//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Grand preparations and faulty hired help. 
// Story: Metal Slug is Magic: First Modern War (Rise of Morden) 
// by Uros 
//------------------------------//

"You don't seem exactly happy about the news."

"Oh I am happy, this does indeed increase of odds of survival."

"But?"

"But it also means that if we fail everything goes to hell."

"And it didn't mean that before?."

"Tarma, I am not in the mood for a smart ass right now."

"Yea, well, look at it this way: What we thought could be done with just the two of us suddenly dragged fifty infantrymen alongside us, the last of our transport helicopters, our only Mobile Cloning and Command Unit (M.C&C.U) and a load of information that we never dreamed of getting, all thanks to a very weird man in a suit."

"Tarma..."

"I am just saying that taking this all as seriously as you are doing is going to get you killed, a couple of times in fact, and we don't have the resources to bring anyone back more than a couple of times when we have a small army waiting for us."

Marchrius Dennis Rossi, most known as Marco Rossi, or simply Marco, scoffed at his friend.

Born the 13th of April of the year 2005, this 180 cm tall and 75kg heavy Italian-American man was the antithesis of what most would consider fun, as well as what most considered geeks back in the day. Not only was Marco a really strong and well fit individual with a long flowing hairdo of gold with his favorite white headband always keeping it in place, but his intelligence and dedication to work made him a complete buzz kill when it come to work since his seriousness was ever present unless he was off duty, something that was a rarity all on itself.

Rocking an armored red best, white shirt, brown combat fatigues and black army boots in his trademark look that seemed to fit the man in every way, Marco was regarded as an incredible fun guy when it came to his programs and the chaos he could unleash with them, something that was made even more apparent when he could take his ever present pen drive out and whip a new little bug to toy with whatever computer he had on hand.

Programming guru and drill instructor all in one, or so most people thought of him.

Truth was that Marco was an incredibly chill guy, he had been so during his younger years and had only recently changed gears during the 2025, the day that Morden made his first push.

Yes, the day that Donald Morden, tired of the corrupt Regular Army officials that allowed his son to die at the hands of a Rebel Army that couldn't even lift a finger without being discovered, rose to power within the Rebel Army and almost had the president of the United States put to death in an act of terrorism like no other.

That day many of Marco's friends died, it was also the day he and his best friend meet. They had known each other for a while thanks to Marco's inclusion to the PF shortly after his graduation, but it wasn't until Morden's betrayal that both of them took off, surprising nearly everyone with their friendship as both men clashed in quite a few ways.

"I will take this as seriously as it needs to be taken, thank you very much, Tarma."

Tarmicle Roving the third (Or III), most known as Tarma Roving, or just Tarma to his friends.

Born the same year as Marco, only during the first of May, with six less centimeters in height and also eleven kilograms less in weight, Tarma had a few qualities similar to his friend. The most obvious similitude was that he was quite the strong man, fit like a bull as far as most men his size and age were concerned, but not only that, as his red hair was almost as wild and easy to notice as his friend's blonde locks. As far as the army was concerned, these men, despite their rank, needed to get back in line, something that made Tarma chuckle quite a lot.

Unlike his friend, however, Tarma had been born into a military family back in Hokkaido, which made his usually funny self quite the weird thing considering his father, but maybe that was why he was that way and why he clicked so well with his friend since the day they meet. Continuing with the opposites, Tarma was more a metal head than the calm Marco, having a thing for personalized bikes, painting metal and shades that he NEVER took off unless strictly necessary. Everyone knew that Marco had blue eyes, but what did Tarma hide behind his glasses?

Nothing was more important than this, however: Tarma could literally fall asleep while being shot at. It was kind of his thing and it showed that he had gotten used to be chewed by an official since age four.

Other than personality, hairdo, sunglasses and the obvious snot that he got while sleeping, how was one to notice Tarma? Well, while both friends thought alike in many ways, one could notice that Marco loved red, while Tarma's vest was bright fucking yellow.

Bright. Fucking. Yellow.

As in:  Yes, I am here, shot at me!

True that, unlike his friend, he had a few different ones, after all he liked to change things from time to time, but for this campaign he had decided to bring the one thing that worked as 'Fuck me lights', as Marco loved to call the obvious weak points in enemy bosses that were in so many games.

Seriousness was NOT Tarma's strong point.

"Well, if we survive you aren't going to get to your fifties without turning into a prune, that one is assured." Tarma smirked, kicking back and relaxing "Look, we are screwed, but we can make this work."

"Yea, because losing all the SV-001s and the new technology, as well as most of our forces, didn't put a damper on things." Marco growled at his friend. He was this close to kicking his chair from under his goofy ass.

"Look, Marco, chill out." Tarma didn't seem bothered by it, not one bit "You have the information that the researchers have, you know that all those dead guys will be back, we know why Morden doesn't seem to care for his own men now that he is 'loco', and we know he isn't exactly as mad as we thought he was."

Marco slammed his hands over the table in anger "MORDEN IS A MONSTER AND HE NEEDS TO BE PUT DOWN!"

The ring of the metal table made Tarma cringe. They could be in a mobile command unit, sitting in the only decent room, all surrounded by comfort, as far as basic military supplies goes, but the echo within this piece of shit could make anyone deaf.

