“Allow me to introduce my crew!” Twilight Sparkle pointed her hooves to her chest and proudly said “First, you know me well, right? Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship, the ruler of Equestria, and your great leader!”
She is so proud of herself that she closed her eyes completely, as well as slightly wiggled her head when saying the word “great leader”.
“She normally not that… arrogant, to say the least! But hey, since it’s you, I guess you are welcome now!” said Applejack, the orange earth pony, as she chucked at her tall alicorn friend.
"Is... Is that Granny Smith's scarf?" Flash was surprised to see a familiar orange dotted scarf wearing on her neck.
"Yeah? So what?" she put her front hooves on it, as if she trying to protect her precious relic of her grandma against a pony who is trying to steal it from her.
“Here is Applejack! She is the Minister of Agriculture. She is making sure every creature in Equestria has good crops and no one has to be hungry! She’ll teach you how to do chores!”
“Wait… since when do we have to form a team with him?” Rainbow Dash frowned “He has Luster Dawn and her friends…”
“Unfortunately, not anymore… I am still investigating the reason, but it seems like you have lost contact with her...”
“No way…” Flash mumbled, “How do you know about… all of this?”
“We have access to your mind, Flash! You can do anything with that information!” Pinkie Pie said in a quick manner, but soon her face turn sad “But… we feel sorry for you… a lot!”
“Believe us, Flash. We have to fight that Alicorn Gundam from now on.” Spike added.
He braced himself on the floor and cover his head in disbelief. “You are joking, right?” he grinded his teeth, and his face turned darker. Fluttershy comes by and patted him on the back, trying to calm the blue-headed pilot.
“You know the fact that she is Twilight’s apprentice better than anyone around you back on the Canterlot, Flash!” Rainbow Dash said, “We will not abandon her and her friends!”
“Rainbow Dash is right! We will do it with you together!” Twilight said “I’m also devastated to learn about her incident. That’s why I can’t wait to save her!”
Flash quickly stood up and gained enough strength to say: “I will do anything to save them! Please help me!” and bowed before them, begging for their help.
Applejack then comes by him, putting her hoof on his back and calmly back: “Don’t do that, sugarcube. We’re friends now!”
…
It is also at that moment that Flash learned about the new Equestrian government, with the friends also getting the job as Twilight’s cabinet.
“That fluffy mane pony right there is Pinkie Pie, Minister of Happiness! She’ll also my weapon specialist from now on!”
"I... I think I like that... rubber duck thing on you, Pinkie!"
"Yeah, don't dare steal this precious Ducky from me... But... Glad to meet you! Wants some cupcakes?” she suddenly change her tone and jumped right next to Flash and shove a dozen of cupcakes in his mouth. But somehow, Flash can swallow them all. Needless to say, he was still stunned by the ability to break reality that Pinkie brought, even though he have experienced it 25 years ago.
"Next is Fluttershy!" Twilight pointed to the yellow shy pegasus "She is currently the Minister of Environment, and she’ll teach you how to talk with animals around!”
“It is important to know the vital information they can bring, Flash. In other words, we need them for intelligence information!” she said while holding an adorable bunny in her hooves. It reminded him of the first he met her with Angel bunny jumping around gleefully.
"And here's Rarity. You know her as the fashionista rig..."
"You can call me as Rarity, of course dear!" the stylish dark purple ex-fashionista also slightly wiggle her head and said "I'm now the Minister of Fashion and Culture. Yeah, it's a busy job you give me, Twily, but I've been known to be a pressure - resistance pony, so no need to worry for me!"
“Next is Spike! I think you guys are good pals back then, right?” she pointed to the dragon that Flash almost not recognized thanks to how much he have grows after all those years he's gone. The last time Flash saw him was when he was still a baby-like dragon who is small enough to sit on his back whenever Twilight asked them to go outside together.
“Yeah, until you steal her crown…” the buffed dragon rolled his eyes with his crossed hands.
“Spike?”
