//------------------------------//
// Final Results 
// Story: Beyond the Thousand Year Change: Lightning Dust 
// by Darthvalgaav 
//------------------------------//

Several months later, Lightning stood out in a clearing with the shadow of Twilight’s stupid castle surrounding her. Lightning did her best to ignore what she thought was the dumbest thing in all of Equestria. Seriously, Twilight and her friends spent all that time trying to fix up the old castle for NOTHING! Why couldn’t the stupid Tree of Harmony make a merger of the old castle mixed with crystal towers with the symbols of the Elements or something like that? Not to mention that she really hated crystal.


“Head in the game rookie,” came a loud voice that brought her back into the moment. She blinked and began to focus on Shadow Blade who was standing in front of her with an unamused expression. Seeing this made Lightning Dust wince slightly before her eyes darted over to the side where her princess was.


Twilight was seated on a cushion reserved for royalty along with many others. Both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were there, sitting on either side of her while the royal couple were a bit off to the right. Out of all of them, Twilight looked the most eager while Celestia, Luna, and Cadence held hopeful yet reserved expressions. Shiny the jerk, on the other hoof, had a stone hard look on his face that made him look constipated. Also with them were various nobles like Blueblood, Fancy Pants, North Star, Fine Dining, and so forth. All of them had their eyes on Lightning Dust. Or, rather, what Lightning Dust was wearing.


Her new armor.



Lightning, who had stared at it on her in the mirror several times before now, knew it looked awesome on her. Twilight had chosen to go with a metallic silver color with very few artistic flares so as to not ruin its sleekness or get caught up with pointless things like feathers on the helmet and the like. The helmet was very bare bones with the only thing to make it stand out being the small wing like design right above where Lightning’s eyes were. Plus there was a green visor that Lightning could be pulled down from inside the helmet with a thought.


The metal used to make the armor was something special. Unable to find something that suited their needs naturally, Twilight turned to magic. After pouring through various tomes of research brought over from Canterlot, she discovered a few theories on enchanting armor. One of them stated that defensive spells had longer life spans and worked better during the early phases of the armors creation. Specifically when the metal was in a melted state, ready to be put into the molds. The only problem that they had was that it took more power and skill than an average unicorn had in order to do this properly. Luckily for them, Twilight Sparkle was an alicorn with above average skill and power. Thanks to her the armor was much lighter than the average set used by the Royal Guard, far more durable, and a bit more magic resistant.


From the back of the helmet there was metal cord that went down her spine and into the main body of the armor. With that, the only decoration to it was the purple princess’ cutie mark place on her chest. Any wires or gizmos that Twilight had placed into it were hidden either within or under the armor to keep them from being damaged in a fight. There were two more cords that ran down her forelegs and into her hoof guards. These were a bit different from the normal ones because of the curved bump in the front of her hoof. That was where Twilight had placed the blasters.


This had been a tough pill for Twilight to swallow. She had tried over and over again to try and work on the original blaster. However, the programming of the targeting system was proving too much for her as well as it being too stressful. In the end, Twilight had to go back to the drawing board to come up with something else. While the hoof blasters lacked the raw power of the original, their smaller size allowed for rapid firing capabilities as well as being hidden to throw the opponent off guard. Not to mention the fact that Lightning had two blasters instead of one!


Of course getting a power source for the blaster as well as a few other extra features for the armor had been tricky. Despite being better rested when Twilight went back to see Sparks, the guy had held firm in his decision. So, for a time, Twilight began to look into some other power sources that she might be able to use. None of them were able to hold the necessary power needed or were simply too heavy. For the longest time, the most powerful battery they were able to find had both the size and weight of a cinderblock. Not something that would help them out. Thankfully, luck was on their side. While Twilight had gone off on a quest some dumb map had sent her and her friends to, she had bumped into a stallion she had been looking for: Gigawatt. Apparently he had once been the owner of a small business that went under before he and his family moved to Our Town. Once the town had been freed from that psychopath, Twilight had sat down with him and found out that he had been working towards storing actual lightning into tiny cartridges that sadly nopony wanted. Well, nopony but Twilight, who seemed very eager to work with him.


It was a pity they hadn’t found him sooner. If they had had Gigawatt’s power cartridge sooner, Lightning might have been able to help Twilight in the battle against Tirek. While the Spark battery was powerful, it did not change the fact that it was still magic by nature and could have been absorbed by the greedy centaur. Gigawatt’s technology, on the other hoof, was raw electricity. Maybe then Lightning would have been able to go out instead of staying in the basement of the library, making sure that everything they had worked on stayed safe under the protective barrier that Twilight had long ago put in place. While their home had been destroyed, none of their hard work was lost.


