

"Who said anything about bringing back the MEN?" One of her rangers tossed the trembling man a large brown sack.

They watched the poor soul drag the bleeding bag of limbs across the prairie until he was no longer in view, leaving the bodies of the deceased to eagerly awaiting vultures now circling overhead. Shining Armor was the only one of AJ's enemies still managing to breath. This pleased her. "Wrap him up, boys. We can't have his ugly mug dying on us just yet. And let's get that fort cleaned up and back in working order."

* * *

A soldier's head lay on the palace tiles, filling the grooves between them with crimson streams. Twilight's own head was buried in Spike's scaled chest, weeping heavier than any storm cloud could measure up to. He rested a hand on her sympathetically, but seemed only to be going through the motions. He yawned quietly as he patter her back.

Rarity walked beside her. "Twilight, might I offer my condolences?"

Twilight's tears vanished as she snapped back with a finely-sharpened dagger of a glare. "CONDOLENCES? How about I have some no-name failure of a royal soldier drag in YOUR sibling's dismembered leg through the front fucking door and see how well the condolences of some pop-bellied priss comforts you? Oh but wait, your only sibling is to busy robbing us blind while you've grown too fat and infinitely weak to offer counter."

Rarity tried her best to fight back the tears pushing past her eyes but the effort was futile. "I am so sorry, your Grace. I meant no disrespect, only to see you into a better mood. My sister's torture would be a blessing to our cause while your brother's service was one too priceless to proceed without."

Twilight walked over to her old friend, calmed by the look of her expression. "I was too harsh. Come, hug me." Rarity did as commanded., offering her large, plush body as a serviceable pillow for her grief-stricken Queen. "You are wrong though, my pet. We CAN proceed with or without my brother, only we shan't be using plane, plow-pushing Earth ponies to carry out my demands this time but a more competent race of ponies.

Rarity looked up to her own horn, proud of her gifted heritage. "Magic, you mean to say?"

"Magic."

"And are you to lead them?"

Twilight touched her horn to her friend's. "I cannot rule from two places, little girl."

"Who then? Cadence perhaps?" Rarity was greeted with a slap to her puffy cheek, a red horseshoe print rising in its wake.

"Be a decent pony-being and let her grieve, you selfish-" she took a deep breath. "Plus, why have an Alicorn dirty their hooves leading when we have a race of underlings yet?"

"The Unicorn you mean?"

"I speak of a Unicorn, yes."

"Your brother has been compromised though. He was one our strongest."

"I was careless to have him lead the Earth pony army. But I was assured by the returning soldier, before I had his head off, that my brother was still very much alive. He is an important asset still, he knows war better than I and he is not one to fall for the same trap twice. I need him retrieved."

Rarity looked around the empty room, hoping Twilight was addressing someone behind her. A look of fear and disappointment was painted thick. "You mean for me to retrieve him, your Grace?"

"Bingo. Perhaps Spike was right, that you are not quite as stupid as you let on. You will ride with the Unicorps first thing on the morrow."

"I haven't the stamina to keep pace, I fear, and I-"

"Enough excuses, Rarity." She looked to the door. "Guard!" she barked. One ran to her side..

"Yes, my Queen?"

"Prepare a carriage for Rarity and be sure you assign your strongest men to carry it. We need strong backs for this one," she teased, poking at Rarity's drooping double chin. She turned her attention back to the saddened Unicorn. "This mission is not to destroy the enemy. We haven't properly scouted their current status or even whereabouts. This is to offer terms for the exchange of my brother. I will have Spike write them up and send them with your caravan. You leave at day break."

*TO MY FAITHFUL READERS,

I APPRECIATE THE TIME AND PATIENCE YOU'VE LENT ME THUS FAR THROUGH THE WRITING PROCESS. I HAVE A PRETTY CLEAR DIRECTION OF WHERE THIS IS GOING, THOUGH IT IS DIFFICULT DETERMINING JUST HOW LONG IT WILL TAKE TO FLESH OUT. ANYWAY, I HOPE THIS IS A STORY YOU ALL COME TO ENJOY. FEEL FREE TO LEAVE REVIEWS-BE THEY FOR BETTER OR WORSE-JUST SO I HAVE SOME INDICATION OF WHERE MY AUDIENCE IS AT. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS ALWAYS WELCOME HERE. ALSO, APOLOGIES FOR MY UNCAUGHT TYPOS AND ADVANCED APOLOGIES FOR THE INEVITABLE ONES TO COME :)

BOO-YA,  
STOPPABLERULES


	4. Chapter 4- The Untouched

_I didn't expect it to happen so quickly. None of us did-well, ONE of us did. Pinkie saw it coming, but we didn't listen. The attack was swift as an owl on a rat and caught us just as much by surprise. Twilight Sparkle retaliated in a big way and used bigger-than-life guns to do so. The Unicorps, she calls them. Unicorns, the horned magic-users that were once integrated just as evenly into society as the Pegasus and Earth Ponies are now among the elite, favored for their magical prowess. With Twilight's personal guidance, every Unicorn under her wing has been educated in the blackest magic, magic beyond anything that occurs in nature as we knew it. _

