Note: To all those eagerly awaiting the dimensional travelers to meet up with each other... Give me a moment! I can't just make Night Shade show up and say "Yo ponies! Where is Abimael? I totally know we're not the last good travelers alive!" I will need to beat around the bush a bit. Sorry, but this will make them all finally meeting (and yes, they will meet) so much more awesome. Oh, and what do you think of my new story cover?


Dimension: Looking For Group

Planet: Earth

Specific Location: Forest of Nestorep

Time: Two days after the arrival of the Brother's in Arms corps

The three stood in a circle, as Daniel prepared to open the portal to the My Little Pony dimension.

There was an extremely long pause.

"Well?" said Night Shade, "what do we do now?"

Daniel nodded quietly as he said, "We are going to send one of us in. They will scope out the location quickly, and return back to us. While they are gone, the rest of us will be setting up a perimeter in this forest. We will use this as a base for our other operations against Legion and his armies."

"Soooo," added Franklin, "what do we do now?"

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Okay, we need one of us to go to the My Little Pony dimension as a silent scout. They will spy out the land."

Franklin nodded. "Cool, cool…"

Daniel turned to Franklin and said, "I advocate that you go."

Franklin pointed at himself. "Me?" he said, "Why ever me?"

"Well, you are the best at first-contact situations, and you are a sniper. If there is anyone there, you will be well suited to deal with them, friend or foe," replied Daniel.

Franklin bowed. "Oh, thank you, fearless leader. However, I don't think this would be the best time for me to do it."

Daniel cocked his head to one side. "Okay, why?"

"Well," explained Franklin, "For starters… there is wwwaaayyyy too much pink. I mean, this dimension, from what I've seen, is too feministic. I probably could get a stroke, or cooties, from breathing in the air."

There was another extremely long pause.

"Okay," said Daniel, "I can see where you're coming from, but remember, it's completely destroyed. All of it."

Franklin stroked his chin. "Hmmmm," he mused, "I don't know if I like the color of blackened pink either. I wonder what a rainbow looks like if the air is on fire…"

Night Shade rolled his eyes. "Okay, great, whatever. I'll go. I have the speed; I'll be able to quickly scope out the planet's entire situation without being seen effectively."

Daniel turned to Night Shade, "Are you sure? We can simply open a portal and boot Franklin inside… or I can go. I don't mind."

Night Shade nodded, "I'll quickly jump in, and then jump out. No problem."

Daniel nodded, "Okay, remember, don't take too long. It may be destroyed, but that doesn't mean the dimension is not crawling with demons. Be careful." With that, he opened a portal to the My Little Pony dimension.

Night Shade saluted. "Okay fearless leader," he said, "I'll be back in a moment." Night Shade turned around and jumped through the portal.


Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Ponyville

Time: Three days after the arrival of Miranda

The assassin opened his eyes slowly. He was in a brightly lit room, with shafts of bright and clean sunlight streaming through a window. The room was nicely furnished, and everything was regally comfortable.

The assassin blinked as his vision came into view, two ponies stood before him: Celestia and Flaming Star.

Growling aggressively, the assassin reached for a hidden blade… it wasn't there. He reached for several others, they all were gone. Sighing in resignation, he looked up with a scowl to face the two standing before him.

"Tell me," said Celestia after a moment of silence, "what is your name, young pony?"

The assassin spat at her feet. He then said "It doesn't matter what my name is to you."

Celestia smiled calmly, "It does, friend. We are just worried about your safety."

"Safety?" snorted the assassin incredulously, "why? I tried to kill you!"

Celestia sighed, as she slowly sat down, resting the back leg that had been ravaged by the shrapnel. "I know you did, but you didn't succeed. Why? Why are you doing this?"

The assassin shut his muzzle tight. He shook his head.

Celestia sighed again, and levitated forth of tray full of teacups and tea. She levitated on over to the assassin.

The assassin simply looked at it, and turned his head away. Flaming Star took the teacup that was offered to him and looked at it.

"The best way," he said, "to detect if a teacup is poisoned is by looking at the sides. For the most part, all master murderers smear the powder on the sides of the user's cup, not actually sprinkle it into the teapot. This way taste-testers will not be able to detect the source of the poison directly from the tea itself. See? There is no powder on the side, if we had wanted to poison you, we would have done it in your sleep."

The assassin slowly took the cup and sipped the tea. He continued to look warily at the two as he finished it. Flaming Star sat in the sunlight, enjoying the warmth as he finished the up with Celestia.

"I do enjoy a cup of tea," said Celestia, "it brings back good memories of the quiet days."

