Note: Okay, it has come to my attention that there has been a noticeable dip in the quality of my work. I would like to apologize for that. The structural integrity of my storyline has dissolved over time due to the length of this part. However, I am working to keep it together until part 6... which will be totally awesome, by the way. Anyway, I have decided to freshen things up with a bit of action! Enjoy!

Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Canterlot Castle

Time: Two and a half weeks after the Paradox took over Equestria

Caustic Rain opened his eyes. The first thing he did was to do what he had regularly done for the past week: glance to his left to see that tell-tale sign of the invisible Phasetrooper who was spying on him at all times.

What he saw jarred him into wakefulness: there was no Phasetrooper there. Sitting up quickly, Caustic Rain began to scan his room almost frantically. Why was there no Phasetroopers watching him? There was always Phasetroopers watching.

At this moment, a knock resounded at his door.

"Come in," mumbled Caustic Rain, his eyes still scouring every square centimeter of the room. The door to his room opened and Luna trotted in. She immediately could tell that he was distressed.

"Caustic Rain?" she murmured, "What seems to be the matter?"

"There's no Phasetrooper watching," said Caustic Rain in hushed tones, "There is always a Phasetrooper watching! Where is he? Could he have moved? No, he never moves! Where is he?"

Luna sat down next to him on his bed and began to look around as well. Her eyes ran across the room. However, just like Caustic Rain, she saw nothing.

"Caustic Rain," she said, "There is nothing there. They have left you alone."

"It seems like that," muttered Caustic Rain, "But why?"

"The Paradox, Vaporis, and Pictor must have decided on another plan that does not involve eavesdropping," said Luna calmly, "And that is a good thing."

"A good thing? It worries me more than comforts me," said Caustic Rain. This disturbance in his daily routine was pushing him into a frantic zone. His eyes began to dart even more fervently around the room. "I mean, why would they do this? How is this a good thing?"

Abruptly Luna leaned over and kissed Caustic Rain. Even though she had done this now on several occasions, Caustic Rain still gasped and started backwards.

Luna smiled a little shyly. "I've wanted to do that for a while now," she murmured, "But I knew that Phasetrooper being was watching, so I could not bring myself to do it."

Caustic Rain's head was swimming, but he was no longer frantic. Luna had effectively pulled him out.

"T-thanks," he gasped, "I needed that…"

Luna mumbled something unintelligible and leaned over and kissed Caustic Rain again. They held the kiss for a long time. Luna slowly sank to the bed. They lay together, still kissing.

Then the room exploded.

A rending blast of energy ripped the room apart and sent Caustic Rain and Luna flying as blue flames blossomed forth in a plume of heat. As he fell, Caustic Rain (though in a dazed state) caught a very good look of the attacker. It was an Enigma Empire hovercraft. It was strafing sideways as it hurled masses of superheated plasma. The blobs of electricity seared through the walls of the Canterlot spires and exploded in sizzling blasts of light, raining fiery masonry around Caustic Rain and Luna as they fell as if in slow motion. Then, on the spur of the moment, Luna seized a tight hold of Caustic Rain and spread her wings wide. Their descent slowed just enough that they landed without and damage. The two then looked up to see the hovercraft finish demolishing Celestia's tower before slowly turning back to face them.

"Oh, sister," gasped Luna brokenly as she watched the Tower of the Sun tilt as the lightning-scorched left stone supports buckled inward. The tower then fell over with a sound like thunder and exploded in a massive plume of dust as it crashed into the Canterlot royal garden, uprooting several trees with a massive shockwave.

Luna was about to wail something when Caustic Rain roughly seized her and jumped behind a large pile of rubble. A dozen or so superheated blobs of power decimated the earth that they had stood not too long ago.

"Why are they doing this?" sobbed Luna as the hovercraft floated in place. Spamming the rocks that hid Caustic Rain and Luna with bolts of plasma.

Caustic Rain grimaced as the rocks began to glow and slowly transform into slag. "I don't know. However, from the looks of it, it seems that the Paradox has seen us outlive our usefulness."

"Does… does this mean he has accomplished his mission?" wailed Luna as the two inched back from the melting masonry that hid them from the weapons of the Enigma Empire hovercraft.

