• Published 22nd Aug 2015
  • 3,302 Views, 255 Comments

Fullmetal Pony - Leoshi



To get back what they've lost, siblings Twilight Sparkle and Shining Armor embark on a quest to obtain the legendary Alicorn Amulet.

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4.2: A Moment Alone

Twilight and Shining were quicker to leave the prison building than they were to enter. They passed by each of the waiting investigators, completely ignoring the one they had spoken to earlier, and pushed past the front doors into the sunlight outside. Once they were clear, Twilight took a moment to rub at her natural legs. She still felt cold from the intensity of her meeting. Even rubbing to get warm wasn't doing much to make her feel better, although she could easily blame that on her prosthetic. What an appropriate name to have. Winter Frost. I hope she never gets released.

She and Shining Armor walked slowly across the parade grounds back toward the palace. Twilight had meant to stay quiet the whole way, but her brother had other plans. "That could have gone better. Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm well enough."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean I'm well enough."

Behind her, Shining Armor shook his head. She only knew because she heard his helmet shifting against the rest of his body. "Come on, Twilight. Give me a real answer."

"What's wrong with my answer?"

"You're just dismissing me. You're obviously not in the mood, but I need to know how you're doing. I'm pretty sure that's the first credible threat you've ever gotten."

Twilight tried to laugh. What came out was a half-serious chuckle. "Credible? You can't mean that."

"I do. That pony is a killer. And she's trained in alchemy, just like you. She's been around for long enough to know her own skills, and I would take her threat seriously if I were you."

They reached the door leading into the palace hallway. With a quick nod to a nearby royal guard, they passed through and walked around the custodial staff who were cleaning the remains of the attack. Twilight made a quick note of how efficient the ponies here were since she saw very few shell cases and few-and-far-between wall damage.

"Take it seriously? From her? Please, any alchemist who thinks it's a good idea to break into the royal palace and start randomly drawing circles is no true alchemist. Remember, this is one of the ponies who thought that making a giant fog bank was stealthy. All that accomplished was alerting the entire city."

Her brother wasn't convinced. "What I remember is that she wasn't leading the team. Whiteout was the one who led their plan. Winter Frost and her partner were just the soldiers in the field. Now, you're right, the fog bank was a dumb idea, but the fact that the two of them managed to break in at all tells me that we'd do well to not underestimate them." He gently tapped her on her shoulder to help make his point. "You should remember that it's this same alchemist who placed those circles in impossible spaces."

And just like that, Twilight's headache graduated from a piercing heat to a heavy throb. She honestly didn't know which was worse. "She used a matrix. That's all," she said through clenched teeth.

"I don't know, Twilight."

Twilight stopped and rounded on her brother. "Well, what's your theory, then? How do you think that mare managed to set transmutation circles inside pipes? Or making them from a distance at all?" She pointed to a wall that suffered a sizeable burn, evidence of the attack from that morning. "According to everypony, she was able to create a circle in one area while she was standing in another! A teleport matrix would make that possible. That and the pipes! And along with the residue you found in the city, a matrix is the most likely thing."

She breathed through her teeth while Shining Armor stood still. Twilight knew she should have felt bad for snapping, but the feeling never came. If anything, all she felt was a brief moment of adrenaline. It was good to be in control for a few seconds, even if it was just control over the conversation. Maybe if she kept it up, she could get back to bed sooner.

"I don't have a theory," Shining Armor eventually answered. "What I do have are enough reasons to take those criminals seriously when they threaten my sister."

"It's an empty threat."

"How are you so sure?"

"Because they're in prison cells surrounded by trained guards. Oh, and the cells are just past an open space where more guards are being trained. What else...oh, yes, the fact that their plan of attack was stupid and desperate! I'm telling you, if that's the best they can come up with, then the only real threat is their bad attitude."

"Well, if that's all it takes, then I should feel pretty threatened right about now, huh?"

Twilight scoffed and stormed further in the hall. Shining Armor easily matched her pace. His very presence was grating on her already-frayed nerves, to say nothing of her various other reasons to be grumpy. It was bad enough with everything she had to deal with since that morning; why did he insist on challenging her viewpoint so much? It wasn't like him to be so critical.

So she asked him. "What's with you all of a sudden?"

"I told you," he answered. "I take threats to my sister very seriously."

"Then maybe you should focus these questions on the ones who did the threatening."

"Trust me, I intend to. But I still want to make sure you're okay."

"There's nothing in the world that those ponies can possibly do to me."

"Stop dodging my question."

She could feel his gaze on the back of her head. It actually made her itch. "I told you, I'm well enough."

"Oh, for goodness sake. Is that really all I'm going to get from you?"

