//------------------------------// // First Days in Outer Heaven // Story: Metal Gear Spark: Peace Zero // by GreenS21 //------------------------------// Upon reaching the end of the short hallway leading to the ladies’ section of the Living Quarters, Twilight found that there was a small lounge-like area set up next to the door leading to the sleeping area, complete with a small table that had a few chairs around it and a small couch set up along the wall across from the table. The furniture, with its faded colors and spots where there were tears in the fabric or a thread sticking out, definitely didn’t look like anything Rarity would likely ever put in her home, but it all looked like it might be comfortable enough to sit on while doing work, and the overhead lighting lit everything up nicely. Even if it was all only temporary, it was clear that Snake and Miller were putting the effort into making the place livable. After another moment, Twilight used her magic to push open the door leading to the sleeping area and found that it was dark inside. She felt over the wall next to the door with a hoof for a moment before feeling and flicking a switch above her that turned the overhead lights on. Looking around, she saw a row of single beds on both sides of the room. Most of the beds were unmade, but she did see a few that had covers and blankets on them. Like the furniture outside, it wasn’t anything too fancy, but she guessed it was good enough for the time being. Twilight walked down the length of the middle of the room, looking at the beds that were made. Sure enough, one had Amanda’s name on it while the other two that were made, which were right next to each other, had the names ‘Emu’ and ‘Peccary’ on them. “Does everyone here have an animal name that they’re referred to by? Does Miller have an animal name? Or Amanda? Or Chico? Am I just going to be called Alicorn if I stay here long enough?” she wondered. A pair of knocks on the door pulled her out of her thoughts and she turned her head back to see Miller peering into the room. “Knock, knock,” he commented as he stepped inside. Twilight turned and walked over to him. As she got closer, she noticed he was holding a notebook in his right hand and some pens and pencils in his left hand. He held them out to her as she stopped in front of him, saying, “Here, I grabbed these from the R&D Unit. The pens work and I took out the pages that the guys had already written on in here.” Twilight took the offered items with her magic and said, “Thanks, Kaz. This will do great. I’ll try to figure out what happened so I can get out of here.” Miller asked, “Can’t see yourself living here, huh? I guess Mother Base isn’t exactly a welcome sight as it is, come to think of it.” Twilight hastily placed the notebook and writing utensils on the bed next to her and tried to correct herself, “N-No, Miller, I didn’t mean it like that! I-I was just thinking about what Snake said about it being dangerous to keep me here. I mean, I would like to see what your expansion plans are for Mother Base, but ideally, I think Snake would want…” Miller cut her off, “Relax, Twilight, I know what you meant. I would argue with the Boss that having you around might be good for the men, but I know he’s right too. With MSF growing and adding all different kinds of people with so many different backgrounds, we’re bound to end up on more than just America’s bad side as it is. The rest of the world doesn’t need to know about what exactly we do here and what we discover. It would be better for you to get home as soon as possible.” He turned and stepped out into the hallway, Twilight following behind him. He looked at the small lounge area and gestured to it with his right hand as he said, “It’ll probably be more comfortable to work here than on a bed, but obviously you know how you work best.” He then looked at Twilight, “I’m going to go let Huey know that Snake has given his approval for him to work as part of the R&D team now and then I have to get back to work. Snake currently has me assigned to help out in the Sick Bay until we can get more men in there.” Twilight replied, “Seems like everyone’s working hard here. Does anyone ever get a break here?” Miller answered, “Well, we have set meal times. It kind of depends on the team in the Mess Hall having the food ready when they say they will, but they’ve been pretty consistent and they usually put out an announcement when they’ve made enough for everyone. Regardless, it’s getting pretty late in the day, so they should be working on dinner right now.” Twilight blushed a little as she looked down and said, “I’ve noticed that when I get caught up with studying or reading or working, I tend to lose track of time. I guess I shut a lot of things out when I’m in the middle of something.” Miller nodded, “That’s all right. I’ll find Emu and Peccary when dinner’s ready and tell them to come get you to make sure you get something to eat.” Twilight looked up and asked, “Hey, how come everyone has animal names around here? I was just wondering about that.” Miller replied, “Well, not everyone has one. As you’ve seen, there are some staff members who prefer to go by their real names, but the ones who don’t prefer to be called by the codenames we assign to them. We use animal codenames because that’s what Snake’s former unit, FOX, used for its agents, and it was kept when he established both FOXHOUND and MSF. Sometimes a codename is given because it means something, but that’s not always the case.” Twilight nodded, “I see.” Miller looked back at her as he turned and started to walk away, “All right, I really have to get back to the Sick Bay, but we’ll talk more over dinner.” He then disappeared around the corner, leaving Twilight alone. After taking a moment to cast the spell that had protected