//------------------------------// // Planetfall and Strife // Story: Outside the Reaching Sky // by Karazor //------------------------------// Dauntless loped along toward the rocky world where they planned to meet with the strangers, holding her acceleration down so as not to leave the aliens behind and maintaining a safe degree of separation, on the order of a little over a million kilometers, just to be on the safe side. Pretty much everypony agreed that it would be best to let the aliens grow more comfortable with the presence of the Equestrian ship, and vice versa, before either side dipped into firing range. That, however, was almost the only thing everypony agreed on. At their current speed, it would take a little under two hours to reach their destination, and it was starting to look like the expedition’s leaders would waste all of that time arguing. “Look,” Rainbow Dash said, irritation coloring her voice. She was starting to get louder again. “I’m not saying we’ll start shooting, ‘cause we won’t unless there’s a good reason. I’m just saying you should have my Wardens along, just in case they decide to. It’s the whole freaking reason we’re here!” “Yes, I know that’s what you’re saying, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy responded with elaborate patience that showed her own emotions as clearly as Rainbow’s rising volume. The rainbow-maned Warden visibly ground her teeth at the other pegasus’s tone. “What I’m saying is that I’d rather not have seventy ponies surrounding me who are all on a hair trigger and might decide that dropping a writing quill means ‘blow them all away!’ I want to keep the initial party small and try not to threaten our new friends, which means I don’t need dozens of hulking armored thugs with tanks and golems all pointing huge guns at them!” Rainbow growled. “Yeah, and I’m saying I’d rather have enough force nearby to keep you all safe!” Fluttershy started to reply, but Rarity cut her off. “That is enough, both of you!” The unicorn’s voice cracked like a whip across the table, drawing sharp looks from both pegasi. She glared from one to the other, blue eyes flashing. “Shouting at one another is accomplishing precisely nothing, darlings. We’ve been here for twenty minutes now and you two have taken up all of it. I am sorry, but our time is not unlimited, so I’d like to propose a motion; that the two of you don’t talk directly to one another for the duration of this meeting. Perhaps then we could actually get somewhere. All in favor?” Twilight raised a hoof immediately at the question, feeling a surge of gratitude toward the other unicorn. She knew that, as the expedition leader, she really should have cut her two friends off before now, but she’d just been so hoping that they might be able to work out some of their animosity. It wasn’t working at all, instead they seemed to be just getting angrier and more frustrated with one another. Applejack raised her hoof with a sigh, drawing a fulminating glare from her fellow Warden which the orange mare resolutely ignored. Pinkie tentatively raised a hoof as well. Fluttershy sighed and raised her own hoof, and finally Rainbow rolled her eyes, huffed, and did the same. “Fine. Whatever. You guys talk, but I’m not gonna shut up; I really do want to send the whole ground force down with us.” Fluttershy started to respond, but Rarity poked her sharply in the side and shook her head. The unicorn turned to face Rainbow. “Darling, I can understand your concern, I really can, but honestly, seventy soldiers in battle armor, twelve technogolems, and ten light tanks sounds like a bit much for a diplomatic meeting, don’t you think?” Applejack answered before Rainbow could. “It does seem a mite overkill, ‘specially since y’all are only gonna send down, what, ten diplomats?” Rainbow aimed another glare at the orange mare. “And four technicians,” Fluttershy replied. “We’ll need them to manage our translating equipment.” “This group of aliens hasn’t been hostile since they realized we were fighting the same enemy,” Twilight added, quietly. She’d been trying to stay out of the center of the discussion, mostly because, as Commander, she knew her words would carry authority. She’d been planning on letting them all hash it out and choosing her course based on their advice, but she was starting to re-evaluate that path. “It’s possible that guards won’t be necessary at all.” “Yeah, it’s possible,” Rainbow shot back, “It’s also possible that they’re not picking a fight ‘cause they know we’re stronger than them. If they see a few of us on the ground, they might decide to try and grab us to see if they can get some of our tech! Look, after the way that fight went, we look strong, and they’re acting nice. I want us to keep looking strong so they stay nice.” “Rainbow, dear, I understand where you’re coming from,” Rarity said in a conciliatory tone, “but I think there’s more involved here than just strength, and in this case I’m inclined to agree with Fluttershy. You catch more flies with honey than with vinegar, and I think we’d be better off being sweet in our first meeting than being harsh.” The cyan cyberpegasus ground her teeth in frustration, eyes narrowing. She spoke slowly, emphasizing her words. “Look. This is a huge risk you’re talking about taking. Listen to me, here, ‘cause I know about taking risks, and taking risks when you don’t have to is stupid. I’ve learned that the hard way; you take risks with ponies’ lives, and sooner or later you wind up getting them killed.” Twilight was watching her friend’s face closely as she spoke, and she saw the flash of guilt and grief the pegasus tried to conceal. “Please, you guys, listen to somepony who’s learned that lesson so you don’t have to learn it the same way.” Twilight bit her lip, and interjected herself into the discussion again. “Rainbow, we’re not ignoring your advice. It just may be that this is less of a risk than you’re thinking; these creatures know we’ve helped them, they have to, and they responded positively to our first-contact attempt. I agree with Fluttershy that we have a little good faith to build on, and showing a little trust