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// Sic Semper Tyrannis. 
// Story: My Little Space Empire: Mechs are Magic 
// by Wheezyandbreezy 
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The knights of Strike Team Sparkle fought a desperate struggle against the fleets stationed around the orbit above the palace. Every ship they scuttled was full of soldiers that they'd known, that they'd fought beside, that they'd drank with. But each knew their duty and followed it to the letter. They trusted Twilight, and they were going to hold the line or die trying.

They found themselves in a uniquely advantageous position tactically. The fleet couldn't fire on them directly, as they were close in amongst the fleet. No individual ship could fire on them without them risking hitting another ship. So they tried to ignore them and descend to lower orbit and take the shot on the Imperial palace as ordered. But every time they did Rarity would scuttle that ship with her macrolaser. Finally the fleet realized their situation, and squads of mechs began pouring out piecemeal of the various battleships.

Applejack called out over the suits' communicator. "Rarity! You take care of anyone who gets by us. We'll keep 'em off your back. Pinkie you tell Rarity where to aim. She'll set 'em up, you knock 'em down! R.D. you're with me! I'll keep the pressure on 'em, you move in for the kill. Hammer and anvil! Let's go to work!"

Their responses came back, "Excellent idea darling," "Understood," and, "OOH! I LOVE BOWLING!"

Fighters attempted to overwhelm them with sheer weight of fire, but Applejack's cannons forced them to keep their distance. Some attempted to flank, but they were quickly cut down by Rarity's macrolaser. One suit, ballsier, or more foolish, than the rest attempted to rush the position and got bisected by Rainbow Dash for his trouble. She was all over the battlefield, flying in and out among the ranks. Her and Applejack fought as a single entity. 

Rarity and Pinkie Pie made a deadly combination as pilot's would swerve wildly to try and avoid Rarity's cross hairs. Then they would find a depth charge they hadn't noticed going off in front of them a split second before they died. Pinkie would call out targets wildly where there was nothing to shoot, but by the time the shot arrived the target would fly right into her laser's path. She seemed to scatter explosives with reckless abandon, but mech's would be so caught up in different aspects of the battle that they would fly right into a mine before they realized it. Rarity scuttled ship after ship and it became increasingly difficult for ships to find a place to fire from that wasn't choked with debris.

More and more ships decided it was more advantageous to wait for further orders, or at least wait for reinforcements as more ships arrived from the other side of the planet. The battle was going well and the end was theoretically in sight. They just needed to hit a critical mass of casualties to cow the rest of the fleet into a cease fire. But that's when Pinkie Pie Pinkie Pied. She had just used a chunk of wrecked ship like a baseball bat and used it to hit a depth charge like a baseball right into a mech fleeing from Rainbow Dash. She cheered, "STEEE RIKE!" When her head turned suddenly towards Terra. She screamed, "TWILIGHT!" and made full speed for the surface.

Rainbow Dash called out, "PINKIE! Where the fuck are you going?!"

But the only response she got was Applejack barking, "It's Pinkie Pie are ya really asking what she's doing?" Rainbow accepted this answer and continued the fight. Without their spotter though, the fight became much tougher. Squads were able to form up and strike as one without Pinkie to disrupt them. Applejack had her hands full keeping units off of Rarity so she could cover the few ships still making for lower orbit. Rainbow ended up having the lead squads pursuing her into another squad's line of fire. Things were difficult but manageable until suddenly disaster struck.

Applejack saw Rainbow Dash stuck way out in a gap in the fight where there was no ship behind her. She was finally open to attack from the battleships. She shouted for Rarity to intercept, but Rarity couldn't get a clear shot with the three mechs on her tail. Applejack pulled the trigger to try and relieve the pressure on her but nothing happened. She looked in horror at the screen and saw doom scrawled there in big flashing red letters. OUT OF AMMUNITION. She was completely spent. She had nothing to fight with. She turned and saw the ship's cannons beginning to glow with a deadly light. Applejack screamed for Rainbow Dash to get clear, but she was tied up with two other mechs.

Applejack suddenly remembered Twilight's description of her mech. "You could take a broadside head-on and only be a little shook up." She hit the thrusters hard and hoped that Twilight was right. She saw on the rear view screen that the ship had just loosed it's salvo. She felt every millisecond as she closed the distance. She grabbed the smaller mech in a bear hug a split second before the broadside hit her in the back. The force of the impact was unbearable. Applejack blacked out instantly and sent her and Rainbow Dash hurtling towards the planet below.

