The Soldier Within

by DarkStatic42

Chapter 2: Fear and Secrets

“It all started in the last few years of my banishment on the moon...” Luna continued.

“It began with a few flashes of images of places I’d never seen before. Then the images were more than just a glimpse, I started to see through the eyes of another being. At first it was nothing too unusual, foreign landscapes and small settlements. Then I saw the true purpose of these creatures. They would descend upon a town, place all its residents into pods, and then move them back to their ship.”

“Princess, are you saying the alien who you were connected to had a ship like the crashed one we found?” Twilight said.

“No Twilight. The vessel we found is nothing more than a small landing craft that would fly to and from a much larger vessel that was in orbit.”

The two ponies walked silently together while Luna allowed Twilight time to assimilate this new concept. The forest was dense and aside from the well trodden trail there, wasn’t any signs of activity. It was, at the very least, quiet. Luna ignited a small light at tip of her horn that allowed them to see better in the quickly fading light.

“So this means that space travel is possible?” Twilight said breaking the silence.

“Yes. Not only possible, but very common amongst the species that I saw during these links.”

“Princess, if you were seeing through the eyes of another pony, as it were, how did you learn how to operate their weapons?”

“I can’t tell you exactly how I came to all of this knowledge. Some of it I learned directly from the visions, but for the most part it just comes to me. I didn’t even realise that I knew how those weapons worked until I picked one up, from there it was like I’d handled them all my life.”

At the front of the group, Silver Charge stopped suddenly. Since he obviously saw something interesting, Pinkie made her way to the front of the group to see what she was missing out on.

“What’cha doing?” Pinkie said with her usual enthusiasm.

“Sshhhhhhh, be quiet or they’ll see us...” Silver Charge whispered as he tried to shut down the party pony.

Ahead on the trail was a small clearing, in which six tall aliens with weapons were spread out in a line. They were searching for something, or someone. All pretence of avoiding them was lost when one of them looked up at where the noise came and alerted his allies.

“Those look the aliens from the crashed shuttle, maybe they can help us!” Twilight said bounding ahead of the group towards the aliens.

“Twilight, No--” Luna whispered.

Twilight was already trotting towards them and didn’t hear the Princesses’ warning. “Hey, we found your friends, perhaps you could help us?” Twilight called out.

Then she saw the glow in their eyes.

Her question was answered with a hail of gunfire.

“Take cover behind the trees!” Silver Charge shouted, dragging Twilight out of the line of fire.

The group was far enough into the forest that the mass of trees provided some cover, but that was quickly fading as the aliens pushed closer.

Luna was the first to react, lifting the gun she had resting on her back and returning fire.

The reverberating -thunk-thunk-thunk- of Luna’s mounted gun was joined by the smaller pops from the pistols as Silver Charge and Applejack also started to shoot back. In that first volley two of the aliens fell and weren’t moving.

Luna turned the gun on the next reaper expecting a similar result. She pulled the heavy trigger with her magic but the gun responded with a loud -click- and a hiss of steam. Not wasting time she released the cannon from her magic and pulled out the small machine pistol she had in her saddlebags.

The remaining four were now more cautiously approaching, using the trees as cover.

Applejack lined up a shot and fired. The round should have hit the alien directly in the chest but instead it impacted a barrier that shimmered as the bullet made its mark.

Recognising the same signature from her spells Twilight shouted “They have shields, we need to work together!”

Twilight turned her rifle to face the alien that Applejack was just shooting at and pulled the trigger. A wild storm of angry red came out the end of her rifle, spraying the alien, the trees and just about anything else that happened to be in front of it.

Rainbow Dash ducked out from behind her tree and landed two shots to the alien’s chest. Without the shield to protect him, he dropped to the ground.

The remaining three aliens advanced without much resistance. Twilight and Silver Charge were making up the Equestrian front line. Twilight looked around her tree and saw a reaper right in front of her nose. She let out a small squeal, it responded with a kick, sending her sprawling to the ground.

