//------------------------------//
// A Future Friend 
// Story: Rise Of The Empress 
// by Mystic Sunrise 
//------------------------------//

Midnight nodded as Twilight came back around to the stage. "Good speech. Nice and short. And not as rambling as I thought you'd make it."

Twilight glared at her. "Sometimes Midnight. I wonder why I keep you around."

Midnight just stuck her tongue out at her. "But you'd miss me otherwise. Somepony has to keep you sane. Especially now. I don't think we have enough room down there for everyone."

Twilight nodded. "No, we don't. Lucky for us though, I planned this better than that. The implantation will be done in stages. If enough come forward now, then we'll have enough for the 1st Stage."

Midnight frowned. She didn't want to bring this up. But it was now or never. "And what about your guard? A lot have asked why I'm the only one you really travel with. They don't think it's safe."

Twilight bit her lip. She had feared this would come up. "How many?"

Midnight shook her head. "Way more than I can count. Most of them are the youngest. Not even old enough to have a cutie mark yet in most cases. A lot of the adults just seemed to go with it."

Twilight nodded. She had a contingency plan in place in case this came up. But this was on a different level than what she had asked before. It required, in essence, that she remake them from the ground up.

There was a reason the Emperor had eternally sealed what he had done to create the Legio Custodes, What Midnight was asking was the same thing basically.

Twilight knew that Equus was dangerous, even for her. And that didn't even count the wider galaxy. 

One thing she did know was that she would not have 300 watching over her at all times. Hay no. Even if the full numbers were beyond that, she wanted a smaller number.

And if they did insist on a Life Guard for her at all times, she wanted to be able to get to know each and everyone one of them personally. If they were to protect her, then she wanted them to do it because they cared enough about her too. Not through duty.

But that could wait for now as the two of them returned to the library. Even though she had prepared for the worst, Twilight had a detailed plan in place if those who followed her had agreed.

Now came the task of organizing them. Not only for what lay ahead. But just for the immediate concerns of where they were. They needed to be fed, clothed, and housed.

Past that would come the hard part. For now though, Twilight looked forward to all the organizing that lay ahead of her. She needed this more than she had realized she thought with a grin.

It almost felt good to be doing this much organizing once more. It reminded her of happier times.

***

In the end, Twilight's best guess of how many would volunteer fell far short of the actual number who did. Even after it had been revealed that the process would only work for fillies of a certain age or younger the number was still high.

Those who couldn't undergo it because of their age were not thrown out to the rad wolves though. Many of them had skills or knowledge that would aid their endeavor immensely one way or another.

And even though they didn't qualify because of their gender, every stallion found one role or another. Many had been former soldiers or mercenaries who had turned away from the worst Equus had to offer.

They provided the most opportune chance find for most hadn't known how to fight. Those who did set about turning those who couldn't into something resembling a fighting force.

Even those who weren't cut out to fight, for one reason or another, learned the basics of how to defend themselves. How effective that would be in real life was anypony's guess.

But the one find Twilight was the most relieved about were the doctors that were among her followers. Never mind that they had once worked for monsters and the worst kind of terrors on Equus, they still possessed the medical know-how Twilight didn't.

It would help lessen the burden for her when the time came. Or so she hoped. They were also the ones who knew the most of what she planned to do besides Midnight.

It helped that the Emperor, before his final battle with Horus aboard the Vengeful Spirit, had shoved all he had done to create the Primarchs and the Legiones Astartes into her brain. For a reason, she still didn't understand, but it was becoming clearer with each passing day. And despite what else he had to worry about, the Emperor had made the transfer as painless as possible.

Either that or she was going insane. Both were likely at her age. But that was beside the point.

Today marked the first time all of the work she and Midnight had done over many months would be put to the test. To ease the burden on them all, Twilight was starting off with a small group.

Now, the real work could begin.

***

The Operating Theatre smelled of antiseptic and ammonia. Ten tables stood in a row in the center surrounded by various medical devices, each hooked to the filly on the table.

Each and every tribe of pony kind was present. Twilight had made sure the gene-seed would take with any of the four tribes. It wouldn't be fair to them to exclude them for being the wrong kind of pony.

Though all tried to keep on a brave face, none of them could fully hide the slight bit of fear and apprehension in their eyes. That was good. Twilight would not lie to them. Not now. This whole thing rested on her being truthful as possible with them.

Twilight herself stood in a surgeon's gown, for she would not be thrown out of this. This marked the beginning of so much. She would not miss it, no matter what Midnight wanted.

Walking over to the nearest table, she placed a comforting hoof on the filly, an earth pony, who looked at her with wide eyes. In them floated determination and no small amount of fear.

"Will it hurt?" She asked. Twilight smiled.

"You won't feel a thing. By the time you wake up, it'll all be over. You might be a bit sore for a while after, but it will pass. I promise."

The filly smiled before the anesthesia began to kick in and she soon closed her eyes. One by one, they all did, their breathing soon slowing to a resting state. Twilight couldn't help but find the whole thing cute in a way.

Twilight turned to the nearby doctors. "Let us begin."