> Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant
>  by Wanderer D
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Sun-Butt and Moon-Butt
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Twilight Sparkle.”

The little filly stepped forth, nervously looking at the several instructors watching her. A pony dragged in a chariot where a strange black egg with glowing blue lines the size of three ponies lay on a bed of hay.

“Your test is to hatch the egg,” one of the instructors explained briefly.

Twilight looked at the egg dubiously. “Are you sure you want to hatch whatever’s in there?”

The instructor did not seem amused. “Begin.”

Twilight’s horn lit up; her magic enveloping the egg like a shroud. She prodded. She warmed it up. She wiggled her hooves at it, enticing it to hatch, but nothing helped.

When she was about to give up, however, a rainbow-colored explosion shook the sky. Twilight’s magic went wild, and in the confusion nopony heard the automated voice.

MASS EFFECT SURGE DETECTED. ACTIVATING POD.

The egg fell into pieces, revealing a reptilian creature of some sort, wearing some kind of black and red armor. It’s scarred face looked around with the confusion of a newborn, as it blinked and shook its head.

It was about to say something when a random stray ray hit him, turning him into a potato.


A few years later


Twilight slammed the door to her tower open. She shook her saddlebags off and cracked her neck before walking up the stairs.

“Wrex.”

“Sparkle.”

“I think I discovered something! Nightmare Moon is the Mare in the Moon!”

Wrex crossed his arms and leaned back against the bookshelf. “You don’t say.”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “I would have thought that you of all pyjaks would understand my enthusiasm.”

Wrex snorted. "And what made you think that?”

“Weren’t you always telling me how Shepard followed links to the past and how he discovered the Reaper’s invasion?”

Chuckling, Wrex leaned down to look Twilight in the eye. “Kid, Shepard had actual proof. You have craters.”

Twilight grumbled something about throwing Wrex out the window, but paused, taking a deep breath. “Wrex, take a letter.”

“I thought you knew how to write.”

Twilight rolled her eyes again. “Fine, but you’re sending it.”

Wrex sighed, shaking his head. “Why I let Sun-Butt cast that spell on me, I’ll never figure out.”

Twilight scribbled something on the scroll and tossed it at Wrex, who snorted, throwing green flames out of his nostrils, and somehow turning the scroll into magical mist. “There. Done. Now, why don’t we go shoot something instead of hanging out here waiting for Sun-Butt to reply? I think you could still make a decent shot with the Carnifex.”

“I’ve told you I prefer the Widow, Wrex.” Twilight pranced around, peering at books. “Besides, since I’m her student, she’ll reply soon.”

Wrex sneezed and a scroll landed between the two of them.

“Well?” Twilight asked, a smug look on her face.

Wrex picked it up and opened it, glancing at it before smirking. “It says you need new friends. I think the princess thinks I took you drinking again.”


Later…


“Foals! I am Nightmare Moon and—”

Nightmare Moon dodged out of the way when the balcony was obliterated after a really loud bang. She peeked from behind the curtain at the dragon-creature and the purple unicorn, both holding strange weapons and pointing them at her.

“Alright, you whimpering excuse for a pyjak, I’m giving you one chance, and one chance only,” Twilight Sparkle called, centering her sight on the alicorn’s head. “Either you tell me where Sun-Butt is right now, or I’ll tear you to so many pieces a vorcha wouldn’t be able to scrape enough to make it a meal!”

“Hehe, you called her Sun-Butt.”

“Shut up, Wrex! It’s your fault! You call her that all the time!”

“Hey, it was either that or Sunny-Spanky-Butt.”

“I do not want to remember that night.”

“Hehehe,” Wrex smirked. “But she does.”

Twilight shook her head. “Do you know how we had to explain to everypony why the sun went up and down all day that day?”

Wrex was about to respond when a very blushed white unicorn stepped up to them. “Um… excuse me, dears, but shouldn’t you have stopped Nightmare Moon from leaving the premises?”

Twilight blinked and noticed the unconscious guards. “Dammit.” She took a deep breath. “Wrex.”

“Sparkle.”

“We’re hunting tonight.”

Wrex’s grin made more than one stallion faint. “Good.” He pulled out a strange gun with little blue ammo. “And I have just the thing.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow.

“This,” Wrex shook the gun. “Is a Scorpion model. It makes things explode.”

Twilight’s eyes went wide. “Can I have one?”


Much later…


Wrex ran from behind a column to another, taking shots as he dodged meteorites and fireballs, before sliding next to Twilight, who was analyzing a round rock with her omnitool.

“Now I regret telling her to take us seriously!” He cackled, then gave Twilight an amused glance. “You know, I didn’t give you that so that you could play ball games while in battle!”

Twilight rolled her eyes. “It’s not a ball! It’s a magical artifact! All I need is to activate the others first!”

“And how do you do that?” Wrex asked, brushing pieces of rock that cascaded around him.

“I already gave them to the others, they should be activating soon!”

Wrex glanced at the new ‘recruits’. “A dress maker, a cellist, a dj, a speedster and a cute pegasus that can’t see straight. Is this a strategy or do you want to break into show business?”

“Fools!” Nightmare Moon cackled. “You cannot defeat me! You don’t know how to use the Elements of Harmony!”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Nightmare Moon!” Twilight challenged, shooting her Geth Shotgun at full-power and blowing part of the wall behind the alicorn into debris. “We can defeat you! And even if I don’t know how to use the Elements, I don’t give a shit!”

Wrex pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “They grow up so fast.”

Nightmare Moon growled and threw Twilight across the room.

Twilight rolled as soon as she landed, absorbing most of the momentum, until she slid to a stop next to the other mares. “Well? Do you feel anything?”

“This is pointless!” Octavia snapped. “Just give me one of those gun things and let’s forget the trinkets!”

“I’m with Tavi!” Vinyl Scratch nodded. “There’s no way these things can do anything other than weigh us down!”

Twilight gave her a flat stare. “Really? Then why is Derpy shrouded in light and hovering in a magical field that looks conspicuously like a muffin?”

“Well darling, I’m sure I don’t know!” Rarity said. “But why don’t we just blast off that alicorn and get done with it? She has horrible fashion sense! Armor like that is so… dark ages.”

“Derpy!” Twilight called, ignoring her new friends. “What did you do?”

The pegasus shrugged. “I just felt bad for Vinyl, she hurt her ankle so I tried to bandage it!” She looked down. “But I didn’t have any bandages.”

“Oh, is that all you need, darling? Rarity asked, pulling off the fancy cape she had been wearing and tearing a long piece off. “Here why don’t you… wowowowow!”

Rarity levitated off the floor and was encased in magic as well.

“ANY TIME NOW!” Octavia shouted, shaking her and mane tossing a grenade. “She’s starting to use lightning bolts and death rays!”

As if to prove her claim, the collapsed column they were hiding behind exploded into pieces.

“I’ve got it!” Twilight shouted. “I know the secret!”

“FOALS! It’s too lat—!”

Nightmare Moon collapsed, revealing Wrex standing behind her, having used his shotgun to render her unconscious.

“What?” he asked when Twilight glared at him. “I got tired of waiting.”

Twilight huffed. “Fine. We’ll shoot her with the magical rainbow death ray while she’s down. They’ll sing songs about this for ages to come.”

Wrex chuckled. “Only if they find out. The way I remember it, she was raining comets on us.”

Twilight paused. “Yes. I remember that too. Now, for the ray thing.”


Even later...


“...and that’s how we discovered the powers of the Elements of Harmony, and released you and Princess Luna from the Nightmare.” Twilight finished explaining to a thoroughly confused Celestia.

“I understand that, Twilight,” Celestia nodded. “What I don’t understand is why Wrex also has an element? Traditionally, there were only six. I know. I used them.” She deadpanned.

Wrex chuckled, patting Celestia on the flank. “It’s okay, Sun-Butt, this element is the element of badass.”

“It looks just like you,” Octavia pointed out. 

“Exactly.” Wrex stretched. “Now, let’s go home. And shoot some critters on the way.”

The mares looked at each other before Twilight shrugged. “Hey, I don’t see why not. Didn’t you want to try that Graal Spike Thrower, Octavia?”

Octavia smiled. “Yes, I did.”

“Cool!” Rainbow Dash grinned. “I think I saw a manticore in the forest!”

Celestia watched the group walk out of the ruins, the feeling of Wrex’s claw on her flank still there.

“What have I unleashed upon Equestria?”


End Chapter 1

> Loyalty Mission 1: Element Fatale
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



My Faithful Student,

As you have discovered the new Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, and after your subsequent victory over Nightmare Moon and releasing my dearest sister from her curse, I couldn't be any prouder.

Your studies in Magic and Science are beyond most beings in this world, and now, I must set you a new challenge: To learn a new type of magic by studying, understanding and mastering the Magic of (platonic) Friendship.

While my sister recovers, I encourage you to learn more about these ponies that you and Wrex united to defend ponykind and understand exactly what Elements they represent. I am aware that, although you managed to produce a ray of frienship, you did not discover the true nature of your new friends' attributes. You must come to know them, and build true bonds, for only that way will you achieve your new objective.

Wishing you the best,

~~Princess Celestia







Twilight Sparkle stared at the scroll on the desk, trying to figure out if: 1) Celestia was still angry for the concussion they had given Luna; 2) She was simply joking, or 3) she was actually serious.

Given that they had had their possessions delivered the very next morning to the abandoned library in Ponyville, tended to indicate a mixture of all three, although she was unclear as to which item was relevant to her situation in what percentage exactly.

She was snapped out of her reverie as the hissing sound of hydraulics opening Wrex's locker. She watched him stuff the thing up with collapsed weapons, not all of which she had had the chance to use... yet. "So what do you think?"

Wrex snorted, not even looking at her as he reached inside and shuffled unseen things around. "Sounds pretty straight forward to me. Get to know your crew."

"But I don't want to have a 'crew'."

Wrex didn't answer.

"I shouldn't even be here. I should be back in Canterlot, producing actual, important results, or maybe joining the guard. Get into the military for real instead of mercenary training."

"Sun-butt doesn't want you to be in the military," Wrex pointed out, pulling out a Stability Dampener and turning it a couple of ways under his critical eye before throwing it away. "She wants you to make friends. Study magic. You know what they say. Friendship is Magic."

"Ha. Ha. Ha." Twilight rolled the scroll and sent it over to rest on top of other papers she was probably going to ignore for the foreseeable future. "I can't believe she's making me do this stuff. I bet Shepard never had to deal with making new friends."

Wrex laughed. "Shepard had to do it many times, kiddo. There was this time, fighting the Collectors, where he had to gather his own suicide squad and do a few missions with them to ensure their loyalty. It saved his butt later on."

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "I remember that story. So you're saying that I should ensure my squad's loyalty for future missions."

"Is that what I said?" Wrex glanced at her, giving her a steady look.

"Well, not exactly," Twilight conceded. "But we're the new weapon, right? We're like the Equestrian Specters."

Wrex snorted. "A group of fluffy, soft ponies as Specters," he chuckled. "That would have given Saren some pause—before he blasted the lot of you into small pieces of pastel-colored waste."

"I'd like to see him try while I cast a tiny black hole inside his skull," Twilight retorted. "But my point stands: most likely than not the Elements of Harmony will be needed to destroy our enemies. Wrex, we don't only need to get to know these mares better, we need to train them to be weapons of mass destruction: able to look at death in the eye and spit on it! And even better, not miss!" She stood on the table, a glimmer of danger in her eyes. "Imagine it, Wrex. A squad of ponies trained to take down anything that can be thrown at them! Thresher Maws! Sirens! Dragons!"

Wrex actually stopped putting his weapons away and gave her a considering look. "You are saying that you and I, will turn a bunch of soft multi-colored ponies into the Galaxy's most feared Mercs?"

"Special Forces!"

"Same difference," Wrex said. "Mine pays better."

"Well, can you do it?" Twilight asked.

Wrex raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Who else is better equipped or knowledgeable?" Twilight argued. "Unless you think the Equestrian Guard is up to the task."

She waited patiently until Wrex finished laughing. "Wrex."

"Sparkle."

"Let's start with the lost causes first."





The door opened after the third knock and Rarity smiled. "Welcome to th—" she cut herself off, eyes widening and attempted to shut the door. "Sorry! We're not open today!"

The door, however, was held open by the foot of the large reptilian creature known as Wrex, who she had had the misfortune to meet two nights before when she had the additional misfortune of being in the vicinity of one Twilight Sparkle.

"I'm afraid we must insist," Twilight replied, marching into the Carousel Boutique, followed by Wrex. "Rarity," she said after the door closed behind them. "I'll be blunt: you are an Element of Harmony."

Rarity sighed and motioned for them to follow her to the kitchen. "Well, yes, I gathered as much from the lightshow that accompanied us pouring liquid rainbows on Princess Luna while she was unconscious."

Twilight grunted noncommittally. 

"But I still fail to see why that would require your... distinguished presence in my humble boutique." Rarity proceeded to serve some tea for both her guests.

Twilight sighed. "Rarity, you are not looking at the big picture. If I am to be like Commander Shepard it won't matter if I can fight like a krogan or run like a leopard. I need a team just as badass as his own."

Wrex started laughing.

Eye twitching, Twilight continued. "Thus I will ensure the loyalty and friendship of all the Elements. Because we are the last line of defense against the worst scum of the universe."

Rarity took a sip of her tea, before nodding. "Fair enough. But if you're going to expect me to do awful things to ponies or other creatures in your name, then you must do something for me first."

Wrex chuckled. "Told you everyone had a price."

Rarity sniffed. "Well, if you must put it in such drab words."

Twilight nodded sagely. "Well, that is to be expected of my future teammate." 

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't disapprove of my rather... mercenary demand?"

"When Commander Shepard assembled his team, part of it were mercenaries like Kasumi the thief, whom Shepard helped find the killer of her lover and avenge him, or Zaeed Massani, who Shepard helped avenge a betrayal."

"Oh, my!" Rarity swooned. "They sound like such tragic heroes! To avenge a lost lover!" She produced a squee of delight, clapping her hooves together excitedly. "Did this... Shepard help anypony else?"

Twilight smiled. "Even Wrex here."

Rarity looked at Wrex expectantly.

Wrex shrugged. "Shepard and I defeated a synthetic creature from the dawn of time, I became the king of my people across the universe, rose my Clan to unheard power, and we cured my entire species."

Rarity nodded. "I want Blueblood."

Wrex checked his gun before Twilight ripped it off his hands with magic. "Wrex! She means Blueduds."

Rarity blinked when Wrex let out a very un-krogan snicker. "I beg your pardon! We are talking about Prince Blueblood! The most sought-after—"

"Pluh-eeeze." Twilight downed her cooled-down tea in one gulp. "Blueduds—"

"Prince Blueblood!" Rarity corrected.

"Blueduds." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Is a moron. A jackass. A dandy. Do you know why no mare can have him? Because he's not—"

"Don't say it!" Rarity snapped. "I demand Blueblood for myself! That is the price for turning me into one of your cutthroat crew!"

Twilight looked at Rarity with a raised eyebrow. "I see. Well then," she stood up. "Blueblood it is." Her eyes narrowed. "But we're gonna need help."





Next Chapter:  

"If I do this for you, I will demand a favor in return."

"Will that ensure your loyalty and the success of our mission?"

"Yes."

Twilight Sparkle smiled. "Good."
> Loyalty Mission 1: Element Fatale pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------





Twilight Sparkle, Wrex and Rarity sat around the table, staring at the glowing, blue ghostly figure hovering in the middle of it. From time to time, it would fizzle as if it were about to disappear, only to reform again perfectly into a semi-transparent miniature Octavia, who was staring back at them.

“Oh-kay.” Octavia blinked twice before leaning towards them, with her face somehow becoming bigger, before she leaned back and her shape returned to a regular size. “This is… unusual.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled, puffing her chest out proudly. “I made it myself! Based on what Wrex here told me about the intergalactic communication devices used by the Council Races!”

Wrex nodded. “She got it perfect. Right down to the communication gaps and the lousy definition.”

“Still, the fact that it comes from a scroll…” Octavia shook her head. “I’ll never understand unicorns.”

“Be that as it may,” Rarity finally spoke up. “I really would like to know how Miss Philarmonica will be of any help for… my purposes.”

Twilight nodded. “Simple! Octavia has been hired to play at Bluedud’s Manor tonight, she will help us infiltrate the estate, foalnap him, gag him, hopefully rough him up and then transport him in relative safety to your home. In chains.”

“And why would I want to help you with this?” Octavia asked, ignoring the dirty look Rarity shot Twilight at the mention of Blueblood’s nickname. “I would be risking my career and possibly my well being in this endeavor.”

“Sparkle here wants to make the team tougher,” Wrex piped in. “She thinks that all of you have a price and that once that price is paid, you’ll join her mercenary group as full members of the Elements of Harmony.” He smirked. “It’s like the Blue Suns. Only with less asari.”

"And who wants Blueduds dead?" Octavia asked after a pause.

"I, want Blueblood for myself," Rarity growled. "Once he sees that I am the perfect fit, he won't be able to help himself and completely fall in love with me!"

Octavia turned to look at Wrex and Twilight. "Doesn't she know that Blueduds is—"

"Blueblood!"

"...not into—"

"I don't care what you say!" Rarity screeched. "He is my prize for joining you barbarians in what I am sure will be nothing but looting, destroying and ravaging!"

Twilight raised a delicate eyebrow. "Ravaging?"

"It's what barbarians do," Rarity responded, nodding briefly at her vast collection of romance novels, most of which had bulky and muscled stallions holding frail unicorn females close to them while the background burned. In fact, now that she was looking more closely, it was the same unicorn, oddly familiar too, with a frail female unicorn in his arms, and the only thing that changed was the background.

"You seem awfully enthusiastic about the ravaging, though," Wrex pointed out, then shrugged. "Not that there's anything wrong with it. Very popular in Tuchanka before the Genophage."

Rarity cleared her throat. "I'm just expressing my utter disgust at what is sure to be nothing but—"

"We get it, you're excited about it." Twilight rolled her eyes. "Look, Octavia, I'm trying to gather the Elements of Harmony to become the ultimate force of intergalactic law for this quadrant. And I need you and the others to help me. Will you do it?"

Octavia mulled her words for a moment. "If I do this for you, I will demand a favor in return."

"Will that ensure your loyalty and the success of our mission?"

Octavia looked at her straight in the eye. "Yes."

Twilight Sparkle smiled. "Good."





Nightime in Canterlot was a thing of beauty. The city gleamed like molten gold in the darkness, with its warm lights and music and events drawing the ponies of the city into its several nightclubs or operas.

A few miles outside the city, overlooking it from the side of a mountain, was Blueblood Manor: several stories high, with a huge garden surrounding it, and a fence surrounding the garden itself to keep the plebeians out.

Already, the area closest to the manor, where the large pool was located, was abuzz with activity. Waiters and waitresses, cooks, security, musicians... the whole lot of them busied themselves with last minute details for Prince Blueblood's party. That's why not one of them noticed that Octavia Philarmonica was taking a bit too long setting up in her spot and adjusting the cello.

Glancing around, she narrowed her eyes. "This is graymare to purple syndrome, come in purple syndrome," she whispered onto her bow, which pulsated with a red glow for a moment.

"This is purple syndrome, is everything ready, graymare?" Twilight's voice asked from the bow.

"Almost," Octavia whispered back. "I'll have to sneak to the back and drop the package, but I managed to secure two invitations."

"Excellent, graymare." Twilight's voice sounded pleased. "We will be ready to take them when you do."

Octavia stood up, pretending to be frustrated and walked over to a guard standing watch near a door. "I need new strings, I believe that there should be some still in the backroom."

The guard glanced at her. "You've been there before?"

"Last month, same party, basically."

The guard nodded and stepped to the side granting her access. "Be quick. We'll be starting in ten minutes."

Octavia nodded and hurried in. Once she was alone, she unrolled a scroll and laid the two tickets she had procured flat inside it, before rolling it up again. After a moment, the scroll erupted in green flames and disappeared, leaving no trace.

Quickly gathering some supplies, she hurried out of the basement, and took her place among the other musicians. The party would be starting soon.





"Are you ready?" Twilight asked while making sure her dress was on properly.

Rarity stared at the tickets in her hooves. "T-these are invitations to Blueblood's Manor to attend his party!"

"Yes," Twilight rolled her eyes. "I thought we had established that already."

Rarity shot her a dirty look. "Well, unlike certain ponies, I never even thought I would get one!"

"And you didn't," Wrex pointed out with a shrug. "We stole it for you."

"Wrex is right," Twilight said. "You can still rest assured in the truth that you would have never gotten one otherwise."

"That is not helping," Rarity hissed.

Twilight and Wrex shared a look and shrugged.

"Y-you two don't realize how important this is to me!" Rarity accused. "I have been dreaming of being with my prince ever since I was a filly!"

"So... you busted your back to become the greatest clothes designer you could ever be, built aspirations for a career and global fame... and you wanted to drop them just because Blueduds looks cute in his waistcoat?"

Rarity sputtered. "T-that's not—"

"Oh, I can totally see it," Twilight interrupted. "The life of a noblemare, standing there, looking pretty, not doing any sort of work at all because that would be unseemly. That's totally you."

"I—"

Twilight shook her head. "Wrex."

"Sparkle."

A smile crossed Twilight's face. "Let's hunt."





Prince Blueblood chortled as he picked up another canape with his magic and graced the stallions around him with a smile. "...and I said: Dear, that is definitely not an 450 Avant de Garde! If you are going to pretend to be a true noble, you might as well learn the basics!"

The pleased chuckles from his peers were interrupted when the doors to the manor opened and Twilight Sparkle walked in. Immediately conversation ceased, and all looks were on her and the pony that had walked in behind her. Both were tastefully dressed in dresses that were clearly created to fit by a skilled designer, but that was not enough for Blueblood.

"Sparkle! How dare you intrude into my party?"

Twilight Sparkle smiled, and most guests took a step back. "Why, Blueblood, why wouldn't I be here," she said and levitated an invitation. "When you so kindly invited me?"

"I did what?!" Blueblood snatched the invitation from Twilight's spell and stared at it, casting several spells to check if it was real.

It was.

"Now that that's been cleared," Twilight spoke up, walking past Blueblood, "Where's the bar? I hope you have some real drinks and not only that flavored water you call wine in here."

Blueblood seethed. How dare that mare so casually canter into his home? Uninvited! Well, invited, but not by him! Who would dare invite such a—

"—an atrocious little beast!"

Blueblood blinked. Then looked at the mare that had walked in behind Twilight Sparkle, who seemed to be very, very angry at her majesty's apprentice.

"I can't believe she grew up in the palace with such abominable manners! What's wrong with that mare?"

He shook his head. "I... beg your pardon?"

Rarity jumped. "Oh, my! I'm very sorry your highness, I just never expected Twilight Sparkle to have such... such lack of manners! Such disregard for etiquette! To march suddenly up to our host and treat him, I mean you, like that! Unforgivable!" She took a step towards the bar. "I should have a talk with her and educate her on the nuances of—"

Blueblood immediately stopped her, shaking his head frantically. "Nononono! She is unforgivable, but I do love my manor and would like it to remain standing!"

"Oh," Rarity said a little unnerved. "I apologize once more, your highness."

Blueblood cleared his throat. "Think nothing of it," he scoffed. "I have to admit I am impressed that Twilight Sparkle of all ponies would be able to make... friends... with a mare that clearly knows station and protocol, not to mention proper etiquette." He levitated a cup of wine and offered it to her.

Rarity took the proffered wine and tried not to squee. She cleared her throat and and smiled in thanks. "I wouldn't call myself her friend, exactly..." she confessed. "I merely had the misfortune of meeting her."

"Didn't we all?" Blueblood chuckled.

Rarity took a sniff of the wine and raised it a bit higher, and taking in the colors and swirling it before sniffing it and tasting it.

Blueblood gazed at her expectantly.

"61 Château Latour?"

Blueblood smiled. "Why yes, yes it is! Allow me to introduce you to my very special friends over here..."





Rarity scampered to where Twilight Sparkle sat at the bar next to several empty bottles of different spirits. "Twilight, dear, aren't you having a simply marvelous time?"

Twilight looked over her shoulder at Rarity, who stood shakily on her hooves while nurturing another cup of wine. "Not really, watching you bat your eyelids at Blueblood while he bats his at the stallion with the two bits signs on his flank loses its appeal within the first three blinks."

Rarity frowned. "He is not doing that!"

"If your eyes weren't focused on him for the last three hours, you might have noticed where his were focusing."

"That is simply not—"

She was interrupted by the arrival of Octavia and other band members, who took a seat at the bar.

"Shouldn't you be playing?" Rarity asked tersely.

"His majesty has absconded with Bit Pound, to the backyard, where nopony else is allowed, and just about everypony else is drunk out of their mind,." Octavia replied, nodding with her head at the still half-dancing, half-falling couples on the floor in front of the empty orchestra. "So we decided to take our break, and get some good drinks. This is how it usually works out. Soon enough his bodyguards will come here and escort everypony not with his highness out."

"You've got it all wrong!" Rarity snapped. "I have that stallion wrapped around my hoof! Any minute now he'll call for me an—"

"Alright, everypony!" One of the bodyguards announced, interrupting Rarity's diatribe. "We will be escorting you all out in the next ten minutes! Finish your drinks!"

Octavia muttered a curse and quickly refilled her whiskey glass. "We should hurry."

Twilight Sparkle snorted and levitated several bottles of expensive-looking alcohol. "How about we continue this party at my place? Hmm?" She leaned in towards Octavia and hiccuped, raising her eyebrow invitingly. "I can... I can teach you... y'know, how to be a better element of depravity."

Octavia held Twilight's gaze with her own. "You're drunk, Twilight."

The band members behind her looked at each other worriedly. The drummer leaned in behind Octavia. "Maybe you shouldn't talk to the Twilight Sparkle in that tone," she said hurriedly. "We all value our lives an—"

"Nonesense!" Twilight declared. "Tavi here... she, well, Tavi here she can call me whatever she wants! We're buddies!"

Octavia visibly cringed. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked from Twilight to the dozen or so bottles hovering above them, before lowering back to Twilight. "Fine. Will Wrex be there?"

Twilight sneered at her. "Only if you want him too... I was thinking you, me... exploring the magic of nonplatonic friendship."

"So Wrex is going," Octavia said hurriedly. "And Brass. She's going too."

"No I'm not!"

"Yesh!" Twilight decided, levitating the drummer. "Yes you are!"

"And Rarity, of course..." Octavia added, surreptitiously grabbing a couple more bottles of single malt.

"I am not going anywhere! I will stay here with Prince Blueblood and—"

"Miss?" A bodyguard put a hoof on Rarity's shoulder. "You'll have to vacate the premises now. His highness has requested all guests leave at this time."

"No!" Rarity fell to her knees, ignoring the band ponies and Twilight walking past her, or Twilight's magic levitating her off the floor and dragging her behind them. "How could he do that to me? We connected! It was there! Clear as day!"

"Face it Rarity," Octavia spoke up as soon as they were out of the mansion and scrunching her nose at Twilight when the drunk mare tried to bite her ear. "Blueblood is not for you. He simply isn't interested in mares."

"But it's not fair!" Rarity wailed.

"That's what he said," Wrex chuckled, hefting a sturdy cloth bag with something, or somepony big struggling inside and making muffled sounds of protest. "I had to bring them both though, they were kind of hard to separate."


Rarity's wail made the windows rattle.







Dear Princess Celestia,

I have secured the loyalty of Rarity for my Elements of Harmony Squad. It's too bad that she had to find out, despite all evidence clearly pointing towards the inevitable truth, that Blueduds was definitely NOT into mares.

Regardless, plenty of wine and tequila shots seem to have done the job, and she has at least stopped wailing. With her promise to join my squad as a full member in exchange for this job done, I am one step closer to creating my perfect team.

I am also very confident that Octavia will be joining us presently, as I have been practicing the magic of friendship on her repeatedly for the last few hours. I have to say, that noise-dimming spell you taught me has come very handy!

I believe Brass might have a crush on Wrex.

Your faithful student,

~Twilight Sparkle





My most faithful student...

I said the magic of platonic friendship. Platonic.

I am still unsure how your cousin Blueblood ended up with Bit Pound inside a pony-sized birdcage in the Zocalo with no recollection of what happened the night before.

Regardless, I am glad one of your... friends... has found a deeper connection to you through your efforts. And I mean Rarity. Although I am sure Miss Philarmonica also has something to you know, Twilight, I think I'll stop writing here.

~~Princess Celestia


> Loyalty Mission 2: Neon Element Pt. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------







Dear Princess Celestia,

After throwing darts at a wall with pictur careful consideration, I have decided to recruit the pony known as Vinyl Scratch next. Her proficiency with technology and magic will make her an excellent asset for my team, and we already have something in common in the form of the Elements of Harmony, which as you recall we used to defeat your misguided sister, who I hope has recovered by now. Is she still seeing double?

In any case, given that my current headquarters are in Ponyville and the fact that Miss Scratch keeps moving around from Canterlot to Manehattan to Baltimare, I think the best course of action is to find her before she moves again. Why does she move so much? Is it her wandering spirit? Or perhaps she's just that dedicated to her music? I guess I will find out.

Your Faithful Student,
Commander Twilight Sparkle





Dear Wrex,

As fun as you are and despite your almost legendary stamina, I almost want to wring your neck for telling Twilight Sparkle about your past.

Princess Celestia (aka Sunbutt.)
PS: Tell me when you're planning on visiting again?







Vinyl Scratch levitated the key to her apartment just as she was turning around the last flight of steps, but she sighed and put it away when she noticed the door had been forced open. Angrily, she kicked it open the whole way and turned on the light, revealing the completely destroyed state it was in now.

"They found me again," she muttered, stepping carefully over a wrecked speaker. "And I didn't even register my new address. How do they keep doing that?"

She shook her head in annoyance as she levitated things off the floor, mostly grunting as she had to throw them into a trash bag. "This needs to stop," she growled. "They can't keep getting away with it! But how do I stop them?"

It was then that green flames materialized in the center of her room, spinning in place to reveal a scroll, which dropped to the floor unceremoniously.

Blinking, Vinyl Scratch levitated it off the floor, and closing the door behind her, opened it up.

"Hello, Miss Scratch."

"AAAAAH!" Vinyl jumped back and away from the blue ghostly apparition that coalesced over the scroll.

"Please," Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes. "It's not that impressive."

"Twilight Sparkle?" Vinyl asked, carefully making her way to the scroll. "What-how..."

"It's a projection of myself through an enchanted scroll. Nothing to freak over," Twilight said. "I'll be direct: you are an Element of Harmony, and we have a mission to protect Equestria together. I need you to be part of my team."

"Oh, geez," Vinyl Scratch scratched the back of her head. "Wasn't that a one time thing? I'd rather work solo, if you catch my drift."

"I do, but I don't care," Twilight said. "I realize this is a big thing to ask, so I am not going to simply force you to do it, even if I could by royal edict."

"You're not a princess," Vinyl pointed out.

"No, but I am basically the adopted daughter of one," Twilight shrugged. "In any case, I'm not trying to force you to it. I want to be a willing partner, as it is, so I am willing to offer you something in return."

Vinyl blinked. "Like what?"

Twilight shrugged. "I'm not sure. What do you want? Do you have an item that needs to be fetched? We'll help you get it. An enemy that needs to be stopped? We'll help you stop them. You name it."

"I don't know..."

"Oh, come on now," Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Everypony wants something."

Vinyl sighed and looked at her destroyed apartment. She frowned and nodded. "You know what, Twilight? I do have something I'd love your help with."

"And if we help..."

"I'll be part of your team."

"It's a deal then."





Vinyl Scratch shifted uncomfortably under the gaze of Urdnot Wrex, but Twilight didn’t hold it against her. Most entities would do the exact same thing.

“So,” Twilight looked around the trashed apartment with a raised eyebrow and a slight air of approval. “Party hard, eh?” She proceeded to wander about the trashed room, taking a look at particularly brutalized items.

Vinyl sighed. “I wish. But no, this was done to my apartment while I was gone, and it has been happening for the last couple of years, notably after a big event happens… this, along with my big concerts being sabotaged, has made me very uncomfortable with accepting bigger jobs.”

Twilight looked over her shoulder back at Vinyl. “Have you been threatened with violence beyond that?”

Vinyl closed her eyes and nodded. “They haven’t done anything to me yet, but I’ve been wondering how long it will take them to get from trashing my things and messing with my performances to actually trying to do something. I mean, all of this?” She motioned with her hoof at the trashed apartment. "It started with angry notes on my door, then evolved into breaking in and drinking my booze, then hiding my things... then... well, you can see for yourself."

“The best way to answer violence is with significantly more damaging violence,” Twilight said. “That should dissuade them from ever attempting this again.” She paused. “You speak of the ponies that did this as if you know them.”

Vinyl nodded. “I do. They were part of my old garage band,” she said, levitating a picture for Twilight to see. “I’ve reported them to the police, but they haven’t been able to find evidence pointing at them. It's very frustrating." She shook her head. "And with my next concert coming up, I imagine that they'll try and sabotage my equipment or the concert itself. They're becoming more aggressive."

"Huh," Wrex grunted, leaning back against the wall. "I've seen things like this before. It started with a few incursions into a bar, and ended up with the Omega station being taken over by Cerberus and turned into a deathtrap with undead abominations with psionic powers."

Vinyl blinked. "I... I don't think this is exactly like that."

"Oh, but it is!"  Twilight said. "First a few incursions, then they turn violent, and next thing you know the city is a battlezone!"

Vinyl blinked. "They're a bunch of disgruntled, talentless musicians who resent me going solo and becoming somewhat of a success."

"Exactly!" Twilight insisted. "This is the type of thing that creates groups such as the Blue Suns!"

"In Tuchanka we have a saying for when anyone would dare do this kind of thing to us," Wrex threw in, pulling out a large submachine gun and cocking it.

Vinyl waited politely for a few seconds before clearing her throat. "And what's the saying?"

Wrex cocked the gun again.

"Ah."

Twilight nodded. "Well then, we know what we need to do. We'll gather the team so far and prepare for the concert. Wrex and I will crash at your place until it happens."

Vinyl's shoulders slumped. "I don't think that's necessary."

"Nonesense," Twilight waved her hoof. "The least I could do for a future teammate. Besides, we need to know what we're getting into. You'll have to walk us through what will happen in your concert, where it will be and such things so that we can act accordingly."

Vinyl was about to protest when Twilight pulled out a very big bottle of vodka out of her backpack. She snapped her mouth shut.

"Wrex will go buy more," Twilight clarified. "But for now, I need you to show me where I'll sleep. I need to make sure it's big enough for me and Octavia."

"Oh, sure! This way." Vinyl turned and started walking towards the guestroom, slowing down as Twilight's words sank in. "Wait. Octavia?"




> Loyalty Mission 2: Neon Element Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Twilight's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 2: Neon Element Pt. 2


By Wanderer D






Vinyl groaned and shook her head, trying to figure out what had woken her up. She pushed up on her bed unsteadily, head pounding, stomach feeling like it was about to forcefully expel her dinner along with all the vodka she had drank with Twilight.

She shook her head in amazement, and immediately regretted it. Twilight could drink a lot. A lot. How she was still standing when Vinyl had passed out was anypony's guess.

She tried to make sense of her surroundings and realized that she was in her room and the lights were off. Someone had thrown her onto the bed and haphazardly covered her with her bedsheets.  At least they had done that. Other ponies in previous nights like this had simply left her where she had passed out until the next morning.

But some noise had woken her up, and then there it was again! It sounded... muffled, somehow. The door to the rest of her appartment was open, so she could tell most of the lights were off, but there was a strange, blue light emanating from somewhere, as well as voices and that strange muffled sound.

Vinyl carefully made her way towards the flickering blue light, turning around into the kitchen, where Wrex and Twilight Sparkle stood, facing a seated, gagged and bound earth pony with a drum and sticks cutie mark.

Is that-Is that Rim Shot?! What the?! Her thoughts stopped when Celestia's apprentice spoke.

"Oh, playing tough, eh, Rim Shot?" Twilight Sparkle chuckled walking slowly around the drummer, her magic levitated a large combat knife, letting it caress Rim Shot's coat and making him shudder. "Do you want Mr. Wrex to let go of the button?" She asked in a sing-song voice. "That thing in his hand is a detonator, you know?"

The pony whimpered, ball gag allowing him to moan in despair and fear as some drool escaped from the holes in the ball. 

Vinyl noticed that there were several gray squares connected with wires between his legs, and that Wrex was chuckling while holding some sort of tube with a red button on it.

Twilight giggled. "It only takes a second and you'll be a different pony."

Rim Shot wailed in despair, chewing on the ball gag in desperation, making Twilight raise an eyebrow. "I don't think he wants to talk, Wrex."

"Ehehehehe," Wrex chuckled again, his smile widening as he leaned in. "I guess he doesn't mind his own, personal genophage."

Vinyl was about to say something when she felt a hoof on her shoulder. She spun around, eyes wide when she noticed a wary-looking Octavia. Her bow-tie was half-tied, and her mane was a mess. "Shh. Don't spoil their fun... I need a break," she whispered.

"But they're torturing a pony!" Vinyl hissed, trying to drag Octavia out of the room. 

The earth pony, however, shrugged. "I don't care," she said walking to the empty bottles on the counter and rummaging around until she found a bottle of whiskey. "Twilight kept me up all night until she thought up this plan, I want to have another drink, then pass out."

"B-but!"

A high-pitched whine and a gurgle drew her attention back to Twilight and company.

"Huh," Wrex said, poking Rim Shot's head with his claw. "He passed out. Didn't tell us anything," he sounded impressed.

"I'm more convinced now that they are an organized unit like the Blue Suns," Twilight said. "No pony could have resisted this torture so far. We need to wake him up and use real force this time!"

It was then that a horrible realization crossed Vinyl's mind. Twilight Sparkle was so drunk she appeared in full control of her faculties. It was entirely possible that Twilight was continuously drunk and because she seemed in control nopony ever noticed. How... just how bad was this?

"Uh... guys?" She called. "I'm not sure if you're playing good cop and bad cop..."

"Nah," Twilight rolled her eyes and rolled the combat knife in the air. "That's for amateurs! We're doing bad cop, psycho merc!"

"Well, either way, he won't be able to answer your questions unless you take the ball gag out of his mouth."

Twilight gave her an entirely blank look before blinking and focusing on the gag. "Well, shit." She looked at Wrex. "I forgot about that! Why didn't you say anything?"

Wrex shrugged. "I thought it was hilarious."

Vinyl face-hoofed and shook her head. This... this is just horrible! How can they do this? And this is what Octavia is dating?! I'm going to have words with her!

Her thoughts were once more interrupted by Rim Shot, who sputtered in surprise as an ice-cold bucket of water was splashed on his face. She quickly stepped back into the shadows, not wanting to do anything with this. He stared around wildly and whined in horror until Twilight Sparkle snarled in his face.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted. "Nopony but us can hear you! I cast a silencing spell in the apartment! I'm going to remove the gag and you're going to tell me what I want to know, and if you don't I'll make sure that the only drum you'll ever be able to use in the future is your tympanic membrane! Got it?"

Rim Shot nodded wildly stopping when Twilight smacked the back of his head and then undid his gag.

"Y-you monsters!" Rim Shot gasped. "When I report you to the authorities yo—"

"The authorities?" Twilight Sparkle snorted. "I am the authority. I respond to nopony but Princess Celestia herself. And we have proof that you broke into Vinyl Scratch's apartment and  trashed it, as well as proof that you and your "friends" intend to cause her bodily harm during the concert tomorrow night!"

"Technically, it's tonight," Wrex offered.

"Tonight!" Twilight said, not taking her eyes off of Rim Shot.

Vinyl's blood ran cold.

"I don't know wha—"

"Don't lie to me!" Twilight growled, pressing her combat knife against his neck. "You think you're safe. That just because you're a pony you'll get away with a slap on the wrist! Its not how it works!"

"That is how it works!" Rim Shot argued in a high voice. "The Princess—"

"Is not here!" Twilight snarled. "If the only form of authority you recognize is the princess, then get it through your thick skull the only 'princess' here is me!"

Wrex started laughing.

"Shut up, Wrex!"

"Sure thing," Wrex said grinning as he bowed. "Princess."

Twilight glowered at him, before returning her attention to Rim Shot. "Listen here, we saw on your wall that you had a poster of tomorrow's—"

"Tonight's."

"Tonight's concert with the date circled in red and several little pony skulls drawn around it as well as Vinyl's name underlined twice with the words: "Once she's gone we'll shine", now I don't know about you, Rim Shot, but to me that sounds like a threat of bodily harm."

Rim Shot cringed, but then shut his eyes and growled. "Of course I want her gone! Gone forever! She ruined us! She took off and left us to dry and die! Who in Tartarus is she to strike out and ruin our lives?"

Twilight carefully lifted the stallion's chin, making him open his eyes and look deeply into hers as she tenderly caressed his cheek. 

And then she head-butted him.

"Ow!" he wailed. "Ow! Ow! What the—"

"Listen, loser," Twilight spoke deliberately. "Vinyl Scratch is not only successful due to her own efforts, she's a member of my team. I won't let some moron with rancid breath accuse her of ruining his life when you haven't done shit to fix it! So what if she left? Was she the one responsible for playing every single instrument in the band?" She pushed him back with a hoof, and he fell on his back, wincing in pain. Twilight stood over him. "Of course not! You could have pulled together the pieces of your mediocre band and made something out of it! You are only blaming her for your own failures because you're not pony enough to face them!"

Rim Shot looked away, but then noticed Vinyl Scratch, looking at him in silence and he couldn't tear his eyes away.

"So here's what we're going to do," Twilight said, almost sweetly as she levitated the chair back up to its standing position and used her magic to force Rim Shot to look at her. "You are going to tell me what you and your little band of losers were planning for tomorrow..."

"Tonight."

"...tonight. And we're going to catch the rest of them. And you will help us because it's the right thing to do. Right?"

Still looking at Vinyl Scratch, Rim Shot nodded.

Wrex chuckled. "Excellent. But first, I need a drink," he tossed the detonator onto the table and grabbed the nearest bottle.

Immediately the plastic squares between the legs of Rim Shot started beeping and flashing while he started hyperventilating.

Rolling her eyes, Twilight unplugged a couple of cables and the beeping stopped. "Wrex!"

