The Soldier Within

by DarkStatic42

Chapter 1: A Fire in the Sky

Fifteen meters.
Several shots of red went off to the right.
Ten meters.
More red bolts flew as one singed his right flank.
Five meters.
The alien pointed the device at the guard’s chest as they collided.
-fsshck-
The guard closed his eyes for a second as a hot bolt hit him and inertia sprawled them both across the dirt.

24 Hours earlier

“Oh, it’s no problem at all...” Fluttershy said as Twilight thanked her the second time that night. Twilight had moved her telescope out to Fluttershy’s cottage for the night since all the light from around the library was making it difficult to see the fainter stars.

“I even petitioned the Mayor to turn the street lamps out after 10pm but she said it would be a ‘Public Hazard’. She has no idea how much light pollution those things create. It’s not like that many ponies are walking around late at night anyway,” Twilight said.

Fluttershy let her friend rant and politely nodded and when Twilight finally took a breath she turned the conversation back to the stars by asking, “So...what are you studying tonight?”

Twilight’s attention piqued at the opportunity to share her knowledge with Fluttershy. The lavender unicorn quickly made final adjustments to the telescope and said “Tonight I’m studying the Canis Major constellation, would you like a look?” as she stepped back to let the pegasus use the telescope.

Fluttershy remained where she was, her eyes transfixed on the sky, “It’s beautiful....”.

“Uh, Fluttershy, you have to look through the telescope...” Twilight trailed off as she followed her friend’s eye line up to the sky.

Small meteors rained down, dimly starting from the east and becoming brighter as they flew across to the west eventually disappearing as they burned out. Several larger ones made grand entrances with loud bangs as they passed overhead, one even appeared to almost make it to the ground before it vanished in the black night sky. The impromptu light show lasted for about twenty minutes before it tapered off.

Fluttershy broke the silence. “Did you know that was going to happen tonight?”

“No. Princess Luna is usually so precise about her sky, this wasn’t on the schedule at all.”

After several hours of standing outside in the crisp spring air Twilight brought her telescope inside. She quickly made herself at home in Fluttershy’s guest room and began pouring over the night schedule for any explanation of what they saw.

***************************************************************

Princess Celestia stood silently on her balcony as she waited for the moon to clear the sky; sunrise was already ten minutes late and she was getting frustrated at her sister’s tardiness. An orange glow had already begun to appear in the eastern sky as the sun made a small show of defiance. Celestia launched herself into the morning air, spiralled upwards to the tower that Luna routinely favoured to perform her celestial duties.

Landing quietly on the platform, Celestia had expected to find her sister engrossed in one of her side projects. What she found instead was Luna standing at the edge of the balcony, face up to the sky, with a large plume of blue magic surrounding her horn. The intensity of the magic being used had turned the calm aura into a spinning blue vortex, throwing sparks like somepony was using an angle grinder on her horn.

“Sister, is something wrong?” Celestia said trying to conceal her earlier frustrations.

Luna jumped at the unexpected voice and let her concentration lapse, dissipating the glowing blue vortex. “I-I don’t know. Do you remember the first night after I returned from the moon?”

“You mean the one after you banished me and tried to plunge Equestria into eternal night?” Celestia quipped.

Luna’s expression dropped like someone had taken a new puppy away from her. Celestia mentally kicked herself for being so insensitive. “I’m sorry Sister, I didn’t mean anything by that. We raised the moon together didn’t we? Shall we give that a try?”

The grimace on Luna’s face gave way to a smile as both alicorns turned to the lingering moon and focused their magic. Ten seconds passed. Celestia was also having trouble making a connection. Twenty seconds. She adjusted her stance and closed her eyes, pouring all of her focus into her horn. A tenuous connection started to form, she channelled all of her energy into her horn and willed the moon downwards. As the connection severed abruptly, she turned to her sister and tried to find some words of encouragement.

“That wasn’t so bad…perhaps you just need some rest, dear Sister,” Celestia said.

Luna remained silent, her eyes fixed on the sky. Celestia turned to find the moon still where it was a few minutes earlier.