After sliding a few meters she came to rest on her back, realising she still had the rifle in her telekinesis, she turned the rifle on her attacker and pulled the trigger.

-beep-beep-beep-beep-

Nothing. A small jet of steam emerged from the chamber as Twilight realised that she had forgotten to reload after her earlier assault.

The alien advanced, raising his weapon.

“Princess...help!” Twilight stammered.

-Krakooom-

Twilight opened her eyes and saw the alien fall to the ground. Looking over to where the shot came from she saw Rarity on top of a pile of rocks, with a smoking rifle and a concerned look on her face. Twilight scrambled back towards the princess, fumbling to reload her rifle.

Cornered by the remaining two aliens, Aurora had taken cover behind the biggest tree she could find.

Rainbow Dash sprinted straight at them and was joined shortly by Silver Charge. Rarity was yelling at the top of her voice for Aurora to get out of the way. Rainbow made a flying leap at one, using it to cushion her landing. The other alien turned to fire at Silver Charge who slammed into the back of the nearest tree narrowly avoiding the bullets.

Rainbow emptied her entire clip into the head of the alien as she stood astride it. The shield collapsed and the last two rounds turned its head into blue mush.

The last alien turned to face Rainbow Dash and raised its weapon. The pegasus instinctively flapped her wings to escape to the sky but gravity won this battle.

Rainbow dash looked around frantically for a way out. There wasn’t one.

A loud report echoed as Rarity’s shot dropped the aliens shield by otherwise left it unharmed.

Aurora was still behind the tree and had a clear shot at the attacker but she sat there with her wing covering her eyes and the pistol in her mouth.

“Aurora, help!” Rainbow Dash yelled, dropping her spent pistol and making a run for the nearest tree. Silver Charge was already out from behind his tree and charging the enemy.

The alien fired.

-Blam-

The first shot went between Rainbow’s hooves.

-Blam-

A white hot pain shot through Rainbow’s chest as she sprawled across the ground.

Silver Charge was almost there but he knew he wasn’t going to make it --.

-Blam-

The alien dropped its rifle as Silver Charge pummeled it to the ground. Dead.

Surprised, Silver Charge turned to Aurora. Facing him with the smoking gun still in her mouth and tears streaming down her cheeks, she dropped the pistol and ran at the sight of the blood.

After seeing Rainbow Dash fall, Fluttershy was already sprinting across to her friend.

“Don’t move, Rainbow Dash. You’re going to be ok,” she said choking back a sob.

“You’re a t-terrible -- liar, F-Fluttershy,” Rainbow dash replied between gasps.

“Princess, we need some help over here!” Twilight yelled, as she joined the gathering crowd around Rainbow Dash.

Luna turned, “Sergeant, get the prisoner over here now!”

Silver Charge left the group to retrieve the prisoner, who was now awake, and returned to the gathering around Rainbow Dash.

As soon as Luna saw the injury she turned to Applejack “Applejack, fetch me the crate that you were carrying earlier.”

Rainbow Dash’s breathing became more laboured as she began coughing up more blood. Fluttershy was doing all she could with the small medkit, but she knew it wasn’t going to be enough.

She turned to Rarity, “Its punctured both of her lungs. I don’t think she has much time..” as she buried her face in Rarity’s mane and sobbed quietly.

Silver Charge propped the prisoner up against a tree, a front row seat to the unfolding madness.

Luna loomed over the bound alien, “Tell me now, is there anything we can use?”

The alien merely responded with a gesture to a small capsule protruding from Luna’s saddlebag.

Luna fumbled with the canister, dropping it to the ground. The small capsule rolled and stopped against a tree root, a white cross facing upwards.

“You need to calibrate it.”

“What?” Luna remarked as she turned to face the voice.

“You need to calibrate it to your physiology before you can use it,” he continued.

“Why should we trust you?” Silver Charge retorted.

“Princess, Rainbow Dash needs our help. We don’t have much choice right now,” Twilight interjected.

“Show me how,” Luna commanded.

“Get an omni tool.”