her and Cadance when Discord had had ‘Blue Flu’, Twilight looked back into the room and grabbed the notebook and writing tools with her magic and set them down on the nearby table. Sitting down in one of the chairs, she found that it was fairly sturdy and easy to settle into. She then took a moment to collect her thoughts before she opened the notebook, picking up one of the pens as she started working, beginning with what she could remember about what happened and working in what she knew about magic. Twilight quickly became lost in her thoughts, only occasionally looking up at the ceiling while she briefly thought about something before returning to the notebook. She was so absorbed in trying to piece together what had happened that the faint sound of boots against the metal floor outside the Living Quarters hardly caught her attention. She did look up when a whistle sounded throughout Mother Base, her head turning to the right as the faint sound grew in volume and began to sound more like marching. She looked towards the hallway when she heard a female voice call, “Hey there!” She saw two soldiers standing in the entryway. They were wearing what she now assumed was the standard uniform and facemask for MSF personnel, but the way they filled out their uniforms showed that they were indeed female. “You’re Twilight Sparkle, right?” the one on the left asked as they approached the alicorn. “Oh, yes! That’s me!” Twilight replied. She looked up at the two as they stopped in front of her, “And you’re, uh… um…” She quickly glanced between the two. She knew what their codenames were, but she didn’t know which soldier was which. The first soldier held out her right hand, Twilight taking it and shaking it as she said, “I’m Emu, and this is Peccary.” Twilight turned to the other soldier and shook her hand, the woman asking after a moment, “Do you remember me?” Twilight lowered her hoof, “Um… right now, no. You kind of look the same with your masks on.” Peccary replied, “I’m the prisoner you and the Boss found in the mountains.” Twilight immediately knew what she was talking about. “Oh, that’s right! I remember now! You’re… doing better now?” Peccary nodded, “Yeah. Being at Mother Base is so much better than being in prison, and the Boss assigned me a job in the Intel Unit. He sounded impressed when he heard about how I managed to escape. That’s why you both found me so close to that base.” Emu spoke up, “I was a prisoner too before the Boss found me, but he assigned me to the Sick Bay because of my medical knowledge. I was busy when Commander Miller brought you around earlier, but I saw you leaving. Speaking of which, Commander Miller told us to let you know that it’s time for dinner. Are you coming?” As she thought about it, Twilight realized she was in fact feeling quite hungry. With trying to learn to control the magic of three other alicorns, dealing with Tirek, and everything that had happened since she arrived in this world, she hadn’t had much to eat today. With a nod, she stood up and flipped her notebook closed with a hoof, following Emu and Peccary as they led her to the Mess Hall. When they got there, Twilight saw that she was correct in thinking that the Mess Hall was like Canterlot High’s cafeteria. There was a line of soldiers along one wall where the food that the Mess Hall staff had made was laid out with trays stacks of trays at the beginning of the line. Some of the members of the Mess Hall staff were out front to monitor how much food was left while the rest of them were in the kitchen trying to keep the food coming. The soldiers that had gotten their food were seated at the tables, the inside of the Mess Hall already abuzz with the sound of the conversations they were having with each other. Twilight followed Emu and Peccary over to the line, trying to remain calm and not let her eyes wander as she walked. Despite all the noise in the Mess Hall, it was not hard to tell when everyone sitting at a table took notice of her. It actually made her feel more uncomfortable than when ponies made a big deal out of her since these were grown humans, almost all of them being trained for fighting, but she tried to keep her uneasiness hidden as she and the two female soldiers joined the line. Twilight grabbed a tray with her magic when she reached the stacks as well as utensils, staying close to Emu and Peccary while the two picked out what they wanted. Since she wasn’t trying to blend in as much as she did during her time at Canterlot High, Twilight took the time to look the food over as the line moved. She didn’t see any flowers or hay, but after high school and considering where she was, that wasn’t much of a surprise to her, so she put some sliced up fruit and broiled vegetables on her tray. At the end of the line, Twilight noticed some circular and square-shaped boxes laid out on a tray, their appearance making her think of a boxed lunch. She started to reach for a rectangular box with a hoof before Peccary noticed and said, “Uh, I wouldn’t take one of those if I were you, Twilight.” The lavender alicorn lowered her hoof and asked, “Why not?” Peccary replied, “Those are some of our rations. They’re typically given to the soldiers out in the field, but I guess the Mess Hall team is serving us some of their extras.” Twilight asked, “Well, if the soldiers are eating them and they’re being served here, they must taste okay, right?” Emu spoke up, “Yeah, no. The way they come, they taste like crap, and clearly the Mess Hall staff doesn’t want try to do anything to them either. Just skip over those; you don’t want to eat them unless you absolutely have to.” With that, she got out of line and started looking for a table, Peccary following after her. Twilight hesitated for a moment before hurrying after them without adding anything else to her