“I don’t even--” Luna stammered.

“I’ll just raise the sun and we’ll come back to the moon afterwards,” Celestia offered, more out of confusion then an actual plan.

Turning to the east to face the orange sky she flared up her magic with her usual grace and finesse. Over a thousand years of practice had made her very efficient with her magic, just enough to make a connection and no more. Nothing. Perhaps trying to move the moon had taxed her magic? She focused more energy into her horn. The familiar bridge refused to form. Already over the events of the morning Celestia opted to get this over with and focused her full energy towards the sun. Ten seconds went past and a hint of the connection teased her. Twenty seconds. The amount of effort took its toll as her knees started to shake. Celestia pushed forward with her magic, commanding the sun to rise. Thirty five seconds later her knees buckled and she fell forward like a filly tripping on a log.

A blue aura caught Celestia before she could hit the polished marble and gently lowered her onto the platform. After a few minutes she opened her eyes to see her sister sitting beside her. Seeing her sister recovered slightly Luna said, “I think we have a serious problem.”

As the two sisters sat on the top of the tower trying to work through the problem facing them, the sun slowly crept into the eastern sky. At first the colour change was barely perceptible but as soon as the corona breached the eastern horizon both Celestia and Luna looked at each other with a knowing expression.

“It would seem Sister, that the sun and the moon are roaming the sky freely,” Celestia said, giving voice to the inevitable.

A set of hoofsteps echoed up the stairs. “Pardon the intrusion your highnesses,” the royal guard said as he announced his presence “but there is an urgent matter that requires your attention”.

Celestia turned, “Yes we are aware of this morning’s issues, we will be addressing them at meeting with the astrological society shortly.”

“Beg pardon your highness, but the message I carry is a report of a meteor shower during the night, with a sighting of an impact just north of the Foal mountains. Additionally we’ve sent several messengers from the Royal Signalling Corps to Fillydelphia, but we haven’t heard back.”

“Sister, what if this is related to my visions? We must prepare,” Luna whispered to Celestia.

“This is most troubling. Please relay to the captain of the guard that I request he departs with the standing forces to Fillydelphia immediately, for disaster relief,” Celestia said.

The royal guard made quick bow and immediately ran back down into the tower.

“Sister, I would like to investigate the report of that meteor crash,” Luna added.

"I agree, but I’m going to ask Twilight and her friends to assist you in this.”

Surprised by this unusual condition, Luna hesitated, “I would appreciate Twilight’s assistance but I’m not sure how her friends will be of any help in this situation.”

“Merely as a precaution sister. If in the case that your visions are accurate, I would prefer to keep the Elements of Harmony together in case they are needed.”

Walking into Luna’s study, Celestia picked up a quill and wrote a quick note to Twilight explaining her request. Once she was done she rolled up the scroll and cast the dragon fire spell. She had become accustomed to creating a flame just around the scroll, such that it appeared to just swirl away. This time was an exception as Celestia struggled to ignite the flame. When the flame finally did materialise, it did so with a roar and a jet of green heat ignited the paper and turned it to ash.

Celestia quickly rewrote the letter and gave it to a pegasus from the Signalling Corps as she made her way back to the throne room. When she arrived most of the ministers were already there, surrounding Luna at the center of the crowd, overwhelmed with a torrent of questions.

***************************************************************

Twilight awoke as she often did, with her face wedged in the book she was reading the night before. With the light from the sun streaming in through the window and a pain in her neck, she realised she wasn’t going to be able to get any more sleep like this. Begrudgingly she stood up and made her way out to the living area of the cottage.

Fluttershy was already busy feeding and caring for all the woodland critters. After she put Angel’s breakfast in front of him she looked up and saw Twilight emerge.

“Good morning Twilight, did you sleep well?” Fluttershy asked, already knowing the answer from the state of Twilight’s mane.

“Well enough I suppose. I was up all night going through the astral schedules, but I couldn’t find anything to explain the meteor shower,” Twilight replied with a groggy drole.

