XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D


Chapter 73: Titans

Ranger

Chapter 73: Titans

By Wanderer D

Twilight Sparkle knocked on the door to the Commander's Quarters and waited patiently. This time around, the familiar music wasn't playing, which usually meant that Chrysalis would be in a better mood. Or so Twilight hoped.

Why the Commander kept playing music she hated, Twilight would never understand. She had tried asking around; Tygan and Shen were as much in the dark as she was, but Bradford and Galahad had clamped up immediately when asked.

Twilight added it to her list of unsolved mysteries, right alongside the dreaded 'Pinkie Sense'.

"Come in."

Hearing the voice, Twilight pressed the pad and the doors hissed open, allowing her entry. She walked into the room and glanced around. Chrysalis was taking a rare break from her work and was now sitting on her sofa, a book on her lap.

She blinked at Twilight. "Huh, so I guess it's five already."

"I'm sorry, I could come back an—"
"Nonesense," the Commander waved her hand dismissively. "I planned the day out and you being here at five was part of that plan." She motioned with her hand to the seat across from hers and waited for Twilight to sit down. "So, how are you handling things, your highness?"

Twilight groaned. "Right now, in this world I'm either a Squaddie or a Scientist, Commander, not a Princess."

Chrysalis chuckled, standing up and going over to her bar. "Would you like something to drink?"

"Um…" Twilight fidgeted. "Whatever you're having."

Chrysalis raised an eyebrow. "Bold choice. Since it's a bit early for most drinks, but not too early, thankfully, you can have some of my Viper's Heart stock," she said, pulling two bottles of beer from the cooler. "This is an Imperial Stout. Only appropriate, I would say, but I have yet to conquer my enemies."

Chrysalis grinned and Twilight was uncomfortably reminded of the Changeling Queen back home. Regardless, she accepted the beer from the Commander.

"You don't down this one, Sparkle," Chrysalis said, leaning back in her couch. "This is to be enjoyed."

Twilight took a sip. It was… very different than other beers she had tried. Creamier. Stronger. A lot more body than she had anticipated and a depth of flavor that was as pleasant as it was unexpected. "Wow."

Chrysalis' smile was more honest. "Glad you like it. So answer my question. How are you doing? How are you handling things? I know you haven't talked to anyone in medical, nor Laetitia, or even Jane about what happened with your team."

Twilight grimaced. "I don't know how well I've processed it. I have a lot on my mind, and last night when I fell asleep..."

"You mean this morning?"

Twilight sighed. "Yes. Anyway, I was too tired. It was dreamless and hardly relaxing. I've kept myself busy today too."

"Yes, I heard," Chrysalis said. "Tygan wanted to give you some extra time to deal with things. He's not a soldier, so he has no idea on how things like these could affect you… so he wisely consulted others. They all agreed you needed time. Even your friend Alejandra had a long session with one of our psychologists after her practice with Deadwood, but you've been nonstop Twilight."

"I would think that would be appreciated," Twilight said, trying to not sound as irritated by the intrusion into her business as she felt. "You need all the help you can get to get all the projects ready."

"Yes," Chrysalis said. "But as you can see, even I take a break from things. It helps clear things up in my head, and relaxes me a little. I need all the breaks I can afford or the pressure would eventually get to me."

Twilight said nothing turning away.

"I know there's a lot of things in your mind right now," Chrysalis said, "And I get that you don't want to talk about it. Hell, trust me, I know talking about it doesn't always solve the problem, but it helps."

"I feel angry and disappointed at Michael for—"

"Forget that idiot," Chrysalis interrupted. "He is now inconsequential. Whatever you feel about him won't change things. What matters is how you feel about your friends. The ones that you lost."

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but found that her voice had caught.

"Tell me their names."

"I-I don't—"

"Their names, now, soldier!"

"M-Monique…" Twilight said immediately, eyes widening when she realized she had said the name. "NDlovu… Kevin… G-Galahad…"

Twilight glared at Chrysalis as she felt her eyes starting to sting and slowly fill up with tears.

"Tell me about Monique."

"She…" Twilight sniffled. "She was from France… somewhere around... Bordeaux, she called it. She loved wine. And cheese," she barked a laugh. "Oh, Celestia, she wouldn't shut up about cheese. She said she wanted to open up a store once we won the war and sell all the cheese they had stashed away in secret caverns around her hometown."

