Victor Squad: New Frontier

by Legofan

Chapter 5: Friend or Fiend?

~~~Throne Room, Canterlot, 1 day and 1 hour after the Ambush at EGP-01~~~

---

"You summoned me?"

"Yes, Grievous, I did," Celestia started. She began to smile slightly, continuing. "Luna and I have reached a decision. Equestria is willing to accept your protection, as long as we can finalize a couple minor details."

Grievous was elated. He had expected to get the princesses on his side sooner or later, though he considered the latter to be the likely case. Not that he was complaining; it's just that there were usually complications in his plans. This was a nice change of pace from Grievous's regular routine.

"Of course, your highness," he said, tone noticeably less gruff as compared to how he had talked to them before. "I am pleased to have been granted your consideration."

Celestia smiled warmly at Grievous, who had dipped his head as he spoke; not quite a full bow, but certainly more than he had given her or Luna in their previous encounters.

Luna giggled slightly at Grievous's gesture, saying, "Thou need not bow to us, Grievous. You are our guest, and we are not your masters."

"No, you're not," Grievous reinforced, looking up intimidatingly. "And any attempts to convince me otherwise will be refuted."

The guards in the room eyed Grievous suspiciously, ready to suppress him if his mood swing resulted in violence. Grievous payed them no notice.

After a few moments of tense silence, Celestia decided it best to progress with their meeting. "Hostilities will not be necessary, Grievous; we have no intentions of making you a servant to us."

Grievous relented. "Of course...my apologies," he said with an indeterminable amount of sincerity. "So, what are these 'final details' that need to be worked out?"

"Our concerns are mostly related to the command structure of our combined forces," Luna elaborated.

Celestia finished the statement. "You have made us aware that your forces are armed to kill. This somewhat conflicts with our Guard, whose purpose is to act as defenders, not as aggressors. As such, killing is a last resort for our Guard. Luna and I are willing to trust that you'd not have your 'droids', as you called them, wander our country unmonitored. But, for security reasons that I'm sure someone of your experience would understand, we need to make sure that Equestria has some sort of power over your units."

"I understand."

"So do you have any suggestions on how to resolve this issue?" Luna inquired of Grievous.

After a couple of minutes of contemplation and careful wording, Grievous presented a compromise. "I would be willing to let the two of you and Shining Armor command my droids during a time of crisis, such as an invasion, which is a completely likely situation, so long as I am permitted to use my droids as I see fit during other times, so long as such use does not violate the laws of your country, except for cases in which the Republic is involved, in which case I will deal with the situation as I see fit."

Smiling again at Grievous, Celestia said, "A perfectly reasonable and agreeable compromise, Grievous. There is but one more thing that we need to discuss...you."

Grievous stared at Celestia, not comprehending the implications of he comment.

"What we mean is," Luna explained, "is that, now that we've reached an agreement about the handling of thine droids, we need to know how it is that you will be handled."

"I will command my droids and act within the laws of your society, unless such laws conflict with my master's demands or with winning my war against the Republic, in which case, I will be forced to neglect them," Grievous said.

"We can agree to that," said Celestia. "Would you be capable of commanding your troops from here, or do you need to be given leave to travel in order to do so."

"I can remotely communicate with any all of my forces fine from here, and can stay here should the hospitality be provided."

"Indeed it shall," Luna confirmed.

"That is all that we needed to hear before we would be willing to finalize our agreement. Welcome to Equestira, General Grievous," Celestia concluded.

~~~Girevous' Room, Canterlot, 1 day and 2 hours after the Ambush at EGP-01~~~

---

"Report, General."

"I have made agreements with the princesses as you commanded, master. They have given me permission to deploy my troops as I see fit, and as far as I am aware, they will be assisting us against the Republic."

"Very good, General," said the hologram as a sly smile crept upon the old man's face. "It is good to see you finally working ahead of schedule."

"These ponies are very trusting. I've managed to maintain effectively complete control over my droids. It will provide very beneficial to our plans...which are what, exactly? You've still not told me why I'm here, when I could be out fighting for you, which is my specialty."

"Really?" Dooku said. "You seem to have made quite the diplomat out of yourself from what you've told me. I would have never thought of you as the...charismatic type."

Grievous growled in irritation.

"As for my plans, I'm afraid I can't tell you yet. I need to make some more observations before I am willing to present it to you, and it seems that you've got a visitor."

With that, Dooku's hologram vanished from Grievous's holovid. He turned to the door to his room, which was still closed. Listening carefully, he could hear the slow clip-clopping of hooves coming from the other side, which ceased sounding as the source neared the door. Before the visitor had a chance to knock, Grievous opened the door. He found Celestia's beautiful eyes peering up to him.

"What do you want?" he asked in an unfriendly manner, which Celestia seemed to ignore when she responded.

"I'd like you to come with me; there are some important ponies arriving soon that I'd like you to be introduced to."