“Perhaps some breakfast will make you feel better,” Fluttershy suggested as she flitted over to a cupboard and began to organise something edible.

Twilight was about to take the first bite of her cereal when the door burst open, prompting her to drop her spoon and shower her coat with milk. Fluttershy’s reaction was more extreme as the shy pegasus launched herself from her seat at a speed that Rainbow Dash would be proud of and hovered up high against the roof.

The armoured pegasus powered through the door and stopped in the middle of the living area where he spotted Twilight. “Miss Sparkle?” he asked.

“Yes?” Twilight responded as she stood to face the unexpected visitor.

“I have an urgent message from the Princess. She requests the presence of the Elements of Harmony at Canterlot immediately. The rail service has been suspended in anticipation of your arrival.” The guard continued as he offered Twilight the Princess’s scroll. As soon as Twilight had the scroll in hoof the guard nodded slightly and left just as abruptly.

“Wow...what could be so important that the Princess would stop the train service just for us?” Fluttershy asked as she gently made her way back down to the ground.

“I’m not sure but whatever it is we’d better not keep her waiting.”

“But my animals?---” Fluttershy started.

“I’ll get Spike to take care of things back here for us while we’re gone, get what you need and we better get going. I have a feeling that our friends got similar wake up calls this morning and they’ll probably already be at the station waiting for us,” Twilight interjected.

As predicted, by the time Twilight and Fluttershy got to the station they were the last to arrive. Twilight spent the train ride dissecting every word of Celestia’s letter, looking for any further clues as to what was happening. By the time they arrived at Canterlot she was none the wiser as to the circumstances of their summoning.

When the Elements arrived in the throne room a large crowd of officials were already present milling around with the two princesses at the front of the crowd. At the sight of the group the two princesses motioned for the six to join them in a small chamber just off the main room.

Once inside, Celestia began explaining the events of that morning and Luna’s mission to investigate the meteor impact. The confusion from the other five over their presence was quelled when Celestia produced the Elements of Harmony and said “There is a second reason I’ve summoned you all; we don’t know exactly what is happening, so I need the Elements of Harmony to be able to respond should the need arise.”

“Take whatever provisions you need from the quartermaster. I’ll also be assigning you a guard detail. I’m sorry to cut this short but I must get back to the ministers. I leave you in my Sister’s capable hooves,” Princess Celestia said with the kindest voice she could manage.

Twilight could see the concern both on Princess Celestia's face and in her voice. She was truly worried.

After getting enough provisions for nearly a week the group walked out into the courtyard. Waiting for them was three earth ponies in glistening armour, spears and a full marching pack. In the front was a stallion with a brown coat, a grey mane and a sergeant’s insignia on his armour. Slightly detached from the group was a blue pegasus mare with an iridescent green mane.

As Princess Luna approached the four ponies bowed.

“Sergeant Silver Charge, your highness. My troops and I are at your command.”

The blue pegasus stepped forward “I am Aurora your highness. Princess Celestia requested that I accompany you to assist with communication.”

“I trust you are all ready to go?” Luna asked. A chorus of simultaneous nods from all parties was all the Princess needed before she started moving toward the main gate.

***************************************************************

The walk north east was comfortable enough, winter had been wrapped up a few weeks prior and the warmer weather was a welcome change. There would be the occasional gust that came down off of the mountains to the south, which would make everypony shiver.

Rainbow Dash was flying overhead being both scout and showoff at the same time. Every now and then she would surge ahead of the group and perform a few tricks, much to Pinkie’s amusement. Aurora kept a more disciplined flight path, circling the group and using the thermals to save energy.

Twilight noted that even the three earth pony guards were keeping perfect time and formation. She pulled out a small scroll and made a note to ask Princess Celestia if this was normal or if the royal guard was on their very best behaviour because Princess Luna was with them.

After the group took a short lunch break Rainbow Dash joined the group on the ground. Rarity quizzed Rainbow Dash, “Rainbow dear, did you wear yourself out doing all those tricks?”

“More like I missed my nap today.” Rainbow Dash replied with a hint of bitterness.