Wrex turned to ask what was wrong, but at that moment foam came out of Rim Shot's mouth and his eyes rolled back into his skull. Both ponies and the alien looked at the twitching earth pony for a full minute before the silence was broken.

"What?" Wrex finally asked.




> Loyalty Mission 2: Neon Element Pt. 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 2: Neon Element


Pt. 3



By Wanderer D







Rim Shot stared miserably at the plans displayed in front of them.

“This… this could ruin my career!” Vinyl Scratch muttered. “And that’s nothing compared to the damage to property and the risk you’d be putting the crowds in… just to get back at me for going solo?”

“You were part of our group, what did you expect?” Rim Shot answered bitterly.

“Not this!” Vinyl screeched. “You guys are planning a massive explosion! The theatre could burn down! Sure, I guess I’d be stuck playing background music for things like fashion shows in backwater towns or something, but don’t you care how many ponies you would hurt if this went wrong?!”

“Ha! Nothing would go wrong!” Rim Shot insisted.

“Well,” Twilight Sparkle spoke up, making the drummer immediately curl into a small ball of panic. “If these explosives here, went off out of sequence, the whole structure could collapse in. The force of the blasts would turn Vinyl into mush, and the heat could immediately incinerate the front row. Not to mention the water you wanted to flood the floor with, would come in contact with a lot of damaged electric equipment. But I’m sure you already considered that.”

Rim Shot had paled, although he dared not speak.

Twilight continued, “Riff and Vocal Scale are the ones in control of the explosives so we should take them out first, but Deep Bass and Brass Valve will also be doing their thing with flooding the theatre with sewer water… what I don’t get is how you were going to make everypony think that Vinyl was responsible.”

Rim Shot mumbled something.

“What was that?” Wrex asked, lifting him up by the scruff of his the with no effort. “I thought I heard a pyjak squeak, something about not getting its limbs broken, I think.”

Rim Shot grimaced. “Okay! Okay. We… we stole samples of Vinyl’s mane to leave as evidence and Brass Valve said that she could resonate her magic to Vinyl’s to leave a convincing trail! We also forged a letter we were going to leave partly shredded in the trash bin of her room where she explained that she wanted to go out with a bang!”

“Seriously, all of this because you couldn’t make it on your own?” Twilight Sparkle shook her head. “This is just petty.”

“Are you going to push him out of the window like you told me Shepard did to that one guy?” Octavia asked Twilight.

“Nah,” Twilight shrugged. "The building isn’t high enough.”

“You ponies are crazy!!” Rim Shot shouted. “This is very illegal! I’m going to—mph! Mhphp!”

Vinyl gave the gag-balll one last, tightening pull before looking at the others. “Seriously guys, a lot of ponies could be hurt if this happens. We need to stop it!”

“Well, Rarity should be here soon,” Twilight said. “That will help,  especially if she’s been practicing with the gun I gave her.”

“And I brought Viola,” Octavia said, drawing Vinyl’s attention to the black rectangular thing she pulled out. Vinyl’s eyes widened when the thing seemed to bend inside out to create a long-necked gun of some sort that was taller than Octavia was long.

“You named the Widow ‘Viola’?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow.

Octavia nodded standing on her back hooves and leaning slightly into the sniper rifle and caressed it with one hoof. “When I shoot it... it’s music to my ears,” she whispered.

“That’s so hot,” Vinyl and Twilight both muttered.





“Darling, I love your apartment!” Rarity cooed. “The location is perfect, the size manageable! But…” she grimaced. “You really shouldn’t party hard enough to destroy your furniture, dear.”

“But! That wasn’t me!” Vinyl whined. “My apartment’s sanctity was destroyed by my former band! I promise this place is kept clean and orderly!”

“Surprisingly so,” Octavia said. “I honestly expected this whole place to be a mess, with food cartons on the floor, cables on any conceivable surface and basically smelling of sweat.”

“Hey! That’s Twilight’s room! And yours!”

“Sorry, but you just gave me that sloppy impression.” Octavia smirked, undaunted.

“But… we’ve known each other for years!” Vinyl whined. "You should know better than anypony that I like my stuff in perfect order!"

“And yet, this is the first time I mustered the courage to visit your apartment,” Octavia said, patting Vinyl on the back. “I’m glad to say I’m pleasantly surprised.”

“Rarity!” Twilight exclaimed, walking into the living room with a smile. “How is my favorite designer?”

“Twilight, darling!” Rarity smiled in return. “I’m doing great, thank you for asking, I even had time to buy some new materials here in Canterlot! A trip is never wasted!” She giggled, levitating several rolls of fabric for them to see.

Twilight nodded, walking around Rarity and studying her. “Hey, where’s the M-6 Carnifex I gave you?”

“In a secure location, under lock inside a sturdy safe, protected by several spells including a repellant shield and a misdirection spell.”

Twilight’s eyes were wide. “B-but why would you do that to such a wonderful, beautiful weapon?”

“I have a young, naive sister,” Rarity retorted. “Who I very much want to keep away from our brand of crazy.”

“But! You need a weapon!!” Twilight whined. “You can’t be sexy without weapons!”

Rarity and Vinyl both slowly looked at Octavia, who shrugged. “It’s true.”

“Oh, don’t fret, Twilight,” Rarity said after a moment. “You have to understand, such a weapon in my home is a very dangerous thing to have, especially with Sweetie Belle and the other Crusaders thinking they can save the world, or get their cutie marks on marksmanship.” She sighed. “As much as I loved that little piece of metal-shooting doom, my sister’s safety and the fact that the color scheme clashed with my mane have forced me to take a step away from it for now, but I did not come empty-hoofed.”

Her magic glimmered around her horn and suddenly seven, sharp looking silvery daggers circled warily around her like silent guardians of death. “Diamond-tipped, mithril fighting daggers,” she explained as the others hummed in appreciation. "Crafted by warrior unicorns in the days of Queen Platinum.”

Twilight smiled, but it faded after a moment. “Well, those are nice, Rarity, but I don’t think they’ll be as effective as the Carnifex.”

“Oh, nonsense, dear!” Rarity giggled and suddenly three of the knives were gone, only for two ‘thwaks!’ to announce the destination of two of them on the wall. The third having gone straight through it.

A moment later, Wrex emerged from the kitchen, knife embedded on his shoulder through the armor. “Hey. Someone here lost their butter knife? I found it.”





"I'm so very sorry, Mr. Urdnot!" Rarity apologized once more.

"Nah." Wrex shrugged. "It's okay, I've gotten worse from a vorcha mercenary." He shifted and pulled the knife out. "I have to admit," he said, grudgingly. "You're pretty good at throwing pointy things if this one went through the wall and then through my shoulder armor."

"Well," Rarity preened. "I don't mean to brag..."

"But she will," Vinyl said.

"But I will, yes. I simply have a way with gems and design! After working with needles, a knife is not a problem."

This gave Wrex a pause. "Needles?"

Rarity tilted her head. Did-did Wrex sound slightly nervous? No, she decided. It was just her imagination. She looked around. "Where are Octavia and Twilight?"

"Knowing them?" Wrex spoke up. "I bet they're--"

"Getting ready," Twilight's voice interrupted, drawing everyone's attention to her and Octavia.

Rarity gasped.

"Heh." Wrex leaned on the table, nodding at Twilight. "Finally put it on, eh?"

Twilight wore a dark, body-tight suit with bulky combat armor on top, protecting her barrel, withers, chest and legs. The material seemed to be a combination of some sort of plastic mesh under the plates, what looked like leather (Rarity was hoping it wasn't) and the same material that made Wrex's armor. Her shoulder pads and metallic pieces of armor were decorated with a purple line that matched her mane through the middle with two thinner white lines on either side of it. A red 'N7' was painted on her chest plate.

Octavia had a suit made of similar material, although with much lighter armor and the lines on hers were a deep gray that matched her coat.

"Vinyl, darling, you're drooling," Rarity politely informed the DJ.

"But... so... hot!"

Rarity raised an eyebrow. "Well, yes I can see the sex appeal. But which of them do you mean?"

"Both."

Meanwhile, Wrex nodded at Octavia. "Nice armor, Miss Philharmonica."

"Why, thank you, Wrex! I think it goes well with string music, wine and guns."

Wrex's smile grew until he was showing as many pointy teeth as possible. "Ha! No wonder you and Sparkle here get along so well!"

"Rarity, your armor is in my room, it's the white one with the lines matching your mane."

Rarity blinked. "But... darling, I insist on designing my own armor!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Fine, but tonight you need to wear the one that actually works. These ponies we're dealing with are terrorists and you know what we do with terrorists in Equestria."

Rarity's eyes centered resolutely on Twilight. "No, I don't. What do we do with terrorists in Equestria? Give them a slap on the back of the hoof and make them promise to the princess not to do it again?"

Wrex started laughing.




> Loyalty Mission 2: Neon Element Pt. 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 2: Neon Element


Pt. 4



By Wanderer D






The night was ablaze with lights and fireworks. The Canterlot Arena was by no means a small venue, and that night it was packed. Ten of the most known DJs would be blasting the crowds with music and flair, making them stomp their hooves and shake their bodies to the rhythm they created with magic, LPs and sheer skill.

And if Twilight and her friends failed, a sour group of ponies would be blasting the crowds with far more explosive material.

So there was no pressure.





"Okay everypony," Twilight called. "Pay attention. We're ready to head into a potentially deadly situation. Vinyl Scratch is already inside, getting ready, so presumably she's drawing the attention of our enemies." She levitated several pictures and held them, floating, in front of her team. "These are Riff, Vocal Scale, Deep Bass and Brass Valve. These are our enemies. Non-deadly combat is expected, so always remember that the princess frowns on deadly force. However, crippling injuries can sometimes be healed."

Rarity raised her hoof.

"Yes, Rarity?"

"Are you suggesting we cripple our enemies?"

"I'm saying crippling injuries can sometimes be healed. Death can't."

Rarity lowered her hoof.

"Now, the teams." Twilight pointed at Rarity and Octavia. "Team one, you will incapacitate or cripple Deep Bass and Brass Valve, who are in charge of flooding the arena."

The pair nodded, readying their weapons.

"Team two will be Wrex and I. We'll take care of the explosives, so that means we'll be up against Riff and Vocal Scale."

Octavia raised her hoof.

"Yes, Tavi?"

"Are you sure you and Wrex should be handling the explosives?"

Twilight nodded. "We have the most experience with them."

"But I thought the objective was for them to not blow the arena up into pieces?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "We know how to avoid that. Have some faith."

"And keep your radios on, in case faith is not enough," Wrex added.

Octavia lowered her hoof.





"Ugh, this place is filthy!" Rarity whined, lifting up an armored hoof to show some slime sliding down and splatting on the floor to Octavia. 

"Well, if you had designed your own armor, it would be getting dirty too," Octavia pointed out.

Rarity's face scrunched up and she shuddered. "Maybe I spoke too soon. Maybe I should keep this lovely, efficient, non-designer armor for now, until I understand the materials better."

Octavia smirked. "Maybe you should."





Deep Bass and Brass Valve stared at the mass of metal pipes, valves and levers in front of them with something akin to awe.

"I never knew..." Brass Valve sniffed. "That there were so many pipes in one single place. Their metal frames perfectly capable of containing sweet, sweet sounds, but used instead to move water." She shook her head and brushed away a tear. "This is a travesty. We need to liberate the water, flood the arena and finally get rid of that... that mare!"

"Hush, dear," Deep Bass urged, placing a comforting hoof on her shoulder. "The Betrayer will be punished for her deed, and her existence erased from concerts forevermore." He valiantly turned around a large wheel, watching in satisfaction as one of the gauges started turning towards red.

"Oh, Deep!" She swayed, leaning on to him. "My deep, Deep Bass, how could I ever blow a pipe again without you?" She nuzzled him. "Or any other musical instrument?"

"Ahem."

The pair immediately separated and turned to stare at the two mares in strange armor that had shown up at the entrance to the water main.

"W-who are you?" Deep Brass stammered. "You are not authorized to be here! This is a restricted area!"

"That's true, darling," Rarity agreed, levitating several knives. "And it is you who is trespassing."

"Quick!" Deep Bass shouted, "Turn all the other levers!"

Brass Valve shot off in the direction of the several wheels and levers, but just as she was about to get to one, a knife embedded through it and stuck to the wall. "Eep!"

Deep Brass had attempted to roll another of the wheels, but a loud CRACK! echoed in the room, and the metal part was suddenly missing a whole section. Slowly, and still holding in his hoof the other side, he turned around, looking at Octavia's Widow with wide eyes.

Another CRACK resounded in the room and he flinched, then forced to turn when he heard the sound of a wheel turning. The one that he had closed earlier had rolled the opposite direction behind him.

Slowly, and keeping his eyes on Octavia, he raised his hooves, balancing precariously on his hind legs.

"You will never stop us!" He shouted, some of his courage returning. "We will rid Equestria of Vinyl Scr—"

Whatever he was going to say was violently interrupted when the wheel behind him shot out and smacked him in the back.

Octavia raised an eyebrow at Rarity, who shrugged while holding a knife to Valve's neck. "He'll live."





"Wrex."

"Sparkle."

"I think we found them."

"Ehehehe..."

"Let's party!"





"Ladies and Gentlecolts! Viiiiinyyyyl Scratch!"

The crowd roared as Vinyl jumped on stage, getting behind her turntable and beginning her show with booming soundwaves from her speakers. "Get your hooves up, CANTERLOT!" she shouted onto the mic, her voice echoing over the raving ponies as her music pumped so hard that most ponies in the crowd felt like they had just discovered brand new heartbeats inside themselves.

The giant screen behind her was alight with swirling colors, replaced from time to time with full-screen image of herself headbanging to her music. It was during one of those that the part of the screen showing her sunglasses exploded out and two shapes came crashing onto the stage.

Eyes widening behind her sunglasses, Vinyl quickly took stock of the situation and the shocked looks of the ponies as the music paused. No. This would not do.

Her magic flared as the two unicorns, Twilight Sparkle and Vocal Scale stood up slowly. The lights went off. A beat started shaking the air and suddenly the lights flared as the music exploded just at the same instant Twilight and Vocal jumped at each other.

The crowd roared their approval as the lights flashed on and off, making it seem like both unicorns were moving in slow motion as they fought each other. The crowd was loving it, a complete rave-y feeling was building up as the ponies off-stage started jumping up and down with the beat, hooves in the air and whooping and cheering as the two 'dancers' on stage dodged and twirled, using magic to toss elemental spells at each other.

And then, when she stopped and the lights went off again, Vocal Scale threw a gigantic fireball spiraling down the stage towards Twilight Sparkle. Since everything else was pitch-black it looked even more imposing, but, where Twilight stood, an ethereal orange glow surrounded her hoof snapping into some sort of pointy blade of energy, and the crowd gasped and laughed in awe when instead of blocking the fireball with a shield, or dodging, Twilight went through it cutting it in half with her strange magical blade and using the momentum to smash her other, armored hoof, onto Vocal's face.

The male unicorn was sent flying back and landed like a sack of potatoes on the stage, sliding back a little, coming to a stop in time to have another pony land on top of him.

Vinyl looked up to see the grinning Wrex jump down and land heavily next to Twilight, giving Celestia's student a hoofbump.

The crowd was still roaring while they picked up their opponents, bowed and left the stage.





"And we would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for your meddling psychopath friend and her... her.... dinosaur!" Riff shouted as the police officer threw him into the wagon with the other band members.

"Take him away officer, and once they're locked up, send me the key. I'll make sure it's never found." Twilight said.

The police pony gave her a look and shook his head before signalling the others to pull out.

"Twilight!" Rarity and Octavia rushed up to her. "Are you alright, darling?" Rarity asked, grimacing at the singed mane. "I heard you forced your way through a fireball! Did you get hurt?"

"Nah, I'm fine," Twilight shrugged. "I could have taken him quicker, but then Vinyl wouldn't have had some awesome material happening on stage, live."

Vinyl rubbed her temple. "Next time, can I have some forewarning? I had to change my whole act so that ponies didn't panic!"

Twilight smirked. "I'll try."

"That wasn't too bad, Twilight," Wrex acknowledged. "With that much destruction to property, even Shepard would be proud, but he would also do one more thing." He nodded to the ponies in suit walking angrily towards them.

Twilight blinked. Then blinked again as she caught on. "Oh!"

"Who is responsible for all of this!?" The taller of the suited ponies asked angrily. "We never agreed to have our screen destroyed for a concert! I'm going to sue--"

"It was destroyed to apprehend dangerous criminals which were going to destroy your building and then flood it, potentially murdering several hundred ponies in the process," Twilight interrupted. "In fact, thanks to our interruption, you still have an arena at all."

The pony sputtered for a moment. "And who the hell are you ponies?!"

Twilight smiled. "I'm Commander Sparkle, and this is my team." She leaned forward, glaring at him straight in the eyes. "And we don't appreciate lack of gratitude."

The pony cringed and stepped back, looking away nervously and rubbing his foreleg through the suit. "But... who's going to pay for the damage? That screen is not cheap!"

"It's cheaper than the lives we saved," Twilight snapped. "If you still have a problem, bring it up with the crown."

"Couldn't the Royal Guard have taken care of this?" The pony tried one last feeble attempt at complaining.

Wrex started laughing.







Dear Princess Celestia,

As you are aware, we of the Royal Guard have a long, proud tradition of protecting our beloved Equestria from the until now admittedly few threats it has faced. We go through drills and constant training to hone our skills and be able to stand proud at your side as an example of unity, harmony and reliability.

Your Majesty, I implore you to please have a talk with my sister and Wrex about laughing like drunk hyenas whenever someone questions whether the Royal Guard could have done a better job than her crew of mercenaries. Especially on National Television. It's disrespectful and made at least one rookie (a young lad named Flash Sentry) break down crying in shame. 

It might be true that we have not faced any serious threat in the last nine hundred years and that our armor is made of tin, spray-painted to look like gold, and that two of our best were smacked around by Nightmare Moon like they weren't even there, but we are ponies that are proud to be of service to Crown and Country, and I'm sure I'll even learn to use shields to do other things besides shielding.

So, again, I implore you, please ask Wrex and Twily to not embarrass us constantly.

Your Captain of the Guard,
Shining Armor



Celestia put the letter that had suddenly appeared next to her down next to her bed. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Wrex. You can stop laughing now."




> Intermission
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------



Dear Twilight,

Your brother, Shining Armor has made a request I believe to be a very good idea. 

The Royal Guard has a specially designed Training Ground Northeast of Canterlot which will be an ideal place for a joint exercise between your team and a squadron composed of soldiers  hoof-picked by Shining himself.

This exercise will hopefully foster better relations between the two of you, and a deeper and more respectful understanding of where both groups stand in the grand scheme of things.

As such, I am extending the invitation to you.

Shining Armor has expressed his utmost confidence in the results, and is convinced that the exercise will really change your view on them.

Your Mentor,
Princess Celestia









Dear Princess Celestia,

We accept. I will gather the team. I'm afraid Derpy is currently busy, but Rainbow Dash has agreed to be part of this mission although she hasn't really been inducted into the team properly. I have yet to find the right motivation for her to become a full member, but her loyalty to us as friends at least, is without question.

Your faithful student, 
Commander Sparkle









Dear Shiny,

You know this will not end well for you.

~Twilight.









Dear Twily,

I'll see you in the battlefield. You and your group of miscreants will learn to respect the Royal Guard the hard way. I will not pull my punches just because you're my little sister. You need to learn your place.

~Shining Armor

PS: Mom says that you need to write her more often. Dad sends his love.







The training grounds were a large field with small hills, a lake and a small fortress in the center of a moat. Two camps had been erected in opposite sides of the field, one flying the Banner of the Sun, and the other camp a black, white and red banner with the N7 logo on it.

Shining Armor glared in the direction of the latter with distaste before turning around to face his troops, which were standing at attention. "Alright! We have our orders! We will show those miscreants that the Royal Guard is nothing to laugh at!" he roared, pacing purposefully in front of them. "We are The Royal Guard! We protect Equestria! We have been trained to do so! We have a Chain of Command! We have rules and regulations and a proper way to do things that "Commander Sparkle" doesn't! We won't only win this small match, we will utterly devastate them with our superior training."

He cleared his throat. "Remember that the only indication of a soldier of either side being 'down' is if they are stunned or unconscious, or alternatively if they surrender. So unicorns, make sure your spells are selected accordingly, pegasi and earth ponies, your weapons will be blunt, but do be careful not to damage somepony too badly."

He took a deep breath and glared at all the ponies in front of him. "The objective of the operation is two-fold! We need to take over the fort, which will be defended by a group of ponies from the 3rd Battalion, and consecutively we are also to defeat Twilight and her troops for this exercise to be considered a true victory for the Royal Guard!"

The troops slammed their right hoof down on the floor once, indicating their approval.

Shining nodded. "Make no mistake, gentlestallions, we have the distinct advantage, not only in training, but in numbers. Any one of you could run circles around all of them," he clarified. "But we are Royal Guard! And when we can win or our own, when we're working together we can do the impossible! Win at any cost! That is the mission!"

"Sir! Twilight Sparkle and two of her mercenaries is approaching under a white flag!" A guard shouted.

Shining frowned and confirmed the time. "We have a few minutes before we begin. Let them through."

"Roger that, sir!"

The group of soldiers glanced curiously at the odd equipment and armor Shining Armor's sister was wearing. They had heard rumors that it came from far beyond, and it was clear that whatever it was, it wasn't something they had ever seen before.

"Shiny," Twilight greeted, smiling at her brother and waving her armored hoof at the gathered soldiers. "So glad you could make it."

"Twily," Shining replied, nodding before turning to face her sister's companions. "And you are Rarity Belle and Vinyl Scratch, if I'm not mistaken?"

Rarity was wearing a similar outfit to Twilight's, only white with a purple stripe that matched her mane. She smiled and bowed politely. "That is correct, good sir! I'm dreadfully sorry that Twilight's remarks have made such a thing as this exercise necessary, but I do hope you nice stallions know that we don't all share her derision of the Royal Guard."

Shining straightened up, a smile playing on his face. "Why, thank you, miss Belle," he said noticing his troops were looking a bit more professional under the praise. "It is nice to know that there are ponies among her circle of friends that know the value of the Royal Guard."

Rarity giggled. "But of course I would know!" She smiled coyly. "After all, I am a designer! If there's anypony that would know the value of the right type of decor for any given situation. Why, I can only imagine how Court would look without you nice stallions standing at attention to make it all look more solemn!"

Shining had to resist the urge to grit his teeth.

"Did... did she insult us?" One of his soldiers whispered to the other. "I'm not sure why, but I feel insulted."

Shining looked at Vinyl, who was also in armor, this one with bright neon-blue stripes and raised an eyebrow.

Vinyl shrugged. "I've got nothing to say, Captain. Carry on."

Shining rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Twilight, who had been looking around the camp with interest. "So what do I owe the honor of your visit, Twilight?"

Twilight shrugged. "I thought I would come by to pay my respects to the soon-to-be-defeated."

This got several growls and--annoyingly--whimpers from the soldiers behind him, but Shining simply glared back at her smiling face. "Just because you have been training with Wrex since you... hatched... him, doesn't meant that all your team is up to par. And even then, his methods don't compare to our formal training."

Twilight actually guffawed and then snorted before giving Shining Armor a hug. "Oh, Shiny, that's why I love you, big brother. You're always bringing smiles and honest laughter with you."

Shining's eyes became hard. "I think you have overextended your visit."

Still chuckling, Twilight nodded. "True, true, we're about to begin anyway. Just, remember it's an exercise, what happens is not personal."

"I'll be reminding you that later today, no doubt," Shining Armor growled, watching the three unicorns march away under escort. "Okay, team! I want volunteers to take the fort!"

"Sir!" several voices echoed as a group of five ponies stepped forth.

Shining nodded. "Soldiers, it will be your mission to take the fort. Once that is done, we will have a secure location to move onto phase two, which is taking down my sister's camp."

"Sir, I thought whoever took the fort won?" one of the soldiers asked.

"Not in this situation, soldier." Shining paced once more in front of his troops. "Commander Sparkle has made it clear she has no respect for us. The best way to show her we are superior is to not only take the fort, but to take her camp." He eyed the soldier fiercely. "Do I make myself clear?"

"Sir! Yes sir!"

"SIr!" Another voice came up. "Allow me to lead the away team."

Shining blinked. "Flash Sentry? You're a little green for this, soldier."

Flash nodded, a resolute look on his face. "I know, sir. But I also know that we ponies are capable of amazing things when we have the drive, and I have the drive to succeed! Commander Twilight's disregard has affected me deeply, and I want to prove to her what we can do, even more than you, sir! I was the top of the class for a reason sir! Give me this chance, you won't regret it!"

Shining stared into the resolute eyes of Flash Sentry and smirked. "You remind me of myself, soldier. Gear up, you're taking point."

"But sir!" a grizzled stallion a few years older than Shining spoke up, clearly surprised. "With all due respect sir, we have several soldiers with more knowledge than --"

"I understand, Mission Parameters, but we must give this young pony a chance. There are times to embrace the new, and in the case of my sister, the more unusual our methods, the better."





"This is awesome!" Rainbow Dash gushed, looking over the training grounds. "Ohmygosh! This is the type of stuff the Wonderbolts do!"

"Nah," Wrex said. "Soarin wimped out from practice with us last time, but Spitfire... heh, that pony shows a bit of promise."

"You know the Wonderbolts?!" Rainbow Dash gasped, then frowned. "Shows promise? We're talking about the commander of the Wonderbolts! The best flying team of Equestria!"

"Stunts," Wrex corrected. "Stunts team. For all their fluff they're not a true military unit anymore. Which is a damn shame, since there's so much you can do with flying ponies."

Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow, but soon the other eyebrow joined its partner when Wrex showed her what he had in mind. "That's--"

"Yes." Wrex chuckled.

"But that's more of a gryphon tactic an--"

She was interrupted when Wrex slapped her on the back and held her close under one arm like a small keg of beer. "Aw, look at you all knowledgeable about gryphon tactics. It gives me hope that with some Krogan training you'll be the best flying demolition squad in Equestria."

"Squad? But I'm only one pegasus!"

"...with Krogan training."





"Sir, we have spread our teams around the camp to pre-empt any attacks from your si-- Commander Sparkle."


"Well done, soldier." Shining nodded and looked at the fort. He turned to look at Flash Sentry. "Are you ready?"

"Yes sir! The mission should be no problem, sir! Sneak under the cover of fire to the fort's north side, wait until Twilight's team makes their move to distract our opponents, take the grappling hooks up and invade from the top down."

Shining nodded again. "Always remember that battle conditions change. Are you sure you're up to the task?"

Flash Sentry saluted. "Yes, sir!"

"Then good luck, and good hunting!"





"They're deploying," Octavia said, keeping her sight on Shining Armor, before following the soldiers moving away from camp. "A small group. Five. Leader doesn't look like much."

Twilight nodded. "Did you learn how to use the cloaking device with the Omnitool?"

Octavia grinned.

"Then, have fun." Twilight kissed Octavia before trotting away.





Shining took a glance at the position of the sun and nodded. "It's time! Raise our flag!"

"Yes, sir!" A unicorn guard acknowledged, using his magic to attach the flag to the highest pole. The moment that was done, a loud noise was heard, like a crack of thunder, and the unicorn collapsed.

"Waving Banner!" Another guard shouted in horror, galloping to help his fellow soldier. A second crack resounded and suddenly he was on the floor as well. 

"Stop!" Shining shouted when he saw more soldier rush up. "It's a trap! Find cover! They're luring us there!"

He turned around. "Flash Sentry! You have your orders, soldier! Do us proud!"

"Sir!" Flash Sentry saluted and galloped in the opposite direction, followed by his team. 

Shining Armor winced when a pony next to him was hit after another distant crack, and fell down. "We need to find who's responsible for this and take them down!"

"Mission Parameters! This is probably the work of Wrex! Get Grizzled Scar, Mangled Stump, Green Beret and Master Chief. Find that damned alien and take him down!" Shining shouted, ducking as something hit a nearby chair, knocking it over.

"Yes sir!" Mission Parameters growled. "You heard the Captain! Flaming Dragon, assemble and go!"

Immediately the toughest group of soldiers Shining had ever had the distinct honor to assemble and order around rushed into formation, with Mangled Stump creating three shields around them to deflect any incoming shots.

"I think I saw something there!" Green Beret shouted, pointing at a random direction. The group galloped, wielding their weapons up, shields shimmering with magic, and in the case of Master Chief, two glowing wingblades as he flew over his team, encased in a shield, courtesy of Mangled Stump.

They roared a challenge that was cut short as the ground under glowed purple for a second before disappearing. The group fell in, except for Master Chief, who hesitated, flying in place as his shield faded away.

Another crack.

Master Chief fell into the hole.

A flickering silhouette galloped past it, throwing a small shiny object inside and galloping faster away. A second later, a bright flash illuminated the inside of the hole, and Shining knew they were gone.

"Dammit!"

He cast a spell around the whole camp, turning to look at the scared soldiers behind him. "Don't worry! My shield won't fail, we just need to hold on until Flash Sentry takes the fort!"

"But what happened to taking down their camp?!" another soldier asked.

"Buck that!" Shining snapped. "My sister is concentrating all of her fire here. If we take the fort first, we win!"

He turned to look in the direction where Flash Sentry had gone. "I'm counting on you, kid!"





Flash Sentry looked around from his position behind a tree. "I can see the guards. We'll do what Shining said and wait until Twilight's attack on the other side." He fidgeted and looked down at the magical weapons they had. "Will these be enough to knock them out?"

"Relax, rookie." Another soldier chuckled."We use these all the time at practice. One touch can knock out a buffalo like nothing. We'll be fine, they'll be unconscious and the day will be ours."

Flash nodded and was about to say something when the top of the fort exploded.

"What the buck was that?!" a soldier asked in horror.

A blue streak flashed past, did a twirl in the air and then dive-bombed over the fort, dodging feeble attempts to be hit with arrows before dropping something that made the whole area drown in a gigantic boom. 

Ears ringing, Flash Sentry shook his head and saw through bleary eyes a blue pegasus with a rainbow mane pause, hovering over the fort before starting a patrol flight, occasionally swooping down to presumably take a guard or two down.

"We can't take the roof!" Flash Sentry gasped. "Dammit, communications, call Captain Armor for orders."

A unicorn nodded, horn glowing for a few moments before shaking his head. "No contact, sir. Communications are down."

"That can mean anything," another soldier muttered. "We should carry on and take the fort. That's our mission."

"But we can't do that!" Flash hissed. "The whole plan failed!"

"Plans always fail!" the soldier retorted. "Think of a new one!"

Flash winced and looked back at the fort as it shook with another explosion. "Try again while I think of something!"

The unicorn nodded while the other soldier rolled his eyes. "We're going to be here for a while."





"Sir!" someone shouted behind Shining Armor. "Incoming message from urk!"

"Urk!? Who the buck is urk?!" Shining shouted back trying to concentrate on his shield, but his attention was diverted when the soldiers behind him started shouting in surprise. "What's going on?" He turned around and gasped when he saw the three remaining soldiers in his base tied up, horns with suppressors and gagged. Rarity, Vinyl and Twilight were grinning at him, his sister pointing one of her infamous guns at him.

"Well, Shiny," Twilight grinned. "Will you surrender?" Her grin turned a bit disturbing. "Or will you make this interesting?"

Shining cursed.





Explosions came from within the fort, and suddenly the front doors opened once everything was quiet.

"Now's our chance!" Flash Sentry said, urging the others. "Let's go!"

"It's probably a trap, idiot!" his second-in-command growled, nevertheless following orders. "How do you even think this is a good thing?"

"Luck favors the bold!" Flash Sentry retorted. "They probably opened the doors to let reinforcements in!"

"Reinforcements?!" his second-in-command echoed, incredulous. "Reinforcements?!" he asked again, just to confirm.

The small group ran in, and just as they were in, the pair of heavy oaken doors slammed shut behind them, casting them into darkness.





"How did you get past my shield?!" Shining Armor demanded, casting a much stronger and smaller shield around himself while letting the larger one fade away.

"I teleported us," Twilight explained, dismissively poking a soldier on the floor with her gun. "Your shield was just for physical damage, and you were too distracted by the sniping which was being provided by Tavi to really pay attention to anything else."

"But you were not close enough to have a clear line of sight for teleporting! I made sure that our position wouldn't give you easy access!"

"Line of sight..." Twilight smirked. "Or a clear image of where exactly I want to appear."

Shining's eyes widened. "W-when you three visited?"

"Intel." Twilight shrugged. "You didn't think it was just social?"

A blue pegasus Shining didn't know, landed next to Twilight. "Shining Armor's squad just went into the fort, Twilight."

Shining Armor smirked. "Well then... now that we've taken the fort, we've won."

Twilight started laughing.





"Someone, please turn on the light," Flash Sentry groaned.

A flickering orb of white energy generated from right next to him, and floated up, casting a little bit of light around them. "Well, what now, sir?"

"Now you fight the krogan."

Flash Sentry blinked. "Wait. Who said that?"

"Ehehehehe..."





Twilight lifted her hoof when her Omnitool appeared. "Wrex."

"Sparkle."

"How's the fort?"

"Still in one piece. I found a little group of pyjaks that thought an open door was an invitation in," Wrex chuckled. "They're all tied up for you."

Twilight gave her brother a smug look.







Dear Princess Celestia

Thank you for the exercise! It was very amusing, and I think Rainbow Dash is much more willing to talk to me about a more permanent place in my team. We'll see what she has to say, but I think she had a lot of fun too!
Your student,
Commander Twilight Sparkle









Captain Armor

We need to talk about your troops and decisions.

-Princess Celestia









Dear Twilight,

Stop picking on your brother! And I expect you and your marefriend for dinner this Friday! Wrex can invite Princess Celestia again.

Love,
Mom.









Dear Commander Sparkle,

You're really pretty. My name is Flash Sentry and I was the leader of the away team that tried to take the fort. I was very impressed with your team and would like to offer my services to you.

~Flash Sentry









Sergeant Sentry,

No. And if you contact me again, I will not only send a copy of that letter as well to my brother, but I will personally ensure you never want to set hoof in a battleground again.

~Commander Sparkle. 






> Loyalty Mission 3: Loyalty Earned
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 3: Loyalty Earned


Pt. 1



By Wanderer D









Canterlot News


FIGHT ERUPTS OVER PONYVILLE'S WEATHER PONY
By Worthy Gossip

Local Celebrities Commander Twilight Sparkle and Captain Spitfire had a heated confrontation this last Monday just outside the high-end restaurant "Le Petit Monde", famous in Canterlot for its international Griffonian Cuisine at the capable claws of Chef Gustave le Grand.

The argument, which almost escalated into a fight between members of the Wonderbolts and Commander Sparkle's infamous retinue of quasi-celebrities—including Urdnot Wrex the Krogan, musicians DJPON3 and Octavia Philarmonica as well as the rising star of the design world, Rarity Belle—appears to be over the Commander's decision to pursue one Rainbow Dash of Ponyville as one more member of her troops.

A witness who has chosen to remain unnamed, has confirmed that Commander Sparkle mentioned at the table her intent to invite Rainbow Dash to join within earshot of the Wonderbolts, who were also having dinner there that night.

While Commander Sparkle and Spitfire's spats are well-documented, this one was reportedly promising to be worse than last year's hoof-fight that destroyed the Hayburger Joint in downtown Canterlot, or even the one from the two years ago where both mares staged a "demonstration" against Prince Blueblood's ColtBand "The Blue Balls" after the one-hit-wonder band had announced its intention to release a second record.

Princess Celestia and Luna, however, interceded and declared that the issue would be dealt with accordingly and not while there was still cake in the premises.

While the fight was stopped, this reporter has to wonder how the Wonderbolts themselves will fare against Commander Sparkle given the Royal Guard's performance during last weekend's secret training exercise. And given the intense relationship Commander Twilight Sparkle and Captain Spitfire have shared throughout the years, we can expect some rejection issues to spruce out.

I for one, intend to stay away until it's all over.







"Wow." Rainbow Dash put down the newspaper on top of some of Wrex's guns, which occupied the whole single table in Ponyville's library. "I can't believe it! Spitfire knows my name?"

"Really, darling?" Rarity looked over her shoulder, stopping her work on designing better-looking armor to raise an eyebrow at the pegasus. "Out of the whole article, that's the only thing you can say?"

"Well, yeah!" Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and it was clear that if Rarity didn't have her gun strapped to her withers, the pegasus would have added a 'Duh!' to the sentence. "We're talking about the captain of the Wonderbolts here! I've been sending them application letters for ages now and this is the first time she's even hinted at having read them!"

Rarity was about to answer when the tree shook.

The pair looked at each other for a moment before Rainbow Dash had to ask. "Is Octavia visiting? I mean, I have to commend their endurance but it's the middle of the day and Twilight has visitors!"

Rarity blushed as she huffed and turned to her designs. "For shame, Rainbow Dash," she scolded, fanning herself a little. "Twilight is working on something in the basement and, before you ask, it's not Octavia. Or Vinyl."

"Vinyl too?!" Rainbow Dash's eyes were wide. "That filly doesn't waste time, does she?" She shook her head. "I never figured Celestia's personal student for the type to do that."

"Twilight mentioned that it had to do with rhythm..."

"You know what I mean!"

Rarity smiled but didn't answer as she added a note about insufficient protection to the right foreleg with her current design. "Ugh, why must armor not be chic?"

"In any case!" Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Going back to me, this is my chance, Rarity! It's always been my dream to join the Wonderbolts!"

Rarity nodded. "Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'?" Rainbow Dash asked, hovering over to Rarity and hanging next to her with lazy flaps of her wings. "The Wonderbolts are the most respected pegasi team in Equestria! They get the best gigs, recognition, fame, glory, do the most awesome stunts... they're overall the coolest pegasi in the world!"

"Well, darling, I can see why you would want that... but you can get all of that by being part of Twilight's team too," Rarity pointed out.

"Not to mention," another voice, gruffer and deeper spoke up, "The Wonderbolts are nothing more than a bunch of pyjacks with wings." Wrex picked up the newspaper, glanced at it and snorted before throwing it in the trash. "With the exception of Spitfire, all of them are just pretty fillies and colts that know some cute moves. It's like a dance troupe led by a berserker."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash was in Wrex's face in an instant. "The Wonderbolts are not a dance troupe! They're part of the armed forces!"

Wrex rolled his eyes and leaned up to butt heads with Rainbow Dash. "Listen, blue jay, the Wonderbolts haven't had a real mission in a longer time than the armed forces themselves. Remember when we fought their best? That's the quality you're looking forward to. A bunch of training camps where they teach you what you already know, and then try to teach you what I can actually teach."

"The Wonderbolts are not the same as the Royal Guard!" Rainbow Dash insisted. "They're useful! They know how to fight! They're pegasi warriors!"

Rarity chuckled, but before Rainbow Dash could lash at her, Wrex shook his head. "You remember those three pegasi guarding the top of the fort during the exercise? Weren't they 'pegasi warriors' too?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, forelegs crossed in front of her. "They were."

"And didn't you fly circles around them before incapacitating them like I taught you?"

Rainbow Dash flung open her arms in annoyance. "So I knocked out three Royal Guards in a few seconds with what you taught me. So what? Wonderbolts wouldn't fall for those tricks!"

Wrex grinned, showing rows of serrated teeth. "Oh, but they were Wonderbolts."

Rainbow Dash's wings stopped flapping and she fell to her hooves as she stared at Wrex. "What?!"

"Fleet Hooves, Winter Charm and some other pegasus I can't even remember the name of. Commissioned Wonderbolts. Shiny himself asked them for help because..." Wrex quoted with his claws, "they are the best Equestria has to offer."

Rainbow Dash had to sit down.

"Like I said kiddo." Wrex shrugged, picking up a shotgun of some sort and examining the weapon. "You can go be a dancer, or you can be a whole pegasus demolition team in one."

The tree shook again.

"Just what is Twilight doing down there?" Rarity asked, annoyed. She slowly erased an errant line that had been drawn accidentally when the tree had shaken.

"Secret project," Wrex said, frowning at the rifle. "I hate to say this, but I miss Garrus. He would make sure all the guns were calibrated. Obsessive compulsive, that turian, and had a stick up his ass, but he was damn good at calibrations."

It was then that there was a knock on the front door. Rarity, after waiting a moment, rolled her eyes and went to open the door when nopony else made a move to do so. When she saw who it was, a smile spread on her face. "Oh, Derpy! I haven't seen you in a while, how is Dinky doing?"

"She's fine!" the blonde pegasus grinned. "Doing well at school and having fun!" her smile diminished a little. "I'm sorry I haven't been able to hang out with you guys as much as I want to, but my job keeps me all over the place."

"Fret not, dear," Rarity said, stepping aside to let Derpy in. "We understand! So what brings you here today?"

"Oh, I had a letter for Miss Dash!" Derpy announced, pulling it out of her courier bags. "It's from the Wonderbolts, so I brought it straight here since I knew she'd be waiting for it!"

A rainbow blur coalesced into the pegasus in question, as Rainbow Dash stood there, grinning like Celestia in front of cake. "A letter? From the Wonderbolts? For me?! How cool!"

Just as she reached for the letter, it was enveloped in a reddish-purple glow and floated out of her grasp. "Hey! What gives?!"

Twilight had emerged from the basement and glared at the letter. Without preamble, she ripped it open and spread the scroll inside.

"Dear Miss Rainbow Dash," she read. "We are proud to invite you to a personal interview to judge your viability to join the Wonderbolts." She ignored Rainbow Dash's squee. "Please present yourself the day after tomorrow at the training headquarters in Cloudsdale no later than noon to speak to Captain Spitfire. We look forward to meeting you."

"That. Is. Awesome!" Rainbow Dash gushed.

Twilight's eyebrow twitched. "Why, that good for nothing bi--"

Whatever else she was going to say was muted by a privacy dome cast around her by Rarity. The group could see Twilight ranting and swearing as loudly as she could as she glared bloody murder at the letter, even stomping her hoof down on the floor hard and making scraping motions with it.

It was clearly a very visceral and angry response. In complete and utter silence. Whatever she was swearing now looked intense, hoof shaking in anger at the air, and was soon followed by ripping motions with her forehooves as well a disturbingly evil smile.

Eventually, Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath before nodding at Rarity, who dispelled the dome.