Rubbing his pained ears, Tarma gave his friend an apologetic look "Marco, I know you are angry, but look at the bright side: If we find Morden's base we find the date of every single deceased person since he achieved this seat of power, from old friends to people we never meet. You need to calm down or we will be unable to do a single thing."

And calming down Marco did, begrudgingly. The informant, D, had given the researchers back at the base the schematics that Morden had used to create those Cloning Units as well as the Self Mainframe (super computers designed to hold the complex personality of every individual assigned to it). The apparent madman had never truly killed anyone since his ascension to power as the Rebel Army general; he had first taken samples of nearly every living human being and created an incredible fleet of satellites to connect them to the Self Mainframes that he had hidden over the world.

Madman he was, for he could rewrite a few things with time, like a simple obedience algorithm that would make the whole human population obey only him, but it would need time, resources and zero disturbances. The son of a bitch was going to put most his manpower and the personality-less clones he had made towards that effort, he was even going to allow himself to be captured 'easily' so part of his plan would happen.

Then in came D and the plan got scrapped.

Now not only had the man promised a way to get rid of Morden's desire for power and his anger, if the Regular Army defeated Morden that is, but he also nudged them forward so they could even capture the personality-less clones Morden made and gave them distinct features, though it was resource intensive. They had only captured one, and it was one of their own clones that was trying to get to the 'man' so he would open up.

You probably are wondering why, right? Well, D had said that Morden knew about the researchers, the SV-001s and most of the Regular Army's efforts, he was just that good. What he didn't know was that they had been informed of the cloning capabilities and that they had made their own M.C&C.U.

That pissed Morden.

Multiplying production was easy when most of his army could be composed of altered, 'cheaper' bodies that mostly required water and little protein. They weren't supposed to last in the long run, and they literally broke apart with ease, hell, even a knife could literally torn apart a Rebel Army soldier if enough force was applied, and it was a gory glorious sight, but the thing was this: They could make ten more in the time it took to kill ten guys.

The Regular Army couldn't.

Oh yes, they used the same process while the Regular Army's original bodies were stored away, because the only way to transfer from M.C&C.Us was to either transfer the original sample of blood, to transfer the data from one to another, or to have the original body connect with another unit. This way the fifty two strong group that was this small Regular Army unit was safe, but it lacked resources.

Morden's army was mostly located close to areas full with water, or in cities with enough supplies to ensure they would have the resources needed to either form attacks or resist invasions. Marco was pretty sure that their supplies would allow for their fifty two strength could come back a few times. Marco and Tarma could afford two fuckups, only two, because their bodies, even the cloned ones, required more resources than the common Regular Army grunt, and everyone knew it, after all they could jump incredibly high, they could carry a great load out without tiring and they could even take a bullet or two without dying. The Regular Army soldier? Not so much.

Their soldiers were mostly clones designed to be their own persons with their own factions and other such things, basically real people that had been grown to adulthood in record time. They were to serve for a year and then they would be discharged, if they wished for that, so they could have their own lives. It had been an extreme measure done out of desperation because the only soldiers that managed to get away from the fiasco that had been the factory with the SV-001s numbered under ten.

Luckily, and despite such a heinous act as far as Marco was concerned, the clones and soldiers could be brought back multiple times with what resources they had, maybe ten times or so per person, and they were highly motivated despite everything that had happened. The number against them and the slim chance of survival did weight them down a little bit, though, and Marco could do nothing but worry.

"This is going to be much harder than originally expected, Tarma." Marco finally resigned himself as he looked up at the lifelessly metal grey ceiling "A hundred or so enemies against us? We could guerrilla tactics our way out of that one."

"Thousands of clones in a well defended forth against a group of highly motivated and decently trained soldiers is more or less the same, plus you can kamikaze your way out of that, a couple of times to be specific." Tarma grinned.

"Kamikaze is more your thing, thank you very much." Marco grimaced at the idea of holding a grenade while charging without fear towards an enemy tank, all intent set on blowing both of them in one go "I think I prefer some finesse."

"We are going for a downed plane used as a fortress, with energy weapons attached to it." Tarma deadpanned, giving his friend a death glare as the redhead tried not to laugh "Kamikaze is putting it gently, boss."

"Whatever, I can assure you that I will be perfectly careful once I have this planned out, something that YOU can't seem to do since you prefer to either goof off or doze off, either of them is fine." Marco prodded his friend on the side, almost getting him to fall from his seat "You want me to relax? Then why don't you help me a bit with all this so we can get it done faster."

"Eh, you are the boss, I am simply under your command to do the heavy lifting." Tarma could swear he head 'bullshit' coming from Marco, but the blonde was way too high strung for such language "Besides, you know what my plans require."

Marco shook his head at his friend's definition of 'plan' "Lots of noise, lots of speed, lots of dakka. Yes, I know."

"If it works, it works." The grin on the redhead's voice was as large as the one on his face "But we lack the means."

"This is an overly large transport that houses a damn military helicopter with space to spare, of course this is not made for speed, and the engineers that made this piece of crap thought it would not require weapons, so no dakka." Marco had stressed over that point for so long that no one ever paid attention to him ranting about it anymore "Why did they make this damn thing anyway?"