tray. ________________________________________ Cadance noted, “You seemed to hesitate just now, Twilight.” The lavender alicorn glanced at Spike for a moment before looking back at Cadance and saying, “Well, I didn’t want to repeat Emu’s exact words, Cadance. Let’s just say some of the things I heard at Mother Base weren’t exactly what you’d hear in casual conversation.” She used her hoof to raise her tea cup to her lips for a moment before quickly clarifying, “I tried not to pick up any bad habits from them. Not sure that I succeeded.” Applejack asked, “So how was their food, Twilight? Not so good?” Twilight looked at the orange earth pony, “Oh, the regular food was fine, Applejack, and it definitely got better as the Mess Hall staff filled up. It’s just the rations that, for all the improvements they were able to make, they were never able to get anyone to agree they tasted good the way they came. Like I mentioned to Emu and Peccary after dinner, I imagine the rations Shining had to eat when he was in training probably weren’t any better.” Mr. Sparkle spoke up, “I’m sure they were, Twilight. It sounded like even the recruits to the Royal Guards always ate good whether they were at the castle or away.” Shining looked up at the ceiling as he slowly said, “Yeah… I’d have to disagree with you on that, Dad.” Mrs. Sparkle looked at the white stallion and asked, “What do you mean, Shining? You’ve never once complained about what you had to eat.” Shining replied, “Yeah, but I never tried to sneak anything home either. Twilight’s right, Mom; rations are just food. That’s the best thing anypony can say about them.” Twilight said, “I wonder if they would taste better after being over a spit too.” When Shining looked at her curiously, she explained, “Sometimes out in the field, we would set up barbecue spits and roast our rations over a fire. Properly roasted, they tasted, and looked, considerably better.” Shining nodded, “Ah. Maybe I should try that sometime. Would be nice to open up one of the old rations and not think I’d rather eat something that’s slightly rotten instead.” Cadance shook her head at her husband’s words before looking back at Twilight and saying, “I think we’re getting a little off-track, Twilight.” Twilight nodded, “Right, sorry…” ________________________________________ The three walked through the Mess Hall looking for a place to sit. Now that most of the staff was there, many of the benches were almost filled to capacity. Some of them still stopped what they were doing and stared at Twilight as she walked by, but most of them had gotten used to her presence by that point. After a minute, Peccary pointed to one of the tables and said, “Hey, Amanda’s sitting at that table! Let’s see if we can squeeze in with her.” As she was about to follow her and Emu, Twilight suddenly felt that there was someone standing next to her followed by the feeling of a hand on her left shoulder. She turned to see that it was Miller, his right hand on her shoulder while his left hand held a tray. He looked down at her and said, “Come eat with me, Twilight. We’ll powwow. Your lady friends can come too.” He sounded like he said that last part meaningfully. He then moved around the alicorn and started walking across the room. Twilight looked at Emu and Peccary, both of them turning back when they realized she wasn’t following them. She gestured off to the side with her head before turning to catch up with Miller. The two women exchanged a confused look before they followed after her, all three of them soon finding Miller sitting at an empty table. “Commander Miller wants to eat with us? What an honor!” Peccary nearly exclaimed. Emu didn’t say anything, but her expression indicated she was similarly impressed. The two women sat on both sides of Twilight across from Miller and removed their facemasks. Twilight looked up between them in surprise. While her mane was certainly longer, their short brown hair had a similar yet pretty style to it despite their masks pressing down on it, and their faces looked beautiful as well. Twilight certainly thought so, and evidently Miller did too since his mouth changed to a seductive smirk as he looked them over. “Hey ladies. Maybe you’d like to sit over here so Princess Twilight doesn’t have to keep looking between you while we’re talking?” he suggested, doing little to hide the arousal in his voice. Emu and Peccary did not disagree with him, both picking up their trays and making their way around the table to sit at his sides. He smiled at them and listened intently as they told him how honored they felt to be sharing a private table with him. Twilight quickly became annoyed by their fawning and Miller trying to win them over further and started eating while trying to block out the noise, hoping that Miller would remember why he called her over while trying to keep her irritation in check. Suddenly she felt a tap on her left shoulder and she let out a yelp, jumping slightly as she turned to see Chico sitting next to her. “Oh… hi. Chico, right?” she asked. The boy nodded, “Yeah, that’s me! Listen, uh… Twilight, right? I just wanted to apologize for earlier. I was… It’s so amazing to meet a real live unicorn with wings! I mean, wow! I’m still in shock!” Twilight replied, “Well, uh, thank you, and… I hope you don’t mind, but the correct term for what I am would be alicorn.” Chico asked, “I thought that’s what your horns were made of?” Twilight glanced up at the pointy appendage on her forehead before looking back at Chico and saying, “Well, I could explain that, but I’ve been told that I don’t know how to make my explanations interesting.” Chico smiled, “Oh, I would be interested! I’m really into stuff like you! UFOs, magic creatures, monsters… I think it’s all incredible! I’d love to learn more about you and what