Twilight Sparkle was banished by Discord. Afterwards, war breaks out in Equestria. Can Twilight make it home to help save her homeland, or will Discord win the day?
Twilight Sparkle has been banished by Discord as part of his master plan to cause Chaos across the entire planet. Jason Sparks is an American Sniper in Afghanistan that was severely wounded in the line of duty. During the time he is unconscious, memories of another life start to come to the forefront. Memories where he was a certain lavender alicorn princess. Can he make it back to Equestria and save the day, or will Discord hold dominion over all of Terra?
***EDIT/AUTHOR'S NOTE: It was brought to my attention that since some of the details that were included in certain sections of this story are descriptions of military hardware and assets that I should make some changes since Internet/Barracks Lawyers get pissy about such things. I will address this by stating that everything that I have included details of are things that are in the public domain and are one Google search away. Nothing that is written could be construed as an OPSEC violation as it is nothing that is classified. I can assure you that if I knew any kind of classified details regarding anything written here, I would not be including it.***
"Hey, Twilight I'm heading out to help Rarity with her gem hunting. I'll be back in time to help make dinner." Spike called out as he headed for the door of the Friendship Palace's public library wing.
"Okay Spike. Have fun and stay away from the Diamond Dogs! We don't need a repeat of the last time you two went out there!" Twilight replied as she put the last of the returned books back on the shelf.
""I here ya Twilight. I don't think the Diamond Dogs would appreciate it either!" Spike said with a chuckle as he headed out the door with a wave.
Twilight returned the wave while chuckling herself before stretching out her arms and wings. She'd only been a princess for a little over a year, but the sensations of having two new appendages was starting to fade into familiarity.
Moving to her ever present checklist, she checked to see what tasks she still had to accomplish before the end of the day.
"Okay, let's see what we have. Books reshelved, check. Next up: get groceries." Twilight looked at the clock hanging behind the information desk in the rear of the libraries main room. "Might as well get this done while the market is still open." She muttered to herself as she grabbed her purse and shopping bag.
Flipping the sign on the door to closed and setting the little clock part for an hour and a half for her return Twilight headed out the door, locking it before heading off to the Ponyville Farmer's Market.
As she walked she passed a few of the little hamlet's residents, acknowledging them with a smile and a wave. Thankfully they had picked up on the fact that the constant bowing was grating on her nerves fairly quickly and most now at the very least gave her a polite nod and a smile in greeting as their paths crossed.
Reaching the marketplace, Twilight began the process of procuring the necessary items that she and Spike would need for the next few days.
Finally after nearly an hour of haggling with the various vendors in the market, she reached the cart for Sweet Apple Acres.
"Hi Applejack! How's business been?" She asked the blonde maned, orange furred mare behind the cart.
"Hasn't been too bad today Twi. How about your day sugarcube?" Applejack asked as she began to gather Twilight's usual order.
"Not to bad really. Just a few books that came back, only one of which was late." Twilight replied as she took the bundle of apples before handing a handful of coins to the farm mare.
"Let me guess, the one that was late was Rainbow Dash?" Applejack inquired as she put the coins in the cash box.
"How ever did you guess that?" Twilight replied with a mock surprised expression. "Yeah, with the new Daring Do book coming out soon she wanted to read the entire series, again. You would figure that she would have learned that I don't make exceptions for late fees by now."
The two mares shared a laugh at the expense of their polychromatic friend.
"You would think that she would after all that she has paid. Weren't y'all thinkin' about making a 'Rainbow Dash Wing' of the library on account of how many bits she's shelled out to ya?" Applejack asked after she got her laughter under control.
"I was, but I figured that she would just take it as a complement and not the message that we would want it to be." Twilight replied as she wiped her eyes. "Well I need to get going. Got one last stop to make at Sugarcube Corner before heading back home. I'll talk to you later AJ."
"Alright, have good evenin' Twi. I'll see ya around." AJ replied as she waved goodbye to her friend.
Twilight returned the wave as she headed off to the bakery.
Reaching the gingerbread house design bakery she entered pulling out her wallet as her friend Pinkie Pie spotted her.
"Hiya Twilight! Got your usual already to go for ya! Are ya coming to Lyra's birthday party this weekend?" The pink maned party mare asked as she set some packages of baked goods on to the counter.
"You bet, Pinkie. It would take a lot for me to miss a Pinkie Pie Party. It's at noon right?" Twilight asked as she handed over the appropriate amount of bits.
"That's right. See ya-" Pinkie began before she was cut of as her mane curled, both ears began to twitch wildly and her left eye began to roll around independently of her right one before her right leg kicked out and sent her sprawling on the floor.
"Pinkie! Are you alright?" Twilight asked as she leaned over the counter to check on her friend.
"I'll be okay, but boy that was a doozy of a Pinkie Sense. Wonder what this doozy is gonna be?" Pinkie replied as she stood up.
Twilight shuddered at the thought. After her experience of trying to quantify Pinkie's various ticks and twitches, Twilight took the early warnings seriously. "Any idea where and when this one is gonna occur?" She asked.
"Nope, not a clue. It's just gonna be a big one." Pinkie replied.
“Alright then. Keep an eye out. No need to get surprised more than we have to. I’ll see you at the party.” Twilight said as she grabbed the boxes of baked goods and exited the bakery.
Heading back towards her crystal tree castle, Twilight’s eyes danced around as she checked for anything that seemed out of the ordinary.
Out of the ordinary for Ponyville at least.
She didn’t spot anything as she used her magic to pull her keys from her purse and unlocked the door to the castle. Upon entering, she saw the most likely cause of the latest Doozy.
“Discord.” She said tersely as she closed the door with her magic as she moved towards the living area of the massive tree.
“Oh, you wound me Twilight. I thought we were friends.” The draconequus replied as he floated several feet above the floor.
“I know that you say that you are reformed, and Fluttershy seems to be keeping you on a short leash, but forgive me if I don’t fully trust someone who has tried to take over Equestria not once, but twice, and then betrayed us against Tirek” Twilight answered as she used her magic to quickly put the groceries in their places while keeping Discord within sight.
“Now why would I want to do a thing like that? Where would the fun be?” The harbinger of chaos inquired.
“Maybe because you’re still smarting over your defeat by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, and when the girls and I did it a second time after everything that you put us through. Even your little vines a few of months ago failed.” Twilight replied as she moved towards the public area of the library.
“Hmmm, you are right about one thing Twilight. I am very upset that I was defeated, but I’ve gotten over it. Now all I want to do is cause a little bit of chaos. It just so happens that since the Elements of Harmony are no longer in your possession, I have a prime opportunity to do just that.” Discord said, his lips curving into a maniacal grin.
Twilight’s eyes widened as she connected the last few dots. Discord was well aware that the power of the Elements were no longer usable without the six Bearers together. She also knew that of everyone in the immediate vicinity, she was the biggest threat to whatever Discord was planning. She didn’t like to admit it, but she was a very powerful unicorn before she ascended. Since then she was almost at the level of Celestia and Luna when it came to raw magical output. She knew that if she fell to Discord, there wouldn’t be much that could stop whatever he was planning.
“Now what to do with you Princess Sparkle. I could turn you into a statue, I could banish you to the moon, or I could just get rid of you for good.” Discord said with a cackle.
“What are you planning Discord? What makes you so sure that you can even do anything to me and get away with it?” Twilight asked as she slowly moved behind the counter towards a drawer that was under heavy preservation enchantments.
“I was thinking, what is the best way to cause chaos with as little input from little old me? Then I said to myself ‘Discord old chap, why not bring back a most noble pursuit of chaos to this fair planet.’ So I decided that I shall, but first I need to make sure that even if Tia does have the Bearers move against me, they will be unable to use that 'Rainbow Power' against me. That means getting rid of the one thing that makes them work, you.” Discord explained as he continued to monologue as he drew himself up to his full height.
Twilight rested her hand on the pull of the enchanted drawer. She really didn’t want to open it, but things seemed to be heading towards a confrontation. “What is it that you are planning Discord?”
“Put simply my dear Princess, I am planning on starting a little war against Equestria. I won’t be fighting it, and I haven’t decided who will yet, but I will. But first, I think that it is time for you to be on your way.” Discord finished as he raised his claws.
Twilight, in one of those stunning moments of clarity brought on by a massive surge of adrenaline flooding one’s system, saw time slow down as she pulled the drawer open and reached inside to grab the contents.
When she first moved to Ponyville, Shining Armour had sent her a care package that contained a gift that he had commissioned for her.
Two flintlock pistols that had her cutie mark set into the grips.
He had shown her how to use them when they both resided in Canterlot. Shining had taught her the basics of handling, loading, firing, and caring for the weapons. She took to it like a duck to water. So when she finally left Canterlot, he sent them to her so that she could ‘protect herself from overly amorous stallions’.
To keep them safe and out of young hands, she took one of the drawers in the library counter and enchanted it to Tartarus and back. It was keyed so that only she could open it and it would keep the weapons in the same state that they were in when she put them in it.
In this case, loaded and cocked.
Time continued to crawl as she drew the weapons, Discord’s claws seeming to move through molasses as he moved them to snap her into oblivion.
Taking careful aim, Twilight fired both shots straight at Discord.
At the same moment, time sped back up and the draconequus’s fingers snapped, only to be drowned out by the report of the two pistols.
Discord staggered back, the force of the impact merely knocking the wind out of him.
Looking up he smiled.
On the countertop, rested two smoking flintlock pistols.
Behind the counter, was a scorch mark where there used to be a mare.
Princess Twilight Sparkle, the Bearer of the Element of Magic, was gone.
Out of all the specialties on the modern battlefield, none has the unique position in the hearts and minds of the other soldiers like the sniper.
Loved by his allies for his ability to change the tide of battle in their favor, or simply for making the enemy bury his head for a respite from the fire.
Hated by his enemies for lacking honor. Called a coward because he strikes from the shadows, never showing his face.
Hunted mercilessly and given no quarter when captured, only those with a steadfast determination can handle the task of a sniper.
To the sniper, he is a god amongst men when he is stalking his prey. When his enemy is in his sights, he chooses the exact moment the enemy shall perish.
This is what makes a sniper both a hero and a pariah on the battlefield. To succeed means a fellow soldier gets to live another day. To fail is to be executed and, if one is lucky, given a shallow grave.
Sergeant 1st Class Jason Sparks grunted quietly to himself as he surveyed the harsh mountain side across the valley from his nest.
“Not a damn bit of activity in the last three days. I think the spooks dropped the ball on this one.” He thought to himself as her carefully adjusted his position on the rocky surface he and his spotter Sergeant Dustin Sikes had been perched on while looking for insurgents moving weapons.
“Jazz, seen anything?” He asked his partner in crime.
“Not a damn thing Warlock. Think this whole trip was a waste of our time.” Sikes replied.
“You’re telling me.” Sparks replied with a grim smirk as he continued to survey the valley below through the optic on his rifle.
Sikes was about to reply when an explosion echoed down the valley below.
The two soldiers exchanged glances before turning their optics towards the column of smoke that was rising over the next ridge.
“The hell? Think one of the bastards blew himself up early?” Sikes muttered as he swept the area with his spotter’s optic.
“You mean he had a ‘premature detonation’? I think that only happens to you Jazz. I think we should at least-” Sparks said before being interrupted by automatic weapons fire.
“Okay, what the hell is going on? The Taliban shooting at each other?” Sikes asked incredulously.
“No. Listen to the sound of the heavy. That’s Mama Deuce.” Sparks replied.
Sikes closed his eyes and listened. Sure enough the distinctive thump-thump-thump of the Browning M2 .50 caliber Machine Gun was heard echoing through the valley, drowning out the sounds of the Third World favorite, the AK-47.
“Think it’s some of our guys?” Sikes asked.
“Gotta be. Jazz, pack up. We’re moving.” Sparks said as he began to prepare for the move to a better position.
“Seriously, Warlock? You know they said to sit tight here.” Sikes responded.
“I doubt they expected a snag like this and it sounds like those guys are gonna need some back up. Now cut the chatter and pack up. We’re moving.” Sparks replied as he hefted his rifle.
Normally Sparks used the M24 Sniper Weapon System when he was sent on a mission. This time however, he was dealing with ranges that were far outside of what the M24’s 7.62x51 MM M118LR round. So he had been outfitted with the most powerful sniper rifle in the Special Force’s inventory, the Barrett M107 Special Application Scoped Rifle. Using the Raufoss Mk 211 round, this weapon would discourage all but the most insane jihadist from continuing aggression against Coalition forces. But with an overall length of fifty-seven inches and a loaded weight of over thirty pounds, it was very unwieldy.
Finally, Sikes had gathered his gear and was on their radio, informing the local ‘sheriff’ that they were moving to a new position and the approximate location of the friendly forces under fire.
Moving quickly yet carefully, Sparks and Sikes made their way across the ridgeline trying to find an angle to provide support to the convoy below.
After nearly half an hour of scrambling over the rocky terrain, the sniper team finally found a good firing position.
“Warlock, you know that we don’t have time to set up a proper range card.” Sikes said as he set up his spotter’s optic.
“I know Jazz, just do what ya can and improvise as necessary.” Sparks replied as he snapped the bipod open on his rifle and put it into position onto of a small boulder.
“So in other words you’re going to do your thing.” Sikes replied.
“Eeyup. Not to much of a choice in this situation.” Sparks replied as he slowed his breathing and began to calm his racing pulse.
When Sparks was in his advanced training to join the Special Forces, it was discovered that he had a real talent for the sniper rifle. When he was training with the precision rifles, he would visualize the track that the round would take as it traveled to his target. Nine times out of ten, his round would hit the target right where he was wanting it to go.
His buddies that he was training with started calling him the Warlock due to his almost magic touch with the rifle. The name stuck when he graduated Sniper School and transitioned to his current unit, Bravo Company, 4th Battalion (Airborne), 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. There, due to the losses early on in the war, retirement of the older members of the unit, and through his capabilities as a soldier, he quickly climbed the ladder to his current rank.
This was not anywhere on Jason Sparks’s mind as he surveyed the valley below for the insurgents that were attacking his fellow soldiers down below.
“Come on! Where are you bastards hiding?” He thought as he scanned the area. “There ya are ya goatfucker.” He thought as he spotted one of the insurgents as he moved out of cover.
“Hey Jazz! I’m going hot!” Sparks called out as he made the adjustments on his optic for the range and elevation. Taking a deep breath and letting it out, he saw the track of the round start to form in front of him.
“Needs to be about two ticks to the left and one up to compensate for the wind” Sparks thought as he moved his optic to line up the shot he wanted. “Perfect. Time to let the bastards know what the hell they’re up against.” With one final exhale, Sparks let loose the round from the heavy rifle.
Less than a second later, his target was chum.
“Give me something ta shoot Jazz!” Sparks called out as he swept the mountain side for more targets.
Before Sikes could callout any enemy, there was a dull thump that was shortly followed by a high pitched whistle.
“Hold your position! Less chance of running into the damn things on the way down!” Sparks called out as he saw Sikes flinch at the sound of the whistle.
“Yes sir! Got the mortar team almost straight across from us, about a hundred feet higher elevation!” Sikes called out as the mortar fell short and struck the mountainside a couple of hundred feet below their firing point.
“Searching for ‘em!” Sparks called out as he center his rifle and began to look up the mountain in front of him. “Got ‘em!” He called out as he spotted the mortar team just as they lobbed another round towards their position.
“Must have spotted us as we moved into position and spent that time making adjustments to hit us. They haven’t gotten us dialed in yet, so we have time.” Sparks thought as he adjusted his optic for the height difference.
Suddenly the next round exploded less than two hundred feet behind them, showering them with dust and debris.
“Anytime now Warlock!” Sikes called out as he prepared his M4A1 Carbine to provide support for his partner.
“Almost, almost, got it. Sending it.” Sparks replied just as another mortar was launched.
Time seemed to slow for Sparks as he pulled the trigger, sending another round downrange. Through what could only later be attributed to some kind of divine intervention, his round struck the mortar round that was being loaded just as the loader removed his hands from the round, causing it to detonate, killing all four insurgents that were in the position.
Unfortunately, the round that had been launched previously struck about fifty feet behind their position, peppering the two soldiers with shrapnel.
For any main line soldier, this would only be a worry if a piece of that shrapnel struck their unprotected arms, legs, or face due to the body armour and helmets that were worn. But for Sparks and Sikes, they wore minimal body armour that could barely be called a flak jacket with no ballistic plates as they would impair movement and make getting into a prone firing position and holding it for hours unbearable. Even the thick ghillie suits that they wore to break up their silhouettes afforded them little protection.
It was due to luck and positioning that Sikes was spared serious injury. Sparks on the other hand was not so fortunate.
He could feel a burning sensation in at least a dozen places on his left side and back where the shrapnel had pierced the vest he wore. Grunting in pain, he held onto his rifle and pushed himself back up to continue supporting the unit below.
“Call for dust off! The area should be secure by the time they get here!” Sparks called out as he took aim and fired again on the insurgents down below.
Sikes shook himself out of his daze and began to call for medevac to their position, and after getting confirmation that help was on the way, with numerous helicopters heading to evacuation the troops down in the valley, he began to assess what he could of his team leader’s injuries as the big rifle barked again and again, causing the volume of fire coming from the opposite side of the valley to slack off even more.
The defenders on the ground were able to press the advantage as he fired his tenth and final round in the magazine, the bolt locking open on the rifle as smoke rose from the breech.
Thankfully, one of the nearest helicopters was one that belonged to the Nightstalkers, a unit whose express purpose was to insert and extract the Special Forces teams that they were attached to.
Sparks began to assist Sikes in bandaging his wounds enough to control the bleeding just before the helo began to circle their position, the door gunners searching for any hostile forces with rocket launchers that wished to score an easy kill of a Blackhawk on the ground.
Sikes and Sparks began to grab their gear in preparation to get out of the hell hole they were in. Sand and loose debris began to get kicked up as the helo moved to land.
Once it touched down, two other members of their squad ran over to them and carried the beleaguered snipers to the helo.
Sparks was laid down on the floor of the aircraft as the team medic began to assess his injuries.
The rhythmic thumping of the rotor blades began to fade as his vision dimmed to black, the last sight he saw was the medic yelling something at him.
Groaning, he slowly pulled himself into a sitting position.
"So I guess I finally bought the farm on that last one. Must be where you go to find out if you're going up or down." He thought as he glanced around what appeared to be a massive library in an equally large rotunda.
Slowly standing up, he looked around for a path towards the center. Following the aisles of shelves, he glanced at a few of the titles.
"Okay, what the hell kind of language is this?" He wondered as he tried to read the flowing script on the spines.
An avid reader in his down time, Jason was practically salivating at the amount of material that surrounded him, unknown language or no.
“All I would need to do is find something to get a frame of reference to start a translation." He thought as he continued towards the center of the massive structure.
Pausing to glance at a few of the thicker tomes, Jason heard what sounded like footsteps on the stone floor of the library. After looking around and listening for a few moments, he shrugged and continued on.
Finally reaching the center of the rotunda, Jason found a raised dais with a positively gargantuan tome sitting atop.
"Okay, now I feel like Indiana Jones. Massive library with an equally massive book in the center and is that thing glowing?" He wondered as the massive book did indeed begin to glow.
"Started doing that when you nearly got our flank killed." A female voice said from behind him.
Startled from his musing, Jason whirled around to see who it was that snuck up on him.
"Oh, you have got to be kidding me. You're the one who is determining where I spend the afterlife?" He said incredulously.
The female raised an eyebrow. "Now why would I want to do a thing like that? Especially since I would be stuck tagging along to that afterlife." She said, her wings rustling in agitation.
"Okay, if you aren't here to send me on, then where are we?" Jason asked.
She sighed. "This is your, rather OUR, head. Welcome to our collective mindscape. You're probably the first human in a few generations that has been able to access their mind like this. To bad it took nearly dying to do it."
"Wait, this is my mind. Then are you a delusion or something? Did my mind create you to help me deal with the trauma of nearly dying?" Jason asked as he noticed that, letter by letter, the words on the pages of the massive tome in front of him began to make sense to him.
The female chuckled. "If I was a delusion, why would I appear like this?" She asked as she waved a hand in front of her. "Shouldn't I be a quadruped like in that silly, yet highly entertaining cartoon that you watch and hope that no one in your unit finds out simply because of the fact they would have material for months of taking the mickey out of you?"
Jason sighed as he rubbed his face. "You have a point. But if you aren't a delusion brought on by post traumatic stress, then how do you explain your presence in my head your highness?" He replied.