Luna emptied the entire contents of the crate onto the ground in front of the prisoner.

“There, that band, put it on.”

Luna levitated the metal band over the lower part of her hoof. She got it a third of the way up her leg when it suddenly shrunk and and attached itself. She recoiled, expecting the device to do something nefarious, but instead an orange display lit up along the lower part of her leg.

“Now wave it over the canister and then an uninjured specimen,” the prisoner continued.

Luna made her way over to Fluttershy who was still sobbing quietly into Rarity’s mane. She waived her hoof over the hovering canister and then did a full pass over Fluttershy, starting at her tail. As soon as that was complete a new option appeared on the orange display emanating from her hoof.

“Press the calibrate button. Now attach the medi-gel and do the same thing to your injured soldier.”

Luna waived the canister over the orange display looking for where she was meant to attach it. As she did a round section lit up. She moved the canister over to it and to her surprise it was solid and it made a connection.

Rainbow’s breathing was shallow and sounded more like gurgling from a boiling pot than a pony trying to breathe. As she held her hoof over the entrance wound, the display lit up and the canister came to life. A stream of purple gel emanated from the tip of her hoof and into the wound.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen.

Rainbow Dash took a breath. On the exhale her lungs sounded slightly clearer. The pegasus had stopped convulsing and coughing blood.

Rarity took a step back from Fluttershy and lifted the pegasus out of her mane. “Look dear, Rainbow’s going to be ok.”

Fluttershy turned and saw Luna still hovering her hoof over Rainbow Dash with a strange display giving a readout of her friend’s vital statistics.

“How are you feeling?” Fluttershy asked as she lowered her head to the ground, covering her eyes with her mane.

-cough-

“Better. The pain is mostly gone, but it still feels worse than breaking a wing.”

“Why are you helping us?” Luna said as she turned to interrogate the prisoner.

“You are not my enemy,” The prisoner replied plainly.

“Then who are you?”

“I am called Jorund. In my cycle I was a support technician for my unit before I was captured by the Reapers.”

“Your cycle?” Twilight asked.

“The Reapers are very old, our scientists estimated that once every 50,000 of our years they emerge from The Rim and harvest all races beyond a certain level of technology and sentience. They will attack you for one of two reasons, either they harvest your species, or they are using your world for raw materials. Given the situation I suspect the latter is the case here.”

Several harsh words echoed through the forest. It was clear that Silver Charge was giving Aurora his version of a pep talk after her recent actions. Shortly after Silver Charge and a rather chagrined pegasus rejoined the waiting group.

“We need to keep moving” Luna said, changing the topic.

“But Princess, we’ve been walking all day. Surely we can find a small cabin nearby or something...” Rarity said voicing her complaint.

“Ah’ don’t see no cabins around these parts Rarity. Looks like we’ll just ‘ave to find somewhere else to set up camp.” Applejack said, as she recollected the contents of the crate from the ground.

Rainbow Dash was loaded up on Luna’s back like she was a basket of apples and then the group began moving again. Now in darkness, broken only by three small lights from the unicorns and the Princess, Twilight began to notice something. Silence. For the first time since they left Canterlot, no pony was talking, not even Pinkie Pie.

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

After a few hours of stumbling around in the dark, Silver Charge found a small cave. Luna and Silver Charge took it upon themselves to take watch duty for what was left of the night while everypony got some rest.

Twilight felt some relief at not being asked to take a shift at watch, it made her feel more like herself and less of an impromptu soldier. All she could think about was the alien she shot, the noise the rifle made each time it released a charge and the smell that it made at the end of a clip. At least she had her friends.

Her friends.

For the first time since the Discord incident, Twilight felt that the group was starting to break apart, and it wasn’t the sort of problems a friendship report could fix. Pinkie Pie was taking personal responsibility for Rainbow Dash getting shot, Fluttershy was even more withdrawn after the near miss and Rarity somehow was maintaining a cold detachment to just about everything.