Rainbow Dash screamed for Applejack to let go, but the giant mech continued it's death grip. She slashed feebly at the suits arms with her wrist mounted plasma cutter, but she couldn't get a good angle on them. She saw the ground rising up to meet them quickly and scrambled for anyway to turn or to slow down. She tried her own boosters but they'd both been blown off in the impact of the bear hug. Rainbow wriggled and squirmed but to no avail. They hit the ground at the full speed of Applejack's suit's thrusters like a comet, splitting the earth beneath for several yards around.

Rainbow screamed in agony. Her shields had absorbed most of the impact, but they weren't designed to handle the impact of having a large heavy mech unit tackle it out of orbit. The cockpit crunched in with an ear piercing shriek and a section split her arm and shoulder clean off of her body. Her suit's power core had ruptured on impact and it lay dead in the dirt. Applejack was still unconscious. Rainbow lay in screaming, suffocating agony, in a giant metal tomb, with no one who could help her.

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In the Imperial throne room of Terra, the seat of government of the most powerful empire in history, two women strove in psychic combat. Luna poured power in a stream of cold fury that burned like ice. Twilight gritted her teeth as she poured everything she had into her shield, but it wasn't enough. Twilight could barely stop herself and her sovereign from being evaporated. She hurt all over, not just from being thrown through a wall, but the sheer toll on her body that sustaining her shield against this kind of force took. Every fiber of her being hurt and she had to struggle not to pass out from the strain.

She had sworn an oath never to retreat, never to surrender. She would not fail. Her aching mind thought of Celestia teaching the empire how to terraform planets, how she liberated the empire from the confinement of space stations and helped them spread across the galaxy to the thousand worlds. She thought about how she'd plucked her from obscurity and turned her curse into a gift. She thought about Applejack, and Rarity, and Rainbow Dash, fighting against impossible odds in orbit to buy her time. She knew they must still be winning as she wasn't yet dead. Lastly she thought about Pinkie Pie. She thought about how much she infuriated her, and fascinated her, and how much she loved her. Every thought gave her the will to stand for one more second, one more brief effort. 

Luna was furious beyond all rational thought at this little meddler's impudence. She put all of her psychic might behind her attack. She stopped glowing and appeared as a mortal woman. Her long ethereal hair hung limply, matted with sweat. She ground her teeth and pushed with all her might in one final effort. Twilight's knees buckled and she fell heavily to one knee, her shield barely large enough to cover her crouching form and Celestia's prone body.

Just as she felt the last of her will fading she noticed the sensation of time slowing. She saw every crease in Luna's enraged face as she attacked. She saw every curve and wave of Luna's psychic blast. She felt every ounce of pain for much longer than before. Suddenly Twilight heard her mentor's voice echoing in her mind. "Twilight. . . Why? . . . Why do you continue to resist? You know you can't win. You know what I've done, what I'm capable of. So why then do you throw yourself on the sword of your enemy for my sake?"

Twilight felt a hot anger burn inside her at hearing her mentor speak so. Applejack's wisdom burst from her mind. "There ain't no such thing as a no win situation. Celestia everyone's got a past! I've spent six months with two people who illegally entered the Navy with falsified documents, one of whom was a pirate, a sororicide, and a woman who is COMPLETELY INSANE! And you know why? Because I saw potential in them, just like you saw potential in me. Now I need you to see the potential in yourself. Every knight under my command has earned their keep. I would gladly fight to the death for any of them, and they're currently in orbit fighting to keep us alive. Yes, you killed people in the unification wars, but in the thousand years following you've freed the empire from the solar system, and have successfully guided them to the thousand worlds. If anyone has earned their keep IT'S YOU!"

Celestia pondered this momentarily and gave a sad smile. "Who is this valiant knight who speaks such bold words? Surely not that little girl who I~"

"Celestia not for nothing but I'm kind of dying here, could you please. . . HELP. . . Me save you?" Twilight interrupted.

Celestia's face went blank with embarrassment for just a moment. She raised a hand and gave Twilight the little bit of help she could in her beaten and bloodied state. Twilight's shield held for just a moment longer, but even with Celestia's help she still couldn't hold out. She felt herself start to fade. She became less aware of her physical body. She thought of Rarity, and Applejack, and Rainbow Dash. She thought about Celestia and her parents. She thought about Pinkie Pie and how she always knew where to be and what to do, without understanding why. Then with the very last connection of two synapses she whispered. "Pinkie. Now."

Luna, even while putting every ounce of energy she had into her blast, still spared the mental energy to raise an eyebrow in confusion. That's when Pinkie Pie crashed through the ceiling and crushed Luna to death instantly.