The woman winced a bit. "You should know that I hate being called that. As to my presence, well it is a rather interesting story that starts a little while before we were conceived. I was minding my own business in the library of my castle when suddenly Discord decides to pop in. Turns out he had been playing us all like cheap fiddles when it came to being reformed. About a year so after we had to put the Elements back into the Tree of Harmony, he decided that the time was right for some global chaos. This being due to that fact that it will be several years, if not decades, before the elements are able to be removed from the tree again."
"So what does that have to do with the fact that I share headspace with Twilight Sparkle?" Jason asked.
"If you'd let me finish I will tell you." Twilight replied. Jason responded maturely by sticking his tongue out and blowing a raspberry at her. "Cute. Anyway, moving on. Discord decided that he wanted to cause as much chaos as possible with the least amount of effort. Apparently, all those centuries as a statue made him lazy as Tartarus. So he planned to start a war. His opening salvo as it were was to take me out of the picture." She said before Jason interrupted her again.
"Because without you, there was nothing to catalyze the power of the Elements and you are probably just below Celestia and Luna if not even with them in terms of raw magical output. Sound about right?" He asked thoughtfully.
Twilight blinked a few times at the sheer speed at which Jason put things together. "That is the best conclusion that I can come to with just his actions and the events of the past few years to go by. I'm thinking though when I shot him with a couple of enchanted rounds from a pair of equally enchanted flintlocks I may have caused the spell he was charging to get altered a bit." She replied as she tapped her index fingers together sheepishly.
Jason raised an eyebrow. ""Flintlocks? As in flintlock pistols, one of the earliest forms of handguns?" He asked. Getting a nod in response, he hummed thoughtfully. "Not too surprising really, since you are anthropomorphic. What happened after that?"
Twilight sighed. "Immediately after his spell hit? I'm not really sure. I just had a few hazy glimpses of things, a feeling of another presence next to me. At least until you were about four years old. That was when I realized what had happened. Somehow or another my consciousness had been transferred into your body. I did my best to keep from over writing yours, but some bleed through occurred with some of your habits and such. Things like learning, organization, a love of reading and puzzles, and apparently your skill with a rifle." She explained.
Jason gaped at that. "How is that a bleed over... oh I see. Pegasus magic?" He asked.
"Pegasus magic." Twilight replied. "Other than that I have been keeping things around here pretty organized." She said as she motioned towards the towering shelves around them. "I was fully expecting to never get a chance to meet you until you died of old age, but I guess life had other ideas about that."
"I can see that. Do you know where we are now? The last thing I remember was getting tossed into the medivac helo." Jason asked.
"Not a clue. It is rather annoying though. I can't even figure out how bad the damage is. I know that our left side took the brunt of the shrapnel, but other than the fact that we are alive, I can't tell a damn thing." Twilight responded with a growl of frustration.
Jason nodded as he took in all the details.
"Twilight?" He asked after a few moments.
"Yes?"
"Would it be possible for me to learn how to channel our magic in my human body?"
"I...I'm not sure. It could be possible with some training and practice to see if you can tap into our mana pool. Why?" Twilight responded.
"Well, more than likely after the injuries we sustained, it will be a miracle if we avoided any kind of permanent disability. Meaning that our military career is over. If we aren't to bad off in the injury department, I was thinking that we could try to get back to your home." He explained his slowly developing plan.
Twilight paused and began to think over what Jason was proposing. Both of his parents had been only children and they had passed away two years ago in an auto accident while on vacation. His grandparents had all passed on by the time he was a teenager. Outside of a small circle of friends from his school days, Jason really had no one to hold him back from going anywhere on the planet if he was discharged from the military, much less going to another world entirely.
"You know that it is a heck a long shot for us to find the exact world we need to go to, even with magic. Plus, what about if we are stuck in a human form? Be kind of hard to convince them that we are who we say we are. Man, that is confusing." Twilight responded after a few moments thought.
Jason chuckled. "Yeah it is. But I have the distinct feeling that, if you had wanted to, you could have tried something like this years ago. Either just your consciousness going or taking the whole body with you. You probably figured that the risk to me was too great. So you stayed behind. I've always felt like I had a presence watching over me, keeping me safe. For that I owe you my life, and if that is what it takes to get you home, then so be it. I see you just like my friends back home and my brothers in the SOG. I would give my life to protect them, just like I would for you." Jason said firmly, as brown eyes met lavender.
Twilight was stunned. After riding around in his head for thirty-two years, she thought that she had his measure. Then he goes and says something like that.
“So Discord said that he wanted to start a war? Who would the most likely aggressors be?” Jason asked, bringing Twilight out of her stupor.
“Hmmm, I’m not really sure. Equestria has had good relations with most of the world for a very long time. The few nations that we are on shaky terms with, have a healthy fear of what could happen if they crossed Celestia, and now with Luna back they had pretty well stopped their sabre rattling. She was more the warrior of the two anyways. Probably what caused a lot of the problems for her before her banishment now that I think about it.” She responded as she began to pace around the dais.
“Okay, who would be most likely to take a shot at invading then, even with the possibility of invoking the wrath of a demigoddess or two?” Jason inquired.
“The one nation that could probably pull off something like that would probably be the Ligerländreien. They as far as societal development about the equivalent of a post-World War I Germany. Depending upon if there is a Liger that is any way like Hitler, that could very well have changed. Of course we have no way of knowing how much time has passed back on Terra.” Twilight replied after a few moments of consideration.
Jason considered the options that were laid out before them. “Alright, for the time being we just need to focus on getting as close to one hundred percent as we can be. Once we get there, we can focus on getting the necessary supplies to go back to Terra, which I am assuming is your homeworld. While we are doing that, we can see just how much magic we have access to, and if there is a way to open a portal or something to get us there. Sound like a plan?” He stated.
“For the moment, yes. Hopefully we can communicate when you are conscious, that will make things a lot smoother. What kind of supplies are you thinking of?” Twilight inquired.
“Primarily the designs and specifications of as many small arms that I can get my hands on without drawing too much attention, as well as getting some weapons and ammunition for use to use. Plus we would need to figure out a way to carry all of the equipment in one shot. Knowing what kind of magic we can pull off without setting of the NEST sensors will help there. Though if we do inadvertently set off one of the sensors, hopefully we can pull of a shift to looking like you do, and hopefully they won’t throw us in some deep hole in the middle of the desert.” Jason explained.
“Sounds solid enough for now. I say we run with it and adjust as necessary.” Twilight said with a nod.
“Alright then, so now we just need to wake up. Any ideas on how to do that?” Jason asked.
Suddenly, the mindscape began to fade away.
“Looks like we won’t have to worry about that. I’ll see you later Jason. Good luck.”
“You too Twilight.” Jason replied with a nod as he finished awakening.
Groaning against the sensation of light piercing his retinas.
“Welcome back to the land of the living Sergeant. You had us worried that you wouldn’t wake up.” A female voice said from somewhere to his right.
Moving his tongue around, he smacked his lips trying to get some kind of moisture in his mouth. “Water.” He rasped out, before he started coughing.
“Here you are, small sips.” The woman said helping him sit up and putting a straw in his mouth.
Taking a few small drinks, Jason felt his throat begin to loosen up a bit.
“Thanks. How long have I been out?” He asked as he lay back on the pillows.
“Almost two months. You were pretty badly injured. Fortunately, the flak vest that you were wearing was able to stop most of the shrapnel from entering your torso. A few pieces got in, but it was only minor cuts, no actual penetration. Your legs had quite a few pieces of shrapnel in them, but the surgeons were able to get all of them out. Keep in mind that there might have been a few slivers that they missed. The most severe injury was to you left arm.” The doctor explained.
Gulping slightly, Jason looked at his left arm with trepidation.
Rather, he looked where his left arm was supposed to be.
Poking out of the sleeve was bandaged stump, that was just above where the elbow joint should have been.
“Well, fuck.” Jason said as he lifted the remaining bit of his arm.
“We tried everything that we could to save your arm, but either a large amount or one very large piece of shrapnel hit right on the joint and turned quite a bit of it into powder. I’m sorry.” The doctor said.
Jason flopped back onto his bed. “It’s alright ma’am. As far as I’m concerned, I’m just lucky to be alive. A missing limb I can deal with. Probably take a little while, but I’ll adapt.” He said with a wry smile.
The doctor returned the smile before patting him on the shoulder and making sure that the call button was in reach of his good hand. “The nurse should be in here in about half an hour. They can help you to see if you can handle going to the latrine on your own or not yet.” She said as she exited the room.
“Well that was painful and embarrassing.” Jason thought to himself after the nurse left.
When she had arrived, the first thing that she did was remove the catheter.
This understandably was quite painful and elicited more than a few pained squeaks, what he would later claim to be manly grunts, and a few bits of liquid pride to run down his face.
“Yes it was. Thankfully we were out when they put it in. Glad that they are letting us walk across the room.” Came Twilight’s reply.
“I thought I heard you when she yanked it out. I can honestly say that I have never had a woman be that damn rough with my junk before.” He replied.
“So what are we going to do about our arm? I know we were expecting some bad injuries, but I wasn’t quite prepared for this. What are we going to do?” Twilight said, her voice starting to take on a panicked tone.
“Twilight calm down! This isn’t the end of the world.” Jason mentally shouted. Sensing that she had calmed down a bit, he smiled. “It just means that we need to find out how much magic we have access to.”
“Why? What good is that going to do us?” Twilight asked.
“Well, it depends upon how good your enchanting skills are.” Jason replied.
“They are pretty good, I mean I wasn’t a master enchanter or anything but I can do some pretty decent work.” Twilight replied.
“That’s good. Now, do you remember that anime Fullmetal Alchemist?” Jason asked.
He sensed Twilight pause for a moment before she replied.
“Jason, I like the way you think.” Twilight replied in a tone that made Jason laugh as he imagined the smile that was probably on her face.
“Alright, lets start planning this out. Hopefully we can take our doctor into our confidence about this. Would certainly make things easier as far as getting the materials.” Jason thought as the pair began to discuss their project.
"Thank you come back and see us!" Jason called out to the customer as they walked out the door.
"Hopefully not anytime soon though. I know that I'm supposed to be the Princess of Friendship, but what a bitch!" Came the mental reply.
Choking on some spit, Jason laughed. "You said it not me. But I have to agree, she was a total bitch." He said before heading towards the break room to clock out for the day.
"I will be so happy if we can find another job. Retail is really starting to rub me the wrong way." Twilight replied.
Jason sighed at that before replying. "You and me both Twi. Mostly for the fact of the policies make no bloody sense. Do they not realize just how much money they let walk out of here by not locking some of this stuff up?"
Twilight snorted. "They probably do, but they want the customer feel welcome or something like that. I know they budget for losses, but they could at least try harder to reduce it. But what do we know, we're just the peons."
"Man, I'm a bad influence. Celestia is gonna be pissed at how jaded you are now." Jason responded with a shake of his head. Moving towards their locker, he carefully spun the combination in with his prosthetic left hand.
When it clicked open without incident Twilight piped up. "Well, looks like we got the sensitivity down this time. Only took what, three destroyed locks to do it?"
Jason chuckled at the snark of the alicorn princess. "Yeah, at least management didn't bitch to much when it happened."
"True. But I think that Celestia will be more upset with my new skill sets. Not like Equestria has much call for snipers or sappers. Luna, on the other hand, will probably be impressed with the amount of destruction we can cause without magic." Twilight replied.
"Probably right, you did say that she was the one who handled most of the wet work of keeping the peace back before her fall right?" Jason inquired.
"Yeah, probably part of the reason that the ponies of the time feared her. She was a bit of a boogieman, as were her Night Guard. They were pretty much an assassin's guild now that I think about it. They just didn't work for the highest bidder. I think that Luna was at least attempting to rebuild her information network before Discord pulled his stunt." Twilight explained.
"Hopefully she was able to. Be nice to have at least some kind of intel after we link up with friendlies depending upon the situation when we get back to Terra." Jason mused as he clocked out for the day. "See ya'll later!" He said out loud to some of his co-workers.
Stepping outside, Jason slipped on his sunglasses as he looked for where he had parked. Smiling slightly as he spotted his car, he headed over to it, unlocking the doors when he got close enough.
Settling into the well worn seat of the import hatchback he had bought after he finished sniper school, he buckled in and started the motor.
Unlike some of his friends who had imports, Jason had stuck with a quiet exhaust when the warranty ran out and he started to make modifications to the car.
Outside looked like a stock hatchback that one would see taking kids to a football match, but under the hood was where the difference lay.
Like when he was in the field, Jason prefered his car to blend in until it beat the pants of you in a race.
"You know I think that this is one of the things that I will miss when we leave." Twilight said after a period of silence.
"The car?" Jason asked.
"Yeah, even though I'm not the one in control of our body I enjoy the rush that we get when we go to the track, or even just when we cruise around the back roads." She explained as Jason pulled onto the main road, shifting to top gear smoothly.
Jason laughed good naturedly as he negotiated the curving road that led to the house that he had bought after his discharge. "That I can agree with Twi. I am gonna miss the girl when we have to leave."
The past year had been rough for the pair. First was the physical therapy after the doctor cleared them to walk around more than just to head to the latrine.
Then came the problems that came with designing and building their prosthetic left arm.
First was finding a material that would be able to handle the arcane energy that would power it and help to connect it to the nerves that were still sending signals. After much deliberation, titanium was chosen due to its tensile strength and how well it could handle heat.
Second was finding a way to etch the large number of complicated Equestrian runes into all the pieces of the arm, including the pins and nuts that held it together.
The easiest part of the building process was the socket that the arm would attach to. Convincing the doctors to attach it was a process in and of itself.
At first the military doctors refused to even consider attaching something that was untested and unapproved. Finally, the pair had enough of getting stonewall and did something that, in hindsight, was incredibly stupid.
~Eight months ago
"Sir, I'm telling you that this will work. You just have to believe me." Jason said to the Colonel that had taken over his case when it came time to be fitted for a prosthetic.
"I'm telling you Sergeant that there is no way that I will attach an untested piece of hardware, no matter how well engineered it is. Especially when you refuse to tell me why you are so insistent about it." The Colonel replied in a tone that left little room for argument.
Jason, fed up with the stubbornness of the doctors, tapped into the steadily recharging mana pool that he and Twilight and gotten access to a couple of weeks after they awoke from their coma.
"Jason, what are you doing?!?" Twilight asked in a panic as the energy began to be channeled.
"What I need to. I'm sick of this. We know that this will work." He replied as he focused on the exam table he sat on.
The Colonel watched in astonishment as the exam table was surrounded by a lavender glow, before it began to rise a few inches into the air.
"But that, that's impossible!" He exclaimed as his logical mind tried to make sense of what was happening in front of him.
Jason's eyes opened to reveal that they were glowing white. "Not everything is impossible Colonel. Something just require a bit of faith and the ability to think outside of the box. That and a bit of magic never hurts." He said, voice trying to be both male and female at the same time. Letting the table settle back to the floor, he continued. "I was hoping to keep these abilities a secret, mostly because I know how easy it is to make someone disappear. I would rather not wind up in some lab where someone thinks that they can control me." He said as his eyes stopped glowing and his voice returned to normal.
The Colonel gulped as he looked at the young soldier before him. He could report what he had just seen to the intelligence staff, as this was something that was beyond his level of clearance, but he was bound by oath to take care of his patients. He had no doubts that what Jason had postulated would happen if it were to get out.
Clearing his throat he responded. "Sergeant, you have a point. I will have to talk to my superiors about this. I will try to do what I can to keep you out of some hidden lab in the desert, but it won't be easy."
"When are things like this ever easy sir?" Jason asked before they began to lay out a plan to convince the higher ups.~
It had taken quite a bit of convincing, but levitating a five hundred pound table and turning an apple into an orange before causing the water in a pitcher on the table to become an animated anthro pegasus that marched around the table before sitting on the edge of the pitcher for the rest of the meeting have a way of showing that sometimes magic can be more than sleight of hand.
Two weeks later, the socket was attached and the prototype arm was attached.
After regaining consciousness, Jason commented that now he knew how Edward Elric felt when he got new automail.
The arm, nothing more than a few rods, plates and wires making up the main structure, worked perfectly, until the grip test. That was when it was discovered that the arm wasn't quite sensitive enough for anything other than a training implement.
Undaunted, the spiritually linked duo began to refined the designs.
The arm that they were using currently was the Mark XIII.
Twilight, surprisingly enough was the one who suggested a version that would be like Barrett’s gun arm from Final Fantasy VII. The only problem was finding crystals of the proper quality and dimensions to act as focusing arrays for the arcane energy. The shell was complete aside from those so it was stored in a case like all of the other prosthesis and their assorted spare parts.
After a half hour drive, Jason pulled into the long drive that led to the house that he had purchased when he had gotten back to the States.
Rounding the bend they saw a familiar car.
"I thought she was going to be out of town for a while longer." Twilight said as Jason parked the car.
Chuckling quietly, Jason replied, "Probably wanted to surprise us."
“I think it’s more of you that she is here to surprise as she knows nothing about me at the moment.” Twilight replied as Jason moved towards the front door.
“Do you want me to tell her? Be kinda hard to explain that I have a female alien from another dimension in my head.” He replied as he opened the door and walked in.
"Jes! I thought that you were going to be gone for a while longer." He called out as he shut the door behind him.
"If I hadn’t come home early you probably wouldn't eat anything besides ramen and pizza everyday!" A female voice called out from the kitchen.
"Hey, I will have you know that ramen is a very versatile dish. Just gotta have some inventiveness when working with it. And pizza is pizza." Jason defended as he walked into the kitchen, pointedly ignoring the three empty pizza boxes on the coffee table.
"So what you're saying is that you don't want my hot wings then?" The woman, Jesamine, replied as she put a baking sheet into the oven.
"Now, I never said that." Jason said as he walked past, swatting her rear after she shut the oven door.
"Eeep! Damn it! Don't do that Jason!" She squeaked as he chuckled.
"Hey at least I waited till you finished closing the oven. And used my right hand." He replied, the last almost an after thought.
"If I wasn't cooking right now I'd have to punish you." Jes replied a light blush still present on her cheeks as she turned to finish preparing the sauce for the wings.
Jason walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist as he whispered in her ear, "Come on, you know that you can't use that as a threat. I'd enjoy it far too much."
Turning her head, Jes replied in a slightly breathy tone. "You can be a right bastard you know that?"
"If I was incapable of finishing what I started, then yes I would be. But you know that I would never leave you wanting." Jason replied, running the tips of the fingers of his left hand up Jes's arm, causing her to shiver from the sensation of the cold metal of his prosthetic.
Jason and Jesamine's relationship started out simply enough. They were two friends from high school who had kept in touch over the years. When Jason was wounded and having some difficulty readjusting to civilian life, she moved in to help him adjust.
Over the following months she had become a rock for him. There were many a night during the first few weeks after his discharge that he was having at least half a dozen nightmares every night. That was if he was even able to get to sleep. After the third night or so in a row, Jesamine moved into his room, using the logic, that since she would probably wind up coming in at some point to check on him anyways, why not cut out the trip.
That night was the first time that he had slept through the night without the aid of medication since before he was injured.
The following weeks led to Jason asking her out and the pair exploring their new relationship.
“So how was work today?” Jes asked as she finished preparing dinner.
“Not to bad, only had a couple dozen idiots to deal with.” Jason replied as he set the table.
“I think that you’re being nice with that assessment.” Twilight replied with a snort.
“Be nice Twi.” Jason thought back to the alicorn as he grabbed a couple of glasses.
“Sure it was only a couple dozen? Must have been a slow day then.” Jes replied as she set a bowl of spicy chicken wings on the table.
“It seems that my cheekiness has rubbed off on you. That can’t be goo-urk!” Jason began before being interrupted by a sharp pain in between his shoulder blades.
“Jason are you okay?” Jes asked as she watched him.
“Gah! I’m not sure. Just stay over there for a second.” He replied before seeking out his mental companion. “Twilight! What the hell is going on?”
“I have no idea! I’m feeling it too.” She replied in a very strained tone.
Jason could feel the muscles in his back rippling as things began to shift around.
Suddenly, with a sound not unlike something exploding in a microwave, a pair of feathered wings burst from his back coating the back wall of the dining room in blood and gore.
In what would later be described as a moment nonsensical clarity, Jason was able to get one clear sentence out before collapsing in shock.
Jason groaned as he slowly regained consciousness.
“Twilight, what the hell happened?” Jason queried his companion.
“Somehow, and I have no idea how it happened, but you have sprouted my wings. Rather explosively might I add.” Twilight replied her disgust from the after effects of the incident evident in her tone.
“That would explain why my back is on fire.” Jason replied with a pained chuckle. “Hey I just realized. I can totally go as Icarus for Halloween this year.”