"Big, can carry a lot, it is cheap as all hell, needs little maintenance..." Tarma lift finger after finger "Want me to keep talking? Because our bosses certainly didn't give a damn about anything but money,  you know that."

"EVERYONE knows that, and it is the only point I will concede to Morden: The Regular Army needs to cleanse the chain of command, pronto." The simple thought of Morden being right about something, and having Marco agree with him, made the blonde's blood boil. But yes, it was true: The Regular Army officials were nearly all corrupt, lazy and would rather save their hides and let their men die than do the right thing "If there is one thing that will stop me from killing that monster over and over again, is that this will flush the undesirables from our ranks once it is over."

Both friends stayed silent for a few moments after that. If the officials they served had been dutiful, simply dutiful, they hadn't needed to go overboard or beyond their duty, they just needed to do their damn job, if they had just ACTED, then Morden's son would have been alive and Morden himself would have remained with the Regular Army alongside his most trusted men: Allen O'Neil.

Now those men were tearing down the world piece by piece, and Morden would rebuild it how he saw fit once the chaos ended.

"We are going to need magic to make this work." Marco sighed in defeat after a few more seconds went by "This is too much for us. We can probably liberate a lot of our men if we succeed in our first mission, but odds aren't with us."

"It doesn't help that the recent war left most of our equipment as nothing more than last century's upgraded weaponry, eh boss?" Tarma did his best to crack a joke, the problem being that the joke was simply the truth doused with wry humor "At least the Rebel Army got hammered too. Hand rockets, grenades, single shot rifles and refurbished WWII tanks?"

"Those pieces of technology are a hundred times better than their old counterparts, you know that." The blonde grimaced. Those old rifles could easily punch through some of the old tanks used during the 2010 period. Modern tanks would stop the bullets, but they packed a massive punch nonetheless "Even our modern grenades are little more than refurbished WWII models, and they can literally obliterate a tank unlike those old models."

Tarma eyed his friend with a frown "Are you going to shot down every point I bring?"

"Are you going to bring moot points to a fight of wits with me?" The question was redundant "The point still stands: We are going to need help or this is probably going to suck."

"Yea, and the next thing you know unicorns will pop out of the woodwork, ready to lend us the magic aid you wanted." Tarma let out a loud snort "Call me when we are close to the area of operations."

Just like that, less than a snap of the fingers after he had finished talking, Tarma was asleep. When Marco first meet him, after saving the president of the U.S.A, Tarma had been full of energy, having fought for his life and all. Seeing him asleep after the president had congratulated him, probably as the adrenaline surge just died, had been both shocking and funny.

Sometimes Tarma was a true genius, and not only was he good with bikes, but also many customization works if he had enough time to look at a machine or weapon. Marco was undoubtedly more gifted when making plans and tactics, but everyone had different skill sets and Marco was certain that, without his good friend at his side, this mission would not be borderline impossible, it would be SIMPLY impossible to achieve, even if he had more men at his disposal.

Gods, he really wished for a smoke right now. To be told that the cloning process accentuated certain sickness on the temporal bodies had dissuaded him from that habit though, but the cravings were still there, and smokes certainly calmed him when he was nervous. Modern medicine or not, he wasn't about to get screwed over by technicalities and faulty bodies in the battlefield.

But boy, was a plan hard to make right now, and was a smoke tempting too!  Magic would be convenient, and Marco was not one to dilly dally with fantasies, he much preferred to cook a virus and smash a whole enemy force by screwing with their technology. The problem? It was not a lie when it was said that the advanced technology was mostly updated, retrofitted or simply upgraded old tech. Finding the computers on Morden's base would allow him to do something, but other than the remaining prototypes the Rebel Army had, there was nothing that Marco could sabotage.

And what did Marco have at his disposal? This transport unit, an helicopter, Tarma and fifty men armed with pilfered equipment from the Rebel Army since they didn't even have enough supplies from their now smashed base! If this first push didn't work... Morden would win.

He hardly prayed worth a damn, but more than knowledge about how Morden had gotten this technology, or how had he hidden so many clones, tanks and other more advanced weaponry, he wanted some help. He was not a leader that hid his failures or merits, nor was he one to hide his shortcomings or the possibilities he brought to the table, but despite his optimism when faced with impossible odds, when faced with the upmost adversity, there was a limit to what he, or Tarma, could achieve.

D's leak had made this a hundred times worse for them, but also delayed Morden's plans. If help came to him, no matter the shape or form, he would welcome it with open arms. Heck, right now he was basically in command of the Regular Army unless the officials came back, and the cowards were wll hidden underground. For all he cared he would be able to offer a mercenary group the best incentives to join him, if most mercenaries hadn't joined with Morden already...

Thinking about the most likely source of help being gone didn't lift Marco's spirits. Despite this, despite the depressingly low chances of victory, Marco swore that this would end in a victory. He would spearhead the damn attack, recover the SV-001s, destroy the enemy base and recover as many soldiers as possible.

