XCOM: Ranger

by Wanderer D

Chapter 171: Realizations

"Good morning, Twily."

The voice snapped Twilight out of her silent contemplation of the caffeinated contents of her mug. She slowly raised her head and blinked at the smiling stallion and accompanying princess.

"S-shining!" she shouted, jumping to her hooves and rushing to embrace her brother in a tight hug.

"Ow! Hey, it seems you're a lot stronger than before!" He laughed as Twilight stepped back, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry, Shiny, I just-I didn't expect you to be here!" Twilight replied, trotting over to give a much gentler hug to Cadance. "I've missed you guys!"

"We're just glad you managed to come back to us," Cadance whispered, tightening the hug for a moment before releasing Twilight. Her eyes twinkled. "And I heard that you brought a companion that has already sworn you fealty?"

"Well, I brought two friends," Twilight said as they all sat down, "but only Alejandra swore fealty."

"Alejandra, huh?" Shining Armor tapped a hoof to his chin. "Wasn't she one of the rookies you trained with?"

"Yes," Twilight said, frowning at the memories. "The only other one that survived."

Shining patted her on the shoulder. "I'm sorry."

Twilight took a deep breath. "No, sis said it would take time… that sometimes it just springs on soldiers out of the blue. I just… wished it had been different."

Cadance and Shining shared a sad glance.

"Sis?" Cadance asked into the awkward silence that followed.

"Oh, yeah," Twilight chuckled, rubbing her hoof on the back of her head and looking up. "More like clan sister or something. Sunset explained it better, but we decided to go with it."

"Should I be jealous?" Shining asked, smirking.

"Of course not!" Twilight laughed. "You'll always be my B.B.B.F.F."

"How is she, by the way?" Cadance asked, tilting her head slightly, a small sad smile playing on her lips. "We didn't part on the best terms, and the last time I talked to her, she used Luna to take me down."

Twilight cringed. "Yeah… she felt pretty bad about that. You should have seen me when I heard she broke a baton on Luna's face." She shook her head, eyes wide and incredulous at the mental image that kept replaying in her mind. She blinked, pressing her lips. "I-don't know. I wrote to her a couple of days ago, but she hasn't written back." She glanced at the table, frowning. "I hope everything is okay."

"It was surprising to find out what type of pony she grew into," Cadance said, levitating a mug of coffee for herself and Shining Armor. "She always had ambition, but joining a military operation seems a bit—well, not glamorous enough for her aspirations."

Twilight chuckled along with Cadance and Shining. "It's not like the place isn't a clusterfuck of death," she muttered.

It took a moment before Twilight's eyes widened and she looked up from the table to her brother and sister-in-law. "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said—"

"I never really thought I'd hear you say things like that," Shining said with a grin. "And I'm not sure if I should be proud of you or disappointed."

The trio laughed until a new voice spoke up.

"Twilight? What does clusterfuck mean?" Spike asked.

"Shit."

Alejandra followed Galahad on a lazy glide around the castle grounds, taking the time to appreciate the sights. Even though they had been there over a week, the landscape never ceased to take her breath away.

The sheer amount of nature, the lack of alien threats (other than herself, or Tala, presumably), the perfect balance of culture and technology not actually overwhelming their world. It was paradise in a away, but still too fantastic, too unthreatening for her to feel comfortable.

Nothing could have peace like this, could it? In a way, the political mayhem she had seen and heard about was almost assuring; it made the situation easier for her cynical mind to accept. The fact that politicians were trying to put weight on her presence, that there were real imperfections in an otherwise unblemished world—that there were unseen threats.

But there was one thing above all that she had come to love—besides Twilight, if she was honest with herself—and it was flight.

"You know, I will never get tired of seeing that face of pure bliss," Galahad said with a chuckle as he guided them on a gentle curve, following mostly the whims of the air currents.

"Flying is just... amazing," Alejandra agreed. She slowed down to a hover, staying in place with lazy beats of her wings. "From here I could dominate the whole battlefield. Most enemy fire wouldn't even reach me, if they could even see me."

"It is a superior position to operate from, yes," Galahad said, "but there are several ways here at least to bring high fliers down. Especially if it takes seconds of steady pause to eliminate an enemy."

Alejandra blinked and nodded, giving her new teacher all of her attention.

"While I have heard that you don't have unicorns there, let's assume that you might end up in combat here. There are many ways for you to be taken down by spells. The uninitiated would argue that only strong unicorns would bring you down, given the distance and the limited amount of spells that could reach from the ground to our height fast enough to have trouble dodging them."

Galahad shook his head. "They would be wrong. That would mean that only a small percentage of the guard would be able to be of any use against fliers. Bear in mind that the three main pony tribes themselves weren't always a single, cohesive group.

"By necessity, unicorns developed many ways to deal with flying enemies, be them pegasi, griffons, changelings, or dragons. And that's not including the monster species that also fly. Your worst enemy is the creative Unicorn."

Galahad spread his forelegs in an all-encompassing gesture. "Why exhaust themselves with fire from below when they can teleport more than once close to you. Or worse, you to them. Why risk their health when they can turn the elements around you against you? Why waste power when they can confuse you with illusions? Or even transform you into something else if you're not careful or able to dodge their spells?"

Alejandra considered the grim words. "ADVENT is not known for being too creative," she finally said, "but if Tala or Mox are any example, not to mention the Chosen... "

"Furthermore," Galahad spoke up, "you want to protect Twilight. Be her bodyguard as it is… how are you going to do so while staying away from her far enough to take full advantage of how high up in the air you are, or if you're earthbound, how far up a building or tree or hill you can get while she's in danger?"

Alejandra frowned. "I-I don't know. I was training as a sniper, that means that most of my training was with a rifle and—" she cut off, her eyes widening as she looked down at her claws.

Noticing her stare, Galahad smirked, and nodded sagely. "Yes?"

"My guns."

Galahad sighed. "Well, I was going to suggest learning to fight with your claws, which you will still do, but your guns might not be too bad an idea."

Alejandra grinned. "Alright, I admit it, I thought about the claws first, but that isn't realistic where I come from."

"Right," Galahad shook his head with a smirk. "Now, come, we're flying to Griffonstone. And don't worry, I already cleared it with Princess Sparkle."

"Why?"

"Because right now you are good enough at flying to learn to be a griffon, and that's the closest place to find one that isn't a pastry chef or an assassin of some sort."

"You said the place was a dump."

"It is."

"I can't wait."