Ugh, more politics. "Fine, but let's make this short. I do have droids to coordinate."

~~~Ponyville Train Station, Ponyville, 1 day, 3 hours and 30 minutes after the Ambush at EGP-01~~~

---

Twilight Sparkle sighed in relief as the last train to Canterlot departed from the station, leaving her, her friends, and a contingent of guards the only ones at the station. She looked to the chariot that was to be her and her friends' ride to Canterlot with anticipation and excitement for the events to come.

"Thanks for all of your help, girls," she said, turning to her group of friends behind her. "I don't think I'd have gotten everypony on the trains in a timely manner without you."

"No problem, Twi, it's what we're here for," Rainbow Dash said, casually brushing off the praise but secretly relishing it.

"Yep, anytime," Applejack agreed, pulling her stetson down and nodding as she said it.

From behind her, the group heard one of the guards speak. "I'm sorry to interrupt, Miss Sparkle, but we should be going. We don't want to keep the princesses waiting." Collectively agreeing, the group of six friends climbed onto the chariot and were whisked away by the pegusi pulling it.

During the process of getting all of Ponyville's citizens onto the trains, Twilight's mind considered the possibilities of the news Celestia and Luna had sent her. Several ideas of what this 'new era' could consist of had gone through her head, though most had to do with collections of powerful, society-altering spells. Curious as to what her friends thought, she asked, "What do you think Celestia meant by 'a new era for Equestria'?"

"Maybe the princess has a bunch of awesome stunts that she wants all of Equestria to see," Rainbow Dash said hopefully.

"I don't see how that constitutes a 'new era for Equestria', Rainbow Dash," Rarity said. "Perhaps she has a new clothing line that she wants to show off," she thought aloud.

"'Cause that constitutes a new era," Twilight panned, rolling her eyes as she spoke.

"Were you not my dear friend, I would be offended at your lack of respect for fashion," Rarity huffed.

"I never said I didn't respect it, Rarity. I was just saying that Princess Celestia doesn't find fashion important enough to justify an event like this."

Rarity put a hoof on Twilight's shoulder, saying, "Darling, you take everything I say too seriously. I was merely teasing you again."

"Oh...sorry," Twilight said sheepishly.

"No need to apologize, darling. Just a small misunderstanding." Rarity smiled her reassurance. "Does anypony else have any speculations as to why Celestia is summoning us?" she asked the rest of the group.

Wanting to get her two bits in, Applejack spoke up. "Ah honestly got no idea what the princess is riled up 'bout, but Ah'm eager ta find out."

"I hope it's nothing...bad," Fluttershy said meekly.

"I don't think it'll be anything bad. We haven't had anything terrible happen since..." Twilight replied, taking a moment to recall the last catastrophe to assail Equestria. "Would you consider letting Discord free to have been something potentially terrible?" she asked, hoping to get an opinion.

"Yes," the others agreed.

"Well, then; we haven't had any potential disasters since we let Discord free. Pinkie Pie, you've been awfully quite about this," Twilight said, addressing her pink friend. "What do you have to say about-"

Pinkie cut her off. "ALIENS!" she shouted, leaping off of the chariot and literally hovering as she screamed.

Twilight was caught off guard by Pinkie's unexpected outburst, and took a couple of seconds to compose some sort of response. "Excuse me?"

"Aliens. I think Celestia made contact with an alien species and that they've come here to be our friends and help us and party and eat cupcakes and be our bestest friends, but then they'll turn out to be evil monsters trying to take over the universe and enslave all of ponykind," she said with certainty.

"I...I don't...I don't know what to say to that," Twilight stuttered, utterly confused. She was not alone, though. The rest of her friends and even a couple of their accompanying guards looked at her as if he was crazy.

"You probably shouldn't say anything to it. We don't want any spoilers," she said.

I'll never understand Pinkie, Twilight thought, and decided to drop the issue.

~~~Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, 1 day and 5 hours after the Ambush at EGP-01~~~

---

The chariot landed gracefully on the short airstrip intended for that purpose, with several other pegusi guards touched down around it and its occupants. As the occupants got off, a few guards approached them, led by none other than Shining Armor. Seeing her beloved brother, Twilight Sparkle immediately went to give him a hug.

"Shining Armor, its so nice to see you!" she said enthusiastically, embracing him in an armor crushing hug while the rest of her friends caught up.

"Yeah, hello, Twily," he replied uncharacteristically gravely, returning the hug.

Twilight could immediately tell that Shining Armor was troubled. Glancing around, she could see that a couple of the other guards showed similar signs of tension.

Still holding Twilight, Shining Armor greeted her friends. "Is something wrong?" Twilight asked from within his arms.

"I hope not," he said, releasing his sister. "I'd love to chat more, but Celestia is extremely eager to see you all, so we shouldn't keep her waiting."

Shining Armor and his guards led the six mares through the castle's many winding corridors for several minute before finally arriving at the Princess' throne room. "Stay here," he told them before having the unicorn guards as the door let him in. The doors quickly shut behind him, denying a glance into the room to the mares that had followed him.