Not long after that Aurora joined the group on the ground as well. With the pace being set by the sergeant it was only a few more hours before they spotted a plume of black smoke against the fading light as the sun started to set.

“Rainbow, could you do a quick flyover and see if that is the meteor?” Twilight asked.

“No problem!” Rainbow Dash replied as she sprung into the air. Her initial leap put her a few lengths above the ground and she started to beat her wings. After the first beat Rainbow knew something wasn’t right, the weight ratio was off, it was like she was trying to take off with three ponies on her back. The second wing beat had the same result. The ground approached quickly and Rainbow Dash hit the soft dirt with a thump.

“Oh my goodness...Are you ok Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy asked as the group approached the downed pegasus.

“No worse than usual.” Rainbow replied as she picked herself up off the dirt.

Luna turned to Aurora, “Would you please do the reconnaissance for us?”

“Yes your highness.” Aurora said before launching herself into the air but all she could manage was a flitter, landing roughly, a small distance from the group.

Twilight looked to Luna “Princess, do you think this could have any relation to the magical disruption issues you mentioned this morning?”

“It’s possible Twilight. It’s important that we don’t start ruling things in or out at this stage based on assumptions but yes, a definite possibility.” Luna said.

As the group crested a hill they got their first look at the meteor. At the bottom of the hill a large swath of dirt had been dug up as the object had impacted and slid to a stop some distance from the impact point.

The ‘meteor’ could hardly be called that. Twilight started trying to make a rough sketch without much success until Rarity interrupted, “Allow me Twilight.”

Taking Twilight’s pencil, Rarity quickly drew the craft, making note of the overall box-like shape, with it’s angled sides and flat roof. The contraption had come to rest on an unnatural angle, facing toward the group giving them a good top down view of it. It hadn’t survived completely intact, there were several more flimsy parts that littered the approach. The wreck had come to rest just before the treeline of the forest.

Luna took the lead, cantering down to the craft with a level of enthusiasm that Twilight had not seen from the Princess before. Just as the group got to the main part of the wreck, something began moving along the treeline. Twilight stepped out from behind the wreck to see what it was.

A streak of red went flying past Twilight, close enough that a part of her mane turned black and shriveled. She let out a surprised yelp as she recoiled behind the bulk of the shuttle, more bolts flew past while others hit the other side of the craft. Twilight felt the impacts course through the metal into her spine.

Carefully peering out from behind the wreck Twilight was able to see three creatures emerging from the treeline. Two of them broke off towards where Luna and the guards were taking cover. The bipeds had grey skin with an eerie light emanating from their eyes. The third creature was also a biped but had more of an insectoid form than the others and it was carrying something with both hands. “What is that?” Twilight muttered to herself when the alien pointed the device and fired more red bolts at her. “Not curious any more!” she screamed as she recoiled behind the metal.

She turned and saw the rest of her friends similarly hiding behind the metal wreckage to escape the red projectiles. On the other hoof Luna and the guards were fighting off the two-legged creatures that had found them. The aliens had a fierce glow in their eyes as they clawed at Luna and the guards, the latter responding with a swift thrust of a spear or a buck to the torso. Despite the ease that the grey aliens were dispatched, the wedge headed alien with four eyes stopped shooting for a second before a disembodied voice yelled, "Assuming direct control!"

Luna's expression changed instantly, she hunched down, her ears flattened against her head. She turned to Twilight and shouted, "Gather the Elements and wait for my signal!"

Twilight was about to question the princess as to what she meant by that, but the question died in her throat as Luna and the royal guards dived over the metal and charged.

The armoured guard ran straight at the alien.

Fifteen meters.

Several shots of red went off to the right.

Ten meters.

More red bolts flew as one singed his right flank.

Five meters.

The alien pointed the device at the guard’s chest as they collided.

-fsshck-

The guard closed his eyes for a second as a hot bolt hit him and inertia sprawled them both across the dirt.

A second later, Luna caught up with him and pinned the alien to the ground with a hoof.

