The training room floor aboard the Mother of Invention was alive with gunfire as Gilda put round after round through the rapidly appearing holographic targets with quick bursts from her assault rifle. She had made sure to practice with the weapon every day since joining up with her father’s company, but never before had she been able to use it with such speed and precision. As her body swiveled around to take out another target, only partially of her own volition, she felt the ever growing familiar tingle at the back of her brain; a reminder of the other’s presence in her mind.
Still, the little green holographic targets weren’t enough for her, even as they turned cyan blue in her mind’s eye. She let out a frustrated grunt as she unloaded the rest of her magazine on the final target, visualizing rainbow hair becoming stained with red. Even as she heard the clicks of an empty magazine, Gilda’s talon remained firmly pressed on the trigger.
“Targeting exercise complete,” stated the pleasant female monotone of the ship’s A.I. “Resetting the floor for M.I. spellcasting exercise.”
Four automated chainguns rose from the training room floor in a circular pattern around her. The weapons opened fire, but an orange domed shield appeared around her, stopping the bullets in their tracks. A tiny transparent unicorn bathed in fire appeared in the air beside Gilda. As she looked around for possible openings, Gilda found her breaths coming quicker and her heart beating faster. She couldn’t fight from behind a shield. It wasn’t enough to sate her lust. She needed to get out and destroy her opponents. To rip them apart with her bare claws.
The flaming unicorn understood this need, and with a flash of magic summoned a pair of fireballs to Gilda’s palms. Then with lightning speed, Gilda shot up into the air as the flaming unicorn dropped the shield. The auto-turrets tried to track her, but they were too slow. Four magical fireballs rained down on the turrets, destroying them in quick succession.
“M.I. spellcasting exercise complete.”
It wasn’t enough for Gilda. She panted heavily as she landed, the edges of her vision tinged with red. She wanted to destroy more enemies. To break them, and crush them into a bloody paste. Whenever she thought about it, all she could see was a blue pegasus.
“Lieutenant Graywing,” a soft, soothing voice spoke behind her. Gilda turned to see the Counselor of Project Freelancer approaching, accompanied by a pair of gray soldiers and a team of technicians in black uniforms. “That was a very impressive performance.”
The Counselor tapped on his datapad as the crew of technicians moved to clean up the damaged auto-turrets. “Now, I would like to ask you a few questions about how you’ve been feeling since the implantation.”
Gilda curled her talons into fists. “I want to get out there and fight,” she said, shifting in place. She didn’t remember ever having so much trouble staying still before. “When do we continue our assignment?”
“I’m sure Sunset Shimmer will answer that shortly,” the Counselor said. “Now tell me, on a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your aggression levels?”
Gilda couldn’t contain herself anymore. With a feral cry, she turned and punched the nearest Freelancer operative hard. The hapless soldier was sent flying across the expansive training room, tumbling end over end before coming to a painful stop. The Counselor merely gave an intrigued grunt and jotted something down on his datapad.
Up above, Sunny Side watched through the window of the viewing box with the rest of the Whitewater sellswords gathered around.
“Eesh, remind me not to piss off the lieutenant,” a pegasus in old guard’s armor said.
“Yeah, but did you see the way she wrecked those turrets?” Silversteel exclaimed next to her. “I’ve never seen a griffon move that fast, let alone use magic!”
“Technically, that was all the M.I.” Sunny said non-committally.
Silversteel looked away from the window and pouted. “It’s still cool….”
“Well, you’re next on this list, you lucky bastard,” a bearded griffon said, indicating to the screen looming over the training floor.
The leaderboard listed the twelve mercenaries left over from Graywing’s contingent, ordered from top to bottom based on assessments of their individual skills and psychological evaluations courtesy of the Counselor. Gilda Graywing was at the top of the list, as the company’s de-facto leader now that Godfrey was gone. A zebra named Zestafa occupied the spot below her. As far as Sunny knew, he was still recovering from the implantation surgery. Below him was Silversteel, and below him was her.
With the training exercise over, the other sellswords began to disperse. Sunny stayed and watched as Lieutenant Graywing was led out of the training room, looking like a volcano about to erupt. Sunny took a shaking breath. She had experience with M.I.s—she had Tex to thank for that—but even so, she couldn’t shake this feeling of dread deep in her gut. She knew what she’d have to do once she got hers.
“Hey.”
Sunny felt a hoof on her shoulder, and she looked up to find Silversteel standing there, a look of concern on her friend’s face. “You okay? You’ve seemed kinda… out of it ever since we got on board this ship.”
“Silversteel…” Sunny paused as she tried to think of some way to verbalize what she was feeling. “Aren’t you worried?” She gestured out at the training room below. “Didn’t you notice how… off the lieutenant seemed?”
“Well… she did just lose her father, Sunny.”
“But don’t you see? These M.I.s are bad news. Project Freelancer is bad news!” Sunny glanced around, wary of listening ears, and looked at the stallion that had been her friend for so long. She wondered if she told him her real reason for being here whether he would help her. “Aren’t you worried about what their plans will mean for Equestria?”
Silversteel studied her with a curious look for a few moments, while Sunny just kept looking at him imploringly. Finally, Silversteel gave her one of his winning smiles.
“Sunny, I think you’re just getting cold hooves,” he said as the sound of footsteps heralded another’s arrival. He and Sunny looked to find the Counselor standing in the doorway.
“Silversteel,” he said. “They’re ready for you in the operating room.”
The hugest grin spread across Silversteel’s face, and it was at that moment Sunny knew which side he was really on.
“Don’t worry, Sunny,” Silversteel said as he walked over to the Counselor. Sunny could swear there was a spring in his step. “Once we’re both kicking flank with our brand new M.I.s, everything will be fine. You’ll see!”
The Counselor looked back at her before leaving. “We’ll notify you when it’s your turn.”
After the two of them left, Sunny returned her attention to the empty training floor, her mind racing with discomforting thoughts. For the first time since joining Silversteel, she realized that she was well and truly alone. For the first time since starting her rogue infiltration of Whitewater and Project Freelancer, Sunny found herself wondering why she was here.
Was it really to continue the good fight to protect her home from Freelancer’s works? The brief image of a little blue filly wasting away on a hospital bed made her wonder otherwise. The more Sunny reflected on her recent decisions in life, the more aware she became of her own cowardice. When the Meta first attacked her unit in Dodge, she hid when she should have fought. When what remained of her family needed her in the wake of that tragedy, she found it easier to run off on an adventure to another world because it was easier than facing her mistakes. And now here she was, in deep cover on the enemy’s flagship because she was too afraid to face the truth that her sister… her sister….
