The chapter begins with the oath of the Equestrian Guards in which the Guard does swear to risk his or her own life to protect the citizens of Equestria. Ironically this declaration sounds much more like work for the greater good then anything the Hooviets did say so far. Shining was smart enough to show the letter he got to Cadence immediately who is absolutely furious and instantly prepares a letter to Princess Celestia herself. The Alicorn confirms that her faithful student is well and Twilight’s security will be improved. Besides that she will keep the incident a secret for now to not escalate this even further. On the other side she suggests that Shining should go to the meeting point but should be prepared for the worst. Despite how much the unicorn does want to protect his sister, he knows that he has to trust others to do this for now. Audience muses that maybe even the SEALS will get the duty to protect the Element of Magic. Shining knows that he has to get ready for a ridiculous amount of danger since last time Makarov did send an entire army after him. Since that failed he will likely be back with even more this time.
Cadence wants to join the battle as well, she is an Alicorn after all. The unicorn tries to argue that Makarov is not that much of a threat which is clearly a lie as the interviewers point out. While she is not one of the Alicorns that rulebook is referring to (after all her powers are not fully awakened yet), she points out that she would still be very useful in any confrontation. As he still rejects she brings out the big guns and uses the fact that she outranks him to order him to choose her. The young Princess nearly has a breakdown when he STILL refuses to follow that order. He had barely escaped death several times and now it seems that Twilight is in danger as well. Two of the persons she is so close to could die very soon. But another question is IF he is even able to go alone since the stalker will erase him if he goes too far away from the young Alicorn. Going alone sounds like suicide. At this point Audience points out that Princess Celestia did foresee this already and had written a note with suggestion: Cadence could use a songbird to watch over them without being directly there.
At this point Sunset reveals that songbirds allow Cadence all this time so right now there is one outside the window. Shining muses that the Sun Goddess hadn’t revealed this ability to her niece so far since she might abuse with power for teenager stuff or to sneak into hoofball games. With great power comes great fun after all. After talking with the bird about it… Cadence reminds him that they do need to come up with a story for the local government. But in a very suspicious turn of events, urgent parliamentary business cancels their plans for tomorrow anyway. Not even the unicorn believes that this is just good luck.
Suddenly he finds himself in Pandora’s labyrinth and it makes just as much sense as you expect it to do: Ms. Smartypants, a younger version of Shining with his dream princess, a little Tirek fleeing from a lovestruck big lipped alligator and several books written by Shining’s mother. Then Pandora throws a broken Celestia toy at his head. It even has the wrong color, how silly is that? Finally she tells him to remember this as it will come in handy. Then Shining awakes and is still as confused as before and still has the same headache from being hit with a Celestia toy. And they call the Sun Princess a troll… The interviewers take the chance to point out that this was still - despite the literal Big Lipped Alligator Moment - the most “normal” dream he had so far. Most dreams don’t make sense and they don’t give you backstory. But on the list of weird things Shining had encountered so far this is still pretty high, easily in the top five.
The next day Cadence’s group has to act like everything is normal but the cause of the diplomatic change does worry Shining. The local radio doesn’t bring more news and there are a lot more guards then usual. They try to prepare themselves as good as possible and decide to put as much as they can on a Corvette to bring them close to their target. But there are a few problems like the fact that their combat light ships and their best pilots are not available. The entire situation clearly frustrates the unicorn mostly because he believes that his sister is in danger. For now they plan to leave the Falcon in their reach so they can call for backup. They will likely need that. Still because of technical issues it will be four hours before they can make a call. They can’t bring their entire army with them of course but they try to take the most capable soldiers with them while leaving enough troops behind to guard the civilians. Shining even images Makarov inside a tripod being gunned down which is a bit disturbing but otherwise very understandable considering how much of a monster Makarov is.
The songbird seems to be ready to build its nest in Shining’s mane but the Royal Pet Tender finally gets something to do and prepares a saddlebag with a small nest for the bird instead. It seems to work very well, keeping Cadence’s influence on Shining and preventing the stalker from erasing him instantly. Seeing all the soldiers in combat gear makes the unicorn realise into what kind of situation he is charging in. All of his anger about the threat towards his sister must have clouded his judgement if he only now realises it. This equipment also makes all ponies look very similar and it is really hard to tell them apart. Before they move out, Shining gives them a speech of how he does understand their fear and that they don’t have to follow him into this dangerous situation. But even given this option Ramirez merely steps forward and tells him that none of them will back out now, they will all follow him and Equestria. They are all with him, especially the one soldier he doesn’t recognise now.