now may pay off in the long run.” “Look, sugarcube,” Applejack said, interrupting her fellow Warden, “Let’s try a compromise here. Fluttershy, you’re sending fourteen ponies?” The yellow pegasus nodded. “Howsabout we send down fourteen Wardens. That’s one for each. Plus one golem to keep ‘em company in case these critters feel like gettin’ frisky. It’s a decent bit of firepower, but not so many that y’all’ll feel surrounded. How’s that sound?” Fluttershy fidgeted. “Oh, it still seems like so many, though, especially since they’re so big with their armor on. And those golems… they don’t give the right impression at all, with the guns and claws, they look so mean…” Rarity spoke up again, interrupting Fluttershy. “Your armor squads are five, right? How about two squads. That's ten Wardens, and no golem. I’m concerned about having one in a potentially tense situation like this could become.” Rainbow eyed the white unicorn angrily. “Are you suggesting my golem handlers can’t take the stress?” Rarity shook her head. “No, darling, not at all. But I know better than anypony how finicky those things can be at times, and I think having a technogolem in a possibly hair-trigger situation could possibly be one of those unnecessary risks you were just talking about.” The pegasus stared for another few seconds before she dropped her gaze in acquiescence. “Fine. Ten troopers, plus me. If there’s only ten, then I’m going armored. And we have the golems ready for hot-drop, and all the other troopers armored up aboard ship.” Applejack nodded. “That sounds fair to me.” Fluttershy fidgeted again, a reluctant expression on her face. “Oh, I don’t know… do we really need armored soldiers here? We’ve gotten off to such a good start with these people, I’d hate for them to think we don’t trust them…” “They did fire on us at the beginning of the battle,” Twilight said. “They stopped later, but they were firing at us for a bit. I don’t think it would be a bad idea to have a small escort, just in case.” “If you do wind up needin’ ‘em, you’re gonna need ‘em right away,” Applejack added. “We’ll keep the rest on alert, but havin’ a small group that don’t have to come all the way down from the ship and can cover you if things go all pear-shaped ain’t a bad notion.” Fluttershy sighed. “Oh, all right. But they’d better behave!” She shot a hard look at Rainbow Dash. The other pegasus gave a crisp nod. “You won’t even know we’re there.” Applejack nodded too. “Our troops’ll stay out of your way, sugarcube.” She pushed back from the table. “I’ll go get the shuttles prepped. Have your ponies send their gizmos down to the port hangar, okay, Fluttershy?” “Wait… shuttles?” Fluttershy interjected, before Applejack could get out of her chair. “As in more than one? I thought we were only sending one.” Applejack chuckled. “Can only fit so much in a Kestrel, darlin’, and battle armor takes up a lot of space. Ten troopers in armor, fourteen a’ your ponies plus all their equipment and the six of us won’t all fit in one, not by a long shot. That equipment of yours is gonna fill one shuttle by itself and then some.” “But our invitation only showed one shuttle!” The pegasus protested, ignoring Rainbow’s eye-roll. “It’s important to establish that we’re honest; we don’t want to say we were sending one shuttle and then send two!” The orange-coated mare chuckled again. “Now don’t get your knickers in a twist, Fluttershy. Two shuttles ain’t exactly a squadron; we’re not exactly gonna be crowdin’ ‘em down there with a whole empty planet to walk on.” “I’m reasonably certain it will be all right, dear,” Rarity said, patting Fluttershy’s shoulder. “Honestly, if they decide to take offense at us sending two shuttles instead of one, then they’re likely to take offense at nearly anything we do anyway. We can work past it, you and I.” Fluttershy looked unhappy, but she nodded, albeit reluctantly. Twilight hid a smile, delighted that they’d managed to work out a compromise that both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were okay with. It gave her a sense of hope, both for her mission and for her friends. Now it was Pinkie’s turn to speak up. She’d perked up considerably since the tension between Rainbow and Fluttershy had abated somewhat. “Oh, Twilight! Twilight, Twilight! You’ve got to let me come along too! Oo! Oo! This is exactly the kind of thing that I’m here for!” The pink-coated earth pony was getting more and more excited as she spoke, bouncing in place on her chair. “I’ve got some stories and they’re so neat, but this is the biggest big story ever! We’re making friends from space! Oh, please please please let me bring some party favors!” She was almost vibrating in place by now. “I know they’ll have to be small, we can’t have a great big party yet and I don’t have all the things I need anyway because Applejack wouldn’t let me bring the stuff I wanted…” “You wanted to bring six tons of streamers, Pinkie Pie.” Applejack’s voice was level and unamused. “Six. Tons. Darn tootin’ I wouldn’t let you bring that much stuff.” “Aw, Applejack, you’re no fun.” “Yep. Rainbow says the same, often enough. But I still ain’t bringing six tons of streamers on a spaceship. Rather have six tons of food, or ammo, or a spare missile.” The orange earth pony gave her pink friend a hard look. “More like a dozen spare missiles considerin’ all the other stuff you wanted to bring. No party stuff. Space is gonna be tight as it is.” Pinke Pie pouted briefly before turning her attention back to Twilight. “But even if I don’t have my party stuff, I’ve still got me and cambot here!” She waved a hoof at the floating lenseye, beaming happily. “Even if he can’t give me Rocket Number Nine, he can still record this, and we need to record it!” Twilight blinked. She’d never heard anypony but Pinkie refer to a lenseye as ‘cambot’, and she had no idea what Rocket Number Nine was supposed to be, but that only set her back for a moment. “Of course, Pinkie. This is an historic moment, and it needs to be documented. Besides,” the Commander flashed a grin, “I’m pretty sure all the rest of us are going, so it wouldn’t be fair to leave you out!” Pinkie