“Thank you all for coming,” said Captain Shadow Blade as he addressed all of the important ponies in the crowd. “Today, you will be witnessing the performance of the latest developments in military technology. I know many of you have expressed your concerns on the amount of bits have been poured into this project. It is my hope that what you witness here today will show that your bits have been well spent.”


Shadow paused as his left wing gestured to what was behind him, a somewhat impressive looking makeshift fort that a pony might see Appleloosa. The structure was made of large wooden spikes that had a very noticeable sharp point to them, making Lightning flinch at the thought of falling on them. Large and imposing, the fort also had a total of four towers, one on each end that also held two ponies in each. But beyond that, Lightning was in the dark. She didn’t know how big it was until she got into the air nor did she have any idea on the number of ponies inside.


“The test that we present you with today is a simple game of capture the flag,” continued Shadow Blade. “It is something we do to test our troops from time to time. Normally we would have two equally matched teams with bases and their own colored flags, yet for this we will be doing things a little differently. Private Lightning Dust will be by herself and will have to retrieve the red flag from that base full of members of the Guard picked by both me and Prince Shining Armor. The Private has not been given any information on the ponies inside like the number within or what tribes they belong to. In short, she is going in blind. The game will end only if the Private is captured, gives up, or gets the flag.”


“Forgive me, Captain,” said Princess Celestia. “I do not wish to denounce the amount of effort that went into creating this test. Yet I cannot help but feel like this might be a little too much for young Lightning Dust. Some information on what she’s facing wouldn’t hurt, would it?”


“I believe that this is the best course, Princess,” stated Shadow as he turned to look Celestia in the eyes. “I have gone over what Princess Twilight has written describing the capabilities of the armor. That, along with the training Private Lightning Dust has received, leads me to believe that the best way to present this new technology is to put it in a situation that seems impossible. I have confidence in the princess’s creation as well as the skills I have personally seen in Lightning.”


For a moment, Princess Celestia stared at the captain before she sighed. “Very well,” she said. “I will trust in your judgement.”


Shadow Blade gave her a quick salute before readdressing the rest of the group. “When I give the order, the test will begin,” he stated calmly. “But before that, does anypony have any questions?” As far as Lightning could see, several of the nobles were more interested in how shiny their hooves were or the state of their attire. Perhaps they, like Princess Celestia, felt like the odds were far too much for one mare to handle and, unlike Princess Celestia, felt that this was now a waste of time seeing that they knew the outcome. The other nobles seemed to look a bit more curious now to see if the armor would live up to the hype.


“BEGIN!” shouted Shadow Blade so loudly that several of the nobles jumped in their seats.


With that, Lightning was off and flying directly towards the fort. Already, the four unicorns were charging their horns so that they could strike Lightning down. She knew that they were only the opening act, that there would be more inside the fort with horns and arrows raised towards the sky to take her out. While Lightning had confidence that the armor could stand up to anything they could throw at her, Twilight had reminded her plenty of times not to take that for granted. While the armor did protect most of her vitals, there was still plenty of openings that, if she wasn’t careful, would cost her dearly. All it would take was a shot from an arrow or a spell blast aimed at her torso that missed, hitting her wing by dumb luck, and she might never get to fly again.


So, as she began to charge her blasters, Lightning decided not to give them that chance. Speeding up so that she was a blur to the naked eye, Lightning fired both blasters at the wall in front of her. Several times the sound ‘bweee’ could be heard followed by thin, blue bolts of energy that struck the wood before her, blackening and weakening it. Then, at the last possible second, Lighting pulled her forelegs so that they covered her head right before she made impact to plow through the wall. She could still feel the impact which slightly dazed her, but she knew without both the armor and those blasts she would have gone splat against it.


As pieces of wood flew through the air, Lightning could see that she had been right. Earth and pegasus pony archers were all standing on their hind legs with their weapons ready to fire towards the field of empty blue above them. Unicorn horns were glowing as they too prepared for an aerial assault. Almost nopony there had the time to even turn their heads to look at Lightning as she readied her gauntlets to fire upon all the helpless members of the Guard before her. With a grin, she began to fire wildly, twisting and turning in the air without slowing down any. Each time one of the bolts hit somepony, it looked like a small burst of static running across their coats and armor before they screamed right before falling to the hard ground. More than once, she slammed into some random Guard without care, knocking them out while barely feeling a bit of the impact herself.