_ It wasn't that Applejack and I didn't anticipate revenge on behalf of our victory at the Battle of Appleoosa, the dismemberment and humiliation of her ground troops, and gratuitously extensive torture to her big brother and Chief General, Shining Armor. We totally assumed that much. What we didn't see coming-COULDN'T have seen coming- was the Festering. The Unicorps' horns were black. All of them. It wasn't war paint or some kind of fashion-statement but, as far as we suspect, a telling sign of illness. An infection. Something festering within their actual genetic codes. Messing with them, controlling them, leeching from them their very essence of humanity. It goes without saying that this demonic lamprey has the strongest hold on Sparkle, one that it is quite unlikely to release without a fair amount of carnage._

"And here I thought Shining Armor did it as a sign of rank, the black horn, I mean."_ Applejack's metaphorical feathers (as opposed to my actual feather) were ruffled. She was a shaken women, nearly broken, but only near. _

"I tried to warn you,"_ Pinkie proclaimed. _"I told you what you did to Shining Armor was asking for a fight bigger than your britches."

_ Applejack looked to her friend with fire in her eyes._ "What you said was, and allow me to paraphrase, 'Twilight's probably pulling curses from a book called 'Fester' named after some ancient god of the purest evil, teaching it to the Unicorn warriors she'll come to label Unicorps (because who doesn't like a good play on words?), sack Appleloosa beneath the veil of night, and rip through our troops like sharp hoof through toilet paper. But that's just a hunch.' JUST. A. HUNCH, Pinkie!"

_The three words were not new to the our ears, but never before did we see a hunch come to life quite as it did the three nights before. Only a handful of us made it, and only through the aid of a hidden series of underground caverns shown to us by Little Strongheart. Our numbers are low, our hope depleting, but all was not a total failure. While the Unicorps were busying themselves pummeling fort Ginger Gold into dust, Spitfire and I cut through the clouds above and descended on an old friend and overseer go the Uniforps themselves. A once beautiful pony unlike any I had ever seen. Rarity was no such pony any longer, but instead a plump, disheveled creature more in need of a personal trainer than she ever was a beautician, you'd be disgusted to know She also let slip that the crushing of Applejack's Rebellion is just Phase One. _

_ Shining Armor, I am pleased to announce, was put out of his misery and at the best moment ever. The Unicorps were carrying him carefully through the front gate of Gingergold toward the end of the battle when the suffering sap found a lasso whipped around his neck. Applejack had the other end tied to her waist and leapt off the highest fort wall during her escape, yanking him by the trachea across the rough sand and into suspension where his neck promptly snapped before his rescuers' very eyes. Hell of a report back to Twilight, I'd say. I wouldn't want their jobs. I'm not even sure why I'm recanting all of this to you. Listen, I'm bad at this kind of thing. Writing I mean. Blame AJ for assigning me the task. _

_ The real point of this? We need your help something desperate. I know you and Applejack have had your differences, but let's be honest, you never stop loving each other. The breakup was hard and when you left with the other girl in the dead of night, it was a shock to us all. Hear our plea and lend us your strength for the good of world. _

_ The time to strike is soon but, even at full force, our endeavor would be laughably hopeless. Rarity, now in our most hospitable custody, and with the help of a little torture, claims there is discord among Twilight's ranks despite her magical hold on them. There have been several guided mishaps and acts of sabotage within Canterlot and military camps followed by, in every case, sworn sightings of a phantom of the past, Mare Do-Well. The conception of this Alicorn-heroine was created originally just to teach ME a lesson, but has apparently grown into a sort of symbol of hope. A mask vigilante in a den of hungry wolves. She apparently has a cult following and a loyal legion of devotees, much to Twilight's raging dislike. A rebellion separate from our own. If we would tie our forces with you and that of hers, we might just have a chance. _

_ As I said, our numbers have been drastically reduced and many of our best men and women have been compromised. This is the part I've dreaded most to relay and there is no easy way of saying it. Chief Thunderhooves, Braeburn, and, as it pains me beyond words, Big Macintosh were lost at Fort Gingergold during Twilight's Retaliation. Please do not let them die in vain. Aid us. This might not be your fight now, but if you think for even a moment that Twilight Sparkle is going to leave your Untouched band of pirates, the Crusaders, free to roam her land and seas, think again. I urge you to rally up your fleet and join us. We are desperate. We are all but defeated at this point and promise you and yours will not be far behind. Applejack is the element of Honesty and I Loyalty. We are disallowed to break these bonds and we offer them to you. Help us._

_Cordially, _  
_Rainbow Dash_

_P.S. Tell your ladyfriend there is a seat in our Airforce right beside Spitfire and I with her name on it._

* * *

The waves rock the ship back and forth, spilling froth and foam over the larboard side and spritzing her curly wildcherry mane with a breezy mist from her seat on the quarterdeck. She smiled, her black cape with the hot-pink skull and cutlass flapping in the wind. Her two first mates smiled as well-the orange girl adorned with a patch over her left eye and the white pony in a silver tricornered hat.

"Sweetie Belle, send word below. This ship can't sail without our secret weapon now can it?"

"I'm on it, Capt'n." The young Unicorn woman inflated an invisible forcefield over her head and promptly dove off the port side and into the violently chopping waves that whipped against the sloop.

The orange pony with the pink hair stepped up to speak. She was the only one of the three with a cutie mark on her flank, an attribute she once would have been a great deal more proud to bear. It was of a black domino-mask. "Sir, if I may, I am so sorry for your loss."

