//------------------------------//
// 4 - I Can Explain 
// Story: Mare of War 
// by zaponator 
//------------------------------//

	Edited by Pilate. Meh, he's alright I guess.





Twilight stood stock still. Eyes locked on the carpet like she was attempting to tunnel to the floor below, using only the laser vision she didn't have.

I had really hoped I wouldn’t have to explain this. Oh well, I'll have to explain now. I may be in Canterlot for a bit, I'm sure it's just for talks with the Princess, but why would they activate me for talks? Surely they can't have an assignment for me.

The worrying librarian's internal ranting was cut short by Rainbow Dash, subtle as ever. "What the hay Twilight!? You said you weren't a spy!" She pointed an accusing hoof at the unicorn in question. 

Rarity recovered next, looking concerned. "I must say dear, this letter is quite disturbing. Care to shed any light on it?" 

Applejack shook her head clear of the confusion, and added her two bits. "Yeah, would ya mind explainin' this one?" Fluttershy and Pinkie got over their shock at the same time, but only nodded their heads, in agreement with the farm pony.

At this point, Twilight finally looked up. The expression on her face was one of resolution, her eyes hard, and her mouth set in a tight line. She had accepted her fate, and was ready to deal with it.

"I can explain everything, but what I am about to tell you cannot leave this room. Ever." Twilight looked at everypony present, completely serious. "I'm serious. I'm sure the princess doesn't mind you all knowing, or she would have waited until she knew I was alone, but this information is top secret. I'll need you all to Pinkie Promise."

Her friends went through the motions, and Twilight felt a weight come off her shoulders. It may have seemed silly to some, but she would trust her life to a Pinkie Promise.

"The minimum age for a pony to officially enter the military is—"

"17." Rainbow dash interrupted, looking just a tad smug.

"Uh... yes, what she said." Twilight glanced at the pegasus curiously, "Anyway, so when my brother was 17 he graduated from the Royal Equestrian Advanced Military Academy.”

Her lecture was interrupted yet again, by raised hoof from Rarity. “Twilight dear, we already knew your brother was in the army.” The other mares nodded their agreement.

Twilight blinked, then shook her head. “I know that, but for my part in this to make any sense, I'll need to explain some things about my brother's training program."

"My brother was entered into The Academy, as it's colloquially known, when he was 11 years old." She had to wave her hooves to quiet her friends shocked outbursts, before going on. "He was put in a special training program, with only 20 members. Did you not find it strange that he was able to cast a shield over all of Canterlot? Those 20 ponies were to be the perfect soldiers. That's not all, they were also to be the perfect leaders. They were trained in every aspect of war, right up until graduation into the military at 17. I don't know exactly what their training entailed, but even I can't shield all of Canterlot. With me so far?"

Her friends all gave consent, except Rainbow Dash.

"This doesn't add up Twi'." She looked suspicious that something was being held back. "I mean, even special forces training doesn't take 6 bucking years! What else was he training for?" She was hovering in the purple story teller's face by now.

Twilight backed away before answering. "You're absolutely right, Rainbow." The aforementioned pony looked surprised at the admission, and sat back down on the ground, nodding in a satisfied manner.

"There was another purpose to this training, these 20 ponies were training to be 'handlers'. Each one would be given command of a unit of 'operatives', on top of normal command duty. The handlers would use these operatives to execute missions that they couldn't take care of themselves. With the duties of being a commanding officer, this ends up being most missions."

While Twilight paused her friends processed the information. After a few moments, Applejack had a question.

"So your brother is some sorta' super-soldier commander fella." Twilight nodded slowly. "What about you Twi'?"

Twilight looked once more at each of her friends, listening intently to her. She could trust them with anything. Now she was about to trust them with everything.

"So here's what happened, when my brother graduated, I was 14—”

“Weren’t you already the Princesses Student at that point?”

Twilight blinked, and turned to regard the pink pony responsible for the question. “Well, yes I was, but in case you haven’t noticed, her assignments are pretty vague. I can pretty much do whatever I want with my life, as long as I’m available when she needs me.”