Sniffing, Sunny wiped at her suddenly watering eyes. It didn’t matter why she was here anyway. She was here now, and there was no turning back. When it was time for her implantation, she would be ready. She would see to the end of Project Freelancer once and for all, even if she was trampled in the process.
Her chest burning, Rainbow Dash panted for breath as she ran. Her every instinct was telling her to fly, but it would be impossible while her wing was still in bandages. That very fact had been all that kept her from flying after Agent Washington and Sunset Shimmer the moment Donut had reported the news.
Well, that and Applejack’s jaws on her tail.
“Huh. He’s just… talking to the bad guys like everything’s fine,” Donut had reported as the four of them watched the scene unfold on the summit of Stonespire Mountain from an adjacent cliffside. “Maybe they were able to work everything out peacefully?”
Rainbow had doubted that very much. She knew she’d seen Washington fire a single burst of his rifle in Church’s direction after the A.I. had disappeared down the far side of the mountain. Her suspicions had been confirmed a few moments later when Donut continued watching the scene unfold using the optical zoom on his helmet, and reported seeing both Church and Twilight’s limp bodies being airlifted out by a Freelancer dropship. There was no sign of Simmons.
“I knew we shouldn’t’ve trusted that no good Freelancer!” Rainbow had been all too eager to fly down there at that very moment and give Washington a piece of her mind, but Applejack had been quick to hold her back.
“Simmer down there, RD. Even if’n ya could fly with yer wing in that condition, there’s way too many of them Freelancer fellas over there!” she’d said.
“We can’t just let them get away! They have Twilight!”
Applejack had looked at her with a worried frown. “I know, sugarcube. But there ain’t nothin’ we can do for her right now. Best thing to do is to fall back to the Crystal Empire an’ get in touch with the princess. She’ll know what to do.”
“Oh, I can’t meet royalty right now,” Caboose had said. “I haven’t been taking etiquette classes. There’s like, fifteen spoons. Could you imagine if I used the wrong one? Awkward!”
With nothing but a token protest, Rainbow Dash had followed the others back the way they came along the snowy mountain trail, feeling like she failed one of her closest friends. A day had passed in sullen silence. The four of them had made camp for the night in a cave not too far back, and it seemed too soon when Applejack nudged her awake, saying it was morning and they had to move.
They’d managed to keep a good pace, but by the time the afternoon grew late, Freelancer patrols finally caught up with them. They ran into a thick forest of snowy pines to escape the view of the gunships hovering above, but a force of roughly half a dozen soldiers pursued them on foot.
Now, all of them ran for their lives through the trees, the squad of Freelancer forces in relentless pursuit. No matter how far or how fast they ran, the Freelancer soldiers were never far behind. Rainbow wanted to fly away, but she couldn’t. She wanted to help Twilight, but she couldn’t. And now it looked like she wasn’t even going to make it back to tell the others about everything that had happened.
With a grunt, Rainbow lost her footing and fell to the snow. She tried to get up, but just the thought of the effort made her legs ache and burn. She’d been going for so long she didn’t have any strength left. Another pair of hooves grabbed her and, with a strain, pulled her up.
“C’mon, RD,” Applejack panted. “We gotta keep goin’!”
Rainbow tried to take a step and winced. Her body ached, and a quick glance at her bad wing confirmed that it was bleeding—the damn thing must have opened up again while she was running.
“I can’t….”
Whatever Applejack was about to say was cut off by the sounds of distant shouting from the approaching enemy soldiers. Throwing one of Rainbow’s hooves over her shoulder, Applejack dragged the pair of them around behind a particularly large tree with a hollow center, hiding the two of them inside.
“What do ya mean ‘you can’t?’” the farmpony asked, making sure to keep her voice down. “Yer Rainbow Dash!”
“Exactly,” the pegasus sulked. “Rainbow Dash: Lousy failure of a friend!”
“What?”
“I failed to save Twilight. I treated Gilda like crap even when she was trying to help us, I….” Rainbow’s eyes started to water. “I f-failed to save Derpy...” Rainbow sniffed and gave a bitter snort. “What idiot decided I should have the Element of Loyalty?”
Applejack merely gave her a stern frown. “Now that don’ sound like the Rainbow Dash I know! Sure, you made mistakes here an’ there, but most o’ them weren’t even yer fault. So keep yer chin up. It ain’t over ‘till it’s over!”
The two ponies heard footsteps in the snow, and they looked up just in time to lock eyes with a pair of gray-clad men.
“...Which may be right now,” Applejack said with a gulp.
“THEY’RE OVER HERE!” one of the soldiers yelled as both of them raised their rifles.
The pair of ponies grabbed each other, holding on tightly as Rainbow Dash shut her eyes. But instead of the burst of rifle fire, Rainbow heard the sound of spells being cast. She opened her eyes just in time to see the two soldiers get knocked aside by blasts of concussive magical energy. A sense of relief began to fill Rainbow’s weary body at the sight of the full contingent of armored ponies headed their way.
A few of them moved to ensure the two Recovery Agents were down while a couple of squads continued past them to engage the rest of their pursuers. Rainbow thought they might have been reinforcements from the Crystal Empire at first, but then she saw that each of them wore the gold barding of Celestia’s Royal Guard. Before Rainbow knew it, she and Applejack were being led to safety by a pair of guards calling out to their CO as they did.
Before long, Rainbow found herself wrapped up in a tight hug with Fluttershy, while beside her, Rarity fussed over Applejack. Pinkie Pie bounced over, trying to hug all of them at once, and Rainbow glanced over her shoulder at the sound of more footsteps to see a group of guards leading Donut and Caboose to safety among their ranks. The sounds of weapons fire and spells being cast filled the distant air, but it was nothing but white noise to Rainbow Dash.
“Oh dear… I’ll get a medic to look at your wing,” Fluttershy said after she released Rainbow, looking at a bit of blood that had gotten into her coat with concern.
Another set of hoofsteps approached, and Rainbow couldn’t keep herself from falling into a bow when she saw Princess Celestia herself walking their way, exchanging words with who Rainbow assumed to be the captain of this Guard contingent.
“Thank goodness you are alright,” Celestia said, looking at each of them in turn. “But where are the others?”
Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged a worried look as Celestia’s carefully neutral expression gave way to something Rainbow never expected to see on the princess’s face. Something very close to pure terror.
“Where is Twilight?”
With a satisfied smile, Sunset Shimmer looked at the purple unicorn in the center of the room. Ancora… though there was a time you called yourself Twilight Sparkle. The thought was enough to fill Sunset with a fresh rage. The name was a mirror of her own; further completing the twisted image of what Sunset could have been. Her own creation had stolen everything from her. Her position, her reputation, and now even her own name!