Guarded by a group of pegasi, they fly to their destination and manage to land safely. Then they move out in well organized formations (Twilight would be proud) and soon they locate six deer in a clearing south of the village. One of the deer is instantly identified as being something special similar to an Alicorn or a Dragon Goddess. Shining is extremely stressed out as he moves forward (his troops share this feeling as well) but their surroundings don’t match the tension at all and instead the forest seems downright peaceful. Carefully they surround the group but Makarov is not here.
She does apologise for using this method to bring him and the Princess outside. The unicorn is still too focused on the situation before him to realise what she just said and has to comprehend that multiple castes of deer are standing here in unity, something that is very rare after the strict separation between the castes in the Empire. There is also a dog, a normal dog, not a talking Diamond Dog. Finally the Deer Goddess call herself a caretaker and steward to all but at this moment she failed to protect the deer from their hateful and self-destructive path. It goes much further back then Makarov, the Hooviet Empire in its entirety did value the life of their citizens too little. And now under Makarov all deer are just expendable pawns, ready to be sacrificed like mere tools. But Princess Cadence can reveal her real name. Shining still hasn’t understood what is going on but as the suspicious soldier from earlier reveals herself as Cadence, he finally learns that this goddess is the Mother of All Deer.
The unicorn is angry at the Alicorn for following him but not only was she worried for him and for the troops, that songbird told her to do it. Mother Deer can understand this feeling as well, actually being mentally able to care for millions can be horrible at times. You can never save them all. The one who took the pictures of Twilight introduces himself as Dimitiri Makayovsky or Dime for his friends. It turns out that Shining saw him once in his dream. Maybe the dreams show him an alternate turn of events without the changes to the flow of events but why is the unicorn himself even in them? After all the stalker said countless times that he doesn’t belong into this timeline. The deer apologises for the threat but this time it was truly for the greater good and not the cheap excuse that the Hooviets and Makarov usually use. He also refuses to call the thing controlling the Hooviets now Makarov since it is an honor to carry this name, instead he calls him Solomon.
He also points out that they didn’t bring any weapons with them to Equestria anyway but to make their impersonation as believable as possible they even shaped their own thoughts to sound like Hooviets. They feared that Solomon might still be able to see into their minds. In fact they liked Ponyville a lot, there was no pollution and the Apples and Pinkie Pie were so kind to them that they can assure the unicorn that is sister will be safe there. Besides that the meeting in Columbia that was mentioned in the letter was the meeting with Reznov. Mother Deer says after a bit of hesitation that he is one of their most dedicated friends and allies but sadly many only were able to embrace her after being betrayed by the Hooviets. The Goddess really seems to feel like she failed her children, the connection to them comes from the ground but because of the Hooviet Empire that very ground is tainted with the blood of deer, making them unable to hear her anymore. At this point Shining begins to understand a fraction of the pain she must have gone through.
But at the same time despite her pacifistic nature Mother Deer and her allies know that there will be no peace as long as Makarov is there. She has no choice but to lead deer against deer to save their species. If Solomon continues to waste them like respawning videogame enemies, then the entire species might go extinct. What Mother Deer had to do is similar to how Celestia used manipulation to get Cadence outside of the events that might have killed her (or worse) if she was still in Equestria when Nightmare Moon and Discord returned. The Goddess hints clearly that in the normal timeline neither Makarov nor the Hooviets would be such a threat but things have changed. On the other side there are worse timelines and the deer might still be saved. As Mother Deer asks for their support and friendship Shining would like to know all of their names first. As he does call the Roe Dima, the so far serious deer soldier reacts with a pretty adorkable expression.
The group gets introduced as Natasha Volkova, Nikolai Romanov, Kamarov, Zangief, Chitzkoi (the dog) and Sasha (the riffle). This close relationship with a gun does remind Ellis of the Apple family but amusingly Mother Deer points out that the trees do like getting names. Considering how he did mock this attitude in the past and how his branch of the family does think about trees, he is a bit worried but she assures him that the trees do like the fact that even the fallen are used for something good. Shining does skip his side of the introduction since he is sure that the goddess already knows all of their names, which she does confirm politely. She also reveals that tonight Makarov will attack the nearby village to kill those who have witnessed his leyline manipulation. The unicorn will not be killed, a fate worse then death will await them. The lookalikes of Shining and Twilight (who are also brother and sister) are also mentioned but they are no longer with the rebels now. In fact it is clearly said that they had their own agenda and their own enemy that not even this group knows about. But they swear that these two are no threat to Shining and his sister.
The Mother Deer wants to save at least some of the ponies that are threatened by Makarov and to delay Makarov’s plans at the same time but she will not be able to do so with her own forces. She will need Shining, Cadence and her troops. And time is running out as few hours remain until sunset. They need to decide now and Cadence, Shining and the troopers do agree to it. It is clearly not a decision that is easy for the young Alicorn as it means to send her followers into danger. The Goddess of Nature couldn’t be happier about her new allies but Cadence has one final question: What about Father Deer?