The alien’s eyes were now a burning white glow. Luna turned to Twilight, her face contorted with worry and shouted “Now Twilight!” The pleading shout had a sobering effect on Twilight not unlike a bucket of cold water. She ran forward, nearly collecting Fluttershy as she ran around the wreck and took up her spot in front of the alien. Turning to yell at her friends to join her she discovered they were already standing behind her.

The act of charging the elements was different to the last times they had been used successfully. Initiating the spell was normally no more difficult for Twilight than levitating a small book across the library but now in order to get the elements to full power, it was like trying to throw a large boulder. The spell started draining every last bit of energy from Twilight. Just as she was about to give up and release the spell the trademark rainbow appeared, arced and struck the alien square in the chest.

Twilight dropped the spell abruptly, dropping all six ponies from a height. All of them fell hard except for one whose practice at crash landings didn’t make it seem so bad.

Fluttershy, while normally indecisive and quiet, changed the minute she saw the guards plight. Without a word she galloped over to where she’d dropped her saddlepack at the wreck and returned with a small medkit. Twilight picked herself off the ground and motioned to see if she could put her knowledge from Sticks and Stones: A guide to basic first aid to use.

“Twilight, I need your assistance here first.” Luna commanded. The alien was pinned by a large blue hoof that had been reinstated after the elements had hit.

“Luna, it’s been cleansed by the elements, there is no way that it can possibly harm us now.” Twilight insisted.

Luna gave Twilight an enigmatic look, “You don’t know that for sure Twilight. All we know right now is that the elements hit it, we have no way of knowing what effect that had, if any.”

As much as Twilight wanted to object, she internally resigned the point and had to admit that the princess was right. Both mares stared at the alien. It finally stirred, looked at Luna, and started muttering “Reapers...protect the sanctuary”. It made an attempt to rise but was counted by Luna who put her weight back onto the hoof pinning the alien to the ground. She lowered her head and her horn began to glow in a menacing fashion.

Whether it was the stress of being hit by the friendship cannon or just the weight of Luna’s hoof on its’ chest, the alien dropped back into unconsciousness. Luna turned to the guards behind her and simply ordered, “Restrain him and watch him.”

The injuries to the guard didn’t look too bad, some of the gashes were deep but surprisingly they weren’t bleeding as badly as she thought they should be. Fluttershy was already trying to tend to the superficial wounds but the guards lack of consciousness combined with the muddy ground made it had to see where he had been injured.

“The only benefit to this type of weapon is that when it grazes like this the wound is immediately cauterised and stops the patient bleeding out.” Luna said with an air of confidence. “He was lucky, a direct hit could have been fatal.”

Fluttershy winced at the possibility but continued to tend her patient with the same degree of care that she would show her animal friends. It wasn’t until Luna levitated the guard out of the mud that the the true damage was revealed.

The round had been deflected just enough by the collision between the guard and the alien to send it just along the underside of the guards chestplate and straight through the metacarpal bone in his rear left leg.

Rarity was the first to try to offer some hope. “Well it doesn’t look so bad, we can just make a splint for his leg and he should be ok to come with us to Hollow Shades.”

“He will need to be carried back to Canterlot, as the bone will almost certainly be shattered from that type of weapon.” Luna said.

“Oh...my...” Fluttershy stammered.

Before the assessment could continue Pinkie Pie bounced into the conversation, “Princess, I don’t mean to be a Nosy, McNosy Pony, but how do you know so much about the aliens?”

Everypony but Pinkie Pie and the Princess looked like someone had spoiled the ending of the book they were reading. Twilight was instantly kicking herself for missing such an obvious oversight.

“In good time Pinkie. I understand that you will all have questions, and I will answer them but for now you will just have to trust me.”

Luna passed over the job of levitating the guard out of the mud and leaving the six friends to the first aid task and walked off without saying another word.

“Ah don’t like this. Ain’t been gone for but a day and we’re already banged up.”

“Relax AJ. Princess Luna’s got this one and we’re all ok...well, most of us.” Rainbow dash said as her eyes drew back over the hurt guard.