Morden could scare him, yes, he would admit that. But that bastard was not going to win, much less when he was obviously nothing more than a puppet for whoever had supplied him with this technology of his. With that in mind, and with boundless quantities of pistol rounds to burn through, he got up and went to the firing range to burn whatever energy, and nervousness, he had in his body as he thought of the best course of action.

Still... His little group could really go with some help.


*** Equestria ***


Earth, year 2028. Population: Over seven point five billion and growing. Status? At war.

Since the year 2015 there have been more and more skirmishes and assaults to the unified armies of the world, known as the Regular Army, from rebel factions and crime syndicates, groups now formed in the feared Rebel Army. A bombing attack during 2023 causes many deaths, including General Morden's only son and one of the few things that held the aging warrior's mind together. After that event Morden defects a Regular Army that had been failing in containing the criminal threat thanks to corrupt officials that were busier lining their pockets with cash than protecting those they swore to protect and serve above all else.

Morden and his loyal troops gather every subversive entity in the world and form the Rebel Army. Those that caused Morden's son to die are put down, permanently. Morden raises his personal status as General and the Rebel Army suddenly turns into a real threat that the Regular Army would have a hard time countering, and that is  if those in charge bothered to read the Information Agency's reports.

2026. Morden tries to assassinate the U.S.A president. While the attack fails and the president ends being escorted to safety, the world still feels the blow and two friends, Marco and Tarma, come together during their baptism of fire.

2027. The encounter codenamed as 'First Mission' takes place. The Peregrine Falcons, more known as P.F, a squad formed originally by Marco Rossi and Tarma Roving, are enlisted to aid the Regular Army.

2028. Morden kicks the Regular Army to the curb thanks to the higher ups' inactivity and blind eye towards his actions. The whole army is crushed with the exception of a few strays that try to recover the secret SV-001 prototypes and whatever equipment and manpower is available. Their base of operations is utterly annihilated shortly after they receive information from an unknown source named simply 'D'. After the attack all supplies and SV-001s are captured, and most of the world's hopes are crushed before the first mission of their offensive can take place. 

Only Marco, Tarma, one of the newly designed and mass produced Land Base Transports, an old Hi-Do helicopter (non military variant) and fifty soldiers (most of them  young clones with barely any experience) manage to escape without being executed/captured by the enemy. Supplies, spirits and hopes are in an all time low.

Nothing of this matters in the land of Equestria where a certain velvet alicorn is awaiting for her friends. 

Surprisingly enough, this will be important in no time. Why is it surprising? Because, despite what many would say about Twilight's eagerness, the reason behind their soon to be adventure is not her fault... entirely.

Originally only a little bit of her experiment was to make contact with Earth, something that would later allow certain humans (One of which went by the name of Hyakutaro Ichimonji) to use magic and give them the chance to change their world for the better. Speculations of that future say it would not work and, at some point, the perpetual wars would practically destroy everything.

However, as the wheel turns and turns time and time again, at some point things had to change, even if by chance.

How, you may ask, would they change? Well, to answer that question you would need to know why Twilight Sparkle, princess and magic scientist extraordinaire, was waiting for her friends so fervently. Not only because she wanted to see them, which was a big part of this all, but because it had been years since they had any kind of adventure together, maybe ten by now, and while they did meet regularly and had a lot of fun together, things had separated them slightly.

Fluttershy had always been, well, shy, but after no more adventures were called for, when the world was finally and truly at peace, she was the first to move on. Well, that is a way of saying it, in truth she was still around Ponyville, but she had became a worldwide famous veterinarian capable of healing, taming and befriending animals just with her voice alone, even her stare was capable of forcing the most troublesome creature into submission to be gently shown how to live in peace with the rest of the world. Always occupied and always happy to be surrounded by animals, she was the hardest of the friends to get a hold of.

Pinkie Pie, the most bubbly and bouncy, and pink, earth pony known to ponykind was just slightly less sought after. With a friendly rivalry with Cheese Sandwitch, a friend and also a party maker, Pinkie not only made everyone in Ponyville happy twenty four seven, but also went on tours across Equestrian lands, and those lands beyond Equestria, because no border can stop Pinkie, making every single pony (or any other creature for that matter) smile... Whether they wanted it or not. Her personal recipes and pastries had made the Cakes, her mentors and practically foster family away from her home, the fourth richest family in Ponyville.

Those two friends were the ones Twilight hadn't been able to call to Canterlot. Usually she would have used her own castle for this experiment, or even the regrown Golden Oaks Library, but Celestia herself had asked for extra measurements of defense and planning, so Twilight had agreed to move to Canterlot until the experiment was completed in every way, shape or form.

Twilight sighed as she thought at the missed opportunity. She hadn't seen Pinkie more than once this month, and it was impossible to be around Ponyville without meeting her at least once a day, and that is if you were 'lucky', while Fluttershy still had her weekly meetings with Rarity, and sometimes even the other girls (Yes, even Applejack and Rainbow Dash) when they went to the spa. She dearly missed those and wanted to show the princess that her work was perfect so she could go back home and enjoy some time with her friends once more.

At least three of them had managed to get some time to share with her and to learn of her newest invention first hand.