He could almost see her eyes rolling in response.
“So you’re up I take it.” Jesamine said from somewhere to his left.
Groaning again Jason turned his head towards her voice.
“Yeah, back’s on fire and I am drained as all hell, but I am awake and alive.” He replied as he looked over at his, most likely former, girlfriend.
“So what would cause you to suddenly sprout wings Jason? Please don’t tell me this is some wacked out army experiment or that you are some sort of alien that has been hiding out on Earth for all these years.” She said with a voice heavy with emotion.
Jason pushed himself up of his chest from the bed that he lay in and moved the strange new muscles to close his wings before moving into a sitting position.
“A definite no to column A and just a smidge of column B. I was in the process of coming up with a way to explain the whole situation to you without you thinking that I was completely and totally bonkers, but for whatever reason, these decided to pop in.” He explained, shrugging his wings slightly as he began to get a feel for the new appendages.
“So you are part alien?” Jesamine asked.
“Kind of. More so now than I was when I got home. Must have something to do with sharing my body with a second consciousness. Lord knows how long we will be able to go before we have to merge or one of us gets overwritten.” He replied muttering the last bit to himself.
“What do you mean?” She inquired.
“Jason, maybe I could try talking to her. Since you have my wings, I might be able to channel some magic to change your vocal range temporarily to match my voice.” Twilight suggested.
“I think that might help a bit.” He replied to the alicorn riding in his head. “Jes, we are going to try something to let you talk to the little voice in my head, are you willing to give it a go?” He asked, his eyes pleading for her to say yes and not abandon him. Jesamine considered this for a moment. “Alright, go ahead.”
Nodding, Jason closed his eyes and began to assist in channeling a spell that would allow Twilight to assume control of his body temporarily.
Once she had control, Twilight opened their now glowing eyes and greeted the young woman across the room from her.
“Hello Jesamine. It is a pleasure to finally speak with you. I am Twilight Sparkle and yes I am an alien from another dimension that was displaced and forced into Jason’s body when he was still in the womb. I was able to pull back my consciousness to a remote corner of his mind and seal myself off so that I would not interfere with his development or life. However, this big lug nearly getting killed caused the barriers that I set up to collapse causing us to meet up for the first time when he was in his coma. Since then we have been helping each other deal with things.” Twilight explained before looking of to the side, her right hand grasping the prosthetic forearm on her left. “Though there are times that I haven’t been able to help Jason, those times when he was having a nightmare about his time in Iraq and Afghanistan, I just couldn’t help him. Thank you for everything that you have done. I don’t know what would have happened to us if you hadn’t come along.” She finished offering a small, sad smile to the woman across from her.
Jesamine was stunned from the revelations that the woman that was now in control of her boyfriend’s body had made. Most of which were that she had been able to help him more than the woman that lived in his head. Then something came to mind.
“If Jason has had you chatting with him for the past year and some change, how much of our rather incredible sex life is really him?” She asked with a raised eyebrow.
Both of Twilight’s eyebrows shot up in response to the question and a light blush dusted her cheeks before she was able to respond. “Well, pretty well all of it is him. I just help narrow things down by watching your reactions and catching things he might miss. So I would say that all I have been doing is helping him improve.” She replied with a small smirk.
Jesamine laughed a bit, easing the tension in the room that had built up. “I can accept that answer, he did seem to improve too quickly sometimes. So, are you really Twilight Sparkle from…” She began before being interrupted.
“Yes I am though I am actually an anthro. I’m just about Jason’s height though. The horn adds about another foot or so. By the way, excellent job of cleaning us up and preening our wings. I am impressed, how did you know what to do?” Twilight asked as she inspected her wings.
“Well I do work for a vet and sometimes we get folks with exotic birds that we watch for them while they are on vacation or the occasional injured bird of prey that needs help tending to its wings. That and some of them just seem to enjoy the attention.” Jesamine explained.
Twilight nodded. “Well I’m not to sure if it is the same thing for birds, but I do know both from personal experience and reading plenty on the subject after my ascension that the wings of pegasi and alicorns are pretty much one giant set of erogenous zones, usually ones with very high sensitivity. That is why preening is usually done either by the individual, or someone that they implicitly trust, such as a significant other.” Twilight explained, causing a blush to spread across Jesamine’s dark cheeks. “I can safely say that Jason and I are in agreement that you can handle our wings when we need assistance, which we probably will.” Twilight finished with a wink, causing Jesamine to sputter a reply, to which Twilight began to laugh, shortly followed by the other woman.
The pair then began to learn more about each other for the next few hours while Jason spent the time in what the pair had begun to call the Archive in their shared mindscape learning everything he could about the nature of Equestria and magic in general as opportunities such as this rarely presented themselves.
Jason lay uncomfortably on his back, wings hanging off the bed limply, and an icepack on his forehead.
‘You know, I would really feel sorry for an Earther or Pegasus if the ascension process was this slow and drawn out.’ He said to his headspace companion.
‘It wasn’t that much of a picnic as a Unicorn either.’ Twilight replied.
‘True, but at least you didn’t have your brain rearranged for the organs necessary for manipulating magic. Plus learning to control power levels that could leave devastation that would be measured in megatons.’ He stated as he shifted to try and get some relief from his new appendages.
The lavender alicorn paused for a moment, images of Pinkie Pie ascending to what was essentially godhood.
‘That would be terrifying.’ Jason said with a slight shiver at the prospect of the hyperactive mare having that kind of power.
‘Yes it would be.’ Twilight agreed fervently.
‘Come to think of it, most of, our friends I guess, would probably be really bad candidates for ascension. I’m honestly surprised after the whole Smarty Pants incident that Celestia went ahead and gave us the opportunity and information necessary for us to ascend.’ Jason said contemplatively.
In the library/ship that was their shared mindscape, Twilight quirked an eyebrow.
‘And just what is that supposed to mean?’ She inquired.
Jason shuddered at the tone she used.
‘Well look at the situation objectively. Your protege, the person who you spent nearly two decades training, goes off the deep end and, for serious want of a better phrase, mind raped a whole town. Might just be human cynicism, but your actions, while in keeping with the highest standards of insanely powerful casters, should have caused Celestia to take a step back and re-think things.’ Jason explained.
Twilight paused and leaned against the huge podium in the center of the library. Looking at the whole situation of what was quite possibly her greatest meltdown objectively was rather hard for her, primarily the feelings of shame and regret that it brought up.
Jason caught the flashes of those feelings being broadcast. Closing his eyes and focusing, he dropped into their mindscape.
Quickly moving towards the mare, he enveloped her in a hug.
“None of that now. We can apologize properly when we get back to Terra and sort out whatever mess Discord has caused.” He said as he ran his fingers through her mane and rubbed between her shoulder blades.
Jason felt Twilight take a shuddering breath.
“Thank you.” She whispered.
He smiled. “Not a problem, partner.”
Pulling away slightly he looked her in the eye.
“We good?” He asked.
“Yeah, we’re good.” She replied with a watery smile.
“Good. Because I have got to get a new ice pack to deal with the latest growth.”
Twilight laughed. “Well at least you aren’t in the Army anymore. You’d never hear the end of it.”
Snorting Jason nodded. “No, I wouldn’t have. Of course they would probably have stopped laughing once I started slinging spells. But that is neither here nor there. I do believe the original discussion was the various character flaws of the other bearers and how making them alicorns would be a very bad idea. Not to mention clichéd.”
“Well we know that infinite cosmic power in the hands of Pinkie Pie would end in chaos that Discord would bow down to.” Twilight said in reply.
“Yeah, then there is Rarity. At the very least everyone would be fashionable.” Jason said. “Whether they wanted to be or not.”
Jason nodded. “Dash would probably challenge everyone to a race and prank the hell out of the world once she figured out how to teleport.”
“Very true. But, what about Fluttershy?” Twilight asked.
“Hmmm, that is a tough one. Probably find her dead under a pile of cute animals. From Acute Rapid Onset Diabetes.” Jason said with a laugh.
Twilight broke down laughing at the image of Fluttershy surrounded by cuddly death.
“Oh, you have so totally corrupted me. Celestia is going to pitch a fit.” She said once she calmed down some.
Jason shrugged. “Meh. I think she will be more concerned with having you back over the whole cynical attitude and penchant for snappy comebacks when the mood strikes.
Twilight shook her head in exasperation before giving him a firm hug.
“Thanks you big goof.”
“Not a problem bookworm.” Jason said with a smile as he faded from the mindscape.
Opening his eyes, Jason removed the now warm ice pack from his head, revealing a lavender horm, about four inches long and getting longer by the day.
‘How long would you say that your horn was before Discord decided to pull a stupid?’ He inquired as he glanced into the hall mirror as he headed to the kitchen to get a fresh ice pack. “ Wait a tic…” he said as he moved back towards the mirror.
‘I have ears now.’ He deadpanned.
‘Well I should hope so, how else would you hear?’ Twilight asked.
‘I mean I have pony ears.’ Jason said.
Sure enough, two lavender furred ears were sticking out of Jason’s hair.
Twilight took a peek at his perspective.
‘Jes is going to squee like hell when she gets home.’ She said finally.
‘Yeah she will. I’m just glad that the wings have been the only mentally scarring shifts.’ Jason replied as he proceeded to the freezer to switch ice packs out.
‘Ummm, Jason have you looked at our chest lately?’ Twilight asked.
‘I have and am currently ignoring the fact that I am now sporting a nice B cup right now. As well as the fact my body is compacting down to a more feminine form.’ Jason replied as he glanced down at the offending mounds.
‘Ignore it and hope it goes away?’ Twilight asked with no small amount of humor in her voice.
‘Kind of. I mean I am comfortable in my sexuality...’ He began.
‘Which can be classified as Harkness?’ Twilight asked with a laugh.
‘I was going to say wibbly-wobbly thank you very much. With Harkness I think his only requirement was a pulse and even that could be debateable.’ Jason replied with mock indignation, ruined by a chuckle.
Twilight laughed. ‘Very true. He is very ‘flexible’ isn’t he?’
‘Yep. I just have lines that I will not cross. But I am going to miss the boys once this shift is complete.’ Jason said as he walked back to the bedroom.
‘True. I might just get the sensations, but they are quite enjoyable. Of course I can imagine that once everything is converted to female, we won’t be leaving the bedroom for a day or two.’
Jason had the good grace to blush slightly. ‘Well one must do research when presented with something new right? Besides from our slowly merging memories I can not seem to find an instance of you showing any interest in rubbin’ the nubbin as it were.’ He retorted.
Twilight sputtered as she tried to get out a response before finally giving up and blowing a raspberry. ‘Oh alright, I was repressed. I knew what sex and masturbation were, but I saw them much the same way I did friendship. A bother that distracted from my studies.’
‘And now?’ Jason asked as he laid down and wrapped the ice pack against his horn.
‘Oh, it is still a bother and a distraction. But quite frankly, with the right person, it is a most welcome one.’ Twilight replied said in what was a very sensual tone.
‘You know, I am not sure if I should be depressed or excited.’ Twilight said as she borrowed Jason’s perspective.
Jason chuckled. ‘Why would you be depressed?’
‘Maybe because we are now apparently a fully functional hermaphrodite?’ Twilight replied with an eye twitch.
Jason shrugged. ‘Hey best of both worlds. We can give and receive now.’ He replied as he stepped into the shower.
‘This is true.’ Twilight replied as Jason went through the rather long and arduous process of cleaning their fur and wings.
‘Also, I just say that Magic is a troll.’ Jason replied as he worked shampoo through his hair.
About an hour later Jason stepped out of the shower.
‘I am so glad I updated to a tankless water heater.’ He told Twilight as he stepped into the steam filled bathroom.
‘Why, because we don’t run out of hot water? Or because you can do that?’ Twilight replied.
Jason paused from gathering up the steam and forming it into cloudstuff.
‘What are you saying, the novelty of this has worn off for you?’ He asked incredulously.
‘It hasn’t though I usually wasn’t doing so in the nude.’ Twilight replied.
Jason looked off into middle distance for a moment, shrugged, and then continued to scoop up steam and turn it into cloudstuff as he sculpted a miniature thunderhead.
‘So how much longer do you figure we have before we fully merge into one consciousness?’ Jason asked as he finished off the anvil shaped cloud.
‘Considering that our cutie mark is back, I would have to say sometime in the next few days we should head out to that spot that we picked out in the back forty. That way if there is a surge we can minimize the damage to a few trees and some grass.’ She said.
‘Then, what, about a month to recharge so we can rip the universe a new one so we can drop in?’ Jason asked as he delivered a strong back kick to the thunderhead, dissipating it with a rumble of thunder.
Twilight hummed in consideration. ‘I would think so. That way we have as close to a full reserve as possible. That way we shouldn’t pass out as soon as we hit ground on Terra.’
Jason nodded as he pulled on a pair of pants that had been modified to fit a tail. As he threaded their tail through, he asked a question that would have far reaching consequences.
‘What if we just went ahead and finished the merge tonight? Would that be possible?’
Twilight paused. ‘It could be done. But why rush it?’
‘Because the anticipation is killing me. You know me better than anyone else Twi, I don’t have a lot of patience outside of sniping, reading, and Jes. Things that I can control, I prefer to get them done.’ He said as re pulled on and clasped the bra that was both familiar and unfamiliar at the same time before grabbing a modified button up shirt.
Twilight was right. Jason was right. Outside of a handful of pursuits, the pair had very little in the way of patience.
‘You’re right. But, if we do this, you get to tell Jes. I am not taking the heat for that one.’ She said finally.
Jason smiled ruefully. ‘Yeah this isn’t going to be fun. At least she is off work the next couple of days.’
Heading out of the bedroom, Jason found Jesamine sitting on the couch watching a movie.
Leaning down and wrapping his right arm around her shoulders, he placed a kiss on the top of her head before commenting. “Space Cowboys. Good movie.”
“Yeah it is. Sad though.” Jes replied with a smile and a peck on the lips.
“Yeah, but he made it to the moon, so at least he made it to his goal.” jason replied as he sat down next to her.
“So a thunderhead this time?” She asked with amusement dancing in her brown eyes.
“Eh, you know that I am easily entertained.” Jason replied as he carefully wrapped his left arm around the incredible woman next to him.
“I figured that out last week when you borrowed a couple of my toys and didn’t come out of the bedroom all day.” She said with a smirk.
Jason was now sporting a blush that could be seen through his fur.
“Like you wouldn’t do the same if you were to gain an extra appendage?” He retorted finally.
Jes considered as she lay her head on Jason’s shoulder.
“Maybe not all day. Guys do have a limit before they can get it up after all.” She said after a moment’s thought.
“True.” Jason replied as he turned to watch the movie.
Jes sighed. “So how long?”
“Until?”
“You two become one entity.”
“We’ve decided to do it tonight. Then at least a month after is when we will try to go home.” Jason replied.
“You were going to tell me right?” She enquired.
"Yes we were." Jason replied.
Jes turned to Jason as she gained a predatory look in her eyes. “Then I guess we should make the most of our time before the merge is complete.” She said.
“Oh, and what did you have in mind...ohhhh.” Jason replied before trailing off with a moan as Jes ran her fingers over a spot on his wings that seemed to prove the fan theory of wings being erogenous zones correct.
In his case at least. He couldn’t speak for the other alicorns or pegasi.
“You know I hate it when you do that.” Jason replied, his voice husky.
“Why? Because you’re turned on immediately when I do that?” She asked as she ran her other hand between Jason’s legs.
Jason’s breath hitched before his violet eyes flashed. He quickly stood up and threw Jes over his shoulder, causing her to let out a s startled “Eep!” as she landed.
“I certainly hope you don’t plan on walking for the next few days.” He growled as he kicked the bedroom door shut.
Several hours later
Jason whistled lightly as he hiked to the secluded part of the property that he had prepared before starting to sing.
‘Interesting choice.’ Twilight said as they approached the circle of stones that had been engraved and arranged a few weeks prior.
‘I felt it appropriate.’ Jason replied as he sat down the bag he was carrying outside of the circle. ‘Man, I forgot how much our balance is off with out our prosthetic.’ He said looking at the stump that was their left arm.
‘Well we don’t need to be overloading our arm and having it explode or melt if we surge.’ Twilight replied. ‘You ready?’
Jason took one last look around before taking a deep breath of the clear air. ‘Yeah. Let’s do this.’
Jason kicked off their hiking boots and socks before removing their shirt and pants. Standing before the circle in their underwear, Jason stepped inside the circle after taking a steadying breath.
Kneeling down, jason touched the first of the stones that was engraved and began to channel magic into it. The process was repeated until all twenty-one stones had been charged. Once the last stone had been charged, a lavender barrier rose up and formed a dome that stood seven feet tall at the center.
Wiping the sweat from their brow, Jason sat down in the center of the circle in a full lotus position with their right hand resting on the knee, palm up.
Taking a deep breathe, Jason dove into the shared Mindscape.
“You ready Twi?” He asked the alicorn.
Taking a look around, Twilight nodded. “Yeah. It’s been nice knowing you Jason Sparks.”
“and it has been a pleasure Twilight Sparkle.” Jason replied with a smile.
The two of them clasped hands and began to focus.
First came the steady thrumming of the earth, solid and steady.
Then, the swirling, twisting wind joined the thrumming earth.
Finally, came the rhythmic pulsing of the æther, a familiar constant for the pair.
Outside the Mindscape, their body took on a lavender aura and their wings flared out around them as the power grew. As the power reached its crescendo, their eyes snapped open, glowing white with power.
Suddenly a pulse went out, overloading the barrier and sending a pulse of arcane power that would be felt by many.
Terra
Princess Luna sighed as she looked out over Canterlot from the throne room balcony.
Ever since the disappearance of Twilight Sparkle, things had slowly but surely gone to Tartarus.
First was the aftermath of losing a national hero and the newest princess. The nation of Equestria was still in mourning six months later.
Then Discord used his silver tongue to incite conflict on the continent to the east, first between the Ligers and the Gryphons, with the Ligers as the aggressors.
The past few weeks had ships and zeppelins from Griffonia, Prance, Bitaly, and dozens of other smaller nations pouring into Equestria, loaded to the brim with refugees.
Finally, it seemed that the Liger Wehrmacht had set it sights on Equestria. There were thinly veiled threats and saber rattling in the latest dispatches from the Ligers.
Then to add to the concerns, the past month had seen columns of flame streaking towards the heavens and strange objects flying at seemingly the edge of the atmosphere, far higher than any pegasi or gryphon could hope to fly.
Suddenly, Luna felt a pulse of power the likes of which she had not felt since the Nightmare was purged from her.
Grasping the pendant of a starburst that hung around her neck, she felt hope blossom for the first time in months.
Now that she knew where to look, things might just turn around.
“Done. Now I can start packing.” Twilight said as she finished charging the runic array that had been stitched inside one of her old rucksacks. Now the bag had become a ruck of holding thanks to some creative thinking. Twilight had pushed the limits to nearly four hundred pounds while the wearer would only feel about eighty.
As she was about to start packing her gear away, Jesamine called out from the living room.
“Twilight, you might want to come and take a look at this!” She called out with a hint of panic in her voice.
Twilight moved quickly towards the living room to where Jes was watching the news.
“What’s up Jes….” She started to ask before the images on the screen caught up with her. “Shiny? AJ? Flash? What are they doing here?” She said quietly as she sank down on the sofa.
“So what are you doing here sir?” The reporter asked the unicorn stallion.
“We were sent to find my little sister Twilight Sparkle. She was banished from our world by a mad chaos god. Recently one of our Diarchs sensed that she was alive on this world.” Shining Armour replied.
The picture changed to the anchor in the studio.
“That was recorded earlier this morning. The three aliens were escorted to the local Army base for their safety and questioning about their purpose and methods of arriving on our world.”
Twilight slumped back as the anchor droned on and spoke with so called experts.
“Great. The one thing that I didn’t want to happen.” She groaned.
“What? A media circus?” Jes asked.
“Yes. Oh, well. What is done is done. On the bright side, I might be able to score some decent kit to take back with me.” Twilight replied as she pushed herself off the sofa.
“What are you going to do Twilight?” Jes asked.
Twilight smirked as her wings and horn shrunk until they disappeared. “My brother’s looking for me. Be a shame to disappoint him.”
Jes pulled Twilight into a hug. “Just be careful okay?”
“Like a virgin on her wedding night.” Twilight replied as she returned the hug.
The response that Twilight got was just what she was aiming for.
Jes snickered and slapped Twilight on the arm. “You are impossible sometimes.” She said, sticking her tongue out at the mare.