"Somethin' 'bout this don't seem right," Applejack remarked, to which no reply was given.

The guard captain came through the door again shortly, with the door closing in a similar manner as before behind him. Before he could speak, a heavy, masculine cough resounded from the opposite side of the door.

"Who was that?" Twilight queried.

"Alright girls, the princess and I are going to introduce you to someone really important. He's a bit...unusual, but I need you all to remain calm and collected. Can you do that?" Shining Armor said, ignoring Twilight's question.

"We can do that," Twilight assured. "Wait, 'someone'?"

Before Twilight's question could be answered, Shining Armor moved behind them and threw the doors open with his magic, revealing the extravagant throne room to the Element bearers.

At that moment, though, none of them could care at all for the pristinely maintained floor, or the lavish adornments, or even their regal princess, sitting patiently in her opulent throne for them. Instead, all of their focus was drawn by the behemoth standing by her.

Shining Armor walked past them, turning to beckon them to follow. Twilight cautiously obeyed, keeping her eyes on the monstrosity before them, greatly unnerved as the being's wicked, yellow eyes followed her. Her friends slowly followed her example, not a decision made by herself for one butter yellow pegasus, who only budged by being shoved by Rainbow Dash and Applejack.

The tension in the room could almost be cut by a knife, or a lightsaber for those lacking knives. Eventually, Shining Armor, Twilight, and the rest of the Elements of Harmony stood, or cowered in Fluttershy's case, before Celestia and the strange creature.

"Here they are, your highness," Shining Armor said to Celestia.

"Thank you, Captain," she said, her soothing voice seeming to bring some sort of relief to the intimidated ponies in front of her. "You are dismissed."

Shining Armor gave a salute before leaving for the back of the room. The lack of sound from the doors indicated to Twilight that her brother had not left them. She watched the giant sweep his gaze across the group of them, giving each of them a cold, calculating glare...except for when it saw Fluttershy; it seemed to get an evil glimmer in its eyes as it watched her tremble in fear behind Applejack.

"My little ponies, thank you all for coming on such short notice," Celestia said, finally managing to divert their attention from hulking being adjacent to her, "but I felt that this was something you needed to do as soon as possible. Please allow me to introduce you to General Grievous, the Supreme Commander of the droid army of the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Did I get that right?" she asked, turning to Grievous for confirmation
.

"Yes," he said, regaining the attention from the ponies again.

Addressing the Elements again, Celestia asked, "Would you care to introduce yourselves to him?"

"Certainly, Princess," Twilight said, albeit rather shakily. "I-I'm Twilight Sparkle, personal student of the princess. It's a p-pleasure to meet you, Mr. Grievous?" she said, though the tone sounded questioning as she neared the end of her statement. Next to her, Rarity spoke next.

"I'm Rarity, Ponyville's pirmere fashonista. And it is an honor to meet you."

Grievous said nothing and turned his gaze towards the overly pink pony next to her. As soon as Pinkie got the hint that it was her turn to speak, her forlorn expression turned to one of absolute glee. She jumped, raising her front hoofs, and shouting, "I knew it was aliens!"

Not another second was given for anyone to react before Pinkie was right in Grievous's face, levitating again and giving no regards to personal space. "Hi! I'm Pinkie Pie! It's so awesome to meet you. So, you're an alien? That's so cool! I've always wanted to meet an alien. I've always thought that it would be awesome to have an alien friend be my bestest friend and then we'd go to space and go world hopping and party! Ooh, speaking of parties, I love parties! Do you love parties? How do aliens party? Do you have cupcakes, or do you prefer muffins? Derpy thinks that muffins are better, but that's impossible, 'cause cupcakes are sooooooo much tastier, and-"

Finally hearing enough of the pink pony's mindless rant, Grievous forced her to the ground and shoved her away with his foot, clamping her mouth shut as he did so.

"You have bird feet?" she asked upon having her mouth unrestrained and after noticing that Grievous did indeed have talons as opposed to toes or hooves.

"That's quite enough, Pinkine Pie," Celestia intervened before she could go off on another tangent. Blushing, Pinkie returned to her original spot. After a final menacing glare, Grievous turned his attention to Rainbow Dash, who was now hovering.

"And I'm Rainbow Dash," she said, crossing her forelegs and puffing up her chest. "I'm the fastest and most awesome flier in all of Equestria."

Satisfied that no outburst like Pinkie's was to follow, Grievous turned to the last two ponies in line, the yellow and pink one still hiding behind the orange one with the hat, though her trembling had ceased.

"Ah'm Applejack," the orange one said. "Ah'm one uh the owners of Sweet Apple Acres in Ponyville. And this'n behind me Fluttershy. She's a bit skittish 'round strangers, but she's real sweet once ya get ta know 'er."

Fluttershy peeked around Applejack's behind as the earth pony introduced her, but after catching another glimpse at the monster before her, she retreated to her original hiding position.

