"It is in adversity that we see the true colors of ourselves and those beside us."
Twilight's vision slowly cleared up as she came to, and she was very happy to see who had come to visit her. Her friends were all looking at her with worried looks, and she was quick to notice the worried faces of Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Behind them was her brother and Princess Cadance. On Rarity's back with an absolutely repentant look was Spike, and as her gaze panned to another part of the room, she saw her parents, Night Light and Twilight Velvet. "Hey everypony," she muttered.
"How you feeling, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"Banged up, otherwise, just peachy." Twilight couldn't help snarking with her answer. She then looked at her relatives. "Hey Mom, Dad, Shiny, Cadance."
"What happened to you, Sweetie?" Velvet asked, moving closer to her daughter's bed.
"I'm uh... not ready to talk about it," Twilight said, glancing at Spike.
"The doctor said you'll make a full recovery," Celestia said, smiling at her student. "You gave us all quite a scare."
"Sorry," Twilight said as the door opened, revealing a unicorn with a ruby red coat, sapphire blue mane with amethyst highlights, and emerald green eyes.
"Twilight! I came as soon as I heard," he said as he moved to her side and took her hoof in both of his. "Are you feeling alright? Aside from the obvious?"
"I'll live," Twilight said, smiling at him.
"Twily, who is this?" Shining Armor asked, eying the new stallion a bit suspiciously.
Twilight blushed a bit, having not gotten around to telling them. "This is Facet. My coltfriend." To say that the resulting silence was deafening would have been an understatement.
"Since when do you have a coltfriend?" Rainbow finally asked.
"We met at an art auction in Canterlot where some of my work was being sold," Facet said. "She was attending as Princess Celestia's guest of honor, and we ended up sitting next to each other. After the auction, we got to talking and really hit it off."
"One thing led to another and we started dating," Twilight said. "So far it's been long distance."
"An art auction in Canterlot?" Rarity asked. "That was six months ago!" she said as she rounded on Facet. "I simply cannot believe such an important detail of my own brother's life was kept from me for so long!"
"Brother?!" Applejack asked. "You never told us you have a brother."
"We don't often see each other since he works in Manehatten," Rarity said. "And you never asked, Applejack. None of you did."
"Same for why none of you knew until now about my relationship with Facet," Twilight said. "Well... Spike knew."
"The relationship isn't going to be long distance anymore," Facet said as he looked at Spike. "Spike, would you take a letter please?"
"Sure," Spike said as he got some parchment and a quill.
"My valued assistant Karot, in the wake of Twilight's accident, I have decided to put an end to the long distance relationship. And if you start thinking that means I am breaking up with her, shame on you by the way for even thinking that, let me clarify that the long distance part is ending. I need you to get all our possessions packed and call the movers. Because I am relocating my studio to Ponyville. While you take care of that, I am going house shopping around town. I will see you when you get here with our stuff. Your ever loving caregiver, Facet." After Spike wrote the letter, Facet took it and sealed it before using a spell to send it.
"Who's Karot?" Fluttershy asked.
Facet grinned a bit. "Twilight isn't the only pony with a dragon hatchling for an assistant."
In the following months, things went back to business as usual around Ponyville, slowly but surely. Aside from a few changes. Facet's things were relocated to a house he had bought in Ponyville, next to Sugarcube Corner to Pinkie Pie's delight. Everypony was introduced to Karot, a dragon welp about Spike's size, but colored black and red and being decidedly better behaved.
Twilight also started spending more time in Canterlot with her parents, in light of her near death experience. In particular she had managed to really bond with her father. Her family's wealth, contrary to her friends' belief, came not from being nobles, but from being in charge of a company that was even older than the Rich Corporation. Sparkle Industries had been founded by Twilight's ancestor Starlight Sparkle 1000 before, during the War of Sun and Moon. Starlight had been a true genius, providing a great many advances in his time, and the genius part seemed to be genetic. The company had thrived throughout the generations.
Twilight had been reluctant to inherit the mantle of company CEO, and her mother currently ran the company. While her father was head of R&D. Weapons in particular. That being the primary reason she had trouble bonding with him until her accident. But now it seemed she could finally bond with them both. But... with Twilight's luck, things could never be that simple.
(three months after the accident)
Twilight smiled at her father as they walked through the assembly floor of one of the Sparkle Industries plants. "I'm glad we were finally able to bond, Dad."
