It was the day after Twilight and Rarity had been revealed as changelings, and, all things considered, it could have been worse in a million ways. The changelings of the Ponyville hive, as they called themselves, were helping the members of lone team with patrols and whatnot, though that didn't mean they trusted lone team.
Already, three arguments had been stopped before they became bloody, and that was before Octavia and the others of the Canterlot branch had arrived. Garrus was with a male changeling, who's name was True Aim, had dark green chitin similar to the shade used in jungle camo and deep blue eyes, and stood as tall as an ordinary pony, and Drawn Bow.
"Wait a minute, Garrus," Drawn said, interrupting Garrus' explanation of sniper rifles, "So you're saying you're able to hit a target two or three miles out with one of those things?"
Garrus shrugged. "Yeah, and those are the ones with weak scopes. The high powered ones can go for ten miles. And you should see what they do to Krogan." Garrus chuckled a little. "Hell, this one time, three years ago, I was on Omega, which is basically an asteroid that's been cut in half with a ton of buildings hanging from it, I was defending my groups hideout from mercs. Before you ask, yes, we could be considered mercs ourselves, but we didn't do it for the money. We did it because no one else would. Any way, there I was, lining up a shot with my mantis, when Shepard, Zaeed, and Kasumi walked in. Shepard called me by the name the locals called me, Archangel, and even with that interruption, I nailed a freelancer in the head just as he peeked around the column he was."
True Aims eye was twitching here. "You expect me to believe that your dimension has the tech to crack open an asteroid? The snipers, I believe, if only because you're holding one, but I refuse to believe that."
"Yeah. It was actually another asteroid that split it. We just found it that way, and mining companies set up shop instantly. Though they're long gone, and the entire place is under the control of criminal organizations. The only good thing about that place? No damn red tape that I'd have to deal with back in C-Sec. Plus, all I had to do was pull out my gun, shoot, and I'd probably hit someone that deserved it immensely."
At this, True Aim relaxed slightly. "Okay, that makes more sense. But now I have a question. Why did you leave C-Sec? From the way you described it, it was the lone team of police forces."
"True," Garrus said, "but you get saddled, no offence intended, with more and more red tape the more you rise through the ranks. Like I once told Shepard: 'It shouldn't matter how I take a suspect down, so long as I take him down.'"
Drawn nodded. "That's exactly how we look at it in lone team, Garrus. Sure you don't want to be a part of the team?"
This had been the literal tenth time Garrus had been asked this question, and for the tenth time he said, "No, Drawn. I doubt that I'd fit in that well anyway."
True Aim replied, "You're kidding, right? I may not like lone team, but I'm certain that they would at least give you the respect you've earned."
"Maybe," Garrus said, shrugging, "but I still would rather not. Haven't you heard Rainbow at all. It sounds like she's getting tortured. I mean, I know she's just getting use to a ton of new stuff but still. I've heard better sounds from a blue suns slave camp." Almost as if to punctuate his sentence, a loud shriek was heard, coming from the other side of the castle grounds and being clearly audible, even in one of the towers that had been set aside for sniper teams so they could look over all of Canterlot with an unobstructed view.
Both True Aim and Drawn bow shuddered as it passed. "Good point," True Aim said.
Before Garrus could respond, Ken came over his helmet radio and said, "Garrus, we got a pony coming up to the castle, main road. You see him?"
Garrus looked down the scopes of his mantis rifle in the direction Ken had specified, seeing the pony, who was dark grey with a mane and tail of black. "Yeah, I got him in scopes. What are we going to do?"
"Wait a while, see what happens. I already let Thel know, and he on his way with his group." Indeed, Garrus saw Thel and a group of two changelings and two ponies walking up in front of the main gate and stood there, waiting for the unknown pony to arrive. It took a minute before it was obvious before the ponies course was obviously the castle, and it took another two minutes before he encountered Thel and his group. From Garrus' view point, he could see that the two began a heated debate, if their body language was any indication. Almost a minute in, the pony drew a dagger from what Garrus had originally assumed was pocket in a jacket on his side. He didn't get the chance to use it though, as Thel ignited one of his energy swords and beheaded the pony. He then motioned for one pony and changeling to take care of the body, which was to say to find their family and then burn the body.
"I don't think I'll ever get used to seeing anypony getting killed," Garrus heard Drawn say.
"Good," Garrus said. "That means that you still have a conscience." This seemed to ensure Drawn a little. From there, the three had small talk, with only occasional shouts of terror coming from where Rainbow was training interrupting them. This made them all recount how their days in training had been for each of them in their respective governments.
...