it’s like where you come from! What other kinds of creatures live there? Are there lots of ponies like you? How many alicorns are there?” Miller cleared his throat, Twilight and Chico looking at him in response. He lowered his hand to the table and said, “Chico, I admire your willingness to learn more about the whole Equestrian thing, but Princess Twilight here did not come to our world to be a guest lecturer. Right now, she’s a little girl in a world that knows nothing about her and she knows only a little bit about. I think she’d like to get home as soon as possible, which is exactly what I wanted to talk to her about.” He looked at Twilight, “So? Have the last few hours been productive?” While Chico looked awestruck, Twilight faced Miller completely as she replied, “Uh, fairly. I think I’ve managed to figure out what happened. I believe, between having to contain the magic of all the Princess of Equestria, having it completely drained out of me by Lord Tirek, and opening the chest from the Tree of Harmony and being gifted with new magic…” Miller held up his right hand to stop her. “Whoa, whoa, whoa. I’ve never really been into magic myself, and even though you haven’t said much about magic, I have no clue what you’re talking about. You think maybe you could say it a little more simply?” he asked. Twilight sighed and glanced at Chico for a moment before saying, “So, basically, between being given more power than I’m used to, having every bit of it and my own drained all at once essentially, and then getting it back, my body was basically in a flux over the course of a few hours. When I got hit unexpectedly while using the new magic my friends and I received, I think I lost control and had a magical reaction in the form of a teleport spell that sent me to this world. That is my theory.” Miller asked, “See? That wasn’t so hard. Do you think you can recreate those circumstances so that you can go home?” Twilight sighed and said, “That’s going to be the hard part. Aside from trying to get used to all that magic in me, everything kind of happened at all once. There wasn’t really much time to think about things. In order to do it again, I’m going to have to take what I know and run some magic trials.” Miller asked, “Trials?” Twilight nodded, “Yeah, like tests. I mean, it’s probably going to take a lot of fine-tuning to make it happen again and it’s undoubtedly going to be messy, so… I’ll do that part away from Mother Base so I don’t destroy anything, like out in the water, but I think it’s going to take some time.” Miller nodded, “I see. Well like I said before, you’re free to use the Mess Hall and Sick Bay when you need anything, but I’m also going to extend that to the rest of the Units here on Mother Base. I don’t know that they’ll be able to help much, but if you see or overhear something you think might help, then feel free to ask someone. Of course, whoever you’re going to has to make the final call, but…” Twilight replied, “Right, I know. You’re… MSF is like an organization and you’re all working towards the same goal, which, at the moment, is helping Snake out. I shouldn’t go doing anything or making any requests that would interfere with that.” Miller nodded, “You got it. Speaking of Snake, I’ll be sure to inform him of your progress next time I talk to him.” Chico spoke, “Well, I know that doing what Snake asked you to is the most important thing, but I sure hope you can find a little time to at least show me some of your magic. That would be so cool!” Peccary added, “Yeah, and so would hearing about Equestria!” Suddenly they all heard a familiar voice, “Hey, there’s the newest girl in Mother Base!” They all turned to see Huey rolling up to the side of the table, a meal tray sitting on his lap. With so many people joining and getting Twilight involved, their table began to join the cacophony of noise in the Mess Hall. Although he continued to speak, behind his sunglasses, Miller looked at Twilight disapprovingly. It wasn’t because he was jealous; it was because she was starting to get too close to the staff. As soon as he was finished eating, Miller stood up and excused himself, saying he had something important to take care of. It was a bit sudden, but Twilight wasn’t too bothered by it since it made sense to her that Miller, being Snake’s second-in-command, would have a lot of work to do, especially in Snake’s absence. The rest of dinner went by quickly and afterwards, most of the Mother Base staff headed back to their posts to finish their work while some went straight to the Living Quarters after leaving the Mess Hall. Everyone at Twilight’s table fell into the latter category, Chico and Huey heading to the men’s side of the Living Quarters while Twilight followed Emu and Peccary back to the ladies’ side. Twilight had planned to get back to work after dinner, but Emu and Peccary urged her to spend more time with them. She initially tried to make an excuse so she could do what Snake told her to do, but she soon relented when she realized that, due to being prisoners until recently, they would probably like the extra company, so she went with them into the sleeping area and slid her notebook and writing tools under the bed across from them. During dinner, aside from the way they acted when they sat with Miller, Emu and Peccary had been more reserved and alert, but now that they were alone, they acted more like when they had come to get Twilight. The three of them talked and joked in a more carefree manner now that they didn’t have the rest of the staff around them. It was a little surprising to Twilight, but she reminded herself that they were prisoners and that this was surely good for helping them adjust to being free. Amanda eventually came in, but she didn’t join in; instead, she headed straight for her bed and called for