"Thank you, Rarity, wouldn't have wanted Rainbow Dash to hear what I'm going to do to Spitfire for this."

"Oh, come on, Twilight!" Rainbow Dash whined. "I know I'm an Element of Harmony, but they have seen my abilities an--"

"They saw your abilities because you're working with me!" Twilight almost snarled. "Spitfire is not the type to really pay attention to others unless she's there first hoof to witness an act of awesome in the flesh. And even then, she likes to make it difficult for ponies to join the Wonderbolts. It's her secret fetish: to make ponies sweat and want to be part of her little troupe of winged acrobats. That control freak is only speeding the process for you because she heard that you were part of my team!"

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash looked hurt. "I'm good enough to be part of the Wonderbolts!"

"Yes, yes you are," Twilight acknowledged. "Too good, actually. Too promising. You would need to be put down a few pegs not to steal their thunder. They'd probably make you beg for a couple of years to make you feel almost unworthy to be one of her lackeys. Because that's what you would be." Twilight leveled a look at Rainbow Dash. 

Rainbow Dash cringed. "I don't think that's how they are, Twilight."

Twilight sighed. "I have known Spitfire for a few years. We were friends at one time."

"With benefits?" Rainbow blurted out, remembering the article. She smiled sheepishly as Rarity gasped and Wrex started laughing.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Of course not. She's just somepony I used to hang out with. She had similar interests as me and Shining introduced us a while ago. There was nothing else."

Rainbow Dash nodded, but she still looked at Twilight dubiously. "I still don't believe you about the Wonderbolts. What if all you want is for me to stick with you? Shouldn't my dreams matter?"

Twilight placed her hoof on Rainbow's shoulder and looked at her with understanding eyes. "No."

"What!?"

"Not if they're just going to be used to take advantage of you," Twilight clarified. "If you want glory, fame and recognition, you can get that with us. If you want an actual commissioned officer pay rate, you can get that with us. If you want to make an actual difference in Equestria, you won't get that with them. If you want to go beyond Equestria... you won't get that with them. If you want challenging training and learning how to do the most with your skills... you won't learn that with them. And finally, if you want friends, others that are going to be as loyal to you as you are to them, who will risk their necks for you, who will take a bullet for you, who will stick with you through victory or defeat... you already have that here, with us."

Rainbow Dash looked down at the letter, conflict clear in her eyes.

"If you really want to see what it's like, we'll go with you," Twilight said, following Dash's eyes to the letter. "You can make up your mind then."

Rainbow Dash nodded numbly before turning around and heading for the door. "I-I need to think about it." She started walking out of the library but stopped at the door. "Wait... you guys get military pay!?"




> Loyalty Mission 3: Loyalty Earned - Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 3: Loyalty Earned


Pt. 2



By Wanderer D






Rainbow Dash tossed and turned in her bed, trying to relax enough to fall asleep, but Twilight's words kept repeating in her mind. How many times had she sent application letters to the Wonderbolts? Sixteen? Ever since coming of age, she had sent a letter requesting to at least take a test to join the reserve team.

Could it be true that Spitfire was simply making her beg more and more for her own amusement?

She didn't want to believe it, but Twilight had seemed so sure!

With a sigh, Rainbow Dash lay on her side, eyes looking out her window at the starry sky. According to Twilight (and Wrex) there were thousands of inhabited worlds out there, far from Equestria. One day, it would be the pony's turn to step into that unknown universe... and the first ones there would not be the Wonderbolts, the Royal Guard, or even the Archmages of Canterlot.

It would be Twilight's team.

She turned away, staring at the wall opposite the window. Posters of the Wonderbolts covered every inch of the wall, depicting pictures of the team performing amazing stunts. She even had a 'History of the Wonderbolts' timeline poster going back a thousand years and marking every single achievement they had accomplished in their long careers. She couldn't help noticing the achievements dwindled away as time advanced up to them being one every few hundred years.

So those were her choices. A window into the universe or a wall of past glory.

Rainbow groaned and buried her head in her pillow. Things weren't that simple! She needed to make sure what Twilight said was true. Her faith in the Wonderbolts would never diminish!

Reassured by that thought, Rainbow Dash slowly drifted to sleep, although she had one last coherent thought before she was welcomed into Luna's realm.

But then, why have they never replied to my letters?





The sunlight in her eyes made her squirm and shuffle around, until she was facing away from the window. Then she smelled something delicious. She couldn't identify the smell, although it was still making her salivate.

"Come on, Rainbow Dash!" she heard a voice call. "Wake up and smell the bacon!"

"Bacon?" Rainbow Dash mumbled. Then her eyes widened. "Bacon? What do you mean bacon?" she asked, jumping onto her hooves. "Why is somepony cooking bacon in my house?!"

She flew downstairs to find Twilight Sparkle and Wrex sitting down at her table, eating pancakes and strips of something she was aware existed, but had never actually seen before—and if Gilda was to be believed, tasted just as glorious as it smelled—and could only be bacon.

"What? Twilight? Why are you here?! How did you get in? Are you actually eating bacon? Do you know what that is? How are you two even able to step on my cloud? Are those blueberry pancakes? Why are you here?!"

"To answer your questions in order: Breakfast. Yes. Because we're going early to meet with Spitfire. I broke in. Yes I am. It's pork and it's delicious. I cast a spell. Yes and there's enough for you too. I already answered that question." Twilight took another bite of her bacon, while Rainbow Dash stared in a strange mixture of awe and disgust.

"Wait, we're going today?" Rainbow Dash asked, then frowned as she thought about Twilight's answer. She looked down at the rapidly decreasing pile of bacon sitting on a plate in the middle of the table. "B-but that was a living, thinking being! I've talked to the pigs in Applejack's farm!"

"Ha!" Wrex shook his head. "If we were to worry about what every piece of lunch thought or how they felt, we would never be able to finish a meal."

Twilight hoof-bumped the krogan.

"I just... ugh. You're the only pony that does this Twilight, I swear." Rainbow Dash muttered, slumping onto her chair and pouring some syrup over her pancakes.

"You clearly haven't seen Rarity around fruit bats," Twilight pointed out.

"Not to mention," Wrex spoke up, grinning. "If I remember correctly, Joker loved himself some pork chops with apples." He tapped his chin, pretending to think. "Word is that apples and pork go together quite well. It might just be a coincidence that your friends the Apples have pigs in their farm."

Rainbow Dash's ear perked at the mention of the legendary pilot, but settled down and gave him a glare. "Applejack doesn't eat her pigs."

"What does she do with them, though?" Twilight asked. "I get the cows and sheep and goats... for milk, wool and milk and weeding, but what are the pigs good for in that relationship if not for the meat?"

"Applejack doesn't eat the pigs!"

The table was quiet for a moment.

"Do you want some bacon?" Twilight asked.

"No."

"It's applewood smoked bacon..."

Rainbow Dash took a big bite of her pancakes.

"It's the last one," Twilight pointed out. "If you don't eat it, I will."

Rainbow Dash glowered at Twilight. "Applejack doesn't eat the pigs."

"Okay, I believe you, but do you want the bacon?"

"...fine."

Wrex wiped a tear from his eye. "They grow up so fast."





Spitfire's office was a homage to her career. A large glass display held several trophies with her name engraved on them, framed articles singing praises to her, a bookshelf with matching busts of herself as bookends, holding between them texts ranging from military operations to her biography to the three books she had written, as well as the "Wonderbolts Junior" series she had co-authored. A large painting of her in mid-flight hung behind her desk, while the two windows on either side of it gave a perfect view of the training grounds behind her.

"Wow," Twilight muttered, glancing about the room as she marched in, followed by two Wonderbolts. "Is this where you conduct your interviews?"

Spitfire glanced at her and motioned with her head for the pair to leave them alone. Once they were gone, she grinned. "Of course not, I have a smaller office on the ground level that I use for interviews and to talk to new recruits during training season."

Twilight shook her head, sitting down on one of the chairs across from Spitfire. "Huh. Your desk and chair are slightly higher than these. I guess it must help with intimidation."

"For most ponies," Spitfire said, looking at Twilight with a raised eyebrow. "Clearly not with you."

Twilight sighed. "Look, Spitfire, let's cut to the chase. I want to be less here than you want me to." She looked at the Wonderbolt with a frown. "I don't appreciate you trying to take away my teammate out of spite."

Spitfire's smile vanished. "The way I look at it, Sparkle, is that Rainbow Dash has been applying for a position with us for far longer than you've known her."

Twilight leaned forward. "Then why did you wait until now? Did you have no positions until now, or were you just basking in another young pegasus' dreams and having control over them?" 

Spitfire frowned. "To choose who applies is my prerogative as captain of the Wonderbolts. If I choose to wait I can do it for whatever reason I see fit. Don't forget who you're talking to."

"You forget who you're talking to, Spits. We've known each other long enough for me to know that you're doing it because you know you're taking somepony away from me. Again."

Spitfire smirked. "Aww, are you still sore about Soarin?" She leaned forward as well, glaring straight into Twilight's eyes. "Too bad he decided to stick with me, his superior officer."

"More like you threatened to kick him out if he didn't," Twilight muttered. "I don't think you would let me see him, would you?"

"I'm afraid Soarin' is currently unavailable, but that has nothing to do with Rainbow Dash, so let's stick to the topic."

"I'm sure," Twilight growled and stood up. "Fine. I guess she's coming here to see your mess. I don't doubt she'll choose to stay with me and do truly daring things, rather than join your circle of stunt ponies."

"Don't be so sure, Sparkle," Spitfire retorted. "Ponies cultivate the dream of becoming a Wonderbolt. That's why we can afford to pick and choose the best, unlike you."

Twilight smirked and stepped back. "Captain, I'd bet any of my team against your whole team in a heartbeat. And my team would win. Again."

"I think you've overstayed your welcome, Commander," Spitfire growled.

"Nothing else left to say," Twilight said, turning around. "I'll see myself out."

"Make sure you do," Spitfire muttered, watching the Princess' student walk out. She waited a few minutes, then pressed a button. "Corporal, where is Twilight Sparkle?"

"Just boarded her chariot and took off, Captain."

"Excellent."

Letting go of the button, she sighed and stood up. "Bitch."

Spitfire trotted to the door and opened it, walking down the hallway to the training room. Consisting mostly of equipment to build stamina and strength, the room was currently occupied by the main core of the Wonderbolts, all busy working out. When she stepped inside, all movement ceased and all eyes turned to her.

"I just had a visit from our dear Commander Sparkle." She sneered, then looked at one of the Wonderbolts. "And no, Soarin' she didn't ask about you."

Soarin', who had his mouth open shut it and glared at Spitfire. "I wasn't going to ask."

Spitfire sniffed. "I don't care. In any case," she said turning to look at the others, "Rainbow Dash is showing up tomorrow for an interview. Fleetfoot, I don't want any of the injured recruits visible during the tour."

The white maned pegasus grimaced. "That last stunt you pulled on them left at least three fourths out of commission. The infirmary is packed. Can't you just explain to her what hap—"

"No." Spitfire slammed her hoof on the floor. "She doesn't see them. I want to make sure she comes to us and seeing a bunch of broken rookies will not help." 

Fleetfoot sighed. "I suppose I could move them over to the west wing. There's a few unused rooms there."

Spitfire nodded with a smirk and turned to look at another pegasus. "Rapidfire, gather up the best cadets and send the wimps out to take a day off or something."

Rapidfire raised an eyebrow. "What about Search Light? She's one of our best, but the others keep bullying her. At this rate she'll be gone in a week. She'd do a good show if we can convince them to leave her alone, or boost up her confidence."

Spitfire rolled her eyes. "Whatever. If she can't take some bruising she doesn't belong in the Wonderbolts."

"I don't think—"

"If she can't handle it, she's out."

Rapidfire bit his lip, but nodded.

Spitfire glanced at Soarin. "You, buddy, are going to make sure the whole east wing is spotless. Use the non-flying recruits to clean up. We won't need them tomorrow."

Soarin sighed and nodded. "This Rainbow Dash must be one amazing flyer." 

"She is," Spitfire nodded. "But more importantly, she belongs to me. Not to Twilight Sparkle's group of mercenaries." Spitfire grinned. "We'll get her for sure."

She turned to go, but glanced over her shoulder at the others. "Also, good job opening the window for once. This room won't reek this time around."




> Loyalty Mission 3: Loyalty Earned - Pt. 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 3: Loyalty Earned


Pt. 3



By Wanderer D






Spitfire was waiting for Rainbow Dash at the entrance to the Academy when she arrived. Half a squadron of trainees flew over the academy, following after Soarin as he shouted orders back at them. Another Wonderbolt in uniform flew around them, shouting corrections and encouraging the recruits to push themselves harder.

"Welcome to Wonderbolt Academy, Rainbow Dash!" Spitfire said brightly, allowing her visitor to gaze in awe at everything around them before extending a hoof. "I must say, it's nice to finally meet you in person!"

Rainbow Dash's smile could have split her face. "Wow! I mean, yeah. Nice to meet you too! It's amazing to finally shake hooves with you! I've been wanting to come here for a while! I thought that you were never going to give me a chance."

"Well, of course!" Spitfire grinned. "I read your letters! We only take the best flyers, as you can imagine, so the process can be long and arduous and we need to look at your record before even discussing something like an invitation for anypony."

Rainbow Dash nodded and followed Spitfire as she led her into the large cloud-made complex that served as the Wonderbolt's headquarters. "I always thought that ponies had to go first through the Wonderbolt Academy to even come here," Rainbow Dash remarked.

Spitfire shrugged, opening a door to a small, corner office and stepping inside. "They do, generally speaking, but on special instances we skip the Academy. Not all ponies are ready to become Wonderbolts, you understand," she said, motioning with her hoof to the chair across from the desk, as she calmly sat behind it. 

"So what made you change your mind?" Rainbow Dash asked, taking off her saddle-bags and setting them next to her.

"Your performance in Sparkle's team against the Royal Guard," Spitfire replied, leaning back in her chair and tapping her hooves together. "This is not an easy job, Rainbow Dash, we suffer injuries all the time. I have a wing full of injured ponies just from the Academy alone. A few of them will not be able to fly again to their full capacity."

At Rainbow's surprised look she grinned. "If you join us, you can expect some nights to be spent with your wings in buckets of ice. But I guarantee that it will be your most rewarding experience so far."

"But..." Rainbow Dash stammered. "Twilight—"

"Twilight Sparkle, Celestia bless her twisted little heart, is playing at being a commander. She's not. She has none of the military training we do. She'll tell you that I lie, that I play favorites, that I will try to get you to spite her. This is not about Twilight Sparkle. This is about you and the Wonderbolts." Spitfire took her sunglasses off and stared at Rainbow Dash. "Sparkle has her head in the clouds. Half of the stuff she does is a media stunt. She wants us to believe that Nightmare Moon was real, and that she can beat a real Captain of the Guard. Isn't it funny that she defeated her own brother?"

Spirfire snorted. "Really, Rainbow Dash, do you honestly think the Royal Guard is that badly trained?"

"Some of that stuff is real," Rainbow Dash countered, eyes narrowing. "I was there when Nightmare Moon appeared, and the pegasi that were at the mock battle were Wonderbolts."

"Retired." Spitfire grinned. "Due to injuries. They were not flying at full potential." She chuckled. "We wouldn't have sent our best to that fake battle, and Shining Armor knows it. As does Twilight and so does Princess Celestia."

Rainbow Dash's eyes locked with Spitfire's. "So you're saying that Twilight is a fake?"

Spitfire shrugged. "I haven't seen her do anything that I wouldn't consider a stunt to get attention."

"What's your history with her?" Rainbow Dash asked. "You two really seem to have it against each other."

Spitfire rolled her eyes. "That's really not important. We're getting off-track here, Rainbow Dash. What should interest you right now is whether or not you will become a Wonderbolt... I'm extending an invitation, but while you think about it, how about a tour of the grounds?"

Rainbow's eyes shone with excitement. "Hay yeah!"

The pair were stopped by a knock on the door, which opened to reveal Fleetfoot smiling placidly. "Spitfire, sorry to interrupt, but you did mention earlier you needed me to take a look at something?"

Spitfire nodded, looking at Rainbow Dash. "I hope you brought your resume?"

Rainbow Dash jumped up and dug through her saddlebags before pulling out an envelope with her wing. "Right here!"

"Excellent," Spitfire nodded at Fleetfoot, who took it with her own wing. "Fleet and the others need to take a look at it. We know what you did recently, but we all want to take a closer look at your qualifications."

Fleetfoot—who was by then looking at Rainbow's resume—nodded absently. "That's true, but you seem to have a very solid career in a high-danger zone. Working the Everfree currents and wild storms is a real challenge. Roughly before you started, it was common for Wonderbolts to have to go there to assist Ponyville and other towns." She looked up and smiled at Rainbow Dash. "It seems we have you to thank for the extra free time."

Rainbow Dash blushed. "Well, yeah! I'm awesome!" she preened. "But I couldn't have done it without the Ponyville Weather Team, I may have done the bulk of it, but they all helped!"

Fleetfoot stared at her for a moment, before clearing her throat. "I'm glad you seem to have a sense of loyalty to your team and some humility. We don't see that often here." She chuckled. "The best thing about being a Wonderbolt is that moment when you know everypony in your team has your back."

"We were about to go take the tour," Spitfire spoke up, giving Fleetfoot a level look.

"Of course," Fleetfoot said, stepping to the side. "I'll have one of the unicorn clerks make a copy of the resume and bring it back to your office."

Spitfire nodded a bit coldly. "You can leave your bags here, Rainbow Dash, the room remains locked all the time."





Rainbow Dash glanced at the bed-ridden ponies and winced. "This is almost a whole squadron!"

"This is the infirmary," Spitfire said, standing next to her just outside the entrance. "We recently had an accident when one of the team members was not paying attention during a maneuver around a type four cumulus." She glanced at Rainbow Dash. "Being a weather-pony, you understand how that can go wrong."

"Yeah..." Rainbow Dash grimaced. "Whoever the team leader was obviously didn't know her team well. If they knew they had a weak flyer, they should have assigned them to an overwatch position."

"Exactly." Spitfire nodded. "But they didn't and many of our students got injured."

"A type four is not the type of thing you use for practice, though," Rainbow Dash said, looking at Spitfire. "It can get unpredictable, with updrafts and downdrafts happening a few wingbeats from each other! Not to mention the lightning!" she shuddered. "Whenever we have one of those in Ponyville I have to be on my guard all the time! Anypony could get hurt!"

"The pony that organized that particular exercise was talked to appropriately, of course," Spitfire assured her. "We were not aware of their plans, or I wouldn't have allowed it to happen."

"Who organized it, anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I don't think that pony should keep their job! Or if they do they need to stay away from training recruits!"

"Well, that's something we have in common," a voice spoke up.

Rainbow Dash smiled. "Oh my gosh! You're Blast!"

Blast grinned back at her and bowed. "At your service. I'm taking care of the injured recruits, since I'm a licensed nurse. I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," she added, looking at Rainbow Dash with appraising eyes. "I love being able to help beyond just showing off that I can fly..." she trailed off for a second before shaking her head. "What do you think should have been used instead of a type four?"

Rainbow Dash shuffled in place. "Well... it depends on what you want to practice but, a type four is too much for most weather teams to handle without assistance. Even on the Everfree there's very few of those. We're talking tornadoes and lightning that could potentially fry a pony in the ground. Whoever it was that planned it... probably has no clue what danger they put everypony into."

Blast nodded pensively.

Spitfire tensed a bit before shrugging and motioning for Rainbow Dash to follow her. The pair walked away from the infirmary down the hallway, leaving behind the moaning recruits and Blast, who returned to work. "Like I said, Rainbow. This is not an easy job and those that are not ready to give it their all, do not last long."

"I can see that," Rainbow Dash muttered. "What happened to the rest of the squadron?"

Spitfire smirked. "They're still training. You saw them as you flew in. Well, let me show you the racing track and the training grounds, I think you'll like them."





"Okay! Another loop!" Misty shouted, stopwatch in hoof. "And make sure you beat your previous record!"

"Come on! Come on! Don't lag behind!" Rapidfire roared, flying circles around a mare in trainee uniform. "You can do it, Search Light!"

"Come on, slowpoke!" Another cadet shouted back. "You're making us look bad in front of the boss! Do you need me to carry you?" The laughter of the other cadets was loud enough to make it back to them.

Rapidfire growled and arrested her momentum and landed, letting Search Light keep going forth, until the mare just stopped altogether and landed on the ramp, shivering and breaking into tears.

Misty shot Rapidfire a look, and the latter was about to step forth when a canary-yellow wing spread in front of her.

"Let her be," Spitfire ordered. "If she can't handle the drills, she should stop before she hurts herself."

Rapidfire seemed like she was about to speak up, but settled for gritting her teeth.

"This," Spitfire said, motioning to her left. "Is—" she stopped. "Where is she?"

"There." Rapidfire responded, pointing at Rainbow Dash who had flown over to Search Light and was talking softly to her.

Spitfire gave Rapidfire a look and both mares trotted up to the pair on the ramp.

"...they are," Rainbow Dash was saying, patting the other mare's back. "Bullies just want to intimidate you, even if you're better than them."

"B-but I'm not!" Search Light sniffled.

"Are you kidding me?!" Rainbow Dash gasped, making the other mare wince. "I saw you fly right now! You own the sky, girl!" Rainbow Dash stated. "You caught all the updrafts, accounted for airspeed and fluctuation like any professional and your control is amazing! The only thing those guys have is brute strength but if it were up to me, I'd choose you above any of them! You know what you're doing, you just need to work on your speed!"

"Y-you really think so?" Search Light asked, eyes centering on Rainbow's. "It's been my life-dream to be part of the Wonderbolts, I just never expected..." she trailed off when she saw Spitfire, and lowering her ears, gazed away.

Only for Rainbow's hoof to gently lift her chin until she was looking back at her. "I know so. Believe me, I know quality flying when I see it, and you're the real deal. If any of those losers know anything about flying, they're probably bullying you because you are a better flyer than them." She helped Search Light up. "Now, go teach them a thing or two! You have the skills, girl! Don't be afraid to accelerate!"

Search Light shot a look at Spitfire before looking back at Rainbow Dash and nodding, face hardening with determination. Without another word, she cleaned the tears away with her hoof and shot into the air, flying much faster than before and slowly catching up to her peers.

Without missing a beat, Misty shouted at the pegasi trainees. "Show me what you've got! You have two more loops!" earning an annoyed glance from the bullies, but a thankful half-smile from Search Light.

Rapidfire smiled and shook Rainbow's hoof. "That was an impressive motivational speech, miss..."

"Rainbow Dash," Spitfire spoke up. "She's considering joining the team."

Rapidfire grinned. "Well, I for one would welcome the change. Thank you for your help with Search Light. She truly is a gifted flyer. I'm impressed you saw that from what little time she was in the air when you both came over."

Rainbow Dash was grinning like mad. "I can't believe I'm meeting you all!" she said, before she self-consciously forced herself to look at the distant Search Light. "But yeah! I could tell. She flies much differently than the others. She has it down."

"I'm glad to hear you say that. I think so too!" Rapidfire grinned. "I think the best thing of being a semi-celebrity is that look you get when you encourage a pony to do better. Our words carry a lot of weight, and being able to see ponies exel is a reward onto itself."

"Yes, well," Spitfire shouldered past Rapidfire. "We should continue the tour."





"And this is the gym," Spitfire finally said, pushing past the large double doors.

"Wow!" Rainbow Dash flew into the room, from machine to machine. "This is so cool! I've never seen a gym like this! You have everything!"

"Only the best for the Wonderbolts!" Spitfire chuckled. "You'll be spending a lot of time here when you join."

"Heh, I bet!" Rainbow Dash said, studying a weight machine designed for wings. "I wish we had one of these for the weather team. I know a couple of pegasi that could use the additional muscle."

"Well, you don't have to worry about that anymore," Spitfire said, walking up to her and resting a hoof on the machine. "Being a Wonderbolt, you'll have everything you could ever need to become the best."

Rainbow Dash pondered this answer as they walked out of the gym. "So what is your favorite thing about being a Wonderbolt?"

Spitfire stopped, glancing back at Rainbow Dash. "What?"

"Well, everypony else seems to love something about it," Rainbow Dash pointed out. "I was just wondering what the best part for you was."

"Oh." Spitfire shrugged and carried on walking. "Everything, I guess. We're the best, that's enough for me."

"Hm." Rainbow Dash frowned, but didn't say anything. She followed Spitfire in silence to her office and sat down across from the Wonderbolt captain.

"So, what did you think?" Spitfire asked with a grin. "Did you like what you saw?"

"Well there was a lot of really cool stuff!" Rainbow Dash said. "But I'll think it over before I make my final decision."

Spitfire blinked in surprise. "What's there to think over? This is your chance to join the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash! I actually extended an invitation. This doesn't happen often!"

"I know! And I'm really honored!" Rainbow Dash said, raising her hooves defensively. "You are all awesome and I would love to fly with you, but—"

"But?" Spitfire growled. "Did Sparkle tell you not to join?"

"That's not it," Rainbow Dash said, sliding her chair back. "I just need to think things over, okay? This would mean moving away, leaving the weather team, leaving Twilight's team... I want to make sure the decision is the right one."

Spitfire sighed and tapped her hoof on the desk. "I'll have you know that most ponies don't get this chance. So bear that in mind."

"I will!" Rainbow Dash replied, frowning. "I just want to decide for myself what I will do."

Spitfire took a deep breath and nodded. "When will you let me know?"

"Tomorrow!" Rainbow Dash promised.

Spitfire nodded. "Fine. Tomorrow."




> Loyalty Mission 3: Loyalty Earned - Pt. 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 3: Loyalty Earned


Pt. 4



By Wanderer D






"So she didn't just jump in and sign?" Fleetfoot asked, reclining against the door. "Smart girl."

"Idiot girl, you mean," Spitfire muttered. "I preempted everything Sparkle could have told her. Why didn't she jump at it? Didn't you ever see her fan mail?"

Fleetfoot chuckled. "I don't think there's a single living Wonderbolt that hasn't received fan mail from her."

"That's why I don't get it!" Spitfire groaned. "Being a Wonderbolt is her dream! She's known Sparkle for what, a month? And now she's seriously thinking about joining her mercenary team?"

Fleetfoot shrugged. "Commander Sparkle's team does seem more... close to Rainbow Dash's idea of  what we are."

Spitfire's eyes narrowed. "You're treading very fine mist, Fleetfoot."

Fleetfoot rolled her eyes. "You know what I mean. Look at her mail! She's not a bully, and we foster bullies. She's not going to risk her team for an intangible victory like dismantling a type four for practice! She cares, and you can't care when you're a Wonderbolt. Not in this incarnation of the team, at least."

"Get out, Fleetfoot," Spitfire hissed. "And I'd better not run into you at all the rest of the day."

Saluting, Fleetfoot turned around and left Spitfire in her office, closing the door behind her.





When Rainbow Dash arrived at her hotel, she immediately noticed Octavia, sitting by herself at the bar.

With no intention of overthinking things, she decided that perhaps a drink might help her make up her mind.

She sat silently next to the musician, and pointed with her hoof at one of the draft beers. The bar tender nodded, filling up a pint for her and setting it just in front before going to tend other customers.

"How was it?" Octavia asked, hoof gently caressing her glass.

"It was... not what I expected."

Octavia nodded, but didn't say anything.

After the silence stretched, Rainbow Dash sighed and took a gulp of her drink. "It was awful. And awesome. But not good. And yet... so cool!" she finally blurted out. "I can't even explain it! I met most of my heroes today, but at the same time, I just found out how miserable they are!"

Octavia raised an eyebrow.

"It's like... they're all terrified of Spitfire! And she's been my hero for a long time! Turns out she's some sort of tyrant!" Rainbow Dash shook her head. "She thought risking the lives of her trainees was something that could be solved with a talking to! Or that it's okay to let bullies verbally abuse a pony!"

Octavia nodded, taking a sip of her drink.

"And now, I have to decide, but..." She shook her head, shouldering off her saddlebags and letting them fall next to her. They made a soft, crunchy noise when they hit the floor, and Rainbow Dash looked down at them with some confusion. "I don't think I put in anything that might make that sound."

She pulled out a vanilla bag, which she placed on the counter of the bar. Exchanging a confused look with Octavia, she opened up the bag, pulling out a diary of some sort, tied with a rubber band to several envelopes, another single envelope and something that made both mares pause. 

It was a picture of a younger Twilight, no more than a teenager, standing at attention, in uniform next to Spitfire. They were in perfect position, except for their eyes and mouths. They were looking at each other, not at the officers in front of them, and both had smiles on their faces.

Octavia took the picture and stared at it, before turning it around. In the back there was only one word: Algol.

"What do you think that means?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I don't know," Octavia muttered. "But we should look into it. It seems Twilight and Spitfire weren't always enemies."

Rainbow Dash nodded, looking down at the notebook. She undid the rubber band and opened it. Her eyes went wide. "This is a log book! It has personal notes from Spitfire on the exercises she puts the rookies through and... and notes. On the rookies..."

She trailed off, reading the first few pages, before flipping the book to the last few written ones. "Wait a second, she's the one that created that cumulus?!" she asked, eyes scanning the page. "She almost killed the rookies!" she said, turning to Octavia.

She scanned the pages and slowly became more and more angry. "I can't believe! Argh!" She glared at the papers before a stray thought crossed her mind. "How did all of this get in my saddlebag? Did Twilight do this?"

Octavia snorted. "Twilight hasn't been around, she was visiting an old friend at the Royal Guard barracks here in Cloudsdale I would have gone but..." she waved her hoof. "I don't feel comfortable stepping on clouds, even if she says it's safe."

Rainbow Dash frowned. "But if it wasn't Twilight, then who?"

"Maybe you should read the envelope directed at you?" Octavia pointed out, her hoof pushing the lone item towards Rainbow Dash. "However, I would suggest you do it away from the public." She motioned with her head to other pegasi in the bar, who were shooting her dubious looks. "This is not only distressing to you, but also to pegasi in general."

"I-I guess you're right," Rainbow Dash said, downing her beer and quickly gathering everything together. "I'll sort this stuff up in my room..."

"Except for this," Octavia said, hoof firmly on Twilight's and Spitfire's picture. "Let me keep it for now. I want to look into it."

Eyebrow risen, Rainbow Dash slowly nodded. "Sure."





Spitfire signed the form and transferred it to the "done" pile on her desk and dragged another form to start reading. 'This is the worst part about this job. All the paperwork. If I ever find a pony I can trust I'll turn them into my secretary.' She looked up when she heard the knock on the door. "Yes?" she called, almost glad for the distraction.

Soarin peeked in. "Rainbow Dash is back."

Spitfire grinned. "Well that was fast. I'll be right down."

Soarin cringed a little. "Um, she's right behind me."

"What?" Spitfire stood up. "Don't you know this is not where I conduct the interviews?" She gritted her teeth and sat down. "Fine, send her in. She was going to see this office soon enough after accepting anyway."

Soarin nodded and pulled back. After a moment, the door opened a little bit more and Rainbow Dash stepped in, glancing around in awe at the posters, statues, ribbons and trophies. "Wow, so this is your actual office?"

Spitfire shrugged. "One of the two. The other one is the one-on-one office, it's more comfortable for first introductions to ponies and to talk with less..." she opened her hooves to encompass the room.

"I get it," Rainbow Dash said, stepping up to the desk.

"Do you want to close the door? I imagine we have a lot to talk about," Spitfire grinned. "Like when you'll move here, your training schedule, your flight partner..."

"Nah," Rainbow Dash waved her hoof at the door. "It's fine there. I'm not staying long."

Spitfire blinked in surprise when Rainbow Dash offered her an envelope. She took it and looked inside. "This is the invitation package we sent you."

Rainbow Dash nodded. "Yeah, I was going to just send it back, but I did promise to give you an answer by tomorrow." She took a deep breath. "It was a real honor meeting all of my heroes here, Captain, but... I feel my place is with Commander Sparkle's forces."

Spitfire was silent for a moment, staring at the envelope before she looked up at Rainbow Dash, furious eyes burning into the other mare. "Why would you turn this down? Do you know how often I do this?" She didn't wait for Rainbow Dash to answer. She stood up and leaned forward on the desk. "Never, that's how often. This was the only chance you had to join the Wonderbolts, Rainbow Dash, and you wasted it because of whatever Sparkle told you!"

"You told me yourself that this wasn't about Twilight," Rainbow Dash replied as calmly as she could, although she was a bit cowed by Spitfire, who almost looked like she was about to throttle her. "And it's true. I decided this own my own, from what I saw today."

Spitfire growled and slammed her hoof on the desk, denting it. "Don't lie to me! There is no way you would pass this opportunity without outside interference! You don't want to be part of The Wonderbolts? Fine! Get out of here and don't come back! Go waste your time with that lot!"

Rainbow Dash cringed, eyes moistening a little before she stood straighter and nodded. She didn't say a word as she walked out of the office, leaving the seething captain alone.

Spitfire growled and tore the invitation to shreds, slamming her hooves on the desk once more. "Sparkle..."





Twilight Sparkle was sipping coffee in her hotel room when the door was violently kicked down.

"Wrex, what have I told you about knocking in Cloudsdal—" Twilight cut off her reproach when she noticed who was at the threshold. "Spitfire, what brings you here?" She tilted her head. "Do you want to come in?"

The obviously irate mare marched into the room, ignoring the door as it floated back into place within Twilight's magic field and attached again to the reforming clouds.

"What. Did you. Tell her." Spitfire ground out, not taking a seat after Twilight offered with her hoof.

"I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Oh, I know you do," Spitfire snapped, starting to walk back and forth in front of Twilight. "Do you think I'm stupid? I knew you were planning something when you visited yesterday! I accounted for your blasted audio devices, and possible spies. They even made a mistake and left the window in the gym open!"

"Devices?" Twilight blinked, putting her cup down. "Spies? Are you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Of course not!" Spitfire roared, making Twilight's cup shake on the table. "I don't know what you offered Rainbow Dash to turn my offer down, but don't play me for a fool! I knew you were spying on me, that's why after giving false orders I brought everything back to how it is! You would lose credibility because you would have heard the wrong information!"

The pair were quiet for a moment, one mare standing breathing hard and glaring at the other.

"I thought about it," Twilight said, shrugging. She levitated a bottle of whiskey, threw some ice into a glass and poured herself some. She didn't offer any to Spitfire. "When I was getting ready to go visit you, I considered spying on you. Maybe have Rainbow Dash listen to our conversation and what would follow." She took a sip, closing her eyes. "But then I realized... you're you. I don't have to do anything. I knew my visit alone would shake you up, after all, it wasn't easy for me either... but you know what I can do, so you would be constantly expecting Rainbow Dash to have the wrong information and act on it."

Spitfire had stopped pacing and was looking at Twilight with an inscrutable expression.

When she didn't say anything, Twilight continued, "But because I didn't tell her anything, you were caught off-guard. You showed your true colors behind all that posing. You showed how your immediate subordinates don't trust you and how you're dismissive of their time and enthusiasm. You showed your treatment of the recruits and how you allowed bullying to go on right in front of you. You showed that all that matters to you... is you."

Twilight Sparkle twirled the whiskey in her glass, making the ice cubes click against it as she contemplated the amber liquid inside. "And I didn't have to say a word to her. I think Rainbow was expecting me to say something after my visit. She asked how it went, and I think she was kind of disappointed that I didn't expand on my impressions of you. But I knew she would not join you if she had a tour with the real you."

"Oh, really?" Spitfire spoke slowly. "And why would she turn me down for you?"

"Because she knows something that you always ignored, even when you and I were a team."

"And what is that?" Spitfire asked, baring her teeth. If looks could kill, Twilight would be dead thrice over.

"You can't force real loyalty," Twilight replied in a measured tone, pausing to take a sip of whiskey. "Loyalty is earned."

""Real" Loyalty is a waste of time!" Spitfire snapped. "Loyalty is won once somepony swears their duty to you! I expect no less loyalty from my underlings than I have for them!"

"Underlings?" Twilight Sparkle snorted. "Well then, Spitfire, how can you sleep at night, if you know the knife is just waiting for the perfect moment to stick into your back?"

Spitfire spun around, slamming the door open and flying out of the room.





When she slammed her office door open, she immediately noticed the other ponies in the room. Lined to her right were her officers: Soarin, Fleetfoot, Blast, Misty and Rapidfire. To her left, were several guards in golden armor, and right in front of her...

"Lieutenant General Storm Front," she gasped, immediately snapping to attention and saluting.

"At ease, Captain," the Lieutenant General said, her eyes looking at the physically smaller mare without betraying her intent. "We need to talk."

From one of the pockets in her uniform, she extracted a small notebook and Spitfire's eyes opened wide, looking from the General to her subordinates and back. "But..."

"This was brought to me today while you were out. When I saw the contents, I immediately headed here and double checked everything with your staff and some of the recruits." She walked around the desk and sat in Spitfire's chair, motioning for the captain to step forward.

Spitfire found herself looking up a bit more than she otherwise would have, and reminded herself that it was an effect of how her desk was slightly higher, although the fact that the Lieutenant General was a bigger pony physically too didn't help.

"When I found this confirmed," Storm Front spoke up, "I asked your staff if they felt this... training regime of yours was the best curriculum for the Wonderbolts. To a pony, they said no. Imagine my surprise when I found that they had each sent more than one complaint to my desk, only to be turned down every single time, especially when this is the first time I hear about it."

Spitfire shot the others a look, but none of them were looking at her.

"I have reports of bullying being so prevalent and ignored that more than five recruits with very promising resumes were abused so badly they quit and we ended up with the disgrace that the second squadron is." Storm Front frowned. 

"Ma'am, I assure you a I am more than qualified to head a squadron an—"

"Leave us," Storm Front spoke up and the pair watched as both groups of ponies walked out. When the door had closed behind them, and they were alone, Storm Front faced Spitfire. "You might be Algol. You might be overqualified for many things below this position, Spitfire, but you are not the right choice to head the Wonderbolts. There is no loyalty to you. None. I have never, in all my years found a leader who wouldn't have at least one subordinate that would stand up for them. At this rate, if you competed in the Equestrian Games like you applied, I would fully expect you to ditch your team members without hesitating. That is not a leadership quality on any level, civilian or military."

Spitfire looked down, closing her eyes and forcing herself to take deep breaths. "What will happen to me?"

The general leaned back. "You are not fit for this position," she re-stated. "But you are too good a soldier, too good a strategist to be left to rot. I'm as much to blame for ignoring the signs that you were not meant for this job. You will go back to the guard, and I will build you a team. As much as Commander Sparkle can be relied on, we cannot allow the mockery that the guard has become to continue. You are one of the very few ponies that happen to be the real deal, no less due to your training in Algol. Whether you'll be the team leader... that remains to be seen. Pack your things today."

"Yes Ma'am." Spitfire saluted.




> Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare



By Wanderer D






The door to the Black Cricket squealed open and the bartender looked up at first without much interest, but soon, his face lit with a smile. "Well, there's a face I never thought I'd see here again."

"Charred Oak," Octavia greeted with a small smile of her own, as she made her way into the small hallway-like room. She took a seat at the bar and and gazed at the enormous amount of alcohol behind it and the earth pony bartender. "You still keep well stocked, I see."

Charred Oak chuckled, pulling up two lowball glasses and pouring an amber liquid inside from a bottle he had hidden behind the bar. "Here, on the house. It's been a while, Octavia."

Octavia swirled the liquid in the glass, taking a slow sip of it and nodding with delight. "32 years, single malt... very nice. What's the brand?"

Charred Oak smirked. "Well, an old stallion has to keep his secrets." He watched silently as his guest had another sip. "I know that look, though. This is not just a social visit, is it?"

Octavia sighed, staring at the glass. "Am I that transparent?"

"Only to those that know you well, I reckon." Charred Oak chuckled, taking a sip of his own glass. "I remember what you went through to get out, Octavia. What you did so you could get that chance and move up in the world and away from this place. From... us." He looked into her eyes. "I know you wouldn't visit unless it was serious."

Octavia sighed, nodding as she pushed a folded  slip of paper towards Charred Oak across the bar. 

The bartender didn't take it, only glancing at the offering with a raised eyebrow. "And this is?"

"The reason I'm here," Octavia said, eyes on the piece of paper. "Somepony slipped what's written in it into a friend's saddle bag. I just want to know what the history of it is. There's no need to dig too deep."

"Is this about Commander Sparkle?" Charred Oak asked, drawing a surprised look from Octavia. "Oh come on now, Octavia. We watch the news. Not everypony we know is happy 'bout it, but for the most part the general agreement is that it's good you're working with her... unless of course that means we are now enemies."

Octavia scoffed at that. "Of course not. Commander Sparkle has her eyes set somewhere else." She sat her glass on the bar and tilted it with her hoof, keeping an eye on the amber liquid inside as it moved with the angle. "When I asked her about it, she said that it didn't matter anymore, but wouldn't go into more detail than that."

Charred Oak shrugged. "Don't you trust her?"

"Yes! Of course I do!" Octavia said, quickly looking up at the bartender. "It's just... just—"

"Good old Octavia," Charred Oak interrupted, chuckling as he slowly drew the paper to his side of the bar. "Can't let things rest, can you?"

With a shrug and a lopsided smile, she nodded. She was about to take another sip of her drink when Charred Oak's eyes widened and he quickly hid the piece of paper. It wasn't a second later that the door opened behind her.

"Well, well," a familiar voice rasped. "If it isn't our very own Octavia. I thought you were done with us for good, darling."

"Two Hooves," Octavia spat. "Should you really be here? Does the Old Stallion know you're hanging in a bar in the middle of the day?"

Two Hooves chuckled and sat next to Octavia, his dark blue coat contrasting heavily with the white suit and fedora he was wearing. He looked at Charred Oak.  "I'll have what she's having."

Charred Oak shrugged and served him some whiskey from the counter, which Two Hooves downed in one gulp. "Aha! That hits the spot." He leered at Octavia. "Since you're out of the loop, I'll have you know the Old Stallion named me his successor."

"You?" Octavia could help the snort that accompanied the question, and Two Hooves slammed his glass down.

"Yes, me!" he snarled, leaning forward until he was an inch away from her face. "Why, do you find it funny, 'Strings'?"

Octavia's eyebrow twitched, but she didn't back away. "Don't call me that, Hooves."