Twilight laughed as she headed to the bedroom. “I know I am. Also, you shouldn’t stick your tongue out unless you plan to use it.” She said, snickering at the woman’s blush.
Grabbing a hoodie, her dog tags, and her wallet Twilight headed back out towards the garage.
“I’ll try and give you a call if and when I can.” She said as she pulled Jes into a strong hug.
“Be safe.” Jes said as she looked up at the taller mare.
“Always.” Twilight replied as she leaned down and caught the woman’s lips in a firm kiss.
After a couple of moments, the pair separated and the lavender alicorn headed to the garage.
Taking a seat in the car that she never expected to drive again, she took a deep breath as she started the engine.
“So, heading to an army post to try and spring my brother, my friend, and the eye candy from the brig and try to score some kit.” She said as she backed out of the garage. Slipping the car into first, she nodded. “Easy enough.”
Applejack looked at the bars that made up the door of the cell she had been placed in. The humans, as they called themselves, were very polite and said that this was primarily for the safety of the three Equestrians.
“This sucks.”
Applejack looked over at the cell across the way where Flash Sentry was put up.
“Well, it’s not like they had many options there sugarcube. Not like they coulda put us up in some fancy-smancy hotel someplace.” She said.
“She’s right Lieutenant. Now quit your belly aching. At least we’re alive. They could have taken us to some lab to be studied.” Shining Armour replied from the cot in his cell as he was reading one of the books that had been provided to them. “Plus the doors are unlocked and they gave us something to read.”
“Doesn’t that strike you as odd sir? I would have thought that they would keep us locked up tight.” Flash replied.
“Don’t question it too much Flash. You’ll only strain something.” Applejack replied as she lay back and covered her eyes with her stetson.
Before Flash could retort the main door to the cell block opened.
“Thank you Corporal, I’m going to be a bit so go ahead and lock up. I’ll wave when I’m done.” A rough, but familiar voice said.
“Yes ma’am.” The Corporal outside replied as they shut the door.
The three Equestrians looked out of the cells to see a figure with lavender wings and a horn looking at them with an exasperated expression on their face.
The alicorn rubbed the bridge of her nose before speaking.
“What in the name of Celestia’s warm, pillowy tits are you three doing here?” Twilight asked.
The three Equestrians were speechless. One, because Twilight was alive and in front of them and two because of her colorful phrasing.
Shining Armour was the first to gather his wits. “Twily!” He exclaimed as he tackled her in a hug.
When she had recovered her breath, Twilight returned the hug and replied. “Hey BBBFF. I take it that you missed me with all that liquid pride going every where.”
Shining stepped back and nodded as he wiped his eyes.
Twilight rolled her eyes. “ya big sap.” She groused before turning to Applejack. “Hey AJ, how’s the family?”
Applejack shook her head. “They’re good.Granny’s still stubborn as all get out, Mac joined the army, and Bloom is still looking for her special talent.”
Twilight’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not going to have a house when I get home am I?”
“No, we’ve been able to keep the property damage to a minimum. The mayor sat all three of them down and told them that anymore hijinks that result in damage outside of the farm and the Everfree was going to wind them up in the clink.” Applejack replied in an exasperated tone.
Twilight smirked knowingly. “How many times?”
“Twice.”
The two mares shared a chuckle.
Twilight turned to the last member of the group. “So how have you been Sentry?”
“Fi...fine Your Highness.” The pegasus stammered out.
Twilight raised an eyebrow, but didn’t call the stallion out.
Shining cleared his throat. “Anyways, as to why we are here, Princess Luna sent us.”
“Luna, how did she know where to send you?” Twilight asked. “You were only about fifty miles or so off target. Not too bad considering she was firing blind.”
“The Princess said she felt something about a week ago now. Like a…” Applejack started to explain before Twilight interrupted.
“Like a magic surge.” She said as she rubbed her brow.
“Yeah. How did ya know?” Applejack asked.
“Because the last of whatever Discord did came undone last week and I surged. Thankfully I was outside at the time.” Twilight replied, skillfully spinning her tale. She didn’t want to many questions from the brass that were watching and listening.
“So why are you here? Did they capture you too sis?” Shining asked.
Twilight smirked. “Please, I came in through the main gate and walked right into headquarters. Granted the Colonel was pretty surprised, but I worked with him when I was an engineer, might have been years ago, but it helped.”
“So you know the person in charge?” Flash inquired.
“Eeyup. He was my company commander before I was recruited to Special Forces. He was so pissed when I left.” Twilight said with an air of nostalgia.
“Did they not tell him that they were taking you?” Applejack asked, ignoring her friend’s rough language.
“Oh, yeah they told him. He was just upset that he was losing a good Sapper. Not to big a career field. Not to many people are really cut out for what we do.” Twilight replied.
“Whats a ‘Sapper’?” Shining asked.
Twilight put on a vicious smirk. “Buildings, roads, railways, dams, bridges, and any other bit of infrastructure that you can think of, Sappers, or Combat Engineers as they are officially called, make it go away.”
“What do you mean ‘go away’?” Flash inquired.
“I mean, that there is no problem that cannot be solved with the proper application of high explosives.”
The three Equestrians stared at her for a moment. Her smirk widened at the slowly dawning looks of realization crossed their faces.
“That’s right! I’m a DEMOMARE!” Twilight shouted in a Scottish accent as an eye patch and red bandana appeared on her head in a flash of magic.
The response was a shift from realization to one of dumbfounded confusion.
Twilight frowned as her headwear shifted to a side snap hat and a hunting vest appeared in another flash of magic.
“Plebeians.” She muttered in an Australian accent.
As she sat watching her friends and brother sink deeper into confusion, she remembered something that Applejack had mentioned.
“When and why did Big Macintosh join the Army?” She inquired.
Applejack shook her head to clear the cobwebs at the non-sequitur.
“About a year ago. That was when the Liger Nation started attacking its neighbors.” The farm mare replied.
“You mean Ligerländreien?” Twilight asked.
“Yeah, no offense to them, but I’m a bit rusty on my Germane.” Applejack replied.
“Sprechen die Deutsch?” Twilight asked.
“Ein wenig.” Applejack replied out of instinct.
“Sounds pretty good to me. Twilight replied, switching back to English. “So how long have I been gone and is it public knowledge that you guys are here?” She asked.
“Twily, it’s been almost two and a half years since we thought you had been killed by Discord. About six months after that is when the Ligers started to invade the surrounding nations. They have pretty well over run the entire Eastern Continent and have been making threats to Equestria and the Crystal Empire.” Shining explained.
“Wow, someone is really touched in the head. It wasn’t the Elements of Harmony that made the Sisters so powerful.” Twilight said before shaking her head. “What has been done to prepare for the eventuality of this stupidity reaching Equestria?”
“What do you mean your Highness?” Flash inquired, speaking up for the first time in several minutes.
“You know, things like recruitment, training, and production of arms and armour.” Twilight responded.
“Well, recruitment has gone up, but I think that is just nationalism more than anything. Also, Princess Celestia has stated that we will be doing things diplomatically.” Shining replied.
Twilight’s right eye started to twitch. “ So no new and improved weapons, ships or aircraft?”
“No, why would we need that?” Flash asked.
Twilight face palmed.
The door to the cellblock opened and the base commander walked in.
“Your leader seems very naive.” He said.
“No she isn’t. This is more of complacency. The last war that Equestria fought was over seven centuries ago. Also, there is the fact that she controls Terra’s solar cycle. Most people are not stupid enough to mess with something good. But it seems that Discord was able to pull it off.” Twilight replied as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.
The Colonel thought about it for a moment. “You raise a good point Sparks. Is there anything that I can do to help you out?”
“Just like that no questions asked?” Twilight replied as she looked up, a brow raised.
“Within reason Sergeant.” The Colonel replied with a deadpan look at the alicorn.
Twilight crossed her arms and huffed. “ I swear, you ask for fifty pounds of C-4 because EOD asks you to help destroy a weapons cache and you never get to live it down.”
“We felt that blast nearly twenty miles away.” The Colonel replied.
“Your point being? We go rid of the cache and the facility. So assets were denied to the enemy.” Twilight retorted.
“As well as the surrounding desert for about a half a mile or so.” The Colonel replied.
“I wanted to make sure that we got it all. And so did EOD.” She replied with a shrug.
“That’s why I took away your C-4 privileges for a month.”
“I said it then, and I will say it again. Totally worth it.”
“Sergeant, you are insane.”
“Just realizing this now Colonel? Anyways, I would like to request as much of my old kit from when I was both a Sapper and in Special Forces. I would also like to see if I can get a hold of some old schematics and plans.” Twilight replied.
“How old are we talking here?” The Colonel asked.
“The Forties. As many designs that are still around, since they weren’t real big on preserving things back in the day.” She responded.
“We’re talking about everything that we used in the War aren’t we?”
“Pretty much. As many of the plans for the bulk of the ships, aircraft, tanks, and other vehicles and weapons that you can scrounge up would be appreciated.” Twilight said.
“Are we including the Manhattan Project?” He asked seriously.
“No sir. Though it ended the war with less bloodshed than there would have been had we not had it, the resulting technology has caused way more problems than it solved.” Twilight replied. “Plus if I did want such a device, I could easily find plans for it on the web. The original discovery was a matter of science after all. Hard to keep it a secret.” She added.
“Good point Sparks. Get my aide that list if you can before you leave and I will see what I can do.” The Colonel replied as he headed out of the room.
Grabbing a notebook and pen that were sitting on the table near the door, Twilight began quickly writing down all the information of the materials that she was wanting. Soon she was finished with the four pages of materials and documents that she was requesting. Tearing them out of the notebook, she headed for the door.
“Hey Corporal, open up!” She hollered as she knocked on the door.
The door was swiftly opened.
“Thanks. Now is the Colonel’s aide still here? I need to give something to her.” She asked the young soldier.
“She is probably in the control room ma’am.” He replied.
Twilight nodded before turning to the other three.
“Alright, grab whatever kit they let you keep while you were in here. You can get the rest before I meet you on the backside of the building.” Twilight said as she retracted her wings and horn. Noticing the looks, she explained.
“I think that it is an alicorn trick to be able to disguise ourselves. I can switch between all four forms now that I have had a bit of practice doing it. My Earther form is just a lot more comfortable when I am trying to hide my identity.”
Getting nods of understanding, she motioned for them to follow her. “Lead the way Corporal.” She said to the soldier.
Soon the group reached the control room. Spotting the Colonel’s aide, Twilight headed over to the Major.
“Ma’am, here is the list of materials that the Colonel was wanting.” She said as she handed the list over.
“Thank you Sergeant. I’ll take these to him now. He said that you would be taking responsibility for our guests.” The Major said as she placed the list in her briefcase.
“That’s correct. I was going to have them grab their kit and meet me on the loading dock. The Colonel and I figured that it would be less conspicuous and it would allow us to head to the back gate to avoid the press.” Twilight replied as she pulled on her hoodie that she had left in the control room when she had arrived.
The Major nodded. “Decent escape plan. After that?”
“Head home, maybe get something to eat, hit the rack for a few hours, and then get caught up on the current events on Terra. After that, then I can bring them up to speed on the about the last hundred years of human history.” The alicorn replied.
“Documentaries?”
“Mostly. I’ve got a decent library of them. Better than some of the movies. Gods know how Hollywood loves to embellish.” Twilight replied with an eye roll.
“And your story? How much of that was embellished?” The Major asked with a raised eyebrow.
Twilight leveled a glare at the officer. “That is not exactly fair. The show and movies were toned down for kids and glossed over or left out a lot of things. Also thank you very much, now I have to explain that to them. “ Twilight said with a groan.
“You’re welcome. I’ll just be heading to the Colonel’s office to drop this list off. Good night and good luck Sargeant.” The Major replied in a tone that made Twilight’s eye twitch.
Sighing, she turned to her companions. “ I will meet y’all on the loading docking. Go with the Corporal here and grab your gear. I am in need of some shut eye.”
The three nodded and followed the soldier to the vault.
Pulling up her hood, Twilight headed out to her car.
Getting into her car she pulled out her phone and headset. Taking a deep breath she called Jes as she started the engine.
“Twilight, you’re okay!” Jes said once she picked up.
“I’m fine hun. Just got caught up in spinning some stories.” Twilight replied as she backed out of the parking space.
“So you feed them a line of bull?” Jes asked.
“More like strung together a bunch of half truths. To many ears for the whole truth.” Twilight said as she pulled around the back side of the building. “By the way I will bringing guests home.” She finished as she parked.
“They got pawned off on ya?” The other woman inquired.
“Kinda. I think the base commander wanted them gone. Less headaches for him. I was going to offer to take them off his hands anyways.” Twilight replied. “Be kind of a dick move to leave them sitting in the brig while I come home to a nice soft bed.”
“That is true. Shall I make sure that the guestrooms are ready to go?”
“If you would be so kind. They are coming out now. I’ll talk to you soon.” Twilight replied as she got out of the car to help load.
“Okay, I love you and be safe.” Jes replied.
“I love you too and I will.” Twilight responded before ending the call and opening the rear cargo hatch.
“So who was that?” Shining Armour asked, a teasing glint in his eye.
Twilight smirked. “That...is a secret.” She said, raising her index finger and closing her eyes.
The look of disappointment on Shining’s face made Twilight and the others laugh.
“Not gonna let you take the piss out on me that easily Shiny.” The alicorn in disguise said with a smirk.
Shining just harrumphed in in disappointment. “Forgive me for being happy that my little sis isn’t going to be some spinster.”
“I suppose. Though I’m not going to be some crazy old cat lady.” Twilight said as she checked to make sure all the bags secure before closing the hatch. “Alright, everybody in.” She said as she moved to the driver’s door.
Once the Equestrians got in, Twilight then had to do something that she never thought she would have to do.
Explain how to use a seatbelt.
Several minutes and facepalms later, the foursome was on the road following a Military Police 4X4.
“So why are we goin’ this way?” Applejack inquired as they bounced around on the rough dirt road.
“Because, the main gates are being watched by the media. No way in hell could we get out of here clean if we went that way. The gate we are going to is a gate that the engineers use when they have to do work on the outside of the base, or need to do training. Other than them and the MPs, hardly anyone knows it is here. Plus I was told that they were doing a decoy movement to the helos so everyone will be looking towards the airfield.” Twilight explained as they passed through the perimeter gate.
Turning onto an old service road, Twilight dropped the car into a higher gear and took off.
“So basically we pulled the wool over their eyes.” Applejack replied.
“Yup. The media here is worse that in Equestria. They have a tendency to spin things in the worst possible light. Plus they stick their collective noses in where they don’t belong.” Twilight said with a sneer.
“Like where?” Flash inquired.
“Private lives of anyone who has gotten in the limelight mostly, but also in military operations. Both of those rankle me something fierce. On one hand, you never stop hearing about who is dating who, who got a divorce, who got a sexy change, or who has been behaving badly this week. Then you have them wanting complete transparency in military operations. It makes it very hard to do any kind of clandestine operations that would disrupt the enemy’s ability to fight. They weren’t satisfied taking what the public affairs would give them.” Twilight replied as she came to a stop at a T-intersection.
Twilight looked to the right and saw a mass of lights. Turning left, she quickly headed away from the base. Once they had put a few miles between them and the base, she let herself relax a bit.
Hearing her sigh, Flash spoke up. “Everything alright ma’am?”
“Given the circumstances, things are just peachy.” Twilight replied before grimacing.
“What was that look for?” Shining asked.
Twilight groaned. This was something that she had hoped to avoid.
“Do you remember the comment that the Major made before she left?” Twilight asked. Getting nods from the other three she continued. “Okay, before I explain what the both of us meant, I want you to understand that until you three showed up Equestria was a magical land from a little girl’s cartoon that wound up having a major adult male following. It has good lessons, relatable characters, and a questionable fandom. A good majority of the fandom writes fan fiction. Unlike Equestria, they can share these stories with millions. Most are pretty good, some suffer from poor writing abilities, others just have subject matter that should never have left the author’s head. The cartoon centers around a young unicorn mare who had her head buried in the books until her teacher, the immortal Princess of the Sun, sends her to make friends. The mare and her new friends go on to purge a Nightmare that had possessed the Princess’s younger sister for a thousand years prior.”
“So you mean to tell us that our adventures are the subject of a cartoon?” Applejack asked.
“Eeyup.” Twilight replied in a nearly spot on impression of Applejack’s older brother. “But it glosses over a lot of stuff and everything is made kid friendly. So the full details of the sleepover and the end of cider season are known only to the ones who were there.”
“Do I even want to know?” Shining asked with a groan.
“What happened?” Flash asked.
“As amusing as it would be to watch my brother squirm, we Pinkie Pie Promised to keep the details of both incidents secret. I, for one, have absolutely no desire to get on Pinkie’s bad side.” Twilight replied with a slight shudder.
Shining looked relieved while Flash just looked disappointed. Applejack noticed and smacked him on the back of the head.
Having glanced in the rearview mirror at the right time, Twilight snickered. She then slowed down to make the turn into the driveway to her house. A few minutes later they had pulled up to the house.
“It’s not much, but it’s home.” Twilight said as she hit the garage door opener.
Seeing the looks on the faces of the other three watch the door rise up made Twilight chuckle as she shook her head.
‘Clarke was right.’ She thought. ‘Any sufficiently advanced technology is magic to any who do not have a frame of reference for it.’
Twilight lead the trio into the house after retrieving their things from the back of the car.
“Laundry room is here, I can help you with that if you need it.” Twilight said as she gave a small tour.
Opening the door to that room, all four of them caught the scent of spices and cooking meat.
Twilight smiled as she stepped into the kitchen.
“This is the kitchen obviously. Mostly the domain of Jesamine here, but I have been known to turn out a few good meals.” Twilight said motioning to the woman working at the stove.
“I’d shake hands, but I’m in the midst of making wings.” Jes said as she dropped more chicken wings into the sauce.
“By the smell, they’re going to have a kick.” Twilight replied as she motioned for their three guests to follow her.
“Here’s the dining room, normally it is just the two of use, so it will be nice to have a full table.” Twilight said as she exited the kitchen.
“Living room is over here. It is going to be your classroom in a couple of days. Bedrooms and the guest bath are this way.” Twilight said as she gestured towards the living room and walked towards the back of the house.
Opening the door to the first room, Twilight looked into it before saying, “Shining, Flash, this is your room. Take your pick of the beds.” She said before motioning to the door across the hall. “Bathroom is in there. I have a tankless water heater, but that does not mean you can spend all day primping.” She said with a pointed look to her brother.
“What?” Shining asked.
“Mum used to joke that you should have been born a mare because of how long you would spend in the bathroom.” Twilight replied with a raised brow.
Shining spluttered as he blushed.
Twilight let out a “Mmmhmm” as she turned to Applejack. “Alright Jackie, follow me. Your room is over here.”
Once they had entered the room, Twilight turned to Applejack. “AJ, how has Spike been since Discord pulled his little stunt?”
Applejack paused from opening her bag. “How come you’re asking me and not Shining Armour?”
“Because, I know Spike. He would stick around Ponyville for you girls. You all are family to him.” Twilight replied.
Applejack paused and thought about her friend’s assertion. She never did claim to be the smartest when it came to book learning, but she realized that anyone could see the truth in what Twilight had said.
“He did stick around. Grew up finally. Physically I mean, and not like the whole greed growth incident. You raised him right Twi, a real gentledrake that one.” Applejack said with a wistful smile.
“Twilight smirked. “He looks good I take it?”
“Sugarcube, if I was a few years younger and he wasn’t so focused on running the library all the time, I might have considered it.” Applejack said with a smirk of her own.
Sobering, Twilight asked, “Does he at least go out and have fun?”
“He does. Tries ta spend as some time with all of us. Finally got over his crush on Rarity.” Applejack replied.
Twilight cocked her head to the side and twitched her ear. At Applejack’s questioning look she explained. “I heard a great cry of anguish and then silence as thousand of shippers had their dreams snatched away from them.” She said with a chuckle.
“Shippers?” Applejack asked.
“Yeah. Fans that like a particular pairing of characters in a story will pair them up or ‘ship’ them in stories they write. Sparity, or Spike and Rarity is a common one.” She replied.
“What are some other popular ones?” Applejack inquired with trepidation.
“Let’s see… there’s Twilestia, Twiluna, Rainshy, Rarishy, Raridash, Rarijack, Appleshy, Appledash, Twidash, Twijack, Sunlight, Sunota, Fluttermac, Cheerimac,Flutterdash, Princest, Sparklecest, and Applecest. That’s all that I can think of off hand. Disturbed yet?” Twilight asked as she rattled off the various pairings. “Oh, can’t forget the harems. Those are kind of fun to read.”