Chrysalis chuckled along with Twilight, which the young princess took advantage of to take a long drink of her beer.

"There was this one time, when she got so excited talking about the mold that Ndlovu started telling us a tale about Anansi, and how he had stolen all the cheese from Europe and sent it to hell." Twilight giggled. "He made the whole thing up right there, but it was very funny. And—and Kevin just couldn't stop laughing, he tried once to drink something and ended up spitting up the whole thing on Alejandra."

Twilight shook her head, eyes lost in memories, looking at the bottle in her hands with a small smile. Images crossed her mind, and she shared her memories… of pillow fights and setting traps for Galahad.

Ndlovu's grandiose acting as he told a yet another story; of Kevin trying to pull Twilight over one of the training course walls and how she had slipped and they had both fallen back into the mud. How he had come out spitting a mouthful of it and she had expected him to be angry at her, but he had just helped her up and tried again.

How Alejandra and Monique had convinced a reluctant Twilight to sneak into the showers when the boys were cleaning up and stealing all the towels and clothes, leaving only behind a pair of boots for each.

Through it all, Chrysalis sat and listened, occasionally prompting Twilight to expand a little on a story or laughing when Twilight did. And when the younger woman had finally broken down crying, she had crossed the distance and sat next to her, wrapping her arm around Twilight's shoulder's and letting her cry to her heart's content.

The Commander hadn't said anything to her as she cried, just stayed there at her side. Somehow, that made Twilight feel better, even if it didn't stop the tears or the sobbing.

Regardless of her counterpart in Equestria; regardless of the difference in ranks, of her overwhelming amount of work… no matter what you could pin on the commander, she understood all too well.

And that was the thing Twilight needed the most.

Plasma blast flew and ricocheted, the cries of aliens rose into the sky as Bloody Sunset rained death upon them. She was too fast, running at them, weaving between the shots and slicing them open.

Blood splashed into the air, red and orange. It didn't matter who fought her, they all died at her hands, either cut by her blade or torn to shreds by her gun. When she was gone, she glanced once over her shoulder at Twilight, then started walking down the street.

Twilight ran down the empty streets after Sunset, but with every step the unicorn-turned-human took, she grew taller and taller; her strides larger, and soon she was larger than a truck, as big as a building.

Twilight felt as if the air was syrup and something was holding her back. No matter how much she tried, she kept losing ground. At times, it seemed like she would be able to touch with her fingertip the heel of the other Equestrian, and loud as she called, Sunset was too gigantic to hear her tiny voice.

She fell to her knees, staring as Sunset Shimmer, now bigger than a mountain, reached up into the sky with one hand, grasping the sun in it.

A wail of wind and heat blasted through the world around her, and Twilight fought to keep her eyes up as Sunset disappeared and only the sun remained… and slowly from the top of it, it started blacking out as blood slid across it, covering the celestial body completely and dripping onto the world below, splashing on buildings and cars and lost-like ashen bodies.

"No! Stop!" Twilight shouted. She watched in desperation as the blood drowned humans and ponies alike, splashing with violent force and eradicating everything. She turned around and ran uphill, away from the flooding city.

She reached the top and collapsed, breathing heavy, then looked up and her eyes widened.

Pony Apple Bloom, Big Mac and Granny Smith knelt, mourning across from where the human Applejack lay, pale and unmoving, still clutching her assault rifle. XCOM's flag was draped over the lower half of the black, glossy casket.

She heard sobbing, and she turned around. Pinkie lay on her knees, hair flat and eyes desperate as a building burnt in front of her. Twilight cried in horror when she saw Monique and Kevin and Ndlovu on the windows of Pinkie's inn, burning and screaming.

The Skyranger hovered over the burning building, and XCOM soldiers were jumping to their deaths, heedless of the flames.

Twilight called for them to stop, but the only thing that happened was that the giant form of the Assassin rose from behind the hill and sliced down with her sword, splitting the Skyranger in half and making the machine burst into flames as it crashed into the burning building.

The giant version of Sunset Shimmer rose with a loud roar as well and the two titans met in combat, the clash of their swords disintegrating the hill and building through the sheer force of their impact.

The world exploded and Twilight covered her head in horror.

"Verily, Twilight Sparkle, both you and Sunset Shimmer both have the most… interesting dreams."

"Huh?"