Two Hooves snorted and leaned back, jaw clenched. "You've been gone a long time, Octavia. You should stay gone. I'll respect the Old Stallion's wishes to keep your involvement a secret, so long as you show me some respect!"

Octavia closed her eyes and took a deep breath, rolling her shoulders back and putting both hooves up in a placating gesture. "Fair enough, Two Hooves," she said at length, opening her eyes. "I have been gone for a while, as you say, and a lot of things can change. If the Old Stallion thought you were the right choice, then you were. It's none of my business anyway."

"Durn right it isn't," Two Hooves growled, but didn't invade her personal space. Grunting, he slid back away from the bar and walked to the door. "I expect not to see you again in my territory, capice?"

Octavia didn't reply, but he hadn't waited for her to speak up. Soon enough the door slammed shut and Charred Oak let out a loud breath. "Dammit Octavia, the last thing I want in my bar is a dead body."

She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Charred, I should have kept my mouth shut. But I can't believe the Old Stallion would choose Salty Two Hooves Capicollo as his successor."

Charred Oak started scrubbing the bar.

"Charred." Octavia leaned forward. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Finish your drink, Octavia. I'll look into this note you left me, alright?"

"Charred."

Charred Oak grimaced and turned around, putting down a shot glass and filling it up with a clear liquid too fast for Octavia to read the label before he had put it away. A second after, he had downed the shot. "Gah."

"Charred. Do I need to repeat myself?"

Charred Oak looked at her and shook his head. "Octavia, this is something that has to do with the family. You wanted out, stay out, filly."

"But the Old Stallion—"

"Is no longer your concern," Charred Oak said kindly. "I know you have a soft spot for him, but—"

"Charred, I deserve to know if he's okay, he got me out, remember?" Octavia insisted. "Please. Is he... okay?"

"He's alive." Charred Oak sighed, pulling the bottle from under the bar, walking around the it and locking the door before heading back to sit next to her. "He's just old, and, well he needed to choose a successor before somepony chose for him." He shook his head, placing the bottle on the bar. "Not that he had much of a choice," he muttered, then winced when he noticed that she had heard him.

"What do you mean?" Octavia asked.

Charred Oak took a deep breath. "You're right that Two Hooves wasn't his first choice," he said after a moment. "His first choice was Kale "The Face" Agnolotti. You remember him."

Octavia nodded, taking a sip to hide her blush.

"Well, turns out The Face was spilling his guts to the Royal Guard, who knew."

"What? The Face? No way he was a snitch." Octavia stared at Charred Oak before shaking her head in denial. "He was the Old Stallion's personal assistant, from Trigger Pony to Consigliere! He's been in the family for longer than I've been alive!"

"He was."

"Oh."

Charred Oak shook his head. "Of course the next one he had in mind was Basil 'Lucky' Bucatini. Turns out that mare had the worst of luck. Fell into a ditch during a storm."

Octavia narrowed her eyes. "Why Lucky? Why not The Rabbit?"

"Well, you see The Rabbit got caught in a snare. She was arrested when the Guard happened to find her at an inconvenient time with several kilos of Moon Dust hidden away in her house, all prepped up and ready for selling."

"But the family never sold drugs," Octavia pointed out. "And the Royal Guard wouldn't be able to find their reflection in a mirror without assistance."

"Imagine that." Charred Oak sighed. "The Old Stallion was livid, he disowned her, forbidding anypony from attempting to release her, and paved the way for Lucky to run out of luck a year later."

"I'm beginning to see a pattern here."

Charred Oak snorted, serving more alcohol in both glasses. "It's easier in hindsight. At the time, the Old Stallion had no idea. He thought Rabbit had crossed the line." He downed his drink again. "Turns out Two Hooves and a couple of other capos were behind it."

"So they made their move and—"

"They captured the Old Stallion. He's still the head of the Family for now, you see, it's more convenient for Two Hooves and the others to have him as a figure head. Keeps the sight of others on him, rather than them."

"Why-never mind. How did they take him alive? The Old Stallion would never let them have the Family without a fight."

Charred Oak grimaced. "Well... you see, there's the thing. They have the Old Stallion in hoof because... they threatened the two things he has left unless he did his thing."

Octavia's eyes widened. "You mean..."

Charred Oak nodded. "With you firmly out of the Family, they went for the young ones. Your sisters."

Octavia sat in stunned silence for less than a minute. Then her brow darkened and she snarled, downing her own drink in one gulp and feeling it burn her throat and warm her stomach. The smokiness of the drink brought back memories. Good memories. She slammed down the glass and stood up, making her way to the door.

"Octavia. Please, stay out of it. You can't barge in there. If something happens to you... the Old Stallion wouldn't be able to handle it."

Octavia shook her head, but didn't look back. "I'm not going there."

Charred Oak sighed in relief. "Good, I wouldn't want t—"

"I'm going to cash in on a debt." Octavia pushed the door open. "And then I'm reclaiming the Family."




> Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare Pt 2



By Wanderer D






"Darling I really don't see wh—"

"Just aim the gun at the dummy and pull the trigger." Wrex pressed a button on the device he had and, on the far side of the room, a creature unlike anything she had seen appeared... it had the lithe body of a feline predator, but it was reptilian, with huge fangs on its lower jaw. The upper body was darker, either deep dark blue or black, with thick scales, while the lower body was clammy white.

It started running towards her, slavering and growling, and behind it three more materialized, taking off after the first.

"Meeep!" Rarity took a step back as the carnifex quickly floated in front of her and she squeezed the trigger, barely aiming.

The shot went wide, missing the creature as it jumped at her.

Rarity scrambled away and fell on her back, before she released a shot again—point blank—into the creature's head. It exploded into light, but she had no time for that, as the other three were fast approaching. Rolling onto her hooves, her magic took hold of the gun on her hip as well, and both guns flew in front of her, cracking a shot each into the body of the two creatures on the side, before they shot again into the body of the third, which stumbled and skidded down all the way to her forelegs before it too disappeared in a flash.

Heart pounding hard against her chest, she swallowed and tried to speak, but no sound came out.

Twilight Sparkle walked into the shooting range.

"Wrex."

"Sparkle."

"What was that?" Twilight spied the device in Wrex's claws. "Did you... did you make her practice on Varren holograms?" she whispered.

Wrex shrugged. "What? It seemed like the best way to get her into it."

Twilight shook her head. "Wrex, we've talked about this, Rarity is a civilian, she has no killer inst—"

"That. Was! The best thing ever!" Rarity squee-ed, hugging the guns close. She turned to Wrex, eyes glistening with excitement. "Let's do it again!"

Wrex smirked.

Twilight rolled her eyes, but she couldn't hold back a smile of her own. She raised an eyebrow at the guns. "The Carnifex and the Paladin?"

Wrex shrugged. "No one else uses heavy guns."

Twilight shrugged, acknowledging the point. "What about Vinyl?"

"She took the Punisher," Wrex said, activating the hologram again and letting Rarity have a go at some collector drones, before looking down at the list of weapons in his omnitool. "We'll have to make sure to procure more ammo."

Twilight nodded, "I figured as much. Has anyone tried to get into the bunker where they found you?"

Wrex shook his head, ignoring the sound of Rarity shooting her guns. "Sun-butt has the area very well secured with dozens of spells, and the automatic defenses are up..." He shrugged. "I'm not worried."

Twilight leaned back on the door frame, eyebrow arching when Rarity jumped over the disintegrating body of a holographic collector and shooting at others. "Fair enough. One day you'll have to let me go in with you."

Wrex chuckled. "Sure thing, Sparkle."

"In the meantime, I've been trying to figure out how to get Derpy to formally join us, but that mare's life is so simple there's nothing I can offer to fix that will guarant—"

"Well, that is not a problem right now," Octavia interrupted, marching into the room. She blinked as Rarity slid under the spread legs of a collector before shooting it in the back, then proceeded to run towards the ones that had just generated. "Okay," Octavia cleared her throat.  "Clearly somepony is having fun."

"Tavi!" Twilight grinned. "Welcome back, why did you say that Derpy wasn't a problem right now? Did you figure out something we could do?"

Octavia shook her head. "No, I figure it's time for my loyalty mission, as you call them."

Twilight tilted her head. "But don't I already have your loyalty? I mean, you swear you're mine forever every time I—"

"Not the same thing!" Octavia interrupted, blushing under her coat and looking away. "No, I have something big going down, and as much as I want to be with you, I can't unless that is taken care of first."

"Tavi," Twilight slowly approached the mare, and carefully lifted her chin up to have her lover look at her. "You know that you can ask of me anything, it doesn't have to be a loyalty mission for you... I already..." she trailed off, looking to the side where a starry-eyed Rarity sat next to Wrex, who was eating some sort of snack. Even the holograms were hanging out, just looking at the pair.

"Oh, do carry on dear!" Rarity giggled. "Please!"

"I-I already—" Twilight cut off and growled. "Let's go to the other room."

"Aww! But it was just getting good!"

"Shut up and keep shooting sentients, Rarity!" Twilight called over her shoulder as she and Octavia left the room.

"Ehehehe," Wrex chortled, fist-bumping Rarity's hoof.





"So what's the problem?" Twilight asked, closing the door behind them.

Octavia was silent for a moment before sighing and walking up to the sofa, laying down and looking at Twilight. "I... have a bit of a secret past, Twilight."

Twilight arched her eyebrow. "Oh?"

A nod. "Yes... I'm sorry I haven't told you, I was afraid that it would... affect our relationship."

Twilight shook her head. "Oh, Tavi, you know it would have to be something pretty big to shake me, and even more than that to give up on you."

Octavia sighed, punching one of the pillows in frustration. "I know! But it's just... digging up things from my past that I would rather nopony I know find out about."

Twilight nodded. "I understand, but unless you're secretly the daughter of some criminal overlord, or you were some sort of assassin, I doubt I'd be surprised," she teased, nuzzling Octavia, who had gone rigid.

"Did. Did you look up information about me?" Octavia asked, pushing Twilight back. "Did you look into my past?"

Twilight blinked. "A little. I mean, you're under my command. I had dossiers on all of you."

Octavia sagged, leaning her head onto Twilight's shoulder. "So you know." She chuckled, nuzzling Twilight back. "Thank Celestia, I thought I would have to tell you about the Family and being a hitmare for the mafia... but since you know, I—"

She stopped when she noticed Twilight had gone stiff.

"Twilight?"

"You... were a hitmare for the mafia?"

Octavia's blood went cold and she pulled back, looking at Twilight in the eye. "Wait. You didn't know?"

Twilight shook her head.

"B-but what about the dossier?" Octavia babbled, shaking Twilight by the shoulders. "You said you had them done on all of us! My background is hidden but any serious investigation would have produced at least a picture or something!"

"I just... I—"

"Where did you get the dossier on us?!"

Twilight opened her mouth, then closed it as her eyes widened and she brought a hoof to her face, muttering.

"I'm sorry," Octavia deadpanned. "care to repeat that?"

Twilight's shoulders sagged and she lowered her head. "The Royal Guard."

Octavia closed her eyes and took a deep, calming breath. "Of course." She shook her head, looking at her lover. "Well, there goes all the serious research. You know this effectively means you know nothing about our pasts other than what we've told you, right?"

Twilight flinched.

Octavia started sliding off the sofa, but a hoof on top of hers stopped her. "Tavi..."

Surprisingly, Octavia felt her heart flutter, and she didn't pull away. "Yes, Twilight?"

"You were a hitmare for the mafia?"

"Yes, Twilight."

"That's... so hot."

Despite herself, Octavia couldn't help but chuckle.

Clearing her throat, Twilight looked up, a reassuring smile on her face. "Tell me what you need, Tavi. I won't let you down."

Octavia's eyes watered a little. "Is the door locked?"

Twilight nodded.

"Well, then I need something else before I tell you all about it," Octavia whispered, leaning up to Twilight so she could see her eye to eye.





That night, Twilight Sparkle looked across the table at the others.

"Well, Twilight, what have you got for us now?" Vinyl Scratch asked.

"Yeah! Is it a mission?" Rainbow Dash asked, flying pirouettes over the group. "Tell me it's a mission!"

Derpy hovered in place, looking a bit uncomfortable. "If it is, I need to make sure that it doesn't take too long I only have a few days off accumulated."

"Oh, come on Derpy! Chill a little!" Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"Well, what is it then?" Wrex finally asked.

Twilight looked to Octavia, who nodded. Nodding back, Twilight faced the others. "What you're about to hear is considered top secret. And more importantly, very private to one of us. As such, your discretion is very important, as well as your promise of secrecy and understanding—"

"Oh my!" Rarity gushed. "Is Octavia pregnant?!"

"What?! No!" Octavia slammed her hoof on the table. "Where the hay did you get that from?"

Blushing, Rarity fanned her face. "I'm sorry dear, it's just you both spend a lot of time... well... together."

Twilight slowly dragged a hoof down her face. "No, Rarity, Octavia is not pregnant." She paused, then looked at her lover, who tilted her head. Twilight cleared her throat. "No. This is a different thing, and as I was saying, despite how appealing that might sound..." she grinned when Octavia hid under the table. "I need your promise of secrecy and understanding for what is a very personal matter to her. I would extend this to any member of our team, so if you cannot keep your mouth shut, I will ask you to leave."

All eyes turned to Rarity, who rolled her eyes. "I'll have you all know I can keep a secret. In fact, I'll Pinkie Promise to not share anything said here without Octavia's consent."

Twilight was about to say something when Derpy, Rainbow Dash and Vinyl Scratch all crowded around Rarity.

"You can't do that!" Rainbow Dash hissed. "You know what happens when you Pinkie Promise!"

Twilight arched an eyebrow.

"Rarity, think about it... you really don't want to risk it," Derpy added.

"Girl that's some crazy talk, we'll take a regular old promise. Tavi trusts you," Vinyl insisted and turned her head to look at Octavia. "You trust her, right, Tavi?"

"I—"

"Of course you do!" Vinyl turned to Rarity. "See? No need to Pinkie Promise."

"Oh, nonsense, girls," Rarity waved them away. "I'm sure it's not something I'll feel the need to say to anypony anyway, and it should prove that I really mean what I say."

"But!"

"Rainbow Dash, I appreciate your concern, but," Rarity took a deep breath. "I solemnly promise not to share any information about Octavia shared tonight with anypony without Octavia's permission. And to make it official, I Pinkie Pie swear on it. Cross my heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye."

The three other mares gasped, but Twilight simply blinked. "Is that it? Flapping your forelegs around, putting a hoof on your eye?"

"Well, now that that's out of the way," Octavia hesitantly spoke up. "I do trust you, Rarity. My hesitation is not because I doubt any of you, but because this is very personal..." she took a deep breath. "You see, several years ago, I had a nickname... I was called 'Strings'... and I was a hitmare for the Cacio family, in Chicacolt..."




> Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 3



By Wanderer D








Dear Princess Celestia,

I need to keep the Chicacolt Guard Department from interfering with any member of my team despite what we might do. In other words, I need the paperwork and authority for us to be effectively autonomous and free from their restrictions.

Your Student,

Commander Twilight Sparkle





My beloved student,

Dare I ask why you and your team need to be untouchable by the guard?

Your teacher,

Princess Celestia





Dear Princess Celestia,

"Untouchables?" I like it. We need to take down and re-structure a major criminal organization. This will greatly benefit Equestria. I think.

As an added incentive, I am attaching a picture of Wrex in the getup that Rarity is designing for us to wear over our personal armor. I'm not entirely sure why she's insisting on this, but Tavi loves it almost as much as Rarity herself.

Your Student,

Commander Twilight Sparkle





My dear Twilight,

Consider it done. Send more pictures and remember that harmony doesn't necessarily involve firefights.

Your teacher,

Princess Celestia.







Rancid Soggy Acquacotta grunted and threw down his cards on the table, pushing his money to the center. "Fine! Fine. You win. But if I ever find out you cheated, Tissue, it won't be pretty. Cappice?"

Savory The Tissue Buridda chuckled, pulling the money towards him. "You call it cheating, I call it luck. I just have more than you do. Forget about it."

"Forget about it. Forget about it, he says," Soggy snorted, pushing back his chair and getting up. "Take the damn money and let's do a walkabout. We should make sure the rain's not getting into the warehouse."

"It's not like it matters," Tissue argued, also getting up. "You know Two Hooves said that the packages are all waterproofed. Besides." He motioned at the corner office next to where they were playing. "All the important stuff left is in there anyway."

"I don't care what Two Hooves said," Soggy replied, spitting to the side. "The Old Stallion likes us to check on the merchandise, so we check the merchandise. There's a lot of ponies that would like to have what we have left here."

"Nopony is going to sneak in," Tissue said, rolling his eyes. "You know they don't have the guts. Let's just go back to our game."

Soggy turned around to face Tissue and opened his mouth to snap at his younger friend, but he stopped and motioned for Tissue to keep quiet.

"What is it?" Tissue whispered, taking hold of a billy club.

"I thought I saw something around the office," Soggy whispered back, pulling out a knife.

The pair slowly made their way there, weapons ready. The thunder outside made them jump, and they cringed as the rain doubled in intensity making the large warehouse resonate around them. When they got back to their table, they could see that the office door was ajar.

Gulping and looking at each other, the pair walked carefully up to the door and opened it, peering inside. When nothing jumped out, they made their way in and stared in confusion.

"Nothing seems to be wrong..." Tissue said after a moment. "Maybe what you saw was the door opening? Wouldn't be the first time they didn't lock the door right, and with the wind picking up..."

"Y-yeah, that must be it." Soggy nodded. "Let's get out and make sure it's locked this time."

The pair turned around and stopped, staring in confusion and growing horror at the large figure in front of them. They couldn't make out what it was, covered as it was in a black trench-coat. It was much bigger than them, and they could only see a pair of gleaming reptilian eyes under the black fedora with a red bond that complimented the coat.

Before Soggy could move, the giant had thrown Tissue onto the wall, and the poor earth pony's head had smacked against it. He crumbled onto the floor, unconscious, but apparently still breathing.

Waving his knife threateningly, Soggy stepped back. "S-stay away!"

"Darling," a voice behind him made him stop. He felt the blood leave his face as he turned enough to both see the giant and whoever was behind him.

A female unicorn smirked at him, sitting on one of the chairs which he could have sworn was empty a few seconds ago. She was also wearing a black trench-coat and a fedora, but the bond on it was a bright metallic blue, in contrast to the giant's red bond.

"Why don't you take a seat?" she asked, motioning to the other chair. "We need to have a chat."

Soggy raised his knife, but the giant quickly took it from him, then, to Soggy's horror, it proceeded to snap his knife in half and dropped it on the floor with a clatter.

"Now darling," the unicorn's voice took a nicer tone. "That's not the way to make friends, is it?"

"W-what do you want?" Soggy stammered, almost falling down as he hastily took a seat.

"Why." the unicorn smiled. "Nothing more than a chit-chat. Talk shop. Discuss the market."

"Y-you know I work for Don Organetto, r-right?"

"Come now," the mare's smile only increased. "I'm sure The Old Stallion wouldn't mind if you share a couple of details with little old me?"

Soggy's attention went back to Tissue, who the giant had picked up, tied and dumped inside an empty file cabinet before shutting it.

"He'll be out for a while," the giant grunted.

"See? It's just the three of us now," the mare added. "Now... about your operation here..."





Don Organetto gazed out the window at the rain. The golden glow of the lamps behind him and the drops of water on the glass made it hard to peer outside, and he could only see, among the darkness, the flickering of the gate lights, far down the front of his mansion.

However, his sharp eyes caught sight of the shadows moving up the road towards his home, and he scowled. "That idiot is here," he muttered. He glanced over his shoulder at the dinner table, where his two daughters were finishing dinner. "Bifora, Ciaramedda," he said, turning to face them. "If you are done, I want you to go upstairs to your rooms. We are about to have guests, and I would rather not be interrupted."

"Guests?" his youngest daughter, Bifora, asked. Her eyes brightened. "Who is it?"

Ciaramedda snorted. "If papà is telling us to go upstairs it has to be that scoundrel, Two Hooves."

Don Organetto smiled at his second eldest daughter. "Indeed it is, and I would rather he not offend you with his lingering eyes and loose tongue. Please, my daughters, upstairs."

Shaking her head, Ciaramedda herded Bifora away. "I still don't see why you put up with him, papà. Can't you fire him?"

Don Organetto's smile faded. "Not yet, my dear."

Ciaramedda rolled her eyes and guided her sister to her room just in time, apparently, as just as the doors closed behind them, the front door opened to allow Salty Two Hooves Capicollo entry.

"Ah, Don Organetto!" Two Hooves greeted, moving forward to embrace him while his two companions stayed behind, looking around warily and glaring at the servants who had come to get their coats. "So good to see you, my Don."

"Signior Capicollo," Don Organetto's smile was forced. "The pleasure is mine. What brings you here on such a night?"

"Ah, business as usual, my Don," Two Hooves replied amiably, gently guiding Don Organetto to the living room. "I come to discuss the next few shipments from Bitaly, we haven't received the signed documents you assured us we would have, you see."

Don Organetto sighed.





Ciaramedda muttered to herself as she walked into her room, followed by Bifora. The curtains flopped around in the wind and she groaned with annoyance, walking up to the window and closing it. Thankfully the wind hadn't been blowing in that direction all night, or her room would be a lot more wet that the small puddle under the window.

"I can't believe I forgot to close the window," she growled.

"You're in a really bad mood," Bifora pointed out. "Is it because of Mr. Two Hooves?"

"That-that delinquent!" Ciaramedda shook her head and sat on her bed. "I don't understand why papà insists on dealing with him. He should be sent away!" she made a grandiose motion with her hoof towards the window. "Tossed out. Perhaps all the way to the Adriatic where we don't have to hear his name again!"

Bifora was about to respond when another voice spoke up.

"You talk about Two Hooves as if sending him across the world would be enough to get rid of his smell, let alone his presence."

Both sisters jumped and turned to stare at the mare who had spoken. She stood on her hind legs only, leaning casually against the wall next to the door, which she was pushing closed slowly with her hoof. She was wearing a black trench-coat and black fedora with a purple bond. They couldn't see much of her, other than a gray coat.

"Who are you?!" Ciaramedda demanded harshly, jumping from her bed to stand in front of Bifora, who was trembling in fear. "How dare you come into my room! My father will have you arrested!"

The mare snorted. "He'd never call the guard," she said dropping to all fours. She walked into the light until she stood in front of Ciaramedda, who had to fight her instinct to step away. Finally the mare stopped and looked up, lifting her fedora up with a hoof. "And don't tell me it has been that long that you wouldn't recognize me, Ciaramedda."

Bifora blinked in confusion when Ciaramedda gasped a choked, "Tavola!" And rushed forward to hug the mare. 

"Ciara? Who is this pony?" Bifora asked.

Ciaramedda chuckled, sniffling and pulled away from the hug, using the back of her hoof to clean a stray tear from her eye. "I guess you were too young to remember her. This is Tavola Armonica," she said, resting a hoof on Octavia's shoulder. "Our sister."

Bifora stepped forward, although she did not hug Octavia. "Are you really my sister?"

Octavia nodded, looking down at the younger earth pony and took her fedora off. "I am, and I have to say, Bifora, you're growing up to be a stunning mare."

Bifora tilted her head, as recognition finally seeped in. "Wait, you're Octavia Philharmonica! Father loves to listen to your concerts!"

Octavia's smile changed. Bifora couldn't tell exactly what it was, but it was clear that Octavia was moved by this bit of information.

"That means a lot to hear," Octavia said, giving her sister a hug. "Thank you for telling me."

"Wow," Bifora said after returning the hug. "What do you have under that? It feels hard, like metal!"

"I was going to ask too," Ciaramedda added, looking at her sister quizzically.

Octavia chuckled. "I'll show you sometime. It's good to see you both, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Ciaramedda narrowed her eyes. "Why wouldn't we be okay?"

Octavia blinked. "You mean you don't know?" She looked at both her sisters and grimaced. "This is so typical of father." She sighed and sat down on one of Ciaramedda's several couches. "This might complicate things."

"What things?" Ciaramedda asked. "Tavola, what are you hiding?"

"I—" Octavia stopped, ears twitching, and they could all hear several ponies coming up the stairs. She quickly turned to look at her sisters. "Don't tell them, anypony, that I'm here. This is very important!" she hissed.

Ciaramedda and Bifora jumped when the door opened, turning to look at the ponies just outside.

"Papà?" Ciaramedda asked, glancing dubiously at two of the bodyguards with him.

"Is everything okay, Ciaramedda?" Don Organetto asked, looking around the room. "One of the servants said she heard another voice in your room."

Ciaramedda shook her head.

"Ciaramedda was just making voices, papà," Bifora said. "She was telling me a story."

"I see," Don Organetto said after a moment. "Very well then, I apologize. I must go back to Mr. Two Hooves my dears, but I will be back shortly to wish you good night."

"Of course, papà," Ciaramedda replied, closing the door after them. She and her sister held their breaths as they heard the hoofsteps fade away.

"That was close," Octavia said from the chair, making the pair jump in surprise.

"Tavola!" Ciaramedda hissed. "What. How?!"

"Cellist secrets, sister," Octavia said with a grin, which soon faded. "Now you see?"

"See what?" Bifora asked.

"Papà is very nervous," Ciaramedda said slowly, watching her older sister. "Something is going on."

Octavia nodded. "Two Hooves is  blackmailing him," she said softly. "He's threatened him the only way he can... with you two."

Ciaramedda brought her hoof up to her mouth to cover her gasp, her thoughts to the many times Two Hooves had visited and her father had insisted they stay away. This hadn't happened with any of his other associates. "But... how is he holding us against him?"

Octavia shook her head. "I'm not sure. I'm trying to find out, but..." she shook her head. "I should have known that father would have kept you both in the dark. For your own 'protection' no doubt."

"What are we going to do?" Ciaramedda asked, holding Bifora closer.

"For now, nothing," Octavia said, putting on her fedora again. "I'll find out Two Hooves plans, and we'll think of a countermeasure." She walked up to the window and unlocked it. She paused. "Do you have any friends you still have correspondence with?"

Ciaramedda nodded. "Sandy Cup is a friend from school, she's currently visiting Prance. She writes to me often."

Octavia smirked. "Well then, expect a package from her sometime soon. It's for your eyes only." She hesitated next to the window, then made her way back to her sisters and gave them both a hug. "I've missed you both. I'm sorry I went away."

Ciaramedda nodded, patting her sister.

"But we'll see you soon, right?" Bifora asked.

"You will," Octavia assured her. "Just make sure neither of you mention me to anypony, okay? I'll help dad and you both. I'll make sure you're safe."

The pair nodded and Octavia opened the window after glancing outside to make sure nopony was around. She winked at her sisters and then disappeared.

Ciaramedda's eyes were wide, she went to the window and looked out, but there was no sign of her sister. "B-but how..."

"My sister is so cool..." Bifora whispered.





Octavia watched the mansion disappear from under her.

"Did you find out what the problem was?" Rainbow Dash asked, pumping her wings and steering them away from the grounds.

"No," Octavia sighed. "I thought it would be something obvious, but they had no idea what it could be."

Rainbow Dash hummed. "Why don't you ask your dad? I'm sure if he's like, the Don he knows what it is."

"The problem is not whether he knows," Octavia said. "I'm sure he does. The problem is that he will not talk to me, because I left The Family. The only reason I was able to chat with my sisters is because apparently, he's kept them unaware of what exactly he does."

"What?" Rainbow Dash snorted. "How can anypony live in a place like that and not wonder where it all comes from?"

Octavia chuckled as Rainbow Dash lowered her onto the top of a building. "You'd be surprised at how many ponies have no idea where the money comes from, or who they're stepping on to live how they live."

Rainbow Dash rubbed the back of her neck. "I guess."

"Come on, let's meet with Twilight."

"Sure," Rainbow Dash said. "Just let me get my bearings... where's the prison?"

"East," Octavia said. "Just keep flying East. We'll get there."





Pumpkin The Rabbit Soup had to wonder for the tenth time since she had been dragged out of her cell, why she was being walked over to the visitor center, and in the middle of the night too. Just about every other prisoner was asleep, and the guards had told her to keep quiet or else.

She had rolled her shoulders and followed diligently, remembering that 'or else' usually meant she wouldn't be able to make her way to the mess room for the next few days. However, she had never been shaken awake, then dragged out and told to be quiet.

She studied the guards. They seemed nervous. They probably didn't know what was going on either, but they were still not afraid to roughen her up with their batons if they considered it necessary.

They eventually arrived to the visitor center, and to her surprise both guards stopped just shy of the doors. She looked at them nervously. "Well?"

"Get in," one of them said roughly. "We were told to stay outside."

"By whom?"

Her answer was to be tossed through the doors. She didn't fall face first. She was still quick enough on her hooves to regain her balance. There was nopony in the room, except for two ponies in black trench-coats and fedoras. The only differences she could tell were the bonds on the fedoras, one being rose the other being neon blue. She could tell from their shape that they were females, and there was enough light to see their muzzles. Purple and white.

"Are you the one known as The Rabbit?" purple muzzle asked with a surprisingly young-sounding voice, and walking slowly around her, like a predator, while the other mare simply stayed in place.

Pumpkin Soup cleared her throat. "Um... yes. I am, who are you?"

"Your ticket out," purple muzzle said. "Provided you tell us the information we need."

Pumpkin Soup snorted. So that was their game. "I already told the Royal Guard everything I know."

Purple muzzle chuckled and stopped next to her. "We know that's not true, but we're not interested in what you know about Don Organetto."

Pumpkin tensed. "What do you want then? If mean to imply that I worked for him, you would be mistaken. The Old Stallion never leaves his people to dry, or so they say."

"So they say," purple muzzle repeated, taking a seat on one of the several chairs around. "So, if that's what they say, why didn't he get you out when you were... what's the expression... pinched?"

Pumpkin Soup kept her mouth shut.

"Maybe he couldn't do it," white muzzle spoke up for the first time. "You were pretty high up in his organization, isn't it weird that you would stay here for so long?"

Pumpkin Soup grimaced. "I'm not saying anything else without my lawyer."

Purple muzzle snorted. "Lawyer? You don't need one. We're not here to have you betray The Old Stallion. We're here to find out if your loyalty is still true."

Pumpkin Soup stared at the pair, and for a moment she felt hope flare within her. "Did he send you to free me?"

Purple muzzle giggled. "He doesn't know we're here, but... a third party is concerned about his well-being, and said party said you could be trusted. I, myself am not so sure."

"She doesn't seem to care much for the Old Stallion," white muzzle said with a shrug. "She sounds more interested in getting out."

"What?" Pumpkin glared at the mare. "Of course not! I haven't said anything to anypony an—" her eyes widened and she clamped her mouth shut.

"Well, well." Purple muzzle's grin made Pumpkin very uncomfortable. "That sounded interesting, but we don't care about what you know on him..." the mare paused. "Do you know why you're here?"

Pumpkin Soup snorted. "The guard planted drugs in my apartment. Made it look like I was selling them. They—"

"Nope!" white muzzle interrupted. "Bzzzt! Wrong answer!"

"W-what?"

"It was somepony else," purple muzzle said. "And that's who we want to know about. What do you know about Salty Two Hooves Capicollo?"




> Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 4



By Wanderer D






Pumpkin Soup struggled futilely against the magic of the mares holding and levitating her out of the prison. The halls were surprisingly empty of guards, although she thought she had seen a few of them hiding in the shadows.

Just who were these mares anyway!?

"I really told you everything I know! Why are you taking me with you? Just let me go back to my cell!"

"No can do!" the purple mare said, and to Pumpkin Soup it sounded way too cheerful.

Maybe she had made a mistake. Maybe they were sent by Two Hooves and now they were going to kill her. It was going to be done as an accident... or maybe they were going to pretend that she had attempted to escape and had died as a result.

She sighed, stopping her struggles. At least she hadn't told anyone anything about the Old Stallion. She would go out with a clean conscience.

When they finally stepped out into the night, she was put down on the floor and released from the magic.

"Well, where is she?" one of the mares behind her asked.

"I don't know, I'm sure she'll be here soon."

Pumpkin Soup considered her options. She wasn't called "The Rabbit" just because. She was fast, and sneaky and could hide in an instant. She surreptitiously glanced over her shoulder at the pair behind her and the moment they turned away from her, she bolted...

...only to skid to a stop when another mare in a fedora landed right in front of her.

"Oh, forget about it!" Pumpkin Soup groaned, sitting down and lowering her head. "I give up! Just kill me already!" she muttered, closing her eyes.

The mare in front of her didn't say anything, but she heard the pair behind her approach.

"I don't know what's she's going on about, but since we met her she's been acting like we're marching her out in a Chicacolt Overcoat," the purple mare said. "I thought she'd be happy to get out of the joint." There was a pause. "That's what it's called right? The joint."

Pumpkin heard the mare in front of her chuckle and speak up. "Yes, Commander, that's what it's called." The voice sounded familiar, somehow, although Pumpkin couldn't place it.

She opened her eyes and looked up at the mare in the black trench-coat and fedora with the metallic purple bond. Something in her memory stirred. "T-tavola?"

The gray mare smiled. "It's been a while, Pumpkin, call me Octavia."

A sound made her look behind her, where the purple mare raised her hoof up. She didn't see any magic, but suddenly a translucent, swirling thing made of orange light sprung up around her fetlock and up to her elbow.

"Sparkle. We got the information we needed, we're at the hideout," a voice emanated from the glowing armor-like energy around her foreleg.

"Wrex, you're supposed to say 'we'll meet you at the scatter'," the purple mare hissed in reply. "Think of Tavi's sensibilities."

Pumpkin raised an eyebrow at Octavia, who could only grin in response.





"Did we figure out how Two Hooves is threatening your sisters?" Twilight Sparkle asked once they were all in the penthouse hotel room she had reserved.

Octavia shook her head. "They still don't know what my father does. I guess I should be thankful he didn't try and turn them into hitmares."

Pumpkin scoffed. "You're the one that wanted into that life, remember?" she weathered Octavia's glare with one of her own. "And when you decided you had enough, you left everything behind. You have no room to complain."

Octavia rolled her eyes.

"Well, we need to figure it out," Twilight said after a moment. "If I could get close enough to them I'd be able to run a quick scan and see if I can detect anything. Sadly, I'm too well known for any sort of infiltration."

Pumpkin raised an eyebrow. "Then how come I don't know anything about you?"

Wrex snorted. "Because you've been in prison for a couple of years. And even then, I'm surprised you didn't hear about Sparkle here kidnapping Blueblood, destroying the Canterlot Stadium's giant screen in a fire-fight or decimating the Royal Guard."

Pumpkin blinked. "How in the name of hay are you roaming free?"

"That's not important," Sparkle growled. "Besides, these guys all helped, so it's not like I did it on my own. What's important is getting Tavi's family free of Two Hooves' influence, and so far you haven't been much help."

Pumpkin cringed, but didn't argue.

"Well," Rarity spoke up. "I have an idea on how to get them alone with me for a few minutes," she said, tapping her chin. "But we'd need to pull some strings with a few contacts of mine and you'll have to teach me the scanning spell you want me to perform."

Twilight tilted her head. "Okay, let's hear it, Rarity."





Ciaramedda and Bifora looked up from the breakfast table when the bell rang. One of the bodyguards stepped out of the dining room and answered the door to the mansion, glaring at whoever was outside.

"Yeah?"

"Hi! I have a special delivery for a miss Ciaramedda? It's a letter from a lady Sandy Cup!" a voice from the outside said.

Ciaramedda's eyes went wide and she shared a shocked look with Bifora before practically galloping to the door and pushing the bodyguard out of the way. "Oh! That's me!"

The blonde pegasus delivery mare in front of her grinned, although Ciaramedda couldn't be sure if she was grinning at her or at the door. The question was quickly solved when the delivery mare offered her a receipt which she signed.

The mailmare saluted and then was gone in an instant, leaving Ciaramedda to walk back to the table, where her father had just sat down. He looked at her with a frown. "Ciara, you could have just let Clay take the letter for you."

Ciaramedda smiled nervously. "Oh, you know me, papà, I haven't heard from Sandy in a couple of weeks and she had promised to write again soon."

Don Organetto shrugged. "Well, what did she write?"

Ciaramedda gulped, but under her father's gaze, she really had no excuse not to open the letter. She opened the envelope and pulled out a hoof-written letter. "Sandy is letting me know that one of her friends, who is a fashion designer, is visiting Chicacolt. She thinks Bifora and I should go visit her and get new dresses!"

Bifora gasped, clapping her hooves in delight. "Oh, papà, tell me we can go! I need a new dress!"

Don Organetto grimaced. "You have plenty of dresses an—"

"Please, papà? Can you please take us?" Ciaramedda jumped in. "If Sandy is recommending her, she must be really good! I could use a new dress too, especially for special occasions."

Don Organetto sighed and leaned back. "Very well, but I'm afraid I won't be able to attend. I have a meeting in an hour. Clay and Stompanato will take you there. You are not to leave the premises without them, understood?"

"Yes, papà!" Ciaramedda squealed, giving the old stallion a hug. "Thank you!"





The place where they were taken to was a classy, two-level boutique the pair of sisters had seen on occasion but had never gone in. It was expensive, and although not outside their range at all, it was always reserved in the back of their minds as a place to go for very special occasions. Like, the Grand Galloping Gala, or something like that.

When they arrived, they were received by a white-coated unicorn mare with a stylish purple mane and blue eyes. "Why, welcome to Posh Kdosh! Where chic is l'usure quotidienne!"

"Um," Ciaramedda lifted the letter. "We're here on invitation by Sandy Cup?"

"Oh, of course!" the mare said, leading them in. "Sandy darling did mention you would be coming soon! That is simply splendid!" She stopped and looked at both sisters. "And I must say your coats are as lovely as she had mentioned! Oh, the things I can do for you!" She giggled, levitating all sorts of measuring equipment, and fabrics. "Why, I must start designing right now! Please follow me to the measuring room... and if you gentle colts would be so kind as to wait just outside..."

"We need to stay with them." Clay's voice brooked no argument.

"Clay," Ciaramedda growled. "I'm not getting measured in front of you and neither is my sister!"

"Perverts..." Bifora muttered.

Clay blushed. "Um, of course, miss but your father did tell us to protect you and—"

"Oh, I see how it is," the white unicorn interrupted with a smile. "Well, I can't say I'd want to stop you from doing your job, gentlecolts, but I assure you that staying just outside the room, with the door unlocked shouldn't pose a problem, you are welcome to check the room in advance as well, please!" she motioned to them, at the open door. "While you do that, I'll go fetch some water for all of us."

Ciaramedda and Bifora watched Stompanato go into the room and look around behind curtains, making sure the windows would not open and checking the walls and crevices of the room before walking out and nodding.

"I trust everything was acceptable?" the unicorn mare asked.

"It is," Clay said, stepping back and allowing Ciaramedda and Bifora in.

"Help yourself to some water and snacks if you want," the mare offered, setting down a tray in a small table. "Now, let's see what we can do for you two..."

She closed the door behind her and smiled at the pair. "My name is Rarity, by the way, a pleasure to meet you both!"

Ciaramedda was about to speak when a roll of silk flew around her and Rarity was eyeing it critically. "Hm, I'm not sure the contrast with your coat is right. Your tone of gray needs to be accentuated just right!"

"Um..." Bifora raised her hoof. "What about—"

"Oh, darling, your coat is sunny and lovely! I think in your case I'll go with a contrast so we can bring the colors of summer to bloom around you!"

"Well, yes but I thought this was about—"

"Worry not, dear! Let Rarity do her thing!"

The bewildered sisters could only stare at each other while Rarity fussed about them, horn aglow taking measurements and comparing fabrics until a knock on the door made her pause. "Come in!"

Ciaramedda and Bifora blinked when the door opened and none other than Octavia walked in. Unlike last time, she wasn't wearing a trench-coat, and they could see what they had felt under it the night before, when they had hugged her. It was some sort of combat armor in a shade of gray darker than her coat, protecting her barrel, withers, chest and legs. It had shoulder pads and a very tough look to it. Red and white lines on the left foreleg ended up in the shoulder pads, which had a strange logo on them. Something that looked like some sort of monocle, but of orange-yellow glass and being held by a straight, metallic stick that bent around her face to join some sort of earpiece was the only thing that she had on above her neck. All in all, she looked like some sort of futuristic guard.

"Clay and Stompanato are asleep," Octavia informed Rarity, who had gone back to work on the dresses as soon as Octavia had stepped in.

"T-tavola!" Ciaramedda stammered in surprise, and made a move to join her, but Rarity's glance stopped her.

"Dear, I'm in the middle of designing this dress for you, please hold still."

Bifola watched her estranged sister chuckle and approach them with an apologetic smile. "Sorry, sisters, Rarity is actually a dress maker."

"Bah," a deep, growling voice said from outside the door. "When I'm done with her, she'll be an excellent assassin, why, I bet I can make Thane proud."

Ciaramedda stifled a scream when a large bipedal lizard walked into the room, carrying their two unconscious bodyguards. Behind him three more armored ponies walked in. Another unicorn mare, this one with a wild, shorter mane and the mail pony from earlier, as well as another pegasus, cyan blue with a rainbow mane.

Rarity paused. "An assassin? Moi?" she blinked. "That's... so romantic! A legendary assassin, hiding in plain sight as the humble, internationally-recognized designer Rarity! Why, I should make an alter-ego, so the many suitors I'm doubtlessly going to face in battle to the death before they surrender to my charms might never make the connection! Something classy and unexpected... precious and rare but also mysterious! I shall call myself... Silent Jade!"

"Right," Octavia sighed. "Anyway, let me introduce you to the others, you've met Rarity." She nodded at the mare who smiled at the sisters. "Derpy Hooves you met earlier today when she delivered our letter for you," she continued. "To her right is Rainbow Dash and to her left Vinyl Scratch—"

"Oh my goodness!" Ciaramedda gasped, hoof flying to her mouth in surprise. "The Vinyl Scratch?! I must say I love your music! I have all your released records!"

Vinyl grinned like a diamond dog that dug its way into a bank safe full of gems. "Well, thank you! I'm glad Tavi's family does have some mares of good taste!"

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "Really, Ciaramedda?"

"Daddy says it's a phase."

"I sure hope so!" Octavia growled, ignoring Vinyl's giggles. "Anyway, the big guy is Urdnot Wrex," she said, hoof motioning to the lizard creature, who grinned wide, showing rows of razor-sharp, pointy teeth.

"P-pleased to meet you," Ciaramedda stammered. "I'm sure."