Rarity, the lovely alabaster mare of refined taste, and now almost second to none as far as pony fashion was concerned, had been swamped by orders for clothes since their last outing to save Equestria. It had been fun to see her purple mane stylized and cared for to the point of remaining intact after a battle, with her fine dress, made with so much care, being so tough that it managed to reflect the magic directed at her. So many years of trying to be, as she said, fabulous and fighting with tooth and hoof had made Rarity not only more determined, but capable of creating things of both beauty and power with ease, ease that no other pony had.

Rainbow Dash had her dream of being a fully fledged wonderbolt more than fulfilled. She had changed the organization even before she joined their ranks as a real wonderbolt instead of one of the reserves, but once she had taken the mantle of Spitfire after the brazen mare decided that her time was up despite still being young and more than capable, the rainbow manned pegasus had made sure that only the best of the best, both in personality and qualities, would be where they should.  You didn't need to be the fastest, Rainbow had learned that,  you needed more qualities than that, and despite the mare's hard headed persona remaining intact, as well as her self absorbed egomania that sometimes reared its ugly head, Rainbow had grown a lot as a mare.

Applejack was, maybe, the least to change over the years. She was stronger, slightly taller and much more tempered compared to the mare that locked horns with Rainbow Dash almost on a daily basis. She was still bullheaded of course, but now she had mellowed out, her sister was going her thing, her brother was married and Granny Smith had her hip fixed, as well as being told that she wasn't going to croak for at least a hundred or so, not like nopony saw that coming or anything. She had expanded her farm, that was for sure, and she had hired more workers, earning her more income and an easier living, but the mare was still the same honest and friendly mare she had started as.

As for Twilight? She was still a bookworm, that would never change, but she was now slightly taller, almost a meter and a half. Cadence was now the height Luna had been while Luna herself was almost as tall as her sister, but she was going to be called 'little one' forever and ever. Twilight knew she wasn't going to grow anymore, but almost a good meter forty was good enough for her as an 'ascended' princess. The only thing that she had gained with time, other than size, was patience, power and more knowledge that she had used to blur the barriers between all pony tribes.

That probably needs some context, but it is easy to explain.

Pegasi, Unicorn and Earth Pony. They are the three original, supposed, pony tribes. They were separated by petty squabbles back in the day, and during modern times, after they banded together, they all had a bit of animosity, but nothing all that big. Problems here, problems there, there was always something that would divert most of their differences away and a great deal of ponies would accept each other, as they were meant to do.

Now there were no more problems, only happiness, comfort and prosperity.

It certainly hadn't degenerated to the old times, but the inclusion of changelings, thestrals, seaponies and more subspecies, variants or offshoots had made the 'original' three species restless.

Thestrals came back after Luna returned, and while they were feared thanks to old mare's tales, they were friendly frugivores with a love for mangoes above all else. True that, much like pegasi, unicorns and earth ponies, they had subspecies that could indeed drink blood or hypnotize ponies, as well as turn to shadow like the umbrum that now were being accepted, albeit slowly, in the Crystal Empire (THAT had been a rocky path to traverse), but the thestrals were one of the most accepted tribes.

Changelings and seaponies? The former had been an attacker species for a long time, and the latter were rumored to have sunk many islands to form their underwater kingdoms, as well as many other things. Those rumors, differences and problems that these newly accepted (if we stretch the word enough) tribes had brought old rivalries to the surface by this and that. Some ponies just wanted to yell at each other.

Twilight remembered how Luna had casually suggested to banish them to the moon, only to correct herself and say that the poor moon dwellers didn't deserve those scornful ponies as company.

A great deal of flak was being fired by the snobs within Canterlot's walls. With most of the nobility being born as unicorns for whatever reason that not even Celestia could really understand, the horned ponies had been spreading rumors that said that, without them, almost nothing that was done in Equestria would've been possible. An utter lie, if one was to ask any of the princesses, Twilight included, but with most of the nobility being what they were, even those sensible nobles trying to clear things were drowned by the more boisterous unicorns.

Sadly, quite a few ponies had found the comments offensive, while a lot of unicorns had gained superiority complexes. One of the most debated topics being why you require pegasi or earth pony trains if you can easily have a single unicorn teleport from one city to another? True that only great magicians, or the princesses, could do it, and even then the number of unicorns capable of doing it, great magician or not, was limited, but it was forcefully put in the spotlight as one of the greatest achievements that made the other tribes 'lesser' as far as unicorns were concerned.

Well, Twilight had something to say about that, and it was going to shut those snobs with a pole up their flanks in a way that would make her old self cackle madly.

I won't be the one to say that she did it anyway when she first found out that the experiment was a success during the initial test phase.

"Twilight, are you there?"

And at last! She could share her little invention with another pony! A bit earlier than she had thought, but one day earlier or one day later wouldn't make a huge difference, right?

"Yes, Rarity, I am here. Do come in."

Twilight bit her cheek as she looked around. The room was a mess. Notes everywhere, the diamond like colored gems that she had prepared were strewn around some of the tables, with only a single green colored gem powered after her latest experiment, and the massive construction on the floor basically littered with the remains of her one failed experiment a few days ago. The poor watermelon had done nothing, yet it had paid the price.