lights out. Emu and Peccary were a bit disappointed, but they chose not to argue with her, instead settling down as Twilight used her magic to turn off the lights and go to sleep herself. She hadn’t known what time it was when they’d gone to sleep, but morning came too early for Twilight’s liking, though that could’ve been partly due to the wakeup call being delivered in the form of a shrill whistle across Mother Base that partly woke her up and partly scared her half to death. She was sure she could hear Miller making announcements over the loudspeakers, but she couldn’t hear what he was saying over her racing heart and he was done by the time she calmed down enough to properly pay attention again. After taking a moment to pull herself out from under her blanket, she noticed Amanda was leaving and Emu and Peccary were getting up from their beds. As they were getting ready to leave, Peccary noticed that Twilight was up and said, “Morning, Twilight. Are you getting up now too?” The lavender alicorn sleepily replied, “I guess I am. What time is it?” Peccary answered, “It’s pretty early, but we have to get ready. Our units have shift changes and we’re expected to be present and accounted for after breakfast.” While heading for the door, Emu spoke, “The showers are just down the hall. You might want to get in now before the men use up all the hot water.” Twilight paused at that, thinking of Spike and his bubble baths and wondering how everyone back in Equestria was doing. She came back to reality a minute after Peccary left and got out of bed, using her magic to make the covers nice again before leaving the sleeping area in search of the showers. As it turned out, the door she was looking for wasn’t too far from the door where the ladies’ section of the Living Quarters began. Going inside, she saw that it was a lot like the locker rooms that the stadium in the Crystal Empire had for the Equestria Games athletes. There were lockers that took up most of the center of the room with the showers on one side and the toilets and sinks on the other. Twilight saw that the other girls were already showering as she approached, Amanda sitting in a folding chair with a plastic wrap around her cast while Emu and Peccary stood under the showerheads, letting the water flow down on them. Biting her lip and reminding herself of her time in a human body, Twilight entered the shower area and picked a shower in the middle of it all. The warm water falling down on her felt good, better than usual. She guessed that had something to do with all the stressful things she had been through since arriving in this new world, something that she hadn’t been through when she and Spike had been in that other world. She hadn’t realized how much she needed it until the water started hitting her body. Emu and Peccary talked to each other while they were washing, mostly talking about their units and what they were hoping to get done for the day. Twilight listened in, but she only grasped parts of what they were talking about. While she was washing, she looked over at Amanda and noticed that the brown-haired woman looked away when the alicorn looked at her. Twilight frowned as she went back to washing herself, wondering if Amanda was mad at her for something. After a minute, Twilight heard the water turn off and looked to her right to see Amanda reaching for her crutches against the wall next to her. She seemed to have placed them a little too far away as they were just out of reach of her fingers and she was moving in her seat to try to get close enough. Twilight channeled some of her magic into her horn, picking up the crutches and levitating them over to Amanda. The woman took them before looking over at Twilight and noticing the glow coming from her horn. The two shared a look for a moment before Amanda quietly said “Thanks” and carefully stood up with her crutches, slowly and carefully making her way out of the shower area. Twilight looked her over as she left, her well-toned body making it clear that she had grown up as a fighter. Emu and Peccary finished up soon after, leaving the shower area to find Amanda and help her get dressed. Twilight lingered for a little while longer before turning off the water, which was starting to get colder. As she stepped out of the showers, Twilight grabbed a white towel off a nearby rack to dry herself with, at which point she realized she didn’t have a brush or even a comb. She let out a sigh as she began drying herself, knowing she was going to have to let her mane and tail do whatever they wanted. The other girls were already gone by the time she was done drying herself and she dropped the wet towel in a laundry basket by the door as she left, her mane and tail still damp while the rest of her was sufficiently dry. As she stepped out into the hallway, the nearby door suddenly opened and Miller stepped through it. Twilight looked up at him as he said, “Hey Twilight. Sorry if the wakeup call was a bit of a surprise.” He reached into one of the pockets in the front of his uniform and pulled out a small brush, comb, and toothbrush and held them out to her. “Here, I managed to find you clean ones. I thought you might need them.” Twilight gratefully took them in her magic and he left afterwards, saying, “See you at breakfast.” Twilight ducked back into the locker room, this time going to the sinks to brush her teeth, finding a toothpaste dispenser on one of the walls. She didn’t exactly like the taste, but it certainly made her teeth look better. She then used the brush and comb to fix her mane and tail up as best she could before she left again, quickly stopping by the sleeping area briefly to drop the useful items on her bed before heading for the Mess Hall. It was pretty packed by the time she got there, but Miller had already secured