Lone was preparing to head out to the train station with Maruco, John, and Vinyl to get the weapons that had been aboard when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said, not looking at the door while putting on his armor, which was lone team standard armor that had been modified for his size. It was actually quite effective, as all lone team armor had magical shield imbued in them to protect the parts of a pony that weren't covered by the armor. He really wasn't paying attention to who it was, not until they spoke.
"Lone," Luna said.
"Why are you here, Luna," Lone said, turning around. "I figured I'd be the last pony you wanted see after last night."
Luna was just barely inside Lone's room. She had her regalia on, and it, in Lone's opinion, reflected the light off of Luna beautifully. "I can see how you would think that, Lone, but the truth of the matter is I came here to thank you."
"Why's that?" Lone asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Because," Luna said, her voice filled with an emotion that Lone placed as gratitude, and an undertone that he couldn't identify, nor did he think Luna knew it was there, "if it hadn't been for you slapping my sister, I hate to think that she would've killed Twilight, simply out of fury that is long past old, and most likely would have done the same to Rarity."
Lone nodded here. "Just doing what was best." He paused, then added, "Though, I don't think I could stop Cadence and Shining Armor if they were as mad as Celestia." This got a chuckle from Luna.
"Perhaps. They, at least, still have a reason to still be mad at the changelings." A silence ensued the two for a minute before Luna said, "Lone, I must know. Was that Shadow magic you used yesterday?"
This got a chuckle out of Lone. "No, I simply used magic, plain and simple."
"But you turned into a shadow!"
Lone shook his head. "Luna, is a spear evil when it kills somepony? Just humor me with your answer."
"No," Luna said immediately.
"And that is the same with dark magic," Lone said. "It is but a tool that can be used, like a spear. And like a spear, what it does, it has no control over. The caster decides what to do with the spell, and that is what happens. There is no good magic or evil magic, in my views. Just. . . magic. And it's a view shared by every unicorn in lone team, regardless of whether or not they use it."
Luna opened her mouth to argue with him, but shut it almost as soon as it was fully open. She considered his words for a minute, in which Lone resumed putting on his armor. I suppose he is right. Most dark magic instances always involve those with wicked intent. Those that don't are always the result of a spell put on something, much like with Rarity and that book Spike found in our old castle. But still, Tia banned that magic for a reason. A pause in her thoughts. Didn't she?
She was brought out of her thoughts as Lone walked past her in his armor. She had to admit that he looked like what she had always imagined his namesake looking like. Strong, noble, confident, determination in his eyes, and, quite obviously, different. When ever she read The Lone Rebellion, which was considered fiction until yesterday, she always imagined the original Lone Shadow as a slightly different pony in appearance, and the one in front of her most definitely was, and with it, she saw hardships in his eye, most likely from his childhood, but at the same time, she saw that those made him what he was now, and that, she could appreciate.
He didn't wear a helmet like the others, his head bare, almost as if he was inviting his enemies to attack. "What are you planning on doing?" she asked him.
"To head down to the train station and get the weapons Vinyl put in the train and bring them back here so we have an effective arsenal for when the Brotherhood attacks. Should just be a milk run, as Maruco calls these sorts of mission. Not certain why, though."
"Perhaps because he thinks they will be easy?"
Lone shrugged. "Maybe. I guess we'll see, won't we."
Just as he walked out of the room, out of nowhere, Luna hopefully asked, "Lone, would you like to take a walk with me tonight in the gardens?"
There was wait of three second before his response came. "Of course, Luna. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to check to see if the others are ready to get the weapons."
"Of course, Lone," Luna said, nodding her head. Lone could hear the happiness in her voice, most likely due to his answer. As he went to where the others were getting prepped, which was the throne room, he had only one though on his mind.
Does Luna have feelings for me, and Do I her?
...
Right now, Celestia was, for lack of a better term, a god-devil-Luna-any-deity-you-can-think-of-damn emotional wreck. She had been crying nonstop for the past three hours, when what had happened that night finally sunk in. She knew she should have apologized for what she did, but she was afraid of what Twilight would think. She just didn't think that Twilight would want to see her after she had tried to kill her, and coming close, too. If it hadn't been for Lone, who knows what might have happened. This brought Celestia out of tears for the moment, as well as a small smile. That's the second time he's helped us, even if we didn't want it.
It was then that a knock was heard on her door. "Who is it?" she asked glumly.
One of the members of lone team, which had replaced the standard guard, said, "You are requested in the secondary throne room."
"Thank you," Celestia said, not getting an acknowledgment from the member of lone team. She got up off her bed and walked to her door, opened it, and left for the secondary throne room, which had originally been the cellar. It there was one thing positive Celestia could say about lone team in general, it's that they knew where places of importance had to be, and pick ways to defend them well.