"I have told ya a hundred times, I ain't a 'Sir' to you, Scootaloo." The captain planted on her friend and life-long companion a quick kiss to the forehead. "But thank you. Big Mac was brave as well as strong."

"He's with Granny Smith now. Eating apples in the great pasture beyond."

Applebloom shook her head with a sigh. "We ain't a kids anymore, Scoot. There ain't a heavenly pasture beyond this world, as much as I wish there were. I will never see Granny or Big Mac again. Not in this world or any."

"Heathen," she laughed.

"You know it. I bow to no man, no woman, no god. We get this one life and we live it for none other than ourselves. Your life ain't mine, Scootaloo. I'm won't beg you to join me, but I will ask it."

"It'll be suicidal to fight Twilight's army even if we join your sister. You know that."

"Yup."

"You're giving up on everything we have worked so hard to build. On our fleet. On our safe haven for the Untouched."

"Yup."

"And you're asking the love of your life and our best friend to join your march straight into Hell or worse?"

"What'ya say?"

Scootaloo let the wind dance with her wickedly spiked mane, closing her unpatched eye to think things through. A moment thereafter she bore a sly, if not devious, grin. "Yup."

***Me again! Sorry this one is so short, I am experimenting with slightly less-than-orthadox writing formulas. Feel free to drop a review or private message letting me know what works for you and what doesn't. Ya'll have a voice, too, and I'll gladly take any criticisms you have. Take care!**

**-Stoppblerules.**


	5. Chapter 5- Beasts Within

Two days had passed since the fall of Fort Ginger Gold. Strongheart inherited the leadership of her people. Only fifty Natives of the original three-hundred now remained. Applejack's Rebels did not fair much better. Fort Ginger Gold housed two-hundred of her soldiers, dramatically reduced to less than forty. All was not lost. Both parties had a leader still and Twilight's flank-kisser and self-proclaimed "Diamond of Canterlot," Rarity, was captured and chained within the only lasting wagon left to them. They currently found themselves lost within a series of caverns, shrouded in darkness and without the slightest hint of direction.

Applejack had siphoned every lasting ounce of sugar and lard from the rations and assimilated it into an impossibly high-calorie syrup which was promptly barreled and stored within the very wagon housing her guest. Rarity's white skin seemed to glow in the dark, absorbing all of the lantern's flickering light. Her legs were shackled and spread apart to each corner of the buggy. Her plump stomach pressed against the floor like a bag full of jelly, rippling at each bump in the road. _CREEEAK_. Rarity tried turning her head to see behind her, but her position was fixed and unable due to tightened chains.

"Who is there? You had better release me this instant unless you want to suffer the full wrath of Twilight-"

A single hoof was kicked so hard into her hind side that the portly pony spit out a squeal and cheekful of bile. There was a squeezing sound and a pop. Then the surging sound of pouring liquid, like a cider into a tall mug. Three-hoof-steps sounded behind her, getting closer. Even rounding her backside, Rarity could not turn enough for a good look at the other, but no matter. She soon knew exactly it was.

"Applejack, you vile thing. I shall have you condemned for all the pain I have endured in your company."

"Pain? Sugarcube, this ain't pain." Finally she appeared before her captive-a tall, strong, three-legged pony adorned with the brown leather Stetson. The face of the rebellion. AJ had a few large three-pint steins saddling her back. She promptly gripped the handle of one with her teeth and offered it not unkindly to Rarity. The straw was poked into the pony's mouth.

"Mind telling what it is you are doing?"

"Feedin' ya."

"And what exactly is it you're feeding me?"

AJ flattened her brow. "Heard you liked sweets. Take it or leave it."

The dense white liquid cemented the prisoner's throat as she began sucking it down, coating it with an gratuitously rich layer and a taste somewhere between a liquid lollipop and marshmallow. Rarity had certainly expected worse. Applejack grabbed a second stein off her back, this one with a fresh straw.

"Is this some kind of poison you wish me to drink?"

"Nah."

"Do you treat all of your prisoners to an endless boo-fay of deserts?"

"Nope."

The fourth pint was quickly slurped down, then the fifth, and finally the sixth. The purple-haired mare took the last gulp reluctantly, forced almost. Applejack snatched the third and final stein off her back.

"I don't think I could possible slurp another one down, Dear, but thank you."

"Slurp? Ain't a straw on this one," the rebel replied. Before Rarity knew it, the entire mouth of the stein was shoved into hers as Applejack pinched the helpless pony's nostrils shut. With the choice to choke the white syrup down or suffocate, Rarity drank quickly. AJ finally released the prisoner's nose, letting the mug drop from her mouth to shatter upon the floor. She left the chained pony frantically gasping for air and returned with a tube which was promptly piped down the captive's throat. The tubing was hooked up to a automated pump rigged together by the young Earth Pony, Tom Tinker, and began pumping the sugary substance into the prisoner. "Indulge yourself, Rarity. It was all you were ever really good at."

"Bud, muh tummeh esh aweddy stubbed!" Rarity grunted through her loaded snout as her belly expanded ever slightly beneath her. Applejack dismissed herself from view. As Rarity heard the door to the carriage shut, she found opportunity in the absence of her foe and quietly coughed up the tube just enough that she could spit it back out. It was then she heard a softer series of footsteps creeping upon her. A creature then stood before her. This one was not so talkative as it swiftly approached the fattening mare, locking eye to eye.