Another look at the ragged appearance of the living construct calmed Sunset’s righteous fury. Ancora’s coat was unkempt, her mane a tangled mess. The room around her was equally disorganized, with papers and magical equipment spread all around. Runes within runes were scribbled on the walls. It made sense: As far as the construct was aware, she’d been awake for days, and considering where they were, it was only natural that the projected environment would conform to the subject’s state of mind.
“Hello, Ancora,” Sunset greeted with the Director’s voice.
Ever since she started the fragmentation process, Sunset had chosen to present herself to the subject using the identity of Sacred Home, the very same stallion from her noble house the Director had used as a magical disguise during his first visits to their world (courtesy of Celestia, of course). It had been a useful way for him to blend in with pony society during his initial stay in Canterlot, though the amount of time he spent in Celestia’s company had caused all manner of unsavory rumors about them to spread among the gossip-mongers. Sunset, of course, had been far too busy with her experiment to care for such things.
“Director!” the thing resembling a purple unicorn exclaimed, looking up at her with dark, bloodshot eyes. Gone was her cheery demeanor when they first started, only a constant look of fear and stress remaining. “I double checked… triple checked everything! All the security measures, all of the failsafes. I know they failed last time, but I came up with the perfect solution….” Ancora smiled mirthlessly, as if desperately trying to remember how it felt. “Monitor everything!”
Sunset merely shook her head. “I’m afraid it wasn’t enough. A group of changelings managed to infiltrate the castle.”
The look of growing heartbreak on the pony’s face was palpable. “Oh no… please tell me we contained it in time,” she said, her voice trembling. “Please tell me no one was hurt….”
“I’m sorry, but if I told you that, it would be a lie.”
The purple pony whimpered, “Who…?”
“Several guards were fatally wounded, including Captain Shining Armor. And… the changelings succeeded in eliminating their target.”
“But who…?” the pony once known as Twilight asked. “Who was the target?”
Sunset hesitated before answering. A small part of her conscience told her she should choose a different name, but she knew there were few other choices. She had already “killed” many of the subject’s friends, and she had to use more each time she fragmented. It was getting harder to get more fragments out of Ancora, and she needed them quickly.
“It saddens me to tell you that... Princess Celestia is dead.”
Ancora had displayed a wide variety of reactions to the news of her loved ones’ “deaths” each time she fractured. She’d expressed sorrow, rage, and even deceived herself into thinking everything would be okay. She had screamed, cried and cursed the world and her own shortcomings.
This time, she didn’t do any of that. She merely collapsed to the floor like a structure that had lost a crucial support, quietly sobbing. Images of the pure white alicorn lying defeated at the hooves of a changeling queen flashed around them, and when they were expunged from the simulated world around them, Sunset knew that the deed was done. She hastily shut down the spell linking her to the fabricated reality housing the construct’s mind.
Sunset returned to her senses in the Director’s lab on board the Mother of Invention. She looked at her creation lying still on the operating table in front of her. The unicorn’s form was a lot more tidy in the waking world than it was in the simulation, but three days without proper care was beginning to show.
A mix of wires, both electrically and magically powered were hooked up to the mare. Most of the smaller ones were hooked up to equipment monitoring her physical body’s vitals. A larger set of tubes connected to the pony’s head extended out to a series of purple A.I. units around her, each one embedded with runes and spellcasting gems. Perfect mergers of technology and magic.
A mechanical body in cobalt armor stood against the far wall. Sunset found out only after arriving aboard the Mother of Invention that the A.I. that had previously called that body home had jumped ship at some point, much to the Director’s chagrin. Sunset was sure Donovan had ordered his men to turn off their radios before moving in on the mountaintop. It didn’t matter in the end, though. The Alpha A.I. wasn’t crucial to her agenda.
Ancora’s body suddenly started twitching violently as her already closed eyes tightened further, an unconscious grimace of pain spreading across her face. It was time to harvest the new fragment.
“Sunset Shimmer.” The deep, smooth voice with a slight southern drawl drew Sunset’s attention from her work.
Looking over her shoulder, Sunset saw the Director standing in the open doorway, the Counselor clutching his datapad right behind him. Sunset gave them a curt nod as they stepped into the lab.
“What’s the progress on Project Ancora?” the Director asked.
Sunset couldn’t keep the proud grin off her face. “You’ll be pleased to know I’m about to harvest my fourth fragment.”
“Four fragments in three days?” the Counselor asked in his chilling soft voice, looking up from his datapad with some astonishment. “That pace is unprecedented.”
“I think I can get one more out of her before the day’s done.”
Rather than praise her obvious brilliance, the Director and Counselor exchanged a look.
“Sunset Shimmer,” the Counselor said, looking back at her. “The Director and I have some… concerns about your emotional distance from the project.”
Sunset’s grin began to shrink. “What are you insinuating?”
“Well, I can certainly understand if you blame the Ancora construct for your… fall from grace twenty years ago,” the Counselor said diplomatically.
“It isn’t the M.I.’s fault that Princess Celestia is a narrow minded hypocrite,” Sunset said coldly.
“Even so, you can’t deny the possibility that you subconsciously associate Ancora with your falling out with the princess,“ the Counselor continued. Sunset hated it when he psychoanalyzed her. “And the fact that she appointed Ancora as her personal student after your dismissal… that must have been salt in the wound.”
“So what? You think I’m using these experiments as some sort of outlet?” Sunset asked indignantly. “No, Counselor. I’m not that kind of pony.”
“Regardless, I’m going to put this project on hold until further notice,” the Director said in a tone that brooked no argument.
“What?! But…” Sunset started.
“When we pushed Alpha too hard, he stopped giving us new fragments altogether,” the Director intoned, glancing over at the suit of cobalt blue armor against the wall. “Wait to harvest more fragments. Ancora will keep ‘till later.”
Sunset Shimmer met him with a challenging stare, and for the first time since she met him got a glimpse of the piercing green pupils behind his glasses. The Director studied her carefully, and for a moment Sunset was worried that he somehow knew what she was really planning.
“Excuse me, Director,” the voice of the ship’s A.I. came in over the P.A. system, drawing the Director’s gaze away from Sunset.
“Yes, what is it, FILSS?” he asked.
“I’m sorry if I’m interrupting something, sir. But Captain Donovan has requested your presence on the command bridge.” FILSS stated in her eternally pleasant tone. “There is a situation that requires your immediate attention.”
With a sigh, the Director made to leave the lab, but not before turning back to address his two subordinates. “Harvest this latest fragment and find it a match. Then I want all further sessions to be put on hold. Is that clear?”