It took ten minutes for her to reach the room, and the ponies she saw in the room did not elicit a happy mood from her. There was a large table in the middle, which everypony was sitting around. Luna was sitting at the end that had been designated for the two sisters. To Luna's left was Nightengale and Robin. To her right was Twilight and Rarity in their changeling forms. She did not look at the two as she made her way beside her sister, ashamed at what had happened last night. Though she didn't see it, on their faces was friendly concern.
Once she had made her way to her seat, Nightengale stood up and began to speak. "I thank all of you for coming on short notice, but something happened fifteen minutes ago. Namely, a pony that was an associate of the Brotherhood tried to get in the castle. He was stopped, but only because our sniper teams alerted the ground patrol as to it. The reason why I'm telling you this is so that you understand how much of a threat the Brotherhood is. They will not stop for anything until their objective is complete."
"I do not see what that has to do with this," Luna said. "You could have told us as we were walking around the castle. It's protected well enough with your team."
"True," Robin said, "but that's not the only reason why we asked all of you here. That has to do with something from last night. More specifically, the changeling Twilight and Rarity said had revealed himself to them."
"You mean Green Mist?" Twilight asked.
Robin nodded. "Yes. You see, twenty-six years ago, a changeling with that same name incited a rebellion in the hive he came from. Killed almost all of the diplomats-we'll explain that later-and foalnapped the leaders children. He's a wanted fugitive by lone team for those crimes, as well as a fugitive that his hive wants. I'm telling all of you this because it may be that he wishes to use your hive to finish what he started all those years ago."
The look on Twilight and Rarities faces was one of shock at what they had just been told. It was Celestia who spoke up next. "Well, are you taking steps to ensure he can't do that again?"
Both Nightengale and Robin looked at one another, then burst out laughing. "If by that, you mean 'are we hunting him down so we can make sure he's dead once we kill him,' then yes," Robin said after a good three minutes of laughter.
"Who do you have hunting him, then?" Luna asked.
"Just about every branch of lone team that's not here, as well as a few specialists," Nightengale said
"And just who are they?" Rarity asked, her usual accent from her pony form gone.
"You know all of them already. One's Observer. The second's Messenger, and the third one is-," Robin was cut off.
"Me," Discord said as he appeared in a flash of light, his arms spread in a "ta-da" way, causing Nightengale and Robin to face hoof.
"Discord," Nightengale said, "I thought you and Lone agreed that you would stay away from Canterlot while he was here unless important news came up and you had to tell us."
Before Discord could say anything, Twilight responded by saying, "Wait, HE'S a part of your team. Why?"
"Because he asked," Robin said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "And before you say anything, he agreed to certain limitations, under the circumstances the we would hunt him and turn him back into stone. And we do have the spells to do so."
"Wait, 'turn him back?' You mean he became a member of your team after me, Twilight, and the others freed him?" Rarity asked.
"More accurately," Nightngale said, "after Tirek. Now, Discord, why are you here?"
"Well, Nighty," Discord said, eliciting a threatening growl from Nightengale, "I came to tell you that Messenger has a lead on Green Mist, and I know where he has been for the past ten years."
"Well, care to spit it out, Prankster?" Nightengale said, aggravated.
"Why should I? Besides," Discord said shrugging, "you already know that, Nightengale. It's where you came from."
Nightengale went rigid here, almost as if he had been struck, and his eyes narrowed, so everypony was surprised when he said, "How are the others?"
"They are all alive, if that's what you're asking. As for Messengers lead, he was an agent of the Brotherhood when he incited the rebellion in Scarabs' hive twenty-six years ago, and most likely still is one. Ta-ta," Discord said, waving his fingers and disappearing in a flash of light.
"Is it wrong I want to strangle him senseless?" Twilight asked.
"That would probably be too slow," Nightengale asked. "A Spartan laser, though, would be fucking perfect."
"Well, Luna said, "I am still interested in what is the actual changeling government."
Nightengale nodded. "Of course." He took a breath before starting. "The changeling governments are actually a democracy, the title of king or queen being left over from the days of the monarchy. They're actually elected, much like a mayor or governor. They're able to step down whenever they want. More often than not, members of their families are given royal like titles as well."
Those not of lone team were surprised by this. They had always assumed that the changelings were monarchy, which was why Twilights and Rarities hive was one.
"And how do you know so much, Nightengale?" Celestia asked, truly curious.