Wrex laughed. "Ehehehehe, look at em, I can't believe these nice ladies are your sisters, Octavia."

"Can it, Wrex," Octavia grumbled, giving him a good-natured bump on the arm.

"But, how do you know these ponies?" Bifora asked. "Aren't you a cellist?"

Octavia cleared her throat and looked away. "W-well, yes, but..."

"Aha!" Rarity quipped, interrupting the explanation. "I found something!" she sing-sang.

Octavia raised an eyebrow. "What is it?"

"There's an anti-magic field around their horse-shoes," Rarity explained. "Why would they need that, hm?"

Vinyl's eyes widened. "To hide the magic within!" she approached Rarity, who had carefully lifted a confused Ciaramedda's foreleg.

Vinyl hummed and nodded, her horn glowing softly. "This might be trouble. I don't want to remove the anti-magic spell, it might trigger whatever they have on them."

"Removing the shoes themselves?" Octavia asked. She looked at the silvery horseshoes, and could imagine her sisters laughing and showing them off to their father, thanking him for buying them.

"I wouldn't do that, dear," Rarity replied. "Without knowing what the spells do, it might make it worse."

"Well then," a new voice said, drawing everyone's eyes to the door. Another unicorn mare stood there in a heavier armor than the others. She walked confidently into the room, followed closely by a more familiar face.

"P-pumpkin?" Bifora asked.

"Hello girls," she replied with a grimace. "Long time."

"Let me see the horseshoe," the new mare said, walking forward.

"Commander," Octavia touched her shoulder. "Twilight... be careful, they're my sisters."

Twilight smiled at Octavia in a very kind way, which started nagging at Ciaramedda. "Don't worry, Tavi. I got it. I didn't study for over ten years with Princess Celestia for nothing."

The two sisters and Pumpkin looked at each other, mouthing "Princess Celestia"? to each other.

"Hmm," Twilight studied the shoe, then cast some sort of spell, and narrowed her eyes, following the contour of the horseshoe and then the base. "This is really bad."

"What do the spells do?" Octavia asked. She then frowned when Twilight hesitated. "Twilight!"

The commander sighed. "Are you sure you want them to hear it?"

Octavia looked at them and Ciaramedda feared she would send them away, like her father always did. "We need to know," she surprised herself by speaking. "We deserve to know! We can't be kept in the dark forever! Why is daddy so worried about us all the time? What is going on?"

Octavia sighed. "It's better that they find out Twilight... even if it's scary."

Twilight nodded, walking up to a chair and sitting down. "It's not scary. It's downright cruel. The horseshoes are explosives."

The room went deathly quiet.

"If you remove the anti-magic spell, you have a few moments to recast it, or cast the correct magic sequence to them," Twilight said, her voice sounding louder in the heavy silence. "Otherwise, they're set to go, and these can be accessed remotely too, although I'm fairly sure that whoever cast the spell on them has to be somepony that is close to the family... that anti-magic spell doesn't last more than a week, and that's an estimate based on the size, so it has to be somepony they see often."

"So not the shoe-maker?" Wrex asked, cracking his knuckles.

Twilight shook her head. "It wouldn't be reliable," she explained. "Most likely the runes were activated after the shoes were on."

Octavia tapped her chin. "But father doesn't employ many unicorns, unless you think it was him?" she pointed at Clay, who remained unconscious.

"Doubtful," Twilight shrugged. "He's too obvious. If he cast the spell in front of everpony, they would notice."

"Um," Bifora spoke up, raising her trembling hoof, "W-we do have a unicorn maid that helps us get dressed and ready."

Ciaramedda's eyes widened even more. "Lucky Charm? But... why would she—"

"That's not important," Twilight interrupted. "If she's the only unicorn that uses magic on you often, then she's the most likely culprit. We need to get her to tell us the sequence to deactivate the shoes."

"And then," Octavia's voice was cold. "We're taking down Two Hooves."




> Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 4: Strings of the Trigger Mare - Pt. 5



By Wanderer D






Lucky Charm skipped down the marketplace, thoughts on what to do with her monthly bonus. She could go shopping for a new dress, or even a new purse! Certainly having extra income on top of her very decent pay was a good-nay, a great thing!

Even though she wasn't too keen on the dangers of her… extra work… and despite the fact that the Old Stallion had treated her well, there was nothing wrong with honest additional work. It's not like they weren't all criminals, right?

Whatever they did to each other was not her fault. She was just lucky enough to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right skills to get extra cash.

Luck would always be on her side. It was her name, after all! And she had a cutie mark to prove it! She hummed, turning down the road as she considered her options. Maybe she would buy a new purse after—

"Oof!"

Her thoughts were interrupted when she ran onto a cart. She shook her head, wondering just what kind of moron would leave a cart in the middle of the sidewalk, but then she realized, she wasn't looking at a cart.

She had bumped into something big. In a trenchcoat. Her eyes slowly rose, inch by inch until she had to tilt her head back and stare with slack-jawed horror at the bipedal reptile that glared down at her from under his fedora.

His glare then turned into a smile. A wide, predatory smile full of what had to be thousands of sharp fangs. A voice, deep and threatening as a Dullahan's would be echoed from his maw with a gurgle of chuckles that sent shivers from the bottom of her neck to the tip of her tail.

"Ehehehe, well look at that," it said. "It must be my Lucky day. I bumped into lunch."

She couldn't move, she was so afraid. She tried to say something, even scream, but for some reason she couldn't speak. She started hyperventilating as the towering reptile leaned down to look her in the eye.

"Boo."





When Lucky came to, it took her a moment to realize her eyes were open with how dark it was, or the fact that she was tied to a chair, with a magical inhibitor on her horn. She knew she'd been way too lucky lately. It was about time something went arseways. And of course, when it did, it would happen in a big way.

She tried to struggle to see if she could escape, but the ropes were tight, and without her magic… she flinched when a bright light was suddenly lit above her. After blinking away the spots, she tried to see if she could figure out where she was or who was with her, but the bright light seemed to only make the darkness more intense, and she could only see a small area in front of her before it faded into black.

"W-who's there?" she finally stammered out. "Why am I here?"

A shadow moved, drawing her attention to a pony in a black trenchcoat who stepped into the edge of the light. The rose-bonded fedora on the pony's head hid their identity, and whoever it was, he or she was soon joined by two more similarly-dressed ponies. One with a neon blue bond on their fedora and the other with a dark purple bond on the fedora.

Nope. This was definitely not her lucky day.

"You've been a very bad filly, Lucky Charm," the pony in the middle said, revealing she was a female. "You've been working for the mob, and not only that, but you sold out your own boss to work with a very despicable pony."

Lucky's eyes went wide. They knew? How could the possibly know? "I-I don't know what you're talking about! I'm a-a model citizen! A respectable Chicacoltean! I would never!"

"So, let me get this straight." The pony to the right gave the middle pony a binder, which floated in a magical field. The middle pony started flipping through pages. "Your name is not Lucky Charm? You don't work for the pony known in the underworld as 'The Old Stallion'? You have never heard the names: Ciarammeda, Bifola, Tavola, Pumpkin or Two Hooves?"

"That's right!" Lucky said quickly. "I have never met any of those ponies. And my name is actually Four Clover! This is clearly a misunderstanding, but I am perfectly willing to let it slide if you let me go!"

"My, how generous of you!" The mare in the fedora seemed genuinely surprised by Lucky's apparent generosity. Then her tone dropped. "Except for the fact that we have your id, which states your name, we know for a fact you work for the Old Stallion and we also know you're involved with Two Hooves, risking the lives of two innocent fillies."

The mare tilted her fedora up, revealing a purple coat and lavender irises. She stared at Lucky with a grin that reminded her a little of that reptile from earlier.

Lucky gulped, looking surreptitiously around just in case the creature was in there with them.

"Oh, he is."

Lucky Charm's eyes went back to the pony, even wider. "Y-you can read my mind?"

"Nah," the pony said, waving a hoof dismissively. "I've just seen that look in plenty of people that Wrex has threatened to eat."

Something clicked then. Lucky didn't pay much attention to the news, but from time to time she would read them, especially if they involved mass destruction of property as perpetrated by one individual. The name "Wrex" echoed in her mind as she took in the pony in front of her. "Oh no… you're Twilight Sparkle!"


"Commander Sparkle," Twilight clarified. "And if you know of me, then you know that I am a just and fair—" She stopped, glaring at Lucky. "What the hay are you doing?"

"I'm trying to gnaw my leg off!" Lucky said almost hysterically. "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Gagging, mostly," Twilight said. "You're tied up and unable to reach your hooves with your teeth, so it looks like you're retching."

"I have to ask," the pony to the right of Twilight Sparkle spoke up. "Why exactly are you trying to gnaw your leg off? Like, what's the game plan after that?"

"Better to be missing a limb than face Twilight Sparkle!" Lucky cried out.

"You realize that just because you gnawed your leg off, it wouldn't automatically mean freedom, right? Especially while I'm standing right in front of you." Twilight pointed out.

"Yeah, you'd have to do it when no one else is watching for it to maybe work, but then you'd have to escape on three legs," the other pony suggested.

"And to get past us... that alone won't do," Twilight added. "Now, unless you want to break your neck while trying to bite your leg off, you're going to listen, and listen good."

She leaned in until she was nose to nose with Lucky. "I want to know the combination to undo the spells on Ciarammeda and Bifola."

"Ha! That means that until I tell you, you can't do anything to me!" Lucky said. "Too bad for you! And lucky for me!"

Twilight raised an eyebrow, then user her magic to push Lucky's chair back until it was balancing on just the two rear legs, then it was tilted back and back until Lucky knew that the moment Twilight let go, she would slam on the floor. But that's not what the unicorn had in mind. For as she was pushed back, her view revealed a large, familiar reptile grinning at her.

"Do you feel lucky?" Wrex asked, tilting his head. "Well? Do you, pony?"

Lucky could feel tears pooling in her eyes. "B-but you can't hurt me! Or I won't tell you the sequence!"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw yet another pony approach, but this one she knew.

"So you would risk gnawing your limbs, being eaten by Wrex and pissing off Twilight Sparkle rather than help my sisters get rid of explosive shoes?" Octavia all but growled.

Lucky trembled, thinking fast. "What? I just cast the cleaning spell on them!" she blabbered. "Mr. Two Hooves said he'd give me extra dough if I made sure their shoes were taken care of with a spell every week!"

Twilight Sparkle raised an eyebrow. "Just a regular cleaning spell? Are you sure?"

Lucky nodded, eyes wide.

"Huh." Twilight seemed to ponder that. "Well then, let's give it a try. Girls could you come over?"

Lucky felt her blood run cold when both young mares approached. What was this crazy mare going to do now?

"Um, miss Twilight?"

"Commander."

"Commander Twilight? Why is Lucky tied to a chair and held almost horizontally under the gaze of the large, carnivorous reptile in armor?"

"Because she says your shoes won't blow up if we use a regular cleaning spell to remove them." Twilight explained. "Now, come over, we should be able to take care of that right now."

Lucky watched with dread and Twilight's magic enveloped the horseshoes. She immediately recognized the spell; it was a cleaning spell of relatively high level as things went. No doubt something Twilight had learned in Canterlot.

On the one hoof she was mildly pleased that Twilight had taken the time to learn such a spell. It was usually too thorough for the general cleaning spells most nobles knew and used and frequently delegated to the service ponies, such as her… on the other hoof, Twilight was about to use a cleaning spell to disarm eight bombs at once!

"W-Wait!"

Twilight turned to face Lucky. "I thought you said this would get them off? I'm trusting you here, y'know?"

"I-I lied! You can't just take the shoes off! You'll blow us all apart! Don't you care about their lives? Or your own?"

Twilight shrugged. "The way I see it, if we don't take them off, these two young mares will die anyway and I am armored and protected by magical energies. So, it would only kill three ponies. The question is, how much do you value your life? Because there's only one way you come out of this in one piece, and it's not by lying to me."

"But Two Hooves—"

"Two Hooves is not going to be around much longer," Octavia interrupted, narrowing her eyes. "You know what I'm capable of, Lucky, but even I don't know Twilight's limit yet. And trust me… she's been groomed by the best."

"Aww, flattery will get you anywhere, Strings," Wrex said, wiping a fake tear from his eye.

"So?" Twilight drew Lucky's attention back to her. "What's it going to be?"





Two Hooves twirled a golden medallion in his hooves, contemplating his next move. He knew it would most likely end in violence, but it was high time for real change in this business. He smiled as he heard the knock on his door and slid the amulet into his pocket. "Come on in."

The door creaked open and the Old Stallion walked in, flanked by several grunts. He looked around at the one-windowed office overlooking the warehouse in poorly hidden disgust before making his way to the desk where Two Hooves sat.

"Ah, Signor Organetto, mi Don," he said with a laugh and a wave at a chair across from him. "Why don't you take a seat? I would offer you something to drink, but as you can see, I have drank it all."

The Old Stallion sighed and sat down tiredly, giving the younger mobster a look. "Why have you called me? My daughters should be home any minute now, and I don't want them to wonder where I am."

"Hm." Two Hooves took a sip of his scotch. The drink tasted bad to him. He couldn't tell any flavor out of it, nor any of the many aftertastes that other drinkers perceived, but refined ponies drank it, and so did he. "Your daughter is the reason I have brought you today," he finally said.

The Old Stallion's eyes darkened. "What do you want with them?"

"Not them," Two Hooves clarified. "Her. Ciaramedda is turning out to be a beautiful young mare. She's almost within marrying age, is she not?"

The Old Stallion growled and moved to stand up but the sudden tenseness of the bodyguards around him made him stop.

"I never said you could stand up or go," Two Hooves replied. "But I will forgive you this time, since we're going to be family."

The Old Stallion shook his head. "You're deluded, Two Hooves, if you think I would allow either of my daughters near your grimy fetlocks." 

Two Hooves' smile turned into a snarl and he slammed his hoof on the table. "You forget yourself, Old Stallion! You're in no control over this! I didn't ask for your permission or your blessing! I'm telling you what's going to happen out of courtesy!"

He leaned back, smirking at the frustrated impotence of his old boss. "Face it, Organetto, you're done. The only way for your family to survive now is to do what I want, when I want it, how I want it."

"I made this family… this whole family what it is today." The Old Stallion slowly rose to look down at Two Hooves, who suddenly didn't look so sure of himself. "With my own hooves I rose from the muck; I put together a trade. I saw the opportunities. I took them!"

He leaned forward just as Two Hooves leaned back. "I understood what ponies needed! What had to be taken to get them what they wanted! The smuggling of goods that brought us money, power! I hoof-picked my lieutenants wisely and it wasn't until a dirty weasel like you rose through the ranks that things went wrong! Now my family trades with undesirables of the worst kind! And who is to blame?"

He smashed his hoof on the desk. "You!" He growled and motioned with his other hoof at the warehouse around them. "We gathered in the light! We were not afraid of the Royal Guard catching us because even if they did, we had a solid way out. Now we slither in the dark, gathering in places like these, away from anypony's eyes, and why? Because if we get caught with a figment of the poison we're trading in now, we'd have no choice but to all go to prison or die in a firefight! And who is to blame?"

Again the hoof smashed on the table, making it crack. "You! And you come and lecture me with an attitude you pulled out of your pretentious flank, acting like you're in control when we're a Luna-damned shadow of what we used to be!?" He snorted, eyes blazing. 

"My family—my blood—they are not to be mixed with the likes of you. Had you been a tenth of what Pumpkin is, even imprisoned, or half the stallion 'The Face' was, I would have entertained the notion of you even attempting to approach my daughters! But they, just as I, have standards!" His hoof rose to poke Two Hooves in the chest. "And you. Don't. Meet. Them."

Two grunts came forth and dragged the Old Stallion back, forcing him to sit down. Two Hooves cleared his throat and straightened his suit before glaring back at his former boss. "They'll be happy to have somepony take care of them," he growled. "Especially after they find themselves orphaned."

He slid off his chair and cantered over to the alcohol cabinet. "I would have been fine with the one daughter, but I think I might take both… no, all three of them once you're gone." He sneered at the Old Stallion. "Oh, didn't I tell you? I saw your beloved Tavola not too long ago. Stopped by for a drink, she did." He chuckled. "She's turned into a very fine mare. One I won't mind taking good care of."

He laughed when the Old Stallion struggled to get up. "Oh, don't worry, you won't be around to see it. The boys will take good care of you."

"You stay away from them!"

"As I said," Two Hooves turned to face him. "It's no longer your concern." He looked at one of the grunts. "Kill h—"

Everypony in the room crouched down as the whole building shook.

"What the hay was that?" One grunt muttered only for the building to shake again, but this time, they heard the explosion.

"What is this?!" Two Hooves shrieked, turning to face the baffled Old Stallion. "What the hay did you do!?"

As if in answer, the window burst into pieces as two strangely armored pegasi literally flew through it, taking down two of his grunts before they could even react. Two more were shot from somewhere, leaving only the Old Stallion in his seat and Two Hooves standing.

A shimmering figure jumped through the window and seemed to overlook the unconscious bodies before nodding and fizzling into visibility. Her dark gray armor was as solid as that of the two pegasi, but while they wore protective helmets, she only had a single half-visor across her left eye. The Old Stallion immediately recognized her.

"Tavola!"

"Octavia!" Two Hooves roared, jumping to his hooves. "You said you wouldn't interfere!" He was about to move towards her when she looked his way and he froze in place.

"I lied." She said. "Or rather, I wouldn't have if I hadn't discovered the travesty you and your lackeys have turned it into, or the fact that you were threatening my father!"

"You're all dead!" Two Hooves spat, slowly retreating to the emergency exit. "Just because you took out these guys here, it doesn't mean anything! I have more than twenty ponies outside!"

Octavia raised her hoof to chest level and almost as if by magic, an orange, semi-transparent thing took shape around it. "Commander, the office is secure."

A voice emerged from the energy-like creation. "Roger that, we've taken out most of the goons out here."

A loud explosion and screams shook the building.

"Scratch that. Wrex is taking care of the last ten. Personally."

"Tavola!" the Old Stallion called out. "He's escaping!"

Octavia looked up at Two Hooves as he dove out of the emergency exit and galloped down the metal stairs. Then she smiled at her dad, before turning to the two armored pegasi. "Girls, please watch over my father." She then took off.

"Tavola! No! He's dangerous!"

"Chill, Old Stallion," one of the pegasi—the one wearing the sky-blue armor with rainbow lines— said, walking up to him. "Octavia won't get hurt that easily."





Two Hooves galloped as quickly as he could. Those fools might take down his grunts, but he could always hire more ponies. The one that needed to remain free was him. Thankfully the warehouse was right at the docks and he had more than enough places to hide.

He smirked as he did a right turn past a few crates, but his joy was quickly abandoned when he noticed a white-armored unicorn mare grinning through her large sunglasses at him. Cursing, he turned around, quickly losing her as he followed another path.

Just as he saw another exit, something hit the metal crate in front of him, sending sparks flying and leaving a perfectly circular hole on it.

Two Hooves whipped around, trying to figure out where it had come from, only for his eyes to settle on Octavia, standing on her hind legs only and holding a really strange weapon of some sort in front of her.

She held his eyes for a second before raising her weapon again, and Two Hooves didn't stick to see what happened. He ran in between two stacks of shipping containers, scampering back when a black armored mare teleported right in front of him, grinning evilly and galloping as fast as he could, turning right when the dinosaur stepped on his way and then finally finding himself facing a dead end, with an open large metallic container at the end, and a group of crazy ponies and a dinosaur facing him.

"I-I don't know what Octavia is paying you, but I will double it!" He shouted, eyes wild as he took several trembling steps back. "Triple it! Just get rid of her and let me go!"

Octavia raised her weapon, pointing it at him. "I should just kill you know for what you have done," she hissed.

Two Hooves whimpered.

The mare in black armor walked up to Octavia and gently forced her to lower the weapon. "Don't waste the ammo, Tavi. It's alright. It's over."

"But, Twilight!" Octavia hissed.

Hearing this, Two Hooves stood a little taller. "Haha, yes. You wouldn't want to kill me. I have a lot of money an—urk!"

In a flash of purple-red magic, Twilight had disappeared from Octavia's side and reappeared behind and above Two Hooves halfway through a crushing punch that hit the stallion on the back of the head, knocking him unconscious and sending him tumbling and rolling to a stop right before his former boss's daughter.

Octavia looked down at him, then up to Twilight. "You should've let me shoot him Twilight. He threatened to kill my sisters and just earlier my father. He's a scumbag."

Twilight smirked. "Don't worry Tavi, this guy will have his due. I'm thinking of something far more poetic. Right Wrex?"

"Ehehehe," Wrex chuckled, picking up the unconscious pony and walking towards the shipping container. "I knew you wanted me to bring that box with me for a good reason."

Octavia blinked. "What box?"





Two Hooves slowly and groggily woke up and looked around. He was inside a very dark room with metal walls… his warehouse? He shook his head, wincing in pain as his memory returned. No, not his warehouse… those ponies and the dinosaur! Tavola's cursed friends! They had interrupted his grand announcement to the Old Stallion!

He roared and charged the walls, hitting them repeatedly with his shoulder, his hooves, even his head once, but not even denting the metal, finally, exhausted, he sat down, heaving and drawing air. They had thrown him inside a storage container, probably for the Royal Guard to pick up.

Two Hooves growled. "They won't win. I won't let them get a win!" He blinked and grinned, sliding the medallion out of his pocked.

"If you want to get rid of me, Old Stallion, you'll have to say goodbye to your daughters." He dropped it on the floor in front of him and then smashed it to pieces with his hoof. "Too bad. They were quite beautiful."

He started laughing until a faint glow made him turn. Curious, he moved towards it, finding a cardboard shoe box. Frowning, he removed the top, revealing the glowing contents to his eyes.

"Oh, cr—"





Twilight and Octavia sat side by side, watching the crates as a big red one suddenly went up in flames, the top rocketing up several meters into the air, spinning a few times before crashing down into a twisted piece of metal.

Octavia took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "And so he's gone…" she leaned her head on Twilight's shoulder. "There's going to be a lot of paperwork for this."

Twilight shrugged.

"And Princess Celestia is not going to be happy about this."

Twilight's lips twisted into a grimace. "There's nothing to be done about it. That pony brought this on himself. He could have just waited for the guard instead of trying to murder some innocent fillies."

Octavia hugged Twilight. "Be careful you don't get carried away by things like this?"

Twilight smirked. "Don't worry, Tavi, I have you and a solid moral compass in Wrex."

Octavia raised an eyebrow, opened her mouth to say something then shook her head. "Well, I'd better go talk with my dad. We'll need to get him out of here before the Guard and the police arrive."

She leaned in and kissed Twilight before jumping down into the office below.

"So what do you think?"

"Eh, I've seen bigger explosions," Wrex said, walking up to Twilight. "Next time, I say we throw in a little extra, just to take down a few more crates, in case there's something dangerous in them, of course."

He then patted Twilight's head.

"Wrex."

"Sparkle."

"Let's reorganize this crime syndicate and head home."




> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 1



By Wanderer D






"Okay class," Miss Cheerilee called out, drowning the noise from the colts and fillies and recalling their attention to the front of the room.

"As you all know, every few months, we invite a pony to talk to class about their talents, their jobs, experiences and what makes them special. Today we have a very special guest," Cheerilee said and her smile seemed a bit strained. "I'm not entirely sure how the invitation was sent… so early… but, she has agreed make time in her very busy schedule to come talk to us all. Please welcome, Commander Twilight Sparkle."

The colts and fillies clapped politely as their guest stepped into the room, then stopped and stared.

"Hello!" Twilight said, waving her hoof amiably as she took her place in front of the class. "My, this brings back a lot of memories! You know, my classroom was a bit bigger, but there is something to be said about how nice it feels in a class like this." She chuckled and shook her head. "Anyway, my name is Commander Twilight Sparkle, and I am here to talk about technology, finding your true calling, achieving rank and defending the world from invaders."

"W-well," Cheerilee gulped. "Most of the colts and fillies here don't read the newspaper, but… let's ask the class some questions first, shall we and let those that know a little about you start the conversation. Would that be okay?"

Twilight nodded, smiling amiably. "Sure."

"Okay class," Cheerilee spoke up. "Who here knows anything about Commander Sparkle?"

Predictably Sweetie Belle's hoof shot up, followed not a millisecond later by Scootaloo. Apple Bloom also raised her hoof, and most surprisingly…

"Snails? Dinky? Huh." Cheerilee looked around, but none of the other colts and fillies seemed to know much about Twilight.

"Bah," a voice emanated from the class, and Cheerilee's eyes snapped to the source of potential disaster. 

"Oh no. Diamond Tiara." she whispered in horror.

"I don't know why everypony is so excited," Diamond Tiara said, ignoring Cheerilee's frantic waves. "She's the librarian! She lives in a library with a dragon and dresses in strange clothes. Why should we—"

"Let's see," Twilight spoke up, interrupted and raised her hoof.

"Please don't destroy the school!"

Twilight blinked at Cheerilee and shrugged, turning to look back at Diamond Tiara. "As I was saying," she continued drawing 'oohs' and 'aahs' as her omni-tool materialized around her hoof. 

"That's right!" Diamond Tiara said. "And don't try to impress me with that gadget. I bet my daddy could buy ten of them if he really wanted to!"

"Your name is Diamond Tiara… and you're the daughter of one Filthy Rich and one Spoiled Rich. One is a small-town businesspony that has cornered the admittedly unchallenged market of Ponyville, the other is a classless social climber that has an intense dislike for those she sees as 'underneath' her despite the fact that she was raised in a less-than-wealthy home herself. Hm."

Twilight smiled at Diamond Tiara.

Cheerilee took a couple of steps back.

Twilight shook her head. "Let me give you some advice, kid. One: Talk to your dad more than to your mom. He's the better example."

When Diamond Tiara opened her mouth to argue, Twilight spoke again, "Two: Do the math. I was born in Canterlot. I attended and graduated from Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns with the highest marks in a generation. Celestia herself is my mentor. She assigned the tree you call a library as my living quarters, not as my job. I defeated Nightmare Moon because I was simply asked to do so. And I will continue to do so with every threat that comes to Equestria. I am commissioned by Celestia's Court." She tilted her head. "That means I only answer to Princess Celestia." She leveled a gaze onto the filly. "Does that sound like 'just a librarian' to you?"

Diamond Tiara shook her head meekly.

"Good. Anyway, anypony have a question that might not end in substantial destruction of school property?" Cheerilee asked quickly.

"Yeah!" The lanky unicorn colt said, turning to look at Twilight. "Um, Commander Sparkle, I read an article that when you took down the Royal Guard you used griffon tactics to take on the pegasi?"

Scootaloo turned back to look at her with a wide grin and fluttering wings.

"Ah," Twilight smiled. "That's not exactly right, that was just Rainbow Dash using her knowledge of Griffin warfare and some coaching from Wrex in Krogan dropship tactics." 

Twilight levitated a piece of chalk and quickly drew a diagram of the castle battle, with the several pegasi flying in formation around it. 

"You see, a regular griffon tactic would have been to dive into the first pegasi and rip their wings off, therefore drawing the attention of the others so that when they converged, they'd be easy prey for other griffons in the area."

"The issue—well, the idea, in any case, is to bring glory to that first attacker by allowing her or him to kill as many of the enemy as possible before the others arrive." 

The chalk flew and drew an illustration of the mentioned tactic. 

"However, Wrex's approach is more efficient, since at the time we only had one pegasus and we didn't want to lose her in a bloodbath. Instead of taking one or two opponents, Rainbow Dash dived through, getting their attention."

The tactic was once again illustrated on the board with chalk.

"She led them all into following her, then used her superior speed and skill to herd them together close enough that firing a sticking, lightning-powered explosive device onto one of them would take care of the whole lot of them at the same time with no loss to our forces."

Cheerilee cleared her throat. "I'm not sure we should share this kind of anecdotes with—"

"Miss Sparkle?" Apple Bloom called from the back of the class. "Is it true that you took down a criminal syndicate?"

"Commander. And I can't either confirm nor deny that claim," Twilight said, nodding.

"But you jus—" Cheerilee started to say, but was interrupted by another voice.

"Commander? Why does my sister have a firing range behind her boutique?"

"Because practice makes perfect." Twilight said to Sweetie Belle. "And remember, a shot in time saves nine."

"I'm not entirely sure that's how that one goes…" Sweetie answered, giving Twilight a doubtful look.

"Have you ever had to fight multiple opponents, giant beasts, spies, soldiers, alien creatures or omnipotent beings?" Twilight asked patiently.

"Um… no?"

"Then remember in case you ever do: a shot in time saves nine." Twilight repeated. She then looked across the room. "Dinky, what's your question?"

"Why doesn't my mom join your team full time, like Miss Rarity and Miss Rainbow Dash?"

Twilight sighed. "That's a good question, Dinky. If I ever find out, I'll let you know."

Cheerilee stepped up next to Twilight. "Alright everypony, why don't we ask Twilight questions about the government and how things are in Canterlot or what Princess Celestia is really like?"

Twilight smiled and listened to the colts and fillies, answering their questions briefly and honestly, but in the back of her mind, Dinky's question echoed.

Why didn't Derpy just join them full time?





Derpy Hooves flew the last delivery and dropped it at the doorstep of Roseluck's flower shop. Just in time too for her to go pick up Dinky from her music lessons. After her last mission with Twilight, Smart Mat had been very insistent on getting her back into the EPS and away from all that nonsense.

Derpy frowned, gaining lift as she glided towards Alto Flute's home. Although she wasn't fond of the gusto Twilight had for violent solutions, the Commander did get the job done. And while Smart Mat was certainly entitled to her opinion, it seemed more based off of the noble-founded 'newspapers' rather than actual knowledge of the subject. It was well known that Twilight was not a favorite of the noble class; her utter and public disdain of them, as well as what had happened with Blueblood was perfect fuel for them to feel a threat to their status… not to mention Wrex's questionable status as a citizen, and yet not only having a nice paying job, but also the attention, respect—and some whispered (while she already knew for a fact) affection—of Princess Celestia herself.

While they had expected some support from Princess Luna, taking her removal from society as a sure sign of her unequivocal conservatism—

Derpy's thoughts were derailed when she had to dodge another pegasus.

"Watch where you're going!" the pegasus snapped, doing a sweep and hovering in front of her. "Can't you keep one of your eyes where you're going?!"

"Sorry mister," Derpy said, invisibly struggling to not lash out verbally. "But if you'll notice, the updraft being southwards, I did have the right of wa—"

"Bah, I don't care about that. Didn't you see I was flying here?"

"Sir, the fact is—"

"'The fact is'," the pegasus mimicked. "You and your facts can go to Tartarus. Just keep an eye out instead of trying and failing to argue a point."

In her mind Derpy did a quick cool-down count, while analyzing the other pegasus. Simple speech, little knowledge outside his bubble of confidence, unapologetic attitude for something that was clearly his mistake, unable and unwilling to communicate… not worth her time.

"I will pay more attention, sir. Have a nice evening." She flew around the pegasus, ignoring his words. The day was almost done. All she needed was to pick up Dinky, walk home together and have dinner.

That was when she saw something unusual. From the edge of the Everfree, something metallic and square-like rose, gathered speed very fast and shot into the sky, far beyond where she could see.

A deep sense of foreboding filled her and she accelerated as much as she could. Alto's home wasn't as close to the Everfree as Fluttershy's but… it was roughly in the same direction where that thing had taken off from.





"I'm telling you Sparkle, that is impossible. There is no way that could happen."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Wrex, my scanners might not be made with Eezo, but my magi-tech is as reliable as anything you've shown me so far, and I'm telling you that I detected a Mass Effect field just a few minutes ago."

Wrex shook his head and chuckled. "Maybe it was another rainbow, Sparkle. I checked. There are no relays in this little corner of the universe. And if there were… let's just say Equestria would be a far different world than it is today."

Twilight was about to reply when the door to the library was kicked in and a frantic Derpy flew in. "Twilight! I need your help! Dinky has been foalnapped!" she shouted, tears welling in her eyes.

Twilight didn't even blink. In a second she had already called up her omni-tool and summoned the others. "Wrex, get the guns. Somepony just made a really big mistake."

Wrex didn't laugh as he trotted towards his stash, but his smile would have given anyone seeing it nightmares.

Elsewhere, a lone figure turned her head to the sky and narrowed her eyes.




> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 2



By Wanderer D






Dinky didn't dare speak. She had been thrown into a small cage with weird devices attached to it. The strange creatures that had taken her were discussing something among themselves, ignoring her completely other than to give her greedy looks. 

They were tall… as tall as Mr. Wrex and wearing armor that looked a bit like the one Twilight Sparkle wore. They walked in two legs, but they didn't all seem to be the same species. 

Some were soft-looking with little eyes, while others looked like they had bones on the outside. They all spoke completely different languages that she could tell, but for some reason, they could understand each other.

She sniffled, cuddling into a corner of her cage. She had been distracted… after school she had headed up towards the Everfree to get some flowers for her mom. She hadn't even ventured that close to the forest itself, but it had been enough for one of the creatures to appear out of nowhere and… do something to her.

When she had woken up, she had been inside the cage already, and inside some sort of transport. It was boxy like a train car, but she could see outside the window and they were travelling up, really fast, past the mountains and clouds and even the sky… she had been seeing stars soon after before they had floated into a bigger ship.

The creatures had all seemed very happy about catching her, but had thankfully left her alone other than to place a bowl of water in front of her and use the thing Twilight had conjured up earlier in class.

While that relative familiarity gave her some comfort, these creatures did not. They didn't speak anything she could understand, and the fact that they had ignored her pleas and thrown her into a cage made her a lot less inclined to talk to them.

They were dirty, mean, and smelled funny. Not to mention that even if she didn't understand their language, she could tell by the way they acted that they were rough around the edges, as her mom would say.

Remembering her mom gave her a pang of fear. Would she see her soon? Would she ever see her again? It had been hours now, and although Twilight Sparkle and her mom worked together, it would be hard for them to find her. She had no clue where she was, to begin with.
The creatures continued their conversation for a while longer before apparently being called away if their grumbling was any indication.

Silence fell in the room where she was held and she studied her surroundings. It was a large room, with a lot of space and big, metallic boxes… some sort of warehouse? She pressed to the edge of her cage, wishing she knew magic by then. Even levitating something might've been useful… her eyes widened when she heard more voices. 

But they weren't coming from the creatures from earlier... where… her eyes drifted to one of the containers as it slowly opened up and three different creatures emerged, carefully looking around, with guns at the ready.

They looked similar to the ones that had captured her—but cleaner—and were whispering furiously to each other, although she couldn't understand then, she could tell an undertone of teasing going around.

One of them, with darker skin, looked at her and its eyes went wide. It grinned and said something excitedly to the others, who turned to look at her with mild curiosity… until the shortest one of the trio, with a longer red and yellow mane stared at her in growing horror.

Dinky backed away as the creature rushed to the cage and knelt in front of it, and then, she—her voice was female—spoke in perfect Equestrian.

"Oh no, how did they capture you?"





"How could this happen?" Derpy asked nervously, drawing on a piece of paper.

"That's what we're going to find out after we kick some ass," Twilight replied.

"Where do you think it went?" Rainbow Dash asked, already wearing her metallic blue, N7 armor.

"We'll probably have to examine the area for clues," Octavia pointed out, doing some final check-ups on Viola. "Our omni-tools should be able to pick something up."

"Foalnapping is not cool," Vinyl muttered angrily. "I'm going reverb the bones out of their bodies!"

The door opened and Rarity walked into the library, already prepped in her armor with her two guns at her sides. She had fashioned a sturdy belt as well where her knives fit snugly. "I'm afraid Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo can't help much," she said, taking a seat next to Derpy at the table. "They joined Apple Bloom for a school project and went straight to Sweet Apple Acres."

"Well, there aren't that many metal vehicles out there. All we need to do is see where it came  from and follow them there."

"It might be more difficult than you think, Sparkle," Wrex spoke up, studying the drawing Derpy had made. "That is not something you find in Equestria. That's a shuttle from a larger ship." He gave them all a level look. "A spaceship to be precise. Standard Alliance model."

Twilight slowly lowered her shotgun. "What?"

"It's an Alliance-style shuttle. Widely used."

"And it shouldn't have been able to land here," a new voice said.

Princess Luna suddenly found herself looking down several gun barrels and carefully gulped. "'Tis unnecessary for you to—"

"Oh," Wrex grunted, resting his shotgun on the desk again. "It's just Moon-butt."

Luna's eyes narrowed. "While that is not totally inaccurate, we have requested of you to refrain from that moniker as it makes it sound like our… butt… is fat."

"What do you mean it shouldn't have been able to land?" Twilight, lowering her gun as the others did the same. "And don't worry about your butt, Tavi and I have agreed on multiple occasions that it is glorious."

"Quite," Octavia nodded.

Luna cleared her throat. "It should be impossible for spaceships to reach Equestria," she explained. "Equestria is… separate. While our friend Wrex managed—have you been discussing my butt?"

"Please, girls," Rarity spoke up. "Focus. There's a filly in possible danger. This is hardly the time to discuss these matters."

"And discuss them we will," Luna said, leveling a look at the cellist before turning her attention back to Twilight. "Back to the subject at hoof, as I was saying, Equestria's time/space location is disjointed from the universe at large. We believe that something akin to a galactic event of great importance similar to what brought Wrex to us was strong enough to temporarily join us with his universe again."

"Does that mean that Dinky is…"

"Nay," Luna said, stepping forth to put a comforting hoof on Derpy's shoulder. "She is still within our reach. For now that both Celestia and I are working together, the barriers between our world and the universe can be managed."

"Uh, I hate to be that pony but, that still leaves the problem of finding a way to go into friggin' space to find a small ship," Vinyl said, raising a hoof.

"Twilight Sparkle," Luna spoke up. "On my authority, Algol is re-established with your current team."

"Yess..." Twilight whispered, a grin growing on her face. "It seems we'll be visiting your place sooner rather than later, Wrex."

"Ehehehe…" the krogan chuckled ominously. "I've been waiting for this." He pushed up. "Well, better head there now. The quicker we get this show running, the easier it will be to find your daughter."





Earlier…

"You know," Vetra said, "I thought we had agreed to not do this again."

The Turian female was leaning against the side of the container they were hiding in, arms crossed and giving the other two crew-members a level look. "Do you remember what happened last time? I do."

"I do too," Liam answered his sheepish grin struggling to stay sheepish instead of the smirk he really was feeling like showing. "But we had fun, right, Ryder? Don't tell me you didn't get a kick out of our overlord-wannabe friend."

"Sure was fun, but it doesn't mean I wanted a repeat of floating in space in a metal box for several hours in the off-chance some pirate crew would pick us up."

"It worked though," Liam replied, crossing his arms and allowing his smug smile to flourish into full power.

"Yes, and it is the surprising frequency of these dumb plans working that worries me. It either speaks highly of you and badly of all outlaws or the universe is planning some crazy-ass payback for this."

"Come on, Ryder," Vetra chuckled. "I saw the look you gave the crate before we all jumped in and were dropped in the middle of an outlaw-infested system. You were looking forward to it."

"I was not. Well, okay. I might have acted impulsively and grabbed you both when I jumped in here rather than head to that vid conference with Tann…"

Vetra gave her a level look.

"...and sure, I didn't necessarily have to order Kellos to 'drop us into the void'..."

"But?" Liam prompted.

"...but I'd rather float in the vacuum of space with you two and be picked up by exiles than deal with politicians right now. Especially after what we went through."

[I can confirm this is correct: The Pathfinder suffered the signs of a mild panic attack when she was informed of Director Tann's summons.]

"Thank you, SAM. They so needed to know that."

[It's my pleasure to help, Pathfinder.]

"I was being sarcastic, SAM."

[So was I.]

The trio chuckled. 

"Anyway, SAM, are we clear?"

[Scanning. We appear to be clear, Pathfinder. I detect another life form in the hold, but it appears too small to be any of the pirates.]

"Hostile?"

[Unknown. Initial scan does not match any known species in the Andromeda Galaxy.]

"Well, that's comforting." Liam unlocked the seal. "If they're not here, we should get out and set up for when we get to their lair. We'll need to activate our beacon soon so that the Tempest can get to us in time."

"Aww, just when we were starting to get comfortable."

"You take me to the best places and prime locations when we go out, Ryder." Vetra said, pulling out her gun and nodding at the others.

Liam slowly pushed the door open and peeked outside. "Hey, no turret this time."

"Thank goodness for small miracles."

"Ha. Ha. Ryder." Liam emerged fully, raising his automatic rifle as he assessed the area.

"What? I honestly expect this to devolve into something completely insane in the next few minutes," she replied.

"Well, at least I'll be here to give you a hug if we're suddenly spaced," Vetra chirped.

"Seriously. You two make it sounds as if every time I think of something, shit's gonna hit the fan," Liam mumbled. He turned around and his eyes went wide. "Ryder. Vetra. You won't believe what these guys caught."

"Seriously Liam if it's…"

Liam and Vetra both looked at Ryder.

"Are you okay?" Vetra asked. 

"You look pale, Ryder," Liam pointed out.

But she ignored both when she saw what the pirates had captured. She felt ice in her stomach. This couldn't be.

Slowly, she approached the little unicorn filly.

[This creature appears to be very similar to what Earth myths used to call a unicorn…] SAM's voice came through.

"SAM, shut up for a bit." Ryder knelt in front of the cage. She had thought…

The little filly looked at her in horror. She probably was scared out of her mind. "Oh no, how did they capture you?" she asked gently.

The filly looked at her in confusion, then slight, growing hope. "Y-you understand me?"

Ryder nodded. It brought back some... difficult times. "Yeah… what's your name?"

"D-dinky. Dinky Hooves. What's yours?"

Liam tapped his omnitool. "SAM, my translator doesn't seem to be functioning. I can't understand what they're saying."

"Neither can I," Vetra added, sounding slightly annoyed.

[That would be because there is no translation being transmitted,] SAM explained. [The Pathfinder is speaking the creature's native language.]

"Since when does Ryder speak horse?" Liam asked.

He stepped back when Vetra knelt down next to Ryder, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Ryder? Hey…" She hesitated. "What's wrong? How can you speak to this creature?"

Sunset patted Vetra's hand, giving Dinky a smile. "Sorry guys, it's… hard to explain. Give me a second, alright?"