"If he had accomplished his mission, we would be all dead," replied Caustic Rain, charging up a massive blast of caustic energy, "No… He is close to accomplishing his mission… Thus, he wants to tie up loose ends by killing us all."

The rocks suddenly exploded as the hard bolts of superheated energy punched their way through the cover. The moment they did so, Caustic Rain bellowed a war cry as he hurled a concentrated beam of energy.

The bolt sizzled through the early morning air. By pure luck, the beam cut right through the left engine of the hovercraft. Smoke now rising in billows from the damaged engine, the hovercraft listed sideways and slowly turned in the air as it lost altitude, firing off beams of power randomly all the way.

Sadly, the moment the hovercraft crashed in the Canterlot royal gardens (uprooting even more trees) two more hovercrafts took its place. Caustic Rain and Luna rushed into Canterlot Castle just as the hovercrafts aligned to start firing. The hovercraft to the left then unloaded a group of armed special ops Phasetroopers via grappling hooks just as flames began to consume the royal garden, courtesy of the damaged hovercraft that had just crashed. The special ops troops cocked their weapons and rushed in after Luna and Caustic Rain only to meet opposition in the form of Luna's Guard.

These specialized ponies materialized from the shadows to take their new enemies by surprise. Unfortunately, only a couple of Phasetroopers were put down before the rest threw up their personal shielding. With these on, the Night Guard's weapons were useless, and they became nothing but nuisances. The Phasetroopers locked onto the valiant guard with their bio-scanners and opened fire with deadly accuracy. In less than a second, half the guards were dead. Just as that moment, though, Caustic Rain jumped out from behind a corner he had been hiding behind and unleashed a concentrated shockwave of dark matter. The sparkling essence rippled through the air, vaporizing all material in its wake. The support beams of the hall this fight was taking place in dissolved, and the roof began to collapse inward. It was not enough to kill the Phasetroopers, but it was enough to distract them to allow the Night Guard to escape, and it was enough to slow them down for a bit. After all, they were now buried under untold kilograms of rubble. Nodding his head in satisfaction, Caustic Rain turned to Luna and said, "We need to find Celestia!"

Luna's eyes hardened in determination and she nodded. Turning around swiftly, she led the way as the hovercrafts above opened fire simply hoping to kill the both via collateral damage now.

Time seemed to slow down as the two rushed the stairwell that led to the ruined Tower of the Sun. Glowing bolts of plasma ripped through the masonry walls and sizzled past them as the two ran, throwing up choking billows of dust and deadly stone shrapnel. Nevertheless, the two were undeterred as they continued to gallop forth. Just as they reached the base of the stairwell, they almost collided with Celestia as she herself rushed down the stairwell. Her eyes were hard, and blood was oozing from several gashed all over her body.

The hovercrafts stopped firing again to unload yet another group of special ops Phasetroopers.

"I knew this would happen," spat Celestia. Caustic Rain grimaced. It frightened him to see Celestia in such a passion. He voice wasn't even strong with the ring of justice. It was full of hate and hurt.

Suddenly the wall beside them exploded inward, denoting the fact that the hovercraft had once again opened fire. With a very un-princess-like screech, Celestia recovered in an instant and fired a beam of magic from her horn. The beam seared across the starboard engine of one of the hovercraft as the two continued to fire at the group. There was a pause, then suddenly the engine detached itself and fell away, its couplings glowing red-hot from the attack. The hovercraft immediately spun out of control, and smashed into a wall sending up a massive explosion of dust, fire, and shrapnel and killing all of the ground Phasetroopers with the explosion. The remaining hovercraft suddenly began to fire missiles from another compartment, accompanied with thin beams of cutting lasers. The missiles and long streams of matter-extinguishing laser power was immediate cause for retreat. Thus, with their heads down and their tails practically tucked between their legs, Celestia, Luna, and Caustic Rain galloped down the hallway to a secure bunker hidden beneath the Hall of Thrones. As they ran, the whole hallway began to collapse as support beams were vaporized due to the laser beams, and whole walls were blown inwards due to the missiles. As the group ran, they were joined by a small group of the royal guard.