Twilight’s friends seemed surprised at first, but when they thought about it, they realized she was right. She wasn’t exactly following a strict curriculum in Ponyville. They all mulled it over for a brief moment, before nodding, and motioning for Twilight to continue.

“Alright, back on topic. As you know, I didn't have any friends back then," She looked sad for a moment, before going back into lecture mode. "Only Shining Armor, when he graduated I knew I would be completely alone. There was another option though. Both my parents are highly decorated members in the Equestrian Armed Forces. High enough to guarantee my brother's place at The Academy. High enough to guarantee my place."

Twilight, once again, had to quiet outbursts from her friends.

"Now don't worry, my training was far shorter than Shining Armor's," her friends sighed, "only three years."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow was now hovering near the roof.  "How's that even possible? Basic training is like, nine-and-a-half weeks. What were you doing for three years?!"

"I was training to be an operative." This time her friends were too shocked to even make a noise. "I received training in combat spells, hoof-to-hoof, and marksmareship, as well as infiltration, survival tactics, and much more that I really don't need to get into."

Torture resistance, disposing of a body, getting information out of prisoners, how to hide a suicide pill...

Twilight, at the time, would do anything to get to stay with Shining. Even so, there were certain skills she had no intention of ever using.

"I'm technically in my brother's unit, but when the war started, I requested that I not have to go fight. Princess Celestia promised that I would never be activated unless it was absolutely vital."

Fluttershy raised her hoof in question. Twilight, still wondering why she would do that, urged her to ask.

"Well, um, is... is that why you weren't scared, when the accident happened that is, because of your training?"

All her friends gained looks of comprehension, as they thought that mystery was solved. Their lack of confusion only lasted a moment.

"Are you kidding me? I was terrified that whole time!" The lavender mare felt the need to clarify, "Fear can never be removed from a pony, especially fear of death." She sounded like she was quoting something, and probably was. "The only thing that we can train ponies to do is not to allow that fear to affect us. True bravery comes from being terrified, but doing what needs to be done, even in the face of that terror."

She smiled sheepishly, "Or, that's what the handbook says. From what I've seen, it seems to be right."

Now that her explanation was over her friends allowed the information to settle in. Slowly, but surely, a massive grin appeared on Rainbow Dash's face.

"Do you know what this means Twilight?" The weather-mare asked in a tone that Twilight didn't particularly like. "This means that you're an honest-to-Celestia action hero!" She began to circle the apparent 'action hero', examining her carefully, looking like a filly in a candy store.

"This is so cool! Are you gonna fight ninjas? How about spying? Are you gonna spy on anypony? Oh oh! Are yo—"

"Twilight..."

Everypony went silent at the sound of the small dragon's voice.

Spike ran over to Twilight, and hugged her, his eyes starting to tear up. "I don't want you to go Twilight! You s-said that you'd n-never have to fight."

"It's okay Spike" Twilight began to stroke his spines reassuringly. "I'm sure it's nothing dangerous. It's probably just a checkup. I'll run a few obstacle courses, and be back here before you know it."

The princess would never activate me for a checkup. This must be serious. Can't let anypony worry though. Especially not Spike.

"Sorry girls," she disentangled from the quietly sobbing dragon with her telekinesis, "looks like I'll be out of town for a few days. Fluttershy, can you take care of Spike while I'm gone?"

"Oh, I'd love to. Make sure you stay safe." Fluttershy replied, as quiet as ever.

"Thanks Fluttershy." Twilight smiled as much as she could at the moment. "Don't worry Spike. Fluttershy will take good care of you, and I'll be to Canterlot and back before you know it."

With a reassuring pat on the head for her number one assistant, the librarian bid Spike and her friends goodbye, and headed out the door into the early morning of Ponyville.

Nopony was up this early. This was good. Twilight didn't want a big deal to be made about her departure. If all went well, she could be back before most of the town even knew she was gone. Which was really a sad statement about how many visitors the library got. She noticed she was being followed almost immediately, when she saw the cloud above and behind her was moving on it's own. An instructor at the academy had once told her that paranoia was a good habit to get into while on assignment. To this end, Twilight acted like she didn't know, as she casually strolled toward the library.