Scoffing at the notion, Grievous turned to Celestia. "So what about these ponies requires them to meet me?" he asked.

Smiling, she answered his question. "These six ponies before you are the bearers of the Elements of Harmony."

A pause. "The what?"

"The Elemtens of Harmony are a set of powerful artifacts that are capable of restoring peace and harmony during a time of chaos and anarchy. There are six of them, each representative of a virtue valuable for maintaining a good friendship. Each one can only be wielded by the pony that most exemplifies the virtue that each particular Element represents. And these six are those six ponies capable of using the Elements," Celestia explained.

"Fluttershy," Celestia said, pointing to Fluttershy with her hoof, "is the Element of kindness. Applejack is honesty, Rainbow Dash represents loyalty, Pinkie Pie is laughter, Rarity exemplifies generosity, and Twilight is magic."

"Uh-huh..." Grievous replied, not truly believing Celestia but not wanting to hear more 'friendship' blasphemy.

"If you don't mind me asking, princess, why is Grievous here, and what is he?" Twilight asked.

"Grievous has informed me of a new threat to Equestria, but I fear that the Elements may not be enough to stop this one. Grievous has valiantly volunteered his services protecting us from this threat," Celestia replied, turning to smile at Grievous, who had returned to giving the mares in front of him death glares.

"What kind of threat?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It's...the details are a private matter between Luna, him and I, but in essence, it is an alien invasion, however cliché that sounds," said Celestia.

"And Grievous here is going to single-hoofedly protect us from this invasion?" Rainbow asked, disbelieving.

"Were you not listening?" he scolded. "I am a commander of an army; of course I'm not alone."

"Geez, sorry, ya don't need to yell," she muttered.

"Yeah, Grievous, no need to yell," Pinkie said. She then turned to Rainbow Dash. "But seriously, Dashie, you need to pay attention. He had hands, not hooves, silly."

Grievous glanced over the Element bearers one again before turning to Celestia. "I've been distracted long enough, Princess. I need to go coordinate my troops if you want them here by tomorrow."

And with that, he headed down the small set of stairs towards the large doors at the opposite end of the room. The Elements parted for him and their gazes followed him as he made his way, slightly hunched and hands behind his back. As they faced the rear of the room, the mares saw two other tall creatures standing near the door. They were a dull silver, unlike Grievous, who was white. Also unlike Grievous, their eyes glowed an unblinking red. One wore a tattered tan cape and head wrap. Overall, they were less intimidating than the general, even with the long poles they held which Twilight easily deduced as weapons.

Grievous pushed the heavy wooden door open without any assistance, a feat that Twilight hadn't thought possible by anything other than a dragon of substantial size. As he strode out of the room, the beings with the poles followed him out. They were obviously some his Grievous's troops.

The door closed behind him, leaving the room void of alien life. Twilight and her friends turned towards Celestia, and for the first time since she saw Grievous, Fluttershy, stopped cowering.

"Well he isn't the most pleasant of individuals," Rarity off-handedly commented.

"It is understandable. He has gone through much struggle and grief. Now is not the time for us to discuss his past, however; you will have time to ask him your questions yourselves later. Instead, I want us to think about Equestria's future. Grievous comes from another galaxy, one where space travel is commonplace, and aliens life is nothing spectacular. According to him, his galaxy is very technologically advanced, and he his living proof of that," said Celestia.

"How so?" asked Twilight.

"Did you see his body? It's made of metal...it's inorganic. He's almost completely machine."

"That's amazing!" Twilight said enthusiastically.

"It is, and as a result of Grievous being here, some of his galaxy's technologies will make their way here for us. Truly this is a new era for Equestria. One of new technologies and discoveries...oh, but look at me rambling," Celestia said, chiding herself. "I plan to introduce him to the Equestrian public tomorrow; that was why I had summoned all of Equestria to Canterlot."

"Sounds like uh fine idea, Princess," Applejack agreed.

"Indeed," Celestia said. "But, as such, there are many preparations that must be done, so I am going to have to dismiss you all. I have already had rooms prepared for you all in the suite tower. Just ask a guard to escort you to your room when you're ready to go there. In the meantime, feel free to take full advantage of everything I have to offer."

"Thank you kindly, Princess," Applejack thanked before bowing. The others followed suit, then followed Shining Armor out of the room.

Once outside of the throne room, Shining Armor turned to the mares and said, "Well, I've got to prepare my troops for tomorrow. You can come with me if you want, but I don't think you'll really find it entertaining in any way. But, uh, well, enjoy yourselves." With that, he trotted away, but to where was unknown to Twilight or the others.

"I think I'll go with my brother," Twilight said to her friends. Her friends had other plans; Rarity and Pinkie wanted to go to their rooms, Fluttershy wanted to spend some time in the gardens, Rainbow Dash was going to fly around Canterlot, and Applejack decided to find some grub.