“Yes, Director,” Sunset Shimmer and the Counselor answered as one as the Director made his exit.
I suppose four fragments should be enough for the next phase of the plan. Sunset Shimmer then turned to the only other door in the room and called out, “Bring in the Sarcophagus!”
Two soldiers clad in white armor entered pushing a large metal box along on a flatbed dolly. Sunset looked at the strange alien symbols printed on it, and could already hear the nervous growling and clicking of the creature within.
A morose mood hung over the dining hall of the Crystal Castle. After everyone had returned to the Empire two days later and gotten whatever wounds they had treated, Princess Celestia convened a meeting. There, she told Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and the others what she had told Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie on the train about Twilight’s true identity. Applejack then relayed what had happened on the summit of Stonespire Mountain. It wasn’t long before they all figured out exactly what poor Twilight was going through at that very moment.
By the time all was said, Fluttershy was in tears, with Rarity barely holding them back as she comforted her. Pinkie Pie’s hair went straight, Twilight Velvet cried into Night Light’s shoulder, and Cadance covered her mouth, her eyes wide with disbelief. Donut and Caboose sat in silence, the way they each looked down was telling. Only Celestia seemed to maintain her composure, but her color almost seemed drained; her majestic flowing mane a little more lifeless than before.
The silence was broken when Rainbow Dash slammed a hoof on the table. “We never should’ve let ‘em get away with her!” Shaking, she directed an angry glare at Applejack. “I-if you hadn’t held me back….”
“If I hadn’t held you back, you’d be captured too, or worse,” Applejack retorted.
“You don’t know that!”
“Yes I do!”
When their fighting only made Fluttershy sob harder, Rarity shouted over both of them, “Enough! This isn’t helping Twilight.”
Shining Armor’s chair creaked against the floor as he abruptly stood and began to make his way towards the exit.
“Where are you going, Shiny?” Cadance asked.
“To get my armor,” he replied without breaking his gait. “Then I’m going to rally every last soldier under my command, find where they’re keeping Twily and bring her home!”
Luna suddenly appeared from the shadows, blocking Shining’s path. “Our enemies are keeping Twilight Sparkle aboard a ship sailing the stars beyond the sky itself.” The lunar princess carefully scrutinized him. “Pray tell, Prince Armor. How do you intend to get fifteen thousand troops up there?”
When Shining Armor gave no answer save for a look down at his fetlocks, Luna gave a single huff.
“I know we are all very upset, but we have to think about this rationally,” Celestia said with an almost unnatural steady voice. “According to our generals’ reports, the Freelancer forces spread across Equestria have all pulled out, likely returning to their flagship. Our options for reaching the Mother of Invention are growing short.”
With a quiet whoosh, Tex’s dark avatar appeared over the table. “We need a ship to get us to the Mother of Invention. Something that’s unfortunately in short supply on this planet.”
“But, uh… what about the invisible ship?” Caboose asked.
“Caboose, I don’t think an imaginary spaceship is gonna work,” Rainbow said with an exasperated sigh.
“But they’ll never expect it.”
“Yeah, because they’re not morons!”
Applejack’s ears pointed up as she realized, “Wait, do ya suppose Caboose was talkin’ about the invisible spaceship the Meta used to get here? The one currently sittin’ in the middle of Ponyville?”
“Is it a good idea?” Caboose asked. “Because if so, yes. That is totally what I meant.”
Tex was silent for a moment as she thought it over. “It could work, but there’s only room for a few people. Remember, Twilight had to teleport us three or four at a time when we went back to Repertum.”
“Well, it’s better than nothing,” Rarity declared.
“We could use our ship,” Donut suggested.
“Your ship?” Pinkie asked in a quiet, neutered tone, looking at her fellow pink person through a curtain of straight mane.
“Yeah! Remember, Sarge and the other guys crashed a Pelican on Sweet Apple Acres back when they first arrived. Sarge told me he was working on getting it flyable again!”
“Hmm… well, it would certainly be better for getting a larger group aboard the Mother of Invention,” Tex mused. “Still… there’s a big risk we’ll just get shot down once we get close enough.”
“Well, we have to try!” Rainbow exclaimed.
Before anything else could be said, an orange armored pegasus stallion with a blue mane and tail entered and gave the royalty in the room a hasty salute.
“Highnesses, we’ve captured a lone alien just beyond the city’s borders,” he reported.
Luna exchanged a look with her sister. “A scout? Or perhaps some sort of spy?”
“I don’t think so, he made no effort to fight or conceal himself,” the soldier looked at Celestia. “Said he wanted to talk to you, Princess.”
Celestia “hmmed” before asking, “Was this man wearing gray armor with yellow detail?”
The soldier nodded.
Celestia watched from the crystal throne as Agent Washington was led into the chamber by a squad of stern-faced crystal guards. Luna stood at her right side, and Cadance and Shining Armor at her left. Twilight’s friends all stood at the foot of the throne, Donut and Caboose with them.
“You’ve got a lotta nerve coming back after what you did!” Rainbow Dash seethed as Washington was brought before them.
Applejack looked over at the fuming pegasus. “Am I gonna have to hold you back again?”
While the others bickered, Celestia studied the human she’d thought was her friend, trying desperately to get some sort of read on him. It was easier said than done considering the powered armor that so effectively hid his features. Based purely on his stance, Celestia thought he seemed calm… too calm considering all he’d done, and that the people he’d wronged now had him at their mercy.
“Well?” Celestia finally said. She didn’t have armor to conceal her emotions, and despite years of practiced stoicism, the anguish she'd been suppressing for the sake of the others was beginning to seep through. “Do you have anything to say for yourself? Some justification for lying to and betraying me?!”
Rather than Washington being the one to answer her, a wispy cobalt figure appeared in the air beside him. “I suggest you at least try to hear him out, Princess.”
“Hey, Church is back!” Caboose exclaimed happily. “Man, every time I think I’ve lost him he comes back. He’s like the best, glowiest boomerang ever!” Caboose then looked down. “Nothing like my dog Spot….”
“Gee, I wonder why that is…” Rainbow deadpanned.
Celestia studied the Freelancer and the construct carefully. Something wasn’t right about this picture.
“Church, are you… in Washington’s A.I. slot?” Tex asked, appearing in the air close to him.
“Yep. And it’s given me a lot of insight into the reasoning behind some of his recent actions,” Church stated. “As well as a lot of other stuff. Dude, you’ve got issues.”
Washington had told Celestia in their conversations a week back about how after the Epsilon incident many years ago, he’d never let another construct into his head again. It had been one of the many moments of open honesty the Freelancer had shown that had ultimately led to her decision to trust him.