Should I lose them? No, I want to know who's after me. Capture then. But where? I should do it at the library itself. It's empty at the moment. Have to remember to mind the gap though. Speaking of, I should send a letter as soon as I arrive in Canterlot, ordering a repairpony for the library.

As Twilight neared her home, she began to plan. She couldn't see a single hair of her stalker, but they were on a cloud, and that gave her all the information she needed.

Pegasus. Need to disable wings, prevent escape. Upstairs windows are locked. Good. Wait at top of stairs, behind door. Wait until stalker is standing just outside. Throw open door, striking opponent in face. While they're stunned teleport behind them. Slam opponent's head into right wall of hallway. Break left wing. Get into choke hold, before they can recover. Once they're unconscious, tie them up. Lock them in the bathroom, no windows.

Total injuries: Broken nose, light concussion, broken wing. Nothing lethal.

Justified.


--{MoW}--


It didn't take long for Twilight to get home. She stepped up to the door, seemingly without a care in the world. In reality, she was noting that the cloud was still there.

She was nearly ready, though. She teleported across the hole that was once a basement, and onto the foot of the stairs leading up. Walking up the stairs, she made sure not to be too quiet. She wanted her follower to know exactly where she was.

At the top of the stairs was a short hall, followed by a door that lead into the second story main room. Twilight went through the door, turned around, closed it, and waited.

She began to wonder if they would follow her inside. She assumed they would. Pushing a cloud around for cover like that was a novice mistake, and a novice would hopefully be foolish enough to follow her in, rather than just wait outside.

She didn't have to wait long. Within a couple of minutes, she heard the landing at the top of the stairs creak.

At least they were smart enough to fly up the stairs.

Twilight waited as the sounds of her soon-to-be prey came closer. They were all but inaudible to somepony untrained to listen for them. Once the sounds were just outside the door, and two shadows of forelegs could be seen through the crack at the bottom, Twilight sprang into action.

She pushed the door open hard, receiving a satisfying crack and yelp of pain. The next moment, she vanished in a pop of magic, reappearing on the other side, behind her assailant. Blind teleports were vehemently unadvised, unless you knew the area like the back of your hoof. Twilight did. Before the pegasus even realized somepony was behind them, Twilight's left hoof was brought to the side of their head, slamming it into the right wall hard enough for it to bounce back.

As her stalker collapsed to their knees, Twilight moved to finish the fight. She stepped closer, grabbing the left wing in her same-side hoof, and raised her right to break the hollow-boned appendage in one swift blow.

Only then did she take in the color of the feathers. With the post-teleport spots in her eyes, she had basically been fighting the outline of a generic pegasus, but in the couple of seconds it had taken her to get to this point her vision had cleared.

Sky blue feathers.

She let the wing drop to the ground. And opened her ears to the raspy moans of pain emanating from the pony before her. She looked down, and there it was. A mane, looking like it was crafted out of the finest rainbows.

Shit.


--{MoW}--


"I guess I shoulda known better than to sneak up on a spy."

Two ponies sat across from each other on couches in the upstairs living room of the Golden Oaks library. The pegasus was holding a bloody rag to her nose, and had an ice pack on her head. The unicorn just sat there looking at the floor guiltily, and occasionally stealing glances at the injured mare across from her.

"Look Twi', I said I accept your apology." Rainbow checked the rag. It seemed the bleeding had stopped, and she was lucky enough not to have a broken nose, so she put the rag down on the coffee table. "Will ya stop looking like you killed a puppy or something? You handled that situation exactly as a spy should've, I was just being stupid."

Twilight winced every time the weather mare said 'spy'. "Will you stop calling me a spy? That's something completely different. The organization I work for is just a branch of the army." Twilight struggled to find a positive way to word it. "They just tend to do... things that the Equestrian government would deny. Black operations, and the like, but we're still just soldiers! Not. Spies."