Sadly, she was unable to get everypony. A few, she wasn’t sure how many exactly, managed to get their wits about them. She could see the pegasi move into the air, spreading out with arrows pointed at her. The earth ponies began to dodge her attacks while the unicorns began to put up magical barriers. She heard somepony beginning to shout out orders, getting them to regroup and coordinate a plan.


Lightning Dust wasn’t going to let that happen.


Thinking quickly, Lightning began to shoot randomly at the ground to kick up as much dust as possible. Within the first few blasts, a fog of dust seemed to fill the inside of the fort. All around her Lightning could hear coughing between the shouts of Guards wondering where she was. She listened to the best of her ability for the sound of arrows flying through the air, but couldn’t. Most likely those in the air were hesitant to fire when they couldn’t see the target and there was a greater chance to hit a fellow Guard.


Thankfully, Lightning wasn’t as limited as they were for her visor had begun to emit a soft glow as soon as the dust fog appeared. This was another more of the special spells Twilight had placed on the armor and it was outstanding. The charm basically ‘cleaned up’ most things that could interfere with her vision. Fighting in the sky and all of a sudden it began to rain hard? Well, she’ll still be wet but at least she’d be able to see her enemy. Fighting in the desert and a freak sand storm hits? The wind will be a pain in her flank along with the heat, but the sand will never get into her eyes and she’ll still be able to see everything that’s going on. Trapped in a lightless cave? Well, on that one even Twilight admitted it would be impossible for her to see everything. But the small amount she would be able to get would be better than nothing.


Acting fast, Lightning began to look around for the flag. Right now, getting the flag and winning was more important than fighting. She might be able to take them all down before the dust settles, but she also knew she might not. Lightning had already messed up one test already and she wasn’t going to let Twilight down again. Not like this! While she didn’t see it out in the open, Lightning did spot a shack on the opposite side of the fort from where she had originally entered. Since it was her best, and only, visible option at the moment Lightning opened her wings to head over to it. Hopefully she would be able to grab it and zoom out of here before anypony got their bearings back.


While the plan was solid, things rarely ever go the way a pony wants them to. As soon as her hooves were off the ground, a force like a wind swept over the area to lift the dust away. Seeing that she was losing her cover, Lightning charged towards the shed with the intent to carry out her plan as best as she could. As she flew her body was covered in a blue glow while, at the same time, her movement began sluggish. A green glow was added to the blue causing her to fall to the ground. Lightning slowly began to rise, feeling like her body was trapped in a thick pool of mud.


Looking around she spotted the unicorns who used to be in the towers. Now they were on the ground with two of them using their magic in an attempt to keep her in place. Once again, however, the armor was proving itself by dampening their effectiveness. Had she not been wearing it, all it would have taken was one of them using that spell and she would have been done for. However, those unicorns also seemed to realize this for two more colors, orange and yellow, were added to the mix that surrounded Lightning body.


“I think we got her!” shouted one of the unicorns. “Surround her and end this!” While that command was being issued, those of the Guard left standing were dropping their ranged weapons to pick up their melee ones. Swords and spears in hoof, they began to surround Lightning who was gritting her teeth. Not out of anger or frustration, but in concentration as she slowly began to lift her hoof as she fought against her magical restraints while her coat began to dampen with sweat.


“Oh you have got to be kidding me,” said one of the unicorns who was the unlucky one Lightning aimed at. Before anypony could say or do anything, Lightning had given the mental command to fire her weapon. Once he was hit, the magic he had been adding to the spell faded and Lightning found it a tad easier to move again. The Guard charged at her now, ready to stop her once and for all, but Lightning was now firing her blaster rapidly so that she could hit everything as she moved her hoof towards the next unicorn holding her down.


Now free from two of them, Lightning was able to leap slightly out of the path of the rest of the Guard and fire upon the third. This one cried out as Lightning found her movements almost completely unrestricted, allowing her to move just above a trot and below a gallop in an effort to evade the Guard. She could feel the last one pouring all of his magic into the spell in the hopes that it might slow her down. All it did was, in the end, make his horn glow brighter allowing Lightning to spot him more easily. And, with a single shot, Lightning took down the last of the unicorns holding her back.