"Right," Nightengale said, saying it slowly. "You see, due to the hive mind changelings have, all hives that have members in lone team know of lone team, and every ten years or so, the pony lone team considers it's leader is sent there to ensure that no hostile action with out reason will happen between the hives and the team. I was with Lone at the last one, a few weeks ago, and I must admit, I think that there is a lot ponies can learn from changelings."
"Why's that?" Luna asked.
"Well, for one thing, their structures are able to actually withstand the kind of stuff that used to happen in Ponyville on a weekly basis." Twilight shrunk a little here, knowing most of it was related to her.
After the explanation of the true changeling politics, the meeting dissolved into the boring shit, which lasted well into the afternoon.
Meanwhile (by which I mean just as the meeting was getting under way)
John was in the throne room turned prep area, getting ready to go with Maruco, Lone, and a pony named Vinyl, one of the ones who had gotten him and Twilight out of Ponyville, to get weapons that Vinyl had stored on the train, which were really just modified covenant plasma weapons for pony use. What had him thinking, though, was how Twilight had been acting around him. She jumped whenever he spoke to her, or at least started to, shied away whenever she saw him looking at her- Wait a minute. I may not exactly be the best person to go to for advice on being human, but I've seen stuff like this with other marines out in the field, and even off duty ones. And if this is anything like the few times I saw it conclude relatively well, then this could only mean one thing, John though to himself, She has feelings for me.
The realization of this made John stop what he was doing, which was running diagnostics on his armor systems. Partly because of the surprise of it, but also because he did not know how to react to that.
Should I tell her it's not going to work, or pretend that I haven't noticed. On one hand, the first would break her heart- wait, why do I care about that. John shook his head to clear those thoughts out of his head and continued comparing the good and the bad of the situation. As for the second, I can't really see anything wrong with it, but who knows how she'll take it- and there I go again. Why do I keep going back to thoughts that would make it sound like I have feelings for her. You know what, to hell with it, might as well see where this shit storm is going to take me.
He was brought out of his thoughts when the doors to the room opened and Lone walked in. He looked at those assembled in the room and said, "Okay, people. Our mission is to get to the train station, get the weapons, and get back here asap. The sniper teams will be covering us should anything happen. Any questions?"
"Yeah," Maruco said, "How the hell did you get our weapons in the first place?" Really, Maruco was just curious. He had his DMR, so he could not care less as to that.
Lone shrugged. "Me, Nightengale, and Drawn bow were part of the guard force that brought you guys in. We found your weapons near where we knocked you out. We took a quarter of them, and, of those, half were taken to Ponyville to be modified by Vinyl here," Vinyl nodded in acknowledgement here, "while we brought the others here, which includes the energy sword you guys saw me use yesterday."
"Why the hell not," Maruco said. "As long as you don't touch my weapon, we won't have a weapon related issue that involves me ripping your motherfuckin' skull off your body and beating you to fucking death with it."
"I don't think that's physically possible," Vinyl said.
"Said a unicorn."
If ponies had hands, Vinyl would have given Maruco the bird there.
"Can you two save it for after the mission," John said.
"Sure," Maruco grumbled.
"Right," Lone said. "Let's move."
Ten minutes later
John and the others had made it to the train station with ease, and they were working on getting the crates that held the weapons, an easy task with two Spartans. I'm surprised that I didn't notice these the first time on the train, John thought to himself. Then again, Vinyl did say that all unicorns- week here and still can't believe that- of lone team learned spells of invisibility that could be cast on other objects. Must have been active yesterday.
"Well, that's about all of the crates, guys," Vinyl said.
"Seriously. Ten crates?" Maruco asked, not even out of breath.
"Yeah. The weapons are smaller than the ones from your ship, so they didn't need as much space," Vinyl said.
"That still doesn't explain how you made ten crates worth of them!"
"You do know I built my own DJ system, right? I was made the top techie in lone team for a reason."
"You do know I don't give a damned shit, right?"
"Can you two love birds save your bickering for when we're back at the castle," Lone said.
"FUCK OFF, LONE!!" they both screamed.
Lone then walked over to where John was and said, "Radio Ken. We might be late."
John nodded. "Right."
"At least this is going to be entertaining. If I was a better, I'd say thirty bits Maruco caves first. You?"
John shrugged. "Don't really have any money, but if so and I was a better, I'd go with Vinyl caving first."
"And that shows how little you know of her." As their conversation was going on, Vinyl and Marucos argument went from Vinyl being a good tech person to who could kill more people with their fists, or hooves, in Vinyls case. "Want to sit and watch the shit storm commence."
"Don't see why not," John said, and moved to sit on the ground next to the nearest seat.