hopped out of her chair and started bouncing happily around the table, her ever-patient lenseye trailing calmly in her wake. With the logjam between Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy broken up and the issue of personnel arranged, the rest of the meeting turned toward preparations for the contact mission. Twilight had helped conjure several of the holodaemons and less flexible datadaemons that the diplomatic team would be using, and both Fluttershy and Rarity wanted her advice about configuring and instructing them, while Rainbow and Applejack conferred about which squad they would take. Despite the ponies deliberately holding down their acceleration, Dauntless arrived at the rendezvous location well before the alien fleet. Twilight made the snap decision to go ahead and send the contact expedition to the surface; they could get their equipment set up and ready while they waited, and Fluttershy thought it would look good for the Equestrian delegation to be willing to wait for their new friends to arrive. Twilight just thought it would be more efficient to get the translator systems set up instead of sitting in orbit twiddling their hooves. In light of Fluttershy’s dislike of the Wardens, and the assumption that her team likely shared her views, Applejack had elected to load all of the soldiers and most of the diplomatic gear on one shuttle, and the six Elements, the diplomats, and the rest of the gear on the other. Thus, Twilight found herself riding packed in with her friends and the experts, with the rest of the shuttle’s cargo space occupied by the various sundries they hadn’t been able to fit aboard the other Kestrel with the battle armor squad. It wasn’t terribly comfortable; they’d had to pack the seats in close together, and Twilight was rubbing one shoulder against Applejack and the other against a linguistics expert named Jabber Wocky as they descended. Rainbow Dash, enclosed in her customized suit of pegasus battle armor, rode in a clamp in the cargo area, next to the equipment. Pegasus armor was different from the earth pony armor that Twilight had seen upon boarding. The earth pony suits were massive, plated in heavy, dense armor. They’d been designed to draw on their wearers’ innate magic, enhancing the strength of the battle suits to tremendous levels and allowing them to carry huge amounts of armor and extremely heavy weapons. Earth pony suits were walking tanks, able to be armed with an assortment of weapons only a step down from the cannons of the Scorpion light tanks and able to resist a similar level of firepower, while still moving almost as quickly and easily as an unarmored pony. The pegasus suits projected a different image entirely. Like the unicorn suits, they lacked the enormous, crushing strength of the earth pony suits and were more lightly armed and armored, but they used a direct interface with the wearer instead of the feedback system employed on the earth pony suits. Instead of moving in response to the wearer, they effectively became part of the wearer, the pony inside moving the suit’s legs as though they were her own. An experienced pegasus or unicorn armored trooper could move her suit with almost frightening grace. Both pegasus and unicorn suits incorporated arcane shield systems to boost their protection, though the pegasus suits’ shields couldn’t be strengthened by the pony inside. Their power cells didn’t last nearly as long as a unicorn or earth pony suit’s, either. The reason the pegasus suits needed those shields was that they couldn’t be completely enclosed. Twilight could see Rainbow’s wings folded against her armored sides, the cyan feathers encased in the reflective shimmer of her armor’s shields and the leading edges guarded by armature-like field projectors that both generated the shield enclosing her wings and created a blade of disruptive force in front of them. While the pegasus armor wasn’t as robust or well-armed as the earth pony suits, and lacked the endurance of unicorn armor, it compensated by amplifying the greatest advantage of its wearer; her ability to fly. Pegasus armor was fully flight-capable, and incorporated a series of linear thrust generators that an experienced user could employ to perform maneuvers that were flatly impossible for an unsuited pegasus. They could fly in space, perform higher-G maneuvers that would kill an unarmored pony, and even fly faster than they could naturally, and the disrupter fields on the suit’s wings provided a deadly close-in weapon. Wearing her armor, Rainbow Dash could actually outpace the Kestrel she currently rode in if she chose to. In an assault landing, she and the other armored pegasi would be doing exactly that, diving in to secure a landing zone for their more numerous unicorn and earth pony brethren. Rainbow’s personal suit was modified slightly over standard-issue pegasus armor. There were openings in its forehooves that would allow the pegasus to extend her cybernetic claws and additional power packs that made the suit heavier, which was only possible because of Rainbow’s enhanced strength. She’d been freakishly strong for a pegasus even before her implants; now she was substantially stronger than even most earth ponies, and her armor had been modified to take that into account. The suit also had an extra gun on its back, mounted on an independent turret. A resident datadaemon that the cyberpegasus generally kept in her interface implant aided her in targeting, enabling the Warden commander to fire at two targets simultaneously. The thing had been conjured specifically for her decades ago, and like Twilight’s holodaemon, it had molded itself to Rainbow’s thoughts, giving her tremendous benefits when she was wearing her armor. Rainbow currently had her helmet open, the upper part of the armor’s metal head lifted up and back to lay against the pegasus’s armored neck, leaving her face free and allowing her to breathe the more pleasant air of the shuttle interior. Rainbow’s expression was one of concentration, and she had three screens projected in front of her, her armor systems doing what Twilight liked to do and generating an