After finishing the splint and bandages, Twilight gingerly levitated the injured pony over to a makeshift stretcher that Pinkie Pie and Rarity had hastily constructed. How Pinkie Pie had managed to find straight logs and string to bind them was anypony’s guess.

Looking around, Twilight saw a spectral tail sticking out of the door of the crashed ship giving away the location of the Princess.

She walked over to see what the Princess had found. Luna had evidently found something of interest as she slowly removed herself from the ship with two crates that looked mostly in tact.

The princess had managed to pry open the door closer to the ground and gain access to the inside of the wreck. The ship was still on its 45 degree incline so anything not tied down had gathered near Twilight’s hooves at the door. The remnants of daylight shone in through the broken door that was facing the sky as the windows at the front of the shuttle were opaque with dirt. It was then Twilight realised that the front seats were still occupied.

Making her way over the debris on the floor, Twilight moved to the front of the craft. “Princess, have you seen this?”

Still harnessed into their seats were two aliens, both dead. They did not look like the aggressive aliens they recently encountered. They would have been tall, if they could stand, and had a tan coloured skin that was not dissimilar to the depictions of Daring Do’s coat. Their eyes were large and black, and their faces had an unusual split lower jaw configuration.

“I have Twilight, you needn’t worry about them. There isn’t anything that we can do for them now.” Luna said as she floated another box outside. “Please gather everypony. I need to show you all something, and we don’t have much time.”

The mane six were milling around the crates while Silver Charge and Aurora had moved the prisoner back to the shuttle and bailed him up against the metal.

With everypony gathered, Luna launched into a small speech “I’m sorry, I know this isn’t what you expected and I’m afraid that it isn’t going to get better anytime soon.”

Luna opened the crate revealing an assortment of objects, she picked out one of the smaller ones, levitated it in front of the group and continued, “This is one of the weapons that other species use to fight them. They call them guns, basically think of them as a smaller and much more powerful version of Pinkie’s party cannon. If we’re going to survive we’re going to need to learn to use them.” Luna then began into a quick lecture about the different parts of the gun and how to use it.

“Wait a minute, what about us?” Rainbow interjected brazenly. “It’s all very good for unicorns and alicorns, but how are we supposed to press that trigger and aim it at the same time?” Applejack stepped up behind Rainbow Dash in a quiet sign of support for her.

Luna levitated the smaller pistol over to the prismatically maned pegasus and hovered the grip in front of her face. “I know these were created for creatures with hands but if you hold that grip in your mouth you should be able to depress the trigger with your tongue.”
This idea seemed to repulse Rarity who promptly screwed up her face at the thought. Taking her cue from this, Applejack stepped up and grabbed the grip of the pistol in her mouth as Luna released her hold on it.

“Now with your hoof press the button on the side, like that, now the safety is off. Take aim and gently pull the trigger,” Luna coached Applejack as she obediently followed the instructions. Nothing seemed to happen for a second. Suddenly there was a loud bang followed by a red bolt that quickly flew over and embedded itself in a tree. Applejack flinched and would have dropped the pistol if Luna hadn’t caught it with her magic.

A similar procedure was repeated for Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie. Luna didn’t bother to ask the yellow pegasus, already knowing what the answer would be. Rarity was given a long weapon with a small telescope attached to it.

“Are you sure this is necessary?” The white dressmaker protested, “I don’t like the idea of these things, much less using one, and looking through this glass is messing up my mane”. Luna sighed, “I’m sorry Rarity but there isn’t another choice. They will kill us if we let them. If you don’t do this for yourself, then do it to protect your friends.” Luna motioned softly at the quiet yellow pegasus. That seemed to be all the motivation Rarity needed and she turned back to Luna and said “Show me.”

“This is a sniper rifle, it requires finesse, something which I’m sure you can manage...” Luna began. For Rarity, finesse was not the issue. It took Luna several attempts to explain the different purpose of a sniper before she was satisfied that the dressmaker understood her role.