As tired as they were, sleep was elusive. A high pitched whine like a mosquito could be heard in the distance. Luna, who was standing watch, extinguished her light, leaving the cave in pitch black. As the whine grew louder, Twilight could hear her own heart beating as she tried to regulate her breathing.

The whine started to fade in the opposite direction and there was a collective sigh. Twilight was apparently not the only pony holding her breath.

A warm light filtered into Twilight’s eyes and for a moment she was back in her bed at Canterlot. A gentle hoof was prodding her shoulder.

“Twilight, we’re leaving now...you need to get up...” a soft voice said.

“Ughhh. Five more minutes Spike...” Twilight replied as she tried to roll further into her pillow.

Feathers. Blue feathers. Since when did she have a blue feathered pillow? Twilight bolted to her hooves so fast she startled Fluttershy.

“Princess, I’m so sorry.” Twilight stammered. Her brain was still only half awake.

“It’s quite alright Twilight.” Luna stated as she got up and gathered her things.

The purple unicorn’s brain slowly started coming back to life as she remembered the Princess coming over to her during the night, but she couldn’t remember why.

Her train of thought was derailed as she felt a weight drop on to her flank. She looked around to see Applejack standing behind her and her saddlebags had found their way onto her back. Twilight was many things, but a morning pony was not one of them.

“Come on Sugarcube”

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

The morning air was cold and dry as they walked through the trees. Glimpses of the rising sun could be seen filtering through the leaves. Despite all that was happening, Equestria was still beautiful.

Rainbow Dash had slowed them down a bit after insisting she could walk by herself but her slow speed and constant breaks had worn thin on Silver Charge, who finally won the argument and Rainbow Dash was forced to let Luna carry her the rest of the way to the village.

The path started following along side a dried up creek bed, with a fairly steep embankment. Twilight idly wondered just how much water could flow through it during a flood. It didn’t take much longer for her bored mind to start making rough estimations and she came to an approximate figure not long after.

Twilight looked back up and could start to make out the shapes of the village in the distance. She half expected to be able to see the usual bustle of a small town but it seemed quiet. “Perhaps it’s some kind of pony holiday?” she said quietly to Fluttershy.

Her heart sank as she saw three bipeds walking around the skirts of the treeline. No pony moved. Fluttershy’s mane had covered her eyes forming a pink shield. After they passed by without incident, Silver Charge motioned for the rest of the group to follow him behind a large tree.

“Somepony needs to get close and have a look,” Silver Charge said.

“Couldn’t we just, um.... go around them? I don’t think they know we’re here...” Fluttershy added quietly.

“They wouldn’t be here if there wasn’t something worth guarding,” Jorund stated.

“Oh...” said the yellow pegasus, now thoroughly depressed.

“Aurora, you’re the closest we have to anypony with reconnaissance training,” Silver Charge said.

“I’m a messenger, not a soldier!” She hissed.

“It’s either that, or I’ll give you back your pistol--”

“Fine. I’ll do what I can,” Aurora replied with a snort.

Luna used the break to give the omni tool to Fluttershy along with a quick explanation of what she did to help Rainbow Dash earlier, and the remaining canister of medication.

As time dragged on Twilight became more worried about Aurora. She hadn’t heard anything, which was good, but she didn’t expect her to be gone this long. Not long later Aurora reemerged from the creek bed, her mane covered in leaves and twigs.

“There were six guarding the town hall, two in front of the small hut next to it and those three that are walking around the edge of the town. They nearly caught me you know...”

Her complaint was ended with a raised hoof from Luna. “You did well Aurora.”

Twilight noticed that this didn’t seem to mollify her. She suspected that a single day ago, praise from a royal figure was all that Aurora desired and she would have been overjoyed at it, now it didn’t seem to matter to her anymore.

Meanwhile, Silver Charge had been drawing out a rough map of the town along with Aurora’s observations in the dirt with his hoof.

With a concerned look on his face he turned to Luna and said, “Can I speak to you privately for a moment Princess?”

“I don’t like this at all. Your friends, capable as they are, they are not soldiers.”

“I am aware of this Sergeant.”