"Grrrrrrrr," growled Wynonna. The Direwolf's chops leaked with saliva, daring the helpless pony to spit out the force-feeding tube. She didn't dare. The lantern in her cart finally fizzled out. Rarity saw only a green glowing set of eyes as they stared hauntingly. The wagon began to move again, leaving her to feel every notch and bump in the road as she lay frightened and prone.

Applejack returned to the head of the march, accompanying Pinkie, Rainbow, and Strongheart as the buffalo chief began recanting a story.

"I was terrified as a child," the buffalo admitted to the girls. "Of everything, really. I remember chasing a tumbleweed outside of my village when the ground swallowed me up. I fell for what seemed like forever before I struck the ground like a mallet on a war drum. When I awoke, everything was black. Not dark but _black_. Pitch black, as if from the deepest corner of nightmares. I was certain that I would die there, alone and afraid. I remember crying myself asleep after hours of stumbling along the winding maze blind and helpless. When I awoke, my head had cleared a bit and my eyes adjusted everslightly to my surroundings. My ears lent me foresight, heightened by the absence of sight, and led me to an underground river where the water was fresh and abundant. I remember seeing my reflection only faintly as I drank, then a part of it moved were I did not. A tiny creature, it was, peeking its head from the water and looking right at me. His skin was slick and shiny and pale as a ghost. A water-lizard, he was. Then it dawned on me; if a guy so tiny, so _meek_, could survive on his own then why couldn't I? _I_, the daughter of the post powerful chief on the plains. _I_, one of the largest known mammals to grace the land. But I, a weak girl afraid of a little darkness. I changed that night." Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie were wide-eyed, with ears perked, soaking in Strongheart's words. "It took nearly a week for my people to find me," she admitted. "Father sent out his best trackers. When they finally found me I had my own camp set up. Crass, but livable. I found roots to chew on for nutrients and had my very own river at me beck and call. Father feared for the worst, expecting to find his scared little girl dead, but instead found me, for the first time, really alive. They named this place "Hembleciya" after me-our word for a Vision Quest or Rite of Passage."

"So you know the way out of here, then?" Rainbow Dash inquired.

"No." Strongheart looked to the ground. "Unfortunately these caverns stretch on farther than ever explored. Nothing so far looks familiar to me. We're somewhere I've never been."

"Well great load of help you are," Dash said in an open display of disappointment.

"If it weren't for me, you would have _died_ in the fort or worse yet, gotten yourself _captured_."

"I would have snuck my way out, you can bet on that."

"Right, because bold rainbow colors just scream 'stealth'. Admit it, you'd be dead without me."

"Get over yourself, Strongheart. We would have been just fine without you and yours."

"Me and mine? You mean without your frontline of defense _and_ offense? You mean without my father and brothers who gave their LIVES for you? _You_, who we allowed to build a fort upon _our_ land? _You_, who have brought nothing but death and heartache to my people?" Strongheart began scraping her hoof upon the stone ground and gave a short.

"How about you better shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you-"

Dash found a large horned and domed skull ramming into her ribcage, forcing her to spit out every ounce of air out of her lungs and a tooth to boot. RD flew into the cave side, plopping ungracefully onto the frigid ground. The feisty woman picked herself up. Her breathing returned, only deep and angry.

"Girls!" Screamed Applejack. "This ain't the time to turn on each other! We're in the middle of a war and this is exactly what Twilight wants. How are we to capitalize on the discord among her people if we can't even handle our OWN discord?"

"Butt out, Jack, I'm going to finish this bitch right here right now," Rainbow replied through her gritted teeth.

"It'll take only a minute shift in the angle of my neck to gore you rather than butt. And right now, watching bleed would satisfy me just fine."

"Yea?" Rainbow Dash matched the buffalo's strength only in speed, a fact she cause her to smile menacingly. She blasted forward, front hooves out. "You're welcome to try, you feather-capped piece of shit!" Strongheart's cheek faced a collision with the sharp end of two upper-cutting hooves, the momentum from which was enough to sock her straight up into the roof of the cavern. The impact loosened a hefty collection of rocks, spilling below onto the unsuspecting army as they watched the women fight.

"Girls, cut it out, goddammit!" Applejack yelled. Neither ponies seemed to listen as they charged one another. "I said, CUT IT OUT!" AJ tested her strength against them both as she dove between them, her limbs kicking out toward two warriors. Rainbow's hooves and Strongheart's ramming head were intercepted by Applejack-connecting her front hooves to the pony's skull and a single hind leg to the Bison's. Both combatants lost their center of gravity and flew backward, skidding across the ground like skipping stones. The cowgirl landed on her feet. "Now get this through your thick damned skulls; this war we're fighting together exceeds race, it exceeds our history, and it damn sure exceeds your personal, petty rivalries. You two represent the BEST of our rebellion and serve as inspiration to what little of our force remains. So what? You're going to throw that away because a couple of ill-spit words? Get over yourselves and quit actin' like a couple of fuckin' kids."