“Okay, okay! We cool now!” he waved both hands in a sarcastic voice “So what’s my job?”
“You and I will help him in communicating,” Twilight answered. Then she turned to Rainbow Dash and said “You know our friend RD, right?”
The blue pegasi scared Flash by quickly hovering to him, bringing her face just in front of his nose, and started her intimidation on Flash:
“Hey buddy, I don’t know how much trust my friends have put in you, but there’s one thing you must remember: they are my family, and that’s they are extremely important to me, and I will make your life a living hell…”
“Rainbow Dash!” the rest of the group shouted.
“…by making a true soldier out of you!”
“Uh… I thought he is already perfect?” Rarity raise her eyebrows “He has been an excellent guard and continues to be like that, isn’t Flash?” the white coat unicorn turned to him. Flash can only nod his head in return.
“All that training has been wasted, I have to say!” Twilight suddenly trotted alongside Flash and looked into his eyes for a few seconds.
It was a very tense moment for Flash, as he could feel every breath she makes near him send both chills and embarrassment. “What is she doing?” he unintentionally told himself in words.
“I’m discovering your past, Flash…” she told him back with telepathy “…I wanted to know what have you done in those 25 years. Look like you have gone through a lot there, dear…”
After that, she puts herself out of Flash’s comfort zone and said:
“Years of no training at all has put a lot of your survival skills to rest. I think you still remember some very basic stuff, but I think you must relearn the entire necessary skills. Maybe…” she turned to her orange earth pony friend “Applejack?”
“I can help you with that. Making boats, building fences, making fires… you name it!” the middle-aged orange mare said “We can survive this freezing place with ease!”
“Uhm… how about I can make some of those builds look better?” Rarity waved her hooves in the corner “Making things look fabulous it would make survival in the wilderness way easier, darling!”
“Agree, and you would help me and Spike helping Flash with the… communication too!” Twilight said.
“What do you mean?”
“He is under the enemy's watch, Rarity. He needs our talking skills to confront those guys… He already has their trust for piloting the Psycho MkII. We just need a little bit more to fool them and brought that thing and the Alicorn to escape this vessel. Agree?”
“Perfect plan there, Twilight! You always have the shot!”
“Hey, what about me?” it was Rainbow Dash’s turn to speak up.
“You can join me in training the guy for survival skills, honey! Along with Rarity!” Applejack answered. She trotted right to the love of her life and put her hooves to RD’s cheek, holding her head like a precious gemstone, and said gracefully:
“You are a Wonderbolts at heart, dear. You have gone through countless hardships with them, and us too! You have trained countless Wonderbolts cadets, so if there’s a pony who knows best at survival in the wilderness, it’s you! You can make this an easy thing, honey!”
The orange mare then makes a lovely kiss on her wife's lips, making her blush.
“And if I’m not wrong, you are currently having an unfinished training course with some of your new cadets, right?” Twilight Sparkle said to her.
“Oh, I nearly forget about that!” she said with a wide grin on her face. “And guess what lesson am I on?”
“Hmm?” the group titled their head.
Then, the blue pegasi hovered herself over to Flash, trying to intimidate him by completely ignoring his comfort zone and opening up her eyes. She stared into him like she staring into his soul, which is what exactly Flash felt when she put her hooves pointed to her eyes and said.
“My memory is still fresh on the section where it said ‘Do not betray those who love you’ in my Loyalty textbook, soldier!” she raised her voice while pushing Flash back to the door. “So in addition to teaching you survival lessons, I’ll also be here to teach you HARD on Loyalty by literally watching you, 24/7!” She pointed both of her front hooves to her eyes. “So if I ever caught YOU doing some sketchy stuff, BEWARE! I will make YOUR life a living HELL, you GOT THAT!”
Just after that, her entire body pushes Flash through the door, to which makes him slam his head right onto the floor of his cell.
Turns out it’s a dream, an illusion set by the friends as they try to talk to him. He was sitting on his bed when Rainbow Dash pushes him over the door of the Map Room. He’s sweating all over his body, but why is the room so cold? He uses his sweaty palms to try to find the AC controller. It is 27 degree Celsius, a completely normal temperature!