"So you're not a spy?" Twilight nodded to Rainbows question. Rainbow just grinned in response, "You're an action hero! Just like I originally said!"

The so-called 'action hero' sighed. "Look, I need to get a couple things. So if your nose has stopped bleeding, I'm gonna go get ready to go."

"Sure, I'll come with you while you get ready."

Twilight paused halfway to the door. "Why are you so intent on following me?"

"Are you kidding me?" The excitable pegasus waved her forehooves in the air, causing the ice pack off her head. "I followed you for, like, 15 minutes, and already I've gotten to see crazy kick-flank fighting from you." Twilight winced again, but Rainbow wasn't quite finished. "I just can't wait to see what happens next."

"That's fine, I guess, but I'm just packing some stuff, then I need to head to Canterlot. I've wasted enough time as it is."

With that statement, Twilight headed downstairs, a sky blue ball of childlike excitement and feathers following close behind.

At the bottom of the stairs, Twilight stopped at the edge, peered down for a moment, then jumped.

Rainbow yelped in surprise, and leapt to save her friend. She was just in time to see her fall the 10 feet, tuck into a roll, and come out perfectly fine, kicking up a small cloud of dust.

"Still got it." Twilight stated proudly, turning around to see her impromptu company fluttering to land beside her.

Rainbow let out a whoop as she landed. “That was totally awesome!” She then continued in a normal speaking voice, tinged with admiration for her so-called egghead friend. "And you asked why I wanted to follow you."

Twilight, for her part, simply chuckled and began to search along the floor, tapping with a forehoof as she went. Just as Rainbow was about to ask what she was looking for, the lavender mare shouted joyfully.

"Aha! Found it."

She then proceeded to grasp a floorboard in her magic, and tear it out, tossing it aside to join so much other rubble that had yet to be cleaned up.

Within this well hidden alcove was a black box, square, and about 2 feet in each dimension. Twilight lifted the box out with her magic while Rainbow watched, the jovial pegasi’s excitement still present. Seen in the light, the box appeared to be made of some sort of dark metal that completely lacked any shine or reflectiveness, the top was adorned with a flat lid, with the letters ‘REAMA’ engraved in it. Rainbow realized that those were the initials of The Academy.

Twilight took a deep breath. Rainbow moved to watch over her shoulder. The last time she had opened this box had been 2 years ago, and even that was only to check its contents when she moved it to the library. She had received it at her graduation 3 years ago, just like all operatives did, and she treasured what was inside. This box and what it contained were a symbol of her accomplishment, a sign that she was the best that Equestria had to offer, a reward after 3 of the most grueling years of her life.

She opened the box.

Inside was a beautifully crafted bracer. It was a completely black, but it was engraved with designs, and what as what appeared to be a phrase in Old Equestiran. It was fitted for a forehoof, and had a long flat part on top that extended back along the front of the forehoof when worn.

As Twilight put it on her right foreleg, Rainbow was about to ask what the long flat bit was all about. She got her answer when, with a surprising lack of sound, a blade extended from the bracer, it was 12 inches long, straight, and double-edged, Rainbow could tell just by looking at it that it was sharp enough to split hairs, and when Twilight finished examining it, it slid back inside the long flat part, which must have been the sheath.

Rainbow thought she got a brief sight of more fancy writing engraved on the steel of the weapon before it retracted, and decided to ask Twilight about it.

"What's all that crap written all over that thing?" Rainbow smirked when Twilight sighed at the intentional bluntness of her speech.

Twilight decided to answer anyway. "Well you see," she held up her foreleg and rotated it for Rainbow to see all the words, "this is Old Equestrian. It says 'sol iustitiae illustra nos' which means, 'Sun of Justice, shine upon us'. It's the motto of The Academy."

She then extended the blade, and showed Dash the flat of it. The pegasus could clearly see something engraved there now.

"This one is a little different.  It's actually written in Ancient Equish, completely different from Old Equestrian, far older. It's the motto of the operative division itself." Twilight's look became serious, and her voice took on an ominous tone.

"Oûtis emoí g' ónoma. My name is Nobody."