At this point the Goddess reveals that he doesn’t even exist and was just a propaganda tool designed to replace her. It was their attempt to create a figure of stability like the Alicorns despite the fact that the deer already have a very real goddess. She does regret a bit that he doesn’t exist, partly because his description did sound handsome. Shining is hardly surprised about that mostly since he remembers that he was already told that Makarov did deceive his superiors, a hint that there was no single being above him. Besides that it is of little surprise considering that in the story that did inspire the Hooviets, Big Brother was also strongly implied to not exist at all. Not to mention that IF the Hooviets would have a god similar to the Alicorns then there would be no reason to hide him. Mother Deer on the other side is the goddess of Nature and Deer, not of the Hooviets.
Soon she leads them to more of her supporters with a few machines like eight Bronetransporters, basically troop carriers. It turns out these machines run on a fungus that acts like a battery and absorbs sunlight and moonlight. It is quite impressive and clearly one of the advantages you have when a nature goddess is on your side. It is also another combination of magic and technology, it almost becomes a theme of how there needs to be a balance between these two. Compared to this Makarov’s methods are complete mockeries of both concepts. There is one downside however: Because of the nature of the fungus they can’t use it to support airships or helicopters. And while the troops will use the machines for cover, the bird can finally do something and scout ahead.
Then they spend the time they have left before the confrontation by talking about how it feels like to use the songbird as a messenger and what kind of weapons they are using. The deer mostly despite Makarov’s weapons beside his machine guns but since they are not Hooviets, they don’t have that much ammo for them. Sasha is also a pretty impressive weapon but there is also another very unique weapon, a large silver horncannon with a lion motif. Mother Deer admits that it does belong to a Champion of Nature and was given to her by another goddess. Maybe it was a present from Strife? After all as the concept of Natural Selection she has a close connection to nature and she did already give Rancor a weapon as a present. Cadence does think that them all acting like fangirls over these weapons is kinda cute, much to their annoyance. But the calm before the storm is over as Makarov’s forces have begun to obliterate the village. Now the heroes try to get there as fast as possible or there won’t be anybody left to save. Two of their machines can cross the river but the others will be delayed.
The group bursts into the scene with their two vehicles surrounded by shields, firing bullets and magic blasts at the intruders. The distraction works: the helicopters stop slaughtering everybody and the shields do work against their rockets and bullets. But the Hooviets are well organized and too fast to be hit. Cadence tries to add some magic blasts of her own but her aiming is even worse then Shining’s. But she is seeing events through her own eyes and through that of the songbird, so it is much harder for her. Amusingly she has a second attack that is much more effective since it doesn’t require aiming at all: She sings and jams their radios with it. This does allow them to overpower one helicopter and the ponies show their caring nature by merely stunning the still living pilots and even thinking about sending medics to them afterwards.
After half an hour they have secured their position and have done what they can for the village and the wounded. In about two hours the airship of the rebels and the Falcon will return, combined they should be able to carry them all back to safety. Meanwhile Dima is listening in on radio sequences to find out when the next attack will take place and suddenly he is able to listen to Makarov ordering an artillery strike on them. In the last moment Shining shields the entire village with his magic and he is able to hold out for all three attacks. It is an impressive display of magic but one that is very much expected considering that he is supposed to shield an entire city with this magic. On the other side considering his earlier weakness it is somewhat suspicious how little this does drain him. Before this his shields seemed much weaker. Everybody including the two goddesses are impressed but even Shining himself has no idea how he did it.
Makarov is clearly frustrated and orders a second airstrike, this time also aided by two rocket launchers since most of the other ammunition was already spend on the first attack. Again Shining is able to protect everybody despite the fact that this attack is even more powerful. But eventually the Hooviets run out of ammo. Solomon is refreshingly annoyed but this entire ordeal and it takes him so time to get his mind back together. The mere thought of not everything working as he had desired it, makes him fall apart. He is a pure control freak. But eventually he regains his composure and realises that Shining Armor must be behind this turn of events and sends ALL of his current troops after him. They will be here soon and they have about ten vehicles, cavalry, flying forces and even two tanks.
Shining’s group however does keep their cool and begins to use the remaining time to plan their defence. They were prepared for a battle but not for protecting an entire village at the same time. Natasha offers to buy them some time with her sniping and Running Gag is the one tasked with carrying her and her dog close enough to do so. But they still need a plan to deal with this army but Shining might have the right idea of what they should do.