a table for the two of them to eat at. Once they were done eating, Miller told her to focus on working on the problem at hand and he was hoping to hear good news from her later. He then left for the Sick Bay while Twilight headed back to the Living Quarters to get her notebook, opening it to the last page she’d been on where she found she had stopped in the middle of a magic formula. After finishing it up, she thought for a while about how to approach the issue of performing a spell that would be able to take her back to Equestria before she began writing. It took a while of brainstorming since she didn’t have anything except what she knew to work with, but by dinnertime, she was able to report to Miller that she would be able to start testing tomorrow. Twilight was up bright and early with the other female staff when the wakeup call came the following morning despite not being used to it yet. After a quick shower and breakfast, she went back to the Living Quarters and spent some time looking at her notes before she headed outside, using her wings to fly up onto the top of the strut to scout out a nearby spot in the ocean to start testing from. She soon flew out over the water, stopping when she was sufficiently far from Mother Base. She then cast a spell so that she would be able to stand on the surface of the water and got to work. Unfortunately, this routine of her getting up, showering, eating, reviewing her notes, and going out to test what she had come up with went on for the next several days, with her coming back to Mother Base in between tests to consult her notes again, revise something, or work out something new. Despite her alicorn magic, Twilight’s tests were proving unsuccessful, with her coming back to Mother Base looking singed, soaking wet, or both. It was getting frustrating for her since, despite having done it, she was not well-versed in traveling between universes and the only place she knew that she could find more information on the subject was back in Canterlot. She kept going back to try to modify the basic teleport spell, but she couldn’t even get herself to do multiple teleports in a row like when she’d had the other princesses’ magic in her. As she got more and more frustrated, she started throwing more and more of her magic into her tests, and it eventually caught up to her when one day, she was barely able to fly back to Mother Base and collapsed from exhaustion not long after. Fortunately, the staff in the control tower had been watching her when she was flying back and had noticed that she was struggling, so they sent one of the staff to go meet her when she landed and he saw her when she collapsed. When he saw her fall, he quickly ran over to her and picked her up, taking her to the Sick Bay himself. Twilight slowly woke up a couple of hours later in one of the Sick Bay beds with a dull headache. As she was trying to sit up, Miller came over to her and spoke, “Hey Twilight. You okay?” The lavender alicorn let out a soft groan as she raised herself to a sitting position, looking up at him and saying, “I think, aside from this headache I have… What happened?” Miller answered, “The staff in the control tower saw you were having some trouble flying and sent someone to check on you. He saw you collapse and brought you here.” He leaned over her, “I should be the one asking you what happened.” Twilight sighed as she remembered what she had been doing beforehand and looked down as she said, “Well, I have been using a lot of magic over the last few days. I guess I haven’t been giving it enough time to recover.” Miller asked, “So you collapsed due to… magic exhaustion?” Twilight looked up at him, “It’s not like I have infinite magic or anything. Didn’t have it when I was a unicorn and I don’t have it now.” Miller stood up straight, “Well, that’s a problem then. I don’t know what you’d do back home for that…” Twilight interjected, “There’s not much anypony can do, except give it time to recover.” Miller nodded, “Then that’s what you’re going to do. No more testing until your magic’s recovered. In fact, I would advise not doing anything related to getting home until that happens. In other words, I’m taking your notebook away for the time being.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “What?! But… that’s all you let me do here!” she protested. Miller said, “And I admire your dedication to trying to solve this, but from the looks of it, that’s not helping you much here. It might even be keeping you from seeing something important. Taking some time to relax will probably do you some good. What do you like to do when you’re not working?” Twilight thought for a moment. “Well… I really like reading, often with a cup of tea, spending time with my friends, and learning new spells. O-Obviously I can’t learn anything new here since things are so different here.” Miller replied, “I see. Well, I certainly can’t get you any playmates…” Twilight glared up at him, “That’s not really…” Miller cut her off, “You know what I mean. Obviously, everyone here at Mother Base is very busy, so they’re not going to be able to spend a lot of time with you. I’ll see what I can do about finding you some books to read, but I can’t promise anything. At any rate, I want you to not worry about the whole fish out of water thing right now and that includes not pushing your magic to its limits again. We don’t need you passing out on us in the middle of the ocean.” Twilight shivered a bit at that. She knew her choice of testing area wasn’t really a smart choice, but she was trying to make sure Mother Base and everyone in it was safe from her tests. Miller went on, “Unless you know better, I would say using some light magic is okay, but no more of this heavy use magic you’ve been working with. I’m not kidding, either. If I find out you’ve