The heavy tone seemed to drive sense into the two fighters, only to be interrupted by a sudden rumbling sound. The ground trembled, slightly at first, before breaking into a bouncing quake. The roof showered them in dust and littered hail-sized stones.

"We got to get out of here, Applejack," Pinkie screamed, seemingly from out of nowhere.

"Ya think? Men, grab what cargo you can and make a run for it. Pretty sure this cave is in the verge of collapsin' and I'd much prefer eatin' pancakes to _being_ one."

They followed orders but not without panic. The ponies and buffalo rushed forward in same the direction they were originally marching as raining stones turned to boulders. Applejack ran against the current to keep the troops in line, spouting emboldening words of encouragement. Then she saw the abandoned wagon, the very one hosting the over-stuffed Rarity.

"You ain't gettin' out that easy," she told yelled. "Not gettin' the luxury of a quick death if I got anything to say 'bout it."

AJ slipped her shoulders into the yoke and heaved forward. What was normally meant for four of her strongest men was being pulled by but a single, tri-legged woman. The wheels began to turn, creaking in protest. It took a good moment to get it going, but she pushed forward. Her slow crawl turned to a steady pull, her strained pull to a trot. Before long she was galloping with the wagon at her tail. The roof of the cave indeed began collapsing, closing in behind her and shooting dust like cannon fire.

Inside the wagon, Rarity bounced up and down, rubbing her giggling belly to sooth the ache of expansion. Her breathing was labored as she continued inhaling the sugary sludge through the tube. Wynonna snarled at her with teeth gnashed together like a laced zipper, completely undeterred by the commotion. Rarity began to cry, tears slipping from her eyes and over her puffed cheeks. Her weeping grew louder as the thunderous sound of the cave-in neared. Wynonna snapped at the pony, annoyed by her sobbing, and scaring the shit out of Rarity in very much a literal sense.

At the pace of they were going, even with Applejacks insane strength, she and the wagon in tow would soon find themselves snug between a blanket of murderous rubble. The thought of losing her only bargaining chip caused great internal strife. She knew she had to let it go if she planned to survive, as much as it pained her and so she began to shrug out of the harness. "Dammit all."

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" a voice called out.

"Huh?" The cowgirl turned to see her longtime friend and most trusted companion strapping in by her side to share the load. "Rainbow Dash?"

"One and only."

"Thanks Sugar, but I don't think even the two of us are enough to pick up adequate speed."

"Thought about that, and you're right. Fortunately, there's more than two of us." She winked.

AJ realized then that, running along side of her was Strongheart. The native warrior slipped in the harness behind her.

"That makes three," the buffalo smiled.

"Shucks, girls, I'm blessed beyond words here, but do you think three with be enough?"

The roaring wave of falling rock was tailgating them, nearly on top, when a fourth member joined in. "I'm hurt," called the pink pogoing pony. "Haven't you gals had enough parties without me?" She bounced into the final slot and raced forward.

The four of them steamed ahead like a locomotive, and faster yet. They raced along the snaking cave, taking sharp turns and risky jumps. As they drifted the final corner, they saw their men in the distance stopped and waving them on. It dawned on them that had nearly reached the end of the cave! to evade the collapsing mouth, the girls performed a long jump in unison, the wagon going airborne along with them, making it out in the nick if time. The wagon landed with the snapping of all but one wooden wheel, stopping as deadweight in the grass. This nearly choked the three ponies and buffalo to death as they were yanked backward by the neck-strapped harnesses. Nearly.

Their ears perked up as the soldiers erupted with cheers. There was no sunlight to warm them up, just a dark and foggy forest. Despite a setting haunting and grim, the world seemed to brighten up with the sounds of joy and laughter marking their success. Before long, they set up camp. What tents remained were pitched and several fires were built to suppress the chill in the air and keep what wild forces that be at bay throughout the night. The remaining casks of ale and wine were broken out as they celebrated.

"To Applejack!" Clover Dance cheered, followed by the clanking of cups, mugs, and steins.

"To Applejack!" they all replied before guzzling down.

"To my troops," their leader yelled. "To my brave and faithful troops."

"To the troops!"

"To friends and family lost," Called out Strongheart

"To friends and family!"

"To a cause soon won." Rainbow Dash chipped in.

"To the cause!"

"To unity and friendship!" Pinkie hollered in a burst of balloons and confetti.

"To unity and friendship!"

"And finally," AJ proclaimed as she jumped atop the wagon, "to seeing that tyrant Twilight's head on a fucking plate!"

The troops roared louder than the cave-in, howling into the night like a pack of wolves more than a battalion of ponies. Their cheers were matched suddenly with a paralyzing screech. A screech vaguely familiar to Rainbow, Pinkie, and Apple, though they couldn't quite put a hoof on it. The crew grew quite. There were several flapping sounds within the canopy of the forest, branches aching beneath the weight of the creatures as they landed somewhere above. Bushes surrounding the camp began to rattle and sway. Finally, a head popped out with beady little eyes and feathered white.

"It's…it's just a chicken," Thunderstomp said as a sigh of relief swept over the camp.

Then it clicked with the girls. "Uh, men, them ain't chickens!" But it was too late.

The chicken-headed creatures swooped in from all sides; creatures with the tail of a serpent, body of a crocodile, wings of a dragon, and eyes glowing red. One by one, the soldiers grew gray and solid, their life essence withdrawn and replaced by stone. It quickly became a camp of panic-stricken statues, faces twisted grotesquely and frozen in fear.