“How can those be fun to read?” Applejack inquired, looking a little green.
“The hijinks that go with forming a harem are amusing most of the time, regardless of who is involved.” Twilight replied with a shrug. “Don’t worry though, I doubt that I will be forming a royal harem anytime soon.” Twilight replied with a wink, causing Applejack blush.
Suddenly a thump came from down the hall.
Twilight rolled her eye and shook her head before heading to the other guest room.
Looking in the door, she saw Shining and Flash having a near silent fight over the bed closest to the door.
Quickly schooling her expression, Twilight barked out, “What the hell is going on in here?” at a volume that would have impressed a drill sergeant and a certain lunar princess.
The two males immediately stopped fighting and snapped to attention, purely out of reflex.
“You are both grown stallions! Why are you two fighting like a pair of fillies over a doll? I honestly expected better out of you Shining Armour.” She said as she marched up to the pair. Turning to Flash, she started in on him.
“And what about you? Getting into a fight with a superior officer? I would have thought you would have been taught better than that.” Twilight said with a glare.
Both stallions looked ashamed and, quite frankly, pitiful. Twilight took pity on the pair.
“I get that you guys are tired and are all kinds of out of sorts, but I will not tolerate incidents like this happening under my roof. I expect you two to sort this out in a gentlemanly fashion. Now, come on. Dinner should be about done and I would like to enjoy it as a group.” She said with a smile before turning around and heading to the dining room.
Shining and Flash looked at each other.
“That was rather unprofessional of me wasn’t it?” Shining asked.
“I should have deferred to you as the ranking officer though.” Flash replied. “And as the Consort to Princess Cadence.”
Shining chuckled. “Come on Lieutenant. Let’s sample the local cuisine.”.
Twilight sat up in bed gasping for air, soaked in sweat, had anyone seen her, they would have seen her eyes wide open, pupils shrunk to pinpricks.
It took her several moments to get her bearings and get her breathing under control. Closing her eyes, she brought her left hand to her forehead, the cool metal of the prosthesis cooling her burning skin.
‘Been awhile since I have had that one.’ Twilight thought as she rubbed the point where flesh ended and alloy began. Reaching down and flipping the covers back she climbed out of bed, jumping slightly as lightning flashed outside the window.
Looking at the clock, she saw the amber numbers telling her it was just past three A.M. ‘No sense in trying to go back to bed now.’ She thought with a sigh.
Quietly exiting the master bedroom, she moved through the hall to the kitchen.
Continuing to move quietly through the kitchen,Twilight started making coffee. Once the machine began to brew, she headed to the living room and grabbed her tablet.
Powering the device up, she walked back to the kitchen and turned the light on from the rangehood. Leaning against the counter, Twilight opened up the novel that she had been reading.
A few pages later, Twilight was pouring her first cup of coffee, she heard one of the bedroom doors open followed by accented mumbling.
Smiling, she pulled another mug from the cabinet and filled it just as the farmmare stumbled into the room.
Wordlessly, she handed AJ the mug. Grabbing her mug and tablet, she took a sip to hide her smile.
Once the mare had a cup of coffee in her system she was a bit more coherent.
“Feelin’ a bit better AJ?” Twilight asked.
“A bit more alive than I was. Thanks for the coffee.” The blonde replied.
“Not a problem. I don’t drink it too often, but I had a bad night.” Twilight replied.
“How so?” Applejack asked.
“The job I did when I was in the Army gave my subconscious plenty of fuels for nightmares. Doesn’t happen often, and most of the time I don’t wake up, but this was one of the harder ones.” Twilight responded.
“Do you want to talk about it?” The other mare asked quietly.
Twilight thought for a moment before replying. “Not really, but I would be telling you and the others when you noticed anyways.” She said as she moved towards the switch for the overhead lights. “Watch your eyes, gonna turn on the big light.” The alicorn warned.
Once Twilight turned on the light, she heard a startled gasp behind her.
Without turning around, Twilight began her tale.
“My last mission on active duty was a routine one. Go out, find a nice spot to watch this valley the insurgents were using to move arms and taking out any that we could see that had any weapons. My partner Jazz and I had only been in position for a few hours when we heard an explosion go off. We listened and after the blast we heard fifty cal fire. The sound of the Ma Duece is distinct, so we called it in and moved to support. There was a friendly convoy at the bottom of the valley. Bad guys were pouring fire down on them from the opposing side of the valley from us. We set up and I started putting rounds down range. Fortunately, I was subconsciously using my Pegasus magic to augment my firing ability and all of my rounds went exactly where I wanted them to go every time.” Twilight’s horn glowed as she took a sip of her coffee as a picture floated into the room before it was set down in front of Applejack.
“I’m the one on the left. The one on the right is Jazz. He was my spotter. Anyways, I’m putting fire down to try and get some of the heat off the convoy when the side of the mountain about a hundred feet below us explodes. Turns out the bastards had a mortar team with them. Just as I was swinging my rifle to get a bead on them they launched another round. I got sighted in center of mass on the guy loading the tube and fired. Turns out, I made a billion to one shot. My anti-material round, which has a small explosive charge in the tip, hit the mortar round just as the guy dropped it into the tube. Three for one kill. Then the mortar they launched landed behind us. Due to our positioning, I got the worst of the shrapnel. We figure a rock got launched and slammed into my arm just above my elbow. Turned the bone in that location to powder. Woke up a couple of months later in a hospital in Germany with a stump, another consciousness in my head, and access to a slowly recharging mana pool.” Twilight finished with a shrug. “Over the next few months I designed and commissioned the part that is directly attached to the stump and the arm was produced after I finished designing the runic arrays that allow me to use it like my original arm. Hurt like a son of bitch when they attached the arm the first time.” She added as she rubbed her arm again.
“Ah can see why ya’d have nightmares.” Applejack replied.
Twilight was about to reply when a pair of arms surrounded her.
“I’m sorry that I wasn’t able to do something to protect you Twily.”
“Not a thing you could have done Shiny. You were a thousand miles away with your own Princess and empire to worry about. I wouldn’t have blamed you then and I don’t blame you now. Even Celestia was taken by Discord.” Twilight said as she relaxed into her brother’s embrace. She hadn’t realized that she missed the comfort of a sibling until this moment.
Shining sighed with relief. “Thank you Twily, you have no idea how relieved I am to hear that.”
“So I was wondering. Who exactly sent you after me? I know you said said Luna last night, but…” Twilight trailed off.
Shining was the one to reply.
“Princess Luna was the one who was able to locate you and set up a spell that transported us here. Granted her aim was a little off, but for shooting blind I guess we were lucky to wind up on the same continent, much less within a hundred miles of each other.”
Twilight laughed. “Everything considered, yeah it was pretty damn good.” Then she sobered. “How did the others handle my disappearance?”
Applejack sighed. “We were all wrecks. I knew that you were smart and would have done something to try and survive as well as getting back home. That and I trusted the Princesses would find a solution. Fluttershy was a big help. She was able to keep her head and helped to keep our spirits up. Rarity and Spike threw themselves into their work when they weren’t with us. Rarity started supplying uniforms for the Guard once recruitment picked up. Pinkie, well she had a period where her mane was flat and she was kind of crabby honestly, but then she perked right up. Dunno if she knew you were okay or she just got tired of moping about. Dash was in a funk for the longest. Then one day, Princess Luna came by to check up on us. Her and Dash took off and flew around for a while. They came back and went to Dash’s house for a little while longer. Then Luna went to Spike to get our Elemental regalia.” Applejack explained.
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Why did she want those?”
Applejack reached into her shirt and pulled out a necklace made of gold that had the main stars of her cutie mark. “Ta make us these. All six of us have one, Cadence and Shining Armour, your folks, Princess Celestia and Luna, the Crusaders, the Cakes, Big Mac, Granny Smith, Zecora and few others in Ponyville and Canterlot.” Applejack explained.
Twilight reached out with her right hand and glanced at AJ, silently asking for permission. Applejack nodded and Twilight cupped the pendant in her hand.
When her hand made contact, she gasped as the harmonious energy that existed in the metal coursed through her once more. But on top of that, just as strong as the faded harmony, was something else. Something that Twilight had only felt on a couple of occasions, left there by the maker of the pendant.
“Who did you say made this?” Twilight asked, her voice rough with emotion.
“Princess Luna and Rainbow Dash. Turns out Luna is a Master Blacksmith and Dash is a fair hand at the forge herself, once she got some experience. Took them the better part of three months to get the design right and to find enough gems of the quality they wanted. I have never seen Dash look as happy as she was when she brought them home to us. She moved up to the Castle to learn how to be a proper blacksmith from Princess Luna.” Applejack replied.
Twilight gave a watery laugh as she wiped a few tears from her eyes.
“You okay ma’am?” Flash inquired.
Twilight nodded as she got her emotions under control. “Yeah, just a little liquid pride leaking out.” She said causing everyone to laugh.
Applejack, Shining Armour, and Flash Sentry were being treated to the sight of Twilight and Jesamine working together in the kitchen. It was like a well choreographed dance born from practice and repetition.
“Garlic powder please.” Jes requested.
With barely a glance from where she was working on making mashed potatoes, Twilight reached into the cabinet and pulled out the requested spice and slid it down the counter.
“There ya go!” She said.
“Thanks.” The woman responded with a smile.
So it continued with multiple dishes being moved around the kitchen as all of the cooking appliances were pressed into service. Soon the sound of things sizzling and boiling filled the room and the smells of a variety of foods permeated the house.
The pair was also singing with the music that they had put on before starting cooking. The three Equestrians watched the couple tradeoff singing, and sometimes doing duets as the songs played on.
Soon enough, the group was seated at the table enjoying the hearty meal. Conversation flowed as the group swapped tales.
“No way. I cannot believe that you actually pranked someone Twily. Not my straight laced little sister.” Shining said in disbelief.
Twilight, who was cleaning the meat off of a hot wing, rolled her eyes and flipped Shining the bird in response.
Shining huffed while the others around the table chuckled.
“It’s hard for me to believe too.” Jesamine said once her chuckles subsided. “Growing up she was quite studious and friendly, but she was never one for playing pranks. Her sense of humor was rather dry truthfully.”
“So says the girl who decided that flashing her knickers on the playground when we were in the fourth grade was a good idea because you were bored.” Twilight snarked as she reached for the bowl of mashed potatoes.
Jesamine sputtered incoherently for a moment. “You suck.” She said as she pouted.
Twilight leaned over and gave the woman a one armed hug while planting a kiss on her temple. “You know you love me though.” She said with a smile.
Jes smiled despite herself. “Yeah, I do ya brat.” She said while slapping the mare’s shoulder.
After the food had been eaten, leftovers put away and dishes cleaned, Twilight went outside. Setting a glass of bourbon on the table, she stretched her arms above her head before sitting down and looking up at the night sky. Hearing the door open, her ear swiveled around.
“You always did have your head in the stars.” Shining Armour said as he sat down next to her with his own glass.
“I like the mystery of it.” Twilight replied, never taking her eyes off the sky. “Probably why I kind of miss Afghanistan, the hell hole that it is. Get up in the mountains, the sky is clear and the view is stunning.”
“I always feel small and insignificant when I look up at the stars.” Shining said as he took a sip of the bourbon.
“Where’s your sense of adventure Shiny?” Twilight asked with a grin. “Haven’t you ever wondered what was out there?”
“I did until I came here.” Shining replied.
“Bah, don’t judge the universe on the first planet that you come across. Civilization here on Earth has only been going for about seven thousand years or so and most of the development has really only happened in the last two millennia. Plus, they don’t have an actually demigod as a ruler. Kinda makes things easier when making a utopia if the one in charge has that kind of power at their beck and call.”
Shining contemplated that point quietly for a moment.
“But that is what works for us. I’m sure that once we get back and get the Liger situation dealt with, hopefully with as little bloodshed as possible, I will have an opportunity or two to talk to Luna and Celestia about encouraging real scientific development. It’ll be a process, but if we can get the ball rolling, I’m sure that Equestria and the other nations of Terra will enjoy a bit or responsible technological advancement.” Twilight continued.
“What about Cadence?” Shining asked.
“Truthfully? I’m sure that she will be involved, but neither her nor I are as experienced at playing the long game as Celestia and Luna are. The pair of us are used to thinking in decades as long term and they are used to thinking in terms of centuries. And the development of the past eighty years or so here on Earth has happened so quickly that there is little to no regulation on how to protect the users of the technology. Because quite frankly, technology has given humans the Dumb.” Twilight replied as she took a sip of her drink.
“How so?” Shining inquired.
Pulling out her smartphone, Twilight held it up and said: “I hold in my hands a device that can access the entirety of recorded human history.” She paused. “But I use it instead to look at funny cat videos and get into arguments with strangers.”
“Seriously? You have that kind of knowledge and ability to communicate with others to make things better and that is all that you do with it?” Shining asked incredulously.
“Well, not just that.” Twilight replied.
“Thank Celestia.” Shining sighed with relief.
“I also use it to look at porn.” Twilight replied cheerfully.
Shining Armour’s eye twitched, and then he faceplamed.
Twilight laughed at the expression on her brother’s face.
“Jes, as much as I want to bring you with me, I can’t ask you to come with nor do I want to get you hurt.”
“What do you mean?”
“You saw how far off Shining, AJ and Flash were when they got here. We could wind up in the Everfree, over the ocean, or a thousand feet in the air rather than the target that we are going to be aiming for. Plus, given the situation, we could wind up dropping in the middle of a firefight. Then there is what could happen if you had a reaction to the amount of magic that exists on Terra. It could do nothing, it could change you into a form that is more suited to the world, or it could kill you. Plus you have family here that you are close to. I know that it would hurt worse for you to leave your family behind than if I left.” The alicorn replied as she pulled the woman into a hug, wrapping her wings around the human.
“I know. Doesn’t make it an easier though. I knew this was coming, but now that it is here…” She trailed off.
“It still sucks, I know.” Twilight replied before kissing Jes on the crown of her head. “I’ll see what I can do about finding a way to where we can exchange messages so we can stay in touch. Maybe linked journals or something.”
Jes gave a watery smile. “That would be nice. You should get going, otherwise I might just tie you to the bed so you can’t leave.” She said.
Twilight laughed. “I can see you doing that. Take care of yourself Jes.” The alicorn replied giving the woman a hug.
The pair parted and Twilight crossed the deck towards the mare and two stallions that were waiting patiently.
“Ya’ll good sugarcube?” Applejack inquired.
“Yeah. Once I get settled, I’m going to see about getting a few sets of link messenger journals so we can stay in touch.” Twilight replied as she pulled her magically expanded rucksack on.
“That’s nice of you.” Shining said.
“Well, she wanted to come with, but I don’t want something to happen to her if we end up someplace dangerous. Plus, unlike me, she has family here on Earth. I can’t ask her to leave them to follow me on a one way trip. Just wouldn’t be right.” Twilight replied as she wiped her eyes.
“Now come on. We’ve got places to be and reunions to be had!” She added as she headed down the path towards the circle that she had used just a few weeks prior.
A few changes had been made to the circle during the past two weeks. For starters it had been expanded slightly. Now it was nearly twenty one feet across and it had four large flat stones placed at the cardinal compass points.
Three of the stones had the ancient symbols of the Three Tribes and the fourth held an even more ancient symbol of the Alicorns.
Each of them took their place on the stones and made one last check that their packs, and in Twilight’s case sidearm, were secure.
Looking around to ensure that they were all ready and getting nods in return, Twilight began to weave one of the most complex and powerful spells that she had ever come across. Luna had been kind enough to provide a copy of the spell to Shining Armour prior to sending the trio to retrieve the wayward Princess. Twilight had studied the spell exhaustively over the past month and had worked out the tweaks for returning.
As the power built, each one of the Equestrians began to glow with an aura that matched their inner magic. Soon, a shimmering portal began to form inside the circle.
Terra
A pair of Nightstalkers and a pair of Saberhorns stood guard outside of a room that their Mistress had deemed high priority a month ago. So far the detail had been easy. Stand here, look menacing, let no one save Princess Luna enter. Suddenly that peace was shattered by the building of arcane power that even the most mundane Earther could feel.
Nearly as soon as the power began to build, Princess Luna stepped from the shadows at the end of the hall.
“Your Highness! We are not certain what has happened, all was quiet until a few moments ago, then power started building inside it.” The Nightstalker mare to the left of the door spoke up.
“Rest easy Major. This is the event that I have been waiting for this last month. Our seekers are returning. I just pray that they were successful.” The lunar Diarch replied as she looked at the door leading to the ritual room she had sent Applejack, Shining Armour, and Flash Sentry off from as the power reached its peak, nearly overpowering the dampening wards that had been place on the outer wall.
Earth
With winds whipping at her tail and mane, Twilight opened her eyes, revealing the glow of arcane power.
“The portal is open and stable! On my mark, we drop!” She shouted over the wind, her voice thick with power.
Looking at her three companions and getting a nod from each, she closed her eyes again. Making one last check of the spell matrix, she took a deep breath and called out:
“3! 2! 1! Mark! Mark! Mark!”
As one, the group stepped off their platforms…
Terra
…and promptly dropped nearly ten feet to the floor.
Flash was able to flare his wings to land relatively gently, Applejack and Twilight were able to turn their hard landings into rolls that sent them sliding on their sides. Shining tried to do the same, but an old injury from high school chose that moment to act up causing his left knee to buckle and him to kiss the floor.
Twilight looked at her whimpering brother and sighed.
“ I thought that they taught you how to land. I also thought you would have landed with your good leg and not your bad one.” She said as she stood up and walked over to him. “But then again, you do have some pretty good klutz moments. Come on, up ya get.” She said as she pulled the stallion to his feet, draping one arm across her shoulders.
“Thanks sis. I normally would have tried to land gently, but I didn’t expect to be dropped ten feet.” Shining retorted as the pair slowly made their way to the door.
Applejack and Flash shared a glance and rolled their eyes, now used to the general bickering of the two siblings.
Pushing open the door, Twilight was greeted by the sight of over a dozen members of the Night Guard and the Lunar Diarch standing in front of the doorway.
Twilight blinked as she took in the sight of the darker princess. Luna was wearing a very well fitted gown that clung to her ample curves. The material was a deep emerald color that actually did not clash with her fur or her dark regalia.
‘Must be one of Rarity’s designs.’ Twilight thought before shaking her head to clear the hormonal fog that had descended. Cracking a smile, she waved at Luna with her wing. “ Lucy, I’m home!”
After a pair of Nightstalkers took Shining Armour to the infirmary to have his knee and nose tended to, Twilight, Luna, Applejack, Flash and a handful of the remaining Guards made their way to the guest quarters area.
“So I take it you were able to adapt the transport spell without issue?” Luna inquired.
“Yep. Made it a lot easier having a clear target though. Good aim on sending them to Earth by the way. Managed to get them into the same county as me.” Twilight replied.
“Truely? We are fortunate then. But if they were so close, why the delay in returning?” Luna asked.
“I had just performed a ritual that took a good chunk of my mana reserves and I was doing some heavy duty enchanting on my ruck and other cases.” Twilight explained gesturing to her pack. “Once those three showed up, I was thankfully finished with that project, so I was able to rest and recharge.”
“But for a month?” The other alicorn queried.
“The energy fields on Earth are very weak and have never truly been used. All of the progress that Humanity has made has been through skill, strength, intelligence, and a whole lot of luck.” Twilight replied.
“I see. What was the ritual that you performed?” Luna inquired.
Twilight threw her fellow princess a hard look as they reached the guest quarters. “I will tell you in the morning. I would also like to have the girls, Spike, my parents, and if she is able to come, Cadence. I only want to have to tell the story once.” She responded with no small amount of steel in her voice and in her gaze, brooking no arguments on the subject. She then entered the room and sealed the door magically.
Luna turned towards the door, but was interrupted by a firm grip on her shoulder. Turning to look at the owner of the hand, her eyebrow raised at the sight of Applejack holding her back.
“Yer Highness, I know a bit of what she wants to tell ya, and I will tell you the less she has to relive it the better. Now, I’m going to hit the sack. I’ll see you two at breakfast. Princess Luna, Flash.” Applejack said before moving into her room.
“Do you know as well Lieutenant?” Luna asked the lone pegasus.
“Yes ma’am. However, I will not break the confidence of a sister-in-arms. It is her story to tell.” Flash replied standing at attention.
Luna sighed. “Very well. Dismissed.”
Flash saluted and entered his room.
“Would you like us to keep an eye on them m’lady?” A Thestral inquired.
“Other than making sure that their rest is not disturbed, no. My inquiries will hold until the morning.” Luna replied before returning to the throne room via Shadow walking.