“It wasn’t the ideal situation, but it was the only way I was able to keep Alpha out of their hands,” Washington said.
“And you couldn’t do anything to keep them from getting Twilight?” Rarity asked, barely holding herself together to give Washington the death glare to end all death glares.
“No. In fact, I was counting on them to capture Twilight.”
The room was silent as everyone processed the Freelancer’s proclamation. Even Celestia couldn’t hide the look of shock on her face.
“Let me start at the beginning,” Washington said. Celestia ordered the squad guarding him to step back as he continued. “As you may remember, I helped Twilight and the Blues sneak aboard the Mother of Invention in order to return here back when she was first teleported to Blood Gulch. However, I became pinned down by Wyoming and was unable to meet up with them until much later, when they were facing South in Dodge City.”
“I dunno, I’m not sure I’m buying it,” Pinkie Pie said, scratching her chin and squinting. “I’m pretty sure I was facing more northwest.”
“What I didn’t tell you was that in the time between, I was captured by Freelancer forces and interrogated by the Director himself.”
“I imagine he wasn’t very pleased to find out you’d let one of his greatest assets escape right under his nose,” Luna said.
“Yes. To be honest, I had no idea what Twilight really was at the time. It was only after talking to Celestia upon recovering from the wounds I received from the Meta that she informed me of the truth surrounding her origins.”
The ponies in front of him all exchanged anxious glances that did not go unnoticed by Celestia. It certainly seemed cruel to think that she’d seen fit to trust him with such important information before any of Twilight’s closest friends, let alone Twilight herself. Although Celestia maintained an outer appearance of calm serenity as she always did, a deep sense of guilt and shame welled up within her as she tried desperately not to give in to despair.
I should have just told her. I should never have sent her to the Frozen North. I’m a coward!
“That being said, I suspected Twilight was important somehow to Project Freelancer’s experiments from the moment the Counselor first tasked me with apprehending her…. And after the Director ordered me to continue in that effort while getting close to all of you, I knew for certain.”
“So it’s true then,” Fluttershy of all ponies said, giving Washington a cold hard stare. “Y-you were working for them all along.”
“I did what I had to. The only reason the Director decided I wasn’t worth court martialing was because he truly believed I didn’t know anything about their experiments—on Alpha or otherwise.”
Fluttershy’s baleful stare was broken by the water building in her eyes. “H-how could you?! We trusted you! Twilight trusted you!”
With a rueful sigh, Washington said, “I know. But let me make one thing perfectly clear: My first priority is and always has been to ensure that Director Church is caught and brought to justice.”
“Oh really?” Shining Armor said, trembling with barely contained fury, the placating look of his wife beside him likely the only thing keeping him from tearing Washington apart right then and there. “Is that why you sent my baby sister off to be be tortured?!”
Washington nodded. “Yes.”
When the looks of confusion remained firmly plastered to the ponies’ faces, Washington elaborated. “It had been my hope—as it had been yours, Princess—that Project Freelancer would be unable to reacquire the location of the Forerunner site until we’ve found everything we need there first. But I was also prepared for the possibility that they would have found it first.”
With nothing short of pure horror, Celestia looked at Washington as she started to understand. “You can’t mean to say….”
“I knew that if Project Freelancer found the ruins first, they’ll have cleared out everything there that could link back to them. We would have no evidence to use against them. That’s why I needed a way to make new evidence.”
Celestia shook her head. “No, Washington. You can’t….”
“The Director is likely fragmenting Ancora as we speak, and if he’s still as thorough as I remember, he’ll be keeping it all documented.”
“I asked you to protect her, to keep her from suffering the same fate as Alpha!” Celestia shouted.
“And she won’t!” Washington shouted back. “It took them more than a year to break Alpha to the point where he lost himself.” Washington took a step forward with determination. “I intend to finish Project Freelancer today!”
A silence fell over the throne room for a few moments as the ponies all looked unsurely amongst themselves.
“Okay…” Luna said, momentarily pausing in an attempt to rub the stress from her face. “Assuming we did agree to go along with your plan, what’s the next step?”
“At your word, I’ll call the Mother of Invention and inform them that my cover within your ranks has been blown, at which point Project Freelancer will arrange for my immediate extraction,” Washington explained. “Once I’m aboard, it should be a relatively simple matter of extracting Twilight myself after using their own communications array to transmit every last bit of data from their experiments on her, along with our coordinates, to the Chairman of the Oversight Sub-Committee. All you have to do is say the word.”
Celestia looked around the throne room and found that all eyes were on her. Realizing the decision was ultimately up to her, she sighed and stepped down from her throne, approaching the Freelancer and looking him in her best approximation of where his eyes were behind his helmet’s visor.
“I want to trust you, Agent Washington. I really do.” Celestia closed her eyes. “Why couldn’t you just tell me?”
“I knew you wouldn’t approve, and took a calculated risk,” he answered stoically. “Because I knew that once you saw the fruits of my plan, you would understand that I was only trying to do what was best.”
Internally, Celestia winced. Those words sounded awfully familiar. For a moment, she almost imagined that when she opened her eyes, she would be standing in her own throne room looking down at a fiery young unicorn mare.
“I’m sorry Washington, but we’ll find another way to save Twilight and stop the Director ourselves.” Celestia opened her eyes and, glancing at the guards watching the Freelancer carefully, said, “You’re free to go, but our collaboration is at an end.”
Washington was unusually quiet, and it took him a while to respond, “Fine,” before turning to leave. It was subtle, but Celestia thought she saw his posture sink, and for the first time during the tense conversation he actually seemed disappointed.
“Caboose, you wanna turn on your radio, buddy?” Church asked.
“Yeah! Let’s listen to the Golden Oldies Station!” Caboose exclaimed as Church’s holographic avatar disappeared from Washington’s side and appeared at Caboose’s with a flash.
“Mr. Washington, wait!” Donut cried out. “There’s one more thing I want to ask.”
Washington stopped, and turned to look at the pink soldier over his shoulder.
“Where’s Simmons?”
The Mother of Invention’s command bridge was filled with a tense atmosphere when the Director entered. Technicians and ensigns exchanged information in hushed murmurs. Captain Donovan stood at the helm, gazing at the field of stars beyond the bridge’s viewport, but turned around and gave a hasty salute when he heard Dr. Church approach.
“Director,” he stated.
Dr. Church acknowledged him by way of a nod. “Report, captain. What’s going on?”
Donovan turned and indicated to the holographic screens at the helm. “Scopes are picking up a slipspace rupture on the far side of the planet.”
With a frown, the Director studied the indicators on the screen representing the anomaly. “Ready all weapons and move within range,” he ordered. “We have visitors. It’s only polite that we give them a proper greeting.”