"Strongheart, you gotta close your eyes to-" Applejack turned to her friend, not only to find her already turned to stone, but finding the very cockatrice that did it staring back at her. The sensation started in her feet, growing into her chest, and finally to her head. She, too, had solidified into stone.

The flock of cockatrices settled down as things grew quiet. Some perched upon the stone army while a few were scratching curiously at the bolted wagon. They settled down as an hour slipped by, cocking their heads and hopping along vacantly like these critters tend to do. This only went on until the beasts were joined by friendly face.

"My sweet babies, what have you got for me today?" A voice-soft and teeming with confidence-called from a distance. She gazed upon the garden of statues until she came across three familiar faces at the center. A giggled escaped her. "My my, little sweeties, what a precious treat you have brought me." The open satchel to her side, resting beside the long-spear, was gripped by the mouth and tossed through the air, where seeds from within sprinkled out like rain drops. The cockatrices drew into a frenzy over the feed.

From the mist stepped the mysterious pony with long wild hair and a tight braid framing the side of her face. Her yellow body was marked black with the tattoos of animals big and small, even her face; the tentacles of an octopus closing in around her cheeks, a thin snake coiling one eye with a leopard spot on the other, and tiger strips across her snout. The only spot freed from ink was her flank, where sat a cutie mark of three pink butterflies.


	6. Chapter 6- Duet and Do-Well

Canterlot was veiled in black, save the small window between the clouds serving to remind the few citizens with enough hope to look up that there was a world beyond their dark and dreary kingdom. With Cloudsdale all but abandoned, the skies ran amok, pummling the people below with funnel clouds, lightening, and rain that poured heavier than stone. It was no place for a pony, yet it was were the majority of all ponykind resided, as was demanded by their self-elected leader and queen, Twilight Sparkle. Not that they could leave if they tried.

"Your Grace," the male called from the distant doorway.

She sat upright in her chair of which had its back to him. She fire before the Queen cast a sinister silhouette from his vantage point. To her side sat Spike, the ever-growing dragon and an adult by Pony standards. The shimmering purple scales on his shoulders gleamed by the fire, outlining his body magestically. Soarin took a step closer fearing his majesty had not heard his call. His action was met with an x-ing of halberds at the hand of her Royal Guards.

"One more step and you'll bleed your self dry from the neck, boy," one of the guards sneered.

"I'm not a boy. More like ten years your senior, Tin-Man, so how about you withdraw your little stick, take your little friend here and play soldier somewhere else? Outside that window perhaps."

"Atta threat, Boy?"

"Call me Boy another time. Little would please me more."

The mouthy guard furrowed his brow, allowing his cohort to pick up where he had left off. "See here, Boy!"

From the window to his side, Soarin could hear the trailing cries of the men as they flew. Perhaps "flew" is not the most appropriate word as Pegasi are actually gifted in this abilities and these men were not, as evidence by the resulting splat five stories below. A smile dashed across his face as the horrific screams of witnesses, no doubt taken aback by the sudden splash-zone, reached his ear. His smile faded however when he looked back to the fire where Twilight sat, now turned to face him.

"There had better be good news."

"Good news indeed, your Grace."

"Pleasing." She smiled slyly. "Do tell."

"Well, for starters you have been relieved of to atrociously incompetent guards not fit to scrub tile. You're welcome, by the way."

This amused her. "They are there for the safety of your Queen.

"Yes, but I fear a basket of kittens would better serve you than they. Besides, I stationed two new guards to monitor the hall beyond your door. Both green and females but the general said they had some real promise.

"I feel safer already."

"I apologize if I have upset you."

"When I first brought you in I placed you as a wildcard. A very potential traitor to the Order."

The pegasus laughed. "If it pleases you, my sweet Queen, I am only here to pleasure you."

Intrigue was written across her face. as the purple pony grinned "A strange, albeit tickling, choice of words."

Soarin, though older than Twilight by a decade, had an attractive look about him still. A air of distinguishment and confidence. "I chose those word deliberatly. Subtlety was never my strong suit."

She glanced over her shoulder at the muscular dragon laying lazily upon a mound of gold and silver and diamonds. "Uh, Spike, my dear…"

He peered at her through lids half open, letting a surge of skin-searing steam shoot out from his nostrils.

"Ah, might you be a sweet boy and fetch us an aged barrel of wine and a tray of salted melon? Come back in, say, thirty minutes?"

"Um, Sir Spike, I do believe she meant to say an hour over thirty." Soarin bore a smirk of outward confidence.

"Accusing the Queen of misspeaking, are we, little winged man? I have executed people for worse."

"Now you're just turning me on." There was a sly look to him as he paid her a wink. "I have only one talent beyond flight, my Queen."

"Is that so?" She teased.

"A vocal coach."

"You help others to sing?"

"Yes, your Grace. And I plan to have you shall be singing louder than the guards I sent abroad."

The powder blue tempter locked his emerald eyes to the onyx orbs of his Queen. The crowned Alicorn stepped down from her thrown, standing upright-a trick she learned from years past. Spike was not oblivious, as indicated by the rolling of his eyes. The dragon made an exit, promptly shutting the door behind him. He could hear their singing to the furthest hall.