Luna was guiding the Element Bearers, Spike, the elder Sparkles, and her sister through the halls of the castle. An early morning chariot had collected the Bearers and Spike from Ponyville and a pair of guards had summoned the Sparkle parents from their home in the Noble District of Canterlot.
“So what is so important that you have summoned everyone together Luna?” Celestia asked.
“Be patient sister, all shall be revealed shortly.” Luna replied with an impish smile at her older sibling.
Celestia huffed good naturedly, happy that her sister was willing to let her facade down around someone besides her.
The Bearers that were present showed different states of interest. Rainbow Dash was almost bored having spent most of the last year at the castle while learning smithing. Spike was casting a bemused look at PInkie PIe who was currently vibrating vigorously as they walked down the hall, making any of the rapid fire words that were coming from her mouth completely unintelligible. Rarity, despite doing her best to not show it, had a slightly put out expression on her face at the early hour of the summons. Fluttershy was quietly chatting with the elder Sparkles, having last seen them at the memorial ceremony for their daughter a few months prior.
From around the corner in ahead of them came Shining Armour, hobbling on a pair of crutches.
“Captain Armour, how is your leg fairing this morning?” Luna inquired as they reached him.
“Still stiff, but the swelling has gone down Your Highness. Doctor says to take it easy for a few days, so I’m stuck with these. Hi everyone.” He said giving a smile and a small wave to the group.
“Shining, what happened to your leg?” Twilight Velvet asked with a hint of concern.
“Just my bad knee mom. Went out on me when I made a landing. Like I said, so long as I take it easy for a bit I will be fine.” He replied.
“If you say so. Other than that, how have you been?” She inquired.
“Good. I assume that Princess Luna is taking you to see the surprise?” He asked glancing at the alicorn.
“Indeed Captain. Would you like to join us?” Luna replied.
“Certainly. Lead the way.”
The group continue through the corridors until they came upon a door that was guarded by a pair of Night Guards that looked like they were about to collapse.
“Are you two alright?” Luna asked the pair.
“She wanted to go for a run Mistress. We accompanied her, but we didn’t know what we were getting into.” The male Saberhorn, Dark Meadow, replied.
“Her ‘short’ run was nearly 6 kilometers. And she had a vest on that weighed twenty-seven kilos! That mare is nuts, all due respect to her.” The female Nightstalker, Sapphire, added.
Luna raised an eyebrow at her normally stoic guards. She also wrinkled her nose at the smell of body odor coming from the pair.
Suddenly the door opened and Twilight Sparkle stuck her head out in the corridor.
“Are you two seriously still here? I thought I told you to go get a shower and some rest.” She said with an exasperated look on her face.
“We have not been properly relieved of duty, Your Highness. We will not abandon our post.” Dark Meadow replied.
“Seriously?” Twilight said as she looked between the two. “Get your tails in here and use my shower at least. You two reek.” She said before turning to Luna and her entourage. “Hey everyone. Come on in and make yourselves at home.” She said opening the doors fully.
The two guards looked to Princess Luna, who nodded at them to follow the order, before entering Twilight’s temporary quarters. The rest of the group soon followed and were quickly joined by Applejack and Flash Sentry.
Celestia was the first of those not in the know to find her voice, though Pinkie had stopped vibrating and talking a mile a minute, but had a massive smile on her face.
“Twilight, when did you return?” She asked as the mare dug through her bag.
“Last night around 1 AM I think? Still have to adjust my watch to the local time. But I was bloody exhausted and needed to hit the rack before I would be able to do any kind of talking. Plus I would rather have everyone that I wanted to tell about where I have been and what I have been up to.” Twilight replied as she pulled out a holster and a weapon case.
“What did happen to you dear? When you disappeared, we feared the worst.” Twilight Velvet inquired.
Twilight sighed at her mother’s question. She knew that pretty well everyone would have issues with what her profession was for most of her adult life on Earth. Putting the holster on her hip and unlocking the weapon case, she began her tale as she removed her 1911 handgun and began to disassemble it.
“Well, I was sent to another world by Discord. Whether that was his original intention or if I did something when I shot him with the pistols that Shining had gotten me, we will probably never know. But when I got there I discovered that I was sharing a body with a soon to be born human. Which brings me to one of the more interesting bits of the trip. I am not the same Twilight I was when I left, I am a blending of both Twilight Sparkle and the human Jason Sparks. The portion of me that is Twilight basically pulled herself into a corner of my mind and partitioned it off to keep from overwhelming and destroying the soul of the individual that was to become Jason. It wasn’t until Jason was seriously wounded while on a mission that Twilight ‘woke up’ and we began to share a mindscape. Fortunately, we were able to control the merging of the two souls and two personalities with minimal issue over the next two years.” Twilight said as she oiled and cleaned her weapon.
“So you are Twilight, but at the same time you’re not?” Rainbow Dash said.
“Basically Dash. All the memories are there, but my personality has become a combination of the two. Fortunately for you guys, most of my neuroses have been balanced out or at least tempered with the new experiences.” Twilight replied with a grin.
“Darling.” Rarity said, finally getting over her shock. “What happened to your arm?” She asked gesturing towards the prosthesis.
“When Jason got injured, we wound up losing our left arm due to the severity of the injury. We were able to come up with a prosthesis that runs off of magic and functions in pretty well the same way that our original arm did.” Twilight replied.
“How does this arm function differently?” Her father asked.
“Well Dad, have you ever seen someone whose arm could do this?” She asked before holding up her arm and moving her hand in such a manner that it allowed an eight inch blade to deploy from within. “I’ve go a few other ideas for other mods, but I didn’t have the right materials on Earth.” Twilight said after retracting the blade and pulling some magazines and a box of ammunition from her bag.
Celestia was again the first to recover from the shock of Twilight’s display.
“It appears that you lived a rather violent life on this other world.” She said sadly.
Twilight sighed as she slid rounds into the magazines.
“I did. But the things I did were to protect those who could not and to protect the interests of my nation abroad. Pretty much everything that I had to do runs counter to how we do things here in Equestria. Unlike here on Terra, the dominant race on Earth, Mankind, has been fighting for pretty much everything for its entire history, even before recorded history.” She said.
“And how long has that been?” Night Light asked.
“The human race has been around for almost two hundred thousand years and civilization has been around for about six thousand. Most of that history is stained with blood.” Twilight explained as she put two of the now loaded magazines into her holster.
“How can a race be that cruel?” Fluttershy asked fearfully.
Twilight shrugged. “Ever since humanity discovered the killing power of rock and bone, they have been killing for everything from greed to religion to just plain psychotic rage. War is a constant of humanity and something that has become something of an art. The weapons that we use have changed throughout the ages, tactics have evolved, but at its basic level, war never changes.” She said as she loaded her handgun and racked the slide.
The group was silent as she holstered the weapon and put away her supplies.
“So what did you do that you saw so much violence?” Dash asked.
“I was a soldier. The reason that the war I fought in started was because of a surprise attack by a terrorist organization that killed over two thousand innocent civilians in one morning. The day after the attacks occurred, Operation Enduring Freedom was started and troops were deployed to take the fight to the enemy and the government that supported them. Sadly, the war has dragged on for over fifteen years with no real end in sight. We trained the government that replaced the one we deposed to fight the insurgents, but it has been a process. I did quite a bit more than the average soldier in some cases because I was a member of Special Forces when I was retired, and that is mostly because due to the nature of my speciality my team and I were able to go places that we really shouldn’t have been and do things that we probably really shouldn’t have done, but needed to be done.”
“Such as?” Luna asked, eyes narrowed.
“Going into nations that were our allies, that were not active combat zones to locate and capture or kill members of the terrorist organizations that were causing so many problems. The problem with that is they operate in such small cells, that sometimes don’t know anything about another cell, that there are a lot of places they can hide. Then there is the fact that many of them are well funded, not just by individuals that support their ideals, but sometimes nations will quietly support them, or at least provide them sanctuary.” Twilight replied.
“What about the people of those countries? Couldn’t they do anything?” Velvet replied, struggling to come to terms that her youngest placed herself in harm's way the way she did.
“The problem is that these groups create fear. They would put out messages that showed them doing things like beheading prisoners as a warning. A kind of, ‘if you stand against us, this will happen to you and those that you care about.’ message. There were people who would take up arms against these groups, but they were few and though some of them do some serious damage, they are mostly untrained civilians that are doing what they can to protect their homes. And after what happened in Afghanistan when the Soviets went in and we trained and armed rebels to push them out and the rebels later turned into the group that attacked us and would use the weapons that we had provided them, we have been leery about doing so again. Plus changes in administrations has caused issues with changing how we have been fighting and what we are permitted to do.” Twilight replied.
“That, sounds very complicated darling.” Rarity replied.
“It was. But as a Tier I operator, my job was not to think about the why of things, but think about how I was going to do the job and get my team back safely.” Twilight replied.
“Did you lose anyone?” Spike asked quietly.
Twilight looked at her adopted son and took in his change of appearance and his change in maturity. Nodding she replied.
“Unfortunately, yes. Sometimes it was someone in another squad that I knew, and others it was one of my team that died next to me or in my arms as we tried to keep them alive until evac got there. That is the one part of the job that I did not miss, having to say goodbye to one of my brothers and then go home and see their families and sometimes not even being able to tell them how and where they died depending upon the nature of the mission. Sadly that happened quite a bit in the last eight years or so of my career.” Twilight said, her eyes gaining a distant look as she remembered the losses.
Fluttershy moved forward and enveloped Twilight in hug, causing the mare to stiffen for a moment at the surprise, before returning the hug gently.
“How can you live with that much pain? Seeing all that horror and death?” She asked quietly.
“Because I know that if I and my brethren did not go and do the things that we did, then there would have been and has been untold suffering. A couple of good quotes that I can remember that kind of sum it all up is ‘People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf’ and ‘All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.’ The last is contested as to who said it first, but it is true. My own sense of honor is what drove me to serve. I was able to find a place as a soldier, as a warrior, that let me be apart of something that truly mattered, even if what I did is never known, whether because it was a small part of the whole or if it was something that was classified.” Twilight replied.
“So you were like a secret agent?” Pinkie asked.
Twilight chuckled a little. “Kind of, but not like in the stories. Rarely is the life of a Special Forces Operator that glamorous. Most of the time we are on mission constantly and when we aren’t we’re training so our skills stay sharp. Our downtime though, it could lead to some interesting times.” She said with a smile.
“Oh, like what?” Spike asked.
“Well, believe it or not, I was actually pretty good with the ladies. But then again, some ladies have a thing for a man in uniform. So it might not have been all me. But, in the end I found happiness with an old friend of mine who helped me with my transition back to civilian life and later my shift back to this form.” Twilight said with a sad smile.
“You had to leave her behind didn’t you darling?” Rarity asked.
“I did. Hurt like hell to do it to. But I wasn’t sure what would happen if she were to come here and I wasn’t sure what the situation would be like when we got here. That and I wasn’t going to ask her to leave her family. As much as I love her, I can’t and wouldn’t make her leave them for me.” Twilight replied. “That said, I do want to try and send her a messenger journal like the one that you and Sunset have Celestia.” She added, looking to the Solar Diarch.
“I’m certain that can be arranged to have a new one crafted. Though I have to wonder, have the leaders of that world tried to do things peacefully?” The alabaster alicorn replied.
“They have, but as one of my former nation’s leaders once said ‘Speak softly and carry a big stick.’ Which was his way of saying to meet the one threatening you first with words is fine, but make sure that the alternative is not something that they want.” Twilight replied.
“How powerful militarily was the nation that you served?” Luna inquired.
“The United States can bring a military force to bear in any region of the world and begin raining destruction down upon an enemy within hours of getting intelligence. We have bombers and crews that can fly non-stop for something over forty hours. They can take of at their home base in the middle of the country, and with the aid of aerial refueling, can fly to a target, drop its ordnance, and return to base without landing. Plus with our aircraft carriers, we can generally have warplanes on station within hours. The main limits are fuel, oil, and pilot endurance. The newer aircraft can fly for longer, but right now there aren’t as many as we would like to have.” Twilight replied as Fluttershy sat next to her and began to examine her prosthesis. “Add to the fact we are one of nine nations that had weapons that were so powerful that a single warhead could destroy an entire city, and we have shown that we will use those weapons. Granted, that was over seventy years ago, but it still shows that we will use them if pushed.” Twilight replied.
“What kind of weapon is that powerful?” Velvet asked.
“A device that splits the atom. It can cause the area that is bombed to be unlivable for quite some time and will vaporize every living thing within nearly a mile of the hypocenter.” Twilight replied. “They have only been used twice in anger, and the after effects were enough that they became a political weapon, used more to posture and threaten than one that would actually see usage. Which is fortunate, as the only strategy for their using in war is MAD.” She finished.
“Okay, even I caught the acronym in that one. What does it stand for?” Rainbow Dash asked.
Twilight chuckled. “Don’t sell yourself short Dasha, you’re actually pretty intelligent. Just need to find the right things to catch your attention. But as for what MAD stands for, it is Mutually Assured Destruction. Basically every major population center and important military target would be hit with nuclear warheads and the entire planet would be plunged into what was termed nuclear winter due to the projected ash clouds that would be kicked into the upper atmosphere due to the yield of the warheads which would blanket the earth and block out the sun.” Twilight said as Fluttershy continued to manipulate her arm to and fro. “Are you amused Fluttershy?” She asked with a smile.
“Oh yes. I have seen a few ponies with prosthesis before, but never one that had this kind of quality…” The normally shy mare said before realizing she was rambling.
Twilight smiled at her friend. “It’s okay Fluttershy. If you want, I still have the earlier models that you can look at. Though replicating them will be hard to do with Equestria’s current level of technology.”
“So you are saying that the world you went to is more advanced than Equestria?” Celestia asked, intrigued at the notion.
“Considering they went from thinking heavier than air flight was a pipe dream to landing men on the moon in less than fifty years, I would say so. Plus the fact that computers have gotten so small you can carry one in your pocket.” Twilight replied.
Luna spoke up next. “They sent someone to the moon? For what possible reason?” She asked heatedly.
“Because it was there. Humans are inherently curious. They are explorers, always looking for something new to discover. The Apollo missions were the culmination of nearly a decade of space flight. Apollo 11 was the first to land men on the moon and bring them back safely. After that there were six other missions, though Apollo 13 was aborted due to an accident on the spacecraft. The crew was able to make it back safely and the cause of the accident was identified and corrected for Apollo 14.” Twilight replied. “The main reason, aside from beating the Soviets there, was science. They brought back a lot of moon rocks for study and left some scientific equipment to run long term experiments like seismic studies and such. They wound up crashing some of the spent upper stages into the moon for those tests. Rang like a gong according to reports.” Twilight explained, satisfying the dark alicorn.
Suddenly, before anymore questions could be asked, a surge of magical energy erupted, causing the alicorns to stagger and drive the unicorns to the floor.
Applejack was the first to shake of the feeling. “What in tarnation was that?”
Twilight shook her head to clear the cobwebs, but only succeeded in making her migraine worse.
“Some kind of magical discharge. Way more powerful than anything we have seen and I had a few massive surges when I was a filly.” Twilight said as she slowly made her way to a window.
Looking out the window, she saw the top of a massive mushroom cloud over the mountains to the east.
“Celestia, what city is in that direction?” She asked.
The alabaster alicorn made her way to the window. Her eyes widened as she saw the shimmering cloud.
“That would be Baltimare or at least one of the smaller neighborhoods around it. What could have caused that?” She inquired of her former protege.
“Most likely, a megaspell. Something that was held in a phylactery until the right conditions were met. I would have to say that if the Ligers really wanted to get our attention, that is one way to do it.” The lavender alicorn replied.
“Perhaps it was whoever was sending these machines into space.” Luna replied as she showed Twilight some photos that she had brought with her.
Twilight looked at the photos and her eyes went wide.
“No, we wouldn’t have felt that kind of backlash if they had dropped whatever that was. Where are these being launched from?” She asked.
“Somewhere in the Badlands. We haven’t had the luxury to go out and find out what is happening out there at the moment.” Luna replied.
Twilight raised an eyebrow as she rubbed her head around her horn.
“Given the threat from the Ligers I would have sent a small team to check it out. Have you gotten an emissaries from groups you haven’t heard of before?” She inquired.
“Yes we have. Yesterday as a matter of fact. I told them that I would sit down with them later today to discuss their requests.” Celestia inquired. “Do you know who they are?”
“Personally? Most likely no. But judging from the fact that this picture is most likely of a Delta IV Heavy Booster, they are from Earth. These boosters are used to but satellites in very high orbits or putting bigger satellites in lower orbits.” Twilight replied. “Let’s go meet them. Might be useful allies to have.”
With that the alicorns, after instructing the others to take the unicorns to the castle infirmary, headed out to meet the visitors.
The trio of alicorns entered the main chambers for where the Day and Night Courts were held. Upon entering, Twilight was able to see four ponies, one Earther, two Pegasi and one Unicorn, who appeared to be a little pale, in the uniforms of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, and what appeared to be the British Royal Navy if she recalled correctly.
“Princess, could you explain what the hell that blast was?” The US Admiral inquired tensely.
“We’re not sure exactly ourselves Admiral. But we will be sending teams to see what happened. My question is are all of your strategic weapons secure and accounted for?” Twilight replied.
“Yes they are. Though I would like to know how you know about them.” She replied.
“Well, considering up until last night I was on Earth and two years before that I was a member of 5th Special Operations Group as a Scout-Sniper, I know quite a bit about America’s nuclear arsenal. Tell me did any Minutemen get brought here or do you just have Ohios?” Twilight replied.
The four flag officers blinked in surprise at Twilight’s admission.
“You say you were a sniper in 5th SOG, what was your callsign?” The Army general asked.
“Warlock.”
“Well, that is something else. Last I heard though you lost your arm to shrapnel from a mortar round.” He replied.
“Well, I was able to whip up a very nice series of prosthesis to replace it.” The alicorn replied as she pushed up her left sleeve, revealing the metal limb. “So I assume that you are the local Combatant Commanders then?”
“That would be correct. We came here at the urging of Queen Chrysanthemum to establish a favorable alliance for not only ourselves, but her people as well.” The Air Force general replied.
“I have never heard of a ruler with that name before…” Celestia began.
“That is probably because she is the Queen of a Changeling hive, correct?” Twilight said, cutting off the older alicorn.
“That’s correct. She also said that the actions of Chrysalis were the actions of a single desperate ruler who is currently being hunted by the other Hives. There had been plans in the works to send emissaries to your nation, but those plans went down in flames when the ‘Wedding Incident’ occurred.”
Twilight nodded. “Yeah, I can imagine that her head on a pike would go a long way to smoothing things over with us. However since there are other hives out there, I am not going to tar them with the same brush as her. Kind of like how a lot of people lump all Muslims in with the extremists. Most of them are decent people, scared and wanting to protect their homes and families, but decent.”
“Well said Your Highness.” The Royal Navy admiral spoke up. “The changelings that we have been sharing space with have been a decent sort. Hard workers and not afraid to do the dirty jobs that need to be done.”
Twilight smiled. “I can imagine that a well run Hive is like that. Chrysalis must have mismanaged things to get that desperate. Especially with three alicorns running around in the same city. So what are your assets, gentlemen?”
The four flag officers looked at each other for a moment before nodding.
“We have pretty much the entirety of the US Navy with the exception of the Constitution. As far as Army, Air Force and Marine assets, we have six armored divisions, ten infantry divisions, the entirety of Air Combat Command, most of Space Command, parts of Strategic Command and all of Special Operations Command on the US side of the house. As far as the British forces go, I believe we have the entirety of their forces.” The US Admiral said before turning to his British counterpart, who nodded in confirmation.
“So in other words, we have nearly two million troops and a few thousand vehicles, ships, and aircraft.” Twilight said as she paced back and forth. “What is the current situation on the ability to use those assets? Other than the subs and carriers that is.”
“We are surprisingly able to use all of our resources. When we awoke and began taking stock of things, all of the aircraft and vehicles had been modified to draw on the ambient magic in the air. Our arrival has been one hell of a learning curve. But it has been a boon as we no longer need to use our tankers to fly long duration missions. We have spent most of the last few months launching GPS and communication satellites into their appropriate orbits. The GPS constellation is complete with backups, and the last communication bird was lofted a few weeks ago. We are currently working on preparing a surveillance satellite for launch. It should be ready by the end of the week.” The Air Force general replied.
Twilight nodded. “So we have positioning and comms, soon to have eyes in the sky as well. I assume that there have been U-2 flyovers to get some intel of key areas?”