The field of stars shifted in the viewport as the command crew followed the Director’s orders. After a few minutes, one of the ensigns spoke up. “Sir, something’s coming through the rupture!”
With a bright flash of light, another ship suddenly appeared among the stars in the distance outside the viewport. It was somewhat bulkier than the Mother of Invention, sporting a sleeker pointed design. Even from this great distance, several holes and scorch marks from past battles could be seen on the ship’s hull. Dr. Church recognized it immediately as a UNSC Halberd-class destroyer; exactly what he was expecting.
“I was wondering when you’d finally show up again…” the Director mused as he studied the distant vessel. The Mother of Invention’s IFF program wasn’t showing the other ship’s name or serial number, indicating they must have configured her to wartime steaming. Nevertheless, Dr. Church knew he was looking at the UNSC Staff of Charon; the flagship of the Insurrection that had been a thorn in his side for so very long.
But no longer. The destroyer had vastly superior firepower capabilities to the Director’s own frigate, which was one of a few contributing factors leading to the Mother of Invention’s crippling defeat during their last encounter. But this time, they were ready, and Dr. Church had made a few upgrades to the Mother of invention over the years.
The Director adjusted his glasses as he looked up to address the ship as a whole. “FILSS?”
“Target locked.” The shipboard A.I. almost sounded gleeful as she replied, “Firing main cannon.”
The Crystal Castle observatory had a quiet, serene quality to it, being high enough on the crystal structure for all of the city’s night life to be reduced to a faint murmur below. Back in Canterlot, Night Light liked to make use of the observatory at his own manor when he needed a break on late nights grading papers.
The Princesses, Twilight’s friends and the humans with them had all left the Empire more than an hour before it had gotten dark. The Freelancer in gray and yellow had left separately even sooner than that. It was shortly after that Night had come up here, hoping to find the same peace of mind in the distraction provided by the stars. It wasn’t so effective this time. Twily used to love looking at the stars with him at night.
Each constellation he looked at came with a memory. Of little Twilight asking some question to sate her endless curiosity, or describing her idea of what the distant worlds around the stars might look like. Night Light wondered whether the reason Twilight had been so enamored with the idea of other worlds was because she subconsciously knew where she came from.
No, don’t be silly, Night Light. Twily’s not an alien. She was made here… I think. Night Light pulled back from the ornate purple telescope and let out a sigh, his vision beginning to blur as a lump formed in his throat. Even after Princess Celestia’s elaborate explanation, he still wasn’t sure just what Twilight Sparkle really was.
At the creak of the door opening, Night wiped at his eyes and turned to see his wife enter, levitating two plates with what appeared to be some type of lasagna.
“Figured I might find you up here,” Twilight Velvet said, giving him a strained smile. “I thought you might want some dinner.”
“Thanks hon,” Night replied, graciously accepting the plate.
“I would have brought it up sooner, but I wanted to clean up a bit first.” His wife gave him a grin. “Don’t think you really wanted to see the raccoon face again.”
At a second glance, Night noticed the absence of the black mascara lines running down from her eyes. He tried to give her one of his winning smiles, but he wasn’t entirely feeling it.
“Vel, you know I’ll always think you’re beautiful, even if you turned into a literal raccoon.”
Velvet chuckled quietly, and the two of them began to dig into their food.
“Eating in an observatory together. We haven’t done this since uni,” Night mused nostalgically.
Velvet smiled, but remained silent. It was clear she had other things on her mind. Night didn’t have to guess exactly what those things were. After spending a few minutes eating in silence, Velvet finally spoke up.
“She’s going to be fine,” she said, addressing the dark thoughts looming over them. “Twily has some of the most devoted friends out of anypony I’ve ever known. They’d go to the ends of the world for her and then some. She’s going to be fine.”
The words were definitely ones Night Light needed to hear, but the way Velvet was repeating herself made him wonder whether she was trying to reassure herself as much as she was him.
“You’re right,” Night said with a nod. “And when you’re right, you’re right.”
Velvet gave him a grin. “Aren’t I always?”
Night Light just frowned. It was true, and he suddenly remembered something very recent that she turned out to have been right about as well.
“Do you think we did the right thing? Telling her?” he asked. “Not just that she’s adopted, but everything else as well? My crazy theory? Because boy did I get that one wrong.”
Velvet took a thoughtful bite of her lasagna and after swallowing, answered, “I’ve been thinking a lot about that too. Y’know, part of me can’t help but wonder… whether it was intentional. Whether Celestia arranged things the way she did knowing that anypony who looked too deeply into it would just assume that Twily was her foal. Because better they think that than the truth.”
After taking and swallowing another bite, Velvet continued, “As for your question, ‘did we do what’s right?’ I don’t know. Is it wrong to just want to give your daughter some answers, even when you don’t have all of them yourself?”
Thinking about it, Night Light still wasn’t sure about it. But something in what Velvet had said gave him hope. Because unbeknownst to her, she did answer one of the big questions on his mind. He realized he knew exactly what Twilight Sparkle really was: She was his daughter. That was all that mattered.
Night showed his appreciation to his wife the best way he knew how: by leaning forward and giving her a peck on the lips. It was a little weird considering she was chewing on lasagna at that moment, but she smiled appreciatively and Night smiled in turn. For the first time since hearing the news, the pair of them had hope that everything would turn out okay in the end.
When they were both finished eating, Night took both plates in his magic and made to follow Velvet downstairs to their chambers when he took one last glance up at the night sky and noticed something peculiar.
“Huh. That’s odd…” he muttered as he adjusted the telescope and looked through it.
“Is something wrong?” Velvet asked, pausing at the door.
Night merely adjusted the focus on the telescope until he saw it clearly: two strange stars side by side in the sky where there ought to be no stars. At least, Night had thought they were stars at first before he noticed they were moving very slowly, separating at a downwards angle. They were flashing irregularly, like two candles trying desperately to stay lit before they finally went out completely.
“I don’t know….”
The cozy atmosphere of Golden Oaks Library provided no comfort to its occupants that evening. Church, still inside Caboose’s A.I. slot, had arrived in Ponyville not half an hour ago along with Donut and the five ponies on the Royal Train. It was a silent trip. Princess Celestia and Luna had both continued on to Canterlot, still needing to take care of a few loose ends there. It was an overcast night when they disembarked at the Ponyville train station, and Tucker was there waiting along with the other remaining Reds and Twilight’s little dragon assistant.
Fluttershy and Rarity had taken an understandably worried Spike back to the tree library he called home and with nowhere else to go, Tucker followed with Church now in his helmet. Caboose had elected to go visit Pinkie Pie at her own place.