“I mean no disrespect Princess. But until now we’ve been fighting in self defence, now you’re expecting me to organise 7 untrained ponies in an unprovoked assault?”

“It’s not unprovoked, they invaded our land. If you paid attention to your information you’d realise that the six aliens guarding the town hall probably have all the towns-ponies locked inside. I can not leave my subjects in the hands of those aliens!”

Silver Charge opened his mouth to object but he couldn’t find any words. She was right. They had to do something.

Jorund walked over from the main group and interrupted, “There is a way that this group can take the town.”

Luna glared at him for eavesdropping, giving Jorund her best ‘we are not amused’ look. Either he ignored it or didn’t understand the nuances of equine facial expressions.

“I’m not sure that I am ready to trust you with a weapon yet, but I will hear your plan,” Luna said.

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

Aurora crouched behind a bush at the edge of the clearing. The creek bed was just behind her but the patrol was already too close for her to make an escape. The Turian-Reapers, as Jorund had explained to them, didn’t seem to notice her as they passed by and continued on their endless circuit. Relieved, she shifted her weight slightly and a small twig cracked under hoof.

The reapers immediately turned and began to approach the origin of the noise. She ran. Diving for the creek bed she galloped as fast as her legs would carry her, even deploying her wings at times to glide over the uneven surface. As she got closer to where the group had first stopped, the walls of the creek bed were getting steeper. It would be impossible for her to climb out quickly, she was trapped.

Aurora rounded a few bends, the aliens not far behind. With the last bend behind her there was only a straight section of the creek with fairly high walls. As soon as the Reapers rounded the corner they began firing roughly in her direction. Ahead of her the walls of the embankments started to ease.

The bullets started to whizz past her like angry wasps, she turned and ran towards the lessening embankment. As the turned she clipped her hoof on a stone which sent her tumbling to the ground.

Fire erupted as the edges of the embankments lit up an angry red. The three aliens crumbled under the withering fire.

“What took you so long? They almost got me!” Aurora shouted angrily.

Behind the trees, along both sides of the embankment, the group stepped out of their cover.

“Sorry Sugarcube, but we ‘ad to wait until they were right close,” Applejack replied with a hint of guilt.

Fluttershy came galloping down the path and slid to a stop in front of Luna and Silver Charge. She breathlessly tried to deliver a message that nopony could understand.

“Take a breath first Fluttershy--” Twilight suggested.

“They..There’s more. *gasp* The first group is coming right here and the other *gasp* one went off into the forest.”

“What? How many?” Silver Charge said as he reloaded his pistol.

“Six,” Fluttershy yelped.

“What do you recommend Sergeant?” Luna inquired.

Rounds started to filter through the trees. The sound wasn’t unlike a log slowly cracking on a campfire, except louder.

“Run!” Fluttershy squeaked as she galloped off into the creek bed away from the town.

No pony argued with Fluttershy’s tactical assessment this time. It was at least a hundred meters before Applejack managed to catch the winded yellow pegasus and bring her to a halt.

“Ah reckon we oughta lay low a mite.”

Silver Charge stuck his head over the top of the embankment. What he saw wasn’t encouraging.

“Eight. Eight more, not six!” he whispered.

“They are still separated?” Jorund enquired.

“For now, yes.”

Bullets still flew around the last place that the reaper forces had seen the ponies.

“This is our opportunity. We should strike now, while they do not know our location, and before they can regroup.”

“Are you crazy?” Twilight uttered.

Jorund was done with this discussion. He snatched Twilight’s assault rifle out of the air and charged the group that was attempting to flank their original position.

“Oh my, he just ran in...” Fluttershy added, stating the obvious.

Silver Charge hesitated for a second before following. Once he moved, everypony except Fluttershy and Aurora followed suit.

Jorund moved quickly through the trees. Approaching slightly from behind gave him an element of surprise, but that wouldn’t last. Raising the rifle he fired a burst in to the closest reaper, dropping the barrier and the reaper in less than a second. The Turian reapers stopped to return the favour, but Jorund had already emptied the last of the clip into a second Turian, killing him.