They each went their separate ways, and Twilight caught up to he brother, who had not gotten far from the group.

"So what's wrong?" she asked once she got next to Shining, who still looked worse for wear.

"It's nothing, Twi," he said, hoping that she wouldn't press the matter further. But he knew her better.

"Are you sure? I saw you give that Grievous guy a weird look when you saw him. Is there something about him that troubles you? I wouldn't blame you if there was; he's sort of intimidating." she pressed.

"It's...I...I don't want to talk about it," he said adamantly.

"C'mon, if there's something troubling you, you should talk about it; it'll make you feel better," she encouraged.

He sighed, battle lost, but continued trotting towards his destination. Without looking to Twilight, he began his rant. "Grievous disturbs me. He seems aggressive and inconsiderate. Did you see how he looked at your friend Fluttershy?" He waited for Twilight to nod yes before continuing. "He was enjoying watching her tremble. From what I've seem, he's a heartless bucker, and I don't trust him," he said, stressing the word enjoying for emphasis.

She took a moment to take in what Shining had said before giving her response. "That can't be all that's troubling you, though. You look like you haven't slept well for a while, and I'm pretty sure that this Grievous thing hasn't been happening long enough for that."

"Grievous aside," Shining Armor said, "our scouts have been observing more changeling activity near the Macintosh Hills, and we suspect another invasion soon. I've been trying to get the Guard ready to fight them off better than last time, but I can't say I'm completely confident in our chances."

"Ugh, changelings again?" Twilight muttered. "Well, at least you've got Grievous on your side now. Maybe you'll get to see him and his troops in action?"

"I've already see him in action," he said, head drooping as he recalled the thrashing that Grievous had given him yesterday. Speaking of which, his jaw still hurt from having his sword wrenched out from his mouth. "He was watching me drill my troops yesterday, and when I asked him his opinion about the troops I was drilling, he said that everything that we were doing was wrong or needed improvement. In an attempt to prove him wrong, I decided to spar him. Even without his weapons, he broke the tip off of my spear and almost stabbed me with it, and he bent my sword with his foot. His foot! Not to mention that immediately afterwards, he could've crushed my skull in while he was standing on me."

Twilight held a shocked expression as she listened to her brother describe his experience sparring with the general.

"He's a very dangerous fighter; if he wanted to, he could probably single-handedly wipe out the entire Royal Guard. And I don't even know if he can use magic or not, or what his weapons are capable of. He's scary, and I don't trust him."

Having said his piece, Shining Armor resigned himself to silence. Twilight made no attempt to pretend she understood how her brother felt, having had no similar experiences before, so she, like her brother, said nothing.

---

Soon, Twilight found herself assisting Shining Armor and some other guards with blocking off Canterlot's main road for 'military exercises'. Luckily for them, Canterlot was not a heavily populated city, despite the recent visitors from Ponyville, and thus they faced little complaint from the civilians whose days had been inconvenienced. With the area secured, the guards began establishing where they were to be for tomorrow. The guards moved with efficiency, placing themselves around the perimeter of the secured area, leaving...large gaps in their formation that could easily hold two or three more guards? Confused, Twilight went to confront her brother about the wide spacing.

"Why are the guards spaced so far apart? Don't you usually only have a couple feet in between each guard?"

"Well, this is a special case," he replied. "Grievous will be having some of his troops come later in the evening or overnight. In each unoccupied space will go a...what did he call them? 'B1's' and 'B2's'?"

He put a hoof to his chin in thought, and after a moment, said, "Yeah, something like that. Point is, our troops will be alternating as you go down the road. Anyways, I gotta get back to giving instructions."

Having ended the conversation, Twilight trotted to someplace out of the way of the guards where she could still hear Shining Armor give his instructions. The process was surprisingly time consuming; after fifteen minutes, Twilight had lost interest in her brother's voice and the unmoving guard, and left to find some food. The guard didn't finish their drill until at least a half hour later from what Twilight could tell.

At this point, it was evening, and Twilight had already gone to her suite to read herself to sleep.

---

Fluttershy yawned and groggily awoke to the sounds of exotic birds chirping and the sweet aroma of Canterlot Garden's perfectly maintained flora. Stretching her wings, she stood up and looked to the sky. It wasn't quite evening yet, not a proper time to go get supper, but she wasn't drowsy enough to continue napping; she had already spent the last hour or so doing that since she and her friends had split up.

She hadn't taken a proper tour of the gardens, she soon thought, and now was as good a time as ever.

Her hooves made light crunching noises on the gravel path beneath her as she strolled through the massive gardens. She quietly admired the beauty around her, occasionally smelling an enticing looking flower and gawking at the expertly carved statues of important ponies from Equestria's history, most of whom she couldn't recognize. She passed by statues of powerful mages and brave pegusi, rose bushes and hedges of rare plants, as well as a small patch of poison joke, which she assumed were used in many of the pranks the immortal sisters were notorious for pulling on each other.