Now completely free, Lightning’s instincts told her to take to sky where she belonged. Agreeing with the idea, Lightning opened her wings and pushed off towards the pegasi who had their arrows pointed at her. Together they fired on the armored pegasus with the truest of aim. Sadly, they had forgotten how fast Lightning could be. Not wasting a second, Lightning blurred through the air leaving her signature trail in her wake as she easily avoided the projectiles to get right in front of her aerial enemies. One by one, she slammed her gauntlet into their chest before firing, effectively knocking them out before moving to the next one. The Guards below saw this and ran to catch their comrades as best they could.


When the last one had fallen to Lightning’s attacks, she looked down at the small group remaining. She was unsure how many were left, but still smiled at seeing more of them laying on the ground than standing. And now that she held the high ground (er, air?) she decided that she should make the most of it before they picked up their ranged weapons and powered up their horns. She pointed both gauntlets towards those below her, planning on taking them all out before she went for the flag.


As she was about to give the command to fire, the flap of a wing behind coupled with a powerful blow to her side that knocked her to the left by several yards interrupted that plan. While she didn’t feel at all hurt, Lightning would be a horrible liar if she ever said that she wasn’t startled or shocked by what had just happened. Even more so when she saw who had attacked her. It was a bat pony mare with a blood red colored coat and dark green mane that covered one of her eyes. Fitted in the purple armor of the Night Guard she wielded a large axe that she carried with both hooves along with two bandoliers full of grenades that crisscrossed the barrel of her armor.


I’ll really have to thank Twilight for making the armor this tough, thought Lightning as she eyed the weapon the bat pony had while panting hard. If it hadn’t, I might have been cut in half!


“Oh no!” shouted one of the Guards below, sounding like he was about to piss in his armor. “Who woke up Overkill?! I thought we agreed to let her sleep!”


“Pull yourself together!” came another shouting officer. “She’s on our side this time!”


If they said anything else, Lightning wasn’t listening due to the fact that Overkill was soaring towards her with her axe raised high above her head. In response, Lightning pointed one of her blaster gauntlets at the bat pony and gave the metal command to fire…only for nothing to happen. Her eyes widened in terror as she realized she must have used up all the power her suit had already. Acting quickly, Lightning raised both forelegs above her head in an effort to block the attack. When Overkill struck, Lightning was sent downwards screaming thanks once again to the power of the blow. She felt like she had lost both limbs, but looking up proved that that was thankfully not the case.


Lightning found it difficult now to breathe as she righted herself. As her eyelids began to get a bit heavy, Lightning realized the mistake she had made. The blitz she had used to take out all those pegasi had been a double edged sword, sapping a great deal of her strength and stamina. And with the armor having no power she was helpless.


No, she thought as she looked up at Overkill who looked like she was preparing for another swing. I still have four hooves, two wings, and this armor's protection. I am going to do this for Twilight! With that thought in mind, Lightning summoned all of her strength to charge at Overkill as fast as she could with one hoof pulled back. If this feat shocked the bat mare at all it didn’t show on her face as Lightning quickly closed the gap between them to throw what she hoped would be a knockout punch. Seeing the attack, Overkill used the handle of her axe to deflect the punch so that Lightning’s foreleg passed her harmlessly. But that didn’t stop Lightning as she pulled her head back in order to land a headbutt so powerful that it knocked Overkill’s helmet off.


Lightning hovered there for a moment, panting heavier than ever as her eyes remained glued to the pony in front of her. It was difficult to see, but she was sure there was blood trickling down the bat mare’s face. That was a sight that brought a smile to Lightning’s face. It meant there was a good chance that Overkill had been knocked out. Yet as she noticed that Overkill’s weapon was still in hoof and her body hadn’t gone lax the smile faded.


“Oh no,” whispered Lightning just before Overkill grinned at her.


“It’s been fun,” said Overkill followed by a clicking noise. Before Lightning could even blink, Overkill kicked herself away from the pegasus mare who looked down to see a grenade right in front of her. Realizing this, Lightning flapped her wings as fast as she could to back away from it quickly while shielding her face with her forelegs.


There was a loud boom, but there was no heat nor was there any force that would send Lightning flying backwards. Slowly Lightning lowered her gauntlets to see that in front of her was a large black cloud that seemed to be expanding and little else. As she did her best to register what was going on, Overkill came flying out of the cloud with her axe poised once more to strike her down. Lightning couldn’t react fast enough and the blade hit her barrel resulting in her being sent backwards once again. Overkill never gave her a chance to right herself or anything, instead moving behind the tired pegasus and getting her into a headlock with the handle of the weapon pressed against her neck.