been trying to continue testing behind my back, you’ll be spending some time in the Brig. I don’t want to do that, so don’t make me have to.” Twilight could tell by the tone of his voice that he was being completely serious, so she nodded in reply. “All right, then, good talk. Now get out of here. You’re not sick or injured and you’re not a Sick Bay staff member, so you really shouldn’t be in here.” With that, he turned and walked away to check on a staff member who was feeling under the weather. With a sigh, Twilight swung her hind legs around to the side to get out of the bed. Before she could push herself forward, she heard Amanda say, “That’s the closest I’ve seen Miller come to getting angry.” Twilight looked up and saw the Sandinista woman lying a few beds down for her daily Sick Bay visit. She continued looking at Twilight as she asked, “Bet that hurts, huh? Someone getting upset with you like that?” Twilight gave her a confused look as she slid out of the bed and onto her hooves, “Well, of course it does, Amanda. I like to think no one really likes making mistakes and others getting angry at them.” Amanda replied, “Hm. With how bright and differently colored you are, I figured things like anger and war would be completely new ideas to you.” Twilight walked around to her while saying, “Yeah, Snake seemed to think that too. Equestria was founded when the different pony species came together in friendship, but before that, there were definitely tensions that threatened to lead to war if the harsh winters didn’t freeze everypony to death first. Things are much more peaceful today, but it’s not always sunshine and rainbows. That- I can definitely say that with certainty.” Amanda looked at the pony standing next to her bed curiously. “I see. Still, it sounds like your world has been a lot luckier than ours has,” she commented. Twilight replied, “Yes, I can’t deny that. Equestria has been lucky that my friends and I have been enough to keep any potential conquerors at bay. We’re not on necessarily good terms with all of the other species in the world, but yes, we’ve been lucky to avoid having any usurpers change things for long as well as any wars. My friends and I have been through a lot together, and we’ve managed to keep Equestria together as a result.” Amanda looked down at her healing leg as she said, “Before I couldn’t imagine being able to get used to being anywhere except back home in our home country, Nicaragua, but even though I haven’t been at Mother Base for long, I feel like it is heaven compared to the conditions we had when we were hiding. Snake saved my life when I should’ve died; I’m starting to see what he meant by there always being a reason to keep living.” Twilight asked, “You’ve grown to like it here, huh Amanda?” Amanda nodded, “It’s been a worthwhile experience for sure. Turns out those Peace Sentinels working for Snake now are no different from me or any of my compas. Before we had to work in the KGB’s drug refinery in order to get the money for more compas, weapons, and food, but now…” She stopped when she noticed Twilight was leaning closer to her cast, her horn glowing with magic. “Hey, what are you doing with that?” she asked sharply. Twilight kept bringing the tip of her horn closer as she said, “Just stay calm and hold still, Amanda. Hopefully this will work as intended…” Amanda asked, “You expect me to feel calm after that?! Get that point away from…” She suddenly felt an odd sense run through her leg when the tip of Twilight’s horn touched her, a warm sensation climbing from her leg up into the rest of her body. She lowered her back down a bit, grunting softly as it felt like something was moving inside of her leg. After a few moments, the sensation ended, but she still felt the odd warmness. “Hey… what did you do?” she asked as she raised herself up again. Twilight raised her head up and looked at the woman, saying, “Not much, to be honest. For all we know about the regular kind of magic, healing magic is more or less nonexistent in Equestria. We do have magic for other things, though, and my sister-in-law, Cadance, once told me a little about the spell she used to help make ponies stop fighting. I haven’t really used that exact spell myself, but, um… I know a little bit about how to cast it, so I was trying to do a weaker version of it combined with a spell that can repair broken objects. I just wanted to try to help you relax and help your leg heal faster.” Her gaze had shifted down towards the floor while she was explaining and she looked up to see Amanda looking at her with an unreadable expression. After a moment, she said, “I’ll leave you alone now, Amanda…” She turned to leave. Amanda looked down at her leg as Twilight started to walk away. She had no idea what exactly Twilight’s spell had done, but her leg didn’t feel any worse than before. The warm feeling was nice too, whatever it was exactly. It made her feel like her leg was going to heal faster. She looked up and called to Twilight, “Hey!” The lavender alicorn came to a stop and looked back at her. “Come here,” she said. Twilight wasn’t sure what was going through Amanda’s mind, but she complied, walking back over to stand next to her bed. “Yes, Amanda?” she asked nervously. The woman spoke, “Miller told you not to use any of your more difficult magic. Was that a difficult spell for you?” Twilight replied, “No, not really. Using a weaker sensation helped with that, and the repair spell is something I was able to use when I was still a unicorn.” Amanda nodded and then said, “Miller said he wanted you to relax while you recovered, but I’m sure it’s going to be a while before he can get back to you with that request. Your magic will probably be back to normal by the time he does get around to it.” Twilight asked, “Where are you going with