They were like this for an hour, with the topics Maruco and Vinyl were arguing over becoming more and more ridiculous. From who could take out more grunts with just melee in a time frame to who was the better dancer. And it was still going on. "And another thing," Maruco said, "you. Could. Not. Beat. Me. In. A. Fight."
Vinyl laughed. "What makes you say that? All I've seen you use is your fists, not your brain. Do you even use it in your day-to-day life?"
"Please tell me you know a sleep spell," John said to Lone. "This is getting old."
"Sure. I was just waiting for you to ask," Lone said. "On the other hand though, that means we have to carry more. Think I have a way to work this to our advantage, though."
"How?"
"Watch." Lone then turned to Vinyl and Maruco and yelled, "Hey, which one of you two is strongest?"
"ME!!" they both yelled.
"Really? I bet the two of you couldn't lift and carry the crates to the castle by yourselves."
The two then guffawed at this, moved to pick up half the crates each, and begin walking to the castle, still arguing over pointless stuff. "Still got it," Lone said as he and John followed the two arguing individuals.
...
Brotherhood of Plasma HQ- that morning
Anger. Hatred. Confusion. These were the emotions running through Shadow Specter's mind the morning after the failed attempt to get blood from the princesses. Not kill them, as many other members of the Brotherhood wanted, just get blood from them. Unlike many other members, Shadow saw no use in killing when it wasn't needed. He, in fact, despised killing ever since he had been forced to kill innocent civilians during his initiation, almost thirty-four years ago, as he had grown and matured faster than any other pony he knew.
He was angry at the fact he had been defeated by lone team, but he was exclusively angry at Lone, though he hadn't fought him or seen him before, which is why he thought it strange he recognized him. He hated that the rest of the Brotherhood was full of morons who took everything so damn literally, if you said that something was like talking to a brick wall, they would say, "That's stupid. Only crazy people talk to walls." This stupidity made him to want to bash his head into the nearest spiked wall. But the main emotion was confusion.
It had started shortly after he had made it to the throne room in Canterlot, when he had first laid eyes on Celestia, the reason of which he had no idea. All he knew relating to Canterlot since leaving came from Brother Green Mist, who had reported that the two Element changelings had been revealed, which threw off the plans to conquer the changeling hives. Why the buck do we refer to the others as "Brother" anyway. We aren't a damned cult. Not what I've seen of the Brotherhood, anyway, he thought to himself as he walked down the corridor in the Brotherhood HQ that lead to the library.
Every hall had some kind of portrayal of Plasma, Shadow's favorite being one showing Plasma as a bipedal being with gray skin, six ruby red eyes, a stinger tail coming from where his torso met his waist in the back, and hands with two fingers and one backwards pincer each. This was in the hallway he was walking through now. He was careful to avoid the "Warlock room," as he called the room where the unicorn mages worked on new spells and tech to help the Brotherhood. Bucking psychos, he thought.
He was just turning the corner when he ran into one of the only members of the Brotherhood he could tolerate, a black coated, blue mane and tailed earth pony with silver eyes and a river under the moon as her cutie mark. Her name was Midnight Stream. They both fell down and hit the floor. "Oh, hey, Shadow," she said as she saw him.
Shadow rubbed the back of his head to help remove the discomfort from the fall as he replied, "Hey, Midnight. What've you been up to?"
Midnight got up on her hooves and said, "Trying to find you. The Conclave wants a word with you. Word of warning, they seemed pissed. And they want to see you asap."
"Joy," Shadow said sarcastically. "Thanks for he warning, Midnight."
"No problem, Shadow," she said. Another thing he liked about Midnight is that she saw him as an equal, not a god like figure like the Conclave said he his due to his "special circumstances", as they called it. Midnight then continued walking down the path she was going when she ran into Shadow. "See you later," she said over her shoulder.
"See ya," Shadow said as he started walking to the chamber where the conclave met.
It was a walk that took ten minutes. When he arrived, he knocked on the door, a huge, ornate thing, and entered. The room was as large height wise as the Canterlot throne room, with red lights spaced far enough apart to light the floor of the room in red light. Jeez, the Brotherhood's got a huge obsession with that color.
He walked to the center of the circular room and stood there, waiting for the Conclave to start, which was a minute later.
"Zealot Shadow. Do you have any idea how much your failure in Canterlot cost us?" one of the ten Conclave members said. The Conclave all wore black cloaks that covered their entire body, and only they knew what they looked like.
Zealot. The highest ran in the Brotherhood, given only to one member at a time, said member having proven himself in many missions and trials. Shadow hated the title.
"No, Conclave," he said, bowing his head.
"We lost all of our top assassins, with you being the only one to have survived, and that is due to you running away. What do you have to say for your self?" another said.