She turned back to Dinky, making a fist and putting it forth so that the filly could bump it with her hoof. She ignored Liam's small squeal. "People call me Pathfinder but… you can call me Sunset."




> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 3
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 3



By Wanderer D






"Miss Sunset?" Dinky asked.

"Yes, Dinky?"

"Why can't I understand what they're saying, but I can understand you?"

Sunset chuckled. "Well, I speak Equestrian, as for them… we all have these things…" She summoned her omni-tool. "It's called—"

"An omni-tool! Dinky's eyes were wide. "So those really were Krogans!"

Sunset paused. She then blinked. "Wait, how do you know what these are and what Krogans look like?"

Dinky smiled. "Oh, Commander Sparkle talked all about it today in class! She said her friend Wrex taught Rainbow Dash how to use Krogan Dropship tactics!"

"I take it this Rainbow Dash is a pegasus?"

Dinky nodded.

"Oh goddess, the possibilities for damage…" Sunset muttered, trying to contain a smirk. She then frowned. "Wait, so if you have already met a Krogan, why don't you have an omni-tool? I would have expected the Council Races to have given you all some when you joined…"

"What's a council race?" Dinky asked. "The only ponies that have omni-tools are Commander Sparkle's team! Like my mom!"

"Okay, I'm missing something here. Who is Commander Sparkle? Is she a human?"

"Nope! Commander Sparkle is a unicorn! She was Celestia's student, and then I think she also was taught how to fight by Wrex! She really admires some human called Commander Shepard though, she told us that Shepard fought the Rea—" She suddenly found her mouth covered by Sunset's hand.

"Uh yeah," Sunset chuckled. "Shepard, of course. Uh, how about we don't talk about that stuff right now?"

They were further interrupted by the approach of Liam. "Everything okay, Ryder? We haven't understood a word since you started speaking horse."

Sunset frowned. "It's not 'horse', it's Equestrian and it is an ancient language with nuances and a lot of history!"

Liam gave her a steady look. "Which only you and your friend the mini-unicorn speak," he pointed out. "Not to mention that she said something that made you go really pale."

"Well, whatever it is, we can talk about it later. We should get going, we don't know when those pirates will come back," Vetra pointed out. "Although it is rather cute to see you cuddling a tiny fluffy quadruped."

"Fine fine," Sunset muttered. "But we need to do something about communicating… I don't suppose either of you have extra omni-tools?"

"For a horse?" Vetra deadpanned. "No. And I don't bring extras either. Why do you even want one?"

"Unicorn. Besides, look at her... Dinky here would be a lot more comfortable if we could understand each other."

Liam looked down at the little unicorn which looked back up at him with big, puppy eyes. "I—"

[If I may, Pathfinder,] SAM spoke up. [My initial scan did detect some Angaran artifacts on the ship, including some of their own scanners.]

Liam glanced around eager to escape the cute attack. "Hey, SAM's right, that crate over here looks Angaran." He walked over and opened it, glancing inside and pulling out one of the scanners. "It has straps, so we could fit it around one of her hooves or around her neck. Might be easier."

"Hooves," Sunset said immediately. "I won't have a unicorn leashed like a pet."

"Geez, I was joking," Liam said, waving his hands.

"You know it was a joke, Sarah," Vetra said, giving her a stern look. "No need to get so aggravated about it. You're taking this a bit personal."

Sunset looked down. "Look, there's a lot I haven't told you guys, alright?"

"Like speaking horse?" Liam asked, carefully wrapping the scanner around Dinky's hoof and making sure it was tight. 

"Equestrian."

"Or how familiar you are with, uh… unicorns... that your body-language changed?" Vetra asked a bit more quietly. "We're not just giving you a hard time, Sarah, we're worried. You're family."

"I know," Sunset sighed.

[Pathfinder.] SAM spoke up, making Dinky jump and look around wildly, now able to hear him through the transmitters in the scanner. [Now that the Angaran bio-connection has been established with Dinky. I could start working on translation, which might take several months given that she has no language data to transmit, unlike the Angara.]

Sunset rolled her eyes. "I can hear the 'but' in there, SAM. Out with it."

[There might be an alternative. If the Pathfinder permits, I am able to access your memories in learning this language to correlate the language into a functioning dictionary for your omni-tools. The memories would only be accessed by me.]

Sunset gulped. "There's a lot hidden there, SAM. Stuff  that I have protected to the best of my ability."

[I am well aware of that, Pathfinder,] SAM replied. [For instance, I have no available information on how you are able to speak Equestrian fluently.]

Sunset glanced at the others. "SAM, this is a very personal, personal thing. Those memories… I've locked them in a very specific way... even the Archon couldn't see them for a reason."

[If we do not do this, Dinky will only be able to communicate with you alone for the foreseeable future.]

Sunset looked down at Dinky, who was giving everyone confused looks. She sighed. "Fine."

Liam and Vetra smiled encouragingly.

[Pathfinder, I still need you to unlock the memories.]

Sunset cringed, then carefully moved a finger up to her forehead and closed her eyes. A soft, orange aura enveloped her, making Dinky's eyes grow wide with excitement, while Liam and Vetra looked confused.

"I thought biotics were supposed to be bluish?" Liam asked.

[Accessing memories,] SAM said. [Pathfinder I have found the relevant memories to...]

The group waited patiently for a few seconds after the AI had trailed off before all four shuffled uncomfortably at the prolonged silence.

"Um. SAM?" Vetra asked.

"Oh great," Sunset muttered. "I broke him."

"Damn. You broke the most advanced AI known with a single memory?" Liam asked, shaking his head in disbelief. "That must be some memory. I'm almost afraid to ask… but tell me, it's your prom night memory, right?"

Sunset gave him a dirty look and Liam could only grin sheepishly in response.

"Seriously, SAM?" Sunset asked again.

[I am here… Sunset.] SAM replied a little hesitantly. [The revelations from your memory put a lot of things into perspective.]

Vetra gave her a look, and her lower mandibles fluttered a little. "Sunset?"

Sunset cleared her name. "Um. My name. My uh… real name. I left behind."

"You and I have a lot to talk about."

"Only you?" Liam asked. "I think the whole of the Tempest will want to hear about this when we get back."

"Geez, no pressure then."

A childish voice interrupted their banter. "Miss Sunset? What's wrong?"

The three adults turned to look at Dinky.

"Can you… understand us now?" Liam asked slowly.

Dinky nodded. "Um. Yes… I think this thing on my hoof is what makes it work?"

"That's right," Vetra said gently, kneeling down, her tall frame still imposing to the little unicorn. "It's called an Angaran Scanner, and it is very similar to our omni-tools. It allows us to exchange translation software really quickly with other species so that their scanner, or our omni-tool allows us to hear a correct translation of what they're saying."

"So you're not speaking Equestrian?" Dinky asked.

"Nope."

"Well, well, well," a voice interrupted, resonating all over the cargo bay. "What do we have here? Stowaways?"

"Dinky," Sunset whispered. "Quickly, jump in the crate where we came from. Don't come out until one of us tells you to."

Dinky did as told, running to hide inside the big metallic box, peeking out when the voice spoke again.

"If it isn't the Pathfinder."

Dinky looked up to see some sort of flat surface made of light appear hovering above them, a lady looking to be the same species as Sunset appeared, or, well she looked very similar, only she was blue and had no hair, but rather some sort of tentacle things growing from her head.

"Why must you mess with my plans all the time?!" the woman asked.

"Hmm. That asari looks familiar," Sunset muttered.

"Isn't she the one you met on the wind farm? In Kadara?" Liam asked.

"Is she?" Vetra tilted her head. "Huh. She does have that air of incompetence about her."

"Honestly I had completely forgotten her…" Sunset said, grinning sheepishly at the image of the woman, who seemed to be getting a shade darker. "Listen, uh… you. I think I sort of remember wanting to punch your face once, were you the bitch that wanted to blow up the Nexus with some bomb before I took down your entire operation?"

"Yes I am!" The asari shouted. "And my name i—" whatever she was going to say was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot and the projector and speaker exploding.

"What?" Vetra asked, looking genuinely surprised when everyone else slowly turned to look at her. "Isn't it tradition to shoot the bad guy in the face?"





The colossal green dragon glared at most of the ponies below him. In all fairness, Octavia, Derpy, Vinyl, Rarity and Rainbow Dash handled themselves quite well for never having seen one up close.

"You guys can really let go now," Twilight grumbled. "I'm all for this kind of situation when you're also not choking the life out of me."

"Agreed." Luna remarked.

Wrex simply chuckled at the five mares who were latching onto the Princess and Twilight as if their lives depended on it.

"Grumble."

"Wrex," the dragon replied, nodding slightly. "Sparkle."

"Hey Grumble," Twilight forced a smile.

"We're gonna need to get through your liar to my ship," Wrex explained matter-of-factly, "Hope you don't mind."

The dragon snorted, moving its massive body out of the way. "It's not like I have much of a choice. Make sure you don't touch anything, especially you," he growled at Rarity. "I can see you eyeing my collection."

"But it's… it's so beautiful!" Rarity complained as Wrex picked her up and walked through a small path made between the mountains of gold coins and gems.

"And it still will be here when we get back," Wrex said. "Not that you'll get your hooves on any of it."

Rarity slumped in his grasp, giving him a glare. "Spoilsport."

"Ehehehe."

A little behind them, Luna walked, leading the slightly-less-terrified mares next to Twilight. "I must admit," Luna said, with some grudging respect. "We-I never expected Algol to be that well protected, given… well, my sister's rather naive approach to dealing with danger."

"She's not that bad," Twilight replied with a shrug, then relented under Luna's gaze. "Okay, she is, but she now has me and the others.. and you. And Wrex. I'm sure Grumble here would lend a claw or two if asked."

"For a price," Grumble grumbled from high above.

"..for a price," Twilight agreed.

The group soon emerged from the vast treasure into an empty part of the cavern, where a tunnel slightly bigger than Wrex opened into the darkness of the mountain below. After a few minutes walking down the tunnel, the group finally relaxed a little. 

"Ally or not," Octavia pointed out, "Grumble is almost as intimidating as Wrex."

Wrex chuckled.

"You know you can put me down now," Rarity muttered.

"I know," Wrex said, not doing so.

Eventually they reached a large cavern overlooking something that made all of the gathered mares, with the exception of Twilight, gasp.

"W-what is that?!" Vinyl said, eyes so wide her eyebrows went over her sunglasses.

"That," Wrex said. "Is the Normandy SR-2, welcome from my home away from home away from Tuchanka."










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 4
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 4



By Wanderer D






The Normandy was larger than anything the ponies had seen: it had an elegance to it with its curved long structure that was at complete odds with the square-like ship that had taken off with Dinky.

As they approached, they grew silent. It felt like they were approaching something truly great, beyond their experiences. Rainbow Dash stole a look at Twilight, who was looking at the ship with unhidden longing, and yet… her eyes now went to Wrex, who seemed unusually somber, in contrast with the proud statement he had made earlier.

His gaze was lost in the spaceship, and she could almost see the memories flooding his mind reflected in his eyes. There was a tremendous sense of history here, permeating every inch of the ship. Princess Luna paused and took off into the air, flying small, ponderous circles around the Normandy. Rainbow Dash couldn't help it, and apparently neither could Derpy, who followed immediately after her.

The glossy paint did a very good job of covering small dents, streamlining the ship and giving it a slightly predatory look, as if it were some sort of rapacious bird. There was writing of some sort on the side of the ship, and Rainbow Dash assumed that was the actual name of it.

"It's very impressive," Luna whispered, stopping to hover next to her and Derpy. "Such a ship… it's beyond what we can create at this time. It would take lifetimes of continuous magical and scientific development before we were ever able to emulate such a thing."

Octavia glanced at Twilight as Wrex summoned his omnitool and typed in a command. The underbelly of the ship shuddered and with the hiss of hydraulics, slowly opened like the maw of a giant monster.

But it wasn't a glance seeking assurance that she had directed to their commander. It was one of curiosity.

Twilight visibly trembled with anticipation. Her eyes were wide, her mouth smiling almost savagely. Octavia knew her well enough to see all the tells of Twilight being excited beyond the general thrill of combat. Or sex. It made her a bit jealous, actually.

Wrex took that moment to chuckle and glance back. "Well. It seems you finally get your wish, Sparkle."

"Took you long enough Wrex."

The Krogan chuckled, shook his head and motioned for the others to follow him up the ramp. Luna, Ditzy and Rainbow Dash quickly landed behind them and followed the procession into the Normandy.

The interior of the ship slowly lit up with blue-white light, hidden behind metal panels that allowed it to curve up and around, while curved columns also had lights that flickered on, illuminating the whole thing.

It was a dark, metallic gray, with deep blue wherever it wasn't covered in equipment beyond the understanding of the gathered ponies, who looked at the whole thing in awe as multicolored lights started humming into life on several different panels. A bay in the middle of the ship drew Twilight's attention, and knowing what she was going to see, she quickly trotted onto the bridge, overlooking a hologram of the galaxy that materialized a few seconds after she did.

"This. Is. Awesome." Rainbow Dash stated.

The ponies gathered in awe around the hologram, but only Twilight and Luna herself out of all of them really seemed to have an idea of what it represented.

"Marvelous," Luna whispered, her horn alight as she scanned with magic the hologram, grunting in slight annoyance when she remembered that it wasn't powered by eldritch energies. "To think that an image of a whole galaxy, to this minute detail could ever exist."

"And that's not the only thing." Wrex grinned as the excited ponies quieted down. It took them a moment to realize what had drawn their attention, but now that they were concentrating on the sound, they gathered together, all except Twilight who looked from Wrex to the automatic doors at the side of the elevator with growing excitement.

Slow footsteps came from deep within the ship, and Twilight shot Wrex a look with widening eyes.

One of the doors to the back of the ship slid open, and a bipedal creature stepped out, holding a gun, and pointing it straight at the ponies.

Twilight's eyes couldn't be wider. "Oh goddess…" she whispered. "It's  really you..."

Wrex chuckled. "Ehehehe… time to kick things up a notch."





"Miss Sunset?"

"Yes Dinky?"

"How come I can hear Mr. Sam's voice, but there is nopony else around besides us four?"

They watched as several, heavily armed individuals rushed into the room, pointing their guns in all directions as they systematically took cover behind crates, barrels and vehicles.

"Well, SAM is a bit… different," Sunset said after a moment. "He's an AI, so he doesn't have a body like us… although he does exist physically in the Nexus."

Dinky's eyes went wide. "Is he a ghost?!"

Liam chuckled. "I guess he is, kinda. Ghost in the Machine and all that."

Sunset gave him a look. "Were you rummaging through my 20-21st century Earth culture folder again?"

Vetra held up a hand. "Come now, let's call your classic cartoon folder what it is."

Sunset raised an eyebrow.

The mercs surrounded the large container from where they could hear the voices coming from within. The leader made sweeping motions with his hands, and quickly all the others surrounded the crate, making sure they would not be in each other's line of fire.

"I'll have you know that what you call "cartoons" are highly sophisticated, deep and contemplative stories that weave into what makes humanity, well, human!" Sunset huffed. "The archive was given to me by no less than Liara T'soni herself when we were both part of a team exploring Prothean ruins."

"So, another nerd gave you that, we get it," Liam said.

"We're not nerds!"

"Aww, you're so cute when you get angry," Vetra teased.

That was when the leader of the mercs kicked the container's door open.





The explosion shook the whole ship, making the metal groan and grate so loudly that Dinky jumped into Sunset's arms, a frightened look in her eyes.

"Hey kiddo, no worries, we rigged it right so that it wouldn't damage the hull," Liam said. He pointed at the monitor showing the cargo bay covered in flames and raining down pieces of metal. "See? It might look dangerous, but already the automatic systems are activating and putting off the fire." He bumped his chest proudly. "I'm an expert with explosives."

"Will they be okay?" Dinky asked, innocently pointing at the mercenaries strewn around the cargo bay  like abandoned dolls.

"I-I'm sure some of them will have to deal with a headache or a couple of bumps…" Vetra coughed.

They watched in silence as the corner of the cargo bay groaned and split, before ripping off completely and floating off into space, followed by everything that wasn't attached to the floor—including the mercs—before a few moments too late a mass effect field formed around the rip.

"Well then," Sunset said into the heavy silence that followed. "How about I tell you a story?"





Alec Ryder walked into the hospital, followed by his wife, Ellen and son, Scott, and striding past the pegasus statue outside the entrance with nary a glance. He grimaced as he looked at the place. The last time they had been here… there were not a lot of bad memories attached to this hospital but there was a recent one that burned a hole through him, much more painful than being shot in the arm by Turian weapons.

He shoved the memory off of his mind. He could already see his wife's eyes darkening and her son's watering a little. He had to be calm and collected. But Dr. Kustron had better have a good reason for summoning them back to this place.

The automatic doors slid open and they stepped into the cooled down reception. Alec waved dismissively at the attendant that tried to ask him if he needed assistance and guided his family over to the elevators.

It didn't take long to reach the room they had been summoned to. Frowning at the door, he shook his head and opened the door, walking into the room and stopping there in shock.

Behind him he heard Ellen gasp and Scott swear in surprise. And he couldn't blame them.

Dr. Kustron straightened up from the monitor he had been studying, looking at them with a neutral expression.

"But… how?" Alec asked, walking up to the bed and raising a hand to touch the arm of the girl that lay in it, almost afraid that it would go through, that it was just an elaborate joke of some sort. But it felt real, warm and with a pulse. "How?"

Dr. Kustron shrugged. "I don't know." He looked down at the girl with a baffled expression. "You can see why I called you both immediately."
Alec felt his heart skip, but he quickly forced himself to calm down, years of training helping him rein in his emotions. "Is she a clone?"

Dr. Kustron grimaced. "I see no other option, but… she shows no markers. At all. She's as naturally occurring as, well, Scott here. If I hadn't seen Sara—" he cut himself and looked at the monitor again before glancing back at Alec. "I can't explain it, Ryder, for all intents and purposes she's Sara except…"

"Except what?" Ellen asked, walking over to study the monitor readings while Scott walked up to the side of the bed opposite his dad's.

"Well, as you know, we did some scans of Scott and Sara when we found them to be Biotic, and kept track of them after you installed the implants, Dr. Ryder." Dr. Kustron explained, summoning his omnitool and creating a projection with the wave frequencies. "As you can see, these are the original brain and Mass Effect frequencies Sara had… and these," he added, bringing another wave sample up, "are this young woman's waves."

Alec and Ellen studied the waves. "They're similar here," Ryder said, using his omnitool to highlight the Mass Effect waves, "But the brainwaves are completely different, almost as if her brain was not even human."

"How did… where did she come from then?" Scott asked, startling the adults. The fifteen year old was looking down at the exact copy of his sister with an inscrutable expression.

Dr. Kustron cleared his throat. "We're not sure." He finally admitted, massaging his brow. "We recorded an intense Mass Effect distortion outside of the hospital and when security went out to investigate… she was there, lying on the floor and completely unconscious."

Whatever Alec was going to answer was interrupted by a soft groan. The gathered group looked down at the bed where the young woman slowly started to stirr. She groaned and opened her eyes slowly, blinking away at the light behind them, then stared at them in growing confusion.

"W-what the hay are you?!"





The heavy mec floundered around, its cameras destroyed and shooting missiles and bullets at anything and everything. Dinky, watching from inside the biotic and magical shield that enveloped her as she floated above the carnage, half-cowered, half-watched with morbid fascination as the trio attacked the bipedal machine, running from cover to cover and shooting at it without staying in one location for long.

"Wait, so you just appeared? Just like that?"

"And you're a clone!?" Vetra asked as she dove for cover.

"I'm not a clone!" Sunset snapped, bracing herself and emptying her assault rifle at the lumbering robot. "I thought that I made that clear! They thought I was one at first, but I assure you I was born out of a p—"

Dinky missed the rest of what Sunset shouted when the machine exploded, overloading the microphone and drowning what she had said.

"—y, just like you!"

"Language, Ryder, we have an underage unicorn with us remember?" Liam asked, wiping the soot off of his armor.

Sunset grumbled, waving a hand and Dinky saw the shield around her disappear. She quickly made her way to her three rescuers, wincing at the destruction. "You guys really don't know how to hold back, do you?" She asked.

"Oh, we do," Liam said, while Sunset nodded and Vetra gave her a Turian thumbs-up. "We like to live too, so we're keeping things at a minimum."

A screen fluttered to life, showing the visage of the blue woman that had threatened them before. "What the hell, Ryder? Why can't you just die like the useless meatbag you are?!"

"Aha!" Sunset exclaimed, snapping her fingers. "I remember you now… Elora, wasn't it?"

The asari on the screen went quiet.

"Yeah, I remember… it was you who tried to destroy the Nexus," Sunset said, cracking her neck. "I went straight back to Kadara to have a chat, but I was disappointed to find out you had suddenly disappeared. Almost as if you had ran away like a coward."

"That's damned right that it was me!" Elora snarled. "And I di—"

Her message was cut short when Liam blew the screen up into pieces. "What?" he asked. "Isn't that the thing we're doing this time around?"










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 5
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 5



By Wanderer D






"Wrex."

"EDI."

"Twilight!"

The Krogan and the humanoid AI turned to look at Twilight Sparkle, who gave them a slightly strained smile. "Sorry. Ahem. I'm uh, Commander Twilight Sparkle," she said, saluting EDI. "It's an honor to meet you… Wrex has told me a lot about you and the rest of the crew of the Normandy and I just… well, it's an honor."

EDI seemed to study the ponies in the room, especially Twilight, before turning to Wrex. "I notice these aliens have Alliance Omnitools as well as Twilight here bearing the rank of Commander and an N7 armor mark."

A beat. The ponies looked at each other nervously as EDI leveled a deadpan look at Wrex. "What did I miss?"

"Ehehe, you're in for a good one, EDI," Wrex said with a grin. "But we need your help first. You see, a little filly was abducted by aliens, and we need to get her back."

EDI was about to say something, but she was interrupted by Derpy, who flew up to her, pleading, watery eyes wide and hopeful. "Please! Mr. Wrex said we could find my daughter!"

EDI blinked. "Wrex, being offline for some time might have affected my perception filters. I am receiving overwhelming information. It is all rose-colored."

"That's what they call a 'puppy-eye' attack." Wrex stated. "It's surprisingly effective."

"I see. I shall incorporate that into my cyber-defenses." EDI sated. She blinked. "Done." she turned to look at Derpy. "If your daughter was captured by a spacecraft, our options are limited." EDI stated.

"Maybe," Twilight said. "But the bottom line is we have to try. I detected a Mass Effect anomaly and recorded it in my Omnitool. I believe that if my admittedly limited equipment was able to sense that, your sensor should be able to pick on it—"

"—and extrapolate the current location of the craft." EDI completed, nodding. "That is correct… Commander."

Twilight's smile could have lit the room.

"What do you say, EDI?" Wrex chuckled. "How about we go pyjak hunting?"

"If I recall correctly, when the Normandy landed there was a massive field of energy wrapping around the planet, distorting time and space beyond what we have ever encountered. It was why everyone—"

"That should not be a problem, fair mechanical creature."

EDI turned her head curiously to the largest of the ponies.

Picking up on the unasked question, Luna smiled. "My sister and I have control over the space distortion that you speak of. With me on board your vessel, we shall encounter no hindrance."

"How—"

"Electromagnetic and mass-effect pulses tied to our dna and personal biotic abilities," Twilight interrupted. "That would be the easiest way to explain it, even if it's not accurate and functions more like a comparison."

"What would be the complicated, accurate, way to do so?"

"Magic," Wrex said.

EDI considered this for a moment. "Prepare for travel, we will depart within the hour."





"The girl is terribly confused," Dr. Kustron said to the others as they stepped out of the room. It had taken some hurried explanations and insurance, but the young woman, almost an exact copy of their daughter, had finally relented once she understood she was in a hospital. "Although the wave patterns don't match Sara's, exactly, they don't match any equivalent ones from any known alien species…" he hesitated. "The Mass Effect field around her when she arrived was off the charts for such a specific and small point of origin. It's possible that it might affected her in a different way than other biotics... same as how additional exposure has had effects on the potency of certain individual's powers."

Ellen gave him a glance. "That has always been theoretical, doctor. Even those cases that were studied where similar results happened, were not only astronomically rare, but also considerably less impactful on the subject. At most their biotics would be prodded a little… nothing to the extent of what you're proposing."

Dr. Kustron sighed. "Regardless, she's identical DNA-wise." He hesitated. "I called you because for all intents and purposes you are her next of kin."

Alec sighed. "I'll talk to her."





"In the end… Alec—dad, and the others," Sunset said, leaning against the side of the door Liam was kneeling in front, trying to force open. "...got to know me and I them. I was completely off my game, and initially I didn't want their help. I was terrified that I was no longer a unicorn, but, as I worked with mom, I started understanding how biotics worked and that enabled me to reconnect with my magic. While Scott and I didn't grow up together, and there were… a few fights… we had enough similarities to consider each other legitimate brother and sister in the end. A year later my mom fell sick and… well, the rest as they say is history."

"But… how and why did you arrive on Earth?" Vetra asked.

"Ah…" Sunset blushed. "That's not important, is it? I mean, the cool thing is that I was adopted by random strangers that put me in charge of thousands of lives the moment they were threatened. Yay?"

"Sunset…"

Sunset groaned at the look Vetra gave her. "Fine, fine… you see… I was the protege of a very important pony… Princess Celestia," she winced at Dinky's gasp of recognition. "...and I might have stormedoutofthecastlethroughamagicmirrorinordertoconquerthisuniverseandcomebackinglorybloodandfire."

Liam's omni-tool made a screeching noise as he lost his concentration and it carved a glowing scratch on the surface of the door. "Wait. What?"

"I had issues, okay?" Sunset threw her hands up in the air. "I never knew my parents! I wanted more out of life!"

"So you decided you wanted to go to another dimension and conquer it?"

"Only a little!"

Liam rolled his eyes and started working on the door again.

"Um… miss Sunset?" Dinky asked, scratching the floor with her hoof. "Um… you're not trying to conquer the universe, are you?"

"Sunset?" Vetra asked, frowning after a few moments of silence had passed. "Please tell me you're not trying to conquer the universe."

"It's not like she could, right?" Liam joked.

[The Pathfinder can control Remnant Tech with her mind,] SAM pointed out. [Her base of operations is the Remnant Capital with untapped potential for creating—or taking—life. It is theoretically possible that she could, if willin—]

"It was a phase!" Sunset shouted, making them all jump. "Okay? It was just a phase. I was an angry teen lashing out at the ponies that cared for me because I didn't get my way when I wanted. I realized my mistake, but it was too late to go back home, so I grew up. Alright?"

Liam gave her a steady look. "You saw the technology, thought you had lost your magic and realized you'd be killed if they caught you. Didn't you?"

Sunset crossed her arms, looked away and grumbled something unintelligible.

"Oh my, that's just adorable." Vetra laughed. "So you just decided to just give up and study archeology?"

"Well, yes…" Sunset sighed covering Dinky's eyes with one hand and, shooting the face of a batarian who had been waiting to ambush them behind the door. They made their way past the body before she put the little unicorn down. "At the time it was my only way to try and figure out how to go back home. If there was an ancient, magical mirror in Equestria that served as a portal, it had to have some node over here to work… and well, I got carried away with the whole Protean thing and then the war with Sovereign happened."

"So the Reapers and the Protheans stole your thunder."

"Hey, look, it's not my fault a giant, mechanical, space-squid took my MO and started turning people into zombies."

"This keeps getting better and better," Vetra muttered. "Your plan was to turn people into zombies? How?"

"Magic."

"Ah."

"It was a phase!"

"Uh-huh."

"I grew out of it!"

"Right."

"Argh!" Sunset growled and crushed the crates some mercenaries were using as cover with her magic. They were too stunned to even react before they were cut down by weaponfire. "You know what? Let's just get this over with."

"I can get behind that," Vetra said, giving Sunset a peck on the cheek. "And you're adorable when you get upset."

"Yep!" Liam spoke up, marching past them. "Can't wait to see everyone's faces when they hear your plans to control the universe in order to get revenge on a planet full of ponies."

"Dammit, Liam! I said it was a phase!"










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 6
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 6



By Wanderer D






"To clarify, you are ultimately responsible for the safety and well-being of not only your whole species, but also that of every sapient being in Equestria."

Twilight nodded, smiling at EDI. "I only answer to the princesses themselves, who have no higher authority."

"In effect, you are the pony equivalent of a Specter," EDI responded. "Able to perform operations outside of the law for the greater good."

"Ehehehe," Wrex punched Twilight's shoulder. "She's the real deal, EDI. There are no council races here outside of us, so I decided that she's the first Pony Specter." He grinned. "We call them Algol, after the demon-stars back home and Twilight here was the first graduate. There were two other members of the team before Princess Celestia put it on hiatus, one of them is not up to par… the other…" Wrex chuckled. "We'll get her back soon. Princess Luna here decided it was time to bring it back."

EDI nodded. "It is somewhat reassuring that we will be working on similar levels of authority as we had before. Still, given that our current location is in another galaxy altogether, the validity of the title is, at best, questionable."

"Just wait until I have something to shoot at," Twilight said.

"I see that Wrex has had ample influence in your upbringing."

"It was the least I could do," Wrex said. "After all, it's not every day that a small unicorn filly can transform a full-grown krogan into a potato."

"What you're suggesting is impossible to do without killing you."

Wrex grinned. "Magic."

EDI leveled a look at him. "Regardless, it is interesting to note that despite the surplus of energy due to the Crucible's influence, my last logs indicate us still within the confines of the Milky Way before we crashed into this planet." She turned to look at Luna. "Unless this whole planet is a spaceship able to reach FTL speeds even above that of the Reapers, it would be impossible for us to be in an entirely different Galaxy. How is it then that we are in Andromeda?"

"Magic." Luna stated, meeting EDI's eyes with her own. "Our world, nay, our system is removed from the rest of the universe in which you reside. Millennia ago we used the light of four stars from different galaxies to open a gateway into a pocket dimension. These stars served as a locking mechanism for our system… when your 'Crucible' overrode the light of one of the stars which is presumably located in what you call the Milky Way galaxy, it created a wormhole through which your ship came through. We exist in a different time and space."

"Ultimately, this is something we can work on when we get back," Twilight spoke up, drawing the attention of all. "I've uploaded the information my omni-tool obtained earlier…"

"And I have already triangulated a possible location, based on that, Commander," EDI said. "We're ready to depart when you're ready."

"Eeeeeee!" Twilight's body shook as she held herself in place despite the rather extreme urge to prance in place. They started walking towards the cockpit. "Ahem, yes. That is good. And I am ready. Rainbow Dash is already at the pilot's seat, trying to figure it out… if you could give her some basic education I would appreciate it. The others are ready to go as well."

"From my records, spaceship pilots generally have initial issues thinking three-dimensionally," EDI commented, taking a seat at the cockpit, head tilting at Rainbow Dash's excited look. "But the pilots we know of so far have been unable to fly by their own means. Rainbow Dash will have a definite advantage on that front."

"Hay yeah!" Rainbow Dash grinned. "I'm the best flyer there ever was! I'm sure I can pilot this baby like there's no tomorrow."

"Good," Twilight said. "EDI will give you pointers as we go."

The group fell silent as the ship hummed with power and then shuddered as the thrusters slowly lifted it off the ground.

"Engines ready. Mass effect field functioning at optimal capacity. Long-range scanners activated, extrapolating data and triangulating position from mass effect distortions… Commander, we have our bearing."

"You can stop smiling now, Sparkle," Wrex said with a grin.

"Shut up, Wrex," Twilight grumbled, still smiling. "EDI? Take us there please."

"As you wish, Commander."

"Eeeeeee!"

EDI looked at Wrex, raising a metallic eyebrow.

"Eh. She'll get over it."





Derpy walked up and down the hangar, nervously looking at the equipment around. She had felt the ship humm and there was a sense of movement. Her instincts told her that they were already on their way, despite the lack of pressure or a feeling of displacement.

She glanced at the place she had retreated to in order to be alone. There was another, smaller vehicle in there, square and solid, much like the thing that had taken her Dinky away. In a way, it made her feel better to know they were on the right track… it was familiar technology, at least for Twilight, Wrex and EDI.

But on the other hoof, it just really brought down the reality that there were dangers out there that only ponies like Twilight, Octavia, Rarity, Vinyl, Rainbow Dash and… staggeringly… herself, would be able to face. Up until then, despite the good that they had achieved so far, Derpy herself felt that Twilight was just focusing on a power-trip.

Certainly, her attitude was nothing less than, well… suffice it to say that ponies had been fired for less. And arrested for less. And exiled to the moon for less. Okay, maybe that was a bit unfair, since Nightmare Moon was a bit of a special case, but still!

She sighed, walking up to sit next to a large control panel of some sort.

"Are you okay, Derpy?"

Derpy jumped in fright, staring at the semi-transparent white sphere that had appeared on top of the console. "E-EDI?" She asked, quickly making the connection. "But, aren't you upstairs with—"

"I am the ship," EDI explained. "And being an AI, I can process and perform several tasks concurrently."

Derpy smiled. "Really? That's impressive. What else are you doing?"

"Besides a conversation with you at the same time I pilot the ship," EDI said, "I am currently teaching piloting basics to Miss Dash; advicing Miss Scratch about the equipment in the lab; discuss weapon modifications with Miss Philharmonica, overseeing the Mass Effect… and Magical... fields with Princess Luna, and discussing possible scenarios with Commander Sparkle and Wrex."

"Oh." Derpy shuffled a bit.

"Is there a reason you chose to be in the shuttle bay?"

"I um… wanted to be alone for a bit. To think." Derpy leaned against the console.

The sphere seemed to consider her. "If you wish I can leave you alone, but my biometric scans indicate you are currently agitated. Considering the circumstances, perhaps I can help clarify any questions you might have."

Derpy sighed again. "I'm just coming to terms with my situation… I never intended to be a guard, or a soldier of any sort," she said, shifting in place. "Now look at me. I'm inside a Spaceship. Something that is so advanced technology wise it surpasses a lot of magic. I'm wearing armor and carrying weapons. I'm going to space to fight foalnappers… I…"

Derpy stood up turning slowly around, looking at the whole room and motioning at the whole thing with her wing.

"This is almost too much. I thought Twilight was just eccentric. I thought Wrex was just some unknown breed of dragon. I thought the technology was magical—Twilight is a very accomplished magician, student to Princess Celestia herself! I just never thought… I never thought you...all of this! I never thought it was real."

She snorted. "Or rather… I never wanted to believe it was real, despite the evidence." She looked up at the orb, which had stayed quiet through it all. "I'm just a mailmare. I deliver letters. Take my daughter to flute lessons. Volunteer to help in Ponyville… and now I'm here and I can't deny  that I'm not just that anymore." She bit her lip. "I can't go back now."

"Unexpected turns of fate are a normal occurrence in the life of organic creatures in my experience," EDI said. "It occurs to me that your story mirrors in a way what happened to at least two of my crewmates."

"Oh?" Derpy asked, ears perking.

"Indeed. Two of the most brilliant crewmembers: Tali'Zorah vas Normandy and Liara T'Soni were both civilians before joining Commander Shepard's team. Neither of them expected to lead a violent, if rewarding life, and yet, not only did they both rise to the occasion, they became leaders of their people."

"I don't think anypony would see a leader in me," Derpy said, chuckling. "So they started as what?"

"Dr. T'soni was a young archaeologist, studying Prothean ruins, and Tali'Zorah was on her Quarian Pilgrimage, she was also young, but still an extremely gifted engineer. Without either of them, Commander Shepard wouldn't have been able to achieve so much."

Derpy nodded. "Do you think… you could tell me more about them?"

"Of course."





Princess Luna's eyes remained on the star chart hologram on the bridge. She could feel the magic fields shift levels of subtlety as they left the magic-rich Equestria and emerged into space… deep space, where waves of magic—intangible to most and almost completely impossible to detect by technological means—fluctuated with incredible power.

The speed of the ship was baffling as it was—she was keenly in synchronization with Equestria and its pocket dimensional home—and now they were so far away already from it that it existed in her soul almost as a mere memory. Although that was more than enough for somepony like her.

"We do not have many charts for the Andromeda Galaxy," EDI's voice said, emanating from the console to her left. "As such, we are flying mostly blind. I am scanning for signals and following the Mass Effect emanations from the Kodiak that took Dinky."

"Fear not, noble EDI, for I am sure we shall find the miscreants and teach them the true meaning of suffering."

EDI seemed to contemplate Luna's words. "If you say so, Princess. It will please you to know then that we are approaching the ship that took Dinky."

Luna's eyes were wide. "So quickly?! Verily, thy speed is most impressive." She coughed. "Sorry. I tend to regain my antiquated mode of speech when surprised. It took me a long time to even get it right back when language such as that became formal rather than informal."

"I take no offense, your highness." EDI replied. There was a pause. "There seems to be a problem, however. The ship we tracked was destroyed before our arrival," she added from her physical platform as she, Twilight, Wrex and Rainbow Dash approached the bridge.

Behind her, the side doors opened and Octavia trotted out, frowning with worry, while Vinyl Scratch emerged from the lab area, wearing a similar expression. Finally, the elevator opened and Derpy flew out, a horrified look in her face. "How could it be destroyed?! She stammered. "Why?!"

"We don't know," Twilight said, eyes roaming the hologram of the debris of a large ship that EDI projected for them. "But we will find out."

"Commander," EDI spoke up. "I have detected a life signal," she motioned at the hologram, which shifted and turned, focusing on a small pod-like ship of some sort. "Whoever or whatever is in there hasn't activated the emergency signal, but my scanners had detected a single living being in there…"

Twilight took a deep breath. "Bring it in."










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 7
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 7


By Wanderer D






The group stood in front of the salvaged escape shuttle, which was currently being cooled down and processed by the ship's automated systems to remove any possible space radiation resulting from a nearby mass effect explosion, or simple exposure to unknown materials or eezo. 

Elora could see them all, distorted, through the cracked window. Whatever they wanted, they'd better be ready. If the Pathfinder thought she was going out without a fight, she was severely mistaken. 

She just had to wait, she'd jump out the moment they opened the pod and surprise them with her celerity and unspeakable dexterity. She'd hold one of them hostage until they dropped her off in Kadara.

Even though she was still recuperating from their last fight and her leg was in bad shape, she was far from useless. She was Elora, dammit, and if she could survive Sheppard in the Milky Way, she'd survive the Athame-damned Pathfinder.

Even with Ryder's weird new powers. And that stupid Remnant army of hers. And the stupid Nexus.

Elora frowned. Well. She's show them all, one way or another.

Eventually, the mass effect field containing the pod itself faded and for a moment, nothing happened. Elora took a deep breath, bracing herself. 

Soon.

She heard the servos and the doors hissed open. She tried to run out, but her right foot didn't move as she planned and snagged on the edge, so instead of flying out in a fury of biotics, she stumbled out, in a far less impressive way than she had intended.

At least she didn't fall.

Holding her gun forth, blinking away the embarrassment and vapor from the pod-cleaning, she snarled… only to find herself staring at several guns of varying destructive capacities. All pointed right at her.

Elora gulped, dropping her gun and slowly raising her arms. Her eyes studied the crew and grew wide. "Oh, fuck me."

"Maybe," Twilight Sparkle answered, "but only if—" she stopped when Octavia gave her a look. "I mean, nooot likely?" She sighed when the glare did not disappear. "Okay, no, but you still have to answer my questions."

The asari looked up, eyes resting on the Krogan, who hadn't lowered his shotgun. "Um… help?"

"Sure." The Krogan said. "After you answer Commander Sparkle here."

"Commander Sparkle?" Elora chuckled nervously, "Surely you jest, um… what's your name?"

"Urdnot, Wrex."

Elora flinched.

"Commander Sparkle," a female voice emanated from a nearby VI hologram, "I have identified the asari as Elnora, who Commander Shepard showed mercy to during a mission in Illium. She pretended to be an uninitiated member of Eclipse, but it was later found that she had been bloodied already."

"Thanks, EDI," Twilight spoke up. "That would be the same mission where Shepard met Justicar Samara, correct?"

"That would be correct, Commander."

Elora had left behind the name Elnora when she had found out exactly how lucky she had been when Shepard had allowed her to live. At first, having convinced the squad that was mowing down Eclipse had been cause for self-congratulating. When she had found out who exactly she had survived, she had understood that it was time to scram.

Her contacts had informed her of the Andromeda Initiative, and she had taken advantage of her access to erase most of her history. She was smart enough to be of value to the future security teams, and the idea of establishing her own little empire a couple of centuries in had been too alluring to ignore.

But she knew who Urdnot Wrex was. And Krogans didn't lie about that shit.

"Um, E-elnora was my sister! Not me!"

"Ehehehe." Wrex rolled his shoulders back. "Don't push it, Asari, EDI scanned you the moment you stepped out of the pod."

"Shit."

"I also did not scan your DNA as you emerged, but given your response it is safe to assume you are indeed who the initial scan revealed to be," EDI added.

"Indeed," another of the four legged creatures said. She was standing on her hind legs, as casually as any bipedal, and had a freaking Black Widow on her forelegs, resting at ease. Her purple eyes had narrowed and there was a certainty about her that Elora did not want to push.

"You had one of our species in your ship," Commander Sparkle spoke up, eyes narrowed and drawing Elnora's attention to her, "and we want her back. She's just a foal."

"You're not going to get anything out o—" she didn't finish her sentence before she was encapsulated in the strongest biotic hold she had ever felt. She tried pushing with her own to try and break free, but the stupid creature's control was beyond anything she had ever felt.. even worse, the visible field wasn't blue! She gasped. "Y-you're just like the Pathfinder! What's with the weird biotics?!"

"The Pathfinder?" Commander Twilight asked, eyes narrowing, "who's that?"

Elnora thought fast. There was a way out after all. "Um, space pirate! W-with a crazy ship and crew! She destroyed my ship and stole the little crea—uh, whatever it is you are! I promise!"

"Huh."

"Was she still alive?" a soft voice asked, and one of the creatures flew in front of Elnora. She had soft gray fur, a blonde mane, and a lazy eye. It was adorable. Too adorable. "Was Dinky okay?"

"Um… yes." Elnora replied, looking away from that soulful look. "She was. Look, I can help you find them if you set me free," she promised.

"EDI?"

"I have retrieve the star charts from the remains of Elnora's ship," the body-less voice said. "We don't absolutely need her help to navigate the quadrant now, but it would be advisable to obtain a probable heading."