"I agree," added Flaming Star, "in fact, it reminds me of this one time when I was sitting quietly at… um, someplace somewhere, drinking tea. It was really nice actually. In fact…"

The assassin then burst out, "What do you want with me?!"

Celestia smiled at him. "We want nothing from you right now. We're just here, enjoying your company."

The assassin ground his teeth and snarled, "If you want to know anything about the Black Hoofs official leaders, then forget about it."

Flaming Star winked at the assassin, "Okie dokie. Thanks for that tidbit though. So, you're not actually an anarchist or an extremist cult, you have leaders. So what is that, a foreign terrorist group? A mercenary band?"

Eyes wide with shock at letting that information slip, the assassin closed his mouth and shook his head vigorously.

Sighing deeply Flaming Star trotted up to the assassin and placed a hoof on his shoulder.

"Look," he said, "I understand that you're reluctant to tell us anything, but unless you can provide anything, we will have to assume you're a spy, and hand you over to the… Twilight Shredder."

The assassin then said, "The… what?"

Celestia's face darkened. "The Twilight Shredder is a terrible machine," she said, "It is designed to kill a pony in the most terrible way possible. If I truly was in charge, I would have had it dismantled eons ago. Unfortunately, the senate has branded you a spy, so unless you can prove us otherwise, we will have to take you to it."

The assassin began to sweat as he said, "But… I'm not a spy! And you're Princess Celestia! You can do anything!"

Flaming Star patted him. "We know you're not, but the senate thinks otherwise. As for Princess Celestia, sorry to burst your bubble, but she is really more of a figurehead, this is not a monarchy, or a diarchy. It is a republic. And this republic does not look very kindly upon spies. They will tolerate anarchists, assassins, and mercenaries to an extent… but spies… I'm sorry."

The assassin began to look really nervous. "I'm not a spy! I'm part of the terrorist group Black Hoof!"

Celestia looked downcast. "That doesn't prove anything, my friend," she said, "Unless you can give us real proof that you're not a spy, the senate will take you to the Twilight Shredder. It will be terrible, but our hoofs are tied: we cannot do anything for you."

Flaming Star frowned. "Last time somepony was taken to the Twilight Shredder, it took two whole days for it to kill him. It was absolutely terrifying to watch. From that point on, Princess Celestia and I vowed to protect those we could from such a terrible fate."

Celestia nodded. "It is true," she agreed, "the senate is corrupt and out of its mind. We have tried many times ourselves to depose of it and its cruel ways. We're not too different after all, and we want to help you. We just need information about this Black Hoof group!"

The assassin shook his head, "I… I can't! They would kill me!"

Celestia sighed and tapped on the door next to her once, "Then there is nothing we can do to protect you."

The door opened and a black, cloaked figure slowly paced it. It levitated a long, nasty scythe in front of it as it approached the terrified assassin.

At first the assassin looked like he had been frozen in place then he scrambled back yelling, "My name is Dunkle Dolch! I hail from the Black Hoof mercenary organization based in the Irrum Empire, near the border of Saddle Arabia and Equus! We were hired by the Irrum-Equus alliance to depose of Equestria's Princesses! Please don't take me to the Twilight Shredder! PPLLEAASSEEE!"

The hooded figure stopped and lowered the scythe. There was a long pause, and then it pulled back the hood. It was Twilight Sparkle, smiling huge and bright at Dunkle Dolch.

Flaming Star winked at him, "Thanks, Dunkle Dolch of the Black Hoof mercenary organization," he said, "Oh, by the way, Equestria is a diarchy, and there is no such thing as a Twilight Shredder. Have a nice day!"

With that, Celestia, Flaming Star, and Twilight Sparkle turned tail and cantered out of the room. The door closed and locked. Dunkle Dolch just stood there, blinking. Then the full realization of what had happened hit him… and he feinted.

Celestia, Flaming Star, and Twilight waited until they were sure they were out of ear-shot, then they burst out laughing. Twilight was laughing so hard that she had to lean on Flaming Star for support, who eventually fell down after a redoubled bout of the giggles. Even Celestia eventually collapsed with laughing. After a good four minutes or roaring with laughter, it eventually died down.

"Oh… that was the most fun I've had in forever," gasped Celestia as she righted herself.

"I know what you mean," said Flaming Star between breaths as he helped Twilight stand up, "that was hilarious. I swear I'm going to find Sunset and give him a massive trophy. The idea was freaking brilliant!"

Twilight sighed and leaned against Flaming Star's shoulder. "That was wonderful."