Her wandering brought her atop a small hill. The hill was small indeed, but it provided a gorgeous view of Canterlot's labyrinth. Her breath would have been taken away by the marvelous view had she not already had prior negative experiences within the hedge walls of that labyrinth. It was the place where she had been corrupted; the place where Equestria may have very well crumbled; the source of many of Fluttershy's nightmares that she had just recently managed to get under control.

She turned away forcefully, mood soured, and stomach now troubling her for food. Turning a corner, she saw a familiar statue, one that she had not expected, but had nevertheless wanted to avoid. Sitting atop a dias was the form of the draconequus that everypony loved to hate: Discord.

Not that Fluttershy hated Discord; she just found his presence to be distasteful and aggravating. She wanted to turn away and find a different route to the castle, but something odd struck her about the Discord statue: it was, indeed, a statue. Curious as to why the creature she reluctantly called a friend was trapped in stone...again...she approached the statue.

As she made her way towards the statue, the gray stone began to fade into colored flesh. Scared by the sudden change, Fluttershy lowered her body to the ground and trembled, trying to hide behind her long pink mane.

"Hello again, Fluttershy," a voice said.

Looking up, she saw the towering figure of Discord looming above her, talon extended in front of her to help her to her hooves. She didn't need the help, but accepted the gesture anyways as to not be rude.

As soon as Discord's talon gripped her delicate hoof, she was aggressively swept into a large and unexpected hug, causing her to squeak.

"It's quite a delight to see you again, dear Fluttershy," Discord exclaimed, setting the shaken Fluttershy back on the ground.

"Um, it's good to see you...too," she replied quietly.

A look of concern crossed Discord's features. "You look troubled, friend."

"It's nothing," she said.

"It's not nothing, Fluttershy. I know things, remember that. And as a friend, it's my obligation to help you feel better. Now what's the matter?" Discord asked.

Her stomach growled in response.

"Ah, so you're a little hungry. Let me help with that," he said, reaching his hand behind his back, only to have it come out of Fluttershy's mane holding a large bowl of fresh salad for her.

She was a little disgruntled with the method of delivery Discord had chose- knowing Discord, it could have been worse- but took the salad regardless. One bite in, she had decided that it was the best salad she had ever eaten.

"It's delicious, thank you Discord," she said.

"Not a problem at all," he said, smiling. "So is there anything that you'd feel like discussing?"

"Um...," she said while chewing. After swallowing her bite of salad, she asked, "Why were you turned to stone? Again?"

"You'd be surprised how little respect a redeemed god-of-chaos gets around here. Celestia has basically forbid me from using any of my powers at all, and she and Luna don't permit me outside of the castle," he scoffed, crossing his arms. He gave Fluttershy a mischievous smirk, adding, "Not that they actually enforce those regulations."

"You don't do anything bad, do you?" Fluttershy asked, concerned about the revelation.

"No, of course not. I don't intervene with the affairs of anypony anymore. It's really quite boring; there's almost no juicy chaos to monitor, but at least I can make due with the small bouts of chaos you ponies are prone to."

"How do you do that?" she asked, taking another bite of her salad.

"It's a really complicated spell that only a powerful and talent magic-user as myself could possibly cast," he boasted, receiving a giggle from Fluttershy in response.

"You sound like Rainbow Dash," she said.

"I've had time to work on my impersonations," Discord said. "Anyways, to answer your first and last questions, the spell allows me to observe anything I wish, regardless of the dimension or universe it's located in. However, to use it, I must sever my spirit from my physical body, and the resulting split petrifies my body. I'm unable to do anything while exploring the multiverse, however, so I am in no way related to the occurrences of wherever I happen to be looking."

"Oh," said Fluttershy. "I guess that makes sense...kind of."

"It's perfectly alright if you don't understand it. It took me all of ten thousand years or so to get it right for the first time, so I wouldn't expect somepony with no experience meddling with magic to understand it. Would you like some more salad or something to drink?"

Looking down into her bowl, Fluttershy realized that she had eaten the entire thing and was now parched. "Some water would be nice," she requested. The bowl disappeared in a flash of light and was replace by a glass of water. Somehow, she managed to not flinch at the unexpected event. Discord must be rubbing off on her.

She took a long drought of her water before refocusing her gaze on Discord. His eyes were soft and full of worry. "I know that the fact that I was encased in stone was not the only thing that was disturbing you. I believe I know what is, but I think you should bring it up and talk about it so as to get it off your chest."

Sighing, knowing that Discord would not give up, Fluttershy relented. "Are you familiar with that Grievous thing that arrived recently?"

"Why yes I am. He's been quite the maelstrom of chaos in his home galaxy; quite the follower of greatness I do say so myself," replied Discord, slicking his short mane back as he finished his comment.

Rolling her eyes, Fluttershy continued. "Well, he just...scares me. It's not the type of scary that you are, though..."

Discord feigned offense at that statement.