* * *

Steam arose from a vent aside the vacant cobblestone streets of Canterlot. The only traffic in the past thirty minutes belonged to a marching five-pony patrol unit enforcing the ten o'clock curfew recently implemented by the Queen and already paid for in blood. The drafted Pegasi of the Queen's Airforce beamed down spotlights, reporting any mischief and seeing it dealt with. Her employment of the winged ponies left the weather to brew a flash-flood one day into an anarchical lightening storm the very next. A small force, the Sky Saddles, were in charge of handling any heavy story, tornado, lightening raid, etc. It was impossible though for the tiny troop to keep nature even fifty percent under wraps on their own.

That vent though was special. That vent was the door in. From above on a very nearby roof, a shrouded pony spied this particular sewer vent with goggled eyes shielding her natural color, a cape flapping wildly like a sheet hung out to dry, and a wide-brimmed hat. A purple specter watching over the fallen metropolitan sprawl.

"I believe I have finally found you and may death befall any soul between us." the feminine voice said to herself as she leapt from the building's highest spire to the bumpy stone street with barely a sound to her landing.

A raised ear perhaps could hear a distant twitching moan and one very unlike that of pleasurings. The masked woman sparked a spell from her horn, teleporting beneath the manhole with a ZAP, just as a patrol unit marched around the corner. It was quitter now without the howling winds and sirens. Somewhere within the tangling labyrinth of snaking sewers, the grunting of gators and scurrying of rats echoed off the tubed walls. Accompanying these native sounds of the urban underbelly was the groaning and yelps of something foreign to these moist and moldy parts. The slow pull of the tainted water seemed to move toward the sound. With moved on with padded hoofs, navigating by ear. The sounds became words the more she followed, words which became more and more clear upon approach.

"Push, you royal bitch, and give your Queen an Alicorn!" Yelled a Unicorn in black, magically levitating a whip and snapping it about like fly-fisherman.

The room was just beyond a gating of heavy steal bars. The pair rested upon an elevated square moated by running contaminated sewer water. It was certainly not the ideal setting for the actions in play. The masked man, cloaked black as coal, snapped his whip in the air again, the bang was amplified by the tight quarters. The desperate captive winced and gave a tensed grunt. She was an Alicorn with hair of a pastel rainbow and very heavily pregnant. Her gravid belly bulged as she laid to her side. Pitifully, she was locked to the ground by a necklace of heavy chain as she continued birthing in agony. The ground below her was browned with dried blood and her coat, once the purest of white, was tarnished with the ugliest of reds, browns, and greens.

If not for the combination of running water, cracking whip, and laborious groans, the torturer might have heard the whispering of peculiar words, "With sloppy shell and liquid belly, may this iron turn to jelly," being uttered behind the gate not five yards behind him. But he didn't. All he heard was SHWIP of an arrow sliding through his mane and out of his throat, skewering his Adam's apple like a kabob as it emerged through his flesh. He would have fallen silently if not for a low gurgle as his bowels released. Revealed behind the dropped torturer was the fabled purple-cowled do-gooder.

"Celestia!" the heroine called out as she stood before the poor soul foaling a baby colt.

"M-Mare-Do-Well…" the woman cried through an agonizing fit of contractions

With the light-up of her horn, the masked heroin withdrew her cowl, revealing a familiar face.

"Cadence?"

"Don't act surprised. Twilight coaxed her brother and my husband into fighting her war and he died because of it. She has lead enough of the people I love to slaughter and in no way would I allow you to succumb to the same fate."

"Help, Cadence-help me, please!"

"With sloppy shell and liquid belly, may this iron turn to jelly," Mare uttered once more, watching the neck chain dissolve. "It's a spell I'd only wish you knew sooner, Princess Celestia."

The Cadence torn the purple cape off her own back and placed below the loins of the struggling pony, revealing the heroine's quiver of arrows slung across her shoulders. Little colt legs poked out after a hard push. Mare-Do-Well gripped the legs and helped pull. After a few more strenuous pushed and cries of pain emerged a tiny pony.

Mare-Do-Well wiped the baby clean and wrapped it in her discarded cape. "It's a healthy baby Alicorn boy," she said, presenting the mother her child.

Celesta tried to smile through her exhaustion.

The tired woman looked up fem nuzzling her newborn. "Princess. Nobody had called me that in ten years."

"Is that how long they've had you imprisoned down here?"

"The unfortunate truth, yes. She is…breeding me. Forcing men upon me. Some Unicorns, some Pegasus. I have been forced into one pregnancy after another. Eleven in all., many of which Shining Armor took part in. I am so sorry, Cadence."

"His mind was warped beyond repair. His death is an impossible thing to wrap over. What became of the children?"

"What infants are not born Alicorns are cast into the water, left to drown among the grim and filth. I can hear the bubbles surface as they sink beneath the muck." Her eyes began to well. "Four have been lost so far. The rest sent to be raised however Twilight Sparkle sees fit, never knowing it was me who gave this world to them."

"That is the most horrifying tale I've yet to hear. Dare I say I never knew a girl I once loved could create such twisted new lows.