"Only that I had no other option after the others had been killed, and thus, I decided to run, hoping I would have another chance to complete the objective."
Silence. Then, after half a minute, "That may be so, but your incompetence in planning for lone team cost us the lives of some of our best assassins," a third member said.
"Because of this," a forth member started.
"The Conclave has decided," the fifth said.
"That you are to be stripped of your rank of Zealot," the sixth said.
"And to be reduced in rank to priest. As such," the seventh said, "you will no longer have leadership roles in missions."
"Also, you are hereby forbidden from participating in missions until further notice," the eighth said.
"As for who will take the role of Zealot, it is a unanimous decision of this Conclave that Brother Green Mist be given this rank and begin the planning of the attack on Canterlot," the ninth said, the tenth staying silent through out the proceedings.
"Agreed," the first said. "You are dismissed, Brother Shadow."
"Of course, Conclave," Shadow said, bowing his head and walking towards the door.
...
Later; Canterlot castle
The day had started out well for Rainbow. She had been dreaming of kicking massive plot with her long-lost sister when she was awoken a loud BANG.
She fell down to the floor, hitting it with a thud. "WAKE THE BCK UP, RECRUIT. DO YOU WANT TO DIE IN COMBAT!!" a voice shouted, jolting Rainbow to her feet.
"No sir," she said, getting on all four hooves and as her sight came back.
She saw a gray unicorn stallion with a white mane and tail, with gray eyes, his cutie mark being something resembling barbed wire.
"Good," he said in a calmer tone. "I'm going to be the pony that you are going to hate, Acolyte. You'll address me as 'Sir' or 'Sergeant', is that clear?"
"Yes, sir."
"In that case, GET TO THE GARDENS! NOW!!," Sergeant yelled. In reality, his name was Iron Resolve. When ever a new pony joined lone team in Canterlot, he was one of the trainers that would ensure they were ready.
"SIR!!" Rainbow exclaimed as she sprinted to the gardens, mostly out of fear, though she wouldn't admit this to her friends, of what would happen if she didn't get there quick enough.
Three minutes later, she was in the gardens, out of breath and leaning on one of the statues. Never thought I would, or could run that fast. Fly, sure, but not run, she though to herself. Then she thought, Wait. Why didn't I fly here?
She waited here for another ten minutes before Iron Resolve walked up, not even out of breath. "Good time," he said, "but you have to learn to pace yourself. It may very well mean if you survive a fight. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Good." he said calmly. Now get on the ground and give me on hundred push-ups. Not wing-ups, but PUSH-UPS!!. . . NOW!!!"
A fair portion of Dash's morning was like this. Doing physical exercises that she wouldn't be used to, being a Pegasus and all. None of it was overly difficult. That came when the unicorn trainer came.
Rainbow was in the middle of meditating, which she found extremely boring, when the trainer shouted, "WAKE THE BUCK UP, ACOLYTE!!THIS IS TRAINING!! NOT NURSERY SCHOOL!! ARE YOU A BUCKING BABY, OR ARE YOU A MARE WHO CAN ACTUALLY DO SHIT!!" Needless to say, she fell on her back due to the sudden change in volume.
"Ow," she said, rubbing one of her ears, but she didn't say anything else, as she figured that would only make it worse.
"Acolyte Dash, this is Mental Acuity," Iron Resolve said. "He'll be the one training you for the mental stress all of lone team goes through. You are to follow his every word until your next trainer comes. Is that clear?"
"Yes, sir," she said as she saluted.
He nodded, as he said, "Good," and then walked away.
Once he left the gardens, Acuity said, "Now comes the part of your training that makes it your own personal Tartarus." He lit his horn and put it on Dash's forehead. She blacked out.
. . .
Rainbow woke up in her room in the castle, her head pounding like a drum. "What happened?" she said. She looked around her room and saw that it looked like a war zone.
She got up as quickly as her physiology would allow and mad her way to the door. The hall looked even worse. It looked as if Cerberus had a temper tantrum in it. "What the buck happened?" Rainbow said, with a look on her face one would identify as a mix of shock and surprise. She was pulled out of this when she heard hoof steps coming her way.
Rainbow ducked behind the nearest cover, a destroyed column, and watched the part of the hall the hoof steps were coming from. She didn't have to wait long, and what she saw made her pissed.
She saw twenty ponies in the dark cloaks of the Brotherhood. This isn't what made her pissed. What did make her pissed is that he saw all of her pony friends being carried by them, all of them, including Pinkie, bloodied. Her face grew into a snarl, and she made a break for the Brotherhood, hoping to free her friends. She was sighted even before she made it half-way there. The one in the lead of the group brought his head down, and fired a bolt of blood-red magic at Rainbow.