"...not the 'unnerving, does unexpected stuff that you can laugh at afterwards' scary; he's sort of the 'intimidating, does stuff that could potentially hurt somepony' scary. You know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean," he said, moving to comfort the now teary-eyed pony that was his only friend. Something about Grievous disturbed her more than she was willing to say, that much was obvious, but Discord decided not to press her. "I'll not pretend to know what his plans are for Celestia and for Equestria," he started, "but I can tell you that everypony should be cautious around him. He has a checkered past that's been terrible not only to him, but to those he's affiliated himself with as well."

"If he's so terrible, then Celestia should get him out of Equestria," Fluttershy said.

Discord sighed. "Despite the chaos that I predict will befall Equestia due to his presence, I fear that Celestia will not be convinced of that conclusion until it's too late. You see, Celestia doesn't trust me, despite my promise to 'use my powers for good'. Let's say that you tell Celestia of our concerns. If you mention that I was involved in reaching this conclusion, she would interpret it as an attempt by me to undermine her judgment and authority, and she would declare our concerns invalid, and likely punish me in some way. Now, if you were to leave my involvement out of your argument, she would tell you that you've just met him and know nothing about his past, therefore declaring our concerns invalid."

Fluttershy nodded in understanding.

"You see, this is a lose-lose situation here. That best course of action would be for you to keep this information to yourself; maybe your friends if you feel the need to, but really no more than that. Should things be going south, I will try to do my best to assist in a way that preserves Equestria and Celestia's integrity, but I cannot make any promises."

Fluttershy sniffled and wiped her eyes dry. She was surprised that she had avoided letting any tears loose during her reflection on how badly Grievous had impacted her. Maybe Discord is more comforting that ponies are willing to see. Regardless, he had helped her out, and she felt exponentially better.

"Thanks, Discord," she finally said, giving the draconequus a tight hug, which he returned. "You're a great friend."

A sincere smile formed on his lips. "Thank you, Fluttershy." Giving her mane a final pat, he said, "You should probably be headed indoors; it's almost time to sleep, and there's a big day coming up tomorrow."

She looked to the sky to see that time had indeed passed rather quickly. Already Celestia had brought the sun down and Luna's beautiful moon shone fully in the sky. Saying her goodbye to Discord, she slowly made her way in the general direction of the castle, though having never actually been there before slowed her progress tremendously. Fortunately for her, arrows formed in the gravel in front of her to lead her way when she was really lost, presumably thanks to Discord.

Several minutes later, Fluttershy made her way out of the unintentional labyrinth and to the entry area. And her timing couldn't have been more perfect. Well, perfect probably wasn't the most proper word to describe the circumstances; terrifying was probably more accurate. Just as soon as she made her way past the hedges leading out of the gardens, none other then General Grievous stepped through the door that was Fluttershy's destination. Normally, she would have hid in the nearest bush she could find, but in a rouge act of bravery, she decided to make her way past the general and pay him no heed.