illusory holoscreen for her to view. Twilight could see a sensor projection from Dauntless on one of the Warden’s screens, showing her that the strangers were approaching orbit. They wouldn’t have to wait long. Fluttershy and Rarity were speaking to two of their linguists and their senior technician, the conversation sounding a bit bizarre to Twilight’s ears. Fluttershy had learned a surprising number of languages during her career as a diplomat, and the linguists were clearly comfortable in multiple tongues as well. The three multilingual ponies shifted languages repeatedly as they spoke, sometimes in mid-sentence. Rarity and the tech were clearly annoyed by this; the roboticist only knew a couple of different languages, and couldn’t shift as quickly as the others, but she compensated by speaking “tech” nearly as well as Twilight did. She and Fluttershy were going over potential setups for their data gear, discussing how best to adapt it to different phonemic structures and brainstorming about how much assistance they could expect the aliens to provide in translating their language. “All right everypony,” the pilot’s voice came over the cabin speakers, “we’ll be landing in about two minutes. You’d better suit up.” The conversation about the translating systems broke up, and everypony picked up the breath masks that they’d brought onboard. A further survey of the planetary environment as the Dauntless approached had showed that the surface temperature was a little on the low side of comfortable and wouldn’t require any special suits. There wasn’t any kind of corrosive gas or skin-absorbed toxins in the air either, though the planet’s atmosphere wasn’t breathable. The ponies would be fine with simple breath masks that covered their mouths, noses, and eyes, with a small tank worn strapped to the foreleg that supplied breathable air. Everypony had donned the air tanks before climbing into their seats, but they’d all left the masks off, since they weren’t terribly comfortable to wear. Now they each hooked the strap of their mask over the backs of their heads, each making sure to press the mask against their face so the adhesive gel on the rim could form a seal against their skin. Twilight was quite proud of that gel, actually; it didn’t stick to the hair of a pony’s coat and didn’t leave residue behind when pulled off, but it did push through the hair to form an airtight seal against a pony’s skin. It needed regular cleaning, sure, but it was otherwise fairly low-maintenance and non-failure-prone. Rainbow watched the rest of the shuttle’s passengers closely, not dismissing the screens she was looking at or doing anything to secure her own air supply. When everypony had gotten their masks secured, the pegasus shut down her screens and lifted an armored foreleg to point at one of the diplomats. “You.” The diplomat blinked, her ears swiveling back and her eyes getting big with uncertain fear at being the center of the Warden Commander’s attention. “Um. Me?” “Yeah, you.” Rainbow lowered her foreleg. “You didn’t secure your mask after you put it on. Check it. Your mask is your life out there.” “Oh.” The unlucky unicorn lifted her forehoof and pressed her mask more firmly against her face, then pushed at the rim to make sure it didn’t come off. “Sorry, I’m not used to these.” “You’d better get used to it,” Rainbow told her, ignoring the apology. “If you’d gone out there with a loose mask, you probably wouldn’t have noticed anything until you passed out, ‘cause I bet if you don’t check your seal you wouldn’t be checking your gauges either. Would’ve had all your breathing air leak out and then just boom, you start gasping and drop. How do you think it would’ve looked to those aliens to have somepony go unconscious while they’re trying to talk to her?” The pegasus glared, her rosy eyes flashing as the diplomat cringed. “Worse, how do you think it would’ve looked to me or my Wardens? One of the ponies we’re supposed to keep safe just drops. We wouldn’t even know at first if you were unconscious or dead. My first thought would be that they got you somehow. That would be awesome, huh, starting another war because you didn’t bother to take a second to secure your freaking mask.” “That’s enough, Rainbow Dash,” Fluttershy interrupted acerbically. “She just made a mistake, there’s no reason to blast her for it.” Rainbow transferred her glare to the yellow pegasus. “It was a stupid mistake that could’ve caused major problems. Heck yeah there’s a reason to blast her for it. There’s a reason to blast you for it, too, since she’s one of yours and you didn’t notice it.” “That’s enough, Rainbow,” Twilight interjected, trying to head off another fight. “You’ve made your point, now back off.” Rainbow snorted derisively and rolled her eyes. “Fine. Whatever. I just didn’t want you guys blaming me when one of your talky-ponies passed out and my troops reacted to it.” Rainbow’s ears folded back, and the helmet faceplate resting on her neck slid smoothly forward, locking into place with the non-retractable rest of the helmet that enclosed the pegasus’s chin and jaw and forming a smooth, uninterrupted armored surface that covered the mare’s entire face. Amusingly, the top of the helmet was painted in stripes that matched Rainbow’s polychromatic mane. “But whatever,” she continued, her voice now coming through the armor’s external speakers, “I mean, if you actually want to start a fight, I’m totally game. You should have let me bring the rest of my troops if you wanted that, though...” “Rainbow!” Twilight snapped, “I said that is enough! You pointed out a mistake, the mistake was corrected. Now drop it.” Rainbow Dash paused for a long second, before grumbling “Yes, Commander,” and falling silent. Twilight shook her head as the shuttle’s nose lifted in its final landing approach. Rainbow was not used to not being the pony in charge, and it was clearly proving difficult for her to adapt. The unicorn sympathized, but at the same time she couldn’t afford to have the Warden disrupting things on a regular basis. Twilight made a quick note with her holodaemon; she would seek Rainbow out next time they