“Why I always have so much nightmares, dear Celestia!” he mumbled.
…
“Hey, did y’all hear anything last night?” a mechanic said to his friend right next to his table.
“What?”
“A unicorn broke into our ship!”
“What do you mean?!” another guy in an orange suit poked his head into the table where a bunch of ships mates listening to that mechanic's stories.
“So the camera caught a unicorn in black clothes break into the ship. The ship still flying last night, and somehow it found a way to get into our ship. The Captain has ordered a search party for it, but they still haven’t found the thing!”
“Holy shit, WOW!” a woman exclaimed.
They are loud enough that Flash could listen to the entire conversation. But still, he is more concerned about the words that Rainbow Dash said to him. He knows it will certainly not be a pleasant experience when she decided to punish him after finding out about his another betrayal if he dares commit it.
And then, there’s the fact that he hasn’t got to get contact with Luster Dawn and her friends for three straight days. The curse was supposed to be unbreakable but maybe that was just her words. He doesn’t really know the truth anymore… Maybe they needed a rest?
Right after breakfast are the usual mechanical checks for the Psycho MkII. Aki informed Flash that there was a new update for the suit’s OS.
“They just get that thing in the night before. The Chancellor’s idea, though!” he said calmly. “The procedure will be still the same, so no need for extra training.”
Flash put himself into the cockpit and launched the suit’s OS. Just as he said, it was still the same. He carefully goes through the guidebook in order to get the launch sequence to go as smoothly as it could be. He opened the usual “AI monitoring program”, the one where it shows the 7 cardiographs of the Council’s heartbeat, to check whether his new friends are okay. But, he was greeted with an 8th one.
“What the…” he mumbled “Please don’t tell me that scum just imprisoned another one…”
“Good morning, you two!” the dark blue unicorn levitate himself onto where they carry out their work. This time, he is wearing a strange attire: a white long-sleeve coat that is completely unfit for his fur and a large hat on his head.
“What is this circus joke are you doing?” Flash walked out and asked the Chancellor with his grinding teeth.
“Aw man, nothing serious! We are here for a ritual! A birth of a new religion!”
“New religion your ass!” the blue-haired pilot yelled, putting up his fist and ready to punch Black Wine in the face. Aki quickly stopped Flash from actually making a dent in the Chancellor’s snout. “What you are doing is utterly disrespectful to them…”
“Flash, control yourself!” Rainbow Dash’s voice echoed into his ears “I hate to say this, but ya don’t want his blood to dirty your hands!”
Below them are dozens of ponies, who wear the same clothes as the Chancellor himself. Flash’s own guard also ran up to him, tying his arms behind his back and forcing him to kneel before the Chancellor.
“Woah, woah! No need to be so violent, brothers! You just need to calm the guy down.” Black Wine said with an inappropriately gleeful voice. He trotted right in front of Flash and put his hooves on his shoulder.
“You have gone through a lot of things, my friend. Sorry for torturing you so much. But, I think you have got to get used to the MkII and its souls trapped inside. I am doing a ritual to worship them, asking them to bless us for a victorious war for friendship and be kind to you, bud.”
Then, he hovered down the foot of the MkII, after briefly ordering his subordinate to pull Flash out of the “holy site”. There lies a small podium for him to stand on, putting alongside an emerald scepter with the 6 Elements of Harmony on it as a holy sign.
With the monks all standing in orderly rows, the Chancellor declares the ritual to start.
“Your Majesties!” he yelled to his new scared machine “It is with honor that we are able to gather you, and your most trusted sidekicks to your side, all in one place. This holy site will be the testament to the Magic of Friendship that you have spread through Equus. They shall not be faded away!”
“What does he mean by ‘most trusted sidekicks’?” Rarity questioned.
“Oh my… guys?” a familiar voice speak up.
“Wait… Starlight!?” every creatures exclaimed.