Slowly, the two descended towards the ground and the remaining Guards. Lightning fought tooth and nail the entire time, trying everything she could think of to escape. All the while, she kept berating herself for messing up. Of course that hadn’t been a real grenade! Who in their right mind would have brought something like that into a test like this? But in the end, when both of them touched the ground, she was surrounded and it was official: she had been captured.


About five minutes later all those who had come to watch this test walked through the hole Lightning had made. Upon seeing them, the speedy pegasus was released by her captors. Now free, Lightning hung her head in shame. She didn’t want to see the looks of disapproval on the Princess’s faces directed at Twilight. Nor did she want to look at Shiny the jerks smug face. He’d probably bring in the trash talk about how she wasn’t a good choice for this test.


“You did great out there,” said the cheerful voice of Twilight. Looking up, Lightning saw that the purple princess was next to her with a smile on her face. Seeing that brought a spark of energy back to Lightning.


“Twilight, how can you say that?” demanded Lightning as Shadow Blade landed near the two. “I lost! I was captured! I never even saw the flag! So how can you say I did great?!”


“Because this wasn’t about winning,” said Shadow as he approached the mare. After Lightning gave him a confused look, Shadow proceeded to elaborate. “Private, the whole point of this test was to see what the armor could do, how much it could take. Just by yourself you were able to down twenty nine out of forty ponies. You were able to fight off magical restraints and took several blows from one of the most insanely strong ponies we have in our ranks. All of that without any serious harm to you. In fact, I doubt there is even a scratch on the armor! It is very impressive, just like the mare who made it.”


“Th-Thank you Captain,” said Twilight as a blush which she tried to hide with a hoof. As for Lightning, she sat there as Shadow’s words sunk in. She, by herself, had taken down twenty nine ponies with this prototype armor! She had shown what this armor was capable of to some of the most important ponies in all of Equestria. Feeling much better, Lightning turned her attention towards Twilight who, to hide her still reddened face, had moved closer to the armor in order to inspect any damages to it as well as making sure Lightning wasn’t bleeding.


“Checking me out when your special some pony is around?” teased Lightning when Twilight had gotten to her flank. “Just think of the gossip!”


Twilight rolled her eyes. “Well if you can make jokes like that then I guess you're fine,” she said. Lightning was about to reply when she spotted something right behind Twilight. She quickly nudged her friend and indicated to her that she should turn around. When Twilight did, she saw all of the royals approaching them with Princess Celestia in the lead. On instinct, Twilight bowed with Lightning following suit.


“Twilight, how many times must I remind you that that’s no longer necessary,” said Celestia in a humorous tone while Lightning and Twilight rose.


“Sorry,” said Twilight as she blushed. “Old habits.”


Celestia gave her an understanding nod. “Well, I believe congratulations are in order,” she said, her voice ringing with pride. “From what I and the others saw, your prototype is a success.”


“For the most part Princess,” agreed Twilight. “However, the power source is still an issue. Had it not run out when it did, Lightning might have made it farther than she had. She might have actually gotten the flag.”


“I have to agree with that,” said Shadow. “There is also the fact that this armor, as it is right now, is more suited towards pegasi and bat ponies. More work will be needed to make it more compatible with earth ponies as well as unicorns. Still, the defenses were above what many here would have thought possible and the weapon system was a success.”


“Let us not forget about the skills shown by Private Lightning Dust,” said Princess Luna as she eyed Lightning Dust. “If given a blade, I feel like she could have done just as well. Perhaps in the future we should give the armor to somepony who is less…talented in the air to see how they perform.”


“Princess Luna makes a good point,” agreed Cadence as she too eyed a now embarrassed Lightning Dust. “But perhaps we shouldn’t limit it to a pegasus. I would like to see how well the armor would do when used by an earth pony or a unicorn, just to see the difference. However, I believe we can all agree that we are making steps in the right direction.”


“The only reason this test went the way it did was because the pegasi got in the way of the unicorns,” said Blueblood in a snide tone. Everypony turned to look at him, his expression looking very unimpressed with what he had just seen. “I am sure if they hadn’t been there, the unicorns would have blasted that toy out of the sky.”