were both off-shift and have a conversation about the chain of command. Rainbow understood the concept of command, and perhaps if Twilight talked to her about it she could help her friend adapt. The Kestrel settled smoothly to the ground, the pilot setting the shuttle down so gently that Twilight didn’t even feel a bump. The floor swayed slightly as the Kestrel’s landing legs adjusted to keep the shuttle level before locking down, and the rear hatch opened with a soft hiss. Rainbow started to disembark first, but paused on the ramp. The armored pegasus turned and gestured for Twilight to precede her, saying, “After you, Commander.” Twilight nodded, swallowed hard, and stepped past her friend. Her heart thudded with excitement in her chest and her breath came quickly, and she gingerly set foot on the dust of the alien world, the first pony ever to step on a planet outside her home system. The dust was dry, and fine, and Twilight was curiously disappointed to find that it was a dull, boring grey-brown color. It felt sort of halfway between dirt and sand, not quite like anything she’d ever stepped on before. Twilight walked a short distance away from the shuttle, noting the curious way her hooves slid in the lifeless dust, and gazed out at the horizon. They’d picked a relatively flat spot to set down on, and the land around them was a mass of low, rounded hills. The unicorn also noticed as she walked that she felt curiously light on her feet; the gravity here was a bit lower than the homeworld’s, something that felt different from what she’d expected. She’d been out to the moon, and to some of the outsystem planets, but this place’s gravity wasn’t so light that she felt like she was in danger of floating away if she jumped. She turned around, grinning goofily with the sheer exhilaration of walking on a truly alien world. The other ponies were already debarking, Rainbow hovering several meters off the ground and watching as the second shuttle came in to land, the others spreading out around the landed Kestrel. Pinkie was watching Twilight, grinning widely at the expression on the unicorn’s face, and Twilight was sheepishly aware that the pink pony was almost certainly recording. Several of the diplomats were bouncing on their hooves, marveling at the feel of the light gravity. From their antics, Twilight suspected that they’d never been offplanet before; Rainbow’s harsh reprimand suddenly didn’t seem so unnecessary. She wondered if Fluttershy had sent them to hostile-environment training. Surely she had. Twilight decided to find out. She walked up to one of the diplomats, a rather plain-looking earth pony stallion with a dark blue coat. “Excuse me, but is this your first time on another world?” He looked up with a happy smile and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. We’ve all been through the training, but there wasn’t any time for us to go on any offworld expeditions.” Twilight nodded absently. Good, it was just a momentary lapse instead of poor preparation. She relaxed a bit, and chided herself for thinking that her friend would have been any less prepared than she herself was. She glanced over at the other shuttle, settling on its landing legs and opening its ramp. Several dozen Warden recon and weapons drones lifted away from the shuttle, starting to spread out before they vanished behind the rippling distortion of mirage fields, as had probably already happened with the first shuttle. The Wardens exited from the ramp, and to Twilight’s surprise from both side doors as well, sweeping the horizon quickly. The three pegasi on board (an unusually large number, from what Twilight knew; most Warden armored squads only had one, if they had an aerial component at all) flew up to stand on the tops of the shuttles, heads moving restlessly as they looked all around. Twilight could feel tiny threads of arcane energy flicking between the Wardens, and tuned herself into their communications via the shuttle’s relays. “…on’t see any activity, Boss.” “Looks clear.” “Right.” Rainbow’s voice cut across the Warden’s reports. “Okay, you,” the pegasus sent a datapulse that contained the ID’s of the three unicorns in the squad, “help the geeks unload their gear. The rest of you continue survey and tac analysis. Fluttershy thinks everything’ll be candy and roses, but we’ve gotta be ready in case she’s wrong.” Affirmation pulses pinged back to the pegasus in response. The four earth ponies moved out from the shuttles in a square, watching the terrain around them while the unicorns ducked back into the shuttle. The power-armored unicorns re-emerged, carrying large pallets of equipment suspended in the soft glow of telekinetic fields. The loads would have been too much for an ordinary unicorn to handle, but where pegasus armor incorporated flight assistance systems, unicorn armor instead carried arcane amplifier matrices. The three mares carried two large, heavy pallets each, and it wasn’t a substantial load for any of them. The Wardens set the equipment pallets on the ground and turned to retrieve more, while Fluttershy’s technicians busied themselves unpacking the gear. Twilight wasn’t sure what most of it was for; there were screens, data-hubs, cameras, and all manner of input devices ranging from optical to arcane to physical keyboards, but she couldn’t really see how it all fit together. From the way the techs were shifting things around, most of it was probably modular, designed so it could be arranged in different ways to accomplish different things. She was watching the unicorn Wardens carry out the next load when a completely unexpected voice spoke up right next to her ear. “Hey, Twi, check the feed from the ship.” Twilight started so hard she nearly levitated in place, spinning around to face the blank visage of Rainbow’s helmet. The pegasus had managed to come up behind her in total silence, which was an incredible feat to manage in power armor. The smooth, blank face of the helmet made Twilight jump again, her heart hammering in her chest. Rainbow didn’t even snicker. “Check the feed from the ship,” she repeated, in a quiet, urgent tone. Twilight blinked, then