Ducking behind his tree he reloaded the rifle with one of the spare clips Twilight had affixed to the weapon. The spent clip shimmered an angry red.

-Krakooom-

Rarity had turned her attention on the first group coming from the town and was, at the very least, slowing them down.

Jorund threw the spent clip just behind the tree that two reapers were using for cover. He fired a single shot at the clip.

-BOOM-

The spent clip went off like a grenade.

Seizing his chance Journd ran around the far side of the tree and raised his rifle. The first reaper went down without challenge. The second raised his rifle and they both fired.

-Blam-

-Fsshck-

Jorund’s first round hit the Reaper on the side. He in turn felt a burning in his leg.

-Blam-

-Fsshck-

The second round hit the reaper square in the chest, without shields it was a fatal hit. Jorund felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder that knocked him to the ground. The remaining two reapers would take advantage of that.

Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were all engaging the remaining reaper from the second squad. Twilight followed behind them, feeling useless, but not wanting to abandon them just because she was unarmed.

A withering barrage of fire poured upon Jorund, but surprisingly he remained unharmed.

Luna stood behind Jorund, projecting a translucent blue shield in front of them both.

“Fluttershy, your assistance is required here!” Luna commanded.

Fluttershy did not need to be told. She was already halfway there by the time Luna had called for her, closely followed by Aurora.

Silver Charge came to Luna’s aid. Using her shield as cover he fired his pistol around it, knocking the legs out from one.

-Blam- -Blam-

The second went down for the count.

Fluttershy saw something move out of the corner of her eye. The last reaper from that squad had moved around behind Luna and stepped out from behind a tree ready to fire. She did the only thing she could, she ran.

The first shot went into the dirt as the Turian turned his gun on the new aggressor. Fluttershy launched herself into the air, pumping her wings furiously. In mid air the omni tool came to life.

-Shiiiick-

It was too late. Fluttershy’s attempt to save Luna was fatal. The holographic blade from the omni tool pierced the reaper in the upper chest, ignoring his barrier and killing him instantly. She let out a soft squeal as she recoiled, trying to get away from the alien blood that now covered her face and hooves.

“COWARDS!” Luna yelled with the force of the Royal Canterlot Voice, her anger made evident by a white hot glow in her eyes. Dispelling the barrier and reforming it around her like a personal shield she charged straight at the squad approaching from the town.

Rounds bounced off her shield deflecting into the nearby trees and dirt. She wasn’t safe to be around, regardless of how friendly you were.

Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Twilight were all swept up in the sudden rush forward, as they hurried to move from tree to tree to keep up with the Princess. On the edge of the battle they resumed their fight with the new adversaries, who were now much more conservative in their battle technique.

Luna on the other hoof was a whirlwind of reckless abandon. One tried to fire a burst at her, but instead of letting it bounce off her new shield she grabbed the weapon with her magic and redirected it at one of his allies. Another tried to sneak up behind Luna with a blade and got bucked hard into a tree for his efforts. None of those reapers were getting back up.

The four friends behind a nearby tree were in a stalemate with two reapers behind the opposite tree. That was until one of the reapers slipped by and managed to come around Rainbow Dash’s side of the tree.

Applejack saw the movement out of the corner of her eye, but the cyan pegasus was distracted and oblivious to the danger. She dived on her friend and knocked her to the ground, the bullet that was intended for Rainbow’s head lodged itself firmly in her flank. Twilight turned and charged her magic with the intention of flinging the Turian hard against the next tree, all she managed to do was to knock him to the ground.

It was enough. Pinkie sprung into the air and landed on its head.

-bounce- -bounce- -bounce- -bounce-

Each bounce was punctuated by Pinkie’s words, “Stop.....hurting......my......... friends!” With the last bounce there was nothing left that was recognisable of the Turians face, it was now a blue paste.

Luna’s fight had descended into a scrappy mess. The last three aliens had abandoned projectile weapons and opted for bladed weapons. Rarity’s sniper rifle was also silenced, as the only remaining foes were right in close with Luna.