“Yes. An area of concern, and the primary reason that we have arrived here far earlier than we had planned was located on the Eastern Continent.” The general replied.
“What is the area of concern and the reason for the concern?” Luna asked, speaking up for the first time.
“These are the images from one of our surveillance flights.” The general said as he pulled out a set of photographs from a brief case.
The images seemed to show a camp with a series of barracks with railways leading up to it. There were dozens of guard towers around the encampment with at least three layers of fences surrounding it.
Celestia and Luna looked at the images with some curiosity, but once Twilight looked them over she swore.
“Is this what I am thinking it is General?” She asked.
“If you are thinking of those camps from back in the Forties? That is our best assumption. We have found at least five other similar sites and there are a large amount of coastal defences reminiscent of the Atlantic Wall the Germans tried to build. Right now, there are only a few areas that are fully constructed. But given how quickly they are being constructed, it will be a tough nut to crack.” Came the reply.
“Has the GPS network been updated with new maps and grids?” Twilight inquired.
“Yes ma’am. Updates have been pushed out to all units including our subs. Targeting software for all of our JDAMS and cruise missiles has been updated as well. Tridents have also had the upgrades.” The Army general replied.
Twilight nodded as she rubbed her chin. “Okay, so how will command and control work?”
“Well, we were considering allying ourselves with Equestria, if not working to be folded into the existing military structure if an agreement could be worked out, but that would be up to you three I would assume.” The US admiral replied.
“Understood Admiral. If you could give us a few moments to discuss this, we can give you an answer.” Twilight replied before motioning for her fellow alicorns to follow her.
Reaching a corner of the room, she threw up a privacy spell around the three.
“So, the basic situation is that we have a force that is apparently willing to commit genocide that has blitzed across a continent and is slowly turning it into a fortress. I highly doubt that the Equestrian military as it stands would be able to put up much of a resistance, much less actively being deployed to push them back and force a surrender. These gentlemen are offering the ability to end this war quickly and decisively, in our favor, with much less loss of life than we would otherwise have.” Twilight explained.
“But who would command them? From what I can tell, they are organized completely different from the current military. Not to mention their technology is decades to a century ahead of our own. Most of what you were discussing, I have no frame of reference for Twilight.” Celestia replied.
“Then who should command them is clear.” Luna said smirking at the younger alicorn.
Twilight looked the darker alicorn in the eye and sighed. “Goddammit. I guess I should have seen that coming when I walked over here. So make them my guard unit since I never had one stood up?”
Luna and Celestia looked at each other for a moment before nodding. Celestia addressed her former student.
“Very well then. Princess Twilight Sparkle, you are hereby placed in command of these new military forces. Do not abuse this role.” She said.
“Trust me Celestia, I have no intention of doing so.” Twilight said as she dropped the privacy spell. She then walked over to the waiting officers.
“Sorry for the delay gentlemen, it would seem that I have been appointed your new Commander in Chief.” She said to the four.
The four officers saluted and Twilight returned it with a crisp salute of her own.
“Got the short straw ma’am?” The US Admiral asked with a small smile.
“Basically, I am the newest Princess to be crowned, I don’t have my own personal guard unit, and I am the only one of the four current Princesses that has the correct frame of reference to be able to properly deploy even half of the resources available.” She replied with resigned tone.
“So what are your orders, Your Highness?” The British admiral asked.
“For the time being, I need a Command Post set up in my castle in Ponyville, and yes I realize the puns will be a bit much. I want at the moment at least one MP company to be deployed there, as well as a Red Horse unit to start setting up a base. I will need all the usual setups, sat comm links, video links, Blue Force Tracker, and anything else that I might not be thinking of at the moment.” Twilight replied. After a moment’s thought she added. “Also get the fleets on patrols if they aren’t already. Have the Virginas and the Astutes trailing and gathering sonar information. For the time being, don’t make any aggressive moves, but do not hesitate to defend themselves or other ships that may be targeted. I want as much intel as we can get so we can hit them hard and fast when we make our move. Also start sending out engineers to find sites that will work for bases so we can disperse our resources as much as we can. We also need to get NBC response teams sent to Baltimare to get the placed cordoned off and an assessment of what needs to be done to work on decontaminating the area.”
A chorus of “Yes ma’ams.” met her ears.
“Alright gentlemen, dismissed. I will be in touch once we get comms established. Oh, and one more bit of business. I want two companies each to reinforce and augment the guard for Canterlot, the Crystal Empire and Ponyville. Those are the seats of power for our country, so they need to be protected. If we can manage it, I would like to have a routine CAP presence as well over the three areas, plus our coastal cities. So that should assist in determining the opportune areas for base construction.”
With nods from the five flag officers, they parted ways.
Twilight sighed as she watched them leave the throne room, running a hand over her face.
“Are you going to be able to handle this task Twilight Sparkle?” Luna inquired of the younger alicorn.
“I will, it’s more of the fact that I was an NCO when I was in the Army, and now I have been thrust up to the rank of a five star general. Going to take a lot of getting used to this situation. I have a lot of people to take care of now. It’s a lot of pressure to suddenly have. I really never had much in the way of this kind of responsibility before everything went down.” Twilight replied as she walked to the window. “This is going to be a hard fight, but we will do everything we can do to make it as quick as possible.” She said after a moment.
“And of the lives that will be lost?” Celestia asked quietly.
“What of the lives that have already been lost?” Twilight said gesturing in the general direction of the now ruined city of Baltimare. “Should the loss of so many innocent lives not be responded to harshly? We will do everything we can to limit civilian casualties, but this is war Celestia. The times of soft touches and gentle nudges are done. They blind sided us and a large number of our people are so much ash on the wind. That cannot go without a swift response. To not do so is to weaken our position, and that is something we need to avoid at all costs.” Twilight responded firmly, her tone neutral.
“I agree with her sister. If you had been firmer in dealing with the Ligers, things may not have gotten to this point.” Luna said before sighing. “Sadly, as they say, hindsight is a blessing and a curse.”
“I’m going to check on my family and friends. Once they are cleared, we will be catching the next train to Ponyville. I have work to do.” Twilight said before nodding to her fellow Princesses and made her way out of the throne room.
Twilight collapsed with a sigh in the sitting room of her quarters.
“You okay Egghead?”
“I’m fine Dash. Just got a headache from the backlash and dealing with the nobles. Idiots are too afraid of what will happen to their reputations than actually doing anything productive. Though I supposed I could do things unilaterally, but that has its own problems that could be even worse.” Twilight replied to the polychromatic pegasus. “How are you four doing?” She inquired of the four unicorns in the room.
“Better than we were a few hours ago. I think all of us will be having throbbing headaches for a while.” Nightlight responded as the others nodded in agreement.
“Well you should be fine in a few days then.” Twilight replied as Fluttershy walked behind her and began massaging her shoulders. The alicorn let out a contented groan. “Goddess, you have magic fingers ‘Shy.” She said as she relaxed.
“I saw that you were tense and thought I could do something to help.” The demure pegasus replied softly.
“Who knew you could be so bold. If it weren’t for the fact you would be uncomfortable, I would say you need to go work for Aloe and Lotus.” Twilight replied.
Fluttershy giggled. “I actually do on occasion when they have a client that needs assistance with physical therapy. The work is sporadic, but it is rewarding.”
“Well, something new I learned about you today. If I was still writing friendship reports, that would probably be in there.” Twilight replied with a sigh as her muscles relaxed.
The assembled group laughed.
“So you said you were a soldier earlier. Is that anything like it is here?” Spike asked.
Twilight shook her head. “No, what Equestria has currently doesn’t even hold a candle to what the military was like when I was on Earth.” She said, lighting her horn to display an Equestrian soldier and an American soldier next to each other, both in full gear.
“As you can see, there are numerous differences between the regular infantry of the two militaries. The Equestrian soldier just has a uniform, an ammo belt, maybe a small first aid kit, a bolt action rifle, and a metal helmet the is mostly to protect against things falling from above. The American soldier on the other hand, has a camouflage uniform that helps them blend in, a first aid kit that can handle pretty much any kind of injury, a helmet that comes down on the sides and rear that is made of a ballistic material rather than metal, an Improved Outer Tactical Vest that provides places to attach pouches for magazines, grenades, knives, lights, and pretty much anything that is a MOLLE compatible attachment system. The standard rifle is a semi-automatic gas powered rifle that fires the 5.56X45 MM NATO round from thirty round magazines. The standard combat load out is seven of these magazines. Coupled with tools like night vision goggles, advanced optics, and man portable radios, the American soldiers can operate far from their commanders and in small teams of four to twelve and still be able to accomplish their missions.” Twilight explained, highlighting each piece of kit.
“That is a big difference.” Velvet said.
“It is. It comes from nearly a century of lessons learned from over two dozen different conflicts over the last century.” Twilight said. “Then we have vehicles.” She said before displaying the Equestrian tank.
“I do have to admit, once Celestia show a picture of one of these to my Chiefs of Staff and myself, we about pissed ourselves laughing.” Twilight said.
“Why? How is that funny? Yeah it’s slow, but it is a good vehicle.” Rainbow Dash said.
“Because that tank is almost a direct copy of the old Mark I. A tank that is an antique and a museum piece for us. This is what the American military uses as a Main Battle Tank and this is what the British use.” Twilight said as she displayed the M1A2 Abrams and Challenger 2 MBTs.
“The Abrams is the lighter of the two, weighing in at seventy two short tons. Despite this it can hit speeds of nearly fifty miles per hour once the governor has been removed. It has a 120 millimeter smoothbore cannon with a self leveling barrel, that coupled with the targeting system, can be fired while on the move, rather than having to stop, line up the shot, fire, then start moving again. The primary round is an Armour Piercing, Fin Stabilized, Discarding Sabot round. There is not much that the round cannot penetrate. There is also an anti-personnel round for it that has over a thousand tungsten ball bearings.” Twilight said. “Yeah it is a 120 millimeter shotgun. Why? Why not?” She said at the incredulous looks she was getting when she mentioned the scatter round for the Abrams.
“The Challenger 2 is a real heavy weight, coming in at over eighty short tons with the extra armour kits added. It has a 120MM rifled bore cannon. Similar speed and fire control on the weapon enabling fire on the move tactics. These coupled with Bradley Fighting Vehicles, Strykers, and up-armoured HUMVEEs, Coalition forces have the ability to dominate the battlefield against a proper organized army rather than the insurgency that we have been fighting for the last ten years or so.” She said.
“Wow. That is impressive.” Rarity replied.
Twilight nodded. “All of the vehicles were designed at a time when we were planning to fight an organized force in large scale open war. However what actually happened was that we have spent the last thirty years or so has been small brushfire wars that are over within a few months until the Global War on Terror was started. That has been a nearly decade and a half long slog through the deserts of the Middle East not knowing when and where the enemy will strike.” She said.
“How come you didn’t just blow through and take them out?” Rainbow Dash asked. “It sounds like you guys certainly have the hardware for it.”
“Because the enemy is an insurgency. They hide in plain sight in places where everybody and their brother has an AK-47. Their favored tactics are roadside bombs and suicide attacks. Unlike us, they care little for causing collateral damage and they don’t care that women and children are caught in the crossfire.” Twilight replied with a sigh.
The group of ponies and dragon looked horrified at the implications of this.
Twilight nodded. “Yeah. That is why the fight against them is so hard. They blend in with the local populace and since we don’t go through destroying cities wholesale to defeat an enemy anymore, we have a hard time taking them out. Plus, they work in small cells that rarely work with others on operations unless they want to take a whole city. Though things have been turning around because the peoples of the nations in which these groups are operating are taking matters into their own hands and standing up to them. Progress has been slow, but things are changing for the better.” She said.
At this point there was a knock at the door.
“Enter!” Twilight called out.
The door opened to reveal Princess Celestia.
The Solar Diarch entered the room and sat down in a free chair with a sigh.
“Are you certain that things have to be this way Twilight?” She asked.
Twilight’s face hardened at this.
“I know that it has been centuries since there was anything more than a minor border skirmish, but one of our cities has been destroyed. That alone was a declaration of war. I asked Admiral Jones to have the photo reconnaissance guys to go through satellite data to see if we can find the launch site and I have also had our four Aegis cruisers forward deployed with support ships to try and intercept any further strikes. Once we have identified all relevant military and pertinent industrial targets, strike packages will be deployed in the form of cruise missiles and long range heavy bombers using precision munitions.” She said. “With any luck, we will be able to disrupt their supply lines and destroy their strategic reserves before we even go boots on ground. That will allow our forces to do a blitzkrieg of their own, pushing the Liger forces back and out of the occupied territories.”
Celestia closed her eyes and sighed once again.
“Can you guarantee no civilian casualties?” She asked after a moment.
Twilight’s face softened.
“I wish I could Celestia. But this is war and collateral damage happens. The best we can do is try to minimize it. The less wholesale destruction we cause will help us in the aftermath and cleanup phase of this mess. The upside is that since none of the troops are from Equestria, all they see is a government that is corrupt and is running roughshod over innocent people. They will be more pissed that civilians were targeted than anything. Should keep revenge acts to a minimum. I will also be issuing orders that we will be adhering to both the Law of Armed Conflict and the majority of the Geneva Conventions and that the Uniform Code of Military Justice still applies.” Twilight said. “ We will handle our own.”
“And if there are any such incidents, how will they be handled?” Celestia asked.
“Depends upon the severity. The UCMJ allows for the death penalty as maximum punishment. As do the Geneva Conventions. War crimes are no joke to us. It undermines our ability to garner trust with a populace if we allow such acts to occur without repercussions.” Twilight replied.
“I do hope that it will not come to that.” Celestia replied.
“I as well. That is an order that I do not want to give.” Twilight replied. “Though, once this is done, there are some other things I need to speak with you about.”
Celestia looked at the other alicorn. “What would that be?”
“The portal on the other world, and Sunset Shimmer.” Twilight replied. “Don’t say anything right now. I have more than enough on my plate right now. Plus it will allow you time to think on your interactions with her, with me, and with your sister. You need to take a good hard look at them and take off your rose colored glasses. I know it won’t be easy. I had to do it with some of my mistakes. Kinda sucks truthfully, but you have been alive for so long and haven't had anyone to call you to the carpet in a very long time. I think that it is well past due.” She finished.
Twilight then looked around at her friends and family. “So, who’s up for dinner?”
Twilight sighed as she sank into the artificial hot spring in the royal baths of Canterlot Castle, the heated water soothing her still tender chest and wings. Running her hands over the numerous new scars on her chest, she reflected on the situation that gave them to her.
‘I still can’t believe that the Ligers were that goddamn brazen. Seriously, going up against a pair of immortals like that was not a good plan.’ She thought.
Two days prior
Twilight made her way to the throne room adjusting her fatigues as she walked. Approaching the door to the chamber, she gave one last critical look at her uniform, making sure that her new rank tab, a subdued version of her cutie mark, was straight and secure before conjuring a mirror. Looking in the mirror, she checked to make sure her mane was still securely pulled back into a bun and that there were no flyaways. Dispelling the mirror, she took the last few steps towards the doors, nodding at the guards who lit their horns to open the massive oaken doors.
“Presenting Princess-General Twilight Sparkle.” The crier announced as she crossed the threshold.
Walking into the room, she marched up to the dias where the three thrones were situated, Celestia and Luna already seated in theirs. In front of the dias was something that nearly cause her measured pace to falter.
Standing in front of the thrones stood over thirty Ligers, all in uniform. What struck her was the styling and color of them.
‘Jet black uniforms with silver piping that looks like it was pulled from a World War II museum? Gotta be seeing things. Get a grip Warlock.’ She thought to herself as she approached her throne with a polite nod to her fellow alicorns.
Taking a seat, she got a good look at the front of the uniforms, and more importantly that all of the Ligers were armed.
On the collars of all the assembled men, was a pair of stylized lightning bolts. The weapons that they carried gave her pause.
‘Shit. Those are StG 42s. Not good.’ She thought after recognizing the weapons.
She turned her attention to Celestia as she began speaking.
“You wished an audience Field Marshal. Now that we are all here, state your business.” She said, her tone guarded and direct, a change from her usual when greeting dignitaries.
‘Guess I got through to her. Picked a hell of a time to grow a pair with these guys though. Got a ton of civilians in the crossfire if this goes south.’ Twilight thought as she looked around the room, not turning her head. Up on one of the galleries, she saw her brother. Catching his eye, she twitched her hand, forming the hand signals that she had been able to teach him before the returned to Terra. He nodded, before signalling his readiness.
“We come here asking for the unconditional surrender of the kingdom of Equestria to the Liger nation.” The Field Marshal said, confidence in his voice.
Twilight’s eyes narrowed and the sound of ringing metal started in her ears. A quick glance showed that no one else seemed to hear it.
“You dare enter our kingdom, our citadel and demand that we surrender?” Luna said, disbelief in her voice. “Surely you jest.”
“I am serious your Highness.” The Field Marshal said, being both respectful and sarcastic at the same time.
“Then you have made your second mistake this week.” Twilight said speaking up for the first time.
“Second mistake?”
“Yes. Your first was the megaspell strike on Baltimare. But coming here, it just proves that you, your men, and your leader are bigger fools with matching egos than We thought.” She said as she stood, the ringing in her ears growing louder.
“You dare insult the Fuhrer?!?”
Twilight gave a sad chuckle as she shook her head. “I was really hoping that I was wrong when I saw those uniforms and those weapons. Seems like history is repeating, just on a different world. But yes I dare! I dare to challenge the will of a mad man bent on global conquest! I dare to challenge those that are a threat to freedom and liberty!”
“Your say that, when you are all tyrants!” The Field Marshal shouted back.
Twilight gave a grim smile. “Tyrants? I think not, because if we were you would have been ash in the wind once you got started on your unprovoked invasions of your neighboring countries. As to the nation of Equestria surrendering?” Twilight pause to look over her shoulder at the elder alicorns. Both gave her nods of consent. “You can tell your boss, that we will meet him on the field of battle and that we will break his will to fight before we break his will to live. We will sink your navy, destroy your air force and obliterate your army. What we do to you will be spoken of for the next ten thousand years.” She said, the ringing nearing its crescendo.
“Enough of this we have our orders. Your surrender or your heads. I would have preferred to be civilized, but you forced my hand. Open fire!”
“Shining barrier! Around the combatants!” Twilight shouted as she lunged forward, a hand and a half sword appearing in her right hand in a flash of lavender light as she did so, her mane and tail becoming undulating nebuli as she unleashed her aura.
A dome of pink energy sprang to life around the fighters. The Liger troops finally bringing their weapons to bear on the alicorn.
The sudden appearance of the charge, the sword materializing and the shield appearing caused the troops to pause, costing two to lose their lives as Twilight’s blade split one from the hip to the shoulder in an upward strike and the other to decapitation from her follow through.
28
Spinning on the balls of her feet, Twilight took three more heads before raising the blade high and bringing it down, cleaving one Liger in two, her alicorn strength and the enchantments on the blade making for little resistance.
24
Finally, the remaining Ligers began to fire, their automatic weapons spewing out leaden death.
Twilight twitched slightly as a round glanced off her right shoulder and punched through her wing as two more punched through her left wing, blood staining her feathers red.
But the shining death of her blade never faltered even as she took hits to her legs and torso, taking another pair straight across the waist before switching to a reverse grip, and stabbing backwards into the chest of another.
21
Suddenly her left arm began to glow and the hearts of four more were ripped from their chests, encased in lavender magic, stunned looks on the owners faces before they dropped dead.
17
One enterprising Liger charged the warrior princess, only to be back handed with a titanium alloy fist so hard his grey matter explode from the opposite side of his head as Twilight looked at another and tilted her head to the side as his followed but at such a speed the sickening crack of his cervical vertebrae snapping could be heard.
15
The edge of her blade began to glow as she held the blade over her left shoulder, sweeping it to the right, a blade of solidified mana arching out, catching nine across the chest before passing through them, their bodied hitting the ground in pieces.
6
A twitch of her magic materialized a scabbard on her belt, she then sheathed the blade after flicking off the blood with a twitch of her wrist, sending a blade of blood into the Field Marshal’s leg, causing him to drop his pistol and fall to the ground, his leg missing below the knee.
5
She picked up a pair of the rifles and after reloading them, she smiled at the remaining troops.
Licking her lips, she said: “My turn.” before pulling the triggers of the rifles, the rounds tearing through the last of the standing troops.
Once the last shell casing hit the ground, she dropped the rifles and walked over to the Field Marshal.
“Here is what you didn’t factor into your plans. That I would have returned and that I would be a much more proficient fighter than you could have imagined. I will tell you now. You have lost. Your bosses just don’t know it yet.” She said as she stooped to pick up the Marshal’s discarded pistol.