a chill gripped her chest. Rainbow would have at least chuckled at startling her friend unless something was wrong, and from that tone in her voice it had to be serious. She quickly linked in to the shuttle’s net, pulling up a feed from Dauntless and projecting it onto a screen in front of her. Her belly lurched. The alien fleet had taken up orbit near the Equestrian cruiser, and that meant Dauntless had a great view of the shuttles launching, headed for the planetary surface. Not just one or two… but over a hundred. Twilight fought to hold in a gasp at the sight of the swarm of icons descending on them. “We’ve gotta go, Twi,” Rainbow said urgently. “They’re trying a grab, just like I warned you they would. We need to get out of here, now.” “Let’s not jump to conclusions, Rainbow,” Twilight replied in a similarly urgent tone, trying to hide her concern. “We have a little time to make a decision while they’re descending. Check with your Wardens on the ship, make sure they’re ready to go if they’re needed.” The unicorn turned and raised her voice. “Fluttershy? Could I speak to you for a moment?” “Twilight,” Rainbow said, not moving, “ they’re ready, but if they have to drop against an enemy who’s already here, it could get really bloody. We need to leave, and we need to do it now.” “Let’s take a moment to assess,” Twilight responded as Fluttershy trotted over. “If need be, we can have everypony run and take off before they land. We could leave the gear behind if we had to.” “Yes, Twilight? What did you need?” Fluttershy shot a quick glance at Rainbow, but didn’t say anything. Rainbow Dash, for her part, backed up a pace, and Twilight could sense communications over the Warden net. “Fluttershy, we may have a problem. Take a look at this.” Twilight moved her illusionary screen so the other pegasus could look at it. Fluttershy peered at the screen for a moment before what she was looking at registered, and she blinked in surprise. “Oh. Oh my. That’s quite a delegation!” “I don’t think it’s a delegation at all.” Rainbow interjected flatly. “It looks like an assault force to me.” Fluttershy gave the other pegasus a withering glare. “You would think that.” She turned back to Twilight and her voice softened again. “Look, they weren’t acting unified, so it would make sense that there would be multiple delegations involved. I wasn’t expecting this many, but it’s not that much of a surprise.” “You nearly flipped out because we were sending two shuttles instead of one, and now there’s a freaking hundred of the things coming at us and you’re fine with it?” Rainbow sounded aghast. “I’m a little surprised, but not too worried.” Fluttershy’s soft voice sounded surprisingly calm. “There’s not more than one shuttle coming from each ship, is there?” Twilight ran a quick backtrace on the sensor feed, and was surprised to discover that Fluttershy was correct. “No, it appears that the ships that launched shuttles only launched one each. It looks like the ones launching are in the middle of the alien fleet, too; there aren’t any launching from the edges.” The yellow pegasus nodded. “Yes, that makes sense. They’re not as unified as we are; I expect that these are group leaders or figures important to particular subgroups. That there are this many is going to be challenging, but it’s hardly unexpected.” The armored pegasus shook her head. “You’re ignoring that there’s a hundred shuttles coming down at us. They could have whole regiments on the way down. That’s way more than I was expecting to have to deal with, and there’s no way I can keep you all safe from that many.” She turned to face Twilight. “Twilight, please, take Fluttershy, Rarity, A.J. and Pinkie and head back up. If you still want to try to meet them, I’ll stay here with my troops to try and guard the geeks while they talk, but I want you guys out of danger.” Fluttershy’s eyes flashed and she bristled a bit, probably because Rainbow was referring to her specialists as ‘geeks’. “What, and leave you as the pony in charge?” Rainbow’s head drew back. “What? No! I mean, I’d be in charge of the Wardens, but I already am, sort of. I just…” “…Wanted to be the only one in charge so you could start shooting again. I remember that dragon. And what you did with his head.” Rainbow darted forward, getting right in Fluttershy’s face, her wings spread threateningly with disruption fields crackling in front of them. “I don’t care what the dragons said,” she snarled, her voice thick with anger, “He was not there for any kind of talk, or anything like that. I had to do what I did. The townsponies backed me up on that.” “Maybe because seeing what you did frightened them. Intimidated them. Like you’re trying to do to me right now.” The other pegasus’s voice was calm. “I did not…” “Stop! Both of you!” Twilight interrupted, using the same tone Rarity had used in the conference room. The two pegasi paused. “Fluttershy, how confident are you that they’re not hostile?” Fluttershy shrugged. “I can’t be positive, of course, but they’ve seemed reasonable, and like I said, the large number of shuttles isn’t surprising considering how we’ve seen them act.” Twilight nodded. “Rainbow, we are going to wait to see what they do.” She held up a hoof to forestall the objection she knew was coming. “I’m not ignoring you, and I am taking your advice into account, but this is my decision and it’s final. No more argument.” Rainbow was silent for a pair of heartbeats. “Twilight… I’m gonna ask you to reconsider. They’re gonna outnumber us by a stupid amount once they land. These guys were shooting at us at first. I don’t want all five of you down here where you could get hurt if they decide to do it again. If they trap us, I’ll get us out… but I don’t know for sure that none of you will get hurt in the process.” “We’re staying here, Rainbow.” The armored pegasus went silent again for an uncomfortably long time before nodding curtly and turning away. She flew up to the top of one of the shuttles, settling there and clearly directing her ponies. Twilight turned back to Fluttershy. “I hope you’re right, Fluttershy. I want these aliens to be peaceful too, but…” Fluttershy