Her friend entered, followed by the other two, all of them smiling at the sight of Twilight's room. She pouted as she saw that, yes, they were all laughing inwardly at the obvious jokes they so much wanted to say, even Rarity with her usual posh demeanor was having a hard time reeling them in.

Rainbow would explode for sure, while she had indeed grown, and Twilight had to keep repeating that to herself, because she was still such a foal in so many ways, she was the biggest troublemaker of their little group. At least she had stopped wearing the wonderbolt suit everywhere. It had felt very weird to see Rainbow, the one mare that hated any kind of dress (but two) get giddy for a suit whenever she had to go out of her house.

Applejack and her trademark stetson were as calm as collected as Rarity, which meant a hoof to her lips to stifle laughs. If there had been one big change it was that both Rarity and Applejack had finally come to an understanding about each other's line of work. Yes, during their adventures and some silly encounters they had accepted quite a lot, but they sure as all Tartarus didn't let go of a few little things. Now that Rarity worked as hard as Applejack once did, the orange mare had begrudgingly admitted that her work not only needed precision and dedication, it also required true effort, while Rarity admitted that the same could be said for the one that now managed a very large and profitable farm.

So it was no surprise that they were giving each other conspiratory looks as Twilight huffed in annoyance.

"Nice to see you too, girls." She grumbled, gritting her teeth "And yes, this is a mess. I thought you three were going to visit tomorrow."

"A bit of a change of plans my dear." Rarity was the first one to calm herself enough to talk "Applejack finished earlier and Sweetie Belle managed to get me what I needed... without burning down anything, for once." Some things never change "Rainbow Dash could have been here earlier, but, well..."

"I was taking a power nap." That, for example, NEVER changed.

"Yes, that." Rarity huffed "I swear, Rainbow, you could sleep through a battle if you so tried."

"That sounds like a challenge." The blue mare grinned at her friend, wiggling her eyebrows "I bet I can sleep while flying through a thunderstorm no problem."

"Ah'm not gonna bet on that one." Applejack patted Rainbow on the back "We all know you could."

"Of course I could." Rainbow's chest puffed, until she thought of what had been said "Wait a second... You guys are telling me I am a lazy bones."

"Oh dear no! The captain of the wonderbolts is NOT lazy." Rarity had an expression of mock hurt as she acted totally surprised by the accusation "How dare you imply such a thing Rainbow Dash? For shame."

"Yea, yea, laugh it up." Rainbow sat on her hunches, grumbling "Now Twilight, it is not like I don't enjoy spending time with you, but I do get a bit nervous when you call us for one of your experiments..."

That made Twilight's mood rise "Still angry at being pink like your mother?"

"Not!" The blue mare scowled as she pointed a hoof at Twilight "Not another word. We agreed to not talk about it." She eyed both her friends at her sides too "Or I start digging dirt on you all."

"I certainly hope that the 'digging' comment wasn't pointing at anything specific." The withered look that the alabaster unicorn gave her friend said it all.

That is what Twilight missed whenever they weren't together. All the good natured ribbing, the bickering back and forth and the few little fights were as good as the nice and friendly conversations, competitions, games and the simple time spent together. They all were so different from one another in so many ways that it just felt right to be together in a nice, tight knit group. The first days had been rough, heck, the first months if you wanted to be specific, but after so many years with them around Twilight couldn't see her life without her friends. Luckily Celestia had assured her that immortality was neither hers nor Cadance's burden.

Twilight shook those thoughts away from her mind "Well girls, I called you here for a few reasons. One of them was to ask how things are going in Ponyville with the latest... developments."

"They are fine my dear, those living in Ponyville are much more relaxed when we compare them to the big cities." Rarity scoffed at the thought "Such a shame that Canterlot is so hostile towards the different breeds of ponies. I even saw some nobles scoffing at Rainbow and Applejack."

"Ah reckon they need a good bucking to the face." Applejack grumbled under her breath "Mah sister got into trouble when delivering some of our apples out of town. If anypony tries to mess with mah family, or me, Ah'll give them a reason to feel superior."

"Superior medical care, right?" Rainbow chuckled as her friend nodded "Yea, even the unicorns around Cloudsdale are being a bit uptight, though only the newcomers act that way. A few 'accidents' made sure they cooled down after they started a fight or two."

The princess of friendship wised that her domain would be more important for once. Cadance and her love was regarded as important enough to compare to Celestia or Luna, after all she had promoted a lot of cross species acceptance with some pairs that fled to the Crystal Empire because not everypony was okay with them and their union. She had done a great service talking to the offenders that couldn't accept others for who they were, as well as many other little things that made Cadance stand more than she once did.

That she had the primal force behind the changeling moving into Equestria as a friendly nation after the many problems in the past had also a lot to do with her present popularity.

Twilight hadn't done much. Oh yes, she had saved Equestria alongside her friends, but the elements of harmony weren't exactly widely regarded as heroines. They had magic trinkets, they embodied the elements in question, but most ponies still thought that they were just a hoax that had the magic of the most powerful magic 'weapon' of all times behind them. So they were basically considered a backup.

A certain princess wanted so badly to buck a few ponies in the face, so she could understand Applejack quite well.