this?” Amanda asked back, “How willing are you to try something a little different than what you’re used to?” Twilight thought for a moment before answering, “Well, since I’ve gotten to live with my Ponyville friends, I suppose I’m a lot more open to new things than I used to be.” Amanda said, “Because if you’re willing to step outside of your comfort zone and work on that… combination spell a little more, I have an idea. It would also help you get to know everyone on Mother Base better. It’s something that would benefit us both if you’re willing to try.” Twilight’s curiosity grew as Amanda talked and she looked at the woman with an intrigued expression. ________________________________________ “What exactly was Amanda proposing, Twilight?” Cadance asked. Shining spoke up, “Let me guess. She wanted you to keep using that spell you put together on her leg, didn’t she?” Twilight replied, “That was part of it, yes. I must’ve done something right with it considering her cast came off a couple days later, but she must’ve seen a new side of me since we were starting to get along and she did want to help me while my magic was recovering.” Celestia nodded, “I do remember how you would work yourself to the point of exhaustion at times, Twilight. Those were the only times you were ever actually late to any of your classes.” Twilight blushed at that, but Celestia noticed she didn’t seem as embarrassed about it as she remembered Twilight usually being. Luna asked, “So what did she do for you, Twilight? It sounded like she just wanted to get you to know everyone at Mother Base.” Twilight nodded, “That was also the case, Princess Luna, but actually, she came up with a way to help me pass the time.” Spike asked, “And what was that?” Twilight answered simply, “In short? A training regimen. Exercise.” There was silence in the room for a second, then Rainbow suddenly burst out laughing followed by Discord doing the same. While Fluttershy looked up at her mismatched friend, everyone else's eyes went to the cyan pegasus whose wings were flapping, causing her to hover over everypony’s heads as she held an apple in her right hoof. “Oh…! Oh, that’s rich, Twilight! You, exercising?” she blurted out before succumbing to laughter again. Twilight glanced from side to side for a moment before desperately saying, “But… I’m not joking, Rainbow! Amanda did put together a tough workout schedule partly to get out of the Sick Bay, but I managed to stick to it! I kept doing it even after she healed up!” Rainbow landed on the floor, her laughter having subsided somewhat. “Yeah, I bet you did, Twilight. Come on, that outfit you’re wearing is a lot like the Wonderbolts’ uniforms. It helps to evenly move your body around. The only difference is yours does a great job at hiding your egghead fat.” That comment caused Discord to burst into hysterics once again while Rainbow closed her eyes and raised her apple to her mouth to take a bite of it. The pegasus didn’t need her eyes open to know that Twilight was glaring angrily at her, but she should’ve had them open for what happened next. Before anyone else could react further to her comment, Twilight suddenly stood up and ran around towards Rainbow at a speed that was unusually fast for the bookworm pony. It was obvious that Rainbow had no idea there was another difference that Twilight’s Sneaking Suit had from the Wonderbolts’ uniform: the noise-suppressing material in the boots. She didn’t hear the lavender alicorn coming at all; she only opened her eyes when something suddenly struck her foreleg from underneath, sending the apple on her hoof up into the air. “Wha-” was all she could manage before she felt something against her chest lift her up just up off the ground. She had just enough time to see Twilight standing on her hind legs with her right hoof on her chest before she was thrown to the ground, sliding on her back a bit due to the tiled floor. With the exception of Discord, who was still laughing, everyone was stunned by what Twilight had just done, the lavender alicorn still standing up on her hind legs. Applejack stood up and started to move towards her friends, about to reprimand her bookish friend. “Twilight-” she began before the alicorn suddenly whirled around to face her, that angry look still on her muzzle and her hooves reaching out for the orange earth pony. She stopped short, though, seemingly realizing what she was doing as her angered look was replaced with wide eyes. She then sat down, her hooves on her head as she muttered, “No, no! What the hell am I doing…?” Her right hoof suddenly shot out to the side a moment later, catching the apple before it hit the ground despite her not even looking at it. Pinkie clapped her hooves, seemingly no longer concerned about what she had just seen. “Wow, that was a great catch, Twilight!” she said, likening it to some kind of circus act. Twilight, for her part, lowered her left hoof and looked at the apple. She might not have been the best at Mother Base, but she’d had enough practice with CQC for her to have moments where her body was able to react without her needing to think about it. Rainbow broke the moment when she groaned, “Uhh… What the hay was that, Twilight?” The lavender alicorn looked behind her and saw her friend raising herself up off the floor, rubbing the back of her head with a hoof. After a moment, Twilight sheepishly said, “Uh, sorry Rainbow. I guess I was kind of acting in the moment.” She then remembered what prompted her to do that and she put on a more serious expression as she spoke, “I hope this makes my point, though. Of course, if you want me to keep putting my bits where my mouth is…” Rainbow heard the challenge in Twilight’s voice and sat up all the way. After all, Rainbow Dash was always up for a good challenge. “Oh, it’s ON,” she smirked.