//------------------------------// // Chapter VI: Pink // Story: Cosmic Rifts // by Silvak //------------------------------// "When I joined the Lunar Guard, I never quite imagined myself doing this...," Night Shade said as she lugged the broken remains of a fallen Xartik soldier onto the ramp of a transport chopper. "I did clearly say that it wouldn't be glorious to be part of my squad," I replied as I pulled out the energy cartridge from a Xartik pistol before tossing them into storage crates. "Captain, shouldn't you be more careful with that?" Agate asked as he carried over several rifles, before putting them down on the ground "Naw, these are just cheap guns that the Xartik produce, so there's plenty more where they came from," I answered before disarming another rifle. Shortly after Luna's arrival, the Xartik quickly started to crumple before our forces, or to be more accurate, before Luna. She was having a field day by the sounds the battle—now far off—based on her screaming of patriotic phases and the occasional explosion. Sadly, though, our forces did sustain some casualties, with three wounded and one dead, due in part of the tank's assault. Well, sadly in terms for everyone else, I was expecting to lose as much a fourth of our forces or more, so to me, it was a grand accomplishment in our training and scientific development, exceeding my wildest dreams. Or we were just really damn lucky. "Well, good thing these alien robots are so easy to beat, with that sole exception of that tank. Guess Equus is ready for war after all," Windbag commented, causing me to throw a rifle at him. "Hey! What was that for?" "That's for being an idiot, or not paying attention to my... 'lectures' on possible alien organizations that we may go to war with," I shot back. "This is just pure cannon fodder troops, drones they toss in first to either wipe out all primitive resistance or to assess the combat efficiency of the world's natives." Paling, Night said, "You mean... this battle... is just an easy one?" Shrugging, I answered, "If you want to put it that way, sure. Thankfully, as long as they don't find the means to counter our magic, the princess and Discord would be our thump cards in this war, for now." "Did someone mention my name?" said Discord as he appeared with his tell-tale pop, causing Agate and Night to jump back in shock. "About time you showed up Discord, what took you so long?" I asked with a scowl. "What do you mean? Did I missed some kind of appointment?" Discord replied as he looked at his wrist, though there wasn't a watch on it. "Discord... if you somehow didn't notice, we're at war right now," I explained as waved a hoof towards the smoldering remains of the Xartik tank. "Oh... that dreadful business," Discord commented as his jolly expression turned into a somber one. "How did the battle go?" "It's still ongoing, but decisively in our favor thanks to Luna's presence. We only took four casualties, three wounded, one dead," I responded, watching as Discord's frown deepened at the news. "War is never an enjoyable affair… not counting that private one I had with Celestia and Luna. But since I'm here, I might as well do my part," Discord declared as he twisted his limbs in a natural way, accompanied by the sound of bones popping. Narrowing my eyes, I asked, "So I take it you finally have a plan in mind?" as I recalled the discussion the princesses and I had with Discord about what role he would play when war came to us. While he wasn't too keen on actually participating in any battles, he did promise to lend a 'claw' to help keep the war in our favor. "Oh ye of little faith, so you shouldn't be so doubtful of the great and powerful Discord!" Discord replied, causing me to groan in annoyance. "Please don't imitate Trixie, that mare's insistence on using the third person really annoys me," I complained, causing Discord to let out a huff. "Well, excuse me for a bit of showboating, but fine. I'll cut to the chase since there is a war going on," Discord responded before snapping his fingers, causing a miniature representation of what I assume to be the planet to appear right before us. "From what I heard, you're worried of what will happen if the aliens ever figure a way to get their space armadas to the front lines safely. Well, worry no more, for I have a plan that will keep them from raining down on our parade!" Looking at the illusion, I asked, "You planned to send them to the center of the planet to be crushed or melted?" Cocking an eyebrow, Discord replied, "No, why would you think of that?" "Well, you have that illusion before us, so I just thought of the most damaging thing that could be related to it," I answered with a shrug. "You do plan to send their ships to some place that would result in their destruction, right?" Frowning, Discord responded, "Sadly, even as powerful as a spirit of disharmony can be, I do have limits, especially on other worlds. However, I do plan to blanket the world with a little trick that would give these aliens a 'fantastic landing'," as he waved his lion paw over the globe, a multi-color mess of a barrier appearing over the world. "However, to do this trick, I won't be able to participate in this war for quite a while." Looking at the shield covering the projection, I asked, "Do you have any plans on what to do after the enemy figures out a way to circumvent this?" "Oh, don't worry your wee little rage-filled head," Discord answered, patting my head for a second before teleporting a short distance away, causing me to growl at him. "I always have some machinations in play whenever they're needed. Though, who knows what will happen in the future, so let's just wait and see. However, you on the other hand, have something else to worry about." Narrowing my eyes, I replied, "What do you mean?" "Why not turn your head that way," Discord said as he pointed to something