There was a long pause. Then they remembered what Dunkle Dolch had said.

Flaming Star's eyes darkened. "The Irrum-Equus alliance? Since when did those two start working together? I thought Saddle Arabia and Spurdan had to constantly mediate peace between those two."

Celestia brushed a tear of laughter from an eye as she said, "I don't know. However, if they have joined together, then they will be a formidable power. Equus has technology, and Irrum has soldiers and industrial power, a perfect combination for war."

Twilight, who was still leaning against Flaming Star's shoulder said, "What are we going to do about it? I could tell Dunkle Dolch was way too terrified to not be telling anything but the truth. And if that is the truth, then the Irrum-Equus alliance is not out for peace."

Flaming Star wrapped a hoof around Twilight's back and gave her a little squeeze. "We'll be fine. I do know for a fact that he was telling the truth, my gaze-of-the-souls could identify that much, but that could just mean he was misinformed. For all we know, it might not be high officials of this alliance, it could just be some large terrorist group based in that area."

Celestia nodded, "We need to find out. I will call for an audience from the two nations immediately."

"Wonderful idea Princess," said Flaming Star, "and may I suggest you get an audience from the Crystal Empire and perhaps Saddle Arabia or Hor Sey nation. They are good peace mediators."

Celstia smiled, "Excellent, Flaming Star. I will call for an audience at once. I would like you and Princess Twilight Sparkle to attend; I will need help with asking some very interesting questions about this situation."

Flaming Star saluted. "I'll get Sunset." With that, he turned around and exited the building and trotted towards Twilight's library.

Suddenly he stopped and turned around and reentered the building. Twilight and Celestia looked at him curiously. Flaming Star smiled, "I suddenly had a brilliant idea. Don't tell anypony, but I think I have a way to assemble some solid proof that this alliance is the perpetrator for this crime."

Celestia nodded. "Go and do what you have to do."

With that, Flaming Star turned tail and galloped out.


Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Twilight's Library

Time: Three days after the arrival of Miranda

Fluttershy, Starlight Amber, and Sunset were sitting next to each other in Twilight's library, just enjoying each other's company as they watched over Miranda. Starlight Amber was sleeping quietly in a crib nearby.

"Have I ever told you that I love you?" sighed Sunset as he sat next to Fluttershy.

She snuggled in closed and said, "Oh so much. I love you too."

Sunset closed his eyes, settled down, and started to drift off to sleep, letting the golden mist of Flutershy's kindness blot out any troubles. Suddenly a noise rang out and his eyes snapped open. The door opened and Flaming Star peeked in. His saw Sunset and Fluttershy, and quickly trotted in.

Sunset simply closed his eyes again and shifted closer to Fluttershy, who had fallen asleep, with her head lying directly atop of his back.

"Sunset, we have a situation," whispered Flaming Star as he sat down close to Sunset's head.

Sunset sighed. "A situation? Why must there always be situations? I just want the multiverse to stop moving so I can enjoy the company of my wife, and my foal. Tell the situation to go screw itself."

Flaming Star rolled his eyes. "Yes, yes, we all know how happy you are, but we actually have a really large problem."

Sunset opened one eye and looked at Flaming Star, "This better be good, firstborn."

Flaming Star snorted, Sunset only called him firstborn now if he was really, really annoyed. "Well, we might be facing open war with some other nations."

Sunset opened both eyes and said, "Oh, that is a problem. I thought I had fixed relations with the other countries!"

Flaming Star nodded, "I thought so too. But now we are facing an issue: the Equus and Irrum nations have joined together and hired a mercenary group to assassinate the Equestria princesses. This is an open act of hostility."

Sunset groaned, "I hate violence. I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it I hate it…"

Flaming Star sighed, "I understand, Sunset, but we need to get ready for the worst. I am going with Celestia, Luna, and Twilight to a summit meeting with several other nations to ask them about what the hell is going on, but we cannot be sure that this will fix anything."

Sunset waved a hoof. "Awesome, great, yay. Tell you what; I'll start getting ready for this impending 'war' after I have spent quality time with my lovely wife. You go off and do whatever the firstborn does. Oh, and go ahead and marry Twilight already, then you will understand how annoyed I am."

Flaming Star rolled his eyes and got up. He then turned around and cantered out. As he closed the door, Sunset sighed and closed his eyes. Sleep returned, and he drifted into peaceful sleep.

A couple of hours later, he awoke to the movement of Fluttershy. He opened his eyes to see her slowly getting up and rubbing her eyes. He too got up and said "Morning sweetheart! How is everything?"