"I'm sorry if it's not the cry for help you're expecting, Shining Armor. If you really want a chance to be a hero, then maybe you should hope that the threat is real."

For the first time, Shining Armor stopped on his own. "That's not funny, Twilight."

Twilight kept going. She walked for a good thirty seconds before she looked over her shoulder and saw that he wasn't there. A small victory. She smiled a little and pressed on to the colonel's office.

What she saw when she arrived surprised her. The office was locked. That's a first, she thought. Not wanting to lose her good streak, she sparked her magic and tried to unlock it from her side. All she got for her efforts was a clicking sound as the tumblers inside slid back and forth. She pulled back her magic and pressed her head against the door. Instantly, she felt sleep start to creep in on her.

Lucky for her that the door unlocked and opened at that moment. "Oh, miss Sparkle," said Flash Sentry. "Good afternoon."

Twilight shook herself and looked up. Flash's appearance surprised her too: rather than the clean-cut style he usually kept, he seemed disheveled and almost as tired as her. He held a thick stack of papers with one hoof. His uniform, the standard blue of the military with his own ribbons and insignia, was more wrinkled than she had ever seen it. In fact, she spotted a few stray blotches of ink along his front.

"Mm, hello," she managed through her haze of sleepiness. "I'm here to check in with the colonel."

"Colonel Dash is quite busy for the day, miss. We both are," he added, nudging his stack of paperwork.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Nothing you need concern yourself with. It's just paperwork. We actually were not expecting you to come by today."

"I had a test."

The colonel's voice rang out from inside the room. "Who is it, Lieutenant?"

"Twilight Sparkle, ma'am," he called back. "She's checking in with us, asking about her test."

"Does she really expect to still take a test after what happened this morning?"

Flash Sentry paused a moment to look Twilight up and down. "It might be that she'll sleep through it."

Twilight bristled. "Hey!"

"Send her away, Lieutenant. We can't afford any distractions."

Flash smirked with a joke only he seemed to get, but nodded nonetheless. "Sorry, miss. Between the attack, processing the attackers, and all of this follow-up work, we'll need to reschedule your test for another day. Head back to your room and rest."

Oh no, you don't, Twilight thought. I didn't study for three nights straight just to be given a day off. She shook her head and tried to push past Flash Sentry, but was stopped when he extended his wing. "Let me in."

"No."

She took that as a challenge. Adopting a hard glare, she stepped back and sparked her horn. With a quick swipe of her foreleg against the door frame, she envisioned another opening further along the wall. Sparks flew into the hall, a space in the wall bulged and deformed, and then a simple wooden door appeared. Flash's eyes darted from her to the wall, and she saw that he tensed but otherwise didn't move.

With a smirk of her own, Twilight took a couple steps to the new door she had made and pulled it open. A giant metal panel stood in her way. "What in the world?"

"Miss Sparkle, remember the layout of the office," Flash said. "You just opened a way to our supply lockers."

Growling, Twilight sparked her horn to life again.

"If you ruin my equipment, you'll make this personal," he warned. "Just go back to your room."

She ignored him. Instead, she pictured what she wanted. It wouldn't be right to completely wreck his supplies, so she wouldn't use all of the material inside the locker. Still, he shouldn't have stopped her, so maybe he deserved to have a little setback. Maybe instead of a simple door, she should make an elaborate metal gate, complete with a key that she would keep for herself. In fact, the key could be made out of that rifle he liked so much. With another smirk, she reached out to the metal panel of the locker.

Another wing stopped her, coming between her hoof and the metal. Rather than Flash's light orange, this one was a pale blue. Twilight paused to look at it. It wasn't until the wing gently came forward and pushed her hoof back down that she turned to look at the owner.

If Flash Sentry was disheveled, Rainbow Dash was simply a mess. Frown lines fell across her face and threw it into harsh shadows, her mane was standing up in some spots, bags were forming under her eyes, and her own uniform wasn't spotted with stray ink stains so much as decorated with them. Even the tips of her wings were frayed.

"What exactly are you planning to do, Sparkle?" the colonel asked in a low, oddly calm voice.

Twilight stood up straight and met her gaze. Grumpiness met grumpiness, or so she thought. "I'm here to get this test out of the way so it will be off my mind."

"So you do expect to take it even after all that happened."

"I'd better. This is the best time for it. If I wait another day, I'll likely be more focused on that pony Winter Frost than I will be on alchemy."

"Good," Rainbow Dash said. She brought her wing down, stretched it, and let it settle against her side. "We could use more insight into her state of mind. What was your impression of her?"

That took Twilight by surprise. "What? What does she matter? I'm not here because of her."

"You are now. Since you're so eager to take a test, I'm giving you one. What's your impression of Winter Frost?"

"I don't see what the point of this is."