Twilight looked up. Everything had come to a standstill. Giga-Sunset and Giga-Assassin were snarling in place at each other, their gigantic blades throwing sparks at the point of contact that glowed but remained in place.

The rest of the world had faded away under her, and she blinked, slowly standing up. "A dream?" she asked. Then she looked around. "Of course… a dream! How could I not notice?"

"People seldom do, Twilight Sparkle," Luna said as darkness and starlight flowed into the form of the alicorn. She smiled. "Well met. It has been some time since we last spoke in person."

"Luna!" Twilight shouted and rushed to wrap her arms around the Princess, who nickered and wrapped a foreleg around her in turn, nuzzling Twilight. "I've missed you! How are you even here?"

Luna smirked. "A combination of things, Twilight, but suffice it to say Sunset's diary helps a little. That and the psychic waves that permeate Earth resonate well with my dream magic."

"Oh… I guess… I can see that? But wouldn't you need an actual—"

"Fret not about that," Luna interrupted. "I sense much fear and stress in you, young princess." She glanced at the destruction. "I see that the violent death of your friends affected you… as it should, but you seem to be on the mend from that."

Twilight sighed. "How does any of this make it look like I'm on the mend?"

Luna glanced at the giant assassin and Sunset. "Something tells me that other things weigh heavily in your mind." She paused, tilting her head. "They stand tall in your way."

"Okay, yeah, I get it," Twilight sighed, looking down from the giants to the burning inn. "It's stupid. I lost my friends and I feel so much pain over it but…"

"Might I hazard a guess and say you're jealous of Sunset Shimmer?"

"Jealous!?" Twilight gasped. "Of course not! She's my friend!"

Luna smiled. "Trust me, Twilight Sparkle, that… has little to do with it." She glanced up at Sunset again. "You hold a very special place in my—in Sunset's heart. But that doesn't exclude you from feeling jealousy of any kind."

Twilight sat down, glaring at the floor. "You were going to call her your niece?"

Luna chuckled. "That would be inaccurate, actually." She sighed. "Sunset does not want to bear that title."

She walked over to sit next to Twilight. "Is that why you look at her in such a way?" she asked, waving her hoof at the frozen combatants.

"I—" Twilight frowned. "I feel like I'm always behind her. Like no matter what I do, I'll never be as strong, fast, even effective a combatant. I feel like I'm dragging behind and I'm just looking up to an unreachable achievement."

Luna shook her head, and appeared to be about to say something, but reconsidered. She sighed. "If that is what you wish to speak of, then for now, let me assure you, Twilight Sparkle, you are not being left behind."

She placed a hoof on her fellow alicorn's shoulder. "Sunset speaks of you with admiration and respect. You earned your place in that mission on your own. You are learning things at your own rate, with a different objective than her own. You are both in the same place, but it is not a competition."

"Then why am I so frustrated with her?" Twilight asked quietly. "I… I avoided her the whole day. She's out in another mission, and I know things can go wrong… more than I ever wanted to know. And yet…"

"Your problems with her do not stem from you languishing behind, Twilight Sparkle."

"Then why?"

Luna's answer was lost in a whirl of wind. "Luna!"

"Fare thee well, Twilight Sparkle!" Luna called out over the storm. "We shall speak again!"

Twilight sat up like she had been stabbed in the foot, breathing heavy.

"Welcome to the waking world."

Twilight blinked, looking around and trying to make sense of where she was. The last thing she remembered was crying on the Commander's shoulder… and now she was in her own bed.

"Wondering how you got here?" Laetitia grinned. "You were exhausted, so the commander asked Jane and I to escort you here. I remained behind to make sure you weren't disturbed… and to finish my own reading also undisturbed."

She lifted a trashy novel, smiling. "How are you feeling."

Twilight stretched. "Much better… I think. I really needed to… to talk about them," she confessed. "I'll have to thank the Commander."

Laetitia shrugged. "She's going to be busy for the next few hours, but as a trained nurse, I know exactly what you need right now… and I'll have them bring it from the kitchen. Do not leave your room until you have eaten, understood, Twilight Sparkle?"

"R-right!" Twilight said quickly, eyes wide and saluting instinctively.

"Good. Now, I should get going since you are able to call if you need anything. Eat. Read. Wake up. Think as much as you need to. But get moving within the hour and stay active, understood?"

"Yes ma'am!"

o.0.o End Chapter 73 o.0.o