"Get the royal guard prepared!" roared Celestia at the top of her lungs, "Why have they not responded already?!"

"They were resting Princess!" shouted one guard, "With the Phasetroopers retreating to the Everfree forest, and with the tanks gone, we thought the chance of an attack was gone!"

"Get them out NOW!" yelled Celestia as the walls behind them continued to crumble away beneath the continuous onslaught. The guards nodded and broke away. Celestia then motioned for Luna and Caustic Rain to follow her. They took a sharp left and headed straight for the Hall of Thrones. Sadly, just before they reached the hall, a massive kinetic shockwave blossomed before them in a plume of fire. They were hurled backwards as rubble blocked their entrance. The roof then fell away with a sound like thunder exposing a sky red from the fire and smoke and three more hovercraft floating in the sky like vultures.

The hovercraft then began to lean in, as if hungry for the kill, and the plasma weapon ports began to glow as the superheated masses of power prepared to hurtle out and demolish their poor victims. However, just as they were about to do that, one suddenly exploded in a blast of flame as a hail of laser bolts and bullets tore through its armor. The shockwave badly damaged the adjacent hovercraft and sent it spiraling to rest in the rubble-filled court below. Both the ponies on the ground and the hovercraft in the air turned to see the source of aid for the good guys. A massive iron train was passing by on an old abandoned train track that lined the mountain that passed by the north side of the castle. On the roof of the locomotive was a large group of ponies. There ponies were firing everything from Covenant Carbines to Star Trek Phase Rifles to Miniguns to handguns. The hovercraft deftly activated their frontal shielding and turned to face their new attackers. The three remaining hovercraft fired a volley of missiles at the train. The missiles struck the tracks and immediately derailed the locomotive and its carriages. The thing flew in the air in a blast of fire and light and skimmed the sky like an air-borne snake that had just lost its head. It cleared the first wall of Canterlot Castle and smashed into the ground. Still writhing, it smashed through the inner wall of Canterlot Castle before it came to a complete stop. However, though this was tragic, Caustic Rain, Luna, and Celestia took advantage of this distraction. As the hovercraft still had their fronts and their frontal armor turned to the wreck, the ponies on the ground opened up with everything they had. Beams of gold and blue magic, coupled with streams of dark matter, filled the air in a volley. This hail of power blasted through the backsides of the last three hovercrafts. Immediately two went down in streaks of fire and smoke. The third reeled, but somehow recovered. It slowly turned around and prepared to unload a whole payload of explosive power on to the heads of Celestia and her friends. However, just before it could do that, a large amount of ranged attacks from the wreck of the locomotive took the attacker by surprise once more. This time, it was finished. Its back-positioned engines badly damaged, the hovercraft literally flipped upside-down and exploded with a tremendous release of sound, light, and heat as it made a crater in the already fire-gutted Canterlot royal garden.

There was a deathly pause.

"I… I think we should go meet our rescuers on that train," murmured Caustic Rain, breaking the silence.

"What ONCE was a train," corrected Luna, "But you are correct. We should go see who they are and where they hail from at this time."

The three ponies clambered over the piles of rubble and picked their way around piles of dead pony guards and large natural and chemical fires.

In several minutes, they had made it to the side of the upturned iron locomotive. It was badly mangled and dented, but it had not yet exploded, or been claimed by fire. Sitting on the upturned side of the train was a large group of ponies. Celestia immediately recognized one of them.

"Applejack," said Celestia, unable to hide the surprise in her voice, "What are you doing here?"

"We're here to help you mah lady!" exclaimed Applejack happily, "Me, Braeburn, and this human person!"

Krausk strapped his rifle, Arev, to his back and nodded. "You the queen here?" he said curtly.

Celestia nodded her head regally. "I am."

"You need to work on your defenses. I noticed you had a couple of well-placed AA turrets in strategic corners, but none of your space pony guards were manning them. How the hell do you guys not expect these types of attacks if you don't have manned AA guns?"

"The Phasetroopers and their military hardware were retreating," explained Luna, "We thought we were safe."

"The hell you were, amateurs," muttered Krausk.