The beam hit her in the chest. She fell to the floor and skid for a good, but painful, few feet before coming to a stop, her sight becoming darker. The last thing she saw was the leader walking over and bringing his hoof down.
. . .
"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!" Rainbow screamed as she bolted upright. She looked at her surroundings and saw that she was still in the gardens, which were as pristine as ever. "What happened?" she asked for the third time that day.
"You died in your dream, Acolyte," she heard Mental Acuity say off to her left.
"That was a dream?" she asked, turning to face him. He was a pale blue unicorn with a light green mane and tail, and a brain as his cutie mark.
"Yes," he said. "All acolytes go through a dream like yours, facing what they fear most, and they can't conquer it until they admit what it is. The only pony to pass it the first time was Lone."
This little tidbit of info simply made Rainbow's respect for Lone, which was already close to Wonderbolt levels, skyrocket to exactly at level with the Wonderbolts, a feat she would have thought impossible before. "So, how many times can I take that test . . . dream thing?"
"As many as needed, as often as you want. I imagine you want to try again?" he asked.
"Of course," Rainbow said.
"Then prepare," he said, and put Rainbow under again.
It was like this for half the day, one of Rainbow's screams being loud enough that it was heard on the far side of Canterlot.
When it was over, Rainbow's head was throbbing. Fortunately for her, her mental training was over for the day.
"That's good enough for today, Acuity. Times up for you anyway." Rainbow heard this as she was recovering from the literal fiftieth try. She turned and saw Blue Thunder standing there, talking with Mental Acuity.
"Don't blame me, Thunder. She wanted to do it. A lot like you that way," he said with a small grin.
"Oh, shove it. It's time for Pegasus training, and, unless your an alicorn, that's my job while I'm here."
Rainbow was surprised at this news. She wouldn't have thought her sister was one of the trainers.
"Okay, okay," Acuity said, holding his hooves up in mock surrender. He then left the gardens.
"Hey, RD," Thunder said, turning to face Rainbow. "I want to let you know that I'm probably going to be a pony you hate because of this."
"Why," Rainbow asked, before she felt something clamp on to her barrel, preventing her wings from coming out. "What's this," she asked, panic in her voice.
"It's a jacket that all Pegasus acolytes have to wear," Thunder said. She paused and added, "Until they pass a test."
"What? A TEST!? I'm terrible at those," Rainbow complained.
"So am I, Rainbow. But you only need to do one thing. I can't tell you what, as that would be too easy."
"Great," Rainbow said sarcastically. "Might as well get started."
"Good. Now, just close your eyes and imagine you're flying, but don't try to unfurl your wings. The jacket will tighten when that happens. I speak from experience when I say you don't want that."
Rainbow did as instructed, and was able to picture it perfectly, but felt the jacket tighten, as it also tightened, though not fatally, when a pony thought of flying with wings. Eventually, she became uncomfortable enough that her concentration broke and she opened her eyes, expecting to see disappointment on Thunder's face, but was instead surprised with a warm, sisterly smile. "You lasted longer than most others do, Rainbow," she said. "You should be proud of that."
"Okay," Rainbow said," but what was that supposed to do?"
"The jacket gave you the answer to that, sis. You just need to understand what it said."
The cryptic response left Rainbow more confused than when she had started. "Well," Thunder said. "That's good enough for today," she said, turning around to head back to the castle as she did so. Rainbow followed behind, the anti-flight jacket still on.
Later
Maruco was in his room, thinking about his old, as in previous, girlfriend. She had died a year before the human-covenant war ended, killed by an insurrectionist bomb in an isolated part of Reach.
They were walking in the forest, listening to the animals. Maruco wasn't one for this, but he knew AJ liked it, and that was enough for him.
"The birds sound beautiful today," AJ said.
"Maybe," Maruco said, "But nowhere near as beautiful as you, AJ."
"Sweet-talker," she said, smiling.
"Well, that's more than you can say. If words were weapons, mine would be a sword that can pierce the toughest armor, while yours would be a hammer."
"Hammers can be devastating too, love. Do you not remember Roran from the inheritance cycle from the early twenty-first century?" she said.
Maruco shook his head, saying, "I still can't believe you read that old crap. Why don't you read the modern stuff."
"Because," she said, "that 'crap', as you put it, is my heritage as a human, and I want to know my heritage. I'll admit some of the ideas are cliché, but it does them well." Thinking back on this memory, Maruco realized that, though they had the same accent, AJ and Applejack didn't share the country drawl.