It was only a matter of time before Spike asked the inevitable question. “So… where’s Twilight?”
Rarity and Fluttershy had exchanged a nervous look, each of them silently asking the other how to handle it. Unfortunately, Spike had picked up on that.
“Is she okay??? Why didn’t she come back with you guys?” the little dragon had asked, the questions coming quicker and quicker
“Twilight’s… going to be a bit longer,” Fluttershy had said.
“But she’ll be back. We’ll make sure of it!” Rarity said.
Church thought it would save them a lot of trouble and heartache in the long run if they just told the drake everything now, but he didn’t push the issue. It wasn’t worth getting into an argument with the insufferably stubborn ponies. Sometime later, Fluttershy had left to make sure her animals were all okay.
It was while the four of them were having dinner together (well, three of them really. As a hologram, Church couldn’t exactly consume food) that Caboose entered the library.
“Hey guys.”
“Caboose? I thought you were at Pinkie’s,” Church said.
“Yeah, she said she wanted to be alone for a while. I guess we’re still on a friendship break,” Caboose said.
Rarity looked at them with some confusion. “Friendship break? I don’t think that’s….”
“Rarity, are you honestly trying to understand a friendship between Pinkie Pie and Caboose?” Tucker asked.
“It’s just… strange. I’ve known Pinkie Pie a tad longer than you, dear. And while she may be an… enigma at times, she still always makes time for her friends, regardless of what may be happening in her life.” Rarity looked at the blue man sympathetically. “I hate to say it darling, but is it possible that… perhaps… just perhaps… you two aren’t quite as close as you thought you were?”
Spike gave her a look, and just like that, Rarity covered her mouth with a hoof, as if trying to force the words back into her mouth. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. It’s just…” she sighed, “it’s been a trying few days.”
Nevertheless, Rarity’s suggestion seemed to bring about a whole new train of thought within Tucker’s mind, and the fact that Church could sense this was just another reminder of how different he was from them now.
“Hey, Church… now that the team’s all here, there’s something I’ve been meaning to discuss with you guys.” Tucker then turned to Rarity. “Do you mind?”
“Oh, not at all!” Rarity said with an easy smile. When Tucker simply continued giving her an expectant stare, Rarity realized what exactly he was asking. “Oh, right….” Glancing down at their empty plates on the table, Rarity took them all in her soft blue aura. “Spike, why don’t you help me clean up in the kitchen?”
Spike nodded, following Rarity and the floating tableware into the kitchen. Once they were gone, Tucker folded his hands across the table as Caboose took a seat where Rarity had previously been.
“Okay, so… how much do you guys actually care about these ponies?” Tucker asked.
Church wasn’t sure where exactly his comrade was going with this. “Well… I guess I like some of ‘em okay.”
“I want to take them home and brush their hair and feed them colored carrots coordinated to their colors,” Caboose stated.
“What are you thinking, Tucker?” Church asked.
“What, you mean you don’t already know? Aren’t you like, in my head right now?” he asked in reply.
“Sorry man, I haven’t found my ‘telepathy’ function quite yet.”
“But did you find the ‘flying’ function? Ooh! Or how about the ‘shoot lasers out of your eyes’ function?” Caboose asked, bouncing in his seat with excitement.
“Caboose, we’ve barely been talking for a few seconds and you’re already pissing me off,” Church snapped.
“Oooh, you’re probably gonna find the ‘grow big and green when you get angry’ function.”
“Caboose!”
“Whoa, now just stay calm Church,” Caboose said nervously, raising his arms placatingly. “You don’t want the Other Guy to hurt anybody, now do you?”
“Can we please get back to what we were originally talking about?” Tucker groaned.
“Yeah, I think that was a pretty good tangent,” Caboose said. “Please continue.”
Giving a short growl of frustration, Tucker did just that. “Look, I’ve been thinking… maybe it’s time for us to go.”
“Go?” Church asked. “Where? To the Director’s flagship? Trust me, we will as soon as we’re ready.”
“No, I mean….”
“Go back to our home planet to live with the rest of our kind?” Caboose butted in, determined to get one last reference in.
“No!” Tucker cried, before realizing, “Wait… actually, yeah.”
Church folded his holographic arms, looking at Tucker with uncertainty. “You want to go back to our planet? Back to our canyon?”
“Yeah!” Tucker said, standing up. “Or, at least back to our planet. What’s wrong with that?”
“Uh, how about the fact that we’re not finished here? Project Freelancer is still going forward with their plans and are experimenting on another innocent person right now? You know, that whole problem?”
“So what? It’s not our problem!” Tucker said, and all of a sudden, Church noted it had gotten very quiet over in the kitchen.
“Think about it, we’ve spent the past week and a half risking our lives for this world and what are we getting out of it?” Tucker gestured to his arm in its sling. “Nothing but broken bones!”
Tucker then tilted his head as he thought further. “Well… maybe we’ll get loads of pony alien chicks lining up to get it on with the badasses who saved them, but… I dunno. Banging a pony would be so weird. Like… having sex with a stuffed animal, or something. Trust me, it’s not as fun as you might think!”
“First of all…” Church started, before he finally gave Tucker’s last statement some serious thought. “Wait, what do you mean? Have you… had sex with a stuffed animal?”
Tucker stuttered incoherently for a brief moment. “Look, what I may or may not have done when I was a kid is irrelevant right now. I kinda lost track of my argument once I started talking about alien chicks, but my point remains! We have no reason to stay here. I talked to Sarge, and he….”
“Ah, well there’s your problem: You talked to Sarge and some of his stupid rubbed off on you!” Church exclaimed.
“Hey now, let’s not go talking about stupid like it’s a bad thing here,” Caboose said slowly.
“Yeah, or rubbing off,” Tucker giggled, before amending. “Wait, just to clarify, Sarge didn’t….”
“Trust me, that’s not something you need to expand on. It's called 'don't ask, don't tell' for a reason,” Church deadpanned.
"Oh, up yours!"
Church turned to the other Blue in the room, eager to resume the actual conversation. “Caboose, back me up here. You don’t want to go just yet, do you?”
“I… ah… I don’t like being put on the spot!” Caboose then started humming what could be loosely interpreted as a game show theme song while the other Blues simply stared at him.
“Caboose, you can’t honestly tell me you wanna just throw your life away for these ponies?” Tucker questioned. “How many times do you think we almost died during this mission?”
“Yeah, but… Pinkie Pie’s my friend,” Caboose said earnestly.
“Not right now. According to you, you’re on a ‘friendship break’!”
“But… I don’t… augh…” Caboose whimpered.
Seeing that Caboose was getting distressed, Church decided it was time to put his foot down. “No, you know what? We’re staying and that’s final.”