Celestia nodded. "I refused to kneel to Twilight after the coup. For a brief moment, I could hear a whisper of the girl she once was reaching out to me, a soft girl who spoke of the evil that was corrupting her mind, the festering rot that was eating through as she resided only through a subconscious that would soon demising to nothing. Fester, I heard her whisper. I challenged this demon magic against magic, but to no avail. With Twilight's brilliance and Fester's dark prowess, I was quickly dispelled."

"I can only imagine." She brushed the woman's mane affectionately.

"No, Princess, you could never imagine such an unruly sickness." There was an urgency to her voice. "In battle, we touched horn to horn. I got a glimpse inside her mine. Twilight Sparkle is prisoner far beyond what I have endured. My star pupil had unwittingly surrendered her own mind to feed her unending hunger for knowledge. Now she sits trapped within herself. Fester controls her body unbeknownst to the population. Once infected, a magic-user is powerless. Fester feeds off of magic. Needs it."

"That would explain why all the Unicorns were first to submit to all of this insanity." Cadence pulled the cowl back over her face. "Lay low. Remain here." She looked up. "Where feces, dirt, and urine lie, wash it clean and purify!" The entire room began to dry up of all things filthy, even Clestia's own white coat, now glittering. "All water within this room has been cleansed and, as long as you say this spell once a day, it will remain this way."

"I am the one who taught you that spell, Cad-I mean, Mare-Do-Well."

There was a short laugh, "Right."

"What if Twilight sends more guards to check on me?"

"Good point, my Queen." She aimed her horn to the only legitimate exit. "The prior entry was your last, may you be sealed so non shall pass!" Brick by brick, a wall erected which sealed any from passing through. A faint glow lingered a moment after construction completed hinting to the magical wall set up as reinforcement. "I shall return with food for you and bedding material in due time."

"In due time?"

"Yes. And not before I infiltrate the palace to check in on my little army." Mare walked over to the silenced enforcer, magically spinning the neck-impaling arrow until his head came rolling off.

Celestia looked away without questioning her actions. "You have an army?"

"Yes. Well, Mare-Do-Well does. There are some new residences of the palace that are on my side and have been briefed on the mission afoot."

"I see. Then you will return for me?"

"Of course. I am only going to run over some plans and part by sending the little Queen Cunt a message."

"MARE-DO-WELL!" Celestia said with a gasp, clasping shut her baby colt's ears.

"A thousand pardons, your majesty. I just-"

With the infant still muted to sound, she smiled. "Tell that wicked bitch student of mine that I WILL return. And upon doing show I will teach her one final lesson."

"Which is?"

"How to die slowly."

* * *

The mare and the stallion breathed heavily, one's lungs in sync with the other. They arms were entangles and the feathers of their wings laced into one another. A bead of sweat rolled down the Pagasi's snout, free falling towards the Alicorn. She froze it in midair.

"You sing like an angel," he said in a pant.

She smiled seductively. "A duet is no one-way street, Mr. Modest."

"For you to say this, your Grace, is an honor beyond words."

"I bet you say that to all the girls you've… taught, right Soarin?"

"Nah, I usually stick to catchier lines like, 'allow me to soar-in between those legs.' Or, 'hope you're prepared to be sore-in the morning."

"And that works?"

"99% of the time."

"And what of the 1%?"

"Tried it on Spitfire once. Knocked me the fuck out for it, too."

"Hm. I shall see that bitch become your personal punching bag once I get my hooves on her. Soon I will have my kingdom spread across the entire globe with you by my side. Not as co-ruler, I am sad to tell you, but something even more…fun."

"I like fun."

"I like you."

_THUD-tunk-tunk_...

Twilight whipped her head to both sides seized in shock, still pinned beneath Soarin. "The fuck?"

"You mean you want a Round 2?"

"No, you hoof-dragging simpleton! That sound just now, what was it?"

Both stood to their feet only to be greeted by a grisly scene. The disembodied head of Celestia's birthing coach from Hell was flung unceremoniously through the very window Soarin had bucked the two guards out of only a hour prior. The head had splattered blood across the floor as it bounced.

"There's a note pinned to his eye," noticed Soarin. He walked by the window to retrieve it. A strike of concern snapped across his face as he read the message aloud. "It is for you, my Queen. It says '_Say goodbye to Soarin, for he has sang his last tune.'-_Signed_ PC. _Who the fuck PC?_"_ He looked at Twilight, perplexed by what he had read just as an arrow whiffled in, plugging fletchings-deep into his chest. A large load ejected from his backside as a stream of urine leaked out like a punctured waterbag. As he fell over, she noticed the arrow itself had a second letter tied to it. Using magic, she lifted the paper and brought it closer to avoid becoming as well.

"_Your death shall not be one of quickness, but of long duration. Usurper, now it is your turn to live amongst blood and piss and shit. Enjoy this gift. It will be the first of many. Enjoy the throne. It will not stay yours for much longer. And lastly, enjoy life. For that, too, shall not remain yours for very much longer. Signed, Princess Celestia_

_P.S. There are more of us than you know. Watching... Waiting_."

* * *

*Message from the Author-Hey faithful readers! Thank you for putting up with my not-so-consistantly posted MLP story. I appreciate all the kind comments and plan to keep posting more chapters as soon as I find the time to write them (juggling a full-time job, part-time job, planning a wedding, and moving.) Let the good times roll! ~Stoppablerules


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My Little Pony, Adventure, Tragedy