“You can’t do this. Please have mercy.” He begged.
Twilight looked at him with the dead eyes of a hardened warrior.
“Mercy? What do you know of mercy? Did you show it to any of your victims or prisoners before you shipped them off to those camps?” She asked, causing the Liger’s eyes to widen. “Oh yes, we know about them. I also know what they are for, I have seen something similar before, and that is why you will get no mercy from me.” She said as she pointed the pistol at the Field Marshal’s head.
The Liger looked at her in fear, seeing her not as an alicorn, but as a valkyrie, the warrior women of legend.
That was his last thought as the last bullet in his weapon drilled into his head.
Twilight dropped the empty weapon, her aura dying down as the shield dropped. The scabbard she conjured dispelled on its own, causing the blade to clatter to the floor.
She took a single staggering step before collapsing as the adrenaline and magic stopped pumping and her heart stopped, nothing left for it to move.
She had woken up about twelve hours later in the castle infirmary. She was told that she had over three dozen bullet wounds five of which had gone through her heart.
‘If I had still been a unicorn, I would not have woken up.’ She thought as she felt the star patterned scars over her sternum.
Her ears twitched as she heard the door to the baths open.
“Twilight, how are you feeling?” Celestia asked.
“Honestly, still feeling like shit. Immortality is nice, but that almost dying hurts like a bitch.” Twilight replied.
She heard Luna laugh at her response.
“Indeed it does Twilight Sparkle. Healing from mortal wounds is never pleasant.” The Night Princess said as she and her sister entered the bath.
Twilight watched the pair slide into the water.
“Huh. So I guess that is an alicorn thing then.” She said.
“What is Twilight?” Celestia asked.
Twilight stood up, showing the pair her sheath for a few seconds before sitting back down.
“Ah, yes, well it is something that normally happens after the third decade or so after ascension. At least as far as we can tell.” Celestia said, a blush staining her cheeks.
“Well, considering that there were only the two of you for the longest time, you didn’t really have a good sample set to compare. Though a heads up that it was possible would have been nice.” She said as she splashed the Solar alicorn.
Celestia sputtered as she clear the water from her eyes, causing Twilight and Luna to chuckle.
“So have you told Cadance about the impending change? She has been an alicorn for almost twenty years right?” Twilight inquired.
Celestia’s eyes widened and she shook her head guiltily.
“Well, Shining is going to be in for a surprise. That is if they haven’t been getting up to half the kinky shit that they could be with magic at their disposal.” Twilight said with a chuckle.
“What do you mean?” Luna asked.
“Temporary gender change spells are a thing.” Twilight said simply.
Luna’s eyes widened in surprise before her face took on a contemplative expression, causing Twilight to laugh.
“They only last a few hours and they are not fertile, so what ever plans are running through that perverted mind of yours won’t work.” She told the darker alicorn.
“How would you know what I am thinking of?” Luna asked, a regal eyebrow arching.
Twilight smirked. “I lived as a male for almost forty years. I know how guys think, and as someone who is bisexual, being able to swap places would be an amazing experience. Of course now I don’t have to.” She said, gesturing to her submerged lap.
“Very true. Is there a pony that you have your eye on?” Luna asked as Celestia sank lower and lower into the water which was now just below her nostrils.
Twilight sighed. “There is one, but I’m not sure if she would return the romantic feelings. That and she is a good distance away and right now I have more important things to worry about right now.” She said, rubbing a hand over her shoulder, the shiny flesh from one of many glancing shots she received visible through the still regrowing fur.
“True enough.” Luna said.
Twilight turned her head to Celestia.
“Now that I have a few moments of your undivided attention, I have a few pressing questions about Sunset Shimmer.” She said.
Celestia sat up to move her mouth above the waterline and nodded.
“Was she ever charged with anything when she ran off?” Twilight asked.
“No she was not. I never intended to drive her away like that.” Celestia said.
“But it was getting close to the thousandth year and the one who would bear the Element of Magic had not appeared. So when you received word of an extraordinarily powerful unicorn, you hoped and prayed she would be the one. But then when she got her cutie mark, you knew she wasn’t the one. And instead of treating her like you had up until that point, you let her ego and ambition get the better of her and instead of sitting down and bloody talking to the girl, you chastise her, show her the mirror that showed her the image of her as an alicorn and then said she wasn’t ready with no explanation. Then I come along. You see the one that is destined to save your sister and start paying attention to me more than you did to Sunset. I did a little digging before all this happened. I found out that Sunset was an orphan. Did you not realize that she had probably come to see you as her mother? That all she was trying to do was prove herself worthy of your love? Instead one mistake, serious as it was, and you cast her aside. I basically mind raped an entire town, just because I thought I was going to be tardy on an assignment and what happens? I get a disappointed look and a stern talking to.” Twilight shook her head. “Once this is over, I plan to go and see Sunset and the girls on the other side of the mirror for a couple of weeks. I plan to offer Sunset a place to stay should she desire to return. If she does, unless you are planning on getting on your knees and begging her for forgiveness, I wouldn’t even come see her. The emotional damage that you did to both of us is beyond words. You need to stop playing the long game so much when it will affect an individual more than the whole. I understand that you didn’t want to burden me, and I appreciate it, but telling me to stay out of the books and go make some friends? When I had just told you we were on the verge of armageddon? What would have happened if I hadn’t figured it out? What was your backup plan?”
Celestia hung her head, tears starting to leak out of her eyes.
Twilight took pity on the mare and moved to give her a hug.
“I’m sorry for taking you to task on this stuff, but it needed to be said. You need to change how you handle ponies in one on one relationships, be they student, family, or lover. I don’t know what made you this way, but you need to learn to open up and let ponies in.” Twilight said softly.
Celestia returned the hug as her tears flowed.
“I’m sorry. After what happened with Starseeker, I haven’t truly allowed myself to get close to anyone.” She said.
“Who was Starseeker?” Twilight asked.
“She was my last consort, nearly five hundred years ago. We loved each other deeply, but she desired to remain with me forever. As she grew older, she turned to finding magical methods to extend her life or make herself immortal.” Celestia said quietly.
“Equivalent exchange.” Twilight said.
The other two alicorns looked at her with quizzical looks.
“It is the first law of Alchemy. For something to be gained, something of equal value must be lost. The price for such magic is high and most often not worth the cost.” Twilight explained.
“It wasn’t. Starseeker wound up turning to necromancy to preserve her life. She ended up becoming a monster. I had to banish her. I just couldn’t bring myself to destroy her, I loved her so much.”
“Was she a lich or something else?” Twilight asked.
“She was a vampire. She was able to walk during the day though, which struck me as odd. I had never seen one that was capable of that, even when we hunted them all down. They all burned when exposed to sunlight.” Celestia said, her voice thick with regret.
“I have, though they were legends and most of them applied to the original vampire who was known as Dracula on Earth. He was the first, it was the people that were turned that had the weakness to sunlight. She must have found a way to replicate the curse and negate some of the weaknesses. Where was she banished to?” Twilight asked.
Celestia thought for a moment before her eyes widened in shock. “I, I banished her th-through the mirror.” The repercussions of her actions coming full circle.
Twilight froze. “You were planning on telling me about her right?”
Celestia nodded numbly.
“Good. Because I will track her down and deal with her if she hasn’t been already.” Twilight said.
“Twilight…”
“The Starseeker that you knew and loved died five hundred years ago. What you sent through the mirror is a monster wearing her face.” Twilight said, hugging Celestia tighter. “I know of a way to dispose of her body to ensure she won’t be a danger anymore.”
“How is that?”
“Remove her heart and her head then burn them and her body in three separate fires before putting the ashes into three separate moving bodies of water that do not meet. Messy for sure, but effective.” Twilight replied.
“Then once this problem with the Ligers is dealt with, I will leave it in your hands.” Celestia said quietly, her head in the crook of Twilight’s neck.
“I understand. By your will, it shall be done.” Twilight replied.
After a few moments, the pair separated after Luna, tired of the morose tone the conversation had taken, splashed both of them with a wave of water.
The pair yelped, and after clearing their vision, retaliated against the mare. Laughter soon filled the chamber as the three indulged in the childish behavior.
Twilight strode through the halls of her castle. It had been almost a month since she had returned to Terra and things had progressed to the point she was ready to engage the Ligers.
Behind her were four members of her old squad from the 5th SOG. Jazz, her spotter and fellow sniper had suffered a gender change as well as species, now in the body of a lithe unicorn mare with grey fur and a white mane. Not much had changed with her personality other than being more forward with males than the uber macho Special Forces community had allowed her when she was male.
Next to her was Heavyarms, their heavy weapons specialist. He was a large muscular man on Earth, and since coming to Terra, he was now an Earther, the same size as Big Macintosh, but with dark blue fur and a fiery red mane.
Then there was Dutch. Another that had to deal with changing genders, she was now a trim pegasus with a red coat and purple mane that was even more lethal in her ability at being their demolitions specialist thanks to her ability to fly.
Finally there was Reaper. He was an Earther as well, but shorter than Twilight, with dense muscles that added to his skill as their close quarters combat specialist.
Twilight had asked for them as her personal guard as she trusted them entirely, having spent years training and fighting with them.
All five of them were wearing body armor and armed to the teeth with their prefered weapons.
Heavyarms carried an M-240G with an ACOG optic mounted on the rail. Jazz and Twilight both carried their M-14 sniper rifles. Dutch was outfitted with an AA-12 automatic shotgun with a drum magazine. Finally, Reaper carried an MP-5. All carried a .40 Smith & Wesson semi-auto pistol as a secondary weapon.
All of them had a full combat load out of ammunition as well as flash and frag grenades.
The group soon entered the command center located deep in the center of the crystalline tree structure.
On the far wall there were several large monitors that were each split into six screens showing various elements of the strike force.
In front of those were five arcing rows of desks with analysts and controllers, receiving and passing on reports from the multitude of units that were advancing across the ocean.
“Status report!” Twilight barked out as she entered the room.
Starlight Glimmer, once a thorn in Twilight’s side, had flourished as her adjunct. The mare took to being in the military like a fish to water.
“All of our naval units are reporting in position. The guided missile cruisers and destroyers are in firing position and our guided missile subs are at launch depth. All are awaiting orders to commence firing. All fleet carriers are reporting that their wings are ready and awaiting orders to launch, all have Hawkeyes and four Hornets each flying recon patrols. Land based bombers are orbiting just off the coast with AWACS and their fighter escorts. Compass Call is reporting that their three aircraft are in position at their maximum altitude and are standing by to commence electronic warfare. Attack submarines are currently trailing all u-boat wolf packs that are currently at sea. All amphibious assault ships are reporting that their Apache and Cobra attack helicopters are loaded and standing by. Spectre and Spooky gunships are orbiting off the coast as well.” Starlight reported.
Twilight nodded. “Good. Send the word. OPERATION SHOCK AND AWE starts now.” She ordered.
Nearly four thousand miles from Ponyville, ships and aircraft began receiving orders.
Below the waves, torpedo tubes aboard the Los Angeles, Seawolf, and Virginia class fast attack submarines were loaded with Mk-48 CBASS torpedos. The sonar-guided torpedos were set in a standard search pattern and the fifty-five knot speed and nearly thirty kilometer range would mean that any ship caught by the would have little chance of outrunning the fish.
Firing solutions on all fifty-one boats were locked in for all of the targets that they had been trailing. Tubes were flooded and outer doors glided open. Targets and solutions were checked again.
The targets of the USS Colorado, the newest Virginia-class fast attack submarine, were sitting on the surface, charging their batteries with their diesel engines, making enough noise that the Colorado’s sonar operators had no trouble tracking them.
Some of the crew were on deck enjoying the fresh air, not realizing that a silent hunter of the deep was nearly a hundred meters below them.
Suddenly, one of the u-boats on the outer edge of the wolfpack exploded and lifted out of the water before crashing back down and sinking. Then in rapid succession, the other five boats of the group suffered similar fates, leaving nothing but burning oil slicks as evidence of their fates, their radio operators were unable to get off a message.
Five hundred miles off the coast of the eastern continent, four Ohio class guided missile submarines, twenty Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyers, and ten Ticonderoga class guided missile cruisers moved into final position. Coordinates were checked and assigned to each of their missiles. Within minutes over a thousand Tomahawk cruise missiles were streaking towards their land based targets.
On the ocean wall, the Liger forces that were guarding the heavily fortified coast like from their bunkers and gun emplacements were shaken from their routines as strange objects screamed past less than a hundred meters overheard. The commanders of the batteries attempted to report the strange occurrence, but were unable to raise the higher headquarters due to the overload of the switchboards, that were destroyed mere moments later by thousand pound warheads. Communications attempts via radio was met with static on all channels.
The commanders looked at their staff with looks of growing panic. They were in the dark and had no idea what was going on.
In the air, swarms of attack helicopters approached the coast a mere two dozen meters off the water. Weapons offices tracked their targets with the cameras mounted in the noses of their Hellfire missiles. Once the targets were in range, the pilots slowed to a hover and the weapons officers fired the optically guided missiles, guiding them into the narrow opening of the bunkers.
Hundreds of missiles struck home, pressure waves liquefying the occupants and the heat and shrapnel destroyed weapons.
Each bunker received similar treatment. After all the bunkers were neutralized, the helicopters moved in and began systematically destroying anti-air guns, vehicles and tents with rocket and missile fire. The troops that survived were cut down by the chin mounted chain guns.
At ten thousand meters above, wings of B-52H Stratofortress and B-1B Lancer heavy bombers turned towards their targets. Within two hours, the targets that had been identified from satellite imagery and overflights by U-2Q Dragonlady reconnaissance planes were left smoking ruins by the two thousand pound JDAM payloads of the bombers.
Along the roads and highways of the eastern continent, military convoys were hunted down and destroyed by AC-130 Specter and Spooky II gunships. The strikes left few, if any surviving personnel to report that they were struck by demons from the skies.
Flying over the coastal defensive walls that were still smoking three wings of O/A-10C Thunderbolt II ground attack aircraft headed towards known tank positions.
Within hours, the exhausted pilots would land at runways captured by special operations commandos reporting that all tank units that they had been able to find were routed.
In the hours after dawn, Navy Seabees and Army Sappers, partnered with EOD units from all branches of service were clearing the landing beaches and blowing holes in the walls to allow vehicles and personnel to advance inland.
Soon, every Abrams MBT, Bradley Fighting Vehicle, Centurion MBT, Stryker IAV, MRAP, HUMVEE, and Paladin self propelled howitzer would be advancing deep into the conquered continent.
Twilight sat in the passenger area of the Blackhawk that was taking her to meet with the remaining Liger government reflecting on the last few months.
‘Six months of fighting. I guess something can be said about fighting an organized military force over insurgents.’ She thought as the helicopter flared to land with its two decoy sister as their attack helicopter escorts circled overhead, keeping a watchful eye for threats.
Word had been received a week prior from advance elements of the 3rd Armored Division that the remaining leadership of the Liger military had requested surrender after some officers were able to lead a successful coup against the Fuhrer, killing her in the fighting.
The prison camps that had been identified by satellite photos were quickly captured and liberated by airborne units within the first few days of the war and after numerous resupply missions, the positions were held while the rest of the ground forces advanced on them. Fortunately, wholesale extermination of the prisoners was averted by the action.
Casualties to Twilight’s forces were minimal considering the opposition, a testament to to the training and equipment of her forces, but the nearly thousand lives that were lost weighed heavily on her.
‘Another lesson of leadership: you will have to send your men to their deaths at some point. But the question you have to ask yourself is were those lives wasted or were they spent’ She thought as the door slid open and her personal detail stepped out.
Once given the all clear, Twilight exited the helicopter, ducking low to stay clear of the rotors. Once she was clear of the rotors, she stood up straight and flared her wings to stretch the muscles out after the long flight as she tugged her body armor into a more comfortable position.
Marching up the stairs, her right hand resting on her sidearm in its thigh holster, she entered the chancellery building. Once inside, she saw workers already removing the flags and other trappings of the fuhrer’s regime.
‘Looks like she didn’t have as much support as she thought she did. At least the civilian populace didn’t suffer the horrors of war to badly.’ She thought to herself.
Remarkably, civilian casualties from the fighting were limited to those that were merely in the wrong place at the wrong time. Something that Twilight and her commanders were thankful for.
Militarily, the Liger’s had been decimated. The opening strikes had reduced their military strength by almost fifty percent and the fighting as her forces advanced reduced it to over ninety percent. Which opened up new headaches in having to set up bases to help protect against reprisals.
Entering the meeting room, Twilight was meet by the highest ranking member of the government, the admiral in charge of the Liger navy.
“Guten tag, Herr Admiral. I wish that we were meeting under better circumstances.” She said greeting the male.
“I as well Your Highness. Shall we get this unpleasantness over so we can try to go back to our lives?” He asked.
Twilight nodded. “Indeed. Maybe once this is settled you can come visit Equestria and we can swap some stories, just a couple of old war dogs?” She said.
The liger smiled. “I would like that very much. Maybe over drinks and chess?”
Twilight laughed. “Sounds like a plan. Now, I had my people draw up the terms, and I did my best to make them fair and equitable due to the massive losses your people suffered.” She said as she took a case from Jazz and pulled out a stack of documents and passed them over.
The admiral and his staff read the papers over.
“So we will be allowed to build our military back up? That is quite generous.” He replied after reading the terms.
Twilight nodded. “It will be limited to about half of what you had before my forces moved in and will be a self defense force, but I would rather you be an ally rather than an enemy.”
“I notice that the reparations are reasonable as well, why is that?” He inquired.
“I have seen what happens when a nation is unjustly punished for when their leaders wage war and lose. I would like to prevent as much undue suffering of the population and prevent the rise of those that would try it again.” Twilight replied. “The nation in question was hit so hard that their currency wasn’t even worth the paper it was printed on because of the inflation.”
The admiral nodded. “We thank you for this. If you can give us a few moments to discuss this amongst ourselves?” He inquired.
“Certainly.” Twilight responded.
Twilight stretched out in her seat on the transport aircraft as they flew back to Equestria.
“That went pretty well.” Jazz said as she pulled out a book to read.
“It did. Hopefully the rest of the world will accept it and not raise a fuss.” Twilight said as she moved her left arm, wincing a bit as it ground in protest. “Damn. Going to have to finish my replacement.”
“Wearing out already?” Jazz asked, eyebrow raised.
“Yeah. The metals from Earth aren’t all that great at channeling magic for long periods of time. I am almost done with my newest one. Just haven’t had much time to finish it.” The alicorn replied.
“This one got any cool features?” Jazz asked.
“Yup. Hard mana shield projector, hidden blade, and an energy projector ala Iron Man.” Twilight replied with a smirk.
“Nice. So what now? War is over.” Jazz inquired.
“Getting bases and ports constructed, dismantling our nuclear arsenal, and setting up patrols to protect our interests abroad. Starting anti-piracy operations will be happening as well. After that, I am taking some much needed R&R. Going to go see my friends on the other side of the mirror for a few weeks and handle the Starseeker issue.” Twilight replied.
“Starseeker?”
“Yeah. Former consort of Celestia that turned herself into a damn daywalker that got chucked through the mirror because Celestia couldn’t bring herself to put her down.” Twilight explained.
“Fun. Can I come with?” Jazz asked.
Twilight thought for a moment. “Sure. You won’t have a counterpart there, so there will be no chance of confusion.” Twilight replied.
“We gonna go armed?” Jazz inquired.
“For war sister.” Twilight replied with a smirk, causing Jazz to laugh as the plane winged its way back to Equestria.
Once Twilight was back in Ponyville, she had a most undesired visitor.
“What do you want Discord?” She asked the chimera who was currently pinned to the wall of her office by several hard mana blades while she ground through her paperwork. “I wished to apologize for my actions. Things got out of control quickly, even for me.” Discord replied, not at all bothered by being turned into a pincushion.
Twilight paused her typing and turned to Discord. “Seriously? Then why didn’t you stop it?” She asked heatedly.
“Because the only way I could have stopped it would have been extremely messy and would have resulted in me probably being sealed again, and not by the Elements, but by the Creator.” He responded.
Twilight looked at him. “So you just hid and hoped that by bringing the military from the Earth I was on would fix your problems?” She shook her head. “Just for that you get to spend the next few centuries as my target dummy.”
“That is fair.” Discord said.
“You don’t get a choice in the matter. Now get out of my sight. I have work to do before I go on leave.” Twilight responded, dispelling the blades.
Once the blades were gone, Discord disappeared as quickly as he could, not looking forward to their next meeting.