Fluttershy yawned, "I'm fine. I don't know about you, but I haven't slept this well in a while."

Sunset stretched, "I agree. That was wonderful." He then moved over to look at Starlight Amber. She was still sleeping peacefully, sucking her hoof. Sunset then turned to see Fluttershy, eyes wide, staring at Miranda. The scarred earth pony was sitting, staring out the window quietly.

Sunset grimaced. The pony was unstable, so he had no idea how dangerous she could be. Slowly he approached Miranda and tapped her on the shoulder. Miranda jumped and turned around. She calmed down as soon as she saw Sunset and Fluttershy.

"H-hello? Who are you?" She said hesitantly.

Sunset smiled calmly. "I'm Joseph Tor… er, I'm Sunset Shadow, a friend."

Miranda shivered. "I'm cold," she said.

Fluttershy smiled and spread a blanket over her shoulders. "There, there," she said, "everything is well. You just need to rest…"

Miranda looked around, "Something happened."

Sunset frowned. "Yes," he replied, "Something did happen. But nothing for you to worry about, you just need to sleep."

Miranda nodded, and slowly drifted to sleep once more.

Sunset turned to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy," he said, "There has been an attack against Equestria, there seems to be open hostilities between Equus and Irrum, and Equestria. We will have to be careful."

Fluttershy's eyes were wide, but she nodded silently.


Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Canterlot Castle, Summit Room

Time: Four days after the arrival of Miranda

"Cadence!" exclaimed Twilight as she rushed to meet her beloved sister-in-law.

"Twilight!" exclaimed Cadence right back. They hugged.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybug awake, clap your hoofs and do a little shake." They said in unison.

Flaming Star grinned, and he then turned to Shining Armor. "Shining," he said, "It is good to see you once more."

Shining Armor nodded, "It is good to see you as well. How have you been doing?"

Flaming Star returned the nod, "I've been fine."

Shining Armor glanced at Twilight and then whispered, "Have you asked her to marry you yet?"

Flaming Star pulled a face. "I haven't. I don't know about you, but this whole 'love' thing actually sort of maybe probably scares me."

Shining Armor chuckled as he patted Flaming Star's shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, you'll be fine. Do it before I die, okay?"

With that, the grand doors to the Summit Room burst open and Celestia walked in. The four trotted up to meet her. The door opened once more as Luna, her head down, slowly moved in as well.

It pained to see Luna still mourning, but Flaming Star smiled at her and said, "Greetings, Princess Luna. How fares you?"

Luna glanced up and said, "We are fine, thank you."

Celestia cantered up to Flaming Star and said, "I've asked the rulers of Saddle Arabia to meet us. They will be arriving shortly. We've been fortunate: the Equus and Irrum nations have agreed to meet us as well. They will be arriving within the hour."

With that, the doors to the room opened once again, and the leaders of Saddle Arabia, Ahmed and Ali Ponhammad, trotted in in, accompanied by a troop of Saddle Arabia and Equestria guards.

"Welcome," said Celestia, bowing deeply, "How is your nation faring?"

Ahmed frowned, "Fairly well, Princess Celestia. Unfortunately, you are not the only one to be having issues with this so-called Equus-Irrum alliance. We have received multiple alerts that unidentified desert-cameo pony tanks have been seen mobile in the great desert bordering our beloved nation. The alliance has not claimed responsibility for these seen mobilizations, but the tanks' markings say otherwise. We will all have to watch our step."

Celestia looked worried, but she nodded and said, "Very well. All this will come properly to light when Equus and Irrum arrive.

A few minutes later, they did. With a massive fanfare, the leaders of the Equus-Irrum alliance trotted in. For Equus, Shadow Scepter, and for Irrum, Corona Oscura. The two stallions regally cantered in, their heads held high, openly disregarding the escorting Equestria guards. They moved to their assigned places in the Summit room and sat down with alacrity. Everypony else did the same. Soon the room was complete: Cadence and Shining Armor of the Crystal Empire; Flaming Star, Twilight Sparkle, Luna, and Celestia of Equestria; Ahmed and Ali Ponhammad of Saddle Arabia; Shadow Scepter of Equus; and Corona Oscura of Irrum.

"What is the meaning of this meeting?" started off Shadow Scepter immediately, with disdain laden heavily in his tone.

Celestia looked at him coldly. "You know very well, Shadow Scepter. There was an assassination attempt upon me and my beloved sister not two days ago. We caught one of the perpetrators. When we interrogated him, he indicated that he was from the Black Hoof mercenary group. Recognize that name in any way?