"Well, then I think it is time to show that unicorns aren't the only ones that can do some things." Twilight offered her friends a grin "I may have been a bit proud myself back in the day." And her friends rolled their eyes so hard at that, that Twilight literally felt it "Okay, I was REALLY proud of a few things, but I am no Rainbow Dash."

"HEY!"

"But this is different. Of all the things that unicorns could be proud about, they are proud of a skill that few can really use with any effect, even I still have problems with teleporting from time to time when I have a lack of concentration to work with." Twilight walked towards her little construction "They could have said that they are able to help earth ponies with gardening, pegasi with weather control, or that they are capable of using their powers to ignore many mechanical contraptions with their own works. All valid points. Instead they try to show their power by being stupid and foalish, I even heard some of them caused accidents when they teleported on top of other ponies when the magic's safety measures ensured they didn't get anypony hurt... or worse."

"On that note, one of the accidents at Cloudsdale still has a mare with a stomach full of cloud." Rainbow grinned at the thought "She won't be able to eat for a while, so she isn't complaining about hospital food, only about how many visits to the bathroom she has to make."

Rarity sneered at her friend "Rainbow, that is gross." The blue mare shrugged while Applejack did her best not to laugh.

"The point still stands: Every tribe, every species of pony, every creature, has something that makes them special. If we fight for petty things and titles we aren't going to need the creatures from Tartarus escaping again." The mirth was temporarily forced away as Twilight issued a reality check "So that is why I made this."

With a simple surge of magic and the right amount of focus, as well as a bit of showmanship, every scattered paper in the room was placed in a neat stack as they started to float around to make a cohesive, almost book like form. Dash groaned at what could have been a fun trick, made boring because books, and not even a good book, they were just notes to her after all. When she found her muzzle full of watermelon she stopped grumbling at least.

Behind the mess was a circular platform of black material. While most of Canterlot's castle was made of marble, or other equally 'precious' rocks, this one was made of some kind of alloy. It wasn't hard to make, the materials were cheap and it only needed a bit of earth pony, unicorn and pegasi magic to reach this stage. A perfect combination that was also used to make the gems used with this contraption.

The construction had a large central circle, big enough for ten ponies with space to spare, a single ancient dragon could fit within the circle if it curled into a sitting position. There were three external circles with drawings of what looked to be the symbols of the biggest cities, as well as certain other locations, though probably none of Twilight's friends knew what they were unless she gave them enough time to glance over them or a nudge in the right direction.

On the outermost circle were four square sections. With a flicker of her magic, used to push a simple button close to the entrance of the room, the pillars hidden under the room. Those pillars had larger gemstones, similar to the ones on the table, only of greater magical power and capacity. They were also fully loaded with environmental magic and glowed with a red, green, blue and yellow hues.

"This is the Equestrian Nexus." Twilight announced as the symbol of the Crystal Empire suddenly detached from its place within one of the circles and began floating upwards until it almost reached the room's ceiling "Using magic from the three original pony tribes I managed to create a new alloy that conducts magic and can send either materials or living beings from one side of the world to another in seconds. All it needs to word is magic from the surrounding area to feed the magic crystals and whatever magic the users have."

Everypony looked at the smiling Twilight, then at the large construction as a blue crackling light fell from the levitating piece of metal.

Rarity was the one to voice her doubt "Is it safe?"

"Safest way of transportation if you are in a hurry" Twilight nodded "The only way to veer off course is if someone knocks one of the gems used as mana crystals while the magical circle is operating. That only throws you somewhere unexpected though, I made sure to pull all the stops to make this safe." The mare gave her friends a knowing grin "No more accidents from this mare."

"And if Ah end up in the Everfree instead of Ponyville, for example?" Applejack raised an eyebrow at Twilight "Ah don't want to burst yer bubble Twilight, but this sounds dangerous."

"Of course it sounds dangerous, it is the same thing an unicorn can do, only for mass transportation." Twilight huffed, picking the loaded gem from the table "These gems are smaller mana crystals used for this machine. When you jump they latch on the intended direction. Even if an accident occurs, these will charge quickly and send you back to your original intended destination if you apply some of your personal magic to them. So if you land in the deepest parts of the Everfree, you would be back within Ponyville's boundaries in a minute, tops."

Rainbow had to clap at that "Wow, the egghead didn't mess up for once."

"Thank you for the vote of confidence." Twilight deadpanned with a tired look. She had expected this, and probably worse.

"No offense dear, we are just a little bit worried, that is all." Rarity approached her friend to pat her on the back "But if you are sure it is safe, why call us? I mean, this is certainly a great contraption, and I love the idea of being one of the first to see it, but why not make it public right away?"

"Come on, Rares, she wants us to test it with her" Everypony turned to Rainbow "What? It is obvious."

"And true." Twilight nodded "I have tested it myself, Cadance too, but we have yet to test it with a group. Single transportation, even when faulty, is fine, but we would like to see what happens when groups travel before we make it public. Cadance also warned me that pregnant unicorns do not teleport for safety measures, so she is helping me with a few regulations that need to be finished before we get everything set in stone" She smiled at the thought "So if you girls are up for this, then you would be doing me the greatest of favors."

The three friends looked at each other, then at their fourth. They hadn't done anything exciting in years, and the giddiness that accompanied their adventures was there faster than they ever thought possible. True, this wasn't an adventure on itself, but it was exciting to think it could be.