Silver Charge galloped past Twilight’s group and made for the nearest Turian. Pinkie Pie and Twilight followed as best they could. Luna’s shield was starting to fade. The toll was evident in her eyes and the numerous cuts on her body, where the shield had failed to fully deflect a knife.

Two were dispatched by a rampaging Silver Charge and Pinkie Pie while the final reaper made a last stand against Luna. He charged the night princess recklessly, knife out in front. Luna countered the only way she could, she lowered her horn and pierced the alien in the chest before he could react. Luna’s face looked more like a macabre horror show as the reaper fell to the ground.

The woods fell silent. A quiet sobbing could be heard echoing around, but it was hard to tell where it was coming from. Jorund was still where he fell, trying to crudely apply his own first aid from the abandoned kit. Aurora was holding a bandage on Applejack’s flank to keep the bleeding down. She called out for Fluttershy but the only response was the continued sobbing of the distressed pegasus.

Rainbow Dash gingerly went off in search of Fluttershy, only moving as fast as the patched hole in her chest would allow. She found her sitting next to a ditch, with the omni tool discarded, trying to wash off the blood stains with the muddy water from a puddle.

“We’ve been looking for you. Applejack needs your help.”

“No pony needs my help...*sob*..I didn't mean to...” she said, trying desperately to remove the blood.

Rainbow Dash was torn between forcing Fluttershy to help Applejack or trying to console the distraught pegasus. She picked up the offending tech and put it in her saddle bag.

Putting a wing around Fluttershy she said quietly, “We can talk about this later, but right now we need your help.”

Without further resistance Fluttershy allowed herself to be led over the tree where everyone but Luna had gathered. Jorund had propped himself against the tree with a thick gauze bandage on his shoulder. Applejack was on the ground with Aurora holding a bandage on her right flank just above her cutie mark.

Seeing that her friends were ok and being cared for, Twilight’s concern drifted back to Luna. She last saw her leaving the battle covered in blood but she wasn’t sure whose blood it was.

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

Twilight found Luna pacing round the creek bed.

“Leave us alone Twilight Sparkle. We do not require thy presence!” Luna shouted, her eyes still glowing.

“But Princess..”

Luna ignored Twilight’s plea and walked away.

Not wanting to disobey a royal command Twilight made her way back to the last place she saw the group, when she nearly collided with Rarity as she rounded a tree.

“Darling, where have you been? Have you seen the Princess? You had us all worried”

“Down at the creek bed and yes,” Twilight replied efficiently.

Rarity gave her a knowing look, “What happened?”

“Nothing happened, she just said she wanted to be left alone,” Twilight replied sourly.

“Sometimes when a pony says she wants to be left alone, she means it, but other times it can be a cry for help from somepony too proud to ask.”

Twilight read quite a few psychology textbooks when she first got to Ponyville, with the hope that they would teach her some of the social nuances that she lacked. Unfortunately they went into much detail about the pony psyche and lacked the practical usefulness that Twilight was looking for. Even when they did provide an answer it usually came well after the use-by date.

“I don’t know Rarity. She looked fairly sure of herself.”

“Hold still for a moment darling, you have so much mud on your face it’s like you’re wearing a mask.” Rarity said, as she tried to clean Twilight’s face.

“A mask! Rarity you’re a genius,” Twilight exclaimed as she bolted back in the direction of the creek.

“Why, thank you...I think...” Rarity yelled back.

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

Twilight cantered up to the top of the creek embankment. The night princess was still pacing around below between the puddles of water and the small stream that was the creek at this time of year.

“Princess, I think I understand...” Twilight said as she took a step on to the downgrade. Her hoof slipped and snagged on a tree root, sending her crashing to the bottom.

Luna looked over and saw the purple unicorn lying face down in a puddle of murky water. When Twilight looked up the caked mud mixed with some of the blue blood that was still in her mane. With the pathetic scene in front of her last of Luna’s rage ebbed, replaced with concern and guilt.