Corona Oscura stroked his chin. "I am deeply apologetic, your highness," he said, "But that name in no way rings a bell. You will have to try to jog our memory a little harder, perhaps."

Celestia snorted a little in frustration, but hid it for the most part fairly well. She nodded and said, "This Black Hoof mercenary identified your so-called Equus-Irrum alliance as the clients who had paid them to kill us. How do you plead?"

Corona Oscura laughed. "Is this a courtroom? I think not. I will not plead in any form, guilty or otherwise."

Shadow Scepter slammed a hoof on the table. "Not guilty!" he roared. There was a long pause. Corona Oscura rolled his eyes and whispered to Shadow Scepter, "Old chap, let me do the talking. Your Equestrian sounds like a duck being murdered with a mallet."

Ali Ponhammed then interjected, "And what of the tanks in the great desert? Are they not another piece of evidence for your open hostility against the League of Pony Nations?"

Shadow Scepter then yelled something in Equusian. Corona Oscura facehoofed. After another moment of silence, he said, "What proof do you have that we are even sending pony tanks into the desert?"

Ahmed pulled out a little packet and tossed it to Corona Oscura. The pony caught it and opened it up. It contained pictures of the pony tanks. In each picture, the area where the Equus or Irrum insignia was visible on a tank was circled in thick, red marker. Corona Oscura smiled, "Oh, these tanks. I deeply apologize to burst your war-thirsting bubble, Ahmed Ponhammed, but these tanks are in the desert for another reason: a deadly fugitive has escaped into the desert. He has a six-star wanted lever, so we are sending our joint military to capture him."

Flaming Star raised his eyebrows. "A six-star wanted level?" he said, "From what I understand, the military might of the Equus-Irrum alliance seems a little too great for either of you to order a massive mobilization over the account of a single escaped fugitive, six-star or not."

Shadow Scepter snarled and said, "He is a very dangerous person, you understand? He must be brought to justice!"

Corona Oscura nodded. "Oh, he most certainly is."

Flaming Star nodded, "Oh, I suppose he is. So, you are saying that these pony tanks advancing on the southern border of the Saddle Arabia and the northern border of Stirrupus are simply in search of dangerous fugitives, and the Black Hoof assassination had nothing to do with you two at all?"

Corona Oscura nodded curtly. "It is. I appreciate your understanding."

Flaming Star smiled. "I doubt that so very much." With that, he pulled out a packet and tossed it to Corona Oscura. He opened this one up as well and looked at the contents. It was a contract from the Black Hoof officials, signed by both them, Shadow Scepter, and Corona Oscura.

Corona Oscura's face darkened. "How the hell did you get these?" he said. He then swore in Irrumian.

Flaming Star grinned, "I have my connections. I simply got the location of the hideout from the assassin we have in custody, I teleported there, grabbed the contract while everypony was still asleep, and teleported back. There was no issue."

Corona Oscura dropped the façade. He glared at them, "I suggest you and your little empire watch your backs, Princess Celestia. We are tired of your snobbish ways, and are willing to go to great lengths to shut your livelihood up. We will be back with an ultimatum, please don't provoke us any further. Oh, and Ahmed, we have tanks outside the front door of your little nation, don't make us use them. Let us leave, Shadow Scepter."

The two ponies stood up decisively and left in a huff. Flaming Star grimaced, that had not gone all too well. Celestia looked at the receding backs of the two leaders darkly. "This is not good," she said, "They obviously are out for hostility."

Luna nodded quietly, "They are."

Flaming Star turned to Cadence and Shining Armor, "What is your take on all of this?"

Shining Armor looked interested. "I don't know… they seem to have no interest in hurting the Crystal Empire…"

Twilight looked at them anxiously, "But you will help us if there is a war, right brother?"

There was an uncomfortable pause. Flaming Star broke the silence. "War is not something to be taken lightly," he said, "This isn't like chess game. Countless lives are at stake. All we can do now is wait for this 'ultimatum' to come, and then see what will happen after that."

Celestia got up and nodded. "Flaming Star speaks the truth. We must wait for the ultimatum."


Note: Soooo... Some guy wants me to recount a little bit of the Brother's In Arms corps past, as well as how Luna and Rainbow Dash handled Regal Crescent's death. I decided I should actually do this, so be expecting another "Recollections" set of chapters rolling in some time. Thanks guys! Keep the feedback coming in! Oh, and by the way, do you guys want the new "Recollections" chapters to show up first, or a little more of Night Shade, Daniel, and Franklin first?