“With all due respect Prince Blueblood,” said Shadow Blade as he took a step forward. “As you yourself saw, the armor protects against magic. Had it been hit then there wearer would have taken no damage. The only way they could have ‘blasted that toy out of the sky’, as you put it, is if they got a lucky shot. What we are trying to do here is minimize our need of luck. The pegasi were there to surround her so she couldn’t escape as well as providing air support.”


Blueblood snorted. “As I saw it, bat pony, bring enough magic onto it and it would have been taken down,” he sneered. “It’s sad really to see the Royal Guard fail so, moving away from magic because a pea brained fool like you cannot understand or even comprehend the power of magic. What we need is to focus our efforts into strengthening our magical power and eliminating all of the trash from the Guard. Something that only a properly trained unicorn commander can do! Instead, we are being given a show by some expensive toy that will probably be of no use to us!”


“Nephew!” cried Celestia, her eyes flashing with anger at Blueblood’s words.


Shadow stepped closer to Blueblood, looking at the noble directly in the eyes as he did. The movement caused Blueblood to lift one of his hind legs to step back, but he managed to stop himself. For a moment, the two stallions seemed to have a staring contest while being so close to each other that their noses were almost touching. There was silence until Shadow broke it.


“My prince,” he began cooly. “My duty is to all of Equestria and I will do everything I can to protect it with all of those willing to do so as well. As long as I am able to, with the blessings of my princesses, I will use any and all resources I can to do so. But I will never allow any elitism within the ranks under my command. And if you think that I am failing as a Captain, then you can bring it up within court along with some hard proof.” Gritting his teeth, Blueblood looked away.


“I agree with what Captain Shadow Blade is saying,” said Shining Armor, still looking stone faced as he looked from Blueblood to Lightning Dust. “We have had too many experiences of late that have proven that we cannot rely on magic alone to help us in our hour of need. We all experienced the loss of our magic to that fiend Tirek and relying on one unicorn’s shield spell was a weakness that the Changelings exploited to great effect. If our future enemies manage to come up with ways to negate our magic or are simply more skilled at it, we will need options like this armor. Now that we have seen what that armor can do in the hooves of a less trained pony, I am curious as to its effectiveness with a more seasoned member of the Guard.”


Lightning’s smile faded and she fought the urge to tell the jerk off. Even after all this time, Shining Armor still treated her like she were a criminal. That he didn’t trust her.


“I say that Private Lightning Dust did very well with the prototype,” said Celestia before looking at Cadence and Luna. Both of the princesses nodded. “I believe we should begin talking about making more of these as well as seeing if we can’t upgrade them as well. I am sure Mr. Gigawatt will be happy to assist as well as some of the top minds in Canterlot.”


“Princess, is it wise to be acting so hastily?” asked Fancy Pants, surprising many ponies there. “While I admit that I am very impressed by what I have witnessed that doesn’t mean I don’t have my concerns. If we begin to mass produce this armor, then there is a good chance that some other nations might see this as a prelude to war rather than a response to recent attacks. They might even launch a surprise attack to catch us off guard. Not to mention if one of these armors gets into the wrong hooves. Imagine if some scoundrel used this against us. Now, please princesses, don’t take this the wrong way but I feel like we should have plans in place before we begin to make more of these.”


Celestia nodded. “You bring up some good points,” she agreed. “We should make this the topic of court tomorrow and begin working out the details. Perhaps, in the meantime, we can make armors for a select number of ponies who we trust. It will at least make it easier to keep track of them all.”


“Splendid idea,” agreed Fancy Pants.


“And I believe that Lightning Dust here should keep hers,” said Cadence, much to the shock of her husband.


“Cadence, I think-” began Shining Armor.


“I trust Twilight’s judgment, as should you,” said Cadence sternly. “And it would be wrong to deprive her protector of such equipment that she is obliviously skilled with. As the former Captain of the Royal Guard, do you not agree?”


“I,” began Shining, but paused. Looking at his face, Lightning was sure he was mulling over what he should say. Then, finally, he took a deep breath before speaking again. “Yes, you are correct that she is skilled with the prototype and there is no reason to deprive it from her at this time.”


“Very good,” said Luna before she turned to leave. “I believe we should be leaving now. There is still much we all have to do today.”


Celestia nodded. “Agreed. We will pick this up tomorrow.” She then turned to Twilight and Lightning. “You two have done excellent work. Now, take some time off. You both deserve it.” With that, she and the other nobles departed from the field.