“Twilight, are you alright?”

“Ugh, I think so,” Twilight replied as she gingerly returned to her hooves.

“Come with me.”

Luna led Twilight over to the small flowing creek and with her magic, dampened a piece of cloth and began to remove the dirt and blood from her mane.

“Princess, I don’t think you really wanted to be alone,” Twilight began, trying to tread a fine line between helping and what she saw as being a rebellious subject.

Luna busied herself with the cloth and didn’t answer. Her face was saying ‘I thought that was obvious’ or ‘You’re perilously close to being exiled’, Twilight wasn’t sure which.

When Twilight was mostly cleaned up Luna turned the cloth back on herself trying, haphazardly, to remove the muck. Twilight took over the cloth with her own magic, which she found surprisingly easy despite Luna’s recent display of power. The princess simply sat down and waited patiently.

While Twilight was never as good at grooming as Rarity, she was able to slowly bring Luna’s appearance back to an acceptable standard, if one ignored the numerous shallow cuts from the recent battle. When she’d worked her way around to the alicorn’s face she noticed it was already damp.

“Princess, are you, crying?”

“I’ll be -- fine Twilight,” Luna replied, her voice wavering.

“You don’t look fine to me!” Twilight quipped before immediately putting her hoof over her mouth before she could say else.

Whether it was exhaustion from the battle, fatigue, or Twilight sudden outburst; something inside Luna snapped. Like a dam cracking under pressure, a flood of emotions were released as she began to sob uncontrollably into her hooves.

Twilight recoiled, not exactly sure how to handle this sudden change. Normally she would make some excuse about needing to catch up on study and then make a hasty departure, now she had nowhere to run, and was all out of excuses.

“Uh...It’ll be ok Princess.”

“I’m...-sob-...not your princess, Twilight,” Luna replied softly.

“That’s silly, you’re the Princess of the Night, co-rule-”

“No Twilight. You saw the real pony today out in those trees. -sob- I’m not a princess, I’m a monster, and I don’t even know if I’m in control anymore.”

“It’s ok Princess, everyone loses control at times-”

“You don’t understand. I didn’t become Nightmare Moon because I was consumed with rage. My anger opened a door. Nightmare Moon was the result the aliens trying to control me.”

“But you weren’t under their control, were you?”

“I don’t know. I could hear the voice inside my head screaming for control but I pushed it away. Instead that voice filled me with an unending anger and amplified my magic. They turned me into Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago, and I nearly let it happen again today.”

“The voices are getting louder and harder to push away now, I don’t know who I am anymore.”

Twilight was stunned. Suddenly it all made sense, Jorund, Nightmare Moon, Luna’s earlier battle with the Reaper forces. The glow in their eyes wasn’t ocular magical saturation, it was the alien’s control mechanism.

Comments

[Rainbow Dashey]

There is some convention and syntax errors, but nice sense of multiple events.
Have a free like for having better story than Mass Effect 3

[Regidar]

1780300 Lol, don't be that way, Mass Effect 3 had a great story. Just because the FIRST ending, which they have since fixed, was sub-par doesn't mean the whole thing sucked.

Look at me defending games I don't even play.

[ugugg93]

1780414

So with the DLC, the god awful ending that made everyone want to burn EA HQ to the ground became a god awful ending that made everyone want to protest outside of EA HQ?

I don't see much improvement.

And yes, I played through both endings...

[DarkStatic42]

1780300 Thanks Dashey. This is my first fic so constructive criticism is definitely welcomed.

Chapter 1 was a bit slower and more clunky than I'd have liked but I felt that the story really started to kick off in Chapter 2.

[Lhmac]

I keep thinking about the usefulness of magic and why Twilight, Luna and Rarity can't just use magic to fight the enemies.

Other comments: I'm interested in where you're going. Mind-controlled Luna. Does that mean they can control other ponies, too, or do they just want the most powerful ones? Hmm. Reading on (yes, I can do that, mwahaha)

[DoctorSpectrum]

Still waiting on that Chapter 3 y'know