was looking at Rainbow Dash, perched on top of the shuttle. “Twilight… keep an eye on her. She’s worried and angry, and when she gets like that… it can be bad.” “Angry? At me?” Twilight frowned. “I know she’s not pleased that I’m not following her advice, but I didn’t think she was angry at me...” Fluttershy’s voice was soft. “She’s not angry with you. She’s just angry. She’s always angry. I’m not sure if it started before Duran died or not, but it’s always there, and has been for a very long time.” She shook herself. “I need to talk to my ponies. How long do I have?” Twilight blinked. She hadn’t noticed Rainbow being angrier than usual… (well, except for blowing up at Fluttershy, but that wasn’t out of the ordinary when the two of them were in close proximity) but if Fluttershy wasn’t exaggerating, then it had been going on so long that she’d probably be seeing it as normal. She glanced at her screen, pulling up the vectors to get an ETA. “You’ve still got about twenty minutes; they’re not coming in particularly fast.” Fluttershy nodded and trotted back to her specialists, and Twilight turned to gaze thoughtfully at Rainbow Dash. The minutes ticked by quickly as the diplomats hustled to assemble and organize their gear, and the Wardens stood around the shuttles, waiting. Finally, the alien landers appeared in the sky, a rash of dark spots against the bluish sky. They grew rapidly, finally settling in a huge wave that sent dust billowing out. Twilight was glad for the breather she wore; she’d have been coughing and choking on the dust otherwise. She noticed as the ships began to settle that traffic on the Warden network had picked up considerably. Curious, she used her command access to tie herself into the Warden tactical link. Twilight blinked, realizing that she was actually sporting a tag in the overlay, and felt a chill when she realized what it was. Twilight Sparkle was tagged Disable/Capture. So was Rarity. A Capture tag hung on Fluttershy. “…sure you want to do this, boss?” The Warden sergeant who led the squad was asking. “I really don’t,” Rainbow’s strained voice replied. “But if it’s the only way to keep ‘em safe…” “Unknowns grounded,” one of the pegasi observed. The mare was tied into the recon drones’ feed. “Ramps opening.” “I guess now’s when we find out.” Rainbow said. There was silence for a moment, and Twilight wondered if she was misinterpreting those tactical tags. She dearly hoped so. Then Rainbow spat a curse. “They’re armed. All of ’em. Dammit to ice. Okay troops, we’re gonna get everypony out of here whether they want to go or not. Hold off until they get to this range,” a line appeared in the overlay, “then execute the objective. Maximum force, maximum speed, go for surprise and shock, then grab and go. Big D'll nail their shuttles from orbit with the PD lasers if they try to follow, but 'till then we can't risk a shot that close. Let’s see if we can make them back off while we evac, ‘cause there’s way too many of ‘em to fight straight-up.” Twilight’s tag updated, indicating she was the primary target. Twilight finally found her voice. “Cancel that order!” She used her command override to cancel the tags on herself and the other ponies, and to erase the line Rainbow had marked. She also cut Rainbow’s transmitter out of the squad network, to keep her from subverting Twilight further. “Do not fire!” The unicorn spun to face the armored pegasus, who was still perched atop one of the shuttles. “Rainbow Dash, you are relieved of duty! You two,” she pinged two of the pegasi perched on the shuttle with their commander, “take her into custody and take her back to the Dauntless aboard the second shuttle. She’s confined to quarters once you get back on the ship.” Twilight had read up on command procedures and military discipline for months before embarking on this voyage, but she’d never dreamed she’d need to apply it this way! She was fighting chills and trembling with adrenaline at the idea that Rainbow had been planning to... disable her. “Maximum force”... why did Rainbow want to hurt her friends?! The two pegasi that Twilight had told to arrest Rainbow looked at each other, and Twilight felt another chill. The rainbow-maned mare was a hero to the Wardens, all of them, but especially the pegasi. She was the model of a fierce pegasus warrior that many of the Warden aerial soldiers sought to emulate. It was more than likely that those two mares were fiercely, personally loyal to their commander... and the probability that they’d obey Twilight’s orders over Rainbow’s was scarily low. Rainbow jumped off of the shuttle, gliding down to land in front of Twilight, and the Warden pegasi followed, forming a line behind their commander. The cyan pegasus pinged Twilight’s link with a private comm request, and when the unicorn accepted, the Warden’s voice was soft. “Twilight, don’t do this. Let me get you out of here. Let me...” “Stop! I’m not interested in letting you do anything more, lieutenant.” Tears were pricking at Twilight’s eyes at her friend’s sudden, shocking betrayal, and the feeling made her voice harsh. “Get on that shuttle, now. Do not speak another word. You two! Do as I told you!” Rainbow didn’t move. Her helmet stared blankly at Twilight, and the unicorn wondered what emotion it was concealing behind its smooth visage. Pain? Embarrassment at being caught? Pleading for understanding? ...Rage? Twilight was suddenly, uncomfortably aware that Rainbow was standing very close to her. Very close. The unicorn wasn’t accustomed to thinking of her friend this way... but she was probably the deadliest pony in Equestria, possibly even including the Princesses. Rainbow Dash had spent close to a century fighting off the most dangerous creatures Equestria’s borders saw, and in that time she had become an absolutely deadly killer. The combination of her augmented strength and her natural lightning speed was beyond formidable, as was the ruthless attitude that drove it. When she went into a fight, she did so with the intention of ending it, permanently. The news reports on the creatures Rainbow had killed suddenly scrolled through Twilight’s brain, and