Suddenly, another familiar face poked itself out of one of the carriages. It was Twilight.

"All weapons intact and accounted-for, Braeburn," exclaimed Twilight as she got out with the assistance of Flaming Star.

"Twilight! Flaming Star! You are here!" exclaimed Celestia, almost delightedly.

"Yeah, we're here," said Rainbow Dash as Flaming Star pulled her out of the upturned carriage as well, "We were picked up by Applejack and her crew as I was about to head Twilight and Flaming Star off in the opposite direction. That could have been messy. Thankfully they ran into us."

Then another familiar, if not greatly unwelcome, face appeared. It was Ravencroft Solace.

Caustic Rain's eyes narrowed and he placed himself protectively in front of Luna. Twilight saw the rising hostilities and waved her hoofs in the air quickly as she exclaimed, "He's with us! He's good now!"

Ravencroft nodded and said, softly, "I have seen the error of my ways. Death is something to be respected, and the Paradox is desecrating the true beauty in the evanesce of life. This is something to be cherished, and I must protect it, even if it means giving up seeing my family for a long time…"

Caustic Rain was still bristling belligerently, but he nodded and stepped aside. Luna couldn't help but nuzzle Caustic Rain affectionately then. Celestia raised an amused eyebrow at the scene, but then turned to Applejack and said, "Since I see you are all armed, I assume Twilight's plan to get weapons was a success?"

"You bet, Princess!" exclaimed Applejack happily, "We have more weapons than a corn cob has kernels! We're as good as gold!"

"If we are armed, then what is the next step?" asked Caustic Rain.

"We need to get to Ponyville!" replied Flaming Star promptly, "From there we can get a hoof-hold in the northern section of town. Once Town Square is secure, we can blockade all branching roads and…"

"Waitwaitwaitwaitwait," interjected Krausk, "What about my ship? We're not just going to leave it in that dusty, god-forsaken ditch, right?"

Caustic Rain's eyes suddenly lit up with unrequited hope. "Did… did you just say a SHIP?"

Krausk nodded. "Yeah. I said a ship… why?"

Caustic Rain began to get excited. "We have the source that can power it!"

Krausk's mouth dropped open. "What? No way. Edinium, here?"

"No, not Edinium. Something even better than that," said Caustic Rain, "Imagination Energy!"

Krausk blinked. Then he shrugged. "I have no freaking idea what you are talking about. But, hell, if you believe it will get my baby off the ground, then I am totally up to it. I have no other options, anyway."

"I am sorry to interrupt," interjected Luna, "But how does this Imagination Energy and this human's ship factor into the plans?"

Caustic Rain bit his bottom lip as he thought of how to explain it. "Well… I lied to you a while ago. When you could not see me in my dreams that one night, it was because I was being visited by Archangel Michael. He said his message was top-secret, and I could not share with anyone. Honest! Anyway, he explained to through a stream of data that if we would soon get an Imagination Energy source from Desmond Butler. We could use that to power a ship…"

"And that ship could be used to escape the Phantom Device blockading this dimension and help us find the Crystal of Harmony, which, if destroyed, would foil all of the Paradox's plans," finished Flaming Star, "You must understand, Luna, that Caustic Rain was acting in all of our best interests."

Luna looked deep into Caustic Rain's eyes… and then she nodded. "I understand," she whispered, "and I forgive you."

Caustic Rain sighed in relief.

"Well," said Krausk loudly, "This was touching and all, but we really should be figuring out how to get to this Imagination Energy source so that I can get my ship off the ground and get the hell out of here."

"Here," said Celestia, calling upon her magic powers to illuminate the derailed locomotive with an aura of golden light, "I will help you all right this train and place it back onto the tracks. We must all prepare to go to Ponyville."

Twilight nodded. She, Luna, Twilight, and Celestia began to use their magic. In less than a minute, the train was back on the tracks, and no worse for the wear as it seemed.

"Well, she's workin' as if she was build yesterday," chortled Braeburn as he looked over the train, "That tumble cost me quite a few of mah followers, but I'll be darned iffen old iron Bessie is gonna be taken out like that. She's as fit as a fiddle!"