off to my side, before giving me a wave with his free paw. Before I could say a thing, he said, "Arrivederci," as he vanished with a pop. Scowling once more, I turned my head in the direction of that Discord pointed to, only seeing a few soldiers still lugging Xartik equipment about. "Just what was he... talking.... about..." I started to mutter to myself before noticing that one of them looked familiar to me. Squinting at the soldier, who was a mare with a pink coat and a short, curly violet mane. Suddenly, something clicked in my head as I trotted over to the mare as my troops looked at themselves in confusion before following me. "You there, corporal, what's your name." Looking at me with confusion-filled light blue eyes that only reinforced my sense of familiarity, the mare answered, "Me? My name is Cherry Soriee or you can call me Corporal Cherry, Captain," in a highly recognizable voice. "I see... Corporal, I have something very important to show you," I stated as I took off my helmet before putting my hoof into my mane as I dug around for something. "What is it, Captain?" Cherry asked while eyeing my mane. Finding what I was looking for, I pulled out a photo, showing to Cherry as I replied, "Does this photograph mean anything to you?" As Cherry's pupils began to shrink, Night looked over  Cherry's shoulder before saying, "Hey, isn't that a picture of you and your mother?" "Awww... how sweet of you," Windbag commented before breaking out in laughter. Ignoring Windbag's taunt, I kept my attention on Cherry, who was starting to sweat as I said, "Well, soldier, does this picture mean anything to you?" "Ahh... it's a sign of how caring you are towards your mother?" Cherry replied with a forced smile. "Is that the only response you have?" I questioned as I took on a suspicious expression, making it apparent to 'Cherry' that I wasn't going to be fooled by that statement. "I.... umm... I need to report back to my squad leader now Captain, so got to go!" Cherry responded as she turned around and tried to gallop off, only to be caught in my magic as I levitated her back to her original spot. "Now, Corporal Cherry, I'm certain that your squad leader wouldn't mind you spending some time with me of all ponies," I said as I took on a rather wide grin, that caused Agate and Night to back off a bit. "Pfft, ponies," Windbag commented as he rolled his eyes at two. "So, Cherry, please tell me what you truly feel about this picture, and please be honest. Lying to me typically only ticks me off, which normally results in broken bones for someone. So..." I declared before pulling ‘Cherry’ to me, where I pressed my nose against hers before continuing, "tell me what is going on in your mind." "I... I have no idea what you're talking about, Captain," Cherry replied with a frighten look plastered on her face. "Hmm... how about I tell you a short story then," I stated as I pulled Cherry away from my face. "One time, my mother wanted to be able to have fun with all her friends, so she used a magical pool to make copies of herself so she can achieve that goal, only for them to go rampant when the original one learned to use the pool to make more copies. Eventually, my mother's friends took action, getting rid of all the copies. Now, the reason I told this story is due to the fact that I just found a mare that looked eerily similar to my mother, with a voice that is an exact match of hers, with the only different is her mane and tail being of a different color and style. However, that can be easily changed, and the fact that I know for certain that my mother knows better than try to enlist in the Aegis Guard to protect me from any affairs, then that means only one thing." Floating a now terrified Cherry up into the air, I continued in a cold tone, "Now, please be honest with me, 'Cherry', otherwise things won't end well for one of us." Teeth chattering, Cherry shrieked out, "Ok-kay, you got me, I'm a m-mirror p-p-pool clone! P-please don't hurt m-me!" before hiding her face behind her forelegs, as my squad, with the exception of Windbag, just stared at me in horror of my actions. Grunting, I asked, "Is this some elaborate plot to get to Pinkie Pie and replace her?" "N-n-no." "Are there other clones out there still? And if there are, are any of them planning on getting rid of the original?" "Y-yes... b-but none of us would d-dare to hurt an innoc-cent! T-that is j-just evil!" Cherry replied. Humming to myself, I responded, "Okay then. Thank you for being honest about that," before letting go of Cherry, who promptly fell on her butt. Chattering for a bit, Cherry peeked from behind her hooves as she asked, "You're not going to hurt me? Or send me back to the pool like the others?" Shrugging, I answered, "Nah, you finally revealed the truth and you're not planning on hurting my mother, so there are no issues between us." Tilting his head in confusion, Windbag interjected, "Seriously? You actually trust what she said? Just like that?" "Well, since she is a copy of my mother—who has some tics that show when she's telling a flat-out lie—I would know whether or not Cherry is lying to me." Looking at me in utter befuddlement, Cherry asked, "You mean I'm free to go?" only to fold her ears as I laughed at her. "Of course not, you're a copy of my mother. I'm keeping an eye on you and pressing you into my squad. Welcome to our merry band," I answered as I sat down right next to her to wrap a hoof around her shoulders, bring her in close to me. "Besides, I have so many questions to ask you since you're a clone of my mother after all." With a nervous expression, Cherry looked at my squad, only for Windbag to say, "Welcome to the team, Cherry. I hope you enjoy having a life of utter misery along with the rest of us, cause that is all you're going to have when you're underneath Aether's oppressive hooves." "Oh shut your trap, Windbag."