When one has a taste of adventure, one wants more or one gets scarred forever. It usually goes that way, either black and white, either you want more or you try to evade it like the plague. The six friends, even Fluttershy, had ended up liking adventure, though the shy pegasus tried to do as little adventuring as possible, it was her nature after all, but she was there whenever needed. This wasn't like stopping Tirek, but it was a nice prospect to be the first doing something like this.

It was almost unanimous within their little group: They wanted the excitement back. Despite their achievements, growth and changes, they missed the uncertainty and apparent danger of their travels... This wasn't going to be the same, but the three mares did pick up one of the smaller jewels and nodded to their friend with smiles in their faces.

"Perfect!" Twilight clapped her hooves together "Then let's step on the machine's central area." She trotted happily towards the center of the contraption, explaining a few safety measures "Only the central area works for this, if there are ponies outside of it, it doesn't work. If there are ponies still on the nexus' other side, the transport won't work..." Those and many, many more, were the rules of engagement with this machine "It is possible to make huge rooms with many nexus, and easy to make them connect together, so while there are only two in all of Equestria, it will be possible to make large areas for hundreds of ponies to travel anywhere in a few seconds' time. If this works well, then we will have it implemented in a few years."

"You are really excited, sugarcube." Applejack chuckled "Ah hope this isn't like one of those experiments of yours."

"Why do ponies link me to explosions all the time?" Twilight huffed as the four friends got themselves in place "It only happens sometimes."

"Often enough." Rainbow grinned "And chunks of a castle showering all over Ponyville tends to leave a mark."

"Or a few squished roofs." Applejack chimed.

"And a lot of debris to clean." Rarity lifted her muzzle in distaste "Seriously my dear, you are more dangerous than most monsters."

"I love my friends." Twilight grumbled as she tapped at the floor "Now everypony get ready."

"Hey, Twilight." Rainbow suddenly grew worried "What would happen if a group was involved with a failure?"

"The accidents were controlled, not even a tremor or a magical accident could knock the large mana crystals off their places." Twilight pointed at the four pillars "It would need to be done by a creature, and there will be a detachment of guards and safety spells and other measures always in place. You would need to be really a piece of work to knock one of these off from their place while there is somepony in transit."

Rainbow grimaced at the thought "That doesn't answer my question..."

"Oh... Well..." Twilight splayed her ears back "No idea, really."

"WHAT!?"

The three friends' question remained without answer as a bright flash enveloped the room.


***Meanwhile in the Chrystal Empire***


"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

Two crystal pony maids, covered from head to toe, as per Twilight's instructions, had been taking care of the room with the first nexus machine. They had been told that a very important experiment would be taking place the next day, so they had been dusting the place, putting every paper in order... Truth be told, the place had been a mess with remains of fruit, a few broken gem shards and other pieces of littering trash.

Twilight had made sure to test the heck out of her invention, and that meant a lot of crap left behind. But since she was busy on her end, and Cadance was with Shinning Armor 'planning for a heir', this room hadn't seen a soul for a few days.

The crew that was assigned to cleaning the device had been instructed to do just that: Pick the numbered pages, keep them in order, retrieve any remains from past experiments, place the mana crystals in their receptacles and stay way when the machine was getting ready to work. They knew that the pillars were raised by activating the machine or by being contacted from Canterlot, so when they were raised they knew to move away.

This time the pair that had to get things done hadn't noticed anything until it was too late. While the watermelon had been mostly on Twilight's side, part of it had been transported here, and man, what a mess. The whole central area had been splattered to the point of making it look like a murder scene. It had been enough trouble when the thestral guard assigned outside had tried to lick the floor clean, making an even bigger mess, but  nothing like the buck up that was THIS.

One of the maids had noticed the pillars rising.

She had screamed in shock.

The other had decided to run for it, as she should.

When the first finally got her bearings together, she had done the same, only to slip on some thestral slobber, crash on one of the pillars, knock the mana crystal off and SHATTER THE DAMN GEM! Knocking it off was meant to create a small rift, breaking it, though, was never part of the plan. They were supposed to be night indestructible, and only a very precise hit with a certain level of strength was meant to break them when replaced to make these jewels, well, jewels again.

Do you see how much bullshit and coincidence mixed in one moment? The mares didn't, they only saw the flash that signaled the teleportation device going off. The four friends had taken this long just because the mare within the circle had been sitting on her flank after the impact, but now that she had removed herself from the equation...

Well, good news? Two figures emerged from the circle.

Bad news? Only two figures emerged from the circle.

...

You know, in the moment between the light fading and the forms revealing themselves there were many thoughts going across the two mares' thoughts. How will they explain this to their princess? How will they retain their jobs? What had gone wrong? Would they be thrown into prison. However, as serious as those questions were, there was ONE single affirmation that few ponies would make, preferring a more 'kid friendly' approach to the word. Right now though, after screwing royally, the maids cared little for cutesy things, they just wanted to make the statement clear. What was that word you may ask? Why, it was a pretty simple one that many kids learn early on in their life and that they use when they are caught with their hands in the cookie jar.

Shit.