"Well, we might as well be getting' a move-on then!" exclaimed Applejack, "We have no idea when them hovercraft thingies will be back! We are in no shape to fight even one now!"

"I agree," said Caustic Rain hastily, "We need to get going. NOW."

The whole group (including Caustic Rain, Celestia, and Luna) clambered quickly into the train. With a loud screeching noise and a hiss, the locomotive lumbered off towards Ponyville.

Celestia bit her lip as she watched the burning ruin of Canterlot Castle rescede into the distance. She had left without as much as a word. It was incredibly inconsiderate and abrupt, and she knew it, but she also very much needed to see the events that would soon unfold in Ponyville occur.

Dimension: My Little Pony

Planet: Equestria Earth

Specific Location: Ponyville Train Station

Time: Two weeks and a half after the Paradox took over Equestria

At top speed, it took only half a day for the train to approach Ponyville. The whole ride was extremely tense. The presence of Ravencroft made Caustic Rain and most of Braeburn's followers extremely nervous, and, to top it all off, the group could see Phasetrooper fighters or tanks rumbling along in the distance. It was a miracle that none of these hostiles turned to demolish the train at a moment's notice. However, that miracle persisted, and the team was spared from instantaneous oblivion, just like an ant is spared a terrible death when a heavy-soled person has chosen simply not to exert the effort to put their foot down on top of the insect's head.

As the group pulled up to the train station, they were met by Desmond, Sunset, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.

"I received a message from Archangel Michael," explained Sunset quickly, "I am glad you are here."

After a moment, Sunset turned to Krausk and said, "Admiral Krausk, is it? Archangel Michael told me about you. You have a ship, do you not?"

Krausk nodded. "I do. And you have my power source, do you not?"

Desmond trotted forward slightly. Then, with a hoof, he proffered the crystal cube with the Imagination Energy within it.

"You need to take this and put it in your ship," said Desmond earnestly, "When you do, fly it to a place called Abbington Falls. It is a sub-dimension within the Adventures in Odyssey dimension. I have written the coordinates down in marker on this crystal cube. Once you are there, seek out a being called Doxia. He will know what to do with you and the ship."

Krausk took the cube. Though he usually hated taking orders (as opposed to giving them) there was something in the tone of Desmond's voice that alerted him that this was obviously the right thing to do.

There was yet another pause…

"I should leave immediately, shouldn't I?" said Krausk, looking at the cube.

Sunset Shadow nodded his head, "You should. We will slow down the Paradox for as long as we can. You NEED TO DESTROY THE CRYSTAL OF HARMON NOW."

Krausk nodded his head stoutly. "I can do that. But how the hell am I supposed to get back to that one gorge?"

Celestia smiled. "I have a chariot that is always on stand-by. You may use it. Applejack, would you care to accompany this human?"

Applejack eyed Krausk grumpily. They disliked each other quite a bit. However, after a moment's though, Applejack sighed in resignation and said, "I suppose so…"

"Good," said Celestia, almost smugly, "Now we need to get things sorted out here."

"Yes," said Luna, "We need to ensure that all Phasetroopers remaining are driven into the Everfree forest or killed. When we know for a fact that they are all bottled in the forest, we need to find a way to infiltrate the forest. If we can get near the Tree of Harmony, we are one step closer to finding a way to slow the Paradox from completing his plan."

"I can get you inside," said Ravencroft quietly, "However, I suggest that only I, Flaming Star, and one other go."

"That would be me, then," said Twilight, "I am not about to let my future husband have all the fun without me."

Flaming Star blushed, but nodded. Ravencroft cast his gaze over the group, and then nodded. "I have no doubt I will be seeing few if you, if none of you, by the end of this mission. All things come to an end, and we must accept that."

"Well THANK YOU mister optimistic!" snorted Rainbow Dash, "Well? What the hay are we waiting for? Let's get moving!"

With that, the whole group dispersed, each with a task set in their mind. The clock was ticking down to a finale.

Note: Hmmmm... Does anyone want a bacon gun? I'll give you one of you give me feedback (a.k.a. Reviews). Anyway, see you all tomorrow!