Elnora blinked when the apparent VI turned to "look" at her. "We could simply space her."

Commander Twilight smiled, and Elnora suddenly felt like she was back in Illium, with a single chance to live and a gun pointed at her head. But the choice had been made for her this time around. 

This "Commander Sparkle" one was scarier than Shepard.

"We'll figure out what to do with you when we find Dinky. Your well being, possible freedom, and future, not limited to the next couple of centuries, depends on many things, Elnora... including the safety of the daughter of one of my crew members. For now, you are going to be held responsible for anything that might happen to her, am I understood?"

"Y-yes."

"Alright, so where did this Pathfinder guy go?"

"She's not a guy, she's a bi—she's um, a human female."

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Well? Where did the bitch go?"





"How much longer do we have to wait?" Sunset asked.

"I told you, I already set the beacon." Liam leaned back. "It's just a matter of time, SAM knows where we are."

Dinky jumped when a new voice cut through the comms. "Oh, we found you half an hour ago. I'm just debating whether or not to pick you up!"

"Cora!" Sunset said with false excitement. "How about you call it even and pull us in then?"

"I don't know, Ryder, remember you had a meeting with Tann?"

Sunset cringed.

"Well, since the Pathfinder was gone, who do you think had to talk to him? I think you can wait a bit more.

Sunset poked Dinky.

"OW!"

"What was that?"

"Oh my," Sunset drawled. "I guess big, mean, Cora wants innocent little Dinky to suffer in a closed box for a few more hours. What could possibly go wrong with keeping a child in a small, dark room for as long as Cora wishes?"

"Ryder…"

"Miss Shimmer? Who's Cora and why is she angry with you?" Dinky asked, rubbing a hoof on her withers, where Sunset had poked her.

"Ryder! You have a child in there with you?! Why the hell didn't you say that?!"

"Oh, maybe if you had asked," Sunset said, shrugging, even though Cora couldn't see her. "But you were too busy berating me for saving her from space pirates." She turned to face Dinky. "Are you hungry? Because we could have gotten something for you to eat half an hour ago, if mean aunt Cora hadn't gotten mad at us for saving you."

Dinky sniffled. "S-she didn't want you to save me?"

"I did! I mean, I didn't know—gah! Fine! Kallo! Bring them in!"

Dinky felt the whole crate they had been floating in, shake, and Vetra gently held her. "When gravity returns, we don't want you hurting yourself."

Dinky nodded as she slowly felt weight return to her and watched as Sunset and Liam drifted down to the floor, where she joined them soon after.

Outside, there was hissing and what sounded like water hitting the crate for a few more moments. Then, vaguely, she heard a male voice outside announcing it was safe.

"Welp," Sunset said, "Time to meet the crew, Dinky."

"Yeah," Liam said with a smirk, "time to meet the crew, miss I-want-to-conquer-the-universe-and-go-home-in-blood-fire-and-glory."

Sunset tilted her head. "One galaxy at a time, Liam. Now that half of Andromeda is mine, I just need to take over the rest, and then the Milky Way… I think that should be enough."

Liam's smirk faded. "Wait, you're joking right?"

Sunset didn't answer, following Vetra and Dinky out.

"I mean it, Sunset!"










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 8
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 8


By Wanderer D






The Tempest

"Alright, Ryder, we're on a stable orbit," a voice called over the speakers. "If you want that meeting to happen, this is the time."

Sunset leaned and pressed the communicator button next to her computer. "Roger that, Kallo, have the crew gather in the Meeting Room. I'll be there in five with our guest."

"Understood, Pathfinder."

Sunset sighed, glancing back at Dinky who was chasing her pet pyjack, Sunburst, around the room. "Alright, kiddo, it's time to meet the others."

Dinky stopped. "Are Mister Liam and Miss Vetra going to be there?"

"Yep!" Sunset said, tying her hair back in a ponytail. "All of them." Her face darkened. "All. Of. Them." She closed her eyes. "I hope I survive this."

"Is everything okay, Miss Shimmer?"

"Yep!" Sunset replied, Ryder smile #3 crossing her face. "All good! Nothing that could go wrong, my little pony!"

She ignored the dubious look Dinky gave her and led her fellow Equestrian to the back to the ship, where they could take the hold elevator up, and then guided her all the way back, to the front.

"Miss Shimmer?" Dinky asked, glancing at the stairs that led down from their current location to right next to Sunset's door below.

"Yes?"

"Why did we take the long way?"

"Perceptive little filly, aren't you?"

"Hey, Ryder!" a voice made them both look up to the asari leaning over the rail of the meeting room above. "Stop hogging the new alien all to yourself and get here already!"

Sunset took a deep breath. And turned around, only to smack onto Vetra's chest. "Wh—"

"Oh no, you don't," Vetra hissed, looking down at her. "You are going to be a responsible leader, and march up there with the cute unicorn and explain how you too are a cute unicorn to everyone."

"But Peebee…"

Vetra crossed her arms and raised a plated eyebrow, making Sunset wince.

"And Cora!" Sunset hissed quickly. "If she kills me, I won't get to do that thing you li—"

"Sunset." Vetra placed a clawed hand on her shoulder and looked at her steadily. "Up there. Now."

She could feel her crew watching in amusement as they made their way up together and Dinky hopped onto a chair next to Liam, giving him a hoof-bump that drew an "awww" from both Gil and Suvi, while Peebee studied her with little subtlety.

"Anyway," Sunset said as the whole crew took their seats. "This here is Dinky Do, she's from a planet called Equestria. Equestria, apparently has already made contact with some of our Alliance friends and—why is everyone looking at me like that?"

SAM's holographic display appeared in the middle of the table, a glowing, soft ball of energy. [I took the liberty of turning off the language translation for Equestrian,] he said. [I felt it would emphasize the Pathfinder's questionable origins into the realm of "actually possible."]

Sunset gritted her teeth. "This is some kind of revenge for hiding it from you, isn't it?" she asked in Alliance Standard.

[I would never.]

"Right. Turn it on again, please."

"So… what the hell was that?" Cora asked after a moment. "It sounded like you were pretending to be a dolphin."

"A DOLPHIN?!" Sunset turned to her friend. "A dolphin!? I'll have you know that—"

"Equestrian is an ancient language with plenty of nuance and a poetic natural rhythm," Vetra and Liam finished in chorus.

"Right! And don't you forget it!"

Dinky giggled.

"Right. So how is it that you speak it, Ryder?" Dr. Suvi asked.

Sunset froze. "Right. About that..." She had thought hard about how to break the news, ever since she had arrived. These were her dearest friends, people who had crossed an unknown galaxy with her, fought an alien empire and commented on the similarities of what they had done with the old Star Wars movies she had not quite forced them to watch. These guys were her family. No explanation would be good enough to express to them what she had gone through, how she had felt changing into a human, stepping into someone else's shoes and life, learning… and losing part of her new family that fateful day.

So instead, she thought to herself: just what exactly could she, as a responsible adult, say to these people to mess them up?

"I'm a horse alien from another galaxy that transformed into a human and was adopted by Ryder," she said looking at Cora straight in the eye. "Oh. And my real name is Sunset Shimmer."





"This planet used to be so hot, staying in the sun for a few seconds would start cooking you."

"Wow!" Dinky stared at the planet below. Elaaden looked like a huge ball of sand with occasional craters from where they were floating above it. "And that's where the Krogans settled?! You must all be as tough as Wrex!"

Nakmor Drack chuckled. "That we all could be, kid."

"I admit I'm not very well versed on Krogan legends," Jaal spoke up, the feline-like alien walking to stand next to them as they surveyed the planet from the conference room within the Tempest. "It seems like he was a figure of some importance?"

"Urdnot Wrex had just become the leader of Clan Urdnot in Tuchanka just as the Andromeda Initiative was about to leave," Drack explained. "That kid dreamed big. He wanted to reunite the all Krogan."

"He's awesome!" Dinky added, excitedly leaning over to look down at the planet again. Slowly her smile faded. "I hope I see him again. And mom."

"Hey kid, chill." Liam walked up the stairs, a plate of veggies in his hands. "That's why we're here. Ryder has a bunch of contacts here who might know something, and if not, we have a bunch of other planets where someone important might've heard something."

"I hear that she already contacted The Charlatan," Jaal added, nodding. "With some luck we will learn more than he does."

"Yeah, I wouldn't count on it," Liam muttered.

"Where is miss Sunset?" Dinky asked.

"She's working with Peebee, Cora and SAM, trying to figure out if the Remnants knew anything about your world."

"Should be coming up soon enough, now that we're here," Drack said, "That is if Peebee doesn't throw her in a containment unit of some sort until she tells her everything she knows."

"Hm." Liam tapped his finger on the edge of the table, then activated his comm link. "Kallo? Where's Ryder and Cora?"

"She's currently in PeeBee's quarters. Cora left earlier."

Drack, Liam and Jaal shared a look. "She's trapped."

There was an awkward moment when all three made half-spirited attempts to imply that they were going to go, but they really wanted someone else to do it, until Liam sighed in resignation. "Fine. I'll go."

"Is Miss Peebee that interested in other cultures?" Dinky asked, turning her wide eyes to Drack.

"Don't you remember what happened earlier, kid?"

"You mean when miss Cora got enveloped in magic and teleport-crashed into Miss Sunset? And then Miss Sunset threw her across the room, and then she was trapped by Miss Peebee?"

"That'd be it." 

"You might have also noticed," Jaal spoke next, "that after Ryder explained everything properly, Peebee had a lot of questions for her."

"Yes!"

"Well, Peebee is very insistent."










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 9
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt. 9


By Wanderer D






"Huh. It looks like a tiny citadel."

"Approaching ship, please identify yourself," the speakers in the cockpit said, the voice unknown.

"I've got this," Twilight said. "This is the Earth Alliance ship Normandy S2, requesting clearance for landing."

"Uh… come again?"

"This is the SSV Normandy, S2. This is Commander Twilight, Specter, requesting permission to land."

EDI looked up from her seat. "Sending identification codes."

There was a pause.

"Holy shit! I mean, uh… roger that, Commander. Please wait for confirmation."

"You're enjoying this too much," Wrex said.

"Am I? Am I really, Wrex?" Twilight asked, grinning.

"Normandy, this is Director Tann speaking. I have secured a landing dock for you. I will meet you there."

"I have received landing coordinates, Commander," EDI said. "Docking procedures engaged."

"Do you think they have a bar in there, Wrex?"

"Still feeling the ale, are you?"

"I could always drink more."

"Focus," Octavia said from the door behind them. "Dinky first, fun later."

"Right, right."





Initiative Director Tann was definitely not ready for this. Sure, he had grown much more comfortable with his sudden rise to power, but every detail that he didn't anticipate could cost lives and delay progress.

And there was nothing anticipated about the warship that was currently landing on his deck. It was easily as advanced as the Tempest, but unlike the exploration ship, it was armed enough to blow up most of the station if this Commander Twilight so desired.

The fact was, the ship shouldn't be there. That was Commander Shepard's ship. It was supposed to be in another galaxy, and at least six hundred years away. In the past. Initial scans had passed all possible checks, but their cyberwarfare software was ages beyond what even SAM could apparently hack. 

If that damned AI would at least speak to him it would make things easier, but it had an undying loyalty to Ryder and chances were the Pathfinder would find out what was really going on long before he did.

"Nervous, Number Eight?"

Tann pressed his lips, ignoring the jab. "I will appreciate it, Kesh, if you keep your sense of humor to yourself when our guests arrive." He stretched a little. "I have never met a Specter."

The krogan merely smiled, and he reminded himself that krogan sense of humor or not, she held the same concerns as he did for the benefit of all. He owed her more than he would ever admit—if a high-ranking Salarian ever said something like that to a Krogan… he shook his head. Hopefully she'd keep quiet.

"I don't like it." Tiran Kandros was the next to speak, the turian glowering at the docking spaceship. "I don't like it," he repeated, hand twitching.

"Wow. Something the Head of Security doesn't trust," Addison muttered. "What a surprise."

"I recall you giving the Pathfinder a hard time," Kandros replied, giving her a look. "And she was from the Initiative too. This is the SSV Normandy we're talking about, and we just had someone identify themselves as a Specter with no way for us to confirm that other than their word and the IDs provided…"

"It's been six hundred years, Kandros," Kesh said softly, "I don't think we'll see any of Shepard's crew in there, much less the Commander himself. Tann said it was a different person that called in… a Commander Twilight?"

They all looked his way and Tann wished they would just acknowledge the fact that he knew as little as they did. "Regardless, we are not under Citadel supervision, so Specter or not, Commander Twilight will have to abide by our rules while here."

He could have sworn he saw Kandros cringe.

"Fine," the turian said, grimacing. "I'll inform security."

The group turned to look at the Normandy as the ship's hatch opened and lowered, allowing for several creatures to step out. Some familiar… some not so much. Tann felt his stomach lurch at the sheer amount of paperwork that awaited him now.

"Well," Kesh chuckled. "Who knew we'd have a new species involved? I hope you prepared the first encounter files already."

Coming out of the ship were creatures like nothing he'd ever seen, alongside a large krogan. Most of them were quadrupeds, although there were obvious differences among them. Such as a horn, or lack of it, or wings, or lack of them. The silver robot with them was also a first, although not something he hadn't seen before… or at least similar enough.

Commander Twilight—wearing an adapted N7 armor—was wearing led her entourage down the hatch, all of them loosely marching around one of the quadrupeds that had both, wings and a horn, as well as waving hair made of stars.

Sparkle seem to study all of them, then turned to look at Kandros. "I'm Commander Sparkle, thank you for letting us land in your station."

"And I'm Director Tann," he hissed a bit more annoyed than he should be, making her turn to stare at him.  "And these are my subordinates, Kandros, head of security" he motioned at each, "Superintendent Kesh, and Foster, Director of Colonial Affairs." he finished. "On behalf of the Nexus, I bid you welcome."

"Ah, Director," she smiled. "Pleasure to meet you, no doubt. Allow me to introduce my companions. This is Urdnot Wrex," she said, making Kesh gasp, "EDI," the robot, "Derpy," wings, weird eyes, "Octavia," no wings, armored and armed, "and representing my planet and species, Princess Luna."

"A pleasure to meet you," Princess Luna said, her voice commanding and royal. It surprised Tan for a moment, reminding him a bit of his own clan Dalatrass back in Sur'Kesh. She sounded both old and young, and her disposition was slightly challenging. He already liked her. Twilight, however reminded him too much of the Pathfinder.

"Wrex, Director Tann is giving me an odd look, is that how Salarians glower?"

"Salarians don't glower, Twilight, they just gape."

"Twilight, Wrex" Luna spoke up, "Please be respectful, we are the first ponies they have met, it's only natural that they all would be surprised."

"Yes, there is much to discuss," Foster said, eyes narrowing, "for example how you got here, and whether you intend to lay claim to any territories."

Luna glanced at her. "Prithee keep your attempts at intimidation for a more appropriate time, director. We assure you Equestria has no intention of populating your galaxy." She shrugged. "There are plenty of them in the sky, as the saying goes, and all within reach of Equestria."

Tann wasn't entirely certain Princess Luna understood the magnitude of what she had just told them, but considering Kandros and Kesh's look of utter amazement at this Wrex individual—and the name did sound familiar, now that he thought about it—it was possible they were all in for a few surprises indeed. However, she had shut up Foster more effectively than anyone else had done without having to terraform a bunch of planets.

"Right, why don't you come with me?" Tann said, his voice sounding weak to himself. "We can discuss your reason for being here."

"I am very curious," Kandros admitted, giving their guests wary looks. "You did not come with our ships, obviously, so how did you get here?"

Wrex smiled. "Magic."

"Right," Kandros growled. "Magic. What are you doing here?"

"We're looking for someone," Commander Sparkle said, and something nagged at Tann's mind. He could almost see it coming. "Derpy's kid was kidnapped by pirates from your Galaxy," she said, "but they were defeated and she was picked up by someone called the Pathfinder."

And there it was.

"Shit."










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.10
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.10



By Wanderer D






[Ryd—Sunset] SAM said, [we have two incoming transmissions. One from Director Tann, the other from the approaching pirate fleet. Which do you wish to address first?]

"Wait, there's an approaching pirate fleet?" Liam asked. "Why are we only finding out now?"

[The Pathfinder thought it was unimportant to mention them until they were close enough to be a threat.]

"The Pathfinder," Cora drawled, "needs a bridle to steer her out of trouble." 

She was sitting down with Liam, going over information that had been wired to them by the Charlatan.

"Not a carrot on a stick?" Liam asked.

"Have you seen her eat bacon? No way a carrot would hold her attention past the first star cluster."

Liam shrugged. "Point. Either way, we need to decide what to do about the pirates. Oh, and Tann."

Sunset considered her situation, her brow darkening as her thoughts focused on the pressing matters at hand.

[Sunset?] SAM repeated.

"Sunset," Cora repeated.

"Dammit, can't you guys see I'm trying to decide what sandwich to choose?" Sunset asked, turning around holding a pack that read: BLT, and another that simply read: Bacon Sandwich. "Just put them both on, I don't care. I'm hungry, and I could've sworn there was a Roast Beef Sandwich here."

"Ryder, explain yourself!"

"Ryder, prepare to die!"

Sunset didn't turn around when there was a pause, then Director Tann spoke up. "Who is this?!"

The unnamed pirate, a batarian, looked from Sunset's back to Tan. "This is Dray Sepgeros! We have laid claim on the bounty for Ryder's head, I don't care what syndicate you work for, Salarian, but—"

"I am Jarun Tann," Tann interrupted, "and I'm the Director of the Initiative, at the Nexus. Do you really want to continue that line of thought, Sepgeros?"

"And I am Sarah Ryder, these are Liam and Cora," Sunset said, finally settling for the straight bacon, since someone had stolen all of the roast beef. She turned around, sandwich in hand, to face both of them. "You'd better have a good reason to interrupt my meal."

"W-we know you attacked our ship, Ryder!" Sepgeros jumped in before Tann could. "We demand that you release Elora to us! If you do not comply we will destroy your ship!"

"Listen Gero-gero…"

"That's not—"

Liam leaned over to Cora, whispering loud enough to be heard by everyone, including Tann and Sepgeros. "Aren't Batarian names supposed to be almost sacred to them?"

"Yes, so mispronouncing it is a serious insult that cannot go unchallenged," she replied, brushing her short-cut hair out of her face. "Wars started in their homeworld over that kind of thing."

"Do you think S-Ryder knows this?"

"Oh, I'm sure she does. But I don't think she could care less if he was named 'Puppy Swag'."

"He looks more like a 'Froggy McMoustache' to me," Liam said helpfully.

"Guys, guys," Sunset interrupted, "Gero-gero already introduced himself, let's not make his name sound even more stupid than it already is." She cleared her throat and looked back at the batarian, who was turning an unhealthy purple in the face. "In any case, I can't help you with that, we don't have her. Plus, last I saw, her spaceship blew up. You might want to comb that sector of space in order to find her pieces."

"Ah," Director Tann said, "that won't be a problem, the terrorist, Elnora, has already been arrested and brought to the Nexus."

"Wait, Elnora? I thought it was Elora?" Sunset said, pausing her munching.

"Apparently she was a member of Eclipse at the time and changed her name in order to avoid detection," Tann clarified.

"So she changed it from Elnora to Elora," Sunset deadpanned. "That is… just moronically stupid. It's almost as bad as saying that your legal name is Dick because you're trying to hide that your parents named you Richard. What a coward. I've heard of stupid choices before, but that takes the cake. Hell, even Gero-gero here owned up to his own name. I admire him for that."

"You do?" Liam asked.

"Yes! So what if his name sounds like the clinical definition of the breeding practices of some sort of subterranean crossbreed between a worm and a toad? He wears his name with pride." She took a bite of her sandwich.

"In any case, that should save us some trouble. Their leader is alive, and we can't do anything about it," Cora pointed out.

Sunset shrugged, turning to face the batarian. "See? Not my problem, Gero-gero." She ate the last bits of her sandwich, which she had been chomping away at while the pirate spoke, and took a drink of water.

"That's not my name, and it will be your problem!" the batarian cried out, his voice breaking a little due to outrage. "I can't believe you would DARE mock my name! I'll have you know that the name Sepgeros has always been held in great regard by my people, and it shall be feared here too!"

"No, it won't," Sunset countered. "As I said, just stay out of the way while we sort this out. I have something actually important to do, and it has zero to do with your name problems." She sighed when the communication was cut. "Rude." 

"Your ability to annoy people and make enemies will never cease to amaze me," Tann said with almost hidden amusement.

"I have refined my people skills with the best of them, Director, you among them," Sunset said, grinning. "SAM, keep track of the pirates. Gero looked like a wimp, but he might get hyped by his henchmen."

"And it's a skill you seem intent on perfecting," The salarian on the screen grunted in acknowledgment. "In any case, Pathfinder, if your current project is related to a certain Dinky Do, I'm happy to tell you that we have her family here, as well as other guests."

Sunset spit her water. "Say what?"

Tann nodded and another screen popped up, with nothing less than a pony princess there. While Sunset gaped, Liam gave Cora a look, who quickly turned around and started saying something into her communicator as they both walked out of the room.

Sunset narrowed her eyes, studying the unknown princess for a moment before blinking in surprise. "Princess… Luna?"

The Princess nodded. "We are surprised that you recognize us, although we suppose that Dinky Do might have given you much information about Equestria."

"Something like that," Sunset replied. "In any case, I'm glad you're here, it was getting a little frustrating to find information that would help us out in tracking down Equestria from this Galaxy."

Another screen popped up, and a gray pegasus with a mop of blonde hair appeared on it, eyes wide and worried. "Is Dinky there? Is she okay?"

"She's fine, I promise," Sunset replied, wondering why Tann looked so confused. "She was understandably upset from getting foalnapped, but she's a brave little filly. I'll set up a channel for you and her to talk. SAM? Can you provide that for Miss Hooves?"

[Of course, Pathfinder.]

"Oh, thank you! Thank you!" The screen with the worried mother disappeared, leaving the Princess and the Director alone with her.

"Indeed, it seems your understanding of our culture and Equestria is already pretty impressive," the Princess continued as if she hadn't been interrupted by the filly's mother. "Verily, your Director was not exaggerating when he said you were a fast learner."

"Aww, you said that, Director?" Sunset teased, grinning at the salarian.

"What?" Tann asked, blinking in confusion.

"What?" Sunset repeated. "Wait, are we… am I—have I been speaking in Equestrian all this time!?"

Princess Luna grinned. "Indeed. And you have a lovely Canterlot accent."

"SAM!"





[Drack, I have a call pending for Miss Do.]

"Do you, now?" Drack asked, chuckling. "Well, that was fast. Let's hope it's not like the first call I got when I arrived in Andromeda."

"Why, Uncle Drack?" Dinky asked.

"Well," Drack chortled as he stood up with the sound of ancient bones popping and the slight whirring of servos. He started herding the little filly towards a small room where she would have some privacy if needed. "It was my daughter! Which I thought was nice until she started telling me I shouldn't have left the Nexus and taken up battle again in my old age!" he leaned in to stage-whisper to her, "I might be a thousand years old and very ancient, but that just means I got more time to get better at my job!"

Dinky giggled. "Who do you think is calling me? Do you think Sunset managed to contact someone who can help?"

"Who knows, kid? That one is one crazy human… pony. Whatever. Either way, she'll find a way to help."

"I sure hope so… I can't wait… to…" Dinky's voice trailed off as they walked together into the small office, and already there, on the screen was… "MOM!"

Drack stayed behind nest to the door as the little filly ran over to the communicator, and jumped onto the seat in front of the screen. He came from a time where similar encounters had played out in front of him after clans fought each other, before the Krogan Rebellions. It wasn't exactly the same, but the pride and love of parents when their young came back was ultimately similar… and then came the Genophage.

For centuries since, he had witnessed potential krogan families die before they even formed. Females would almost never come to term, producing stillborns that not only were painful reminders of what they had lost, but also, a brutally cruel to chip away at their resolve.

It was why the Nackmor clan had joined the Andromeda Initiative… it was why he was here, instead of staying in the Milky Way and continuing his life there as a mercenary or pirate. Or even going back to Tuchanka to check what that whelp Urdnot Wrex had been up to.

But he had his clan. And more importantly he had his grandaughter. Kesh had been close to him before, and after they had arrived to this galaxy, and now they worked together more than they ever did. It had made him re-evaluate a lot of choices in his life, and realize that there was a lot more to it than the next battle.

It was why he had decided to work with the Pathfinder in the first place. Because Andromeda represented more than just another place to populate: it represented a fresh start, where their old lives could be something different. Where family mattered.

And for someone who had witnessed so much heartbreak and loss, it was nice to see a young kid like that reunited with her mother. One day, his grandaughter too would start a family. Maybe with that softie, Vorn.

For now, he'd live vicariously through the filly and her mom while that lasted.

Then the ship shook as it was hit by what he could tell was enemy fire.

"Well," he grunted, "that didn't last long."
> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.11
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.11



By Wanderer D






Derpy sat alone in the hangar bay of the Normandy. Her armor was spread out in front of her, along with her weapons, on the workbench, and several documents floated around her, eerily orange, all of them containing diagrams and schematics, descriptions, formulas and performance reports.

'Why am I afraid?' she asked herself, shifting through one schematic about the original armor hers was based off of. 'Why have I been running all this time, not just from joining Twilight, but also from my own career, my own dreams and potential?'

Twilight Sparkle had seen it in her, she was sure. That burning desire to prove to everypony, everycreature… herself… that she could still offer more. That she was more than just a mailpony. That her fear of the past wouldn't just keep her trapped in a dead-end job taking abuse from others that looked down on her because her eye was weird.

She wanted to be more. She needed to be more. For herself, and for her daughter.

Ever since Dinky had been born, Derpy had felt regret that she was nothing more than an example of hard work… but hard work with no reward was not a way to live. It was not something she wanted her daughter to look up to and… and adopt as her personal philosophy.

The postal service was a safe job for her. In Ponyville, it wasn't too demanding, but it was also not really where she wanted to be, however kind her supervisor could be sometimes. It wasn't what she had gone to college and studied engineering for.

She just had landed there, with a child, and isolated. She had to build a new life, away from her former associates and friends… because… she had chosen to go with her spouse, and after he had broken her heart and left her with Dinky, she had argued with herself that it was a nice town, that Dinky would be well educated, that they didn't need to worry about anything… that her job as a mailmare was enough if she could just provide for her family.

So she had swallowed her pride, and she had smothered her dreams. She had smiled and insisted to friends and family that she had everything she needed and that she was happy being a mailpony. 

That all the friends and ponies she was meeting were enough. That she didn't need to be with her peers to feel like she belonged.

So she had stayed, and everypony else had moved on, either convinced by her acting, or simply having decided that it wasn't their job to break her out of her shell. And they had tried, Celestia, they had tried.

She had fallen into a haze of simplicity after that, not challenging herself, but enjoying her time with Dinky. Scraping by because she seldom if ever got a pay increase above the legal minimum, but living in the countryside, she could pretend it was enough.

She liked Ponyville… but it wasn't enough. She liked spending a lot of free time with her daughter… but it wasn't enough, because the ponies that Dinky was starting to admire were ponies that did things. Ponies that changed.

How long would she remain her daughter's hero when all she did was essentially repeat the same day?

And then, Twilight Sparkle had arrived and dragged her with a bunch of other ponies she barely knew to fight Nightmare Moon. And then they had saved ponies from harm by stopping a bunch of domestic terrorists. Then they had helped the Wonderbolts find new leadership, and then they had restructured a crime syndicate. And now they were in space, in another galaxy, with aliens, and she was aboard a ship that had carried heroes.

And of course she hated the reason for her being here, but… She gazed up at all the technology around her. Tech that she was learning, schematics that she could follow and even apply some of the concepts that she knew from college.

She had thousands of documents she could study, and she had been offered tutoring by EDI herself in their technology. She had been getting personal training from Wrex. She had been assisting Princess Celestia's personal pupil. She had friends who didn't look down on her, and believed in her, and were waiting for her.

Her! Derpy Hooves! The mare that got pushed around by other pegasi while doing her job. The mare that was told over and over that she wouldn't amount to anything by old supervisors, or the odd abusive customer.

And right now, as she tweaked things to be ready the moment they heard about the location of the Tempest, she could feel the spark within her light up the kindles… she could be like Liara T'Soni. She could be like Tali'zorah vas Normandy.

And she had been stalling… but this was her chance. This was when she could choose to break away from the chains she had tied around her hooves to keep herself down. Not only to save her daughter, but to save herself.

What was the point in learning all of this, in risking everything only to go back to a simple but personally unfulfilling life that would not only keep her stranded, but possibly limit her own daughter's future, when everycreature around her was doing their best?

So deep was she into her thoughts that she almost jumped when EDI's hologram appeared next to her. "Miss Hooves, we have found the Tempest. We are about  to head over, Director Tann asked me to bridge you to his office, so you could speak to the Pathfinder."

Derpy jumped to her hooves and ran over to the screen. She was finally going to hear real news about her daughter!

"...us out in tracking down Equestria from this Galaxy."

She didn't recognize the creature talking, but it was a human female. She was wearing a jacket of what appeared to be leather over the usual clothes she had seen other humans use since coming to space.

When she realized she could be seen and heard, Derpy immediately spoke up. "Is Dinky there? Is she okay?"

The human's eyes, which were guarded when she was added into the call, softened, and she nodded. "She's fine, I promise."

A deep sense of relief flooded Derpy at those words, although there was something odd about the  conversation.

"She was understandably upset from getting foalnapped," the human continued, "but she's a brave little filly."

Derpy could have melted into gratitude at those words alone, but it was the next words that really made her feel thankful.

"I'll set up a channel for you and her to talk," the human said, looking up at something. "SAM? Can you provide that for Miss Hooves?"

[Of course, Pathfinder.]

Before she was transferred, she quickly locked eyes with the human. "Oh, thank you! Thank you!" 

[One moment, Miss Hooves,] the voice continued, from the transmitter, [I have requested one of our crewmembers to take Dinky to a private location for the two of you to talk.]

As she waited, she realized something. He translator had been off, since it was on the table. So… had the human been speaking Equestrian?

Soon after, the screen activated again, revealing a room, and coming towards it was a krogan, walking alongside her daughter. 

Derpy took a moment to study the scene, and just how comfortable Dinky seemed. She was indeed brave, but furthermore, now that she had been exposed to what was beyond Equestria, could she really just bring her daughter back and pretend that the rest of the universe was not now reachable?

"MOM!"

"Dinky!" Oh, how she wished she could scoop her daughter and hug her tight. "Thank Celestia you're okay!"

Dinky's eyes were teary, but she smiled confidently. Behind her, Derpy could see the krogan reclining next to the door, keeping watch. There was something grandfatherly about him, and she knew that her daughter would be protected.

"I'm sorry I took so long, dear," Derpy said, focusing on her daughter once more. "There's so much to tell you, so many things I've…" she choked back a sob. "I'm glad you're back. I'm never going to let this happen again."

"I got lucky, Miss Sunset found me and she's a unicorn!"

Derpy blinked. "A what? Who?"

"Miss Sunset!" Dinky repeated. "Um, the Pathfinder!"

"Dinky, she's very human. I just saw her."

Her daughter grinned. "Now she is, but she was originally a unicorn, also knows Princess Celestia and left Equestria to conquer the universe before returning in blood, fire and glory!"

Suddenly, she didn't feel like her daughter was in a safe place.

"It was a phase!"

Derpy blinked. "What was that?"

"I think… it was Miss Sunset's voice…" Dinky said, looking around. "Anyway, don't worry mom, she grew out of that and only controls half the galaxy."

"Right." Derpy opened and closed her mouth a couple of times, trying to decide what to say, but she didn't know exactly how she felt about that revelation either.

It was then that the ship Dinky was in, The Tempest, if she recalled correctly, shook, almost making her daughter stumble.

"What was that?!"

"Pirates," the krogan said, stepping into the room. "I'm sorry Dinky, but we'll need to cut communications for now."

"Dinky!" Derpy called, making her daughter look back to her. She gulped and stood straight. "I'm on my way."

Dinky smiled, nodding firmly before the screen turned off.

Immediately, Derpy turned on the communicator to the bridge. "Twilight—"

"We know," her commander interrupted. "SAM and EDI are working together, we'll be there shortly." Twilight nodded encouragingly, then said, "you'd better suit up."

"Right away!"


To Be Continued…

> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.12
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.12



By Wanderer D






"Status!" Sunset "Pathfinder" Ryder née Shimmer called out as she walked into the bridge of the Tempest, already wearing her armor.

"We have several repurposed Kett ships, seventeen repurposed scouting ships, ten repur—"

"I get it, they repurposed everything because they're cheap layabouts that can't manufacture their own ships, so they steal, rearm and fly around in stuff other people dumped. I know we're not fighting quality, Kallo, so just give me the final count, it's not like it'll make a difference."

The Tempest's pilot watched Sunset remove her finger from the button she was pressing. The Salarian blinked twice, then shook his head. "I should be surprised that you would transmit what you just said to the whole enemy fleet. But I'm not. And this is worrying."

"Eh, they deserve it."

"Incoming transmission from pirate fleet. It's from the Kett dreadnought," Suvi, their helmswoman-slash-biologist reported. "It's your batarian friend… the one with the name like a disease."

"Noted." Sunset nodded. "SAM, find: 'I'm a Barbie Girl' from my music collection."

[I have located the file, Sunset. What do you—]

"Suvi, when you patch him through, I want you to open a channel so all of his fleet can see him, but hear only the audio we hear. Also, mute him immediately. SAM, play the music from the first chorus the moment Gero-gero comes up on screen."

Kellos shrugged and did as ordered.





"Transmission from the Tempest," EDI said.

"Have they started already?" Twilight asked. "Patch it through so we can all see."

"At once, commander."

The crew watched in silence as a very angry batarian gestured violently, slammed his fist on his console, made threatening gestures, and sang with an extremely high-pitched voice a song about being a vapid, superficial object for people to play with, occasionally responded to by what seemed to be a large slug of some sort (which had been obviously superimposed), to which the batarian (with an ever increasingly purple face) would promise eternal devotion to.

"Tavi?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Explain this to me."

"I don't think I can. It seems that the Pathfinder is actively mocking the helpless pirate in charge of the attack."

"It appears that the Pathfinder takes a large amount of satisfaction in publicly humiliating her opponents, and ensuring their crew has little respect left for them, as evidenced by her transmitting Barbie Batarian to the whole known Galaxy," EDI pointed out. "This kind of abuse was usually frowned upon by the Council Races."

"Batarians were never part of the Citadel races," Wrex interjected. "The only ones that like the slaver pyjacks worked for their government. No one else can stand them."

"Is that alien crying?" Derpy asked after a moment.

"I already liked this so-called Pathfinder after what she did to Elnora," Wrex said, "but this is a level of contempt for another sentient I haven't seen since Shepard punched Khalisah al-Jilani. Now she's earned my respect."

"I almost feel bad for the pirates," Vinyl added. "Is it odd? I like the song though, I think I can remix it into something better."

"It's like watching a grown adult bully a bunch of kids," Twilight said. "It's clearly unfair, entirely one-sided, and they can't even imagine how to respond. It's the saddest thing I've seen."

"I could have sworn that the pirate was crying," Derpy insisted. "This Pathfinder should be more considerate of his feelings! He's clearly helpless!"

The door behind them opened and Rainbow Dash stepped into the command center. "Hey everypony, did you watch that video of the pirate hooker? Wasn't that awesome?"

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity immediately scolded her. "Don't call the poor pirate a hooker! He wouldn't make it in that business! That's cruel!"

Hiding her smile, Twilight lifted her hoof from the transmitter.

"As Director Tann noted, she seems to have a unique ability to make enemies," EDI noted, giving her a weighty look, "but you don't fall far behind yourself, Commander."

"Hey, no one said that only Sunset could have fun."





"She actually transmitted her live reaction video to the whole Galaxy?" Sunset asked.

"Yep," Liam confirmed. "And the worst thing is the sheer honesty your race shows. You could literally feel Dinky's mom's pity for Gero-gero." He groaned. "Great, you've got me saying that too."

"Yeah," Sunset chuckled. "Ponies are very empathic and forgiving." She shook her head. "Anyway, status report."

"Your video has been watched by 80% of the extranet in Andromeda," Kallo replied, looking at the analytics screen.

"Wow, really? I mean, no—" Sunset stammered. "I want the report on the pirates."

[Scanners detect weapons discharge on the flagship, Pathfinder,] SAM reported.

"Well, I did see some of his crew laughing before he cut the transmission," Cora said.

"Never a dull day, Pathfinder," Drack muttered. "But it seems they finally got their act together. They're spreading into squadrons."

"So," Vetra spoke up, "does anyone know what he was actually saying? Might give us some insight into what he's actually going to try and do."

[I did record his message with the original audio in case anyone in the crew was interested in the communication,] SAM said, [After removing the expletives, the message was reduced by 80% into a semi-coherent threat about making slaves and personal pets all of the ponies in this galaxy and the next. He was particularly nasty at threatening Dinky as the cause of all of this.]

"Has anyone wondered just what the hell were the people in charge of screening who came to Andromeda thinking?" Sunset asked aloud. "I mean, yeah, we got millions of people here to have a viable chance at populating the galaxy, but this was a capitalist venture, right? It cost trillions to fund this. You're telling me they don't have an HR department full of VIs that can handle separating the criminals from the average citizen so we don't get these morons?"

"Given the urgency of the mission, I imagine they cut corners outside of the actual bureaucratic branch," Cora said. "And even then, we know people got murdered on orders from people in another galaxy."

"Not to mention the Batarian syndicates probably donated a lot of money to save their asses after that asteroid destroyed one of their main homeworlds," Liam added.

"In their defense," Vetra added, "they did ignore the psychotic unicorn hell-bent on conquering the galaxy to return to her planet in blood, fire and glory… and it turned out alright."

"Even a broken clock can be right twice."

"Liam, you're the only person in this galaxy that uses analog clocks. In modern days, if a clock is broken, it simply is broken."

"Fine. Some hits and misses, but still! This should be HR's problem, that's all I'm saying." Sunset replied. "Anyway." She sighed. "We just need to get rid of the current batch and hopefully the rest will fall in line for a week or two." 

She studied the squadrons as they were displayed on the screen. "Taking care of this lot shouldn't be much of a challenge. The only problem is that Kett dreadnought they somehow got their sticky hands on. I'd like to get it back and have our people study it, and if I go nuclear on their asses, that would be difficult." She tapped her chin, considering. "Get me Twilight Sparkle."





"Commander Sparkle."

"Pathfinder," Twilight nodded. "I have been looking forward to talking to you in person ever since Wrex and I got drunk last."

Sunset blinked. "When was that?"

"10 hours, five minutes, and twenty three seconds before your call, measured in standard Equestrian time." EDI replied.

"We had a great bartender," Twilight said, shrugging. "Anyway, I hear you're fluent in Equestrian. That's unusual."

Sunset crossed her arms. "What of it?"

Twilight grinned. "Nothing, just making sure my upperclassmare hadn't lost her linguistic edge."

Sunset smiled. "How's Celestia? Princess Luna was a little ambiguous on the topic."

"She's fine," Twilight responded. "But I think we should talk about that over whiskey, just you, me, and Tavi."

"Tavi?"

Twilight pulled her unresisting marefriend into the frame. Octavia waved at Sunset.

"Sounds like a fun time," Sunset said.

"By the ancestors, is every member of your species a pervert?!" a voice shouted from within the Tempest's cabin.

"Who was that?" Twilight asked, tilting her head.

Sunset pulled a resisting female turian into the frame. "This is my Vetra. Can I bring her with? She makes the most delightful noises."

"I didn't agree to that!" Vetra snapped, trying to push Sunset away with her free hand.

Sunset ignored the hand pushing her head away. "She complains a bit at the beginning, but once she warms up to an idea she's all for it. There was this one time—"

"Pirates!" Vetra hollered, "Let's talk about the pirates!"

"Sure," Twilight said, "business first, but that sounds like an interesting story."

"Right." Sunset nodded, releasing Vectra, who stumbled out of sight, followed by the sound of something crashing to the floor and cursing. "I heard that the Normandy had state-of-the-art cloaking, is that true?"

EDI stepped forth. "That is correct."

"Then, I have a mission for you, Commander," Sunset said, smirking. "Also, for your crew's peace of mind, I'm sending you a transcript of what Gero-gero was really saying."





"I no longer feel bad about Miss Sunset making that pirate cry."

Vinyl patted Derpy's shoulder with her hoof. "That was not something a mother should hear uttered about her daughter, regardless of age."

"It's clear that our enemies will not relent, if we take even half of what this pirate said at face value" Twilight said, "not to mention that they found their way to our home and dared foalnap a member of our family."

Derpy blinked, her mouth slightly open in surprise, but that quickly changed into a small smile.

"Princess Luna already said that she'd close access to Equestria once we return," Rarity pointed out.

"What?!" Rainbow Dash asked, aghast. "And miss out on all of this?!"

"Well, I'd like to think it's temporary," Twilight said, "I'd like to kick names and take ass in space for a while after we're done here—"

"I believe you misspoke the quote." EDI interrupted. "It should be: take names and kick ass."

"I know what I said," Twilight replied, nodding firmly. "But either way, we need to make a statement, and Sunset has provided us a perfect opportunity to do this."

The hologram on the table changed to the blocky shape of the Kett Dreadnaught.

"To summarize, the second in command of the pirate fleet took over this ship. He's demanding that we release Elnora, and amusingly enough that we give them Dinky so they can sell her."

"Truly, they did send the best and brightest of the Milky Way to explore and colonize Andromeda."

The gathered ponies and krogan turned to look at EDI.

"Sarcasm. Nice." Twilight grinned, nodding in approval. "And you're right. These are true idiots if they think we're even going to acknowledge their demand with anything but violence."

"So, we're blowing them up, right?" Wrex said.

"I wish," Twilight sighed, "Sunset said she could handle the rest of the fleet, but she needed someone to infiltrate the dreadnought and take control of it. Her ship is not designed to get her and her team in, but ours…"

"Unless their systems are as advanced as a Reaper's, they will not detect us," EDI said confidently. "Furthermore, while your team and I are inside, Rainbow Dash and I can assist the Tempest in destroying the enemy fleet."