"Then let me explain. Winter Frost infiltrated the palace early this morning and placed several transmutation circles in various spots along this wing of the building. They were designed for freezing alchemy, but they were spread out in a way that makes it unclear what their endgame was. Since Frost and her partner Frigid Drift were here in the palace, it stands to reason that they would know what that endgame is."

Twilight closed her eyes and tried to force down her headache. "Sure," she muttered.

"Good to hear that you agree. Now, the question of their motive is still unanswered, and since you went to visit with them, I can only assume that you have some intelligence on them that we weren't able to get. So here's your new test, Sparkle: give me some information on them. Anything useful."

The last thing she wanted to do was replay her encounter with them, but the colonel's tone didn't exactly leave room for argument. "I don't...have anything on them," she admitted. "If you wanted to know their motive, it would have been better to keep their leader alive."

Rainbow Dash tilted her head in consideration, then backed off a step. "That's true enough, but it's not what we have now. There's no use dwelling on what might've been, don't you agree?"

Twilight once again sensed the trap too late. "Yes, of course...wait—"

"Then take the lieutenant's advice. There's no point dwelling on a test with all that's happened now, especially since right now I'm in no position to give you one. I have enough to fix without you tearing into my office and ruining our equipment, and I will not tolerate any more insubordination."

"I just wanted—"

"You're dismissed, Twilight Sparkle. I'll send for you when I need you."

Twilight groaned, had a brief staring contest that she quickly lost, then turned away. A rebellious part of her mind urged her to knock over the supply locker with her magic, but she thought better of it. She walked down the hall, passing Flash Sentry on the way, who gave her an empathetic look. Even that look served to annoy her.

Her quarters were only a couple minutes away from the colonel's office, on the other side of the same wing of the building. It was really more of a large, private study than a bedroom: one entire wall was dedicated to bookshelves, while the others were covered with maps, schedules, and certifications she had earned. A single bed awaited her from the corner, while a desk and couch set in the middle of the room held a pile of clutter regarding her rescheduled test. There was a second desk across from the first, one that Shining Armor used, and it was appropriately neat and tidy. She shared the room with her brother, though he wasn't there. Rather than focus on where he was and what he might be doing, she threw her door closed and shed her custom duster.

A mirror next to the door helped her see herself. She had never been one for wearing clothes, but the state of her body made them necessary. Her right foreleg was made from a special composite that ran on her natural motor functions. Her left hindleg was the same, and both worked almost seamlessly with the rest of her body. She didn't claim to understand the science behind it, but she knew enough just by relying on them to get around.

It was called automail. An engineering marvel that created hyper-responsive prosthetic limbs. It saw extensive use during and after the Unification War, for those unlucky survivors who could afford it. Twilight hadn't heard of such a thing until she needed it, and she had never learned who had paid for them...or how she even came to own a pair. Doctors and engineers would always tell her things about them: specifications, proper care, things to listen for, and the like. All she really knew about them was that they helped her get around, because without them she'd be a cripple.

Technically she still was. If the prosthetics were removed, she would find nothing beneath. Just a length of metal that connected the spots where she ended and the machinery began. Twilight idly ran her left hoof, her natural hoof, over her right foreleg, feeling the material as she had done hundreds of times. Just like her other unanswered mysteries, she had never known who had said the limbs had to be painted black. It was such an odd choice, and clashed with her natural violet coat anyway.

But what very few ponies knew was that there was a different reason, besides her prosthetic limbs, why she wore such a large jacket. Twilight set her hoof down and turned sideways, looking at a spot along her back. Set behind her withers and near her spine were two abnormal growths, like swollen pockets beneath her skin. They constantly ached and flushed an alarming red, so the sight of them alone would disturb the typical Canterlot pony.

She had even less information on the swollen spots than she did on her limbs. Even palace doctors could only recommend further study. As far as she knew, they could just be severe allergic reactions to something in the air. But they had appeared the same day she had lost her limbs, and were as permanent as the rest of her. Whatever they were, they always hurt. She needed to train herself to sleep on her stomach and sides just to avoid putting pressure on them.

Today, as always, she stared at her scars and deformities, wondering where she had gone so wrong. Her mistake took place over six years ago, back when she was only eleven years old. But over the years since, she never got any closer to an answer. What happened? she would ask herself. What did I do?

It was a question she asked every night. Sometimes, she wished she could still hear that tiny voice that answered her from that day. But the voice was silent, and her room was silent, and her train of thought was doing her no favors today. Defeated, she fell on top of her bed without bothering to get beneath the covers and was asleep within minutes.

Author's Note:

I decided to make this chapter update its segments daily instead of every other day, in order to avoid pairing it with Saturday's new episode. One more segment to go, coming out tomorrow.