"So am I, Twilight," Night Light said. "So am I."
"Dad? Why does Sparkle Industries make weapons?" Twilight asked as she observed several unicorns carefully assembling a missile.
"Well Twilight," Night Light began. "Equestria is an old nation. She has a lot of enemies. and even though we have the Princesses, we still live among threats that can't always be dealt with diplomatically. And Starlight Sparkle originally founded the company to produce weapons for Celestia's army during the War of Sun and Moon. After the war, Celestia made Sparkle Industries the primary weapons contractor for the Equestrian military. Starlight himself had a saying, 'Peace means having a bigger stick than everyone else.'"
"Sounds like a glorified war monger," Twilight said.
"No. Starlight hated war," Night Light said. "He made weapons in order to protect the ponies of Equestria. We've done that ever since the company was founded."
"But he still made weapons that allowed war to be waged more effectively," Twilight said.
"Starlight had another saying," Night Light said. "'To be prepared for war is to be prepared for peace. There are times when war must be fought to safeguard one's loved ones.'"
Twilight nodded. "I think I understand. Not everypony fights because they enjoy it. They do it to protect the ponies they love."
"Exactly," Night Light said before the area was rocked by an explosion. "What was that?!"
Twilight saw an explosive land near them and jumped at her father. "Dad look out!" she screamed as she pushed him to the floor as the bomb went off, feeling sharp pains in her chest. Everything after that was a blur that she couldn't make sense of.
Twilight groaned as she came to, trying to look around as her vision cleared up. She was in a cave, surrounded by various odds and ends. Next to her was her father, who had some tears in his eyes. Across from him was a griffon.
"Good. You're awake," the griffon said.
"What's going on?" Twilight asked.
"You two are prisoners," the griffon said.
"Prisoners?" Twilight asked as she sat up, noticing her bandaged chest, which had something under the bandages, and it was connected to a large battery. "What is this?"
"I removed as much of the shrapnel as I could," the griffon said. "But there's still some in there, slowly moving toward your heart. Or it would be, if not for that electromagnet your dad put together. I put it in your chest though."
Any further conversation was cut short by the door into the room opening, letting a group of griffons, earth ponies, and a single minotaur in. The griffons and earth ponies were wielding weapons made by Sparkle industries, much to Twilight and Night Light's shock.
"Those are our guns. How did they get our guns?" Night Light asked before the minotaur stepped forward and spoke in a language that Twilight didn't understand.
"He says 'Welcome Night Light Sparkle. The greatest death dealer in the world,'" the griffon translated.
"Why are we here?" Twilight asked.
The minotaur spoke again, looking to the griffon for translation.
"He says that you're here to build weapons," the griffon said, pointing at Night Light. "He says if you refuse, he'll kill your daughter."
Twilight and Night Light both gasped in shock.
"What will it be?" the griffon asked.
Night Light sighed, a pained look on his face. "I'll do it."
Once the answer was translated, the minotaur smiled and said something before he and his soldiers left, leaving the three alone and locking them in.
"He said to put together a list of materials and they'll be delivered," the griffon said. "I'm Yinsen, by the way. Yinsen Grimfeathers."
"Nice to meet you, Yinsen," Twilight said, picking up the battery in her telekinesis and taking it over to a work table, where she started levitating tools and some specific weapons, taking them apart and pulling out pieces of metal. "That should be enough palladium."
"What are you planning, Twilight?" Night Light asked.
"First we need to make a better power source for this magnet," Twilight said. "And I know just the thing."
Over the next several hours, Twilight worked on the device that she had in mind while her father and Yinsen watched in curiosity. Once she was done, Twilight hooked it up to some other tech and flipped a switch, dimming the lights as the object began to glow with blue light.
Night Light's eyes widened. "You... made a miniature ARC reactor."
Twilight nodded. "Not as powerful as the one in the factory, but still powerful. it puts out three gigajoules per second."
"Impressive," Yinsen said in awe.
"Can you install it, Yinsen?" Twilight asked.
"Of course," Yinsen said, getting some equipment ready and sterilizing some surgical tools.
Twilight stretched after getting off the operating table. With the reactor replacing the bulky battery, she was able to move freely. She then went over to some papers and gestured for her father and Yinsen to join her, pressing the papers down on top of each other to show them what it was: a sort of armored suit for a pony to wear.
"What is that?" Night Light asked.
"That..." Twilight said with a smirk, "Is our ticket out of here."