Regretfully, that was not how the encounter had turned out. She and the general approached each other, Fluttershy's attention on the door and Grievous's focus on some distant object. Her resolve broke as the general got within a couple of feet of her; her legs seemingly gave out, and she resumed the cowering position that she had struck when she had first laid eyes on Grievous. By the time her body had reached the ground, the general had already passed her, but the unexpected movement caught Grievous's attention. He turned to look at the quivering mass of yellow and pink behind him, halting his movement. He stared for a moment before grunting and continuing his path. Once the general was out of sight, Fluttershy made for the shortest possible route to her room.

~~~Canterlot Gardens, Canterlot, 1 day and 13 hours after the Ambush at EGP-01~~~

---

Grievous stood in a large clearing near Canterlot castle's labyrinth, waiting patiently for the first group of droids to make their landing on the planet. After a few minutes of waiting, he could see the silhouette of a droid transport in the far distance. There was a crunching sound behind him, and he turned to see Shining Armor approaching him.

The Royal Guard captain came to Grievous's side before halting and turning his head to the sky above him. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?" he asked.

Grievous didn't care. The condition of the sky was trivial. If he had eyebrows, one would be raised. But, seeing as he didn't, Grievous opted for the next best response: silence.

The captain's eyes continued to scan the sky, trying to locate the incoming transport, Grievous presumed. Eventually Captain Armor found it. Pointing in its general direction with his hoof, he asked, "Is that the thing with the first group of droids?" The general nodded yes.

The pair stood in silence for the next few minute, watching as the speck that was the droid transport got closer and larger. Within fifteen minutes, the vehicle was hovering above them and beginning its decent.

Shining Armor watched in awe as the large chunk of metal floated above him, no magic, no strings attached.

The shuttle's landing gear deployed with a hiss, and it landed softly in the grass in front of Grievous. The rear doors opened as the boarding ramp extended, allowing the vehicle's occupants to exit. One commando droid made its way to the entrance before turning and grabbing something inside the shuttle. It pulled, and slowly, a large metal rack was dragged out and down the ramp to the solid earth below, followed by another commando droid, who had presumably been pushing. Once the rack and the droids were on the ground, the shuttle's ramp retreated and the doors closed, allowing it to fly back to the frigate from whence it came.

Shining Armor eyed the rack curiously. Hanging on the rack were several droids, arranged in two pairs of rows. The droids were curled up into uncomfortable looking balls, knee joints sticking above their lowered necks, arms to their sides and hands wrapped around their lower legs. The commando droids fiddled with some buttons on the side of the rack, emitting a loud hissing sound. The rack groaned and the bottom rows of droids projected outwards while the top rows slid down, causing all for rows of droids to be level with each other.

All at once, the droids on the rack came to life. Their limbs all jerked once before the droids unfolded into standing positions. Shining Armor could see these droids much more clearly now that they were fully exposed. They looked very similar to the commando droids that he had gotten somewhat use to seeing, only these had longer heads and thinned limbs.

The droids marched away from the rack, and once the area was clear, the commando droids closed the rack back to its original state, except for the lack of droids hanging off of it.

"Captain Shining Armor, these are some of my B1 battle droids. They compose the bulk of my forces. These forty droids should be able to defend Canterlot, with the Guard's help of course. I am expecting two more shuttles to come down during the night; one more carrying forty more B1's, and another carrying twenty B2's."

With nothing to be said and weariness in his eyes, Shining Armor left the general to his own devices and made his way back to the castle to rest himself for the day ahead.

Comments

[Feather Book]

I sense something big is about to happen.

Although I found those lines about Fluttershy disliking the idea of being with Discord a bit confusing. Quite a few paragraphs latter they were like the friends that Keep Calm and Flutter On showed them as.
Still, once again, good chapter.

[Legofan]

2167702 You see, form my interpretation of the episode, Fluttershy didn't quite befriend Discord, but instead formed a relationship that was more like aquaintences. Discord, on the other hand (or paw/talon in his case), really treasured that relationship and wanted to improve his standing with her, since she was, in fact, the only one to give him a chance at changeing at first.

In the chapter, she has her reservations about talking with him at first. Recall that she had just seen the labyrinth, bringing back memories of him corrupting her and almost ruining her frienships to the forefront of her mind. It would make sense that, after reflecting on the person/draconequus that almost ruined one's life, one'd be somewhat unwilling to talk with them. Had somepony else been in that scenario, they would've just shrugged him off or something similarly rude. But, being the element of kindness and the only pony that actually has some sort of positive relationship with Discord, she's willing to see and accept the genuine concern he feel.

That makes more sense in my head, but I hope that clears it up for you and anyone else who gets confused by that.

Anyways, thanks for reading, and expect Chapter 6 in approximately the next week and a half.

Oh, spoiler alert, some changelings are about to have their sht fued.

[Legofan]

So let's get some conversation started. Anyone got any speculations? Anyone think that Shining Armor, Discord, and Fluttershy are correct in their apprehensions? Will Gore finally snap and end Spy's rambling once and for all? What was that thing that Shy had in his grenade pouch? Are these all spoilers? What do you think?

[GodzillaLecter]

Love it. Keep up the good work.

[Feather Book]

2168034 A new approximately 6-8 thousand word chapter in a week and a half? How do you do it!?

As for speculations? Well, no matter what side Equestria ends up on they will eventually fall to the Sith unless you find a way to kick out all ‘aliens’ and remove all trace of the planet from the galaxy. Or Equestria’s addition could cause events that would stop the Empire ever forming and then Equestria will become bogged down with the senate and stuff… I don’t know what is worse.

One other thing I thought of, Celestia decided essentially the fate of their planet without any say form any other species. Did she even let the Gryphons, Minotaurs, Zebra and any other nation’s/species know that aliens had arrived? It’s a tiny point that doesn’t have anything to do with the story; it’s just a thought though.

[Legofan]

2171674 Well, you see, ponies are basically the dominant civilization of the planet (to get it out of the way, the planet is called Equus). After all, they do control the sun and moon, which are vital to the existance of all life on the planet. As a result, at least in my head-canon, the other species will have to respect Celestia's decision.

Recall that in Chapter 1, Grievous tells Dooku that he has located the leader of the dominant species of Equus (or something to that effect, I don't remember the exact wording). This indicates that Grievous only has interest in Equestria.

One thing that I should mention that may/may not be significant: Celestia hasn't allowed the Republic any say in her decision. Curious?

[Marked of Luna]

my thoughts...
1. Celestia doesn't respect the republic, due to propaganda from Grievous and Dooku
2. Those scared or wary of the CIS are correct
3. Let's see if Chrysalis can come up with a win-win scenario for dealing with Grievous like she did for Equestria

[Guner]

its good that thare are no B3
media.moddb.com/images/mods/1/20/19695/shot0000.1.jpg

[Legofan]

8545652
I didn't know B3's were a thing; how silly looking!