it was a sobering list. Topping it was the incident Fluttershy had referred to minutes ago, when Rainbow was alleged to have killed a mature adult dragon, singlehoofedly, only a few years ago. There was a lot of speculation about that, including many theories that it hadn’t actually happened, or that it had been different from what the Warden press release had claimed. Rainbow herself hadn’t talked about it at all, which honestly lent evidence to the “it never happened” theory, but on reflection, Twilight could believe it, regardless of whether it was true or not. The Warden Commander was probably capable of it. Twilight was also aware, keenly aware, of the armor the pegasus wore. Not just the guns, which at the moment weren’t pointed at her, but the arcane dampers, the counterspells woven into its structure, the magical sinks built into its design... if Rainbow decided to go for her, Twilight wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop the pegasus. Not before Rainbow could get to grips with her, at least, and if that happened then it would all be over. Rainbow was still for what seemed like forever. Finally, after several frozen moments where the diplomatic team and the other Elements stared in mute, uncomprehending shock, the pegasus’s armored head drooped. She turned, silently, closing down the channel she’d spoken to Twilight on without speaking further, and started walking slowly to the shuttle. The Wardens were utterly still. None of them moved, except for several uneasy glances at each other. When Rainbow was halfway to the shuttle, the squad leader’s voice came over the network. “You heard the Commander.” The sergeant’s words were spoken softly, her voice unusually deep for a mare. “You two, escort Comm... Lieutenant Dash back to the ship. Move it.” The pegasi traded another uneasy look. “M- Sergeant, are you sure about that?” One of them asked. “I absolutely am. Go. Now.” The sergeant’s voice was controlled, but she was clearly not happy about this state of affairs. Reluctantly, the two armored pegasi turned and followed their former leader into the shuttle. The ramp closed, and the Kestrel silently lifted off, turning to point its nose skyward. Twilight sighed in relief, though she still felt spikes of guilt and disbelief at what had happened. “Thank you, sergeant.” The Warden sergeant, who Twilight realized was one of the armored earth ponies and whose ID tag read Wintergreen, opened a private channel to her. “Don’t you dare thank me for that, Ma’m. That mare is like family to me, and I hated doing that. Commander Dash was wrong, but that doesn’t mean you needed to destroy everything she’s built.” “What are you talking about?” Twilight frowned at the armored mare, puzzled. Wintergreen lifted a foreleg, pointing, and Twilight turned to see what she was indicating. The Warden sergeant was pointing straight at a wide-eyed, shocked-looking Pinkie Pie. Or more precisely, at the lenseye hovering over her shoulder. “When that recording gets home, the Wardens are done, ma’am. The press will rip us apart, and the ponies who have always hated us,” the sergeant didn’t mention Fluttershy, but Twilight knew she had to be thinking about her, “will finally have the justification they’ve been looking for to disband us completely. So don’t you dare thank me for doing my job when you’ve just destroyed the organization I’ve given my entire life to.” Twilight gritted her teeth. “So I should have just stood by and let her destroy this contact operation, and hurt me and Rarity?” “You could have handled it with more discretion…” Sergeant Wintergreen’s voice on their private channel was interrupted. “Hurt you, ma’am?” The question came from one of the unicorn troopers, and Twilight realized she’d been speaking out loud rather than sending her words via the link, which meant that everypony on the field had been hearing every word she’d spoken. “That was never an objective. The Comman... the Lieutenant would have skinned us if we’d hurt anypony.” Twilight turned to face the Warden who’d spoken, knowing she should be paying attention to the approaching aliens but needing to restore order in her own ponies first. “Was I or was I not tagged ‘disable,’ trooper?” “You were, ma’am,” The soldier’s voice was confused. “Ma’am... disable isn’t neutralize. We were just supposed to hit you with endust to keep you from fighting while we got you on the shuttles and evacced.” The unicorn glanced at her sergeant before continuing in a rush. “Ma’am... endust doesn’t hurt at all. I’ve been hit by it myself, accidentally. You just feel sort of numb for an hour or so.” “Cut the chatter, trooper,” Wintergreen growled. “What’s done is done. Focus on your quadrant.” The Wardens didn’t outwardly move, but Twilight could detect their sensor activity focusing on the aliens again. Still, what the unicorn trooper had said had given her pause. Endust, also called null-dust or BANC and properly referred to as Biological Arcane Nullification Compound, was a substance that inhibited magic in living things. It had originally been developed as a medication for mental hospitals, to keep mentally unstable unicorns from hurting themselves or other ponies, and had later been adapted for use against a wide range of magical threats. Most Warden armor was equipped with airburst endust dispensers, and it had proven to be a huge boon on the Crystal Desert frontier. Twilight blinked, uncertain of how to respond. When she’d seen that ‘disable’ tag on herself, she’d thought Rainbow had intended to hurt her, but endust was genuinely harmless. It prevented spellcasting for between thirty and seventy-five minutes, depending on the dose and the target, and reduced a unicorn’s magical ability for about another two hours, but beyond that it had no lingering effect. Had she misinterpreted? She shook herself. Regardless of whether Rainbow had intended to hurt her or not, she had drastically overstepped her authority. Twilight would deal with that later. She stepped up past the group, muttering, “I’ll explain later,” shoved her pain and turmoil into the back of her mind, and caught her first glimpse of the aliens.