The two continued walking for a while before they arrived at AJ's house, a small, red one story that seemed a mix of modern and twenty-first century architecture. In retrospect, this was not the best place for a house like this, as rebels had occasionally struck at Reach, though there was only one that came to Maruco's mind, and that one only because it involved a luxury liner getting hit by rebel controlled orbital cabs that has a lot of explosives on board. the end result wasn't pretty.
"Well, I enjoyed the walk, Maruco," AJ said. "I'll see you later." Those would be the last words she said to him. As soon as she had closed the front door behind her, an Maruco had walk back to his home, Maruco was thrown to the ground by a large BANG. He got up, with a splitting headache, and looked back at AJ's house. He saw nothing but a few bent and burnt pieces of metal.
The authorities arrived a few hours later. They found Maruco on the ground, on both knees, his cheeks wet with the tears he had cried.
They had asked him the routine questions about if he knew who had done this and why. He had told them he didn't know who had done this or why. He had been taken back to his house, where he stayed for the next week, his manager at a nearby restaurant where he worked knowing about his relationship and telling Maruco he could take as much time as he needed. I t would be considered a paid vacation, though Maruco couldn't care about that. He had lost the love of his life, and nothing cold bring her back. But he did remember that she had said that if she had ever died, then she wanted Maruco to move on and find someone else, get his mind off the grief.
He was able to take care both easily to start off with. He had given his boss his resignation papers, saying that he wanted to get away from the area to see if it would help. He wasn't lying, as he went to a UNSC recruitment center the next day. He got in, and the rest was history.
He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard a knock on the door. "Come in," he said. The door opened and he saw Applejack walk in. "Hey, Applejack," he said.
"Howdy, Maruco," she said.
"What are you doing here?"
"Ah came to see if y'all are a'right. You haven't left your room since y'all came back."
Maruco sighed, thinking Might as well tell her. If her friends were telling the truth, she'll know if I'm telling a lie.
"No, Applejack. Did Hades or Ken tell you that I used to have a girlfriend?" Hades had confronted him about his initial reaction to Applejack, and Maruco, wanting to play it safe, told him the truth. He had been surprisingly insightful about it, saying that it would be best to tell Applejack so she didn't think Maruco disliked her or anything.
"Eeyup," she said, "but what does that have to do with it?"
"Everything, actually. You see, she was a lot like you."
"Wait, 'was'? What do y'all mean by that?"
"She was killed eight years ago by an insurrectionist bomb on Reach, the planet we lived on. You and her. . . . Well, you are a lot like her, especially in your personality, and you remind me a lot of her whenever she was happy."
"Really?"
Maruco nodded. "Yeah. If you find that strange, the I don't blame you."
"I don't."
Maruco was surprised by this. "Wait. You're not?" he asked, looking at Applejack.
"Nope. If ah remind y'all of her, then ah can't do nothin' 'bout it."
"Well. You're surprisingly taking this well."
"It aint the weirdest thing t ohappen. Don't y'all remember when me and the other told y'all 'bout Discord?"
This got a chuckle out of Maruco. "Fair point."
Should I? he thought to himself.
No. Hell no. Fuck no. Every-cuss-word-I-know no!!
I said the same thing about AJ.
And look at what happened there. If that's not enough, Applejack isn't even the same species.
Have you been here on this planet for the past week, or did you just get here? They said that interspecies relationships are the norm.
Yeah. Here, but what about back home?
They can go fuck themselves.
"Uh, Maruco? Y'all okay," Applejack said, breaking Maruco out of his thoughts.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and said, "Yeah. Sorry."
There was an awkward pause, followed by Applejack saying, "Well, ah'll let you be alone."
She was just about to leave the room when Maruco said, "Applejack, wait." Applejack paused and looked back at him. "I was wondering if you would like to just have a walk with me in the gardens tonight?"
Applejack looked surprised at this. Before she could say anything, though, Maruco said, "I guess it was stupid to ask," slight sorrow in his voice.
"Actually," Applejack said, "ah would like that. Tonight?"
"Yeah," Maruco said, surprise in his voice.
"Then ah'll see ya tonight," she said before turning to leave the room.
As she left and closed the door, Maruco began a silent dance, surprised, yet happy, that it had turned out like it had.
Second Authors notes:
Sorry that this chapter came out as late as it did, guys. When you combine the load of two stories here on fimfiction, finals getting closer for school here, a co-lab, which can be found here, you kind of get side tracked. If you like star wars or are a supporter of the New Lunar Republic, give this a try. Word of warning, though: the grammar in the first chapter is not the best, but it does improve. At least read through the first three chapters before deciding on whether to like or dislike, okay