"I'm sorry dear," Rarity said, "but you said you'd go with us and also be here?"

EDI nodded. "That is correct. Thanks to Quantum Entanglement, I am able to exist simultaneously as my mobile platform, and also as the Normandy itself while performing drastically different tasks."

Rarity blinked. "Right. How silly of me to not think about that."

"Niiice," Vinyl said, grinning. "We get the robot babe with us when we crash the bad guy's spaceship. This will be one party that Tartarus will remember."

"Do we have an entry plan?" Octavia asked, leaning against the wall on her hind legs, forelegs crossed in front of her barrel.

"EDI?"

"Engineer Hooves and I have been analyzing the Kett Dreadnaught," EDI replied, motioning for Derpy to step forward, which she did, slightly self aware at the expectant looks of the others.

"It's, um." Derpy cleared her throat. "It's not as advanced as Geth ships, much less Reapers, according to the data EDI and I correlated with Kello from the Tempest. Their sensors will most likely not detect us, and we did find a point of entry…" She moved her hoof over the hologram, rotating the ship around so that they could all see it.

Twilight grinned. "We go in through the kitchen. Alright EDI, bring us in!"










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.13
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.13



By Wanderer D






"So, Sunset Shimmer is going to be handling the pirate fleet by herself then?" Rainbow Dash asked when she noticed that Twilight had walked over to the cockpit. 

"That's what she said," the latter replied. "Sunset said she didn't want the dreadnaught destroyed if possible, but that since she didn't care what happened to the rest of them, she'd tear them to pieces."

"That sounds unlikely," EDI said, turning in her seat to regard both ponies. "The Tempest is an exploration vessel. It might be combat ready, but it is not designed to battle an entire fleet of pirates."

"That's what she said she'd do," Twilight repeated, shrugging. "And as long as Dinky is safe, I don't care if the Tempest needs to fly around the area while the whole fleet chases it. We'll still win if we cut off the head."

EDI simply turned her seat to face forward. "I am curious to see how the Pathfinder will accomplish this feat."

"So am I," Twilight admitted. "Are we ready to jump in?"

"Approaching…" EDI said. The universe around them seemed to unwrap, and suddenly they were in the middle of a warzone.

Twilight took an involuntary step back, and Rainbow Dash gasped as an ugly, patchwork spaceship nearby was destroyed by a passing, sleek, metallic ship of some sort. Large, metallic-dragon worms of some sort flew across space to wrap around smaller ships, while the pirates seemed to only be able to destroy one for every four of theirs that was destroyed.

"We have visual on the Tempest," EDI informed as the rest of the crew gathered at the cockpit entrance to stare in morbid horror at the battle outside. She blinked. "The Pathfinder seems to be transmitting a message to all ships in the area."

"Patch it through."

"...We drink your blood when the midnight sky is red…"

Twilight and the others listened to the music blasting on the speakers for a moment before Derpy stopped the audio by gently pressing one of the several holographic buttons on an interface screen nearby.

"Dinky did say that Sunset had come to this universe to conquer it and return to Equestria in blood, fire and glory." 

"She also said it was just a phase," EDI added, having been privy to the conversation. "It does not appeared to have passed."

Derpy hesitated. "I… find myself sometimes reconsidering whether Dinky is truly in good hooves or not."

"Well, all I know is that now I want her even more." 

Octavia smacked Twilight on the back of the head, an action that would have sent the whole of the upper crust of Canterlot nobility running for the hills.

"As an ally!" Twilight groaned.

"I know where your mind is," Octavia replied. "And I agree she'd be fun in bed, but you need to read the room, Twilight."

"How is what you're doing any better?" Vinyl asked from behind them.

"It isn't," EDI said, "I believe that's the joke."

Octavia grinned. "Finally, someone that understands my sense of humor."

"Commander, we have our objective in sight," EDI said, after nodding slightly to Octavia.

"Excellent. Gear up, everycreature!" Twilight called over her shoulder, then grinned as she took stock of the dreadnought they were approaching. "We're going in!"





The Normandy weaved through the battle seamlessly and, inside the cockpit, Rainbow Dash was holding herself back from interfering, merely studying the choices that EDI was making, as the AI had taken upon herself to illustrate all of her decisions on the screen.

"As you can see—thanks to the inertia dampeners in the Normandy—sudden stops with retro propulsors will not cause anycreature inside the ship to be injured," EDI explained. "During some of our worst fights against the Reapers it was necessary for the crew to secure themselves, as Jeff and I would be forced to pull extreme maneuvers that require much more energy reassignment to other essential systems. For a battle such as this, where the enemy is considerably less dangerous, we simply must avoid unnecessary risks without slowing down."

"Reminds me of that time that Cloudsdale almost flew over the Everfree Forest," Rainbow Dash joked, elbowing Derpy with a grin.

"Oh wow, it really does look like that!" Derpy gasped.

"You did what?!" Twilight asked, gaping at the two. "How come that didn't make international news?!"

Derpy and Rainbow Dash stood stock still. 

"Um… that was supposed to be a secret," Derpy confessed. "Please don't tell anypony. We all love our flying city."

"How in the name of Tartarus did you—"

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Everypony knows that pegasi party hard."

"So you deflected attention to a potential catastrophe that could have destroyed an entire city and messed up the climate for the entire planet by blaming it on partying hard?! Not just you, but the entire pegasi population is in on it?"

Rainbow Dash rubbed her front leg self-consciously. "Uh… yeah?"

"Wrex."

"Sparkle."

"Take a note: when we're done with all of these shenanigans, we're partying in Cloudsdale."

"Commander, I suggest all of us that will infiltrate the Kett ship head over to the Kodiak. We will be within range of the Kett Dreadnaught soon."

"Alright, everycreature!" Twilight called out, "arm up and let's kick some batarian ass!" She glanced at Rainbow Dash. "You'll be okay here?"

Dash grinned. "Hay yeah! I've been itching to see how my flying translates to flying the Normandy in combat."

Twilight nodded, patting Rainbow Dash's shoulder with her hoof. "Have fun. And remember: a shot in time…"





The Kodiak was less formidable than the Normandy. Less formidable, and more cramped, even though ponies were not that big. Still, the short flight to the dreadnought, coming out of a flyby courtesy of the Normandy, went surprisingly smooth.

Perhaps it was because the rest of the pirate fleet was so engaged in battle, or perhaps it was because EDI was just that good a pilot, maybe it was the confusion about what Norwegian Reggaeton actually meant, what Norway was, why Reggaeton existed, whether it could be considered music at all in its natural state, and why it simply worked when mixed with heavy metal, and why Sunset was transmitting that… or perhaps it was just luck.

 Whatever the case might be, Twilight's team, plus one AI, were able to infiltrate the pirate's flagship without any issues, parking the Kodiak within one of the landing bays on the lower area of the Kett ship.

"The cyber security here is good, but outdated," EDI observed. "I get the impression that the Kett do not know how to operate their machinery outside of very superficial understanding."

"And these pirates haven't really had time to figure it out either," Wrex added, poking at a semi-loose vent with the butt of his rifle."

"So, now that we're here," Rarity said, "what exactly do you expect us to do, Twilight?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, we have some training, but this is an alien warship." Rarity levitated one of her knives and tapped the flat end on Twilight's snout. "A few months ago, we were all civilians, and whenever we have gone into action, we've usually operated with absolute overpowering strength and shock value, since no one in Equestria would think the level of violence you embrace with such passion was possible."

"Wow, Rarity, I never thought you had so much respect for Tavi."

"No. That's not—"

"What she's trying to say," Vinyl interrupted, "is that we're not fighting woefully unprepared ponies, Twilight. Even bringing down the pony mafia was more realistic than this. I mean, just look at Derpy."

Twilight, EDI, and Wrex turned to contemplate the mare in question.

"So, she's trembling with anticipation—"

"She's frozen with fear!"

"Hm." Twilight sighed. "Alright girls, front and center!"

The other ponies glanced at each other 

Twilight started pacing in front of them, meeting their worried gazes with her own calm one. "I get it, it's scary, but it's not like we've never been in fights before. This time around we're in unfamiliar territory, with an unknown number of enemies that have similar technology to ours. These are not ponies, or griffons, or creatures from our world. I get it." She stopped and turned, facing them all, and pointed a hoof at Wrex. "But we've all been trained by the best warrior a species dedicated to war ever produced! We have EDI, who saw the Normandy and her crew through wars against enemies we can't even wrap our brains around!"

She turned to look at the door they had come through. "Outside, Sunset Shimmer, who used to be a pony, is fighting to keep Dinky alive and free." She glanced over her shoulder. "And I guess that yeah, she could probably do it alone, but are we really just going to let someone else solve our problems?"

She walked around the room to stand next to the door that would take them deeper into the dreadnought. "So what happens next time, when the Pathfinder is not around to rescue our sorry plots? What happens when we can't rely on the goodwill of the universe out there to fix our problems and instead of doing what we could, we turned around and waited for somepony else to fix them? What do we do when they don't come? What do we offer to this galaxy if we're only victims?" She shook her head. "I came all the way out here to rescue Dinky, and right now this is where we prove that we can—"

The door next to her opened and a salarian in patchwork armor stepped inside, pausing to stare at them stupidly when he realized they were there.

BOOM!

Before anyone could do anything but stare in return, the salarian was flung back by a shot straight from Derpy's shotgun.

"You talk too much, Twilight," Derpy growled. "I think you made your point."

Twilight grinned. "Hay yeah,"





"Hay yeah!" Rainbow Dash hooted, pulling the Normandy around several shots from incoming ships, and shooting two out of the five out of the sky with precision shots.

"I must admit, I did not expect you to be so proficient," EDI said, her holographic display flickering in what could almost be perceived as a blink.

"Are you kidding me?!" Rainbow Dash asked, her grin only growing as she allowed the forward momentum of the Normandy to push them as she angled it up and hit the acceleration for an almost violent pull that forced desperate ships to dodge as best they could while others simply crashed into each other. "This is just like flying on my own! Just… with controls, I guess, but I can feel the Normandy around me." She flexed her wings, and EDI noticed her accelerators reacted to that.

"It is odd. I do not feel like you are trying to take my place, yet you are somehow able to synchronize with me and move the ship almost through willpower alone."

"It's my pegasus magic, EDI!" Rainbow Dash declared, diving between the fighting forces of the Remnants and the Pirate Fleer with an almost lazy spiral. "I just know that this is what I'm made for." Her eyes shone. "Hey… do you think we could pull off a Sonic Rainboom in space?"

"I am not sure what a Sonic Rainboom is," EDI replied.

"There's only one way to find out!"





Dray Sepgeros was not having a good day. "Has anyone identified the new ship that arrived?"

"Um, sir… that ship's ID matches the one for the Normandy, from the Earth Alliance," one of his minions said. "Commander Shepard's ship."

"I know what that is!" Dray snapped, turning to glare at the ship in question. It was pulling insane maneuvers out there. Some of them completely unnecessary, but effective nevertheless, since his pirates had no idea how to react to such reckless flying. "Every batarian knows that ship."

"Should we surrender then?"

"What? No! Why would we surrender? We outnumber them a hundred to one!"

"But… Commander Shepard…"

"Is dead!" Dray hollered. "No human can live several centuries! Whoever is in that ship, it's not Shepard!"

 "It's probably those creatures from the reaction video."

An uncomfortable silence fell on the bridge, and more than one pirate slid away from the one that had dared speak.

Dray could have killed him. "If that's the case, all the more reason to give them hell." But if he kept killing his crew he'd have to handle everything on his own, and he hadn't really figured out this ship as much as he wanted to. He could feel his revenge was coming. He could—

"Sir!"

Dray sighed. "What now?"

"Weapons discharge at bay 4."

Dray closed his eyes and counted to ten. "Kill them."










> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.14
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.14



By Wanderer D






Ernest Stockovich wasn't his real name. Hell, he didn't even know if 'Stockovich' was a real last name, but he had heard it (or something similar) somewhere during a visit to Omega and it had stuck in his head. So when he had abandoned the Nexus and become a pirate, he had changed his last name so his family would never have to face the infamy of his actions.

Ernest Stockovich would rise to the highest levels of infamy and crime, and he would lead hundreds of people in his empire of evil! Once he got promoted from head cook at the kitchen, that was.

If he was honest with himself, he never thought the chance to move up in the ladder of criminality would come in the middle of a large scale battle against even more unknown aliens, but he would have loved to shove that into his parents faces and scream: "See?! I told you I would amount to something!"

It never occurred to him until now—when he was surrounded by other pirates, all pointing their guns at the door at the end of a hallway, inside a ship they had stolen from some crazy alien species—that none of his family would be alive six hundred years later, nor would their descendants ever care about what happened to him in another Galaxy altogether. 

In other words, he had left home, angry and trying to prove a point, only to be frozen for a few centuries and transported too far for it to matter.

And then he had to wonder what the hell, exactly, he was trying to prove to his mom now that there was no mom to prove anything to, and why the hell he had agreed to join this insane batarian pirate against the craziest woman in the known universe. Hell, it was still a coin toss between Shepard and Sunset Ryder amongst most pirates.

Was getting into a brawl with the Pathfinder really worth it to be among all of these sweaty, disgusting murderers and traitors when he could have started a brand new life as a cook on the Nexus and eventually a chef in one of the colonized worlds?

"Hey, Stuck-Up—"

"It's 'Stockovich'."

The Batarian nodded in acknowledgment. Names were important to them, after all. "Stuck-up bitch," he said solemnly, "keep those two tiny water balls you call eyes on the door. Sensors indicated one of them was—"

"Contact!"

Immediately his attention went to the door which had opened into utter darkness. And then the lights went off. Things became quiet for a few seconds before others started turning on their tools to try and see. He could hear his heartbeat even on top of the swearing and mad attempts to use omni tools to illuminate the area, but just then, the red emergency lights came on, and he could see at the end of the corridor…

"What the hell is that thing!?"

"A unicorn?" he muttered in surprise.

It grinned. "Oh, you know what I am?" she asked, surprising him. Horses could talk? "Then let's make sure I leave an impression on all of you."

She started walking towards them, and immediately the others opened fire… but the blasts didn't hit. 

The smashed against something… 

"Biotics! It's biotic!"

But something was odd.. it wasn't a normal kinetic or biotic shield, it was like… a bubble of something. Ernest wasn't biotic, but he had been around some people that were, and the feel… it was different, whatever it was, it wasn't normal biotics. 

The shots were hitting the bubble, barely even leaving ripples, and then—

The batarian next to him flew back, his shoulder bleeding. "Gah! It's returning our shots!"

Ernest watched in horror as two fellow pirates were suddenly and violently levitated and smacked together with great force, their bodies crumpling to the floor like rag dolls. 

The unicorn kept advancing, grinning a very disturbing smile, as shots kept bouncing from her shield. She ripped a piece of the wall and smacked the whole thing against an asari who had tried to raise her own shield to block it, but it popped like a bubble of soap.

The asari did not rise again.

Another pirate dropped, grabbed by the ankles with the strange unicorn's biotics and dragged screaming into the darkness behind her. 

By then it was chaos, the others kept shooting but were also running away. 

The batarian that had admonished him earlier fell behind him as he ran to the door along the others and pressed the button to close it, sealing it just before the batarian—or the unicorn—could reach them.

He could hear the batarian banging on the door until it went quiet. Ernest and the others took a few steps back, raising their weapons, even though they knew by now it wouldn't work. The unicorn was deadly.

They would not be able to stop it… but it was better dying on their feet than without trying to defend themselves, after all.

And that's when the wall next to them exploded, taking down a salarian and another human. Shots came out, disarming him, just as a massive krogan barged into, and emptied a shotgun shell, in the face of one of the very few angaras of the crew. 

Ernest then was pushed against the wall and held there by the hoof of.. a blonde pegasus. "Tell me everything, human!"





"...a-and then my mom said I'd never amount to anything, I shouted that I would prove her w-wrong when I left for Andromeda, but I never told her, and she never knew what happened to me!"

"Oh, you poor thing," Derpy said, pausing her tweaking of the ftl system to pat his shoulder. "Be a dear and pass me that sensor over there, would you?"

"S-sure…"

EDI shook her head. It was a decidedly human behavior she had incorporated to appease organic sensibilities, but despite it being unnecessary under the circumstances, it somehow managed to be a perfect example of silent physical communication, as most of the gagged and bound prisoners gave her understanding looks.

"Now, Ernest," Derpy said as she focused again on the ship. "You have to understand that parents have expectations of their children, and sometimes they are a bit too unrealistic… we're all flawed, after all, but that doesn't mean that you have to live up to that to make her proud. I'm sure that once things calmed down and you got your culinary degree like you wanted, she would have been very proud of you."

"Y-you think so?"

"I know so! Now, please push those levers up slowly, I'll tell you when to stop."

Having flown with Shepard and witnessing all the deadly missions the crew (and Cerberus) had performed, it was surprising to her just how small the loss of life had been so far. Except for Commander Sparkle, Octavia, and Wrex, the other ponies were less likely to take deadly shots, although Rarity took particular glee on her precision when disabling her opponents.

And yet, perhaps because they were so adaptable and quick to learn (after all, she had only needed to coach Derpy once since they had arrived at Engineering), the mission was going within acceptable parameters so far.

While the Normandy had been 'sleeping', EDI had been unwilling to engage the world outside. Initial scans of the planet had indicated that the locals had no technology worth noting, and therefore, without the crew being available, there was little point in remaining active. That had all changed when Wrex had returned to check on the ship.

He had insisted for some time that she emerge from the ship, but EDI had refused. She had never expected the locals to have developed in such a unique way, and much as she loathed to admit it, now that she could see what the inhabitants of Equestria were capable of, Wrex had been right all along: These ponies were crazy.





"What do you mean 'lost contact'?" Dray asked, tearing his attention away from the battle where his carefully built empire was being destroyed by Remnants under the command of that insufferable human!

How in the name of the Hegemony had he forgotten the rotten human anti-slaver had an ancient army at her beck and call? Nothing to be done now but win. Win and enslave them all! He would bring the Hegemony to the Andromeda Galaxy and bring back the rule of his people! He'd insert the suppressors straight into their skulls himself, he'd—

"Sir!" 

He snapped out of it. "Well, what are you waiting for? Send more men!"

"We did!" the other batarian answered, putting up a screen where they could all see the mess hall. Several of their pirates had taken cover behind overturned tables, and were shooting at the other side of the room, where two of those creatures that Elora had captured. This whole mess was her fault. Had she even really been part of Eclipse? He shook his head, noticing that one of them was shooting a Black Widow sniper rifle like she had been born with it, while the other's biotics were making short work of his crew's weapons.

Another screen showed a krogan warrior mowing down several of his pirates as he charged through the hallway.

"Huh. If it wasn't impossible, I'd say that was Urdnot Wrex," one of the Salarians under his command said. His voice took a decidedly hysterical tone. "But it's impossible, right?"

"First the Pathfinder and her crew… then the Remnants, then the Normandy, then these… creatures, then one of the most infamous Krogan mercenaries in the Milky Way Galaxy… what in the name of the Hegemony is happening?" Dray roared.

"You made a mistake," a female voice stated.

Dray and his crew all turned to stare at the purple, armed and armored ongulate that stood proudly with a grin on her face right in front of the bridge's window. 

"Who the hell are you!?" Dray asked, pulling out his weapons, as did the others.

The female simply smiled. Behind her, explosions and weapons lit space, and if it wasn't enough, the Normandy suddenly flashed by, lighting the void behind her in rainbows that bathed the whole bridge in pastel colors as the ship shook as if hit by an EMP.

"I'm Commander Twilight Sparkle, and you…" She sneered. "...are about to discover why no creature messes with my crew."
> Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.15
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Loyalty Mission 5: Derpy's Quest Pt.15



By Wanderer D






"KILL HER!" Dray shouted. "KILL HER!"

Everyone on the bridge opened fire, trying to get a hit on the unicorn that had suddenly materialized on the bridge.

Twilight blinked out of existence in a cloud of purple sparks, reappearing on the other side of the room. "I am the terror that teleports in space!"

The console where she had appeared exploded into pieces, but she had already reappeared above them, taking two shots with her gun. "I am the glitch in your omnitools that erases your credit when you order a Krogan side dish!!"

"What?" the pirates blinked, ignoring the two that had been downed by Twilight. "Is that a real glitch?"

"KEEP SHOOTING!" Dray hollered, egging them into action once more. "DON'T STOP FOR ANY REASON!"

"I am Commander Sparkle!" Twilight called again, appearing behind Dray, who immediately went pale. "And this is the end of your trip!"

"STOP SHOOTING YOU MORONS!" Dray screeched, diving down to avoid the blasts that tore his chair and all of the surrounding computers to pieces. The entire ship lurched, and the pirates on the bridge held on until the dampeners kicked back in.

By the time Dray poked his head from behind cover, there was no sign of Commander Sparkle.

"Where… where the hell is she?" he finally asked as the others started to look around. "Did we get her?"

One of the monitors lit up, and her face appeared there. "You didn't. I thought about taking you all down… but death would be too easy for kidnappers and slavers." She grinned the sweetest, most innocent smile he had ever seen. "I'd rather make you suffer."

The screen went blank.

"That's it." Dray stood up fully, overlooking the battle outside with some intensity before he glared at the others in the bridge. "Get us out of this system."

"What? But what about the fleet?!"

"I said! GET US OUT!"

"Aye, aye, sir."

Dray glared at the battle still taking place as his ship tilted towards their next destination. The Pathfinder and her allies might've won the battle, but they wound't win the— "Why aren't we moving?"

"I don't know! The FTL engine is not engaging!"

Another crew member gasped. "I've lost all engines!"

The light's flickered and turned off completely and the only light was from the blasts and explosions outside the window. A few seconds later the emergency lights came on. 

"We have no choice… we need to take them out and make our way to the engine bay. You," Dray pointed at a salarian sitting at one of the flight control displays, "stay here and get started on calculations with your omni tool for our jump point. As soon as we have the engines on again, you don't wait, we go, understood?" He barely waited for the nod as he picked up several weapons, nodding at his crew as they armed themselves. "Follow me."






"Commander, I have complete access to the ship's systems," EDI said as soon as Twilight materialized in front of her. "Engineer Derpy has already disabled the FTL."

"Excellent," Twilight responded, trotting over to to check on Derpy while EDI sent the signal for the others to regroup.

A part of her was already processing how many calculations the unicorn had to perform with her magic to be able to teleport from one location to another within a vehicle in space, moving at incredible speeds, not to mention the other process investigating just what had happened with Rainbow Dash and the so-called Rainboom… in space.

Ponies… did not seem to follow any logic at all when it came to their exploits, and it fascinated her. It was odd to feel a slight regret at having missed an opportunity such as the one Wrex had taken to interact with these creatures.

But, at the same time, it was what Shepard had pointed out to her that made her unique and more "human". Now that she had acknowledged this error, she would correct it, and Miss Derpy seemed like an excellent pony to work with.

"So do we have a plan?" said pegasus asked, giving Twilight a tired smile.

"We do," Twilight replied, nodding firmly. "We are going to instill the fear of Shepard into these pirates."

EDI tilted her head. "How unusual. I have heard this expression from humans as the 'Fear of God.' It is interesting that you would adapt that to Commander Shepard."

Twilight shrugged. "I don't see the difference."

EDI nodded. These ponies were crazy.





"EDI just sent the message to regroup," Octavia told Wrex.

They both were taking cover behind some overturned tables and the kitchen.

"About time. I'm starting to think these pyjaks are realizing we're really not fighting back."

Octavia, who was resting her back against the counter, tilted just enough to the side to glance back at the pirates shooting at them. "They've barricaded themselves behind another table."

"All of them?"

"Yes."

"Ehehehe." Wrex grinned at her. "Can you shoot the door's electronic lock?"

"Blindfolded and with a hoof behind my back." Octavia twirled in place, with Viola, the Black Widow Rifle, falling from its propped position into her hooves in the fluid movement. She barely aimed and took a shot.

While she was doing that, Wrex casually stood up, ignoring the shots bouncing off of his biotic shield and armor, and, as soon as the doors slid shut, he tossed a grenade at it. The explosive flew across the room in a beautiful arc, bouncing against the door to land behind the three pirates shooting at them, who hadn't realized that the door had closed.

When Octavia emerged fully from cover, she sniffed with mild disgust at the bodies. "Are they dead?"

Wrex glanced behind the table. "I think they'll live. Probably. Maybe. It's always good to have tertiary organs, and redundant nervous systems. Those are the ones that always make it."

Octavia followed him out thoughtfully as he pried open the doors then headed down the corridor towards Twilight.

"Do any of those species have redundant systems?" Octavia asked. "Or even secondary organs?"

"Ha. No."





The hallway lights flickered on and off as Dray slowly moved forth, weapon at the ready, while his minions followed at the same pace, slow and methodical. Like most of his species, Dray had gone through mandatory army training.

Like most of his species, that had consisted mostly of performing raids on agrarian worlds with little to no defenses. And like most of his species, he still didn't get how being a group of hooligans pretending to be a militia that limited itself to easy targets, half-assed terrorism and owning guns didn't actually make them a power onto themselves. Most Batarians didn't really learn what it was to be in an army of any sort unless they were hired by their own cartels, or joined actual mercenary bands, which were—without exception—owned by the same people they supposedly hated and resented.

No one in the Milky Way had accused them of being smart in the grand scheme of things, and Dray was not exactly the cream of the crop when it came to strategic thinking. He had gotten to where he was with murder, backstabbing and a very angry face.

A face that currently was playing all over the galaxy singing a high-pitched song from some indeterminate origin. Probably human.

Dray stopped at every door, and cautiously sent his men ahead to check and make sure the rooms were clear before moving forward. It wasn't until they were two levels lower that things started to go wrong.

Just as Dray and his crew walked slowly through more corridors, Wrex suddenly emerged from a portal that had opened alongside the left wall, tackling two pirates straight through another portal eliciting a panicked squawk that was cut short as soon as the portal closed. 

"What?!" Dray and the others turned, firing immediately into the empty corridor, not stopping until they needed to let their weapons cool down. The lights flickered, and the far wall smoked from the barrage of shots, but there was no sign of their crew.

"Come on!" Dray shouted, running down the corridor. "We have to reach the FTL engine!"

They rounded a corner and Dray's several eyes opened wide as he dove to the floor. "Hit the deck!"

Three of his followers did as ordered immediately, the fourth wasn't so lucky, barely registering the shimmering form of Octavia as her camouflage dropped and she took her shot. The unfortunate soul flew back and smashed against the wall, falling face first and staying still. By the time Dray and the others had scrambled to the sides to keep under cover, she was once again gone.

"This way!" Dray shouted, turning to open a door to his right. Again, he was fast enough to dodge out of the way and stumble when the white unicorn with neon blue hair used some sort of giant speaker to slam another of his crew so hard against the wall it dented before he managed to tap the door lock. "Not that way!"

"We're getting destroyed!" another Batarian growled. "This is unacceptable! By the Hegemony, Dray I will have yo—" he didn't finish talking before he was hit by something. Dray watched in horror as the other batarian shook in place as several things seemed to go through his arms and legs. He didn't wait, grabbing his last two crew members and running away, leaving the rest behind.

Their mad dash continued for a couple of levels, until they stood, panting, in front of the FTL Engines room.

"Oh. You made it."

Dray, who was resting against the door, froze in place, then slowly turned his head to stare at Commander Sparkle, who stood at the end of the corridor they had run through. The lights flickered and suddenly she was just a few feet away, and before any of them could raise their weapons, his last two crewmembers were lifted in the strange biotics of the creature.

With a strangled cry, Dray tapped the door open and went through, sealing it behind him and leaving his helpless followers behind.

Dray rested his back against the closed door, trying desperately to control his breath and listen. But no noise came from behind. In front of him the FTL engines rose, ready for him to meddle with… except for one thing.

The creature was like Commander Sparkle, only hornless, and with wings instead. It had a mop of blonde hair and eyes that seemed to be gazing in two directions at once. It was dressed in earth-style armor, and was glaring at him… although its body betrayed its nervousness.

Swallowing, Dray pushed himself to his feet, hefting his weapon. "You think you can stop me, creature?"

"Are you the leader of these… slavers?" it asked, its voice feminine.

Dray snorted. "Yes. I am in charge! And once I get this ship going again, I will enslave all of you!"

The creature closed its eyes and took a deep breath. "It's your fault. It's your fault that I'm here, that Dinky was taken away from her home… your fault that she was foalnapped and I thought I would never see her again." She gritted her teeth, opening her eyes and meeting his, the nervousness fading away. "It's your fault that I thought I'd never get the chance to hear her play the flute again, or go walking in the park or go to her school plays!"

She scratched the metal floor with her front hoof. "It's your fault that she feared for her life! That horrible things could have happened to her if the Pathfinder hadn't happened to be in the same ship as your minion!"

"So what?" Dray snorted. "Lesser beings are born to serve us. To serve the Hegemony. If all you or your filthy spawn can do is be beasts of burden or toys, so be it! We conquer! You serve!"

He opened fire before he even finished shouting, but the female creature had already dodged to the side, galloping fast, then impossibly taking flight within the room, as if carried by invisible winds. She wove around his shots, diving in and hitting his gun arm with her hooves, shattering the armor and making him drop the weapon in surprise.

He tried to backpedal, activating his tech armor for a boost, but a sphere of tech energy came out of the mare's omnitool, shattering his defenses, even as she closed in again, spun in place and hit him with both hind hooves, lifting him off his feet and throwing him across the room.

Breathing hard, Dray spat blood and stood, his injured arm pressed against his chest as his hand slowly edged back to grab his backup gun. "Y-you'll pay for that," he growled as she stepped closer. "You and all your race!"

Time seemed to stop for a moment, both of them locking eyes. Dray's lower two with her left eye, and the upper two with her right eye. And then he moved, bringing up his gun and shooting at her.

It took him a moment to understand.

His gun, held in his hand, aimed slightly up. His shot had almost burned a hole in the metal of the walls, but it had not hit its mark. He slowly gazed down at where the creature was standing, not even looking up at him.

Her hoof, enveloped in the tech of her omniblade was pressed firmly against his chest… with the rest of the blade running him through completely. "Wh-" he gargled, his surprise giving him enough of an adrenaline boost to push her back… and then he was falling into darkness.
> Epilogue: Forward
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Sparkle's No. 1 Assistant


Epilogue: Forward



By Wanderer D






"Mom!"

"Dinky!"

Both The Normandy and The Tempest had barely landed on the landing pad prepared for them at the Nexus when the two ponies emerged, running or flying straight at each other to embrace.

The little unicorn jumped into the waiting hooves of the pegasus, who lifted her up in the air with a twirl and pirouette before landing gently and holding the little filly close.

The crowd that had gathered to receive the victorious warriors and hear the leaders of the Nexus talk about the new species they had recently seen on their feeds, reacted as expected, plenty of 'Awws' and cheering accompanying the touching reunion. 

At the front of said crowd, Princess Luna smiled brightly at the event, while the Nexus crew, including Director Tann, either smiled at the pair of ponies, or simply took it in with stoicism and a very slight twitch of mandibles.

"I thought I'd lose you forever, I'm sorry I took so long!" Derpy whispered, ignoring the cheers as she held her daughter gently against her. "I'm glad you're okay."

"Mom…" Dinky returned the embrace. "I got lucky that Miss Sunset and the others found me really quick. They've been taking good care of me."

Derpy nodded. "I know. But I'm still never taking the chance again." She released her daughter, using a wing to gently wipe the tears from Dinky's eyes. "I've spoken to Twilight, I'll be joining her crew full time. I'll be working on Astro Engineering with EDI."

Dinky's smile grew and she hugged her mom again. "I'm so proud of you, mom!"

"And I'm very, very proud of you, sweetheart."

As drones hovered around taking video and pictures, the rest of the crews emerged from their respective ships, waving at the crowds to stand in front of each other.

Luna nudged Tann, who nodded at her. Both walked over to join the crews as they had planned during their communications after the battle with the pirates, and made a show of shaking hands and hooves with the recent arrivals.

Tann then turned and stepped forth, getting the attention of the journalists as he took the stage in front of all the others. Tann allowed the various drones to slow down and arrange themselves in the usual order for government interviews before clearing his throat and standing proudly for everyone to see. 

"As many of you have already reported, the ship to my left is indeed the SSV Normandy SR-2, formerly belonging to Commander Shepard, the first Human Specter, Hero of the Line, and all around Legend," he said, waving his hand towards the ship that had captured the imagination of anyone reading the news about the first Human Specter, the attack on the Citadel, and other events that had shaped the Milky Way, and in turn had—somewhat secretly—prompted the creation of The Initiative.

"The last time we saw this ship, it was preparing for war, and we never expected to see it again outside of the video archives we brought with us to this galaxy. This time, the SSV Normandy came not to fight the impossible, but to rescue an innocent being." His hand glided down from indicating the Normandy, to presenting Dinky, who stood nervously at attention, with her mother's hoof gently encouraging her on her shoulder.

"From the stories, and indeed history of our past, come both EDI, the AI who helped Shepard in his battles, and Urdnot Wrex, Leader of Clan Urdnot in the Milky Way, and they have brought with them Commander Twilight Sparkle, first Unicorn Specter, and guardian of her world, alongside a new crew for the Normandy."

Flashes of cameras and questions popped around, but ever professional, Tann weathered them and motioned for them to calm down, not speaking until he could be heard again.

"Although the circumstances that forced them to visit us were unfortunate, we should see this for what it truly is: an opportunity to learn about other species, to grow as a universal community, and to seek a new future together."

He stepped to the side, allowing Luna to step forth. "I present to you, Princess Luna of Equestria."

The crowd cheered for a few minutes before it quieted down, eagerly waiting for her as she regally studied them before smiling and nodding slightly. "It is our pleasure to make acquaintances and friends here in the Nexus.

"For far too long we kept the stars around Equestria closed to visitors, shielded from the rest of the universe in order to protect our ponies from the dangers of…" she glanced at Tann, then at Wrex. "Ancient enemies, but once more the universe embraces our culture, and we can again look to the stars, not just for their beauty, but to join them!"

She raised her head, and her mane waved in the light, the darkness and vastness of the universe within glittering and shining with stars, novas, clouds and dare Tann say it? Magic.

Luna smiled at their reaction. "Director Tann has graciously offered to open an embassy for us here in your station, and I have offered the same for the Nexus in Equestria. Once I have discussed matters with my sister back home, I believe we will take him up on the offer and eventually finalize the details."

She straightened up. "Our worlds and technology are very different from yours, so I expect fully embracing our differences will take some time, but the gesture of friendship and solidarity the leadership of the Nexus has offered us will not be ignored or forgotten." 

Luna waved her hoof, encompassing all of the people in front of her, and then the rest of the station. "You have taken care of my kin, and helped one of my subjects regain her stolen daughter. My people take friendship very seriously, and as you can see, we are not without our own skills and firepower."

This drew a small chuckle from the crowd, and Luna nodded gently. "This alliance might be in its infancy, but we will be here for you if needs be to help defend you, and to reinforce the existing bonds between our respective cultures."

"Princess!" an asari journalist called out, drawing her attention. "Keri T'Vessa, Nexus News Network. Given the mysterious way you all appeared in the Andromeda Galaxy, alongside being here for what amounts to a few hours, how can you say that we have a strong bond already? Wouldn't um… Dinky Hooves' capture and rescue be too quick a relationship to build trust?"

Luna tapped her chin in thought, seeming to consider her words, before shrugging with her wings and smiling. "Perhaps, if that was all your people had done for us… perhaps then it might be a bit precipitous to encourage this. But it has come to our attention that our people's relationship began much earlier than that. About… six hundred or so years ago, wouldn't you say, Pathfinder?"

"Luna! You'd better—"

Sunset was interrupted by Keri, who spoke up again. "What do you mean, Princess?"

Luna tilted her head, then pointed with a hoof at Sunset. "Why, the Ryder family, and by extension your Initiative have been taking care of my niece for what amounts to over six hundred years, have you not? Methinks that counts for something."

The morning news would publish the next day with a picture of the Pathfinder having jumped over her crew to tackle a laughing princess.





The Eastern Courtyard had been emptied of all decorations, and the grounds magically reinforced. The ponies of Canterlot and the Pegasi of Cloudsdale had been informed to keep away from the area, as some very important guests were arriving.

Celestia stood on one of the castle balconies, overlooking the grounds, but her eyes were turned skyward, where a large, mechanical ship the likes of which hadn't been seen above the skies of Equestria for thousands of years, followed by a much smaller, rectangular ship.

Far up above in the sky, past the clouds, she could make out the shape of another, different ship in orbit, but her thoughts were on the bigger of the two ships landing, although she was curious about the unexpected visitor.

"Huh. Sparkles always knew how to make an entrance."

"Are you sure you should be talking like that about The Commander Sparkle?"

"Yeah! I have heard bad things happen to creatures that annoy her."

"Shaddup brats, she and I go way back."

"Easy now," Celestia said to her companions. "You'll get your chance to talk to her and the others. I think she'll be happy to see you."

"She'd better. And also apologetic! She did this whole thing! Without me!"

Celestia grimaced. "Well. This whole thing was unplanned. I sent her to Ponyville to find friends, not restart Algol."

She set her jaw and ignored the guffaws that followed that, as well as the two panicked voices trying to calm down the first. "Ahahaha—you. You actually thought—hehehe—that Twilight Sparkle would let Algol go?"

Celestia took a deep breath, letting the air out slowly, and thankfully her companion took heed. She nodded curtly. "I tried to give her options," she said a bit icily, but her gaze warmed as she took in the crew exiting the ship. "But she defied me… and made me proud."

"Ugh, too sappy."

"Wait here, I'd like to surprise her," Celestia said, and the three with her nodded.

Not waiting any longer, Celestia took flight and glided down to where Twiligtht and the others waited. The silver creature, humanoid, was the term was not exactly alive in the traditional sense, but she could see through her mannerisms that it was no simple automaton.

One of Wrex's companions then. EDI.

"Sister," Celestia greeted, landing in front of them, "Twilight, welcome back." She smiled at Derpy and Dinky. "Miss Do, I am forever glad that the mission to recover your daughter was a success."

"As if there was any doubt," Twilight declared with a grin. "And she's not the only daughter we brought back."

Celestia tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

It was then that the other vehicle opened and two more humanoids emerged, arguing. One was similar to… "Hm." Celestia narrowed her eyes. It was female. A… turian. The other was softer, also feminine and not oviparous. A mammal. Human. But there was something…

They both stopped and stared, the turian standing straighter before pushing the human forward. The female human stumbled, teal eyes wide as they studied her.

Celestia felt a pang in her chest. She knew this human… somehow. Those eyes and… and the mane. "S-Sunset?"

"Um," the human grinned uncomfortably. "Um, hi, Princess Celestia."

Celestia bit back the tears, then stepped forward to embrace her wayward student. "My Little Sun."

Sunset stiffened, but then leaned in and wrapped her unfamiliar arms around her neck. "Hi Princess."

Celestia gulped. "We have much to talk about, My Little Sun," she said, pulling back. "Papers that you didn't sign before you left…"

"You still want—" Sunset stopped when a white feather pressed against her lip.

"In due time, my student," Celestia growled, turning to glance at the smug faces of Twilight, Luna, and the rest of the crew. "First, revenge."

She turned to look at the balcony she had left earlier and nodded. She heard Twilight and Rainbow Dash's gasp as the three figures jumped from the balcony and flew down to land firmly in front of them.

"G-Gilda?!" Rainbow Dash gasped, galloping over to the griffon, who grinned at her as she approached.

"One thing at a time, Rainbow Dash," Gilda said, leaving behind another griffon and another creature, who were dressed in dark gray uniforms.

She patted the pegasus as she walked past, only to stop in front of Twilight.

And then she punched her. Gasps and weapons being drawn filled the courtyard, alongside Wrex's laughter.

Gilda ignored the guns. "Dumbass! What the hay are you doing going to space and leaving me behind?! I thought we were in it together!"

Twilight shook her head, coughed and gently placed a hoof on Gilda's shoulder. "Gilda…" Before the griffon could react, she decked her across the beak, then spun and kicked her, sending the predator tumbling back. "You jerk! I wrote you last week!"

"Last week! LAST WEEK! How long do you think it takes to get here! By the time I arrived you were gone!"

Twilight snorted, but then grinned and hoofbumped Gilda's claw. "Sorry Gilda, it was urgent or you'd been in there with me. We reactivated Algol officially just two days ago."

Gilda snorted, "Tell me about it."

"Wait, wait, wait…" Rainbow Dash said, "you mean you two know each other and Gilda was part of Algol? Like with you and Spitfire?"

"That's right, Dashie," Gilda said smugly, elbowing the mare. "OG space pirates."

Twilight frowned. "Space command. We're not mercenaries or pirates."

Gilda shrugged. "Hey Wrex."

"Hehehe, good to see you back, kid."

"So… who're the other two?" Rainbow Dash asked, pointing with her wing at the griffon and other. "Had kids?"

"Ha!" Gilda punched Rainbow Dash in the stomach. "No. These are cadets Gallus and Silverstream. Newest members of Algol. Spitfire's in as well, although she was… occupied."

Twilight turned to look at Celestia, who smiled at her, just as smugly as she herself had been smiling earlier. "And that's not all."

"I see you met my newest recruits!" a new voice called.

While Wrex started laughing uproariously, and EDI brought a hand up to her mouth as her eyes widened in surprise, Twilight blinked as the doors under the balcony opened and someone else walked out. At first, she couldn't believe her eyes, then they widened as much as the smile on her face. She let out a long "Eeeeeeee!" of excitement as their unexpected visitor walked up to stand between Gallus and Silverstream.

Wrex, it's been a while," Garrus drawled, crossing his arms. "EDI, always a pleasure." He nodded. "I hear you've been flying around without someone to properly calibrate the Normandy's guns." He shook his head ruefully. "That won't do, Commander, especially if we want to get back the rest of the old crew together."

Wrex pushed through and punched Garrus' arm. "Aha! I knew you were too stubborn to die of something as simple as a Galaxy-shaking explosion of Eezo!"

"Glad to see you too, old friend," Garrus replied, taking a moment to give EDI a surprise (if gentle and quick) hug. "It's been far too long."  

When Twilight approached, he leaned down, smirking at the grinning unicorn. "So, what do you say, Commander? Ready for your next adventure? I have some friends that need finding."

"YES! ALL OF MY YES!"






The End