“You can’t order us around, Church. You’re not even our real leader!” Tucker exclaimed. “In fact, come to think of it, you’re not even really a part of Blue Team! You were just stuffed inside a blue robot so you could hide with the rest of us cannon fodder!”
Before Church could make a rebuttal, Rarity and Spike came out of the kitchen with a concerned look on their faces.
“Does anybody else hear that?” the baby dragon asked.
“Yeah, it sounds like a complete asshole trying to abandon the mission!” Church exclaimed, wondering whether the pony and dragon had even heard them arguing.
“Wait, I actually do hear something…” Tucker muttered.
The room quieted down, and then Church heard it. A deep rumbling sound that shook the whole library with a constant tremor.
“Is it an earthquake?” Church asked.
“Oh God, Church is ‘Hulking’ out!” Caboose exclaimed. “Look at me, Church! Remember who you are! Don’t lose yourself again!”
“Ponyville never gets earthquakes like this,” Rarity said. “And I don’t believe there’s a storm scheduled tonight.”
A distant crash like thunder suddenly rang out. The group of five slowly made their way toward the library’s front door as the shaking and thunder-like claps continued. Slowly, Rarity opened the door and the group peeked outside.
Their collective jaws dropped when they looked up at the sky.
With a heavy weight hanging over her heart, Fluttershy looked around at the comforting familiar surroundings of her hometown. It had been her hope that the next time they were all together in Ponyville, it would be when Project Freelancer was defeated, and these horrible times were finally over. But it was not over, and as it was painfully apparent, they weren’t all together.
She and Rarity had wasted no time in taking Spike back to Golden Oaks when they arrived, and Fluttershy tried not to look when the uncharacteristically quiet Donut regrouped with Sarge and Grif. When Spike asked the inevitable question about Twilight, she and Rarity did their best to explain the situation to him, sparing him the unpleasant details about what she really was and what was happening to her now.
After that, Fluttershy entrusted the drake to Rarity’s care while she returned to her cottage to check on her animals. Once she was sure they were all taken care of, Fluttershy found herself unable to linger, and before she even knew what she was doing, her legs were taking her toward Sweet Apple Acres: Where the Reds had been staying during their time here.
Wandering into the apple orchard, Fluttershy bumped into Applejack along the way, who said she wanted to check on the Reds and see whether their ship was ready for the mission to save Twilight. The pair eventually found Sarge and Donut sitting by the rear bay of the ship, tinkering with the white helmet they’d gotten from Wyoming.
“Donut, did this thing go off again?” Sarge asked, looking at the pink soldier quizzically. “Or are you just bein’ very still?”
It was a few moments before Donut moved his head in response. “Hmm? Oh, sorry Sarge. I was just thinking about whether dogs get songs stuck in their head.”
Sarge let out a long sigh. “Shut up and pass me a flathead wrench.”
Grif was lying under a tree nearby, just far enough away from the other two Reds to be out of their way. Applejack approached Sarge and Donut and swallowing nervously, Fluttershy approached Grif, noting the metal tags he was clutching in his hand.
“Um, hello Grif.”
His orange helmet tilted up to look at her. “Oh. What do you want?” Grif asked sharply.
Fluttershy winced, but tried not to take his dismissive tone personally. She knew he was probably hurting right now. In fact, it was why she was here.
“I just, um, wanted to see how you were doing,” she replied. Truth be told, there was a selfish angle to her decision to come here. If she was able to comfort Grif through his own recent loss, perhaps it would help take her mind off of Twilight.
“Oh. I dunno. I feel… weird.”
“Weird?” Fluttershy asked with a tilt of her head.
Grif nodded. “It doesn’t seem real. I keep thinking he’s gonna show up to bitch at me for being lazy, or for using half of the squad’s rations to make little food men… and eating them.” Grif glanced over to his other two compatriots. “Don’t tell Sarge about that, by the way.”
Looking back at Fluttershy, Grif continued, “I dunno, I should be feeling sad. I mean, Simmons and I sure as hell didn’t always get along, but he was still my friend. Some of the best times I’ve had in this squad were just standing around with him, shootin’ the shit. But I just… don’t feel anything. The fuck is wrong with me?”
Fluttershy had heard of this phenomenon before: how ponies who had suffered a particularly hard loss sometimes just shut down emotionally. Because it felt safer than facing the truth that they’ll never see a loved one again. But sooner or later, the reality of the situation would come crashing down all at once.
So Fluttershy instead tried to pursue another topic and glanced in the other Reds’ direction as she asked, “So, what are they working on?”
The question was instead answered by Applejack as she shouted, “YER LEAVING?!”
“Yup. As soon as I figure out how to hook up Wyoming’s damn time device to the ship,” Sarge grunted while shifting the white helmet in his lap.
Fluttershy looked at Grif with some confusion. “Where are you going?”
“Home,” Grif stated. “I don’t wanna stay here another damn minute longer than we have to.”
“But we need this ship to save Twilight!” Applejack protested.
“You still have the invisible one!” Donut said.
“There’s not enough seats in the invisible one!”
“Why do you want to leave, Grif?” Fluttershy asked.
“Why? Because we never wanted to be here in the first place, remember?” Grif said bitterly. “I’m tired of always fighting and almost dying.”
“But… isn’t that kind of part of being a soldier?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yeah, but we never had to do anything really dangerous before we came here! At most we’d get in a few firefights with the Blues and stop the occasional bad guy, but… we’ve never had to face actually losing people!” Grif sighed. “I just… I just wanna go home….”
A distant bang echoed through the sky above like a clap of thunder. What was weird was that there wasn’t any lightning. Rainbow Dash even said when they returned that tonight was only supposed to be overcast. There wasn’t a proper thunderstorm scheduled for at least another week.
“Great galloping goombas! What was that?” Sarge asked.
A second echoing clap drew the three Reds and the pair of ponies out from the thick apple trees onto the hill overlooking the orchard. It was dark, but the moon was bright enough to illuminate the night sky through the layer of clouds covering it. It wasn’t long before Fluttershy realized the ground beneath them was shaking before a deafening whine filled the sky. The sight that followed sucked the collective breaths out of every individual that saw it.
A metal behemoth burst through the layer of clouds in the sky, wreathed in flames and black smoke. The ship was as big as Canterlot, maybe bigger. It was easy to make the comparison as the massive vessel flew right past the mountainside capital. Whatever objects each of the Reds were holding dropped to the ground. Applejack’s jaw hung open, and Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide as she shook like a tree in the wind. All of them watched in awed silence as the burning ship sailed a bit longer before hitting the ground with a deep bang that seemed to shake the world.