After finishing with Rarity, it was Twilight’s turn. Luna produced a large weapon that was mostly silver with a touch of black and red. “Twilight, this is an assault rifle, if you hold down the trigger on this it will just keep firing until you need to change the clip. Please be careful, out of all of the weapons we took from that crate, this one is the most likely to end up hurting somepony you don’t intend to.”

Twilight took the rifle in her magic, now more scared of it than anything else. She wanted to say something to the Princess, perhaps ask if there was a book or two she could carry instead of this thing. But her chance evaporated as Luna turned back to the group.

Towering over the circle of mares that had gathered Luna announced “We need to be moving. Applejack would you please bring that case,” with a hoof gesturing at the other case that Luna had removed from the craft.

“Uh Princess, we uh, can’t....” Fluttershy trailed off.

“We most certainly can and we must,” Rarity retorted.

“No I mean he can’t,” Fluttershy gestured toward the guard on the stretcher

“But Fluttershy, dear, we need everyone right now. Surely we can alight him at the next town, and what if those creatures attack again?” Rarity said.

“Fluttershy is correct.” Luna said putting an end to the disagreement. Rarity’s ears dropped like she had just been scolded by her mother. Seeing this Luna attempted to handle this with some diplomacy rather than her usual wrecking ball approach. “While I appreciate your sentiment Rarity, the guard’s injuries require surgery. Furthermore the guards will take some of these weapons to Canterlot so we might have a chance to reverse engineer our own. For now however we must get moving.”

“But Princess, tha-” Rarity started.

Luna interrupted “Rarity, please understand that there are worse things right now then being killed by one’s enemy.”

With a puzzled look on her face the fashionista let the argument end there, as she tried to work out what the Princess was alluding to.

With that Luna got up, ordered the corporal to return to Canterlot with a hastily written scroll, an assortment of weapons and items salvaged from the crash site along with his comrade. Once the stretcher was rigged so one pony could carry it he left, looking somewhat like an ant carrying food back to its colony. With the departure of the two guards, this left only sergeant Silver Charge and Aurora as representatives from the military.

While everypony was packing the salvaged equipment, Luna took the opportunity to walk up on what was now the top of the shuttle. Looking down at the half open door she could see a large mounted gun mounted on a swivel with a few pipes attached. Without much care for the attachments she encircled the weapon in her magic and began to work it free from its mounting. With a metallic snap and a hiss of cold gas, the oversized gun came free and she made her way back to the group.

“Come on everypony, we need to get moving,” Luna announced.

The gun hovering beside her was about as long as her and probably weighed that much. The six friends exchanged bewildered looks at the juxtaposition of the blue alicorn carrying a gun as big as she was. This look quickly changed to jealousy for Rainbow Dash who instinctively took it as a challenge to find something bigger.

It was Twilight who broke the silence as the group departed, continuing on from Pinkie’s question earlier. “Princess, how do you know so much about all of this?” gesturing at the large cannon floating above the blue mare.

“That’s a long story Twilight. Until now ‘Tia has been the only pony I have trusted with this but I do owe you an explanation. It all started in the last few years of my banishment on the moon...”

Comments

[Lhmac]

Hmmm. I think there's no problem with your opening. It's interesting, but we've kinda got no one to relate to there. At the end of the chapter, I realised that maybe the beginning related to the fight scene, but it's not really a necessary prologue because it doesn't add anything extra to the scene. And the clinical way that it's described is not really all that engaging, so it's probably not the best bit to be repeating.

I'm no expert on explaining pacing. I think that's the thing I fail at most in my proofreader-y skills and the thing I least often comment on, but I think your pacing in this chapter is a bit funky, and that makes things somewhat boring. We get a little too much detail on things that are unimportant or uninteresting, while we don't get enough regarding important revelations and the world you're building, and the questions it inevitably brings up. My questions throughout this were: what are the reasons it doesn't happen this way in the show? Which is not to say that your scenario isn't plausible, but you need to explain why Celestia has never before offered royal guards on any of the dangerous encounters she's sent Twilight and her friends into. And why guns are better than Luna and Twilight's battle magic.

I've got some other comments I'll send to you.